If you wish to read this news chronologically, please start at the bottom of each page with the earliest date. I know this is a nuisance but it is too much work to change it now.
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1999.... Dec: Well I am back here because I am too lazy to finish uploading my thousands of photos to my new site. Happy Holidays everyone and have a great New Year party. Dec: Byron and I are having a terrific time skiing. He
is very good. Our foal is growing like a weed. I will
get around to scanning a photo of him sometime. Nov: Well much has happened since I bothered to update this
site. Saratoga closed for the winter. I went to Iowa
to visit my great friends Jojo and Mark. As usual we
had a blast. Jo and I went fox hunting and we had fun
zooming aimlessly around the country side jumping
stuff. Unfortunately Jo hurt her knee when Li stumbled
after a jump, spilling her. I am working at a Ski
Resort for the winter and Byron and I have been skiing.
He manages tough intermediate terrain already. Oct: Byron's new pony Ladybug started jumping
this week. She just pops over 2ft. Her colt just follow
s her over. In fact sometimes he runs ahead and jumps
over just for fun. He is 3ft high at the withers and,
according to our weight tape, weighs 200 lbs.
Aug/Sept:I am so accustomed to starting my
latest news with birthdays that it is very hard for me
to say goodbye to Charlie. Charles Halter (1964-1999}
was a friend of mine from the track. He was killed
last week after falling from his faithful pony "DJ".
Charlie worked for my best friend, Sue's, husband,
Burk, for over ten years. He was a wonderful, funny,
helpful, and caring person. Charlie was a very special
person who, through his gift, brought so many strangers
together as friends. He will be missed by his many,
many friends all across the country. Charlie's special
gift was Down Syndrome and his ability to succeed and
cope with life in our harsh world will be an
inspiration to me forever. Bye Charlie, see you in
Heaven. Byron, Sue, Felicity and I went white water
rafting - much fun. July: So much has happened since my last update. I was on
the cover of Metroland and you can see the photo at
the Metroland website.
(Thanks to my dear friend Jolene for bringing this
to my attention.) I won a promotional race at Saratoga
at the Saratoga open house on August 8th. I rode a very
nice horse called Double Dewar. I have been riding him
every morning this season so it was terrific to get to
ride him in a race. OF COURSE WE WON!!!!!!! I am going
to see if we can link the the photo of my win that was
on the front page of the Saratogian on the following
Monday. On Wednesday I had a bad fall on the main
track and had to have numerous xrays. All is well.
Just bruised the kidneys, damaged the nose and face,
tore some ligaments in the neck and wrist. Byron
started 4th grade this week. I bought him a new pony.
He named her Ladybug. The night she arrived, she
produced a foal, whom we have named Gunga Din. I will
have photos up as soon as possible. I traded Darth Vader
for her, so now I am horseless, but I am sure I will
replace him soon with something more suitable. 6/4: Happy birthday Granny for the 6th and Dad for the 23rd. I love Saratoga. I am riding some nice horses and a few pains in the butt. Byron and I have seasons tickets to The Great Escape ( a small Six Flags affiliate theme park) We have been going there daily. Lots of Wave pool and roller coaster fun. Not much else is new. 5/7: Happy Birthday MOM for the 27th and my sister Kay for the 12th. Darth is doing very well. We have backed him but since he is so young he wont do anything more than a walk for the next six months. He and Tricksey look so cute together. Tomorrow Rich will take a picture of them so I can post it here. Well my work horses moved to Saratoga so I am galloping there now. It is great. I have to get up at 4am since it is 65 miles away and the track opens at 6am. Byron is homeschooling again. He was going backwards at school. It is terrible having a kid in school in a country where no set standards are enforced. They just let kids slide along at whatever pace they please. Grades don't mean anything. 3rd grade merely means that most of the kids are 9 years old. Academically they are srpead across about 4 traditional grade levels. It is truly pathetic. If any of my SA friends read this, please send me a Std 2 maths book. Gil got home safely. 