Well, ever wonder what happens when you put gas into your diesel truck? I had always wondered, but in the 10 years I have driven diesels, putting the right fuel in has never been an issue;  Green Handles!

Well, It finally happened to me last Saturday night.

See, 99% of gas pump handles that pump diesel in Arizona are green.  Most are green in California, too.  Anyway, I am always checking for green pump handles.  

Back to Saturday night; I was running a late errand then I had a well deserved dinner date with my Hubby, when the empty fuel light came on.  That always happens when you are not near any gas station, let alone one that has diesel. On our way to the gas station I usually go to, we saw a Mobile Station and they indicated that they had diesel and we saw the green handles.  Not thinking much of it, we pulled in stuck the card in and then started to pump our 10 dollars in.  I thought it smelled a bit gassy and thought "good thing I am only getting $10".

After we filled up we fired up the truck and started to head out for dinner.  Two blocks later the engine started to go,"ticka-ticka-ticka...." not the normal sound for my Ford 250 power stroke diesel!!! We pulled over right away and thought, Bad Diesel.  I called the gas station to report about the diesel when they told me that at their station, the diesel pump has YELLOW handles!  Why would they do that ?!!

So here we are stuck in a parking lot at 8pm on a Saturday night!  We called our good friends who lived nearby to help.  They got online and googled "gas in the Diesel tank" and then helped us with siphoning all of the gas out, then adding diesel.

After about an hour, and a fast food "tailgate" picnic with gas aromatherapy, the boys were ready to fire up the truck.  I was really entertained by 2 guys trying to siphon the gas out...Gas was everywhere(even though we put the gas into gas cans).  Good thing no one smokes!  I was surprised that no policeman came to see what we were doing!

Well, now it was time to start the truck.

She fired up with a puff of blue smoke and then ruff idled for about 5 minutes.  Soon the blue smoke cleared up, my truck started idling well and smoothly.  We then got in and drove home!

Here I am on Tuesday night and my truck seems to be running fine.  I think I will change the air filter and talk to Ford to see if I have to do any follow up.  It actually is running really well.

And as far as the green handles are concerned, Always check what fuel you are putting in!

Oh, and by the way, this was not another blonde moment, Hubby put in the gas LOL!

 Hey!  Senior moment

5 comments View Entry

I have received information on a few people who want to participate in Tackwagon's 2008 Secret Santa.  I am going to try to get a few more to participate since we have just about a week more for the information deadline.  

Remember that you need to get your info to me by November 23 so that we will have enough time to shop and send our secret friend a gift in time for Christmas.

More updates will be posted in the forum under Secret Santa!

Hope to hear from everyone soon!

Tags: Secret Santa 2008

0 comments View Entry

I thought I would share my feelings with getting Star ready to start when she turns 2.  I have talked to a lot of trainers, googled youtube, and read a few books about staring colts.

One thing I saw a lot of on Youtube were saddling up horses and seeing them buck violently and rearing in attempts to get the saddles off.  Most videos were shot in a round pen while others were on a lunge line.

Now, I have done a lot of sacking out with Star combined with lots of ground work.  I have had blankets on her, bareback pads on her, my uncinched aussie saddle on her, but yesterday, I decided to saddle her up with the western saddle.

She stood well, while I showed her the blanket (even though she wanted to chew on it!), then I slipped the saddle on her back.  She just looked at it thinking it was a new toy to play with.  I told her "No!" when she would try to chew on it.  I then started cinching her up and letting her feel the cinch under her.  I tightened it, then loosened it.  She didn't mind at all, she was still trying to lick and chew on the saddle blanket.  I finally tightened it and hand led her around the pasture.  When she seemed at ease with that, I snapped on the lunge line and had her walk, then trot.  She was great with that.  No buck, or rearing.  I worked her for about 15 minutes and then was done.  She was very calm and as I took the saddle off, it was no big deal at all.  From watching all of those youtube videos, I didn't know what to expect.  

I wonder if those "trainers" in the bucking bronc saddling videos would have had a calmer horse if they had spent more time sacking out their colts.  Or Maybe Star is just one of those easy horses to work with. (which is good since I am getting too old to be beat up by a horse!)

4 comments View Entry

Well, a lot has happened with Star the last month.  I have been working with her with ground work and have even sat on her several times.  She has been a really good and willing horse to work with.

