Out With the Old and In With the New...

...want to warm up, we'd better head NORTH??? 
Have you ever had one of those days? You know the kind I mean: the ones that *cough* build character. It would seem I have decided (albeit unconsciously) to have an entire week of them. My character must be running a tad low. Living in south Alabama (as

in 13 miles from the Florida line) winters are cold, but nowhere near as cold as where I grew up (Pennsylvania).  This week, however, we have been matching record temps left and right which has caused quite a bit of trouble around here.... but I'm getting ahead of myself.
The first photo shows how my week began. As you can see, the T-Post between the Moo Crew and The Girls was mysteriously flattened and the fence wire broken up sometime during the night.  The only piece of evidence was a tiny tuft of red hair stuck to the post (and although all four of our red-headed miscreants were questioned, nobody was talking). 

 The temperatures (which I kinda thought were cold enough in the standard upper twenties/lower thirties) dropped further and froze just about everything. Of course the bright spot in this is that my new camera captured this tiny frozen trickle rather well, don't you think? (neat-O ;o)  While we started the week turning on the water in the afternoons (when the sun had thawed out the lines) to fill up the water trough for the girls, by Tuesday it had gotten so cold that the water wouldn't flow even at high noon.  Time for the bucket brigade to kick in (and wasn't that just the most fun? Not :oP

I have to admit it's extremely depressing (not to mention bizarre) to be watching the weather and see that not only Boston but Oregon (where my brother lives) were 10-20 degrees warmer than it was here in South Alabama... 
By midweek, the temps were in the teens at night and 30's during the day. I finally got the chance to dash to the barber shop for a haircut - I've been trying to find time to go since November. I know I said barber not salon, but it's only $10 for a haircut there (I fed all my beauty money to the horses, you see). Did I finally get my hair cut? Nope; can you believe they were frozen too??
Thursday came the predictions of snow and sleet on top of the cold. Now don't get me wrong, I like snow (just not here). Do you have any idea what happens in the south when it snows? Let me tell you, it is not a pretty sight (idiots abound). We've had schools and businesses close down, space heater fires, pipes bursting (thankfully not ours) and all manner of issues arise - along with much of the country - during this crazy snap.  Reason being that we are simply not equipped to deal with this kind of cold weather: It was eleven degrees yesterday morning with the wind chill, which is pretty doggone cold anywhere. The fact that temperatures have not been this cold in 15-20 years have caught nearly everyone ill prepared. Heck, I know I'm wishing I still had my Yankee Winter Wardrobe. Speaking of which...

Ratty, I've decided to include this part just for you after reading your matter-of-fact post about dressing appropriately for the great outdoors in the winter:

If you've never been there, please visit Ratty's blog (after you finish this post, of course :o)  It's  "The Everyday Adventurer", and it's terrific! 
And now (you hope) it's time for my grand finale. If you read last week's post, you know I went off the deep end and splurged on a new camera. I am happy to report that I absolutely LOVE it. 
I've had a grand time taking pictures this week, and (even cooler) shooting some video clips, which I've never done before. I played with it a bit, put some together, and added some music; hope you like it!

The Morning Warmup from Jen on Vimeo.

The bobble with the camera towards the end was compliments of Taya, who decided to give my sleeve, which was attached to the arm holding the camera, a nice big happy slurp (she loves me, what can I say?? :o) I'd love to hear what you think about Cinnamon and Max "squaring off" over the stump; I thought that was a hoot (looked like they'd rehearsed it).
Thanks for stopping by!

Merry Christmas to all...

...With one scary purchase, my shopping is through!

For the past several years I have been ogling (and subsequently drooling over) digital cameras, but never could afford anything close to what I wanted. Trying to get a fledgling Non-Profit off the ground means that the bulk of my paycheck gets pretty much re-routed before I get to see it.  This year, however, DH gave me money (and made me promise not to spend it on bills or anyone but myself; horses included) and my parents gave me a big Walmart gift card so I went a little crazy... 

First: A Byte of Background

The digital camera on the right was on perpetual loan from a dear friend; I've been using it to take the listing photos for our Etsy Shop.  Before that I was using my camera phone (sad, but true :o)

Because it didn't belong to me (and I am paranoid) I rarely took it outside. Most of my outdoor shots were taken with my regular camera or my handy-dandy cell phone (well whaddaya want on a no budget budget?)

The Blast from my [not too distant] Past  

I took a picture of our Christmas tree for the scrapbook before we dove into the small pile of presents underneath it on Christmas morning. My dad, who was standing nearby, held out a hand and said, "Let me see". Thinking he meant my camera, I handed it to him. He turned the camera around and in utter shock stated, "This is a FILM camera!" Apparently, he was expecting to see a small digital screen instead of the black plastic view he got :o)

"Thanks for pointing that out, Pop", I returned with a laugh. "There are a few of us that still use them, you know." At least I think there are...are there? Do any of you guys still use 'regular' cameras, or am I the last one left on the planet? Not that it worries me to be bringing up the rear mind you, I'm just curious...

