WOW! It has been one crazybusy week around here - how about yours? Much to DH's delight, I lost my voice (stupid sinus infection) for an entire week; though I am finally getting it back again. Ugh. Sooo, this week is the post that I had planned to do last week. *Mmmph*. Well, at least it was last week's plan until everything went Kaflooey. (that's a technical term, and gesundheit, right?) *snicker* Shadow is, in case you're wondering, back to his egotistical and sassy self :o) I'm pretty sure I've mentioned this before but on the off chance I haven't: One Sunday a month I try to go to "Deaf Church" with DD. I really enjoy the message, its format, and (of course!) the socializing. This month brought a very exciting guest to deaf church. Ronaldo Feliciano, who is deaf, is a pastor at Grace Bible Church in Tampa, Florida and performs a concert called "Music in Motion" in addition to preaching. Ronaldo's performance was on Saturday, and he also delivered the sermon Sunday morning. I've put one of his YouTube videos on here for you to see (below), but it is nowherenear as powerful as it is to see him in person. Very intense and passionate; simply awe-inspiring to watch. Outside of some very cold, wet, and windy temperatures, I don't think I've ever had so many goosebumps (the live performance is awesome ;o) The best part? He was extremely humble, and made it quite clear that any and all glory/admiration for his performance on Saturday and his teachings on Sunday belonged to God alone. What a neat guy; I sure hope he'll come bless us all again next year!
I was tickled to see the pint sized version of "Bella" seated in front of me for the concert. She's an awful lot smaller than our Bella is, that's for sure (click here to see our much bigger version). Isn't she adorable? Her "mom", Leslie, gave me permission to include her in this post. Bella is a hearing dog. Have you heard of them? Though nearly everyone is familiar with guide dogs for the blind, few are aware of hearing dogs for the deaf. Hearing dogs are also considered service dogs and function as ears for the deaf, just as seeing eye dogs function as eyes for the blind. Because the concert was so loud, Leslie was careful to cover Bella's ears to protect her hearing (photo below). The lighting was pretty dim, so my photos are nowhere near as clear as I would like (profound apologies there). I was even more tickled that my friend Kimby was able to make it to the concert; I hadn't seen her since school started (and I was waaay overdue for that particular friend fix!)
A little grainy perhaps, but still awfully doggone cute ;o)
Since we're on the subject of hearing, I have to show you what a friend of mind posted on Facebook the other day. Hearing aid decorating kits! Isn't that the coolest thing ever? Karen, who is a teacher of the deaf and who also taught DD many years ago, posted them and tagged me because she remembered me meticulously painting DD's aids and adding some sparkly bling to up their "fun" factor. Back in the day, hearing aids were pretty much beige and BORING. Based in the U.K., My Lugs offers themed kits for both hearing aids (found here) and Cochlear Implants (found here). Like so many other family businesses, My Lugs grew out of personal experience. When the Ivermee's young son Freddie was diagnosed with a hearing loss (profound on one side and moderate to severe on the other) My Lugs was born out of the desire to make those oh-so-unappealing devices more appealing to a little boy (read the full story here). They even have a Captain America Minion kit - no way! What a hoot, right? There are photos of some of their kits "in action" here. Brilliant... just brilliant! If you know anybody with a child that wears a hearing aid or has a Cochlear Implant, please pass this information on.
Well, I suppose I'd better get a move on lest I find myself late for church (seeing as how this post spilled from Saturday right on over into Sunday morning - and Ack!). As always, thank you so much for reading this far and have a beautifully blessed week y'all!
Splicing together my past and present, I will begin this week's post by saying: My off is all, y'all. *giggle* For some reason I found the blend of Pennsylvania Dutch and Southernese to be rather funny (well, except for the reality part. Translation: My vacation is over everyone; time has run out. This has been the best all around summer I have had in a very long time. No surgical procedures, hospital visits or major medical maladies. Hooray! I've actually felt human through most of it too, trumping last summer (an almost forgotten experience, that, as I felt meh on most days last year :oP So I'm not ready for it to end yet. Plus I'll really miss that time with the horses every morning. *sniffle* This is my favorite back to school shot of Bella with her backpack - from this post - so I thought I'd recycle it. Snarky Rider generously gave us a big surprise with some exposure on her famous (infamous? ;o) blog by posting some Bella pics (here). This was following a discussion on her post about Arabian heads and brainless breeding practices resulting in waaay too much of a nice trait (check out the horse in the middle here who looks like he ran into a brick wall - and eek).
