It's a Bloomin' Shame!

Quick note.

2006-02-06T07:46:00.000-06:00

I have a new favorite toy. I've started pulling apart my engine for engine service class and I just love how much easier it is with my 3/8 in drive impact wrench! Zip, zip, zip and I have the valve cover off. Zip, zip, zip and I have the exhaust manifold off. Zip, zip, zip and I have the valley cover off. Zip, zip, zip and I have the heads off! (I don't remember if I mentioned this, but it's a V6) This week I had to give my cousin Alice the bad news that her car may be dead for good. It probably could be resurrected, but it's a Saturn, it's not worth it. She has oil in her coolant and coolant in her oil. I looked up on ALLDATA and there was a TSB back in '97 saying that this certain line of engines (and her's fell into that category) had problems when they were casting the heads, there were folds in the aluminum and then the heads would crack. So, anyway, back to looking like I'm working.

February all ready!

2006-02-02T06:22:00.000-06:00

How the time flies! I thought I'd tell you about a funny thing that happened to me on Sunday. Landon's sister Leal came to church on Sunday and we were talking about when her dad laid over his motorcycle one time moving it in the garage and thats when he decided to sell it to Landon. Well, I got home and it's my week to be in the garage (Jennifer and I are doing this "time share" thing with the garage) anywho, I have to move my motorcyle to my side when she's in the garage and move the cyle to her side when I'm in the garage. So here I am in my nice church cloths and 5 inch clod hopper heels trying to move the bike. Moving it wasn't the problem. The problem came when I went to put the kickstand down. I thought I had it down, but apparently I didn't and when I let go of the bike it started going down. It grabbed my jacket sleeve and took me down with it. Then fuel started to leak out (what I can only assume was) the carbs. I manage to untangle myself from the handlebars and get up, but there is still fuel leaking out, so of course my first thought is "get this bike back up ASAP!". I start pulling up and I'm at that awkward spot where it's just as easy for the bike to go back down as it is to get it up, and I start slipping on the spilt fuel... I'm sure it all had to be comical to watch. But anyway, I managed to get the bike back up without dumping it over agian. So, now I have to go back to work.

short n sweet

2006-01-19T06:43:00.000-06:00

Ok, I know I didn't elaborate on my last post and Phil called me on that. Well here's the deal. I am now back in school and for the next four months my life is not my own. I will probably not have much time to post here. And if I do, they will be short cause I'm at work. I made the Dean's List with highest honors last sememster. I was really stoked about that. The vacation was fun, and maybe later I'll be able to elaborate some more. TTFN

Yet another year goes by

2006-01-16T07:59:00.000-06:00

Hm, ok, so it's been a long time since I wrote anything on this. So if anybody checks this regularly you probably thought I fell off the end of the earth. I came close. I took a vacation out west. Took the bus out to Grand Junction, CO where my little sister Liz picked us(myself, sister Beck, cousin Faith, friend Steph) up and we went back to Telluride where she works. We snowboarded the next day and then drove down to a suburb of Phoenix, AZ to where one of my other cousins lives.

Found! (at least I think)

2005-11-08T06:37:00.000-06:00

I may have found my Mac tools. FedEx (the wonderful people they are) delivered my tools to the local Mac distributor! He unpacked the box, wondering why he was getting stuff he didn't order, and added it to his inventory. He's been out of town for a while but should be back now. At this point he has to get my order list from Mac and take the tools back out of his inventory and then I might get my tools. Hopefully it will be tonight. Not that it matters, I can't play with the cycle tonight because I have an electricity midterm tomorrow. Well, back to work.

lost in translation...

2005-11-04T06:25:00.000-06:00

My Mac tools were delivered a week ago, the problem is that no one has seen them, and FedEx can't really tell me where they delivered the box. I'm getting a little frustrated. But my tool box came to the school and it is so cool! It's artic cat green, huge, and it's got mag wheels! I'm lovin' it! Well, I'm really tired and I probably should get back to work. Oh, as an after thought, I did ride my motorcyle to school last Friday. It was great, but I'm kinda thinking I'm going to have to strip it down this winter and re-build it. Rats!
TTFN

My First Motorcycle...

2005-10-26T06:28:00.000-05:00

Well, I rode the Suzuki (aka Suzy Q) home last night. It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. I had on my snowboard pants, leather jacket, helmet and new leather gloves. May I just say that leather gloves make a HUGE difference! Not to mention the snowboard pants helped alot. Now I have to get the tabs and insurance. I'm actually thinking I might be able to drive it a little bit this year. It looks like I may have a few nice days. Man, I am SO tired. I need to get to bed at a decent hour today. I've been staying up way too late to play with my Cycle. Well, now I gotta get back to work.

21 days...

2005-10-23T20:18:00.000-05:00

That's how long it took me to get my Suzuki running. I actually took a VERY short ride on it this evening. It was super cold! I so need to get some leather gloves. Maybe I'll stop by Wilsons tomorrow... :) (they have the jacket I want with a zip-out thinsilate lining) I have some minor tweeking to do, the carbs are really dirty and the clutch seems to be funky. Rob, the guy helping me, took it out for a ride and said he had it in 5th gear with the speedo burried. (goes up to 80) Not to mention it has six gears. I need to get some new tires but it seems to be that my $200 investment was worth it. I've spent maybe $70 in parts. Now I get to park it till next summer. Oh well. The down side to this is the one person I want to talk to and tell all this to, well, he doens't want to talk to me. I miss talking to Landon so much. 4 months ago he would have been excited as me about all this. Now I doubt I even cross his mind. Grrr, if only I could just forget about him.
TTFN

Crystal landscape...

2005-10-09T07:56:00.000-05:00

Its now almost 8 in the morning and outside looks like a crystal landscape. It seems so calm and serene. Ok, on to other things...Well, the whole situation with Landon has come to an end. I asked him this last week if we could still be friends and he said no. I can get parts and advice for my car elsewhere and for cheaper, so I have no reason to go back to the shop that Landon works for. I am saddened, but it's just another chapter in my life. I must move on. I just feel so cheap and nieve believing that he really loved me and was going to marry me. If I knew what he was thinking, I might be able to understand it better, but I don't think that even he knows what he's thinking. Anyway, on a less depressing note...(sort of) The Suzuki that I bought needs some work. And I think I may have figured out why I got it so cheap. One of the important parts that has to be replaced has been discontinued. It has been redesigned, but it involves having to puchase all these other pieces that have to retrofited, but don't need to be replaced. It seemed stupid to have to do all that, so I took the piece to the machine shop at school and asked them if they could make me a new clutch push rod. They think they can do it for less than $15. Then replacing all those other parts won't be neccessary. The other good news is that I thought the seals had been discontinued as well, but after further research, I believe I can still get them. So I'm hoping that within the next couple of weeks, I'll have my Suzuki on the road. Not that it will do me any good since its getting colder and colder. But anyway, I gotta get going to church.

Lets hear it for e-bay!

2005-10-01T21:12:00.000-05:00

I think I just bought a bike! I was looking on e-bay for cycles, and there was one listed that was actually in Duluth. I e-mailed the seller and she let me come and look at it. It is a Suzuki GS550L. I have driven a Suzuki 550 before, so I kinda know how they handle. I wasn't able to test drive this one because the push rod for the clutch is bent. I talked to my friend Rob and he said that would be no problem to fix, especially seeing as I'm picking up the bike for $200. The owner should hopefully be pulling the bike from e-bay soon. I won't be able to ride it this year, but for next you it should be peachy keen. "I'm so excited, and I just can't hide it..." :) :p
Other than that, school is going great. I like all of my classes and I'm learning soo much. I'm also getting excited looking at tools and all that money that I have to spend! So anyway, yeah, life is happening! Well, now I have to do homework.

How to get a motorcycle...

