Well, well, well...Methinks Fall finally fell (coffee and a donut post)

First things first; my biopsy came back clear which is kind of weird (but in a happy way :o) For those of you wondering why cancer was suspected - aside from my BC history, that is - it was due to an unexpected blast from that five year distant past: Auntie Flo. Author's Note: For those of you who are mystified by the preceding statement, please feel free to skip this paragraph. To the rest of you, I will only say that Auntie Flo boarded the chemotherapy bus five long years ago and left town. I was, however, kept quite busy entertaining her decendants (namely Holly Hotflash and Nelly Nightsweat). Well. Imagine my surprise when Aunt Flo suddenly showed up out of the blue and distinctly UNinvited (talk about three being a crowd - yeesh). All I can say is I sure hope she's not planning to stick around...five years of Holly and Nelly are more than enough for me already.

Although I am thankful to have dodged a bullet with the Big C, I got whacked between the eyes with a different C; namely "The Crud". I have a whopping sinus/chest infection that has turned me into a hacking tissue wadding machine and utter waste of space this weekend. I spent Saturday morning at the walk-in clinic for hypo to the hip (joy) and a trio of medicines. I am sitting here totally bleary eyed trying to focus when my head is giving every indication there may be a large explosion in the very near future. I kind of thought this picture of Taya summed it up pretty well. Believe it or not, this was her response when I told her we were not putting hay out until after supper. Isn't that a hoot? Sometimes it's eerie how animals just seem to do things that appear to be in direct response to you; have you noticed it? Just the other day I asked Max if he was being a good boy and he shook his head vigorously. Coincidence? Possibly. But truer "words"? Probably not. *grin*
I have to tell you about the last little piece of storage space in my office/craft room. My note card stash is rather large (the clearance queen had a hey day - or two - there ;o) and they just didn't seem to fit anywhere all together. I had one little space left next to my desk that was 12" x 24" so I thought I'd see if I could find some kind of little shelf unit or something to stick there that would hopefully hold all my cards. I found an absolutely perfect solution, and you are not going to believe what it was... An old videotape cabinet! Isn't that a riot? DD and I ran up to the mission store last month and I was poking around to see what they had that might work when I stumbled across this cabinet. Would you believe it measured exactly 12" x 24"? What are the odds? Not too bad for 17 bucks, eh? Check out the inside; it's perfect:

That's all for now; my head is just too heavy to hold up anymore (or should I say "eddy bore"?) That's about what I sound like at the moment - ugh. Oh! I do have just one more thing...the tags. Ready? Congratulations to Dreaming! If you'll email me your address (and real name ;o) I'll get these in the mail to you in the next year or so. Sometimes I'm a little slow. Well, okay maybe a lot. *laugh* Have a blessed week everyone, and don't forget the real reason for the season!

Git 'er Done (doggone it)

Some of you may remember last year's post from the fair - with DD utterly captivated by Woodworking Dude and his impressive (albeit alarming ;o) skill with a hunk of wood and a chainsaw (here). Guess what? It's that time again! The temperatures have started dropping and the trees are finally turning, as they always seem to do in conjunction with the fair. I was SO happy to see the tigers come back this year; Mr. Wambold seems to not only care deeply for his own animals, but also the preservation of the species. This is Pearl; a white tiger with beautiful blue eyes. Isn't she absolutely gorgeous? His show is a cross between circus-style entertainment and an educational program. One thing I really appreciate is his food-based rewards, but then you all know I am a firm believer in treats (as long as the trainee can "handle" it, that is). Oh-oh-oh Wait! You guys have to see this photo...

The only thing better than a happy accident [imho] is a prayerful on purpose (yeah, I felt a little silly but I did it anyway). I spotted this hawk perched atop one of the posts as we worked on the fence the other day (and moron that one later - seriously ;o) I sent DD down to the house to get my camera and asked the Lord if He would maybe keep him (her?) perched there until she got back with it. Now, for those of you questioning whether or not there was really any Divine intervention involved here I should like to note that DD walks slower than a three-legged lame turtle and had quite a bit of distance to traverse (we were near the top of the pasture, so she had to go about the length of two football fields for there and back). As you can see he was still there, gorgeous backdrop and all (for which I gave thanks and praise; Woo! ;o)

