A View from the Saddle

MOVED!

2010-01-21T15:45:00.003-05:00

Does anyone else have this problem?

This blog is under an aol email and I'm really tired of having to type in aol.com email and then turning around an check my gmail to turn around and have to RE login to blogger (since blogger and google are connected somehow it always logs me off.) so! i just created a new one with my gmail and moved all my previous posts to that blog!

The View From A Saddle

So go follow!!!

Lila

2010-01-20T16:36:00.000-05:00

Hello!!! What cha doin!? What cha doin!? What cha doing!? Whaaaaattt!?

This is what I hear daily when I’m in the Peach palette working for Mrs. Beth. It’s Lila, the cutest little bird in the whole world! She’ll say a lot more than "What cha doing" and "what", but if she can’t see you then she starts going off!

Well, today I had her sitting in the windows up in front of the store. She loves sitting in the window. She whistles constantly, every one different. She says Hello! to people walking by and cars that pass. It’s hilarious!

Well, I was sitting at the desk doing a little work and I heard her squawking and flapping around. I looked up and there was a HUGE hawk flying towards the window. BAM! Into the window. It flew up to the roof… so I ran up to the window and scooped Lila up and put her on the railing that goes around the little garden in the window. I went outside and looked up on the building… let me just say that I didn’t know hawks were that big! It was huge! It looked down at me like it was saying get out of my way! That’s my dinner! It’s talons were gigantic. Well… I went inside and grabbed my phone (wishing I had my brand new camera!) and snapped some pictures of him.

Pesky bird.

He's HUGE!

But don't wory! Lila is safe, singing away!

New Camera!!!!

2010-01-19T14:28:00.000-05:00

I'm in love!

Be expecting great things from us! :)

A New Year!

2010-01-04T12:08:00.038-05:00

A new year has come and we have already had some happenings in the McCord family!

My niece has been sick the past 6 days but is finally pulling out of it! My sister started having pains... went in for an emergency appendix removal and it ended up being an infection in her abdomen that was not making things happy! She is in recovery and smiling because she's famous! Why is she famous? Not because her appendix was the biggest the doctor had ever seen.... jk! :) I was checking my stuff- facebook, email, pioneer women....- I get to pioneer woman and find an ATL update! Linnie went to the Atl book signing... she had a picture of her cute outfit taken by PW's sister with PW's camera! She was so excited and kept talking about when the Atl update would be. Well it's here and Lin made the site! Find it here :) 19th picture down!

I immediately texted her a picture of it! She was very excited!

My mom, dad, and my two little brothers spent the new year in Boca Grande visiting my grandfather! The trip down was... awful. That car, bless its heart, is not made for long travels. I sat in the middle and my back was killing me the entire 7 hours. The trip back was worse.7 hour trip into a 10 hour trip. I love my Auburn tigers.... but all that traffic that the football game and the other two games put on the road was horrendous! but a plus... I only had to sit in the middle for about 4 hours! Hank and John took a turn for me!

BUT while we were down there we had fun! We visited with Pop and Lida Lee, we went shopping and walked to get ice cream at night... it was a fun little trip! I even took my Lola Belle to the beach! :)

One day we were out on the porch playing monopoly and a porpoise comes into the bayou that pop lives on and starts swimming around. I LOVE dolphins so I jumped on that with my camera! Another little one accompanied it and they were swimming around in circles on the opposite side of the bayou under this tree gathering up fish. They poked their heads out of the water a couple times and you could see a fish in their mouths. Well, they were circling and I ran down to the dock with Hank to take some pictures and one of them started coming our way so I got my camera ready waiting for him to pop up again... the sneaky thing came out from under our dock!!! I about wet my pants!! It came out of the water and blew and all i saw was dolphin... it was HUGE! I wish I would have gotten a picture of it! I think I really did almost wet my pants.

I hope everyone had a great New year! I'm pretty sure I went to sleep at 10:51 on New Year's Eve. I woke up at 12:06... happy new year... back asleep.

Be sure to check out Linnie on the Pioneer woman! :)

Pictures coming soon!

Tomorrow...

2009-12-18T00:35:00.001-05:00

I graduate! :)

YAY!

Alumni...

2009-12-15T16:17:00.007-05:00

I am done. With my undergraduate college career that is! I have successfully completed my Bachelor of Science in Animal Sciences Pre-Vet. phew.

It's such a good feeling. I really don't have to study until I start my masters... or maybe get into vet school... six months or more from now! AH! I'm FREE!!!!

I have spent the last four years of my life struggling with keeping my grades up and keeping my boyfriend around ;) and worrying if all my horses are standing up/walking around. Lord knows no one touches them but me! poor kids. But, on Friday December 18, 2009 I will walk on to a stage, obtain my Auburn Creed, walk off the stage, then go get my diploma in the next building. :) Then i will move back into my house where my bed is and where my horses are in my front yard. There are more plusses. I get to hang out more with my precious little niece, Blair, and see my sister and brother in law more. I get to hang out with my mom and dad and all my other family members. I'll be able to go visit my other sister and brother in law in n. al. more. my boyfriend will be 8 min away :) and i can ride my horses whenever i want!!

