hqueen's collection of Far From the Usual stuff.

[hqueen13]

Finally sold my old black explorer this weekend! SO happy to have that gone! And the junk yard paid us $100 more than we expected, so I got a whopping $300 for it. It's not great, but I'm happy with it at this point.
Also stopped by BJ's and the tire will be covered under the road hazard so I only have to pay for the installation, which is only $20! WHEW!
Other than that, it has just been a very hot weekend. I didn't do anything outside that I didn't have to do, and I did way more outside than I wanted to do. But so it goes. It doesn't look like this heat is going to break until the end of the week, which is just in time for my lesson, so that's a good thing. We desperately need rain. Everything is wilting and looking horrid. The tomatoes won't ripen, and my vines are loaded, and loaded with blooms, too. My cuke looked great, but now it looks like it's dying. I don't know if something got it or if it's just the heat. I've started watering stuff in the evenings to try to give it a little boost, but I'm not sure I'm even leaving the water on long enough to make a difference either. But it's hot and buggy and I don't want to stand out there any longer than I have to.
Not much else to report at the moment, really. Just staying busy, and trying to stay cool. I'm more successful at one of those than the other at the moment.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Oh boy....gardens and excessive heat are not good combinations. Yay for selling the Explorer!! And double yay on road hazard coverage!

 

[hqueen13]

Yes, thanks FEM!!
Last night I told the BF I had to go out and water, and he was like, do you just want to put the sprinkler on it?? I was like DUH. That's the benefit of having a 4x8 box, I guess, one sprinkler covers the whole thing. We left it on for about 30 minutes, I haven't looked today to see if it has helped or not, but hopefully it did. I guess I'll do it again tonight, too. There's a 30% chance of scattered storms today. I left my windows open in the hope that I'll have to run out into the rain and shut them.
RO called me and Johnny is doing something odd, he's shaking his head up and down and won't let RO get the halter on him. He said he couldn't catch him at all today. I'm going to stop over this afternoon in the heat and see if I can figure out what's going on. I gave him some suggestions of things to check, which I will probably check myself this afternoon to see if he's itchy or have bugs in his ears or something. If not then I told him to call the vet and ask them what they would suggest, I said it might be his teeth or something. RO is very worried because apparently SO (his wife) still isn't excited about keeping him. Really, they need to work with him daily, and/or I need to work with him a couple times a week to get through this tough beginning phase to get to a point where we can actually DO something with him. Of course, RO is a bit more aggressive in his methods and doesn't realize that he's putting a lot of pressure on him quickly when he does things, so I'm probably going to have to work with him on that to help him tone down his energy and requests a little bit, as that may be part of the problem. I'm going to laugh my rear off if I go over there this afternoon and can catch him right away and he's not bobbing his head at all. We'll see.
Coyote was also really sore the other day, and had me all worried. Apparently they let him graze with a muzzle on the field before they left, and come to find out he was running around and crow hopping like a loon, and now BOTH his front feet are sore. For a horse that foundered before that's NOT good. I checked in with GH and she gave me permission to call the vet about it, and so I spoke with her a little and she gave me some suggestions. Then I talked to GH and she was like you don't have to do all that, this is how he is, it's not a big deal. I'm like, well he's not MINE, so it kind of is a big deal. Of course, first suggestion was to give bute, so I started that last night and he was feeling a bit better this morning. The vet also suggested icing his feet, and soaking the hay just in case it actually is founder. That would be very complicated, so I don't think I'm going to go that far, but I do have a soaking boot, so I'm going to pick that up from the barn when I'm at RO's this afternoon since I'll drive right by, and see if I can convince him to stand there with his foot in cold water. I wish I had 2 boots, but I don't, so we'll just do one at a time. Hopefully he'll cooperate for it, because I'm not interested in messing around with him if he doesn't. GH said she was supposed to do that before, but never could get him to do it, but I have a feeling that was also because they were likely trying to get him to soak his foot in an actual bucket, like a 5 gallon water bucket, and not in a soaking tub or a boot. The right tools make all the difference in the world.
Not much else happening, other than it's hot as hades and there's no rain in sight, and we are SO dry. I guess summer is officially here.

