Then there where 3

Those of you have read the earlier posts know that I lost one of my Discus recently.

Well he's mate died, they had always been a pair, my two orange ones. They had tried to be a breeding pair and even laid eggs many times in the community tank, they hadn't read the book that said that they couldn't under those conditions.

The eggs even hatched a few times to the wiggler stag which was a big deal in those conditions, who knows what would happened if they hadn't laid them on the filter intake, that wasn't so good when they hatched.

Ride Times

Kellie has ride times up on Fox Village. I think they are still a work in progress, as there are some conflicts that she is still working out - Everyone should give her a big hand, well a big hand to all of the show staff, it's a hard job. Those of you bringing a horse at every level, flowers aren't to much to ask ;)

It took 4 of us the first two hours to make a plan, then we added Lothar and scheduled in the computer and Kellie, well she still has had many (grater than 4) hours of conflict managment.

Organized Zoo

That's what the Beaujolais is going to be :)

A group of us all formed over at Kellie's today to schedule out the show. I've never gone to help schedule before and it was a experience. I only wish I had taken my little point and shoot in so I could show everyone the boards. Shelly and Kellie and Lothar have it down to a science.

We started cutting out blocks to represent time and a class, with different colors for different levels, then split them out by days. From there we placed judge names at the top of the white board and started putting classes in columns for each judge starting with Friday, which really was easy with 1 ring of sport horse and 2 rings of dressage. Saturday and Sunday where a little more challenging as each day went on. the pieces went down and then moved around time and again to make the rings end close and make every possible effort to place TOC classes first before Q's and that no judge, judged the same Q class twice. The only over lap in that area was 3 training level juniors and not really as on Friday they are with just one judge and on Sunday they are in the double judge arena which counts as different judges. Then we went though and made sure all the classes where there, names the rings (you want to know them don't you) and put the schedule in, Kellie still has to go in and take care of the problems, you know when you ride more than one horse, you can't ride two or three of them in half a hour ;) That gets taken care of by hand and brain to make every possible minute count for you.

There is a Secretary's day, well there should be a Show Secretary's day to!!

Stay tuned, I have Glenwood Elementary School Talent show pic's to put up in the next day or so as well. Just a few off my little camera though :)

2008 EI L'Aperitif

It was a gorgeous day at Bridle Trails in Bellevue for the L' Aperitif.

After a overnight rain it stayed dry for the whole show day!! I think the first time that has happened in several years!


Many great rides throughout the day and the EI shows are off to a great start.

Sush, but that's three dry horse shows in a row, could it be a sign for the summer? Let's hope so!

Donida Derby

It was blazing hot at Donida for the derby, but after last show season I'm sure everyone was happy for it.

WEC MAY

I know I'm seriously behind of updating everyone.

I was up on Whidbey at WEC for the May show. It was nice out all weekend, quite windy but dry on Sunday even though it was pouring on south whidbey.

The lower ring has been rebuilt from the ground up, ha ha. The sand looks good and everyone seemed happy with the improvement.

And it happened

It was a beautiful day on Sunday. I was down at Donida Farms for the schooling show, and it finally happened, what we waited for all summer, what we wished for all summer....a sunburn. That's right, it was sunny, hopefully a omen of what is to come this summer (please).

The East arena has a bright silver sandy surface to it now and I heard good things from the riders coming out. Only a few overly exciting moments over in the Jumper ring.

We'll see everyone back down there in two weeks for the Dressage Derby.

And then there where Four

As many of you know I have Discus. No not the kind you use in field and track but the kind that swim, as in Fish.

My Discus are about 5ish. I got them in 03 and they where all at different ages. I started with 6, and ssh my Mom still thinks Paul gave them to me. I lost the youngest of them maybe at two years.

I have now nursed these fish though several power outages including 4 days in which every two to four hours water was taken out of the tank, heated on the barbecue and placed back in the tank trying to keep them warm. They did have to tough out the 6 day outage after the windstorm of 06 but they've been well loved.

Well now there are four and it's seems rather sad. I had noticed several days ago this one didn't seem quite right, and it has always been the 1st of the group to look sideways if there has been a outage or a water in-balance, and I though on no I'm going to loose him.

