She's gone

My little Canon S2IS is gone.  Hall & Oates did a song in 1976 called "She's Gone" and it's stuck in my head now.

Chorus:
She's Gone Oh I, Oh I'd
better learn how to face it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnVXIUyshng&feature=related

Her silver is worn off at the corners.  Her printing is half gone.  At first she started taking too long to start up.  Then she started taking an hour or two to start up (kind of bad but I loved her so I waited patiently).  Then one day, she up and never turned on again.

All my mechanical objects are female I guess.  Haha!  I'd print the whole lyrics, but then I'd have to include in the words sermon (not used as a positive thing), drink, and the devil.  It never ceases to amaze me how many of the tunes I grew up with and loved have biblical references, or rather anti-Christ references in them. 

Our child spent his first night away from us last night.  He spent the night at a friend's house.  I think he's having a fantastic time.  When he comes home we're taking them both out to feed and groom Bella.  I got the bright idea of feeding our leftovers to the piggies so we're taking some slop to the pigs and I can't wait to see them eat it.  What will they do?  Will they be happy?  We'll see.  I thought of it because Wilbur in Charlotte's Web got slopped.

I brought all my grooming tools home yesterday and washed them so everything is clean and ready for a new week. 

Our friend, Helen, is working on her Master's degree.  She's taking a class that requires her to shadow a student and make a 20 minute video about them and give a presentation to the class.  She picked our son for her subject and she was here half the day last Thursday.  I hope it turns out well.  Our son is the only home educated student that will be done in the class so, whew, hope it turns out.  I told Helen she's the only one I would ever say yes to because I know especially in the field of education there are some vocal critics of home education.  I keep an open heart despite misgivings.  I know she won't pull a Connie Chung on me and video tape one way and present in the opposite way.

Truckie

We dropped off our truck with Mike and we get her back on Friday.  He is putting a new side on her and painting her.  He says she'll look perfect when he's done.  She's sitting in his big garage now.  It's the first time she's ever been in a garage.  When we first bought the truck we tried to fit her in the garage but our garage wasn't long enough.  Can't wait to get her back.  In the meantime, Manny lent us his truck for the week.  He's awful sweet and awful kind.  My husband gave him a check and Manny ripped up the check.  Serenity Now!  I think we will take him and his wife out to dinner instead.  He should have taken the check though because it's still a deal to us because we don't have to drive to Cruces and back to pick up and drop off a rental car.  Manny's got a heart of gold.

The person who hit our truck told her father about it and her father paid for the repair out of pocket.  Our insurance, Progressive, was terrible.  They would only approve $1,600.00 and the three estimates my husband got ranged from $1,900.00 to $2,100.00.  Progressive originally offered $600.00 to pull out the dent and bond it.  Unbelievable.  Yeah, as if a dent like that can be pulled out.  Suffice to say, we will be changing our insurance company soon.  We now hate Progressive.  How can they do business like that.  How can that insurance man look himself in the mirror.  They're supposed to be on our side.  I wasn't even at fault.  I thought insurance companies are supposed to accept the lowest of three estimates.  One of the estimates is even from a repair shop that the insurance man told us to go to.  The employee there talked to our insurance man and said no way can that damage be pulled out.  And seriously, I didn't even deal with it.  My husband did.  I only made about two calls. But I hate waking in the morning knowing unpleasantness lies ahead.  Ah well.  It's in the past now.  I must let go.

Sleep mix

I keep my iPod safely under my pillow and one night it went missing and I was tearing up the bedroom looking for the thing.  Woke my husband up.  I couldn't help it.  I have to have it.  I have so successfully substituted the iPod for my old ex-night-time-shot-of-whiskey that if the iPod isn't in its place my world is tumbling down.

Tonight I downloaded a few new tunes for my sleep mix.  It greatly helps me drift off to sleep.  Sleep has eluded me since I was fifteen years old although there have been times which I slept well like when I worked 60 hours a week.  I never had any trouble going to sleep then.

Our son gave me his ear phones and they fit my ears real well and don't hurt.  I can lay on them and sometimes I even wake up in the wee hours of the morning and they're still in my ears with no discomfort.  My other ones called Skull Candy keep outside noise out very well, but I get sore ears if I use them all night.  One morning I woke and got out of bed and the iPod, buds, and wire were all tangled up in my hair.

This week my poor husband seems to have allergies and his nose has gotten stuffy every night.  He was snoring so loud I couldn't sleep for hours.  Last night I put Vick's Vaporub on his feet and put socks on him and it helped!  We heard about that somewhere.  I hope it works for him tonight too.  I remember my dad putting Vick's Vaporub on my chest when I was five or six years old. I didn't like the smell, but his big hands made me feel much better.  We used to put it in our nose too.  Haha!  I'm pretty sure it says don't put it in your nose but everybody did.

My sleepy time mix:

Sea of Love by the Honeydrippers (it's in the movie about Richie Valens)
Sleepwalk (an oldie by Santo & Johnny that I found when I researched '50s music for a friend)
Moon River (I think it was in the YaYa Sisterhood book and it got into my head)
Landslide by Fleetwood Mac

I hardly ever fall asleep that fast so tonight I added:

Shawn Colvin's Viva Las Vegas
I Can't Tell You Why by The Eagles
Womb Music by Calmsound
Rain by Calmsound
Music Box Lullaby by Calmsound

When I had our youngest son I had this great CD that had a heartbeat on it and a hair dryer.  I loved that CD.  There was a problem I still remember though and that is that the heartbeat was too quiet.  It's too quiet in this recording too.  I tried running it through my sound editor to amplify it, but it didn't work.  Anyway, I'd listen to the heartbeat and then the hair dryer would come on and explode my brain with high volume.  They should fix that.

I added one of our pastor's sermons to the end of the playlist because otherwise when the music ends I have to open my bleary eyes and search for the sermon playlist.  This way, if I'm still awake the sermon will come right on or I can turn it off and tuck it under my pillow when the music is done.

My current favorite verse is James 5:16, The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.  I think I will memorize it.

Now I will test out my new sleepy time playlist.

A little bit of this and that

I forgot to say the reason why my husband bought me ice cream was because I bumped my head.

We were at the pasture and as we took Bella out of the pasture through the gate, Mama Nike decided she was going to plow right through the fence to follow her.  The fence was slightly tilted and when Nike pushed her 1200 pounds against it it looked like she might continue to push it all the way to the ground.  I imagine she could if she wanted to.

I happened to be standing on the fence and my husband hollered for me to hold it up . . . . so I jumped down. . . . and my new cool lightweight camera which was around my neck flew up and came down on my noggin.  I was tuff and only said, "Owwwww!" but a minute later they told me I was bleeding.  Apparently my camera hit me just right and made a divot in my head and it was bleeding down my neck.  Quite dramatic!  Come to think of it, it did smart quite a bit.  It was sore a couple days, but once the bleeding stopped it didn't start again, so that's good.

That's why my husband got me ice cream and that's why I titled the post "Bump" even though I forgot, as a couple people noticed, to say what the bump was!

The blog for the 4-H group is pretty much done.

I'm wanting to learn a tutorial about how to make a page curl in Photoshop.  I like page curls.  They are frivolous, but they're decorative. 

And when the opportunity arises I've been thinking I will like to learn how to kill and butcher rabbit.  It takes the same amount of water and food to raise six pounds of rabbit compared to one pound of beef, says the USDA.  I like that.  I like the idea of being more self-sufficient, of knowing where my food comes from, that it was raised well and not mistreated, and that it's not full of antibiotics. I found out that rabbit meat is higher in protein and lower in fat and cholesterol and calories than any other meat. The question is 1) can I eat a bunny (for I never have before) and, 2) can I slaughter one (of course I've never done that before) and butcher it (I've cut up chicken from the store before).  I don't know!  I read of the "Easter Bunny Syndrome" and this holds that bunnies are cute and furry and symbolize Easter, so how can you eat them.  I guess the French eat a lot of them.  I don't know if I can eat one.  I'll have to see.

