Final Introduction

Vienna Rose ES

(Vitorio TO x Wild Eyed Rose)

Have you ever had a dream come true? I have. This filly is it. Working at the breeding farm, I helped create, foal, raise some incredible babies. But none of them were mine. I had no say in what happened to them. I raised them as if they were my own, but knowing that they were not.

I schemed and dreamed for years. Vienna's father Vitorio TO (DA Valentino x Sol Natique) came into my life when he was a yearling. My bosses purchased him with another couple and he won his class at Nationals out of a field of I think it was 27. He hasn't stopped winning. He has been US National Champion Yearling Colt, Futurity Colt, Canadian National Champion Stallion, Brazillian National Champion Stallion. And a few years ago, the polish state stud farm Michalow leased him for 2 years to breed to their mares. What an incredible honor. He is one of the most correct and gorgeous horses that I have ever met, and he is as kind and sweet as the day is long. I adore him. At some point, my boss and I were talking and it was decided that I would breed Rose to Vitorio.

 Hubba Hubba

 So handsome

 So so SO sweethearted. Mooching all the treats.

I was stoked. Rose was 18 at this point, and had not had a foal since Reggie when she was 7 so I first consulted with our vet and he examined her to determine if she was even breeding sound at that point. He said she was in picture perfect health. So I decided to go for it. With the costs of collections and shipping etc. it was pretty much a one and done shot. I didn't want to put her through the stress of short cycling if we missed cycles. So we started monitoring her in April, as luck has it she had just started cycling so we closely monitored her. The June cycle was an odd one, and we missed the window and my hopes were dwindling. But she came into a raging heat at the end of the month. We gave it the green light and placed an order with the farm Vitorio was standing at in Arizona. 2 days later, we had stallion juice.

Good Ole Fedex Sex

We were breeding 7 of the farm's mares as well. Everyone had had great cycles and was looking good. So I crossed my fingers and we waited the 2 weeks. 14 days. It seemed like an eternity. Finally, we checked the mares, the first 5 were all preggo. We were on a roll. Then the next two came up empty. I brought Rose into the stocks, my heart in my throat. It felt like the ultrasound took, FOREVER. Finally, my beloved vet said real slowly 'Well...' and I swear my heart hit my shoes. She wasn't pregnant. I got excited for nothing. But then he continued with 'I'm trying to get a picture of baby smiling for your scrapbook'. OH. MY. GAHD. I am not ashamed to tell you that I cried. Big gloppy snotty tears. We would give it another 2 weeks and see if she maintained the pregnancy. 30 day check, and we had a kiddo visible on the screen.

First Baby Photo :)

The next 11 months felt like they took forever. It was so much fun to see Rose flourish as a preggo mare. Again, she's naturally lean so people would ask 'are you sure she's really pregnant?' Oh yes, she's tubby for Rose! When I first felt the little squirmer kick and move in her belly, it hit me that it was real. There was a living baby horse inside my mare! I got so excited. I had names picked out for both colt and filly. I was convinced it would be bay since Rose is liver chestnut and Vitorio is bay. I really didn't have a preference. I would be so ok with another goofball gelding like Reggie, or a filly. I just wanted a healthy baby! (so cliche, I know). I had a very busy foaling season that year. We had 14 babies born on the farm. It was perfect, that Rose was due at the end of the season and as it happened, everyone had foaled by her due date of May 24. Everyone, except Rose. I had friends and family visiting that week in anticipation of greeting the little one. Well, as we well know, mares have their own schedule. Rose spent night after night gazing out the stall door into the night. So one night I let her out into the paddock and she spent the night gazing in the stall door to her stall. Weirdo mare. She was so miserable those last few weeks. She had pony cankles and her edema on her chest and belly was intense. Finally, FINALLY exactly 2 weeks after her due date, on June 7th, 2014 at 12:45am, she laid down. SHE LAID DOWN! She never lays down. My parents were watching the cameras from 800 miles away online which was so incredibly cool that they could be a part of it even after Rose didn't hatch while they were visiting. I texted 'ITS TIME!' and my Dad wanted to know how I could tell. Rose rarely lies down on her own, and she was down, and rolling. I zoomed the quarter mile to the barn just in time to see feet emerging. Everything went smoothly and in less than 5 minutes I said hello to a brand new, bright red chestnut filly! She was HUGE and had legs for days! And wait a minute....chestnut?! Yup. Bright chestnut with lots of chrome. 4 socks, a star and a nike swoosh kiss snip on her lip.

