Day 9 - February 9. Today we ran in a barrel race at our "home arena" at the Buckeye Equestrian Center. It was a nice and easy day with the barrel race starting at 2 pm (time onlys started at noon). Matalyn rode Breezy in the time onlys (exhibitions). Pippa had a great run and was 20.4 on a standard pattern; she was in the 4D. Montana and Gin also had a great run with an 18.4 and were in the bottom of the 2D. The splits here are 0.5 seconds between the 1, 2, and 3D and a full second to the 4D. Uncle Bruce and Aunt Gai came to watch and enjoyed the race. Uncle Bruce and I agreed Grandpa Lorenzen would have enjoyed seeing the girls run. 

Observation - our gray tank only lasts 48 hours, then it must be drained (we have sewer hookup, so it's not a big deal). We can tell it's "time" when the shower backs up! We are trying hard to conserve water, but taking three showers a day, plus dishes and washing hands really adds up. Other than that, the truck and trailer are working out very well for our needs.  

Another observation - I know we are in the desert, but it is really "dry" here. You need lots of lotion and chapstick (and sunscreen)! We also drink lots of water. It's also really hard on your nails as they tend to break easily. But, the temperatures are lovely. If we allowed it, the AC would come on during the day, and the heater usually kicks in around 4 am. Dressing in layers is a necessity. Sweatshirt or light jacket in the morning, followed by a t-shirt or tank top, and then back to the warmer gear in the evening.    

Day 10 - February 10. We call Wednesdays the "best days". On Wednesdays, we take a break from barrel racing and drive out to the yard in Tonopah where Sue stays (with Judy). It's just a magical place with wonderful people, great horses, and entertaining dogs. We do conditioning rides through the desert and "the wash", then head out to the barrel patch for a few drills and to lope through the pattern. On this day, we rode our mares with Sue and then did the "quad drill" followed by a lope through the pattern. We then saddled two of Sue's horses and two of Judy's horses and rode through the desert conditioning trail followed by the "baseball diamond drill". It's so fun to ride and feel different horses! The desert is pretty baron and it's hard to imagine that "the wash" can fill up with 10 feet of water after a heavy rain. 

We then came back to Buckeye and the girls gave the mares a bath. I worked and tried to get our internet fixed; we are now back up to two out of three devices working on wifi. It's also a constant flutter of activity with feeding and water horses, cleaning stalls, turning the mare outs, bringing hay to the stalls (from the trailer), organizing the trailer living quarters and mid-tack (that doubles as our walk-in closet), etc. We finished the day by having our 4-H Horse PDC Zoom call and having Shipt deliver more groceries, water, and supplies. I feel we are finally getting the trailer "stocked".   

Funny story - I was finally able to disconnect the sewer hose by myself! In my opinion, it's really hard to get off, so I was super happy to have done it! I'm sure the neighbor hopes my good fortune continues so he does not have to "rescue me". Since we are going to other places most days, we do have to "take down and set up camp" daily. 

Another funny story - I do enjoy watching the news at night and in the morning. But, I could not get our TV to pick up any local channels, but I could see others had working local TV channels. After a tip from my Uncle Bruce, I did a "channel search" and just like that, we now have 35 channels to choose from!