Mission accomplished!!

It is stallion service auction time again, and there is not much more I like that a good auction, with stuff I want. Today, I was focused in pretty good on a few horses I want, and had submitted bids in advance. Everything went wrong, including the mailed package not arriving on time--to sending Barry to town to send a fax last nite since my fax was not sending for some reason--to learning that they did not receive that either!

I got it lined out by phone this morning, and have spent the afternoon taking calls from bidspotters--I was rolling good on the one I wanted most, but it was pretty heated and the bids were getting sky high, when the bid spotters phone crapped out on me. I have no idea what happened there, but I am going to assume I got beat.

But then I got my #2 choice--Pepto Taz! And really, he is probably better for our program than the one I was after, since that one repeats a lot of the same blood we have here.

Anyway, I borrowed these pics from his real webiste www.peptotaz.com
Isnt he a handsome man? Looks just I like them to look, and the proof is in the pudding as far as his show career. He is young enough to just now be getting them to the show ring, but I have been eyeballing him for a while now.
His pedigree is impeccable as well. I currently have not a Pepto one, so this will be exciting for me--we have one coming this spring, and then this boy in the lineup.

I am so excited. He stands at Watkins Equine, who we dealt with on Boonsmal Cee Lena last year--they send us super hero sperm, which is what Dr M called them. They got the job done and we are now anxiously awaiting the arrival of that baby. It is a good feeling to know that the stallion station you are dealing with is a good one, and based on that experience, I know that they are.

I am really starting to look forward to breeding season--now come the tough decisions. Who to breed to who?

Prizes for me!

Hamfatter? Why, yes, my ham is fatter--he gets fatter every day. But I do not think I got this award because my peeg is overweight--although I did get it from a fellow peeg-mama, Mrs Parks at her new location www.theparksfarm.com

Evidently this award has to do with being funny--which might explain why it has a goat in the picture, but has ham in the name. Whatever-- I will take any ol award I can come by--since I have that complex about being overlooked, this does my heart good. Thanks!

He is going down

Our Senate voted 59-0 in favor of ousting our dear stupid governor, Rod Blagojevich.

Hallelujah!

They also voted to bar him from ever holding public office in Illinois again. That won't be an issue if he ends up in the federal pen--which he probably will--but is a nice touch all the same.

How humiliating it is to be a part of this government, now that every one knows how stupid our governor is. It was bad enough to work for the state and wonder if you were going to get paid, because he was too busy showing his ass to get a budget passed, and now we have the icing on the cake--

Lord have mercy--what a day in Illinois history.

Welcome, new governor Quinn--good luck in unraveling the mess you have inherited

Snow scenes

Sly has not been in much snow in his life, and I do not know if he has ever been in this much. When I went out to take pics of him yesterday, he was standing next to the barn with a very confused look on his face.


He always comes running when he sees me though--which is exactly what I wanted to see--he moves so pretty.

















He is so cute, I could not pick just a few pictures to post.
As usual though he had to throw in his sillies, he is like a little kid with the camera.

Shocking assault to their systems

I am not kidding when I tell you that we have had a hell of an ice storm since last nite and it is not over yet. In all the years I have had horses, I have never seen icicles hang off of so many of them like this.
This is what the babies' first ice storm is doing to them---look at that poor butt! That is not snow just lying on her, that is iced on and is hanging on for dear life.

This is baby Shiloh's back--she is completely covered in ice pellets.
She does not look very amused--look at all the ice chunks in her mane
She is still cute though.
This is the only smart one of the broodmares--Melody--she was at least standing in the barn to get out of the sleet. Evidently she had not been there all day, as she too had icicles hanging off of her.
Nita seems to have the most ice on her, but it is no wonder with all that area of her back hanging so low. There is plenty of room to catch ice on there!
This is Nita too--she has ice balls hanging from her tail and a chunk of tail hair was stuck to her butt.
Squeak appears to be pretty smart--she had a lot less ice on her. She has her own pen and turnout since she is blind, but there are some days when I swear she is faking it. In this pic, she is trying to get into the bucket of feed even though she was the only one that had already eaten. After this, while I was trying to take other pics, she went around the corner, and stuck her head under the fence and into a feed bucket that Lucky and Ammo were sharing--she took a few bites, and then she stole the bucket right under the fence. That would not be so odd for any other horse, but for one who supposedly cannot see the broad side of a barn, it is kind of interesting. She is also the most pleasant easy-going enjoyable horse I have ever known, so for her to pull a stunt like that cracked me up. Hell, I even let her keep it!