I also might get to make some much needed dollars! About that job.. I got the interview! I went, I think I did good, and now I'm waiting to hear back from them. I'll be ecstatic if I get it. It's perfect. I will get to play with horses... I get to start an exciting new Equine program and promote what they have. I'm excited! it's only about 7 minutes from my house so I'll be able to save in gas money and what not!

So now that I'm completely done with finals and tests and papers and studying... I am bored out of my mind! I think I have spent the last 3 hours reading through The Pioneer Woman's website. It's pretty interesting... my sister got me liking it. Thanks lin. It was my procrastination tool for the past 5 days. I put a picture into a contest, i took an atlanta quiz, i also entered another contest today. Linsey met her.. and I'm jealous. I think I want to buy her cookbook and i know my sisters are probably laughing right now cause i don't cook at all.. but i actually like trying! :)

Let's see if I have any pictures I can share to make this post more exciting...

Oooh! ooh!! :)
This is a picture of me and alllll my pre-vet buddies in THE Auburn football players locker room! Pretty cool.

And this is me and my darling boyfriend at the GT/georgia game! I had a decent time. I loved sharing that experience with him. You can't tell in this picture... but his is before all the dumb uga fans got there. I won't talk about that. Let's just say I have ZERO respect for them. except of course Josh... he's not obnoxious!

I love this picture. I took it when I was babysitting Blair. She loves horses almost as much as I do! She sure does love giving them kisses. Not just horses... all animals! Even pillow animals :)

Bringing Friends home is Fun!

2009-11-17T12:53:00.008-05:00

The weekend of Nov 6, I took two friends home that I have a few classes with at Auburn. I just recently became friends with Katie and Anna, but they are two of the sweetest girls that I have met in Auburn! I'm glad I was able to take them home with me and share our little piece of Georgia!
We packed up the car and headed out of Auburn on Friday. When we arrived we visited all my horses and a few of the young cows that are pasture mates to Flint. Mom had asked me to help with a catering job... so I also recruited them to help us, along with another new friend Bridget (she goes to the local university and is from north GA) and of course Joshua! We all dressed up and headed out to the barn to help cater!

Here we all are about to start serving!
Katie, Bridget, me, Joshua, Anna, and two young ladies that mom knows through the chamber.

Katie and my mom!
We had a lot of fun, but I know my feet were killing me by the end of the night!

Saturday started all the fun!! Bridget, Anna, Katie and I woke up and had cinnamon rolls then got started on getting all the horses' stuff together! We got saddled up and Josh showed up to take some pictures for us.

Anna on Rose, Bridget on Sassy, Katie on SoBe and Me riding Flint
We rode for about three hours and had tons of fun.

Me and Bridget!

We got back home, went and got some lunch at subway and headed out to Josh's barn to visit the pigs!

Anna loved the piggies! We got back to my house and went out to the cow pasture to play with the cows. There is this one particular cow that was raised on a bottle, I call her charlotte, so we went and gave her a few hugs! :)

Except... Charlotte got a little sick of us! so Katie didn't get a change to get a picture with her. so we chased down another cow.. she wasn't too excited about it either.. lol

Later, we decided to have a bonfire, so dad got it started while we went to walmart to grab some hotdogs and s'mores stuff!

Sunday we went to waffle house and got a late breakfast. We went back to my house and Anna and I rode horses for a little bit. Then Josh and I took a ride too! :)

Then We just hung out in the yard and played around with the dogs all afternoon! Soon Dad got off the tractor and got a gun out for us to shoot, under Josh's supervision! :)
Teaching Katie how to shoot!

After we taught Katie how to shoot correctly, i think she hit the can! :)
Anna taking a turn

And Josh shooting the cup in the air!

We were sad to leave sunday night after we ate some Cracker Barrel with my parents.. but we had to get back to school. Maybe we'll have another weekend at someones house sometime soon! :)

I'm going home in two days for eleven days!! I'm SO excited! I can't wait to see all of my family and my horses and of course Joshua! :)

Birthday Party, Fair and Horses

2009-10-14T17:29:00.001-04:00

Sounds like a perfect weekend to me!

Friday, October 9, was my niece's first birthday! I can't believe she's already one! It went by so fast. We had a party for her on saturday night. It was a pig party so of course she had to have a pig cake! My mom and sister both made it.

She also had a precious little cake all to her self to mess up, but she only got so far as taking the nose off then she was done!

We all had a good time watching her open her presents. At first she just wanted to crawl all over the boxes and pull at the stringy ribbons, but then she figured out she could rip the paper off! She loved digging in the bags too! I got her two books, pink wiggly pig what do you wish for?

and panda panda what do you see?. I also got her some tub toys. She had a good time playing with the little turtles for a minute... throwing one in a box over and over again after her daddy retrieved them! and she crawled around with them.... :)

Sunday I went to the fair with my two sisters, mom, and Josh. We walked through all the exhibit buildings and of course got food. I think I ended the day with a list of things I had eaten: 1 Corndog, 32 oz Diet coke, a frozen dipped in chocolate banana, a gyro (yum!), a large cup of Dippin' Dots, and a bag of cotton candy. I assure you I could have eaten more. I wanted to get an apple dumpling in there... but I didn't have enough hours! We met up with my aunt, uncle and cousin later and I ended up riding some rides with my cousin. I hadn't planned to ride many rides, but i'm glad I did because it was fun! We couldn't have planned this if we tried... but we decided to ride the ferris wheel when we were leaving and when we got stopped at the top the fireworks started!

