I'LL NEED THESE AND THESE

WELL ITS TIME to go, the lease is up and so is the heat in the valley. There are so many reasons Shelby and I have decided to go back to Snowflake (for the summer ?).

Work is number one; more offers for equine work there, the valley has been more canine - not why I got into this business but a perk (also lower pay per session). I think it would be smarter to follow the horses when (aside from the canine jobs) my ONLY source of income for SHELBY and I is the part time weekend job at the rehabilitation center I work for. Leading me to..

Number two - money of course. It is just cheaper to live there and spending goes waaaaaay down.

Number three - The living situation. Not having to sign a lease, I found an AWESOME place. Some might not think so but it is great to me. It is this super tiny place next to one of the big homes in the Fields by Silver Creek headed out east of Snowflake. Ron is the owner of the property and wants my help with his horses. There is acre after acre of green land backing all the way up to the creek. Allowing/forcing us to be outside most of the day, there is plenty of room for Shelby and Bristol to run around.

Number four - My mom and brother.

Shelby and I tried to move back January 08 and nothing worked; there was no place to live, no jobs, and snow (not the best time to be in limbo). I don't know how long we will be there this time but it is a much better situation, summer time is beautiful and that is as far as I am really allowing myself to look right now.

BRISTOL

(not Palin) THE OTHER DAY we were offered this sweet little English Pointer. Normally I would have all kinds of anxiety about who's going to tell me no and needing to ask permission and OH GOSH I cant because I live in the city therefore must own small poodle or chidoodle or whatever else that comes in mini size. Then I thought who are you and where the hell did Sarah go?! So I just said YES, and I am so glad I did...its fine, she is wonderful and well exercised and house broken and crate trained and sweet to Shelby.
SOMETIMES I FEEL like people, particularly Josh and his family never got to meet me. The girl in the small town who was a more simple person (not so conflicted) who's life revolved around her dogs, cats, and horses. There is a reason I always felt unsettled with Josh (and that's not his fault), I was never at home and he was never going to leave his home.
ALL THAT ASIDE... Welcome to our family Bris!

NOTABLES

MILHOUSE LATELY... IT has come down to this. I think maybe some sort of commitment ceremony needs to be planned pretty soon. Milhouse has to have socks on now when Shelby does and for some reason she has been fiercely protective of his eyes. If I pick him up I cant touch his eyes or she will yell at me to "don't poke Milhouses eyes!". I am so terrified of what will happen if we lose him now that she knows the difference between "regular" Milhouse and Milhouses "cousin" (a #2 I got last year in case he got lost or for when regular Milhouse is in the wash).




SPENT A LOVELY morning with my Aunt Carol last Monday. We ate breakfast at Wildflower Bread Co. and went to Changing Hands Books so Shelby could pick out a few for her birthday from 'Auntie Caywol'.




CAROL LATER RAN me into Jeane Wright who ran Jeans School of Dance who I took from when I was little. She now owns Cherry Street Antiques on University in Mesa. (scanned is May 1986...Holy Geez I was 5)
P.S. Amy you should recognize that tutu; you wore it in one of our Pinedale school plays!




FIRST FRENCH braids...

KENTUCKY DERBY

THE WIN BY Mine That Bird and jockey Calvin Borel brought me to tears. I am so happy about the true Victory! BUT, (you knew that was coming didn't you?) how it was received by most really pisses me off. In 2006 Barbaro with 6:1 odds won the Kentucky Derby on a broken leg then was immediately euthanized on the track (traumatic for spectators but actually humane; most go to slaughter and fetch the owner a whopping $200 [about 10 cents a pound]). And last year runner up horse Eight Belles died on the track just seconds after the race. This year hope brings us Mine That Bird, a young "discount" horse hauled 2000 miles from New Mexico behind an old Ford pick up truck that broke down in Texas (most are flown to conserve energy), the driver/trainer Bennie Woolley, an old rodeo cowboy. Birds odds 50:1, squeezed out of the gate starting out in last place this gelding (race horses that are expected to become champions are never gelded) rode the rail to win the Derby by nearly 7 lengths; the only other horse to beat this record was Assault in 1946 winning by 8 lengths. This was a beautiful miracle!!!
AND BRAVO TO jockey Calvin Borel who was quoted saying "[a horse] can only go so fast, so far" and that he learned to be "so patient with these 3 year olds". THANK YOU!