2005-09-28T06:31:00.000-05:00

Ok, this is my understanding (experiance) with motorcycles. BTW this is all MN, I don't know what other states have. 1st, you get your permit. It is a written test. You can get a booklet from the DMV to study for it. You go in and take the written test. They ask you questions like "where is the best place to be in the lane to be seen by the car infront of you?" Then they have a,b,c,d answers. I passes on my first attemt. If you pass, its a $21 permit fee. The permit is good for one year. This permit allows you to ride your bike and practice for the skills test. You are restricted in that you can't have passengers, you have to wear a DOT approved helmet and you can't be out after sunset or before sunrise and you can't go on interstate highways. I believe a permit should be good enough to buy a bike from a dealer. 2nd, you do have to have insurance, but when I called on mine, it was only going to be like $85 for the whole year. (take into account, I'm a girl and I'm over 25) If you don't feel you can take and pass the skills test by the time your permit is going to expire, you can renew your permit. Landon had his permit for like 3 years before he finally took the skills test. I hope this answered your questions. Hey Phil, if you get a motorcyle, you want to road trip with me next year? Well, that's assuming we both pass our skills test, otherwise it's going to be a long trip on all the back roads. :)

Friends...

2005-09-20T06:26:00.000-05:00

I really do thank God for my friends. I was really feeling down last night, and then my friend Casey called me last night and she was such an encouragement. I think for the time being, I have things together. I really hope I can stop obsessing about Landon. I stayed up way too late doing homework and got up way to early this morning to do more homework. It's like my brain just shuts off as soon as I open a book. Well, gotta go, horses need to be turned out.

happy 50th!

2005-09-19T20:07:00.000-05:00

This is my 50th post! Wow, I'm trying to remember when I even started this thing. I have so much homework to do...oh yeah, by the way, I'm in school now. I'm going to Lake Superior College for Automotive Tech. Like I said, I have so much homework to do, but here I am lamenting still for Landon. It's been over two months since he broke up with me. Some of it seems so long ago I hardly believe it happened. The stupid thing is I still pine for him. How pathetic am I? (You don't have to answer that) Some times I feel like I'm going ok, then something happens and sets me back again. I just want to scream! Why can't I get over a stupid kid? I hardly remember what it was like being with him, but it's like I can't let go of the idea of having some one who loves me. Well, I guess that is if he really loved me... Ok, I really gotta go, maybe if I start doing homework I can stop thinking of him for like five minutes. I know he's not thinking of me like this, why, why, WHY!? Why do girls skeem and boys are clueless? Ok, there I've done it, I've made myself cry and I think my roommates home and I don't want to look like I'm crying in front of her. Well, I'm going now.

Good day yesterday

2005-09-16T06:18:00.000-05:00

I found out that enough of my credits from the community college that I attended before transfered so all I have to do is take my core technical classes. My financial aid came through and I got a small grant of like sixhundredfifty dollars and I qualified for some subsidized loans. That's good, because yesterday was the tool show at school and I'm looking at getting $2,300 worth of tool box, (that doesn't include the tools) (the box I want comes in neon green) The other good thing, which I'm sure my mother doesn't think is so keen, I went down for my motorcycle permit and passed. So I am now a motorcycle permit carring fool! :) Well, that's about all I have time for now. Luv ya'll

Good scare @ 6:00 in the morning...

2005-09-06T06:20:00.000-05:00

Because of going back to school, I'm trying to get to work at six in the morning on the days I have afternoon class. It was dark when I left my house this morning and as I neared the end of the driveway, I saw something. As I got closer, I realized it was two rather small skunks! They didn't see me until I was on my way past, so they didn't have time to react or get scared. Close call, they wouldn't have appreciated it if I'd come to school smelling like a skunk. I won't have been able to live with myself.
This is kind of a random thought, but I'm hoping by this weekend some time I'll have a motorcycle. I got to go get my permit, I think I'm doing that today. Well, got to get back to work.

Burned 'er up...

2005-08-31T06:25:00.000-05:00

Well, so anyway, I took my little G3SSE for a 'spin' last night and finished off the piston rings. (at least I think that's what Rob said) I was trying to make it the 3 or 4 miles from my house to his and burned up about 100 yards from the end of his driveway. I was proud of myself. The bike started making funny noises and when I dipped the clutch in, it died. I threw it into a lower gear and popped out on the clutch while I was still coasting. I got it started that way like 4 times, but finally on the last time it wouldn't go and just locked up the rear tire. That was interesting. I've never ridden a bike that did that. By the grace of God I was able to keep the bike upright and didn't splatter myself all over the road. Never did check to see if I left big black streaks. So now I have no fear of ripping the engine apart, it's not like I can make it worse.
Started school yesterday. Spent over $400 in books. I've found my three most expensive ones online, so I hope to be returning some of the ones I bought at the school. But anyway, I gotta get back to work. I'll write more later.

RED!

2005-08-27T21:15:00.000-05:00

Ok, so I was going for this nice strawberry blonde look, but no, it's like fire engine red! Oh well, I'll just say I'm going through a punk rocker stage. When I was rinsing it out, I made the mistake of whipping my hair around before the dye was all out. I looked up and it looked like blood had been splattered all over the ceiling and wall. I think I got it off. Yeah, so it looked like I'd sacrificed something in the bathroom.
Good night

Next Chapter...

2005-08-26T23:51:00.000-05:00

Well, so Landon finally admitted to what happened to us. He fell out of love with me. How anybody could do that, I don't know. But it's his loss, not mine. (If I keep telling myself that, I just might start believing it.) So, I'm moving on, I'm changing my hair color and I got a motorcycle. Ah, so if you actually read this, you might know that I'm changing my hair color before I even do it! You lucky person you. I'm going to be coloring it tomorrow. But anyway, on to the bike. It's a 1974-5 Kawasaki G3SSE. If you click on the title of the post it should take you to the page. My bike is the one on the bottom of the page. (Ok, so it's not actually a picture of my own bike, but mine looks very similar, except with a bad bondo and paint job on the tank) It really is in good shape for being as old as it is. It runs, but it's getting too much oil, I gotta fix that before I drive it around much more. I have to register it and get a motorcycle endorsement on my liscence. I eventually want to strip it down, re-paint the frame and rebuild it. We'll see if that actually happens.
GOOD NIGHT!

Bridget Jones' Diary...

2005-08-04T07:14:00.000-05:00

I am just like Bridget Jones. If you've seen the movie(s), you know what I mean, if you haven't seen the movie(s), see them. They've got some crude language, but in so many ways I am just like her. Except for maybe I have even less tact than she does and should be flogged for it. Maybe then I'd learn my lesson. I won't go into gory details but lets just say every time I see Landon my ex-boyfriend, I manage to find some way to make an idiot of myself. The sad thing is I can't seem to control myself! It's like I know better, but something over rides common sense and I do things that a rational mind would be horrified at. I'd become a nun if I didn't have to be a Catholic. Unfortunately, no matter where I run, there will be guys and opportunities to show how much I haven't grown up. Then of course after I've done something, I want to try to apologize for it and fix it, but then it's like, "Am I just making it worse?" I s'pose I should be careful about what I put on here because Landon has accessed this blog in the past and may choose to do so again. "Anything you say can and will be used against you". So anyways, my social skills are lacking terribly and my parents are probably wondering where they went wrong. But I'm going to go now. I got to get ready for work. Ah yes, work. I think I'm getting burned out with work to. I'm at that "what am I doing and why am I here" stage. I might be due for a change of scenery. That's another thing that's frustrating. My apparent nomadic tendencies. I can't stay in one place for too long with out feeling trapped. That could make it difficult if I wanted to "settle down" with someone. It's like, would I start itching to get out of the relationship eventually? I guess I won't know until I get to that point.

Loud pipes save lives...

