Memphis! We made the drive here in about 19 hours. Left the farm at around 7 at night on Thursday, got here in the early afternoon on Friday and got all unloaded. Horses took the trip well, we will school a bit later today.

The facility is not quite as snazzy as Perry, but it's just fine and we are going to have a great week. I hope to get a little mounted shooting practice in later today.

Have to get to the showgrounds now and get to the office to check in. Nicole has two classes tomorrow.

Wish us luck!

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Hopefully by this evening we will be loaded up and on the road. It's about 1000 miles for us to drive to Memphis. We've decided to leave as soon as all is packed up and Nicole is out of school. We'll drive thru the night and arrive at a decent time in the afternoon tomorrow. There is one slight hitch to our plan though... Lori called last night, one of her horses got cornered in a stall and got herself kicked up pretty badly. Lori says the filly is a bit of an instigator, and she must have bothered one of the other horses a bit too much. Got beat up badly enough that Lori had to have the vet out... so we'll see what the mare looks like this morning, that will decide when Lori can get here, so that we can get the trailer packed. Hopefully all is well this morning.

Julie took one more step towards leaving her 'flat-lander' roots earlier this week. She had quite the eventful day, helped Rob wrangle the steers back thru the fence, then stood guard while he got the chainsaw to fix a downed tree that was on the fenceline. She had to keep a gun with her, as Rob had seen a good sized bobcat while in the woods. She received ( and enjoyed ) a brief shooting lesson too... Go Julie!!

My folks arrived last night. They will stay here and take care of Hunter and help out here, making sure Robbie gets homework done, help with dinner and all that. I so do appreciate their help. They do find our weather a bit chilly, no Arizona heat here!

Wish us luck! We'll finish up packing, set things up here for while I'm gone then we are off. I'll try my best to post updates on how we are doing.

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Time has just been flying by! Before the week is over we will be on the road to Memphis. Our horses are as ready as can be, so now it's just time to get everything at home in order and get ready to pack up the trailer. Over the next couple of days I will hit the library ( love having books on CD for long trips!) get groceries for the house and grain for the barn, clean the house more ( I did some today, but then helped put hay in) My folks will be here Wednesday evening, Rose is coming Wednesday as well. I have my own packing to do, and various things to have done in the house before we leave.

Rob cut hay on Friday, tedded it yesterday and today we were able to get it all baled and put into the barn. 475 bales of second cutting hay! Makes me very happy to have that done! Thanks for all the help Erin and Jim!!

Nicole was a huge help today as well. She went through our trailers and organized a lot of what we will need to pack, made lists of what we have, and what we need. That will go a long way in helping us to be ready to go on Thursday. Our original plan was to leave very early Friday morning, but now it looks like we will hit the road Thursday evening, as soon as we have everything loaded and set to go.

Well, Hunter is ready for his night-time story, so it is off the computer for me and time to read to him.

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Been up and spinning my wheels since 4:30 this morning. The mornings tend to be my most productive time in the house ( when I come in at night, once supper is made and I've sat down, all I want to do is spend time with Hunter and relax- so not much gets done in the house) and a productive morning sets a good trend for the day.

Yesterday I picked up alfalfa cubes ( for JQ ) and lime ( for the old barn ) after dropping Hunter off. Then back to the barn to help Erin with morning chores, had coffee at Maribelles and got some paperwork done, back to barn to do turnout and stalls, then on the road to get a load of sawdust. Took lunch and did some computer work, back to barn and work some horses, then time for chores. ( no wonder I appreciate my time in the house in the morning!)

Today I'll hit the road by about 10 to go to Duck Harbor to do teeth. I'll go to Agway and Pet Central while I'm in the Honesdale area, and perhaps grab a few groceries too. I've two horses ( at least ) that I want to get to work today, and I'm hoping to start going thru some of the stuff that I will need to bring to Nationals. We ( RO-NO ) have a nice set of stall drapes, and we always have a nice table set up in the ailseway at Nationals, advertising the farm. I tend to just pack everything up willy-nilly at the show, and I need to go thru stuff to see what we need. Space is limited, so only the necessities should go.

Here's a pic from the shooting competition last month on LI.

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School closed again! This is just not fun, was already down to the barn this morning, flooding not any worse than yesterday. Folks west and north of us really have been hit hard. Was on the phone with Lori ( out near Sunbury) last night. She said that the flooding there was the worst she had ever seen. They had to move their plane out of it's hanger as the water was rising there. So many people having to evacuate their homes due to the rivers overflowing the banks. I'll keep a nervous eye on our creek all day, as in the past it has risen higher and quicker that we like to see. So far though all is well.

We worked on fixing the arena walls again yesterday. Over the years the kick wall has bowed out, and we now have the project over 2/3rds done. It's a good feeling to be able to accomplish some constructive work while all this goes on.

I've an interesting dental case to work on today. Got a call last night about a horse that has suddenly developed a swelling on the side of its face. They say it has a hard lump along the side of its jaw, though seems to be eating well. I'll let you know tomorrow ( or whenever I next get to get on here) about what I find.

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Rain, rain go away.... this is what we've all been thinking, but the rain still comes down. We've more water in our fields right now than we did with Irene. The sound of the rushing water from the creek was so loud this morning that I went down to the barn at 5:00 a.m. just to check that all was well, that we didn't need to start evacuating horses due to rising flood waters. It will be a long day, water is still coming up, and the rain is still coming down.

We had planned on trailering horses to Malibu Dude Ranch yesterday to get some schooling in. ( We've 16 days to go until we leave for Memphis!) Had to scratch those plans though, and todays as well. So much water and flooding that they have closed all our local schools! Nicole and I did manage to trailer over to Lake E in the afternoon yesterday, just to get three of the Nationals horses out and about at a new arena. All three (b JQ, Tappy and Cardillo ) did very well and I was glad that we made the effort to get them there. No go today though, too much flooding. I may try to get Cardillo over to Malibu this weekend to get some shooting practice in.

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Here are a few pics from the Aberdeen Show the day before the hurricane. I think we are already drenched in the pictures.

The horses were all very good, it was a great schooling opportunity for the horses going to Nationals, plus a lot of fun and another way for us to support everyone from Over the Hill Farm.

eb B's mare Shadow is coming back here tomorrow for a months tune-up. Deb is hoping to find her a good home and wants her as set as possible beforehand. If anyone out there is looking for a companion horse, please let us know.