Saturday Jackpot

So I bush hogged the front yard Sunday. It was about waist deep in weeds. This is not due to the fact that I am lazy and do not want to mow. This is due to the fact that our front yard is really low and since it rained every day in May we were forced to sit and watch the weeds grow in the two inches of water that sat and hatched the biggest mosquitoes in Saline County. It finally quit raining and the water dried and I was able to mow. There was only one wet spot that I almost got stuck in but other than that it was pretty dry. Below are a few "before" pictures. These pictures just don't show how deep it really is. This was also taken last weekend so it had a week's worth of more growth on it. Banjo could walk out into the front yard and disappear in the grass and still be standing up.

If you'll notice I have no after pictures yet. This is because it got dark on me and I didn't get to go back over the yard with the finish mower. The next day Jim took the mower to his mothers to mow and left it over there. So now I have to wait until it comes back to get after pictures. Right now it looks like a Blind Man cut my grass because it's so uneven and has a few missed spots. I had to mow with the small tractor and bush hog, this was my first experience driving a small tractor with a mower on the back. It was quite interesting. I'm not so sure Jim should've trusted me with it.

So anyway to continue posting about my weekend.... Saturday we had a Jackpot at the house. We had tons of people over and really had a good time, despite the 150 degree weather. Due to Sean's rib injury he sat out of the Jackpot and just flagged for the timers. Shannon (the girl with the awesome camera that I'm jealous of) was there and she let me play around with her camera, here's some of the pictures we took...

Sean flagged on Zero! Sean is working with Zero and trying to make him into a Hazing horse which is funny because Zero is around 13 and he's never run before in his life. He's a lazy horse. He'd doing pretty good though.

Sean bringing the steers back

Jason and Jim about to leave the box. (my brother-in-law and father-in-law)

Jason, catching his steer. The white horse, Frosty, looks like something you see in the movies in this picture.

This camera even makes a bird house look good!!

If' you'll notice my camera ticker at the bottom of the page I'm up to 22.7%!! Only 77.3% until I have enough money for my new Camera!!

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Saturday I woke up and decided to take Banjo and Birdie to my uncle, a vet, in my hometown. Banjo had two spots on his head that I was afraid was either mange or ringworm, thank goodness it just turned out to be hot spots from him staying wet constantly. *you can see one in the picture..ew. If he's not wet because it's raining, he's wet because he's swimming. The dog likes the water! So now it's two pills, twice a day, for the next few weeks. Birdie gained three whole pounds since her last check up two weeks ago. She's a growing girl. Banjo weight a whopping 80 pounds and Jenna weighed the same she did last time! (yes I did get on the dog scales and weigh myself) WooHoo no weight gain! --Boo! no weight loss! This is how they slept in the back seat on the way home. I'm glad they love each other.

After getting our shots and meds we went to the house to watch my uncle give one of Dad's mares an ultra sound. It was pretty interesting. I'm not even going to tell you how they get the ultrasound, lets just say it looks painful. While the mare was getting her ultrasound, I got to hold her month old colt. She was a cutie. She was scared to death though, I had to rub her down to calm her down. On the way home Birdie and Banjo slept. It rained from the time I left Mom and Dads until the time I got home. I opted not to participate in the rodeo Saturday night. Standing in the mud under an umbrella in 50 degree weather all night just didn't sound appealing to me. Thank goodness I didn't go either because they drove three hours to the rodeo just to find that it was cancelled and had to drive three hours back. So no money won this weekend...

My friend Shannon came over and we watched movies and played with her camera all night. We watched Bride Wars which was pretty cute. I give it 3 1/2 out of 5 stars. It was a chick flick so I'm deducting one star for the guys and it was kind of cheezy so I deducted another 1/2 star. But if you're looking for a feel good movie that's kind of funny, watch it.

Yesterday we had a work picnic at my in laws house. About 40 people were there. It ended up being a garage picnic because it rained all day. It was still a lot of fun. Birdie and I went to the creek, which was up about 2 feet, so she could swim. She had a great time. Around 5 Sean left for Baton Rouge for the week, (which means "red stick" in French apparently.) Shannon said she was going to come stay with me a couple nights because her husband is out of town too. So for all you rapists and killers out there I WILL NOT BE ALONE. (that is for my mom's peace of mind)

Other Things in My Backyard

Trees aren't the only thing in my back yard/pasture. This is my horse Zero. Zero is a calm gentle horse. The only kind I like. I'm a "fair weather cowgirl" so most of the time he just eats. But the weather is getting pretty so he may get some riding time in with me. My mother-in-law rides him some so he gets a little bit of exercise.



When I was a born, Mom and Dad had a stud horse named Dude and a mare named Molly. A month after I was born, Molly had a colt, and they named him Jenna's Little Dude or as we called him, "Little Dude." Dude from then on became "Big Dude." We still have both horses. Big Dude is now around 27 and recently had testicular cancer and had to be retired as a stud horse. He had his last colt last year, and he's a beauty. Little Dude just hangs out in the pasture with the other older horses. He's the same age as me...24. When I was younger I rode Little Dude a lot. I really enjoyed riding. I was a little nervous sometimes, because I'm a weenie but for the most part, I enjoyed riding. He was a slow horse, he never got in a hurry for anything and was always the horse in the back of all the riders. It's no secret that I'm scared to ride horses now, I'm around them daily but riding isn't something I'm good at. I think I'm scared because it's been so long since I've ridden and also becuase I'm around "professional" horse riders daily, and I'm a little bit intimidated. Sean's started giving me lessons last summer to help with my confidence level. Anyway, I've come to the conclusion the real reason I'm nervous around horses now is because of an accident I had when I was in Elementary school.

I was riding Little Dude and had stopped at the house to go inside for a drink because it was summer and I was hot and I needed some Ice water. I tied Little Dude's reins to our wooden fence in the back yard. After enjoying my refreshing drink, I went to get back on him Little Dude and his reins had become untied and fallen to the ground. Little Dude was munching on some grass, and you know they say, "The grass is always greener on the other side," and apparently Little Dude thought so because he had his head under the fence rail eating the grass on the other side of the fence. I was a little annoyed that my knot hadn't stayed put and that Little Dude was loose so I walked up and grabbed the reins and spooked Little Dude. Normally this wouldn't have been a big deal he would've just raised his head real fast and checked out was was going on, but because he was eating grass on the other side of the fence when he lifted his head to see who I was he hit it on the fence and knocked himself out. As he rolled to the ground he rolled on top of me and I fell against the fence so hard that my back broke the bottom fence rung, horse still on top of me. (now this fence rung was round and about 5 inches through the middle, needless to say it hurt) Little Dude quickly came back to and jumped off of me, but it was too late. The mental damage had already been done. I still have a scar on my back. Little Dude still has a scar on his face from hitting the fence. The star in the middle of his forehead doesn't grow back complete anymore. Dad says it's always been like that but I beg to differ. Little Dude is now 24, the same age as me, and isn't really young enough to be ridden anymore. That is why I have Zero here instead of Little Dude. I've started riding a little bit more since I've been married to Sean and hopefully I can conquer my nervousness around horses.