Category Archives: Hobby Farm Life!

I call it BARN CROSS FIT!

snow

All this snow has been GREAT as we really needed it. It adds lots of animals related work! I actually LOVE when the horses are in the barn in their stalls-it seems like I get more one on one time with each of them as they aren’t all in a group. I have gotten to pet them more, brush them more, talk to them more and just be around them more (yes the snow day helped)! One other thing I do more is clean the stalls. This morning I spent well over and hour-which I really enjoyed-cleaning stalls-AND subsequently getting a work out. Mucking out stalls, hauling hay and wood shavings gets my heart pumping! I joke with my friends that doing all that is FREE (well maybe not since I am paying for the horses, hay, etc!) cross fit as it is life and it is EXERCISE-EVEN IF IT IS NOT AT THE GYM!

I cleaned my main mares stall and had to share a pic as she is “stall trained” and a very “clean” horse. She poops and pees in one area and it is super easy to clean her stall. Not so much for other four of them!

The cats were soaking up the hot sun as I cleaned the stalls and fed everyone.

This morning the boys stayed home from school (I thought it was going to be worse than yesterday – WHICH IT WASN’T) so they helped me with the horsies after they fed their 4-H piggies and goats.

After chores (and I went to the office) the boys sledded and sledded and built jumps and sledded some more! HUBS said they had a FREAKING blast outside-which made me feel slightly better that they didn’t play video games all day, but did some sort of exercise! LOL!

The sun is HOT so now we can bring on the MUD!!!!!!!

A SNOW DAY IS GOOD FOR THE SOUL!

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On Monday I joked with many people that I hoped school was cancelled and we had a snow day on Tuesday! Well when I woke up this morning I sent the peepettes to school and had my own snow day. My little lady’s school was cancelled, but the peepeete’s school was in session. Actually, hind sight is 20/20 as I really should have just kept them home. The roads were ridiculous! School should have been cancelled and if I was guessing I would say that tomorrow they will cancel school and it will stop snowing and be a semi-nice day-the school district got a lot of sh*t today on facebook (which they deleted-but some of us saw) for not closing school.

I did work some from home. I DO ADMIT that I didn’t do as much as I told myself I would do. This morning when I fed, I got to take my time. Usually I am rushing around like a fast walking, fast hay throwing, water flinging wild woman of the west! This morning all the horses got a curry combing and some petting time. It was fantastic. Even though it was cold outside this morning, in the stall barn I was in HEAVEN. It wasn’t that cold inside and it was so nice taking my time! Tonight I dawdled a little, but it was colder! And much snowier! We have over 20 inches and it is still snowing. I have been THANKING GOD that we are getting this much snow (and that I got a snow day)!

The peepettes have talked me into letting them stay home tomorrow if the roads are still this bad and it is still snowing (if a snow day is not called). I may not win the best mom of the year but I will be the most popular MOMMY-O in my household (WHICH I LOVE)!

When the peepettes got home and after they fed their 4-H animals, they went sledding in their cowboy boots (as they had left their snow boots outside and they got COVERED AND LOST by the snow). They had a blast as you can see! AND…I had so much fun watching them from the warm house with a brewski in hand!

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Hope all of your are soaking up the sun somewhere warm OR AT LEAST staying warm in all this snow.

I leave you tonight saying SNOW ON! HEHEHEH!

Alisha (AKA Wild Woman of the West)

P.S. Thank you for LOVING our facebook page. We HIT over 6000 LIKES! OMGOSH! Thank you! You are all FANTASTIC!

P.P.S. FUN BLING ALERT! For the month of April we are having a fun contest. Check it out here: http://wildwomanofthewest.com/livin-country-bold-and-brash-contest/ . This is one of the FUN gifts in the BLING BASKET!

P.P.S.S. ANOTHER GIVEAWAY! www.boldandbra shwoman.com Enter to win our Bold and Brash Body Cream! This contest ends this FRIDAY (04/12/2013)!

THE GREAT HUBS!

