Just my biased opinion...

Mom came to visit for the weekend. I threw a surprise 60th birthday party for my mother-in-law so she wanted to be here for it. She hadn't seen Hannah in two months and brought a few really cute outfits for her. One of which Hannah HAD to wear to the party as most of the people there have horses. So she was all dolled up and we took the opportunity to get a few pictures.
Hannah started crawling while Mom was here. She'd been toying with getting up on her knees for a few days but finally took off across the living room yesterday for the first time. Now the real fun begins!! I'm already tired from lack of sleep and now I see I will have even less rest! Anyone want to remind me what it's like to string 8 stright hours of uninterupted sleep together?

Anyway, I am still having oodles of fun with this precious little one. It's okay to think your baby is the world's cutest right? I'm sure most mothers feel that way.

Awwww....crap......

My new horse is sore. REAL sore. Great. So I took him for x-rays today. Bad, bad news. His feet are a mess, old fracture, severe arthritis, navicular changes, bone spurs. He will never be sound enough to be more than a drugged occasional trail horse. I'm so bummed about this. What a nice horse he is too. So his previous trainer is going to take him back. I just hope he find him a good home and doesn't send him off on the meat man's truck.....*sigh*

New dress....New Horse.....

Hannah and I went shopping the other day for a holiday dress she could wear for christmas pictures. I found a really cute red velvet dress with a rhinestone and ribbon bow on it. She has white tights and black patent leather shoes. I can't wait for her pictures on the 5th of November!

Also, I brought a new horse home from the track last night. I'm planning on sending him down to VA to my friend for training and to sell. He's HUGE, standing much taller than my head (17+ hands). He seems like a nice horse. His racing name is "All The Facts." but he needs a barn name. Any suggestions?

Friday Night Funny

I snagged this off a BB I am a member of. It was too good not to share....

Young Chuck, moved to Texas and bought a Donkey from a farmer for $100.00. The farmer agreed to deliver the Donkey the next day. The next day he drove up and said, 'Sorry son, but I have some bad news, the donkey died.'
Chuck replied, 'Well, then just give me my money back.'
The farmer said, 'Can't do that. I went and spent it already.'
Chuck said, 'Ok, then, just bring me the dead donkey.'
The farmer asked, 'What ya gonna do with him?'
Chuck said, 'I'm going to raffle him off.'
The farmer said, 'You can't raffle off a dead donkey!'
Chuck said, 'Sure I can. Watch me. I just won't tell anybody he's dead.'
A month later, the farmer met up with Chuck and asked, 'What happened with that dead donkey?'
Chuck said, 'I raffled him off. I sold 500 tickets at two dollars a piece and made a profit of $898.00.'
The farmer said, 'Didn't anyone complain?'
Chuck said, 'Just the guy who won. So I gave him his two dollars back.'
Chuck now works for the government.

Yay for Blake!

I got the best news this afternoon. Blake passed his pre-purchase exam with flying colors and will be on his way to his new home tomorow morning. He'll be living in North Carolina with a really nice lady named Ann. She plans on eventing him and have a lot of fun with him. When she tried him she couldn't stop giving him kisses and spoiling him. He's such a nice horse to be around, I'm sure I'm nuts for selling him! Anyway, he was vetted at one of the toughest vet hospitals on the east coast. This is the link to the clinic: http://www.vaequine.com:80/
The Doctor that did the exam was Dr. Kent Allen. He's worked regularly with the US Equestrian Team and rarely passes any horses in their PPEs. Blake was there for 3 hours and was such a champ about everything. The only thing they found that was of any importance was that his front feet have thin soles. Not anything I wouldn't expect given the fact that his feet are conformationally very flat. Dr. Allen told the buyer there was no reason she shouldn't buy Blake! Michelle said she could hardly believe the vetting was so easy!
Anyway, we are all excited and wish Ann much luck with Blake!
In other news....our new horse, "Ludington" ran second tonight. This was the first time we've ran him. He's been in our barn for about 6 weeks if I remember correctly. His owner seemed happy with this race and hopefully next time he'll win!

The Debate

I watched the whole debate last night. This was the first one I think I've stayed awake all the way through. They are always so boring with all the yada yada yada and bashing of each candidate. This year though I'm really on the fence about who to vote for. There are things about both of them I can't stand and also things about both I like. Growing up with a very republican father I have always leaned in that direction. But I also wonder about Obama's experience and the safety of our nation. I think both candidates would put us fursther into debt and that is a huge worry. So what do you do? I firmly believe that if you don't vote, you have no right to complain afterwards.....I've told Lou this over and over because he has never voted....but loves to complain about how things are run in our country. Ahhhh.....one thing is for sure, I'm tired of all the called from each party. Last night a woman from the Obama supporters called. I really didn't want to get into it with her and was trying to get off the phone. So I told her I supported McCain. She got defensive and had a snippy tone to her voice and asked me, "oh so you don't care about you child's health care then? (Hannah was fussy and she asked if I had a baby....duh). I just felt like she was attacking me for having a different opinion and it really rubbed me the wrong way. Two others have called about Obama asking for Lou. I already know he'd hang up on them so I told them he wasn't interested in talking with them. So guess what? They keep calling. At least McCain isn't wasting my time on the phone....ah well....maybe something will change in the next debate to sway me one way or the other.

