Ridin' Hawses

There's something about a Saturday night rain that makes a Sunday morning feel extra cozy.
I woke up to some impatient squawking out my back window, got out of bed, and released my little hennies from their confinement.  Those girls just rush out their coop door like escapees from Folsom, and sometimes you have to be quick in your early morning sleepiness not to get a wing to the face as they flee their roosting bar.

The air is gray.  It smells heavy and earthy and rich, like dirt.  Rain like last night's comes very, very rarely around here the past few years, so something about it also smells new.  I'm happy I'm the only one awake right now.

Last time we talked I was buzzing with thoughts and goals hanging out under an umbrella of ambition.  That motivation I was feeling must have known the rain was a-comin'! 
I was eager to get m'girl onto a horse for her first time.
I had a tree and about 100 little tiny perennials in flats in my front yard, waiting for me to get planting before they dried up in their plastic seedling pots.

Well, we got our tree in.  I don't have the greatest photo for you, but I can at least prove that it's planted:

 I swear, every. single. day. I have a neighbor stop their car or their feet or their bike or dog as they pass by to ask about that tree, or to tell us how niiiiiiice! it's all looking up front.  I love it, I have to say!  (A lot of times they throw in something about our sweet kiddos :)  I don't realize until I walk down the street what a difference has been made there.  Seems slow moving to me but I guess when you face our house every time you leave that cul-de-sac ahead of us, a little change goes a long way.  Makes me feel good that people can see we love our home.

So anyways, then I planted all of these little sweeties over a couple of free hours:

And we've gotten rain twice since, and temps around 90 or less!  It was meant to be my planting season.
They don't look like much I know, but these little guys pack a punch.
I got them from a little tiny garden shop near our old house.  It's called Al's Pine Garden, even though Dan and his daughters run it.  He starts most of the seeds himself, and sells the little packs of seedlings for next to nothing.  For example, one of the little 6x8" flats, with approximately 10-15 starters in each one, is about $2.49.  And now, middle of summer, everything is 20% off.  I estimate there are about 100-120 little plants here in this collection I exhibit for you in the above photo, and including tax it all cost me $50 of birthday money.  That's including three grasses, which I adore, sweet potato vine, sedum, random ground covers, about 40 daisies, calendula, Cupid's Dart, columbine, etcetera etcetera.  I had a lot of irises popping up in a clump within the burm where this is all being planted, so I chopped out some rhizomes and scattered them throughout the area too.  This is an investment for next year, when all this will have been established and sleeping all winter, waiting to pop up and go nuts next spring.  I CAN'T WAIT.  This is how I did most of our planting at our last house... Bargains this year = crazy yields and surprise the next.

NOW, we MUST talk about a girl and her horse love.

OBSESSED.
Everything now is horses, horses, horses!

The night we first met this horse family we went over for Tulah's first ride.  Right off the bat they walked her through every bit of responsibility when it comes to riding.  Keeping the horse tethered while you check him over.  Brushing his coat in case of any matting that might get sore under the saddle.  Picking his hooves before you work him.  Blankets, saddles, stirrups, bits, halters, bridles... These gals explain everything as they do it, and they have a very captive audience :)

Now Roo... For a while there I thought she was not always been the most adventurous, per se, but she likes the idea of new things usually, at least.   She's gotten more sure of herself in the last year or so, and it's always fun to see her accomplish something that I wouldn't have necessarily expected from her.  I used to make the mistake of assuming she was my little book-worm type of learner, my little artist, my delicate flower.  I found myself really excited when she started soccer and did pretty darn well with it.  I was definitely surprised when she found herself riding a two-wheeled bike at almost 4 and a half and tearing across monkey bars.  I think I, unknowingly, limited my view of her for a season or two, maybe assuming that her little brother was the "physical one" and that she had her feet comfortably on the ground, nose in a phonics workbook.  But they're both going to do and love a variety of things, hopefully... You should see my "Anti-SIT DOWN for a Minute" Buddy relax and draw funny pictures, and actually color a page from a coloring book!  Whoa.  Crazy stuff going on around here.  And Roo?  Man, she's just as sure of herself as can be up on that giant horse.  Her bottom is sitting 5 and a half feet off the ground, and she doesn't think a single think about it.
Actually, at five and a half feet up, she thinks she's reached Heaven.

