What I have been doing!

So, for the last month I've been doing a photography scavenger hunt! It's been so fun. There are over 300 items and it's got everything you could imagine and never could imagine on the list!! It's being put on by the Clickin Moms Forum! It's a great place to learn everything photography.

Also, Cowpokette got her cast off about a week ago! She has been so happy. She was so tough when they took the pins out of her arm. She didn't have to be put back into surgery for it. She just laid there like a big girl. I was so proud of her. After it was all over she refused to look at the Dr. and turned to me and said, "Can we go home? I'm tired!" Poor baby girl!

Well, it's hot and nasty humid here in the south. My two two year olds got their hooves trimmed today so it's into the round pen for them tomorrow! It's time for them to be saddled and line driven. Maybe I will loose weight if I run around behind two two year olds for a while!! :)

But that's all for now! Not much going on here! I do have lost of pictures to share from our visit to Oklahoma to see my sister!! That was so fun!! I'll get that done soon, I promise!

Bad Blogger, Broken Bones, and Puppies

So, I have been a really bad blogger......I'm sorry. I really miss it. Here is a quick update!! I've been super busy with photography sessions, and I have lots coming up this week!! It's going to be fun.

Then on Friday evening, Cowpokette broke her arm. She was playing with her brother and some cousins and one of her boy cousins pushed her down while they were running and she landed just right, or should I say wrong. She broke her right arm, right above her elbow in the growth plates. We took her to the emergency room and we ended up having to say over night. She had surgery on Saturday. Cowpokette had two pins put in and a cast put on.

The Dr. was very nice and we go back to see him on Friday!! You wouldn't know Cowpokette has a broken arm. She is such a trooper. She played all afternoon and was up and about. I'm so proud of her for being so tough.

Tomorrow I take Belle in for a pregnancy check!!! I have all fingers and toes crossed for her to be pregnant!! We shall see tomorrow. I am betting YES, but I shall not be disappointed if she is not bred. I haven't gotten my hopes up too high.

So, I am a bad blogger, and my daughter broke her arm, and Belle might be pregnant!!

Bad Vet, Good Vet!

Today was just one of those days....a day where I was sick of dealing with stupid people who treated me like I was stupid. I went to Acadia Animal Hospital this morning for an appointment for Belle. Belle was going to get a smear done to see if she is ready to be artificially inseminated (A.I.). So, I drove 45 minutes to the vet's office.

My first impression with the front office was not good over the phone, but I have them the benefit of the doubt and I kept my appointment. I had told my husband how rude the lady was to me on the phone. So, on his way home from work he stopped by to talk with them about Belle's A.I. appointments. He said they were nice and he actually went back to talk with the Doctor.

Me....well.....they were rude the minute I walked in the door. The office stunk like animal pee. That was a HUGE turn off. Then the receptionist looked just how I imagined her to look by how she sounded on the phone. I know that wasn't nice of me.....but it was how it was going down!!

Then I sat there for 2 hours. I did not see the Dr. a girl came out with a large Q-tip swab and did the procedure in the waiting area. Then about 30 minutes later the rude lady up front called me up to pay and said, "Well, she is ready to breed so you can go ahead and breed her."

I looked at her and said, "Uhm....you are breeding her. She is coming in to be A.I.ed".

Dumb lady, "Oh, well.....where is the stud...."

Me getting mad because I've told her this more than enough times on the phone and then my husband came in too, "Well, the stud dog is in Massachusetts. We are having it shipped to you to put it in her."

Mean while the vet walks up and hears our conversation and says, "Oh yeah, she's ready to go, I want to breed her tomorrow, Saturday, and Monday. And if I'm too busy to do the insemination one of my girls can do it."

I say, "Okay, I'll call the vet up in Massachusetts and tell them your information."

I went on to ask the crack head receptionist about their delivery process and when I asked her when they accepted deliveries she just looked at me and then put a business card over the paper I was writing on and said, "There is all our information."

Oh, HO, NO YOU DIDN'T!!!!

I went outside to talk to the Vet in Massachusetts about the collection times and she had issues with the Saturday delivery. So, I went back inside to ask the Crack Head Receptionist about deliveries on Saturday.

She looked at me and said, "Oh we close on Saturday at noon and so, we will just have to skip that breeding."

Me....flaming inside and wanting to strangle her skinny neck, "Well, he said he wants to breed her on Saturday."

Crack Head, "He said that? When did he say that?"

