Bluewater Rangerbreds

Babies

2017-04-05T09:06:00.001-06:00

I've been busy over the past couple years and not updating things on this blog. One of the reasons is the two babies born at the farm.

Last year's baby is Jet To The Moon. Born May 11, 2016

This year's baby doesn't have a name yet, but he's the foal of my favorite mare Hobo's Dream Girl. Can you find all the crazy things in his spots? He's got a W on his butt as well as what I think is a turtle, and a Brontosaurus, and maybe a Heart. Keith thinks he sees a ghost face.

Thank You To My Friends

2016-04-29T10:50:00.001-06:00

Two years ago today I woke up homeless. April 28, 2014 was the day my house burned to the ground. There was pretty much nothing left and what was left was mostly damaged by smoke, water or the fire. It’s an eerie feeling to wake up and know you don’t get a choice in what to wear because you only have the clothes on your back. But I’ve learned that it’s okay.

Two years ago today, I woke up on a cot in my sister’s den. At least I was still alive. At least Keith was still with me. I still had my dog, and my horses, and the chickens. We owned the land, so in the truest sense we weren’t truly homeless. We just didn’t have the building to live in. I may not have had a lot of possessions, but I did have something better: friends and family.

While Keith and I were still dealing with the fire inspector and the sheriff’s report, my sister Chanda rushed out to Wal-Mart and bought us some replacement items. I could at least put on a clean set of clothes because of her. And we invaded her life for a month while we crashed in her den until we could find another place to live.

The fire took out our electric pole and the power company shut off the electric until we could get it fixed. My friends Robert and Tia let me bring the horses to their house and fed and took care of them until we could get the pole replaced and the power to operate our well back.

My friend Linda offered us her little cabin by the lake as a place to stay so that Keith would have a shorter drive to work. We stayed there for another month until my mom and her partner Bill, were finally able to bring up a smaller camper trailer for us to live in.

We now have a new home and new possessions, but I’ve learned something along the way. You can live without stuff/possessions, but don’t throw away your friends. If you have good friends, you have one of the most valuable possessions in the world.

Today I want to thank all my friends and family again for all their help over the years. Everyone, including the anonymous donations to our fund and anyone who offered a place to stay (even if we didn’t take you up on it). One kind gesture is sometimes all it takes to make someone’s day. Thanks for being there.

The Horse That Haunts Dreams--Kindle Giveway

2016-03-26T13:48:00.001-06:00

GIVEAWAY!!

I'm having a giveaway for five (5) copies of the Kindle version of my book The Horse That Haunts Dreams. Every one in the USA is eligible to participate in this Amazon giveaway, unless you've already purchased the Kindle version from Amazon.

Please click this link to participate. Good Luck, and I hope you all enjoy the book.

Friends of Bluewater Lake--Second Meeting

2015-11-19T10:10:00.000-07:00

I went to the second meeting of the Friends of Bluewater Lake last night and ended up being voted in as the secretary for the newly formed association.

I’ll keep you all informed of the developments of the “association” but for now, I did also talk with the Park Superintendent Andrew Armendariz for a few minutes as to going riding at the lake.

Andrew informed me that if you come into the Prewitt side (AKA North Side AKA Stoneridge Recreational Area) main entrance. For now you will have to park in the vacant lot just outside the main entrance right across from Trish’s Bluewater Lake Lodge and Horse Motel. From there you can unload and ride in through the gates next to the cattle guard. The $5.00 day use fee will apply. Or you can purchase an annual Day use pass good at every single state park (except Living Desert Zoo and Gardens in Carlsbad) for $40.00, which is a good deal if you go to different parks regularly or if you go to the lake more than eight times per year.

Andrew and his District Supervisor stated they are looking at the legalities and locations to use for a permanent equestrian unloading inside the park on that side. They stated that by spring or sooner, they should have an equestrian day use site available. On that side of the lake.
On the Thoreau Side (AKA the South side AKA Las Tusas Recreation area) you can pull into the park anywhere and unload at any location as long as you don’t unload right on the newly paved black top.