 

[hqueen13]

Well, we got rain. We got about 2 3/8" in about 2 hours on Wednesday last week and then the humidity went through the roof. It's been really uncomfortable since then. Not fun. The temps have not been any less, either.
The weekend was busy, Saturday we did quite a bit of cleaning up since we hadn't done that in a while. KN was coming, and so I wanted to make sure the house was somewhat neat. Things just needed to be picked up and put away.
I had my lesson on Saturday evening, and it was fantastic. It was SO hot, but thankfully since we didn't start until 6, it cooled down a little as we worked, which was nice. I think I like that better than it warming up like it does in the mornings. Storm did stellar (thanks to the heat he isn't interested in being silly, and he puts a lot more effort into doing things well because he's already so uncomfortable being hot), and I think it was the best ride we've had in a very, very long time. I was able to ride, which was a first in about 6 months, anyway. I totally forgot my bucket that I usually use as a mounting block, so KN had to give me a leg up, which we did fairly gracefully thankfully. He stood like a rock, which also helped. It was interesting because we ended up sort of coming full circle and talking about where I began, and some of the things I have had to learn for myself through the years. She's been working with me/us now for about 13 years, and we have come a very long way. She was able to highlight some of where I started, and the fact that Storm had similar issues - namely neither one of us were really in our bodies when we started all this, and that caused a lot of issues for each other. I'm glad we are mostly past that now, and I think both of us feel better for it. We talked a lot about our patterns that we develop that keep us "safe" and how they end up hindering us in the long run. My go to pattern is to really tense up my shoulders in order to create "stability" within my body. So I balance myself from my shoulders (thanks to about 9 months on crutches in the 3rd grade this makes total sense), but that doesn't actually create any real stability in my body. When I actually find REAL stability from my core, and my shoulders do not need to "grip" anymore, my body actually feels unsafe, even though technically it is more stable. That unfamiliar feeling feels scary to me, and causes me to tense back up again. KN and I talked through how to work on unraveling that, and how to help my body find new safety in a better balanced way of being and moving. She pretty much told me that I acted like a horse, and that she has been sensitive to that through the course of working together. That was rather amusing to me.
Sunday I got up and dropped her off at the next farm for her lessons for the day and went and got my chores done. I got home and the BF and I decided to rearrange the basement. We were never happy with the arrangement that we had it in, but it was the only way to set it up due to where there were outlets (not on any outside walls), and lights (very few). He looked up some LED lights and found that he could get a box of 12 on amazon for only $100. That's CHEAP for lights that are supposed to last over 10 years. He already had most of the wiring and supplies that he needed to get it done, so we decided to go ahead and go for it. We got the furniture moved (and a bazillion cobwebs vaccumed, and that was only half the basement), and I like it better already. When you came down the stairs there was an entertainment area in front of you, with a VERY old 70's couch, a recliner, and the entertaniment center with the TV (we don't have a large TV, we don't watch it almost ever), and then to the right was the pool table on that side of the basement. The back of the recliner faced the pool table, so the two areas were sort of cut off from each other. We decided to flip flop them, and put the entertaining area in the far corner, and the pool table in the space when you came down the steps. We also turned the pool table 90 degrees, so it is parallel to the long wall, and that gave it more room around it anyway so there's more space to place more easily. Now the couch faces the pool table, and the recliner is sideways, so your back isn't to the game anymore, which makes the two spaces feel more connected and enjoyable. We moved around most of the furniture, and the BF still has to figure out how to move the cue rack, and we have to figure out how to hang a couple pictures, but otherwise it is pretty much back together. We also have a tall "apothecary" cabinet that was in the house, it is about 18" square, with a glass door and sides, and a lower cabinet in the bottom, which is where we keep our alcohol. The cabinet had been painted a billion times and was an ugly green color, so he started stripping the paint off of it (that's gonna take a while... didn't realize there were THAT many layers of paint on it!). We also got it out in the sunlight and realized it was an even uglier shade of green than we thought. Now I'm afraid that when we get all these lights installed in the basement we're going to decide that the paint color on the walls is WORSE than we thought and we're going to have to paint the whole dang room! I told him we need to start cruising the Lowe's discount paint table and just see if there is anything that might work eventually. I know it will need to be special paint for painting the block walls, but it can't hurt to look at this point.
Since the BF is off this week he's puttering around working on those projects, and who knows what other trouble he'll get into. It's nice having him around, though he's getting annoyed that I have to work so much. I'm like, well, this is normal... I can't just be at your beck and call just because you can take vacation time.... It does reinforce that I really do want to be able to set ourselves up so that we don't have to work so stinking much. It's awful to pretty much only be able to work and come home. That's not how I want to spend the rest of my life for sure.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Fantastic that you had such a great lesson. It really is nice to reflect back on the past and see how far you've come. I didn't realize you and Storm had been together that long. That's a longer relationship than some have with spouses, lol!

