Your Thoughts...

....on dating younger men (5ish years)?

...on dating guys who already have a child?

...on divorcees?

Picnic Frock GIVEAWAY!!!!

Picnic Frock GIVEAWAY!!!!
I swear one day she's going to pick me. I need more girl things in my wardrobe...

Quick and Dirty

The quick part:

Foal update: He's doing great! Because of his congenital joint 'crookedness', the general consensus is to keep him and mom in a pen to keep his tendons from strengthening too much before he straightens out. His legs are getting straighter on their own and the one that turned out is starting to turn back in on it's own. This usually takes the better part of a month so so far, so good!

The very, very dirty part:

I branded all weekend. This is what that consisted of...
1) Have a horse saddled by 6:30am
2) Bring in all the cows from the fields
3) Separate all the babies from their mommas
4) Pen up the babies
5) Rope the calves hind legs on horseback and drag them to the branders
6) Tie the front legs, vaccinate, brand, de-horn and de-nut...Rocky Mountain Oysters anyone?
7) Drive the cows through the chutes for vaccinations and worming
8) Bring them back out to pasture horseback
9) Ride back in, water the horses and sit back with a cold one and good food (rocky mountain oysters were prominant at one ranch)!

I worked two different ranches, and though there were some differences in their techniques, overall they pretty much were the same.

I love branding even though I get absolutely filthy. It provides a good workout for my horses in a new situation, if the weather is nice (and it was) it's just downright nice to be working hard outside, the new people you meet are fantastic and the food is to die for!

Sorry I have no pictures; I was WAY too busy working! But I know some people did have a camera so I'll see if I can't get my hands on a few eventually. Some of the highlights of the weekend:

1) I dragged Rebel, my 2-year old with me all weekend. He was fantastic and took it all in. He started to show a little 'studdy' behavior - but since the mares ignored him he pretty much gave up the dream.
2) I took that gray out I've been riding for a neighbor. He's been kicking my butt regularly, but behaved fairly well in a strange place with all kinds of things going on around him.
3) I took a guy with me one day. He wanted to go, but he's not a cowboy at all. In fact, he'd never been on a horse. I'm from the school of 'sink or swim' so I put him on Charlie and threw Rebel's rope at him and made him learn to ride and pony a horse while I messed with that gray. He didn't fall off or lose control - and he's still calling around so I haven't scared him off. He also helped tackle a few calves. Possible potential in this one (do you like how I approach my men like he's a horse? I just realized I was doing that).

The Long Awaited Little Bugger!

Well - here he is! I don't have a barn name for him yet, but his registered name will be something along the lines of Skippin' Leo Chex. Rumba waited until all the nasty weather was past. It snowed like crazy again last Friday and Saturday, and now it's expected to be in the 60's and 70's for the rest of this week! Yeah!

He has some congenital angular limb deformities in his front legs. This is pretty normal, especially for a late term baby that I can't figure out how he actually fit into momma (he's REALLY tall) , but I'm talking with the vet to see what I can do to help out the situation. His one leg has straightened out already a lot, his right knee is a little deviated from center. The vet said to just watch it and if in a month it isn't getting better there is an low impact invasive surgery they can do to help take the pressure off and straighten it out. So things should be just fine!

Otherwise, he IS perfect and quite into everything. Yesterday he walked through the water buckets and today he tipped himself into the feed bin. So I have to turn everything over so he can't get stuck in it for now! He comes right up to me and isn't scared of ANYTHING.

His grulla coloring is a perfect mouse grey with VERY silver legs! He has a white off hind stocking and a star and snip which looks like a 'U'. He also has an awesome little ermine marking that looks like someone scribbled on him with a marker. Rumba has a few of these and passed on the trait!

Mom is extremely protective, and giving what happened to her last colt that was killed by another horse (yes, killed - it shook the foal like a dog shakes it's prey after busting through a post and iron fence), I've been giving her a lot of room. She been totally alright with me in there, but gets a little nervy when other people are around - or I am for too long. Maggie is still in the pasture with her because when I moved her to another pasture she cleared a 5 1/2 foot fence to get back (she isn't really tall enough to do that but did anyway). Rumba doesn't let her anywhere near the colt and Maggie is respecting the distance so I'm alright with them. Plus I'm paneling off a section this evening anyway so they can visit over the fence for a bit.

