New Year...New Goals

Like everyone else...the new year is a time to plan for the upcoming year and set goals. I thought I had mine pretty well established last fall, but considering that it has, yet again, become time to bid South Dakota adiu, once Megan has completed her school year here...those goals have changed more than a bit.



Moving to Colorado will be by far one of the easiest moves I will ever have to make. Since we have the next 5 months to gradually move things from here to there, I will have the opportunity to go through everything and get rid of the things I don't want anymore before moving. Also, there are things that I won't have to worry about taking, since I can pack unnecessary and duplicate items up and store them at my ranch.



Moving saddle horses has never been much of a problem. The easiest to move will be Moon, Strawberry, Frosty and Queenie. I will be taking everyone with me this time though, so Woofer, Shooter and Mighty Mouse will go too. Woofer is an old hat at traveling-since she is retired though, she will need a couple acre pasture and shelter. Shooter, being just a sprout, is going to need some room to roam-I just hate keeping babies cooped up, so a pasture is definitely in order for him. Mighty Mouse is going to need a dry lot. We'll be keeping an eye out for a little harness and cart for him(Mikey let Megan drive one of her ponies one time and Megan has never forgotten it). And then there will be the 2 mares this fall...It's Beauty's turn to get bred and Chunk should foal around the middle of May. They will need at least a couple acres to move around in. That makes 10 head total(including Chunk's predicted foal). Believe me...we are looking for more land. The softening market in GJ might not be such a bad thing, at least for us.



There are several projects I will need to get finished up before we move...there is another barn at the ranch that needs to be torn down, a shed that needs re-sided, the garage needs some patching, new doors and the floor needs to have the cement patched. The basement of the house needs to be drylocked and painted. And finally the rest of the junk piles that I started working on last year need to be hauled out.



On the horse front, Moon and Rip need to be re-conditioned-the high school rodeos are in May. I need to finally get Frosty doing something and Queenie needs to rejoin the saddle horse world.



I am going back to school, yet again! I already have my bachelor's in Business Admin, but both Chris and I think it would be very useful for me to get my Accounting degree as well. I am only a few credit hours away from that. It is going to be a bit of a switcheroo to get the correct classes in and accounted for...On Monday, I have to call the college in GJ to make sure that they will accept credits that I can take at the local Indian College. If they do, then I will go register for any accounting classes they provide this semester...next fall I will finish up the last few classes in GJ and have my 2nd bachelor's degree. There just simply isn't such a thing as too much schooling-LOL.



Last but certainly not the least...Chris and I will finally be able to get married! Yep! We have talked about it for years...but finally....We are going to do it. So I guess you could say that I am driving my engagement ring-hehehe. No date or place set yet...I'm leaning toward getting married in his mom's yard...she has a magnificent place in the Black Hills, flying to Vegas for the weekend and then topping it off with a bon-fire party at the Colorado house. Whatever we do will be fine. And to top it off...Chris has talked to Megan about adopting her!! Megan is all for that-her biological dad is not involved in her life and my ex-husband, who she always thought of as a dad has distanced himself from her since he remarried. We will finally be a complete family...making it easier for Chris to get his own kids more often too!



Everyone is going to have to hold on...this next year is going to be a whirlwind!!