2005-07-31T22:23:00.000-05:00

Well, they could. But I don't think it will do anything for me. Today my truck lost a two foot section of exhaust pipe. I didn't think my exhaust could get any louder considering I haven't had a muffler for some time, but once again, my truck proved me wrong. It can get louder! So now I have to make a decision, do I just live with it, or do I have my sister take it into the shop for me, or do I take it in myself and face Landon. (BTW it's also leaking oil, and I should have the tranny topped off after pulling out the rear drive shaft) I really don't have the money to fix this. I have to wait until my next paycheck anyway. Grrrr, and it's almost paid off to. Well, it's getting late and I have to be up early so I can get off work early. I want to pick up some pictures tomorrow that I had enlarged.
G'night :)

Ufda!

2005-07-23T08:50:00.000-05:00

Now there's an old Norwegian phrase! And that's just what I feel like! I was up WAY too late pulling the front and rear drive shafts on my F150. All the U-joints needed to be replaced. And me, being the stubborn Bolstad that I am and already having dumped $300 into my truck this week alone, decided to do it herself! I didn't start until sometime after 8:30 because an assortment of my relatives and I had gone to the movies and then I had to run to Wally World for some stuff. I also put a new break light in my sister's Aspire. But anyway, back to the truck. It took me a while to find my rust penatrant and figure out how to keep the shaft from spinning while I reamed on the bolts. I got the front one off and discovered why the guy said they were going to fall off. The front joint on the front shaft had little pieces of rust for needle bearings on one end of the spider and the other had absolutely nothing at all, it was just rattling there. No wonder my 4wheel drive sounded awful! I got the rear drive shaft out, but not before whacking my elbow on my WonderBar and almost passing out. (I'm just glad I did it on the second shaft, otherwise I might have quit right then and there) I then discovered I don't have the right tools to press out the spiders, so now I have to wait till friends start waking up and do some begging. I'll probably have to run around in my not-so-road-worthy-expired-tabs-no-insurance Scirocco. Hope I don't get caught. I'll have to stay close to home.
"Remember, if the men don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy."

Special Treat

2005-07-19T14:01:00.000-05:00

Look! Two posts in two days! Ha ha, well this one is to say "ignorance is bliss". Yeah, so Landon and I put in the new ball joints, so I had an alignment scheduled for today. Took it in, they called back and said "you need a new tie rod end and your drive shaft U-joints are about to fall off." The tie rod end will be $30 something and another $30 to put it in, then the alignment could be anywhere from $35 to $150 depending on how bad it's out of alignment. Landon said he and I could do the U-joints, but still, that's a lot of dough! Grrr, and I was finally thinking I was going to have some MONEY! Guess I'm not going to the Cromwell horse show at the end of this month. (well, maybe I could if my next pay check clears in time)

I'm bored

2005-07-18T08:29:00.000-05:00

I'm waiting for the vet to show up here at the barn. So I thought I'd write a quick update. I think I'm doing better about the whole break up thing. Although I'm not eating much or sleeping at all.(it seems) Yesterday Landon helped me put new ball joints in my truck. What a day! I can see why it calls for 4 hours labor on each side. With both of us working it still took like 8+ hours. It didn't help that neither one of us knew what we were doing. There was also this incident when Landon was trying to push the ball joints out the wrong way and getting really frustrated. I don't think it would be wise for him to go into being an auto mechanic. It's not good for his blood pressure. It seemed like the evening went well, we were getting along with out much weirdness, but then when we were saying goodbye, Landon wanted to give me a hug. I said "No, you have no idea." What I meant was he has no idea what that would do to me. I think it would set me back about two weeks. But anyway, he seemed to get really mad, hopped into his car and sped off. I hope some day he understands why I couldn't let him hug me.
Well, I s'pose I should look busy for a while.
Sarah

March 15-July 4, 2005

2005-07-07T07:11:00.000-05:00

Ok, it's been a long time since my last post. This is going to have to be short and not so sweet, I have to get going to work. Alot of things have happened. Most noteibly the break up between Landon and I. About two weeks ago he started acting weird and then last week he said he wanted to take a step back in our relationship, he wanted to work on our "friendship". Well, now I know that that meant he was looking for a time to bolt. He wasn't returning my calls and stood me up on 4th of July, so on independance day, I was forced to "finish-off" the relationship. I couldn't take any more of him not answering my calls and not returning any of them. Friends don't treat friends that way. I realize he's under alot of stress at work and the fact that he wants to get his life in order. I realize that and I'd love to be there to support him, but he's too proudful to ask for help. Which, maybe the Lord at some time will just bring his world crashing down and he will see that he has to let go of the pride and ask for help. What hurt the most was when we did finally talk, he said he didn't have a desire to serve the Lord at this point in his life. That's when I had to make a choise, The Lord's will, or my will. I had to choose the Lord's will, and I know that he wouldn't have me with some one who's not wanting to serve the Lord. If Landon and I are both not serving the Lord, it's not the Lord's will for us to be together. If Landon was serving the Lord and I wasn't, it wouldn't be the Lord's will that we were together. If I was serving the Lord and Landon wasn't, it's not the Lord's will that we were together. But if we are both serving the Lord, then I think it would be His will that we were together.
I think Landon is just a scared 21 year old who needs alot of prayer. So if you're a believing person, please keep Landon in your prayers. In a way this had been good for me because once again, I've had to lay everything on the Lord and trust Him completely. It's not easy, it's a moment by moment struggle. But I will grow spritually from this. I hope Landon can to.
God Bless

A COMMENT! (on my last post)

2005-05-23T13:42:00.000-05:00

Woo Hoo!!! Hey, and look, it hasn't been a month since my last post! Yes, the last post was quite long. I shall try to keep them more frequent and shorter. This last weekend my friends Meghann and Eli got married to each other. Landon accompanied me to this wedding. (the last wedding three weeks ago I attened on my own because he was working on his sister's stupid car.) We ended up getting great seats. (yeah, I know, it's kinda funny like I'm talking about a sporting event) Megs looked great in her dress and the wedding went off smashingly. The funny thing was, the bridesmaids in Megs' wedding were almost identical to the bridesmaids in the wedding three weeks ago, except that the bride and one of the bridesmaids switched places. Even the Maid of Honor was the same. Landon and I sat with his uncle Lowell and aunt Lori and another woman from the church Julie. Lowell was asking the bridesmaids when there next apperance was. Lori said something about when the next engagement was and gave Landon this look. Then Julie started in on me and got me blushing. Well, at least it seems that they think it's a good idea that Landon and I are together and they are encouraging it. Landon keeps apologizing for his family and I tell him that almost every time I come home, Jennifer asks me if we've picked a date. I've been so accepted into the family that I was even employed to dog sit for his other uncle Lyndie.
My cousin Joy graduated from UWS this last weekend to. She had a big family/friends dinner at Blackwoods where she works. Her whole family was up, even cousin Jake who's in the Marines was there. It was good to see him. I've come to the conclusion that all my female relatives that know Landon are jelous. He's such a sweety! When we were leaving Blackwoods he opened my door for me so I could get into the truck. I think it was Prom some where on Saturday because there were alot of people in formals the the restaurant. Well, anyway, there was a couple that followed us out and he must have seen Landon open the door for me because he then went to her side of the car as if to open the door. She's like, "What are you doing? You've never done this before!" It was kinda funny. Landon is always getting other guys in trouble because he's so good to me. I love it! Well, anyway, I'll end this now.

Yet another month goes by...

