J.D. Franz. 1990 -- 2008

Our little cat JD, passed away yesterday January 3rd. She was my mom's cat for most of her life -- she lived in the barn and would come out to visit mom while she gardened. JD had to be a very courageous and wiley cat to survive out there in the wilds of Lake Stevens -- just to avoid the coyotes, feral cats, dogs and various other dangers, she had to be on her toes.


We took her in when Mom was too sick to go outside to give JD a pat -- Mom was very worried about her old friend, and wanted to make sure JD was taken care of after she died.

We were JD's retirement home for about six months, and in that time Scott and I became very attached to her. She was an old lady who was set in her ways, and wanted affection, but on her own terms. She preferred to be alone, although she forged a truce with King, and liked to share his dog bed. She'd also eat out of his dog bowl, much to his consternation.

RIP little kitty.

Happy New Year from the whole bunch of us

We have many wonderful friends in our lives, some of whom happen to be animals at the moment. I'd like to dedicate this entry to them, and thank them for the past year of love. I could not have made it without them.


First up is Binkie, who we have had for seventeen years. She is a wonderful little cat, with the softest fur. I think she is french, because every time you pick her up she says "Merde!"

Next is Bhodi, who is the smartest, funniest, most loving cat in the world. Has world-domination fantasies. Rules with an iron claw.

Then there is Bug. Almost unbearably cute and goofy, super playful and needy. She also is a garbage scow, who if given a chance will eat all four of the other cat's food, before they can make it to the bowl.


Next up is Miles, who is super weird, we suspect he is actually a space alien who somehow got trapped on earth but is finding it interesting, so decided to stay. He loves to sit in the bath tub, to stare at the underside of cabinets and to sleep half-on and half-off the bed.

Finishing the Cat portion of our program is J.D. She was my Mom's cat. J.D. (named for Jack Daniels - yes, that was my mom-- naming her pets after favorite booze.) is seventeen or eighteen, she spent the majority of her life as a barn cat, living by her wits, luck and determination. We have taken her in for a life of ease in her old age, living as a well-loved indoor cat, with plenty of snugglers, scratching posts and warmth. Unfortunately she has Lymphoma, and won't be with us much longer. I am glad we have been able to make her as comfortable as possible in her last days.

We only have one entry in the Dog category - King. Superlatives fail in praise of King; a purer heart never existed. He loves the cats and me, but loves Scott most of all. He's as beautiful as he is loyal. Dog personified. Or Dogsonified.

Lastly in our pet parade is Imax. I am totally pissed off at him right now, we went on a New Year's Day trail ride with eleven other horses and riders. He went ballistic. Two hours of bucking, kicking out, rearing, lunging forward, striking out and any other butt-holish behavior he could think of.
This is the next photo in the sequence from the one above. Yes, that is him trying to bite my foot. What I didn't get a picture of was what happened next, which was me kicking him in the teeth.

Everyone was very impressed that I stayed on the whole time -- Fortunately for me, his bucking is relatively easy to sit, even when he is jumping four feet vertically in the air. Everyone who was watching that particular display swore that they could see the entire horse following behind, in the space under all four of his hooves. We eventually just left the rest of the party behind, as I just pushed the bastard on all day, forcing him forward, forward, forward. At the end of the ride, he was going over pretty long, scary bridges with hardly a hesitation, so he learned that at least. He still seemed plenty fresh after two hours. Tonight I am going to lunge the hell out of him. But I still love him. I guess.

Anyhow. Happy New Year to you, gentle reader. Onward.

What next?

I finally got a Vet to return my phone calls and make an appointment to come and see Imax and give him his shots. Thirty minutes after the Vet left, Imax was COVERED in hives, panting, itching like mad, and had a temp of 103. It took the vet an hour to get back to the barn to give him a cortisone shot ("gee I have never seen any thing like that in my life" he says.)
( o_O )
He's fine now, we had a good ride yesterday but jahayzuz it scared the shit out of me. and cost an additional $160. Merry Christmas!

