STILL The Best Pumpkin Carver. Ever.

I suspected it would happen. I knew to expect it. And yet when I was confronted, challenged, this Halloween about my title as Best Pumpkin Carver. Ever. I have to admit I was a little taken back. Then I was mildly amused. Now, I am absolutely confident that they were joking.
You see, my sister Jeniffer and her daughter Marianna thought to overthrow me this year as the Best Pumpkin Carver. Ever. But they forgot one thing: they would have to carve pumpkins superior to my own. And here is where the plan failed miserably for them. They only saw the glory, the fame of overthrowing me, The Best Pumpkin Carver. Ever, and did not count on the challenge of actually carving a pumpkin.
Well, young grasshoppers, I am here to tell you that while you carvings are cute and interesting to behold, they can't hold a candlestick up to mine. I'm sorry to put it to you so bluntly, but it's true.
Now we shall have the judging. Shall we start with Marianna's? I think so.



So...this is a spider. A spider whose right side is aflame. Now no spider I have ever seen could ever, ever still be living if their whole right side were on fire. So there is a point off for unrealisticness. Also this spider seems to be dangling in front of a crecent moon, now this is the silliest thing I've ever heard of. Halloween is all about full moons and scariness, NOT crescent moons. Silly girl, I have much yet to teach you. But dont' feel too discouraged, it took me a few seconds years to get as good as I am today. Keep practicing and maybe someday you will stand a chance of becoming the Best Pumpkin Carver. Ever. being able to enter the same competition as me.

Now onto Jennifer.

First let me say, kudos to her for a) getting the moon right, and b) having a throwback to their own piratical ship.

Okay, kudos over, now lets get down to business. First of all, this is NOT Pirates of the Caribean so your ship is not going to go anywhere with that big hole in it's sail. Sorry, but it's just not going to happen. Also, the wind must be very confused where you are sailing, becuase your sails are going one way and the flag the other. Sorry, but again it's not going to happen. And thirdly, I can't see Marianna anywhere in the rigging, and I know that if you guys really lived on this boat, as you claim in your blog, she would be up in the rigging brandishing her sword and yelling into the wind.....before scampering down for tea and scones. So maybe that is where she is...having tea? Either way, it's not going to cut it in this competition. You must leave nothing to doubt!

I'm sure you guys are feeling pretty silly right now. So I have something that will cheer you up immensly: my carved pumpkin! I know, I know you just can't get over how generous I am. It's a gift.

Here, in all it's carved glory, is my Best Carved Pumpkin of 2009!

Does it kill you guys how amazing I am? Be truthful.

Now here is a truly amazing piece of pumpkin carving greatness. We see before us an obvious subject, three ferocious wolves, howling their ferociousness at the moon, which you will all notice is a full moon. We see some artistic placement of tastefully frightful trees. Not to mention the absolute skill involved to carve such perfect, perfect wolves. See how realistic they are? I'm amazing.

So I hope we won't have to go through this anymore. I have officially and truly beat you all for two years running at carving pumpkins. And truthfully it's getting a little embarrassing to be beating you all so badly. So, please accept your defeat gracefully and send me chocolate as a winners package! Please.

The First To Know

So...I just got my hair cut and I wanted you all to be the first to see it! Actually everyone at work has seen it as well as all of the guests that come through. So other than Redding, CA you guys will be the first to see it. How great for you!
Here it is in all it's stylish glory:




Oh yeah, and I have glasses now too.






Here it is in a ponytail:

(And no, I did not curl my ponytail...it is naturally that curly!)

I haven't had time to try my new cut straightened (the original purpose of the cut) but as soon as I do, you all with be the (almost) first to know.

Zoe Under Saddle...

is a beautiful thing. This horse was made for English tack. Look how pretty she is.

But you've all seen her in a saddle before, remember when we were lunging? But here she is with me on her!

I know, I know. We're amazing.

The first time I rode Zoe in the covered arena, she was a little frightened.

She didn't quite know what to make of it all. But that soon faded away and before you know it we were doing a nice collected trot.

Here she maintained the collection all the way into the walk.

After we were done, we had to pose for some shots. I really liked these two:

And here's just a nice one of her head.

So there she is, my beautiful Zoe!

Zoe on the Lunge Line

I finally got around to taking more pictures of Zoe the other day. Or I guess I should say, I finally pestered Veronica enough that she finally got around to taking pictures of Zoe the other day. (Which I really appreciate by the way)

Anyway, the point is we have new, never before seen pictures of Zoe now! Woohoo!

First lets start with a simple warm-up: Zoe on the lunge line! I can just imagine how excited you all are to see her on the lunge line.

Both of these images are really good examples of how well trained she is. Notice how in both images her head is so low? This is because she is stretching and working the muscles in her back. Now, I'm not sure how to train a horse to do this, but I do know that it is extremely important that they do so. This strengthens their back and makes them more flexible. It's also a sign that the horse is relaxed and focused. Also, in the top picture do you see how her hind right foot is stepping exactly where the front right foot was? This is called tracking up and is also very important. It shows that the horse isn't lolly-gagging about but is actually working. So what she is doing here would be called a working trot! Pretty amazing huh?