2005-05-14T10:33:00.000-05:00

Ok, so it's been almost a month since my last post. I'm terrible! Hm, some things that have happened since my last post... Went to the MN Horse Expo. Had alot of fun. Dragged Landon along, not sure that he had so much fun. Spent some money, but not too much. Oh yes, we vonlunteered at the Expo and ended up helping with the pony rides. It was so cute! There was this little 4 year old girl all dressed up in cowboy hat, boots, belt, jeans, and a little red, white, and blue shirt. Landon helped her get on her pony and she was forever after eyeballing him. I told her that he was taken and there wasn't any chance for her.
Landon's birthday was back at the end of April and I got him a 7 drawer tool chest. He was suprised. I guess the other big thing I've done in the past month was to go to Florida with Landon. His family takes a two week vacation down there every year. He didn't go this year because he didn't want to take that much time off of work. His step mom had won roundtrip plane tickets, tickets to a Kenny Chesney concert and Hotel for two in a contest. The tickets were for during the time that the family was already down there, so they offered the plane tickets to Landon and I. We flew out on Thurs May 5th and came back on Sunday May 8th. We thought that Landon's dad and step mom were going to take the tickets for the concert and the hotel room. But when we got down there and they picked us up from the airport, they gave Landon the concert tickets for his birthday. (they had already left for FL by the day of his birthday) The whole family went to dinner that first night (which was interesting) and then they told us that because we were going to the concert which was in Tampa, they were just going to leave us there and go back to Kissimmi.(sp) Actually with all the bickerting going on, we were kinda glad they left us. (we weren't bickering, it was all other members of the family with eachother.) We had a blast! Played some shuffleboard, I won both games, so we didn't play any more. Took several walks on the beach. The hotel was right on the beach on St. Pete's Beach. Tooled around St. Pete's and Tampa in our rental Pontiac Sunfire which we almost didn't get. They weren't going to let us take it because I don't have a real credit card and Landon who has one is only 21. But we gave her the sad story that if we don't get the car we can't get to the concert or back to the air port because we don't have anybody else to help us. She then tried running it through on my check/cash card and it worked. So, yeah, we got the car. I wasn't supposed to, but I let Landon drive it about half the time. The concert was a blast, but really loud! The nice thing though was that we knew most of the songs because we listen to the country stations here back home. It's kinda funny, now I swear they play more Kenny Chesney songs than they used to, that or I notice them more. The concert started at 7:30 and we left around 10:45 while it was still going. We were so tired and it was really warm in there. I bet there were over 40,000 people in there! It had to have been a sold out concert. After the concert we had "fun" exploring looking for DQ and then had to settle for McDonalds, then there's this whole story about the dining room being locked and the drive through taking forever so we went looking for another one, found one, got our food, headed back to the hotel only to discover there's a McDonalds just down the street from our hotel. On Saturday we spent over 5 hours building a sand castle. It turned out great! We had all sorts of people stopping to admire it. I hope to have pictures of it some day. I think we worked well together. I know alot of people would just call us foolish for spending most of the day making sandcastles, seeings as we are two "adults" but it really was alot of fun, and probably one of my favorite memories. Landon had some really great ideas, like one, I have no idea where he got them, but he must have found a layer of crushed shells, and he used that to "pave" the entrance to the castle. It was the perfect touch. We were craving DQ again when we finished the castle but since we never found it last time, we used his phone's wireless internet to get the phone # of a DQ and called to ask where they were. They actually weren't the closest one, but they gave us directions to the closest one. So on our last night there, we did finally get DQ!! It tasted SO good! But anyway, I should end this now. It's raining here at my parent's place, but I should at least say "hi" to my horses.

Dude!

2005-04-16T08:47:00.000-05:00

It's been a month since I posted on this! Wow, that month has gone by so quickly. Things are great with me. I've gotten to do some really fun stuff in the last month. (I'm warning you, this is all about Landon and I, so if that makes you ill, stop reading now) Landon and I went to a monster truck rally, it was kinda pathetic because it was inside the DECC and the DECC is small. Two of the five trucks were out of commission by the end of the show, but all in all, I had mucho fun. The weather here in Duluth is starting to get nicer. The snow is all gone and grass is starting to grow. About two weeks ago, Landon pulled out his motorcycle and started her up. He's got a Kowasaki Vulcan 750. Nice bike, but the sissy seat makes my butt fall asleep after awhile. I wasn't allowed to ride the bike with out a helmet, so the first couple of rides, I had to wear Landon's which is too big for me. We went shopping for one, but they didn't have one in my size that matched the color of Landon's helmet. (He wanted them to be matching because his matches the bike) He ended up going on line and ordering me one. Now he's slightly jealous because mine is nicer than his. :) And his sister is jealous because her boyfriend wouldn't buy her a helmet and told her to ride without! I want to post a picture of Landon, the bike and I, but I'm on Jennifer's (my cousin/roommate) computer and I don't want to have to down load extra stuff. My computer basically crashed and I haven't figured out what I'm going to do with it yet. Along those lines, I discovered that this year instead of getting a tax return, I had to PAY on my taxes!! That sucked big time! However, the bright side is, my sister Beck, who owed me money, felt bad for me and dug up the cash to pay me back. It was a sizeable chunk of change that I never thought I'd see. So that was good.
My little sister Liz is now back from Telluride, Colorado. It was good to see her. Right before she left CO, she dislocated her shoulder, so now she has minimal movement. This is mean, but it's kinda funny watching her try to do things with her elbow glued to her side. Like I was holding a cup for her and she was trying to put the lid on, well I was holding up like I would to put a lid on, but she can't move her arm up that far. (if you're reading this, sorry Liz) But anyway, I should get going. I'm hoping to make time to post here more often. It would help if you left me comments, because that's the only way I know anybody ever visits this site.

Big news for those of you who check this regualarly

2005-03-16T17:55:00.000-06:00

I spose I should just say it. I'm dating someone!
Name: Landon Lyons
Type: Very sweet
Occupation: Service writer (I think that's the title) for K/J Auto
Age: (this is where it gets dicey) 21 :p
I met him because K/J is where I take my truck when he's sick. Landon's uncle owns the shop and goes to my church. Landon used to go to the same church, but that was several years ago when he was still in highschool. I'd been trying to get him to come to some college age events for a while, he'd finally broke down and said he'd go, but he needed to rebuild his transmition before he could go. I told him in order to facilitate his going, I'd help him. I thought it would also be a good time to get some hands on experiance in the shop. Long story short, we were working on it until 3:15 in the morning. It probably wouldn't have taken that long if we didn't keep talking. We've had some great conversations. Needless to say, we missed college age. Unfourtunally after getting everything back it, it still wasn't working right. (He'd never rebuilt a transmission either) So there was one other night where I went over there and helped him again. Landon came to church Sunday morning and asked what I was doing that day. I was working at the ski hill, so he came over after I got off. We stayed up til almost one in the morning talking. During that time he asked if I was avaliable for dinner. It was super sweet. Anyway, we had our first official "date" last night. It was nice, we went to Olive Garden. Ok, i'm running out of time, gotta go, i'll amend this later.

Well, it's been a while...

2005-02-27T22:17:00.000-06:00

And I don't think people are looking at this anymore...
I'm home now from my vacation. Have been for about two weeks. I had a blast out there. But I will say it is defintely good to be home. I finally got my livingroom cleaned up a bit. I put my desk together and set my computer up on it. I can now walk though here without tripping over boxes, which is good because I just cracked my knee cap. Ok, maybe not really, but it feels like it. I slipped on the ice at work and smacked the knee that I broke two years ago. Oh man does it hurt!!! I went all weak and woosey. One of my co-workers had to hold me up to keep me from falling over. One of these days this body is just going to quit. Ok, I need to go to bed. Just took 800 m/g of Ibprofen so I'm hoping it kicks in soon. Night:)

Teluride

2005-02-07T18:43:00.000-06:00

I'm sitting at the public library in Teluride, CO. This keyboard is a little different than I'm used to so typing is slow.
Man! Have you ever taken family vacations where you had to stay in the same room as your parents? I don't know about yours, but mine seem to snore more now that when I was a little kid. I can't believe they can sleep next to each other and get any rest at all! (The sad thing is, I'm sure snoring is what I have to look forward to when I get older) Oh, and the other fun thing that has happened on this trip...GAS!!! Ya know when you start eating things that you don't normally eat, and then you get gut rot. Well, most of my family is suffering from this condition. (I don't have it too bad) It is soo bad some times we have to roll down the windows. The other night when the whole family was sharing a room I heard some explosion from the parents side of the room and was quite surprised that no one got up to go to the bathroom. I found it hard to believe that something that sounded like that was not accompanied by chunks.
Anyway, on to more civilized conversation... The boarding at Teluride is MUCH better than the boarding at Copper and Keystone. The fact that we had a blizzard for most of the day could have helped. Dad and I did some double blacks and Liz led us astray on an Experts Only run named Millions. (I wonder if that's how many expert skiers/boarders its maimed.) But over all, it was a good day. I'm taking enough pills to choke a horse. Lots of Ibprofen of course, and now I'm on Ecinatia and some other vitamins to ward off the sore throat that is comming on. It's hard choking down 8+ pills at a time.
Oh, another thing...I want to get new goggles because my tinted ones are kinda old. So Liz and I went looking and first I found a really cute boarding jacket that's blue and then I found goggles to match. The jacket is $150, but Liz should be able to get me a discount. The goggles were $90, but now they are $63! I had to put them on hold because I didn't have my money with me. But I'll be getting them tomorrow morning. Maybe I can even post a picture of them tomorrow! (probably not) Well, I'll be going now. Since I'm this close to the library (our condo is right across the street) I hope to be on line a little bit more. BTW The condo is really nice, and us girls have our own separate rooms from the parents. Praise the LORD!