Me, "He stood right there and said it while he was picking up someone's chart."

Crack Head, "Oh, well I will have to talk to him about that."

Then she preceded to ignore the fact I was even in the room and standing in front of her while she piddled. Another customer came up and started talking about the employees getting to leave early and the Crack Head said, "Oh we always work late. On Saturday's we are luck to get out of here by 2."

I about LOST it. First they say if he can't do it one of the other girls can....I'm not paying to have a vet tech to breed my dog!! Then she lies to me and says that I can't come in on Saturday because they close at noon, but yet they stay til 2:00pm all the time.

I walked out of there and called a local vet that is about 25 minutes from my house and went straight there. The office was clean, and the employees were SOOOO nice and even were dressed nice. I didn't have to have an appointment and I was brought back to see the ever so nice Dr. in about 10 minutes. The Dr. came in and apologized for my horrible experience I had this morning and said he hoped he could make my experience better. I told him, "Well there is no where to go but up!"

He did a smear on Belle and did a blood test to check her progesterone. He made sure I didn't have any questions. I told him I wanted to give him a big hug and he was the best! I was in and out of that office in about 25 minutes.

Belle is not going back to that horrid Vet in Rayne and we are going to go to the new wonderful nice VET!!!

I won't even go into detail about how the semen bank in Massachusetts treated me. She was snippy and rude and I only cried a bit after her rude conversation with me. My husband called the stud owner and he got things straightened out with the sperm bank. The lady tried to tell me she wouldn't ship it to me....I was so upset.

Anyway, I am glad the day is over and Belle will be bred on Friday and Saturday! Hooray!!!

Puppy Fever!

Guess who is super excited to be in heat?!!!Yep, BELLE!!! And yes that is her happy face. Cowpokette had to jump in for the picture too. Belle has come into heat and this time around we are going to breed her! We have been waiting a long time for this. I am really excited for little Belle pups. The kids are super excited too.

Belle is going to be bred to another Olde English Bulldogge named Samson. He is a handsome boy. Samson lives in Massachusetts. Belle won't get to meet her handsome beau. We are going to to artificial insemination. I showed Little Cowpoke the pictures of Belle's boyfriend and he was concerned about them not meeting and Belle being able to have puppies. So, I had to explain to him about how the fertilizer is going to be shipped to us and the vet will put it in her. He was okay with that...until he asked...how do they put it in her? Does she eat it?

Oh the joys of 5 year old boy questions. So, I told him, "No, they put it in her triangle." He was satisfied with that answer. He won't have to take any health class by the time we are done with explaining how the birds and the bees work with all of our animals.

Belle goes in on Wednesday for an exam and then we will know when she will be bred and then we will have PUPPIES!!! I can't wait for puppies....I think!

A Baby Mountain Lion!

Little Cowpoke: "Momma!! Sister picked up a wild cat...I mean a WILD MOUNTAIN LION.....well, a small mountain lion....it was a BABY mountain lion!!"

Me: "Oh really!! What color was this Mountain Lion?"

Little Cowpoke: "Momma, it was black and white. Sister picked it up and it freaked out and she threw it in my face! I was like WHOA!!"

Me: "Wow, are you okay?"

Little Cowpoke: "Yes, it was awesome!"

All the mean while Cowpokette was standing behind him saying, "Yeah!! It was freaky!"

I love these kids!!! And you better watch out for those black and white baby mountain lions!!! Ha ha ha ha ha!

PS....just in case anyone was wondering, I rode Ozzie yesterday and it was the BEST ride I have ever had on him!! Maybe I'll move out of the round pen!! :) Mr. Cowboy rides Ozzie to work cows...yet I'm still stuck in the round pen....sigh......

How Time Flies!

