How I spent my summer vacation, pt. 1

A lot of this spring's melt ended up in our basement.

Thankfully, I have wonderful parents who don't mind giving up their time to assist in major construction projects, and what started out a wet, mildew-y mess of constant seepage...

Apparently the initial stages were too depressing -
I don't appear to have any pictures!

partway through

...ended up with a completely revamped basement. Removing two walls, blocking off a hallway to create this lovely bookcase, and putting in floating benches for added storage transformed this whole space. I felt like I was on one of those Home & Garden network shows! My dad is amazing.

Special bonus prize!

He also mounted saddle racks - I now have a lovely, dry space to store a LOT of tack.

In between helping us downstairs, my mom reorganized closets, dusted, cleaned and fed us - I'm exhausted all over again just thinking about how much we accomplished in the last several weeks!

On the pony front...

These two ladies will make a pretty team, don't you think? The last of the mares, they're heading for a new home this week.

Getting an EHV-1 booster and worming out of the way

I would have had the farrier out, too, but wanted the booster out of the way before we introduced any new germs, so they'll be going to their new home slightly long-toed, but protected.

I snagged a few minutes on board - Sunny has had almost a month completely off, and he's getting more than a bit tubby on all that green grass. There's some serious riding in his future, but unfortunately not for another month or so.

Sunny being a gentleman with my mom

I'd hoped we could get at least one trail ride in. Unfortunately, days just seemed to race by. They're back at home, and I'm back at work. Vacation always seems like a different world, even when I don't actually go anywhere...

Pictures soon...

It's been a wonderful and hectic couple of weeks around here. I had two weeks vacation, most of which was spent in the basement dealing - hopefully successfully - with a water problem. But there was time to spend a few hours out with the four-foots.

My folks were here, and my mom got some great pictures. She was also fabulous helping with a trailer loading refresher course with Star & Solitaire who will be heading for a new home tomorrow if all goes well. They're bound for a trainer to become a team, and will certainly be a flashy pair of blacks. Not quite exactly matched, but close enough to turn some heads, I think.

Pictures to follow!

Two weeks vacation, a duck, etc.

It was a wonderful, very busy two weeks. a cousin and her husband stopped by on Memorial Day on their way out to the Hills. My folks were here, which would have been fantastic regardless, but we also managed to accomplish an amazing amount. Kitchen cupboards cleaned and reorganized, flowers planted, trim painted, a large section of gutter replaced along with three living room windows.... The list goes on and on.

My sister was here for a long weekend with my new niece - my first chance to meet her, and she's as precious as her pictures. She's already 8 months old!

We also did farm chores for two sets of friends which included the excitement of escaped cows/calves on two separate occasions - both my mom and dad got in on the fun of herding the escapees back where they belonged. No pictures of that, but it was exciting.

Unfortunately, the one thing the two weeks didn't include was much horse time. Grooming and fussing, but I didn't actually get my butt on a horse until this morning. It was only five minutes bareback in the pasture with a halter, but Sunny seemed as pleased with it as I was. Too bad it's back to work for me in the morning and it will be Saturday before I can get back out there.

Let's see... we also looked at a couple of acreages, ended up with an orphan mallard ducking, test pulled a horse trailer that I think just might be THE one, and spent the last two days dog-sitting (and slipping in some much-needed napping!).

Short duck video...

SD goes to Michigan

How short, and yet how sweet one week can be. Friday before last at almost exactly 10 PM we had the truck loaded and the kids buckled into the back seat. Stops at the post office, the bank, and the gas station accomplished, we headed out for Upper Michigan to spend a week pinballing between the big lakes, visiting my folks, fishing, and indulging in other (sadly) non-horsey activities.

Sunrise in Wisconsin

It's a long drive, and longer with all of us - why is it that pit-stops are never necessary simultaneously? But the sunrise in Wisconsin was beautiful. Right before I took this we passed a loaded cattle truck which appeared to have completely missed a curve and "emergency stopped" across the oncoming lane into a small stand of trees. I'm guessing from the lack of skid marks that the driver fell asleep. Thankfully, although the underneath of the engine compartment had to be shredded, the cab was undamaged, the driver was out and moving around and the cargo appeared to be upright, as well. The state police were on scene and everything was well in hand, so we didn't stop to offer assistance.

This year we were just in time for some beautiful ripe blueberries and even the mosquitoes and swarms of deer flies couldn't keep us from picking. (I've been reading all those jam and jelly descriptions Latigo Liz over at Cowgirl Up has been posting with my mouth watering, so I'm looking forward to trying my hand at some wild blueberry jam.)

Wild Blueberries
(well, these particular ones were black...)

The kids and T fished in Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, and most successfully in MacDonald Lake right down the road from my folks.

Fishing at Grand Marais (Lake Superior)

"If I don't look at it, I'm safe..."

Some of us weren't as excited about all the water - my mom's Belgian, Yancy, thought it was just fine staying dry, thank you very much!

Yancey on alert

She was much more entertained keeping watch over the rustling bushes while they fished off the dam at MacDonald Lake.

The Moving Wall, the half size replica of the Vietnam Memorial Wall, was in Manistique while we were there, and we took the opportunity to stop and pay our respects. It was very moving, no pun intended. Although I've visited the real thing, it's incredibly touching to hear the hush and see the tokens left by survivors and their families.

At the Moving Wall

We also visited the Eva Burrell Animal Shelter (a.k.a the Humane Society of Schoolcraft County) and played with the kittens for a while. My folks volunteer, and it's always fun to see the animals. I usually try to help on their day when I'm home, but the kids hadn't been yet. M had a great time with the kittens, but we'd agreed beforehand that we couldn't take one home with us - not only would Mabel and Snowball have objections, but 14 hours in a truck, not to mention two days camping across Wisconsin with a kitten.... Not gonna happen this trip!

Adorable, or what?

Can't say enough good things about the shelter, though. Like all shelters, they end up with a lot of dumped animals nobody wants, or people can't afford to keep. Not enough spay and neuter, and with the economy what it is, lots of older, hard to place pets. They make a great effort to get everything successfully and responsibly re-homed.

Sunset over MacDonald Lake

Unfortunately, after many long walks, gorgeous sunsets, lots of wonderful meals, happy hours of fishing and hysterical games of golf (the card game, not the ball & stick variety), our trip had to come to an end.

Now that we're home it's laundry, school planning, and lots of memories to file away.