Xanadu was caked in ice. She was also not very amused by this whole deal. Not at all. She has 6 weeks until she is due to foal, as does Mel, Cash and someone else I cannot currently think of. Surprise crappy weather like this is why we do not breed for early babies--you never can tell what is going to happen--and can you imagine how miserable it would be to accidentally foal in this mess?

Miss Foxy is due in April I think. She needs to put on a little weight, I think, but she is doing okay for one who always struggles with her weight when in foal. She has the singularly most annoying habit I think--when she thinks she should be fed, she runs her teeth along something metal--like the corral panel that separates her pasture from Squeak's pen. I swear it makes my hair stand on end--she goes back and forth back and forth scraping her teeth on the metal. Creeps me right out. It is a good alarm though to tip me off to when she has not been fed her dinner, as I thought she had--she will not let me forget something like that.



This pic of Hotrod cracks me up--she is as pissed as I am about the weather.

If this keeps up, it will be a work at home day tomorrow-- I got stuck in my own driveway coming home tonight, and that is before the other 3-6 inches of snow arrive.

This Tuesday's Tribute

Yet Another Jay and Deb Production.

This is a weird one, and I will probably deny I ever said or thought such a thing if anyone ever raises the issue, but here goes.

Today's tribute is to small town quirks--the good ones. Today we are having an ice storm and it is supposed to last until tomorrow. All the schools are closed, my pool is closed, most things are closed--we get a little reactionary when we get harsh weather here because it happens so rarely we do not know how to act.

Just now on the local radio station, the Sheriff--who is quite nice, I like him a lot--was giving the road updates. First of all, how many places does the actual sheriff do that? But not the point. He warned about the roads and what to expect, but then he asked people to check on a neighbor, make sure their heat is working, that they are not hurt or just have a cup of coffee with them. Then he said today would be a good day to baby your pets--bring the dogs and cats in the house so they stay safe because it is dangerous out there for everyone, even them.

Is that cute or what?

Sure there are some crappy things about living in a small town--like the gossip etc, but there are sweet things like this too.

I like how when we have a good basketball team, the whole town supports them so much that they camp out to buy game tickets. I like how we have a huge new park with soccer fields, and baseball fields--all on donated land from a local resident. I like how you always see someone you know when you are around town and your regular waitresses know your order before you even place it.

It is not so bad being in my home town, although I am always quick to note that I am not STILL here, but came back here. For some reason, that makes a difference. Sure I could live away just so I did not have to say that anymore, but would the sheriff there be worried about my dogs?

I bet not

Wii are dangerous

It came! After getting all the wiialerts via text message and emails for weeks on end, I finally tracked one down and it arrived on Friday. I was gone of course and had not told Barry that I ordered one--I wanted to surprise him with it for Valentine's Day. That plan was shot though as he came home on Friday and I did not, and there it was--so I just told him that there would be a surprise there waiting for him.

He of course knew right off the bat that it was really for me. Oh well it was worth a shot to pawn it off as a gift for him.

By Saturday, he had hurt his shoulder boxing on it.

I got home today, and he showed me how to use it tonight--and fell flat on his ass. Bowling for Pete's sake. BOWLING. He scared Simba to death, and she flew up off the couch and hopped on him. I almost peed. Between the two of them, I though the light fixtures were going to be shaken out of the walls.

You know I will be the one to get really hurt though. So far I have only boxed and bowled, but it is really fun. I am not a video game kind of person, so I had my doubts, but I did not want to miss it all if it was really fun, and it so is!

It looks like we might be trapped in this house for a while if this sleet continues, and I am hating missing my workouts-I know that sounds nuts, but it is absolutely true--this will give me something to due for cardio. That boxing can kick a girl's ass, so it will be a good substitute when I cannot get to town. I sound like I live in Little House on the Prairie, with that talk about going to town huh?

Meanwhile, I did this thing---to see about just how addicted I am to blogging. No where near as bad as I thought I would be!

