NWPAHA Summer Classic Dressage Show

Yup that's right, Bugsy and I went over to the dark side and went to a dressage show.  And I loved it!

Our win at Erie means we are halfway qualified for the 2012 AECs and I want to go.  Bugsy will probably be my best bet to do well there.  And let's face it, although Bugs is nowhere near ready to retire, he is getting older and realistically, he can't keep doing this forever.  So this is it, this is my chance.  And I know the lower levels at the AECs are extremely competitive.  It's not like the upper levels where you can usually bank on moving up a few placings if you jump clean.  At beginner novice you have to have a good dressage score.  And although Bugs and I can muddle through the dressage well enough for here at home, I want to be good.  So I need ring experience, and lots of it.  Luckily last weekend I had a dressage show practically right in my backyard.

Saturday morning, Courtney and I loaded up Kiwi and Bugs for the short drive to Harlansburg for the Open Dressage Show that is held in conjunction with the NWPAHA Summer Classic Arabian Show.  Being so close, Courtney thought it would be a good opportunity for Kiwi to get her feet wet.  And of course we had all our minions along, Astrid, Victoria, and Ari.

First up was Training Test 2, Bugsy warmed up great, he was listening and soft and really just working well for me.  I ended up not needing much warm up at all on him.  We just did some trot work and then our canter departs.  So then I just kept him walking to keep his muscles loose and warm.  Of course when we headed into the ring for the test I got nervous.  And as a result the first half of our test was a little bit tense.  But as we moved through the test I relaxed and things got a lot better!  And apparently the judge didn't see the tension because I walked away with a 73.214!  In a recognized dressage show!  I was shocked.

Then it was back to the trailer and Bugsy got to chill and eat hay for a couple hours before we headed back to the ring for Training Test 1.  Again Bugs warmed up great.  And then this time when we headed into the ring I wasn't nervous at all.  It was a much better test right from the start.  Bugsy was supple and tracking up, working off his hocks.  He felt great in the canter work and he gave me this great long and low stretchy circle.  To me this test felt 100% better.  Enough so that I got the high score of the day with an even 75.000!  So pleased and proud of my Buggers!

Look at that stretch!

And then it was a break for a couple more hours till we rode our last test.  I'll be honest.  By the time we headed over to the ring for Training Test 3 I was tired.  And so was Bugsy.  Dressage is hard work!  We kept the warm up very short.  Just a little bit of trot work and then a quick canter depart on each lead.  Even so we were both tired when we headed into the ring and it showed.  Plus this was the one test I never had a chance to ride at home in it's entirety.  We still had a fairly decent test.  Just not as great as the first two.  We still came away with a 62.400 and lots of things to work on for the next time.

At the end of the day we went home with blue ribbons for Training Tests 1 and 2 and a red for Training Test 3.  Pretty good accomplishment for my first recognized dressage show.  So now we are thinking about heading to Chagrin on October 15th for the NODA Schooling Show.  And we might tackle First Level Test 1.  Stay tuned!

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EHSC Photo Overload

Guess what came in the mail yesterday.  The amazing pics Brant Gamma took of Buggers and I at EHSC!  Woot!  Here are some of my favorites.

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July/August Goals Review

July/August Goals

• Ride Twinkie
•  Success!  I've gotten a couple of rides on Twinks lately and she is progressing so well.  Our last ride was fantastic, she was bending and moving off my legs.
• Work on improving my own ability to ride Bugsy in Dressage
• Success!  33.8 in dressage at EHSC HT says I'm improving.
• Work on my own fitness
• Not so much a success.  In fact, I didn't really do much on this on.  Fail.
• Continue to work with Naughtie
• Another fail.  Actually I don't think I've even been on Naughtie in the last two months.
• Become more comfortable riding lots of horses
• Success!  I've been riding Bugsy, Twinkie, Airy and actually I feel like I would be fine getting on any horse in the barn.  Even Cuddles. And I think Bonnie wants me to start riding Mystic a bit.  Of course not sure when I'll have time for that...

