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.)