July has rushed by!

July certainly has rushed by! 7 months ago today was Christmas... whew this year is flying and with Christmas just 5 months from today the holidays will be upon us soon!

So here's the latest updates on what happened in my life in July:

Had a nice 4th of July weekend with family and friends. Good food and was able to catch some of the fireworks from both Chino Valley and Prescott Valley.

Gave my Thoroughbred mare named Spook to cowboy Jason. He is going to train her to be a trail horse. Good luck Jason!!

Heard from Micah that both Abby and Boots continue to do well with she and her dad. Said they are riding as often as they can and that both horses love the grass pasture they spend most of the day in. I bet they do!

We've had some monsoon weather here... rains bring relief from the heat and calms down the dust quite a bit... but it sure brings out the bugs!

Flies and mosquitoes just about ate my poor horses alive. Tried several sprays and remedies but none of them work as well as I wish they could! Citronella is a waste... those fly predators that you scatter in the manure... also a waste of money! I used Bronco and a couple others and they didn't do a thing to deter the horse eating pests we have here where I live in Arizona.

Right now I am trying a product called Zonk It. Seems to be working ok but I had to spray about 8 ounces on each horse to keep the flies from swarming them and I still saw big welts from mosquito bites this morning. The directions said to use 2 ounces but that isn't enough to even begin to cover a horse! I've heard that Piranha is good but it's expensive compared to Zonk It.

I also have the hanging fly traps and the electronic bug zappers... I'm trying to figure out everything and anything to rid my horses of these darned pests!

Yesterday I saw 2 snakes that scared the crap out of me! I hate snakes! One was curled up under a plastic tarp and the other was in a flower bed. Now I'm all jittery about going into my garden to harvest vegetables. I hate snakes... every shape and size!

On a whim, I googled the people who had Tropic Pass as a foal and have had some interesting conversations with Ann about Thoroughbred horses and the business of horse racing. I'm glad that I was able to find her.

I finished a paperback novel about cowboys of the old west in the Superstition Mountains searching for gold. It was fun to read.

My husband and I spent 2 days at the Grand Canyon July 16th & 17th. It was fun. We were asked to provide the music for an employee dinner/dance at the recreation building. It was fun. A lot of work loading our music equipment into the trailer, driving 120 miles to the Grand Canyon, an hour to unload and 3 hours to set up, an hour to freshen up in our room at the Lodge and then 4 hours of playing and singing. We were only supposed to play from 7 to 10 pm but everyone was having so much fun, they asked us to stay for another hour!! We didn't get everything loaded back into the trailer until after midnight.

I took my dog for an early walk the next morning and we stumbled upon 4 dozing elk. Gosh they were huge! Startled me when I realized what they were! They had blended into the trees. I took my dog and made what I thought was a big circle around them but I came upon them twice more before I finally found my way back to our lodge! We also saw an elk calf and a deer with her fawn. We spent some time down in the mule barn before heading back home. I had forgotten how big Missouri mules are. They are like Thoroughbreds with big ears!

My husband is busy working overtime... 6 days a week for the next 2-3 months. His only day off is Saturday. He's employed by the Ester-C Company. It's an excellent product!!

Tomorrow is my 12th wedding anniversary. The years sure have flown by and I feel very blessed to have found my soul mate! We're planning a BBQ with family.