Fish

Look.  They will follow your cursor.  You can click and feed them some fish food.

Did anyone happen to notice that the Tinkerbell Effect cursor made the page do a funny thing if you used the right scroll bar or if you went to the very lower right hand corner of the web page?  I did.  Was wondering if anyone else did too.  It was a fun cursor though. 

Bump

Last night my husband asked me if I was 10 years old or 50 years old.

He bought me a small Haagen-Dazs chocolate ice cream and I ate the whole thing after dinner.  Not one quarter of it or a third of it or half of it.  All of it.  Then I complained about a stomach ache.

The cream puff

I made a cream puff!  From scratch.

Today I fed the horses and pigs by myself.  The bales of hay seemed heavier than last time.  I'm tired tonight.

At 3:00pm when I went it was windy here, but there it was not windy.  I thought I'd be cold but in only ten minutes I had to take off my jacket.  I forgot it there.  Hope it'll be okay over night.  I'm sure it will be.  What could happen.  It's not like there's anyone out there to steal it.

It took me 45 minutes to feed: four horses in the pasture, three bales and some grain; mean Dancer in her paddock, one bale and some grain in a bucket; Baby Bella in her paddock, half a bale and bucket of grain; Pig and Pig, one flake of hay and a bucket full of combined grain and hog food.  They like the grain but the hog food is pellets from Wal-Mart and they don't like that.  I don't blame them.  We're going to try not to buy the Wal-Mart hog food anymore.  Leah gave us money to buy it and we didn't know the hog food is dreary old pellets.  Then grain though, it looks good enough to put in a bowl and eat for breakfast myself.  Then 15 minutes to water everyone.

I've been neatly coiling up the hose every day when I'm done.  Man, I should call my Dad and tell him I'm rolling up the hose.  I think he might be impressed.  Go me! Coiling up hoses.  I don't know.  It's kind of hard.  This non-kink hose gets kinks all over the place.  Sometimes I unwind it 50 feet and have to run back and unkink it somewhere because the water's plugged up.  Then the nozzle flops out of the bucket and I have to run back so it doesn't spray all over the paddock.  The inventor of this kinking non-kink hose should be taken out and shot.  That might be too strong of language.  Okay, hang him by his toes.  That will suffice.

We had porterhouse steak and baked potato with butter, sour cream and chives for dinner.  Yum!  The steaks were very good.  My husband made corn too but why do I want to eat corn when I have steak and potatoes on my plate?  I don't want no stinkin' corn.  I can have corn anytime.

On one of my first dates with an older man, I was 19 and he was 39, I ordered a glass of milk with my steak dinner.  I didn't give it a second thought.  The waiter asked me if I wanted a drink and without skipping a beat I said very daintily and mustering as much class as I could find, "Yes, please. One milk."  Hahaha!  I never was much of a drinker of alcoholic beverages.  I think I saw my date get one of those thought bubbles by his head that said, "What am I doing here!"  I found out he died in 2000.  I saw his obituary online.  I was shocked.  It didn't say how he died though.

After I finished feeding and watering the animals I groomed little Bella while she ate.  It's hard to believe one day her back will be a tall reach for me.  Suddenly the wind came up really big!  Directly next to Leah's property the owner has been plowing so all the dust and dirt came up with the wind and it was like I was in the movie The Wizard of Oz.  The sun went behind the cloudsand all this sand was blowing up high.  I wondered if it might rain.  But it didn't.  The sand settled down but the wind blew the rest of the time I was out there.

Bluebirds

 Mountain Bluebirds (Sialia currucoides)

I cracked the door open and tried out my new Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ35 (on automatic) today. That phrase is really a mouth full.  Can't believe bluebirds were right here drinking water.  That's a first as far as I know.  I called everyone to the kitchen window (that would be all three of us) and we watched about half a dozen of them all round the water dish.  They're sure flighty little things though.  And so blue! We've seen a flock of 25 or so around here occasionally.  One day a long time ago I tried to follow them with my telephoto, but they were not very still and all I got were blurry shots. I was surprised that the whole time I was concentrating on shooting the bluebirds the Northern Flicker was at my feet.  Unbelievable.  I didn't notice him till he flapped his big wings and flew away.  Shucks.  The cashier guy in automotive at Wal-Mart calls Northern Flickers "woodpeckers on steroids" because they're so big.  Sometimes I'm surprised at the people who know about birds.  I used to laugh at birdwatchers.  I thought birdwatching was completely doofus and felt sorry for the poor people who were reduced to watching birds for recreation.  Little did I know I was the doofus for not knowing how much fun and how rewarding bird watching and identification is.

Son finished 7th grade grammar today.  He got an 84% on the semester final.  He's pretty pleased that he finished way before June.  Now we can double up on history. 

We have a mean horse next door to our baby Bella and she has nipped Bella two times; once on the neck and once on the rump.  Now she has two spots with fur missing.  Her coat is long enough to cover it, but I'm buying some salve to hopefully help the hair grow back well.  The other horse is Dancer and she's gonna have a foal in March.  She reaches her neck over the fence to bite and is quite a mean horse.  I hope she'll be moved soon.  She's mean to all the other horses, not only Bella.

The new babies

This is the white faced baby and her mom.  The mom has blue eyes and the baby is going to have blue eyes too.  They're striking.  I love their white faces.  At first when I saw a photo of a white faced horse I thought it looked weird!  Seeing it in person I liked it though.

  

They're so leggy when they're born. The placenta is on the ground still.  The chickens are good to have around horses because it gets the horses used to having little creatures squawking and walking around their legs.  This way they don't kick so easily or get scared of something around their legs.  Horses cannot look down and see their own front feet you know.

  

It's hard to imagine less than 12 hours ago the baby's body was inside the mother. They were born in the morning and we saw them at about 1:00pm.  Boy would I like to brush that mane out!  It even looks like the mother horse has eyeliner around her eyes.  Nice markings.

  

This is the other baby.  Both babies were sleeping exactly like this, laid out on the ground, when we arrived.  Cecilio had to wake them up.  They were tired from getting born!  He has been watching them to ensure they drink and walk.  Their bodies are downy soft.  The mother of baby below was very friendly and didn't mind our son getting in and petting the baby. These horses are well loved.  They don't have Kentucky green pastures, but they are sweet tempered and that comes from being around good people.  They're dirty but I read that a dirty horse is a happy horse!  When they are in a show they get a full bath and get all prettied up.

 

What do baby horses dream of?

Lunch

 

Cooper's Hawk (Accipiter cooperii) aka Chicken Hawk

It's a Cooper's Hawk.  A young bird.  I honestly think he thought he was super power invisible.  He sat on the top bale of hay and continued eating while my husband walked in and out twice and pulled out two bales of hay.  I was able to stand within four feet of him.  I'd take a photo then look down at the floor and take a real slow step toward him, then take another shot hoping he wouldn't fly off.  I could have tried getting a little closer, but my shot was good enough and I hated to shoo him away.

I thought he was eating a mouse, but when I came back and took the last photos (when I got closest to him) I realized from the feathers it was a bird he had caught and eaten.

The day to come

Went to church. Pastor had a good Word as usual. Now we're off to feed and care for Bella and meet two new foals born this morning at Cecilio's!

