pure caricature

My horse Flambeau needs some orthoscopic surgery on his left fetlock. So I'm turning to caricature to raise the money.I'm specializing in people on their horses and if you don't have a horse i can put you on one. Fancy being immortalized as the man from snowy river or Lady Godiva.Anyway personalized sketches will cost about $20. Drawing them is easy scanning them into the computer however is really challenging me.

Kenlyn Challenge, 50 Mile ride

Our first fiftymiler! It was a great ride. Linda Fischer and her crew did a nice job as usual. Although co-hersed into doing the longer ride by Gary Brown, and not exactly my idea, it was a great way to end the season for me and the boy.Can't say we came in bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, but we made it and in doing so have 'broken the ice' for doing actual 'endurance' rides. I wish we had better pictures of Flambeau's trailer buddy Ginger the mule. You can just see her behind a weary Flambeau in the top picture. With her Partner Amy on board she completed a 15 mile 'Rookie' ride with ease. Look out for those big beautiful ears on the 25 mile trails next year!

It was around 70 - 80 degrees in Denver. I love this trail. The fifty goes under I- 25 twice and along walking trails with runners, dog walkers and bicycles all over the place. The horses can handle anything by the end! This time we also had airforce jets breaking the sound barrier above us as we rode (and at night when we we're 'trying' to sleep' !!) All in the name of endurance. Love it and can't wait for the Spring version of this ride to start off the season of next year. Yee-Ha!

Letter to Kaye

G'day, long time no blog! This is actually a letter to my sister Kaye who wants to know what's going on at the ranch.She writes to me diligently and I'm always too busy or tired to return the favour.But here it is early in the morning and i have a little time.

See here the new addition to the house and Mernie in the midst of it all. It will be great to be able to get inside out of the harsh weather and shed at least three layers of clothing and five layers of hay and manure before actually entering our living space.This has been on the list for quite a while and is finally taking form.(See in front our margaritta mixer now being use for concrete!)

The ranch is almost full to the brim with equines and we are on the hop from dawn to dusk. There are 59 horses and one mule to date and we are expecting a couple more horses for the morton barn in October.A lot of work and a hell of a lot of poop!Just as well we love it. We worked out that if we hired someone we wouldn't be making any money so Mernie has quit his job as of Sept 25th and is coming to work for me! This should be interesting! Actually I jest. Its really hard to get good help and there's no better than Mern.

Mern's Mum has been with us for the passed two weeks. She lives in California so the altitude and weather is a little hard on her. She is 81 and her memory is sliding but she is a real dear and gets around incredible well for her age. She suffers from the usual aches and pains but doesn't always remember that she does so there's some advantage to memory loss.Its been nice having all our clothes folded up nicely and the kitchen tidied up all the time.She loves to wander around the ranch looking at the horses and talking to all the boarders out here.She loves to chat to everyone just like my Dad. Pity those two can't get together.

My horse Flambeau is going great. Our next ride will be a 25 or 50mile in Denver on the 8th of Oct.I'm not sure whether I will get the time off to go but i hope so coz it will be the last one before the snow blows.I'm also riding a couple of horses for other people so i don't know how much training i will get in.Right now I'm riding him about three times per week which is much less than i was.Of course he does at least ten miles a lot of the time so he's still pretty fit.

Well that's about all I have time to write. I need to go get Mern off to work then feed horses and clean stalls.Cheers for now. Ronda.

Rushcreek Ride,Nebraska

Not many pictures taken as both Michael and I seemed to be busy most of the time. A great ride. Efficient friendly management and hosts and awesome scenery.Very sandy and hard going with numerous gopher holes to dodge. One of which I didn't and did my infamous somersault over Flambeau's head. All was well and this was only one of the possible tragedies that didn't come to be and that i can't mention too much about just incase Mernie reads this blog. We came in fourth and first in the light weigh division.Here I am weighing to go in for vetting for best condition. He was totally sound for 30miles but limped on the usual left front for the trot out then didn't limp again there after. Didn't get best conditon of course but did get a completion. Whew! This is not the first time he's pulled this one on me so i don't think I'll be going for BC anymore. No worries. To finish is to win!

scraggy undies

Mernie's favorite underwear is an Aussie brand called Bonds. A few months ago he asked my sister to send some and she did but forgot to put the postcode (zip) on the parcel and it was returned to her. I don't know what's happened this time or where in the world (literally) they may be. Mernie reconds it's getting a bit breezy here in Wyoming and thinks his undies probably have more frequent flyer miles than he does! LOL!

