What's Up Wednesday!

Happy Wednesday friends! I'm super hopped up on chocolate covered coffee beans, so I apologize in advance if I abuse the exclamation point. So let's talk about the crazy week gone by!
Friday we finally got some much needed rain, unfortunately it came when I got home from work, so riding didn't happen. I mean, I'm game for a little rain, but I draw the line at lightning! Instead, I decided to make good use of the free time and pretty up the ponies a little. They were starting to really look homeless.
Before in all their homeless glory:

Romey

Jampy

Rio

I love that they all refused to smile and prick their ears for the before photos. I think they were embarrassed I let them get so scruffy. We trimmed nose whiskers, bridle paths, and neatened up the ears. I didn't trim the ears close since it's been so buggy and no one is showing anyway.

After looking more like show ponies:

Romey

Jampy

Rio

They're so vane! Look at them posing for the camera now that they have handsome haircuts. Bunch of princesses these geldings are...

Saturday morning I was off to ride my baby Badger! I hadn't seen him in SO LONG! I was having withdrawals. He was great! It was cool and windy, and while I could tell he was a little freshy pants, he didn't do anything naughty. (Jamp really could learn a thing or two from him...) 

After riding Badger, I had to run a few errands and stopped to get Jamp and Romey each a new bonnet. Romey was using a pretty ugly one and Jamp's is really my nice show one, so I don't want to mess that one up using it everyday. After scoring a Mexican coke at Tractor Supply, I headed home to ride more horses!

Check out my free bottle opener!

It was a gorgeous day, and I was excited to work the boys (and use our new bonnets). They were great to ride after their day off surprisingly. Everyone got cleaned... inside and out... (Ewwww SHEATH CLEANING!) and stuffed their faces with grass. I also tortured them each with a photo shoot while they were grazing.

Obviously Jampy had the best light for his photo shoot... These boys though... so photogenic! I also subjected Rio to this:

If he ever writes a book, this will be the cover. Such a super model! 

Sunday was pretty much the same. I started the morning with a lesson on Badger. He's a very understanding baby. I accidentally made him trot more jumps than we cantered. #sorrybadger Good thing Honey Badger don't care! 

Maybe not his best angle...

Next was a stroll through the farmer's market where I stocked up on carrots for the boys and too much cheese for me. AND some delicious treats for the pups. Solid trip to the market! And then it was time for more riding! Except Rio didn't want to go first.

The horses were great. After my not so stellar attempts at jumping Badger, I decided to jump Jampy a little and get some more practice. He was actually feeling brave and jumped some of the fences he's deemed terrifying without any antics. Good boy Jampy. Romey hasn't been cleared for jumping yet, but we worked on the canter a bit more than we have been. He still has to kind of run into it, but once he gets going, his canter is lovely! I'm really excited about this horse. I think he's going to be a good guy. As always, Rio was perfect. We even went for a walk in the yard.

Once the tall kids were all worked, I took the short kids out for a walk. They're really unfit. They tried to quit before we even made it home!

But they did eventually get up and finish the walk. Next on the agenda was that task of cleaning the barn floor. I have a couple bird nests WAY up in the rafters. Those nests each have I think four baby birds (hard to say how many for sure since they're so high up). That's a lot of pooping birds you guys. A LOT. My helper usually does a good job of cleaning up after them, but for some reason this year he seems to be not caring about the poo riddled floor. So I guess that leaves me for poo removal. 

Birds are gross.

I got to work scrubbing and rinsing and after a million hours (or two... whatever) it was looking much better. And very wet.

I also decided that baby birds are no different than puppies and put some puppy training pads under the nests.

How do you like those problem solving skills?! Pretty smart right?! They're definitely helping the situation. And shockingly, the horses aren't afraid of them! I really thought Jamp would take exception to the white things on the floor. But he's fine with them. It was now about 40 o'clock and time to head over to see if anyone was lighting off fireworks at the beach. The sunset was gorgeous, I wish I had left earlier to see it by the water.

A few of the neighbors by my dad's house had some decent explosives, so the trip was totally worth it.

Now it was 400 o'clock and I was pooped. POOPED! This photo of my watch was taken just after floor washing. So the time on there does not correlate with 400 o'clock.

That's a lot of steps in one day. Important to note, despite all those steps, I lost zero pounds this weekend. ZERO. Stupid thyroid.

Monday was July 4th, so I was up early to do the barn chores. I didn't ride, but I had to get the stalls cleaned and horses both turned out and IN before 10 so I could goof off for the day. My dad's boat was participating in the local boat parade, and he invited us kids to join the fun. Woohoo! I love boating! It was a gorgeous day for it, and I was surprised how many boats were in the parade. Funny thing though... No spectators. Like none. There was a car show going on, and some of those attendees glanced over, but that was about it. Odd.

I'm on a boat! And that reel is literally bigger than my head.

Pirate ship?

'Merica

After goofing off for a few hours and getting a sunglass tan line, I headed back home to walk the pups again. It was pretty hot out and the sun was strong, so I didn't want to take the short kids out on the road. I figured we could circle the yard a few times, but apparently they were still exhausted from the walk the day before.

So we mostly lounged in the yard instead. Bums. Hey, it's a holiday, right?! These two kill me. 

This week at work has been ridiculously busy, but I suppose that's a good thing. I'm already looking forward to this weekend! Baby Badger is at the Vermont Summer Festival for the next two weeks, but that means I can get some stuff done around the house this weekend. I'm going to head up to VT next week to join the fun and MAYBE show in a 2'6" class of some sort if he and I can figure each other out. We'll have to see how this first week goes for him. 