Last month I had to put corrective shoes on her front feet to help correct her boxy hoof.  She developed a boxy hoof by always grazing with her front right leg forward and her left one back.  I tried to correct it by doing a natural trimming every couple of weeks, but there was little progress in correcting the hoof and I was concerned about the tightening of the tendon in the leg.  My vet recommended that I try the shoes or if it wasn't corrected, Star might need to have tendon surgery if she were ever to be a perfomance horse.

Star stood like a champ as the farrier nailed on her shoes.  Didn't even flinch, and even wanted to see up close the farrier grind the shoe for the perfect fit.  I couldn't believe that she was curious about the sparks that flew up from the shoe.

She has had the shoes on for about a month.  Her angle is 100% better and even though she has more heel on her left front, you can hardly see that the foot is boxy any more. She also travels more smoothly in her gait.

I am hoping that Star will grow out of her leg forward grazing style.  She started this when she was only a few weeks old.  At that time her neck was so short and her legs were so long that the only way she got her head to the ground was to put one leg forward and the other one back.

My Gelding grazes with his front legs spread apart like a giraffe. The impact this has is less of an effect on his front feet, but when we were competing heavily a couple of years ago, it put extra stress on the insides of his front hooves.  This caused on occasion, the inside of his front hoofwalls to crack out.  I never lost any shoes over this since I have him on a shoeing schedule.

It is amazing how the horse's hooves reflect everything about how they move, their nutrition, and how well you take care of their feet.  As my farrier always says when I ask how their feet are, "All four are touching the ground!"  That's a good thing when you have a riding horse.

0 comments View Entry

For those of you that follow the sport of Competitive Trail competitions and Endurance Racing you will know the name Elmer Bandit.

Well, he has just finished over 20,000 competition miles with Sweepstakes wins in the Open Division.  (This division is very fast paced and compete the furthest mileage!)  This is an amazing horse, not just for the mileage, but this horse is 37 years old!

You can read more about Elmer Bandit on the Link Below:

http://www.thehorse.com/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=12692&nID=43&src=RA

Very interesting.  With Inspiration like this, I could have 20 more years on my gelding Maverick!

1 comments View Entry

Well, I gave in to temptation today...Sometimes it is just so hard to wait.  

I have been working with Star on her ground manners and have been doing the "natural horsemanship" games with her since she was 3 months old.  In the last month she has really grown tall and is almost as tall as my gelding.  (She does have a lot of filling out to do...)

I have put a saddle and a bridle on her.  There was no problem with that and liked all of the attention with the saddle including the treats in the saddle bag.  Likes to go in the trailer and be ponied on trail rides.She stands quiet for the farrier on all legs and is just so much fun to work with.  The only problem is that I have to wait until next year to start riding her when she turns 2.

So today, as I was scratching and rubbing her, I slipped a leg up over her and sat on her for a moment.  I continued to scratch her and see did not seemed to be bothered one bit! I then slipped off and continued to rub and scratch her. She moved closer to me and I slid back up and repeated what I did before.  What a feeling!

At that point, I decided that it was enough, but I sure can't wait to start to train her to ride.  The process was much easier than I thought up to this point.  My horse friends tell me to wait 'cos 2 to 3 year olds are a handful!  Star has been easy since the second she came out!  And, I do know that I need to let her fully develop before I really start to ride her and work her.  

2 comments View Entry

I saw this posted on another site but thought everyone here would like it!

Hope you all enjoy this. 
How Many Horses Does It Take To Change A Light Bulb? 

