A Post in 3D: with Dirt, Dirt and Dirt

Clearly I have had a boatload of fun this week because I am now sitting here scratching my head wondering where on earth the whole thing went. How can it possibly be Saturday? Yeesh. Shadow colicked on Tuesday afternoon (defined here for my non-horsey friends), and the week kind of went downhill from there. I was, however, extremely blessed to have had Kimby with me when I found our poor boy laid out by the water trough. Not everyone in your life would be overly keen on helping you push shove drag lug lead (a reluctant 1,100lb drama queen 'round and 'round the pasture for hours on end waiting for him to "go". She was a tremendous help in nudging him forward; all while keeping an eagle eye out for signs of impending poop from inside the danger zone (to the uninitiated: horse toots are toxic ;o) Brave girl.
Long story short: The colic turned out to be the byproduct of an abcess in Shadow's throat that had left him unable to properly swallow. He probably swallowed either a small stick or large, stiff piece of hay which scratched his throat. The inability to swallow properly likely caused him to panic, which led to the colic. DH gave him a shot of Banamine (which I hate using) for pain, and I put some DMSO on the abscess I'd [eventually] found in his throat latch. We left him resting fairly comfortably around 11p.m. He seemed to be feeling a bit better Wednesday morning, and a couple of hours after a second application of DMSO he was [finally!] able to swallow properly on his own. Of course all that stumbling around in the pasture half the night (for an early bird like me, anyway ;o) was apparently all it took for me to come down with a lovely sinus infection. half of Thursday was, most unhappily, spent at the doctor's office. And raspberries to that! :oP
[Photo inset: Shadow and I in shadow (hee) standing by the almost pond bright and early on Wednesday morning. We look weird, don't we?]

Since the post I had originally planned for today did not get written, I'm leaving you here (so to speak, anyway ;o) with an almost [finished] page of my joy journal. Everyone is blessed with gifts and talents from God (1Peter4:10 on the left side of the journal page), for her - or his - own. What's funny is that we don't tend to see and appreciate those things in ourselves; we often seem to focus on someone else's gift that we wish we had instead. To me? The neatest part is the way God often puts people in our lives who share our interests yet come with their own special set of gifts to help round us out better. Example: My friend Lori is gifted with the most marvelous outgoing and friendly nature - something I definitely wish I had. Friendly? Yes, mostly, though I tend toward reserved. Outgoing? Not at all. I am a terrible introvert (though sometimes I hide it well). I have a really hard time walking up to someone I don't know (like new people at church) and introducing myself, so God gave me Lori (though I'm betting this is all news to her *laugh*). All I have to do is follow her around on a given Sunday, and I wind up meeting everyone I don't know "safely". Betcha didn't even know you were being a blessing in that particular direction, did you chickie? :o)
Likewise, Kimby, who is gifted with that wonderful peace I know I've mentioned before. The kind of peace that puts you at immediate ease and always makes you feel like everything will be all right. The perfect complement to my tends to panic spaz-queen self. She also seem to always know just the right thing to say, too (the heifer); and for someone who is constantly eating her own foot, I'm telling you straight up that is a GIFT and then some! And quit rolling your eyes at me too, sistafriend. Heh Heh Heh. Sandy, with her warm fuzzy heart for critters and crazy sense of humor has an altogether different set of blessings that complete our friendship and brighten my day. There are, of course, many others. All of these remarkable people that the Lord has put in my life. What would I do without them? But I digress...
[Photo inset: My almost finished journal page borrowing some of Joanne Fink's Zenspiration with some scripture verses "dangling" down the left-hand side]

Since I'm obviously headed for "short story long" here, *snicker* I'll add that this journal page is about the things that I have a love and/or propensity for and what I'm supposed to be doing with them. A reminder to self, if you will. The right side of the page looks like a scarf, which is something I have been known to crochet. Speaking of... Do you like the yarn ball "o" and hook "t"? I was pretty excited when I saw that the idea actually worked and you can [mostly] tell what they are. The word Art is only partially visible, and horses is right above that. What? You were expecting something else to top the list? (well silly you ;o) They're not necessarily in order of preference, but more how they fit best in the space. Everything gets done in pencil first, then it's made permanent with Staedtler pens. My hand-lettering still needs lots more practice. I haven't decided whether or not to add color to it yet - the scarf, perhaps? Or maybe I should just leave this page in black and white. What do you think?

Have a blessed week everyone, and thanks so much for reading this far!

"T" is for two...

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 sudden clunk 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!