Wore out after an adventure

Rumba thought if she buried her baby maybe I'd go away

Where'd he go? It's a hay bale with legs!

What? Are you STILL here? (That is a BOY in the background...*gasp*)

Peekaboo!

I see you!

Hey! Who was playing with the Sharpies? The ermine mark

My tall 'little' man! Rumba's over 5 2 hands

I think it's only fair not to count the 'due date' contest since it was SOOOO out of wack. I wasn't there for the birth by the way - she never waxed or showed signs of anything being different than any other day or night. I checked her at 1am Saturday, and had a phone call in the morning to go check the field (I slept in a little later than normal...hey. I gotta live a little too you know).

Therefore, I will be having a naming contest soon. LOOK FOR IT!

I Had a Dream...

Of a bouncing baby boy. A grulla colt to be exact. Guess what I found on day 470 in the pasture? Exactly that. I'll post pictures tomorrow!

Did You Know?

Chickens are descended from Dinosaurs? Really. I'm not kidding about this. And guess WHICH dinosaur scientists believe have the closest genetic connection?

The Tyrannosaurus Rex

Really. I have mini T. Rex's running around in my backyard. Really - and I have proof:

Doesn't she sound like a dinosaur? That's T. Rex 1 and 2 in my coop.

She's broody. She thinks she's going to hatch some eggs, except there aren't any eggs under her, and if there were they wouldn't be fertile right now because my neighbor's dog killed my big beautiful Ancona rooster. His replacement is only 7 weeks old.

Easter, Snow and No Baby

Well, with the crazy barometric highs and lows combined with a full moon I thought for sure I'd have a baby to share with you by now, but alas, no go. Rumba's hangin' on! I'd love to try and get this on video, but baby sure is active! He (because I want a bouncing baby boy) has been pushing against Rum's side and you can actually see the hoof move across the back of her rib cage. I hope this means he's moving around and finally getting into position to be born! This is the worst week ever also because I have drama productions and group photos planned for the yearbook. Oh well.

I just had a nice long four day weekend due to P/T conferences and Easter. It was an eventful weekend (weather wise). A full moon here is awesome. The night lights up like a cloudy day. It's pretty cool.

Who needs to color eggs for Easter? Mine come colored au natural! Greens and Blues, rose, browns, cream and white! The big white one is a goose egg. It makes the BEST fluffy scrambled eggs EVER!

Did I mention we had a blizzard on Easter? I couldn't make it to mass it was so bad. Everyone had to bundle up because it was so wet out. It just kept snowing....

And snowing....And snowing....And then Monday dawned sunny and booootiful!!!! Look at that blue ski!

Have I mentioned there still is no baby?

When it Rains, it Pours

Not really. At least not here in the SLV. In fact, SLVer's LOVE the rain since technically we're a high mountain desert and rain is a nice change. So rarely is there a day when one wants to hide out inside due to nasty weather...except in the spring. In the spring there comes the Foehn winds, the Chinooks, the really nasty oh-my-God-is-my-truck-going-to-blow-away winds. Seriously. This happens as the snow melts off the mountains and a combination of pressure changes and air from the ocean waaaayyyy over yonder causes gigantic wind storms here.

Dust Bowl circa 1932

Not really (again) that's just me driving home from work yesterday. Loverly eh? That's part of the reason why there's a giant pile of sand on the east side of the valley

On another note - my neighbors are creepy eh? I'd say so!!! Their strange behavior began when their dog cornered me and then tried to kill Wrigley a few days later. I have been polite to them, and always have been. Word from the vet is they STILL haven't paid the bill. What jerks. And WHY do I deserve to be treated like this? I have proof, in the form of doggie footprints chasing a horse OUTSIDE the pen (I did some investigative work). I didn't let my horse walk through knee deep spiky chico brush with a dog trailing behind him, so I wonder how those got there? Hmmmm...it is illegal in this open range state to allow your animal to chase livestock. I'm not kidding when I say I'm going to shoot the dog (which is legal). And it's not cruel and unusual. What is cruel and unusual is a dog chasing an expensive horse through an expensive fence and not doing anything about it. Especially when the owner of that expensive horse and expensive fence is broke, and didn't get home 'till after dark, and was fixing fence in the dark in high heels because if I was changing I was getting in the shower, and because SHE IS responsible for her animals. So there.

