Someone get this kid a Valium

It rained, and rained, and rained yesterday.  The wind was blowing mightily and it was a rotten day for anything or anyone to be outside.  The crummy weather meant Madison could not practice riding. 

She awoke early and headed outside to move jumps around and lay cavaletti poles down.  She was wearing her mud boots and getting stuck in the mushy mud.  When I saw her saddling Ka Ching, I knew I had to intervene.  I simply told her it was not safe to ride when it was still so slick and muddy.

That's when the tears started.  She wailed about how she had to practice before her lesson with Karla today.  My words of caution for her safety and that of the horse's fell on her determined ears.  She wanted to practice come hell or high water....both of which I feel are in our near future!

Finally she relented, through tears and stomping feet and marched the horse back into her stall.  I'm hoping she can focus today on trying to put the pieces together and make for a clean ride.  She is such a perfectionist about riding that her anxiety is out of this atmosphere.  This kid need a Valium and I need a date with Jose Cuervo!

Taking her lumps and moving forward

Last Spring, Karla, Madison's dressage and jumping trainer had all the riders in her barn go out for dinner.  As we sat around the table enjoying each other's company, the riders, of which Madison is the youngest, were asked to share their specific goals for the year and long range in regards to riding.  Madison shared that she wanted to be the best: to have her name known in the dressage/jumping world and to win national titles, international titles and the Olympics.

This kid has more gumption that Forrest!  She is determined and dedicated.  Good thing after yesterday's lesson.  It was a wonderful day to ride outside in the 70 degree temps and early fall sun.  Her lesson got off on the wrong foot (literally) the moment she and Ka Ching began to canter.  Karla asked her to canter some small 15 meter circles and Madison's were closer to 20 meters.  She was even on the wrong lead one time, failed to notice it, and was posting on the wrong diagonal.  All of these errors are rookie mistakes and Karla demands, Demands, DEMANDS, 110% all the time. 

Her ride degenerated downhill from the opening warm ups and bending lines to the jumping.  Both Ka Ching and Madison are right-handed/dominate, and both struggle to go left as easily as right.  Neither of them could get a correct lead coming into a jump from the right, bending sharply and clearing the jump and landing on the left lead.  Karla was yelling and I mean yelling at Madison to get it right. 

Neither the horse nor Madison quit.  They rode and sweat buckets until Karla could see that Madison was trying in earnest to do it as well as she could.  Her eyes were full of tears at the end of the ride, yet she shook it off, and committed herself to do better on Wednesday for her next lesson. 

Honestly I have to admit that it wasn't hard for me to watch Madison get a tongue lashing from Karla.  Oddly, Madison has always succeeded in life at whatever she desires with very little effort.  Things come naturally for her.......until yesterday.  I trust Karla enough to know that she wasn't just yelling at Madison for kicks and giggles, but because she KNOWS the kid can and has done better.  Jumping is dangerous and there is no room for sloppiness.  At the end of the lesson, after the horse was bathed and loaded in the trailer, Madison went to Karla and thanked her.  Karla hugged and kissed her and told her she expects her to work her butt off  to reach her goals and she did it because she cares.  Together, Karla can help her reach for the stars and in return she expects Madison to give her heart and soul to her riding and make every ride count.

Karla has put in her time in the trenches.  She has her Gold medal for dressage and her daughter who's 22 just won the Canadian nationals.  Her goal is to get to the PanAm games, World Equestrian Games and eventually, the Olympics!  Madison wants to achieve along those lines too.  Marc and I will do all we can to help her achieve her dreams and yesterday was just the first among many future tongue lashings. 

I was proud of my kid and how she held it together, kept trying and is not letting it define her.  From this crappy ride, I am sure she learned more lessons about life than the thousands of good rides she has had.  Hopefully, fingers and toes crossed, tomorrows lesson will be less brutal.  Either way, she is learning about perseverance, drive, determination and humility.  All lessons I am sure will aid her in blossoming life.

Parental alone time, or lack thereof

Marc and I had a sort of, kind of date today.  We intended to ride our horses together after church, alone, just the two of us, but Madison some how tagged along.  Three is most definitely company.

