Sooo, I'm thinking you may have noticed the lack of response to comments along with a missing post last Saturday (DD sent me a text asking me what happened to it - Mom finally face planted, honey ;o) As much as I enjoyed having a happy houseful, I had a tough time getting adequate rest and struggled really hard to function through a completely disrupted routine (something at which I do NOT excel). When DH's nephew and DD with their respective canine entourages unexpectedly extended their visits for two additional days, I wound up trying to pack for a trip to visit my friend Sandy in the middle of it all - my thought process frequently disrupted by conversations and canines alike. I normally spend the better part of a day packing; I like to do it systematically so I don't forget anything (and ahahaha right?). I should add that we all had a wonderful time, and I would not have changed it by having them leave any earlier than they did. Ultimately, we all ended up leaving the house for our individual destinations at about the same time Sunday, which was kind of weird. Sandy, who knows me too well, was extremely concerned I might forget my saddle in the midst of my eleventh hour packing frenzy . "Are you kidding?" says I, "That was the first thing I put in the car! I may wind up wearing the same clothes for three days or riding in my pajamas, but I WILL have my saddle." It's all about the priorities people, right? ;o) [photo inset: My Kincaid AP leather saddle with it's fabulously deep seat; it turned out to be incredibly comfortable considering the bargain basement price - BooYeah!]
I don't know what it is, but every time I start up the driveway to Sandy's I can feel myself start to relax; feeling tension I don't even know I'm carrying magically dissipating. Amazing, really, and the reason I have dubbed her house "Sandy's Spa". *laugh* We went for a couple of leisurely trail rides on Monday and Tuesday through some fabulous forest trails about five minutes from her house. We had the most marvelous time! There are approximately 82 miles of trails there for riders and hikers - isn't that awesome? Of course we had to leave pretty early in the morning; it was HOT. Thankfully, the woods stayed fairly cool although we did cut our ride short on Tuesday due to the extreme temperatures (I kept a watchful eye on both the temp and the all-important heat index with my cell phone - what did we ever do without them?) We saw three deer - one, then two - they were there one minute and gone the next. It's amazing to me how they can just "vanish" into the dense underbrush without a sound. I wish they had held still long enough for a photo op (and I'll bet you do too!) but they were so fast, that by the time it registered they were long gone. Well, poop eh? ;o) The most fascinating thing this year was the butterflies; they were everywhere! I remember asking where they were hiding last year as we rode through Butterfly Crossing; there weren't any butterflies at all (I felt cheated *sniff*). This time, however, I was delighted to see Tiger Swallowtails, Black Swallowtails and a number of others whose names I don't know fluttering in and out of the trees and happily chasing each other all around the trails. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of them either (and how sorry is that?) [photo inset: A small section of the map showing the many different criss-crossing trails]
On Tuesday afternoon, DH and I accompanied Sandy to rescue a sheep and a goat. [photo inset] Meet Amanda. Can you imaging wearing those winter woolies in the southern summer when the heat index was 105? Turns out that this is about three years worth of wool. Ack! The woman who was "baa-bysitting" *cough* (sorry) spoke to Sandy and explained the situation. It seems that a few years ago her owners, who were having a serious medical crisis (which I definitely understand), had asked her if they could leave the goat and sheep in her pasture until they were able to come back and get them, but then never did (I'm having a tough time with that part). I mean, three years? Yeesh. In any case, the two of them had been pretty much without human contact for the past three years (outside of the woman feeding them) and they had grown pretty wild. The woman said she would try to get them into a large pen for us. When we arrived, the goat managed to duck under the fence and headed straight for the hills, but Amanda couldn't fit so she took evasive maneuvers. You would think that a sheep carrying that much wool wouldn't be able to go very fast. Well let me tell you, that girl could RUN. It took the four of us slowly moving inward with our arms spread out to maneuver her into a small holding pen. I couldn't believe she didn't keel over from a heat stroke; all of us were just sure she would, but she didn't. Once she was penned she settled a bit and Sandy was able to put a halter on her and walk her (rather reluctantly) into the trailer, with Amanda yelling her head off the whole time (poor girl). We never did catch that goat (Sandy and her husband were going to go back for her at another time).