Tada!

I. Can't. Reach. Dis. Stuff.

The sass is strong with this one.

She was everything I dreamed of! I was over the moon. There were tears and that's why half of my photos are blurry, I couldn't see them clearly so they looked like award winning shots when I took them. Then the fun really began. Her little personality was so endearing. She would meet me at the stall door when I came in and want snuggles. But she was such a sass monster! When I head/neck clipped her to get some baby photos, she showed early on that she had mastered the mad mare face. It was so precious. 

Getting to watch her grow, and change colors. After I sent in her registration papers, I was sure I'd have to send them in again... she went from bright chestnut, to DARK liver chestnut. Darker than her mother! Then gradually over the winter lightened back to a honey chestnut. For a long time she was chestnut and flaxen, and now her mane and tail have sadly started to darken so she is a strawberry blonde. It is impossible to get good photos of her because she is a pocket pony. Unless I have someone with me, I can't get her off me. She's such a personable girl who always wants to be with you. We had a photographer come and last minute even though she wasn't gussied up, we added her to the list and she strutted her stuff!

Her little floof tail!

This wasn't even the darkest she got

I watched her grow. I weaned her (she was furious that we took the milk truck away). She was so independent and headstrong she never cried for her friends when I took her in to work with her. Dream baby. 

I moved home and the Nerd Herd migrated with me. One night in March, 2.5 months before her 2nd birthday I got a call from the owner of the barn where she was at that said she had cut her legs and it was bad. I dropped what I was doing and raced to the barn. She was down in the mud and wouldn't get up. She had been playing and stepped over the board placed against the barn (was a kind of quansett hut with curved metal roofing that wrapped around to the ground) and gotten her right feet wedged just right that when she pulled to step away, it sliced. We called the vet and he arrived but it was so muddy he wanted to take her back to the clinic to do xrays and examine her better. 

Nothing was broken, but it was bad. The hind leg was the worst of it. It sliced diagonally through all of the structures from her outer pastern, the foot was able to flop back. When the vet brought me back into the surgical suite to ask me what her purpose would be (he wanted to euthanize her that night) because you could see the bursa from her coffin joint. It was pretty gruesome. Looking back, I think looking at it from the scientific standpoint. My brain flashed into naming the structures and picturing all the musculature, tendons/ligaments etc that had been sliced. Keeping me from completely freaking out. 

If you're sensitive, don't look at this next photo:

Hind leg injury. You could see the bursa of her coffin joint.

He recommended that we euthanize her. He wasn't sure on the prognosis. IF it would heal and if she would even be able to walk. I was devastated. But in that moment, I knew I couldn't just quit. I had dreamed her up and brought her into existence. I needed to give her the chance. I told him to clean it out, patch her up and we were going for it. He cleaned the wounds and stitched up both legs (front was more of a vertical slice rather than the diagonal horizontal slice through the hind), bandaged them and put a cast on the hind. They would leave her like that for 2 days and re-evaluate. I was able to see her as she came out of the anesthesia  and got to her feet. She was able to get up and stand. I kissed her nose and told her she's a fighter and Mom would be back to see her. I made the big burly vet cry.

 Princess getting her beauty rest

Her 'Moon Boots'. Each time they changed them, they'd use diff color vet wrap.

Rainbow Girl. <3

They were able to take the cast off and put her in a gauze/quilt/duct tape 'moon boot'. For the next month, I visited her as often as I could. Did I mention I was unemployed at this time? Yup. The day her injury happened, I had quit the job I moved home to take after an unpleasant encounter with my boss. Nice. No income and my pony is in the hospital. Thank GOD she was insured! I visited her and for the first few weeks, she wasn't eating much. Her pain was difficult to manage. I was heartbroken. I had convinced myself that she was in too much pain and was trying to prepare myself for the worst but finally, after a few weeks. She started taking interest in her grain, would perk up when she heard the treat wrappers.  She had the vet techs wrapped around her little hooves. They were so taken with her and my update phonecalls each morning were raving about what a good girl she was and how sweet she was. So many of them commented on 'are you sure she's Arabian??' Haha, she won some fans over for the breed! I was given the all-clear to start hand walking her in the arena for 5-10 minutes when I was out. Between that and the acupuncture treatments she was getting, her pain seemed to become manageable. Her limp was awful and I felt like I was torturing her when I walked her. After about a week and a half of walking her, she felt good enough to rear when I brought her in the arena. SHE PUT HER FULL WEIGHT ON HER HIND LEGS! Long story short, we set a date for her to come home. I was so nervous bc I would be in charge of her bandage changes and did not want to screw that up. Miraculously, a week before she came home, the bandages came off her front leg. 2 days before that trip, Doc took the bandages off the hind leg and said it was good to go. 