Okay, back to the fair here. I was very excited to see this billboard as we entered the grounds. Of course we had to stop and watch the show, which had just begun. Most of the photos I took were awful - between the floodlights set up around the perimeter and the motion of the horses, virtually every shot was an out of focus disaster. Raspberries. I did manage to get a decent photo of the Arabian she had, performing the Obesience (inset below) as he remained still for a moment. The demonstration was conducted by a renowned dressage trainer who entered the ring on a breathtaking Freesian stallion. While the lady was lovely and had a brilliant patter, I winced when I saw the expression of discomfort and excessive foaming at the mouth of her stallion. It smacked of Rollkur; he was otherwise magnificent.

For those of you unfamiliar with the term "Rollkur", it is also referred to as "Hyperflexion" and is used by some as a training method. Definitely not my cup of tea; but pretty easily recognized. Aside from an exaggerated head position (with the head tucked in to the Nth degree) the horse will also drool and/or foam at the mouth a LOT, as the unnatural head position renders him unable to swallow properly.  
Although his head was not all the way down to the Nth degree, it appeared to be well past the point of comfort. Frothy white foam was rapidly collecting on his mouth and dripping from his lips in long ribbons. It spattered the ground, his chest and

 his legs, so I'm thinking that if it wasn't from Rollkur, then he had some MAJOR teething issues ;o) In short, if I did not know much about equine body language - and don't misunderstand me; I don't know all that much - I would have loved every minute of it. As it was, it seemed to me that although the horses and ponies did their jobs fairly well, much of it was under protest (quickly squelched) and they just did not seem to enjoy themselves very much. I had a really tough time getting past that. I think the tigers had a lot more fun, to be honest - which is kind of weird if you think about it. *grin* I snapped a [only slightly fuzzy] shot of these two little mutineers; they popped out of the ring, turned their backs and announced they were "all done". Ha. Bet?

 Speaking of fun, right after the tigers (and yes I know I'm all over the place here *grin*) was a dog act with a woman I assumed was Mrs. Wambold. Now that was fabulous! She had a tiny truckload full of four-legged ping pong balls (disguised as terriers) that were just adorable. Pretty sure she said they were all shelter dogs. They looked like little furry bullets as they shot out of the truck, performed their trick with wriggling enthusiasm, and then zipped right back into the truck. It was quite a marked difference coming from the horse demonstration; everybody just looked so doggone (ha) happy to be there. I love the inset picture of her hugging the dog (not the best of shots; but definitely a winner in the smile category). The dog was rubbing his head all over hers in delight, and she was hugging him and laughing like a loon (it was great ;o) I don't know if it was a new trick or what, but they both appeared to be ecstatic with the result. Here is the photo of the trick he did that prompted the hug; he's the one on the top of the tube and there was a second dog darting back and forth through the tube:

Living in the South, I can appreciate the fact (rule?) that all things can and must be fried; BUT - fried Kool Aid? Really? Anybody besides me find this rather disturbing? Not to mention disgusting. Our hospital actually serves fried everything in the cafeteria. I had a really hard time wrapping my brain around that one when I first ate in there, but then I realized they were probably just drumming up some new business. I passed on the Kool-Aid, and opted instead for a *cough*cough* healthier snack: the funnel cake. Hey, whaddaya want? This IS the fair, after all...mmmmm - Yummeh ;o)
I stopped a time or two to gaze at the moon which looked really cool; glowing mysteriously, though shrouded somewhat by the clouds. I was torn somewhere between alarmed and amused to note that it was full. Kind of redundant considering the weirdos that were already out of the woodwork and wandering the fairgrounds. Yikes. I got a picture for you though (of the moon, that is, not the weirdos ;o) The white dot to the right is a star; isn't that neat?
The highlight of our visit was a trip to the Blacksmith, but I think that and the remaining photos I have to share will have to be a topic for next time considering I missed my Sunday evening deadline - BIG time (and raspberries to that :oP
Would you like to know WHY I missed my deadline? To say this has been a wild week is definitely an understatement. How about we make it a fun little guessing game? (I just love those!) We'll call it "What's wrong with this picture?" I'll even give you a hint (though regular followers and friends are probably already laughing). Below is a photo [taken after I secured the perimeter, of course] of one of the boys at O'Dark-Thirty showing how my week began. I dashed outside amid sounds of mass hysteria and thundering hooves (and me still in my jammies *rolls eyes*).

