Something New and a Lot of Aggravation

This will have to be a short update (the crowd stands and roars in approval) as it is late and I've not yet made out my farrier list for tomorrow. Yesterday my new DR Power Grader was delivered. Yippee!! Trying to get my arena drug is like trying to force an Act of God to happen or something. The drag is huge and has to be pulled with a decent sized tractor. Well both tractors are always hooked up to something else. You can see where this is headed so anyway I finally decided to take matters into my own hands and order something I could use with the Kubota utility vehicle.

My Power Grader arrived yesterday and with great anticipation I opened my large box. Oh nooooooo!!!! Some assembly required. So my precious new Power Grader just sat there in its box on the driveway in front of the barn. However the men in my life do love me and Jason and my dad spent a couple of hours doing the "some assembly required" this afternoon. As Jason and I were discussing the assembly of my new toy we heard lots of moaning and looked over to see Asterik rolling . . . RIGHT by the fence. And of course he then flopped the wrong way, stuck his leg through the bottom board and broke it. This did not make Jason (or myself) happy since he already had one Power Grader to put together. Add one new fence board to the work list. Thankfully Asterik only had a couple of minor scratches.

I have to go on record and say I am not a fan of 4-board wood fence. Almost every injury I've ever had on this farm has been related to the wood fence. It cracks, splinters, rots, they break boards regularly, they like to chew on it, the cribbers love it, you have to paint it and repaint it . . . I could go on forever. I know it is pretty but in my opinion it just isn't the safest fence although people seem to have it in their heads that it is. We have a long cross fence of the no-climb wire mesh and I LOVE that fence.

Anyway, as Jason and my dad worked away at assembling the Power Grader I rode Bonnie and Lexi. Bonnie came home from the trainer yesterday and I am thrilled to have her back home. We've recently rotated pastures to let some of them rest and I have a couple of big, empty pastures right now. So I decided to ride out in the fields for a nice change. I love riding out in the fields but most of them are usually occupied. I had wonderful rides on both girls. Then as I was untacking Lexi I realized that my cell phone holder - along with my cell phone - was gone. I have one of those holders that attaches to your boot for riding since I usually have it in my pocket otherwise. Well, I guess it came off and took my phone with it. I tried for awhile to walk around the farm with Jason's phone calling my cell phone but to no avail. It could be anywhere on about sixty acres that I rode around in today.

I must admit I don't miss hearing it ring but now I have to add one more thing to my already lengthy to-do list, go to Verizon and replace my phone. UGH. UGH. UGH. So anybody reading this who has my cell phone number please don't bother to call it. Maybe I just won't replace it. I cringed every time it rang anyway - which seemed to be a lot lately!

I hope everyone has a great weekend. Mine will be spent replacing fence boards (one of my least favorite things), dragging my arena with my Power Grader (looking forward to that!), and replacing my cell phone (Grrrrrr).

I took this today. L-R is Poco hiding behind the tree, Lexi, Bridget and Traveller

Jason and Dad contemplating their next step in assembly
Apparently they had a good debate about how to put on some part and finally they decided to consult the instructions. What a brilliant idea! The Don is watching my dad (bottom right) and I guess he was the supervisor today since I was occupied riding my girls and unavailable to fill the position.

Jason looking very focused on something