Borel showing appreciation


SO WHY IS it that the media is calling it one of the greatest upsets in Derby history? Well MONEY of course! The millionaires certainly didn't put their money on a 50:1 horse. Well its about time the rich didn't get richer! Open your eyes people...ITS ABOUT THE HORSE! I hope Mr. Woolley will buy himself a new Ford for the ride home.


quotes from The Arizona Republic
pictures from ClackamasReview and The Washington Times

RANDOM PICTURES OF WHO IM IN LOVE WITH

HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM,

WHERE TO NEXT? Any ideas? My lease is up on May 15th and I cant stay here; don't get me wrong, I love the new neighbors - The one on the other side of my wall likes her cigs and it comes through the kitchen hook ups (not to bad). Neighbor #2 in the studio attached to Shelbys wall and has a single door that separates her room from theirs. Now she LOVES her cigs and has finally agreed to smoking outside until I leave in 2 weeks which was a smart decision on her part for I was about to go postal on her. She likes to yell the F word at her boyfriend at night causing Shelby to get out of bed and come tell me she can hear the neighbors and asks if they can hurt her. I grew fond of paying $253 a month during the summer for an extremely inefficient AC unit that runs constantly trying its hardest to keep up with the heat coming in waves through the huge single pane 100 year old window in the front room a.k.a. my bedroom. Oh, and I will miss hearing the gun shots in Pioneer park and the regular visits by the cops to the halfway house across the street.

WE DID DO our best to make the best of it. We had fun around the neighborhood and the dairy queen was 100 yards away. We did have great neighbors for most of our time here and became close friends with them, they have been sorely missed since they left. But for that...I don't blame them.

DONE COMPLAINING, NEW adventure lies ahead and we are happy and excited none the less. Woo Woo! kthanksforlistening!

CHILDREN WRITING CHILDRENS BOOKS

THOSE OF YOU who have kids probably know that one book that they make you read EVERY SINGLE NIGHT for months without the intention of ever changing up the selection. Please tell me this drives you crazy too!, not enough to enable you from enjoying the reading session but enough none the less. WELL...Shelby is hooked on this Dora book and while I love that she calls her red M&M's rojo now, etc. etc. This particular book has mistakes in it that makes me want to politely yell at the author. He needs a talkin to or I need therapy for being neurotic.

POULTRY 101: Female chickens are hens, males are roosters.

ACCORDING TO THIS book, this HEN (because that ain't no rooster) is knitting HIMSELF a scarf...




ANYWHO, I get to read this book every night.

BIRTHDAY #3

WE HAD A quiet backyard birthday for Shelby yesterday. Josh put her in a dress, Grandma did her hair, and I made her a cake. It was nice.

A FEW PICTURES:

SHE WANTED A dinosaur cake

COUSIN BEN

I LOVE THIS picture. It reminds me of something Normal Rockwell would paint (minus the cheap plastic toy), I love the look on Shelbys cousin Grace's face in the background. I don't know if it really was a look of jealousy but its just classic.

JOSH GOT SHELBY these glasses. She was cracking us up. She was so nonchalant wearing them; just to cool for school. PEACE OUT!

SO PROUD OF our girl

THIS ONE'S ALL her

EASTER WEEKEND

SATURDAY NIGHT, AMY Jo, Austin and their kiddos all came out to my moms for a visit. It was so fun! The kids dyed eggs, we had a little birthday cake for Shelby and Amys twins Gracie and Gage, they were all born the 18th of April only the twins are two years older, then the power went out so we lit a bunch of candles and played cards (Go Fish) until nearly 10pm. What a great night!







