It's Friday and I just got Paid!!!!

It's Friday and payday!!! Could this day get any better, but of course it could! It is the middle of August and the temperature is in the low 80's, I can be outside without dripping sweat.

Well, Kody and Willow didn't end up at the horse show last night. As I was getting ready to leave we got what looked like a monsoon and since I didn't have an umbrella handy I opted to stay and work a little longer. I did go to the show and watch the ponies fly around the indoor arena. It makes me want to get on my show horse and jump. Only problem he is retired and in IL. But in mind he and I would have kicked butt if we had competed in Pony Jumpers as a youth. That is Pi to the right taking it slow with a young friend a couple of years ago.

After the show I was able to watch the Olympics - had to get my Michael Phelps fill. But actually I have decided I like Aaron Peirsol a bit more. There is something about his relaxed California attitude that I just love! And he was so gracious to his teammate that beat him out of the gold medal last night. So Mr. Peirsol you have just gained another fan.

I also got to see the Women's Individual Gymnastics meet. I am always amazed at how they can fling and fly on all of the apparatus' and still smile. I would definitely have a grimance on my face. Nastia Lukin made it look effortless. And Shawn Johnson made it look fun. Together they both out on a fabulous contest for the top spot. The U.S. women were so gracious and I love how all of the athletes, no matter what nation you were from, congratulated each other. I saw some great sportsmanship. That is the great thing about the Olympics, it brings people together.

Since the Olympics are on with very few commercial interruptions and there is no distinctive break betweens hours I have been watching and not realizing that it is after midnight. Take last night for instance, I was putting a load of laundry in and I heard Bob Costas say something to the point that it was almost 1 in the afternoon in Beijing. I stopped and looked at my watch, so much for going to bed early. Lexington is exactly 12 hours behind Beijing. It is a good thing I am a night person. And since I didn't feel too tired I kept going. I ended up doing laundry, dishes, putting clothes away and giving Willow a bath. Yes, at 3am I decided to give my dog a bath. She was constantly scratching but there were no signs of fleas (she had been treated recently), so I could only think that not all the soap came off the last time I bathed her and made her skin dry or she got into something. Either way, she couldn't stay like that all night. Mind you Willow is not a small dog, she weighs 90 lbs. So I had to take her outside and hang on to her as she tried to slip away. At one point she succeeded and it took all the coaxing I could muster to get her to come near me. After that I made a handle to hold on to her. I took the leash and made a loop around her hips, it helped me control her whole body and she couldn't slip away. I thought i was pretty clever. After the bath she had to dry off, so Willow, kody and I went on a walk.

I am getting better at these late nights and early mornings, but I really need to get to bed earlier. It is a good thing the Olympics only happen once every four years, but that just means i don't want to miss any of it.

Tonight is Pony Finals again. This time the dogs are coming. Then this weekend I am running errands to get prepared for my trip to Italy for the U.S. Reining Team.

Have a great weekend!!!

Let's Get Started

This is my first entry on this site. I have written a few entries elsewhere for other reasons, but the format never seemed to work. So I thought I would give this site a try. It seems to be working well for a bunch of other people, so I don't see why it wouldn't work for me.

I am sitting at my desk in Lexington looking outside at the impending rain and thinking whether I really want to go through with my plans for tonight. I promised my dogs I would bring them to the horse park for a walk and to watch the Pony Jumper class at Pony Finals, but wet dog smell is not my favorite. I probably will end up bringing them, otherwise I would be sitting at home watching the Olympics.

I love watching the Olympics but they never show the Equestrian events during primetime. And I am enjoying swimming and gymnastics like I never have, I am even a huge fan of Michael Phelps now, but I can only take so much! It is pretty bad when you start to recognize athletes on sight but you had never heard of them before four days ago. I would love to see Shawn Johnson win All Round Gold though. Tough decision.

Even though NBC is not showing the Equestrian part of the Olympics on TV (besides cable channels I don't get) they do have a live feed on the internet, www.nbcolympics.com. Through this I have been able to see all of the three discplines in mostly real time. Tomorrow starts the Jumping!!!!

Eventing and Dressage have been pretty exciting. USA didn't get a Team medal but Gina Miles got the silver in the individual. In Dressage we were fourth, and there are two more days of competition to see if we recieve an individual medal. I sure hope so!

Well I am off to go play in the rain!!!