Happy Jack 2007

Happy Jack Endurance ride, 12th August, 2007. I managed two 25 milers back to back. Gorgeous somewhat rocky trail only about 25minutes from home. See here Michael the evening before her first 25mile ride on Imix, Flambeau's best mate.We did the Saturday ride together. Imix did great! Especially for his very first 25 mile ride with a bunch of other horses running next to him.He has come such a long way from the shying machine he use to be. He 'saw it all' on the trail and didn't have a fit. I think we finished somewhere in the middle of a pack of many riders. I rode again on Sunday and Michael crewed. Thank goodness for her help.It's such a great relief to have a friendly face waiting at the vet check to put you and your horse back together again.

I met up with Kris the buddy I rode the Kenlyn with and we had a ball.I love riding with Kris and her arab Boomer is quite the mover. Flambeau wore a heat monitor so i could ride him out and pull him up when his heart rate indicated stress. Most of the time he did fine and we ended up 4th and 6th and in the running for best condition which once again I miss out on. Oh well. Beau did this rocky ride barefoot with only some booting.The second day was done totally barefoot other than booting the hinds for the last eight miles. His hooves look better than even.Next ride will be the Rush Creek 30mile in Nebreska in a couple of week. Yee Ha!

The Shamrock challenge

The Shamrock challenge Sunday 1st July. My second endurance ride in the US. It was held on a private ranch in a gorgeous setting on a hay meadow surrounded by sage bush covered mountains. There was a full moon and cyotes howling at night. Too Cool! My friend Michael (see picture here taking Flambeau for a test drive) crewed for me. Would have hated to do it without her help. It's exhausting being out on the trail for 30 challenging miles without having to work your tail off in camp. Having a good crew is like having a caring mum there to look you after you and your four legged friend. Next time Michael will be taking her horse Imex so we will have to find another 'victum'!

Flambeau did famously! He came in 5th so we were in the running for best condition. We didn't get it but I'm still absolutely chuffed with how the boy shaped up. The best part is this. Glenna Hopper vetted him. She is a local vet who knows Flambeau and couldn't believe it was him. She told me she was certain he was going to end up as a 'pasture ornament' because of the way he used to behave. He was so calm on the ride and did so well that she thought i was kidding her when I told her this was Flambeau. The horse's reputation seems to be one of some sort of notorious outlaw. The hard work has paid off it seems.

Click pictures to enlarge. More pics to be posted.

Three Pink Noses

Ammari,Embassy and Merlin (aka. Tub o' fun) Click on image to enlarge.

Getting rich as a writer.

Received a reply from a publisher the other day. I guess it's better than a rejection but I'm finding it hard to get excited about something that will happen in four years time! I'm wondering how much the forty five dollars I will receive (sometime prior to publication) will be worth by then and if it will cover my postage. Oh Well.

Dear writer,
we have found a place for your article in a future issue of our magazine.....blah blah blah blah....when writing your confirmation, please include the name of the magazine and the publication date, May 2011......Blah Blah blah.... 2011!
Oh well.

Ickies in the Frigde

Ickies in the Fridge (originally Mutants in the Fridge)
Another kiddie lit poem by Ronda Eden

There’s ickies in the fridge and I don’t know what to do
Slimy bits of watermelon and all this yukky goo
Something green and furry, something all gone black
Some chips all dried and shriveled and what looks like a Big Mac!

No one likes to clean the fridge they’d rather let it be
They’re scared to take the lids off things
They’re scared of what they’ll see
The meat’s gone green and slimy and it’s really on the nose
The cheese has grown an overcoat and all the spuds have toes!

The veggies are quite clever, they take care of themselves
They turn themselves to liquid and move to other shelves
And if they’re left there long enough, they head toward the door
Then when you open up the fridge, they ooze onto the floor

Each day they’re growing bigger and changing shape and color
Some are getting brighter and some are getting duller
One day they might turn into, huge gigantic toads
And just keep getting bigger until the fridge explodes!