I had a new friend come out and ride horses with me on Monday. We had a lot of fun! I met her through Josh's best friend, Cole. Her name is Bridget and she goes to school at the university in our home town. She has horses as well so she's knows how to ride well. I love to ride with people that know how to ride because I don't have to worry as much! I let her pick who she wanted to ride out of Sassy, Rose, and SoBe and she probably picked the best one! SoBe! I think we're planning another ride that Josh and Cole will come on, so she'll get to take Sassy for a ride! We rode for a few hours that morning and went to get lunch with Josh and Cole. Later that night we all watched a movie and made cookies! I'm glad I have a new friend to play with when I go home!

Bridget informed me of an open job at the college that I am applying for. I'm really excited about it! If all goes well I'll write about it in more detail! I sent my application off today, they'll get it tomorrow and hopefully they'll like what they see!
Now if this Dr. will call me back about a letter of recommendation.... I would feel much better!!! I have 2 confirmed and 1 to go! Pray that all goes well and I get the job! It would be absolutely amazing if I get it! :)

Off to study Genetics!

I think I might go buy curtains now....

2009-10-07T18:26:00.004-04:00

I got scared out of my mind today.

I was laying on my bed taking a nap slash watching TV before I went to class and I just happened to look up at my window. Well, my window is situated on the hall so that no one has to walk by it unless they are going to my door. So, I just happened to see a person walk by going away from my door back to the stairs, so I jumped up to go to the door to see who it was through the little peep hole. I saw a younger guy walking around the corner into the hall to go to the back apartments... I watched for a few more seconds and he came back around the corner and bent down, got on his knees, and looked into my window!! CREEPY! He got up and went back around the corner. I thought, if he does it again I'm gonna call the police! I had to go to class in thirty minutes and I was not about to set foot outside that apartment with him anywhere near! He did it again. and again. I started thinking ok... the police won't get here fast enough. I looked out into the parking lot off my porch and my wonderful neighbor's husband was home! oh yay! I text Kailey really asking for his number, then I realized she probably wouldn't get back to me fast enough because she teaches. So, I made sure he wasn't watching- ran into my room and grabbed my computer and started praying Dru, her husband, was on Facebook! JOY he was! I messaged him- " Call me! my number. Some creepy guy is looking in my window! or go outside!" next time I looked the guy walked towards the stairs instead of the hallway and I couldn't see whether he went down or was just standing there. I have the cutest Welcome sign on my door and it has fall leaves hanging down and my peep hole was half covered! So, I went back to my room saw a figure in the window... ran back to the door and it was Dru! thank goodness. I went outside and the creep was gone. Dru didn't see him but we asked the maintenance guy that just happened to ride by on the golf cart and he had seen him walking back towards a different building on the cell phone.

Why I have these creepy things happen to me... I don't know! I've already had my locks changed because someone, other than my roommate, opened the door at 3AM and didn't lock it back!

Lord, please keep me safe for the remaining 75 days I have left in this place! Amen!

Now I might go get my curtains. ;

Finally FALL!

2009-10-01T13:12:00.009-04:00

I LOVE fall! This weather just makes me want to be at home riding my horses! It's so nice! I can't stand riding horses when it's hot anymore. I don't know how I did it when I was younger... but when I didn't work I would ride ALL day. I would ride so long that I would go switch out horses sometimes 3 and 4 times a day! But I can't do that anymore. It's just too hot. Now that this weather has come around I get excited about being able to ride more! I got on Flint bareback this past friday and rode around. He was pretty excited himself! We started going up this huge hill on our 'old' driveway and he took off jumping and bouncing all over the place! I realized I had two huge handfulls of his mane and was screaming pretty loud when we got to the top! I think all the other animals love this weather too. We saw deer and wild hogs! I tried to get a picture but momma hog wasn't having that. She ran into the woods and snorted and carried on. I decided to get outta there before she came after Lola and Cutie pie!

I went to a pig show with Josh this weekend in Fitzgerald. I got to see my Uncle Johhny, Trey and Reid! I think Reid was a little overwhelmed by the huge pigs walking around everywhere! Josh ended up winning the senior showmanship and 2nd in his class.

I had a lot of fun at this show. I usually just sit in the stands with Mrs. Phoebe and watch everything, but since Josh's dad was out of town I was the 'coach'. I acquired that name somewhere in the middle of the day. I don't really know who said it, but it was repeated many times! I helped Josh wash the pigs and keep them cooled off because it was HOT. I mean HOT. It gets to be a rush when your class is called and you have to make it up to the holding pen before you go in. It kind of reminds me of when I showed horses. :) I sure do miss that! We ended up getting home around 4. We were up at 5:30 that morning so it was a long day!