Then commenced 4 months of stall confinement. I could hand walk her daily for 30-40 minutes but that was it. We wanted everything internally to heal before she was allowed to be a horse again. She was so fed up with stall rest and I generally started out with a pony-kite at the end of my lead rope when we began walking. She had fun bucking and leaping but I wouldn't let her go anywhere. She was doing airs above the ground in her very best Lipizanner impression. Spot. On. There wasn't a great place to start turning her out because as I mentioned previously, the mud management at that barn was not the best. Paddocks were ankle-fetlock deep in mud and the turnouts were perfect sized but full of knee high weeds. But we managed. Slowly she gained her strength back. Sadly. Xrays did confirm that the pastern/coffin joint on her front leg was collapsing which is why her limp had not gone away as she healed. While the hind leg had taken the worst of the injury, 60% of her weight is borne on the front legs, and more strain with the hind leg out of commission so... low ringbone on that joint. Vet said she may need surgery (plates/pins or alcohol injections) to fuse the joint. I opted to let her grow and see what happens naturally instead of putting her through another procedure and months of stall rest/pain. Thus far, she has remained pretty sound. Has occasional gimpy days if she steps wrong (but who doesn't?). I will be starting to break her out this spring, to see how much she can handle. I gave her an extra year of just being a horse and not pushing her, so that she could heal naturally. We'll see what nature accomplished and if I have a trail pony I can have fun with. I'm just so so happy that she was able to endure that ordeal and is still with me today. My fighter. The miracle.

If I am able to get her broke out and ride her. There will be ugly crying happening the first time I get on her back. Guaranteed. 

Love my Nenner girl. <3

Doing her best Princess Elsa

Pretty Girl

Pocket Pony

 

Introduction Part Two

Regal Review RF

(Regal Basque x Wild Eyed Rose)

 

 

 Reggie's sire: Regal Basque

Known to those that love him as Reggie, Sir Reginald, Wedgie, Goober etc. is a 2003 model Half-Arabian/NSH. Reggie is the founding member of my Nerd Herd. He is a card carrying member of the Goober Club (holds the office of President) as well. I have known him since he was just this little fluffball:

I mean, seriously!

I fell in love with him soon after he was foaled. I visited he and Rose before they were mine at my friends' farm near my hometown. I was in college at the time so wasn't around much and he left after weaning for training and the show life. He showed the fall of my senior year in the yearling class at National Show Horse finals and was Reserve National Champion. 

Such a handsome fellow!

Upon graduation, I took a job as a groom at a show barn about 3.5 hours from home. This allowed me to still come home for long weekends and of course I as out at the barn every chance I got. Reggie was home from his escapades in the show ring, awkward and growthy and still a stallion. I doted on him. There was just something about him. He had grown from that adorable fuzzy foal into a handsome, rose-grey yearling. At NSH Finals in September, working at the Stallion Row table, I listened with my heart on the floor as person after person inquired about Reggie and whether or not he was for sale. I silently braced myself for his inevitable departure. Such is the risk when you fall in love with horses that don't belong to you. In late October I was on my way to a party my employer was hosting when I got a phone call that changed my life. I had been body clipping, cleaning stalls, turning horses out, exercising horses at my friends' farm whenever I was home for a good 5-6 years at this point. I was told that they appreciated my work so much and that they were so proud of my accomplishments. Long story short, I had to pull over and cry happy tears because I had just accepted the gift of the horse that I adored. I was stunned. People don't just gift you Reserve National Champion horses... Do they?! I was convinced I was dreaming. I still occasionally pinch myself just to be sure.

