Escape of the Blond

Lightening: The Blond (one among many other nick names)

Cool title, right? Now for all you blonds out there, this is not about you. This is about my mini horse, Lightening. What does that title have to do with a mini horse? Oh, you'll find out!! So, to begin. On Saturday evening, my mom asked of I could take Snowflakes tray out to the barn and dump it out. Now who is Snowflake, you ask? Snowflake is one of my New Zealand rabbits. I will post more about her later. She is getting old and the really cold weather was really wearing on her. So my parents said that I could bring her in from the barn. She has been living in the basement about a month now. So I said that I would takes out her tray, sure. I go down and get the tray out and tell Rachel to fill up the water she needs and asked her to fill up the five gallon bucket for me. The water heater for the mini horses broke the day before the temperatures plunged below zero. So every morning and evening, I have to carry out hot water, break the ice on the water tub, take out two buckets of cold water (since you can not get five gallons out in one draw), and dump the hot water in. But I don't mind to much. I'll tell you all my chores some other time, how about that? So, back to the story. Rachel said she will fill up the water and I TRIED to get out of the door. But the tray was to wide and since it was full of rabbit droppings I could not tip it, so I had to go out the garage door. I get to the barn, around which goes a fence so the ponies can go straight from the barn to the pasture and vise versa. I slid the tray under the gate, open the gate and go in. Now the gate is ten (or maybe twelve) feet long, so it is heavy and long and does not close well. We are still working on that. So I thought I had gotten the gate closed and went to take the tray in. But, alas, I had made a mistake. The gate was not closed and Lightening, being who he is, had to go check it out. So he pushes and the gate swings open!! I grab him, because if he gets away it is not fun. I also manage to grab Thunder. Storm goes out and finds a little something to munch on. I know he will not go anywhere, so I move to take Thunder and Lightening in. But Lightening twists, steps on my foot and gets away. FREE!! That is what he is thinking as he trots off. I quickly put Thunder in the barn, calling for Rachel. I never remember it taking so long to fill up two gallons of water and a five gallon bucket. I grab a lead rope and am coming out of the barn when Rahel finally decides to show up. She looks at me, the rope, sees Storm and asks "Where are the other two?" "Thunder's in the barn, Lightening's somewhere", I reply. She sets the water down and I tell her to get some horse treats. I rope Storm around the neck and put him in the barn. Next the blond. By the way, for those of you who don't know, Lightening is blond. I put the picture on to inform you of that fact. I come out of the barn and here comes Lightening, trotting down from the yard, tail held high, feet up, having the time of his very short life. I'm telling you, every time he gets out he goes strait down the driveway, right for the road. And, sure enough, that is what he does. But this time he circles the pond and heads back for the barn. I yell at Rachel that I'll get behind him, and we'll try to steer him into the barn. She goes between the barn and the shop, and while she is out of my view, Lightening trips her on some ice and she falls. She's o.k. now, just a little sore. Lightening goes right past the barn and heads for the yard again. Then he comes back down the driveway and Rachel and I are able to steer him into the fence. Rachel shuts the gate and I grab Lightening and put him in the barn. The Escape of the Blond has been cut short. Every thing is good now and everyone is still alive. Better yet, this happened without anyone inside the house finding out!! So we feed and water the rabbits, I go get the hot water for the ponies then realize that I still have to dump the rabbit tray. But it doesn't fit through the barn door! So I dump it in a bucket, dump the bucket, and head for the house. My very simple evening chore routine has really had an amazing twist tonight!! But everyone survived and we did tell mom and dad (but not grandma, because if we did, she would start on her whole "we need to get rid of the ponies" speech. Which we do not need to do, because everyone needs something cuddly like a mini horse. Or maybe you just need some excitement. Everyone needs some of that. So my exciting night ended and Lightening is just waiting for the next chance to escape. I have some really good stories about him. I'll have to post some others.





I hope you enjoyed the story. The picture is not the greatest, but I will get a better one for you all.


'becca

Doggy Pictures

Hey everyone! Here are the pictures I said I would post. Jonathan, Rachel and I were outside for about 45 minutes as it is cold and windy here, but we had a good time. My aunt's dog, Bella, was over today. She is gray and a Golden Doodle. In February, our family is going to babysit her for 10 days. Three dogs in the house!! That is going to be an experience. But Bella is a good dog and she and Fritzy get along very well. Enjoy the pictures!!

My doggy, Fritzy, Jonathan snowboarding

Charlie, who will lick you to death. O.k., so you won't die, but your going to be wet. Rachel in a pine tree.

My aunt's dog, Bella. Me and my "toy", the tennis ball launcher.

(the closest thing to a working bow I have)

P.S.- I am wearing sun glasses because it was very bright out today. I have great fashion sense too!! O.k., so the outfit doesn't look that great, but I stayed warm and did not become snow blind.

Tug of War

Fritzy, my Black Lab/Akita/almost every other breed a stray mother and father can have, and I were playing tug of war this evening. Fritzy is a house dog so we were inside playing. Not outside, it is still really cold here. But back to tug of war. Fritzy is a really big and strong dog. My Dad and I are the only ones who can play with her without being pulled across the room. My brother, Jonathan, likes to try to play with her, but he usually gets pulled around a lot. So we were playing and Fritzy likes to make a lot of noise when she plays. So she's growling and pulling and we are just having a ball. In the summer we like to go outside and play catch. But Fritzy likes to play with logs, not sticks. At the moment, though, most of the logs are under the snow. So we mostly play tug of war inside in the evening. We have a lot of fun. To bad I did not get any pictures, but since I am the one pulling on the rope, I can't really take pictures.

