Farm Fresh CSA Delivery!! {and how our dog got us roped into this}

Look what we found on our doorstep this morning!

 Mmmm....fresh

 We've done the CSA thing a couple times.

What's CSA?  Community Supported Agriculture.  Basically, local farmers provide produce weekly, which you pay {generally, a hefty price} to receive a share of.

I always enjoy getting the produce.  It's great to always have veggies {and sometimes fruits} available, and it feel right to support our local farmers. 

The drawback is, you typically end up with a LOT of the likes of kale and Swiss chard, especially towards the end of the season.  I've tried multiple recipes with these greens and never found something that I actually like to eat.  I usually just choke it down because we paid buco-bucks for the stuff!

Whenever people come around with sign-up sheets for these CSAs, we contemplate....and then ultimately decline due to the high $$$ tag and the inevitable kale overload.  So what made this time different?

I'll tell you.

We were enjoying a sunny weekend afternoon.  We had come inside the house to feed Rowan a mid-day snack.  All the doors to our house were open, letting the outdoor air freshen out senses. Buddy was quiet {for a change}, Domino was laying lazily on his bed.  It was about as perfect of a scene as you'll see in our house. But we're not dummies.  The baby gate was up in the front door.  The baby gate is always up if the door is open.  Why?  Well, we have a baby, duh.  And we have a dog.  A dog who likes to go outside.  But he's a {fairly} good dog and he doesn't breech the baby gate....at least not usually....

Out of nowhere, our bliss was suddenly ended when the doorbell rang!  There was no one to be seen, not even a shadow, but Domino was up off his bed and over the gate faster than lightening!  His loud bark piercing the neighborhood's ears.  Roger followed quickly behind, "Domino, get back here!"

But it was too late.  He was gone.  Chasing a young man down our driveway like a Hell Hound on a witch hunt. 

The poor guy was booking it as fast as his legs could take him. {Imagine those cartoons where the body is leaning backwards and the legs are just a circular blur}.

"Don't Run!"  yelled Roger to the hunted.  Good advice, but not taken.  Seriously, who wouldn't run from 80lb's of lean muscle, big teeth, and greyhound legs?

After a split second of madness, Domino returned to the house.  D never followed the young man past our driveway.  When he reached the end of our lot, he turned around and came home, thinking he had done his duty.  Like I said, he is a fairly good dog...or at least he tries to be.


Roger literally threw Domino in the back yard, and ran down the street to see how the young man was fairing.  He found him halfway down the block, sitting on the curb with his head in his hands, still trying to catch his breath.

"You okay?" Roger asked, "I can't tell you how sorry I am.  What are you selling?"


And that's how we ended up with this CSA delivery. 

But hey, at least it wasn't magazines or something lame.  And this one actually delivers!  Last time, we had to go pick up.  Kinda nice when you have a newborn on the way.  Interested in this CSA?  Go here.

After a profuse apology and a plea that it would may be good for everyone, the young man, Sam, agreed to come back to the house and meet Domino, who, this time, greeted him with a sheepish look, wagging nub {he doesn't have a tail}, and plenty of licks in an attempt to say "I'm sorry".  We talked for a while about Sam's past experience with dogs, and we apologized over and over, knowing very well, that he'd be scarred for life thanks to our over-protective dog.

It all ended OK.  Thank goodness.  Obviously with some pros and cons in between.

Of course, this wasn't the finest dog-parent moment.  Nothing to brag about.... But we have to chuckle a little because this was one of many heart-stopping events in Domino's life resume. Events that both test our patience and endear him to us.  If you don't know Domino, before you go thinking we're not suitable dog owners, try to refrain from judging too harshly.  I think we do a pretty good job.  Dom's not vicious, and he's probably better behaved than most household dogs, but he's not an easy dog. He's close to his instincts and always will be. Most people probably would've given up on him a long time ago, {in fact, someone did, and that's how we got him in the first place}. 

Want to see more about Domino and our other crazy animals?  Here ya go!

Now, to figure out what to make with the Swiss chard in our box ;)





  

Back in the Saddle: Re-Discovering Self

I figured that after Rowan was born, I'd get back in the saddle as soon as possible.  However, all the baby & house happenings, along with a string of illnesses and lameness that ailed Ronin (the horse), kept me from jumping right back in. 

Finally, both Ronin and I are at a point where I can sign up for a lesson every other week and be confident that we will BOTH be able to attend.  I have to admit, it's nice to get away for a little bit and do something that I enjoy, on my own.  Riding {even just going to visit the horse} offers a much needed mental and physical outlet. But, things are definitely different since I became a mom.