The Friends of the Lake will be developing by-laws and a Cooperative agreement with the state park very soon. Once we get approved, then we will be holding a membership drive if anyone is interested.

I'll be creating a separate blog for the Friends Association you can find the link here.

Friends of Bluewater Lake

2015-10-29T14:47:00.001-06:00

I attended the initial meeting of the Friends of Bluewater Lake. This was an information meeting on how to get an association started and to advocate for and raise money for the “friends” to assist the lake in developing more opportunities at the lake. Everyone interested in the Lake’s success is welcome, not just fishermen, and boaters. As I also had to attend the other meeting, I bounced back and forth between this meeting and the Cibola County Commission meeting, so I may have missed a few things, but a summary of the “equestrian” portion is below. Jackie Weeks may be able to provide more specific info on certain items if necessary.

We did get into a minor discussion of the previous exclusion of equestrian from the lake. That was a past administration, and any animosity toward equestrian was not found among the current administration. Those of you who were asked to leave in the past, let it be known that they won’t run you out again. There currently is not a camping site available for horses so don’t expect to drive in and camp at the main parking area. For safety reasons, the Park won’t let you camp there. However they are completely open to development of an equestrian friendly campsite. Equestrian are welcome to ride the park and assist in trails development as well.

The Park personnel are also in discussions with our Zuni Mountain Trail Partnership to work on developing a trail from the south end of the park to connect into the proposed Zuni Mountain Trails in the USFS just a mile away.

Right now the biggest concern the park staff has is the interactions of the feral horses coming in from the section of Navajo Tribal land that may harass and or attack the riders and their horses. When we rode the park years ago, we never really had a problem with this, but it is still of some concern.

When asked about the rules of Equestrian in the park. Several questions were brought up.

1. Trish from the Bluewater Lake Lodge and horse motel (great place to go visit) had said that she had been told that a person couldn’t drive INTO the lake lands with a horse trailer and unload. They would have to ride in on the main road across a cattle guard. The park staff said that was incorrect and they would allow horse trailers into the park. (Note: The staff was unprepared for some of these questions as they weren’t aware it had been in issue in the past, so we (probably me) will have another meeting direct with the park staff to discuss locations and safety etc.

2. Jackie asked what the restrictions on horses/equestrian use in the park was. The only significant thing was not to have the horses drink or be in the lake, but that it was mainly an “At your own risk” issue. If your horse gets bogged down in the lake, then it’s your fault not the lake’s problem. Again we may need to have some discussions on safety and use and help create a set of rules.

3. Trail use: We discussed the trail use and the park staff indicated that the trails development would be non-motorized multi-use. And we are welcomed to assist in developing trails and providing input to the park.

So what does this all mean for us? Well, the development of a “Friends” group outside of the state financial control means that we as a group can fund the projects that are important. We as a “group” can help develop trails, the camping areas, bring in events to the park as fund raisers etc. So if you like to ride and your spouse likes to fish or hike, you can help the park develop both resources.

We can do this in a couple of ways.

1. We can join the “Friends of Bluewater Lake” and have direct input as the project priorities and development of equine inclusive facilities.

2. We can assist as the Back Country Horsemen Chapter, and have indirect input and aid to developing the trails.

3. Or we can do a little of both.

I’m not saying that everyone has to join either association, but if we have at least one equestrian representative in the “Friends” group working from the inside and a few working from the BCH side, we could help develop an awesome camp site and equestrian friendly facility.

I don’t know how many of you have ever been to the El Caballo Lake State Park down in T or C, but they have an awesome campsite that is multi-use and equestrian friendly. It’s mainly used for large groups with a pavilion in the center and the campsites circling like spokes from a wagon wheel. It had water and electric hook ups at each site as well as room for the large trailers and horses. I’d love to see something like that developed at Bluewater Lake.