Congrats on getting the basement rearranged.

 

[hqueen13]

Thanks, FEM, and yeah, that IS a long time! That is the wonderful thing about having a horse, you do get to be with them a long time in many cases.

Whew, the tropical weather is here! It blew in some time last night, and has been bellowing all morning. I had a fun time splashing around in it trying to get chores done this morning. I pulled out my serous rain gear - my aussie oilskin duster came out, along with my waterproof hat and rubber boots. It was cool enough that the heavier layers weren't an issue. Everybody got tucked in where ever they were. I even turned off the fans for Cowboy and Coyote because they were shivering just a bit with the combination of the breeze blowing and how wet they were. They'll hang out in the barn for most of the day I expect. I didn't even bother mucking, I know it will be a mess later, but there was no way I was mucking in the driving rain and wind. Right after I took a picture with them and posted it to insta I got a flash flood warning on my phone with a "don't drive" alter... I was like Uhh, too late! I headed up to take care of Oliver and Cash, and tucked them in their stalls (I think they appreciated that!), and then headed home. I got back just as the worst of the wind was kicking up. I'm cozy on the couch working, and watching the birds at the feeders in the front yard. I feel so bad for the humming birds in this weather. They need to eat so frequently, and the wind and driving rain make it hard for them to get around. Even the sparrows and house finches were clamoring around trying to find shelter under our small porch overhang. I wish we had a bit better shelter for them at times like this, but it is what it is.

Had my first call with my business coach yesterday, and I've got my homework listed for myself. Mostly it is reaching out to people that I can network with. One of the things we talked about producing is a service that helps new horse owners find the horse they are looking for. I'm not sure how much demand there would be for this, but it's worth putting it out there anyway. I've seen lots of people (and of course RO is the most current one) that end up with a horse that is not very well matched to their needs. So we'll see where this goes. I need to send some emails and reach out to some folks that would be beneficial to network with and see what happens. We talked about a lot of different things, and I gave her an overview of where I am at currently, so we'll see what happens from there. I think I had the best month that I've ever had in my business last month, I have to check my reports in my spreadsheets from the past few years, but I think it's my strongest month yet, which is nice. It has come from working really hard, but it is rewarding to see the progress. I can actually pay for the interest on my credit cards, and make a small extra payment, too, which feels good. Now if only I can keep this up!

I realized my boss is going out of town later this week, so I have a call scheduled with him later today since I won't get the chance to meet with him at the office. First priority is discussing a plan for my pay. We'll see what he says from there. After that I've got a list of things to get checked off, which is especially important if he's going to be away for a while.

There's not much else to report, mostly because all I'm able to do at the moment is keep working.

The BF's mom did not do well this past weekend at the beach with his brothers and their significant others. She was still doing her same old tricks acting like a whiny baby sister that hasn't been included in exactly EVERYTHING that happens. I don't know what's going to have to happen for her to really shift her behavior, but we haven't figured it out yet. She's driving N and A up the wall with her neediness and being so offended when they don't treat her and include her exactly like she thinks they should. The problem is she's 40 years older than they are, and wants to be "friends" which is just weird. She complained that they weren't acting like her sister and her niece, which makes sense because they AREN'T her sister or her niece. We had been planning on trying to make it down there in a few weeks when the BF has another week of vacation, but now I think we are just going to skip it all together. It's not worth the drama. I don't have time for that kind of energy, even if it does mean that I'm stuck at home and don't get to take a vacation somewhere. The BF is in agreement with me on that one as well, which makes me feel better. I'm sure he'll catch flack for it because there is an air show down at the beach, and it is his dad's birthday, but at this point neither one of us care. Those complaints will be less bothersome than his mom being overly sensitive about how she is treated.