 September/October Goals

• Continue to work with Twinkie
• Begin schooling First Level dressage with Bugsy
• Work on my own fitness
• Start the "babies" under saddle

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Erie Hunt and Saddle Club HT

Ok, finally getting around to blogging about my time at Erie Hunt and Saddle Club.  I had Friday before the event off.  So time to get Bugsy all squeaky clean and that last ride in.  Bonnie actually got on Bugsy and rode him first, so that was a nice treat.  I always enjoy riding after she's been on to tune things up.  Bugs got a thorough scrubbing as did my tack and he was tucked in for a good night's sleep.

Saturday morning I was at the barn e.a.r.l.y.  My ride time was at 9:12 but we had to feed and load up with enough time for me to get dressed and tacked up and plenty of warm up time at the show grounds.  Plus Bonnie wanted to work Bugs a bit before we left.  He goes better the second ride usually.  Made it to the barn in time to watch Bonnie ride, always educational.  The kids all slowly started arriving and we managed to get on the road only slightly behind schedule.  Pulled into the show grounds with about an hour till my ride time.  Perfect.  I got myself dressed while my superb grooming team took care of Bugsy for me.

Soon enough I was in the saddle and heading down to the dressage ring. Bugs warmed up great.  He was in the bridle just where we wanted him.  He was tracking up nicely.  All in all he looked exactly like a beginner  novice horse should.  We did our walk, trot and canter warm up, then just walked some small circles until it was our ride time.  As soon as Bugsy hit the dressage ring he suddenly remembered that he was a big bad intermediate horse.  And he went like an intermediate horse.  Oh well, he was a little more up in the bridle than we would have liked for beginner novice, but he was listening to me, and we rode a pretty good test.  So I figured we would either end up about mid pack or at the bottom of the division, depending on what the judge liked.  I practically had a heart attack when scores were posted and Bugsy and I were tied for 3rd!  I was shocked, I never expected to do that well.

I actually look like I know what I'm doing!

We had a couple of hours till it was time to jump, so Bugs was untacked and got to chill on the trailer with a hay bag, and we headed out to walk the cross country course.  It was a nice, straight forward course, actually the exact same course I jumped with Kaye 2 years prior.  Bonnie and I worked out how to ride the course, especially the water, and then we headed over to stadium.  Once again the stadium course was straight forward, no confusing turns or anything like that.

Before too much longer, the kids were tacking Bugs up again (in my snazzy new Ecogold pad) and we headed over to stadium warm up.  Bugsy warmed up great for me, although he was a little insulted by the small jumps.  We watched a couple of rounds and then it was our turn.  He was perfect in stadium, until the last fence.

As we were jumping the last fence we had a slight, uh, equipment malfunction.  My right stirrup slide off of the stirrup bar, and that threw me off balance just enough that I lost my other stirrup.  Well, then the banging stirrup spooked Bugs and he took off around the ring.  We did about 5 laps or so of the ring at a gallop before he jumped an oxer backwards and that's when I went off.   I just couldn't stick on anymore.  Luckily I was ok.  A lot sore, and a little shaken up, but ok.  Bugs stopped as soon as I went off and so the kids were able to grab him and take him back to the trailer.  Honestly at that point I wasn't sure I was up to finishing the show.  Luckily we had crossed the finish flags (several times) and so we were not penalized for the fall.  The kids took care of Bugs for me, hosed him off and then tacked him back up for cross country.  I got a drink, calmed down a bit, and manned up to get back on.

Warm up was a little rough.  Bugsy was being good, but I was still very nervous.  But the good news is even though I felt like I was going to be sick, I was staying with Bugs perfectly, even when he started leaving out strides before the fences.  Tammy coated my saddle in Saddle-Tite.  And then my support crew headed out to find a spot on course and I just had a few minutes left.  The starter called for my time, and we were off.

I was super nervous the first few fences.  And I kept Bugsy fairly slow.  And then after fence 3, my stupid pinny got caught around the whip I had under my saddle, so that slowed things up a bit.  We trotted the up bank at 4 and then down into the woods.  Then coming back up out of the woods Bugs picked up and easy canter, and suddenly I remembered how fun this was.  I rode my entire course in two-point, which actually Bugsy liked a lot better, sitting the canter/gallop on him is just asking for a little too much at this level.  He was such a good boy for me!  Even did the water like a champ!  The water was just an unflagged pass through for beginner novice, about 5 strides or so after a log.  Originally the plan was to go around the water rather than risk a stop, as we all know water is not Bugsy's favorite thing.  But after seeing the course Bonnie told me to take him through it, since it wasn't flagged, even if he did stop we wouldn't be penalized.  About 3 strides out from the log he saw the water and sucked back a little, but I growled at him and he said ok!  Jumped the log and then he did drop back to a trot before the water, but he trotted through with no hesitation and then picked up the canter again afterwards.  We finished the course with big smiles and 9 seconds under optimum time.