There will be another meeting set up in November (around the 17^th or 18^th) (date not set in stone yet) to organize the “Friends” association and to elect board members. It will be held they believe again at the Cibola County main office and hopefully in the large conference room as it won’t be competing for space with the commission meeting.

More details as they come.

It's fall on the farm and other stuff

2015-10-24T10:54:00.000-06:00

Halloween is coming up soon and fall is here. Ladybug has just come back from the vet and she's doing well. She had a uterine infection and needed an infusion of antibiotics. The vet suspects that's the reason she didn't become in foal earlier this year. This is also a little bit of a lesson in vets. A vet might be good as several things, but maybe not every thing. In this particular case, I had Ladybug checked at the beginning of the breeding season this year. I had requested a culture on her even though she'd never had a foal before. The culture came back negative. Then I had her bred and she was ultra sounded three more times over the course of the summer. The first vet didn't know why she might not have gotten pregnant.

When I took her to the equine reproduction specialist, he knew almost immediately from the ultra sound that she had fluid in her uterus. I'm not saying the first vet did a bad job, but it just goes to show that experience in a particular aspect is important.

So Ladybug is now hopefully cleared up. She's gotten her antibiotics and hopefully she'll be ready to breed in the spring.

Dream is still lame and I've been riding Topper instead. Topper is coming along well despite being pretty green. Hopefully the miles on her will help settle her down.

And as a special treat I've created a 50% off coupon for a copy of the e book for The Horse That Haunts Dreams over at smashwords

Promotional price: $1.50
Coupon Code: AT29K
Expires: November 30, 2015

Continental Divide Trail Ride

2015-10-08T14:53:00.000-06:00

2015 Continental Divide Ride

Come join us for a beautiful fall ride at Continental Divide on Nov. 7^th, 2015.

We will ride out at 10:30 am and ride for about 2 hours. We will have lunch in camp, so bring your lunch and something to share with the group. There is no water up there, so bring water for your horse.

There is plenty of room at the trail head to park trailers, and an easy turn-around. There is also plenty of room to camp, so you may want to come early and camp Friday night or stay Saturday night too.

It is high (about 7500 ft.) so it will be chilly. Dress accordingly. Also wear bright colors, as there may be hunters out there.

Directions to the trail head are as follows:

Follow I -40 towards Gallup. Take exit 47 at Continental Divide. Turn South from the exit and then turn right. You will pass a building with a blue roof ( used to be a Stuckey’s) on the left. Go 0.2 miles and turn left onto FR 464. You will go over a cattle guard and onto a one lane paved road. Follow this road for 3.8 miles. At 3.3 miles you will go through a gate into USFS land. There are some corrals on the left. Turn left here to the parking area. There are flat areas on the right that are good for camping.

There is a gas station and a shop at Continental Divide where you turn off I-40.

If you have questions, or you need a weather report on the morning of the ride, call

Jackie @ 870-4671 or Ken @ 870-4670

This ride is hosted by the Zuni Mountain Trail Riders and the Back Country Horsemen of NM – Northwest chapter. We welcome interested trail riders who want to join us.

Continental Divide Equestrian Trails

1. Radar Hill Lookout Loop. This loop starts on the southeast side of the hill near the camping area and follows the old paved road to the top of the hill. There is an open area at the top were you can take photos of the valley below. Then you can follow the road back around the northwest side of the hill back down to one of two connector roads. 0.6 miles

2. Connector to Rim Road- An old dirt road that connects to the Road 1 or to Rim Road. 0.4 miles

3. Rim Road- An old two track road. 0.4 miles to the Rim Loop road.

4. Rim Loop- Follows the edge of the cliff and dead ends at a private property fenceline. 0.3 miles round trip.

Rim Road and Rim loop total mileage 0.7miles

5. Off the Rim- Trail is unmarked and undeveloped. We just followed the edge of the rim back to a safe place to descend into the valley. 0.5 miles

