The Happs

Stretchin back here, always apologizing for being behind, I am once again barely squeaking by with a February update.

Sunset view of Inyokern

In early January Mario and I went to a radiograph reading clinic. It was a requirement check-off for him to become PHCP certified, and I needed a refresher (remember I had been to one in Reno where I very nearly froze to death?). This one was given by the same vet, Dr. Cindy Nielsen, out in Inyokern, CA. Inyokern is nearby to Ridgecrest, which is nearby to ... well, not a lot. Ridgecrest is only noteworthy because it's a base town, so there's a good hospital. There is also every single possible form of fast food chain known to man... We, once again, roomed with our friend Jennifer, and had a good time! John Saint Ryan was the host, and John was mentioned and shown in this blog before when he came out and did a mentorship day with us. John's beautiful desert ranch was the setting, and we enjoyed really nice weather while there over a long weekend.

Faith's big oweee! :(

(the silver coloring is a spray protectant)

UNfortunately there was an incident where I got the dreaded phone call that one of my horses was hurt. This time it was Faith who had somehow managed to totally perforate her mouth and fish hook herself on a snap that closes the gate to her paddock. It's been there for over a year, is totally blunt, safe, facing outward, etc. It just really proves that a horse can, and will, hurt themselves on just about anything if the circumstances are right. I went flying out to the ranch to take care of her, she was a really good girl for the vet and had shots of tranquilizer, pain meds, antibiotics, and about 15 stitches! I was on 2x a day medicating duty for 10 days, so I got very familiar with the drive to the ranch and back at all hours. Her injury healed amazingly well and quickly, and aside from one sketchy day where she had swelling in her throat area, no issues at all. PHEW!

Luckily it was dry weather during her injury, we've had a lot of rain and cold, wind, etc. in between great weather spurts, and it would have been harder to treat her and keep it clean in wetter conditions. As it is, it actually snowed in Ojai yesterday, and we're supposed to get into the 30s tonight. Brr!

Delicious red velvet birthday cake (right after the candles were blown out!) from my mom

For my birthday, the big three-nine, Mario and I went to look at a house I had seen on line. Another "the house"?? This one is located in Fillmore, which is about 20 minutes east of where we live now. Fillmore is mainly agricultural, lots of oranges, lemons, limes, and avocados. It's a pretty little valley area that never really entered my radar until I saw the house in one of my daily realtor emails. Hmmm... cute little house, a pool, and a cute barn, with almost 10 acres?? Yes, please!! We had called the realtor about a week before my b-day to see if the place was available, and he called back and scheduled a walk through on the 12th! Perfect? It was a beautiful sunny warm day, right in the middle of our last warm spell. The place was cuter than I had even expected, with an awesome master bedroom/ bathroom, lots of closet space, bright, open, great pool, perimeter and interior fencing, a really nice barn, firepit, garden area, etc. So much potential and the price was far closer to our reality than the other place we fell in love with a year or so ago. Financing on that much land with a small house was brought up as a major challenge to other potential buyers for this place, which certainly sobered us up out of our giddy excitement. We are not an easy finance as it is... add to it complications with land and ... yikes! I was determined to just be happy day dreaming out it as a birthday nice thought, and told the realtor we would be in touch.

For my birthday Mario got us tickets to see Cavalia, which is *incredible*. It's like cirque de soleil with horses... pure fantasy, romance, gravity defying acrobatics, incredible feats of training combined with obvious close relationships of mutual love and respect, and the beauty of the horses all wrapped together!! I was choked up from about the first opening of the curtains, and sometimes both Mario and I were shedding tears while watching. Afterwards, we had dinner and wine at Bella Vino, a wine bar/restaurant, before heading home into the sunset...

The Cavalia tents and a sign (note the horse's shadow legs are actually dancers)

Just had to share this pic of Mario, Angel, Bogey (legs on the top left) and Bailey having a night time snooze

On Valentine's Day, we went whale watching! We squeaked in under the impending wet weather, and even though we didn't see any whales that day ~ we spent a beautiful day out at the islands, watching sea lions, dolphins and sea birds ... it was gorgeous, peaceful, relaxing and yet exhilerating. We saw risso's dolphins, which are rather large and slow moving... grey with white streaks and marks on them from sparring with their buddies as well as their own food biting back. Coming around from the back of Anacapa Island between Santa Cruz island, we came upon an enormous pod of common dolphins... the captain estimated 1500 of them!! Leaping, splashing, surfing and rolling through the waves and wakes, it was an incredible site to behold! I was in heaven with dolphins nearly as far as I could see. :)



