We have not been out on a trail ride with the new Quad bike as yet. But we have been around the ranch to drop off mice that we live trapped in the hay shed. Coco and King Karrot had a brief time out in the newly green turnout, But they were too insecure to eat much and enjoy it. So again this week they will be out there, possibly Pesky will be with them. He gallops around a lot and poor Karrot gets chased. So we will see.

Our new Quad bike. Perfect for riding around on. Doug and I went for a tour around the trails at the ranch it is perfect, a four wheel drive, it even has GPS.

Some Amazing Rain

A day of rain storms the fire is lit in the living room, the

Pesky

Coco

Marlane

Karrot

Rainy View

horse have their blankets on and a gutter needed clearing. Here is So Cal we are so grateful for rain !!

Wild fires have come again. We have high winds as well. The fires are not contained yet. Out at the horses all is Ok so far. The wind is blowing towards the ocean away from us. Those are not clouds it is smoke. Coco and Pesky get to try out a new turn out.

Practise Day at Willow Springs

Doug coaching his son Jonathon

Jonathon coaching his boss

The flat tire that we had on the way home

The SCCA Runoffs at Sonoma Raceway

Doug and I are busy getting ready to go to the SCCA car racing runoffs at the beginning of next week. We will be away from home all that week. Lots of thinking about what we should take. We will be sleeping on an air mattress in the race car trailer. Doug's son and GF will be taking care of the house and Doug's daughter and BF the horses for us. Doug has wanted to win this race all his life LOL so extra tension for this, it will not be just a regular car race

Doug and our friend Tommy looking at the car before putting yellow vinyl on it

Tommy has done this before on his car

Work done so now I will be able to see the car better on the race track

.

Too much drama around here again. The day before yesterday I had to go to emergency for my eye which turned out to be a scratched cornea. I have no idea how it happened. I woke in the middle of the night with it, incredibly painful.  And I can still hear the helicopters circling after putting out a wildfire a short distance away. I hope that this one was not another arson. We were lucky that it is not the windy season yet. Each area that burns makes a fire break, so that is a good aspect of it. I need a nice cup of tea !!

Our friend and helper Gunnar with the race car at the track

selfie of Marlane

Gunnar and husband Doug in the car ready to go out on to the track

Doug and Gunnar

In the car

On our way home

Rosamond California

Over the mountains is LA and to the left is Edwards AFB where the space shuttle landed a few times.

Subway where we got food to go for dinner.

Tomorrow we head to the race track. Doug needs to test the race car before we go to the Nationals in October. Time is running out. Our friend Gunnar is coming with us to help. This is good because he is a racer himself and knows more about the technicalities than I do. It is supposed to be quite hot and we will be there all day. There is a restaurant at the track so no worries about food and drink. It is just a matter of staying cool and hydrated and keeping calm.  We have to get going by 7am and meet Gunner at a car park along the way. It takes about an hour and a half to get there. We have a friend feeding the horses their lunch. We go every day except Sunday to turn the horses out and feed them lunch. We pay for them to be fed morning and night and to be mucked out. So they will be fine for a day. If any prospective burglars are reading this Doug's son lives with us, so someone will be home.

All is good with the bit and my sister is changing to a narrower one. It bothered me a lot, because my sister has a "trainer " who did not notice or mention this. Other things that the trainer recommends are excellent though, so I suppose it is a trade off. My sister lives in England and has I think 5 horses all Welsh Cobs. I live in the USA and have three horses. Two are not ridden. One is. My sister and I communicate via Skype every Sunday at 10:30 am. We have a great time and talk for at least an hour, sometimes two. We are identical twins, and my husband tells other people that it is like looking in a mirror  for each of us when we are on Skype.

I had a thing with my sister today about her horse and the bit it wears. The pictures show her horse and its bit which I say is too wide and she says in not. What do you think? The top 3 pictures are the too wide bit and the bottom the correct width. If I am wrong I would like to know.

I am delighted to have some comments !! Thanks so much you know who you are.
We have had another drama in the family, beside the unexpected dog visit.  My step grandson who lives with us part time with my step son, is being FORCED to take Ritalin. My husband and I found out when my husband took his grandson to the other grandparents. He is ten by the way. My husband was met at the door by the grandmother. She asked " what mood is he in" and "has he taken his pill" "What pill" asked my husband. A flurry of texts and phone calls followed between, the mother, father, aunt, and my husband. So now grand son is supposedly taking Ritalin at his mothers. But not at our house. The out come of this is unknown at the moment. Grandson shows no sign of  ADD when he is at our house. The problem seems to be at school and socializing at the mothers. I have a lot more to say about this, but will save it for another time.

I am still recovering from a visit from my step son and his new girl friend and my step grand son who is five. Oh and the girlfriends large dog ( an American Bulldog) who I was not expecting. Step son did not think it necessary to mention the dog because my husband and I are dog lovers. The truth is we lost our two dogs a few years ago now, both to cancer. They both died in my arms.  Roy and Kole were our children. Beautiful Australian Shepherds. I can hardly bear to look at dogs because I get emotional. Plus we have a cat and apparently this dog chases cats... I sat and cried alone on the floor of my office with the door shut looking up at my baby, my cat frightened standing on the windowsill too afraid to come into the house.
Everything was OK and it was a learning experience for all of us including my cat.

In the mood to write something

We have had a very hot and humid summer here in Simi Valley, California. It is starting to cool down now. I am sitting here typing this in my office and it is 81 degrees. That's about 27C. The main advantage to the humidity is that I don't get an electric shock every time I touch metal, such as the car door handle. Next are the Santa Ana winds and wildfire season.  No rain expected until at least November. We have lush green gardens because we have irrigation systems.  But we  pay for it, our water bill is about $100 a month. Thant's about 77 British Pounds. My husband has cut down on the amount of showers that he takes because he has a itchy skin condition and so we can save on our water bill. It certainly has helped his skin, as a normal thing here is to take a shower every day. I try to get away with taking a shower only once a week.
I am busy working on my garden, as I can be outside more now that it is cooler.
My husband Doug went to the Health Club for the first time in his life today at age 71. He is competing in the SCCA National runoffs in October and wants to gt fit. He will be driving a race car for 30 minutes.

This is me and Doug in 2011 with another race car that we had and sold. Our new one is similar but is silver. I see a picture of it in an earlier post below after the garden posts.
That is Doug's gloved hand in front of his face not some kind of weird tube.
I would really enjoy a comment or two to encourage me to keep on blogging.

My garden in May 2018.