Snarky has some great posts often with lots of food for thought and, as her name and logo suggest, she dishes them out with a generous side of sarcasm. And boy oh boy does she find some doozies. Like the woman on Craig's List who is offering two horses for trade to any licensed MD; one horse for liposuction and the other for - umm, well..... You know what? I think I'll just let you read that one for yourself; it's here. Who even thinks this way?!? *slaps hand over eyes*. Yeesh. I'll ask you to give Snarky a vote on Bloggers too, if you have a minute (that's here).
And that's probably enough of the click here stuff wouldn't you agree? Just say: "Here, here" Bwahahahaha *cough* Er, sorry.
We are, I hope, finally inching away from drought conditions. Literally. My rain gauge (#4) broke and I haven't bought another as yet, but according to my dad we've had about ten inches so far this week (and wow). It may not be the world's greatest shot, but I liked the big rainy kersplash on the left side of this picture. It kinda looks like a weird plastic leaf. Speaking of rainy weather, I have to say that while I am all about family and togetherness I like my personal space. The stalls for the girls are about 10 x 10, which is not very big but it is plenty of room for them as they are only in there periodically. Although we have five girls and five stalls (and I'm not a mathematician, but I'm mostly sure that equals one apiece), I come upon the same laughable scenario just about every single time we get a heavy rain. Can you say let's play sardines?
Yep, that's three horses all stuffed in the same stall. *rolls eyes* Maybe it's like it is with people; when there's a big scary storm,
everybody goes and climbs into bed with mom (which would be Lady :o) Sarabear is in her stall to the right, and Bella (the non-conformist of the group) is standing outside in front of the stalls. Seems Brains N' Brawn are back at it again; maybe next weekend I'll finally be able to post some "look at my pretty feed room" shots and wouldn't that be nice?!? (A girl's gotta dream, right? *sigh*)
They got the side door up for bringing the feed in - like a loading door, I suppose - and then went to work on the "front" doors to the feed room. I love the wrought iron hinges we used; I'll get a better photo for you next post. The best part? They didn't cost any more than the butt-ugly steel hinges (and let's hear it for beauty on a budget - Woot! :o) Look: Oh, and like our ginormous puddle? I told you we got some serious rain;o) Guess I'd better get back out there (clock's still ticking and tomorrow's D-day, don'tcha know). Have a blessed week everyone!
Have you ever noticed how many strange meanings are attached to words in English? I do, but that's probably because I spend so much time explaining such things to deaf children (including DD). We'll start with the "dirt" on Sarabear (a.k.a. the latest, the skinny, yadda yadda). I think half the time (maybe more) I totally forget to report back on some of the stuff I talk about here. Gee, I was going to add to that, but I forgot what I was going to say... Do y'all have that problem? (I think it's called AAADD or Age-Activated ADD). Ha. I am deliriously happy to report that SmartPak's SmartBreathe Pellets worked. Sarabear ate them easily (which was a big worry) and even better? Her cough has disappeared completely - hooray! I tried to take a picture that was close enough you could see what the pellets looked like; I'm not a big fan of powder, as it tends to slip through the feed no matter where you put it. SmartPak is apparently trying to convert a number of their supplements to pellet form, which is awesome (click here to visit their site). For those of you who are dog owners, they also offer a great selection of supplements for canines (click here). No cats though (my apologies to Banjo and Sparkle, et.al.).
Took a trip to visit my bestest galpal, Sandy, which is part of the reason this post was seriously tardy. Can't tell you ahead of time, as it's not the brightest idea to post to the world you won't be home for a day or two. Is this not the cutest little bunny? I think Sandy said she found him when he was itty bitty, and hand fed him (and do I remember? Nope. *bangs head on desk*) So anyway, I had an absolute blast at her house (and don't I always?) I'll have some photos for you next time - although my camera battery died, so I didn't take as many as I wanted to. Forgot the charger at home. *snarl* Can you believe it? Of course you can; hardly a shocker. *sigh* Speaking of such mental moments, I don't normally post videos from YouTube but I just couldn't resist this one in case I'm not the only who missed it (click here to watch it if you are an email friend):
It's like looking in a mirror, I'm telling ya.... Yeesh.