6. Road 1 Currently existing USFS road leaving the west end of the parking areas down the hill and into the valley. 1.2 miles to junction with Easy Loop

7. Shortcut- Additional two track trail connector between Road 1 and Easy Loop 0.4 miles

8. Easy Loop- Follows designated USFS road to junction with East Road. 2.2 miles

9. Hill Climb- Follows old logging/two track trail until it fades out near the south end. Junction with East Road is not developed and difficult to locate. Does climb in elevation and has rocky climbs. 1.6 miles

10. East Road- Junctions with Road 1 at the bottom of the hill and heads east past the stock tank. Follows a designated USFS road past the junction with Easy Loop. Near the junction with Hill Climb, the road fades and the trail becomes undeveloped. Difficult to locate a junction with Hill Climb. 3.2 miles one way.

11. Lost Shoe Turnaround- Difficult rocky area. We didn’t ride much in this area after one of the horses lost a shoe 0.6 miles both ways.

12. Corral Trail- Two track trail with a small portion through private land around a livestock corral and joins with East Road. 0.6 miles

13. Homestead Road- Two track trail continues west from the junction of Easy Loop and Road 1. It zig-zags around some pretty rock formations and then follows an old railroad spur. You will see old rail road ties along the way. When you come to the gate/fence at the spring, you cross into State of NM land and then a short while later it cuts back into USFS land. You will see the remains of several cabins and or corrals along both sides of the road. 1.2 miles one way. So far I haven’t worked out a loop back from there.

Trail loops from parking area to down Road 1 to Easy Loop and back around to East Road then back up Corral Trail – 4.4 miles.

From parking area down either East Road or Road 1 to Hill Climb and back to Easy Loop then back to parking area – 7.2 miles. Keep in mind that the junction between Hill
Climb and East Road has not been marked or developed.

Burma Rd Tr 0206 Ride Report

2015-10-04T21:29:00.000-06:00

(Disclaimer: The sign does show a no horses sticker. Please note that this sign was vandalized and the No horses sticker was added after the sign was created. The USFS is aware of the issue and has said they will correct it. The funding to create this trailhead came from a grant from the State of New Mexico Natural Resources Division with the understanding that the only exclusion is motorized vehicles. So you should not come across anyone on an ATV or a motorbike.)

Burma Rd Tr 0206 Ride Report

Hilso Trails, Cibola National Forest

How to get there: From I-40 take exit 33 (McGaffey). The only way you can really go is south. The north side is a frontage road that goes east-west but not north. So go south just about 7 miles. You will pass the Ft. Wingate Boarding school and a small community. There is one gas/convenience station on the road in case you need anything.

Hilso Trailhead will be on the right (west) side of the road. It is well signed and easy to find. There is a small parking area and the usual USFS pit toilets in the parking area. For trailers, your best bet is to cross the second cattleguard on the forest road heading west. You will need to be careful though as the road does narrow quite a bit and can be difficult to travel in portions for horse trailers. There are camping/parking pull offs on both sides of the road so find a good spot for you and pull in. On the map above, the light grey lines that are between the Burma Rd Trail and the Stuck Truck Trail 0213 is the location of the USFS road. It WILL dead end and you cannot continue.

We pulled into one of the camp sites near the trailhead and rode down the USFS road until we came to the trail junction.

Then we rode the 2.8 miles of the Burma Road trail back to the USFS road near the trailhead.

The trail is well developed and easy to follow. You can’t miss the large rock trail markers, the typical USFS trail stakes and the “where you are” maps along the way.

Bring your friends and have a great trail ride.

After we reached the end of the trail, we went back down the road to our parked vehicles. We didn’t calculate the exact distance, but we believe the road distance to be about equal to the trail distance so the total ride is between five to six miles.