We are also having training issues, now that I am really asking him to work, he is having a bit of a problem with that, and throwing temper tantrums. I just keep a chain on him -- if i have it on, he won't even try any crap, and never have to use it, but if I don't have it on him, the second I lead him into the arena, he starts slinging his head around and pawing and striking out. Once we are going he is fine. So, I just keep the chain on and we just don't have the problem. Ah, fun with Thoroughbreds. Thankfully Jill my trainer has trained TBs her whole life. Which is why she is my trainer.

Lastly, WTF is up with it being DARK at 4:00? I know this happens every year (like clockwork!) but geeze for some reason it seems worse this year.

Fa la la la la, la la la la.

pony post

The only thing I have been doing is riding, so that is all I have to write about. Imax is doing great, like usual. He is learning to canter and is stretching and rounding. This is blurry but you can see how nice and flat his topline is (relatively!!) He is even on the right lead!

We are working toward schooling shows in January.

I have a crush on my horse.

Imax is doing so good, I am so proud of him.
This is a Then and Now photo. The one on the right is one I took when I was looking for a horse. The one on the left was taken yesterday, October 22.

click for big.

He still has a pointy croup, I don't think that will ever go entirely away, but his hindquarters are muscling up nicely. He has also gained about 100 pounds or more, which also helps. It is great to see this progress.

AND I got a new saddle. Which I also am enamored with.

It is a Stubben Juventus, in BLACK. Sexy.

I got it yesterday, and we had our first lesson in it. It made a HUGE difference. Jill had us do 20 minute trot sets with almost to no contact. For about five minutes, we were even on the buckle. Not the most beautiful circles you have ever seen, but he was responsive to my leg, and most importantly, pretty much stayed in frame. I hope to replicate this wonder when we ride tonight.

I can hardly wait.

Chatty news about our weekend

Scott and I went to Benton City this last weekend, to make wine at Hightower Cellars. We had a good time, and the wine making process is interesting and all but ...

We left on Friday and meandered over the mountanins. The trees were doing their fall thing and it was very pretty. We decided to take the canyon road from E-town to Yakima (the Palm Springs of Washington). We went on a walk in the Uptanum Recreational area - I forgot my camera for this part.

We drove past our exit to Benton City, a rare occurrance of Scott getting a bit lost. Seriously, he had a piece of magnitite in his head. Once we were camping, and I woke up in the middle of the night, with Scott kitty-corner across the tent, leaving me just a little sliver of pad to sleep on. I woke him up, telling him to scoot over, and he said - out of a dead sleep - "Sorry, I was aligning myself to magnetic north." True story. Anyhow missing our exit got us some great views of mysterious, scary looking Compounds along the freeway. I guess you had to be there.

We got to the Winery around 6:00. It was really pretty .

Jay took us on a tour of the place, and showed us how to punch down the grapes.


One of the owners possibly Republican but definitely humorless relatives were also visiting for the weekend, so I mostly kept my mouth shut the whole time I was there. Scoot wisely followed suit. These folks were a chatty bunch, as long as you stuck to your Alma Matter, Baseball, and passing the Bar exam. They had no time for cracks about Alaska or Cats of Chocolate, I soon found out.

We picked grapes in the morning


and crushed in the afternoon

There were four big dogs there, so that added to the pandimonium, but King was really good with the crowd of people.

We worked really hard and got all six tons of grapes crushed on Saturday so we left early on Sunday after getting paid in Hightower Wine. Yum.

We meandered home, going through Prosser, Mabton, Toppinish, Wapato, back to Toppinish (long not interesting story) and decided to go home via SR 410, White pass. Again, very pretty, again no pictures.

All in all, we had a great weekend.

