#3

We went and looked at another acreage today, more like farm. 150 acres (W-O-W!)
So here's possible 3#:
Older farm house (1944 I believe) in fairly good repair. Gorgeous original hardwood floors. Very nice sized rooms for a house of its age.
Pavement all the way to the driveway, 35 minutes from work.
Barn, corrals, mostly fenced.
Drawbacks? Well what isn't in good repair (or esthetically agreeable) would cost quite a bit. Barn needs to be gutted to be usable. "Fences" are questionable.
I have to admit, I really liked the character of this house. I loved all of the main floor, except the kitchen (man the cupboards were UGLY). Would want to basically tear the kitchen apart and remodel it. Counter space wasn't any less than my kitchen however it was chopped up into 3 different sections which made them seem smaller than they are.
Main kicker to put it waaay down on the list? The toilet (only one bathroom) has a tendency to overflow... right onto the dining room table in the room below! :o

To answer a couple questions from my previous house-hunting post. Acreages here range in size, can be as small as less than an acreage. However the RM's have pretty strict rules about how many "animal units" are allowed per acre. I don't think any of them would allow 2 horses on less than 10 acres.
We are hoping to find something decent, close to work (30-ish minutes or less) that has at least 10 acres (I would prefer 15 as the minimum to be honest)
I am hoping we find to the West of the city. North is also possible but most of that is RM of Corman Park (who I would like to avoid dealing with). South and East make it so we have to drive through the city to get to work, which would mean we'd have to be closer to the city limit and prices therefore increase quite a bit.

*image is not my own, it is from the MLS ad*

Wordless Wednesday

Not quite "the one"

Pie & I have looked at 3 acreages so far. One was definitely not "The One" but the other 2 have kinda made the short list.
They're ones that if we don't find the place that is "it" that we would be willing to consider.

This is the first one:
It is a house and a shop all in one building.
The pluses are: it is extremely well built (we know the current owner), has almost 40 acres, pavement almost all the way, has a workshop for Pie (actually a dream shop for most guys), approximately 20 minutes from work.
Negatives are: smallish living room, house area smaller than I'd like, priced a bit high, no barn, not fenced.
To consider: we've been told if the only thing really holding us back is the lack of a barn the current owner would build a small barn (but not sure if what he'd be willing to build will be ok with what we would want). Fencing is (or will be) done on 2 sides by the other property owners leaving only 2 sides for us to fence. Not sure what kind of fencing though and it would be preferable to stay away from barb wire, even though that IS the most common fencing around here.
This is the house that Pie would pick if we HAD to choose one right this second.

This is the second house: Pluses: again close to work (about 20 minutes), next door to people I know and like (and that have an awesome outdoor arena I could use!)and close to others that I know/like, close to an indoor arena I could use, house has lots of recent reno's/upgrades, 40 acres (10 fenced so far for pasture)
Negatives: garage is unfinished (needs concrete & drywall), no barn or shop, funky smell in one area of stairs to basement (Realtor Cousin is quite sure it is in the carpet), master bedroom smallish.
To consider: we could build dream barn & shop (within reasonable price) when we have the money (probably after our house sells). This highway is twinned almost the entire way, not opposed to replacing that carpet (newish but kinda ugly).

And yes this is the house I would pick at the moment! lol

We have at least 3 more acreages to go see. Just waiting for Realtor Cousin to set up appointments around our schedule. Which, by the way, includes Pie's MRI tomorrow (finally!) Have fingers crossed, prayers said and good thoughts/vibes/energy going out that everything comes back A-OK!

*both images are from their respective ads*

Notice from the IAU

Emboldened by their success in declaring Pluto not a planet, the International Astronomical Union determined this week by a close vote that February is too short to be considered a true month. It has, however, been granted the newly-created status of "dwarf month". It shares this dubious distinction with several other calendar time spans, including Labor Day Weekend, Christmas Vacation, and the Time Between When You Were Supposed to Get Your Oil Changed and When You Actually Did.

"It only seems fair," said IAU President Ron Eckers. "February reaches a peak size of 29 days, averaging only 28 days for 75 percent of the time. Recent research has shown that other periods, such as the Time Between When You Were Supposed to Get Your Oil Changed and When You Actually Did, often exceed this meager time frame. In fact, this erratic behavior only strengthens our case that February does not belong in the same classification as the eleven 'true' months."

Eckers also warned that the crop of 30-day "so-called" months should be careful to maintain their number of days. "They're already cutting it pretty close in my book."

Hoppy Easter!

Easter... for some its all about

chocolate eggs and bunnies

peeps and other treats.

For some it has a deeper meaning...

and some of us celebrate with chocolate

while also remembering

the reason behind the holiday

Whichever way you celebrate,

I hope you have a very 'hoppy' Easter!