She is so proud of herself here, up there on that horse she loves so much!  She's got the reigns, mommy cheering her on, and new friends/teachers putting their faith and encouragement in her as they give her the freedom to actually RIDE this horse.  Not just sit on it while he walks around, but give him commands, hang on with her little legs, and be the boss.  After a lap around the arena, she declares she's ready to trot.

looking pretty legit.

OH yeah.  That's a dust cloud.

Knoxer got up there too, just a little tiny-looking buckaroo!

Now, none of this would have been possible for Tulah Roo if I hadn't met the right people.  Do you ever just turn a corner and meet, like, the RIGHT people?  At the RIGHT time?  When it just feels like this was what was supposed to happen?  That's how I feel with this family of horse lovers who have taken us in.  Gena (sounds like 'Jenna') is the mom of Andrea, 19, and Alyssa, 18.  And Zach, but he is a busy teenager and we've only met him once. They live over by our old house in Wheat Ridge, and pasture their horses near our new house in Golden.  Gena does home health care, actually has clients/residents in her home, and provides care and support for them 24 hours a day.  She's raised her kiddos on her own.  And they are amazing.  They are so friendly, outgoing, and seem so happy to be teaching us all about horses.

Gena has been doing horse therapy for the disabled as an extension of her health care background.  Right now she's hoping to expand into horseback riding lessons for clients of all types, including your run of the mill typical kiddo.  I found her ad on Craigslist and gave her a call, and that is how we started out this little adventure.

However, I know this is just a stepping stone to get her and her family to their dream.  Their dream is 50 or 60 acres in Eastern Colorado- a dude ranch, horse therapy, home health and lessons of all kinds.  Gena tells me they're two years away from it, and I know she's right.

So here is a mom, working SO hard for her family, building a dream and making it happen.  It's exciting.  I will rejoice one day when they close on their property and prepare for their grand opening!  I want to do anything I can to help them get there.  Gena has told me that she wants Roo to be able to ride, and has made it super affordable for us.  I know she's not going to make money from us, and money is what helps a business get off the ground.  But I hope we can help in other ways.  And I think I can.  They are building a website, planning on their facebook launch, and organizing an open house for the end of August.  Guess who has a camera, editing and layout abilities, and possibly some logo design input??!!  That might be me!  If I could spend some time helping with all of those things, I think it could be super helpful.  As long as I do it well.  I think this could work out!!

Another thing.  We have not had Rooney's 5th birthday party yet because I'm just super-mom, so I had been thinking of having a half-birthday party instead.  Which puts us at the new school year, basically.  How fun would an "Off to School!!" party be, for my little Kindergartener and all of her little amigos also heading off to their first school year?!  Tulah totally wants an Off to School! party, and now my wheels are turning about one themed around horses.  I had a lot of friends asking about Roo's lesson once I posted some pictures on facebook... Seems completely appropriate to have the party at the little arena by our house.  There is a playground there, pavilions and tables... And three awesome teachers probably very eager to show off their 4 horses to 20 kiddos.  I think it would be incredible exposure to their new business offshoot, and the money from the party would hopefully buy them a saddle or helmets or something along those lines.  I asked Gena about it yesterday and she was alllllll about it.  I am so excited!  Time to start planning!

I've gotten to ride the horses too, a couple of times since our first day with them.  I can't help but go nuts inside when Gena talks about me being her riding partner once Roo is in school, heading up the trails in our Golden foothills!!  I love being around the horses, it is pretty daggone addicting to this wannabe-homesteader-mom. I love how excited my sweet girl gets with them, they just light up her already brilliant self.  I figure the more I know about them, the more comfortable we all will be, and hopefully will be able to take on more responsibility with them.  Maybe in a hundred years or so we'll have one of our own.

In closing, more photos for you from our few times riding this past week:

She gets up in that there saddle by herself!  That's a sizeable climb.

Bursting with something.

Woke up this morning and got my sweet girl ready for her first meeting with real, up-close horses.
This is something she's been dying to do-- Well, maybe not so much meet and feed horses, but OWN one!  Baby steps, I tell her...  I tell myself.  The first step would be to meet some. Feed some, muck some, and ride some.   The real and dirty stuff, the fun and fast stuff.
I found a woman in Golden who pastures her horses nearby, and set up a meeting to see how my Roo does with them. I'm hoping so much that we can work something out with the mucking and feeding, to help us out with the riding and learning.  Lessons cost money but I want so much to be able to get Tulah involved if this is something she truly desires.  Can you think of a better discipline than riding horses?