Other than that, not much news. The basement is mostly rearranged. We have to do a few more things, but it's pretty much settled. The new lighting is AWESOME, and I'm so glad the BF put up the ceiling fan that we had. It's nice to be able to sit down there under the fan when it's hot. I can't wait to make those kinds of changes in the rest of the house, but it's going to be a while before that happens. It's nice to make the spaces more comfortable and better, it is encouraging to want to be in them at that point. Now I just need to keep up with keeping it clean (which is next to impossible between the cobwebs and the dust that the BF makes in his workshop area...).

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Ugh on the tropical weather stuff. We mostly dodged the bullet on one - but we did get a lot of rain that we didn't need. Oh well.

Hope you can get the boss to see things your way! Glad your business is doing well!

 

[hqueen13]

FEM, we're now in that boat (pardon the pun...). We had no rain for so long, and now it keeps raining. We had more rain overnight, but since I forgot to dump the gauge out, I have no idea how much we got.
Chat with my boss went about the same as usual. We did get a bunch of open to do's checked off the list, so that part is good. I confronted him again about the pay situation, and told him that all I wanted to know was that there is a plan in place. So we'll see what he says next week after he gets back from vacation again.
Nothing else to report, really. The heat has broken, so that's a huge relief. I wish it would stay this way, but we'll see how long it lasts.

 

[hqueen13]

We had a half busy weekend. Saturday we didn't do much, I just took care of my horse chores and not much else. I don't remember how we passed the day, but we did, LOL. We did end up playing pool for a while that evening after dinner, which was nice. It was nice to finish dinner at an hour that we actually had time to play pool afterwards.

Sunday we ended up making up for the slacking on Saturday. I finished my barn chores, and came home to find the BF had started weeding one of the new beds that we put in this year, and was currently mowing the lawn. I decided that since I was already sweaty I might as well go ahead and keep working, so I weeded the other new bed (in the shade, thankfully!) and then checked up on the other beds. Thankfully they were in great shape, and only one of them needed much attention (dang nutsedge!). All the weeds came out easily thanks to all the rain, too! I was VERY glad to have that done. He finished up the mowing and we came in the house to cool off and eat some lunch. We went back out a while later so he could wash off the tractor, and I finished checking the beds (on the shady side of the house!), and then he put the bucket back on the tractor and carried all the weeds and sticks down into the woods. I was really happy to get that weeding done because the crabgrass was trying hard to over take the new beds. This is the time of year when the weeding gets away from me, and then it becomes the monumental chore. I'm glad to have it done again, and hopefully it won't be such a big deal again.

Not a whole lot else happening. I started working with my business coach, and I have my second call tomorrow. I've gotten everything that we set out for me to do checked off my list, so that is a good thing. I'm also still working with a woman and her cat, who has cancer, which is a lovely boost of income. I finish RO's horses today, and for the foreseeable future that's all the extra farm sitting that I have (save for Cowboy and Coyote which never seem to stop). Hopefully that will give me some time to focus on my business so I can start building things, and get to the point where I don't have to depend so heavily on the farm sitting anymore.

There's a lot of irons in the fire, and I'm ready for some of these to start turning into useful things!

 

[hqueen13]

Well, there went another week...
Saturday the vet came out to do Storm's teeth, and to pull Lyme titers, and do a couple other things for RW's horses as well. So I spent all morning in the barn with them. I felt SO bad for the vet, Storm had clover slobber something AWFUL. So she got rained on the whole time she worked on his teeth. He did very well for the most part, and she was really complimentary of his teeth at the age of 18, so that made me feel good. I finally got home, and we decided to run out to grab some lunch and run a few errands. We got back and didn't do much for the rest of the afternoon.
Sunday we did some cleaning, and then W and A came over so that W and the BF could work on the table for W. They got the form set up and everything sealed so that they could pour the epoxy on Monday. A and I hung out and she trimmed my hair again and we talked about products and tried to figure out what to use to help get my hair back to a better condition.
Monday afternoon W and A came back so that they could do the epoxy pour, and that was interesting. They tried to add some epoxy to a couple small spots that they decided to fill, but they discovered that they hadn't sealed those spots completely. So there was a bit of a panic rush to try to figure out how to manage that. We were all pretty nervous since it was about 9 liters of epoxy that they poured in.
The BF got up about 3 and decided to go look at things, and discovered that there must have been a small leak because it had flowed out onto the table, and was starting to drip on the floor. He cleaned it up, and then made a dam out of more caulk all the way around that corner to hopefully contain anything else that leaked. It is finally to the point where it is beginning to set up now, so it'll stop leaking on it's own, and we can pour in more to top it back off again. There has already been quite a bit of discussion for how to handle this the next time so that it will work better. W was lamenting this morning that the videos they've watched online have looked so easy! And the BF was like, yeah, but how many pours do you think they've done by that time? And honestly, they lost probably not even a liter, so that's pretty good in my book, all things considered! I didn't wake up to 9 liters all over the floor, so that's a plus!