The trail elevation is approximately 8000 ft with up and down variations along the way. It is a relatively easy with gentle up and down slopes. There are no steep/difficult climbs or descents. I would grade the trail as an easy trail and suitable for even beginner riders.

Little Paws and Lion Hearts

2015-09-25T13:42:00.005-06:00

I received a copy of this cute little book in exchange for an honest review.

This is a collection of stories mainly about rescued Pekingese dogs and their owners. It is a fun little read about the dogs and their antics. The book also has several cute photos of the dogs and their owners. This book would be a good family friendly addition to the library of anyone interested in owning or rescuing a Pekingese dog. If your kids are dog lovers, this would probably be a nice little book for them to read.

If you are interested, check out the link below to find a copy.

Writing Prompts

2015-09-19T08:56:00.001-06:00

This morning in one of my writing groups, I found a writing prompt that I really liked. The prompt was this: Write one or more lines that is set in the place you live (use local land marks) and add a dragon.

So I wrote the following:

The old man looked up as the headline flashed across the TV screen:
BREAKING NEWS and the reporter started talking.

"This is Carson Jones reporting for KTRB News. I'd like to update you on the reported dragon situation." He looked up and scanned the skies. The camera panned to the sky as a large dark shape flew over their heads.

With a shaky voice, the man continued,"There are hundreds or thousands of them. Sightings have been reported all over as the creatures continue their flight westward. Laguna Pueblo has reported significant damage to their herds of sheep and cattle as the dragons have swooped in and grabbed the animals.

"We are now live at Sky City, the ancestral home of the Acoma. For the first time in over a thousand years, this city has failed to stop an invasion. The local residents are busy trying to put out the fires the dragons caused when they landed on the mesa top."

He paused again and scanned the sky again before continuing, "The flock of dragons has been sighted flying northwest toward Mount Taylor. KTRB news-copter is flying to the scene now. Stay tuned for more live coverage as the story unfolds."

More images flashed across the screen as the old man turned down the volume. He lay back in his hospital bed with a smile. His plan had worked. With his lifelong mission accomplished, he could die in peace knowing that his family was finally free.

The End.

I've been in a bit of a writing block lately and have a favor to ask. I saw another writing prompt that I need help with from you readers. The prompt is to have a friend give you two seemingly unrelated sentences and those will be the first line and last line of a story. So if you would like to see me try and write a story, send me a first line and a last line, and I'll try to put them together.

Congratulations to the Goodreads Giveaway winners!!

2015-08-24T11:40:00.000-06:00

I've been given the final list of winners from Goodreads for the author signed copies of The Horse That Haunts Dreams.

Winners

Glenn K. of Florence, WI
Verity W. of Portland, OR
Steven D. of Calgary, Alberta, CA
Beth S. of Irmo, SC
Caitlin K. of Annandale, New Jersey

I'm signing and packaging up the books and preparing to mail them out this week.

Thank you (all 500 of you) who entered the giveaway.

Amazon Giveaway!

2015-07-24T20:17:00.002-06:00

I'm doing a second giveaway. The first one I posted at Goodreads will be for a signed copies. This one at Amazon is just for the book, not signed. Check out the link below if you'd like to enter for a chance to win.

The Horse That Haunts Dreams Giveaway!

Book Giveway

2015-07-22T18:41:00.000-06:00

I'm hosting a book giveaway on Goodreads. If you are interested in winning one of the available five author signed copies follow the link to sign up.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

The Horse That Haunts Dreams

by Anna M. Larson

Giveaway ends August 22, 2015.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter Giveaway

Had fun at the Forth of July Parade!

2015-07-10T18:31:00.000-06:00

Before the Parade

During the Parade

And finally The End

The Horse That Haunts Dreams

2015-06-28T19:53:00.001-06:00

I've put the e-book version of The Horse that Haunts Dreams up on a few new websites. You can find it here at Smashwords and at OmniLit. The book will now be available in a few more ebook formats. You can also still find it at Amazon in both ebook and paperback formats.