Right. So here's Rumba telling me to screw off and stop taking pictures and poking at her bag and, "Just let me eat already! Jeesh!" (see all the things floating through the air from the wind?)

Could her belly get any bigger?

The Gnomes Came Back

And they evidently can read minds as I was just thinking yesterday that I haven't had any untowards events occur lately at home, but that I shouldn't say that out loud; just in case...Didn't matter anyway it seems...

I was at parent / teacher conferences until late last night and didn't get home until almost 9. Have I ever mentioned HOW MUCH I LOVE P/T CONFERENCES!!! REALLY? REALLY? Seriously, that is what it does to my brain.

So anyway, I pull up to a dark house (another reason why I need a man, so a porch light can be turned on for me) and miss something EXTREMELY OBVIOUS (but I'll tell you that later) and head into the house to start chores (yet ANOTHER reason I need a man, so chores can be done on these late nights and I don't have to do them in the dark).

I decided to take care of the chicks and ducklings first before the dogs are all over me for food, but wait! What's missing! The ducklings! They escaped the brooder and evidently spent an afternoon amusing themselves amongst a bunch of empty boxes and books - as given away by their poop. So guess what I'm doing today? They made is safely back into the brooder after I found them sleeping on some ankle weights.

Then I let the dogs in and fed them and turned out Mav and Wrig to do their business while I fed the horses. But WAIT! I only see TWO horses where there should be THREE! Where oh where is Charlie? This is what I missed that was extremely obvious earlier. My hay stack is next to where I park. Evidently Charlie is practicing the art of camouflage and was standing very, very still when I pulled up and parked. So once I got him returned to his home and everyone else fed, I looked for the damage. He only dug into a half bale, but how did he escape? I have a strong suspicion the dog next door was let loose yesterday...The back of the pen was all torn down and it looked like Charlie had been run through it.

I AM going to catch that dog out one day (I think they turn him loose when I'm not home) and shoot him. It's not fair!

THEN - as it was way late once I managed to fix the fence by the light of the moon - I needed a shower,... and lost my nose ring. So I was putting a new one in (I always have a spare 'cause they get lost every now and then...) and just couldn't do it! I COULDN'T get it to just GO IN! I spent a good hour trying to get that darn thing in! A lot of it is because I have such a small ring and I had my contacts out so I was like 2 inches from the mirror TRYING to see what I was doing...and it sucked. But I eventually got it in and went to bed. Thank God.

Oh -and on another note - my neighbors SPY on me. I'm SO not kidding. I catch them staring out the blinds at me ALL THE TIME! I think they are waiting for me to not be around so they can make a run for a vehicle, because a lot of the time I hear them drive away after I catch them spying on me. Whenever I see the blinds pulled aside I stare at the window and then wave like crazy. I guess the kindness IS killing them since saying 'hi' back to me whenever I do catch them outside is no longer an option.

In the meantime it's stressing me out. I wish the Gnomes would go harass them instead.

Oh yeah! And Rumba STILL hasn't foaled (obviously). She's now 19 days over the average. However, there is a full moon and I hope this is finally going to be it for her. Please oh please...

The Creative Revival

So I DID say I was going to start harnessing my inner creativity again. Some of you may know and some of you may not, but I was THIS CLOSE to going to art school in Chicago on a partial scholarship. Unfortunately 'partial' barely covered a semester at that pricey place. I don't regret it though, because I have two degrees I'm using and enjoy AND I get to be creative when it suits me. The past few years have not seen much in the way of art concerning my life, but lately I've really started to get back into it all. For someone who's had their work published I think it's important I 'keep the juices flowing' per se. For example, I'm really proud of learning how to use Photoshop enough to create my new header and background!

My mom is a fabric artist, and though I traditionally worked in pencils and ink, I've expanded to 3 dimensional (but am still scared of my sewing machine...so I'm working up to it).