 
My support crew took Bugs for a well deserved shower, after he got lots of treats of course.  And I got a well deserved gatorade and a seat.  It wasn't too much longer till we heard the announcement that scores had been posted for my division.  If I was shocked to be tied for 3rd after dressage, just imagine my shock when I saw that I had won!  The first and second place horses had some problems in stadium and so I was tied for 1st after that.  Everyone else already knew it, and actually I'm glad Bonnie didn't tell me.  Would have made me a lot more nervous for cross country.  Both the other girl and I ran clean on cross country but I was closest to optimum time and so I won.  1st place out of 19 in the division, including some professionals, feels pretty darn good!

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Goodbye Waldenbooks

Feeling extremely nostalgic as the closing of my bookstore looms near on Monday.  Yes my bookstore.  I know, I know, it's been almost 4 years since I last worked there.  But the Beaver Valley Mall Waldenbooks will always be my bookstore.  Even now, I still find myself referring to it as Waldenbooks, and I think we did the conversion in 2005. 

I grew up in Waldenbooks.  I found an old kids club card that I had from like 1988 I think.  My parents always stressed reading to me, I grew up reading books, every book I could get my hands on.  When I got my first job in the mall, at Sears, I would spend my lunch breaks in the bookstore.  You'd find me sitting on the floor in the romance section finding at least 2 or 3 books to buy.  And two days later I would be right back there because I had already finished them.  I met some of my best friends in that bookstore:  Anne Shirley, Elizabeth Bennet, Jane Eyre, the Pevensie siblings, Nancy Drew, 4 Hobbits, the list could go on and on.  So much of my life was spent in that bookstore.

When I left my job at Sears and was looking for another one, I was thrilled when Cindy offered me a position at Waldenbooks.  It was my dream job.  Of course at times I think I gave my entire paycheck right back to the company, even after my discount!  I got to see all the books as they came in, I had a huge bookshelf to organize and stock.  I could order in the books that I wanted to sell.  In short, it was heaven for me.  Throughout college I worked at the store, coming home on weekends for some shifts and over the summer holidays.  I loved it.  And then after graduation, I was promoted to keyholder and then assistant manager.  Not only could I keep the job I loved but I was getting the management experience that I needed for my career.

Even after leaving my job at the store, I still spent a LOT of time there.  Working at the store for 6 years, I formed close relationships with all my coworkers.  It wasn't easy to not see them everyday.  So I would still stop in to say hi, usually on the weekends.  And I would usually end up staying for a while, even helping customers.  Not only was it my coworkers who I missed but also the customers.  As the only bookstore in Beaver County we had a lot of regulars.  There was the little old lady who came in every month to buy the christian serial romance novels, I think she was the only reason we kept getting those in stock.  There was the somewhat strange manga couple with the super adorable little baby.  I even missed Jerry, who was my very first experience with a persistent creeper.  That store was home for me. 

Monday night it will be closing it's doors for good.  I've known for a while that Borders was in trouble.  Discontinuing the Preferred Reader card and moving to the free Borders Rewards program, that was a bad move.  You're offering a discount without getting any kind of compensation in return.  Barnes and Noble charges $25 a year for their card and they are still going strong.  That wasn't the only problem.  The company went through several management changes and not one of them did much good.  And that was all felt at the store level.  It was sad to go into my store and see the shelves half empty because the individual store were not allowed to order the stock they knew would sell.  But even knowing how much trouble the company was in, I still held out hope that Borders would somehow ride above it and survive.  Then in July the final blow came.  It was official.  Borders was closing for good.  The stores were scheduled for liquidation, and then a piece of my history will be gone.  I won't lie, I cried when I first heard the news. 

Goodbye Waldenbooks, I know I for one will miss your presence in Beaver County.  At least I have some great memories.

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I ♥ Bugsy

I ♥ Bugsy. 