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Is your HUBS a pessimist or an optimist? My HUBS is a diehard optimist to the freaking core! He is so optimistic sometimes I get annoyed at him. I however am a complete pessimist (I do try to hide this fact as much as possible as it is NOT something I am proud of). This is something I consistently fight now to be. I actually joke that a pessimist is an educated optimist!

The fact that hubs is an optimist is what really grounds me and evens me out. If you hadn’t figured out by now I am VERY HIGH STRUNG and ENERGENIC. HUBS is WAY more CALM! He reminds me a lot NOT to go negative but look on the positive side. Sometimes I make myself find one positive thing out of a situation I see is negative-mostly due to him reminding me to do so (LOL)!

One of my most favorite things about HUBS beside him being a FANTASTIC DADDYO, is how much he loves the horses. He completely understands my obsession and supports me in it. OUR horses LOVE him and can feel his patience (as they know I don’t have a lot) and calmness (another thing I lack-LOL).

I found this picture/saying and thought, “THAT IS EXACTLY HOW MY HUBS IS!” I might even take a pic like this (if I can coax HUBS into it AND it stops snowing in the near future!).

He does whatever he has to do to help and take care of the horses. He gets worried when a foal is about to be born and taking too long like me or when one seems to have a belly ache, etc and just has a genuine interest in them partly because I do…I am one lucky Wild Woman of the West!

I NEED A BIG TRUCK

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I had a dream a week or so ago that I actually purchased a 1/2 ton pick-up truck due to the technical, computerized stuff in it. THANKFULLY I WOKE UP (and was very happy I still had my RED 1 TON). My RED TRUCK has plenying of techy, fun perks-my favorite being able to play music from my iPhone through the bluetooth!

Funny that since HUBS dented my truck cab and broke out the window (with the 5th Wheel incident) I am currently driving my dads 1/2 ton. Now no offence to any of you that drive a 1/2 ton, but I WANT MY 1 TON BACK NOW! My dads FORD 1/2 ton is VERY WHIMPY compared to my DODGE 1 TON! (side note: massive thanks to my dad for even letting me borrow his truck-especially since most of what I do daily is driving around!).

Initially when we were looking at trucks for me to haul my own horses, I had told HUBS a 1 ton was WAY too much truck for me. After driving the bigger truck for over a year, I realize BIG RED is perfect for me!

In this pic you will see my hillbilliness (yes I think I just made up a word) come out. I drove around for 4 days with a saddle and blanket holder in the back of my truck. Some of my real estate colleagues teased me about the last time when I was carting around a water trough for days. Sometimes I lack TIME!

For the next 10 days (at least) I will be sporting a 1/2 ton (hopefully the body shop can fix my BIG RED faster!) – unless I can get HUBS to trade me me the 1/2 ton for his 1 ton DODGE dually. The chance of that is fairly slim-but a girlie can dream!

Alisha (aka Wild Woman of the West)

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P.P.S. FUN BLING ALERT! For the month of April we are having a fun contest. Check it out here: http://wildwomanofthewest.com/livin-country-bold-and-brash-contest/

Getting ready for PIGGIES!

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I have VERY fond memories of 4-H and FFA. One being my first kiss on the state fair ground (as a very old teenager). But more seriously I was CRAZY about hog showmanship. I practiced and couldn’t wait for my FFA ag advisor to choose me to go to State Fair for our chapter’s representative to State Fair!

I have one of each peepette:…one that thrives on the showmanship and one that thrives on the social aspect of 4-H, which I think either way is GREAT as long as they take care of the piggies!

This year we moved to new place so we had to build a bigger and better pig palace! Hubs and I VOW that this is the last time we will build a piggy palace (thus we won’t move again!), so we made it large enough in case we need more piggy space – the last one was WAY too small, but it was a shed that we were given and fit four piggies (which was great)!

Piggy picking is this coming week (In Colorado-almost to Oklahoma) and the peepettes are VERY excited. My social Sr Peepette keeps asking all sorts of questions (I completely LOVE it when he is engaged in 4-H stuff): He wants to know when the barn is going to be done, when we are picking out pigs, what we are going to feed them, where we are going to walk them and most importantly, when he will see other 4-Hers (especially a nice girl he met at fair last year) etc. I LOVE IT! The Jr Peepette (remember he is the one that thought I should refer to them as Jr and Sr Peepettes) is more concerned with when he will get to show his pig at a Jack Pot show (seriously we don’t have piggies yet and he want to make sure I don’t FORGET to sign him up for the Jack Pot Shows that haven’t been announced yet).

