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Arlene can be followed via You Tube
Posted on October 3rd, 2012 No commentsAn important update to friends is that we will be closing down our Facebook page at the end October 2012. The only way to keep up to date with Arlene’s adventures is through her You Tube videos.
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Remembering Magic
Posted on June 16th, 2009 3 commentsMagic, My Beloved Peruvian Paso, May 28, 1986 – June 24, 2008
Throughout my life, I have said the final goodbye to family and friends. Sometimes it was expected and other times a shock. Death is never easy, at least it hasn’t been easy for me, to say that final good bye. June 24, marks a year anniversary of saying goodbye to Magic, my beloved Peruvian Paso horse.
The story behind Magic is an interesting one. At age 47, I became an equestrian. Before that I had never leased or owned a horse. I had only rented them at stables during vacation. The experience had been pleasurable, but I had no concept of how to groom, saddle, or take care of such a huge animal.
When I turned 51, Magic came into my life. My husband picked her out and she was his horse until I intervened. At first she intimidated me. I was afraid of her because she was so big. My trainer, Laurel Papadapalos, said, “Arlene, you were an award-winning educator. You know how to work with junior high kids successfully. So when she gets a little stubborn and wants her way, talk to her like you would talk to those junior high students. Let her know you are in charge! Ask her firmly.”
That was all it took. After that there was no turning back. Magic was devoted to me. She was mine!
Magic and I had many adventures together. We rode in cattle drives, parades, and trail rides. She would calmly walk into the trailer and back out, trusting me in my direction. Magic could open gates with me riding her so I didn’t have to get off and on. She also passed the test to be a member of the team for Search and Rescue, as well as the County Volunteer Park Patrol. She was gentle, sure-footed, and took care of those who were privileged to ride her.
Magic and I went through a lot together and I was never afraid of Magic. In fact, one time she saved my life, but that is another story. When she was 14, she had major surgery. During the healing process, I washed out her wound five times a day. It had to be uncomfortable because it was in a sensitive area, yet she didn’t finch, become irritated, nor try to escape the routine.
And Magic had the most beautiful big brown eyes. Joy, one of my trainers, often said, “Magic never looks at any others the way she looks at you.” Magic was pure love!
Regrets, yes, I have a few. I suppose the same ones I would have with a human loss. I wished I had ridden her more. I wished I had spent more time with her. I wished I had shown her more love. And I wished I had given her more horse cookies and carrots.
I miss you Magic! Thank you for thirteen wonderful years! And thank you God for helping me through this loss and the wonderful surprise you had for me the day after Magic’s passing, and that’s even another story.
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Internet at Last
Posted on June 4th, 2009 1 comment“For Further Information Go to www.” or “I Can’t Believe You’re Still on Dial-up”.
For those who are computer savvy, I admit I have been on dial-up for the past 16 years! My home/office had no other connection available. A neighbor subscribed to satellite and admitted it wasn’t much better than dial-up. Daily runs to the “It’s a Grind” coffee shop afforded me the luxury to read my email attachments and travel about the World Wide Web.
My family and friends knew better than to send me attachments, but still others loaded my email with items I never did open. But what was worse than all the attachments being sent were the times I needed to make contact with a company regarding my business, family, or personal matters. Always they referred me to their website. “Website?” I screamed, “I can’t get to your website. It is torture to watch your thousand page website load. Please, someone just talk with me.”
Sometimes I felt like a second-class citizen because the assumption was that I was on dial-up as a choice! Often I would here something like….“You’re on dial-up? Fred, Arlene is still on dial-up. Hey everybody, Dr. Kaiser is on dial-up. Can you believe it?”
People would then proceed to tell me the benefits of DSL, wifi, and how I could even put a telephone card into the slot of my computer and volahhhhh…instant connection.
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It’s All About Hay, Or Is It?
Posted on February 16th, 2009 4 commentsI was out of town for a few days. In my absence, I had made preparation for moving sixty bales of alfalfa and grass hay from the covered stack outside into the barn. With the escalating prices of hay from $15-$22 per bale, I had been motivated during the summer months to buy 240 bales at a much more reasonable price. I was a novice at buying, delivering, stacking, and covering hay. But, to make up for my lack of experience, I had done extensive research and met with ranchers who generously shared their knowledge and expertise on storing hay.
Whenever I gazed at that huge covered stack of hay, I was delighted with my accomplishment and felt secure in having enough hay to feed my horses over the cold wet winter months and through the remainder of the year too.
“The hay is ruined. There was a tear in the tarp topside and water seeped down and all the bales appear to be moldy.”
Those were the words I heard on the other end of the telephone call from my mom. I was dumfounded and heartsick. How could this have happened? I could not use the moldy hay, as it could sicken my horses, and they could even die from eating it. The hay was now worthless to me.
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My First Post, and a Disclaimer
Posted on November 25th, 2008 No commentsComing from a background of education I am concerned about my writing for two reasons. First, the teacher within me scrutinizes everything I write. Somewhere in the process of grading many papers I lost my internal spell check. Not to worry, most word process programs have a spell check.
What concerns me the most is I have to think twice about simple things. “Do the quotes go inside or outside the period or question mark? When do I use the hyphen? Is this a run-on sentence? Do I need a comma here?” It would be wise for me to hire a professional editor for everything I write; however, the time and cost would make this prohibitive. But most important I would not capture the many ideas percolating through my mind and heart. The joy in sharing in a blog would loose its appeal with so many rewrites.
Second, I really do not know if I am a good writer. My husband is a voracious reader. While enjoying a book he will stop, ponder for a moment, and then announce, “He/she is such a good writer.” I honestly do not know what that means. What makes a good writer? I am exploring that with him.
If I wait for perfection I would never write a blog. I probably would never have written my first book, Empowerment in the Classroom, which to my chagrin, contained many mistakes even after numerous edits by different people. Am I embarrassed? You bet. Yet, teachers, parents, and just the average person have responded positively to the contents of the book. I know of one excellent teacher who was going down in defeat because of a difficult class. A beginning teacher was apprehensive about her classroom management skills. They attribute my book to getting them through a challenging time. Best of all, for the future generations, we did not loose two proficient teachers.
The Disclaimer for Writing My Blog
I will write my blog unedited and share what is on my mind and heart. If you are a person looking for mistakes in my writing and find any, please consider they were put there on purpose because some folks are always looking for mistakes and I don’t want to disappoint them.
Arlene