Holy Mercy!!!

Wow what a week!! We are so busy with gettting the yearlings ready for the 2 year old sale! Packing and checking and shopping and fixing things and trying to ride the 2 horses that need to be ridden! But I am doing fine. We leave for Jo-burg early Monday morning and I am excited for that! Rachel and I should have a great time! I will take lots of pictures. I have sent some to my parents so if you would like to see them, ask them to e-mail them to you. Well I better run now! If you want to know anything, just ask my parents and if they don't know the answer, they will ask me.

SA Latest

Hey all.
I am doing fine-kind of. I have an in-grown toenail and it is quite infected. Rachel and her mom are helping me treat it and Rachel has done two 'surgeries' on it. I didn't want to tell them at first because I thought it would go away. But it got to where I couldn't really walk in my riding boot and I couldn't tack up GaJa. So I told them sometime last week and now we are getting it to be better. Well about half an hour ago, I was bringing the drink basket over to the office and I missed the step from the Players house. I really don't know how I missed it, but I did. Well my foot jammed HARD into the front of my shoe and I literally almost passed out from the pain. I managed to make it to the office and Rachel saw me and was like WHAT HAPPENED??!! So I told her and she was like ok just sit there and let it calm down. Well after a few mins it wasn't calming down and I was still shaking from the pain so she said ok go get a cold drink and take these pain pills. So I have and now it has taken the edge off. Other than that, things are going great. Rachel, Ryno, Alana and Mr. Player are in a meeting right now so I am in charge of answering phone and taking messages. Then after the meeting, Rachel and I are going riding. I get to ride my boy GaJa! I hope I can get my riding boots on. Then tomorrow we have to get a bunch of stuff done here at the barn and then Thursday we are going into Colesberg to shop for the sale. Then Friday we have to put everything together and probably put it into the horse float that the farm owns, and Saturday we will...idk be busy I guess, then Sunday we might eat lunch with Mr. Player (but who knows), then Monday the big 18 wheeler horse float will come around 7:30 am and we will load the yearlings, then someone will drive the farm horse float and the grooms will go on a bus and Rachel and I are taking Ryno's baakie because Rachel's baakie is too old to make the trip to Jo-burg. We will hit the road around 8 or 8:15 am I suppose. It is so exciting! It will be sad to see the yearlings go because I have gotten really attached to them but they need to go and run fast and then come back here to stud! It is exciting! Well that is all for the moment!

Hello from SA!

Alright. I am here in SA and have a moment that I can get on a computer so I thought that after e-mails I would blog. So a lot of things have happened. I went hunting with one of the farm managers, Ryno. He had this really loud gun and he shot is right over the passenger side of the baakie which is where I was. So then my ears were really hurting but he got out to sneak up on the animal. Then when he shot it, I-Jay and I had to drive the baakie over to get it. When we got it and were heading home, the driver side back wheel went down in a ground squirrel hole. Well I-Jay gunned it and and then the passenger side front wheel went down into a ground squirrel hole and it was way worse than usual because we were going fast and I end up almost flying through the windshield. So that was a near death experience. Then later on that day, Ryno and his son Zac and I went riding. We went from King Barn to Rietfontein and that is about 9 or 10 km. Well my horse got spooked at one point. You know those cartoons where the horse goes one way and the rider is just left in the air? Yeah well that is what it felt like. Except I stayed on somehow. So that was near death experience number 2. We cantered most of the way there and I was in a western saddle so my knees were a little sore but I didn't think anything of it. Well the we get to Rietfontein and we look at my horse and decide that he is too worn out and old to make it back all in one day. So little Zac offers to let me ride his horse back. So I do and Ryno rides his horse back. Well they ride endurance competitively and I don't. Well endurance saddles are different and you ride with your stirrups really long and that was really tough for me because I really had to grip with my already sore knees. Well we stayed at a fast paced canter the whole way back because both of the horses were very fit. Well then I get back to Rachel's house and take a look at my knees. They are both severely bruised and the skin is missing and it hurts like HECK! So I walked around for a couple of days like a cowboy because I couldn't let anything touch my knees. (All this happened in one day, mind you) Now they are better but there is still a lot of bruising and the skin still isn't all there. But I can ride still and that is the most important thing. It has been about 5 in the morning and warming up to around 18 or 20 everyday. (Celsius) So it has been really nice! Rachel and I ride in the afternoons and it is perfect weather! So that has been a brief re-cap of just one day and who knows what else I will get do! Enjoy!