Fall weather also means Auburn Football has started!! We have had some GOOD games! I'm really excited about this season. We're 4-0! Josh came up for the Mississippi State game and it was a lot of fun! That game wasn't as good as the West Virginia game though! That was a game I will never forget! The game was supposed to start at 6:45. A huge black cloud lingered over the stadium at about 6:00 and it started raining around 6:30. Well of course it started lightning! They evacuated the stadium and the game was delayed for 30 minutes, then another 30 minutes, then another. Well, we (the student section) did not evacuate. you know, I didn't even hear them tell us to evacuate! that's how loud the stadium gets! So they started playing songs about rain and we were singing and it was so much fun! I have a video on my phone of everyone singing 'Have you ever seen the Rain?" and it is amazing! It poured and poured and poured! I though it would never stop. The field was literally starting to look like a small lake. It finally subsided and the game started. West Virginia put up a good fight but we came back after half time and wooped up on them! It was a good good game!

This weekend we play Tennessee. I just looked at the previous stats for the last games in our campus newspaper. Ball State (who we played this past weekend) had better stats than Tennessee in rushing, passing, and yardage. So hopefully we can take down Tennessee and be 5-0!

I''m pulling for those Westfield Hornets too. They are 5-0! Georgia Tech is also doing well. Better than Georgia! :)
It's going to be a good football season for all my teams I hope!

I am NOT good at keeping up with this!

2009-07-07T15:09:00.006-04:00

It has been a very busy past two months!! I don't even know if I can remember whats happened! I restarted classes and I absolutely can not stand being in Auburn in the summer. I'm pretty miserable. I go home every weekend and have some fun, so that makes it all better! :)

My Mema had 2 unplanned back surgeries and was in the hospital for the past four weeks. She is now recovering in an 'Assisted living' until she gets back on her feet! She's doing much better though.

I went to the beach one day with Josh, his mom and sister and her friend! We had a lot of fun! Josh and I met them up there on Saturday night and spent Sunday on the beach! We had a lot of fun for one day on the beach!

The peach festival was also this past month! My mom, my sisters, my little brother, Blair and me and Josh all loaded up and went to it! It was fun, but not as much fun as it was when I was a kid! We got to see the peach cobbler! I ate some :)

My mom and dad started the worlds largest peach cobbler years ago! They finally passed it on to someone else but it still is in good hands!

My niece will be 9 months on the ninth. Look how big she's getting! I got to spend some time with her this weekend down in dreamland! We went to pick peas at seven then we went back to the house and shelled some. Then it was TACO TRUCK time at the watermelon farm! It was soo good. I had chicken mole with rice and corn tortillas. It was some kind of yummy. Of course, I can't go to dreamland without getting a bunch of yummy watermelons! I think I ended up going home with ten! I only had 5 when I got back to Auburn! I gave some of them away as thank yous and some away as I love yous! I cut one last night and ate 1/4 of it. It was so good!

This past weekend I took my roommate home with me. We were driving and popped up on a sunflower field and I was bound and determined to get pictures there on the horses! So, that night I called a friend- she said she could do it! The next day, we rode the 6 miles horseback to the field and here is the result!

This is about when the fireworks started going off! What an interesting ride home we had....

I absolutely love every single one of them! I think Rhiana and I are going to have a few blown up and put them in our new apartment when we move in. Speaking of that... that's what I've been doing this whole week besides studying! I moved the couch cushions, the kitchen table and chairs, the area rug, and a bunch of stuff out of my room yesterday. My poor little liberty was packed to the roof all day! But now all I have left is my furniture in my room and the couch! I'm gonna have to wait on the boyfriend or mother to come help me move those!

We've had a busy summer so far! We had our family reunion fathers day weekend and I also went up top the Lake to Josh's family reunion!

I'll try to keep this more updated :)

Needed Catchup

2009-05-01T12:30:00.010-04:00

It's been since February 17th?! Where does the time go...

I just realized today is May 1st... really. where does the time go?

I took my first of four finals this morning. It was possibly the hardest test I have ever taken in my life (ok, maybe not as hard has Fundamentals of Chemistry II final with Baker- the teacher from Hell- literally), BUT rumor has it that my teacher doesn't count the final... (?). He doesn't believe in finals and just gives on to give one. According to more than 5 people who have taken the class, the grades will be posted tomorrow night (tomorrow night!?!)! That was a 12 page (I mean BOOKLET) exam I just took. There are at least 60 of us in that room. That's 720 pages of test that he has to grade in less than 24 hours. Even 48 hours is not enough for that!! It takes him a week to grade our 5 page exams! So, I believe them. I hope that my B will magically turn into an A, but I'll settle with my B. Maybe sitting in his office all those hours talking about pigs and gardening will pay off!! ;)

Over the past 2 months I have been working on a Scrap book for Josh and me! I absolutely love it and I can't wait to finish the pages I have yet to do! Here are a few pages that I have done!

