Status Report

Over a month ago, we planted our garden and today was the first day I noticed our first product. A green pepper! I don't love peppers, but I was still happy to see Mr. Pepper...and surprised I missed him. We switched from hand watering to a sprinkler a few weeks ago, so, the lesson learned is that I need to manually investigate more often.

I plan to try Mr. Pepper tomorrow night....or make Derek try it. :)



Our row of okra...


and French Fillet green beans...


Zucchini (and lots of squash not pictured)


And, hopefully these are still a sign of good luck... :)

2010: A World Win Year

Deltas Foxy Flyer, my 8 year old American Paint Horse gelding, is the reason why I created my blog. I wanted a way to connect with other horse show enthusiasts. I have failed to become a successful blogger due to time restraints (excuses, I know.) But, I fully intend to try to find and connect to other horse enthusiast bloggers this summer (when I have a break from grad school.)

In the interim, I wanted to highlight "Scout's" accomplishments in 2010.

In the Pinto Horse Association of America:

-World Champion Amateur Jr. Reining

-3rd in the World in Open Reining with Johnny Morton





On top of these accolades, I just received a beautiful crystal trophy from the Pinto Association naming Scout the 2010 PINTO OF THE YEAR in Reining. He was featured on the cover of the Pinto Magazine (small photo in a montage of winners.)

In the American Paint Horse Association:

-Reserve World Champion Amateur Limited Working Cow Horse




-8th in the World in Novice Amateur Reining (I learned a valuable lesson, sadly at the World Championship show). I had money in my back pocket, which I did not realize, and when I did my last sliding stop it went flying out of my pocket. Apparently, there is a hefty penalty for littering in the arena....




-Northeast Texas Paint Horse Club:

State Champion in Sr. Reining and Novice Amateur Reining and Reserve State club champion in Novice Amateur Trail (a new event added to our repertoire)

And lastly, we ended the show year in 2010 at the Thanksgiving Classic were I opted to compete in 21 classes across divisions and we ended up winning A SADDLE as the all around amateur high point! This was incredibly exciting for a horse that has never been shown English and managed to win the Hunt Seat Equitation, and also place well in Horsemanship and Trail.




None of these accomplishments would have been possibly without my patient husband, Derek, who hauled us to multiple shows, unloaded, loaded, groomed, carried, cleaned, and lived and breathed horses with me for these events. And lastly, to Johnny Morton who is the best 'up and coming' trainer. I hope that Scout and Johnny continue to excel in the 'pro' level competition at the 2011 World Shows.

Read the Instructions...

Yesterday, I received a suprise phone call from a dear friend of mine. I mentioned that Derek and I planned to plant our first garden later that afternoon. Her words of advise were "follow the planting instructions." Well, I kind of did, but not all the way. I tried to leave ample space between the tomato plants, and rows of various vegetables, but used more seeds than stated on the seed packages, so we shall see.

My mother and father-in-law helped us plant, so I followed their lead. I made a lovely plan-o-gram of our garden for my own record, but here's the rundown:

*10 tomato plants consisting of varieties including Celebrity, Juliet, Porter, and Improved Porter

*1 large row of onions

*1 large row of okra

*4 pepper plants consisting of sweet yellow and red bell pepper, orange bell pepper, and moderate bell pepper

*1 large row of french fillet green beans

*9 mounds for squash and zucchini consisting 2 different varieties of yellow squash (we both love squash...)

*1 row of new potatoes

In addition, I planed strawberries in large planters 2 weeks ago, but no signs of life thus far. Stay tuned!

It's the Small Things in Life...

What a beautiful Spring day it is in Fort Worth. My animals and I have a routine when I come home from work. We all walk to the barn together (including Scout the horse) who walks from wherever he is in the pasture to follow me to the barn. Clearly, this conditioned response is directly correlated to supper time, but, I still cherish my few minutes with 1 horse and 3 sweet barn kitties every evening.

This evening I was able to capture a rare photo op with all 3 kitties actually posed and looking at the camera. Enjoy Spring while it lasts!

Updates about the garden to come soon....

Will the Garden Grow?

Since we've had a stint of incredibly warm weather for February, my fingers are crossed that Spring is right around the corner. Aside from the opportunity to ride more frequently, I'm extra excited because Derek and I have tilled the plot for our first garden!

I've discussed Gardening 101 with Derek's grandparents, and they've already provided lots of guidance ... and ... will hopefully be available for some on sight consultation when we plant.

This weekend Derek tilled the plot for the second time AND we bought all of our seeds. The only thing I'm missing is tomato plants.

Anyone have any suggestions for items I may have overlooked that grow well in the North Texas summers?

Valentine's Creativity

Happy Valentine's Day!

Today was a regular Monday, but I left work on time today in order to get a ride in before Derek got home from work. Derek had a really funny card for me and a tasteful bouquet of flowers when he walked in the door, so that was a sweet surprise.

So, the main point of my post today is to share photos of the incredibly cute and creative "Heart Day" tree my mom created. She purchased all the items at Michael's and turned a somewhat drab (sorry mom) porch decoration into a cheerful celebration of today's 'holiday'. Two thumbs up for creativity, mom.





I know it's hard to tell in the photos, the square items are retro Valentine cards mounted on sparkly red backgrounds.

Please excuse the poor photo quality, I resorted to my cell phone camera for these photos...

The Island

I began the new year by reading a fantastic novel that came highly recommended by my mom. I am in process to catch up on 'reading for fun' until grad school resumes on January 22.

The Island, by Victoria Hislop, is an incredible novel. I devoured the novel over a 3 day window and didn't want to stop reading. The story follows the life of a family that lives on Crete, in a village called Plaka. The town is located across the shore from an island called Spinalonga (which was once a Venetian strong hold with a fort, and shadow of a village still there today). Spinalonga was an active leper colony for almost a 100 year span up until the late 1950's. People afflicted with the disease were brought to the island from all of Crete and even mainland Greece, including Athenians.

The characters in the book are captivating, and the author does a fantastic job to get the reader emotionally involved from the first chapter.