Happy Birthday Rebecca!

Hold me closer, tiny dancer...

on the beach in St. John

July 31st is my cousin Rebecca's birthday! When I was little, I was envious because her birthday fell in the middle of the summer. In NJ, this meant she could have pool parties, or luai themed parties... whereas I, having a bday in the deep of winter, would sometimes have to wait until a thaw to even get to cash in on my birthday horseback ride at the local stables. For my sweet 16 I decided enough was enough - and I had a beach themed birthday party where everyone wore hawaiian shirts and shorts under their long coats, and my mom and Aunt Elaine served spiked (!) punch in the kitchen.


Anyway, this is about Rebecca - ! I love my beautiful, wild and funny cousin, and I cherish and hold tight to every fun and funny memory we've made together. I hope she knows how proud of her I am, how she took her dreams of being a teacher and being an artist and made them happen... and married talented and wonderful Richard and they created a life together in Brooklyn. Ugh - yeah, that part sucks. It could hardly be further away from me in California. Wait - this isn't about me, really! But honestly, there are a precious few things about my life that I would change - but proximity to my beloved family is surely one of them. If I could just go and sit around the kitchen table with her at Camp Pesce, drinking margaritas, laughing, and eating chips and shooting the shit... that would be heaven. And then nothing but carrot sticks the next day. And aspirgum.


Happiest of birthday wishes to you, Becka, I love and miss you very much!

Pictures of things

100 degrees midday yesterday per my car...

it got to 102, today was a solid 100 after trimming 11 horses in Ojai

Faith and Jordan eating their yummies the other night

Little things can make you happy... my new JH Forge hoof knife came in the mail today

Sunset at the barn, unfortunately the pretty color is due to a local fire... that is smoke, not clouds in the distance. It burned about 30 acres and caused a lot of smoke, but the firefighters were all over it with tanks and ground crews, thank God!

You may need to blow this one up (if it's clickable?) It's a photo of 'our' hummingbird female that lives in a tree in our backyard. We have 2 feeders in the backyard and she visits this one dozens of times in the afternoon/evening when I am sitting at my computer. I managed to catch a few shots with the iPhone - so they are not very clear, but there she is! :)

It's a tough job...

But someone's gotta do it!

Yesterday after trimming horses in Santa Ynez at a barn that belongs to Monty Roberts (Flag Is Up Farm) - the "horse whisperer", Mario and I found ourselves with an extra hour or so... so we stopped by an old stomping ground of ours known as Bridlewood Winery. Used to be members, but in the ole money crash of late '08, we stopped all winery memberships and cut financial corners whereever possible. Yesterday we made the decision to re-join, in honor of recovering some financial freedom. (hey, it's more moral support than anything, but who cares!)

After getting home last night we went to the Pierpont Inn and met up with my friend/fellow trimmer Miranda, whose boyfriend plays in a local reggae band. We sat out on the lawn and had some drinks listening to the band and basically complaining about crazy clients. Today I have off!!

It is SO nice to have a little respite from work, and working so hard makes me appreciate my days off that much more. I did end up getting that cutting horse barn... awesome opportunity for "barefoot" and me, as this is a very high profile/known trainer whose horses sell for 6 figures. Thank God Mario is trimming with me!

Little update on the house guest... She didn't go to NJ! The night before her 6:30am flight, I spent 1/2 the night in the pet emergency clinic with my mom and Willy. Willy had a systemic infection that started from a foxtail in his right hind leg. He was in bad shape with a fever and unable to bear weight on the leg, dehydrated, and depressed. The vet said, "no traveling for this guy!!" He spent the night in the ER, then we picked him up at 7:30am and took him directly to another vet for surgery. That vet noted that he has chronic conjunctivitis in his eyes, and also shows classic symptoms of canine Cushings disease. If you remember, my mare Hope had Cushings. It's a little different mechanism in horses, but alot of the same symptoms and problems. In dogs it can present as increased hunger and thirst, diminished ability to fight off infections, susceptability to allergies, thin hair coat, pot bellied appearance and elevated liver enzymes - all of which Willy has! The good news is that he came through the surgery well, his eyes are clearing from the new medication so he can see better, and the Cushings is treatable. He was walking around quite perkily this morning with his little cone head.

It's a gorgeous sunny breezy day as usual, and I am going to RIDE today - novelty!

Driveway at Flag Is Up. Not too shabby.