4/14: OK so I am terrible. I haven't updated in over a month. First I must wish my nephews Ryan and Patrick HAPPY BIRTHDAY. The other birthday celebrated recently is that of my brand new little niece, Luna Haku Lani. Her name is Hawaiian and means "Moon with stars in the sky". Her daddy is my brother Jeffrey. Rich and I made a new batch of beer. I think I will prefer this lot. It tastes like Bud. I have a new horse. He is a 2yo, dark brown, Thoroughbred/Percheron gelding. We have named him Darth Vader. Gil went to Israel on holiday and was drafted into the army. He had a few days of strain waiting to hear his fate. Luckily it went in his favor and he is on his way home. With spring here, Rich, the kids, and I have been able to get out and have some fun. We have been four wheeling, "mountain" climbing, biking, running, riding, and fixing stuff. I serviced my truck, together we did the brakes. We built and entertainment unit, and Rich damaged the four wheeler's engine. So no more Four wheeling until it gets back from the repair shop. 3/9: I forgot to mention that I was stopped for speeding while Rich was away and nailed for driving an unregistered, and unroadworthy, vehicle. Last night I went to court and amused the judge so he dropped two tickets and I just got fined for the speeding. Rich LOVES the beer we made. I doubt that any will last as long as the recommended maturation time. Personally I think it is disgusting. Black, bitter, with yucky froth. He had a birthday this week. Happy birthday Richie. Icky snow storm last weekend. Tons of snow and wind. 3/1: Well since I last updated my news, February somehow disapeared. Rich went to Puerto Rico on holiday. I dropped him, and his friend Bob, at Logan Int in Boston Friday before last. On Saturday, Byron and I went Skiing. He is a natural and we had a terrific time swooshing down the slopes. Yesterday, I went to collect Rich and Bob in Boston, however, the boys were boys and overdid the celebration and missed their flight. They managed to get a flight to JFK so I changed direction and picked them up in NY. Well the weather was awful and it took eight hours to get there and another six to get home. But at least he is home safely. They had a great time scuba diving and exploring the island. 2/8: And then I got bucked off because I was too sore to stay on. Well all is well now. Most of the pain is gone and I managed to ride without pain pills today. Byron and I had our birthdays, Byron got great presents which thankfully masked the pain of having his guinea pigs die of pneumonia. Byron has a cute pony for a while. Tricksey is a minature horse and he is having fun breaking and schooling her. She is going to be 4 in the spring and is skewbald. (otherwise known as a paint) She is 30 inches or 7.2 hands high. I will post a pic soon. 1/25: And then we had a heat wave (45 degrees F). The snow melted, we had a minor flood and the remains turned to ice. I often land on my butt. I have had a great week...NOT. First the ice on the barn roof came crashing down on my head, I had a huge bump and many cuts. Today I got kicked on the knee and in my stomach due to no fault of my own. Unfortunately one of my co workers was in a hurry and rushed her filly past my colt.... I was in such pain I thought that I would be hospitalized due to a horse injury for the first time. I have had various trips to the emergency room but this hurt so badly I imagined ruptured innards. However I felt better pretty rapidly and despite some serious throbbing in the knee, a very sore stomach, and what feels like a broken rib, ALL IS WELL. Nothing a bit of bute wont fix. We have moved into a little cottage about 200 yards from Rich's house and my horsies. With the days lengthening we will be able to start riding in the evenings. 1/16: Well it was worse than *&%$#@!* cold. With the windchill it was minus 45. I have NEVER EVER been so cold. I rode 11 horses and by the last one I was drooling because my lips were frozen and I couldn't feel my fingers. To get to the point that one can't feel ones fingers, one goes through a LOT of pain. My toes have been frozen so often I think I have two small spots of frost bite. Last night I broke down and spent money on new boots, a face mask, insulated mittens and polar fleece foot and glove liners. Today is the first time my feet didn't freeze at work. 1/14 Happy New Year all!!!! Sorry I took so long to update. I have a great new job exercising young Thoroughbreds. I work at Summit View Farms in New York about 15 miles from Saratoga. It is a 62 mile drive one way and very challenging in the sleet, snow, wind and rain. However, my dear Richie bought me new tires for my truck and the 4wheel-drive is fixed, so the Brat is running very well. My new work mates are wonderful people so things are really looking up. I will post some pictures of our wonderful winter wonderland in a couple of days. The temp tomorrow is supposed to be minus 25 degrees F and so with the windchill it should be *&^%@#* cold.