Greetings from Colorado!

2005-02-05T22:01:00.000-06:00

Hey! Here I am in a hotel in Glenwood Springs, CO and man am I wishing my Ibprofen would kick in! Dad and I ski/boarded for two hours Thursday night at Keystone. It was ok, but I figured out it cost us $8 a run. Yesterday and today the whole family (minus Liz) were at Copper Mountian all day. I was sort of disappointed by the lack of powder, but I can now say that I've boarded the back bowls of Copper. (No easy task I might add) I do have pictures so I hope to be able to post them some time soon. We've had some adventures and done some shopping. We made the mistake of stopping at REI before even leaving MN. I think I spent about half of my spending money there. Not to mention it took our parents an hour and a half to push us out the door. It's a good thing we didn't stop at Cabella's. :)
Well, anyway, good night. I hope to write more soon.

Ok, so it's been a long time...

2005-01-30T22:13:00.000-06:00

And this is going to be a short post. (Tony kept me on the phone too long)
I AM MOVED!! (we won't talk about being unpacked...) So for those of you who haven't heard, my job offered my roommate and I a house rent free. (course the heating bill alone could wipe out your nest egg) Last night I got all my stuff out of the old house and moved over to the new house. My little Scirocco (car) is still over at the old house, but it's having issues. I might have to pull it out of the snow and even then I'm not sure if I can drive it. The old battery went completely dead and even after the new battery was put it the battery light is still on. I just had the alternater rebuilt like two years ago, so I really hope it's not that.
So anyway, I'm going to bed now. I hope to be able to post later and tell about my job at the local ski hill and my family's trip to CO.
Night

first post of the new year...

2005-01-05T22:34:00.000-06:00

Yeah, I know I should probably do this whole schpeel about how good my holidays were and how much I enjoyed having my cousin Faith and my friends Lauren and Tony come up for a couple of days. But that's not what you're going to get because I'm tired and my 'puters bein' slow. I will tell you that I'm going out to CO for a week and a half to see my little sis and snowboard and I finally got my season pass at our local ski hill. (emphasis on the "hill") After being out west, it's just a hill.
Good Night

Truck Adventures

2004-12-08T22:41:00.000-06:00

I'm writing this with wet red fingernails. I'll probably have little red dots all over my Keyboard. Well, anyway, back to my truck.
Last week on Thursday I drove to the local hardwear store to get stuff for work. It had just snowed the night before, so I threw the truck into 4wheel drive. About half way to the store I noticed that the truck was pulling left. I made my stop, picked up my stuff and went home. When I got back to the barn I didn't get into my spot straight, so I backed up and pulled in agian. When I was hauling stuff inside, I saw that my driverside front tire was no longer inflated on the rim. It was still "on the rim" but the rim was definately on the ground. So I'm thinking "crap, I bet I just wrecked my 1 year old expensive tire". Of course there's snow all over under the truck and I couldn't find a decent jack. So I called Steve, He owns Twin Ports Excivating and does all our snowplowing at the barn. I knew he'd be by later to plow. I did managed to get the truck jacked up by myself on a crappy little jack, but when I went to take off the lug nuts, one of them was too short for the Tire Iron to get and Andy didn't have any sockets with a 1/2 inch drive. So Steve had to go get one from his shop. We got the tire off, but then discovered that my spare does not actually fit on my truck. Why I had it as a spare, I don't know. I'm going to have to talk to the guy that I bought the truck from. So anyway, I ended up borrowing a truck to take my tire to my mechanic who check it and said it was fine, put it back on the rim, inflated it and away I went. The only thing I think could have happened was that the tire was getting low (thus the pulling to the left) and just the force of turning into my spot yanked it off the rim. So anyway, that's my story and I'm sticking to it. I'll have to write more later about "Highlander", and moving into my "new" house.
Good Night

Thanksgiving

2004-11-27T23:03:00.000-06:00

I had a great ride this afternoon. The snow as so beautiful. I love MN in the winter time. (as long as I have 4wheel drive) It almost looked like a lithograph. Everything was brown and white and ever so quiet. Of course I didn't have anybody to share the moment with. I'm still waiting for that special person to share all my "adventures" with. Or as my sister Becky says, "Is legally obligated to go with me". I think I like putting it that way.
I thought I'd tell you all about another scary sight that I saw. When Jennifer and I were driving to pick up two horses for my boss, we saw a guy driving a delivery van while smoking, talking on the cell phone and reading a map. That's scary. How much of his attention was really on the road.
Well good night.

SNOW!!!!

2004-11-27T09:14:00.000-06:00

Yeah! The snow is here!! It's not much, not enough to break out my board and go down the streets of Duluth. But it's on it's way. Spirit Mountain is even s'posed to be open this weekend. Too bad I'm broke and can't afford to go.
Thanksgiving was nice this year. No one yelled or blew up at anyone, at least not in my presence. I got to be with my family which was good because I almost wasn't able to be with my family.
Earlier in the week, Jennifer and I went to my grandma's house to make Lefsa (I think that's how you spell it.) It's a traditional Norwegan (it must be) desert. Grandma already had the potatoes prepared, so all we had to do was roll them out and put them on the griddle. But that takes skill because the thinner you get it, the better. And its hard to move large thin potatoe (ok, the only thing I can think of to call them are) "disks". They have to be put on the griddle and then turned to cook the other side. When they are cooled you serve them with covered with butter and brown sugar and then folded up in to a wedge. MMmmmm good! Now Jennifer and I want Lefsa making stuff for Christmas. Unfortunately, grandma can only think of one place that sells it, and the place is here in Duluth. All the people with money that we could ask to get this stuff from live in different states. Well, I gotta go so I can play with my horses and then later this afternoon I'm giving a demonstration on how to make a rope halter for your horse.

Ah, what to write...

2004-11-10T21:15:00.000-06:00

Well, let's see what I've been up to.
I got a flu shot on Saturday and my arm still hurt up til yesterday. It seems to be ok today. I survived the first week of deer season. I rode two of my horses on Saturday and one again on Monday. On Friday before I went up to my parents' farm I did get a "Mossy Oak Breakup" hunter orange jacket so that I wouldn't get shot while riding. Although I figure the deer up in Floodwood are perfectly safe. The hunters are probably so drunk in their cabins that it is ME on the road who is in danger when they decide to make a beer run.
I have a friend (and this is sure to elicit a comment) whos tansmition on his truck went out the week before deer opener. He was in a FOUL mood. (Not a direct quote, but fairly close)
"I feel the need to kill a poor defenceless animal." As I thought about it, I'm sure he's not the only one who had a bad week before hunting opener. And here's the kicker: we're giving these people guns and telling them to go hide in the woods and shoot at things! Just a thought...
But anyway, back to happenings on Friday. I did get the headlights on my truck fixed. It wasn't the bulbs or fuse, it was the dimmer switch on the floor. (Here's a plug for you Tony- he said it was the dimmer switch) So here's to having headlights!
On Monday I had to take off work early to go fix fence. On Sunday night I get a call from my dad saying that MY horses are out at the neighbors and that he had to go get them in the dark. They would be staying in the tie stalls until I fixed the fence. So on Monday I got out there at about 1:30. The first thing I do is let my horses out of the tie stalls and then go get the tractor. I had to take off the bale forks and put on the bucket. By the time I made it out to the back of the pasture my horses were already on the wrong side of the fence. (The buggers) Fiji went right back under the fence but Tez apperently didn't want me to catch him in the act so he ran all the way back on the outside of the fence and then I had to let him in the back gate. When I left the fence was all up and the top strand was "hot". We'll see how long that lasts. I think we'll be tying streamers to the fence to ward off the deer. (they may be part of the problem)
Well, that's it for my ramblings now. Good Night. :)

Political Humor

2004-11-03T22:40:00.000-06:00

Here is a joke that my sister told me on Monday. It is all in good fun, so
please don't get too worked up about this.

