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Monday, January 31, 2011

Monday Visual






And then there was sun for TWO DAYS...

I had fun!

Sunday, January 30, 2011

GREAT Weekend!

OH how the sun was so bright this weekend!  While I normally feel the wind burn on my face it was the sun today, that made me stop; take a deep breath, and just stand there, such simple enjoyments have been rare in our reasonable but wet winter thus far.

My morning started with my daily grind.


Unplugging the boots, and pulling on clothes that no one else would possible want, or ever be caught dead in much less out in public as I do.  I know! I can be such an embarrassment to my dear love, and my family!   But... I'm working after all...

  Un-plugging the boots? you ask... YES ... While I allow electronics (dvd players, tivo?down to a food processor) to weight the boat of someone else I use and keep the things EVERYONE (who is out in real weather) should have.

I plug up my boots at any point they are not on my feet.   DRY STICKS... while there are several on the market now... I have had mine quite some time.  I love them and recommend them to anyone and everyone.  Here are mine... the DRY STIX  a life savor!  Try cabalas as a start! dry stix

While my boots are not wet EVERYday they are most days, and when not wet... you can bet they are still going to be cold.  I can't stand starting out my day with the only thing cold on my body are my toes...





While I have been void of pictures as of late... I made sure to get shots of my goals for the day. so here you go... after the norm... I made it to the truck!
Yesterday I unloaded and re-loaded the truck...
not a big deal... your right! but it was a good workout!

Today I started with the re-load of yesterday...
(You gotta love my NEW dent! ) a reference to previous post I didn't have a picture for!

Jan. 23rd, Truck story!

I got the truck UN-Loaded and slowly but surely got it RE-Loaded yet again...   After all I do have plenty of this stuff!    I do actually layer it as I put it down in my compost area.  An area... full of leaves (for dry) and twigs ( to make sure it gets air)  layer layer layer... but next year ALL this hard work will pay off as a wonderful garden!

So I finished the day with a larger deeper, fuller load to un-load ... when ever I get the chance OR the husband gets tired of the smell!   Although I do have to say... having it in the BLACK truck for the winter quickens the process UNLESS it's too wet like it is this year!   Normally I can leave it in there for winter and it's almost ready by spring.  HEY!  have you ever tried to drive mountain roads with no weight in the back of a long bed truck?   If not!  then you need to try to before knocking what ever FREE RESOURCE I have!

I do everything I can with as little as possible... it leaves me money for animals, travel, and other passions in life.

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Dreams about our estate.

OK before I even scan any of my saved pictures... you have to understand I have dreamed of land, and a way of life sense I was a little girl.  Very little has changed over time... believe it or not the things that have changed are to be more simplistic instead of more show/ glamorous.

I collect articles, books, pictures or anything I can get my hands on that remotely inspires my dream.  When I can't sleep I rummage through my magazines, books and torn pages in file folders.


Here are just a few....   But I must give credit where credit is due.   2006 February... Architectural Digest
I saw this at a friends house and went out to purchase the magazine for my files.

Why... because this is the PERFECT art studio or guest house.    Can you imagine visiting the mountains and being nestled into the side of mountain like this picture.  The FAR west side of our estate only has the PERFECT site for such a cute little place.  Because of the grade it would require something on stilts...Thus the tree house or the Bora Bora style hut will be in the plans...   YES ONLY IN MY DREAMS!   I don't even have a house for me there YET.

The typical French Polynesian hut is only 20x 20 but so well organized you could live it!  So close to Japan I can only imagine they had the best of help setting them up.   Check it out!
Best Hotel in years past.   They have great pictures on their site it is a fun in office/home get away. And is a perfect example of a dream hut on property...  Oh yea! by the way this is MY picture, not from their site, you can tell by the trash in the trash can. ha ha ha... not to mention my lathe and toiletry bag hanging from the mirror!

Friday, January 28, 2011

Asheville NC and Fodor

Fodor  known worldwide for it's recommendations, I've trusted a few of my off the wall, out of the way vacations to this company so they normally know EXACTLY what they are talking about.

They hit (Asheville North Carolina) the nail on the head this time.



While the article gushes about the combinations of our vibrant destination with natural beauty.