The pages I have yet to start are The hiking page that will come after camping, Callaway Gardens, and golfing/Masters page after that!

So, mid March Josh and I went camping and it was so much fun! FDR State park claimed they had a ton of wildlife, but we only say one deer and a million squirrels! One of the squirrels and a few of his accomplices chewed a hole in our tent to get some bread. Let's just say Josh and I learned not to leave food in the tent no matter how hot it's going to be in the back of the truck!
We also went on an EIGHT mile hike. It was an intense hike, too. Up and down huge mountains and around a few. I definitely wasn't prepared for it with my one little bottle of water! I was glad to be back at the truck that day.

After hiking, we drove the five minutes to Callaway Gardens and got in for free! they had some kind of party going on so we just mosied around by ourselves and got fun pictures!

After we got back from camping, mom asked if Josh and I wanted to go to the Masters. I mentioned it to Josh (who didn't know dad has tickets) and he flipped his lid! I thought he was going to go into shock. He was so excited and said absolutely we are going! We decided what day we wanted to go on, and in a few weeks we would be heading to Augusta on Sunday April 12 to the Masters!
A few weekends after camping, Josh and I made a trip to a local golf course and I watched him golf and he taught me the basics. I never knew what a birdie or bogey was until that day. I guess the excitement of going to the Masters got Josh in a golfing mood. It was a lot of fun watching him play and I got some cool swinging pictures to add to the scrapbook!

The Masters was a lot of fun! We left at about 6:30am and got up there early enough to get our chairs 5 rows back on the 18th hole! We watched the first 5 or 6 pairs go through the first hole and then walked over to ten and sat in the grass for a while. We ended up walking to 6 and watching Tiger Woods and Phil Mickleson putt. Then we raced through the crowd and got to 8 to watch them tee off. Then we ran to 10 to watch them putt! It was a lot of fun! I think we ventured back up to our chairs after that! We were really tired and hot! The three way tie at the end was a treat for us to see. That hasn't happened since 1987 (that was the year i was born!), so it has been a while!
Since it was a tournament day... no cameras. I was devastated, but my mom let me keep one of the tickets and I'm going to rip apart that little booklet they give out to put in the scrapbook. Maybe that'll look ok.

Other than that not much has been going on! I went down to my sister's house and got to play with my niece! She's so much fun and I loved being able to see her and hold her! I'll probably get to go down there again soon because I'll be done with classes for a few weeks! I'm quite sure we'll have a playdate!

Neigh... i mean.. Quack!!

2009-02-17T20:03:00.004-05:00

Ada, Maddy, Lucy and Inman in the front :)
These are my precious, 3 day old Mallard ducklings that I raised one summer. I think it was summer of 2006. I had a job at our local vet and I was a little bored and decided I wanted some new pets. I went to the local feed store and talked to them about some homing ducks but they weren't getting any in... so I settled for Mallards. I fell in love with them... and them with me :) They followed me everywhere!

This is when they were a week old! Their first swim in their brand new lime green kiddy pool!

3 weeks old, just being good little children!
When people asked me their names I would tell them which one was which and they would say, they all look the same! how do you know who is who?! well, the stripes on their heads were different! Inman's went to a point, Maddy's didn't go all the way to the black part, and Ada's was thicker than lucy's!
Throughout the summer they went to work with me, took swims in the pool, followed me around the yard, had a run in with a mean golden retriever that tried to eat Maddy :( she lived though and had no injuries thank goodness.
This is my drake, Inman.

My little duckies were a big hit with my neighbors so I was able to take them to the pond across the street and release them!These are pictures from the day I released them.

Right after they got done drinking they took off running and all of them tried to fly and kind of "coasted" toward the house! :) it was so encouraging!

did I mention that they LOVED riding in the car! and on the golf cart!!

This is Maddy... you can see their green feathers starting to come in!
I have searched my files and can't find any pictures of them on the pond after i let them go, but they did amazing! They were flying within a few weeks. They made a new friend that was half mallard half peking duck. He couldn't fly but that didn't stop my four from flying! They would take off and 'mutt duck' as we called him would go crazy honking at them! I can just imagine what he was saying... 'get back over here! don't leave me!!'. everytime they were done flying they would go right back to where mutt duck was swimming in circles! they were there for a while and then finally flew off! and of course, Inman had his beautiful green head!! :) He was gorgeous!
This november/december I was riding horses over at the pond where I released them and they were out there swimming on the pond with new friends they had brought back! ok... i don't know if it was them for sure.. but i like to think it is! haha.
I did put colored rings on their feet so that if somebody shot them they'd feel bad for killing ducks that were banded. Oh well!
I did enjoy raising them though! they were a lot of fun!
If you ever want to raise ducks, I would recommend it! They take up a lot of time but they definitely aren't expensive! :)
Thought I'd change it up a little bit and do something besides horses!

Valentine's in perry!