While it's not that her company was bad, it's just that Marc and I are never, Ever, EVER freakin' alone.  Well I can't say never as most nights between 11PM and 5AM we are alone in our bed, but even then it's often interrupted by a kid who has a bad dream, can't sleep, has a bloody nose, has a blah, blah, blah!  It's hard to have time alone together with 4 kids and a Noah's ark load of animals to care for.

Marc and I crave time alone together.  We need time alone together.  It's virtually impossible to discuss important aspects of life while being interrupted by the incessant demands of the kids.  We need to get away and spend a few days just being Marc and Geralyn and not mom and dad.  While I know we will be mom and dad until the day we die, it would be kind of nice to revisit the qualities that initially attracted us to each other.  Of course, Marc was attracted to my intellect...bahahahaha....and I was drawn to his carefree, throw caution to the wind attitude....bahahaha...NOT!  Initially he was attracted to my youthful zest and sorority girl giddyness and I was attracted to his pensive, goal-oriented plans for life.  Um, yeah, totally polar opposites.  But whatever.  It's worked for almost 21 years and we are damn proud of it.

But back to the freak show we call our life.  Marc and I need to find a way to be alone.  We don't know how to squeeze that into our busy, warp, speed- of -light kind of life right now.  Each kid is busy with their own activities and that has both of us running kids to opposite ends of town at the same times.  Somewhere, somehow we gotta figure this out.  I'm a nicer person when I get to spend time with my best friend and even though we cohabitat, we still are not spending any time with each other.

I don't know what the answer is.  All I can tell you is that I better not have to wait until Jerome goes off to college to have a date with Marc.  That's not very promising either as Jerome often tells me that he's going to live at home with us forever, to which Marc just groans and grunts.  I provide the obligatory smile and hug and roll my eyes over his head because as sweet as my baby boy is....he's gotta fly the nest sooner or later....right?

Rottweilers

When we dropped Madison off this morning to work at her cheese curd stand (blech again, sorry Tina), we brought the three boys and one of our Rotties, Kitty.  We are used to casual and not-so-casual stares from people as a multi racial family, but realized quickly that one thing that causes more stares than usual is to bring your Rottweiler along. 

Kitty is a fabulous dog and has earned her CGC, or her AKC Canine Good Citizen certificate already.  She heels, sits, greets other people and dogs politely and is a sweet dog with a very waggly stub of a tail.  Heck, even her eyes and mouth virtually smile at people.  It was crowded and packed with all kinds of smells, people with strollers, kids running to pet Kitty as their parent's gasped in abject horror and recoiled, and lots and lots of noise.  My dog is an awesome ambassador of well behaved, personable, engaging Rottweilers.

And then we saw the stereotypical ill informed 'Michael Vicks' of the dog world.  There on the crowded street, stood a young man with lots of tattoos....not a judgment, merely an observation...spikey mohawk, Doc Marten kick ass boots, and of course, a poor Pit Bull on a spiked collar and heavy gauge chain as a leash.  UGH!  The dog looked large and well muscled and had the saddest eyes on any dog I've seen in a very long time.  This guy and his dog are what those in the Pit Bull and Rottweiler world attempt to dispel as horrific stereotypes. 

Any dog can be aggressive.  ANY DOG!  Just like any person can be mean and nasty for no good reason.  Large dogs like Rottweilers and Pit Bulls can be wonderful family pets with some very specific parameters.  First, a dog should come from a reputable breeder that breeds two dogs that have highly stable, well socialized personalities, and that have been screened for diseases like hip displaysia.  Secondly, the owners of any large, strong-willed dog needs to be committed to training the dog every single day and exposing the dog to every possible situation you can imagine.  Lastly, take your dog with you to show the public that well bred, well trained Rottweilers can be fabulous family dogs. 

The guy with the Pit Bull on a chain is a disgrace and he is one guy who should never own a dog that could cause harm to any person.  He perpetuates the stereotype and hurts those of us who are committed to having loving, family companions that are large sturdy, determined dogs. 