I've got nothin'

2015-04-08T11:38:00.001-06:00

It has been almost a year and the other day a writing prompt came up that motivated me to write this poem.

“I’ve got nothin’,” I said

as I looked out over the pile that

was my clothes, my house, my bed.

It broke my heart

to think of great-grandma’s

antique teacart.

“I’ve got nothin’,” I cried

when I found the body

of my cat who had died.

I see nothing but ash

as we throw the remains of

all my stuff in the trash.

The place still smelled of smoke

but as we cleaned

I realized I was not broke.

I had nothing that day

but over the course of a year

life has found a way.

I was at the end of my rope

until the new house

filled me with hope.

New Mexico Brand inspections

2015-02-04T11:45:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I had the brand inspector out to replace the state required hauling permits on all the horses and the mule. The State requires that you show proof of ownership on your livestock and horses before transporting them. Since the house burned down, I have been busy doing other things, but I needed to get these permits so we can go on trail rides and other competitions. I was able to replace one set of registration papers on the three Appaloosa mares, but I didn't have anything on the mule. I had my mom write up a letter that she sold me the mule way back in 1993. Yes the mule is that old. She was born May 3, 1993. Anyway the only other thing I have as proof of ownership is the book I wrote.

Since the last half of the book is basically about the mule with photos and all. I gave a copy of it along with the letter from my mom. I got in return, a hauling permit for my mule.

I bet this is the first time that a brand inspector has been given a book to show proof of ownership for a horse or mule before.

Nice Review

2015-01-09T18:33:00.002-07:00

I received a nice review for my book. Even though the reviewer gave it a 2 out of 4 stars because she wanted to read a more detailed horse facts and descriptions, she still gave pretty high praise for other parts of the book. To read the full Official Review: The Horse That Haunts Dreams click here
Things like:

"The writer’s ability to enthrall the reader with clever wording and descriptive imagery is enchanting. In addition, the story has touching moments that will engage the reader. One always has a sense of Larson’s pain and joy while she recalls her memories."

And

"As an added bonus, there is a second part to the book that involves a “monster” of a mule who Larson lovingly calls the Shy monster. These short chapters were a treat to read. You’ll have to read the book to know how the Shy monster created chaos, thus getting her name. The author shares pictures that anyone will find amusing. I myself had a few laugh out loud moments. The author intentionally separates the two parts of the book which I found ingenious. In this way, the two stories flowed effortlessly."

Anyway I'm a happy camper tonight. That just made my day.

wood stove install

2015-01-06T18:03:00.002-07:00

Yesterday we had to make a mad dash to get the last boxes of stone to finish off the backing for the wood stove.

The stone company called us on Wednesday Dec 31st at about 10:45 in the morning to inform us that the stone we ordered had come in. Then they told us they would be closing at noon. It's a 2 hour drive for us to get there so we wouldn't make it that day. They also said they'd be closed the rest of the week and the next time they would be open was January 5th. Then we got a call from the Wood stove installer. He scheduled to come out on January the 6th. Our wall looked like this as the stone company had miscalculated the amount of stone we would need.

But we were able to get our stone yesterday and get it all set up so now this morning it looked like this:

The wood stove crew arrived later in the morning and this evening, the space looks like :

And now we have the first fire in our new stove in the new house!!

I'm so glad we finally got a replacement wood stove. Now I'm going to be busy cutting wood for the fire.

I really hate

2014-12-26T14:12:00.000-07:00

Keith and I bought some furniture to add to the new house, but now all we are doing is fighting with the seller to replace it because it was delivered damaged.

I found this wonderful horse themed furniture with green accents. Oh boy how can I turn down both green AND horses. LOL. I couldn't, however now all I have is damaged furniture. They did come in boxes and the boxes appeared undamaged, but as soon as we opened it, we saw this:

The hinges on the door of this cabinet are completely damaged. One hinge is broken in two and the other is ripped out of the wood. but that's not the only damage. the top was almost ripped off and one of the legs is broken.

