Actually, I managed to come up with something completely new in the graceless category. I have two over the fence saddle racks [bottom of photo inset] that have been parked next to the door for about two years now. We normally use them for cleaning the saddles outside. I, however, have found a new use for them. I learned that if you step down quickly and place your heel squarely on that little black cap, it is instantly transformed from saddle rack to bludgeon and will deliver quite the solid whomp to the back of your leg. Honestly...who DOES this stuff??? Oh wait, I do. *rolls eyes*. Concrete is still curing, so we're cleaning up around it, trying to level dirt as well as fill in all those fun little holes left by the frame supports along the outside.We have many bigger holes to fill in too, and we are trying to figure out how to get our hands on some affordable dirt (how stupid does that sound? Ha). Soooo, anybody out there digging a pool this summer??? What about a foundation? Getting rid of a hill? (hey, it was worth a try ;o)
Horses feet, like human hands [and nails] can become dry and brittle, particularly during drought conditions. It is so strange to watch all of the terrible flooding everywhere and be praying for all those folks yet praying here (rather desperately) for rain at the same time. I've been watering as much as I can manage (not our yard grass, but all of the grazing areas I can reach with the sprinkler) in an attempt to keep the grass from dying off completely. If you're a horse with dry hooves, RainMaker is fabulous for moisturizing those footies; the horses love it on their frogs, soles, yadda yadda. Kinda like a soothing massage with lotion would be for us if our hands were very dry. Lots of heavy sighs everywhere and Bella even moved forward when I'd finished her front feet and lifted her back foot in a not so subtle hint: Let's not forget these two, 'kay Mom? Sure thing chickie ;o) 
Not bad, eh? I tossed two of them in the demonstration area and asked Rina to follow me over them a time or two before supper. I didn't have DD here to take a picture, so I tried to turn and get one myself as Rina walked along behind me over the posts. Of course it's a terrible shot (her head looks as big as the moon from that angle and her body's all dinky back there *giggle*) but at least you get the idea: Hooray, they worked!
The noodles aren't that big, but they worked just fine. You could probably splice two of them together on a longer piece of PVC if you wanted to. Hey; you could even cut the noodles up and use them in alternating colors to make it prettier. Hmmm...sounds like a good idea to me; I might need to add a few more to my collection *laugh*.
Last, but never least, we have new volunteers (two and a quarter to be exact). I'm very excited to have Krystal helping us (she'd be the partial person on the left ;o) She's not only become a great friend, she's interested in the horses and happy to spend a chunk of her summer stamping and sorting for us with some outdoor manual labor thrown in for good measure (and what more could you ask for in a pal??) Jack has aspirations for the tractor - he thinks stamps and stuff are for girls and is holding out for some manly machinery. He was all eyes and happy feet bouncing enthusiastically up and down while watching DH run Tilly in preparation for the patio. Until I snapped his picture, that is. Geez, first its grownups, now it's a baby looking at me like I'm loopy (guess it shows *grin* ;o). I'm thinking a couple of growth spurts and a few more years and he'll be good to go; what do you think?
Our other new volunteer is Emily, and she will be spearheading the BellaButton fundraiser for us. Hopefully, it will be a rousing success ('cause I sure don't want to have made all those buttons for no apparent reason ;o) We will be splitting the proceeds from the buttons with the Twilight Pageant. I'm not normally into the whole pageant thing, but the Twilight Pageant raises money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (and for obvious reasons, I am into cancer causes ;o) You know, maybe we'd better keep this whole blog post hush-hush now that I think about it (I swiped Bella's tiara for Emily to use in the picture since Bella's wearing it on the button photo - SO DON'T TELL BELLA). Man, I'm turning into a regular kleptomaniac *grin*. Below is a photo of what the finished buttons look like; sorry about the copyright thing plastered across the picture, but I'm sure you all are aware how quick people are to snatch up stuff like this and use it themselves without a care in the world (or a penny for our pockets). This is what Ann was helping us with: 
