Camping

A festival for Labor Day is moving into town as I type this, getting ready for the weekend. Everybody drives their RV's in and parks them on the grounds and sticks around all weekend long.

My husband and I were taking a walk around the park where they set up, talking about the different RV's. My husband didn't think he'd like to do something like that but the trailers we were seeing were pretty old, not like the fifth wheel my sister has. I explained to him that my sister's was more like an apartment and seemed really comfortable. The ones we saw at the park were pretty ancient but hers is new with the rv warranty still fresh.

I could definitely camp if we had something like my sister's! It has all the comforts of home.

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One Year Anniversary of Rex's Death

Yesterday was the one-year anniversary for Rex. He died a year ago yesterday. He was my daughter's horse but I was just as attached to him as she was. He was such a wonderful guy! It still tears me up. I haven't rode since he died. He was the last horse that I rode. It broke my heart and took all the joy away. I don't know if it is just not wanting to get so attached again when they can leave you so unexpectedly or what. I'm going to have to dust myself off and get back on but it's hard. Look at how wonderful he was:

I didn't tell my daughter about the anniversary date. I thought about going to where he was buried with her but she was torn up for awhile when he died and I didn't want her getting upset again. I'm not sure I did the right thing but she feels things so deeply that I didn't want to open up a world of hurt for her again.

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Mom's Going on a Road Trip

I created, update, and host a web site for a local horse rescue. I also take many of the pictures and videos for them. There are a couple horses a little road trip away that they want to add to the site. That means I get to pack up my video camera, Digital SLR camera, and smaller digital camera and take a road trip to get some pictures and videos of them. We're going to do it while the kids are in school (which starts in about two days!). It'll be the first time I'll have been anywhere for any length of time without the kids. Considering it isn't THAT far away, that's kind of sad. Mom needs to get out more!

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Flouride in Drinking Water

I've been reading lately about the negative side of having flouride in your drinking water. Among other things, it is said to block the absorption of iodine, which can lead to thyroid disease (which I have). I'm glad our town doesn't include flouride in the tap water, but if yours does, I hear there are water filters you can buy to remove it.

You know, since we moved here 3-1/2 years ago, I haven't noticed a decline in my children's teeth either. In fact, not one of the four of them have had any cavities at all. They are still getting it from their toothpaste, but it makes you wonder if putting it in the tap water is really making any difference in terms of tooth decay while it causes other health problems.

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Neurotic Mommy

Being out in the country, having ATV's seems to be the norm rather than the exception. Seeing how I am from the big city (born in Detroit), I'm not quite used to seeing kids on these types of recreational vehicles or racing vehicles. I even have a hard time with seeing kids on tractors, which I do see, but I wouldn't let my kids even push a lawn mower. All I see is "danger, danger" flashing at me.

According to an article I read at Consumersaffairs.com, 16,200 children were treated by medical personnel in 2007 in mower-related injuries. I'm neurotic on top of being a parent so I choose not to take that chance.

We have a midget race track in town that people come to from all over, children included. They race around this track in these little cars and yes, some do get hurt. It blows my mind. If my kid wanted to race, I think I'd feel better if he or she were in a larger vehicle like a yamaha rhino 660 over a tiny little car with very little around him for protection.

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Disney Free on Birthday?

Did you know that your child can get into Disney free on their birthday if you're planning orlando vacations anytime soon? I didn't know this but a friend of ours just said they were taking their child there on their birthday because of that. I looked it up and it's true. The Disney site says if you register the birthday during 2009, admission is free to one of the theme parks. If you're thinking of going to Orlando and you can arrange it around a child's birthday, sounds like a great birthday present to me!

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Child Support for Horses?

How irritating! Read about it here.

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Great iPod Touch or iPhone Apartment App

When I bought my iPod Touch, it was for the sole purpose of listening to music. That was the extent of what I planned for it. After getting it, I was surprised at the number of iPod applications there were that were fun and/or useful!

There is an iphone apartment app that you can use to search for apartments free! Grab your iPhone or iPod Touch and hit the road in search of your new digs. It's called MyNewPlace and it's easy to use. Input the location you want to search in (city, state or zip) and search. You can see the different criteria (number of bedrooms, pet policy, etc.) and even check out photos so you get an idea of what the apartment looks like before you get there (or cross it off your list of apartments to see if you don't like what you're seeing). It's free and a timesaver!

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Blog Traffic

I blog and part of being a successful blogger is having traffic on your blog. Some people use social networks, others use forums, and some search for the best web directory and list their blog or blogs on directories to direct traffic.

I get a lot of traffic from search engines and I have a regular number of subscribers to my different blogs that bring back regular traffic. This is one thing I should work on though - bringing even more traffic in.

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Sadness for Daughter

While at the health food store today, they were collecting money for a child that had Leukemia. My 12-year-old daughter saw it and it made her sad. Children shouldn't get cancer. It's not right, but you hear a lot about it unfortunately.

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Horse Videos of Our Horses & More

To see videos taken of our horses or the horses at the stable over the last couple of years, I've added some of them here.

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JeeNee's Feet

JeeNee used to be able to skip every other farrier visit to the barn but her feet seem like they're breaking down earlier this summer for some reason. It's not been overly dry so I'm not sure why.

She has those big clydesdale feet and I want to make sure her dinner plate-sized hooves stay healthy. I'm wondering if I should buy her some type of supplement to put in her feed for her hooves. I'm not sure what to buy though. I have the stuff that looks like motor oil to brush on (for the life of me, I can't remember the name of it right now).

Her feet have always been bare.

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