Adventures and a farewell

Yesterday I rode my horse for the last time before I leave. It was fun except for one mishap. I was riding down a trail and saw a thin branch looking thing with leaves on it sticking out in the trail. Well when we got to it. I moved my shoulder to try and avoid it, but instead hit it dead on with my shoulder. (I had my sleeves rolled up because it was hot!) Well what I didn't see until it was way too late, was that it was covered in thorns. So As I hit it dead on with my shoulder, I felt all the thorns. It hooked onto my shoulder and boy did it hurt! So I rode away in lots of pain, and looked down. I saw three thorns in my shoulder and thought that was pretty good because it felt like there were about 20 in my shoulder. Well I untack and go into the house and get Mom to pull them out with the tweezers. Turns out, there were 5 in my shoulder. Holy cow it hurt! Then when she got them out, my shoulder where the thorns had been started swelling up. But all is well now!

Today at church was sad. I had to say goodbye to everyone until December. I got to be with the sunbeams again! I love them! They are so funny! Well this will probably be my last blog post for about 6 weeks, as I am leaving tomorrow. I am excited and nervous, but it is a good nervous.

Home Sweet Home!

Well I am back in SC now! I like traveling but coming home is great. I saw my horses, and they both ignored me since I hadn't seen them in a week. Silly girls! I unpacked, and packed again. It has just started to hit me that this time next week I will be on a plane headed to South Africa! I can't believe it!! I have so much to do! But it will all come together! (At least I hope so) Hopefully I will get to ride my horse this week before I leave! I am going to miss her and our adventures so much! But I know I will have many more by summer's end!

Adventures in KY!

Alright. So adventures have been many here in Kentucky. Seth went fishing at Grandpas farm. He got discouraged because the fish weren't biting. Alyssa then proceeds to get a 3lb bass and Seth looks at it and says, "There are only two things you can do with a fish, Either throw it back (said with a look like 'why would you do that'), or GRILL IT!!! He obviously liked the second one a lot better! Then we watched a parade on the third. The parade members threw candy at us. (Literally) Then later on my Grandpa commented that this was better than halloween because you just stood there and they brought the candy to you! lol He is so funny! We then went to a Minor League Baseball game and a fireworks show afterwards. There was this kid 2 rows in front of me and he would not stop whining! Holy cow! He wanted his mom to buy him something so she bought him a snow cone except it was in a bowl. He sat there and ate it and I thought, "Great! Now he will be happy!" But no. He sucked all the color out and started whining about how he wanted more colors! But he eventually got over himself. Then it turns out I was sitting beside a guy who served in his mission with Van Sun!!! It is a small world! Then today we went to church and I got to hold one of my friends baby!! He is ADORABLE!!!! When you stand him up on your lap, all he does is bounce and jump! He is so cute!!! He just loves to sit there and play! Then we came home and after lunch went down to the Locks! It was so cool to see how they do that and maneuver those huge barges! Now I am sitting out on the porch enjoying the weather and blogging. My mom got my grandmother a bird house for her birthday at a street fair. She promptly stuck it in the front yard. Seth was looking at it and said , "If I catch you a bird will you be happy?" He is so cute! Tomorrow it is 6 hours in the car back to SC and it also the week mark until I go to South Africa! I have tons of stuff to do and am tired about thinking how tired I am going to be! Well thats all for now!

Days in Kentucky

Yesterday I spent the day at my Grandpa's farm!! I learned how to work a baler! I also got a great tan, which I will loose in about a week (as daddy so nicely pointed out), but I am enjoying it while I can! Today I fell in love with Mini Coopers. But they won't pull a horse trailer, so they are out of the picture. I also got to see Eclipse on IMAX! Kentucky has IMAX and South Carolina doesn't, so Sara and I took advantage. It was awesome! We are going to King Fish tonight for dinner, so that should be fun!