More details later!

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May/June Goals Review

I know, I know!  I'm super late with this, and I thought about just skipping it altogether, but that's just not me.  So here we are, May/June goals review

May/June Goals

• Improve Naughtie's dressage
• I'll say it was a success.  We scored a 36.5 and a 35.5 in her first show.  I'll take that.
• Ride Twinkie
• Big ol' fail on this one.  Just never got the chance to get on her before the end of June.
• Prep Naughtie for her first recognized horse trial
• Well, we did prep for a horse trial, and pretty well.  We did the combined test at South Farm in early June and she was very good for that.  But we never actually made it to a horse trial.  However since the goal was only to prep for it, I'm saying it was a success.
• Ace the PHR Exam
• Well, I don't know that I'd go so far as to say I aced the exam.  But I did pass.  And hopefully that will open some doors for me employment-wise.

July/August Goals

• Ride Twinkie
• Work on improving my own ability to ride Bugsy in dressage
• Work on my own fitness
• Continue to work with Naughtie
• Become more comfortable riding lots of horses

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Moving On

Well, I had plans to write this big catch up post but time has just gotten away from me.  And quite frankly I just can't think of everything that's happened.  So we're just starting fresh.

We have a new boarder in the barn, Courtney.  She just moved here from Texas to work as an engineer at Shell in Cranberry.  Very, very nice.  And she has two very cool horses.  Bucky is her BIG (17.3 h) Dutch Warmblood gelding.  She has shown him through Intermediare and is school Prix St. Georges so it's really neat to watch her work him.  I want to take Twinkie out with him someday and just let her watch.  Maybe she'll learn a thing or two.  :)  Courtney's other horse is her young pony mare, Kiwi.  Kiwi's just been under saddle for about 7 months, so she's still just learning, but oh so cute to watch.  It's nice because Courtney will come out in the evenings after work, so I've been getting in a few extra rides on my days off with her.

I'm starting to get out to the barn super early on Saturdays so I can find time to ride all the horses that Bonnie keeps adding to my string.  I haven't been on Kaye since the combined test at South Farm two months ago, and actually I'm okay with that.  I've got so many other great rides that I don't mind giving her a break from me.  She does enough with all the little kids, especially in this heat.  I'm still riding Bugsy every chance I get.  And after our success at the Boyd Martin clinic I've decided to enter him at Erie Hunt and Saddle Club Horse Trials on August 20th.  Erie is a great local event and I really encourage everyone to support EHSC.  We've been in the process of changing out the arena footing the last couple of weeks.  The new footing is all in now, but we haven't moved the jumps back yet.  We'd like to get them washed before we do that, so it's been a lot of dressage work.  Which I don't mind in the least.  I know Bugsy will jump everything, that's not a problem.  And water will be an option so I won't even attempt that.  And I know that if I can just get a good dressage ride, we have a chance at doing really well this weekend.  I had some real break through moments with Bugsy and I'm really pleased with how well he's going for me.  It's kinda funny actually.  He's really rather agreeable to working for me.  I certainly don't make him do it.  But I bribe him with lots of treats.  I and ride him enough like he likes, as in I know what I'm doing and I know how to ask for it.  But on the other hand I don't have enough leg on him to annoy him, and I don't pick on him, so he likes that.  So he's agreeable to working.  Plus I think he realizes that if I wasn't riding him, no one would be.  And Bugs is not one that enjoys hanging around without a job to do. 

The other horse Bonnie had recently added to my string is none other than Scarey Airy!  I had tried riding Airy in the past and it just wasn't a good match at the time.  I still had the tendency to grab with my legs and of course Airy took that to mean take off.  On the flat it wasn't too bad, but try and jump and she just bolted into the fences.  Fast forward a few years and lots of lunge lessons later, and low and behold, I can actually ride her.  And pretty well too if I do say so myself!  I got on her again for the first time a few weeks ago, originally only intending to ride her on the flat.  But after some good flatwork Bonnie suggested trying her over a couple fences.  We had been getting along well so I figured "why not?"  And Airy was a gem!  No rushing, just nice and easy over the fences.  She's such a change when jumping from Kaye and Bugsy. Both of them are so powerful over a fence, you really feel them sit back and push off into the jump.  With Airy though, you could close your eyes and honestly you wouldn't able to tell when she jumps, she's that smooth.  No less powerful than Bugs or Kaye, she's just a warmblood and jumps like one.