I really thrive on the excitement of the new year of 4-H. A couple of years ago an extension agent was lecturing all the kids and parents that the parents shouldn’t live through their kids. Well I would have LOVED to stand up and argue with her (although that was against the rules) as I think there is a good way to live through your peepettes! We all can teach them the values of 4-H and raising animals-yes things have changed but the idea is still the same: learn about taking care of and feeding animals, learning how to show the animals and learning how to compete (and hopefully make a little money in the process!).

More will be coming about these peepettes and piggies as it is always interesting (and sometime funny) every single year!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Until Next Time!
Alisha (AKA Wild Woman of the West)

P.S. Are you a Wild Woman of the West? Please share your story below.
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P.P.S.S. We will be posting a link on our facebook page for a fun give away in the next couple of days (hopefully by FRIDAY)! Stay tuned!

Grams

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Hubs and I drove Grams (My dad’s mom) home last night (to assisted living). Hubs was driving and our little lady was in the back, seated next to her Grandma Greatsy!

I put my phone in my purse and just listened to them in the back. I was trying to etch their conversation in my mind to keep for all time! The little lady was talking to her great grandma about how Grandma greatsy could borrow her Dora Dora pink blanket. Grandma Greatsy could bring it back to Wyoming and come visit us (we were visiting in Phoenix). Then when Grandma Greatsy came to visit she could sleep with the little lady. Their chit chatting when on and on.

Brought me back to when I was little and how intently this same Grandma would listen to me. How she would watch me swim in her pool, how she bought me my first cabbage patch doll that I wanted so badly, how her and Gramps would take my brother and I to Circus Circus to play the games almost every summer after their visit to Wyoming, how I learned to ski with Gramps and Grams in their boat as a young child… I have so many great memories of her (and the late Gramps). It is sad to think her mind is going now…but I try to ease the sadness with all we did together when I was also younger. I am also glad my little lady has grams name and has gotten to meet Grams!

Last night before we took her home the family was sitting around my auntie’s dining table talking about the past and Grams said, “Everyone gets old…We can either be happy or sad-I chose to be happy!” That is also true of life isn’t it?

Once again THANK YOU for spending your time with me!

Alisha (aka Wild Woman of the West)

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P.P.S.S. We will be posting a link on our facebook page for a fun give away in the next couple of days! Stay tuned!

Horse and Rider Fun!

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We take off at a dead run…headed for the left WHITE barrel…almost there…THEN MY MARE ZOEY JUMPS 6 FT (felt like more) TO THE RIGHT. Yes she was SCARED of the freaking white barrel. I AM A MAJOR BARREL RACING AMATEUR! Haven’t gone to many barrel races, but do different exercises in the barn that I learned from barrel clinics. We have only ever been somewhere – barn included – where the barrels were dark blue or black.

This particular incident happened at a barrel race-thankfully in exhibition (yes I went home after the exhibition). However, I am happy to report that I stayed on her as she jumped sideways and I made her go around the barrel-IN FRONT OF EVERYONE. Barrel one was TERRIBLE, barrel two was SLIGHTLY better and she actually went around barrel three with a little PRIDE.

I thought to myself, “It was ALMOST PERFECT in my arena”, so when I saw this post on facebook I knew this is exactly what happened to me.

Why? I know what you are all thinking-because I am WAY more relaxed IN MY OWN ARENA! I was as high strung as a rider could get that day. I hadn’t run barrels in front of anyone for a LONG time so I was super nervous!

After getting over the embarrassment and wanting to crawl UNDER my horse to hide, I did see some humor in it. My horse friends and I have laughed about it this week-and I have promised them that I will try again. So everyone will keep me to this-I will go to more than one barrel race a year.

