Sunday, October 18, 2009

It's Not the Swine Flu (This Time)

This is my third post of the month. Woo-hoo! I'm on fire!

Hey, I tried posting a picture every day last month... I'm worn out. Give me a break!

But despite my lack of blogging, I have been busy.

Through the magical and mystical powers of Facebook, I caught up with a friend I haven't seen in 20 years! Heather and I showed our horses together, went to camp (with our horses) together and all around just had a ton of fun.
Heather and I had horses that tried to kill us were both crazy speed demons that didn't know the word "whoa". But that didn't stop us from risking certain death trying our best in the show ring even though we were always tied for last place. Oh and our horses LOVED each other. Ralph was the only horse Lady didn't make her mission to kill.
Then Heather called me one day and told me her parents had sold Ralph. I couldn't imagine how devastating that must have felt. And shortly after, I lost contact with her.

Flash forward 20 years... We e-mailed back and forth and I invited Heather out to the farm for a ride. So on Friday she came over, we saddled up and hit the trails. We had a great talk, laughed about our crazy antics as kids and caught up on the last twenty years. It was just one of those moments that make me grateful for life, grateful for friends and grateful to fabulous memories.


And speaking of great friends, I had plans for some Indian Food and a little shopping with our very own Bevers Friday night. But by 3pm the sore throat I had been trying to ignore, escalated into full body chills and a throbbing headache. I called Bev while shivering under my down comforter while wearing my winter jacket to regretfully bail out on our evening of fun. Damn germs!

Rewind a few days earlier: I've been horse trailer shopping for at least two months and haven't found exactly what I'm looking for. I had made a list of possible trailers and Joe and I even traveled last weekend to look at my #1 pick thus far. It was a 1997 Hawk 3 Horse for $9000. I had tried to negotiate for a lower price but she wasn't budging. So we looked at the trailer. It was OK... just OK.
So the other night I decided to look on eBay and voila! found my dream trailer! 2008 3 horse Hawk with a Buy It Now for $9990. This trailer retails at $17,000 so I bumbled around trying to remember my damn eBay password and after 20 freakin' tries, finally logged on and hit the BUY IT NOW button. Woot!

So Friday night, as I lay in bed pondering the possibility of having Swinethrax, the guy selling the trailer calls and said he can meet us in NY at 10:30 AM the next morning. Ugh. I agreed anyway. And went to bed..... and laid there wide awake, feeling like death. Luckily I didn't have to lay there too long since I had to pack up the family and hit the road before sunrise. Double ugh.

I was pretty impressed when we made the 4 hour trek and pulled into the specified meeting place at the same time as that shiny new trailer. He had driven the trailer 2 hours East for us... THANK GAWD!

So now my horses have a new ride...


Twelve hours, an entire box of tissues, and copious amounts of cold meds after we left home, we finally arrived back. I parked the trailer, fed the horses and crawled into bed... and slept for 12 hours! Ahhhhh sweet sleep of the dead!

Today I woke up feeling MUCH better. Swineflu averted!

14 comments:

Frank Irwin said...

You must've really pissed off Heather to make her track you down after 20 years to give you swinethrax!

Hilary Marquis said...

What fun! Glad you're feeling better. Kiss the kiddos for me ;) I'm missing my annual trip to visit...

JennyMac said...

Love that fancy new ride!

those horses are traveling in style!!

and FB is great about reconnecting long lost friends. SwineFlu? Not so great. Stay away swine flue.

Mala said...

Frank - Shhhhh... it may be the other way around. Nothing says, "Hey, I've missed you!" like the creeping crud.

Hilary - We miss you too!!! It's been an entire year since we've seen you!

JMac - Facebook = legal stalking = awseome!

Mala said...

Frank - Shhhhh... it may be the other way around. Nothing says, "Hey, I've missed you!" like the creeping crud.

Hilary - We miss you too!!! It's been an entire year since we've seen you!

JMac - Facebook = legal stalking = awseome!

janiece said...

Bummer--glad you are feeling better. I hate the flu. I'm impressed you were able to make the trip--when I get sick like that I'm down and out for the count!
Sweet ride for the horses!

Bev said...

Congrats on the slick new trailer! I'm still in awe of you because as you know, I can't even drive a minivan without crashing into trees, so the fact that you can maneuver a huge-ass truck AND a huge-ass trailer is pretty impressive. This is why I always let YOU drive on our roadtrips. ;)

Btw, even though we didn't get together on Fri. night I still managed to catch your germs.... My froat is sore! Boo!

Mala said...

Janiece - I was shocked I was able to do it too. I felt like POO! Thank goodness for the sweet coma I fell into that night,

Bevers - Those minivans can be tricky to drive. Throw in a steep driveway and a vicious old birch, and well, you're lucky to make it outta there intact!
And rut-row, sore throat!? Eff! That's how it all started! Prepare for suckage!

MtnMama said...

You and your friend are cute as a button in those riding outfits! I have a similar picture of me and my pal in our Girl Scout outfits. No hats, and um, no horses... so I guess not similar at all.

I'm with Bev; impressed as hell you can manuever that beast! How cool are YOU? Isn't it awesome to find what you want at a great price? Sweet!

Lori said...

I can't drive my stupid Accord out of my garage without taking the tracking off (though in my defense, it only took ONCE of me doing that to not do it again. Yet.) and you can move that mondo-trailer around. Impressive.

Glad you are feeling better too...there's nothing worse than feeling fluish and just waiting it--or death--out. I've totally been in that shivering even though I was dressed for the Arctic so many times before and it just stinks. Keep up on the OJ and soup. And remember mimosas are mostly OJ, right?

calicobebop said...

Good LORD! What a day! Glad you're feeling better and your horsies have a new ride!

Samsmama said...

I've yet to do my third post for October, so quit your bragging.

That sort of driving ability floors me! My dad has that skill, and it's so pathetic how I'll go outside and watch him back in and park the boat perfectly on the first try.

Facebook rocks! I'm supposed to meet up with two high school alum this weekend, if all goes as planned. Which it probably won't. But I haven't seen them in 18 years. I just need to get my eyebrows waxed and lose 12 pounds by Saturday.

If I made a $9,900 online purchase my husband would leave me.

Mala said...

MtnMama - Sweet deals make me uber-happy!
And where's the girl scout pic?! Post it!!!

Lori - You're right!!! Mimosas ARE packed with Vitamin C!!! with the added benefit of a sleep aid! Good call!

Calico - Oh and I didn't even mention the bickering children in the backseat who REFUSED TO NAP! WTH!

Samsmama - Isn't October "Be a Lazy Blogger" Month? I think so.
If you figure out how to lose 12 pounds in a week (without, of course, lobbing off a limb) please do share.

Bev said...

GREAT! Now I want a mimosa.

How we comin' with those diet tips, Samsmama?