72%How Addicted to Blogging Are You?

My long weekend

This weekend has been insane--and I guess that is why it has taken four full days and it is still not over.

On Thursday, early afternoon, I left home, down there in the bottom part of the state, and drove to Kankakee--where it was a full 45 degrees colder than it had been at home. I made a stop half way there in Champaign, and it was getting cold--which is when I realized I had not brought a coat--and if the snow on the ground and harsh wind was any indication, that was going to be a serious mistake. While I was running my errands at U of I, I bought a coat. Okay, maybe two. I think there is something wrong with me, and if I did not know, Barry pointed it out on the phone today. Blech on him.

Anyway, I got to Kankakee, checked in and immediately started busting my butt reading transcripts. I read half the nite, then got up early and started reading again. No exercise since the pool and exercise room were closed. That sucked, but it got me to the prison close to on time, which I already told you about. I stayed there half the day and then attempted to drive 78 miles to my next destination.

That was northwest, almost to the edge of the state-and the farthest I have ever been that direction. My GPS that dad got me said that it would take 2 hours and 15 minutes. WTF? I was not walking there. Maybe this thing was stupid, or did not operate well in the cold. That could not possibly be right.

But it was. It took forever to get there--I mean forever. The further I drove, the more snow was piled up on the sides of the roads, and the colder it got. I think it was about 3 degrees when I pulled into town--much later than anticipated. I was so exhausted from being up so late that I laid down to take a short nap so I could be up for my dinner with a friend at 6 pm---

But she had to cancel, and I slept and slept and slept some more. It was a beautiful thing.

Back to my room I went, realized I had not eaten and went to the hotel restaurant. It was not even 9 and they were trying to close up but they gave me chicken. Back to my room I went and watched TV, read some more record, and finally fell asleep at about 2 am. My equine repro class started at 8 am Yesterday--and was scheduled to last until 6 pm, with a lab until 8 pm where we would actually do some stuff, like learn to inseminate mares and collect a stallion. The best part was that I got to meet Joie who I have known online forever and who was the host of this event, so it was her horses we were going to work on.

This thing lasted ALL DAY. ALL DAY sitting on my ass in a lecture. And if I learned one thing I did not already know on Saturday, it was that progestins can cause an asthmatic to drop dead, so I should stop being so sloppy with some of the drugs I use on mares. I was glad to know that I already know all that stuff, because it reassures me that Dr M is as good as I believed him to be because he already taught me all this stuff that Mr Big Time Expert was teaching us. Still I was a little disappointed to not be getting some new info.

Last nite, we went to Joie's farm and learned to do some stuff--that was pretty cool. Although I have done some of this stuff, I have never been on my own like that, and it built my confidence some to be able to do it again. Definitely I learned that there are things I do not need a vet for on my own mares.

Today, we were back at it again at 8 am. The most important thing I took away from today was that we are basically doing everything right...especially when it comes to the way we handle him for breeding. I would tell you some interesting breeding stuff, but I kinda guess no one cares about that. Probably you would not enjoy or appreciate in-depth descriptions of what happens when foals are trying to get born backwards, or if a stallion gets a tail hair in his way when he is live covering a mare, or that when a stud ejaculates, he does so at 35 mph. I did learn a cool trick for collecting semen from a stallion who has a pecker problem---which would also make a kinda cool torture device for men who act up.

Joie and I had lunch and after the class was over at 6, I hit the highway again to come home. I knew full well that I was too exhausted to get all the way home, so I planned to stop somewhere along the way to sleep-- I needed to stop short of Springfield, because the governor's impeachment trial is starting tomorrow and the press will have sucked up all the hotel rooms. While I was plotting all that, guess what happened?

The police got me just outside of Peoria. Damn it. Evidently I also drive too fast. But I did have my registration. As always I only had expired insurance cards. I think ol boy felt sorry for me, as he told me I looked exhausted and to get some rest, and slow down--no tickets for Paige!

For sure, I need to sleep though, so I just stopped, scored another nice hotel at state rate and have the entire second floor to myself. I am sleeping in, in the morning and taking a personal day to recover from all this drama.

I cannot imagine what is waiting for me when I get home tomorrow-- it is cold at home again, and I miss my puppies and my piggy and my ponies.