And that my friends, is what's up this Wednesday. How was your 4th of July? Did you get to see some fireworks? Go to a cookout? Anything new you want to talk about? Let's chat in the comments!

Is it me, or are long weekends too short??

July 4th weekend is definitely one of my favorites! While there's never a guarantee of good weather, you can usually count on it being warm at the very least. I didn't really make any plans for the weekend, but rather decided to play it by ear. And I'm glad I did!
Friday I had to do barn chores in the morning, which was good as it got me out of bed instead of letting me sloth around for too long. Fortunately, I got all the stalls done and horses turned out and back in before the rain came. Once it arrived... IT POURED BUCKETS ALL DAY! I could tell from my Facebook news feed that many plans were canceled and days ruined. But selfishly, I was kind of happy for the rainy day. I hung out with the pugs, and even took a nap!
Here's a pictorial essay of my Friday:

Rio taking a stroll

The puggies taking a nap

Jampy not wanting his photo taken

Ducky pretending he's cute

Saturday TOTALLY made up for Friday's rainout. I woke up to sunny skies and comfortable temperatures. Yay! I started my day with breakfast downtown and running some errands. I then headed out to the barn to do pony things. And I made sure to finish in time for some relaxing by the pool with an adult freeze pop. I also did some laundry while lounging. 2 Birds, 1 Stone. Win! At 5 I went out to feed the tall four legged kids, and then headed out for some bonding time with my mom. We went to a semi-local mall and did some damage to my bank account. Maybe I'll recap my shopping day in another post... Here's Saturday's pictorial essay:

Jampy looking handsome

Grown-up Freeze Pop

Gorgeous pool day!

Pia making it clear I take too many pics

Sunday was a carbon copy of Saturday, only warmer. So gorgeous! Jampy and I had a horse show to go to, so the morning was spent prepping and the afternoon showing. He was a perfect pony! I accidentally learned the wrong course for the first class, so we were disqualified from that one. Oops. But the rest went great! My weekend was topped off with a barbeque at the family beach house. Perfect end to an almost perfect weekend! I didn't take many photos Sunday, but here are our prizes from the horse show!

How was your holiday weekend? Do anything fun? Did you have nice weather?

Ahhh Unofficially Summer. FINALLY!

According to the weathermen this long weekend was NOT looking promising. Not at all. They had all kinds of rain in the forecast. ALL KINDS! Thankfully, they were all sorts of wrong! At least where I live. Not far from me, people were hit with some pretty bad storms, hail and everything!

I really didn't make many plans for the weekend other than a pizza dinner on Sunday with some friends and dinner with the family on Monday. That left my days wide open for fun with ponies, fun with pugs, and fun in the sun. Wise move on my part!

Earlier in the week, when I was driving by the lake on my way home, I noticed this sign at the snack shack:

Now if you don't live on the CT Shoreline, this likely means nothing to you. But these donuts are AMAZING. They make Dunkin Donuts taste like a prepackaged cookie. (As in not even a pastry.) This snack shack is ohhh maybe 1/10 of a mile from my house. BAD NEWS for my pants ever fitting. Sigh. So I realized drastic steps needed to be taken, as we all know about my sweet tooth (see here).

Yep that's right. I had to start running again. No way around it. I put on this adorable little running skirt and matching tank and headed out the door. I chose the flattest route available near my house since it's been so long. The one next to Cedar Lake:

I'm not going to lie, I walked up the hills. I paused my watch during my breaks though to make sure I got 3 miles of running done. End result:

Not bad right?! I didn't think so either. Next I tended to the equine. Jamp and Ducky worked and had grass, while Rio (enjoying his retirement) skipped the working part.

Not a bad Saturday at all! Ducky even acted like a real horse doing everything I asked of him on the first try. Miracles do happen!

Sunday was much of the same, minus the run since I could barely walk. Holey out-of-shapeness! Check out what a gorgeous day we had:

Those skies! Am I right?! You may notice there is not a photo of a certain little gray horse eating grass from Sunday... That's because he reverted back to Spiteful Duck and refused to work again. REFUSED. I sat on him for over an hour being able to only move backwards. Clearly he's well aware that I am not a horse trainer. When I finally did get him to move, I decided to take him outside the ring instead, wondering if he was just begging for a change in venue. I walked all around the yard, and then right into the barn. Figured he could carry my tired legs inside. He seemed too surprised to argue.

 I had promised the pugs they could go for a walk on Sunday, so despite my sore legs, we went out for a one mile walk. There is a cul-de-sac just up the road from me, and it's about a mile there and back. It's a nice quiet street which is perfect since it can be a bit of a juggle with the two of them. I dare you to watch this without smiling:

They crack me up. All the time.

Monday I gave all of my barn helpers the day off so I had barn chores to do in the morning. It was raining at 7 when I got up, so after feeding, I lazed around with the pugs for awhile and got some reading time in. (We're reading The Goldfinch for wine book club. Excellent read so far, though a bit long.) Once the rain stopped, the horses went outside to play while I did barn chores. Being annoyed with Ducky still, I decided to ride Jamp, spoil Rio, and call it a day.  Artie, Pia, and I spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying the sunshine outside.

What a great weekend! So much pony and pug time! What did you do this weekend? Any big plans or barbeques? Did you have nice weather?