*images are not made by me, they were found using Google Images*

'Tis the Season

Hunting season. Acreage hunting to be more specific.
Pie and I have looked at two so far.
One is a sorta maybe. Meaning that if we don't find anything better, and the price gets dropped, we'd seriously consider it. The other one was way too far away, and the house was... well pretty crappy. (The stalls in the barn on the other hand were TOO DIE FOR)
Pie's cousin is a realtor, he's taking us to see another one tomorrow. I have no real info on it but I have a sneaking suspicion that its going to be out of our price range.
I also have a few picked out from MLS that I want J (realtor cousin) to find out more about and possibly see.
We looked last year and the year before. We take a break in winter because there's too much snow to really know what you're getting as far as land (fence/pasture/etc).
The past two years I was hopeful but didn't really feel like it was going to happen. I don't know why but this year I have a really good feeling about it.
(could be partially because I found out that even if our house doesn't sell we could rent it for almost double our current mortgage payment!)

I got it!!

Errr, actually I got two. See I want to use it on the dogs and cats at home but I also want to take it to the barn to use on the horses. Pie knows that I'm super forgetful so he could just picture me getting to the barn and realizing I had left it at home. So he insisted we get two.
Oh yeah, and what is "it"... well its this SUPER nifty tool that actually really does work:

The drawback is that they are pretty pricey. Ed (owner "Wunderbar/Critters" pet store and feed/tack store where we purchased them) said he used to carry the knockoffs and while they were much cheaper they didn't work worth a darn. They tore/broke the hair leaving the horse or dogs coat dull and rough.
Kimfer's mom had bought a medium FURminator for their Rottie and Kimfer stole it and tried it on the horses. Ty was actually making little happy groany/grunty noises when she used it on him! So yesterday when Kimfer saw how bad Applejack was shedding she gave it to me to try and WOW! Even though she warned me they were expensive going to Wunderbar was at the top of my list for things to do today.
I was having to pull the hair out of my curry with every stroke. After using the FURminator we went for a ride and when we got back I curried Applejack completely without having to clean out the brush! (yup, BOTH sides of him)

This nifty tool has a nice weight to it, it feels substantial in your hand without being flimsy but is not super heavy. It pulls out the shedding hair so it doesn't cut or damage the hair coat. IMO it worked WAY better than a normal shedding blade.

Here's the website for those interested: http://www.furminator.com/

*product photos found using Google Images*

Mud, melting snow, slushy puddles...

...and warm sunshine and a light crisp breeze. What a great day for a ride!
Right now the ground is still frozen underneath so we can ride in the ditches, but by next week it will be thawing and the mud will get deep and slippery. So today we took advantage of perfect spring melting conditions along with the beautiful weather and headed out. Kimfer was on Baron and I was on Applejack. Both of us with our sunglasses and bunnyhugs - NO winter jackets! No Carhartts! No winter boots!
I was kinda expecting him to be a bit of a turd... you know how they can be when the nice weather starts to hit. But no he was little mister lazy. And how cruel was I, I made him jog for about a half mile :o (oh, the horror! lol) All in all we rode about 4 1/2 miles round trip. I was just glad to be out of that blue mood and back on a horse :)

Oh! And I discovered something wonderful that I am hoping to share with you tomorrow
(fingers crossed that I find one to buy for myself)

Spring is here

I received the following `birth announcement` in my e-mail the other day. Its from Kimfer`s aunt Jacquie (my `adopted` aunt) -

Well now I know "SPRING" is on it's way!! March 29 we had our first little heifer, two weeks early but healthy and already escaping, this is the smallest calf we have had so far. It has been a long cold winter and after losing Bear and Ziggy it sure is great to see some new life in the corrals . Her name? "Spring " of course, only 15 more to go!!

Jacquie

*photo by Jacquie Fehr*

Throwing down...

Relax not a fight story but rather a challenge.

although I did "physically remove" a guy from our bar last night heh heh

So I was watching Suze Orman on Ops today (ummm... that would be "Oprah") and I was getting rather depressed (no worries, things here are good so far). But hearing the fear and desperation in some of those people's voices... *shiver*
I got to thinking, although it is easier said than done depending on your circumstances, having a positive attitude can really help a person deal with and get through the bad times.

What can a person do to help their own attitude AND someone else's? Hmm...

Then I decided to challenge all my blog friends to a little thing I'll call "Thoughtful Thursdays".

Let's all try, at least for the month of April (longer if you can) to do at least one random nice/thoughtful/kind thing for someone every Thursday.

I kinda started with a cheat. Because this IS something I do from time to time, but it is Thursday so if I do nothing else I'll count this: today when I went through the drive-thru for my Starbucks fix I paid for the order in the car behind me as well. And you know what, it did make me feel good. It also surprised the gal at the drive-thru window and gave her a smile AND the girl who had been behind me honked rolled down her window and shouted "Thanks!" with a big smile (and I had seen her in my rearview mirrow... she had NOT been looking so happy before)

But that is just one suggestion. Some of us are pinching pennies more than others and can't afford to do that kind of thing. Some of us are living out in a small town/rural area and don't have that kind of opportunity.

There are TONS of nice things you can do that don't involve money. Help someone out (yard work, running errands, etc) that you know needs help, bonus do it before they ask for help! Pay a sincere compliment, bonus if its a stranger.

These are tough times for the majority of us, we all need to stick together. A positive attitude helps. When you do nice things for others YOU DO feel better and so do they! What do ya say, who's with me?

Horses & the economy

Saw this on the news tonight:

http://watch.ctv.ca/news/top-picks/canadian-spirit/#clip156728

(it plays a small commercial first then the actual clip)