Contorted Hazlenut - Harry Louder's walking stick

Contorted Hazelnut - Harry Louder's walking stick

Carolyn and I went to Swanson's Nursery this Sunday to pick out a tree to remember my mom. My lovely co-workers got together and gave me a gift certificate so I could get her something nice. I know she would love this tree.

Imax at the Sea

Oh my god Imax was a CHAMP. We went to Ocean Shores pn Sept 8th with nine other horses and riders. He had never been to the beach before.

We rode in the WATER and even cantered in the water.
I sort of tricked him into the water, we were in the middle of the pack of horses, and there were non-spastic horses around him, and they just normally kept walking when the water came up, and he suddenly realized - hey! the ground is WET!! He snorted and shimmied around, would stop suddenly and then just as suddenly start. But he calmed down pretty quickly and more or less normally walk trot, and cantered in two inches of water.

But at first when we got there, even damp sand was highly suspect and he had to shy around the patches until he realized all of the whole ground was nothing but damp sand, and then he started to forget about the shying.

We also went up and down sand dunes, all over the beach. After about two hours though, he decided he had had enough, and had a little spaz and would only walk sideways. So we just went the rest of the way to the trailer sideways. It wasn't nearly as fun for him when I was Telling him to go sideways, though.

Then in our afternoon ride we went for a gallop (!!!!) and he is FAST. I was holding him with all my strength, and he still passed everybody. I can't imagine how fast he would have gone if I'd let him go. Scary! But when I started asking him to stop, he did (eventually) but then he was so keyed up he sort of did this little jog/prance thing - he was a hit with the civillians on the beach. Lots of phone pictures of us out there now.

This is the only photo I got the whole time, I was too busy hanging on to take pictures...

Anyhow, so much fun. He is such a good boy.

Derby at Tulip Sprngs

This last weekend I went to the Tulip Springs Derby to lend a hand to my friend Kerry. It was her first Derby with her excellent Draft-cross, Olive. Her show name is Orange Crush, which I think is cute and funny. I met some nice people from the Area VII Adult riders - actually they seem more crazy and fun than "nice".

We had an excellent time, and I can hardly wait until I get to go to these sorts of events with Imax. There is supposed to be another Adult Event Camp and Derby in the Spring, so I am hoping we can make it to that one.

I finally had my first lesson on Imax with Jill, and he was a total gentleman, which is good, except that I wanted to show Jill the getting behind the bit problem and his off-balance canter to the right. I know how to push him up into the bit, it is just a matter of getting strong enough, but I don't know what to do about the weird sloppy counter-canter to the right. Oh well.

Imax and I are going to Ocean Shores this Saturday, I am interested to see how he reacts to the Biggest, Scariest Puddle in the World, aka: the Ocean.

Men doing Dressage

The view from up here

I wish I could go riding with you so I took this little video, to pretend.

I am so honored!

Miss Eva Lake, of Art World Radio podcast fame and blogger extraordinaire, (the dedication! the productivity! the passion! how does she do it?) has used one of my paintings to illustrate one of her posts.

If you offend easily, don't click here.

Neat!

p.s. and if you clicked through to Carolyn's post referenced by Eva, all I have to say is "ditto".

A rough couple of days

The day after Mom passed away, I went to the barn to take Imax for a ride. It was relatively early in the morning and he had just been put in the pasture. i walked through the barn to the pasture to fetch him, and he saw me at the gate. He was on the far side of the pasture over by the mares where he always is (he is such a gigolo). he started walking to me, like he always does (he is a dream to catch, comes to you and puts his nose in the halter.) It looked like he was limping, and as he got closer, I saw blood running down his leg.

He had a two-inch gash on the inside of his left knee. I freaked out a bit, I certainly was not emotionally ready to deal with a bleeding, lame horse.

