Day one of Vacation.....

If People thought Pigman was tough, they need to come spend a few days with me on vacation!

When people find out your going to take a vacation, they generally ask either, 'are you doing anything fun?' or 'are you going anywhere?'

I usually just reply, "not going anywhere and just doing stuff around the house." They respond, oh that will be nice and relaxing.....that's where they are WRONG!!!!!

What I'd really like to is....'define fun'...and do you want to see my LIST!! That alone would frighten most intelligent people. I won't type it here, but let's just say it's the 'impossible' list that no one could ever complete in a week. A year, maybe???

Let's tackle, 'Are you going anywhere?' Apparently they don't realize that staying at home for me is actually a TREAT!!! It seems that more weekends than not I'm getting up in the middle of the night to drive 200+ miles to an agility trial in order to wait for club members to set courses so I can run my dog for 15 seconds (Yes, Seeker's JWW run) and then crash at the hotel at 8:36 PM to get up early and do it all over again! Often times this weekend includes Friday as well...this is if I'm lucky. (and I DO mean that!!)

-Back to my list!!

Let me begin by saying....it's 10:22 PM and WAY past my normal work week bedtime. Not to worry, I will be up at the crack of dawn starting to work through more of those list items.

Today's events......

*I went swimming - pool opens at 5:45 am.

* Brought ponies inside - Farrier was coming at 8 am

* Hooked up horse trailer and pulled it out of the barn, they said it was going to rain and it needed a rinse. The weather men LIED...again!!

* David showed up at 8 and his appointment after mine canceled. That would have been fine normally, but then he dilly dallied - chattered away and I was on a MISSION!! "I can pound one of those nails in for you if you're getting tired!!" Then followed him down the road to hold one of Julie's ponies for him...got home at 10 am! UGH!!

* Trained two ponies....

* Worked Kruz and Mad on contacts.

* Cleaned out both sides of the hog house (chicken and chicken/turkeys) I think I might have 2 Toms now?? I guess time will tell.

* Started painting the upstairs bedroom. Found some interesting tidbits. (See below)

* Ran to Menards to pick up our 'custom made' North Door and a storm door.

* Talked to the neighbor about getting a puppy. Scooter had to be put down for biting. Good news for my chickens.....bad news for Scooter.

* Did some more painting.

* Called it a day at 9:45 PM. Tomorrow I'll do it all over again.
By Friday, work will be looking pretty darn good!! G

Okay, the upstairs bedroom. Oh Dear.....

When people ask how old our house is and I tell them it was built in 1890, their first reaction is....oh, I love old houses. ME TOO!! Then they say, I bet it has really nice wood work. This is when I 'should' tell them....'I bet your WRONG!!'. It doesn't! I personally like it 'without paint', but it's not oak. The only oak the people that built this house saw was the tree outside the window. I think everyone assumes houses built during this era are big fancy houses of the 'rich and famous'. Ours was purchased through either Sears Roebuck or Montgomery Wards catalog (take your pick) as a 'kit' and sent down this way via the Mississippi. I'm pretty sure it didn't fit in a box, but I bet it came with directions.....that no man read anyway! That explains a LOT! G The wood work has designs on it, but it's either birch or poplar, not oak. That's okay I love it anyway.

So, today I painted the wood work 'again' in the bedroom. I had to close my eyes!! Trust me, it looked like I had. At one point I lost my balance on the stool and almost fell off. Luckily I put my hand in the nice wet paint and saved myself. I probably shouldn't admit that I did this TWICE!!!! VBG

OMG!! Even hands look FAT in pictures!!!!

The wood work was pepto-bismol pink, it was grass green before the pink. Now it's brown. I had to put two coats of brown on to cover the pink. I'm guessing it took two coats of pink to cover the green. When Bill got home from work he commented how he didn't like the trim that dark. I told him he could always strip it. He said he's love to, but just didn't have the time. I told him if it was really important he could make the time. I could see him calculating how often he came up stairs and how often he'd have to look at the painted wood work and saw it fall 'off' his radar.
NOT that important! G

Remember the bunny adhesive trim. Well, it pulled off some loose wallpaper.
No matter how hard I tried I could NOT get a look at that horses head. G

I think these are cactus below?
I see more horses and some cattle.

And just when you thought it couldn't get any worse.....this wall paper was the 'first' layer.

There's actually a 'gold' version of this in the 'maid's quarters' above the kitchen.

I really didn't have much choice but to peel this off as it was going to come off as I painted over it. I'm a bit concerned that it won't hold paint very well, but I'm already thinking ahead.
What do I have that I can hang there. G

Well, it's 10:46.....time for bed!!!

Tomorrow maybe I'll introduce you to our ladder!!!