*Thoroughbred: Who ME?? Do WHAT?? I’m scared of light bulbs! I’m outta here! 
*Arabian: I changed it an hour ago. C’mon you guys -catch up! 
*Quarter Horse: Put all the bulbs in a pen and tell me which one you want. 
*Standardbred: Oh for Pet’s Sake, give me the darn bulb and let’s be done with it. 
*Shetland: Give it to me. I’ll kill it and we won’t have to worry about it anymore. 
*Friesian: I would, but I can’t see where I’m going from behind all this forelock. 
*Belgian: Put the Shetland on my back, maybe he can reach it then. 
*Warmblood: Is this the 2nd Level Instruction Packet in English? Doesn’t anyone realize that I was sold for $75k as a yearling, but only because my hocks are bad, otherwise I would be worth $100k? I am NOT changing light bulbs. Make the TB get back here and do it. 
*Morgan: Me! Me! Me! Pleeease let me! I wanna do it! I’m gonna do it! I know how, really I do! Just watch! I’ll rewire the barn after, too. 
*Appaloosa: Ya’ll are a bunch of losers. We don’t need to change the light bulb, I ain’t scared of the dark. And someone make that darn Morgan stop jumping up and down before I double barrel him. 
*Haflinger: That thing I ate was a light bulb? 
*Mustang: Light bulb? Let’s go on a trail ride, instead. And camp. Out in the open like REAL horses. 
*Lipizzaner: Hah, amateurs. I will change the light bulb. Not only that, but I will do it while standing on my hind legs and balancing it on my nose, after which I will perform seven flying lead changes in a row and a capriole. Can you do that? Huh? Huh? Didn’t think so. 
*Miniature: I bet you think I can’t do it just cause I’m so small. You know what that is? It’s sizeism! 
*Akhal Teke: I will only change it if it’s my owner’s light bulb and no one else has ever touched it. 
*Andalusian: I will delegate the changing of the light bulb to my personal groom after he finishes shampooing my mane and cleaning my saddle, but only on the condition that it is changed for a soft blue or green bulb, which reflects better off my coat while I exhibit my astonishing gaits. 
*Cleveland Bay: I’m busy. Make the whipper-in and the hounds do it. 
*Saddlebred; My ears are up already, please, please get the light bulb away from me! I’m ready to show, really, I promise I’ll win! 
*Paint: Put all the light bulbs in a pen, tell me which one you want, and my owner will bet you twenty bucks I can get it before the Quarter Horse. 
*POA: I’m not changing it. I’m the one who kicked the old one and broke it in the first place, remember? Now, excuse me, I have a grain room to break into. 
*Grade Horse: Guys? Um, guys? I hope you don’t mind, but I went ahead and changed it while you were all arguing. 

2 comments View Entry

I am posting a picture of my filly Star.  I finally had a camera close by when she got into her strange sleeping position.(See Castaways! in the forum).

If you go to my gallery, you can see Star in that favorite sleeping position.  She loves to sleep partially under the fence panel.  Often she digs out the area, plops herself down and rolls her head under.  I find her like this a few times a week.  This week I am lucky because she hasn't gotten cast all the way in the panel.  On those days, she waits for me to come and roll her back over.  She loves the attention and seems to do it intentionally.  In the picture she seems to be saying, "Look what I can do..."

3 comments View Entry

Well, Last night I ran the irrigation for my property as well as the neighbor's property.  This process is one of the things that keeps our wonderful community together.  When we run water, there are a series of irrigation ports and gates that you need to open in order for the water to flow.  This time of the year, water is very important for our parched pastures, and even though the horses need to stay in their paddocks until the water is absorbed, they love the fresh new growth that comes.

Now if you forget about your water, you flood another neighbor out.  One year a new neighbor who chose not to get to know the community decided not to get their water because their time came in the middle of the night.  That water flooded out my neighbor to the north and submerged their swimming pool with muddy water.  Needless to say, the pool pump was clogged up and it was quite a mess.  Well, after having to pay for pool repairs, the new neighbors had to repair their nonexistent relationship with the community.  Now they have become great neighbors and we all work together to help each other out if you can't be around to turn on the water.

The funny thing about our irrigation is that it almost always rains when we get our water!  Last night, we got a doozy of a monsoon storm.  Monsoon storms are typical for Arizona for this time of the year.  They are most beautiful to watch, but can be very damaging.  They bring brief desert showers, dust storms and quite a bit of lightning and thunder. We received 2.5 inches of water from last night's storm and it is expected to rain all weekend.  Doesn't sound like much, but since the desert normally gets 7 inches a year, we got a third of our water last night!  The rain that drained off the house alone, filled a fourth of our property with the new drainage system we put in.  Now we know it works!

The storm last night blew out some of the electrical transformers, so needless to say we lost power for a while.  Since I am an optimist, I didn't think it was too bad since the storm lowered the 107 temp to 72 degrees!  (Get out your winter coats Arizona people!)  Even Colorancher would have tolorated last night's balmy temperatures! Then, at 11pm, people went to check on each other.  What a great neighborhood we live in!  

1 comments View Entry