I washed the cut, ran cold water over it, and put some antiseptic on, and Mark, one of the barn owners, kindly called a Vet for me. When she called back, she basically told me what we were doing was ok, except I should get him a tetanus shot, which I did. A friend of mine Kerry, gave me a bunch of first aid supplies including Bute and some good advice. So I have been washing it out every day, running cold water over it for 15 - 20 minutes and putting a homeopathic salve on it that is also a topical anesthetic (sp??). I wasn't wrapping it for a while because it was pretty swollen. It has stopped actively swelling. So I wrapped it today.



The only thing I can figure what happened is he got into a fight with one of the other geldings in the pasture, and he got the worse end of it. It is not so surprising, he is really an instigator, he immediately challenges the dominate horse in the pasture and then wants to boss everyone else around. I may have to re-think him being turned out at all. Erin, his former owner stopped turning him out because he came back with a new scrape every time. I have to admit, he had a new ding nearly every day I have had him, too.

I realise this post is kind of boring to anyone but me, but believe me this is the abbreviated story - The wrap/don't wrap saga alone could fill this page and more.

So anyhow, I am grounded for at least another week to ten days. The up side is we are just hanging out getting to know each other. He is quite charming and funny.

Deloris Alice (Forsythe) Franz, 9/7/1940 - 7/25/2007

My mom, Dee passed away yesterday July 25th 2007 at 2:30 a.m.. My dad, Wayne was by her side.

Our immediate family - Colette, Larry, Lacy, Caitlyn, Tristan, Scott and myself, all met last Sunday, to say our private goodbyes to her. We each took turns talking to her while the rest of us waited in the 5th wheel trailer, so everyone had privacy and as much time as they needed to say whatever they needed to say to her. I feel pretty much like I was able to let her know how sorry, grateful, happy, indebted, sad, scared, excited, loved I felt, and all the other family members I spoke to felt the same.

I think she knew it was okay to go after that.

Scott and I decided to go up and see her again on Tuesday, Scott had the day off and I had no problem getting the time off, (because where I work, they realize we are human beings and we are treated accordingly). I had a premonition about ten or so days ago, that mom would die on the 25th, and had told Scott. But after seeing her on Sunday I was not so sure. Scott, however, was treating that day like she had an appointment or something and of course that is when she would go. Between him and my friend Margo, they convinced me that we really needed to go see her Tuesday.

She seemed very busy, there was alot going on inside her. The nurse came by and let us know how we could make her more comfortable, and assured us the things we were doing were right. She estimated mom had another couple of days - but I was not so sure. Scott and I stayed throughout the afternoon, sitting with her, talking to Dad, and reading. When we left, I kissed her and told her I would be back tomorrow.

Dad called us at 7:00 am Wednesday to let us know mom had passed away early in the morning.

When we got to mom and dad's house, Colette's family and Carmen and Larry were already there. It was great to have everyone there, we all got to cry together, and sit and talk. I went in to see mom's body, but it was amazing how she was so much not there. We all gravitated to the garden, because that is where she was.

We all sat and ate and talked all day, and it turned into every other family gathering, with us all joking, and the dogs running around and we all had a very nice time.

Bye, Mom, I love you.

Imax news

Imax is settling in nicely, and has a fan club with some of the little girls who take lessons at Pony Tail. On Sunday, one of them updated me on his every move, and informed me that he likes apples.

Since Saturday was a settling in day, I just worked with him on the ground, mostly leading him around the barn and in the arenas, learning to whoa and back up when I tell him. I think I need a stud chain, he will drag me around if he feels like it. Erin (former owner) said you just have to put one on him, and that makes him calm right down and listen attentively. I have been using the lead-rope around his nose like a stud chain and that works just as well, but having that clunky clasp over his nose looks so mean.

Sunday morning we went for our first ride at PTR, and he was a very good boy. I started him in the round pen, pushing and chasing him a bit, until he was "chewing" and then he followed me around for a while.

He was mostly patient when I was tacking him up, since my tack is new for him, everything needed adjusting, so it took a while - also periodically and randomly picking up his feet. He is getting the idea that I will ask him for a foot at the oddest times.

