Prayers for Charlene

Today is a big day for my family. My Step Mom is having surgery to remove cancer. Please pray for her and our family as we go through this walk in our lives. I'm also praying that she ends up down here at MD Anderson as it is the #1 hospital in the nation for cancer treatment. I was relieved to hear she would do it if that is what her doctors recommend. I'm praying that do because I want her to have the best chance to not only live through this aggressive cancer, but to be amongst the best of the best! We are blessed to have this hospital in our 'back yard' and I want my family to take full advantage of it!


(This was written last night)

I am starting to believe this is my new life, my busy life. It seems like I don’t have time to breath until the weekend and even then it is limited. Last week was a perfect example.

Monday – I was home for a little while and then I went down the rode to meet our neighbors with Ryan. We didn’t get home til 8:30 or 9 and we still had to put Shelby to bed and then feed.

Tuesday I rushed home and then we went to a friend’s house so I could work Badger on the barrels and Ryan could rope. Again, we got home late. Shelby is such a trooper. She’s used to me putting her in her jammies and then she sleeps in the truck while we load horses and drive home. We then leave her in there with the truck running until we get the horses taken care of. I usually help Ryan feed and then go inside and put her to bed.

Wednesday was Rodeo Sweethearts practice. So, once again, rush home just to get ready to turn around and go back to Rosenberg. We were there til about 9 PM so Shelby fell asleep in her Jammies in the truck while we drove home and took care of horses.

Thursday I told Ryan I was doing nothing and that’s just what I did. I needed that break. I didn’t do too much after work on Friday either.

Saturday we drove to Hallettsville for a two day barrel race. We did ok, but Badger ran past the first barrel and lost some time and, probably, a nice, fat check. Oh well…at least it was clean and he’s running harder. Sunday morning I pulled him out to walk him since the stalls were real small and not a whole lot of room to move around. The stalls are not solid, so the horses can get to each other. At some point, I guess Badger got after one of the horses he could get to cause his back left leg was swollen a little bit. I put some of this clay stuff on it and then hydro’d to help draw the heat out. That helped, but by the time I had to run it was still swollen. I had a feeling he wouldn’t clock real well, but was up and ready to go. He ran REALLY hard, but did not set at all. Part of it was the same problem as Saturday and I’m sure the other part was he was hurting.

Saturday's Run - it's not very good, but thought I'd share anyhow...


I had a chance to win but needed someone to run 1/10 faster than anyone did the day before. The chances were slim, but I was hopeful. Unfortunately I didn’t have that kind of luck and I didn’t draw any checks this weekend.

Speaking of luck…I believe I might have used it all up on Sunday. As I was walking Badger and Shelby in her stroller, I had taken some pics of them with my iphone. I then put the iphone back in the cup holder on the stroller and walked the short distance to where our trailer was parked. I tied Badger to the trailer and then went inside the trailer to take a break from the heat and get Ryan up. I went out to get my iphone and it wasn’t there. Panic, frustrating, every emotion you can imagine was running through my body. I looked over and over the place where I had walked with no luck. I though surely noone walked through here and saw the iphone in my stroller. So, I asked our ‘neighbors’ who were parked next to us and sitting in chairs pretty much the whole time I was in our trailer. They hadn’t seen anything. So, with a last ditch effort and swearing if I don’t find it I’m done with cell phones…I walked up to the office to report it missing. I was quietly waiting in line and making my self sick over the loss of this phone when I heard a lady say something about turning in a phone and that she didn’t have one, but figured someone else would really miss theirs. I started almost shouting “That’s Mine! That’s Mine!!!”…I got my phone back and then hugged the lady two times I was so excited she had found it. All I can say is “Horse people, and, especially, barrel racers are AWESOME people!!!”

Around 3 pm on Sunday we left the barrel race and headed to Eagle Lake to spend some time with friends of ours. It was fun. We even went down to the river and didn’t get back til late. We left around 9 pm, and, once again, Shelby got to start her night in the car seat until we got home. She is such a trooper!

Speaking of our sweet traveling partner, she gets all the attention wherever we go. As we barrel race we see a lot of the same people on a regular basis. Everyone always compliments her and how she doesn’t fuss or cry. She is always content and happy. I feel so blessed that she is a joy to be around, not just for us, but for others. Shelby also enjoys all the attention they give her and let me tell you, she gets a lot of attention!

She also loves riding horses. Now, when she sees me on a horse, she gets all excited and squeals with the plans of getting to ride. Every chance she gets she takes it! This girl was born to ride! I can’t wait til she is big enough to have a pony to ride around on. I guess we’ll have to start looking next summer. Uh oh, that means one less horse for mom in the trailer! HA!

Today (Monday), I struggled with allergies and was pretty lazy til about noon. I then sucked it up and took some allergy medicine and got motivated. I cleaned out the living quarters of the trailer, mopped kitchen floor, cleaned living room floor and pulled up horses to ride. I decided to focus on the young ones so I pulled up cowgirl and Romeo. I had intentions to ride Smoke too, but that didn’t happen. Not enough time in the day or energy is this aging body! After I rode, I told Ryan Romeo is ready for him to start riding and doing the detailed stuff I don’t like to do or don’t have time to do…(side passes, sliding stops, etc) Cowgirl did well. She was a little more stubborn today than normal so I ended up working with her a lot longer than I had planned.

Well, off to another week. I will try to find some time to post pics of our growing Shelby. We have plenty to share, just no time to post and I can’t post from my iphone to here. So, if you have facebook you can see pictures there.

Oh, I almost forgot, Badger and I are still winning the Novice. We only have 4 more shows to go. We have some work to do this week once his leg feels better. He is running really hard, but not setting at all. I’m going to work on that this week. I think it’s time for a bit change. I need a little bit more ‘whoa’ to prepare for our turns. It is so hard to constantly be pushing the envelope, but I guess that is what makes the professional horses and barrel racers great! They can always find a solution and stay on top even if they are fighting it tooth and nail to the end. So, we may not be professionals, but we are determined to win that saddle. So, we too, will continue to fight to hold our own!