The kids were so excited to be in the pasture and next to these giants.  For today's visit all we did is talk, ask questions, and breathe the same air as the hawses, but it was enough.  We got to help with the feeding and mucking also!  Here the kiddos are feeding Buck, who seems to be their favorite so far.

 We discussed setting up riding lessons, cost, all that.  And then they invited us back tonight for a free ride to see how it goes!  YES and YES!  We're going back at 5:30 today for their first ride ever.  Evening cannot come soon enough :)  This is TC, the 22 year old that the kids will practice on tonight.  He's really sweet and smart.  And notice?  TC happens to be my sweet girl's initials too!  Serendipity...?  Is that you?

Thinking about getting involved in lessons and riding makes me think a lot about how to make it happen.
I'd like to, and offered to, sort of work out something with the owner to help with the pasture in exchange for a bit of a break on the cost.  I live, literally, 5 blocks away from the pasture and the arena where they ride.  I could easily run down once a day or a few times a week to help with their twice-daily feeding and mucking.  They actually live super close to our old house, so I know what a drive it can be twice a day!
Beyond that, we just need to get creative with how we can manage it.
I need a job and it's staring me in the face.  Has been for weeks now, but I'm having a hard time sorting it out right about now.

Basically I'm about to have a Kindergartener.
Basically, I always thought/knew/wondered that I'd be a working mom once my kids started elementary school.
Basically, Kindergarten here costs $300 a month, a bill we've never seen outside of a car payment, the student loans I'm denying, and our house.  PUBLIC SCHOOL, PEOPLE!!  Terrible.  We don't have that money right now, and I need to summons it.  It's up to me.
Another basic?  I don't want to be away from Knox.  I am going to miss Tulah enough with her being a student 7 hours a day.  I don't want to miss Knoxer too.  I want to volunteer in Roo's classroom, know her teachers and classmates.  I want to help with a school play or community garden... Field trips and stuff.  I want to make her a snack when she gets home and hear all about her day while it's fresh in her amazing little mind.  I know I know... wah wah wah.  Every parent misses their kiddos while they're away at work.  But I think, we've made it all this way, all this time, on one maintained income.  Why can't I still be here for them when they're in school?  Is a $10/hour job simply my fate right now?

Mister Boree is miserable at work right now.  It's making him wish for more money, to work less than 14 hours per day, perhaps, to have some flexibility or freedom or whatever it is that comes with that money.  Happiness maybe.  Which is silly-- why focus on more MONEY when you can focus on doing something you love?  There will never be enough money, but delighting in what you do should be a stepping stone to getting there.  He's blue and he's discouraged, and I see this manifesting into MONEY talk.  We never focus on the money, and here we are now-- focusing on the money.  And the money talk.

It would thrill me greatly to be able to make the kind of money that career-people make.  Heck YES I would love to do what Mista does for us... helping put a roof above us, floors below us, pretty things around us.  I want to help support our family, to lighten Mister's load financially.  I thought by now I'd be working a little business for myself, but that's not happening since we moved to a house that requires countless hours and creative input.  I absolutely love it but it doesn't pay the bills.

 So here I am, emotional on an otherwise-happy Tuesday afternoon.  Thinking and overthinking how I can do what I'm good at, what I love, and support us a little bit by doing so.  I fear so much working some random, passionless, minimum wage job to simply provide a few extra dollars at the end of the day.
I need something more.  WE need something more- something fabulous!!

I fear I have it in my blood, in my bones, to be extreme.
I fear it because it's not something I can tame.  It's a wild beast fighting against me... With me?  FOR me?  Is it good or is it a sickness?!?   
When extreme is running wild, I'm inspired.  Then I'm eager and encouraged and ambitious.  I CAN DO THIS.  Whatever THIS is.  I can do it.
...But another minute later, I hit a bump.  It could be anything.  It could be a look from the Mister when I tell him my idea(s).  It could be a morning of tantrums that pull me back to a place of "These kids need you, clearly, wake up.  Make some coffee and be a MOM."  It could be running into someone, somewhere, doing exactly the thing you dreamed of and doing it better, faster, and appearing to have it all. 