Whoa!

Then what a job will that be, to clean up that big mess
We’ll have to think of something
We’ll have to move I guess
Just thinking of this makes me tried
And makes me hungry too
But there ickies in the fridge and I don’t know what to do.

Sent to Cricket Magazine, 8th June 07

June artwork

Domingo,Cick to view larger image. Not quite finished.

Artwork for May

Finally a painting. I've been really slack but will try to get back to one or two per month.
Click to make bigger. Earl, oil on watercolorpape approx 17 x 15 inches.

Rod and Beth's wedding

Rod and Beth got 'itched at her parents gorgeous Lilac farm on Sat May 26th. They scored a perfect day weather-wise sandwiched in between two rather awful ickky days. How serendipitous! We got to spend some very precious moments with Rod's delightful family and resolved the mystery of why Rod turned out to be such a bloody good bloke. Now the handsome couple are off to Jamacia for their honeymoon. A great start to a promising future together.

Rod's Hitched!

No, he didn't marry Mernie. He's mine! But this morning this is the only picture i could get to load. Doesn't Rod look sooooooooooo handsome. And Mernie, my how you've grown!

Have you ever seen a rat upon a pogo stick?

Have you ever seen a rat upon a pogo stick?
By Ronda Eden



Have you ever seen a rat
Upon a pogo stick?
I think I saw just that
Go through the scrub so thick

Boing, boing, boing, boing!
It shot past like a light
Boing, boing, boing, boing!
It gave me such a fright

I wonder where they got them
These rats must have a store
Or maybe it’s a warehouse
With pogo sticks galore!

They must hang on real tightly
If they’d so much as cough
They’d lose their balance might they
And sure as eggs fall off

I’m really only kidding you
Those rats are not that clever
It was really just a kangaroo
Have you seen one? Have you ever?

Sent to Boy's Quest Magagine on Friday 18th May. Accepted for publication in Hopscotch their magizine for girls. See blog entry June 10th for details.

Flambeau's first endurance ride

Trotting out for the pre vet check. Click on pics to enlarge.

Warm up.
Paying attention at the pre ride meeting.Note the funny visor on my hat that lasted about................2 minutes!

Flambeau's first endurance ride
Flambeau's first endurance ride, the Kenlyn challenge in Aurora CO. was full of trials and tribs. It was a beautiful day abet a little on the hot side for this type of thing. We got off to a bad start the day before by getting stuck creeping in a traffic jam on I 270 for ONE AN A HALF BLOODY HOURS!! When we finally got through, we couldn't even see what caused it! There was however, a guy in a pickup stopped sloughed over the steering wheel fast asleep; or maybe dead! Everyone was just going around him of course assuming, as we did, that someone surely has called for help.So, needless to say, we arrived late and had to skip dinner and set up in the dark. Mernie was a little grumpy and he wasn't alone. We also had a friend with us who had a rotten cold and coughed a lot. But she was low maintanence, a really nice person and talented horse woman so it was great to have here along.The ride itself was beautiful and very well organised. An easy but interesting track right in the middle of Denver. It went along and through a river bed with lots of bridges and water crossings , through sandy tracks and up and down gentle hills.It would have been prefect if Flambeau had not been so wound up. It was a fight to keep him at a reasonable pace. I had to wrestle with him most of the time and because of this could not let my guard down long enough to get water for myself. Flambeau drank from the rivers really well! Therefore he vetted with all A 's and I dehydrated so badly that I did myself injure. I would be a great advertisement for Camel paks! Those pouches you carry on your back and sip from a straw. Maybe I'll call the Company and volunteer to admit my stupidity.I found a horse to pace with and we came in vying for 9th/10th place out of a field of about 50. It was the first heart rate down to 60 and Beau's took a bit too long to get there so the other competitor received 9th /place which put her in the runnng for the Best Condition award. Flambeau's heart rate hovered at 64 for about 5mins in which time a few other horses came in so I ended up coming 13th. Your horse's heart rate has to come down to 60 before they even consider you in. I blame his winter coat and being such a dill all the way. It took him the entire first loop, 17 mlies to calm down and he used up a bunch of energy he didn't need to use. As for me, I became so ill the next day I had to call the hospital for advice on my condition. I personally would never had passed the vetting if it was me they were checking on! We learned alot on this first ride and if i can get Flambeau setted down i think he could win 25s like this one. What's more, he could win them barefoot! The two big things we learned is, regardless of the weather, check the roads where you will be driving for unexpected harzards and alternative routes. It

seems that we didn't even need to be on 270! And needless to say, getta a camel pak and drink, drink, drink!