It stresses the Unique mix of urban shopping and outdoor activities...

How Asheville is always listed as being in the top 20 city destinations in the U.S. but this time beat out places like Morocco and Nicaragua which are always contenders on a world wide scale.

How our city has been noticed by the New York Times, and the "other" Travel info company Frommers.

But as with ALL of my conversations about our little city... it ended the article quoting FORBES as naming Asheville as being among the WORST JOB MARKETS in the COUNTRY!

I had to post our little front page article...

While people love it here... if you are not bringing money into our town... don't stay! ha ha ha...

Just another day.

OK. so I am having problems with my fence.  Apparently Navarre has enough hair he could care less about my electric fence!

I am going to bring the unit home, trickle charge it through the night and see if this helps keep him in an area.

Mean while  I gave up... allowing the horses to eat my precious grass no matter how badly I wanted to save it for later in the winter.  It is what it is but... the horses are happy today, they may suffer later but they are not children to be taught lessons of cause and effect.  I will just have to figure out something else to keep him occupied

Navarre is one of the hardest horses to keep!   he will eat till he dies if you let him! And like a pig he is always into something!   At least cattle take time to chew their cud.   What to do with a kid that is ADD..... truly this is how I see my horse... he has to have a job or be eating!

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Truck again.

truck died on me last night... hoping to make it into town to a dealer, after I walk ( I need the exercise) to pick it up ... down the road in the normal failing place.  just on the corner of Miller and 74.

Blanking  truck!

My guy has no idea what else it could be, so fresh eyes...
Truck is 1/2 Full of Manure... we shall see if they take it at the dealer ha ha ha...

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

reflections.
















I'll try anything once... 

always make sure to take emergency food, but make sure it is something the locals will not beg for... Sardines  do the trick for me! 


Ok... Dogs in the grocery store just... crack me up! 

always have fun!

Make sure your are comfortable when traveling abroad... you may be there a while.



my fav. fruit


Playing in running lava... 


love is in the air... 






Life is good... sometimes you just have to reflect to bring the sun in on such a wet, cold, rainy ? sorry now snowing day... 

What great days have you created? 

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

horses?

Life is good today... only rain no snow yet!

Having said that the "kids" broke through the fence to get to the newly sewn pasture.  The green grass was just too much for Navarre to resist.

As I encouraged them back into their muddy lot this morning... Sweetpea JUMPED the fence so she didn't have to touch it.  Navarre, he has got to be the one destroying my electric fencing, he is after all the one driven more by his stomach than his brain.

So this afternoon in the rain... I shall be repairing the silly electric fence once again.

Life! It never stops! At least I have one heck of an outer fence... I've not seen them getting out of the five foot 12 steel cabled fencing YET!  But I would not put it past Sweetpea to jump it if she feels like it.  She is my little athlete after all.  He is my piglet.

Monday, January 24, 2011

Mondays are quickly paced days... so I thought I would try something new.

THUS.... my experiment. 

A visual of my past two weeks. 












Sunday, January 23, 2011

So much so little time.

I have not blogged sense Tuesday.

It is late for me, but I quickly posted a status on Facebook as it takes only a moment, doesn't require any photos... and you never know who is reading this blog anyway.

I started the blog in order to stay close to my family, that lives hours away, and as my animal house/ no I meant house of animals grows; my time away is shorter and fewer than years past.

I did get the truck out of the shop!  Only to get it stuck within hours of getting it home.  I demolished a fence, dented up the entire drivers side of the truck from rear bumper to the front quarter panel.   Dear, dear... I shall never be able to sell it now!  Not that was ever in my mind, but... she will forever be a farm truck!
She sits in my drive way tonight, with a long bed FULL of horse manure!   It has already frozen the bed and will be there until I have at least a week above freezing AND the TIME to shovel it all out again!

I did have help before the weekend!  I got a few bails of hay to the barn, from the storage barn! got a bed load of manure taken down to the garden area, for composting, got several more mats leveled off and placed in the dry lot

Only to TRY to get the truck stuck later that same night.... having to ask for more help to get my helpers back home.

The next morning the ground was so frozen the truck easily drove out of its angled/ tilted/ leaning on my fence spot .... the ground has sense been frozen and I haven't been able to repair my poor fence, but its day will come.

