Monday, December 31, 2012

The Tail end of 2012...

The last few months have been a whirlwind...
Getting JoJo the pony.
Remodeling our boat house/garage into a living room.
Having a house guest. (luckily a very easy going one, and a hard worker too...)
Christmas and all it entails... including but not limited to a parade.
 A peaked pony (Cricket) getting better still...
A peaked Pup (Kippy) better now...
*phhheewwww.
We can all use a nap. 
So let's take a little wonder thru the holiday season and catch up a bit.
Marley has perfected the art of the nap. 
Kippy and Marley "sharing" a toy....
See how fast he can move his paw? He's like a blur!

A rare moment of pups lined up by the Christmas tree...
Odd Christmas decoration you're thinking? When we were in Ireland long ago, I crept into an abandoned old stone house... and inside it was dark.  When my eyes adjusted to the light, there inside the big fire place was a BIG sheep, standing there staring back at me!!  He looked about as happy as the one above!  I excused myself and left him to business, before I got an angry sheep dents on my person!!
Mice love Christmas too!
A new Christmas friend!
What?  What is so funny? Did you take the picture? What are you looking at?

Awwwwww.... JoJo.

A flake.
My treat to myself... a Christmas bear! 
The Christmas scenes are all over the place in here!
and now, just before the end of December, it has gotten cold.
Looking up the river at dusk...
chilly winterberries.
Cricket...
Cricket foraging for grass with his Dad.
Me, being lazy by the fire.
Me, being not so lazy, running with JoJo on the front lawn.
I wish you all a healthy and happy NewYear, filled with good things and happy moments and most excellent memories!

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Where did I go?

Hmmmm, it's been suspicously quiet in here hasn't it?  It's like when small children are being far too quiet.  A responsible adult should go and find them.... the chances are there is mischief afoot.  Problem is, what to do when you ARE the responsible adult?
  Who crosses their arms and taps their toe and gives you the "what are you THINKING?" look? 
Or worse, people DO ask you what you're thinking and you (being that grownup you never thought you'd be) just shrug like a teenage girl, and ignore the question and carry on with your crazed plan.
The best bit is when they try to be nice and make that little "I'm zipping my lip" motion.... or remark with things like "UGH???" ~ but yet listen to your feeble explanation of what makes you think this might even remotely be a good idea.... while secretly doing the sympathetic head shake thing... You know like when you get caught with your hand in the cookie jar and there's no getting out of it...
Oh course those people (and you know who you are) are NOTHING compared to the other ones who embrace the idea and encourage someone such as myself to continue on with the plan! (you also know who you are....) But seriously ~ I love you all in BOTH camps! :)))))

Ah then....let the confession begin.


Back yard as it looked a few springs ago.....
 For those of you who have enjoyed the view from my back porch ~ looking out over the lush garden turned jungle... prepare thy selves for a little change of scenery.
  I have recently mastered the art of "un-gardening" part II (with the much needed help of family and friends to help dig and rehome my poor plants, shrubs and perenniels.....)

That's my Father in Law and Mum in the background; special mention should also go to Wanda for her excellent digging skills... though she didn't make the photo this day.
I must say it's been some of the most emotionally trying days/weeks I've had in a while....a LONG while.  Why you ask? What the heck is she talking about?
We got another little pony!!  Well,  ~ "little" is a relative thing... ~ compared to Cricket he's hardly little.  Compared to a Clydesdale he's a wee 600 poundish pipsqueak! 
Meet JoJo.


We are both a little dazed in this one....
 That was already his name, and while I wouldn't have chosen it ~ at twelve years old, I guess he should continue to be JoJo...  He arrived at our crazy little "farm" on Sunday, October 21 in the afternoon, after a ride down from northern Vermont.  We went up to meet him.. twice actually...

It was a long ride into northern New England.....

Yes, she's got me on a leash and is laughing at me..... or with me?
Please note, she made me wear the helmet ~ despite the fact that there were SPIDERS living in it!!!
She assured me she picked them all out.... but how can you be sure???

We are both calmer and more relaxed in this one.

He was still happy and laid back at this point....
Hence all the silence, I've not yet gotten the hang of blogging from the road.  (plus, we drove up in the car (two door hatch back) with the 2 St. Bernards and little Kippy.) So had I brought the lap top I'd have had to ride with my entire right arm out the window ~ to make room!  

