Week of HORRORS!

What a frightening week! It all started Saturday with the Halloween Gymkhana at the barn!Angelie on Sophie, Eva on the ground, and Sarah on her horse Barbaro, all watching the barrel races.Fast!!!Slow!!!! That's Kenny on Beau. Doesn't Beau look good for 22? He & Kenny are a good pair.Angelie on Sophie. Sophie is a Halflinger. Halflingers are light draft horses, not generally known for being barrel races. Thus the walk around the barrels.Andrea on Lexus. Andrea doesn't know that Halflingers don't do barrels. Neither does Lexus!Kenny, Beau and Kenny's dog in a quiet moment between classes.Little Louie is the son of Luis, the man who feeds and cleans. He's such a doll, and a good little horseman! He doesn't have a horse, so Marcie loaned Silhouette to him. We dressed her up as a cow, and he's a cowboy for the costume contest.Lisbeth, his sister, idolizes her big brother!Ranger got his feet done during all of the ruckus. He was supposed to be a zebra. I was going to paint stripes on him with white body paint. I was going to be a lion, but I didn't think it was wise to take him out with his injury. So, we'll do Halloween next year.This was Hippie Horse--check out the tie-dye socks and the Peace stickers all over him!Of course, he wasn't feeling very Peaceful!What Happens in Vegas Stays in Vegas.There's always a vampire and a bat around somewhere!

The bat even tried to fly!Alice, what are you and the White Rabbit doing?Just in case, the Lone Ranger and Tonto were there to save the day!

Wham! Pow! Bang! Dana and BATMAN!!!!Holy Capes, Batman!Close up of our cow and cowboy. Note the horns!Um, enough said. Poor Beau. Blue eye shadow? Lipstick? No wonder Mike is laughing!Cinderella with her Pumpkin Coach, and her ugly stepsister complete with a rat. Note the cheese!Pepperoni or veggie? Thick crust or thin? Sara and Barbaro are making dinner!Desperate Horsewives....Beau and Trish. Yes, that's a raspberry robe on Beau! They won SECOND PLACE in the contest! Hippie Horse won first, and Dana & Batman won third. Congratulations, Trish & Beau!Marci and Betty. Betty has a Halflinger and a mini. Both are trained to drive, and Betty zips around the property and onto the nearby trails in her cart.

It was snowing on the way to the airport Wednesday. I thought that the way the snow adhered to the poles was interesting. Looks like someone went a little nuts with icing, doesn't it?This is what the dungeon looks like. This is underneath the airport, underground. The ramp level is next, then above that is the concourse. No. Really. Pink velour? To wear on a flight? Why?Greg, don't read this part!

This is a bad day. Notice the difference in power settings between the left and right engines. This is a failure of the left engine. It was the start of my flight day Wednesday. It didn't get any better.The last flight of a United 737, from Chicago, as United has retired the entire 737 fleet. They went to Denver, then SFO or San Diego. The Captain retired that day, too. He's only ever flown the 737, and told UAL that the last day of the 737 would be his last day with the company. Tailwinds to you, Captain!Another bad day. See the ice? This is considered moderate icing. We had anywhere from 1-2" accumulating.Then my anti-ice systems failed. That's not good.We landed safely after declaring an emergency, though.

Then I got home to this! That lump is my tree. That's my truck, too.Look at the pile on my fence--almost 10"! Brrr....I have to head out for another fun day of flying, leaving in about an hour. I went out to the garage to get my snow shovel and guess what? It's frozen shut. Adversity breeds genius, however, so I had to improvise. Did you know that a MOP does a great job sweeping off a truck? It also doubles as a decent snow shovel. Who knew? I'm going to keep one in the truck, because you can stand far enough away to get snow off, and not get dusted!

Send warm thoughts!