But how do you get past the challenge, get past your own head, and just leap out of your starting lineup and forget about where everyone else is running.  How do you keep your head up, your form strong, and your gait steady so you know your place, you balance your strengths with your duties, and you cross the line when it's your time?

I sit here with an aching in my back and a something to figure out.  My emotions are blending into my dreams and my confidence, and dragging my reality and abilities with them.  Don't ask me to explain this kinetic mash-up because I can't.  It's weird and confusing and makes me wish for a nap to shut off my brain.

The good news is, any time I need to vent or freak out or ramble and shriek, I can just call up a friend or two for support.  I have one amazing friend setting me up with enough confidence to send me to the Super Bowl, even though I don't play a drop of football.  She thinks I can do anything and almost makes me believe it too!  She's getting me in touch with a local friend that knows EVERYONE in hopes that there may be a connection there I might not have otherwise.  I just need to make the call when I have a moment of silence and distracted kiddos.  I have another friend who has been with me through my mania since I moved to Colorado, my first friend here.  The longest best girlfriend I can so happily claim. The VERY MOST creative and accomplished and passionate person I know.   I make a call to her, she can gauge where my brain is in a second.  She can feel my crazed ambition and she keeps me focused.  She helps me to see what needs to be done professionally to make things go smoothly personally.  She offers me a perspective that I don't see when I'm too busy rambling to notice.  She makes me wish we could rewind to the days when we dreamed of putting our psycho heads together to create something to live for.  That was before kids and loans and jobs and... HUSBANDS.  Bleh ;)

I feel like something big is going to happen.  It's not going to burst at the seams and stretch marks across my life in a couple of short months like my babies did, but I think it's brewing.  Brewing is good.  It's steady and something I can trust.  I just need to make this thing happen in a way that Husband Face will trust it too, something he can support me in and celebrate with me.  You think I can?

The first step would be to stop venting and start listing.  And maybe go tinkle first.  I tend to tinkle when I get excited.

Thanks for listening, and please send any extra vibes of positivity my way!  I need some courage and focus.  I need to help make things possible at our home, for our kids... To help Hubby not feel so alone in his providership.  And daggone it, I want to be full of passion and energy and happiness while doing it.  Might be a lot to ask, but I don't mind the strive.

I will tell you how Miss Almost-In-Kindergarten's ride went tomorrow!  

Mama got a piece of Mountain Ash!

Basically, I love me a Farmer's Market.
And when I come home with loot like this, I love me the GOLDEN Farmer's Market.
Check out this vegetation!

 

Gorgeous, huh?  

I have a secret.  This entire collection could be YOURS for one easy payment of... FIFTEEN DOLLARS!  (plus or minus a trip to Golden.)

Yep.  It's a pretty big secret that I feel needs a big audience (like all five of you I've already told over the phone :)

Last time I typed to you I said I'd show you what treasure I found there.  Well... There is a booth at the market that sells these grass baskets, handwoven by women in Uganda.  It is a fair-trade organization selling them to profit the women making them.  They are a little pricey, but the hands that make them work for days to earn that $30 or 40 or 60 dollas.  Once you have your basket, you visit the Miller Farms booth at the market and you get to fill it for fifteen bucks. Every single week.  COME ON!!

 The last time we went I was dying to get one, and Nick's mom was with us and she offered to get it for my birthday.  Clearly a deal worth shaking on!  The one I loooooved was actually a lot less than some, and happened to be the biggest. 

 

 So now I have my big, beautiful grass basket with goat-skin handles, ready for a $15 visit to the Miller Farms booth every Saturday.  I won't try to figure out how they profit, I'll just enjoy the bargain.  All week long.

I spent about an hour getting everything soaked in vinegar water... Beets scrubbed and peeled and steamed, carrots and chiles and asparagus and squash trimmed and sliced and marinated for dinner guests... Greens torn and packaged for future salad-ation.  Made me feel all domestic and farmy-like.  

