Lemon Sharks on Steroids? :)

These past few months Justin has been having a heck of a time fishing. He's caught very little and the sharks he has caught have been 3-5ft in length.

This past Saturday Justin and a few of his buddies headed off to Oak Island to shark fishing. The boys like fishing down there because the beaches face a direction so the water is a little different.

Well they must've been in the right place at the right time because they have a phenomenal day fishing. All the sharks caught were Lemon Sharks...Justin caught one of these ornery buggers a couple months ago. His was excited about that little guy; but today, I believe all three of them caught a shark that was OVER 9ft.

Anyhow, below are a couple pics of Justin and his fish.

Mine and Grayson's Success Story

One of the regional coordinators for the United States Equine Rescue League asked me to write a success story about me and Grayson. It's probably pretty dorky coming from some one else's perspective but eh, what the heck. See my story below...

I joined the Bethany College Equestrian Team my sophomore year of college; I had never taken a formal riding lesson. I quickly realized the power of horses when it comes to therapy and my sanity. I often attribute my 3.9 GPA to the horses. For several years I rode other people’s horses. While I’m grateful for their generosity, I knew there was nothing like owning a horse. I wanted that.

Every day I took time to browse through horse ads on Craigslist, Petfinder and really any site with horses for sale. I was really picky but I knew I would know when I found the one. I was right. I spotted the little gray horse on the USERL website. He had three white stockings and a white blaze; his personality just jumped out and grabbed my attention.

On a whim I e-mailed the USERL; I didn’t even know where I would keep him. I received a response and made an appointment to visit. Meeting him in person just sealed the deal for me. The first thing I noticed was his gentle eyes. I got all my ducks in a row and was approved for adoption on a Friday morning. That same afternoon I took my car to the shop for some routine maintenance. It turns out my old car needed $800 just to be road safe and I had a hole in my frame. I needed a new car.

I cried over a horse I had met one time. Everyone told me there would be other horses but it didn’t make me feel any better. I moped around and resented my new car until I got sick of feeling bad for myself. I dove into my finances, determined to find the money for my dream horse. I did and e-mailed to see if he was still available; he was but someone else was looking at him and had first dibs. My heart sank. I’d lost my little horse again. To my surprise, the other person decided she didn’t want him and he was mine.  To this day, I still wonder why anyone would turn him down.

Before Grayson, I had very little experience with young horses. But I figured let’s take it one day at a time, after all we have the next 20 some years to spend together. I teach him to be a gentleman and he teaches me patience. Who knows what the future holds for the two of us and to be honest, I don’t care as long as he greets me with his deep whiney after a long day at the office.

Waves from Hurricane Bill

Hurricane Bill passed by the Carolinas this weekend; even though he was hundreds of miles away, we still felt some of his effects. The interesting thing was the ocean was relatively calm until the waves came close to shore...this is when they got huge!

PS This was the first time I have ever seen a surfer actually surf :)

Everyone Needs a Little More Ashley

This cat is crazy. She is 16-1/2 and you probably wouldn't be able to tell if her hips weren't so skinny and "old cat like."

She wakes us up everyday before the alarm goes off. Will do anything for 10 treats (that she eats so fast I don't think she even chews them). Looooooves her cat nip. Has one toy mouse she plays with every single day...that's the only toy she has ever played with. Loves anything canvas. Sharpens her claws (she's declawed but don't tell her) using sand paper on a regular basis.

Crazy. Ashley.

There Are Trees at the Beach!

The neighborhood where the barn is located is beautiful land with tons of huge live oaks and even dirt roads. I think most of the land has been passed down through families and not sold off for developments (thankfully). Below are just a few shots of the pretty scenery. The funny thing is this property is probably less than a half mile from the intracoastal waterway!

The Polka Dot Pony -- My Pasoloosa?

You guys probably know by now that I rescued Grayson. He was found wandering the streets on a rural North Carolina road when he was just two-years-old. Because of this, we have no idea what breed he is. The United States Equine Rescue League advertised him as a Paso Fino cross. I know next to nothing about Pasos except they are considered gaited and their gait is very distinct. Grayson is a very smooth mover but he does not have a Paso gait. I've asked why he was considered part Paso but no one can give me answer. I'm told,"if we don't know the breed of the horse we'll consider him grade."

I've been told that he looks like a Tennessee Walker and an American Saddlebred...but I can only go with what I'm told. So he's definitely not full Paso but what is he crossed with? Definitely not a quarter horse...too fine boned. Thoroughbred? Doesn't really have a t-breds head! In the past few weeks I've started to think he is part Appaloosa! There are several reasons for this thinking.

1. First and foremost, Grayson is developing polka dots all over his body!! They appear really quickly and it's quite cute. See pics below! When I first adopted him he was dotless:)

2. It's odd when you can't see the white around his eyes...he always looks surprised. This is a common appy trait.

3. The poor guy has next to no forelock and a very thin mane and tail...also an appy trait

It doesn't matter either way but it's a fun mystery!