I've been spending my evenings hooking, and oh my doesn't that sound dirty. (Aha! There's another meaning). I joined Ravelry to confirm the fact that I am indeed a Duly Dedicated Dodobrain (another 3D reference for you ;o) After all, do I need anything else to do? Probably not. And do I need to expose myself (Ha. Another "dirty" sounding statement) to a site that contains thousands of free crochet patterns? Noooo, I most certainly do not, which made it absolutely irresistible. I'm under "EpicFarms" of course, and have no friends as yet (how sad). So if you're into crocheting or knitting, leave a comment here or look me up on Ravelry. I could use a friend or two.
The third and final meaning of the word dirt I'm going to talk about today is the one in the literal sense. We finally got some dirt for the pasture. Hooray!! Apparently, my concerns about The Girls' reaction to a monster dump truck invading their territory were groundless (hee). I was mostly sure that as long as I was out there with them, they wouldn't be too terrified (those things make an awful racket) but you never know; it only takes one horse to create a panic. I'm sayin' we all stayed pretty calm. You think?:
The Girls looked at me several times for confirmation that all was well, but other than that we just stood around, spectated, and snuffled at bits of dropped dirt (well, I didn't but they did ;o) Isn't that photo funny?
Bella was a bit mifffed by the humongous pile of dirt blocking her path to the hay pile. She actually turned around and looked at me, expecting me to move it out of her way. My "go around it, silly" response was distinctly unappreciated (but she did).
Lady had the same thought when she arrived at the pile we put by the hill leading down to the stalls and water trough:
Horses are what I would call OCD/COH (obsessively compulsive definitive creatures of habit) which was a contributing factor to all that erosion we had. Walking the same exact path every day created distinct trails, which were slightly lower than the rest of the ground. Since the pasture is on an incline, that's where the rainwater always went washing down (taking more and more dirt with it each time). The repeated combination of extreme droughts and "gully washers" over time made a heck of a mess with ruts everywhere. On top of that, we had a uber evil mole that tunneled all over the place and after a certain amount of topsoil was gone, they collapsed making an even bigger mess. We have a couple more loads coming this week (because the 3 loads we got didn't go as far as we'd hoped), and then we'll have to wait awhile for the rest. Stupid as it sounds, dirt is expensive :oP
Sarabear did offer to help us spread it out though; wasn't that nice?
That's enough for now, I suppose. I've got to go work on the patio/visitor area - we're finally making some progress there too (and hot diggity dog! :-D Have a big horsey hug and a marvelous week everyone! (what's left of it anyway - Oy).
...and T is for trouble (and let's just make that a capital T, shall we?) I had a nice little visit with my friend Sandy the other day on the way home from my workshop. Somewhere amid all of our catch-up chatter, she mentioned that she was in the process of leasing a booth at an area antique mall. Well you know how much I love poking around piles of stuff: "Oh, how FUN!" *bounce*bounce*bounce* "Can we go see it now now now?". We shot out the door like we were going to a fire - which we were - though I did pause long enough to fling a "Right back" at DH over my shoulder *grin*. How exciting! Do you like those sprawling Antique places? I love them! Of course Sandy asked me if I had anything that I might want to sell in said booth (a question that I found hysterically funny considering the jam-packed storage state of our guest bedroom; although she didn't know that). That's Lucy, by the way. Is she not the cutest little thing? She's Sandy's inside dog and comes complete with her very own "I did it" face and an impressive - albeit terrierfying - wingspan (okay, that was bad sorry ;o)
So now I'm spray-painting an old book rack for my cards and wondering if I've lost my tiny mind. Of course you can't lose what you don't have, now can you. *laugh* Have you ever tried painting anything made of wire? Whatta pain. Of course it's black and I wanted it white (just to keep it challenging, you see). I decided to use Epoxy Appliance Paint, because it was the best finish and the most durable. Unfortunately, it didn't occur to me to read the directions until after I'd already started. Duhhhh. Re-coat within 30 minutes or wait one week. A week? Seriously? That meant I was still spraying and respraying as it was getting dark trying to hurry and finish (hence the lousy lighting in the photo). It also means that a) I went through nearly two cans of paint trying to cover all that blasted black; and b) I have an actual blister on the tip of my index finger (and are you kidding me? *rolls eyes*) I thought about one of those handle attachments, but nixed the idea because they always clog up quickly and make a mess. So. Now we wait a week.... I hate waiting...*sigh*
We had an Elwood sighting at suppertime this week (Taya spotted him first). Wanna know the best part? Harvey was there too AND I managed to get a shot of those two capricious conies in the same frame (love those alliterations ;o) Grant you, they're sitting at opposite ends of the frame but I don't care. They are never right together; I'm thinking that's probably instinctive (preservation of the species, don'tcha know). For those of you new around here; Harvey and Elwood are two little wild wabbits (hee) that live just up the hill behind our house. For the longest time I thought I was losing it, because I didn't realize there were two. How could one bunny get from point A to point B like he did? Beam me up Scotty? I'd dubbed him Harvey (after Jimmy Stewart's invisible pal) as I almost never saw him until I'd all but stepped on him, and then WHOOSH he'd be 50 feet away and then suddenly pop up again somewhere else altogether. Anyway, the lighting is not so hot (getting dark). But now that the time's changed, we can have lots more for our picture taking day. Yay!
