We went to the rodeo last Friday and the boys had a blast. Kenny, a.k.a. He Who Is Obsessed With Bulls, was in awe of the bullriders and decided that he really wants to give it a try when he's older. Overall the little fair/rodeo was really cool, I mean where else but a rural county fair can you hear the announcement, "Josh Duerksen, you need to get yer hiney back over there - yer mama's looking for you and she's mad as a hornet."

The remainder of the weekend was spent sealing the deal for a horse we obtained. We've both been wanting to ride and so we were just talking to a lady about her horse for sale when she mentioned she would trade for car work or hay (hell, EVERYONE will trade for hay right now but there's none to be had!). The timing was perfect since one of our boarders left their trailer here for another month for Ed to weld. We went and picked her up then spent the weekend at the auction picking up the remaining tack we needed. Silver looks all white from a few feet away but up close you see little gray "flybites" all over her. She is simply beautiful and we love riding her. I am so impressed with her training and soundness too. I was steering her to the side by pulling the reins out with my arms when I realized she was fighting that terribly. Then I accidently let the other rein touch her neck and she turned on a dime where I was sending her! She neck reins just beautifully and I decided that trying to change the way a horse has been doing something for 15 yrs is just stupid. The only thing I'm having difficulty with is she tends to crowd me while I lead her. A few taps with a crop though and she steps away, I just have to remember to be consistent. We're all so excited to have her here and go riding!

And oh my goodness, Ed called yesterday and said he'd really like to have BLT's for supper but I reminded him that everyone in the free world knows you simply can't eat them without homegrown tomatoes. Well his boss had brought a whole sack to him at work!! Oh they were wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. Is there anything better than tomatoes in the summer? I'm running into the store today for a cucumber so I can make greek salad and will make a loaf of bread to enjoy it.

The past week I've been training for my new job, I think I'll just call it "the shopping job" even though it's not mystery shopping or anything like that. My boss is leaving the country in the next few weeks so I won't have her help and so I'm trying to get as proficient as possible before she goes. But between training for that, caring for all the horses, chores on the farm, phone calls with two companies (and I'm training for a third one), and back-to-school activities - well it's just been crazy 'round here! The boys and I went through every single article of clothing they have so I could inventory and make a needs list (I have a friend in California that just had a mild heart attack at the thought of a children's clothing inventory - breathe honey, you'll be ok) and surprisingly we're in good shape. We need socks and underwear, jeans for two of them, winter shirts for Darren, and a coat for Vincent. Not back. And we've already got their supplies - Vincent wears the backpack containing ALL of his supplies most of the day now. He's really so excited to go!

Ed just left for western Kansas with his mother and brother for the funeral of his great uncle. They've got a full day of driving ahead of them. I think I'm going to see if I can get the tiller fired up today whlie he's gone and work on a project. I doubt if I can figure out how to get it running but, hey, if I can run a chainsaw, surely I can figure out a mini-tiller!

I see Moo at her gate patiently waiting on me along with five of the horses in the corral. Better get my chores done.