Presidential candidate John Kerry took a trip to England and met the Queen.
He asked the Queen how she ran such an efficient government.
Her reply was, "The first thing you need to do is surround yourself with
intelligent people."
"Well how do I know they are really intelligent?" Kerry asked.
"Ask them an intelligent riddle and see if they give you an intelligent
answer."
The Queen then calls in Tony Blair and says to him, "Your mother and your
father have a child, it's not your brother and it's not your sister, who is
it?"
Tony replys, "Oh, that's easy, it's me!"
So, Kerry goes home and askes John Edwards the same question. "Your mother
and your father have a child, it's not your brother and it's not your
sister, who is it?"
Edwards pauses a moment, then replies,"I'll have to get back to you on that
one."
Edwards then goes to all his democrat buddies and askes them the same
question. No one is able to give him an answer. One day in the bathroom
Edwards sees Colin Powell's shoes in the stall next to him. He says,"Colin,
your mother and father have a child, it's not your brother and it's not your
sister, who is it?"
Colin says, "oh, that's easy, it's me!"
Edwards then goes back and tells Kerry, "I know the answer to your question,
it's Colin Powell!"
Kerry then says, "No you fool, it's Tony Blair!"

Help!! I can't stop eating Mellowcreme Pumpkins!

2004-11-03T08:01:00.000-06:00

Ah, ya gotta love after Halloween clearance candy. While I was a Wal-Mart, I also spent a bunch of $ on my truck. I got a steering wheel cover that is blue and silver so it matches the truck fairly well, I got a new set of keys and a Ford keychain(I've decided I've been locked out of my truck enough times, I'm putting a spare some where on the body) and I also got new bulbs for my headlights because I haven't had high beams for some time. Well, let me tell you a story...It took Wal-Mart 2 blank keys and 5 times through the grinder before they could make a key that would fit in my door lock. Then, I installed the bulbs right there in the Wally World parking lot. They seemed to go in fine and worked initially, but when I got home I flashed the dims and brights a couple of times just because of the novelty of having them again, and what do ya know...I now have NO head lights so I had to drive my cousin Phil's car to work. (I'm keeping tabs on it for him while he's in Wisconsin Dells) So, anyway, that was my night. I hope to write more soon and tell about this last weekend's parties and other activities.

Ponies are so much fun

2004-10-24T22:09:00.000-05:00

Today after picking up my truck from my parents I went to my friend Abby's place. She has a wide variety of equines. She's got minies, drafts, an appaloosa and even a donkey who sounds just awful!! We had decided earlier in the week that we were going to go for a "drive" today. She took her Mini pinto stud (Moe)and I got to drive one of her mares named Angel. Moe is in fairly good shape because he is Abby's main driving pony. Angel is not so lucky. She's a little fat.(we had to cram her into the shafts) The poor little mare is not used to driving by herself. According to Abby she's been part of a team for pretty much her whole life. Angel did really good as long as she could see Moe infront of her. If he fell behind, the wind kinda went out of her sails. We went about 1 1/2 to 2 miles down the road to the DQ. I had so much fun and the looks we got were great.

1,080 bales of shavings on the wall...

2004-10-23T23:24:00.000-05:00

Take one down, spread it around,
1,079 bales of shavings on the wall...

Yesterday I helped unload an entired 53 foot semi-trailer of shavings bags. I didn't hurt too much this morning, but this evening when I'm stitting around for a while, I'm getting stiff. Then, not but a few hours after finishing the truck, our hay guy for the barn (who we haven't heard from since May) calls up and asks when we want more hay. Figures, I fill up the barn with shavings and then my hay guy says he needs to move his hay now.

Today I took my rabbit up to my parents so I don't have to worry about him getting bunny-knapped on Halloween like my other rabbit. After loading the rabbit in the truck, I stopped to see my filly before heading to my folks. Sakura (my filly) was full of spunk. She jumped and bounced around on her skinny little legs while I was lunging her. She got quite worked up so I had to take her for a nice long walk to cool her out. She is such a sweetheart!

I was setting up Keeper's (the rabbit) cage at my parents when my dad came down and told me he had accidently locked my keys in my truck when he was rolling up my window. Everything was in the truck; my jacket, wallet, CD's... Rather than wait for my dad to bring the spare keys back from Duluth, I opted to drive my mom's van into Duluth and I'll just have to go back and collect my truck tomorrow.

Ha Ha!! I just witnessed Ashley Simpson blow her lip sinking on SNL!

Well, anyway, Good night everyone! :)

sakura01

2004-10-16T01:22:00.000-05:00

sakura01
Originally uploaded by zanielt.

Hi, seeeing how this works

FOR SALE

2004-10-11T18:55:00.000-05:00

This is Basto's Fijian Flame (AKA Fiji)
He's a 3 year old unregistered 3/4 Arab, 1/4 QH. I know most of his breeding, but I'd have to get the QH breeding specifics from someone else. He's a Fire Chief greatgrandson on his father's side. He's 14.3 - 15 hands (I haven't measured him for a while) He's got a great temperment (most of the time) and he behaves well for other people. I've had my cousin Faith on him, my 12 year old friend Kasey and a friend Lori who rides Dressage. All of them thought he was well behaved, especially for a 3 year old. He could really go english or western. I've lunged him over some small jumps just to see if he liked it. He seemed to do ok. He's a little lazy, but then again, I don't get to work with him all that much. I have ridden him english, western, and bareback with just a halter. I'd like to market him as a sport horse because I figured he'd get treated better there than if I sold him as a local show horse.

Trail Riding

2004-10-11T18:38:00.000-05:00

My friends Kasey and Kati came up, not this weekend, but the weekend before that and we went trail riding. I let the girls sort of pick out their own horses. Kasey on the left chose my three year old gelding Fiji and Kati on the right chose by dad's 1/2 Arab, 1/2 QH gelding Dale. We had a nice ride and I thought they might like to see themselves on my blog. :)

Lesson for all you hot rodders...

2004-10-09T13:40:00.000-05:00

Never mess with a Chevy 1 ton!!
This kid learned the hard way. We had been skiing in Wyoming and when we left, this hot rod ski patroler (in the red jacket) was too close to my dad (blue jacket). Dad stepped on the brakes going over a speed bump and the kid slid right into him. Take note of the speed sign on the right. Just so you know, there was no damage to the truck and we found pieces of the kids bumper in the tailgate. Hmm MUNCH! I tell you, that old Chevy's been through a lot. It's mean! I was in front in another truck with my aunt and uncle when this happened. My uncle Pat then went off the road and into the ditch while looking back to see what was going on behind him. So we had to get pulled out of the snow by another ski patroler. It was all very comical. I felt bad for the kid. Story was that he'd rebuilt that car in highschool.
Well, I'm off to play with my horses.