House Guests, anniversaries and other things

My mom is coming for a sort of little visit for a week before she goes to visit Aunt Elaine on the east coast for 2 weeks. Willy too! When she gets back, what will she do? We don't know! The plan as it stands right now is to move into a place somewhere in cool quick Ventura, which is more her speed than hot slow Ojai. ;-) Ventura is on the beach with cool ocean breezes year round, we rarely get above the 70s even in the middle of the summer (last summer was record breaking hot for us!!) Ojai tops the 100 degree mark quite often, even though it's only 20 minutes away! It's a totally different vibe town-wise, too - Ventura is like a wanna-be Santa Barbara, surfers, bars and clubs, Wild Planet type shops, fast food chains, a big shopping mall, freeway access, college, etc. Ojai is a mellow mix of hippies and ranchers, with only a single real road access through the middle of it, and a tight lid on any commercial-appearing stores at all. There's a lot of old money there, at least 5 very expensive private prep schools, several golf courses. Old oak trees, psychics and meditation retreats and spas. Well, anywho, mom will arrive today and stay through Wed when she flies to NJ. Mario helped her pack her stuff and move it into a storage unit seen in the photo. She also has stuff in our garage... I personally would go crazy with my stuff everywhere like that, I think it would feel great to have it all in one place... her own place... a little house... that she could decorate and care for and call HOME. :)

Today is Rebecca & Richard (The Boombatz) 1 year wedding anniversary. A year ago today right now as I write this we were getting ready to celebrate their union...helping Rebecca get dressed, creating a crownpiece for her to wear, wiping away streaks of mascara as we cried a little too! It was such an incredible, beautiful and FUN vacation to St. John with all of our family gathered around. Happy 1st Anniversary you guys! We LOVE YOU!

In horse news, Jordan has been trying to look as awful as possible by incurring sparring wounds from his neighbors and from trying to reach under the bars to get to their hay... and then scraping his face up as he yanks it back to his side. He really does look horrible. I've gone through 3 fly masks so far this season, the most recent casualty yesterday. Mario spent part of his afternoon yesterday re-hanging the stud fencing to try to make it 100% Jordan injury proof, which is no easy task. I am going to buy yet another fly mask for him today, and we'll see how it goes. He NEEDS it to protect his eyes from the flies but even more so from the sun, because of his uveitis! Grr. Faith has kept her mask on for days and has not a mark on her. Hmm.

Random, here's a picture of Mario with a Clydesdale named Buddy. We've trimmed Buddy a few times, but his owner is a huge flake. She just lets him go trimless for a year or so and then is desperate to get him done again. Buddy is the biggest horse I've ever seen, his withers (base of his neck) absolutely tower over my head, he has to be at least 19 hands tall. He's a big huge sweetie! (but soooooooo much work to trim!)

We had a nice 4th of July. Mom and Peter came over and I made fresh strawberry margaritas (recipe courtesy of my friend Marla). Mario made delicious facon BLTs with avocado. Mmm. :) Oh yeah - that diet thing, not going so great. :-[

Peter, Bogey and Mario on the 4th

I may have just gotten a new client that is a big trainer in Ojai, and has 25-30 horses. I have no idea where that will fit in my schedule, as that will easily put me at over 250 clients. I am excited and sick about it at the same time. Ack!

Sunset in Moorpark the other night as I left my last trim at 8:30pm!

Best seat in the house

The bench in our backyard that Mario built... view from the back with his inscription

Mario and I celebrated our 12 year wedding anniversary on June 29th!



We have a jacuzzi in our backyard that is on about 6 months of the year, usually through winter and early spring. We can barely afford the electric bill it incurs, but it's worth it! There are many different seating areas in it, 6+, and no matter where Mario finds himself when in the jacuzzi, he always declares that it's the "best seat in the house!" I find it really endearing. I have my ONE favorite spot in the jacuzzi where the water level hits my shoulders just right, the jets massage my feet and lower back, and I can stretch out luxuriously. He bops around from one spot to the next, each met with a big grin as he realizes it was even better than the previous seat. On our anniversary Mario said something while at breakfast about being in a great spot of the courtyard of the restaurant, and I realized that his "best seat in the house" thoughts are a really positive way of looking at things in life. A way of thinking that gives respect and appreciation for where we are, in that moment. We've been through some crappy times and struggles, but each year we feel we're stronger and better for it as a couple. It is my sincere hope that we continue to realize that we've got the best seat in the house - next to each other - as we go through life. I wish that for everyone... that they have someone that they love, and that loves them back, to go through life with - sharing and enjoying their view, looking out from a place of gratitude.



I love you, Mar.