In November, I bought a Crazy Dog tennis ball launcher. It sits on your arm and works sort of like a sling shot. I'll take a picture of it later, so you can see what it is. Fritzy and I have been having a lot of fun with that. When she catches the ball, she grabs it so hard that, after a few catches, the ball is broken. But they still work and Fritzy does not care if they are broken. Charlie, our other dog, doesn't catch on to the whole 'run and catch the ball' so he just sits and watches. He's getting old and got sick a couple years ago, so he doesn't move as fast or as much as Fritzy does.

They are both very good dogs. I'll get some pictures tomorrow and put them up for all of you.

Hope you enjoy!!

'becca

Basement

Today, my dad, sister, brother and I started cleaning out the basement. That moves me one step closer to having my own room. How our house is built, the basement has two garage spaces, and then an apartment. I get the the apartment, or, at least part of it. At one time, the apartment was partially finished, but that was a while ago. In the last, ah, fifteen years or so, it has become storage, filling up with boxes and old furniture. Right now, my sister and I share a room. But we are completely different (aren't most sisters?). Rachel is very messy, and I like clean. Rachel leaves piles all over, I put everything away. So, now that the basement is cleaned out, or almost cleaned out, we can start working. The bedroom of the apartment is still storage, and will be for awhile, so we will be finishing the "living room". It has to be rewired, heating put in, new windows (or a door. I don't remember what Grandpa said), insulated, new flooring, and the bathroom redone. A lot of work, but my grandpa built houses and my dad helped, so they know what to do and I am learning. I will keep you posted on how this goes.

My feet!! Foot actually

I finally found this picture! I could not figure out what folder I had put it in!! I am actually standing on Pointe, but in Irish hard shoes. My little brother Jonathan took the picture. Isn't it great? It has taken me about a year to break in my hard shoes so I can actually stand in Pointe. But it was worth the wait because it is really fun!!

'becca

Snow - A lot of snow!!!!

"Am I standing on land or ice?" My sister Rachel trying to find where the pond starts.

Fritzy enjoying the snow, Charlie keeping watch!! Charlie is the one sitting and Fritzy is slightly blurry, but this was the best picture!!

Deep snow!!

Rachel says Hi!!

It isn't as deep here, but still deep enough.

Last night, I had to let the dogs out before bed. When I got them up, they had already fallen asleep, and out the door, it had started snowing. I woke up this morning and it was still snowing!!! No choir today, sorry Anne!! I was thinking positive!! After everyone else got up, I went out to do the animal chores with Rachel and Jonathan, my siblings, and then we shoveled the driveway. After that, Rachel and I got my camera and a ruler to see how much snow had accumulated over night. We had gotten about eight inches of snow over night. That is on top of a couple of inches that we got on Monday, and the ice that was left from last week. In some places there is over a foot of snow because of the drifts. It is a lot to walk through when your carrying five gallon buckets of water for your horses. Our water heater broke, so now I have to carry out hot water so the ponies have something to drink.

Also, it is very cold here. The windchills are in the 20's and 30's below zero. That's cold, for sure!! We had to bundle up and keep moving to keep from getting too cold. I don't want frostbite, that's for sure!!

I hope you all are staying warm!! Keep safe!! Enjoy the pictures!!

'becca

p.s.- In the first picture, it really wasn't that dark, but I had the flash on so it made it look dark.

State Quarter Collection

Way back when I was 5 (1999), my aunt Ginny gave me a state quarter collectors map for me to fill up as the quarters came out. Now I have all the quarters! When I got it, I had figured out that I would be 14 when it was done and, whoa that is old!! Well, I'm not that old but I did have fun collecting the quarters. Thanks, Aunt Ginny!! Jonathan's finger is in the first picture, but it was the best one!!

Enjoy!

'becca

The Sullivan Brothers Museum

Last Friday, my family and I went to the Sullivan Brothers War Museum In Waterloo. The Sullivan's were five brothers from Waterloo that served and died together on the U.S.S. Juneau during World War Two. When you walk into the museum, you are standing under a replica of a P-51 Mustang. At the start of the museum, you get a dog tag and as you go through the museum, it tells you the story of someone who served, starting at the Civil War and going right up to Current Conflicts. I enjoyed it very much. We also took the GPS that my Grandma got for Christmas, and I figured it all out. It was great to spend some family time together.

Happy New Year!!!!

Happy New Year everybody!! I stayed up 'till midnight and even felt time stand still for that one extra second of 2008. Ok , so maybe not, but I did have a good time. Rachel, Mom and I watched The Final Season and Nancy Drew. Then Mom went to bed and Rachel and I watched Amazing Grace. For the last half of an hour Rachel was sitting on the couch with her mouth hanging open trying to keep her eyes from closing. It only took her like two or three minutes to fall asleep. Fritzy stayed up with us and, when we went to bed, she fell asleep on my bed and stayed there the entire night. Then I woke up at 6:50 to Rachel's alarm!! She had forgotten to turn it off before she fell asleep!! So I did not get much sleep last night so I'll have to go to bed early tonight. Happy 2009 everybody!!!

Yesterday is history, Tomorrow is a mystery, but Today is a gift. That is why they call it the Present.

'becca