I'll hop off my soapbox now and get ready to go get Madison.  Her 2 days of working are quickly concluding and I look forward to hearing her complaints about the numerous morons that she encountered at the street fair.  Maybe it's a North Dakota thing, but who buys a whole turkey leg and accessorizes it with cheese curds and wraps up the meal with funnel cake?  I can't believe I just asked that question, when I've found a huge cardboard bin of bras and panties at the farm and feed store in town.  Now that's as redneck as it gets, eh?

Maybe for added stares tonight, I'll take our other Rottweiler, Bunny and one of the Shelties.  Yep, that and 4 black kids should just about do it!

Look out world, here comes my baby girl

Tomorrow and Saturday, Madison will be gainfully employed.  Alright, it's only for 2 days, but it's her first real job besides babysitting or cleaning horse stalls.  She will be working in the Wells Fargo booth downtown Bismarck during the street fair selling Indian Tacos, funnel cake, cheese curds (Blech) and other assorted heart attacks served on a paper plate! 

With her earnings, she will be purchasing a new bridle for Ka Ching.  It's a used one, but falls within her price range and she will have the full satisfaction of knowing she bought it with the fruits of her labor!

Where has time gone that she is old enough to have a job?

Her riding with Ka Ching has really taken off....no pun intended.  Karla believes she will be able to progress thru training level 1,2, and 3 and move into first level dressage next Spring.  She adores dressage and is crazy about jumping with Ka Ching.  Ka Ching is an honest jumper and gives her all to Madison.  Together, they are a cute team and Madison looks forward to competing with her with great enthusiasm.  My baby is growing up and sometimes I really don't like.  Other times, I'm counting the days until I can move her into a college dorm!

Golly, that was embarassing

Jerome had his opthamologist's and optometrists doctor appointments this morning.  It's been 18 months since he had his eye surgery at the University of Minnesota and this was his final post-surgical follow up with the local doctors.  Everything looks fantastic and the surgery was a resounding success!

I consumed about 4 cups of coffee  while waiting for the optometrist to see Jerome and then had yet another cup of coffee while we waited for the opthamologist to do his stuff.  I figure I had at least a half a pot of coffee at the doctors' office, which of course, created a need for me to find the restroom. 

As we waited, we made small talk and I mentioned to Jerome that the doctor better hurry up and look at his eyes, or I was going to wet my pants.  He laughed and a moment later the doctor walks in and makes the usual pleasantries.  He turned to me and asked how I was and before I could give the standard response of 'Fine, thank you', Jerome interjected that I had wet my pants.  My first reaction was to stand up and demonstrate that I had NOT wet my pants, but continued to stammer that I needed to go wee wee due to the coffee I had consumed in the last hour. 

The doctor just looked at me like I was a mental patient, temporarily released on a day pass, and tried to focus on Jerome.  Rarely am I embarrassed by something, but this one caught me.  I think it was the dead pan expression on Jerome's face that gave credence to his assertion of me being a panty wetter.  Nonetheless, we left with great haste and I had to suppress my desire to draw attention to my DRY pants.  It must have been Senior Citizen day at the doctor's office as the waiting room was full of geriatric patients.  I suppose had I wet my pants, no one would have noticed since the waiting room was full of potential bladder control suspects!

Just another day in my life!

Waiting, not very patiently

Our cable tv went on the fritz last night.  All of a sudden the picture just froze, and then the screen went to snow.  We tried all the handy-dandy quick fixes they tell you to try before reporting the outage, and nothing worked.

Marc phoned the cable company and informed them of the problem.  At 7AM I received a call from the company asking if our other services, internet and phone were working properly.  Since I could barely understand the woman thru the crackle on the phone line, I'm guessing she got the point that the phone was on the fritz too.  We had a doozy of a lightening storm night before last and several hits were VERY close to our house.  Our nearest neighbors house was hit and their internet and power were knocked out.  I'm guessing our outage has something to do with their problem.

The repair person was supposed to be here at 3PM.  Hmmmmm?  It's now 4:10 and not a peep, boo or holler from the company.  I detest people that are late and even worse....people who are late and do not call to let you know they are running late.  Hey, I have a life, however non-exciting it may be...and i still have places to go and people to see.  I have to go to the feed store and get some rabbit food and guinea pig food.  See.  Exciting things to do and places to go.

But I really, really, hate waiting!