Tandem Random(ness)

N e v a h !

I'm a detail person, and most of the time that's a good thing. Sometimes, however, I get too caught up in the little stuff which interferes with me getting to the big stuff. Or, my brain is so wrapped up in piddly details there is no room left for coherent thought. Does that ever happen to you? I missed another post (apologies all around), and did not even have the chance to respond to comments (more apologies all around), which is something I really like to do. The photo, in case you're wondering, is a cute little watering can I found at Ace. Although you can't really see the design, it has leaves in a raised pattern on the sides (this is to be my "case in point" - which I will come back to momentarily).

Both of my parents have celebrated birthdays since my last post. Mom's was first at the end of June, which made her two whole years older than Dad for 5 gleeful days (he really lords it over on her :o) I made her a maple walnut cake - simple AND yummy - and wasted considerable time, and walnuts, trying to scatter them evenly around the top. Aside: Aren't scatter and evenly antonyms of a sort? Why do I do these things? No idea; move over Monk. *rolls eyes and hangs head* Well maybe I'm not quite that bad; he would have been placing them strategically (and individually) with tweezers. Ha. Anyhoo, my parents are pretty hard to buy presents for, as they don't really need anything and can usually afford to get what they want better than I can. I had no clue what to get my Mom until she said she wanted a runner for her dining room table. Of course that was the night before her birthday. Better late than never, eh? I found a pattern on Ravelry and I'm almost finished, so I'll post a picture for you next time. Actually, I'll post several as I have been "documenting" it. It's kind of interesting to watch it progress (makes me feel like I'm getting somewhere ;o)
Speaking of progress, our favorite volunteer (Mr. Ron) was finally able to squeeze a day out of his busy schedule to come back and help us work on the visitor area. He (L) and DH (R) make an excellent team:

They built a door for the "outhouse" (which required considerable thought):

and put a pretty good dent in the feed room too (hooray!):

Did not have enough time to mess with the photos from my visit to Sandy's house, so I'll have to save those for next time. Shall I offer yet another (other) apology? Yeesh :oP  Got tied up *cough* working *cough*cough* on various and sundry important projects like this one:

Looks better though, doesn't it? (Oh, my ;o) 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!