It has been such a long time since I have blogged. I think it's about time I get back into it. There have been so many fun moments in our lives the last year, that I just have not written down. I need to get back into the swing of blogging. Here is a tiny preview of what we have been up to!! Cowpokette has grown some! She is so fun!! She has been in a pageant and won Best Fashion! She loves make-up, pink, and rodeos! She rode my horse Pearl for the first time the other day with out any help!! I'm so proud of my little Princess! Big Cowpoke is just that....BIG! He is so tall! Growing like a weed. He played basketball this year! He also is rodeoing again. He started to rope this past fall. Peanut, his horse, was all about it. They did pretty well. They tracked a dummy and they got to track out of the box. It was pretty fun! And then there is Little Cowpoke!!! Here he and his good friend are all dressed and ready to take the town for the Kids' Mardi Gras Ball!! He was so fashionable! He wore his tennis shoes! So fancy! Here are all the little Studs that went with us!! They had a blast!! Big Cowpoke is in the middle! Little Cowpoke also did a Science Fair project on Owl Pellets. He LOVED it. He found all sorts of bones inside the pellet. He won first place on his poster! I was so proud of him!And this picture is horrid, but he's just so cute! You can see the boys' hair is super LONG!!! They love it, I hate it....but such is life. Sigh......Here is the entire Crew!! I love this picture....not because it's perfect, but it shows how we really are!! Cowpokette is in Pink and the Boss of her brothers. The boys have their dogs and don't need anything else....and Brodi....well....old man Brodi just LOVES the kids....ha ha ha ha. And they are all a mess too!! That is how we look 90% of the time!We must not forget to get some pictures of Mr. Cowboy himself!! Here he is with his two girls, and Old Man Brodi! Again, Brodi looking not so sure of what is going on. Here is my Josephine! She is a tank and she is registered Buckskin!! Woot woot! Not that she looks like it, but hey, we will let her genes speak for themselves. She will be broke out this summer. Okay, now back to my Stud! Mr. Cowboy and I went to the Mardi Gras Ball dressed as characters from the Movie Grease. The theme was Hollywood! My Mom came to visit and made me this fantastic poodle skirt! I loved it!! But that is about it! I'm in the middle of my super most busy time of year! I have Senior Portrait Sessions booked like crazy and I'm just busy, busy, busy. I can't wait for April to be over!!!

But I plan on being back! I've had so many fun stories to tell and I haven't been writing them down. So, here is to a new year of blogging!!

Super Busy

I know I have been a complete Blog Slacker for the last 6 months. And it's not because I don't have anything to write about! A lot has gone on! The kids have all gotten huge, my yearlings are huge, and my photography business is busy! Just a quick update, Big Cowpoke has been so bad in school. He is 9 and his behavior has been bad. I am not sure what's up with him. Little Cowpoke is one of the smartest kids in his class. I am loving not hounding him to do his homework. The kid just likes it! And Cowpokette is just the cutest thing ever! She is my little momma and I love having her at home with me. I am going to be so sad when she goes to Pre-K next year.

On the horse front, Josephine choked the other day. I had to call out a vet and he tubed her and now she is fine. She freaked me out though. She had stuff coming out of her nose and mouth and I just couldn't help her.

Halloween was fun. The Cowpokes were Black Ninjas and Cowpokette was a Princess (what else would she be?). I didn't take a single picture on Halloween. I actually have been having some right arm, elbow, and wrist issues from taking pictures. It all started back when I worked dentistry and now it's just coming back and my arm just hurts. Sharp pain going down it. So, if I don't have to take pictures for work, then I just don't. Sorry kids! It will get better soon!!

And if you all (if anyone is left out there) wants to go see my photography website, then go and see it at www.andreatphotography.com!!! It's official. It took me a while to get it up and running, but I am really excited about it so please go and check it out!!!

But that is all that has been going on here. OH, and the barn is almost finished. I used to tell Mr. Cowboy that the barn wouldn't be up before Christmas, and I just might be right. We have just about 2 walls and half a roof up! I took a picture of it the other day and I'll have to post it! That is really exciting! I can't wait to have my own barn!!

But that is all for now, sorry no pictures....I'm a slacker, but at least I updated!!

Ozzie and Josephine

The two are just about as goofy as two horses can get. They have such fun personalities. I bet you can't tell they are half brother and sister?Josephine is getting so tall. She still is a yearling, and Ozzie is 5!! So, do you think she will pass him up? I took a bunch of pictures of them tonight, but only have time to post one. We did the rodeo thing today, and my Cowpokes got all the patterns wrong. Just something in the air!

Luna is doing great. She was running around today like a crazy yearling! It's amazing how great she is doing!

Cowpokette is going to be 3 on Sunday! I can't believe it!! Gosh I love that little girl! I'll show her pink birthday pictures soon! She had her bestest girlfriends come over! They were so cute!!

But that's about it! Just a quick update!

Luna and Painting!!

