Long Time, No Blog....

Hello!
It has been nearly 2 and a half months since I have posted!
I have been busy I guess! Busy with work, sleeping, man hating and winter hating!

Finally looks like this long and miserable winter is on it's way out the door!


I was lucky to get to take my horse out to 2 sleigh rallies within the last 2 months... one I won the poker hand and I bought myself a nice Western Rawhide saddle with the money... then the next weekend I found a vintage Western rawhide roping saddle that I fell in love with... and bought. It fits Reno well... So I am banned from buying saddles now. Hahaha! Here they are:

I didn't take my camera to the first rally - but I did to the second. Here are a few snaps from it:

 



So - I have started to plan my summer road trip... Barring any issues that cost me a fortune... or a HUGE jump in gas prices or drop in the Canadian dollar, I will be going to Great Falls to the Russell museum since I missed seeing it last year, Casper WY, Deadwood SD, Cody WY and a few other small stops along the way. 11 days of soaking up as much old west history and art and culture as I can find! The Cody Stampede is on my hit list... and I plan to spend the 4th of July there. If the gas and the dollar are bad, I am just gonna go straight to Cody and hunker down there for the whole time. Either way... this KINDA what I am thinking....

 

 

I am HOPING to see Mt. Rushmore... and I think I am going to have time to go meandering through Yellowstone again after Cody. I MIGHT cut through Nebraska but there really isn't much in that top western corner of it. I am very excited to return to Cody and I HOPE I can find accommodations there since it is going to be a busy week, but I am taking some camping gear just in case. I am really excited for Deadwood though.

 

Funny thing - I really wasn't aware of it until I saw it on an episode of The Bachelor. I started to look into it and HAD to go! I bought the TV series and am working my way through it now. I am excited to see where Wild Bill was killed AND where he is buried - along with all of the other little pieces of history I can see and experience!

 

I often feel like I am trapped in the wrong century. Last year when I started to explore, I felt such an incredible sense of "home" out there. Thee connection to that area was overwhelming as is the urge to go back and continue to explore and learn. Is it weird that my idea of a vacation doesn't include a beach, laziness and booze? 

 

ALSO - one of my idols  Ann Hanson - lives in Shell WY, and I contacted her and I am possibly going to meet her when I am passing through there on my way to Cody! So far she doesn't have anything going on out of town at that time and she said I was welcome to stop by. I emailed her years ago expressing my adoration of her work before I "knew" her through Facebook and she was - and is - such a lovely lady. I was in the Buffalo Bill museum last year and I came face to face with one of her pieces and decided to take a look for her again on Facebook and I found her. Funny - I still have the issue f Western Horseman from March 2000 where I first discovered her work. I am taking it with me because I want her to sign the page!

 

I am also possibly going to do a day trip into Yellowstone with artist Pamela Earlywine on my way back home. It seems that I will have an extra night to spend and I have contacted her and she suggested she take me to her favorite spots to go scouting for wildlife! All I did last year was the main drag through and saw very little for wildlife... Or sunshine! Hoping to get better weather on this trip.

Stay tuned!

 

 

 

 

Something Different....

So - I bought a necklace on boxing day... it was regularly $15.... I waited to buy it on sale. I looked at it and thought to myself... 'I can do stuff like this!' So I did. Here are a few of the pieces I have made so far!

 

A Few Pics From Sunday

The boys were in full clown mode yesterday!! Got a few cute pictures of them. Enjoy!

National Finals Rodeo

So - last Monday - I got to go to the NFR in Vegas!! What an amazing experience that was!! I wish I could have taken my good camera.... all I got was some crappy iPhone pictures.... but pictures are proof I was there!

The pre-show was awesome! Pyrotechnics and a laser/light show, a young lady 3who had won a contest to sing the anthem and she nailed it.... and the crowd was insane!! The theme this year was breast cancer so there was a lot of pink out there.... including the cowboys!