I can't wait 'til I'm getting goods like this from my very backyard.  Until then, I support the locals :)

Speaking of gorgeous vegetation... I've been trying so hard to get some of our own around our house, but I just feel like the process is crawling along.  I get all antsy pantsy when it comes to my mini-ecosystem here.  If only I were longing for sharp, spiny, thorny, stickery weeds- I'd be in knee-high weed heaven!  Where are my future goats when I need them.  I got weeds that need a-chompin'.

When I got back from North Dakota, I came home to this insanity:

The front of my house is behind there somewhere.

So one of my first days back, I went nuts.  I weeded and pitchforked and wheelbarrowed my way through it all.  My hands, arms, legs, feet were acting like tough guys as I scraped and pricked and burned through their tender skin.  

Let me tell you something.  SO.  MANY.  THORNS. up in this motha.  This is not a job one can do in flip-flops, but if you know me then you know it took me a few hours and frustrated outbursts to figure it out.  I chopped down and hauled about three volunteer trees, and pruned others.   Finally, yesterday, after about a month of re-growth, Mister Boree joined me in the final frenzy to clear it out. I let him dig out every bit of root from two horrible thorny buckthorns I had all but obliterated.  However, their already-shed Thorns Of Death and Dying are sure to leave a mark on flip-flopped feet for years to come.  Just leaving a legacy, those nasty buckthorns. 

Roo was a big helper, and proud of it too.  She loves all things nature, even all things requiring hard work and hauling in the hot, hot sun.  Thought you needed a few sweet pictures of her efforts :)

Standing on my front porch, here is my view of the street.  Before:

 and after:

The tree near the middle of the photo, the juniper or whatever, next to the big pine tree on the right... That one has to go.  Unfortunately we need to keep it there, in all its scraggly, prickly, thorny wonder, until we have a replacement plan.  Without that tree we would feel just totally exposed and vulnerable to that mighty sunset every night.  Plus the neighbors facing us from way down yonder on the cul-de-saccy.

We had family over the other night to celebrate a couple of our birthdays in June and July.  Turns out, I missed Mother's Day while I was out of town.  Turns out, there was a lot of make-up celebrating to do!    Turns out also that I got a lot of cards, full of well-wishes and some money!  My plan is to put that $$ to good use up front.  Make my yard a happy place to walk and drive by.  A small portion of someone's journey that delights them and makes them think, "My what happiness lives in that home and in that yard and beyond.  Surely."  Little did I know that I would find a key ingredient to that joy the moment we walked through Home Depot yesterday!

H to the Depot has a lot of trees marked half off already.  Shade and fruit trees, some flowering trees.  We plan on making good use of end-of-season tree deals in the very back of our property, since it's bare bones.  However I'm thinking like 90% off and not 50.  Beggars can be choosers when it comes to percentages off.

Well naturally, yesterday, I fell deeply in love with a big ol' tree in their full-price section.  The section of trees that are like WAY beyond what we can spend on a single tree, the ones in 35 gallon pots and requiring some Team Lift to move them out.  Sucks to be me right now- I was trying to figure out how to afford it and get it home!  Deciding to wait for it to go half off, we went to another garden center.  One where even like the scrawny, 15 gallon trees were over a hundred bucks!  That $150 ginormous Mountain Ash wasn't looking so 'spensive after that.  We went back to the Depot.  

As Nick dropped me off at the entrance, wishing me luck with my powers of negotiation, I wandered inside with a Roo by my side for luck.  

I headed straight for Customer Service.  I said sweetly, "Hi!  I was curious about a tree outside... You, see- I accidentally fell in love with this amazing tree, thinking it was on sale like every other tree outside.  But then my heart shattered learning that is completely full price, with no sign of a price drop in the near future. That I know of. I realize now the signs clearly indicate it is a full price tree.  However, I am mad for it and I thought it was worth asking if there might be a sale soon, or if there is room for even a tiny wiggle in the price." 

She says, "Let's ask a manager, it couldn't hurt!"  Manager comes over.  They talk.  I concentrate my curious, pleading eyes on my daughter, hoping they can't tell I'm as desperate for that daggone tree as I am.  Embarrassingly desperate though I may be.  I let Roo do some flips on me, passing the minute and a half they were talking while I acted like I wasn't trying to listen.  The gal comes back.  Says, "Know what Big Guns Bob said??  Well he's not really Big Guns Bob but I thought I should call him that since he is acting like a big shot with this tree deal... He said, "Give her half off!!""  

