The grass is greener where you tend your lawn

Back in April we were facing large costs to repair the drains and the resulting mess in our front garden, as documented by me, in a frustrated manner here:
The drains situation

Now its July, the plumbers were paid and the grass has regrown. It did not cost us $8k as we decided to repair the ground ourselves and with help from our friends we tillered and dug and laid down grass seed. We watered and fed that baby seed and now have a healthy flourishing front garden.. in short the $4k quote to have it done was actually $600 and a ton of sweat equity #happydays

June and July - England and Maine

Its been hot. I have been busy. I have to update this blog with my England trip, with Ace and my latest horse show (2nd of the 3) and our family trip to Maine.
So much to document while summer rolls in with a blast of heat warnings.

So... I had a visit to the UK. I saw as many people as I physically could, put 800 miles on a rental Hyundai Ioniq at the cost of half a tank of gas (hybrid car, LOVED it) and saw my grandmother who was the real reason I was there as shes sick. The weather was sweet and I memory lane tripped constantly. I went back to Nannys house and honestly, wanted to move back.

But I came back and Ace and I almost immediately attended another horse show where it was very hot and we had no photographer.. so a complete 180 from the last time but fun nonetheless. We even almost missed a class as we were lunching, with tack off, having misunderstood the loudspeaker.

A couple of weekends ago we went to Maine for a lake weekend with some friends. We decided to make the trip at night

but what should have been an 8 hour drive which would have seen us roll in at 2am turned into a 12 hour drive complete with flat tire on I95 at 2am.  To compound the flat, which by itself was a pain in the butt was the fact that no one could locate the spare until we you-tubed it (2018 Dodge Caravans have them under the car, nut is in the console) and Lily had a melt down. People went missing in the night and the mosquitos were enormous and clearly starving. I recall lying on the road in the dark with the light on my phone looking for the spare and thinking how dangerous it all was.
The cottage when we eventually limped in at 7am was blissful.

It was a true break and we loved every darn second of it.

Complete with the Nissan (thank you Enterprise, I love Enterprise) that we swapped the caravan for (spares can go 271 miles by the way, dont let anyone tell you differently!), we made it by via IHOP and chik-filet, and the lookout at Mount Kathadin and are already planning next years foray to the same place.

The first show of the season

Last weekend Ace and I attended the first horse show of the year. We try to attend the three Salmon River ones as I just love the showground more than anything. You can also get points towards a series which is always fun.
This year I went with the new barn and despite the constant torrential rain and resulting mud it was a really nice day. Good team spirit, horses tried hard and an air of thankfulness to even be able to go made the day memorable. And then of course there was the rain, have I mentioned that yet?

Whilst Ace and I didnt place in Hunter, I was so pleased as he was more forward and easy to ride than hes ever been. He still has the annoying pull down but we can work on that this year. I am also no longer afraid of it, so thats a big step in the right direction for me.

These  pictures above are the first two classes, we were moderately wet but the ground in the arena was still pretty good at that point.

Ace sporting his north american style braids that I managed to conquer... first attempt too.

The three above were after it had hammered down with rain continously for about an hour. The warm up was decidedly iffy and I wasnt chancing any injuries  with him. I was also soaked as was he. For someone who was wading through a lot of water at that point, he was very sporting.

Here we were jumping in a very sodden way, those breeches started the day much lighter.

We got second place in senior road hack and here we were making our way back to his stall as his day was over, finally. We had been back for hay and water breaks and retacking three times at this point so it was good to be finished. I was so pleased with him.

Home with legs wraps and a warm bran mash, it had stopped raining by this point and the sun was out, naturally.

April update

A little update on where I am at:

Eating - too much crap again, I must return with a happy heart to healthy eating. I was doing so damn well until a month ago.

Feeling - grateful for this life, even though the weather sucks.

Waiting - for summer to turn up, this weather sucks. I am, as usual, sick and tired of the cold. I want to ride in long grass in an endless evening, walk the dogs before work, have windows open so that I can listen to the crickets, lie with one foot in the pool, soak up the heat and humidity that everyone else bitches about, feel that I simply have to put AC on in the car just to cope. Bring.It.Back

Watching - North Woods Law. I rather like it and it has the wonderful effect of sending me to sleep at night after about 20 minutes, why did I refuse a TV in the bedroom for all those years?

Planning - road trips this summer - yay!!!!!!!!! And how to get to Florida next winter now we cant just go when it suits me. Oh and what to do with Ace this year, primarily how to get him to showgrounds.