Of course the first thing Sandy did when we got back was to shave all that wool off. Although Sandy had never actually sheared a sheep, she'd been a professional dog groomer before and was pretty doggone (ha) handy with the clippers. She went after the clippers while I grabbed the big box fan from the house to try to keep them cool and then DH and I watched her go to town. I got an empty 50lb feed sack and stuffed the wool in there as it fell to the floor; when that one was overflowing, I started on another. We wound up with three bags full - just like in the nursery rhyme ;o) Unbelievable. You know she had to feel so much better without all that extra weight - not to mention about a hundred degrees cooler! Sandy turned her out with the goats who had, apparently, never seen a sheep before. I got some free entertainment as Amanda, (who was in the market for a new goat gal pal to hang out with), ran after the goats to find a friend. The goats, thinking it was some kind of weird alien invasion, scattered briefly before converging into a panic stricken bleating blob and taking off down the hill. Poor Amanda - it seemed nobody wanted to be her friend. She sure tried though:
and tried:
and tried:
Eventually, she gave up and stood there for a moment [photo inset] before turning to look stonily at the billy (the only one brave enough to go near her). Of all the missed photo ops over those two days, this is the one I lamented the most. Amanda appeared to be deep in thought, when she suddenly dropped her head and leapt at the billy. WHAM! Her head connected solidly with his side, sending the billy crashing to the ground. Honestly? It was hard to say who was more shocked: me or the billy. I guess he was pretty mortified; he lurched to his feet and hightailed it around to hide behind the barn. Nothing like a little public humiliation, eh dude? Beat by a girl, no less; how embarrassing. Pretty sure I know the answer to the friendship question from HIS perspective, don't you? After a late supper it was time to head home (*sniffle*). I think I fell asleep about 5 minutes after we hit the road; I was pooped ;o) We got back around midnight (late nights: something else I do NOT excel at). I pathetically crawled out of bed on Wednesday morning, fighting hard throughout the day to keep my bloodshot and gritty eyes at half mast. Didn't staying out late used to be easier? Don't I have vague and distant memories of staying out all night and/or getting home in the wee hours, yet still being fully (even mostly would work) functional the next day? Where did that ability go and how do I get it back? Yeesh.
Reality arrived a scant two days later (on Friday), with the beginning of school for teachers. I think this was our shortest summer ever; we wrapped up the year the first week of June and we're back to work the last week in July (wow). I did manage to edit the butterfly photos for you and put them in a short [lightbox enabled] slideshow. There are two Tigertail Butterflies, and one of them (the first photos) appears to have had a narrow escape from a predator. For my email friends, click here to watch it. Enjoy:
...
As always, thanks so much for reading this far and have a blessed week!
The first of which is: I've figured out the actual definition of R and R. It's Running and Ragged. I am so very sorry that I did not get my regular posts out last week and the week before; things got a bit whack-o around here (and what else is new, right?) Did you miss me? I missed you ;o) Remember me telling you awhile back about my friend Sandy renting a booth at an antique mall? (here). Well, we made plans for me to haul some of my crapola er, creations up there over spring break to put in her booth. I wanted to pour some more candles to take too, and had to round up what I could get my hands on from my inventory, which is scattered all over everywhere in the house (anyplace it would fit).