The rest of the story

I guess I am a little melancholy. My prison visit yesterday was actually one of the most enjoyable ones ever. It did not start out that way though.

I was to arrive at 10 am. I got caught behind an accident on the highway and did not arrive until 10:10, so they told me I was late and could not see her. Huh. That was not what I was expecting. I was expecting to have trouble with a different thing altogether. My client was in segregation -and thus, was sure we would only be able to have a no-contact visit. I do not believe in no-contact attorney-client visits, because it destroys attorney- client privilege. Plus it is just stupid. I needed to establish a rapport with her and that is dang near impossible to do via TV monitor. I had not driven 250 miles to do that.

I was all ready to have that fight. But I did not get it for some reason. Instead I got grief over being 10 minutes late. I did not have a stinking appointment at a certain time, and there was only one other couple there to visit, so this did not need to be a big deal. We managed to get past that and moved on to the next problem. The CO –who we will call Grumpy- had to log me into the computer and cross-check all these lists, etc, to let me in. She had my license and my bar card to work from, but evidently this is a much larger task than you would think. Even having my confirmation letter from the warden approving my visit was not helping. Finally she hit the jackpot and found me–under NINE different names. NINE. I was not aware I had nine aliases. Oddly enough, not a single one of them is my actual name under which I have entered every prison I have ever entered—somehow, there were NINE others. Some were even hyphenated–and I have never hyphenated my name in my life. It was very peculiar.

We got that settled and they decided that I could not take my notebook and pen into the visit. WTF? What kind of lawyer would I be if I did not write down everything that went on? That was the stupidest thing I ever heard. Officer Sticking his Nose where It Does not Belong said that my authorization from the warden’s office did not say I could take anything in, so I could not. I spent ten minutes explaining why that was stupid and convincing him to call the warden–who agreed it was stupid and said I could. That is what I thought.

Next big hurdle–the lockers. You are not allowed to take most things in, such as your car keys etc. Some facilities have lockers to put stuff in, some expect you to leave them in the car, some lockers require quarters and in some places you cannot bring money in to put in the lockers. Of course, this place had lockers that take quarters, and I did not bring any anyway. Ol Grumpy said I could put my keys in a locker and not lock it, if I was willing to take the risk. I was, so I did.

Then came what turned out to be Grumpy’s favorite part–the frisk of me. She was far more thorough than any frisk I have ever had–and I have had a few, thank you very much. That is all I have to say about that.

While I was waiting to be let into the visiting area, an older couple came in to see their daughter, or I assume it was their daughter. The man was well-dressed, the wife was in a sweat suit. Grumpy asked who they were visiting, and mom reeled off her inmate number. For some reason, that hit me hard. Why any parent should know their child’s inmate number like it was her birthday almost made me cry. That is no frame of mind to be in when I am headed in to be a bad ass attorney.

But that is what happened. Off I went to sit in the class cube to wait on my client. This gave me time to watch the other people visiting there. There were three different older men, waiting on their inmates to arrive. They all looked like successful confident people, all well-dressed, but seemed comfortable being there–it was not their first visits, I do not think. There was one woman that looked like a nun, as she sat with an inmate and read their bibles. There was a good mixture of white people, black people, Asians and hispanics—that is not something I have ever noticed before. The general population is about 60% African-American in all prisons, but I do not know if that number holds true in women’s prisons.

Finally, my client arrived. She has been there for almost a year and I was her first visitor. How bout that for sad? She is only 22 or 23, and she is going to be in this prison until she is 67, unless something intervenes. You would think that she would be miserable, but she is not. She would rather not be in prison, but she is happy–she has friends, and a “wife” and is not so different from me. She wasted all the money she started with in her commissary account on shoes and clothes, just like I did when I was a kid. She wants a TV so she does not have to watch A & E on her neighbor’s TV–I love A & E. We have even read some of the same books and other experiences

I had asked her to bring notes she made from her trial transcripts, but she did not. Great, I thought, she won’t have anything to contribute and then will feel like she was not a part of it. Man was I wrong. She was so on top of things and immediately pointed out most of the things that I wanted to talk to her about. That was a nice surprise.