Wishing - we had pushed the plumbers to locate the backwater value inside the house instead of allowing them to dig up the entire front garden. The fight against their outrageous over-inflated final invoice goes on whilst we face a new bill to repair the construction site lawn. By the time this is all over we will have paid around $9k - ugh!
Hindsight is always 50/50.

Pondering - how much life changes as you grow and how many lessons I have learned from watching Marley and Me. The movie thats not just about a dog.

Considering - all my shortcomings as a person and how to work on them. There are many.

Facing - children that are growing up too fast and the fact that university for the oldest feels like its literally around the corner.

Frustration

This week I have been more than frustrated.
Since we have lived in this house, which for the record, I adore, we have changed the windows and the roof and the front and garage doors. Yes, these are indeed big ticket items but were necessary and compared to how big a deal it is to put a new roof on a UK home, its somewhat cheaper here to redo a roof. I think it helps that no actual tiles are going up, here they use shingle that looks a little like wallpaper to those that are not used to it (me at first!).

Old windows, roof and doors - leaky rook, windows that let in cold air.....

New windows, roof and doors- warm and dry! (oh and stylish!)

We have also put in drains for the back garden to remove the never draining water and resulting black stinky mould:

 practically rebuilt the pool, put in a new bathroom and built a fenced in area for the dogs.

Old pool liner that was changed along with pump and filter

 

 

 New bathroom

 

New fence going in:

Over time I have hankered for a pool heater to increase the time we can use the pool in the summer, a downstairs powder room for those littlies that suddenly need to pee the moment they hit the pool and then have to trapse either upstairs or downstairs trailing water, oh and a new kitchen.

Each year we have deemed all the above unaffordable for various reasons and then suddenly over the Christmas period we found we had to dig up our drains and replace them. The ensing chaos is almost over, the new drains are in at massive cost and stress and the front garden now resembles a construction site which will soon be covered in the requisite dandelions that seem to have taken over in the last couple of years.

Front garden being dug up to resolve drains issue..

So now we have to correct that and in tallying up the costs of this drainage emergency, its coming to close on $8k!
I am pissed as dreams of a pool heater are starting to wither and die once more and the thought that this $8k would have put in a powder room or been a massive chunk of a new Ikea kitchen is hard to stomach frankly.

But.... it is what it is (Canadian saying now adopted freely by me) and I have to suck it up (another one) and get over it. I guess you could say these are good problems to have.
The remaining kitchen will see another year at least...

My BFF in said kitchen....

The last February week in Florida

In February we went on our final February 10 days trip to Florida for a very long while. Our oldest starts high school in September and therefore we can kiss goodbye to a week off in February going forward. The toughest part for me is the thought that a Spring time fix of the South can only be a long weekend for the next 8 years and once thats over the girls will have finished high school so it will never be the same again, anyway.
I struggle with the thought of these types of changes. It makes me sad.

Anyway, this trip was lovely. We had the Friday through to the Sunday morning in Davenport in Bahama Bay. I know we frequent Bahama Bay every year but it never gets old. The pure joy of driving through the gates remains, the being there every second is incredibly precious, the leaving sucks big time! Those two days were the mosrt packed in, drink in every moment as usual time. I miss it alot.

On the Sunday morning we joined Don for a week back at Spinnackers Captains Quarters in AMI and it was just as relaxing as the previous year. Its no Keys, you dress up for dinner in AMI and there are a fair few snarky seniors there but its beauty doesnt fade.
I walked. Alot. Beach, neighbourhood, beach, neighbourhood again. The meals at Mar Vista Restaurant on Long Boat Key and "The Feast" on Holmes Beach delivered as before.

It was, as always, a so very important time in my year. The time of great happiness, relaxation, family time with people I love in a State I adore.
We have to get creative going forward to have time in the Keys and in Davenport so as to not create an schooling issue. Thank goodness we are but 3.5 hours direct flying time away.

Trips ahoy

Today I finally managed to frame my CPA certificate thats been in a box for months now. The frame is sat on the floor, hopefully it will make it to the wall today.

This year is looking promising for travel plans. Those that know me know that I hate to waste money and hell even sometimes hate to spend money unless its on a trip. Trips last forever, after the wonderful time I am on one and then in my memory, in the nostalgic trips discussions I have with the girls, in the way I feel when I have been on one.

So far planned out:
Spring trip to the sunshine state with the family
BFF coming over to visit for Easter
Brother here in April for a couple of weeks
June trip to the UK is a possibility right now
September road trip/date trip to see Buck Brannaman in Maine booked
Mum coming to stay in September for the above trip and whale watching tour
Dad coming for a couple of days at the start of Oct before he commences a Canada trip.

Sigh.
Happy