Eat chocolate and be happy!

a bit more

Just a bit more about our ride including pictures!

 We are riding in Chickamauga Battlefield. It is a beautiful place to ride or hike if you are so inclined. The ride started off pretty good. We started with an easy walk up a grassy knoll where  a bloody battle was fought in the Civil War. Crystal jumps sideways when some birds fly up in front of her, Precious just plods along. The trail is covered with leaves that has fallen from the trees. Red, yellow, orange and brown all mingling together to form a beautiful carpet to walk on. Sunlight filters through the branches and creates dancing sparkles on the drops of water that are on leaves and branches. The sound of the traffic is muffled, the feeling of being free from the world settles in. Soon another rider joins us. He is riding a gelding that is so calm that Precious pretty much pays no mind. Precious is a boss mare and this horse yielded right away to that fact.

We get to the main road and I wondered if we would have any trouble crossing. To my delight Precious waited until I gave her the command to go. This is a pretty heavily traveled roadway on the weekend. Some horses have problems crossing a road that have cars on it. Her first time went well! On we go. Soon we come to a fork in the trail. One path leads all the way around the park, the other cuts through the center. We decided to take the path through the center. After all the days are shorter and I am riding a fat, out of shape horse. Yes she is fat, weighed in at 1049 pounds and is 14.2 hands tall. It is a beautiful day and all the animals are out. Rabbits and snakes, squirrels and deer are all seen moving around. Open season on deer and we are seeing them everywhere. LOL No hunting where we are and the deer know they are safe.

We are moving along pretty good and Precious starts getting a bit antsy. In a bit a group of horses come up on us. All of a sudden Precious is full of it. I get Pat to stop and allow those horses to get ahead of us and out of sight. I could feel that they were the source of her antsy behavior. Soon she settles back down. Pretty soon we come to a creek that we have to cross. This is another new experience for Precious. At my urging she stepped forward and walked into the creek and bent her head down for a drink then walked out. I was so proud of her! Now we are at an open field and she spots the other horses again.Oh boy here we go again. They get out of sight again and she settld down. Thsi is really making me nervous. I just know what she wants and I DO NOT want to be in on it! Now we are coming up on a real biggie. Walking up a creek and going under a road at the same time. My word, my chest just filled with pride as she did it like she has been doing it all her life! She is trusting that I will not take her into danger! Now I know these are all new experiences for her. She was just back from the trainer when I bought her and I broke my back 1 week later, so she has never had these things happen before.

UTOH trouble ahead! the group of horses that had passed us is resting up ahead. Pat says lets join them and takes off in a gallop. Precious is right on their tail only I know she is looking for trouble!Too soon we meet up with them. The gelding comes over to Crystal and Precious decided to do her thing with me on her back. She rears up a bit and Pat grabs her after the second time when he notices. Actually after I yelled at him! Unfortunately that did not end it. Precious turns and tries to kick. I yank her head up and then she tries again. This time Pat grabs her head and leads her off. He finally understood when I told him that she wanted trouble. We let them ride off before starting on the trail again. Soon we meet another horse coming towards us, a lady riding bareback. She is riding a beautiful black mare. I catch up to them and maneuver Precious to the other side of Crystal to put her in between us since they were stopped and talking. that was working fine until the mare steps forward and nips Crystal in the face! She jumps back and in the blink of an eye Precious has whrilled around Crystal and is positioning herself to kick! I pulled and turned Precious and yell out that she will kick and the lady takes off. Scary moment! I know that all she was going to do was protect Crystal. See Precious is the boss mare and Crystal is the trail boss. If Crystal spots a bugger then Precious leads her past it but other wise Crystal sets the pace and direction on the trail. If there is danger it is Precious's job to protect.

The rest of the ride went uneventful. There was a lot of hard climbing and both horses were tired. Soon we get back to the trailor. Precious was drenched with sweat. I have no doubt she lost weight! LOL Gave her a good rub down and brushing and treated her to some carrots. On the trailor andback home again.

I am sore from my ride. Apparently when she whipped around she pulled some muscles in my ribcage. It feels like I have been punched there. I will get over it. I am looking forward to our next ride. I hope to go tomorrow!

Chickamauga Battlefield is virgin forest, meaning it has never been cut and is made up of old groth trees. There are lots of fallen trees in it from the tropical storm that movd through here a few years back also from the major ice storm and blizzard we had. They do not remove the trees. They lay where they fall. the only ones that get removed are the ones that have fallen across a road or a trail. Those are cut and pushed aside. This makes for a bounty of places for animals and insects to call home. It is not unusual to see deer and other wild animals. During the winter bobcats come down from the mountains into the park. Sometimes they are captured and removed. Bears, if they come into the park are always captured and removed. Foxes and other small animals thrive in the free from hunting environment.

Animals are not the onlything you will see a lot of. Throughout the park are monuments to honor the fallen. There are cannons all over and 100's of plaques telling what happened there at the spot. This was the site of a bloody battle, a hard win and a hard loss. History was made here. You go go all day and longer reading these plaques and learning about what happened, who was there and who died. I am not just talking about the generals and those people. I mean the soldiers. You can learn who they are and where they were from and where they died.

