Transplanted in Texas

My recap of D's birthday and the events surrounding the 2017 Thanksgiving celebrations comes next week. We're on our way to Hico to see more family, as D and his parents have done annually for the past while. Yesterday, Ma's family all gathered at her place to give thanks for all God has given us - each other, homes, good lives, and our friends. 2016 Hico Thanksgiving It was the first Thanksgiving without Caleb. But we were and are thankful for the time we did have with him, and thankful that he is in Heaven. This year we got two little boys to play with, and next year at least one more little one will join in the fun. Yance's very first first  cousin is due early May 2018. In the holiday season, we get to experience everybody's love. We had an overwhelming amount of it twice this year already, what with losing Pop and then Caleb. But this time we were not gathering to mourn. Yesterday we were together to celebrate what freedoms we have. I don't ...

This picture was taken early in our honeymoon. It was unique because I had never been out of state without an "adult" (aka someone in their 30s or 40s), and because D and I were actually alone, hours from home. We'd gone to local places by ourselves, but stayed within half an hour of our parents. It was fun simply to go someplace and explore on our own. Just 364 days after we had our first conversation, and really got to know each other, we married and set out on an adventure that will span the rest of our lives. The first week was spent in Arkansas, but the honeymoon really lasted for several months. I'm not sure when it ended - if it was before or after Yance was born. My beloved and I are learning more about each other by the day. And, in a way, ourselves. Because we have to explain different things to each other, and in vocalizing our thoughts we realize various traits we never noticed we had, or other little things we notice we need to change. As for me,...

When I see pictures of Thoroughbred yearlings and weanlings in my Twitter feed, I marvel at how large and mature they already are. Dingus, nearing a year and a half in age, is the size of a weanling bred for the track. His three year old sister was ready for training a year ago, at two, not as a yearling like most of the horses I see across the racing world. I'm not knocking the racing industry. Instead, I am simply marveling at the variety in horses. Dingus will be ready physically for backing at two and a half years, in the winter of 2018/2019. I have a year to make sure that he is mentally ready, too. Thoroughbreds are often backed between the ages of one and two, and are already galloping and doing more finesse maneuvers by the time their second birthday rolls around. Some, especially precocious ones with birthdays later in the spring, are nearing their first workouts. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Lippizans often aren't backed until fully mature...

It was the middle of January 2016, almost two years ago. Kmarie lived in Lubbock, starting her first semester at Texas Tech there. And J and I took a trip to go see her. At the time, she was leasing a Thoroughbred ex-racehorse, a tiny mare that was jumped some. The New Mexico-bred was a lovely thing, and to date is the only Thoroughbred I have ridden. This picture was taken of me riding in the arena where horses owned/used by Tech students were boarded. More specifically, it was the indoor arena. Missy, registered as Starrcliff, was foaled April 7, 2006. A dark bay or brown mare, she never won in six starts. Instead, she finished second the second time out, and third in her fifth start. Beyond that, she has a fourth place finish, as well as sixth, seventh, and eighth place finishes. She is by Seacliff, a stallion that swept the 1995 Florida Stallion Stakes series for juvenile colts, and out of G. Starr, a stakes-placed winner by Earth Star. Earth Star, by Deputy Minist...