This Is My Life

This is the three-ring circus that has now destroyed my fences, pasture, and a water heater. Please forgive the mess and enjoy the show :)

Monday, Monday (and a little bit of Sunday)

Sunday and Monday were pretty hectic. For one thing, I had to prepare for a rerun of this on Tuesday:


One big thing that I got accomplished was bringing the barn kitties in to the vet to get spayed.



They weren't too happy, but they did great. They spent the night on the back porch and will stay there until the weather blows over. They don't need to be extra-cold on top of their surgeries.

Now, every single animal (except for the mares, of course) are now fixed, except Milton.


He'll go in to get neutered next week.

Shhh...don't tell him!

We don't need any baby anything around here for quite some time. The grown animals are big enough babies by themselves.

Bambi might be the biggest baby of them all. She comes trotting up for her grain, or her blanket, or to be petted or brushed.

She's one of them "needy" girls.

Speaking of needy girls, Paula got to try out her new saddle blanket yesterday. I went with a Taylor Collection wool blanket with a built-in cut back wool felt lining.

I will only ever use it on her, so it will eventually conform to her back and hopefully be super comfy for her.

You can see here why she needed the shoulder guard as well!

She's so long that I have to have a really large blanket for her, and yet she's narrow, so the front doesn't fit her. I hope next year I'll be able to splurge a bit and get her an adjusta-fit turnout.

On top of getting the girls fixed, preparing for the upcoming weather, going to the chiropractor, and getting Eddie entered in another futurity last minute (and getting some really cool news in return which I promise to share soon), the horses managed to completely destroy some of their fencing.

Swine horses.

Thankfully no one was hurt. I hate these panels anyway--they are just temporary until I can get the right fencing in, but for some reason the horses don't want to wait. I should have the north side entirely re-fenced shortly after the new building arrives. For some reason, the horses don't understand.

Patience is not one of their virtues.

For example, they decided to play football with one of the tank heaters.

Out of morbid curiousity, before I threw it away, I decided to plug it in. It WORKED!!! The casing on the top is cracked and the rods all bent, but it worked. Now, if it malfunctions it's not a big deal as this is a second, extra tank, so I went ahead and left it. I'd never leave it if it was a primary source of water--I would have went and got a new one. I just thought it was amazing that it managed survived the wrath of these heathens.

Welcome to the jungle,

We've got fun 'n games.

We got everything you want

Honey we know the names....

Gray Matter

It's sort of funny, if someone asked me what my favorite color was, I would have never said "gray." That was my ex's answer. He liked to think he was original.

But these days, my world is turning gray. And not in a bad way. I actually really like the color now. I love my horse Paula, and she's gray. Ergo, gray is quite a happy color to me.

When I bought my truck, I didn't ask for a silver (gray) truck. I just told them what I was looking for (late model, stripped-down, V8, half-ton in good condition) and the one that came in happened to be gray--my first gray vehicle, in fact.

Then when I bought the little purple Civic and it was a complete lemon, Dad decided he'd help me out by selling me his silver Camry. He had a buyer for the Civic (issues and all) and he was ready for a different car himself. The Camry has been perfect for me. Even with 160,000 miles (which it reached this weekend), it drives like it's still brand new and (unlike that darned Civic), it hasn't seen the inside of a shop except for oil changes, new tires, and a tune-up I did only for maintenance reasons.

So, I ended up with two silver vehicles, completely by accident, but it sure looks planned. Then when it was time to look for outbuildings, Dad suggested that I get one colored "gray-green" like a sample they had there.


Turns out, it was just gray. But, I really liked the color, and the contrast of the gray and white, plus you can easily get panels and fencing in gray or white, so I went with it. A second building, the same color, will be delivered in about a week or so (I'm so excited!!).

Saturday Dad and I went to Wichita to look at stuff for both our houses (and for me to stop by the tack store and do a little shopping for the horses). For weeks now Dad has been asking me to figure out what kind of siding I want. We need it to be cheap, durable, and easy to install. He kept steering away from vinyl siding because it's gotten a bad rap in the past, but after talking with several people we finally decided that's what we'll get. Unlike the cement board siding, it won't take any special tools to install. It won't have to be painted, either, like the composite board siding. Once we've got it up on the house, that's it!

And it seems meant to be, because our local Lowes carries light gray siding in stock. Turns out, the house will be light gray with white trim and columns, with dark blue shutters and accents. Sort of like this:


Of course I'll add a lot of color with landscaping, too, and the roof is a lot more multi-colored than the roof on this house is. Add the large white pillars up front and the french doors I think it will look really nice.

Another thing we discussed was the kitchen window. We're planning on finishing the north and west sides of the house first, so those windows have to be in, regardless of what's going on on the inside (right now my bedroom is where the kitchen will be). I've always wanted an herb garden in the kitchen, so depending on the carpentry cost, I hope to have a window over the sink that is pulled out from the house a few inches, like this.

Notice the space behind the sink?

Here's how it would look from the outside.

Except in our version, it would have its own tiny little roof with shingles. There's one by my dad's house in town that is exactly what I want, but I haven't gotten a picture of that yet.

Here's a close-up of the space behind the sink.

And that's actually the type of window I'm considering as well--a side-slide. I think on a nice day, you get the most air circulation from a large side-slide, and that can be pretty important in a kitchen, if you're canning or baking a lot!

We also ordered custom shades for Dad's house, and I was able to pick up a shoulder guard and work saddle blanket for Paula. It was a full day, and I'm so excited to get those two sides of the house done. It will take a while since that winning lottery ticket hasn't turned up for me yet, but in due time, this old place will turn into a pretty lovely little farm house.