HALF OFF!!!  Well slap me on my Mountain Ash!!!

I was thinking, maaaaaaybe, just maaaybe I could get them to take even 20% off.  Or let me know that a sale starts some day soon.  But half off?   That's like insanity to my ears!!  SOLD!  I just so happened to have 75 bucks on hand, thanks to getting another older and another year of motherhood under my belt.  Sold as sold can be, that tree was.  Nick ran home to get the trailer, I bought it, and we drove it home in a glittery cloud of happy-gratitude and awe at my powers of effortless persuasion.

Pretty daggone big tree!

the white-ish trunk, bright green leaves and bursting red berries will be sooooo PRETTY in front of our gray house!!

The trunk is almost 5" at the base.  This tree is no spring chicken!

So that's my excitement.  Farmer's Market gold and some Mountain Ash treasure.  I think I have about thirty bucks left to spend on some front-yard prettiness, and I think that will go to some super tall shasta daisies and wild grasses to establish for next year.  A field of daisies up front, sprawling among the tree trunks, would surely brighten up any front yard's appeal.  Especially my former field of weeds :)

We're planting our new tree tonight- I'll show you a picture after!

 Lots of love for you.

Wedding weekend and July ze 4th

I feel like I just went on vacation.  Saturday morning we had a fun time at the Golden farmer's market (I'll tell you about my awesome treasure next time...), and then?
We had an overnight away from the kids!  WHOA.
We went up to Keystone for a wedding.  We have several weddings to attend this summer, but this one was special.  Obviously because it meant not only travel to a beautiful mountain town, but travel without kids.  I totally slept until nine this morning.  .

Today, after 4 hours in weekend mountain traffic, we picked up the kiddos and went out for pizza.  There's this place nearby called Lil Ricci's and they have a super Sunday family special:  4 drinks, large pizza (any and EVERYthing you want on it), salad for 4, and a ginormous skillet cookie ala mode for twenty dolla.  I could not buy groceries for all of that delicious nonsense for that price so it's sort of becoming our Sunday tradition.  After our bellies were full, we ran to Home Depot, grabbed some stuff to stain our play structure, and went home to veg.

We didn't really lay like broccoli, actually.  We had better things to do BECAUSE...

The other day I sanded the big old used playset we got the kids on Craigslist.  We had borrowed a power washer to annihilate whatever old red stain that was remaining.  It didn't do the trick and I was left to sand the old fashioned way (with a palm sander).  There was just a slight amount of sawdust that did not land in my nostrils, so Nick powerwashed it down so we could be ready to stain.  The children helped.

seriously.  Where is my son in this photo.

Well when we got home from the Depot tonight I figured I should try out the stain stuff.  Just in a spot or two. Clearly that led to just staining the whole dern thing!  My little ones always want to help me paint stuff, but there are very few casual-project opportunities for them to actually do it.  This was one time they could, so I put them to work!  Nick grabbed a brush too, and we had it spiffed up by bedtime.

I cannot get enough of the Spidey-Butt Cheek combo!  And he was completely comfortable with not only staining the swingset in his tiny-spideys, but with one little cheeky exposed to the world and my camera.  Love him.

How was your 4th of July?  Ours was fine.  We went fishing up in Boulder Creek early in the morning with some of our favorite friends.  I can't prove it to you because naturally I brought my camera and no memory card.  Golden does a great festival downtown so we took the kiddos to that in the afternoon. 

We have all kinds of fire bans in the state due to our yearly forest fire tragedies, so the downtown fireworks were canceled this year.  A few cities could do them though, so that night we went up to a nearby park on a hill and spied a few shows around Denver.

And, oh yeah!  I put up an American flag finally!  I have always, always wanted on one my house, and I finally have one up.  Makes me feel all warm and patriotic etcetera etcetera!

How are our chickens doing?  Oh thanks, they're pretty okay...
There is a lot to catch you up on, but one of the main fun facts is that we are letting them free range.  Hooray!!!  The kids love it, and Howdy is amazing with them!!

So basically, it's really stinking late here in CO.  I was up too late last night being a wild and crazy kid-free grown-up, so I'm completely tired and officially out of words!
good nimey monshoney gooksgen berflagt.