And next we have a photo depicting that same young man's line of thinking a short time later (I speak Blockhead in addition to Southernese):  
"Hot DAWG that was some fun! Crazy biped done locked me in this here stall tho. Hmph. Well. Ya know, long as I'mah stuck in here I may as well open that [snickers] horse-proof gate jes' sittin' right thar. Hah! Got it. Dang ahm havin' me some FUN tuh-day... Whaa-hoooo! *snort*..."

Standing on the patio shivering and grinding my teeth, I reverted to an all-too-familiar refrain:
   "MAAAAAAAAAAAAX!"
And finally, congratulations goes to... "Clancy" for winning last week's giveaway - I'll be sending her a print of "Misty's Twilight". *Applause*Applause* Yay for you! ('bout time you won something girl ;o) As always, many thanks for reading my ramblings, and have a blessed Thanksgiving week everyone!

Tandem Random(ness)

Have you ever noticed that the more balls you toss in the air the more likely it is that things will go amiss? Invariably those that fall (which is usually way more than half) seem to bonk you squarely on top of the head before crashing to the ground - or at least they do me. This post will likely be a day late, as I am now having technical difficulties with my monitor; which is now sporadically cutting off (arrgh!). It's kind of hard to finish a post when you can't see what you're doing. *sigh* While we are making progress of a sort with some things, NOthing seems to be going above the speed of sloth (the tree one; that moves like one foot every three hours *rolls eyes*). DH and our favorite volunteer Mr. Ron managed to finish framing out the restroom last week and get the outside walls up. Although DH has declared it "ready to use", I've opted to be a bit picky about it and wait until he actually hooks up the water (and puts up a DOOR! ;o) The pipe you see sticking up out of the concrete by the outside wall will be where we put the sink. I figure we'll be washing up and using the sink a whole lot more than we'll need the rest room, so it seemed prudent to place it on the outside where it's easier to access. Don't you think?

Somehow, in the next month or so I am going to give it my best to get a large number of "unfinished projects" completed. They seem to be everywhere. The prayer shawl on the right is finally finished; it's for a friend that had a stroke and is now wheelchair bound. Now I just have to figure out how to get it to her on the sly. The next thing I need to finish is the little angel I posted last week (you know, the one for the giveaway? Sheesh). Some days I just want to do the mad scientist routine; barricade myself in the house, rip out the phone, turn off the TV and run around like a crazy person in a frenzy of activity until I can GET-IT-ALL-DONE. I don't know about you, but I seem to have trouble with constant interruptions. Then of course, I forget what I was doing and go off and start on something else; just pitiful. Meh :oP Last week's big distraction was sponsored by Pleurisy (yep, really). It has been three weeks since Walk-In doc gave me the all clear (he did say if it didn't go away to go see my regular doctor) and it has been getting steadily worse instead of better (breathing has become quite an interesting challenge). My regular doctor took another xray (which was still clear), then gave me a whopping dose of steroids through the hip (and oh goody, a shot) on Tuesday, but things were no better by the follow up on Thursday (and they should have been). Happily (?) I already had my regular checkup scheduled with the Rheumatologist for Monday (today), so we'll see what he says. It is not viral, and since the steroid didn't work, he cannot treat the pleurisy until someone figures out its cause. Whoopee. In the meantime, just call me Wheezy. Wait. Maybe we should make that "Wheeza" after Shirley McLaine in Steel Magnolias (this IS the South, after all...Ha ;o)

Now to the moment you have been waiting for (unless of course you skipped straight to this part; and how rude is that? *laugh*). And the winner is... Daisy. Woo! *Applause*Applause* Congratulations! If you will give me a bit of patience and your mailing address, I'll finish up my your unfinished BC angel and get it out to you as quickly as I can. Thank you so much to everyone who left a comment (you know how much I love them!) That's it for now. Except for yesterday's sunrise, which was gorgeous:

Have a blessed week everyone!