First of all, I have to drag my butt up to the ranch. No matter how much I like it once I'm there {and I really like it}, I do not get excited to go. Part of this is that I'm tired, unbelievably tired and riding is a lot of work. And part of it is that when I go up to see the horse, it means missing an evening with my baby, since he's already in bed by the time I get home.

Second, I'm a scaredy-cat.  I was always on the cautious side, but now I'm a full on lunatic.  I'm scared to ride, scared to drive, scared to fly....you name it, I'm scared of it.  I guess you're not willing to take as many risks when you have more to lose. 

Also, I'm so out of shape!  While Ronin's made HUGE progress, I've turned into a soft blob. My last lesson had me huffing and puffing, even though I was sharing the lesson with another rider so I got to take breaks.  My comfort level on a horse has decreased dramatically from my last few rides before I gave it up. My seat isn't as good. My balance is off.  My core is weak.

All of these are reasons why I really need to get out there and do this, {which is actually my only motivating factor besides that my horse also needs to get out of his stall}. 

I'm not alone in this battle either.  Rogér has his own struggle to find himself again.  He may not have gotten post pardum panophobia {self diagnosed}, like I did, but his priorities have shifted away from himself as well.  And rightly so....to some extent.  But he needs an outlet too.  For Christmas, we gave him cash use at the International Swim Center {you can't buy a membership, but you pay a daily fee of $3}.  Now that he's gone a couple times, maybe he can find a groove.  His mind and body will be better for it.

We love being parents. More than we ever could have imagined.  But we're also determined to do some things on our own, for ourselves, and we don't want anxiety, excuses, or laziness be what stops us.


image credit: Norman Thelwell

Some Blog Love - Hyperbole and a Half

A friend of ours forwarded a Hyperbole and a Half  blog post to me one day. 

Since then, I have nothing but LOVE for this blog.

Why? Because her dog stories are THE BEST! Her witty writing and funky illustrations totally embody dog life.  Click any of the links to check it out {not that she needs any new followers...um...4 million views (or so) a month??! no wonder she doesn't have to "work" anymore}

Image Credit: Hyperbole and a Half; 

Wild Animal (The Simple Dog Goes for a Joy Ride

It makes me wish I was creative enough to come up with something like this for Domino.  But I'll leave the fun of making cartoon dogs to Allie, while I enjoy reading and sympathizing.

Another Vet Bill for a {Champion} Horse

A few days ago, I started drafting this blog entry:

Can you believe it? Nothing has been wrong with the horse for at least a few weeks!  {I am probably jinxing things by even mentioning it}.  We're so excited to watch him perform in his first Dressage Show@ Indian Hills Ranch this Sunday.  We're going to be the dorkiest Horse Parents.  I'm about this close to making t-shirts and posters for cheering him {and his rider} on!

But before I even had a chance to post, Ronin had to see the vet, AGAIN. 

We went up to help the ferrier so that Ronin's shoes would be perfecto for his big day.  The shoeing, miraculously, went super quick and easy, but the ferrier noticed that Ronin's lip was swollen.  WHUH?! OMG it was HUGE!  {and really gross too}.  Luckily I happened to spot a vet, who was up for a clinic and squeezed Ronin in for a look.  The vet diagnosed him with a fungal infection.  Ewwwwwwww!  Anyway, he gave me some "stuff" that should hopefully fix him up. 

Luckily, this didn't hinder him from being ridden the next day.

So, the show was on Sunday, and we busted our butts to get up there in time for Ronin's first ride.  We were in such a hurry to leave that we forgot our camera! *lame*.  But you can view some pictures here {Ronin is in pictures 30-36, and Rogér and Rowan are in picture 253}:

 http://kathycolman.smugmug.com/Dressage/Equestrian/Indian-Hills-Ranch-Dressage/16676029_K84BRd#1257468699_px2V2T8

I was SO proud of Tiffany {Ronin's rider}.  She cleaned Ronin up so well, and looked calm and composed through the whole thing.  After Ronin & Tiffany's rides were over, we stuck around for maybe an hour.  I'm so glad we did because we got to hear the winners announced and, who woulda thought, Tiffany and Ronin placed 1st in one category, and 2nd in another!

WooHoo!

All Guys Get Cranky When They Lose Their Hair

Rowan is 6 weeks and has been a little cranky lately, but as Rogér put it, "All guys get cranky when they lose their hair." 

Yeah, he's rockin' a little bit of a skullet...

And as if life wasn't hard enough for the little dude right now, today, he got his 6 week shots.  Let's see if I can remember what they're for...TDaP (Tetanus, Diptheria, and Pertussis), HIB, Rotovirus, Hepatitus B, um...that's all I can remember. Luckily, I don't have to.  All the info is right HERE.  A nurse came in to talk to us about giving Rowan a HIB vacc that was still in trial. I totally understand that they need to test the vaccs to get them to market, AND that it's probably fine. I mean, I work in medical devices....same deal. However, I'm already a little paranoid of vaccines (although I believe they're mostly good).  So that was a big HELLS NO for us.  