Spiritual Blog

2004-10-08T22:19:00.000-05:00

My church is having our Fall Bible Conference this week. I've been able to go to most of the day sessions, and man, some of them are very convicting! I've decided I'm going to start a Spiritual Blog where people can read about what I believe and how the Lord is working in my life. I've decided to make it a separate blog because the post will more than likely be longer as I expound on topics and the posts may not be as frequent. I will make a link from this site to my other blog as soon as I get it set up.
On another note, I am soo evil. My tabs on my truck expired the last day of September and I'm just today sending in the renewal mailer thingy. I hope it works. I just don't have time to go to the DMV during the week. But now its off to bed with me. Talk at ya'll later.
:p

Nothing to do...

2004-10-05T07:45:00.000-05:00

Here I am checking this blog for the 100th time and I'm beginning to think I'm the only one who ever visits it. Ok, my sis Liz left me a little note, but other than that, nothing. You'd think with all this technology it would be soo much easier to communicate, but I'm finding that everybody must be too busy to write me. At least I have one person who write me fairly regularly. To the rest of you: shame on you for not writing me. Don't you know that I am a poor fragile soul who withers on the vine when no one talks to me?
This weekend I bought a Rascal Flatts CD. I REALLY like the song "I Melt". It tells about what happens when you're with some one you love. Someday...
But anyway, I've decided that if I put my Rascal Flatts, Garth Brooks Double Live, Fresh Horses, and some other random CD in a five disc changer, I could get more variety than your average country radio station. At least I'd like all the songs.
Well it's time to pretend to work. I'll add more later that no one will read.

Clean Room!!

2004-09-30T21:59:00.000-05:00

For the first time I'm blogging from my computer in my room on my "desk"! (it's a small desk that is the end of my bed) I spent ALL day cleaning my room. Ok, maybe not all day, but it sure felt like it. I did have time to run out and see my filly, work her, and give her a bath. She was soo filthy! But now the little girl is all nice and clean and feeling good! I wasn't going to give her the full bath, but some one told me that it might snow/rain tomorrow so I figured this might be the last chance to get her clean.
Well, I'm spacing out now, I guess its times to go to bed.
Good night

Rope halter update

2004-09-30T13:16:00.000-05:00

Well, I finally have pictures of one of my rope halters. My filly Sakura is wearing it.
Here are some close ups of the knots. The side knots on the pattern were just regular square knots, but I figured out how to do the nicer knot. I'm not sure, but it might be called a Lovers knot. (don't quote me on that)

Sakura wasn't happy with me that day. I gave her a shot and didn't have anybody to hold her so I ended up stabbing her a couple of times with the needle because she'd dance around and pull it out. She is looking so nice, I mean how she's put together. She's a little dirty right now. I finally got her her own brushes that I can leave where I'm boarding her. She does need a bath, but after that she'll look like a million bucks.
Well, gotta get back to cleaning my room. I can't put it off any longer.

RATS!!!!

2004-09-27T21:20:00.000-05:00

At the barn I work at we have a ground squirrel problem (and some mice). They tunnel under the barn creating avenues for cold air to freeze water pipes. Not to mention the moronic family short hair thinks it's his job to dig them out, no matter where they are, under the barn, in a stack of wood shavings, in the seat of the glorified golf cart called a Kubota RTV. (just for the record, I hate that dog and there was no squirrel in the seat of the RTV) So, in order to combat these pesky little critters and not go the Caddyshack way, I have a trap line that I try to check daily. Well, today I checked one of my traps and discovered that I had something a little bigger than a mouse but it wasn't a ground squirrel. It appears that we also have Rats in addition to our other rodents. The rat must have tried to push the ground squirrels out, or it was living peaceably with them, because I caught him in a known squirrel hole. :::muttering::: "gonna have to get me more rat traps". I guess the this brings new meaning to the phrase, "if you use it, they will come". (my traps were rat traps)
Anyway, on to other stuff. I wanted to upload some pictures of my filly, but Jennifer's camera is dead and she can't find the charger, so I did the next best thing. I browsed the pics already on the computer and found this one. I think you'll enjoy it.
On the far left is Nate, then Matt, the pug is Roxy, the kid in the hat is Eric and the little kid is Noah. All of them are 1st cousins of mine except for the dog and Noah. Noah is my 2nd cousin. This was taken last year at a birthday party for my grandma.
Good night. I'll write more later.

College Town

2004-09-24T12:40:00.000-05:00

Duluth is such a College town. You could immediately tell when school (UMD) started up again. I think the population tripled. The main road by my house is still under construction from last year and the detour drags you right through the middle of UMD. It wasn't so bad when school wasn't in session, but now it's just awful!!! Not to mention this year for the first time we have college students living on our road. (ok, yes, my sisters were college students and my cousins Alice and Joy are actual current college students, but we aren't loud college students) Anyway, tonight it looks like the cops busted someone not having the decency to keep the music down after 11:30pm. I'm sure I'll hear all about it from the busy body neighbors who's' porch is practically in my drive way and they love to sit on it and discuss the goings on of the block. (that was kind of a run on sentence, hope you have a good deep breath)
Ok, I'm going to vent about something else before I go to bed. This week was premier week for a lot of TV shows. I like the CSI shows and have a particular fondness for a character on CSI Miami. I watched the premier and of course, 35 minutes into it they KILL OFF MY FAVORITE CHARACTER!!!!!! My sister is trying to convince me that he probably wanted off the show, but that doesn't matter!!! I'm still trying to recover from the fact that he had to be shot to death! Why couldn't he just fall in love and move away? My sister said that's not feasible, 'sides that, death sells.
So anyway, I'm going to bed now.
Good night all

Funny Forwarded Picture

2004-09-13T21:13:00.000-05:00

What happens when you:
1) have nothing to do
2) own a sharp knife
3) have a large lime
4) own a patient cat
5) drink too much tequila
6) and it's football season?

Ok, so #'s 1 and 2 could be said of me, but not the rest. I just thought this was a great picture. My cousin Charity forwarded this to me. If you're offended, blame whoever sent it to her.

Rope Halter

2004-09-10T20:05:00.000-05:00

I made a rope halter for my horse today! It turned out really good. At some point I'll add a picture of it, but I don't have one now. If you click on the title of this post it will send you to the directions for the halter. I actually made several. I made one for my gelding and it fits him great and I made one for my filly. I haven't been able to try her's on her yet. I used a bright blue, white and black rope that complements his color nicely. The halter really wasn't that hard to make. The knot just under the chin is the hardest. I recommend taping the halter to the table just above where the knot is supposed to be. That keeps it from slipping off your work surface. It suggests you use matches to melt the ends of the nylon rope, but I found that a gas stove worked much better.
On another note...Several years ago my parents gave me a really nice 35mm camera. It was one that my dad had had all over the world. Well, there was a zoom lens that I had used before they gave it to me. They couldn't find the lens when they gave me the camera and my mother accused ME of loosing it. HA! Well, I found it today when I was looking for a tape measure in the office. (I needed the tape measure for the aforementioned halter) I was looking through some drawers and sure enough, there was the lens!! It makes me very happy, however it need some major cleaning, there goes another $50.
Also today I was able to go riding with a woman named Lori that I know who shows Arab Breed shows. She rides Dressage and a little bit of jumping. I let her ride my 3 year old and she said he was VERY well behaved for a three year old. :) She kept complementing my on my ground work with him. :::grins and blushes::: She said she'd be more than willing to help me with my riding. YEAH!!!

In another note added 9-13-04, I figured out how to do a fancier knot instead of the regular knots used up on the nose band, the throat latch, and the cheek pieces. I'll have to try to draw a picture of it and maybe post it. It starts out the same, but then you do something different. Duh! :) Anyway, still need to take a pic of Tez with it on. Good night.

Another Tez

2004-09-04T23:04:00.000-05:00

The pictures were getting too far down the page. Here's another fine picture of my baby Tez. This was taken this spring when he was still fuzzy.
Oh, this thing is taking FOREVER to get my posts up! I'm going to have to wait until tomorrow to see how they look! Well, good night for good this time.

Controversy!