A month later it was official. Reggie was mine. For the duration, he would stay where he was and I would be home on the weekends. Only this time, I didn't have to worry about him being sold and leaving me. Because *I* called the shots now! Even more incredible, Reggie is half-sibling to my all-time favorite show mare, Second Edition's Debut aka Honey. That mare... was incredible. She didn't trot, she floated. I am heartbroken that I cannot find photos or videos of her showing. The interwebs seem to be devoid of that lovely mare and that is a crying shame. It was on my bucket list to sit in her saddle. Just once was all I needed. But sadly, she passed in 2010. This is the only photo I can find of that gorgeous girl. 

Reggie and I have grown up together. He went from halter trained, gawky teenager to a lovely, mischievous saddle horse. Reggie has the biggest personality. He is a dorkfish to the core. Never takes anything seriously (except goofing around). When I had him in training, getting finished as a Country English Pleasure horse, he would aggravate his trainer to the point she would smack his shoulder and yell at him, and then turn back to him and she'd say 'Ohhhh, Reggie' while she laughed because he would make the most adorable, beguiling face. No matter what he does, you cannot stay mad at him. It is impossible. Dare you to try it. Make sure you bring treats, because he's going to con you out of them when you stop being mad at him. Guaranteed. He may grow old, but he will never grow up.

I was a good boy?!

Reggie is 15 this year. 15, going on 4. I don't have the money to put him into serious training (not to mention, my desired trainer is 8 hours away) so he and I are figuring this out on our own. We showed under saddle. I may share the videos from his first few shows at a later date. This post has enough Reggie-spam for one day. We also tried our hands at halter at the Scottsdale Arabian Horse Show and earned a Top Ten. He was perfect, I was a ball of nerves. He's now semi-retired, at least from the show ring. If we find something fun, we may attend. We will be working on getting back into sync with each other this summer. Both of us need to get into a shape that isn't round. The crew at the barn goes on trail rides over weekends in the summer. I usually hold down the home fort while they're gone but we may try to go with on a ride or two this summer. We've got some work to do. Reggie is working on learning how not to be a show horse. On our inaugural trail ride just down the road last summer, he was pretty sure he was trying to impress his new friends and had his head perfectly set (on a loose rein, LMAO and people asked why I only had a teeny tiny curb on him in the show ring. He sets his head perfectly in a snaffle bit with no contact, that's why). He even added some fun vocalizations along the way. Such a drama king! At least he looked pretty doing it? To quote Aaron Rodgers, Reggie is going to learn to "R-E-L-A-X" this summer. 

Custom Packers tack from WhinneyWear!

Horrible cell phone pic, but schooling for halter in Scottsdale!

Gooberface

The Adorable-Snowman

Strutting his stuff

 Moar treats, woman!

Creeeeeeeeeeper

He is my first horse. He is my heart horse. He is a blast to ride but he is not an easy ride. He has all kinds of buttons and levers to push and pull to make him do what he's supposed to. He HATES walking. Has to be forced and worked down to it. Why walk when you can trot or CANTERRRRRRR and show off your inner desert stallion? He has taught me so much, not only about riding and horsemanship, but about myself. I have patience I never knew I possessed. He is a constant comedian, or to quote my favorite author, "a constant jackass." Unintentionally of course. He is just wired that way. He's constantly just thinkingmovingdoing. I. Adore. That. Horse. When I am with him, everything in the world disappears. When I sit in his saddle, I am complete. He is the gift I did not know I needed.

My Happy Place

My Heart <3

Wild Eyed Rose

(Sting Ray x Sheer Elegance)

Pretty Girl 

My Rosie girl was actually my second equine acquisition, but without her, neither of my other two would exist, so she gets first billing. Fair? I think so. She is the most inaccurately named horse I have ever met. Haha. She has such soft, lovely eyes.

Rose (Rosie Posie, Rosalynn, Mama) is a 1996 model 3/4 Saddlebred mare. She's by my absolute favorite National Show Horse (Nish =  National Show Horse. Arabian x Saddlebred as the registry used to be, it has since been opened up to any breed crossed with Arabian as long as the Arabian blood is 50%. So, pretty much a glorified second Half Arabian registry... meh. By these standards Rose wouldn't even qualify for registration today as she's only 1/4 Arabian) stallion, Sting Ray (*Erros x Sultan's Secret Love).

Sting Ray (Rose's sire).

He's so sexy. He had a Fabio-forelock that was longer than his nose!