Materialistic me

I had an overwhelmingly happy day all day. Well, at first I was tired and that was not the happy part. I have to stay up till midnight to download extra large files and my stupid Canon camera software stopped working when we got Windows 7. I thought it would be a little glitch I'd fix later (when is "later?") and finally since I have this new Panasonic camera coming I thought I better fix the Canon software so there is some order on my desktop and my life. I emailed Canon and they recommended three updates amounting to 240 megabytes. We only have a 350 megabyte allowance per day. If we go over it our esteemed internet service provider penalizes us by giving us no access for 24 hours. So I stayed up till midnight to do the downloading because from midnight to 4:00am we have unlimited downloading.

Now my software works again so I am happy, but I was tired in the morning.

After my 'waking too early' tummy ache went away we went to Cruces. I bought yarn at Hobby Lobby. Oh boy. Always like spending my cash at Hobby Lobby what with it being a Christian owned business. They didn't have the size or style knitting needles I needed so I ordered them tonight. I like the Addi Turbo circular needles and I bought a set of US 19, 40 inches. I am full of anticipation to start my next baby blanket afghan. It will be pastel and I'm weaving three yarns, holding them together at once, so it should be quite plush.

Went to Old Navy and got three summer tops and two pants; one for comfy around the house and one khaki brownish jeans pair.

Son got a new laptop with the Intel iCore7. Pretty nice. And he's been shining it up all night. I think, I hope, he will care for it well.

We got fuel, big whoop; lunch at Habaneros; and stuff at Wal-Mart like one gallon fluoridated water and Thomas' English Muffins that our Wal-Mart has had out of stock.

We fed and watered the horses and piggies on our way home. I have a funny peculiar kink in my neck today from hauling three bales of hay to the feeder yesterday and clipping the baling wire off of them. I'm such a weakling and it's good physical exercise for me. I'm all looking around because I'm afraid a horse will bite my head or me. I believe I way over react with that anxiety, but I can't help it. I hope time will make me more at ease. When I put the hay in the feeder all five horses want it and I just get idget widget. My husband says they won't bite. He's always had this saying about me; that I'm nervous as a you-know-what in church. If you don't know the word that fills it in, you're not missing much! I'm naturally a Nervous Nellie.

I am filled with the joy of the Lord. My prayer time has been edifying. I love my husband so much. I made cream puffs for him from scratch and he liked them a lot. I even put a cherry on top and made real whipped cream with (what else) cream and sugar and vanilla. Bella was laying down today and let us be right next to her while she lazed in the sun. I love the smell of horse. (How many times will I say that?)

Now I have to go to bed. Our son came down with a sore throat at bedtime. Took some Tylenol and he's making funny sleeping noises. I hope he doesn't wake up sick tomorrow morn. We didn't do school today and I don't want to skip two days of school. He might be under the weather though.

Today is beginning of Lent

I have to decide what to give up. Son is giving up bacon and pork chops and that's gonna hurt. He has bacon in his egg sandwich every morning. He says he likes the piggies so much and feels bad for them.

Me. Maybe chocolate. I will help save the poor cocoa bean. Or maybe I will purpose myself to do one good, nice thing each day.

That's it. Every day I will do a good deed of some sort. It's non-traditional as a choice because it's not fasting or alms giving, but it is a sacrifice. I'll be giving up some selfishness to be more Christ-like. I think this would be pleasing to the Lord.

"So let it be written. So let it be done."

Too bad it's Pharaoh Ramses the II who said that! Well, actually it was Yul Brynner in the Cecil B. DeMille's epic film from 1956 called The Ten Commandments.

Tinkerbell effect

It's a new cursor!

The marina in winter

View of the marina at dusk, about 5:45pm, yesterday.

We joined 4-H yesterday.  Our son signed up for equine and swine projects.  My husband said, "Swine!"  How dare they call our piggies swine.  Haha!  

I will be the 4-H photographer.  Leah's president and she works so hard, and I offered to help her and she asked if I'd take pictures.  Actually, I commented to my husband I would be interested in helping Leah and he told Leah I want to help and Leah told him she'd like me to take pictures.  Leah has such a heart for kids.  I will put together a web page for them.  Blogger will be perfect for their needs. I suggested it, then I got selected to do it.

I will be careful about suggestions from now on.

New camera coming

I ordered a new semi-compact megazoom camera.  I love my husband sooo much.  I have to be a better wife.  I always say that and I'm always the same.  I really need to do something about myself.

I really, really wanted to stick with Canon, but their comparable camera has no zoom capability with video capture.  That was a deal breaker for me.  If I'm taking video I want to be able to zoom in and out. 

Excited! I bought the Panasonic Lumiz DMC-FZ35K.  It has 18X optical zoom.  Oooooh.  And it records movies in HD with 1280 x 720-pixel resolution and I don't understand it yet, but it records in MPEG instead of motion JPEGs so it's higher quality and stores less data.  Oooooh!

Tomorrow we're going to Leah's to help her get work done around her ranch.  I made egg salad tonight for sandwiches tomorrow.

Bella loped next to our son today and she was so purty.  She holds her head up nicely and lifts her legs so pretty.  I wished I could take a short video and that's what pushed me to order the camera finally.  It might be real handy to use with the 4-H kids too.

I am thankful.

Knitted diagonal baby blanket

Finally mailed it.  I'm gonna wait till the baby gets it and I hear about her reaction (hope she has one!) and then write a review at Lion Brand.  I'll write a complete review that will include my bad yarn experience.

I'm deciding what yarn and pattern to use for the next one.  Part of the fun is the fun of thinking and planning and shopping before you begin anew.

 

  

  

 

Noodling

I've been noodling around the internet.  My mom says "noodling" so that's where I got it.  I like to eat noodles too.  I like all shapes and sizes of noodles, especially in chicken soup.

I'm getting a good idea of how to create a podcast from a CD.  I gather making a podcast from an MP3 would be better, but I don't have an MP3 player.

My husband wanted the soundtrack from The Big Lebowski so I bought it for him, but it was missing the song he wanted called "Viva Las Vegas" by Shawn Colvin.  Why do they sell film soundtracks missing the exact song everyone wants?  This is where I noodled.  I looked high and low for a converter and finally it paid off.  I found a free online converter so I didn't have to spend a cent and the quality is great.  It's the cat's meow.  What I did was I found the song on YouTube but that's video and I want only audio.  I downloaded it in WMV format and converted it to AAC for the iPod which I will burn to CD so he can listen to it in the truck. I wondered if it was legal and I've read that as long as it's strictly for personal use it's okay based on the Betamax case.  I like the Cohen brothers style such as in O Brother, Where Art Thou, but I don't care for the Lebowski movie.  I like the part John Goodman plays so the only section I watch is where he throws the ashes of his friend into the air and it all blows back in their faces.  That's pretty hilarious.  And John goes off on a tangent talking about the Vietnam war because he's a vet, but the guy who died was never in the military.

Aunt Helen passed on.  Eighty-five years.  She was such a neat person.  Traveled around the world till she was 80.  She was in Egypt the day before the kidnapping and murder of some tourists.  She wore magnets in her shoes.  She's not having a memorial or anything and she donated her body for medical research. I think it's very cool that she's not having a funeral.  Funerals are for the living.  I should think it would be very unpleasant going to a funeral.  I've been to one or two and I don't like them.  At my Grama's I cried like a blithering idiot and I don't need to do that in public.  I wouldn't particularly want to go to a homegoing service either although I do like the Irish wake concept.  When I go I instructed my husband and son to drop my cremated remains from a plane over the plateau of nearby Kettle Top Butte.  Just dump me out of a Maxwell House coffee can.  Don't even buy a fancy urn or I'll be mad!  Mmm hmmm, oh yeah.  I'm serious.  Course, Ted Turner owns that land.  I hope he doesn't mine old Liliana ashes and bones on his fancy dan property. 