To get an idea of what it would look like all put together, it should look more like this only with the door in place.

The second cabinet was less damaged. Only a portion of the corner of top was broken.

So it looks a little better and is more easily repaired than the first, but still we received to damaged pieces of furniture and can't get the company to respond to our complaints.

Hopefully the Better Business Bureau will be able to get them to correct the issue and we get a resolution soon.

Painted Ponies

2014-12-25T15:28:00.004-07:00

Before the fire, I had several Painted Ponies that were destroyed. I wanted to purchase back some of the models that I'd lost and I've been given a few for Christmas. My problem now is in the display because they come in "lefties" and "righties". I have all of these Cornices ( I think that's the right word) over the top of all of my windows, and they make a great displace place for my Painted Ponies. But I think I'm going to need to buy several more ponies. I will probably need to put the "lefties" over one window and the "righties" over the other window.
Right now they are all together:

But as you can see I only have the two that face left and a whole bunch that face right. I've put them like that for now to balance out the numbers, but do you think I can justify buying another 4 "lefties" and move those remaining to "righties" to the other side?

What do you think? I think I need to get shopping. LOL

Trying to find replacement dishes.

2014-12-20T13:53:00.000-07:00

I used to have all Blue Willow dinnerware in the old house, but since I'm forced to start over, I wanted something different. I've been looking for horse related dinnerware for a while.
The problem is that none of it is economical.
I really like this:

But a place setting for 4 people is over $400.00 and as I've been searching, I find that is actually not bad expense wise compared to others. The serving dishes are available separately.

I also found this one:

But it doesn't have any additional place settings available such as platters and serving dishes etc.
We had ordered something similar to this:

and we ordered an 8 place setting with additional serving dishes and canisters and a cookie jar etc. Basically everything we would need. But the company that makes them has become unreliable and the company we purchased them from hasn't been able to provide us with the dishes. So we are still searching.

I've been looking at these plates:

and these:

and

and these are really my favorite:

As you can see I have expensive tastes in dinnerware. I still haven't decided which one I'll finally go with and for now we have a set of four plain green stoneware plates that Keith's mom brought from a thrift store in Massachusetts.
So if anyone knows of some really cool looking horse related dinnerware available for sale, please let me know.

New House Part 2

2014-12-19T10:24:00.000-07:00

Here are some of the other things we've done in the new house. I wanted light in the master bathroom, but didn't want the fully exposed window or curtains. The house came with mini blinds through out the house including the master bath, but I don't like those and will be working on replacing them as we go along. For the bath though, I thought it would look cool with some stained glass window treatments. So I was shopping at Amazon again and found this.

I wasn't sure how it would look and I didn't want to buy too much of it so I only go one and it fit one side of the bathroom window quite well. So now I'm off to get a second one for the other side of the window. Then I'll have light an privacy and when I want to look out the window, all I have to do is open it. This is how the window looks with just the blinds.

Then we put up the stained glass film. I've left the blinds up for now because until we get the second side done, we still need a little privacy. But I think it looks really cool.

We also had an old dresser that came from Keith's family in Massachusetts that was being stored out in the shed because we didn't have room for it in the old house.

It needed a little restoration work because that top was not the original. It was supposed to have a marble top to it. We took it down to a local woodworker who glued some parts back together and found us a granite top to put on it.

We had planned on using it in the guest bedroom, but once we found the other furniture for the room, it became obvious that the dresser just wouldn't fit in with the other decor.

We also didn't have any type of TV stand or entertainment center so we decided to move the dresser to the living room and re purposed it as the entertainment center. The drawers work very well to hide the DVD's we have been re acquiring, and right now there is also room to store some of the extra pillows and throws that I use to help keep warm.

New House

2014-12-18T09:36:00.000-07:00

In less than a year, we have gone from this.

to this:

Well as you can tell we finally have a new house. Here they are moving it on to our foundation.