We had a nice little hack around the jumping arena, and trotted some poles, and he did that just fine. I rode him all around the barn, and down the street about a block; he did great and I decided to quit while ahead.

Then yesterday, after work I decided to take him on the Lake Young trail, and getting down there he was fine, but once on the trail, he started throwing his head around and refusing to go forward. I circled him and kept asking him to go, and he did have a number of flip-outs. No bucking or rearing, but throwing his head around and backing up. When I would get him going forward, just about the time I would think he had been going nicely and we could turn around, he would flip out again. So our little trail ride turned into a test of wills. I finally had a good stretch of going forward and got to turn around. Once back at the barn, I had dismounted thinking to walk him around the arena to cool off, and he did the "drag me around" thing again. So, I put him in the round pen and ran his butt off, and got him following me around like a little puppy. I walked him and brushed him - gave him some carrots and we ended on a good note.

Speculation on what caused the bad behavior - There were a TON of mosquitoes, and he didn't like them, and also I think he has a sore spot on the girth line on the right side. I noticed he would react by flipping his head and lipping when I brushed that area. So today will be a day off from riding, more ground work. Also, since his wither is so high, the saddle slides back quite a bit by the end of the ride - I need to put some more holes in the breastcollar to help keep it in place. Even before I noticed him reacting to being touched on the girthline, I have not been cinching him down super tight, just enough to keep the saddle on - maybe too loose and the saddle is joggling around on his back. All things to watch in the future.

All in all everything is going just fine. I have already cried twice and beaten myself up for not buying Monty the paint. And then I go and see Imax and start to feel better.

Oh dear.

Imax

Hello?

I keep getting struck with bouts of panic. I will just be sitting here and suddenly my skin feels like it doesn't fit and I have to sit quietly with my hands over my eyes for a moment until I get it together enough to be able to not scream a little.


You see, I have bought a horse.


The very horse in this picture.


His name is Imax. He is five.


He was bred for the track, but was weeded out before he was ever started.


From there, he was bought by a woman who "cowboyed" him around a little too much, and he didn't like it. Started trying to buck her off. She got scared of him and basically put him in a stall for a year.


She finally got tired of feeding him so decided to sell him at auction. The owner of Woodenview stables offered to buy him instead. I am not sure what she planned on doing with him, but a girl working at her barn, Erin, bought him from her. Three weeks later, her boyfriend got accepted to a grad school in University in Southern California. She decided to go with - and Imax had to go back up for sale.


I saw his ad on Dreamhorse:

Has been jumped over a few things & shows interest. I am moving to San Diego Aug 1st and unfortunately not able to take my baby with me! He is registered but previous owner lost the papers supposedly(very annoying). He's never raced, green but has a few months of training under him and really is just a big baby. I have tried him on a few jumps and he will jump and with training would probably make a great jumper. He needs an advanced rider or an intermediate rider with proof of a trainer as I want him finished properly. I have a trainer I work with regularly and will continue until sale. I can ride him English walk, trot, canter -he has real smooth gates, a nice sitting trot all will just get better! He has been to a basic level walk trot show, he clips, loads, lunges, bathes and loves to be groomed. Has been on trails, dogs & traffic didn't seem to bother him. Great personality, good with other horses. A real lover!!

If he passes the Vet check tomorrow, I take delivery that afternoon.

Oh dear. I need to cover my eyes for just a moment. Excuse me.

Dragonwort

Dragonwort

I have taken refuge in the garden this year, even more than usual. Every new flower that blooms is breathlessly anticipated, and hugely celebrated when it finally opens.

I was afraid I had lost this strange and fabulous plant. It was a volunteer from the back yard; it was growing right outside the bedroom window. When we had to put in new French drains this spring, I had to relocate it. But, it was a champ and pulled through, as you can see.

it is related to the Corpse Flower. Thankfully though, Dragonwort (aka Dragon Arum, Dracunculus vulgaris, or Voodoo Lily) only smells like a rotting rat for a day. I love this plant!