I've been having really good thinking thoughts lately.  My mind is a swirl.

Bella is doing better at her new home.  She has room to walk about and we like that.  She's still a wee bit anxious and not 100% her old self.  I'd say she's 85% her old self.  I was a little nervous to brush her so our son did most of it.  She was a little mouthy, I think, because she's a baby.  My husband flicked her because she put her tongue out toward him.  You can't let the baby do that because she won't always be a baby.  We saw a flock of sandhill cranes across the street in the chile field and more in the sky.  The area is famous for its hot chile crops.

February is going by so fast.

Mud in your eye

I like horse's eyes. They are beautiful even with mud on the eyelashes.  

My baby afghan after three months of effort turned disastrous.  I made knots to attach the skeins and I guess that's not the way to do it.  I read instructions that said knot or hold the two yarns together and knit and I decided to knot because I didn't think the other way would hold.  Evidently, as in apparently, I picked the bad way to connect skeins.  

I washed it before I gave it just to be sure it would hang together.  I was so sad when I took it out of the washer and saw it didn't hold together.  There were so many ends sticking out.  I reknotted three or four places because I have no other choice.  I guess I'll still send it and explain that it might not make it through another wash.  Great.  A no wash baby blanket.  I was real blue today because it took so long make.  I'm gonna break out singing MacArthur Park "Someone left my cake out in the rain" any minute now.

I am never, ever using Lion Brand Homespun again.  One skein I had to cut because it had a blob three inches long of a completely different color right in the middle of it.  And one place had the string from the center of the yarn showing.  I don't know why.  I didn't do it.  It was like that already.  When I laid it flat for photo time it was wobbly looking. I cursed my blanket out loud and my husband didn't blink an eyelash.  Couldn't he have at least looked shocked?  Then I read my pattern is the same as a dish cloth pattern, so that means I made a giant dishcloth baby blanket.  Spose I'll quit thinking about it because it doesn't do me any good to think about it.  I'm gonna try laying it on the sofa for a photo or folding it for a photo.  Something, anything, to make it appear half way good.  Three months.  All those hours.  What for.

This little piggy

We went to Leah's property yesterday to see what it looks like.  She's out in the country! There are two pigs where Bella is going to live.  They're very friendly pigs too.

Today we three bought rubber boots at Wal-Mart so we can walk through the muck and not have to wash our shoes every day.  We'll keep them in the tool box in back of the truck so we don't have to stink up the inside of the truck or leave our regular shoes outside when we get home.

Pig noses look soft, but they're very strong!  They root around with 'em.

People situation

My husband astutely made the observation that it's not a horse situation we have.  It's a people situation.  Yep, I guess that's true.

Bella will be going to Leah's house tomorrow and that's an hour from here.  We're bummed.  We called about a house we saw for sale near here with a couple acres and found out the house is 2400 square feet.  Crossed it off our list.  Bummer.  I knew having a horse would pose some challenges, but I wasn't expecting one after only five weeks of ownership.  I'm going to just wander around the campground loop in my cowgirl boots.

Our friend in San Diego is back in the hospital for chemotherapy and another stem cell transplant.  The leukemia returned after a year almost to the day.  She can't see her kids at all while in the hospital and she's pretty tore up about it.  They took 12 vials of blood today.  Her posts are heartrending.  She went in yesterday and will be there up to three or four months and her physician told her she has a 30% survival chance. She has lots of wonderful people around her standing the gap with prayer and taking meals to her family and taking care of her mini horses.  She's a wonderful talkative girl. 

Finished my baby blanket.  Tomorrow I want to wash it and dry it to ensure it hangs together before I give it and make it smell clean and nice.  It took a long time to weave in the ends.  I forgot about that.  One of the ends wove in better than the other.  I made sort of a bloop on the edge with my first end.  Hopefully it won't be too noticeable.

A horse situation

Hmmm.  Life sent us a curve ball.  The landowner phoned Leah and said move all your horses.  She asked why and he gave no exact answer but said his water bill is $500.00.  Leah phoned Cecilio and Cecilio said, "We'll do it now."  Cecilio does not procrastinate.  He told her take off work and they'll move all four horses today.  And they did. Leah phoned us and we met them at the stable area.  We fed and watered Nike and Bella and talked over what to do.  Upshot is, we don't know what to do.

Baby Bella has a place to be until the 10th, but it is a tiny stall.  We're going to go see her twice a day instead of once. We feel bad her being in there cooped up.

We have to find a place for a horse to live. 

Today we drove by a place where we think we can board her, but it's not a pretty place.  It's not like Rush Rancho where the horse whisperer lives.  It does have a feeder so the hay we buy won't get wasted.  That's a point because at the pasture 25% - 40% of the hay was getting wasted when the horses used it as a toilet.  I'd look at that old rotten pooey hay and see dollar bills lying there.  It has a cover so she could stand under it from sun and rain.  The enclosure is large, maybe 16'x20'.  But it's not a pasture.  It's a paddock.  On the other hand, it's minutes away and there's a great open area next door where we can walk her.

I would like a pretty place for her though.  We want a pretty place for her to live.

We went to Cruces today and with finding out about Bella's situation we left at 9:30am and got home at 6:00pm.  

Small town life.  Hanging around talking about our Bella and what to do, someone mentioned the landowner got red tagged today by the utilities company.  Unpaid bills apparently.  For $500 bucks it's gotta be more than one month and there's gotta be a leak somewhere.  Doesn't make sense and I've learned when things don't make sense it's because sumthins missin'. Anyway, I told our son not to repeat it which could shame the property owner.  I feel bad for them.  It kind of turned out badly all the way around.  It happens.

But I know God knows of a good place for Bella.  I have to find it.  

Leah has a ranch and so kindly offered for Bella to live there, but it's an hour from here; too far for a daily visit.  Another friend has land close by, but it's got barbed wire all the way around.  I've read up and down and keep finding the same thing.  Barbed wire is one of the worst types of fencing, if not the worst, for horses.  As of right now, the unpretty place is my lone option.

There must be something else.

Twenty rows to go on the baby blankie.

Deer

I pulled out of our site last night at dusk and saw eight deer crossing the road.  Eight!  I've never seen so many together at one time in the park.

Caltrate

Whoops.  I don't take my pills out every day.  My husband does.  Apparently I'm not taking Centrum.  I had to double check because if they came in chocolate, I'm getting chocolate.  But I'm taking Caltrate Calcium & Vitamin D.  Who knew!  I get my names of things mixed up sometimes.  The flavors are cherry, orange, and fruit punch.  They're still not pulling the wool over my eyes though.  Cherry can't be purple.  Orange can't be purple.  Fruit punch is supposed to be red.  Grape is purple.  They're sneaking grape flavored tablets and calling them fruit punch.  I should send them some mail.

Pastor was preaching up a storm today.  He said he's preachin' himself happy!  He preaches us all happy.  I recorded church today and finally got it on my iPod tonight so I can listen to it again when I go to bed.  The .wav format has to be changed to .aac for iPod to play it.  I was using free software to cut out parts I don't want and it wanted me to upgrade to a paid version to change it to .aac.  I thought I remembered doing it with iTunes and sure enough.  I googled it and you don't need to buy software to convert an audio from MP3 to iTunes.  Why I oughta.  Buyer beware!  I haven't done it for so long I have to re-remember how to do everything.

Son went sledding with friends and about half a dozen people at church asked where he was.