EASTER MORNING




MY VERY MISSED friend Cheyenne

MORIAH, HER CANYON, my Shelby, Cheyenne, me

MESA MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

LAST THURSDAY I took Shelby to the local museum housing dinosaur bones (something she has talked about daily for the last six months or so; "dinosaur bones are in the mountains mamma?"...yep!, "did you see that dinosaur bunny mamma?"...I think so darlin, boy they are fast!, and of course the story she made up about a dinosaur named Bird who lives in the mountains and drives a black truck when he comes to the city and picks up Milhouse).
I wanted her to see them in person of course so we went, she certainly didn't expect the size of them. It was pretty neat though to see her try to grasp the concept and try not to be scared. The museum was 100% kid friendly. It was a GREAT afternoon.



AN ENTIRE SECTION of the museum dedicated to the biology of POOP! Shelby loved it, as most kids would.



PANNING FOR GOLD. I was pretty excited but Shelby told me it was not real gold...What the HECK! She turns three this week, I could not believe she told me that. I think I have my work cut out for me regarding Santa Clause and the Easter Bunny.

TAKING THE REINS

THIS WEEKEND I explored my new found freedom at Turf Paradise after receiving my track license. In order to get it I had to get the signature and the blessing of the track veterinarian, fill out forms, get fingerprinted, photographed, and of course pay a fee.



ONCE IN HAND I went back and met the thoroughbreds. While head over heels in love with the horses, I was unimpressed with the stables. I would have thought with all of the money coming in from the gambling that each horse would have a little bit more room than the teeny tiny stalls they were in and a bit more structurally sound. It is no wonder most of the horses have disposition issues and bad habits such as cribbing and head tossing among so many others. Being naturally high strung, these warmbloods are going out of their minds. They are large, they are athletes, they worry more than any other breed and they don't get turned out, they don't graze...ever, they stay in their box's. They do get plenty of exercise only it is under strict training. These horses rarely get touched outside of discipline, maintenance and tacking.
I believe outside training facilities that are privately owned such as the Arizona Thoroughbred Training Center out in Cave Creek allows for a little more TLC. The facility has larger stalls and is a lot cleaner because it is smaller in boarding and the focus seems to be the horse not the money or the Jockey. The difference in disposition was night and day after visiting both.
While I loved to be at the racetrack and have plenty more to learn; I felt that panic in my gut and in my heart that I could not help at that time all of the aching souls that just needed some individual love, some tight muscles relaxed, and a good plain walk without anyone on top of them.
The only horse world I knew before this one was rodeo. I have like a lot of Arizona horse lovers, owners and small towners been to plenty of them. There are a lot of people though (who have ideas but have probably not been to many) who think its cruelty to animals. That makes me laugh, almost hysterically. The horses are companions and partners, it is no wonder that most horse owners are dog owners. The horses are in comparison extremely well behaved and absolutely love the competition. Its weekend fun with the one they love the most. The steers run to play the game from what iv observed. The last rodeo I went to let the horses used in the bronc riding loose in the arena after the national anthem and before the start of the rodeo in order to honor them as an American symbol of power and freedom. There is an abundance of appreciation and teamwork there.

FIESTA DAYS RODEO at Memorial Arena, Cave Creek










DONATED 4 SESSIONS to the Miss Rodeo Arizona Pageant!

THE PHOENIX ZOO.....AGAIN!

AND THAT'S NOT a bad thing. Beth and I took the kiddos to the zoo for a great spring day out. We went to Stingray Bay this time and Shelby screamed louder than I have ever heard her scream before when I initially lifted her up to see the stingrays. She eventually became okay with it but it was just hilarious and shocking to hear my soft spoken baby girl screech like that.



BABY JENNA, TYLER'S little sister who kept pulling her hair tie out creating a femhawk.



I JUST COULDN'T choose between the two pictures.