2009-02-15T20:51:00.005-05:00

I got to spend Valentine's day with Joshua! He got me some beautiful roses :)

I love getting flowers! Even though they don't last long, they make my room smell really good and I get to enjoy them while they last!
And... I also got my really late Christmas present! I don't care that it was late cause I absolutely love it!! He tried FOUR times to order it and finally got the right one on the fourth try! He was about to give up.. but thank goodness he didn't!

Isn't it so pretty :)
I'm in love with it!
I hope y'all had a wonderful Valentine's Day!

My Scouty Boy

2009-02-07T22:53:00.006-05:00

Scout was born on May 9, 2002. His dam was my 'first' horse, Melody. Oh look I found a picture of them! His sire is none other than Flint. Scout was a sweet sweet horse. Not that many people got to ride Scout, but my best friend, Rhiana, did ride him if she wasn't riding Sassy. Rhiana and I would ride on the weekends that we weren't in Auburn and we would usually end up taking Scout and Flint out. We had a lot of fun on them. They really liked each other.. most of the time!Scout and Flint
And we got a little daredevil-ish with them. yes, I know this is dumb- but, they're good horses.
Well, one day Rhiana and I were going on a ride in november and I noticed this spot above his anus that looked like a bug had bitten him or a parasite was in his skin. I treated it and kept an eye on it. By December I decided that it wasn't getting better so I took some pictures of it and took them to the vet I was currently working at and my Dr. said it looked like squamous cell carcinoma. I started bawling. All I could think was cancer... dying... my poor horse. So, we immediately got an appointment at Auburn's vet school, called everyone we knew that had a horse trailer, and we were there the next day. (I'm going to put some links to pictures of what the cancer looked like so don't click on them if you have a weak stomach or don't want to look at horsey butt!)

At Auburn, they took some cells to culture it and confirmed squamous cell carcinoma. Scout stayed in Auburn for a week and had surgery to remove the tumor that was growing to the left of his rectum. This is what it looked like right after he had surgery. I was able to see him everyday and spend as much time as I wanted with him. How convenient that I was in school at the time. Mom took him back home and he had an appointment for chemo in 3 weeks. We did the whole chemo every three weeks for 5 months. This is what it looked like after he had chemo. It would scab up and turn black. Scout's cancer had good weeks and it had bad weeks. Scout was never in pain that I could tell. This picture is one of the "good" weeks. It looked like it was getting smaller and that we might have a chance of getting rid of this stuff.

Through this whole thing, I don't know what I would have done if my mom wouldn't have been there to help me. She drove him to and from Auburn on the days he had chemo and she also cleaned his stall, washed and cleaned him, and fed him while I was at school. She has the biggest heart for animals and tries to help before she gives up. That's where I got it from. I prayed and prayed that every time he came back to Auburn that those cells would be gone.

In May of 2008 the Dr. said that the cancer was moving too rapidly for the chemo to stop. Mom and I had come to an agreement in the beginning that we wouldn't spend thousands and thousands of dollars on a horse that wasn't a show horse so I decided that it was time to keep him at home and as comfortable as I could. I continued to clean the wound and stall him to watch his bowel movements and keep him cool. He was perfectly fine. He got soaked senior food with oil to help the movement in his system. I treated that horse like a little king for 2 months. In mid June, you could really see the cancer spreading. It had made a halo around his tail and looked like it was blowing up inside of him. This is the picture that is the worst. I took this in the end of June. As long as Scout was happy and could go to the bathroom they said he would be fine. In the beginning of July, I decided it was time to let Scout go. I have never put a horse down and never had to make the decision, but it was one of the hardest things I have ever done.

On July 15 I had my vet come out to end Scout's battle with cancer. We went on one last ride around the pasture, bareback with a halter and lead. I hugged and kissed him and led him back up to where dad had chosen to bury him. Josh had come out to be with me and he was waiting there with dad and the vet. I got off Scout and we walked him down to where the tractor was. I held him one last time and told him I loved him and that I was sorry I couldn't help him anymore. I didn't watch, I couldn't. Just hearing it was awful enough. I just hugged Josh and thought about how it was the right thing to do. Afterward, I kissed my Scout one last time and walked back to the house.

I will never forget Scout. He was such a loving. I called him my little teddy bear. I know that he's in a better place with everything he could ever want. I hope I never have to go through that again, but you never know with horses. Rest in peace Sweet Scout.

This is Scout and his full sister, Lizzie, out in the pasture. You would have thought they knew they were siblings the way they hung out together all the time. They were precious together.

I'm sorry if this post is a little scattered. I get upset when I think about Scout for a long period of time and I had to take a break in the middle. Sorry it's so long too. Y'all have a good rest of the weekend! Spend it outside cause it was beautiful today! I'll be heading out to Auburn's horse unit tomorrow to evaluate some conformation on some horses for a report!

