Days of Thanksgiving — Days Twenty-Two thru Thirty

December 1, 2015December 1, 2015 / Ashley Wingert / 2 Comments

Day Twenty-Two: Epic rainstorms!

Day Twenty-Three: Special work projects like the Rose Parade that I end up putting a lot of time, energy, and attention into — it’s something different and exciting.

Day Twenty-Four: Make-ahead recipes.

Day Twenty-Five: I enjoy good food, and the whole cooking process.

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Day Twenty-Six: A day of Thanksgiving, the chance to gather with family and enjoy a meal and each other’s company. And pumpkin cheesecake.

Day Twenty-Seven: Leftovers!!!

Day Twenty-Eight: Boutique alcohol craftsmanship.

Day Twenty-Nine: My mother…on her birthday, and every day. For her support, advice, friendship, and love.

Day Thirty:

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my sanity keeper

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my hope for the future

Days of Thanksgiving — Days Fifteen thru Twenty-One

November 30, 2015December 16, 2015 / Ashley Wingert / Leave a comment

(Like so many things, I managed to drop the ball on actually staying on top of this on a daily basis. Shocking, I know.)
Day Fifteen: Fuzzy, kissable pony faces! (Even though she says “Please don’t kiss me, Mom, you know I hate that.”) Seriously, though. Super cheerful and well-behaved for hoof trimming and arena schooling.

Day Sixteen: Sofie learning how to play with Artemis and toys.

Day Seventeen: Artemis’s spay surgery was a breeze! (Keeping her quiet for the next week+, however…)

Day Eighteen: Scheming and plotting future ride potential and plans with friends.

Day Nineteen: A quiet day to keep an eye on Artemis.

Day Twenty: *BINGO* day.

Day Twenty-One: Fun times at The Hoof & Hound Expo — I get to do expo and convention stuff for work.

Days of Thanksgiving — Days Eight thru Fourteen

November 16, 2015November 30, 2015 / Ashley Wingert / Leave a comment

Day Eight: One of the two dogs actually likes getting a bath.

Day Nine: Work innovation and experimentation.

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Day Ten: Mixed blessing? The street getting unnecessarily repaved again motivated me to finally get the dead truck hauled over to the mechanic. Been putting it off, knowing the answer is likely to be $$$, but better to finally know and go about coming up with a plan for how to deal with/solve it.

Day Eleven: Veterans Day. Those that served and continue to serve.

Day Twelve: When you find out your truck needs $5k worth of repairs, it becomes one of those days where you’re pretty much just grateful you didn’t keel over/pass out from shock/heart attack/futility-and-hopelessness. Also, boozy-and-marshmallowy hot chocolate season.

Day Thirteen: Parental units that are good sounding boards and advice givers…and to personally have the willingness to ask for/take advice.

Day Fourteen: Fuzzy socks and bed-warmer dogs.

Days of Thanksgiving — Days One thru Seven

November 7, 2015November 7, 2015 / Ashley Wingert / 3 Comments

The Challenge: Every day for the month of November, find something to be grateful for during the day, particularly during moments I might otherwise normally grumble about. It doesn’t have to be a novel or daily memoir, just a sentence or two will suffice.

Day One: To have Mimi boarded at a place that provides excellent care and a good lifestyle for her, even during my own phases of riding-lite. The kind of care and turnout she gets allows me to feel not too guilty about the times when I don’t make it down as often as I should.

Day Two: Customers calling in with questions and orders = job security.

Day Three: Easy access to the dirt-surface canal paths for walking/running/taking the dogs out means I’m not relegated to sidewalks and neighborhood streets.

Day Four: Rainy morning really makes it feel like a proper fall day.

Day Five: Friends that help encourage, guide, and support me.

Epic Tevis Adventure, 2014 Edition: Part One: Extracurricular Riding Time

Day Six: Funky exercise apparel that makes me smile. Sometimes it really is the little things in life.

Day Seven: A really good relationship with my parents, the fact we see eye-to-eye on so much of life, and that we all enjoy each other’s company. A quick “pop my head into the office with a brief comment on something horse-related” turned into a lose-track-of-time, highly entertaining regaling of all kinds of horse tales, future plans, and lots of laughter.

Meet Sofie

November 2, 2015 / Ashley Wingert / 2 Comments

Two weekends ago, I made a very last-minute road trip up to Moab, UT, to go pick up the newest addition to the family.

Meet BriarBey Sofie. She’s a 4-year-old Decker Rat Terrier — and the mother of Artemis.

She’s a very sweet, snuggly girl who really loves to go for walks, tolerates Artemis’s overabundance of enthusiasm, and has been a fabulous addition to the household in the week that she’s been here.

picking up a dog and sneaking in a ride

We’ve most often had two dogs at one time in the household, and I think the addition of a second dog will ultimately be really good for Artemis to have the canine company. (Currently going through some growing pains as the spoiled child is adjusting to having to share her world…fortunately Sofie is really uncomplicated.)

Artemis at left, Sofie at right

It’s an interesting dynamic, bringing the mother dog into a household where the daughter has been the only dog…I’m still not quite sure how everything will play out with the pecking order. But I’ve definitely been guilty of spoiling Artemis, so the good thing about all of this is it is making me readjust my approach to dog handling and to start correcting some of the misbehaviors and indiscretions I’ve allowed to happen.