Guess this is why I never can sneak up on those two...and move over Lucy - 'cause wow. Kinda lends new meaning the the phrase, "I'm all ears", doesn't it? Hahaha *snort*
Elwood opted to lounge around the demonstration area for a bit:
Harvey hopped up the hill a ways to enjoy some yummy grass:
I tried to catch him with his mouth full, but that stuff sure did disappear in a hurry!
A suddenclunk followed by a thud behind me was the end of the cute bunny photo shoot. Seems Bella was sick and tired of my excited exclamations over a pair of silly rabbits and decided to prove her superiority by rehanging her bucket on the top slat all by herself.
Maybe it's just my imagination, but she appears to be just a tad exasperated with me. Wouldn't you say? Here's a sky shot (one more step to the left and it would have been perfect ;o)
Kinda neat though, eh? Looks like the sun, but it's actually the moon over my neighbor's trees. At least now you can see by the lavender color of the sky why everything was blue in the previous photos. As always, thank you so much for reading this far and have a blessed week everyone!
...and mudboggin' on Monday. Wow. It is definitely possibly to have too much of a good thing (except for chocolate cake, that is). Where is the sun? Does it still exist? Is it seriously soggy at your house or dry as dust? Or are you one of the lucky few that is somewhere in between perhaps? I pass a little pond every morning on my way to work that I look to as an unofficial water table. At the beginning of the year, that thing was down to a large puddle (and had been that way long enough there was grass growing where there had been water). I've never seen it get that low in 20+ years. Anyway, not only is it slam full, it's on the verge of brimming over. Not sure how much rain that translates to, but I know we've had umpteen inches in the last month or so. I sure do wish such things didn't always seem to wind up feast or famine. *sigh* Like the photo? Kinda puts you in mind of soaring eagles and majestic hawks, doesn't it? Ha. Apparently even vultures look pretty darn good from a distance. Huh. Sounds like some kind of life lesson to me ;o)
I wanted to apologize to my email subscribers for the previous post. *smacks palm on forehead* I totally forgot that the video clips don't show up in the emails and did not include a hyperlink to it for you (how rude). If you missed last week's clip and want to see it, click here to watch it on our Vimeo channel. I'm sorry, and I'll try really hard not to forget next time (have a hug?).
I have a couple of photos to share with you today. Pamplona may have the running of the bulls, but around here we have the running of the hay. The horses are quite familiar with the sound of the tractor and the moment that engine starts, heads pop up out of the grass all over the pasture. Most of the time, I let the girls into the training area [which is normally closed off] to distract them with forbidden forage so we can run a rope across the area that leads up to the hay without interference. Because we have to bring the rolls in through the Moo Crew's pasture, we block off the bottom of the girl's hill leading to where we set the roll so no one winds up in the wrong field. For some reason, this never fails to create an atmosphere of giddy anticipation among the girls. While this next photo is hardly brilliant, it cracked me up because it looks like Lady (L) is giving DD the evil eye for closing off the upper pasture before she can sneak up there (which she actually managed to do last time - the heifer):
Now that I have a modicum of understanding with regard to camera settings (aperture, to be more specific) I finally managed to get a couple of halfway decent shots of the girls charging up the hill toward the hay. I think I should have uploaded at a higher resolution, though:
The pasture is, of course, a disgusting muddy mess...
Not so fast Rina... Woo!
Lady and Sarabear bringing up the rear...
Other than the icky mud, I thought this was a nice photo of Sara:
And finally: (though completely irrelevant to the theme I had going) a pretty sunrise over the tree tops on a misty morning just for you (I forgot I was going to post it last month :o)
As always, thanks for reading this far and have a wonderful week everybody!