So, it's been a while....again...wow, life sure goes by quickly!! Things have been so busy with school starting and people wanting pictures done, and soccer practice!! I am Little Cowpoke's soccer coach!! I am having a lot of fun coaching! But anyway, last week I got some pictures of Luna's leg. And actually, this week, you wouldn't even know it was broken!! She is healing really well!! Which is great. This his how she was for the first few days. See how low her elbow is? It's not supposed to hand down like that!! And actually, these pictures were taken at about day 4, so she is actually holding her hoof up a bit more than before. She actually had it dragging the ground. But on day four she started doing this..... Putting some weight on it!!! You can see how her elbow is a bit swollen. Her leg and elbow never got more swollen than in that picture. I hosed her off every day and let her eat some grass. I am so glad that she is doing better!! I bet she can't wait to go back out with her best friend, Josephine!! Luna is still a little tank!! Just look at that booty!!! The girls are now a year and a half old!!! Almost saddle time!!! AHHHHH!!! See time flies! But on another note, I got new muddy boots!! Super cool, no? Ignore all the horrid pictures in this post, they were all taken with my phone! And again on another side note......

Little Cowpoke and I went painting!! We have this awesome place here that teaches you how to paint a picture!!! Here is Little Cowpoke painting his guitar picture!! The final product!! He did such a great job!! And here is the entire class!! We had a kids painting party! They all had really cool guitars!I then did a girls night out with my Ponkeno group. We got to invite other friends too!! So I invited these two crazy girls! No, Jen isn't trying to strangle herself, and no Laura isn't sleeping!!! I know horrid picture, right? There are their beautiful paintings!!! Here is mine! I am so hot!! whuahahahaha!!! Here is a close up of my painting! And here is all three of ours! I love how different they all came out!!! And our class for the night! It was so much fun!!! I want to go back, but I can't decide which painting I want to do next!! Plus, I gotta find a place to but the two I already have!! But that is about it! That's all that I have been doing!!

Luna Update

Well, the Vet came out, and it wasn't my favorite Vet. He is a younger guy than the normal Vet that I use. They all work in the same office. But for some reason this vet likes to act like he knows everything. It aggravates me. But that's besides the point.

He came out knowing I wanted an x-ray, and then told me they don't have an x-ray machine strong enough to shoot through the shoulder. Sigh.....but he looked at Luna and his assistant looked at Luna, and they both think she broke her Humerus bone. They think the elbow is fine and she still moves her leg to get flies off of it. They both think that she will heal up just fine and walk normal some day. I don't know about that.....but I am willing to give it a try.

I was going to take some pictures of her today, but I will wait until this afternoon. I have been giving her some bute and I hose off her leg just to cool it off for her. So, we are going to wait 6 weeks and see what that brings. The Vet and Mr. Cowboy agreed that we can always put her down later and it's worth a try.

Luna Broke Her Leg

Well, I left for soccer practice this evening and everything was fine. I got home an hour later....and Luna was dead lame. We drive by the yearlings' pasture every time we go to or from home, so I always look over at them just to make sure they are alright. Well, this evening, I noticed that Luna was all by herself. She normally doesn't go anywhere with out her best bud Josephine. I turned to Mr. Cowboy and said, "Luna is lame!! On her front right!"

Now, this was all said while driving about 35 mph and heading for home. So, Mr. Cowboy said, "Oh sure! Whatever, what are you some kind of horse whisperer now? There is nothing wrong with Luna!"

He was all sorts of mad at me when I told him that she wasn't alright. He was agitated about having to go and look at her with me. I ran to the barn and got a halter, while Mr. Cowboy....started the lawn mower!!!! The man thought I was joking!! MEN!!!

I grabbed a halter, hoof pick, and some grain for the other two horses out with her, then fussed at Mr. Cowboy to get his butt over to the pasture with me. He thinks I baby my horses and over exaggerate every little thing.

Well, I was hoping that Luna just had an abscess or something like that. But when we saw her, her front right leg was hanging about 3 or 4 inches lower/longer than her other leg. Her elbow was not in the right spot at all.

We wanted to load her up in the trailer to drive her to the barn. The barn is a long walk down the road. But she wouldn't load, which wasn't a big surprise. So, I walked with her. It took me about 25 minutes to get her to the barn. It normally takes 2 or 3 minutes. I let her take lots of breaks. My FIL gave her some bute, and we put some hair and water close to her. The poor girl just wanted to lay down, but couldn't figure out how to do it.

I brushed her and sprayed her with some fly spray so she wouldn't have to worry so much about the mosquitoes. I have this small ray of hope that she might have just dislocated her shoulder??!! Maybe??? Probably not, she most likely broke it.