That was like 4 days ago, and somewhere along the line I had started to think we where going to pull though. But the poor guy had been laying on the bottom of the tank for the last few days and I had started to wish he would either get better or pass on as I felt we where both in agony over the last few days, I had been checking him on and off all day as I didn't want the others to be picking on him (they all look fine).

I was all set to do another water change in hopes of turning him around tonight, and he's gone. I'm most definitely feeling "be careful what you wish for".

Now I have a huge tank (90 gallons) and 4 fish, well I also have a placosumus and 2-3 lochas (they have a hidy hole and I don't know if I have 2 or 3 as I never see them all at the same time) It may be time for some more fish, but the only thing the Discus will except is you guess it, more Discus. Maybe I'll find a local breeder, no more stress of shipping them from California or the Midwest.

Don't name strays

It is always a mistake to start thinking of the cat that is showing up in the yard as "cute" then "waif like" then "cold" followed quickly by "hungry".

So it started with thinking that there was a cat for our indoor/outdoor cat to fight with.

Then came the shock that they weren't fighing they where sitting on the car together.

So we started feeding what we have decided is a girl kitty, now .... she's living in the garage and thinks getting love is a amazing thing.

I think she's to lonely down there but it's also been determined that we can't have another cat in the house so now I'm dragging out my list of potential new homes.

She's a gray tiger, very cute, petit, cuddly, free to new home.

Anyone?

Black Belt Day

The day finially came, I've had it blocked out on the calendar for weeks and weeks now, I miss so much "family" time with my job.

I spent Friday and Saturday with the family watching my cousin test for her Taekwondo Black Belt. I was struck again by the "family" the students at the School have formed. They aren't the same age, or go to the same school, they range from 8-40 but they all have this connection which each other making them a family. It has a great feeling to see that with all the differences they are there for each other with the success and trying times, knowing if you need help they are going to reach out if they can.

(if you have a picture posted and would like it removed email me)

Healing

I went to see Karibbean today! It was great to get down and see him, I haven't been down since I went on vacation. He looks so good, and I see in him now the same spirit he had as a baby. It makes me feel so much better and my heart warmer to see that spark and the ease in which he gets a long with Jessica. He and I have had are share of emotional scars in the last few months and it's great to see him healing and moving forward. It definitely made my day to see, even with the 4+ hours driving.

It's a Birthday today.

Anyone getting here from the Business website, it's Heather's Birthday!!! So Happy Birthday Heather.

The main part of show season is getting closer and closer and Heather and I are busy trying to think of new products! Beaujolais entries opened yesterday, I'm filling in mine tonight and getting Jessica's Signatures tomorrow so every should be on the lookout for Karibbean, it's finally time for him to get out and be a big boy, and it feels like it was forever coming. I'm almost afraid I'll jinx it even mentioning he's going to be out showing a little this year. Some of you have seen him before at the Sport Horse shows but I'm excited to have him out under saddle.


Meanwhile I'd like to stop needing to take the hose apart every night for fear it'll freeze - it is almost May!

I't raining, it's snowing

Wait what? It's almost May here in the Pacific Northwest and today it's snowing with a prediction of snow for the weekend. We'll see what tomorrow brings, if it's nice enough to get around and still has snow I'll have to go exploring, it's not often around here that you can have spring flowers with snow in the same picture, at least not without Photoshop :) There is probably two inches or more in the backyard which is proving to be a challenge for the dogs, though they love to play in it.

Now I'm going to quit work for the night and watch the end of "Something to talk about" on Lifetime, I know it's a exciting Friday night!






(Maggie say's It's Snowing, but I've started to shed!)

1st Post

Hi,

I've decided to give blogging a try, though I have a fairly quite life. Hopefully I can think of things to post! I just got back from Vacation and I'm now ready for the 08 show season to get under way. I know we have had a few shows already but it seems from here on out it really starts to get crazy! I started a facebook page, I've put highlights from the 07 season and started files for highlights from this year so you'll have to go check them out. http://www.facebook.com/people/Carolynn_Bunch/1221633691

It was nice to finally get out of town for a break. Those of you who know me know I've had some failed vacation attempts. I went on a Cruise with some of my family and it was great to see them, as most of the family on vacation lives in Atlanta. We had a great time, I think one of my favorites was sitting on the beach the day we where in Haiti. My brothers both did the zip line.

Look I'm getting Sun on my Legs!