Chris LeDoux

A friend posted something on Facebook about this week being the 8th anniversary of Chris LeDoux's death.  He has forever and always been my favorite artist, even the old stuff from before he was famous.  It's strange I can still remember the exact moment my mama and I heard on the radio that he had died.  We were in Redding, CA on Hilltop Drive.  I was a senior in high-school and had a meeting with an adviser at Shasta College.  My mama and I were just stunned, we heard what the DJ was saying, but it just didn't really sink in, just didn't seem real. 

In high-school I used his music for class projects several times.  In Spanish I made a children's book based on Caballo Diablo.  In English I used a quote from The Ride for a presentation.  He inspired me all through my childhood.  He was also the first concert I ever went to.  The most amazing thing I had ever seen was towards the end when he entered the stage on a bucking machine.  I remember thinking he really was the real thing and how lucky was I to get to see him in concert.  It was just a couple years later that we lost him and anyone who hadn't seen him live would never get the chance.

This Cowboy's Hat was probably my first favorite of his.  We had it on cassette and I used to play it so much my dad told me I was going to wear it out(I actually may have done just that).  Call of The Wild was also a top favorite, I played it in the barn all the time. My sister has a lot of his albums and when I stayed with her during the summers I added another couple to the list, The Yellow Stud and The Stampede.  My newest favorites are; Hairtrigger Colt .44, Hoka Hey, Lakotas, The Passenger, Too Tough to Die and Working Man's Dollar. This is definitely not a complete favorites list, I have like a trillion!

There's a song that really hits home to my papa.  He used to ride bulls in the 70's when him and my mama were first married.  My Grandad thought he was crazy, but actually really respected him for it.  He wasn't particularly great, I wouldn't say he was on the road to the NFR by any means, but he did it and he loved it.  My dad is short, but has really wide shoulders and carries all of his weight in his upper body, not exactly the best physique for a bullrider.  At some point he rolled a CAT off of a cliff and broke his neck.  He wasn't riding anymore, but that ensured he'd never be able to again.  His song Ten Seconds in The Saddle means the most to my papa.  "Life is just like ridin' broncs it's a battle, then he rolled a cigarette with shaky hands. Son I'd gladly take 10 seconds in the saddle than a life time of watchin' from the stands"  I can see that longing in my papas eyes every time we watch the Bull Riding.  He may not have been great, but it wasn't about that, it was the feeling he experienced every time he crawled on the back of a raging bull.  A few years back we had a pretty rank Angus bull, and don't you know my dad was talking about what it'd be like to buck him out!  We all took it as idle chit chat, but I know in his heart he really would have liked to have crawled on him.

I'm sure Chris LeDoux has touched us all at some point, especially those of us living the songs he wrote.   What are some of  your favorites????  Do you personally identify with any of his songs?

 

XO Loves,

Me

Believe in Your Dreams

My room-mate gave me a book to flip through today, 'Always Believe in Yourself and Your Dreams'.  It's a Collection from Blue Mountain Arts, and has a lot of very inspiring/helpful quotes in it.  It's really a pretty cool little book!

My parents have always known I'm a little dreamer.  From crazy things(even I agree) to seemingly attainable goals if I worked my hind end off, hard.  When I was really little my friends and I used to sit around and draw.  Our favorite thing?  Our ranches, when we grew up of course.  We would draw all kinds of things!  From horse barns, to arenas, to tracks and breeding facilities.  Mine always also included cattle.  We used to also enjoy coming up with crazy registered names for our horses, mostly inspired by the hundreds of APHA and AQHA Journals I had stacked under my bed.  As I got older my dreams turned into more real life ideas, and I love them all.  Even if I won't ever get the chance to travel all across Europe, its nice to dream.  Some people believe dreams are a luxury or something only children do, but that's not true.  It's important to dream and look forward to the wonderful things that are yet to come.  Here's a little excerpt from the book I read through today:

 Be a Dreamer

Dare to dream, for dreamers see tomorrow.
Dare to make a wish, for wishing makes way for hope, and hope is what keeps us all alive.
Dare to reach out for the things no one else can see.
Be unafraid to see what others cannot.
Believe in your heart and in your own goodness, for in doing so others will believe in them, too.
Believe in magic, because life is full of it.
But most of all, believe in yourself... because within you lies all of the magic, the hope, the love, and the dreams of tomorrow.
-Ron Cristian



XO Loves,

Me

No Time to Workout? No Excuses

I saw a photo on Facebook a couple weeks ago, it was a short workout focusing on legs.  Sexy legs to be exact.  I think if we don't have time to work anything else, legs are most important.  I'm not a trainer, or super fit girl, or any sort of pro or guru, this is just what I think. 

I have knee issues, my knee caps don't track straight and for years Physical Therapists have concentrated on strengthening my thighs to fix the problem.  I know a common problem in runners, especially female runners is a tight IT band.  There are I think 3 muscles that attach to our knee caps on the outside of the leg, but only 1 attached to the inside.  A tight IT band can be painful, and stretching does help, but what helps more is strengthening the adductor muscle(inner thigh). 

As women in today's world we are constantly wearing shorts, skirts and dresses: lets face it, who doesn't want to have smokin' legs???  So here are a couple little short workouts that can help achieve some Hot legs for the summer weather that's quickly approaching, I think the shortest workout is 4 minutes, so try them out and see if they work for you!  They all will also burn calories, and who can't use that?

 

 

XO Loves,

Me   

Photo credit: Google Images

 

The Stories They Could Tell

I absolutely Love books.  Any books.  I'm constantly ridiculed when moving for the numerous, super heavy totes full of westerns and romances.  I currently have two flat totes full of unread books in my house now.  Over Christmas I used my mama's Nook like crazy.  I seriously read 15 books over break.  It was great because I could search for whatever I wanted and got it in a nano second and I could read in the dark without any lights on.  Perfect right?  Not really, I almost felt like I was cheating on the real thing.  Actual books have history and tales outside of the stories they contain.  Old books smell like moth balls, most of you may think yuck, but it's comforting in a way.

Our University Library has an amazing collection of really old, worn out, torn and abandoned books in the basement.  I could spend days down there fondly caressing the spines of books tucked away and forgotten.  No one ever goes down there for the books.  Anyone who happens to be down there is only there to study or use computers.  But not I.  There are rows and rows of classics, books published before 1900, books with special inscriptions from loved ones passed down.  My favorites are the books that have cardboard covers and are literally bound with string.  How cool is that? I'll admit, I walk around looking for the oldest looking books and take them down just to see when they were published, or if anything is written inside the covers.  A lot of these old books have been donated and I really find myself thinking of their pasts.  Did the belong to people in OR?  Did they hold regal positions in a ceiling to floor personal library like you see in movies? Were they read and re-read, cherished and coveted?  Or did they sit untouched on a desk or shelf in someones study?  I would love to know each and every books' story.  Call me a nerd, but hey, I love Libraries!

Here are some pictures I took while creeping around in the basement, alone.  I'll add that I currently have 5 of these pungent smelling forgotten books.  I like being the only person who's checked them out since they've been there.  I feel like all books deserve to at least be looked at, if not read.  I doubt I'll be able to single handedly read every never checked out book in the library, but I'm sure going to do my best!  At least with the classics.

 These are the 5 books I have right now, Tennyson, Chaucer, Tolstoy, Leighton and Lehmann

 

Leo Tolstoy, Russian Text

 

Isn't this one awesome? If I can find it again I'm going to check it out next.

Little Red Riding Hood of course. This is one of the books from the set above. There were only 500 copies in Art Vellum and we have copy 450. Copyright 1896

 

I really have no idea what language this even is, but pretty cool huh?

There are just amazing treasures down there I tell ya!