Luna was going to be Mr. Cowboy's project and a future playday horse for the kids. She was so laid back and easy going. A bit of a pain in the butt to lundge, but all in all she was a good girl.

I am going to be calling the vet in the morning, to see if he has a portable x-ray machine. I want to make sure it's really broken before she gets put down. Mr. Cowboy is also hoping it's just dislocated. But I am not too sure there is much they can do in either case. Dang babies, why do they have to be so rowdy.......

Vote for ME!!!!! Please!!!!

Hey All!!! I need your help!!! To vote for me to win CS5!!! It's over at MCP Actions' Blog!!! Just go HERE, and vote for picture number 2. It's the one with the horse!!! You don't have to sign up for anything, just vote. Also, you don't have to vote for 3, you can just vote for me!!! :) I may not get up to first place, but I would LOVE to win one of her gift certificates!!! Thanks all for your votes!!! This is what the picture looks like!! Thanks again!!!

She's Something Else.....

I got in a new softbox for my photography stuff and I wanted to try it out. Well I had one little girl who was MORE than willing to volunteer for model duty. Cowpokette got some old dance outfits from her cousin and has been wearing them since. She HAD to wear this dress and her Sunday shoes for the pictures. Mr. Cowboy won't let me put her in pageants. I think she would really love doing them. But Mr. Cowboy says she would love doing them too much and end up costing him too much money. Daddy is no fun!! "You said what Daddy?" She kept getting way to close to my light, so it washed out her face. I liked her hair in this one. Then I found some cool new brushes online and had to try them out!! I was just messing around. Because I have so much time!! Ha ha ha! I have been riding my horse, Pearl a lot more. I am enjoying that. I make sure I make time for that. I am going to try to get some cute baby Mule pictures tomorrow. I actually heard him make a sound yesterday and I about freaked out!! He is just too cute!!!

Little Cowpoke isn't so Little Anymore.

I have three summer kids. One has a birthday in June and the other two in August. So, the summers are fun filled birthday fun. Little Cowpoke's birthday is first. He turned 5!!! I can't believe it. Time sure flies by so quickly. For Little Cowpoke's birthday, he chose to have a Star Wars themed party. So, this is what I came up with for his cake! At first I was going to make the icing black....but then I really thought about it, and that wouldn't have been so smart! Kids+black frosting=disaster! I LOVE Darth and his light saber candle! When Little Cowpoke saw that he freaked out!! My Mom came to visit for the first few weeks in June and she helped me with the stars and the words. I made the totally awesome light sabers!!! ha ha ha ha! There is one happy Star Wars birthday boy. He wore a ribbon on his shirt with a picture of Yoda that said, "May the force be with you!" That is Little Cowpoke's Darth Pinata! He was really excited about it!

I invited some friends from school, but of coarse none of them came. I am "new" in town so nobody ever comes to my kids' birthday parties. But his cousins and Grandparents came and that is all that matters! And my friend came and brought her daughter! The kids all went swimming and then we had hot dogs and potato salad! Then it was present time! My friend got him a super cool Darth light saber!! Let me tell you he was sooooo excited about this! He plays with it everyday!! Before Big Cowpoke went to his Dad's for the summer he picked out this HUGE water gun for his little brother. Little Cowpoke was SOOOO excited for the extra huge water gun! He then got this super cool card from his cousins! It played the "Darth" song and had a light saber that lit up!! So COOL! It was a hit with all the kids. My horrid group shot! I don't think anybody is looking at the camera!! ha ha ha! Cowpokette wasn't really walking really well at this point! She was getting there!! Karen, from The Rocking Pony, mad her the super cute dress she is wearing!! I love that lady! The lit candles! The lit candles with Little Cowpoke and his light saber! Blowing out the candles!!! We then moved outside to do the Darth Pinata. There was a really fantastic sunset! And Uncle Shannon did a great job of holding the pinata! You see my father in law over there on the right? You see his shirt? Yeah...that is sweat...it was really that hot and humid and nasty outside. He did just come from the barn and playing with one of the colts, but still, it was nasty humid out! What was left of the Darth Pinata! Perfect!!! Then Little Cowpoke got the Green Machine, from me and Mr. Cowboy! These are the coolest toys EVER! They actually can drift!! The boys played with them at a friends house and loved them! They are the coolest big wheel ever! And yes, they fit kids of all sizes! Happy Birthday Little Cowpoke!