Alottadog!

We have some very strange looking 'horses' boarding overnight sometimes! Meet Nick, a 180 lb St Bernard. We didn't get to see him and his buddies as they came when we were in California. Sara our lovely temporary barn manager and UW Artmobile Curator (as a coincidence) took these photos. There were four of these guys in two stalls. That's one heck of alottadog!

Visiting Finley

Just back from California visiting Mern's son, daughter in law, his Mom and of course new Grand son Finley. Step Grandson for me! Yikes. It was lovely to catch up with everyone.

spring storm

It ain't over yet! Mernie said i should be alright if i just floor it and don't stop!

Silly Boy

I caught Flambeau (red hooved) hitting Amari on the bum with a rubber feed bowl. See in the second picture the guiltly look. I seem to get these silly horses. I remember years ago being told that my horse BJ was hitting the other horses in his paddock with a piece of sign board he found lying around.Click on images to enlarge them. Notice the pretty sunrise too.

March

Looking out our window this morning. Click on picture to enlarge it. See the full moon.

It's March and we've had probably the worst week of weather yet. Maybe not; it just seems that way as we are now anticipating putting away all those winter clothes and being an immediate 20lbs lighter! Better keep them out for a while yet methinks.

Still, I love it here in spite of the fact that the mercury hasn't risen above 0 (C) for quite a while. This week it was even too windy to bring horses the couple of hundred yards into the arena to exercise them. Just walking against that wind is exhausting enough.

Yesterday however was a little better so I rode three horses. My own and two others that I get paid to ride. This provides me with pocket money to feed my expensive habit of endurance riding.( Hey, I don't smoke, drink or hang out with loose men any more so I've gotta have something!) I have one horse I've riden for 18 hours in order to purchase a pair of hoof boots for my horse. I spend a lot of time in the saddle so my art practice is taking a back seat. The only thing I have done this month is a beginning sketch for a door mural for the arena. I'll get a pic of that as soon as I can. It's far too cold out there to paint it yet so its only chalked so far.

Mernie is in the middle of sorting out our accountng and doing taxes so he's been cranky. I don't blame him. If I had to do that kind of work I would probably be institutionalized by now.

See here Flambeau my endurance prospect.

cyote

Ok, how good are your eyes?You will need to enlarge these pics by clicking on the middle and look really hard to see something that looks like a big dog. You'll have to scroll the pic around a bit. It's a cyote and we don't usually get too many this close to the ranch. Probably has something to do with a couple of dead horses out there!

some kiddie lit examples.

Mural, Murray Bridge, South Australia. One of four in SA.
The Ishchick! (Part fish part chicken. And not happy about it!)
Funny Chickens.
Roughs from the dummy book for Peggy Lou the Emu. Please excuse the quality. Taken straight from the drawing board.
Please click on images to enlarge.

snow melt

Ok, yesterday we had two machines like this come in to move the bloody snow. This is the little one!! About three times the size of our truck. Today the sun is shining and the snow is melting ......and guess what.........MUD!

snow drifts

Looking out our back windows. None of this snow actually fell there. The wind blows really hard here, so drifts can form very quickly and can swallow things up before you know it. See the disappearing fence.

finished commission

My finished commission. Scoll down. Can you see any differences?( Click on image to enlarge.)

