"Noah's Ark" Farm

My husband's horse, Soldier

People are beginning to refer to our little place as a mini farm these days, but it's really more like Noah's ark with the pairs of animals that share our space. Each of these critters has his, or her own quirky peronality that brings a smile to our faces nearly every day. (Sometimes a bit of a frown on a few occasions, as well.) ;o) As you can see from the photos above, my husband's horse, Soldier, a quarter horse, is a bit of a "Mr. Ed". He's extremely curious about things, like drinking from a garden hose. He's known for his curiosity of vehicles as well. Everyone can attest to this merely by looking at my poor beaten truck:

But he's a really hard worker, willing to climb the steepest hills over the rockiest terrain, without complaint. Also, this winter we tied a sled to his saddle for the first time and made good use of the abundant snow that fell all winter long. He pulled each of the five of us all the way around the pasture!

Me on the horse, my hubby on the sled

And of course, I had to try skiing behind him, too! What a blast!

I guess we'll keep him around.

This my 16.2-hand Saddlebred. He's a pasture bully who's afraid of his own shadow sometimes. But I think he's beginning to trust me a little. I finally got him to cross the river (ONCE!) after three years of trying! But he's awfully handsome, and feels great under the saddle.

My horse, Aspen

Speaking of saddles, you'll notice how much his slides back, (note that my feet are more than midway toward his flank), so I had to purchase a breast collar to keep it foward. He's a beauty in this photo, but he's spectacular when he's running; tail extended and flying up high behind him as he gallops. He's quite a sight, but I haven't captured it with the camera yet. One day soon, I hope.

We gave our goats away to breed, as they were getting difficult to keep penned in the back couple of acres of our property, (and destroying a few trees from eating the bark off them through the winter!) But here's our little rembrance of Annie (Oakley), our first goat: (Our second goat, Belle Starr, was killed by a coyote, and I don't have any good pictures of our third, Star II.)

Miss Annie Oakley

Our bunnies:

Thumper on the left and her mama, Bonnie, the matriarch of all the bunnies on the right

Thumper was Bonnie's first baby, and is much bigger than her mama, now. She was merely a teenager here. LOL Thumper almost died twice, but I saved her little life both times!

Jet, short for Jet Black

Little Angel

Out of all these bunnies, only one survived a snake getting into the hutch. Little Angel ('cuz she must have had one watching over her for having survived such a horror!) is the tan and white bunny on the right. My favorite was that pretty tan and grey one in the middle left. But, alas, he also perished in the attack. As you can see, they were only tiny babies then. Angel is now about a year old.

Claudette

This one is the last of the brood. She was just a little tyke here, but she is now as big, or bigger than Miss Thumper. She's a really pretty light tan color with the tiniest tinge of gray, (which you can't really see in the picture). All of these bunnies are sisters, except Bonnie who bore them all, and more! (Sadly, all of the boys have died or disappeared, including the patriarch, Clyde.) Bonnie and Clyde were our first two Holland Lops bunnies.

Monte and Carlo

The twins (actual twin litter mates).

Mischa on top and Shep on the bottom

The Aussies! (Australian Shepherds) Mischa is a Blue Merle Aussie, and Shep is a Black-Tri Aussie. In this photo they are only a few months old. But they grew fast!:

Mischa, Shep (and Carlo)

Now they are almost 15 months old. Monte and Carlo love them. Mr. Monte, however, has been AWOL now for a few days. We're praying nothing has happened to him, and that he finds his way back to our front porch safe and sound.

So this is what's left of our brood. We're ready if ever there is a giant flood again on this earth! LOL Hope you enjoyed the photos!

Signing off.....

Reminiscing

I know it's a bit late to post a picture of Damion's Homecoming Dance from last year but I am in a reminiscing state of mind, as I am wont to do now and then since he's left my "nest." As my sweet son is now a High School graduate, embarking on a life of his own, I often resort to gazing at old pictures and home movies to get my "kid-fix". (A practice he isn't particularly fond of, I assure you!) Still, because his schedule is so full, his absence affords no other alternative in which to see his smiling face other than those mementos of good memories and days gone by. Well...sometimes we get to go to lunch together. :o) And sometimes I get a glimpse of his car across the river when he works for my neighbor. It's just not enough, sometimes.

Look how much that little guy has grown!







Nevertheless, I don't begrudge him his adulthood or his freedom, of course. I'm excited for him, and for his future, and I look forward to the gifts his life will bestow on me as I remain a proud Mama. (Including a daughter-in-law and grandchildren someday, way, way in the future) ;o) I've realized lately that I have a lot more to look forward to as a mother. It hasn't ended for me. I just have to accept that it will be a little removed from my immediate vicinity from now on. Thankfully, Damion has provided me with a lot of happy and proud moments to look back on, and promises the same for the future!






Presently Damion is interning at his church, keeping himself busy with all of those sometimes fun, sometimes mundane, chores that keep a place running (and that are often heavily heaped on an intern.) We all have to pay our dues, eh? He's also working as a chef at a popular Italian restaurant in town, and word has it that he's getting quite proficient at cooking! I'm still waiting to test that theory whenever he deigns to delight my palate with delectable delights! He's done it before! Once we tried our hand at sushi! Take a look:






This is much harder than it looks, and it's really hard to make it pretty like the pros do. I hope to have a cooking session again with him soon.



In the meantime, I'll content myself with these fun pictures and the hope that we'll get together soon! I hope that you enjoy them, too!

A Moment in Time

So! After several verbal nudges and a couple of subtle "one-liner" emails, my sister has convinced me to create a blog. Why in the world would anyone want to read my blog, I had asked her, my life is pretty boring. Being the sweet and encouraging person that she is, Karie helped me to understand that my little life, and endeavors, might be interesting to my family and friends. Well...I guess that's enough of a reason for me to start my own blog. And because I am horrible at keeping a journal, or scrapbook, or even a picture album (unless it's on my computer) this is probably a really good idea for me.

As I am "Blogger" illiterate for the time being, it will take me a little while to learn how to decorate this site in an attractive way for your viewing and reading pleasure, so please bear with me as I experiment and work through a series of trial and error! (Soon I will be adding music to this page, so keep an "ear" out for it.) ;o)

I'll begin this little autobiography by relating a fun adventure that I've embarked on in the realm of the "writing world," or "dubya, dubya" as I like to call it. While working on my novel, slowly but surely, I have also been trying my hand at article writing. I haven't submitted any work to a real publisher yet, however I found a great site for amateur article writing and competition. The purpose of this, for me, is to educate myself, and to gain a little bit of experience in constructing short, informative pieces on a variety of topics. My work is rated by other writers on the site. The article is always presented without the author's name, and is offered side by side with another author's article for comparison and judgement. The writer rating the article is also anonymous. This encourages honest ratings, without bias to a particular author. Small cash prizes are awarded for top rated articles and contests, as well, but the real motivation is to improve your writing with each article submitted in an attempt to gain the highest rating. As a "newbie" to the site, I expected to garner a fairly low rating, but instead I am pleasantly surprised with the first place position in my topic of choice! It has inspired me to continue, and to think about searching their "marketplace" link for real publishers looking for freelance writers. Wish me luck, all. :o)

In the meantime, I will try not to forget that I have a larger dream of publishing a best-selling novel that I cannot allow to be put on the back burner again.

I look forward to sharing my blog with my family and friends...as soon as I figure out how to allow them to sign up for blog updates as on Karie's site. Trial and error, trial and error. Again -- wish me luck!
Signing off.....