We talked for almost four hours–90% about her case, then about what really happened, and about regular things like what she would do with her life if she could, where she think it all went wrong, which part she would change...I do not think that I have ever had a conversation like that with a client. Frankly, I do not normally want to hear all that. I do not need to know extra info, as I cannot use it in the case anyway and it quite often just confuses the issues for the client. This time, we just somehow ended up in this conversation where I learned some fascinating things. I wish I could tell it all, but obviously I cannot, so it is hard to explain how interesting it was to me.


While I enjoyed myself, I am sad about how one more kid is lost. If something does not change, this kid is going to be in prison for the rest of her life, never have a family, never make anything of herself–because she was a dumb girl who thought she was in love. She knows now, but what good does that do? Her mistakes started long before this one, but the were basic kid stuff that a lot of us did. For her, it was a vicious cycle where one mistake led to another, and little things like whether to stay broken up with a boyfriend let to one more disaster, when for me and you, all that meant was a nite crying and eating ice cream. How did we end up so different? I know I have done some dumb things that seemed to make sense at the time–but it sure never led to this kind of mess.

And while I am glad it is not me, I am still sad that it happens to anyone.

Just like you and me

I will post much more on this later, probably, but I spent the day in a women's prison, visiting clients.

One thing I took away from it--which happens almost every time, but still manages to blind side me the next time--is that so often, these girls are just like you and me. Self-esteem is the most important thing you can give your daughters, so please don't skimp on that. If she has friends you see struggling, be that one person who puts a hand out to her--it might be the one thing that makes a difference.

There but for the grace of God go a whole lot of us--one day can change your life, and one decision can ruin it. But those are years in the making, and if just one person would give a damn, so many of these horror stories that send these girls to prison would be stopped in their tracks before it gets this far.

It could be your daughter. She is just like them too, wondering if she is pretty enough, or what it takes to keep that boy interested in her, even if he is a piece of shit that is not worthy of her anyway, or not seeing the value in being able to take care of herself, or working to get the skills to do just that---that was all of us at one time.

It breaks my heart

Looking good!

It was such a beautiful day today, that in the midst of the 1903 things I had to do, I stripped Grandpa's two blankets off of him. I always hold my breath when I do it, because I am never sure what I will find under there--although it has only been a few weeks since I checked him out. He looked pretty good then, but if there is one true thing about old horses, is that they can turn on a dime and he has done that before, for sure. I was thrilled to see him in this good of flesh. Looking pretty good for a 29 year old cutter, isn't he?
Grandpa is the boss of the babies. He loves them, it is a hoot to see him boss them around and play with them--and they swarm to him like moths to a flame. I know what he wanted when I turned him out naked--he wanted very much to roll, but he wanted left alone to do it. The babies were not about to leave him be though-- I wasted twenty minutes waiting for them to go away so I could get some shots of him.
This is Grandpa's serious face. I think he still expects to be handed a check every time I get out the camera--wouldn't it be nice if that is how it really went? Something you can see in these closer photos is the difference in his hair coat where his blanket was and where he was nekkid to the wind--it is longer and shaggier on the neck. The coat that is covered by his blankets is much flatter, from the weight of the blankets. I normally do not blanket a horse, but with his weight issues, I do not want him wasting a single calorie on shivering.
I knew it would not last for long. He is a very stoic character, usually--but makes the funniest faces sometimes.
These next few photos show how babies interact with older horses. They will approach clacking their teeth at them--I think they are telling the older horse, "Dont hurt me, I am just a baby". It is a sign of submissiveness. Babies learn so much from an older horse like this, from social skills to how to take care of themselves. Here Grandpa is warning him to back off. Not only is Grandpa started to show his teeth, look at his ears..they are laid back in warning.
Here, baby is not listening
Clearly, baby does not learn fast, he is still clacking away--but Grandpa is a benevolent dictator and he is letting him get closer to him without threat.
Look at the teeth on this ol boy--they look nasty. He has very regular tooth care, and his are actually in surprisingly good shape. Horse teeth are not like people teeth--and it is not uncommon for an older horse to have no teeth at all, which of course contributes to weight problems. He has only lost a couple, and keeping up on his dentistry has helped that.

This last pic shows how I feel tonight. I am out of town, enjoying a hotel bed that does not have dog hair in it, preparing for my prison visit tomorrow. I have 1000 more pages to read before 9 am---think I can do it?