Artwork for Jan 07

It's been a busy month just keeping our heads above winter in wyoming. Thus only one piece of artwork and not quite finished at that. A commission for a Vicki Helmuth owner of two lovely quarter horse geldings here on the ranch. Here they are, my stylised version of Cowboy and Chico. Click to make larger.

woe is winter

Snow drifts big enough to swallow up a horse!
Mount Onastring is urupting. We have many such mountains around the ranch right now and our road continues to get filled with snow drifts. This has become a difficult winter what with snow, ice and temperatures below -23F.

sad week

A friend of ours and owner of the sweetest horse here on the ranch had a heart attack and died on Monday.He was a big, beautiful, gentle giant just like his horse.(see sept and october for pics of both.) Roger slipped on the ice on New Years Eve and hurt his knee. I called him on Monday to see how he was. He was in good spirits and guffed about how he wasn't even drunk at the time! That was about 10 am. They say he died at between 12 and 3pm. I may have been the last person to speak to him. We didn't know Roger for long but we felt a closeness to him and his horse that has us feeling a deep and painful loss. Roger helped us out a lot with heavy earth moving work around the ranch. In October his contribution to our big clean up was enormous. There is no way we could have done it without him. And just recently, with the onslaught of winter snow and wind, once again he was out there clearing the way for us to keep this ranch going. We are truely blessed to have had Roger in our life even for the short time we have known him. He will be missed terrible. We still have Tiny to remind us of his grand stature and we will ensure Tiny enjoys the best quality of life that we can bring him for the rest of his days. Roger's very good friends Amy, Sara and Ranie have offered to share his board but as it stands good ole Rog with all his hard effort has paid him up at least until the spring. The girls are setting up a 'Tiny fund' for the extras he will need. Seems to me that special caring people grow wild in this part of the country.

On Wednesday night Storm, one of the horses here on the ranch finally died after sufferring chronic bouts of colic over the passed few months. Her very caring and loving owner is grieving quite naturally. It was never hard to see that the two had an incredible bond. We are all very sad for him and the loss of a very beautiful horse. She is at least free from suffering and at rest now.

In comparison to the misfortunes above this may seem of little concern but seems to have started this whole run of adverse occurences. On Thursday of last week Mernie backed over a letter box in his company truck. This sort of thing doesn't go down very with a company trying to maintain a shining image and safety reputation. Which I think it does have. So there was a lot of paper work and hullabahlu about it all. Mernie of course went straight to work to make things good. He is a very responsible person and not one to take something like this lightly. He is also a very capable and careful driver but with the snow and all that nasty stuff that winter is dishing out right now, things like this are bound to happen. Maybe not in a perfect world.

If it is true that misfortunes came in threes we should be Ok now.

how to enjoy the wind in Wyoming

Click for a laugh. These guys are nuts but i love 'em! Ranie (featured high flyer) accompanied laughter and carryings on by Amy and Sara.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bpf3r49aZbM

woe woe,blowing snow

We've had a bunch of snow, now we have a bunch of wind....result = major snow drifts. We had to move 6 horses to our front paddock as their huge water trough has been swallowed up by snow. The wind is blowing around 55 miles per hour and gusts of up to 65 mph can be expected.That's about 100 kilometres per hour! Its...get the horses taken care of then stay inside with a good book!
(PS. No pics as we don't want to subject the camera to this stuff.)

first roo dropping for '07

Advice on New Year's resolutions........don't make any resolutions concerning eating or drinking.You'll only set yourself up for failure!
Best resolution to make is to not to take yourself so seriously.
Cheers. Ronnie Roo.xxoo

Happy New year!

That's snow cooling the champers!

New Years Eve morning

It's minus 22 degrees C (-8F) here in Wyoming right now. I think it's going to be a quiet New Years Eve for us but who knows. It was a busy year full of many changes challenges and delights. I'm not writing about the year gone by as it's all here in my blog for the finding. Just look to the right and click through previous blogs and months. It goes back to September o5 when i first entered into the world of blogging. Happy New Year. Ronnie.xxoo

reminder

Blog readers don't forget that you can click on images to make them larger, you can look to the right for previous months and click on comments to say something to me. Cheers. Ronnie.

Dec artwork

Only two pieces of artwork produced this month. I'm also working on some sketches for a horse portrait commission so I have actually spent some time in my studio this month in between shovelling manure and snow. Both paintings are modelled on a black mustang here at the ranch.
Above Kappa 11"x14" (unframed) oil pastel on hard paper and below Lumpa 17" x 14" (unframed) oil pastel on hard paper. Both will be on their way to artisan's gallery, 215 2nd street, Laramie, WY. next week to be framed and displayed. Call Brenda 307 745 3983.

looking out my back door

Quiet after the storm and so, so beautiful. A winter wonderland. This was taken without leaving the house. From left; Rosey, Flambeau and Lady.