"Welcome to the 21st Century"

Was my father's response to my extravagant Christmas purchase (of course it was 100% sponsored by the presents from DH and my parents; and it was also on sale - WooHoo!!)

There's probably something off about a senior citizen being shocked by his offspring's lack of technology (in fact, I'm sure of it :o) but that doesn't bother me in the slightest. To be honest, I thought it was pretty darn funny myself, because it was just so wrong.


Of course now I have guilt;I should have saved the money, bought feed with it, paid a bill with it, etc.  I seem to have an awful lot of trouble spending "me money", do you?

I've never participated in one of these, but thought I'd throw this in as a tribute to my cell phone camera (another oldie, but goodie :o)

Theme #194 "Lick"

Er, this is Shadow "cleaning" my daughter; he's our resident treat vacuum and people washer... 

She thought it was funny. Me? I was kind of thinking more along the lines of...


 EEEEEW!


 

Rain Rain GO AWAY

If you have never seen this before it's spectacular - Enjoy!

Amazing Grace Techno - Computer Controlled Christmas Lights from Richard Holdman on Vimeo.


The turkey's in the oven (and there's another on the couch :o) So I'm off to bake a Chocolate Turtle Cake for dessert (mmmmmm).

 The horses were all feeling froggy this morning, bouncing around like two year olds on Christmas morning after a stocking full of candy :o) Why?
Well, because...
<-- Look! Look! Look We finally had a visit from Jack Frost; I think he got lost trying to find us this year.  This has been the strangest winter thus far...is yours way off the mark?

So what do you get for a herd of horses for Christmas anyway? Well, I have to say that they are fairly easy to please and a snap to shop for...

(and don't worry, we wash them well and cut them up before handing them out at supper).

Woo!  Yummy :o)

Um, I would like to be able to say that the following photos are a direct result of consuming too much holiday Eggnog on my part, but since I don't drink the stuff I guess I'll just admit to a personal problem with random silliness...

The confused looking horse in the background is none other than Miss Sarabear, who was wondering what on earth we were doing - particularly since Rina and Taya actually put their heads down for me to put the earmuffs on them (er, I guess that makes it a tad obvious that this is not exactly my first time being slightly silly...)

Don't forget the REAL reason for the season... 

Happy birthday Jesus!

The Sarabear Chronicles: Part III

..And don't come back for days and days!

If you have been watching the weather (or experiencing it), you'll know that we have been hit with record rains here in the southeast; flooding is rampant.  The horses are miserable, and every bit as cranky as we are at the current state of sogginess. Thankfully, the house in the photo below is not ours...although we have standing water here too, it is not at flood stages (except for the Moo Crew's stalls, that is, which are now ankle deep in water). Since the horses are only in the stalls twice a day to eat, it's not a complete disaster (it sure would be miserable if they had to stay in there though).

  Happily, Rickey has found someone that owns a dump truck and may be able to help us get some dirt; of course we have to wait for it to dry up enough for him to get in there...otherwise he'd just get stuck (kind of like the farm truck did last week when we dropped more hay - took us an hour and a half to get it out...grrr :oP

The horses do like to play in the rain, especially when the temperature drops.  The cooler temperatures not only give them lots more energy, but the running and jumping around also helps them to stay warm.

The photo below turned out so well, I ended up listing it as a print in my Etsy shop.  I entitled it, "Pinging in the Rain" after one of my favorite old movies (plus it was a really bad pun, which just I love :o)

Of course after the pinging, comes the rolling...

Woo-Hoo! Today is Saturday, and Here comes the sun....HOT DAWG!!

A Note from the Girls:

Not only is there sunshine, but Mrs. Ladyperson [Jen] let us in the riding area where there is Winter Rye Grass coming up.

HOORAY!




So tell me, how's the weather at your house? Have you had oodles of rain or snow? Or did you manage to miss all the fun (sarcastically speaking, that is :o)

The Sarabear Chronicles: Part II

Mean Girls

 

Well Miss Sarabear may be settling in okay, but it seems that some of her pasture mates have opted to stage a protest.  Rina, in a bout of teenage drama, has decided that Sara's presence here is unacceptable and ruining her life. Really.


SPATIAL RELATIONSHIPS
Rina has a very large personal space, and gets very cranky when a member of her herd trespasses in said space.  It would seem that Sara missed that little tidbit of important information, and had the misfortune to wander just a teensy bit too close to her new leader.




Unfortunately, when Rina explained this egregious error in no uncertain terms [photo right], Sara compounded the problem by rather desperately lashing out in self-preservation before fleeing the scene. Uh-oh: contact. Houston we may have a problem...



THE DETESTABLE DING

To say that Rina was put out by Sara's audacious behavior would be somewhere along the lines of calling a backhanded slap to the Queen of England "an unfortunate incident" (you know, the understatement of the century).