Seemingly good news on the insurance.  The woman who hit us, her father found out his wife's car is damaged (their daughter was driving it when she hit us) and that our truck is damaged.  He wants to cover it with cash and not involve insurance.  That would work fine for us.  Apparently the daughter was afraid to tell her folks.  She's a full grown woman and I don't pretend to know what dynamics are going on in their family, but is a shame she didn't deal with it in a timely manner on the 15th  8th of January, immediately after it happened. Oh what a tangled web we weave.  I am not feeling much sympathy anymore.  She should have been honest with her folks and taken her lumps from the git-go.

I'm buying cowgirl boots.  They look like this.  I hope they will fit.

 

The toe is called a snip toe.  It's not exactly pointy and it's not round either.  I wanted a more square toe initially, but I like this pair.  If they don't fit I'll be sore disappointed.  I wanna be a cowgirl!

Leah said I can show one of her horses at the fair this year.  I told her I'll think about it.  I don't like getting nervous and I know I'll get nervous.  She was surprised that I didn't say yes.  I should say yes.  No guts, no glory, my husband says.  I'd be showing a small horse so I wouldn't win, but it would be a neat experience.  And, I do wanna be a cowgirl.  (I already said that.)

Bella walked toward us and whinnied when we got to the pasture this afternoon.  A whinny greeting.  It's very amazing to be greeted with a whinny.  Merriam Webster's says a whinny is : to neigh especially in a low or gentle way.  Wow.  That does describe what she did.  I tried to mimick the sound at dinner tonight but I sounded like I was choking.  When I get my cowgirl boots (and don't the clothes make the cowgirl?) I suppose I should try not to look around in wonderment and awe when our horse whinnies.  Hey, hey, didja hear that?  Didja hear that?  She whinnied!

Row 58

My granddaughter's hand knit baby blanket will be done in a matter of days.  I finally got the last skein I needed a couple days ago.  The post office had it but must have misplaced it or something.  They've had it since the 19th and I ordered it on the 13th.  Serenity Now!

Today we're going to our archaeological site steward class.

I ate toast and coffee and made meatloaf sandwiches for lunch and here we go!

Horse greetings

 

When horses greet one another they breathe into each others noses.  People can blow softly into a horse's nostrils to say hello too.  It's horse language!  The Little Brown Girl on the left is still too standoffish, but we exhale into Bella's nose and she likes it.  She will be still while we do it.  Her mama, Nike, will blow back to us.  If you think Bella has a big nose you should feel Nike exhale into your nose!  It smells of warm hay. I like it so much.  Their muzzles are so soft.

The other week-end we drove by the Rush Ranch on the way to our horses.  At Rush Ranch they raise thoroughbreds and have a very, as in very, nice layout.  As we drove by I saw a man with one single horse in the center of a large open area.  They were both very still and he was sitting on a big upside down bucket and the horse's head was hanging way down toward him as if he was having a conversation with it.  It appeared as though the horse was listening intently. My husband said, "Look, it's a horse whisperer!"  Is that what he was doing?  I think so.  I want to know more about what he was doing.

Today was duperly cold.  It began to snow on us while we were feeding the horses.  The photo above is from earlier in the week.  The two fillies were curious about my camera and were crowding me (in a nice way).  That's a change because at first they were shy of the camera and would look alarmed and would go away when my camera clicked.  Guess they got used to the clicking sound.

Our insurance and truck repair thus far has been a headache.  Our insurance sent out an estimator who says we can get the damage popped out for $600.00.  Puh-leeze.  Husband said he'll get three estimates and all three are twice as much as this insurance guy says and one of the places is one he recommended to us.  He's talking to his managers now.  Sheesh.  Yeah, he better talk to his managers or we want arbitration or something.  We'll contest it.  Six hundred dollars my eye.  It needs a new quarter panel.  People say to me that there's no way someone wouldn't know they hit the truck.  Even one of the estimators said the way she hit the axle would stop her so abruptly she would know she hit something.  Well, I told them, I'm taking her at her word.  I refuse to discuss it further because a lie is known by the person who's lying.  It doesn't matter what I think.  I just want to get truckie fixed.  We finally opted to go through our own insurance because she took two weeks to call her insurance and now we have to wait for her mum to call her insurance because she was driving her mother's car.  It's all very tiring, yes.  By going through our own insurance we can get the repair done now and not have to remind someone umpteen times to call their insurance.  Our insurance company will pursue them and get reimbursement.  Of course, six hundred dollars is a joke.  No one will fix us for that unless I take it to a high school auto shop.

Then I got a computer virus yesterday.  Luckily, Eset caught it and I did a system restore to the 21st and everything has been good.

Centrum tablets

(Bella says, "Tell me the joke so I can laugh too!"

The other day when I was gone somewhere my husband was vacuuming and something plugged up the hose.  He uses the big vacuum first then a little hand held one for the perimeter of the rooms.  He figured it must be clogged with dust and dirt but he got in it and out popped one of my Centrum scientifically-advanced complete multivitamin pills.  I use the term "pill" loosely.  It's a chewable tablet that I started taking a few years ago when I found out my aunt has osteoporosis.  It's ridiculously large.  It's not even a pill.  It's not oblong.  It's disc shaped.  I can't find a photo of it online because it's so big they don't want people to see how big it is.  It's so big that if Bella ate it I'd have to massage her neck to make it go down.

I have to chew one everyday.  It's sweet and kind of chalky.  Takes me like two minutes to consume the thing.  It comes in two colors: orange and purple.  The purple one is grape and I hate it.  I think they put in mostly grape flavored ones because people don't like grape.  When my husband hands me one, if it's purple I ask him if he's mad at me.  "What'd I do?"  I say.

Sometimes I don't eat the purple ones.  Sometimes I put them in my pocket and sometimes they get lost.  Sometimes I put it back in the bottle when my husband is gone if I'm feeling guilty about being wasteful.

Well I got busted when he found the one in the vacuum.  I didn't want to tell a lie or anything so I said all perplexed-like, "How did that get in there I wonder."  My husband wondered pretty loud.  He came up with several scenarios all of which show he knows me far too well.  I really don't know how it got in there though.  Maybe it fell out of my pants pocket somewhere.  Or maybe I was going to take it and I set it on the sofa beside me while I ate my toast then it fell on the floor by accident.  That sounds plausible.

If I get osteoporosis I'm going to sue Centrum for all the years of eating these stinky pills.  I ought to start saving our receipts as evidence.

My hair turned out quite silky after washing it today.  Hmmmm.  That makes it a good day in spite of the evil purple pill that got me in trouble.

Bella got her hooves trimmed and she was wormed yesterday.  There are four, count 'em, four horses out there now.  Oh my, it's a lot more manure.  Bella is doing well with her lead training and well with lifting her feet for us.

I almost got bopped in the head by a horse head and I screamed.  Good thing she missed me because between a swinging horse head and a standing still people head, I'm sure the horse head would win.  There is a new filly, older than Bella and Baby Brown, with us now and Nike is the oldest.  Nike is definitely the lead mare.  Nike nipped at the new filly and she swung her head away from Nike real fast.  I have to be aware of what's around me all the time.  She missed me and now I don't stand by those two any more.  Horses sure can move lightning fast when the want to.

I'm going to miss Jeremy's memorial on Saturday.  We have our archaeology site steward class that day and if we miss it it would be months before another is offered.  I'm disappointed.  But we are going to contribute a few dollars for Jeremy's funeral expenses.  If everyone who visited his Facebook page gave $10.00 each it would cover the cost of the funeral.

Today I cooked albondigas (Mexican meatball soup) for Leah and Cecilio because they were so nice to do Bella's hooves and to worm her.  I wrote on the note - To Leah and Cecilio from Bella - and left it on Leah's desk.  I hope they like it.