He's actually handling it better than I thought.  Poor kid.

In other news, Ronin (the horse) still has a bum leg.  We don't know what's causing it and it's been weeks now.  So, it's time to go to the vet.  Well, since it doesn't seem to be super urgent, we're waiting until a vet clinic at the ranch.  He also needs ALL his vaccs updated.  That's not going to be a cheap tab!  Honestly, I just hope his leg is going to be alright.  I barely feel like I have a horse anymore, except for the bills.

Baby vs. The Circus - Introducing Our Newborn to the "Pets"

We have some interesting pets.  I mean, they're not exotic, more like psychotic. 

Domino, the catahoula leopard dog (okay, that sounds exotic), is has a bit of a reputation throughout the neighborhood for his Houdini escape tricks, and his, shall we say, prominent, bark. Oh yes, and let's not forget his, um, adventures with the local mailman.  He's not a bad dog.  He's just...misunderstood.  I'm pretty sure more people know him than know us, and, they're either terrified of him, or endeared towards him, surprisingly, more of the latter, I think. 

Buddy, oh Buddy.  The Meyers Parrot. He's quite a Divo.  He's sure he's in charge of this household.  Generally, he's not prone to jealousy, but he does require that His Majesty be doted on as he sees fit.  If it's not enough, he might get loud....ear piercingly loud.

Ronin, the Thorougbred horse, is a sweetie-pie.  He's a big goober klutz.  Accident prone, and awkward.  He does have a little secret though.  He's a Left-Brained Introvert, by Parelli's categorization of horse personalities.  Which boils down to being dominant in a rebelious kind of way and a lot of work on our part to remind him to respect us.  Who would have thought?  (Well the crazy ranch lady who follows Parelli pegged him right away, but it took us a while to agree).

How did we end up with all these dominant personalities?  I don't even know.  It gets a little crazy at times, trying to keep on top of the pack.  My coworkers LOVE the stories that come of it though.

Not surprisingly, people had concerns about us introducing a baby into the mix.  Many expected us to give up one or more of the animals.  Um, that's not how we operate.  Our pets are pretty much our family.  It would take a LOT for us to let one go.  We'd have to be very ,very desperate, or forced by law.

Anyway, we didn't really know how the animals would react to the baby.  We read a little bit about how to introduce a dog to the idea.  That's a common topic.  Here's what we heard/read:

1) Bring a blanket or piece of clothing home first, for the dog to smell
2) Show the dog that you're protective of the baby, i.e. require that the dog keep a safe distance for little while.
3) Always make sure the baby enters the house before the dog, and stays ahead of the dog on walks.

2&3 are things that the owners are supposed to do as well.

We followed all those "rules" with Domino.  I can't say whether or not they, specifically, worked.  But Domino took really well to the baby.  We didn't expect any different.  Catahoulas are known for loving children, and Domino was very gentle with me while I was pregnant.  The only concern, which we still have, is that his rowdy nature may lead to some accidental mishaps.

There's not really a lot to introducing a child to a horse.  The biggest issue is how to find time for both.

Ronin, got his first sniff of the baby last Friday.  We had to check on him for a health concern and, since we can't leave the baby at home alone, we had to take him.  And, since we can't leave the baby in the car, he had to be in my arms as we evaluated Ronin's condition.  I'm pretty sure Ronin is going to be perfectly fine with the kid.  He didn't like me much while I was preggo though.  I think this is my fault for sending him bad vibes.  I couldn't help but be a little more timid of potentially dangerous situations (and animals) while I was pregnant.  I think he read that I was uneasy and it made him feel the same way.

The bird has actually been the slowest to acclimate to the baby. 

Buddy is surprisingly jealous, and louder than ever, and getting increasingly obnoxious.  A couple times, he's also refused to come on to my hand, like I'm contaminated with Baby.  Dealing with Buddy is a little trickier.  Parrots aren't as common and there's not as much advice out there.  We're probably going to have to troubleshoot our way through this one.  So far, we're putting him on "time outs" when he's being bad and trying to reward him with attention when he's being good.  I hope eventually, he gets over it.

We're pretty happy with how it's panned out so far.  It's about as manageable as we could have hoped for, with our peanut gallery of pets.

How did you deal with, or plan on dealing with, introducing a baby to your pets?

-Sarah

Quick Weekend Recap

Well...

Ronin is all healed up, Yay!  

Our Dyson Animal is in the repair shop (and it's not even a year old!)

My sore throat turned into a full fledged cold.  

I dropped a pipe on Rogér's face, and he had to go to the Emergency Room for a stitch. 