Home again home again, Jiggity Jig

2009-01-26T16:33:00.006-05:00

I was able to go home this weekend! I absolutely LOVE going home. Everything I care about is there and I love seeing it all! Sometimes I don't get to see everyone... I didn't get to see Ashlee but I'm sure I'll see her next time I'm home!
I did get to see all my horses. They had their feet trimmed on Saturday morning- in the rain. It only took an hour to do all 6 though. It usually takes a little over two hours. I also got to see my family, but I spent most of my time at the "fair".
Friday night, Saturday from 10 to 8, and Sunday 10 to 3 I was at the NJSA Swine show at the Ag center in Perry. Josh shows pigs so I was there to watch him. Friday was Showmanship... he didn't get anything in that one. Saturday was the gilt (female) and boar show. His sister Alexis showed the gilt and I think she ended up getting Second in class. His dad, Mr. Troy, showed the Boar.
He also got second in class, I think. and then Sunday was the Barrow (castrated male) show. Josh showed this pig and he got first in class and reserve champion for the breed!
Other than that I just rode Flint around for a while and had a few neighborly conversations. I also went and saw my neighbors new puppies. 9 Australian Shepards! They were so cute.
That was my weekend... just laid back and didn't do much but sit!
Hope y'all had a good weekend!

A Title...

2009-01-18T13:19:00.000-05:00

After many suggestions of Titles to name my blog (like, "This blog is Stupid", "I'm a weirdo", and "The Confessional" (?!)) Linsey never came up with one. she did either say this or inspired it.

eh, i don't like it... help me.

Len and Binsey's

2009-01-18T11:18:00.001-05:00

MLK Holiday means three day weekend so I flew the Auburn coop leaving my dear Coal Kitty behind with the roomie. Then I get a text her boyfriend came back into town early- I hope she doesn't forget about Coal while they are in the midst of their.... busy schedule.

I came to my sis's house in north north north alaBAMA.
It's FREEZING! I hate the cold. I can't ride and I can't even go outside! It snowed yesterday while we were in Chattanooga shopping... brrrr. We went to a baby shower yesterday for Lin's sister-in-law. That was fun! My mom came up for the weekend too! I'm glad I get to spend time with them!

I was woken up by a flushing toilet at about 1:30 this morning. I get up this morning and my sister is coming up the stairs with a glass of water and a medicine bottle. My mom was sick. you don't wanna know what kind of virus she has! So I'm down stairs updating this and looking at many other blogs... like this martini mom one. and this one with twins. and and this one.. they are SO funny. So if you are one of those random people who's blog I am now following... it is because I love reading stories about kids and the funny things they say! I'm not a stalker... I'm in it for the humor! ;)

and of course my Ash's blog. It's about my precious niece. you can find it HERE!

Back to reading funny blogs!I have some reading to do too :(
Back to school is no fun.
and I'm ready to go home to see my Josh.

Y'all have a good holiday!
Maybe if i get bored enough I will put up a blog on one of two of my horses! or maybe I'll switch it up and do a dog... or cat!

Bay Creek's King Flint

2008-09-28T17:05:00.001-04:00

You know how everybody has that one animal that's special to them that only comes along once in a lifetime? Whether it be a dog, a cat, or a horse... everybody has one. Like my dad, he had a dog when I was young named Rock. That dog was my dad's favorite dog and he won't ever have another one exactly like him. Also, my sister Ashlee's dog. I think Gus might be that special dog. That dog is like her child. He knows everything, he answers to ten different names, and follows her every move. I wouldn't be surprised if he tried to be Blair's mom when she gets here!
Well, I think that my special animal is my stallion Flint. I have a special bond with all my horses but deep down Flint is my favorite. He's gorgeous, he's sweet, he's perfect.

He is an absolute joy to ride and be around (when he's not acting studdish!). He's the most calm stallion I have ever seen. The only time he is 'bad' is during spring when all he wants is one of the mares teasing him across the driveway! He doesn't leave the fence line. He has a spot in every pasture that is solid dirt from him standing in the same spot all day. If he can't see the other horses he'll be trotting up and down the fence lines all day hollering at them!
I have had at least 5 or 6 people stop on the side of the road while I am riding him just to tell me how beautiful he is or ask me if he is for sale. Thank you and sorry no he's not for sale is always my answer! I often get how much will you take for him and I just say you probably couldn't afford it! haha. I would never sell him. He's way to special.
I was on my way back from spending spring break with Rhiana and my dad called me. He said, I just got a call from someone and they want to buy Flint. They offered 10,000 for him so I couldn't pass it up. All I could do was breath and try not to wreck. I started bawling immediately and the only words I could say was 'no, anybody but him, anybody but Flint'. Then it came.... APRIL FOOLS! Oh I was so mad! But it was hilarious a little later after I stopped crying!

Most of the time, there is a reason behind every name an animal has. The name Flint was given to him because of the marking on his hind quarters. It's the shape of an arrowhead. And what are arrowheads made of? Flint.

Flint is my favorite horse and I could never imagine not having him in my pasture. He's my baby! He follows me around like a little puppy dog!

