Obviously back on the internet...

So what have we been doing? Mostly just hanging out at the house and alot of horse stuffs. Patches has been off to the trainers and come back. Benjamin Butthead is over there now. Has been for two weeks. Patches is doing alot better. Her headset is so much better. She's not rooting her nose in the air to get away from the bit. Scott isn't wanting to get off and walk back to the trailer and turn her loose somewhere along the way. We went out to Dirk's, the trainer, and took lessons ourselves. Scott rode Patch and I took Spook out. Dirk has some old tractor tires set up. A single, two stacked on top of each other, and a single again, all in a line. I was having issues with sending Spook out, but got the tools to figure it out now. We got both of them to walk up onto the first single and over. Then onto the two stacked and down onto the single. It took me alot longer to figure out, and convince Spook how to do it. Dirk had been working with Patch, so it was just a matter of Scott figuring it out. We've been doing work in the arena. I had the advantage there over Scott. I had a decent seat figured out already, a rocking horse lope on my horse, and he neck reined already. We sent Scott and I doing circles around the arena opposite direction of each other. Patch kept trying to cut to the inside. So Dirk and I sat our ponies in the middle, told Scott to not steer, just keep her moving at a lope. She did alot of weaving and ducking, but he finally got his seat, and she realized it was just easier to lope around the outside.

We did a trail ride with Dirk before we brought Patches home. Scott got alot of tools to use with her wanting to be buddy sour. Some circles and backing are so much harder than just going where he wants her to. He can make her sidepass, which makes me jealous as heck. Spook used to know how, but he and I aren't clicking our cues together. I can make him take two steps over with only his front end, then two with only the back, two with the front..... I can turn him all the way around on only the front end or back. I was having alot of problems with making him back in the saddle, but I just lift the reins now and move my legs off the saddle, he backs, and I can roll him around off his hindend. I've very happy with that. When ever I take him out and move him around, I don't just lead him where he needs to go. I ask him to disengage his hindquarters and move over, then just finger cues to move him front end around.

We have Tim's horsetrailer. He's building a house and will be all through the summer. He's not going to be doing a whole lot of riding. So Scott asked him if he would be opposed to us putting new tires on the trailer and we could use it when we need it. Scott and I have taken Patch and Spook on just by ourselves. It's been nice. I got a brilliant idea the first ride after we brought Patch home. It wasn;t really my idea, just mine to implement it. I've heard over and over again to make the right thing easy and the wrong thing hard. So at the end of the ride, and they are wanting to dance back to the trailer, don't want to move down the trail away from it and they're making us nuts. I said to Scott, make em do laps. He went one way, and Spook and I the other. We must have done laps around the truck and trailer for 10 mins. We made it WORK to be at the trailer. Then we walked away from it. If they tried to turn back, we let them then, did more laps. It didn't take long before they Wanted to go away from the trailer. They didn't want to go down the fork in the road to the trailer. We did this the second trail ride too. It's been great for us.

Liam is decided 4H looks fun. He's going to do Showmanship with Spook. He had his first training with Dirk and Ben today. We have some homework to do here with Patches and Spook with him. He's been watching Clinton Anderson videos like crazy. Jesse rode Spook and Patches the other day. She is a little hard in their mouths still, but she doesn't let them bully her around, and makes them go where she wants to. She even loped the both of them. I think she likes riding more than she lets on. Everytime we get the horses out she wants to ride, but is protesting having any lessons. We'll see.

We ordered a round pen today. Our tax return is finally here. We have one more paddock to fence off for our dry pen. I took a turn on the tractor harrowing the smaller field, breaking up horse turds so the grass underneath can grow in thick and strong. Liam spent most of the afternoon yesterday doing the front two and a half acres. Both pastures are looking really good. It started getting cold today at Dirk's, then started snowing on the way home. Even in the snow the kids were out there with the tractor moving rocks from the big pile where the dry pen is going to be, to over by the stand of trees. I keep forgetting to take pics of the workings with our horses, but here are some I've taken recently.

Pics from the day we got the new truck...

Stopped by the Salmon river on the way home

And pics from today

Andrea on Illusion

Dirk on Honey Joe's Hopper

Kids, tractor, rocks

Engine 9

Got a truck Finally!!!!! Closed on the house Finally!!!!!It's huge. Screaming red. Dodge Cummings 2500 3/4 ton. Four door. Four wheel drive. Long bed. Manual transmission. Tow package. BMW Hide a Hitch in the bed already for the fifth wheel. Air bags under the bed to help with load distribution. Drop in bedliner that we want to get rid of for a spray in. Diamond plate topper on the bed. Dad asked me if it came with it's own fire hydrant, so I decided to call it Engine Nine. I even drove it today, and nobody died! Woot!! It's not as scary as I had psyched myself out. It's Long, so  I was worried about reverse. I'm already a blond when it comes to backing up. I have to pull the seat up almost as far as it goes to be able to push the clutch in all the way. I push with my tip toe. My knee is almost in my bellybutton to push in the E Brake. Crappy pics from my phone.

The X Mass Present

And yes it's sp cool the whole title needs caps.

If I had to make it as a painter I'd starve to death

We did an amazing job, but I think I hate painting. The first day I cut my finger with a razor knife. I was trying to cut paper on a tape roll. I tried to use some masking tape but it bled all over. Had to have Jess come out to the car with me to clean it up and wrap it tight with some bandaids so I wouldn't bleed in the house. lol. I wore all the skin off my fingers wiping caulk. We spackled nail holes, and sanded the hell out of everything. Every single peice of exposed wood, peice of trim, shelf. What a pain in the ass. Everything had to be taped off to be primered. Then we taped it off again to paint the walls. And again to paint the trim. And again to do the ceilings. So much work to get everything ready for paint, 45 mins to spray, and pull the paper and tape off. UGH!!

 Jesse wanted her room to be green. It really was a nice, light, pretty green on the little 2x3 card on the color chart. On the wall it gets alot darker. OMG, when the light is on in her room, the glow coming out the door, down the hall looks radioactive.

We had a few people Scott knew come over while we were working on the house and set T posts so we could move the horses up by the house. We've been stretching hose from Andrea's to water the horses, and still breaking ice off the water trough. Serious pain in the butt. The well is dug, the pump is set up in the house in the control room under the stairs. Water should be turned on tomorrow. Then we can move the water trough up by the house, use our own water and hose, and run an extention cord for the tank de-icer. No more breaking ice. He's the view from the bonus room.

They have most of the lights wired in the house, and they all work. The flooring is started, all up the hall, in the livingroom, bathrooms, and most of it in the kitchen and dining room. It looks amazing. Not much left to finish up. Carpets, sinks...

You'd think I would have seen something like this in Arkansas

It's all coming together

Idaho Power connected the cables, we have Power!!!! Scott, Mike, and I spent all day out there today taping, spackling, sanding. I taped all the back side of the all the closets, above and below all the shelves. I think it was because I wasthe shortest one, and could fit under the bottom shelf. Some of the frames around the doors already have the trim up and needed to be taped off. I was doing fine untill Scott stole my step ladder. I had to let Mike finish the tops. I couldn't reach them. All the wood surfaces, shelves, door casings, got an oil based primer today. Tomorrow we rip off the tape and paper, finish taping plastic over all the windows, and start with the regular primer. Scott ordered and picked up the wall and celing colors.
                                             
                                                      Yay Power!!

Siding is still needing to be finished

Bonus room

Texture is done on the walls and getting ready for paint

The view from my back porch

Hillbilly look

Kids eating thier first dinner in the new house

Prepping doors

Spraying closets