Pretty snow

We went to the ranch and there was snow.  Snow!  We saw the wind blowing snow across the road.  Blowing!  It was neato.  As we were driving, my husband commented about how Californians would be bumper to bumper to get a look at this view and sure enough.  At home he saw an article about bumper to bumper traffic backed up with people wanting to see the snow on Mount Baldy (that's in Southern California). 

I was excited to get some photos and reached for my camera . . . I left it at home on the sofa.  What a dope.

Lifted baby Bella's hooves yesterday and my shoulders are sore today, boy howdy.  I hurts good though. I did what Leah recommended which was to hold her front hoof lightly yet firmlly until she stops the pawing motion and stands still.  Holding the hoof of a 600 pound horsie is not that easy for a small woman.  I held it though.  Her back hooves are much easier to do.  Usually I'm a teeny bit afraid doing back hooves, but not with Bella.  So far she stands real well for the back ones.  I didn't get much picking done because first I need to get her used to lifting her feet so she knows what we want her to do.  Manny gave us two rasps today!  For free!  Rasps are like giant metal emery boards that you use to file down their hooves.  Hooves are just like fingernails only tougher.  After she gets her hooves trimmed we will be able to maintain them ourselves by filing them monthly.

Bird sightings.  We saw a bald eagle today.  We saw bright blue bluebirds too.

Windy

It was so windy today that we didn't do much with the ponies.  We got plenty of sand in our eyes.  We did empty and refill the water trough.  That took awhile and it really needed it.  The water was green and yucky.   The metal trough is so big and heavy and not easy to empty.  We ended up using buckets to take the water out then we dragged it to the concrete gutter and emptied the rest.

My church, this church in New Mexico, is amazing.  Here we are in the midst of a serious recession and our income for 2009 doubled.  Doubled!  At my church there are no rich people.  The ones who are able, give, and the ones who I think look unable to give; they give too.  Every week.  I didn't learn to tithe till we came here. 

We drove to Cruces and back and that took most of the day.

Siamese

At the dinner table I appeared deep in thought during dessert so my husband asked me what I was thinking.  I started singing from the Disney movie Lady and the Tramp.

We are Si-ya-meeze if you pleeze.  We are Si-ya-meeze if you don't pleeze.

 He said, "Well, that's what I get for asking."

We forgot to take our grooming tools to see the horses so that was a bust.  Nice thing is, picking up after two horses is faster than picking up for three.

It was extremely windy last night and some windy today.

We filled out applications for all three of us to be volunteer site stewards.  It's our son's first filling out of an application.  We go to a meeting later this month and we'll get a site assigned to us and we go out there to check and be sure there's been no illegal digging activity.  It's to preserve the archaeological sites in the area which evidently there are quite a few around here.  Should be interesting.  There are secret paleontological  sites in the area too.  We can't tell anyone where our site is because it's secret! Or rather, it'll be a secret after they assign us a site.  The reason why they're secret is to discourage the public from going out and digging things up to sell or to take home to keep.  The treasures belong to everyone for always and should be left alone.

I'm waiting for a skein of yarn to get here so I can finish my Christmas baby afghan.  I have about 77 rows to go, but I ran out of yarn.  It appears to be too late to be a Christmas afghan now unless it's Christmas 2010.  I will make it a Valentine's Day baby afghan.  I am flexible.

We're into chocolate chip cookies lately.  We thought we finished the second batch, but my husband looked in the cupboard and found two more baggies full!  He's taller than we are.  Wow, we were excited!

What can I say.  It's winter and things are kinda slow around here.

It's a night

A great night too.

Well, the day was okay.  Son didn't go with us so I got to brush Bella for a long time.  She likes it I think.  She never walked away.  Tomorrow I'm taking my whole grooming bucket in the pasture to use the rubber curry on her and hopefully spray her tail with some spray to make it shiny and easy to comb out.  She has some icky stuff on one back leg that I tried to brush out but it's going to need some water.  I wonder if I dare pour a bucket of water on it.  I might try.

She was fussy about lifting her hooves yesterday.  Today she was a bit better but I did it quickly so that I could have a successful finish.  I don't want her to learn to be difficult so I held it up for one second which is how long she's good!  Leah told son we must simply hold it till she stops the pawing motion.  We'll try that tomorrow.

Yesterday I fasted and prayed 24 hours.  It was the most effective fasting of my life.  I fasted for our eldest son and for other needs that came to my heart and mind.

This morning an email told me our friend in San Diego who went through chemo and umbilicord stem cell transplant one year ago has been told she needs a bone marrow biopsy because the doctors think the cancer has come back.  She's so young.  She's only 31.  Married with two young children.

The lady who hit our truck still hasn't contacted the insurance company still.  She's called them twice and left a message she says but it's very discouraging to us.  The insurance company calls us every day.  We sure want to get this over with and done.  My husband's going to just go and get it fixed if they don't hurry up.  If it were me I would go to whatever measure necessary to meet my obligation.  I would feel bad otherwise.  I know him.  He won't drive a crushed vehicle for long. 

That reminds me.  I forgot to post the picture of it.  I was going to post it with the title: While I was raking pooh. . .

A horse's dust bath

Nike was full of herself today.  She sniffed around and found a place she liked and started rolling.  It was awesome.  Then she ran!  She ran toward us, stopped, turned tail and raced the other way.  It was an exhilarating sight.  She's a happy horse!

Horses cannot roll all the way over, but I saw a video of one rolling completely over.  It's unusual.

 

 

Son got a lesson in lead training on Thursday.  We were stoked.  Today he helped load horses into a trailer.  He did get stepped on by Bella.  Cecilio says it's okay because bruises heal.  Cecilio has broken just about every bone in his body at one time or another.  He even broke his back once.  He's been a horseman for 47 years.  He doesn't break horses any more.  I'm guessing the breaking in of horses is difficult with the wild ones because Bella has been easy to work with.  She's an angel.

They transferred the baby brown horse so they can bring Joey The Horse here.  Joey is Bella's sire!  Imagine, I will be able to get a family portrait of the mum, the dad, and the baby!  Gymkhana is coming up in March and son wants to participate.  Gymkhana, I looked it up, means horse games.  The kids do things like barrel racing and other things (I don't yet know what other things).  A lot of the kids here participate.  Leah says son can try out Joey and Nike and choose which horse he wants to ride for barrel racing. She will teach our son how to do barrel racing.  Leah has blessed us tremendously.  We have to think of something special to do for her.  We offered to pay Cecilio for the lead training lesson and he waved his arm and said, "That's just life."  Well now, just life if you're a New Mexico rancher, but a spectacular life experience if you are us.

I'm looking for a new small camera.  The Canon I have in mind has no viewfinder though.  That's odd.  It only has an LCD.  I wonder if I would do okay with that or if it would feel strange.  My old one won't come back to life and it could take movies for me.

Church is tomorrow.  I think Pastor is going to be on fire.  I have a feeling he will be.

New phone

Got a new cell phone and they're taking forever to activate it.  I hate phones.  I hate cell phones.  I hate driving down the road and seeing people texting and talking on their cell phones.  But alas, I need one.  Occasionally I do talk on the tellyphone.

Sweet sleep

Tonight I will sleep the sleep of the righteous and I will float in a happy dream.  I put my trust in the Lord.

Content

We spent Sunday day at the ranch.  Son went horseback riding and I watched a movie called "Radio" that was very good.  It was so cold I did no grooming.

Church Sunday night was simply amazing.

The person who hit our truck is a friend of ours and she didn't know she hit anything.  That's why she drove off.  I'm so glad I never spoke an accusatory word.  Her Kia showed damage and they're good people, so their insurance will cover our damages.  Great relief though I feel really bad for the wife.  It was her birthday too.  Bummer!

