Our first IEA meet - Oberlin, OH

We got to the hotel around 8 pm on Friday night and it didn't take long for Equestrian Girl and I to decide we were tired and really wanted to go to bed.  Much of the team that had drove in from Findlay had gone to dinner at a nearby restaurant - at 9:30 they were JUST getting done so we were glad to be in our PJ's and ready for bed.

The next morning, we were up early and ready to go.  Most of the mom's piled in my truck with me and the chairs we loaded in the back.  We left the girls behind with Coach Mark to supervise them getting hair and makeup done at the hotel before heading to the cold barn.

It was dark when we pulled up - about 7 am - and the driveway was crowded so we unloaded all the gear and then I drove the truck to a day care facility nearby to park as we were instructed.  The hayfield they usually used for over-flow parking was flooded from all the rains and although it was frozen at the moment, we weren't sure how much it might thaw out during the day and leave everyone stuck in the mud.

Walking back from the parking lot, the moon was just setting.

A few minutes later as I walked up to the barn (you can see the tiny lights on the buildings) the sun broke the horizon.  It was crisp and still and a beautiful morning.

Inside it was just cold.  The "audience" huddled in lawn chairs with blankets and hand warmers.

Equestrian Girl was in the second class - intermediate horsemanship.  She mounted up on her assigned horse and was one of the first ready to go as the sun started streaming in through the windows behind her.  She was freezing and Coach Mark ended up putting his coat on her for a few minutes until the other kids were ready to start.

The sun created crazy beams and shadows but it wasn't enough to hide our girl's great equitation.


Having mirrors on the walls gave her a quick chance to check herself when the judge wasn't looking.

She looked beautiful in her new horsemanship shirt.  Kelly Gross made the shirt, Cathy Pike did the airbrushing of the red stripes, and Equestrian Girl did all the rhinestones and the actual design.

Finally they were done and lined up to dismount for the next class to take over the horses.

And as Equestrian Girl hiked up her chaps, they announced she was #1!!!  Her first official IEA meet and she took first place in her class.  It had to be a good feeling.

Help.....

Anyone who has been to our house knows it's an old house.  Most of the first floor has been remodeled and modernized including the addition that was added around 1981.  We are just finishing up putting in new flooring and moldings in Equestrian Girl's bedroom which means the upstairs hallway will once again be free of furniture and clutter.  Which means I will once again be able to see the horrible walls and ceiling that so desperately needs to be done.  Most modern contractors that have seen it say to tear it all out and start over.  This will be a huge messy job and very likely expose us to asbestos.  A friend who has worked on plaster restoration on old houses has suggested a restoration method that includes stretching thin cotton sheets over the walls and then plastering over them - this would "flatten" the walls and supposedly use less plaster than just going over the existing stuff.  I'm having a hard time just understanding why someone would so this to the walls in the first place.

This is the ceiling in the hall where a strip of drywall tape has come loose and pulled away from the seam.

This is a low part in the stairway - just beyond that wood trim the ceiling goes to the roof.

 Looking down the hallway towards Motocross Boy/Man's room.

 More ceilings and walls covered in this horrible bumpy lumpy stuff.

If anyone has any great ideas or wants to volunteer to help....Please let me know!

Detroit Mornin'

Another Deeeetroit sunrise!  You can sort of see the big Christmas tree in lights on the tall Blue Cross building to the left but the sun hitting the top sort of wipes it out.  I really like the city early in the morning like this.  It's really very pretty from up high - 17th floor.  But it's still a sad city, even downtown where they try to keep it looking good.  You still see homeless people huddled together on benches before the sun rises and often sleeping on the streets over the steaming man-hole covers.  There's one man who begs from his wheel chair right out in the middle of the street.  When I'm driving the truck I'm so afraid of hitting him because he's down below where I can see him on the other side.  I creep by him so slow I often miss the light and go through on red.  Better a ticket than to run over the guy!

Mardi Gras!

Well not really but Equestrian Girl found this very cool mask at Pier One.  We actually found lots of cool stuff there and could have gone broke buying it all!

These boots were made for walkin'.....

Equestrian Girl and I went shopping for Christmas and the best things we found were boots for ourselves...funny how many of the dress boots in fashion right now are "equestrian" like boots.  There was even one pair with a tiny snaffle bit across the front.

Morris

Please tell me this cat doesn't look like Morris?

Trip to Detroit

Motocross Boy/Man has been asking to see my office since I moved to Detroit.  He's been in most of my other offices including Lansing but never Detroit.  Actually, he hasn't ever spent much time in Detroit except for going to a few Red Wings games and Ford Field for an indoor motocross event.  But the day after Thanksgiving, we made the trip.  It was an unusually warm, sunny day and perfect walking around the city.  As we drove under Cobo Hall coming in on the Lodge x-way, he was getting very excited.  When he got out of the truck, he practically ran towards the building he was so excited!  We had to do it right too.  We had to walk around and come in through the FRONT doors, not through the back like I usually do.

After we visited my office we went into the center of the RenCen where GM has a show room of their cars.  This is the one Motocross Boy/Man wants - a red Camero.

Later we had lunch in the atrium of the RenCen.  This is looking up through the glass ceiling at the buildings.

After lunch we took the People Mover train around the city and got out at Campus Martius to see the Christmas tree and ice skaters.  We also took a cruise through a tent that had set up with vendors and Motocross Boy/Man bought his sister a Christmas present.  With my money.

Walking back to the RenCen, we saw this Santa making a drug deal.  LOL!  Actually, he had just been cutting a pretty good rug a few moments before this and I have no idea what he was doing with the other two guys.

I guess the 3.5 miles we walked around the buildings and through the city wore the kid out - he wasn't in the truck more than a few minutes to drive home and he was sound asleep.