Please email Carole @ carole@volcano.net if you do not get her news updates via email and would like to.
NEWS:
At 5 AM when I dragged my tired butt out of bed (we have a card group on the second Friday night that keeps us out till way too late) it was about 10 below zero outside. Well, OK, it was only 29 degrees but it felt like 10 below. By the time I had a cup of coffee, got dressed and got the truck ready, filled the water tank and hay bag and found the right horse I was frozen. Fortunately the horse I wanted had a bath on Friday so he glowed in the dark. Ever try to find a bay horse in the dark? I stuffed him into the trailer and off to Ione we went.
For the first time in at least 5 years I drove into an empty parking lot. I had a horrible flash, was this the wrong Saturday? Was I supposed to be in Clements today? Where was everybody? Is this going to be a really small show? Can we go home early? But then Jeanne, your arena manager pulled in and within a few minutes the flood gates opened and the rigs started rolling in. I often wonder how early some of you get up when you have so much further to go than I do and you’re there so early. When the sign ups were all in there were 87 riders signed up so I had a feeling I wasn’t going home early.
The sun finally came up and we had a beautiful day. In fact riders started shedding their warm coats and even standing in the shade when the sun got a little too warm. Could not have ask for a better day for gymkhana. We had a Master Judge there to measure ponies and boy did we have ponies. Thanks Sheri, we appreciate it. The Crummy family pulled in next to me and unloaded 3 of the tiniest little ponies you ever saw. Next to my giraffe they looked like mice.
I started this post show email last Monday evening and as I was typing away suddenly THE WORLD WENT BLACK. Well, not the whole world, just my wonderful laptop computer. I calmly waited 8.4 seconds before I tried to reboot. It was kind of like getting Stormy over the Hurry Scurry jump. I did plenty of “booting” but nothing happened. The screen just stayed black. After Ray pealed me off the ceiling he tried to figure out what the problem was but we finally had to admit defeat. I poured a scotch and went to bed. My next stop was Staples Geeks where I bought this very nice machine and they said all was not lost and said they had retrieved my email stuff just fine. I went home, turned on the machine and found nothing but all new registration pages for everything. It was a bit early but the Scotch helped my attitude.
Next the WORLD FAMOUS (well, maybe not world but well known in Pioneer) computer fixer came by, spent an hour with this stubborn machine and told me it was all fixed. I sat down, finished the email and hit send…………………NOTHING HAPPENED. A little square popped up with some unreadable message about an error. I emptied the Scotch bottle. Ray suggested I shut down and re-boot. OK, call me stupid but I did it. When it came back up I was back to registration pages. I opened a new bottle of Scotch. Then yesterday I took this evil possessed machine to CPU in Pine Grove. Kevin restored all my files, set up my email again and I picked it up. Today I sat down to send the email I wrote Wednesday and guess what…………..it’s gone. All that’s left is the part I wrote before the catastrophe struck on Monday. And, all my email addresses are gone. Fortunately I had already addressed this email but once I send this I won’t even have this address. I’ll be taking this vicious killer machine back to CPU tomorrow. Let’s all keep our fingers crossed cause I don’t think I could ever reconstruct that 300 name list that has been 6 years in the making. I’d need at least two more bottles of scotch. You can check my Facebook page for news if you don’t hear from me, or better yet the district web page at cga27.com. Between myself and Karin we’ll keep you informed.
So………….enough about my computer problems. We had a great show Saturday. There were 87 riders in every division from AAA+ to lead liner and lots and lots of new people. There were at least 6 riders who were brand new to CGA and another 6 or 7 who were new to District 27. One, Michelle McLean on her horse Avatar, won the FC13+ reserve Hi Point came running up the stairs to tell us what a great time she had. A big CGA and district 27 welcome to Alli Battistorie, Jennifer Braswell, Andrea Brymer, Vanessa Caldwell, Dasif Dunham, Debbie Garner (on that gorgeous Friesian named Jack Daniels), Kayla Gay with her handsome white Percheron, Natalie Kellmann, Michelle McLean, Ally Partington, Alona Cibel Sanford, Corianne & Paige Sartor, Natalie Staas and at least 2 others whose names I missed. We’re so glad to have you join us. Watching you get started and improve is lots of fun for all of us.
There were a number of our regulars who didn’t come this time. Jeanie Missamore came over the mountains as she always does but neither Kristie or Koralei came with her. We missed you girls. Laura and Kyra Allemand were at a goat sale. Really?? A goat sale??? And where were Sheri and Trisha Emerson? Not buying goats I hope. We missed the Harp girls, the Kusar girls and the Struther family with their ponies. And how about Bill and Joshalyn Odom. Shannon Rahn made up for you missing folks by riding three horses and running the tractor. Talk about multi tasking, wish I had her energy. Even if I did I couldn’t drive that tractor. We were a little short of judges with Lisa and Laura gone and Judy Sharp resting her horse. It was nice to see some new and different faces out in the arena waving the riders in. I didn’t get everyone’s name but we sure appreciate your stepping up when we needed you. It was great having Terri Runge, who does all the computer input at district 7 in our booth. She was a great help and along with Mike Hlavay helped to keep the booth running smooth.
So our next show is January 28 and I hope we’ll see you all there again. Yes, you can still sign up for our year end awards and the rules are pretty simple. Ride in at least 5 shows and ride at least 5 events in 5 shows. Then all your rides for the season will count. Your sign up makes you an automatic member of district 27 but if you’re not interested in yearend awards you can still sign up as a district member for just $5.00. Every member is eligible to take $1.00 off your sign up form so there’s definitely an advantage. Be sure to check out our web site at www.cga27.com where Karin Hoffee makes everything easy to understand.
See ya round the barrels
Carole
Castle Country Riders (CGA District 27) has added membership benefits effective November 26, 2011. Anyone who has signed up for Year End Awards prior to 11/26/11 will be automatically considered a member for 2011-2012.
Here are the options for Castle Country Riders Membership and/or Year End Awards:
- Castle Country Riders Membership and Year End Awards - $25 for both.
- Castle Country Riders Membership only $5 (No Year End Award)
- Year End Awards but NOT be a member of Castle Country Riders it is $25
Membership has its privileges:
· If you sign up for Year End Awards it cost no extra to become a member.
· If you are a member of Castle Country Riders you will receive $1 discount on the Arena Fee at every show.
· Represent District 27 - Castle Country Riders at State Show