How sad...

Last night a loose horse wandered onto te road that runs in front of my house. It was less than 1/4 mile from us. Someone hit and killed it. I hope the driver is okay. The only reason I found out what happened was a friend was driving the opposite direction and saw the whole thing happen. It shatter the guy's windshield and threw the horse into the field next to the road. We haven't found out yet who owned it but I think it may have been the people who live behind us up the hill. This would be the 5th horse killed on our road in the last 5 years. Will people ever learn? I'm amazed more horses (and people) haven't been killed or seriously injured with all the times my next door neighbor's horses have been loose. Fix the fence people!!!

Ick...

So Hannah has had a runny nose for a week. She seems to feel fine other than rubbing her nose all the time. I have been working on getting sick for about 5 days now. I felt puny when Lou was in the hospital bit I think that was just worry. Then the scratchy throat start. Had that for a few days with nothing else. Then body aches and today we get congestion and sinus pressure. Oh joy. So I stay up coughing at night and Hannah wakes up around 1 or 2am, wide awake because she can't breathe through her nose well. Neither of us are getting sufficient sleep. Bad time of the year to live in Ohio. Our daytime temps have been in the mid 60s and nighttime in the 30s. Easy weather to catch some nasty germs!

Drunk Pumpkin!

Ewwwwwww!

Oops, oh well....

So after talking with my best friend this morning she discovered that the math in the email I inserted into yesterday's post is not correct. She works for a bank so she should know! I didn't even question it because the whole idea sounded pretty cool. Anyway, if this plan were a reality, we'd only be getting $425.00 each. Not $425k. Good thing this person is not my accountant! Ha!

In other news I'm trying to give away a Thoroughbred gelding and an Thoroughbred mare who is in foal. Plus trying to sell two older TB geldings in our barn pretty cheap. If anyone knows anyone who might be looking, please have them email me a jenarby@hughes.net . All these horses are sound and ready to be in a new career. Thanks!

Hey Bro...what do you think about this?

A friend sent me this tonight. It's been forwarded on and on so I don't know who actually created it. Regardless, I think I want to vote for them for president!

How to fix the economy
Here's a unique idea:
I'm against the $85,000,000, 000.00 bailout of AIG. Instead, I'm in favor of giving $85,000,000, 000 to America in a We Deserve It Dividend. To make the math simple, let's assume there are 200,000,000 bonafide U.S. Citizens 18+. Our population is about 301,000,000 +/- counting every man, woman and child. So 200,000,000 might be a fair stab at adults 18 and up. So divide 200 million adults 18+ into $85 billon that equals $425,000.00. My plan is to give $425,0 00 to every person 18+ as a We Deserve It Dividend. Of course, it would NOT be tax-free. So let's assume a tax rate of 30%. Every individual 18+ has to pay $127,500.00 in taxes. That sends $25,500,000, 000 right back to Uncle Sam. But it means that every adult 18+ has $297,500.00 in their pocket. A husband and wife has $595,000 .00. What would you do with $297,500.00 to $595,000.00 in your family?
Pay off your mortgage - housing crisis solved.
Repay college loans - what a great boost to new grads.
Put away money for college - it'll be there.
Save in a bank - create money to loan to entrepreneurs.
Buy a new car - create jobs.
Invest in the market - capital drives growth.
Pay for your parent's medical insurance - health care improves.
Enable Deadbeat Dads to come clean - or else.
Remember this is for every adult U S Citizen 18+ including the folks who lost their jobs at Lehman Brothers and every other company that is cutting back. And of course, for those serving in our Armed Forces. If we're going to re-distribute wealth let's really do it...instead of trickling out a puny $1000.00 ( 'vote buy' ) economic incentive that isbeing proposed by one of our candidates for President. If we're going to do an $85 billion bailout, let's bail out every adult US Citizen 18+!
As for AIG - liquidate it. Sell off its parts. Let American General go back to being American General. Sell off the real estate. Let the private sector bargain hunters cut it up and clean it up. Here's my rationale:
We deserve it and AIG doesn't.Sure it's a crazy idea that can 'never work.' But can you imagine the Coast-To-Coast Block Party! How do you spell Economic Boom? I trust my fellow adult Americans to know how to use the $85 Billion We Deserve It Dividend more than I do the geniuses at AIG or in Washington DC. And remember, The Family plan only really costs $59.5 Billion because $25.5 Billion is returned instantly in taxes to Uncle Sam.