Although, there was one day that he would not let me catch him. I spent three hours running around the pasture trying to catch him. My friend ended up riding his horse over and helping me catch him. By the time we caught him he was drenched in sweat so I couldn't ride him that day. I cooled him down and put him in the round pen. My round pen is in a little valley and you can't see any of the pastures or other horses from it, so I kept him there for 5 days. I put him back out into the pasture and I haven't had a problem catching him since! I don't think he ever wants to spend a week all alone!
Flint is the sire to four foals. Sadly two of them have passed away. Scout was euthanized due to Squamous Cell Carcinoma and Musket died from unknown causes- most likely colic. He had a tough life. But Lizzie is very healthy and lives on my farm. She is another one of my favorites (i know... i have a lot of favorites!). Deputy, now called Koda, lives about 15 minutes away and has the best home I could ever have asked for.
I bred my mare Sassy to Flint this past June and we are expecting a baby in May! Once the baby is born and on it's feet, they will move to north Alabama to live with Linsey and Ben on their farm! When the time comes I'm sure pictures will be posted!

and... Auburn won yesterday! :) and surprisingly Bama beat UGA! I didn't really care who won that game cause I would rather them both lose, but somebody's gotta win!

that Aubie is a hoot :)

Me and best friend Leslie!

So much for a perfect season we all hope for...

2008-09-22T20:37:00.001-04:00

Auburn lost. It was a really good game though. The student section had so much energy! It made it a lot better. Josh and Cole came up for the game and I was so glad they got to come to a good game with a good student section! LSU and UGA games are always good games guaranteed. If you don't get there 2 hours before the game starts you won't be getting a good seat... you might not get a seat at all!! The gates opened at 4:15 for this game; Josh, Cole, Rhiana, and I were in line at 3:20. We got good seats too! The game started at 6:45 so the weather was perfect.

The line to get into the student section before the gates opened!

This is the student section two hours before the game... ridiculous!!

Nothing much happened besides the game! I'm glad Josh got to come and see Auburn. I gave them a tour of campus and we ate at Momma G's! They had fun!
I'll be on to post about a new horse pretty soon!

Southern Belle

2008-09-19T13:54:00.001-04:00

The horse that I have had for the longest is a sorrel Tennessee Walking horse mare. Her name is Southern Belle, but if I were to say you're riding Southern Belle today... no one except my family would know who I was talking about. She is commonly known as SoBe. No, not like the drink. Like Southern Belle.
She's the sweetest, most patient horse I have. She's the horse that gets picked for the beginner riders. She gets picked for the kids. She gets picked for everybody except me! She's everyone's favorite horse! I have people over to ride and I ask, "Who do you wanna ride?!" I barely finish the sentence before "SOBE!!" pops out of their mouth! I can never get any GOOD pictures of SoBe unless I'm out of the pasture otherwise, all the pictures come out like this....

Like I said SoBe is excellent with kids...

SoBe is the first horse I ever trained alone. She was also the first foal born on our farm. She is ten years old and we have lived there ten years. Her dam, Sun's Classic Coed, was my sister Linsey's horse. We had Classic bred to a solid black Tennessee Walker named Pride's Night Prowler and as a result SoBe came. Spitting image of her mom...

not a lick of white except for a wanna be star on her forehead that consists of a few straggly white hairs, but I love it. It's actually starting to get more white as she get's older!
Oh I love SoBe :) She's so precious!
Well, three and a half years ago we bred SoBe to our stallion Flint (He's probably next!) and she foaled my Musket. I'll get back to him on his post when I get to it!
He was a gorgeous foal! SoBe was an excellent mother, just like I thought she'd be.
As you can see, SoBe has a big part on this farm! Daddy always jokes with me about selling her but she's one of the 4 I never want to sell. She's too special to sell. I've heard 'every horse is for sale if the price is right'... well, not SoBe. She'll always be mine!

getting started...

2008-09-18T20:01:00.002-04:00

I have had this blog since December of 2007 and I still have managed to write zero things in it! My first intentions were to keep a journal on my horse Scout that had cancer...

but I became to busy with actually taking care of him to have the time to write a blog on him. So, I'll sort of do it now. I'll also include all my other kids. Each one holds a special place in my heart. :)

First, I'll tell a little about myself. I could tell my whole life story in pictures... so beware! :) My name is Molly. I am the middle child of five. I have two older sisters, Ashlee and Linsey, and two younger twin brothers- Hank and John. I love my family with all my heart and I don't know where I would be without a single one of them.

This is my dad! He's pretty amazing.

This is My mom :) She's pretty amazing too!

This is Ashlee and me (and Blair!). Yes! She's expecting and I can't wait for Blair to get here!!

This is Linsey and me.

These are my little twin brothers! Aren't they pleasant! :)

This is Hank and his girlfriend!

This is John!

That's my family! And the two handsome guys in the first picture are my sweet brother-in-laws! Bradford (top leftish) and Ben (bottomish right)!

Now, this guy is my boyfriend Josh :) He's pretty special to me too!

Now the only thing left besides Horses is my friends. I have a lot of friends and I won't share but two pictures for now :)

This is Leslie, Jessica and me.

and this is Rhiana. My roommate and Best friend :)

All three of these girls are my best friends and live right here in Auburn :)
ok... one more picture!

Thats my family, boyfriend, and my best friends.
I have sat here for two hours working on that and looking for those pictures so my kids will wait until the next post! Here's a preview :)

TTFN :)