I've also started working with Twinkie a little bit again. She has been her usual good self.  I lunged her a bit before I got on her the first time, of course it was completely unnecessary.  I got on her and she was so good for me.  She's still a wiggle worm under saddle, we haven't quite figured out how to move off my leg yet, but she's getting there.  And she's very willing at both the walk and trot.  She really needs her feet done and shoes on the front so we haven't done too much with her yet.  But Ari did get on her and walk her a bit the one day and they got along well.

Let's see, what else has been happening?  Well X decided to scare the crap out of me a couple weeks ago.  It was Saturday and Jim was coming to put hay up in the loft.  So Bonnie, Katie, Victoria and I were upstairs doing that.  While waiting for Jim between bales I poked my head down the trap door into X's stall to say hi and he was laying flat out in his stall.  Very much not like him to do when there are people in the barn.  I called down to him and he lifted his head to look up at me but made no move to get up.  At this point I wasn't too concerned, it was super hot and he was in an inside stall, so I just thought he was stressing because he was overheated.  By the time I got downstairs he was working on getting up, so I snapped on a lead shank and took him out to the arena to hose him off and cool him down.  We go through the whole hose and scrape routine a couple times and I take him into the barn and clip him in the crossties where he can get the cross breeze.  I ask the kids to start working on his stall for me, and then Sarah comes over and tells me there's blood in his stall.  It's a tiny little bit, maybe like an inch in diameter.  I noticed he had a few places where he had rubbed on like his hip so I figured that's what it came from.  But I checked him over again just to be safe.  As I knelt down to feel his legs, I looked up and saw this:

You can imagine the panic I went through.  Well Bonnie managed to get me calmed down and she and Katie took him out to the ring to wash him well while I called Dr. Maro.  He didn't think it was too serious, it wasn't bleeding much and it didn't seem to bother him at all.  Keep it clean and moist and he would be out in the afternoon to stitch him up.   Needless to say it ended up being a long day for me.  Dr. Maro didn't make it out until about 5, and well, the location of the cut made it somewhat difficult to stitch.  But he was taken care of, he'll probably have a scar I'm sure, but he's okay and in one piece, so for that I am grateful.

Buppi is a lightweight!

After the stitches

Other than that it's just been a lot of working at both jobs.  I'm so ready for a break from that, let me tell you.  Erie's coming up this week, so I should have more to report soon!

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Cross Country with Boyd Martin

Well, it time to start moving on with things.  As hard as it is, and as much as I still want to just cry everyday, I'm still here and I still have a life to lead.  And the first step will be recapping the amazing clinic in which I rode with Boyd Martin.

Boyd came back to Northern Ohio at the end of June for a 2 day clinic at White North Stables and South Farm.  When he was last here in October of 2010, I took Miss Kaye and we had a blast riding with him.  Well this year, I was going to pass on the clinic.  $300 is just a lot of money.  But as the date got closer and Katie was getting ready with Kaye, I really wanted to ride.  So I talked to Bonnie and we decided to take Bugsy along for the second day and ride cross country at South Farm.

Wednesday morning we were up nice and early to get on the road.  Katie was scheduled to ride at 7:30 and then I would be in the 9:00 group.  Well when we got there, we heard the sad news that Boyd's father had taken a turn for the worst after his accident and so Boyd was leaving early to catch a flight home to Australia.  So Katie and I both ended up riding at 9:00 with about 5 training/prelim riders.  On one hand it was nice to still get to ride with Boyd.  On the other hand it was kinda disappointing to have to be in a group with the prelim riders, I don't feel we got as much attention.  But what can you do.  The poor guy was just trying to work with as many people as he could.  I give him a lot of credit for still continuing with the clinic after getting that kind of news.

We were on our own for the flat warm up, which was good.  I wasn't that big of a fan of the way he warmed us up on the flat last year.  Especially with our horses.  Bugs was a little pumped when we first headed out.  He would not stand still so that I could get on even.  But once we got out to the field and started on the small circles, he settled down into the work nicely.