Quick interjection here: LookLookLook! Our little Finch family came back again this year. Not the best shot, but
considering that they were tucked in an empty waste basket underneath a
shelf I was proud to get any kind of photo. I got to watch their first flights again too; lots of excitement there. *grin* (next pic :o) Everything had to be tagged, jotted down (gotta have an inventory list don'tcha know), then carefully packed up. Not too daunting a task if you spread out over time. Well. I was starting to stress somewhat by the week of jury duty; I'd hoped for an early dismissal each day, and instead got longer hours (grr). Just to make things more interesting (because we all know how much Jen loves a challenge, ha ha) my parents are moving and one of the little germinators at school got me again. Welcome to insanity squared. Meh. I woke up Saturday morning with a stuffy head and icky cough and by Monday was sick as a dog and making a beeline for the doctor's office; fine way to kick off spring break, eh? Not. Since I was heading to Sandy's on Thursday, I was hoping to be lots better by then. Hope springs eternal...*sigh*
I did manage to get most of it done in between tissues, sneezing fits, and frantic calls from my Mom; although I think I have several new gray hairs added to my collection. The only thing that really bothered me was having to ask Sandy if she would write up the inventory as I tagged everything; I couldn't get to it before Thursday. I wanted to be completely finished with everything beforehand, but I just couldn't pull it off. Of course she was happy to
help, but I was disappointed that we wouldn't have any real play time (we
wanted to go for a trail ride :o/ Maybe next time. *sigh* I could not believe how hard we worked! From the time I got there Thursday afternoon until almost 10 that night; then back at it by 4:30a.m. Friday. Had to pause for a good laugh at Shrek (the peacock) and company bright and early Friday morning, who came marching around the corner of the house to glare suspiciously at the stranger in the dining room (that would be me) before exploring the exciting mysteries of the garage. Took it through the screen, which is why it looks funny (the splotch on Shrek's head is a hole in the screen) but you can still see them.
We finally finished up late morning and made a beeline for the booth to see how much of it we could fit in there. Would you believe I had eight pages worth of inventory? Good gravy. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 200 items. And I didn't even take everything either - eek. Good thing, as we were really hoppin' to get it all done (well I had to get at least one terrible pun in for the bunny hop photo, didn't I? HA). Neat shot - another one of those hoppy accidents. Wow, two lousy puns for the price of one. *rolls eyes* Okay, I think I've gotten it out of my system now. Probably. Maybe. We'll see. Anyhoo...
Would you like to see the booth? Here we are...doesn't it look nice?
Remember the card rack? That heinous painting project was worth it after all, don't you think? I put the joy boxes on top, and if you look carefully you
can just see the brightly colored foam squares I stuck on each card rack to
keep them from sliding down/falling flat (plus it makes it look
nice and cheerful).
I spray painted a couple of cookie sheets and we hung them on
opposite sides of the display shelves to hold the magnets I made (lots
cheaper than buying a white board :o) She named her booth "Simply
Heavenly" - don't you love it? Except for the lotions, soaps and scrubs
(1st and 2nd shelves on the left) most of the rest of it is what I took.
I've never tried to sell any framed photos before, just pictures on cards, so we'll see what happens. I really liked the way they turned out, but that doesn't mean anyone else will. I'll confess to a rather large case of nerves here; worrying that everything will just sit there. Forever... Oy.
I sure hope everything sells well for her (and me too *laugh*). She spent half the time sniffing her way through the candles and rhapsodizing over how wonderful they all smelled - even through the plastic wrap and cellophane ;o)
I didn't take any of my drawings this time; I'll probably take those the next trip. I guess that's all for now - I'll sign off with some photos of the new arrival at Sandy's the day we got there. Isn't she adorable?
This is not the best shot, but look how tiny she is! Smaller than the chicken; do you believe it? In Southernese, that's what's known as "Tee-Niney" :o)
Well okay, it was Monday (but doesn't that count?)
When we bought our house (over 20 years ago - and eek) the first person to officially welcome me to the neighborhood was Sandy from "two doors" down. I was hugely pregnant with DD (now in college), and she was just finishing up nursing school. It wasn't long into our initial chat that the subject of horses came up; turned out we'd both collected Breyer Horses growing up and she was every bit (haha) as horse crazy as I was. Of course she actuallyhadreal horses to play with, gorgeous Appaloosas to be specific, which [as the official stand-in for the Goodyear Blimp] were temporarily out of the question for me. She turned into one of the best friends I'd ever had, and I was devastated when her husband's company transferred him and they had to move away not long after DD first birthday. She came back for DD's second birthday party and we went to visit them the following year, but eventually life got in the way and we lost touch (this was before the marvelous age of technology and handy sites like PeekYou;o) PHOTO: One of my Breyer horses from childhood, the Appaloosa "Stud Spider" (in honor of my long-lost pal and those speckled and freckled four-legged loves of her life).