One of my favorites, string binding

Talk about Classic

Isn't this just too cute?  It was the size of my hand and had all kinds of great advice.

There are a lot of books bound this way, and I've never seen any before. 

This one is awesome. An 1880 copy of the Iliad. It doesn't get any better in public libraries. There was even a note written inside from a father to his daughter in 1881.

This ones a little rough from time...

I know I've been on a streak of really long blogs lately, but sometimes I get so excited I can't contain myself :)  I hope you at least enjoyed the pictures.

Xo Loves,

Me

Hershey's Hanna aka Elvira

In 2011 I made the decision to sell a 6 year old grade mare I got from a guy in Halfway, OR.  She was still in a snaffle but coming along very nicely, and well patterned on barrels.  The problem was that she was just too short for me.  She had a great build but wasn't 15 hands.  I liked Socorra a lot and kind of wished my dad would have just taken her.  I didn't have to sell her to a stranger though, instead I traded her back to the breeder for a coming 3 yr old un-broke registered filly that was by Soco's Sire's Sire.  It was a tough decision and it wasn't any time at all that the breeder was heeling on Soco.  Little miss Elvira may have been similarly colored, but had a completely different attitude.  I've been around several horses from this guy and I've been impressed with them all. Elvira is still far from green-broke but I want to make sure she's started right, and she's doing really well. I took a picture of her butt the other day and was surprised how much she's grown since I've had her.  She's just about right at 15 hands, which isn't big, but I wanted a shorter horse since my other 2 are tall. So here are some pictures of Socorra and Elvira.

Socorra right before I traded her. Not a very good picture, but I only have a couple on this computer

                     A very fat Soco                                                  

                                             Elvira when I first got her.

                                                    Summer of 2011

                                                Spring 2012

 

Summer 2012

 

Fall 2012

 

And Elvira now.

With the exception of a mustang I got when I was 10 this is the first horse I've had that I've gotten to do all of the training on.  It's quite exciting, and I have high hopes for Miss Ellie. I think what these photos have shown me is that I seriously need to work on my photo taking skills, and should probably start using an actual camera...


Xo Loves,


Me

Plans Change

We all know that in order to lead a well organized efficient life, one that leads us somewhere we want to be, we have to make plans.  Plans encourage and motivate us much like goals do.  But even the best laid plans can change.

In 2009 I was working for BLM in Norwood, CO, and in my off time I rode colts for a guy in Olathe.  I'm not sure exactly what happened but after a treacherous day in the field with a very intense man(who didn't believe in catching your breath), I came up lame.  My left knee was swollen, hurt and looked funny.  I went to the doctor and he agreed I had injured it but physical therapy was about all we could do for it at that point.  A couple weeks later I was riding a little cutting bred filly who had a major attitude.  All was going well, we were about done when I asked her to lope one more time.  I guess she figured she had worked hard enough.  She started bucking, I rode her a little ways then came off.  We were in a round pen with good footing, but she threw me into the wall and my right foot got hung up in the stirrup.  Of course I got drug a little, but my knee got seriously tweaked.  It was ok, if I kicked hard enough I could pop it back and it felt fine.  That fall I started physical therapy and my knees started to feel better, and in fact they didn't bother me for 3 years. 

Last winter/spring my left knee started to bother me.  There's always something that hurts, so I half ignored it for several months.  Until it got so bad that if I squatted down I could barely walk when I stood back up. It was a sharp, crippling pain.  I began favoring it at work(cement floors in a butcher shop aren't user friendly), and my right knee started to swell and hurt as well.  It was more of a dull throbbing pain that could be iced away.  I saw a doctor several more times during the summer.  She didn't really look at my knee just listened to the symptoms, and set me up with more PT.  It was my cousin that worked on me, and no one in the clinic could figured out what was causing the pain. It was incredibly frustrating.  I moved the end of September to start school again, and began PT up here.  I went for 4 months and showed no real improvement.  Clearly something was wrong. 