I like how a lot of my photography has been coming along, and I've got some other really great ideas, but this is what I was inspired to work with this weekend:

When Randi was in town I picked up the pendant at a store in Creede. I had a lot of natural stone from past inspirations (that I hadn't acted on) and Lapis sent to me from Afghanistan, so I decided it was time...

This is what it looks like on: I know it's not a great pic - but for size reference...

What do you think? Would my work be worth selling? I really had fun doing this and have had a lot of compliments! It's hammered silver and silver wire, lapis, turquoise, agate, smokey quartz, amber and a few small red crystals that match the pendant and to bring out the reds.

Hmmmm....

Being a visual perfectionist...
and the manipulation continues....

But at least you all can read it better for now!

I Think, I Think, I Think....HELP!

Everything is showing up alright?!!

And I've been designing my own background and header in Photoshop! There's some great tutorial's on TheCutestBlogOnTheBlock.com and I decided I wanted to design my own. So I HOPE that is showing up alright also! Let me know! The background should look a bit like this:

AND....Does anyone know how to manipulate the HTML so I can put a background behind the posts so they are easier to read???!!!

Keep the Comments Coming...

For all you helping me figure this all out - PLEASE keep the comments coming! I obviously am seeing things differently than many of you and need your feedback as things change. I have a techie giving me a hand and I need to be able to pass on info to help find a solution!

Right now everything should be WHITE and my header is a bit larger than it should be because I haven't re-sized it.

Those of you who have had NO PROBLEMS: Please tell me what browser you are using, what program on the computer, etc (i.e - Internet Explorer, Microsoft Vista).

Those of you HAVING PROBLEMS: Tell me what you cannot see and give me the same info as above!

Thanks to all who are helping me out!

Update: Ok - I'm messing with the colors and sizes of things now, but keeping it simple (I just can't DEAL with a blah looking blog) but let me know if you CANNOT see anything that should be there - namely the sidebar or my posts...

In Response...

No BABY! Making me nuts....*grumble* I think she's having a contest with Pearl over at Swamp Suburbia to see who can hold out the longest.

Also - I moved my bookshelf to the side bar to see if that clears up any issues. I've had some comments from people saying they CAN see the post, but whoops, it disappeared later on - Some say the book shelf may be causing issues - Some with no problems....

So, please comment and let me know if my post appear on the main page. If not, my next step is to remove the book shelf and see if that is an issue (even though blogger IS having problems with other blogs too). If you still can't see the post, then we know it's not the bookshelf bit.

I need knee surgery in response to Figure Skating on them for 25 years and skiing on them for almost 20. They are just plain 'ol wore out and have started to ache when I crouch down or after a particularly long day in the saddle. It's a meniscus thing...

UpDate: I've removed the bookshelf. Let me know if it's working...yet...and I've done a re-publish of all posts to see if that helps. I CAN see everything so I'm depending on you all to let me know what's going on!!!

Wish List...

In order of importance, rather than actual want (it's the only thing responsible about the entire post). This is for me in case I forget...

1) Eye Exam, New Contacts and Glasses (Insurance doesn't cover this...)

2) Truck Tune Up (It's misfiring...maybe because the spark plugs were supposed to be replaced 40,000 miles ago?)

3) My Wisdom Teeth Out (Insurance doesn't cover this either...)

4) Knee Surgery (Because it's going to be expensive even with insurance)

5) New Truck Tires (I'm the Flat Tire Queen on the Valley)

6) My Old Horse Trailer fixed up

7) BIG Professional Digital Camera (I love my Minolta, but it's film)

8) Cool Camera Strap from Riley G

8) Nintendo Wii

9) Amazon Kindle

10) A 5th Wheel Horse Trailer

11) Winning Lotto Ticket

12) A Rich - NICE - Cowboy with a ranch...cutish too if possible

13) Expensive Matching Kitchen Appliances for my Ranch Kitchen

14) See #12

15) See #12 Again

See how realistic I am? I've been dreaming about kitchen appliances lately. Cool colorful ones for cooking and baking. Seriously. I think my subconscious has it figured out that dreaming about cute cowboys on horseback (Like Hugh Jackman in Australia) isn't realistic.

ADD ONS:

16) LASIK!!!! So I can wake up and not have to be 2 inches from the clock to see what time it is!

17) A New Computer (that doesn't belong in a museum)