Baby Bella is so good about putting on her harness.  Today she put her nose right into it.  Poor thing has to suffer me trying to buckle the thing closed though.  Our son had to come help me.  I'm seriously uncoordinated.

I went for a walkety walk jog.  Felt great.  Spring is coming.  Gotta get ready.  Today was 60 degrees and sunny.  Very nice for a change. 

Was so pumped up from church Sunday night that I couldn't sleep most of the night.  Church.  The body of Christ.  The Holy Spirit.

We finally have a new youth pastor and I have a good feeling about him.  He's already had a positive impact on our son.  I hope his reach will be far and wide in the community.  The youth here need desperately it.  I was thrilled to see a large group of teens at evening service and at the altar call.  It's rough being a teenager.  So many here appear directionless.

Doctor's office phoned and the biopsies show no skin cancer.  Well, I didn't expect any cancer, but it's nice to know for sure.

Hit

Someone hit our truck while it was parked and they drove off.  I feel bad all over.

Felt well

I petted Bella for the longest time ever today and combed her mane, and I think she liked it.  I need to be able to put my hands on her everywhere and I haven't done everywhere, but I'm getting there.  I felt well when we left the pasture.  I love the smell of horse. 

Son got his braces adjusted which took all of ten minutes.  We can see progress already in only three months.

I shopped.  I bought two cute tops.  I also saw a foxy mama walking in the mall and I was suddenly enveloped by this overwhelming sense of envy.  Completely green envy.  I hate that feeling.  Where did it come from?  I was wearing a polo shirt, jeans, tennis shoes, and hair in a tight bun looking quite frumpy.  That's where it came from.  Ergo, the attack of envy ensued.  I only wore tennis shoes because I knew I'd be shopping in the mall.  The polo shirt - I have no excuse for that part.  I've never been one to dress up to go to the mall, and I only saw her from a sideways glance, but that's all I need to recognize good lookin' when I see it.  She was curvy and casual and even pushing a baby stroller.  Seriously, I never looked like that when I was pushing a stroller. Okay, I concede, kudos to her for getting her cute on.  On the up side, I'm inspired.  I will wear my cute top soon.  I still hate those Ugg kind of boots though.  They're so urban.  So commercial.  So over with or at least, they should be.  I only wear mine at home.  I saw straight leg pants at the mall.  Not again!  Are we doing the '80s all over again?  (Which I guess was doing the '60s over again.)

Other than that, pretty plain day.  Headache came back in afternoon.  I don't know where these headaches are coming from.  I think the hormones are doing something.

Ow

Brutal headache.  Got it while I was making my calendar and it's been with me ever since.  I made brownies after dinner and just now ate one.  My husband said it will help.  Now we're going to watch an episode of Seinfeld which always makes me laugh, then I'm going to bed.

Tomorrow braces get adjusted.  I hope to go to the mall because I want some cute new tops.  I will happily settle for even one single cute top.

My library book came in.  I'm starting "Lyons On Horses."  Lyons is a well known horse trainer.  I need any horse info I can get.  Today I put Bella's harness on her correctly and I took it off.  She's real good about wearing it so the practice was strictly for me.  You stand on the horse's left side by her neck, facing forward and then you put it over her nose and buckle it.  What would I do without YouTube!

I told son no more keeping treats in his pocket because it was making the horses get mouthy and I've read in several places that bites are often preceded by snack feeding.  No more snacks, said I.  I don't wanna chance it.  A hand fed snack when we leave is okay, but not in your pocket while we're in the pasture.

We saw Bella lying down in the hay while her mama was eating.  It was neat!  We shoveled seven wheel barrows of manure.  We didn't go yesterday on account of I had to go to town to work on my calendar.

Calendar done

I finished our 2010 calendar last night.  We'll receive it by the 15th.  I bought two for my sister because she keeps one at home and one at work, one for my mom and one for my Aunt Gail.  Our upload speed has been so poor I had to go to the senior center to use their connection and upload my images. 

What will you do

It's 2010.  Will you say it's the year two thousand and ten or are you going to say it's twenty ten?  The grammar police never sleep you know.  They're going to be listening.  Maybe a think tank is working on it this very moment.

A glorious day

I made it.  It's the first day of 2010.  It's sunny and windless and cold.  Beautiful and perfect. 

We almost had an incident with our baby horse yesterday.  You're not supposed to leave tools or things on the ground because though it seems like they'll just step over them, horses don't always.  They spook easily and can injure themselves seriously. 

We bought a foal feeder to put a special grain in for Bella to eat.  It has a little grate so you can keep bigger horse mouths out of it - like Mama Nike's mouth for instance.  Nike eats everything.

The foal feeder was on the ground and Bella got her foot stuck in it.  My husband turned it so she could get her foot out and she was freed.  She did not spook or get upset and thank goodness my husband was there and he reacted instantly.  Could have been an incident, but wasn't!  Poor Bella has green owners and we have much to learn.  Bella has an amazing good disposition.  I am sure now the Leah knew what she was doing when she picked this baby to give to us.  The other filly who is one year old, yesterday I saw her run and her leg barely brushed a branch that was on the ground and she was prancing and dancing like a rattlesnake might be on the ground.  What a difference in personalities.  Whew.

I was looking at the horses across the street and their dirt looks so nice.  Nice dirt, I said to my husband.  They plow it and it looks very neat and there are no poohs.  Do they have a plow that also picks up manure or do they pick up and then plow? I don't know, but I know it looks nice.  Our field needs a lot of work.  In another week we will have all the manure picked up.  We have quite a pile of trash and manure and even an old sofa from the shelter that we will haul to the dump eventually.  I don't think the horses will be lying down on a sofa anytime soon.  I would like to transform our field if I can.  If we can.  A little at a time will make a difference.

Derm appointment went well.  I have a scab on my nose now.  The doc shaved off a little thing called a fibrous papule.  My husband never even noticed it and it wasn't too bad, but just being there was bad in my opinion.  I don't need extra bumps on my face thank you very much.  She also removed a terrible, huge blackhead I've had on my back shoulder since I was 18.  I finally figured I would go get it removed too.  I thought she'd have to cut it out, but she only, ugh, squeezed it and also said there was a small cyst.  It's true I could feel a slight bump and I just thought it was because it was so big.  So it's flat now and that's good.  I'm hoping it'll heal and I won't have to feel self-conscious when I wear off the shoulder tops next summer.  She used a numbing shot on it and boy, I could feel her pulling and prodding the skin.  I'm sure glad I didn't have to feel it.  It didn't hurt at all.  I had one last teensy, almost microscopic, dot by my inner eye.  It felt like a piece of sand and it appeared suddenly one morning.  I was worried it might be connected somehow to the bump on my nose and that's really why I made the appointment.  She looked at it and said it was only a clogged pore.  Yay!  But then she poked around at it with a sharp instrument and I stayed as still as possible (my eye being right there) and man, oh man, my eye started watering and my nose running.  It hurt!  But I wanted it gone and not to get bigger and I have to say, she fixed it.  It didn't bleed a bit.  How she managed that I don't know, and by evening it was gone.  It didn't even get red which surprised me because her picking at it hurt quite a bit.  I could tell she was going as fast as she could.  My hands started to sweat then she said, "That's it.  That's all I'm going to do because of where it's located, but this should take care of it."  She was right.  Lastly she looked at my back for me and said there was one spot that could be basal cell carcinoma and that since I can't see back there she removed it as a precaution.  I think it was just a little freckle.  They'll call me in a week.  I felt great afterward.  Gotta keep up with the body maintenance, moreso when it gets some age on it, just like a car.  I hope the hubcaps don't start falling off and rolling down the freeway next.