Over Christmas break I saw my real doctor, she actually felt my knee and decided that much swelling at all times really wasn't normal, and gave me a referral to an Orthopedic. Finally!  I saw the Orthopedist the day I came back here.  I had already had x-rays and an MRI done on both knees.  He messed around with my knees, tweaking them and twisting them, finally asking for another x-ray which they did in the office.  I came back and in minutes he told me that my knee caps were tracking way outside and I had folded tissue in my joints.  Wow, 1 appointment and I got an answer I'd been looking for, for 6 months.  He ordered a special CT Scan that would show the degree of tilt in each knee at certain angles.  Come to find out, my knee caps are severely tilted and surgery is required.  The left one being the worse of the 2 which is so typical considering I signed off on the Workman's Comp case. Oh well, such is life. 

The really big deal is that I have to have both knees operated on.  Originally the plan was an arthroscopic surgery that loosened the tendons allowing my knee cap to float back to its original position.  Only since I have the worst Irish luck, mine will be much more extensive.  Involving slicing my leg open, re-attaching bones with screws and to top it off staples. Staples along at least a 6" incision! Each knee requires a 6 week Nothing period, with a 6 month recovery overall.  Now when I say nothing, I mean I can't even drive myself! This is was pretty much just the most awful news I've had in quite awhile.  Even worse than finding out my ex-fiance will be getting married while I'm going under the knife... Perfect, just perfect.

So rather than staying here and learning how to farm, and barrel racing for the summer, or going to OK to intern on a ranch(if I got it) I have to move home and do NOTHING all summer long!  Just horrible!  Not that I don't love my home and my parents, but I just moved from CA and I'm trying to go forth in life.  This is definitely not the going forth I had in mind.  I hate surgeries, I hate blood, staples, stitches, scars, braces everything medical!!!  When I had my nose fixed I was barely clear headed from the anesthesia before I started dreading the day when the tubes had to come out.  Really.  So now, besides dreading these 2 awful very intrusive surgeries I'm freaking out about having the staples taken out.  I mean that just can't feel pleasant.

So there ya go.  My rant on my whole summer going from something great to something completely lame.  Oh and lets not forget that surgery #1 will be taking place in June, with #2 being 6 weeks after that, that I won't be able to ride a horse again until 2014.  I swear, my life is ruined as far as I can see for now... I'm terribly upset and freaked out.  I have to drive 10 hours the middle of March to meet with the surgeon(who's like the best on the west coast) to finalize details and go over it all in great depth.  Ugh, I'll probably pass out, just the thought of it all makes my toes curl. 

Always remember, never take your today for granted because tomorrow could be something you never bargained for.  Thanks for letting me get that all out :)


Xo Loves,


Me

Macie vs. Town Deer

This post was supposed to go out last week, but we had internet malfunctions and it didn't happen. This was also in lieu of a post I wanted to do on very old books I found in the basement of our University library.  I am very proud of my little Macie, who is now 18 weeks. For those of you who don't know she's the grand-pup of my late Fanncie.  So she has some big paws to fill, such as it were haha.

While I do live in town, we're on the outskirts kind of and we have a big lot, with an abandoned lot next door.  It's not strange to have deer grazing around in the back yard, and they often times bed down in the back corner.  Tonight was no different.  I let Macie out and there were 5 Mule Deer outside.  She sat on the edge of the porch barking her little fool head off, I was quite amused.  The deer, the fawns in particular came wandering in wondering about the little white creature making noise.  The fawn would move in, Macie would move back, and so it went.  Finally this fawn came right up to the edge of the porch, and I thought she was going to step up on it!  We've had bucks walk on it before.  Macie was quite upset, she growled and moved around, not showing a ton of confidence but better than most. This was her first encounter with deer and I think she did quite well!  So even though we live in town and she only sees horses every couple of days, she can still learn how to be a working dog.

XO Loves,


Me