Cowgirl Weekend 2008 is finally here!

It's finally here, after months of talking, planning, looking forward to going and hanging out with the girls and our horses.

My first Cowgirl Weekend was 4 years ago at Brush Creek Ranch near Atkinson, Ne. The year after that was at Niobrara River Ranch in Valentine, Ne and last year was at Turkey Creek near Newcastle, Ne. All 3 places were just awesome to ride, challenging terrain, beautiful scenery and great friends.

This year we are headed south to Kansas and I am so looking at just getting away from everything for a few days and having fun. Planning on hitting the road by 7:00 am and getting to Tammy's place by 7:45, switch vehicles, get Cora loaded and hit the highway.

Kansas or Bust!!!

Stay tuned for the full update and photos when I get back.

Ghosts and Guardian Angels

Being that I seem to be suffering from insomnia at the worst time--Sunday night, could be because I'm missing Mike and hate sleeping alone in our big bed. Heck, even Stone bailed to sleep in front of his fan on the floor. I thought I'd put in writing some stuff that has been on my mind this past weekend.

Let's start with Ghosts. Yep, I believe they are around, good and bad ones and I've come across a few. When I was a teen, I loved to spend the weekend at my Great Grandma's home in Ralston. Vic and I would beg, plead whatever to get to go to Grandma Robbins. Once there, we'd do whatever we wanted, fix dinner, veg in front of the TV until ungodly hours. One weekend, we were there and Vic bailed on me out in the living room after watching whatever was on the boob tube at 2:00 am. I finally dozed off only to be jolted out of a dead sleep. **Now watch, I'm going to freak myself out and will never get to bed!! You feel someone or something watching you or standing over you? Yep, happened and I can remember this event that happened over 25 years ago. My eyes flew open, I froze, cold sweat on my feet, heart pounding thinking what the heck is going on? The room was pitch black, remember, you have to have the curtains closed, lights out when watching TV in the middle of the night! I slowly turn over and scan the room to see or attempt to see what was in the room. On the wall behind me was a large white figure just standing there--hang on, I've got to turn the light on!! Ok, better now. I roll over back to my belly and think oh crap, what the $hit is that??? I reach for the TV to turn it on to get some light on in the room to make it go away whatever it was. Worked and I went to bed and slept with Vic, she wasn't too happy with me waking her up at 3:00 in the morning but I didn't care...scoot over and give me some covers sis.

The 2nd ghost I saw was at my Dad's house. Again, this happened over 25 years ago and I can still remember the feeling and the vision as though it happened yesterday or this morning for that matter. I went to see my Dad in his/our new home over Christmas Break in 1984. Since my bedroom set wasn't moved in, I was sleeping in the basement on a couch. No big deal, I was a teenager, we did that stuff, plus he had a fireplace with a blower, cable TV and everything was toasty and good. The night before we went to see my Grandparents, we didn't have a fire going so we didn't have hot coals the next day. I turned the TV off and tried to go to sleep, somewhat like I was trying to tonight. Tossed and turned and finally rolled back over to face the room instead of the back of the couch. That was good until I opened my eyes again and saw these dang freaky green glowing eyes staring at me from the darkest corner from across the room. Dang it, I about peed my pants! I hopped up out of my sleeping bag so fast and ran up the stairs. My Dad asks me as I go by his room into what would be my room "Hey, did you see a ghost??" What the heck is that kind of question?? Of course I say "NO!" and go to my room and shut the door.

Yesterday on our way to Two Rivers, I was telling Devin about what had happened to me at 4:00 Saturday morning. She loves this stuff and played along for my benefit anyway.

Let me share what happened! Friday night I was finally able to fall asleep at a decent time, probably because I was exhausted from not getting any sleep the entire week before. I was happy, I had the house to myself, the bed to myself and I was going to sleep in on Saturday. Mike's alarm went off at 4:00--oops, forgot to turn it off! No biggie, I'm used to slapping it off and falling right back to sleep. Well Saturday morning was not going to go that way. After slapping it off and going back to sleep, I was jolted awake by someone whispering in my ear "JULIE". My eyes flew open and there was no way I was going to be able to go back to sleep after that. No one else was in the house to even speak my name! Not to mention, a few weeks before that our fire detectors were mysteriously going off, twice within an hour of each other and not since then. hmmmmmmmm, gremlins????

Devin of course laughed her a$$ off at me and told me some of her own stories.

Guardian Angels. Yep, I believe that I have a few that have watched over me. I know they have protected me when I should have been hurt bad. I tend to listen to that feeling that something isn't right and to not do something. Sure wish I would have called in sick that fateful day 7 years ago. Woke up with a touch of the flu..and I never ever get sick. Was going to call in but had a staff member call me stating that she was sick. So, I drag my butt out of bed and get ready. Leave for work on time and am headed East down Maple, headed towards Elkhorn. For some reason, there is a Semi parked on the shoulder in front of a garden nursery. I get over to the inside lane to give the Semi some room. At the bottom of the hill is a stop sign/crosswalk. I saw a station wagon stopped there and started to slow as I was coming up on a speed zone. The kid driving did not see me coming and pulled out in front of me. Long story short, even though my airbags did not deploy I walked away from that crash with just stitches to the inside of my mouth and nose--you really don't want to experience getting lidocane shot in your nose to deaden it for 8 stitches. Ok, so I have some minor nerve damage to my nose and gum line and had a numb tooth for 8 months, I could have been hurt badly. As it was, the kid had a bad concussion and they had life flighted him because they thought he had a bad head injury. My Durango didn't fare as well, had over $11,000 damages to the front end. Not a good day.

There have been other times that Guardian Angels have stepped in and saved my a$$. Flipping 3-wheelers over on me in the dark, walked away from that with a sprained knee that will grind every now and then. Riding out a spook and bucking at a gallop downhill, when everyone else hit the ground when a deer startled the horses and those are just a few things that have come to mind, walked away from that with bruises to the inside of my thighs from hitting the pommel. And those are just a few of the things that I have walked away from.

Well, being that it is now almost 11:00 and my Bailey's and Butterscotch is finally kicking in, I'm going to try to get some sleep before my alarm goes off at 4:30 tomorrow morning. Sucks opening on Mondays.

Acorn Bombs!

Acorn Bombs you ask? Let me explain this fall phenomonen.

Each spring our lovely Oak trees bloom, drop huge blossoms in our gutters and then produce bucketfuls of acorns for the wildlife-mostly the deer to eat.

Last year due to the late frost we didn't have any acorns so I had forgotten about the dangers of walking outside when they start to drop.

This year has been a bumper crop for them.

About a week or so ago, they started dropping. We'd be sitting in the living room watching TV and hear them dropping on the roof like hailstones. Thunk, Thunk, Thunk.

Yesterday with the wind and the rain we had, many of the little acorn bombs fell. It was a bit 'dangerous' to walk out to the car that was parked under a tree. Those little suckers kinda sting when they drop 50 ft and land on you.

I get a little gunshy when I hear leaves rustling from an acorn that is bouncing on it's way down to the ground. This morning I stopped and watched a double acorn drop 5 feet in front of me. That would have left a mark I'm sure :)

Our deck is covered with the husks and nuts, it's a bit tricky to walk out there in stockings or barefeet. You learn to walk softly so if you do by chance step on one, you don't bruise your foot. Mike hasn't learned to do that trick yet! :) evil laugh.

Walking out in the grass is another matter. They are hidden landmines and it's just best that you wear shoes during this time of year.

The woods are covered in acorns now and part of our woods looked to have a layer that was 2 inches deep. The deer are going to be eating good until the first snow falls.