My little lady thought I did GREAT-which made me proud of her. I would have told her the same thing if it would have happened to her-and I presume someday something like this will…

Until next time…

Alisha (aka Wild Woman of the West)

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Treat Our Barn As Your Own!

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You all would have laughed last night.

For the first time since we have moved to our new place we had horse boarders for the weekend-8 of them-A FULL HOUSE! We were VERY excited! Hubs worked most of the day to make the barn shine (or as much as a barn can shine)-seriously it is the cleanest I have ever seen it. Thanks Hubs! And the Little Lady helped as you can see!!!

Yesterday (and today for that matter) was COLD. Add the wind on top of that and it is miserable. It was dark when the first four horses (and there owners) arrived at 10 pm (but we didn’t mind as we were super excited to have them come to our place). We have a huge hill down to the barn so the long horse trailers with living quarters have a hard time turning around. Parking at the top or backing down is the only option.

Since it was dark I thought I would help them take the horses down to the barn since they parked at the top. Out comes the first horse bundled up so much that I couldn’t even tell what color they were. Horsey jammies, neck and body blanket and tail wraps on every horse. They looked really cute and warm. Warmer than I was! I was actually thinking being all wrapped up would feel great about then. The wind was blowing mock 50. It was blowing my coat hood off-and I was cussing silently because it was COLD (seriously I need to step outside in advance and find out what I need to wear!!!)

Our super warm visitors helped us in two ways this weekend: 1). of course we made some $$$! 2). We realized how FUN it is to meet other horse owners that love their horses as much as we love ours!

Hubs says that this picture of the barn (that he took) does not really show how clean he had the barn-but I told Hubs, “Now we have horse guests so it doesn’t matter (I did say it lovingly!).

What a weekend we are having!

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HOME AT LAST!

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As a real estate agent I strive to find that PERFECT home for my buyers. I want the buyer to say “I LOVE THIS HOUSE!” I want the buyer to remember the first time they walked into the house that fit them so well and the feeling of excitment when they knew “this house was the one.” Also as a realtor I have found many houses I love (and always have the feeling when I find a new home for the fam) and our family has moved 6 times in 7 years! Each time fixing up the property and after moving either renting or selling! Hubs laughs at me when I tell him I had the feeling we belong in the house. But it has worked out for us each time!! At our current home the stall barn is where I had the feeling that WE HAD to live at this place! After being in the barn the first time I turned to Hubs as I was jumping up and down and said I HAVE TO HAVE THIS PLACE!

Most of the time I am a mover and a shaker! I like to have plenty to do with work and kids…But at my current house-moved into 3 months ago-I find myself wanting to stay in and around my home and barn. I have a gorgeous view of the mountain from both upstairs and downstairs. There is something about the barns and land of this HOME that calms me, makes me want to be a better person than I am, makes me want to build our lives here instead of fix up and move on! Today I feel as though I could sit here at my desk (looking past my hillbilly wood pile) and look at the beauty of my land (and others) and not even work! Yes, laugh on…I do work most of the time!

Friends and family tease me that we will never stay at any house long-but this time they most likely will be wrong! I feel I have solitude (and country privacy!) at this great place. This time I have found my fam a long time HOME!

My Graceful Gal!

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Sometimes my main mare, Zoey, is my graceful gal. Yesterday morning she gave me a run for my money! She hasn’t been ridden for a couple weeks so she has to remind me why I need to ride her more often.

When hubs and I purchased our first rural property I search high and low for my perfect horse. Finally I found Zoey. I think the first time I saw her, a ray of sunshine shined on her through the riding arena where I was going to try her out. Now I know the reason that I was attracted to this mare is that she is EXACTLY like me; a little rough around the edges, a little sassy AND VERY (here I almost wish I could say a little) high strung.

My dad likes to tell me that I would be complaining that she was boring to ride if she didn’t give me a little guff!
One of my favorite traits of my graceful gal is that she carries my 4 year old little lady like the precious cargo she is. When we first got Zoey and put her in the stall she would put her head out the stall door down to little lady’s level so she could pet her. It is like Zoey knew what to do with the little lady.

Since Zoey I have added many horses to my “collection.” She is one of my two go to girls for most of my riding!