Also, a random fact: lunging is not just running a horse in circles. It is actually a lot of work for the horse, becuase the point is not to let them run around as fast as they can, but to control their speed and keep them at a nice, steady working gait.

Here I have Zoe slowed to a walk.

And now to a halt.

She waits while I gather the line....

and change it to the other side....

and give her a pat.

And now we're off in the other direction.

So thats her basic lunging! More photos coming soon....of me RIDING!

Zoe!

Well here she is, my new horse! I bought her on Friday and she is settling in to her new home very nicely. Her name is Zoe, pronounced Zoey. Actually her real, registered name is Bold Devi. And yes, I said registered name. I own a registered horse! Veronica and I are so anxious to get the papers and look at her lineage! This isn't the greatest picture of her, but I'll be sure to get some more soon.

Saturday was the first day we worked her. She was very nervous about being in a new place, and so I turned her out in the outdoor arena to run off some of her energy. This is a video of her exploring.

She is an amazing mover. I've been longing her lately in the round pen instead of riding her. This is giving me a chance to meet and learn about her and giving her a chance to learn about me and her new home. Anyway, I have been longing her and she has amazing gates. When she becomes relaxed she naturally drops her head and goes on the bit and can keep a straight topline through all three gates. It's amazing!

Zoe is also the prettiest horse I've ever owned. We used to get occasional compliments on Dakota and Tequila, mainly their coloring, but I have been getting amazing compliments on Zoe. We even had some people stop at the barn today for the sole reason of looking at her!

Anyway, I just wanted to get a quick post together so you all could see her! More pictures coming soon, I promise.

The Last Little Easter Egg

Here follows the drama of Frederick, the last little Easter Egg:

Frederick lived for most of the year in a land called Carton. He was very happy in Carton, becuase he had his own little home and he was surrounded by other eggs who were very much like him. They were a very undemanding little group of eggs, and lived in complete satisfaction. They were never bothered and never troubled to bother anyone else. For you see, these were no ordinary little eggs; these eggs had been hand selected by the great Easter Bunny himself to be decorated by the little children of the house in celebration of Easter. When the little eggs had been told that they were the selected Easter Eggs, they had been very excited, but none more than Frederick. For his whole life he had wanted and dreamed of becoming an Easter Egg, and now at last it was coming true!

Finally the great day arrived, it was Easter and time for the little children to decorate the eggs. Frederick was very excited as he was placed with all of the other eggs on the table to be painted. He looked around him and saw the most wonderful site: he was surrounded by so many wonderful colors, and as he sat staring around him at the amazing rainbow, he wondered what color he would be painted. Perhaps a deep robin's egg blue, he mused, or a cheerful yellow, or maybe even, and here his heart fluttered, a beautiful tulip red! Oh the possibilities! How would he ever manage to sit still long enough for the children to get their aprons on?

Finally the children were ready to begin painting, and butterflies began dancing in Frederick's stomach as a small hand desended towards him. He almost jumped off the table as he stretched towards the hand, knowing that it was him it was reaching for. However, instead of curling around Frederick the little hand instead picked up his neighbor, Jenny. Frederick sighed sadly as he watched Jenny's excited smile dissapear above him. No matter he told himself, there were more children. And it seemed that just as he thought this another dewey little hand decended towards him. Again Frederick leaned towards it with all of his might, his little heart fluttering madly in anticipation, but again the soft, little fingers curled around another egg.

Over and over again Frederick watched the little hands descend on the group of eggs, and over and over again Frederick was passed over for another egg. After a while Frederick stopped leaning towards the fingers, and eventually he even stopped watching to see who was picked up. Frederick had been passed over so many times, that he was beginning to lose hope that he would ever be painted. Indeed as many of his friends returned, brightly painted and very happy, Frederick began to think he was lost in a sea of color, one where he would surely be missed and passed over...never to be painted. What a horrible fate for an Easter Egg!

Time went slowly by, and still Frederick was not painted. Soon he was the only egg left who remained white and he bagan to despair of ever getting painted. The children were getting tired and began to fuss and Frederick feared that they would leave him alone on the table.

Slowly the children began to finish their last egg and to leave until there was only one little girl left. Frederick glanced glumly up at her as she painted her egg. He recognized her as the little girl who had painted Jenny, and he had to admit that Jenny was now the prettiest egg in the bunch. Oh how Frederick had wished to be painted by her, and now she too would leave.

Eventually the little girl did get done with her egg, and as she carefully set it down she propped her elbows on the table and sighed dreamily down on the colorful little eggs. How gorgeous they all were! But wait. There was still one little egg that had not been painted! Carefully she reached down and wrapped her fingers around the little egg.

How Frederick jumped with shock when he felt the little girl's fingers curl around him! He had been looking the other direction, trying to hide his tears and had not seen the little hand reaching for him. At last he was going to be painted! Frederick almost sang with Joy as the little girl carefully applied her brush to his shell. The little girl took a very long time painting him but Frederick didn't mind, becuase he knew that the little girl was doing her very best to make Frederick look gorgeous.

