So - where are we? . . .

Well, because Bryan suddenly disappeared last weekend (WITH our trailer - talk about pissed off!), Mark hasn't been able to finish the barn wiring before he heads back offshore tonight.  But I'm sure that'll get finished up when he gets home this next time.  Well, I HOPE it will since he has to go to some sort of class -- again -- his next time off.  Ever since that BP Horizon spill, the government has insisted on all kinds of new licensing - even for guys like Mark who've been doing this stuff for 30+ years!  He DOES get paid for going, but it's incredibly annoying for him not to be able to just relax at home when he's SUPPOSED to be off work.

I have to say, he's been working his butt off, but I have pretty much been sitting around enjoying all the things David has completed around here -- our master bedroom, my sleeping porch, and our front porch, particularly.   I have some new cushions ordered for that teal wicker furniture out there.  Wish it would hurry! 

I put those outdoor curtains up out on my sleeping porch, only to discover that (1) I only got 7 not 8 of them back from the woman who hemmed them (I'll have to go by and see if she still has the other one), and (2) one of them is shorter than the others.  Not sure if that's because it was hemmed wrong, or if they sold me one 63" one by mistake.  Whatever.  I just used that one on the window dividing the sleeping porch from the cat's porch.  Won't need to worry about having long curtains during a storm over there.  But it does LOOK a bit odd, I guess.  NOT that that many people actually see that room anyway, though. 



Note that Joey enjoys our porch, too. 
I leave him outside during the day and he spends the entire day sleeping on my bed!




 And when I let Boo out, he gets up on the bed when he's ready to come in, too.  Which is why the spread NEVER looks smooth.  I love how close to the barn that room is.  Each time I open my eyes in the morning -- there are the horses.  I love seeing them there.  They're usually all standing right there on the other side of the chain link fence, staring into the porch.  I can almost hear them concentrating and trying to convey "FEED ME" !



 I've never had curtains with grommets before, but I love that it's so easy to close them.  And they hang nice and evenly.  Hmm.  Might want that kind inside next time I change out those curtains.

The ones in the bedroom have tab tops, and they're very hard to move around and they generally don't hang very neatly.  (I really love having the two dogs running around the house together these days!  Good boys!  Now if Joey would just qualify . . . )

Saturday, Jan and I went over to an open house at Farr Park (the BREC horse park over on the River Road).  We wanted to see what their trails are like.  They have a couple hundred acres and you can go ride there for just $5 a day!  And it's only a few miles from our house.  Well, we couldn't find any maps of the trails - looked like you could just go ride anywhere you want to, but I'm not positive about that.  While we were there, they were having some competitions and there were horses just walking around in costumes for some reason.  One of them had cool red ribbons braided in her mane.  Her rider took off her halter and rode her around in the arena using just a "hula hoop" to guide her around.  

I definitely don't think I'd trust any of ours with that.

While we were there, I saw a set of stairs that make GREAT mounting blocks at any height you care to use!  Love it!

That ramp behind it is used for mounting, as well.  But those stairs look a lot easier to make.  And that would be a fine way for me to get OFF, as well.  I used to always get Ladybug to stand next to Al's pipe fence and I'd climb down using that fence.  But our fences don't work like that!  Now, I know perfectly well that everyone in the world except me just throws their leg over and slides off.  But half the time, I end up falling over backward when I do that, so . . . something to consider.