Trailer To-Dos and More

While my parents were visiting over Christmas and then again last week, we spent a lot of time planning our Out West trip for this spring.  Now that we have our reservations and dates set, it is time to start preparing!  We have a long list of improvements for our horse trailer in order to make it comfortable for the month-long trip so we started on that last weekend.

 

First up was to start building the corner cabinet next to the fridge.  Matthew had to cut the counter top in a curve so that there is room for cabinet doors and drawers.

 

We also put up the side of the custom cabinet and a few supports.  Next up will be the drawers and shelf.

 

During our ski trip we picked up the beautiful steps that Richard made for us.   We brought them home and I stained them to match the cabinets then Matthew secured them to the wall.  I think that they turned out perfectly!

 

Finally, Matthew installed the plumbing under the sink so that we can have running water!  We mounted the small trash can a few weeks ago and have been using a bucket to catch the "gray" water from the sink (since we are not going to add any holding tanks to the trailer).

 

 

In other news, I am still active with the cat rescue group and continue to attend adoption fairs most weekends.  Our last two fosters were adopted last weekend so we are currently foster-free.  On Monday I went with another volunteer to pick up 1800 pounds of low cost kitty food from a food bank.  That should last a while!

 

I've also been working more and more on our vegetable garden with the beautiful weather.  It has been such a mild spring that I've been able to plant things early.  Right now I have carrots, lettuce, snap peas, onions, spinach, and potatoes in the garden with broccoli, peppers, eggplant, herbs, tomatoes, and okra growing inside.  Today I pulled one of the carrots I planted in the fall and it was huge!  I guess all of that rabbit manure and fertilizer has really been helping.  I'm looking forward to a produce-filled year!

NC Weekend

Matthew and I drove up to Boone, NC last weekend for our annual ski trip.  Our friends Ben and Renee met us there and we stayed in an airbnb cabin.  On Saturday we visited a cave and then toured a local brewery.  The cave wasn't very big but did have some neat formations including this green flowstone.

 

The brewery was around the corner from our cabin and we ended up staying for dinner.

 

We spent Saturday night playing games in the cabin.  On Sunday morning Renee and I went for a hike to see a waterfall.  We hiked to the top of the falls and then to several overlooks.  If you look closely you can see a couple of people in the middle, top third of this photo.  These we pretty impressive falls!

 

The view downriver.

 

While we were hiking, the guys were skiing.  They had a great time but did call it quits a little early due to the heavy rain. 

Another Endurance Ride

Since Mow did so well on our Endurance Ride in January we decided to try another competition two weeks later.  We spent the first weekend of February in Sylvester, GA at a boy scout camp.  This ride is held twice a year to benefit the boy scouts and has a lovely campground.  Unfortunately, it rained several inches the day before the ride so most of the trails had to be rerouted to dirt roads (they were under several feet of water).  Mow and I didn't mind though, that's what we ride on at home!  Here's another photo of Mow in a pen.  I'm getting pretty good at setting up this corral and Mow is getting quite used to staying in it.

 

On the first day of the ride, Friday, we competed in the 50 mile ride.  I was lucky enough to ride with a riding buddy from last year.  We had a great time and even cut almost an hour off of my time from the first 50.  Mow ate and drank really well and had great scores.  Here we are during one of the vet check rest stops between loops.  I'm also sporting the jacket my green bean endurance team won for last year's riding accomplishments.

 

Mow did so well on this ride that we decided to enter the 25 mile ride on Saturday.  I got to ride with another one of my buddies and we had even more fun.  (But I will admit that 75 miles over two days was plenty of riding for me!)

 

The professional photo from the first day by Unbridled Imagery.

 

And the second day, also by Unbridled Imagery. Mow and I will both be taking some time off now!

Around the Ranch

Lazy G has been living up to its name lately with very little work-like activities.  We've mostly been off having too much fun to get things done around the house although we have managed a couple of minor improvements.  My dad set many wooden fence posts during my parents' visit in December and we recently continued to work on fencing by adding a line of t-posts to separate the big back pasture into two smaller ones.  We covered the sharp metal posts with PVC pipe to make them safer (but still moveable since they are just hammered into the ground).  I will be attaching electric fence tape to them once we finish the perimeter fence.  Having two pastures will allow me to rotate the horses back and forth to give the grass a break.  This photo is from the back of the property looking down the middle of the field.  As always, we have feline supervisors on hand whenever we are working.

 

I've been spending too much time camping in the camper to get very far on those improvements either. I did find an old horse bit at an auction in FL that we mounted as a drawer pull and towel hanger on the cabinet under the sink.

 

Rabbit production has also been pretty lazy around here.  I've been having some trouble breeding the does and decided to buy two new does to replace my aging ones. These black New Zealand does are about 12 weeks old now and will be ready to breed in a few months.

 

We do have a few colorful babies at the moment from a breeding with a neighbor's buck.  I'm also hoping that our other two does will have their litters in the next week or two.  We're almost out of meat!

Florida Trip

I spent a week of January in Florida visiting family and riding horses (and I'm finally getting around to posting about it!).  My parents' new property had no improvements when I visited so we camped by borrowing power and water from the neighbors.  They now have their own power and water, will install a shed and fencing soon, and the septic will be complete before they come home. I never did take a photo of the campers but here is one of Mow in his pen.

 

I spent my birthday with my parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles near Ruskin, FL.  We went orange picking at a local grove and later enjoyed a family meal followed by opening the remaining Christmas gifts (and my birthday gifts).

 

My Mom, Aunt Cindy, and I at the grove.

 

We also spent some time riding the horses around the park near my parents' property.

 

At the end of the week I moved our rig about 70 miles north to a campground for an endurance ride.  Here we are all set up in our new location.  I'm LOVING our new camper!

 

Mow and I went 25 miles the next day for our ride.  Mom and our friend Louise drove up to crew for me despite the frigid temps and windy weather.  We had a great time and came in 10th place, only 20 minutes behind the winner.  At endurance rides they give away Top Ten prizes and for this ride we got cute hats, also very practical for the weather!

Guest Bath Floor

During the last week of my parents' visit we replaced the floor in our guest bath.  Although we had been planning on replacing the linoleum, our foster kittens accelerated the process by starting to pull up the old flooring.  Laying new tile was a little harder than I thought but I think we got the hang of it and Matthew and I could do our bathroom on our own.

 

The Before shot.

 

The linoleum itself came up fairly easily.  The longest/most annoying part of the process was scraping off all of the glued-down backing. (The spots in this photo are from the dust that has been kicked up)

 

Next up, laying the tile.  Dad put the tile down and measured while I took measurements out to Matthew and the saw.  Then I ferried the cut-to-length pieces back in and hoped they fit!

 

We set up the saw out in the carport.

 

After allowing the tile to dry for a couple of days, dad added the grout.

 

Now the guest bath has the nicest floor in the house!  We went with the wooden boardwalk look in order to match the beach theme of the room.  I still need to touch up around the trim but it already looks so much nicer!

New Year's Eve

This year Matthew and I spent New Year's Eve at a ballroom dance celebration with our friends Jamie and Edward.  We had dinner, danced for hours, and then toasted at midnight.

 

It was fun to get all dressed up for the event!

 

There were about 60 people for the party.

 

Matthew being silly.

 

Midnight toast! Happy New Year!