The BF had his discovery flight yesterday afternoon to talk about the program. The guy gave him a wild ride, and the BF was really over whelmed at all of the information that was thrown at him in a short amount of time. He's a bit shell shocked, and I reminded him that he's never really had to learn anything monumental like this before in his life. He learned to drive at such a young age that his license, and then each of the steps up to class B and class A have been really minor in the greater scheme of things. I know he'll do just fine, but standing at the bottom of the mountain he's feeling rather over whelmed at the moment. The good news is that they had positive things to say about the online ground school programs, which will save him about $200. A drop in the bucket compared to the total, but every little bit helps. I told him that the next step is to just do that, and don't worry about the rest of the steps. If he decides he doesn't like it after that, he can still quit and being out $200 is cheap risk to take. I was also pleased that the interest rate on the financing option is only 11%. It's not great, but it's not terrible, either. I told him that it would be smart to explore other options from the bank and see what else is out there, especially right now because it seems that rates are at pretty low numbers. So we'll see what kind of potential that has as well. But he doesn't even have to worry about that until AFTER he gets the ground school stuff done. One step at a time.
The kind of cool news was that as an instructor, you make $30 to $40 an hour to teach. And he learned that all of the planes that are used for training are privately owned, and leased to the program. Having a plane that is used in the program earns you $3000 to $4000 per month just from the plane use. So you could pretty easily pay for a plane, and have reasonably comfortable income doing that alone. It will be several years before he could be at that point, but still, that is promising. So now he just has to get past this wave of anxiety in order to take the next steps. We'll see how long that takes him.

He's off this week, which will be nice to have him home. Yesterday I was supposed to go to the office, but the monitors that we ordered to go with the new computers apparently didn't work, so they couldn't install them, so that got canceled. I was appreciative, though, since it saved me from having to change out of stinky barn clothes and attempt to freshen up to be presentable for the office. He had his flight, and didn't get home until just after 1, so we chatted, and ate lunch together while I kept an eye on my computer.
Today he's running my car over to have an alignment done, and then running a few errands, which is nice to have that stuff out of the way. He was cranky this morning, but he didn't sleep good, either, I think partly due to the stress of the flight, and partly due to the stress of the liquid epoxy sitting in puddle in the basement... He is also cranky about the fact that I have to work and he is off, but there's not much that I can do about that at this point. I suppose I could take a day off, but I don't really want to lose the income, either. At this point I am doing so well that I would prefer to keep it up and not end up scrambling again. I'll have to look at my numbers later in the week and decide.
The other priority this week is trying to get things sold. I'd like to start getting some cash in our pockets to put towards some of these projects that we want to do - primarily his flight school, and we need to get rid of some stuff, anyway.
LOL, the receipt just got emailed to me from the auto shop, and I'm SO glad that there was a discount, because there is a "shop supplies" fee that was added, plus the tax, and it brings it to $193. I've got some extra in the budget, but that's a bit more than I though it would be given the discount. That's ok, though, because I actually do have room for all of it. Very glad to get that done, now I just have to make sure that I get back over there on a regular basis to maintain it since I have the lifetime package.

Not much else to report. Just chugging along with things. We finally got some gentle rain, and the temps have broken, which is such a huge relief. We're down below 70 overnight, and last night it went down to 64, which was lovely. It's a relief not to feel like you are baking as soon as you walk outside. Hopefully we stay this way for a while! I'm ready to get some stuff caught up!