 We're cooking our first meal in our fully functional kitchen!  

And we found out that Domino is actually not a dog, but a Jedi Ewok. 

Horse Whoa's - Our Poor Farrier!!

Our 6 yr old TB horse, Ronin, was scheduled to get his shoes done today.  Up until a couple months ago, this was no big deal because our farrier (horse shoe-er), Nick, would just take care of all of it and all we did was leave him a check.  Like I said, that was up until a couple months ago when Ronin suddenly realized that he's an ex-race horse, and decided to pull some typical TB off-the-track BS.  He flipped out while cross-tied and practically took out Nick, and almost killed himself.  Keep in mind, for the last two years, we've been cross-tying him without any trouble. 

Since then, he's also discovered flipping out at the regular tie post.  We've started using a cinch buckle as blocker tie ring (it's a great, cheap solution!), for everyday tying, but getting his shoes done adds a whole 'nother level of difficulty.  Nick asked that either Rogér or myself be there to hold Ronin during shoeing, which is perfectly legit.  In fact, after witnessing Ronin getting his shoes done today, I'm surprised Nick is willing to do Ronin's feet at all!  I wouldn't.

I even gave Ronin B-Kalm (tryptophan) 1.5 hours before the ordeal, hoping that this would help take the edge off.  Didn't work.  The only thing that did work was to distract Ronin with the one thing he values more than life itself....FOOD.  Nick had a bag of little treats, which distracted the beast so well that his shoes were done in record time!

This might take a little work, but I hope that one day, Ronin will be able to stand still and quiet for the farrier and for us!

Ro's Ink

Crappy.

We've had Ronin for about 2 years now (dang!), and a few days after we got him, we realized he had a tattoo on his upper lip.  He's a thoroughbred and supposedly off the track, so the tattoo is his identification.  We never got his paperwork though because how he got to where he was was somewhat of a mystery and the guy who gave him to us didn't have the papers.  Anyway, when I first looked into finding out Ronin's past through the Jockey Club, I thought you had to pay $35.  Now that we had to pay close to $400/mo for horse boarding, we weren't in any position to throw down $35 to find out his name.  Recently though, I checked the Jockey Club website again and it turns out that tattoo research is free! yes, FREE!  I found out on Thurs. and not only could I not remember Ronin's tattoo, but also, we were going out of town so I couldn't go look at it!  How aggravating!  Now, today, I went and looked at his lip, but here's the thing....it's kinda hard to read.  I think it says "H21056".  I tried to take a picture....here's how that turned out:

 

yeah, not so great.

So I tried to enter H21056 into the Jockey Club website and it came up with a horse named Surf N Saddle who was born April 23, 2004 in California.  Promising.  But when I did a little more research, Surf N Saddle has more white spots than Ronin has.  None of the other letter/number combos come up with anything that really resembles our horse.  Like I said, crappy.

Now what?

Ronin it is. (Better than Surf N Saddle anyway, right?)

Guess who's ba-ack!

The Big D! (Domino).  Ronin's feet are fixed too, thanks to our very kind and patient ferrier, Nick.  And that makes us almost back to normal. 

We can feel winter coming on too...in fact, this Wedsnesday is supposed to sport thunderstorms.  I do love the onset of winter, with one exception,  we have a horse.  All the empty stalls are making me ponder the possibility of putting Ronin back in a stall (he's in pasture now).  This is a purely selfish debate, but seriously, who wants to go muck through a foot of mud to grab your wet, dirty horse and then spend an hour cleaning and drying him before a ride?  Two downsides to moving him back into a stall - 1.  Cost - we're not exactly swimming in our savings like Uncle Scrooge. 2. Excercise/anxiety - Ronin LOVES the pasture.  A little too much.  He's at the top of the herd, which makes me wonder if he'll try something crazy stupid if he's separated.  And with Baby Balyon on the way, are Rogér and I going to be able to get up there to work out his crazies all the time??  Do you remember last winter?

Oh where oh where has my little dog gone?

Oh where, oh where can he be?
With his tail cut short and his ears cut long
Oh where, oh where can he be?

Dom is having a week long slumber party with his paw-pal, Koda.  So nice of Koda's parents to dog-sit for us while we have contractors come to work on the house!  I'm sure he's having a great time too, but we miss him!

It's so weird without him here. We keep hearing dog tag jingles and thinking "Where's Domino?"

Freaky.

Koda and Domino.....angels.

Another Ranch Day

Rogér and Ronin are making a great team these days.

Why We Love Spots

Domino is always dead tired after a night or two at his favorite kennel, Spots.  It's an open kennel, so he gets to run around all day with his doggie pals....a beautiful idea!  Plus, it's open 24 hours, which works out great when we need to drop Pups off at 4am before heading to Tahoe for some snow ;)