A couple more unrelated notes--I did get a treadmill fairly reasonably with all the features I wanted and I've been working out on it for an hour each day. I have already lost those two pounds I gained (yay) and my back is already doing better. I've been able to take up my pilates again, too, so every other day I'm getting in 1.5 hours of working out, on top of my usual chores AND I'm also removing the plaster and lathe from the second story again--in a month the big trash bin will be here and I have to be ready to fill it up! So, keep your fingers crossed I can get off this plateau that I've been on for years now!

Second unrelated note, my friend Alan is starting his blog (Bearcat Bartender) up again, so please stop in for a visit and some great tips on making tasty beverages.

Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about the Superbowl and all that buzz, either. That's for tomorrow's post....

Random Things of Beauty

Since it's Friday, and since I have the odd habit of randomly saving pictures of things that I like on the internet, I thought I'd share the fruits of my bizarre labor.

You didn't have anything better to do, did you?

Oh, you did? Sorry 'bout that. OK, bye.

The End.

Alright, so this post isn't quite dead yet. You can wait around for a while you say? Good, because these pendants light up my life:


They're made from old glass electric insulators. We have an entire barn full of these, because my dad decided when he was young that these would be worth some money someday, so when they were switching out all the light poles in the county he went around collecting as many as he could.

And then they were worth, like, maybe a whole dollar? (For ten of them, anyway).

So, this will be a super-cool use of them in my new kitchen. I just have to figure out how to drill holes through the top of glass without losing any appendages.

Completely unrelated, this picture just floored me:

I want. *drool*

I wonder if I'd still appreciate it after laying down thousands upon thousands of those tiny mosaic tiles?

I probably would, even if it was under the haze of heavy medication.

Speaking of medication (which has nothing to do with the following picture):

I ran across this painting by Edward Coley Burne-Jones of The Prioress's Tale. Little known extra-geeky fact about me is that I love studying Middle and Old English, so Beowulf and Canterbury Tales are two of my favorite books, and it so happens that The Prioress's Tale is my most favorite. It's left a lasting impression on me, ever since I realized the irony of a nun wearing a broach that declares "Amor vincit omnia!" The tale is actually one of blood libel--a term recently brought to the forefront by (ironically) another purveyor of irreconcilable dichotomies.

That would make an interesting topic! Compare and contrast today's politicians and their stories with the travelers in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. OK, now discuss.

A little verklempt,

I Need a Han

Well, it happened...


I fell off the wagon.

I had lost 7 pounds, then the storm hit. Boredom set in, and so then I gained two pounds back.

Ugh.

I feel disgusting, although it wasn't anything like the picture above. I didn't eat a whole pint of ice cream or a whole bag of doritos. I just splurged--a sonic breakfast burrito here, a couple of slices of pizza there....

Double ugh.

So now, I'm attempting to get back on the wagon before I gain everything back. I'm also breaking down and finally getting a treadmill.


I've planned to buy one for a while now, and I had it in my mind I could get a pretty nice one for under $200. Boy, was I wrong. Back before I wanted a treadmill, I saw people practically giving them away at garage sales, but now that I want one, they are on craigslist for even more than a new one costs. Crazy craigslisters....

Unfortunately a treadmill has also become somewhat of a medical neccessity with this weather. I've thought a lot about just waiting around for spring to start running again rather than take a hit to my pocketbook, but my back has been awful the last few days. It takes me a good five minutes before I can even think about standing up straight, and I'm 35, not 85! I keep getting leg cramps. All this sitting just kills me. I try to walk around outside as long as I can stand the cold, but it's not good enough. I need at least an hour of activity every single day for my back to be healthy. Usually with the horses and chores and taking care of the farm it's no problem, but times like this, it's a big problem.

Another problem with waiting for spring is that I feel like this:

And that means, my friends, that something must be done. No girl wants to feel like Jabba. I've got to break down and get a treadmill, and then actually use it.

Yanee da poo noo*,

*Roughly translated means "Yummy chocolate cake no no."

So I Hear There's a Storm?

I know by now most everyone outside of the state of Florida is cursing up a storm, at this storm. Just remember, though, no matter how bad it gets...


Don't drive angry....don't drive angry!!

Lucky for me, I was able to buy a couple of roundbales of alfalfa before the storm hit, so I have no room to complain. The horses all have blankets, shelter, two large stocktanks filled with warmed water, and free-choice premium alfalfa (these are 1900lb bales--so heavy they actually stripped the gears off my bale mover and I had to call someone with a bale bed to move them in).

Despite being pretty much set for the storm, the kids still insisted on grain. I took them off their oats, though, because I wanted them to eat as much hay as they could possibly get--the hay is what keeps them warm in the -25 degree wind chills. Oats...not so much.

Poor, suffering kids.

Speaking of suffering (or lack thereof), I went out during the blizzard portion of yesterday's snowpocolyse to make sure everyone was doing ok and the boys were running around and playing!! I took that as a sign they were doing better than I was, so I trudged back inside, took off the ten layers of winter wear I had piled on, and sat down to get some work done from home.

Last night, though, I finally broke down and went to the store. On my way there, I spotted a sundog.

Although it didn't signal that the wind was over, or the temps were to improve, at least that meant the snow was finished. It's impossible to tell how much we got because it all blew into the next state over, but I won't officially call this event finished until these winds die down. Hopefully the nearly two tons of hay will last until then (with these swine horses, you never know)!

Wait a minute, the sun is out...I can almost see my shadow. Thankfully that doesn't count.

Phil me meet again,