Just in case you need an idea for a gift...

A lap giraffe...

http://www.petitelapgiraffe.com/calves.php

Freaking hilarious!!

Not enough hours in the day...

I'm sure I'm not the only one suffering from this. Oh, and the never-ending rain. Although in some parts it's never-ending snow. I'm not sure which is worse...

But, I will try in April to be more dedicated to writing my blog. I have a bunch of topics rolling around my brain, I just have no time to write about them.

I need one of those things where you think it and it magically appears on the page. Is there an app for that?

It's hard to work when I can't lift my arms...

I know that Farmer with snort with glee and roll his eyes when I post this, but what the hell...

So, yesterday was my first time to work at the barn where I board Flash. There are 14 stalls to clean and 14 horses to feed, water, turn-out and bring back in over the course of the day.

The turn-out and bring-in was no big deal. All the horses are fairly well behaved.

Watering and feed was a piece of cake.

The 14 stall cleanings not so much. I forgot what a freaking work-out cleaning that many stalls is. Holy crap do my arms hurt. A lot!!

But I think I sweated out 3 to 5 pounds, so maybe it was worth it? I don't know... I'm still trying to decide.

The biggest loser...

It's spring break here at the coast. Normally I would hunker down and wait for one of two things to happen...

1. Spring break to be over...
2. Everyone visiting for spring break to spontaneously combust, but preferably no where near my power lines... The seagull was bad enough.

However, it was a beautiful day here yesterday and after all the rain I needed to get out. So the pups and I decided to brave the crowds and we took a stroll down to the beach.

We enjoyed the sun...

And played with the ball...

And met celebs on the beach. Oh yes, we did...

We met up with this guy... 

Arthur, from The Biggest Loser...

He's a native of Portland, OR and he was visiting my little beach for some R&R before heading back for the Biggest Loser finale. He was a nice guy and a pleasure to talk to. And I also realized that this guy, who still has a bit of weight to lose, could probably outlast me in the gym. Sad...

Time to get serious about shedding some pounds. 

So, I decided to face the scale. I haven't been on one since last summer. I know it's bad. I just didn't realize how bad...

And let me assure you, it's bad. I'm in serious danger of being too heavy to ride my horse...

Yup, I'm a cow. 

So, I started walking again. And this morning I even ran for a portion of my walk (thank you, Arthur).

My goal? To drop 30 pounds by the 4th of July. That's 14 weeks away. Which means I need to lose just over 2 lbs a week to make it happen. I can do that, right?

Right?

Right!!

Oh yes I did...

And I wish I had the pictures to prove it...

For the first time in probably 15 years I rode bareback last night. And I discovered 2 very important things...

1. I am a better rider than I thought. Flash did a fairly big spook at the trot and I didn't come off. Yay!!

2. I need a big, fat quarter horse whose spine is nowhere to be found under all the fat. Flash is a bony horse. He's in excellent weight, but even so, he's still a bony little bastard. Ouch!!

But, while the weather keeps my riding indoors, I think I will continue to ride bareback. It's a good challenge...

Wrath of Seagulls...

On Friday, whilst still at work, word came in that an unfortunate seagull had electrocuted itself and caused havoc around my area of town... shutting down the power and the highway. I didn't sweat it. After all, all of the good stuff were on surge protectors.

The unfortunate seagull...

 (courtesy of The News Guard)

So, I went about my Friday routine. Went to the Bay House for 2 for 1's. Visited with friends. Went to Ally's and Muppet's for a movie (Despicable Me... it was great). And then proceeded to go home...

Once there, I realized the devastation brought on by the bbq'd seagull. My HD TV and my stereo were no longer among the living!! Oh, the humanity. Oh... and the hotel down the street caught fire too. But that's not nearly as bad as my HD TV biting the dust. I was forced to hook up my far-less-superior non-HD TV that has poopy sound and color. It's horrible...

Let's all take a moment of silence for my dearly departed, shall we?

Then, yesterday the lights here at work went out. Guess what? Another seagull had bbq'd itself, shutting down the power for about 4,000 people.

OK you bible thumpers. I want to know if there is something in there about suicidal seagulls being a harbinger of the end of the world... because, if so, we need to start hunkering down. STAT.

This whole tsunami/suicidal seagulls thing has made me decide to start writing a little guide to the apocalypse. I'm going to be sharing a nugget of knowledge every so often (complete with illustrations) for those of you who need to know what to expect and what to do once it gets here. And don't worry. None of that undecipherable babble that means nothing. I'll be breaking it down for you, the layman...

And I'm gonna call it: The Layman's Guide to the Apocalypse.

The link is to the right. Posts will be starting soon...

Fun with the fam...

My little fam, that is... oh, and RR too.

I'm queen of the rock...

I wanna be queen of the rock, too...

No.

Still no.

You're still below me, Marshmallow...

RR & I having some fun...

 Someone get down here and throw the ball. Now...

I'm still queen of the rock...

 Whatever, Daisy...

Aren't we adorable? My hair doesn't look too bad either...

Arg!! I'm so embarrassed... 

Yeah. That's embarrassing...

But I forgive you if you throw the ball...

RR making the Marshmallow happy...

Again...

And again...

While Daisy & I hang out on the rocks...

We are adorable, as well...

Horses would've made it more fun. Maybe next time...

The taming of the marshmallow...

Daisy makes it her life work to hinder the marshmallow's pursuit of dumbball in any way she can. She's become quite good at it.

And it goes something like this:

Locate the marshmallow...

Ah ha!! There she is...

Prepare for battle...

And then attack!!

Get...

Back...

Here...

You...

Stoopid... Hah!! I have won. You are denied the ball, you silly marshmallow...

Wait!! Get back here...

Mom, make Daisy leave me alone...

Fine. I'm gonna sit here 'til she goes away...

Unless you wanna throw the ball again? You don't?

Fine. I'm staying here then...

Don't worry about me, Marshmallow...

I'll just be over here waiting until next time...

And there WILL be a next time...

It's madness...

March Madness, that is.

Do you have your bracket filled out? I know I do...

Not bad for his first time...

RR (although Clown wants me to rename him TinMan) did a courageous thing this weekend. He rode Elmo. Yes, that Elmo. The Elmo that tried to kill me two summers ago. That 'Mo...

It was RR's first time on a horse. Ever. But with my excellent instruction, he looked like a pro...

I think he even enjoyed himself (RR, not Elmo... although Elmo seemed to be having fun, too).

I'm hoping to trick RR into riding again soon...