Tags: horses, Chickamauga, battlefield, park, ride,

Pat is on vacation this week and we are having fun! Yesterday we went horseback riding in the park again. Precious did so much better. I did have an incident with her. We came up on this group of horses and she decided that she was going to play boss mare and tried to kick one of the horses while I was on her back. It was a bit scary!
I got her in control with a bit of help from Pat. She needs to be introduced to other horses 1 at a time. We rode with another guy that we met on th trail. It was nice riding with someone. He had a 14 year old gelding. For some reason she seemed to be okay with him, did not get close to him though!

Are you a lady?

You Are 60% Lady

You're part lady, part modern woman. Etiquette is important to you, but you brush aside rules that are outdated or silly.

Are You A Lady?

oh happy day

Today has been a good day. It was raining today, hard miserable rain. Wrecks all over and there were powerlines down. But it was a good day.

I drove in the rain this morning and I made it to where I was going and back again. I walked in the house and my hunny gave me a cup of French vanilla cappuccino. In a bit I made us some BLTs to eat. Afterwards the phone rang. I hate hearing the phone ring now for some reason. It was a good call for once. Pat got the job. Starts in a week if he wants. More pay, more respect, probably the same BS but with different voices. LOL Soon Brook is home from school. She asks to go to Tae Kwon Do open class so off we go. I go to Goodwill and find some new Christmas mugs to replace some broken ones. A good day still. We go to Walmart to get some cookies and get a Halloween costume instead. It was marked down. Saving money always makes a good day. Oh yea I forgot earlier today I got to tell a bill collector to shove it. You know how they try to make you pay all of it at once and threaten you without actually saying it. This one crossed the line when she said she was going to take me to court and I have been making payments! I lost it. Boy did that feel good. Now where was I? Oh yea. Now it is time to take Brook home. I was dreading that. I really did not want to see my daughter. I was greeted with the news that they will not be moving. At least not for awhile. I think I got at least 2 more years. I pray. Thank you for all the good wishes, prayers, and thoughts! They worked! Now I am home alone and happy. Today has been a good day.

my heart

My heart is breaking. Candy just told me that they are moving to Dallas in Decemver. Just for 3 months she said. BS nobody moves for 3 months. You don't pull a child out of school in the middle of a semester and cause them to miss school, change them to another school, and then 90 days later change them back. This will cause her to be held back for 3rd grade. You can't  move kids in the middle of a grading period. Does she have any idea how much harm this will cause? She promised that she would not move her out of her school before she finished 5th grade. She will miss out on getting her black belt in Taekwondo because she will miss 3 or more months of training. Right now she could possible test in the spring, September at the latest. That won't happen if she is not in constant training. She will miss all her friends. She will lose her medical coverage.

I don't know how I will survive not seeing her. I know she says 3 months, but what  if she decides to stay there? They probably will. After all, all of his family is there. She said she will be surrounded by family. I don't count, I guess. She will be surrounded by strangers to her. Her family is here. The only family she knows.

I said if it is only 90 days, why not leave her here so her life is not disrupted. No, she says. She is mine. She goes where I go.

My head is exploding, I feel like I am going to be sick.

Southernness

Southernness

Only a Southerner knows the difference between a hissie fit and a conniption fit, and that you don't "HAVE" them, you "PITCH" them.
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Only a Southerner knows how many fish, collard greens, turnip greens, peas, beans, etc., make up "a mess."
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Only a Southerner can show or point out to you the general direction of"yonder."
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Only a Southerner knows exactly how long "directly" is, ... as in: "Going to town, be back directly."
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Even Southern babies know that "Gimme some sugar" is not a request for the white, granular sweet substance that sits in a pretty little bowl in the middle of the table.
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All Southerners know exactly when "by and by" is. They might not use the term, but they know the concept well.
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Only a Southerner knows instinctively that the best gesture of solace for a neighbor who's got trouble is a plate of hot fried chicken and a big bowl of cold potato salad. If the neighbor's trouble is a real crisis, they also know to add a large banana puddin!
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Only Southerners grow up knowing the difference between "right near" and "a right far piece." They also know that "just down the road" can be 1 mile or 20.
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Only a Southerner, both knows and understands, the difference between a redneck, a good ol' boy, and po' white trash.
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No true Southerner would ever assume that the car with the flashing turn signal is actually going to make a turn.
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A Southerner knows that "fixin" can be used as a noun, a verb, or an adverb.
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Only Southerners make friends while standing in lines, ... and when we're "inline," .... we talk to everybody!
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Put 100 Southerners in a room and half of them will discover they're related, even if only by marriage.
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In the South, y'all is singular, .... all y'all is plural.
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Southerners know grits come from corn and how to eat them.
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Every Southerner knows tomatoes with eggs, bacon, grits, and coffee are perfectly wonderful; that red eye gravy is also a breakfast food; and that fried green tomatoes are not a breakfast food.
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When you hear someone say, "Well, I caught myself lookin'," you know you are in the presence of a genuine Southerner!
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Only true Southerners say "sweet tea" and "sweet milk." Sweet tea indicates the need for sugar and lots of it -- we do not like our tea unsweetened. "Sweet milk" means you don't want buttermilk.
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And a true Southerner knows you don't scream obscenities at little old ladies who drive 30 MPH on the freeway. You just say,"Bless her heart" .. and go your own way.
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To those of you who are still a little embarrassed by your Southerness: Take two tent revivals and a dose of sausage gravy and call me in the morning. Bless your heart!
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And to those of you who are still having a hard time understanding all this Southern stuff, ... bless your hearts, I hear they are fixin' to have classes on Southernness as a second language!
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And for those that are not from the South but have lived here for a long time, all y'all need a sign to hang on y'alls front porch that reads "I ain't from the South, but I got here as fast as I could."

