My Apologies!

For being so long between posts, but you will understand when I sum up...

We went to London, which was totally awesome and amazing. We saw a play in the West End (War Horse---life size horse puppets, which are amazing simply for their engineering!). We ate a lot of really amazing food---I don't know why people complain. We went to the Royal Windsor Horse Show, and the Queen (OF ENGLAND!!!!!!) was there, and so was Prince Phillip, and so was every tack store in the British Isles. I only think I hate to shop... ;) We saw the Domesday Book at the National Archives. We saw artifacts from Hatshepsut's reign. We went to Kew Gardens, and learned about their efforts to save seeds of plants that are becoming extinct. We walked from Kew to Hammersmith, along the Thames. We minded the gap. Unfortunately, we were not delayed by the volcano, so we...

Came home. We finished two stalls in one day, and brought the horses home. I wrote and then re-wrote 4 chapters of my book. We finished two more stalls. I caught up with my staff, who are amazing and I adore them. I wrote an annual report, spent 8+ hours with accounting figuring out what the previous Center Director must have done. We listed the old house. We moved mountains of dirt and trash. The contractor finished the arena, and dug us 126 fence post holes. We sunk 126 fence posts, and tamped them in. We stretched 1100 feet of wire fence and stapled it on. The top rails arrived today. We'll put those on tomorrow. I wrote chapter 5. And started Chapter 6. I am not going to send them to my editor until I see my contract and the first portion of my advance. John launched the balloon, and the truck broke down, and we spent at least four days going back and forth in various recovery efforts. The truck is still in Roosevelt, and it will cost us another day to go and get it. But at least it's worth going to get, and we don't need to get a new truck. In order to help John out, I have expressly forbidden him from taking MY truck out on University business again. ;). Fortunately, a friend has loaned us her truck for as long as we need it. But it's not the same as having your own truck.

Today, it rained all day, and we still rode in our arena, which drains like you wouldn't believe. We have puddles everywhere BUT the arena, and our old boarding place down the road is under water, and unride-able. Our two boarders are coming soon---probably this weekend, since they can't ride where they are!

John's carpal tunnel is keeping him up at night, but we are so close 'done' that we will finish tomorrow or Sunday, and then break from home improvement for a couple of weeks to enjoy what we've built. Then we probably need to pay some attention to the house... ;)