Then just as soon at they had it all put together and at least water tight, it came a gully washer.

We finally got it all ready for living in.

Then we started filling it up with all the new stuff. We knew that we wanted to put in a new wood stove because we always have a power outage during the year and need some type of back up heat. So Keith started building the hearth for the wood stove. He even built a cardboard replica of the size of the wood stove to use as a guide.

Right now we are stuck at partly finished, because we didn't order enough stone. I think the guys at the stone company didn't compute my request right. I told them we were going all the way up the wall, but they only calculated for the lower portion as that is the only amount required for protection. So we had to order another box and we are waiting for it to come in.

While we were waiting on that, I found this wonderful tile on sale at Amazon and just had to buy it.

So Keith went to work on it and now I have a really awesome backsplash behind my stove. The smaller edge tiles we found at Home Depot. I think they accent the main tiles really well.

Now we are finally in and enjoying our new home. It doesn't feel as strange as it used to and it's way better then living in the camper trailer. I still miss things daily. I go to look for something and then realize, that was the other life in the other house. But it's getting better and I have new stuff now.
I'm thankful that we've been fortunate enough to get everything taken care of as easily as we had. I can't imagine the horrors of having to go through something like this with out homeowners insurance. While we were living in the camper trailer provided by my mom, I watched the news several times about others who also lost about as much as we did. We didn't really get much in the way of community support. Not like others. Almost every thing we did was on our own or family support. But we had insurance and that covered most things.
Things I've learned from this experience:
1. Don't let your homeowners insurance lapse when you pay off your mortgage. We had made the final mortgage payment in March and Keith was waiting for the release of lien documents to take to the insurance. I don't know if was intending to drop the insurance, but since we were still waiting on documents, we were still covered and paid up. The insurance covered the full coverage on the house.
2. Contents- Make sure to update your contents insurance regularly if you pick up anything like family heirloom antiques or extra guns, or if you have a lot of jewelry. We only had a contents insurance for $39,000 but in the end turned over a list that contained nearly $75,000 in items. Many antiques from my dad's side of the family, all of my silver jewelry (I was completely shocked to learn that I had accumulated over $10,000 in jewelry alone) and all of our guns. As we were set up to do mounted shooting competitions, we had accumulated around $27,000 in guns and ammo for competitions. However since we hadn't updated our contents insurance, we are still fighting with the insurance company as they have "depreciated" our items down to only $29,000 and apparently aren't interested in paying out the full value of the contents insurance.
3. Jewelry- If you have any type of plastic container for your Jewelry, Get them out of it NOW! I had a large plastic box that I kept much of my jewelry in because it was easily portable and easy to use for travel. Well it melts ALL over your jewelry and entraps your items in a horrible blob. The jewelry that survived the best was in regular jewelry boxes from the fine jewelry stores and in surprisingly also some of my wooden jewelry boxes. I did go out and purchase a pottery jewelry box after the fire that I'll be keeping some thing in now.
4. If you have guns and ammo, get fire proof safes AND metal ammunition cans. We had one set of plastic ammunition cans that we had gotten at a Friends of the NRA dinner once. The rest of the ammunition was all in US military grade metal cans. None of the ammunition actually survived the fire, but almost all of the ammo in the military cans stayed in the cans. The rounds in the plastic cans when everywhere.
Well that's about it for this round. See ya later.

Published in nook format

2014-12-16T14:27:00.000-07:00

The Horse That Haunts Dreams is now available in nook format for those of you who don't have a kindle.
If you are interested, you can find it here at Barnes and Noble.com.

IN other news, we finally got our new house after the fire. We have replaced most of the furnishings but we haven't replaced the wood stove yet. Hubby is working on the stonework in the corner where the wood stove will go and we are waiting on the certified installer to come install it.
Otherwise, things are looking up on the house front and I'm back to working on some writing projects also.