Rina has finally stopped chasing Sara at 5 minute intervals, and has opted to remind Sara of her place only periodically and at a much slower speed.  I have also noticed, however, that this is now done from a much safer distance :o)

THE DOMINO EFFECT
 
Now that Rina is offended by Sara's presence, Lady [Photo right] has decided she feels exactly the same way. Hmmm, can you say brown noser?? 

Taya only makes ugly faces at Sara when Rina is looking, otherwise she is pretty much ambivalent. She is pleased, though, that she is no longer the resident peon and has been spotted practicing her important new status by butting in front of Sara at the water trough every chance she gets. 
 



 Seems Bella doesn't really care one way or the other either, except to be happy that Rina is no longer chasing her around the haypile.


Ahhh well, such is the life when you're a horse.  I think it's time for a nap...

The Sarabear Chronicles: Part I

Joining the Herd  Oh the Drama!

With the girls tucked safely in their stalls, introductions were made all around before walking Sara around the perimeter of The Girls' pasture.  Photos below from Left to Right: Lady and Bella, Rina, and Taya. Um, apparently DD hasn't quite mastered the concept of holding the camera completely still when taking photographs...

Shadow and Cinnamon (Photo Right) were the first of the Moo Crew members to arrive at the fence as we headed up the hill with Sara in tow.  WOO! - Who is that?? Haaay, she's kind of cute...  



Of course Shadow (a.k.a. Señior Studmuffin) developed an instantaneous infatuation with the pretty new arrival. 

While Cinnamon quickly lost interest, Shadow remained at the fence and quickly struck several of his very best studly poses (Photo Left). In an added attempt to impress the new love of his life - who was completely oblivious - he arched his neck over the fence and let out an itty bitty whinny. Oh the shame of it... Sara was distinctly unimpressed with his machismo...(of course it may just have been his sissyfied whinny that failed to wow her :o)


After turning Sara loose, we let the girls out of their stalls.  Everyone raced around madly for a few minutes, then settled down to munch hay.

As The New Girl, Sara was not exactly warmly welcomed at the hay although Taya finally agreed to share a bit of hers. 

Rina, Lady and Bella ultimately decided to pretend that Sara did not exist in their little world. Although Bella periodically cast surreptitious glances Sara's way, she made no offer of friendship which surprised me. Remember her being riveted at the fence?

Unfortunately, Shadow seemed to be experiencing a rather extreme case of denial. He continued his attempts to convince Sarabear of his overwhelming manly appeal by executing his very best trot in large circles by the fence; while periodically peeking at her to see if Sara had fallen head over hooves for him yet.


Sadly, she hadn't. Poor Shadow... :o\


Stay tuned for the next installment: Mean Girls

THE ARRIVAL


Our newest and final resident, Sara (a.k.a. Blue Seranade, a.k.a. Sarabear), was donated to the farm last month.  Her owner was selling her other horses, but due to Sara's abusive past wanted her to go somewhere she would be well cared for and understood. Sara arrived here safely on a weekday afternoon. Thankfully, this gave her plenty of daylight hours to adjust to her new surroundings.  She unloaded in a big hurry, but since it was a four hour trip to get here we could hardly blame her. She was a bit nervous at the change of scene, and let us know by snorting softly several times as she looked around her new environment.  Even so, she was a perfect little lady as we made our way to her temporary quarters. 

Something that I found interesting was that one of the shippers referred to her nervous snorting as "An Arabian thing", which surprised me. It's not a breed trait at all, but simply an expression of equine anxiety. A precursor to those frantic whinnies, if you like, should the stressful situation escalate.  Shadow, our resident weenie, snorts at things on a regular basis. Have you ever heard it before?


We walked Sara slowly around the area we had fenced off for her so she would know exactly where the boundaries were.  Initially, she was more interested in the grass than anything and spent the first 30 minutes or so with her head greedily buried in it (yum :o)

We left her alone to acclimate, but hung around outside for a bit to make sure that she was settling in, and to make sure the returning school bus (next door) did not cause her to have a coronary...thankfully, it didn't. The bus drivers are required to "bleed the brakes" which is super loud (although it doesn't last long).

The Girls had been at the top of the hill initially, but hot-footed it downhill to see what was going on.  Rina, Lady and Taya decided fairly quickly that Sara was "a nobody" and should be completely ignored and thoroughly snubbed.  The threesome immediately returned to the hay pile at the top of the hill, with noses and tails haughtily in the air.  Bella however, who is the loner of the group, turned out to be absolutely fascinated with her new neighbor. 

Apparently it was mutual, as the two of them spent an entire hour completely transfixed and staring at each other across the fences, which I thought was pretty funny. Sara eventually went back to chomping away on the grass, but Bella continued to stand and stare until it was time for supper. Maybe she finally found herself a friend. Wouldn't that be nice?



Watch for the next post: Joining the Herd