Fast forward a REALLY long time to about 5 years ago. I started going to that workshop in North Alabama I blogged about last time. We went right past the area she lived in every time we went, but with all those country roads and turns there was no way we could find it by ourselves. Even after the internet became readily available I still couldn't find her. I had long ago lost the solitary letter she wrote me containing her phone number and a Rural Route address. I'd look for her from time to time over the years, but even with Facebook I was coming up empty; until this year that is. For some reason it suddenly occurred to me to Google "Appaloosa Horse" in conjunction with her name and that netted me a two year old ad for a filly she had for sale (complete with an email address - woo!) Thankfully, she'd hung on to that email address even though she no longer used it and answered me a couple of days later. We stopped by to visit on our way back from Talladega, but since DH had to work we kept it pretty short. I found myself agreeing to make the trip back up there for a visit over spring break. PHOTO: One of my favorite photos of DD as a toddler. She is "holding" Sandy's mane man (affectionately known as Little Man - he lived to be in his mid-20's and passed away only last year).
I am [deliriously] happy to report that my fabulous friend has not changed one iota; she is still a blast to hang out with as much as she was "back in the day". We had the best visit, and it was just plain old FUN hanging out and playing with all her critters (that particular F-word seems to have disappeared from my life recently, somewhere between the medical misadventures and DD's accident).I'm posting some shots from our GPD [Geriatric Play Date] *snicker* ...Enjoy the view! PHOTO: Sandy has three gorgeous pure white peacocks; Shrek, Fiona, and "Junior" (Junior's gender is yet to be determined). This shot is of Fiona (L) and Junior (R). Aren't they awesome? The male, Shrek, was not speaking to anyone at all yesterday; apparently his beak was out of joint over a piece of baling twine, his foot, and some *cough* interfering female who had the audacity to remove it ;o) He stayed up in the rafters and wouldn't even talk to his own family (and isn't that just like a man? *laugh*). I managed to sneak a picture of him for you though...
I've heard of screaming meanies, but I have to admit that the grinning nanny was definitely a new one on me. As you can see by her photo, however, I'm not making it up. It's always nice to see happy animals and it was obvious that the animals all loved Sandy by the way they watched her and/or followed her about. Side Note: If you would like to wake up in the mornings via cardiac arrest, I can personally recommend the Screaming Meanie Alarm Clock. My husband has one, and it is a surefire way to get that ticker moving in a hurry (or stop it all together; stupid thing is loud enough to scare the snot out of the people in the next county) Sampson, a Great Pyrenees, was a huge hit with DD. He is every bit as handsome on the inside as he is out. For those of you unfamiliar with the breed, these dogs have become extremely popular among livestock owners. They are excellent guard dogs for herds and/or flocks and are quite content to spend their days (and nights) watching over their furry charges. At 11 months, Sampson is still on the puppy side of things, but he seems to have [mostly] grown into his feet :o) What cracked me up though, was his unexpected pasture pal.
It seems that Sampson's bestest bud is a little donkey named "Jackie Chan". I did a double take and blinked several times before snapping this next photo; Sampson was washing Jackie's neck. The little guy even lowered and tilted his head so the dog could reach it better. I would have said, "Don't forget behind the ears", but I think he already washed there. How funny is that? I think I'll save the rest of the pictures for my next post and leave you with our mystery from history photo. Spring has sprung here and everyone is shedding large quantities of hair all over the place. This could just be a ginormous hairball, or it could be something else altogether... What do you think it is?
Oh! Can't forget my sky shot, can I? When I got home, the sun had already set but I did manage to capture this photo with my cell phone camera as I hurried across the pasture to feed. Pretty neat, huh? Gotta love technology ;o)