Things we've learned so far in this new adventure?  Well, #1 is JoJo can do a fairly impressive, from a stand still leap and clear a too short fence in a single bound much like Super Man and his tall buildings!  My father in law remarked he wished he'd a camera to capture the expression on my face.... I can only imagine.  My Mother on the other hand is just thankful she missed it, she prefers horses and herself to be separted by fences (preferably tall sturdy ones....). 
#2, Horses can reach impressively far away corners from behind a fence (of sorts)...to drag a bale of hay closer to themselves for better nibbling when you aren't looking.  Goes right back to, if it is far to quiet... the responisble adult should go and see why; and me without a single one in sight.  *sigh.
and #3 ?  Be careful what you wish for, when you live my husband ~ wishing can make it so.... even if you only whisper it! (like 7 or 8 years ago, when I said, "goats looks like fun ~ maybe one day we should get one".... and not to long after he brought two of them home in the back of the hatchback! ~ and oh, don't worry, he put some hay in the trunk first to cushion them, and soak up the goat pee...)... and then one day I mumbled under my breath, huh ~ St. Bernards are pretty cute.... *poof* ~ two of them appeared... are you seeing a pattern?  Actually, it starts to sound like we are running some sort an ark when I read it back......
This is the extent of my "riding" so far.... yes, I'm sitting on a folded up blanket.
So any how.... that's where I have been, and what I've been up to.  I have a lot to learn, both about horses and myself.... I also have a lot to figure out ~ but then again so does JoJo, and I'm not even the one at the mercy of an unskilled stranger in a strange land. 
It's been a bit stressful... I've become a bit emotionally unstable at times, well quite often I suppose if you were to ask the hubby; though best you don't  ~ he's probably trying to forget. 
 We hadn't really planned on getting a horse right now... we went to look at him, like we've looked at other horses; and I have famously low expectations so I went expecting little more than a pretty ride in the country and to meet a little pony.  Who could have guessed?
With any little bit of luck, we will all find our balance soon, and I can relax back to my more normal self....  and one day pick up a pencil and draw again?  Fingers crossed. 
P.S. Look what I dug up while I was transplanting the last tree from my former garden.
 The universe works in mysterious ways.....  I don't even play chess?



  

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

September remembered....

Well Hellllooooo!  Greetings from over here.  Just didn't want you all to think I was abducted by aliens.  I'm still here... just haven't been RIGHT here.  So let's catch up a bit.
We went up to the Farm for a few days....
Lots of ripe tomatoes are about....
And my little buddy Kippy is a magnet for burrs! I didn't think there was anything that I didn't like about Autumn... I would like to retract that thought.  I REALLY don't like burdock plants. 
The prickly, sticky dasterdly things adhere to everything.
Take the picture above for instance.  Kippy normally has two ears... in this photo you see he has more of a ear pony tail sort of thing going on.  His ears and the delicate fine hair between them are welded into a point.
Not a good picture I realize, but you'll have to trust me. I wasn't concentrating on my photography at that moment.  The longer the burrs have to work in, the harder they are to get out.
There are two options for their removal..... pull the hair apart until you find the prickly little #(*$&#(&$ and then wrench it out bodily ~ or cut large chunks of fur off your pet. (or yourself?)Since I was short on scissors and he'd have been bald and earless, I went with the pulling, and yanking and swearing method of removal. It wasn't pretty. I didn't get any pictures of the tennis ball size clump of them on his back... the ones all over his legs or the handful that stuck his tail down to his back like velcro... bad, nasty velcro... And when I was done with the dog, I found they were all over my camera bag, my sneaker laces.... pant cuff, sleeves... you get the idea. It was not a good scene.
In fact the only nice thing I can say about burr is they have pretty flowers in summer.
Sorry, got carried away ~ let me continue about happy things.
I did make some wee little apple pies.  Which for those of us who are cooking challenged, that's quite an accomplishment...
This is Marley the kitchen helper dog. He lays just behind me... just in case. He's a great comfort in the event I drop any butter, he is ready in a moments notice to provide clean up services; I like to think it's because he doesn't want me to slip and fall.... and not because he's a butter stealer. 
Mmmm, baby pies....
Pretty skies....
Miss Belle ~ Don't you love her furry little golly wobbles under her chin?
Useless flaps of skin yes.... but cute none the less!
Cricket wondering why I always have a camera in his face...
Well that's why, because I want the world to see how cute he is when he falls over in tall grass!
Please note, that even laying down, he doesn't stop eating the grass, that's dedication!
Everybody is eating something it seems.... *munch*munch*munch....
Cosmos, just cuz its' so darn cheery!
Ferns in the afternoon light...
A little walk is fun for the whole family.
We'll visit again soon!

Monday, September 10, 2012

Poof* another weekend has disappeared?

Here I am again.... wondering where the weekend went?
Lets' see if we can figure it out together...
The green goody below was found a few weeks ago hanging on the screen I was using to dry my onions on.
I looked it up, and it's the Pupa for a Monarch Butterfly.
They are suppose to be hanging on milkweed plants, but I guess screening is nice too.
I don't know if you can see it, but it looks like gold thread around the top; and at the bottom are little gold dots... Mother Nature has SO many talents, it's hard to keep track of them all.
Below is Frosty Rabbit...  He is just the sweetest little guy, everyone who visits us wants to take him home.
The answers is NO, you can't have him. 
I got a big bag of little figurines from a friend who has been doing a lot of furniture moving and cleaning out lately... I love little trinkets like that, hours of entertainment!
Pete seems to have taken a liking to the underside of our our cabinet.
What are you doing under there?
He didn't say...
This is what I found when I went out side to feed everyone on Saturday morning!
A lovely butterfly, still sort of wet and wobbly.
It flew away a few hours later.....
I also thought it would be good to test drive a horse....
Cuz I'm just not thinking clearly these days.
His name is "No Trouble at All" and he wasn't ~ he was a great boy.
He was very patient with me, and I thanked him kindly for putting up with me!
The Hubby and Cricket pulling his new cart for the first time around OUR little neighborhood!
(He's only pulled it under his trainer's watchful eye before now...)
Those boys are so smart; how far they have come together!!! :)))
Any a lovely sky to end our Sunday night with....
One day, when I'm done fooling with horses and talking to butterflies; I"ll get back to my craftiness!