Then Boyd came to get us and we headed out to start jumping.  We started over a small coop, which Bugsy was not at all impressed.  But then as we moved into the next field, Boyd had us string together a couple fences.  A little coop, around to a log, back to a bigger coop and then finishing up over another bigger coop.  Bugs was awesome!  Now that he was jumping some novice fences he was much happier.  He did get moving a bit between some of the fences, just having fun.  But he came back to a nice controlled canter for me when I asked.

Then it was time for banks.  All I can say is I'm getting pissed at myself with my bank issues!  First Boyd asked us to just walk up onto the bank and then step down off the beginner novice bank.  And of course I had a stop the first time.  Turned Bugs around and we did it again.  Then Boyd had us trot down the bank, land in a canter, and with out gathering our reins jump the novice coop that was about 6 or 7 strides away.  Then we turned around and jumped the coop and up the bank.  We did those both a couple times and then headed down to the water.

Bugs was a trooper at the water.  He trotted right through without needing any encouragement, which was nice as water is not his favorite thing.  We trotted through a couple times and then jumped the beginner novice bank up out of the water.  Turned around and jumped it down into the water.  We jumped that bank and swung around to jump a stadium fence that was set up at the edge of the water.  Finally we finished with a little mini course.  Trot through the water, jump the stadium fence, go around the pond and jump a log, loop back around heading towards the water and jump a flower box and then finish up with the novice down bank into the water and across to the stadium fence.  And this is where Bugs made me love him even more.  We jumped the stadium fence and he just settled into this nice hand gallop over to the log, didn't pull didn't try and speed up, he was just content to run at the speed I told him.  He popped over the log nicely and settled back into that nice gallop to the flower box.  Now after the flower box it was kinda funny.  Part of the field next to the water was roped off because it was VERY wet and Sarah was trying to save the footing for the horse trials that next weekend.  So to get to the down bank you had to ride close to the ropes and it still set you up at an angle to the bank.  But it set you up nicely to jump the prelim down bank.  And so that's what Bugsy thought we were doing.  lol  I did manage to get him over to the novice bank, only because I'm not sure I would have made it down the prelim one still on his back!

All in all it was a great clinic.  I learned a lot from Boyd, and I had a blast riding Bugsy.

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Till I See You Again

It's been over 2 weeks now since my world was just completely turned upside down.  And I still can't believe it.

For those of you that don't know yet, my brother, very unexpectedly passed away June 30th from a massive heart attack.  He was 36 years old, the father of two wonderful little girls, ages 11 and 13, and way too young for this to happen.  He was walking home from the grocery store and just collapsed 2 blocks from home.  Someone saw and called 911.  Unfortunately nothing could be done.  It turns out he had severe, chronic, cardiovascular disease.  It built up over a long period of time.  And he had no idea.  At least not as far as we know.  But even if he did have any warning signs, he probably didn't think it was his heart.  I mean who at 36 would?

None of that makes this any easier to get through though.  I don't have a big brother anymore.  I'll never get to see him again.  My niece won't ever get to hug their dad again.  Wednesday night after the funeral, I went to the cemetery with my parents, Aunt Sandy, Uncle Ralph, Uncle Bill, Sara, Kris and the girls.  That's when it really hit me.  Todd won't be around to see Lexy and Kailee graduate high school or get married.  He won't be here to dance with me at my wedding.  My kids will never get to meet their Uncle Todd.  I lost it.

You expect to have to say goodbye to your grandparents or your parents.  But not your brother.  Not now.  And I feel like I have to be so strong for my parents.  I don't know.  This whole thing has just been so hard, it's unreal.  Everyday I wake up wishing that it was all just some really bad dream.  And unfortunately I'm still living that nightmare.  It's not going away anytime soon.

I've gone back to work at both jobs and I'm trying to get back to normal.  Or at least as normal as things will ever be again.  The ponies have been a huge comfort to me, as you can expect.

I've had this post sitting out here as a draft for a while now.   I just haven't been able to hit that publish button, as if it somehow makes things more real.  I know crazy huh?  Like it's any less real just because I haven't blogged about it?

Thank you all for your support, your words mean so much more to me than you can possibly know.

I love you big brother, and I know that someday I'll get to see you again.

~~~~~~In Loving Memory~~~~~~

Todd Michael Pavlinich

April 25, 1975 ~~ June 30, 2011

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