THAT, my friend, is a chandelier

light fixture
Originally uploaded by yvettef

Scott and I went to 2nd Use and got this light fixture.

It is missing little crystals that dangle on top. I think I will get these.

I love it.

My favorite things

I was just lurking visiting over at Crazy Aunt Purl's blog, and she spends this entry talking about her favorite things. This got me thinking about what my favorite things are. The things that just make me happy. Now since we are talking things here, the biggies on my happy list, like Scott, and my family and my kitty cats, and my dog don't count.

Now, I have been really trying to have a carpe deim attitude lately, so I thought I would make a top 5 list what makes me happy.

In no particular order:

1. My garden. I try to spend 5 minutes every morning, when it is not raining, being in my garden - seeing what new has bloomed, and appreciating how beautiful it is. No bad thoughts are allowed. I can't worry over why not a single Calla Lilly came up, and neither has my anxiously awaited Mrs Black. Oh well.
   
   
2. My sparkly glasses. Mine are the ones on the upper right.
   
   
3. Survivor. Seriously, I love this show. The guy I want to win always gets voted out at the last minute, (Yau-Man! I loved him!) But Earl winning was okay. And Dreamz back-stabbing was excellent! Even though it was Yau he stabbed.
   
   
4. My palm pilot. More specifically the scrabble game on my palm pilot.
   
   edit: Okay I cannot believe I didn't think of this yesterday, but definitely one thing that is making me very happy right now is our new floor. And there is even more of it now, as Scott has finished the Kitchen. I need to get a picture of that.
   
   
5. Teh innernets. How did I live without Wikipedia? and lol cats? (And Zappos and craigslist and ebay and cruel and blogs and email and google maps...)
   

These are not necessarily the top five things - although I think they are. Just five things I can think of that make me happy.

Still in the running toward becoming America's next top model.

Rocket

So, I tried Dakota for a week - I would have liked to have had him a little longer, but his owner person had a vet appointment and farrier for him this Thursday, so she said if I didn't want him she needed him back before then.

He and I were just starting to get to know each other, and in fact I think had a major breakthrough the night before he went back home. I was supposed to have him until Sunday, but when I told the owner lady on friday I wanted to send him home, she wanted to come and get him the next morning at 8:00am. She was pretty pissed off at me, which was unfair of her I think -- I told her I had wanted to try another horse -- it didn't mean I was not going to get Dakota... But the more I think about it, the more I think I am just done with that whole thing...

I mean I could only try him a week, she was selling him with him needing shots and ferrier, she did not listen when I told her I wanted to try a couple of horses - Did she really think I was going to keep a horse needing a vet check and shoes? No, I am going to send him back, let her pay for that stuff; think about it and then (maybe) realize I liked him better than the other horses and buy him. I tried to tell her cute stories about the adventures we had had that week, but geeze, she was cold and just shut me right down.

OH and not only THAT but when she brought Dakota down to the barn I am boarding at, I bought three bales of hay from her, so he would still be on the same feed duringn the trial. Then, when she came to get him she TOOK THE HAY THAT WAS LEFT BACK. I paid for that hay! But she had a serious stick up her butt, and I decided it was not worth it to make her unload my hay. Besides, I just wanted her gone. Keep the damn hay. Dakota was a good horse, though.

So, what does that have to do with the picture of the horse at the top of the page?

Well, I am next going to try Rocket, and he looks like a super model. He is 17 hands high and only 4 years old. It would not be out of the question for him to top out at 17.2hh. I have only ridden him once, and he acted out a bit then, but there were very extenuating circumstances ( first time in this particular covered arena, had not been ridden for eight weeks, and was on super hot feed, sort of accidentally.)

It does not look like it in the picture, but his black socks are well above the knee and hock. Sexy. And the cornrows don't hurt.