Finally Frederick was completely painted and returned to his home with the rest of the Easter Eggs to await the Easter Bunny. Frederick was so very happy and filled with the Easter Spirit that he shone more brightly than any of the other eggs and many of the little children oohed and awed over him until he thought he would bust with pride at the little girls painting. However none of the little children, or even Frederick himself were more happy than the little girl; for she had gotten to paint the last little Easter Egg.

In Celebration of....Me

Today is my seventeenth birthday! Woohoo for seventeenth birthdays! I just wanted to take this time to say that I know half of you half as well as I should like, and I like half of you half as well as you deserve. Actually, I never said that, Bilbo Baggins did in Lord of the Rings, but I couldn't resist the temptation to say it, so I did. After all it is my 17th birthday, so I figure I can do whatever I want.

I decided that as a special birthday kinda thing, I would do a post strictly about me. Because you know I always do posts about other people (except for when I ride horses, or paint my room or go on trips) and I decided this morning that by golly it is MY birthday I'm gonna do a post about ME!

So here it is, in all its glory, the almost first post dedicated entirely to Vanessa Tuepker! Seeing that it is such a momentous occasion and all I decided that what I wanted to do on this was examine the first seventeen years of my life!

I was born about the cutest baby in the world.

Don't let my happy face fool you though, I could also be very serious

but mostly I was just happy and by the way, rocking chairs are about the funnest things on this planet.

I was also, umm how do you say, errr...fat.

Just look at those chubby little cheeks! They match the hippo on my belly which I don't think is a coincidence. Mom has a very unique sense of humor.

This also showed itself in my haircuts. Not one of us four daughters escaped having a bowl haircut for the first ten years of our lives, except maybe Jennifer, lucky first child.

But I will give mom this, she did know how to dress me up for special occasions.

And when I did have long hair, she always made sure to put them in pigtails because pigtails are about as much fun as hair can have.

These next few pictures show the side of me that I don't often like to talk about. You see I am a very competitive and rather spoiled person and well, just look for yourself.

Before the trophy:

After the trophy:

But hey, it worked right? I got the trophy: mission accomplished!

Actually, I am inclined to believe that me throwing a fit just to get what I wanted was very rare. Right? I mean seriously, me throw a fit? Preposterous! Especially since my other photos show me as being rather laid back.

Time out from looking at me. Just look at Marianna in this picture. It must have been very early because she looks like she's still trying to get some sleep!

Please understand that I am only including this next photo to show how dedicated I am to telling of all of the major experiences in my early life. Remember how I was talking about short haircuts earlier....well this next photo explains why I am completely against them.

It also appears that I am slightly challenged in this photo. Okay a little more than slightly, shall we say a complete tweaker.

But no matter how funny I looked, one thing is for sure: I had a ton of fun as a kid.

And it is my personal belief that every child should have an old, dirty, farm pond to play in as a child.

But unfortunately the more fun you have, the faster time goes, and before I knew it I wasn't playing in farm ponds anymore, but was instead babysitting and looking after little kids who were having fun playing.

and for a while that was fun too. But never as fun as actually playing yourself. Of course then we moved to Maui and I had a great time, so that made up for having to grow up because I learned that you can always play.

And now I'm seventeen whole years old! It's pretty scary, let me tell you. But rest assured, I still have time for fun. See.

I never realized how much I've changed or how much I'll continue to change. Anyway, enough of this deep, if you can call it that, talk. I'm off to fly a kite and add a little color to the sky, it's been much too blue here lately. Wish me luck!

Carson, the Wonder Horse

I can't believe that I, Vanessa Tuepker am about to do another animal post, but I am. I have done birds and nature and now, I'm about to do a post on horses. Of all things horses. I just can't believe that I am the Tuepker girl to be doing this. Well, here goes.

I take lessons at a stable, as many, okay all of you know. And while I'm there I ride this little thing called a horse, and well this particular horse is called Carson.

He's a strawberry roan, but to keep it simple we'll just call him a redhead. (He prefers that anyway)

On this particular day of riding, I was there alone, except for my faithful sidekick, Veronica, and I was working on Carson's transitions. You see, he has a tendency to be lazy, and that doesn't make for the best dressage horse. So Jeanette, my instructor, and I are working on getting him a little more unlazy. Part of this includes fixing up his transitions from one gait to another.

Carson does great going from a walk to a trot and back to a walk. Walking is his favorite though, especially if he can do it really slowly. The problem arises when I ask for a canter. He tends to go into it fine, but when we go back to the trot, he just loses control and falls out of it, limbs flailing and nose jutting out. It was this transition that I was working on. In a nutshell, this means getting his head in a good position, neck straight and shoulders supported, then ask for the transitions but don't let anything move. Sound easy? Believe me, it's not.

Here's Carson coming out of a canter...note the jutting head. tsk tsk

Here's what I want his head to look like....

....through all gaits. Not too easy. But he did it a couple times so that shows promise.

Also, I'm going to post a video of me riding! Just so you can get an idea of what it was like...a lot of stop and go.