2004-09-04T21:31:00.000-05:00

Ah, Now I know how to get people to post comments! I just have to write something that gets people wriled <--it can't come up with a spelling for this up. See first comment on 1st day of school
Dang it, I had all this stuff I was going to write and now that I'm sitting my brain has exited my head. If I write about the ho hum stuff maybe the controversial stuff will come back.
This weekend, in yet another successful attempt to avoid cleaning my room, I instead cleaned out my truck and trailer. 5 months worth of horse shows and dog hair. My show season is at an end and so it was with a little sadness that I cleaned out my rig. It was like admitting that I am poor and can't afford any more shows. Well, that is the truth, so I should just fess up to it. I went to more shows this year than I think I ever went to in a summer. One show was even a Dressage and Jumping schooling show. When I was in high school I usually only did 2 or 3 shows a year. Last year I went to 3.(all of them Double M) This year I did 2 in Grand Rapids, 1 in Aitkin, 1 in Pequot Lakes, 2 at the DFL in Proctor, 1 in Cromwell and 1 at the Washington county fair grounds. For me and my poor unworked horse that was a lot of shows. Most of the time he never got worked during the week and then was yanked out of his pasture on weekends for shows.
Thinking back I also remember the people that I met. It seems that I've known some of these people for soooo long, yet I only met them this year. Some of them I have seen around at shows in previous years, others I met only a few weeks ago, yet have had so much fun with them. I thank God for all the people I've met and the opportunities that have opened up. I really want to use horses to reach out and help other people. I rather miss giving lessons, but because of work it's hard for me to know when I'll be able to give lessons to my three clients. I feel bad that I haven't given them a lesson this year, and it's already September!!!! I feel like an old fart. An old fart with attitude, and a fun old fart who's a little crazy, but an old fart none the less.
Ok, I know this is getting sappy, so I'll stop with the mellow dramatics. I feel that I have a flare for the mellow dramatics, that's why I want to write movies for Hollywood. I'll write one about a girl and her car, another about a girl who falls in love with her horse trainer and then he asks her to cheat to win, another about working overnights in a department store or just retail in general and the stupid people we like to call customers, another about a girl who can't seem to stop flirting with bobcat boys and high school seniors (I may end up editing this) this is crossing into the "too much information stage..." Most of these will be parodies of course. Life is no good with out parody. Of course a little controversy may get more comments...Hmmmm
Well, I think it's back to Duluth with me. (I'm at my parents place because they have fast internet)
Yet another chapter in the life of Sarah :p

Note to self...

2004-09-01T21:43:00.000-05:00

Let's see if we can get Phil to tell us how to make the font smaller. Then our posts won't take up soo much room. Why am I saying "we"? It's a good question to ask yourself.

1st day of school

2004-09-01T21:06:00.000-05:00

Ah, as to day is the first day of school for many children...I thank God I'm outta school! I don't really miss it except it gives you an excuse to not work. Although I do know some ambitious kids who go to school and work. They will probably be the leaders of tomorrow, but until then, I laugh at them.
Oh, Brb, gotta get a cupcake fresh out of the oven.
mmm, good to the last bite! And with homemade frosting! See, this is what you can do when you don't live with your parents. Cupcakes for dinner! :)
Well, on to more good stuff. I thought I'd tell you all about my week so far.
Monday: Worked, drove down to the cities late evening
Tuesday: Went trail riding, stacked hay, played spoons, threw Aaron in the pool, and drove home to Duluth at wee hours of the morning.
Wednesday: Worked, went to church
Thursday: Worked
Friday: Worked
Saturday: Played
Ok, so Thursday, Friday and Saturday haven't happened yet, but I know what I'll be doing. Would you like to hear more about the trail ride and throwing Aaron in the pool?
Well, you have no choice, so there! :)
For the trail ride I did not trailer my own horse down to the cities. I chose instead to ride a horse named Lucky Joe (let me just state that this is an interesting choice of names for this horse) I have ridden Joe before, and he has the bad habit of tripping on himself. But I will add that he is a sweetie and a very nice horse. If I was going to get another one, he'd be one I'd look into. But not as a trail horse Anyway, on with the story. I was riding with my cousins Faith, Harmony, and Isaac, my aunt Laurie and some of Faith's friends that are now my friends. These friends were Kati and Casey Sisters and Tony their cousin. Tony rides a hulk of a horse named Charlie. Charlie was weaving across the trail and bumping into Joe. So I jokingly said to Tony that he better not bounce off of me or my horse will fall to his knees and pitch me over his head. Not two seconds later, when Charlie was a good foot or two away, Joe trips and may I add repeatedly! Of course I scream and try to hold his head up. The girls behind me said his belly was about 2 inches off the ground. We did recover, and after that I tried not to mention falling seeing that I did not want to jinx myself again.
That evening Faith, cousin Phil and I went over to Tony's house. I wanted to visit his sister Lauren who had not been able to come on the ride with us. We talked, we played games, then Tony and I threw their little brother Aaron in the pool. He deserved it but I won't go into detail. The kid's been embarrassed enough. I will say this for him, he's a tough little bugger! I got more exercise trying to throw him in the pool than I had earlier in the day stacking hay. We finished the night with a stop at the lovely Beaterz.com website. "check out these cars" on the left
And with that, I bid you good night.

Tez

2004-08-29T21:45:00.000-05:00

Wynntez is my 14 year old registred arab gelding. He does it all! We most recently won the Sr Western Pleasure class at the South St Louis county fair. He does pleasure, games, jumping, dressage, trailriding, lessons, and he was even a cowpony for a couple of months. He's the best and I love him to death. He's got personality to spare. Right now he's mad at me because I had to ride him in a saddle that didn't fit right. My normal work saddle has a busted tree and I'm in desprerate search of a new one. He'll eventually get over it. Our newest ventures are the jumping and dressage. I have no real training in either event, but at a recent schooling show I took 1st in my dressage training level 1 test A class. I beat out some people who have had years of lessons. God really blessed me when he sent Tez into my life.

New and improved...

2004-08-29T12:51:00.000-05:00

Ah, this looks sooo much better here. Phil helped me set in some pictures and it's all good. Now I can even re-write a little code. Although it's like trying to ask some one where's the bathroom in French when you know two words.
So now that I'm on my way, I have to dicide how in depth I'd like to go with this thing. How much do you REALLY want to know? Probably not the innermost workings of my twisted mind. So we shall see what happens. Speaking of my twisted mind, I should link to some of my writings at Tolkienonline.com. I think if you click on the title "new and improved" you will link to my twisted world of little worth.

Sakura

2004-08-28T17:09:00.000-05:00

This is my 6 month old Arab filly. Her registered name is Hur Sweet Tinuvial. She's a sweetheart and is going to be my new show horse. That is when she's old enough. I hope to take her to some shows next year and just show her in the halter classes.

ha ha

2004-08-23T07:06:00.000-05:00

Boy, do I feel sheeeepish! I went to www.blog.com and tried to sign on. Imagine my frustration when it repeatedly said it couldn't find my e-mail address in their system. :::Thought to self:::"Too many @#$%&* blog sights...."
I had a good weekend. Spent a bit of it up at my parents farm with my horses. Got my 3 year old worked and he did great. He's coming along so nicely, I hate to have to sell him, but I can't afford 4 horses. Then I was able to ride my 14 year old gelding for a nice trail ride. Towards the end he was getting antsy, but not too bad. Some day I hope to have pics of my horses on here.
Yesterday my friend Steph came over after work and we watched Olympics, BatThumb and Thumbtanic. Stayed up waaaay too late, I had to be to work this morning by 7:30. Anyway, that's it for now, stay tuned for more adventures in the life of Sarah!
Oh, P.S.
I also hope to put some of my comics up on this page. My strip is called "It's a Bloomin' Shame" hence the title of this page.

Let's see how this works.

2004-08-21T15:04:00.000-05:00

Well, having never really done something like this, we shall see how it goes. If it goes badly, I blame my cousin Phil for setting me up with this.
At some point in time I shall expound on all the goings on in my life. But first I have to figure out how to make this thing look nice.