 

It was an honor to see the very best in the world compete.... Sherry Cervi, Fallon Taylor, Cody Ohl, Lisa Lockheart, Bobby Mote, Trevor Brazile, Luke Branquino, Curtis Cassidy and Jake Vold - the Alberta boys just to name a few! Even got to see Curtis Cassidy win the steer wrestling round that night! It was humbling to be in that building with such great talent!!

 

Cowboy Christmas was also pretty incredible.... 90,000 square feet of horse and western stuff! The Calgary Stampede had a set up and I saw some neat "artifacts" there...

I also was excited to see Rocketbuster Boots booth... their boots are amazing works of art!

If you EVER get a chance to go - TAKE IT! Even though I only got to go to the rodeo for one night it was still great!! 





 

 

A Little Pick Me Up...

So - in the midst of all the sadness... I had had a friend text me Sunday evening telling me she had found a GREAT deal on flights to Vegas... for the following Saturday. Kind of short notice.... Yes. But that's how I like to take trips. I texted my boss. He wasn't sure if any of my coworkers had the Monday and Tuesday booked already, so texted all of them and they didn't. So he told me to go ahead.

Then I started to think about it.... OMG! NFR WEEK! So my friend searched and was able to find us a pair of tickets to Monday night's performance! It has been a dream of mine to go to the NFR forever! So this spur of the moment bucket list trip has been the one thing to keep me from being an emotional disaster this week. Every time I wanna cry in public, I think about the NFR. I feel really guilty for being so happy, but fate seemed to want me to go. Kitty angel maybe wanted me to stop being sad and start being awesome? Maybe between my kitty and my mommy angel they made this happen for me. And of course my very thoughtful friend who decided I needed something big and exciting to get me through this difficult time.

Saying Goodbye To My Best Friend

I am beyond heartbroken. Sathurday, I had to say goodbye to my bestest little friend in the world.
The clinic called me yesterday morning and told me that the vomiting was only getting worse.... and in her opinion - letting him go was the best thing I could do for him at this point. What was going on inside his little body was worse than we had thought. I had woken up with the feeling in the pit of my stomach that it was going to come to that.





Billy was one of those once in a lifetime critters. He has been through so much with me. It was a bit funny to be sitting with him having one last visit, bawling my eyes out and having him comforting me. He was more concerned with making me feel better than he was with the fact that he was in a strange place, with an IV in his leg and sick. He was there for me right until the end. He loved and loved with all he had and the only way I could repay him was to let him go before the suffering really started. He's been there so many times for me through broken hearts and I will always be grateful for the short 5.5 years I had with him. This is when I need him the most.... to fix the biggest heartbreak I have ever had. Oh the irony. I just about died while I was sitting there on the floor talking to the vet and he hopped up and put his paws on my shoulder. I just lost it. He did it again when he climbed up on me - put his paws on my and just looked me in the eyes... purring the whole time. Sometimes you just know when you have to let go. He was happy and purring and Billy on the outside.... but there was too much going on on the inside. I think seeing him happy - while comforting - also made it extra hard since he didn't look sick on the outside.

To some - a cat is just a cat. To me - and to anyone who has ever loved and experienced the unconditional love of a kitty - or any animal for that fact, you know that letting them go is so incredibly devastating. He was my best friend, my little sidekick... he gave me a reason to come home everyday. I look at his favorite spots expecting to see him. I know I will never find a kitty quite like him. Anyone who met him loved him - and I know a lot of people got to love him even without meeting him - having only met him by seeing posts on Facebook. Friends like him are hard to come by and even harder to let go of. Who is going to lick my armpits, try to lick vaporub off of me when I am sick, beg me to share my Snack Packs - or anything that I am eating with a spoon? I will miss when I have a piece of cheese - he would "smile" - the tips of his fangs would poke out of the edge of his mouth and he'd do the funniest little head bob. The list goes on. As far as cats go - this guy had a personality second to none. I am going to miss his little face when I wake up and when I get home from work... and his purrs and snuggles. I already do so much. Rest in peace my little friend.