BUGSSSSS

Here we go again. It is that time of the year when head lice gets going around. Yes I know it is a year round thing but the fall and the first real cool weather seems to increase the instances of head lice in school.

Last week Brook was sent home with the bugs. Not a fun thing. I allowed her mama to take care of it. She shampooed her hair with the stuff and combed her out. Did all the other stuff too I assumed. Well today the school calls me again. "Come get Brook, she has the bugs again." I was totally teed off. I call the doctor for a script of the good stuff. There is no way I am going to be doing this every week! After picking up Brook I asked her if her mama did certain things and come to find out that there were many things she did not do. Simple basic things like wash all the sheets and towels, vacuum, wash the pillows on Brook's bed. Now my head is itching! As a precaution I will be treating my head too! I hate this! I will be keeping Brook here with me until my daughter can do what needs to be done, including treating her head and her husband's head. Going to the store and getting a BIG jar of mayo too! and some bonnets and some more vacuum cleaner bags. Oh happy day.

I better put some moving along happy music on so I can get this stuff done!

changes

There are changes in the air here. I am not just talking about leaves changing and cold weather coming on.

Pat had a talk with his new boss yesterday. He was told that he(new boss) is putting a young guy on first shift that has not been with the company very long. He is going to give him top pay with the top position. Basically he told Pat that he was too old and there is no place for him. He has given this company 20 years. With everything that has happened at work this week and last he is tired of it all. It has made home life a bit tense as you can imagine. Today he did something about it. He put in for a job in another place and it is looking good. All that is needed is for aproval to come from home office. So possibly in less than a month he will be somewhere else. Yes, changing jobs come with a risk. they could fire him in 90 days for no reason. Actually in TN you can be fired at anytime for no reason and not be able to collect unemployment. Another risk is, he could be jumping from the frying pan into the fire. We may have to tighten our belts some, and right at the time of the year with all the holidays and taxes are due and a bunch of other stuff. But we will survive.

Oh yea. They will be starting him out more per hour with a raise in 90 days.

Time to go get Brook from the bus stop. Take care.

JOURNALS!!!

Kate is making a new journal index. She is asking everyone to go there and leave your link and she will try to organize them. This is with hope that maybe someone looking for a new journal to read or perhaps trying to find an old favorite that has been misplaced can find what they are looking for.

Go here and leave your link and share this link with all you know.

**

Back home and back at it

I am back home now and once again back at the old grind. My niece is doing well all things considered. Although she and Gary have been together most of her adult life, they have only been married for the last 7 years. She will have it tough for awhile but I feel that she is strong enough to survive. That was not always the case. I am proud of her.

Everybody was real happy to see me. Not sure who missed me the most, the dog, the cats or Pat. I know I missed all of them very much.

Yesterday Pat and I went on a ride in the park. It was the first time we have ever taken the 2 horses together anywhere on the trailor. They did very well I thought. Today I feel like somebody worked me over! We rode for about 5 hours. I am not used to that. For that matter , neither are the horses! Precious needed it bad. She is so fat! Towards the end she was having a bit of trouble carrying me. She stumbled a bit. We got back to the trailor and she went straight to sleep! LOL. They were real happy to get home. I was too!

Today I will see Brook for the first time in 10 days. It has been a very long time. They went to Dallas on her fall break. I miss her! I have not been apart from her for that long since.... well I guess since she was born! She will be here in about 3 hours! I can't wait!

Okay I guess I need to get back to my cleaning.

I will be gone

I just noticed that I have not done an entry in almost a week. I have been so busy getting everything ready for winter around here. Now I have to take a break from that. I still will not be on for a while.

I will be going to stay with my niece for a bit. Her husband had a fatal heart attack last night. He was only 51 years old. She needs me to be with her and so I must go. We are closer to sisters than I am to my sisters. We grew up together. I love her. She was so happy. I am worried about her.

Pat will be all alone this week. Anybody see PHOLLOW7 on line give him a hollar. He will probably be in POGO. I have to get busy. I need to pack my case and fix stuff for Pat to eat this week. I am afraid I have spoiled him. All he knows how to cook is hotdogs! LOL

who

Ride with me

Here are some videos of our ride Sunday. If you have the sound on it will be noisy from the wind. The view you see is the view I see. They may load slow if you are dialup.

 

Tags: motorcycle, Georgia, video, bike, ride, mountain