At any rate, I hope he continues to become polka dotted :)

His first dot

3 and 4...the 2nd is on his cheek

number 5?

Little Sleeping Beauty?

On weekends and occasionally a week night, Grayson can be found in the pasture. "The field" as the barn girls call it, is a strip of land by my friend Jo's house (also on the waterway). All four horses get along in the field and they all love the grass...it's like their weekend vacation away from the barn.

For the longest time the horses would not sleep in the field...they'd just graze all day and all night. We would bring the them back up to the barn and they'd literally drag their feet and their eyes would be really heavy. Slowly but surely the horses got comfortable with the field and they realized they weren't prey animals...meaning they could let their guard down.

Grayson did just that. One day Jo spotted (from her back porch...lucky duck) Grayson laying down in the field!!! How cute?! I can't believe I missed it. Anyhow, she was thoughtful enough to try and sneak a few shots. She couldn't get really close because he'd get up but she got enough for proof. You can click on the pictures below and they'll get a little larger.

My 900lb Dog Named Grayson

Some Sharks Caught Last Weekend

Justin's Lemon Shark

Those Things Are Mean

Using The New, Fancy Reel

Cute, Little Blacktip

Apparently This Is The

Cool Picture To Take

Yes, This is a Picture of Carolina Beach

Grayson Gets a Haircut

When I rescued Grayson he had a typical horse mane...long and shaggy. This is pretty normal for western horses but many English horses have shorter manes that have been pulled. A shorter mane is ideal for braiding which is actually a requirement for many English competitions. Since I ride English and intend to show Grayson I decided to shorten his mane. Cutting a mane is definitely a faux pas and it's usually quite obvious when a mane has been cut. The best way to shorten a mane is to pull it. The process of pulling a mane sounds quite painful but most horses aren't bothered by it and luckily Grayson wasn't.

To pull a mane you grab a small section of mane, wrap the longer hairs around a mane pulling comb and just pull. Believe it or not, the hair actually comes out pretty easily.

I think he looks pretty sporty:)

Below are some other recent pics of my pony. He's definitely put on some weight and his ribs are barely visible anymore. On the Henneke body conditioning scoring system he has been scored a 5 which is considered ideal; 1 is really thin and 9 is extremely fat.

Justin's First Chopper Blue of the Year

Justin named him Choppy -- how original

Yes Mom...that is my bath scale :)

He plans on shark fishing with the head and eating the rest

Grayson Came Today!

I've posted a couple pics of Grayson and his new friend Flash but you can find all of my pics of Grayson on Flickr.

Here's Another Cute Pic of Grayson

This picture is probably a year old or so...he's beefed up a bit since then. Still cute as a button though.

Grayson Is Coming Home

I learned last week that I was approved for adopting Grayson. As of today, his foster Mom is planning to bring him down on Friday, May 1...I even took the day off :)

Goodbye Daphne, Hello Varuka

Well my whole car debacle came to an end a couple weeks ago. After some thinking and weighing of pros and cons...I bought a 2009 Nissan Versa. Love, love, love this car! Super fun to drive! Anyhow, see pics below.

Varuka nexted to Daphne

The front...obviously :)

Me waving from my new car!

And it looks like I'll have the best from both worlds. I punched some numbers and it looks like I will be able to get a horse. I submitted my adoption application for Grayson...if all works out well he'll be coming home during the first weekend in May :)

Life Lesson of the Week

So Friday morning I received an e-mail saying that I could apply for Grayson...apparently the other woman didn't want him. That same day, I took my car in for some regular maintenance stuff. I called the shop at around 2:30p.m. to find out my car is apparently a rolling death trap (maybe a little bit of an exaggeration). It needs a tune up (spark plugs are carbon fouled), front pads and rotors plus back drums...one of them is apparently cracked. The guy wouldn't even touch my fuel filter because the gas lines running to the filter were so fragile. And to top it off, my car's sub frame is rusted through. So needless to say, I'm in the market for a new car.

I was sooooo bummed because of the horse but at least it happened before I got him. I'm not giving up on having my own horse...I just need a few months and some more side work.

Justin and I went to look a cars today. I'm looking for something that is a couple years old and known for it's quality. I've been digging on the Mazda3s for the past couple years so I knew I wanted to test drive one of those. The Nissan dealership here in town had three, so we stopped there.

The salesman there quickly steered me to a 2007 Nissan Versa that was priced at $12,000. He said that the Versas are great little cars and have awesome gas mileage. This is also a car that my Dad pointed out last year...but back then I quickly dismissed it because it was a hatchback :)

Well this little Nissan's battery was dead so I test drove a new one and what a peppy little car!!! Super fun to drive and I could actually see because I sat up pretty high. When we got back I drove the Mazda3 and unfortunately I didn't like how it felt...very stiff!

The salesman jumped the 2007 Versa and I took it for a test drive. Loved the little thing!! The picture to the left is a 2007 Nissan Versa in the same color that I looked at but it's not a picture of the actual car.

We'll see what this week brings. But so long Daphne...you were a good hunk of metal :)