Rose is 3/4 sister to one of my all-time favorite show horses, the incredible 3-gaited mare, Sting's Finesse. It is a shame I'm struggling to find photos of her on the interwebs because she literally took my breath watching her. If you had told me while I was sitting captivated in the stands watching that mare do her thing that I would own a sister of hers, I would have hit you and said 'shut up!'. I now own TWO siblings of my favorite show horses... mind blowing really! I don't know a lot about her mother and les googles has not been of much assistance. Rose has Supreme Sultan on both sides of her pedigree and Wing Commander in her mother's genes. Old skedaddlebred blood and I love it.

Sunset Muggin'

She is the matriarch of my little Nerd Herd. Both of my other horses are her children. I was given the opportunity to own her soon after I got my gelding, but after talking it over with my boss at the time we decided we didn't have room to add another horse to the herd. So, I declined. However, I couldn't get her out of my mind. She was so dear to me and her son is very much her clone so it was like looking her in the eyes every day. A year or so passed, then her owners contacted me once more and said they had another potential buyer but were giving me one last chance to own her. I couldn't stand the thought of her disappearing from my radar and not being able to love on her when I visited the farm where she lived. So, I sucked it up (after all, I needed another horse like I needed another hole in my head). I found a friend who had an open pasture space about an hour from where I lived, made boarding arrangements and made the 20 hour round trip to pick her up. She stayed an hour away for about a year, until our herd at the barn I managed was down to a much more manageable size and I got the ok from Boss-Lady to bring her home to live with her son. She is extraordinarily bonded with her son. They were apart for many years as he was off showing and then with me after the age of 2. But when I unloaded her from the trailer and brought her into the barn, he all but squished himself through the bars of his stall nickering to her. She had an accident 2 years ago where she was cast against a round bale and couldn't get up until I got to the barn in the morning to get her free. He had been frantically trying to assist her, biting her ear and pawing at her head and neck earnestly trying to get her up as best he knew how. She's still missing hair around that ear from his efforts. Ugh, they make my heart mush.

Posin'

The rest is history. She's my girl. She is spoiled and she 100% deserves it. Her early life was not easy, this part is bittersweet for me because I hate the thought of her hurt or suffering, but if her story wasn't the way it is, I wouldn't have her because she would have been in the show ring like her sister (she'd be 5 gaited though, she has slow-gaited walking alongside me and you can see her natural ability and tendency when she's loose in the pasture) and then would be making national champion babies. When she was a kiddo in training, whomever was breaking her to ride left her tied head to tail in a round pen unsupervised and she flipped herself over breaking her c3 and c4 vertebrae. I'm sure there was more that had happened, but that is the story I got. She was then stalled for years and as a result HATES being stalled now. As a result of her injuries, she was pretty beat up and is very arthritic in her knees/neck/hocks. She gets all the love and treats she can handle and lives outdoors where she is happiest. She is kind and sweet and the picture of matronly elegance.

 About a week pre-foaling 2014

 Still able to roll with a belly full of filly!

She is legal to drink in human years as of last spring. I offered her a beer which she declined, she says she's more of a wine girl. She is retired from any responsibilities as of her last foal in 2014. Her only job is to exist and be spoiled. She and the rest of my Nerd Herd live about an 8 min drive from my house at a wonderful private boarding facility run by a fantastic woman who has become a friend. She takes great care of my kids and I have zero worries. Rose is a hard keeper, she's built long and lean and tends to be a bit ribby. Even heavy in foal, she didn't really look it. She could have passed for a normal weighted horse until her belly dropped a week or so before she foaled. Haha. Well, after I felt like a horrible owner last fall as she dropped weight before our eyes despite her mesh fly sheet and boots, Barn Owner and I devised a plan that consisted of her Progressive Senior, Beet Pulp and Progressive Envision served in a mash twice a day. She's been on that through the winter and I am happy to report that she is now pleasantly plump and even has a booty! She's as close as she gets to fat, sassy and happy. :)

This last group of photos were taken by DressageBarbie during what was 'supposed' to be a foal photo shoot in 2014 when she visited us in Illinois. As you can see, Rose had other plans!

 That belly!

She will live out her days with me. Not confined in a stall, but free to move about her pen and out in her pasture with her herd. Loved.

Introduction

Smalltalk is awkward...

Well, hello there. Welcome to the inner workings of my mind *insert maniacal laughter here*

Scared yet? You probably should be. If not, buckle up, it'll be a ride!