Random Thoughts and Photos

Well, I survived the first full week of school. I'm pretty sure there should be some sort of fanfare, but I'm just too pooped to whoop *laugh*. Sixth grade is exhausting: it's nothing but Go-Go-Go all day long over an eyeball crossing amount of stuff (gotta find that groove in the new schedule ;o) The weather here has gone back up into triple digits - we're hoping it's the last gasp of summer or something, because ick. Praying for all those in the path of the storm, including some of our family (an uncle and cousins). Mighty scary stuff. Hope all of you are in a safe place. I thought you'd get a kick out of the hay sculpture; apparently we have some creative geniuses bopping around out there in the pasture (it's the Moo Crew's hay roll). They've either got Halloween on the brain or [more likely] our resident hoovenile delinquent and escape artist Mad Max is staging a non-verbal protest over being under so much increased supervision. Big brother is watching you...Ha.
This next photo is for Grace, who asked about Sara's ability to see through the fly mask (this post). I was kind of curious how things looked through there myself, so I took two shots of Taya (sneaking grass in the visitor walkway). It was a little awkward trying to hold the mask properly and take a picture of Taya at the same time, but I think you get the idea. It's clearer than I thought it would be, to be honest (kudos to Farnam and the SuperMask II):

I did a double take when I saw Cinnamon in the pasture sporting a rather unusual passenger awhile back. I can't believe I had enough time to make a mad dash for the camera, but I did ;o) He flew off before I could get any closer though. Rats. I've seen them parked on cows periodically, but never on a horse. I wonder if he's playing connect the dots...

I found this cool little bird's nest that was actually lined with hair from someone's tail; looks like it's from Rina or Sarbear (red and black). Isn't that wild? Ha. Well yeah silly, it literally is isn't it? ;o)

I have to tell you a funny; because it's just too good to keep to myself ;o) The planets must have lined up, and congress been in complete accord because DH finally had a day to do some more work on the "outhouse". Our favorite volunteer [Mr. Ron] was here to help and they had pulled off all the siding and were framing up the walls. DH asked Ron to check the dimensions of the patio door (our current tack/feed room) because it was wide enough to accommodate a wheelchair, but he couldn't remember if it was supposed to be 34" or 36" wide. DH held the 2x4s in place while Ron looked around for a tape measure (the doorway was only a few feet away from where they were working). Spotting a tape laying just inside the door by the feed buckets, Ron grabbed it and quickly pulled it across the opening. 

He stood there, looking down at the tape for a long minute without saying a word. Now most of you know that measuring the width of a door is not exactly rocket science, but after waiting what seemed to be far too much time for so simple a task DH finally said, "Well?? What is it?" Ron tilted his head, squinted slightly at the reading and said, "I'm not sure exactly what this means, but according to the tape this doorway is nine hands wide." *giggle* Poor Ron; he'd picked up my horse tape (1 hand = 4 inches). Good thing the man has a great sense of humor because it cracked us all up. You gotta admit they do look exactly the same until you actually pull the tape out, that is....Here's a progress picture for you. You can see the *ahem* doorway on the left-hand side of the photo:

Random Drawing

We ended up with only three entries, which should probably hurt my feelings; it makes for awesome odds though. *laugh* I suppose I'll just have to try again next week with something that interests you more (so be ready :o)  I'm not making them too hard, am I?

Congratulations to Susan! I'm hoping you're here reading this, but I'll send you an email just in case you're not.

Still trying to coordinate schedules with DD and the weather (too hot!)  to get some video clips and pictures of Max. With the insanity of a new school year, I haven't worked with him at all over the last two weeks (Ack!) Hopefully he hasn't forgotten what we've done so far...you never know.

Rina and I were delighted to learn that the phrase "fist bump" has been added to the dictionary and is now official. Somehow, we have gotten into the habit of doing this each morning and afternoon at feeding time as I walk past her stall. The first time was an accident (I was closing her door and we "bumped"). I laughed and said, "fist bump!" Since the horses understand the power of positive laughter (because sometimes it means, do it again and you might get a treat ;o) she did indeed do it again. It wasn't long before I was walking by and Rina was popping her nose out for a fist bump on a regular basis. Sometimes you just take your entertainment wherever you find it *grin*. Have a blessed week everyone!