Oh my, I can hardly believe that it is that time of the year again……. Comes so quickly, doesn’t it?  And, how would I categorize 2017?   Some HIGHS………………very HIGH and some LOWS and I mean very Low…………  Where do I start?  Lots of exciting updates in the house…………and it needed it. We had a new bathroom added to the first floor and with that, I decided that lots of the wallpaper needed updated so I was so lucky to find a fantastic man to do the remodeling (Denny Cyphert) and an awesome woman (Nancy Nobs Chadwick) who is a real “whiz” with wall paper………… oh, I so love it:  living room, dining room, hall ways, and bathroom upstairs.  WOW! It must have been a bearable winter as I have pictures of Donald taking a ride on his motorcycle in February and the kite flying day in March showed very, very little snow and although he had on a winter jacket, he wasn’t wearing gloves.  😊

Spring came in soooooo nicely, lots of blooms to enjoy and it was great just “watching the trees turn spring”……  Lows this month ……….  Donald’s prostrate decided to give us a run for our money and a biopsy didn’t give us the news that we hoped for so we were faced with some difficult decisions this spring. We chose the radiation plan and I’ll talk a lot more about that when we get to “summer”.  We sure were pretty happy that we did get to start showing early (for us anyway).  We decided to do some PINTO circuit showing. Sammy Kaber showed Juliette and Donald showed Pocahontas.  Our first pinto show was in May and both girls did very, very well.   In June, we had our first foal of the year, an outstanding solid chestnut colt by Alybi and out of Sassy. It was Sassy’s first foal and she was an awesome mommy. Lots of showing in June with Sammy and Donald and then, Romeo doing so well under saddle with Randy Stoneback.

In July, Donald started his radiation regimen. Can you believe 42 treatments, 5 days a week.  He is such a trooper and handled it so well (I just love him.) and at least, he got to ride his motorcycle more this summer than he ever had before. We continued to show during this time and Donald and Sammy both ended up with Register of Merits on both girls……. Without a doubt, a real HIGH for the summer.  And, also, on Aug. 22, Snickerdoodles SURPRISED us with a palomino and white colt. We call him Tripp and he is just really beautiful……….  Tall, friendly, and very correct. He is NICE.

October brought us our biggest LOW of the year when we lost our good, good friend Joe McBride on Oct. 4. It is so hard to even think about Joe being gone. He truly was a “member” of our family……….we’ve known him since 1971.  Never forget that someone special could be gone in a blink of an eye. We got to visit with Joe’s family when they came into town for a beautiful and moving memorial service on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Our love to them during this holiday time. 

Speaking of visits, we got to see Teddy Fry and Renee Schmader at a cook out at Dee’s this summer. That was super and then later in the summer, Nancy Carrol visited and she brought me the most beautifully hand painted model of Bucky. I treasure it every time I walk past my china cupboard where he lives. Well, let’s not forget our clients either………..  Sandy Young’s mare, Charm, had an outstanding colt by Alybi  this spring and so did Scott Dulaney’s mare, Kit Kat……………  Looks like it was a “colt” year for Alybi.  And, don’t forget a big CONGRATULATIONS to Harvey Barnes on the purchase of Sassi’s colt……  He has such a good home and I have to chuckle as they changed his name to a cartoon character, Agent Perry.  Ha, ha, ha.