My dear friend,  DressageBarbie, inspired me with her blog and shenanigans. So I decided to follow in her footsteps. I'm giving it the old college try.

The excuse I used to begin ye-olde-blog here is to chronicle the journey I am about to embark on with my baby horse, getting her broke to ride. But there will be plenty of other stuff mixed in. My brain is spinning in a million different directions at any given time, so getting me to focus on one subject is difficult. SQUIRREL!

A little on me:
-I was born and raised in a medium sized city in Minnesota. I say charming things like 'uff da' and 'oh fer cute' and 'I'll just sneak by ya'. My Os sometimes have the long sound characteristic of the stereotyped accent displayed in the movie "Fargo". But no, I don't talk like that all the time. I don't think so anyway.
-I love theater. Musical theater mostly.  But I love any excuse to get dressed up and go out for a night at the theatah.
-I wear my heart on my sleeve
-I love all animals, but horses have my heart. I am owned by three of them. They are my Nerd Herd. More on them later, I think each of them warrant their own post.
-I'm a sports nut. I grew up in the State Of Hockey and am an avid hockey fan. As well as football, baseball and some college basketball (please do not ask me to watch the NBA, I will likely fall asleep) I am fiercely loyal to my teams. You'll very likely hear about them when things of note happen.
-I went to a small liberal arts college in Missouri called William Woods University. It will occasionally be referenced (fondly) as Camp Billy Twiggs. I majored in Equestrian Science. You have no idea how thrilled I was when I found out I could skip the veterinary field altogether (I don't think I could remain stoic when having to euthanize an animal...) and major in horses. I spent 4 of the best years of my life completely immersed in the riding, training, teaching and business aspects of the Equestrian Industry. I also joined a sorority (ohmygod, like, totally!) and found out that most of the stereotypes are not true. Except the naked pillow fights, we did that. All the time. Would I lie? ;)
- I spent the next portion of my life working as a show groom at some amazing, national caliber Arabian Horse show barns that allowed me to travel to shows in many states and live in different places (Baton Rouge, LA; South Carolina; Scottsdale, AZ). I worked my way up from lowly groom up to Breeding Manager of an internationally reputable Arabian breeding farm in Illinois where I spent the better part of a decade loving, breeding and raising the next generations of incredible horses. It was an incredible experience and my employer's family adopted me as one of their own.
-I moved back to my hometown about 2.5 years ago as I was homesick beyond belief. With the exception of my genius sister (I don't lie, she's racking up higher education degrees and works in the field of biomedical engineering. I don't even pretend to begin to understand what she does on a daily basis but I am stupid proud of her). my entire family still lives here. I got tired of missing birthday celebrations and family functions. I thought I had found the perfect solution, Managing an Arabian farm, in my hometown?! I tearfully said goodbye to my life in Illinois and set off on a new journey. Sadly... that next chapter was a very short one. The smoke and mirrors cleared out quick and within 6 months I was burned out. Promises from the employers to get me there were never followed through on. I was disheartened, disrespected, overworked and got fed up with it very quickly and left. I spent a month unemployed (Contrary to popular belief, being unemployed is not fun. After the first like 5 days I was over sleeping in, sitting around and I was BORED). I applied for many jobs. Interviewed for a few, and I finally accepted a job at my current place of employment, a telecommunications company that provides cable/internet/phone/home security to several Midwestern states. It was originally just a 'this sounds fun until something better comes along' job, but here I am coming up on my 2 year Anniversary with no plans to leave. It's a fabulous place to work and I have some pretty amazing coworkers. It's a complete 180 going from work in the barn to work at a desk. It's fun to use my story when mentoring new hires. Hey, if I can do it, anyone can!
-I'm a homeowner as of 2016. I wasn't intending to buy when I did, but when the rent of an apt that accepts 2 cats and a dog over 50 lbs (you'll meet them later as well) was essentially a mortgage payment (plus a pet rent, what the hell is the deal with that?! What happened to a good old deposit and done?), it seemed like a no-brainer to start building some equity instead of just throwing my money at a landlord and having nothing to show for it beyond an apartment that isn't mine. You may be privy to some of my remodeling projects. See? This blog is a jack of all trades! 😜

That's me, the short story. Hopefully I didn't scare you off... yet.