After a busy week and a major house cleaning (ahem!!), Casa Gargiulo enjoyed a brief but wonderful visit from The Judy's - my mom's younger sister Lois, her husband Rich, their daughter Alison and her fiancee Jeremy, and their son Jason. They arrived on a Thursday, right before we were due for a major storm. The beautiful days of sun and mid 70s to lower 80s was behind us, and the cold, wet and windy front was moving in. Thursday evening they arrived, and Mario made pizzas, we had wine, and visited. Aunt Lois played Froggy Went A Courtin' on the guitar, and it brought back fun memories for me of their Pirate Party at Smith Mountain Lake. Friday was wine tasting in Santa Ynez ~ after a brief drive through downtown Santa Barbara for old time's sake, we braved the nutty weather and visited several wineries and had lunch up there. It was seriously pouring by the time we got to Sunstone, the last one of the day, and we had a moment of thinking we were locked into the winery gates by the time we tried to leave... but a couple soaked family members later, and we were safely headed in the right direction. After a crappy drive home in rain, dark and traffic, we ended the evening with a yummy dinner at Cafe Fiore (not without it's excitement, I think the roof was threatening to blow off at one point???) The visit was capped off with a few hours of dry weather where we all got to sit outside at my favorite breakfast spot, Cafe Nouveau, and then a visit to Kohls where Alison works (I was mind-shopping madly through the whole visit, ack!!) Afterwards we managed to squish in a visit the horses... before heading back to the house for a final good-bye. It went sooo fast, I can't believe all the months of anticipating their arrival and now they're already gone! I am so glad they came though, and that we got to spend all the time with them that we did. :) Miss you guys!!!!

I think I've talked here about giving up some clients, or wanting to, and I did make the break from some of them since I last wrote. It was really difficult to do, as we all know I am a weanie!! And it was 22 total horses, so a fair chunk of them. But afterwards I was met with relief and a sense of ownership over... well, me! My domain! My back's health? My riding time? What have you. However, shortly thereafter the Fillmore house (aka the Bardsdale House) came into my view, and I started to worry about the horses I had given up. Maybe I should continue to take new clients, after all we need the money and all... and we were working hard to manage our finances and aspirations, maybe now was not the time?? So I put that energy out there, and I got a phone call out of the blue from a trainer that works at a barn where I currently trim 2 or 3 horses. She told me that the only other barefoot trimmer in my area was going to be retiring, and that she wanted to be the first to get to me so she could hire me for her... 22 horses?!?! How funny it works, and in this case it was nearly instant. I think a week or two at most could have gone by between what I had worked out with the clients I gave away, and when I agreed to take on the new 22. However - the new 22 are quieter, more mannerly, and are at my new rate... not the discounted and old rate that the last group were on. So, it all worked out. At least in some ways, and I have to figure this was meant to happen with the extreme synchronicity of it all, so I am rolling with it.

And I am trying to roll with a lot of things... to move forward, to live in gratitude, to continue to look for those signs and synchronicities, because they seem to be everywhere and I just need to allow them to lead me a bit, while taking that heavy dose of responsibility for the way things happen or the way that I respond to them! And I am pushing 40 rather hard, I can say that at this newest age, and I have serious reminders around me to be certain to live my life... I have my friend Leticia, that is fighting for her own against cancer, squeezing in living into every minute of every day. How much more of a role model do I need? She is a reminder, even when I don't see her, how precious life is! When I do see her and when I read her blog and think about what she is up against, with this fighting, brave, fearless approach to everything, I am just in awe. On top of her, a fellow trimmer in San Diego, another PHCP member, mentor and clinician, was recently diagnosed with a very aggressive form of cancer. She's the same way as Leticia - she came out of the gate with her nostrils flared, pawing the ground and lookin' for a fight! A couple of months ago she was a full time trimmer, with a supplement business, horses of her own, and a training program on top of it all. Now she spends her time receiving chemo treatment and recovering from treatment...in order to receive more, in order to save her life. And then there's Carmon, the amazing woman who writes the blog that I've read for the past several years... who has been battling cancer as well, learning a new "normal".

I wonder about what it all means, and I think the best I can come up with is just reinforcement that we must learn to live in gratitude. It's the secret to happiness!

Live now,
believe me.
Wait not until tomorrow.
Gather the roses of life today!

~ Pierre de Ronsard