In which we damn the sn*wpedoes, and head to the regional conference

Despite a bunch of that nasty white gunk on the roads, Jim and I were determined NOT to miss the Party of the Year.  We packed up our stuff

Not photoshopped.  There really are 3 floofs in my bag.

and hit the road! 

When we got south of Seattle, we saw evidence of the ice storm that didn't make up to our northern climes:

Tree at Maytown Rest Area

But we arrived safely in Portland, just in time to join our friends at the Used Tack Sale. 

Used tack sale

I managed to off-load enough of the stuff we weren't using anymore to cover the cost of our hotel room!  (We had a LOT of stuff).

Susan and John Favro have run "Healthy as a Horse" for many years, but they want to retire now.  Their prices were fabulous, so I stocked up on a bucket of electrolytes and some other long-lasting stuff. 

Get yer bargains here!

(They are still holding a retirement sale at their website, click HERE to visit!) 

Floofs can attend the meetings, but they aren't allowed to vote.

After the shopping is time for the meetings.  The hotel is "dog-friendly" so the floofs attended most of the meetings and lectures with us.

Jim is in the audience.  I'm secretary for the organization, so I have to sit up front during meetings and take notes.  Gail helps identify people--she knows everybody, and when the group has a really good squabble, sometimes things go too quickly so she makes sure I get everything documented.

We never waste an opportunity to goof around.

We had great speakers this year, too!  Susan Garlinghouse was the headliner.  If you've never heard her speak about nutrition or anything else, go make a hole in your schedule so you can.  She's adept at making scientific research available and understandable by non-scientists.

Show up.  Learn stuff.

And then, of course, there's the DANCE!   We dressed up in our finery.  Jim wore his kilt, and charged $5 to anybody who wanted to see if he was "traditionally clad."  (He didn't make much money, sigh).

It looks like Jim is wearing a bustle in addition to his kilt;
really, we're just standing in front of a table with a black tablecloth!

Nice tiara, dude.

PNER Prez Paul Latiolais, also known as Jim's evil twin. 

Here's how to tell them apart:  Jim wears the kilt; Paul wears the tiara.

Here's one of my evil twins:

Pink Fish, wearing red and rhinestones.

Patty sure does clean up purty, doesn't she?

And check out how big my grand-junior is getting:

Ashley Ann scored at the desert table!

Ashley Ann is almost 5 years old already--and her new baby sister Tembra is due to be born in March.  I can't wait to meet my new grand-junior!!!

Before the dancing started, we gave out a bunch of awards, and raffled off some stuff.  They asked me to talk up the sales of raffle tickets for a really nice set of corral panels...so I did...

I told people--entirely truthfully, you understand--that the panels in question were impossible for a horse to break out of, that they had been blessed by the pope, that the horse who slept inside the panels would grow a luxurient mane and tail overnight, and that any person who didn't buy tickets would not only probably go to Hell, he or she would also discover that for the next 3 years, photographers would only take pictures of their butt.

For some reason, we sold bunches of those tickets....hmmm.  Imagine that.  It sounded like such a good deal, I even bought a ticket for myself, and I don't NEED panels.  But hey.

Life is good.