I'm reading a new book and enjoying it.  It reminds me a little of the Mitford series books because the story is peppered with biblical principles.  When I read a book like this I carry it in my mind and I get opportunities to apply what I'm reading to my own life.

I was talking with a lady, a friend in the Visitor's Center just the other day.  She made the statement that you create your own world.  She's into Buddhist philosophy.  Per my book, To A Distant Land, it says that we want to believe we can control our own lives, and that humans don't want to be reminded of their sin or that they need God.  It fit the verbal exchange I had with my friend to a tee. In Buddhism there is no forgiveness.  There is no saving grace.  There is no salvation.  They want to believe that you solely are in control of your universe.  Seems a little lonely to me.

First milestone reached

Calendar mom and daughter (with no make-up).  Bella with her new halter on.

Today son put the halter on Bella. She's an amazing filly. She got slightly annoyed when he was having trouble with the buckle, but other than that she was easy. It's his first milestone reached. It's her first milestone reached. They say you must teach a horse to be well mannered or they're dangerous. Also they say, if a horse does not mind you well when you're on the ground they'll be as bad or worse when you're in the saddle.

We have to get our:

• Goals
• Objectives
• Milestones
• Strategy

worked out. I'm only up to learning how horses think at this point.  I think that goes under strategy.  I have to work out all the rest. We'll work it out together because son started a ledger to track everything from purchases to time spent with Bella to milestones attained.  He will use it for 4-H I think.  Isn't it great getting a free horse for a gift?  In five days we've spent $251.82.  Didn't even try very hard either.

I'm working on our calendar at Shutterfly, but my connection is so slow I'm going to have to abandon the effort for tonight.  Tomorrow we go to Cruces for dermatology appointments.  I have a small little bump on my nose that has to go.  At first I thought it was a zit, but it's not.  Why do these things start happening when you're 50 years old.  Whazz up?   Today for instance - I reach down to pull up my wrinkled socks, but I found out I wasn't wearing socks!

What a great day.  It was a great day today.  Tomorrow we will attach the lead (the rope) to her halter and test that out.  I have to read up on how to properly lead a horse.

Hay, sniffs, and plans

School seemed long! We both got drowsy at about 2:00pm, but we forged ahead and were glad when 3:00pm arrived. It was frightfully cold and I think the heaters made us warm and sleepy.

Son dogsat one of his favorite dogs for the first time and the owners paid him with two baseball caps (which he collects). He really expected and would have preferred cash and I don't know why the people didn't ask him if he'd rather have caps than money. If they ask him for his services again he's going to specify cash payment only. Odd. And he was disappointed.

Bella! Bella, her mum, and the brown filly which the kids are calling "Runs So Fast," all three came to greet me today. I was exceedingly pleased. I expected they might ignore me since I never give them treats. They are as curious as children. I could barely rake at first because they all three were sniffing and checking out what I was doing. I don't want three horses around me at once, so I retreated to the shelter and petted them one at a time. I am very cautious. Accidents seem to happen so fast.

Bella, I think maybe she was putting her lips on me too much today. It's normal foal behavior I think. In fact I cannot tell if she's just sniffing a lot, but you have to not let them put their lips on you or it can turn into nipping. I get worried when I see her lips start to move. I do not want a horse nip. No, no! I have a plan for tomorrow. I will say, "Shhhh" and flick her face to move it away. I read it in the advice forum and also was instructed to do it.

She let me pet her a lot today. I spent an hour out there. It was cold. Tomorrow I'm taking her harness to introduce it to her and let her sniff it, then rub it on her so she gets used to it and isn't afraid of it. If I can I'll put it on her. If not, I will try putting it on her another day. I'm in no rush.

We bought hay for her today. I saw them deliver it. A ton of hay doesn't look like as much as I thought it would. Eek!

Bella

I think we might name her Bella. Bella is Italian for beautiful and she is as beautiful as a little girl horse could be.

Our son greets the pastor on Sunday mornings and Pastor will every so often say very casually, "So do you have a horse yet?"

This morning during greeting time he went up to our pastor and told him we got a baby horse for Christmas. Pastor Mike said when he can ride her they will go riding together. I thought that was awful nice.

Today we did a lot of clean-up in the pasture and my husband helped. He did the things that you need a man to do like remove a piece of lumber that stuck out into the middle of the shelter. Now the horses have a nice, clear, open shelter to get into. We'll be raking and scooping up pooh for days. Should I say manure? Maybe cowgirls say manure! I'll google it and find out. I have to admit I do not mind the smell of manure. When we lived in California I'd have never stepped anywhere near a pile of manure and now I'm right in there scooping and wheel barrowing like nobody's business.

Here comes Monday. Tomorrow's a school day and son has a new project to begin - writing his first history paper. I'm curious to see what topic he chooses.

After school at 3:00pm I'm going to see the horses.

The most amazing day

 

I wished for a horse, but I didn't imagine we would ever have one. Horses are expensive. How can we have a horse?

But we have one! We have one. It was a Christmas gift from Leah the ranger who owns 16 horses. I can't believe she gave us one and it's Nike's baby. Nike is the horse our son showed at the fair last October. Nike has won champion in fairs across the state. She's a beauty.

It was a once-in-a-lifetime amazing gift. We were standing on the property where the two babies are. Leah had given us a box, but we were going to open it on Christmas. We got out of the truck and Leah said, "So did you open your present?" And she was excited. We said, "Noooo." She said, "Open it. Open it now!" Our son opened it and inside was a halter and lead. Purple. My favorite color. But I still stood with feet frozen, dazed, half suspecting, but dazed, because I couldn't connect the dots. She gave us a halter, but we don't have a horse. She had us open it not at home, but where the horses are. I just stood there mute. Utterly dumbfounded. You really have to explain things full out to old Lil. Next she said, "I'm giving you Nike's baby."

I was floored. I started to cry right off! I couldn't help it. It was so unexpected. I looked over and pointed, and said, "You're giving us Nike's baby?" I was incredulous. I think I might have been more excited than our son was. The baby is for both of us and for our whole family. She gave us the black and white Paint in the photo. The brown colt is one year old and our new baby girl horse is nine months old. One day she will look like her mama. . .

Bella will look like this, her mama, some day.

And I have been floating in heaven ever since. I can't believe we have our own horse that I can groom any time I want. Well, technically, I can't groom her yet. She's like a baby in diapers and she doesn't know anything. We first have to let her get used to us and it's only been two days, but it's going well. She's taken to our son and vice-versa. Today the colts literally ran to him when he entered the property. Do horse children recognize people children? I wonder.

How can we afford a horse? I don't know, but Leah checked it all out with my husband first and he gave his approval. He's very wise with our money. I can tell he's happy too. We are truly blessed to know the people that we know here. They are kind and helpful and I'd say extremely generous.

My husband did say one thing I didn't like and that is, "You know Liliana, this means we're going to have to get a house here." I said, "Whaaat!" Because since when does having a horse equal needing a house? That does not compute. I ask you, did the Native Americans need a house because they had horses. No! They lived in teepees. I could live in a teepee too if it had a microwave oven, hot water, electricity, and DSL. I digress.

Our son will get to go to a 4-H camp for a week in the summertime. He will learn so much about horses - I told him he'll have to teach me what he learns.

I'm so happy. All my heart is happiness. And I didn't even pray for a horse. I never asked the Lord for one because I thought it an impossibility. Silly me. I wanted a baby from my husband too, and I never asked God because I thought it was an impossibility too, and whattya know - his vasectomy from 17 years earlier reversed itself all by itself. Hehe!

Our son is a lean mean working machine. Together we did a lot of clean-up today and I'm sore from cleaning the shelter area, but I will sleep well and joyfully. Maybe I'll even snore!

Blessed be the name of the Lord.