Ever been on a less used road when a tire explodes? Happened to me yesterday, out on a Sunday drive...it was supposed to be a family walk, but where we went, the mosquitos were out in force just after it had rained and we were dinner for the aerial attackers without any bugspray. I was feeling lucky that my hubby is very good fixing cars and most anything mechanical. We have had the Blazer for two years now, and had never taken the tires off before and the tires were still really good. Well, we discovered that we needed a phillips screwdriver (all we had in the car were flathead screwdrivers) to remove the hubcap. Well, by the time I found a strong enough screwdriver to do the job, a jeep stopped to help us out, and we needed all the help we could get. Under the lugnuts were LOCKS, which we didn't have a tool to remove. After much banging, hammering, and other brutal attacks, all but one wheel lock was removed. We then pulled the spare tire off the back of the Blazer for lack of better things to do, and discover that it is two sizes larger than the other three tires. Well, we borrowed the cell phone of the couple that stopped to help (and as cell phones go, we were in the middle of no where and couldn't get coverage where we were parked, but could from where the jeep was parked a 50 feet infront of us) and called my father-in-law and had him bring out some different tools that none of us had available. With the tools brought, my hubby was able to hammer a socket on the last lock and wrench it off. Then we put the large spare tire on and drove ALMOST straight down the road and home. That is my adventure, and the Blazer has taken its second blood sacrifice in the past week, it doesn't seem satisfied. My hubby seems to have his hands split open every time he touches the thing.

Well, on Saturday, I was very happy to have ridden Lady. Although at first she was expecting me to take her to the pasture of one of the neighboring horses, but I got her rapt attention with a little punishment for miss behavior at the beginning of the ride. We used the nearly round circle she created in the center of her pasture as our riding ring, and she was very good at arching her neck (and she looks somewhat Arab -which she isn't- when she does that) and holding her head properly. With the work I have given her over time, we have achieved a nice jog-trot barely over the walk. Our next goal is collecting the canter, which we do sometimes. This is the more difficult step, since Lady is long legged and has thouroughbred blood that tells her that she has a need for speed. Since I have never raced her against anyone else, I don't know how fast she is in comparison to others, but I have feel the power under me in the saddle. It was interesting that on my ride two days ago, she collected in her left lead (which is her bad lead), and wouldn't in her right lead. Although, I think it is due to the fact that we cantered to the left first, and that got her racing blood flowing, and so she was then stretching her canter to the right. Oh well, she did well, and behaved very nicely during the workout. And then, I had my hubby put our three year old in the saddle while I sat behind. Lady thought that our ride was over and was hoping that she would get her grain, but reluctantly went the way I indicated to go. John (my little boy) had a huge grin plastered to his face. We trotted a little bit, and tried to end the ride then, but John would have none of it. We ended up forcefully pulling him down and putting him on the tailgate of the Blazer where Lady was eating her grain out of the bin. He was temporarily content with petting her and giving her hugs as she ate. Well, we couldn't stay forever, since we had other things to do, so after the grain was all gone, we started to talk John into getting into his carseat willingly. Did not work. So, I asked him if he wanted to sit on Lady, that was answered with a definite affirmative. So he went from Lady's back and forced into the car...kicking and screaming about leaving Lady.

Oh well, that is my life at the moment. Trying to find a new tire and such. Perhaps I may find sanity along the way, but I don't see that possible.