PICTURES>  yes... the incredible person that I am... I grabbed the camera early to get the truck.  Took pictures of it stuck, took pictures of the SLIDE marks .... took pictures of EVERYTHING... only to look at the back of the camera... AFTER I was DONE... as it was flashing NO CARD/ NO CARD...

sometimes I just have to laugh at myself.

Silly me! life does happen.  And sometimes you just have to roll with it.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Why do men love trucks so much?
Most do not use the bed on a regular basis only as a storage space for things... larger items but in a sense ... much like the over size purse of a woman.  You know your not going to use everything in that toolbox/ or purse... but you feel better having it with you all the time just in case.


Why do men love their trucks so much?
Most are addicted to the height it gives, so you can see the world in front of you, around all those pansy little cars that are in your way and only clutter the road. If they only knew how to drive most men would say!


Why do men love their trucks so much?
Most are prey to the false security the cab gives them... that box above all  with only corner framing in the way, They think they are rulers of the world in their glass houses!  

 Why do men love trucks so much?
Because with a little horse power a man thinks he can do anything, when most don't even understand they need of torque to go along with it.  But with all the false sense of power it makes a man feel... well ... more like a man, in charge, in control, and big or just bigger than he really is.


He sits back, hangs his hat, his gun, and throws his coat in the empty seat beside him.  Swigs his coke, coffee or drug of choice, sucks on his tobacco, and dreams of a life he rules.


My mother always laughed at me for dating men with trucks, even if the truck was smaller than a luxury car, after all it was a truck.
I can only assume it was inner self yearning for a truck of my own. Although I always had more respect for an old farm truck than I did a new one, after all What good is a new truck on a farm? It is going to end up looking .... old, dented and ragged ... Why pay good money for a new truck? not me!


My little F250 has been in the shop for what feels like a week, although only a few working days; it has changed my life not having my right hand for the estate. I realized I use that truck for everything.  If I don't have the strength to do something I figure out how to get the truck to do the work for me.  Move a tree, SURE!!!! If I can use my truck!


My "little truck" as I call her, is my security blanket, as I feel I get do almost anything with the power in that old truck.


I realized with out my truck... I don't feel the same way driving to the estate.  After all my little hybrid is out of place when I get out  in working boots, overalls, and several layers under them.  I feel over layered  in my little car, I feel relaxed and at peace in my truck.   I worry about how much mud is on my boot with my little car... With the truck... I could care less.  I love my car as it saves me money on gas, and while I drive it to the barn 4 days of the week, the three days I normally drive the truck, I can clean, haul, and not worry about how much or little I take or pickup along the way.  

She is old (10 years now) 
She is beat up... although I purchased her this way 
She is Scratched, dented, and tailgate even missing parts.. 
BUT she is mine, she is paid for, and she is what I need to get my work done.  

My Truck!   I miss my little truck.  I can only hope she gets home soon.   Wish me luck!  

Monday, January 17, 2011

What a health day can do.

While I am the first to admit I need help, I am NOT the first to say I need a vacation!
But I have been pushed with the weather, and the needs of the season to say I NEED A VACATION...

A mini vacation is all I can accommodate these days, and so a MINI VACA I gave myself yesterday.

While most women would choose to go shopping, a spa day, or even a day of luxuries.  I choose to shovel, brush, ride and take pictures.

The sky was blue, the sun shown so bright I needed sunglasses...

It was an early start as I wanted to ride and allow the horses to be cooled off before the heat of the day.

 I can't stand to see a horse WET at dusk knowing it will be cold most of the night (in winter)

Sweet Pea was pleased to see me, loved on me and immediately calmed me down.  I enjoy the soft touch of her nose on my hands, my head and my face.  I got her brushed down and ready to go, only to test her back and see her flinch.

So I went on to repeat my work on Navarre who after checking him over was just fine.

We went up the mountain until he started to get warm and a little wet.

I then decided to take him home and allow them to play in the pasture.  Navarre not knowing I was going to let him play, and no way for me to express this to him; decided he wanted to RUN home.

This I was not about to allow!

Not even on a good day but especially not on a day with ice patches on the road, salt and sand making it slick for him. Poor thing had to work out MORE on the way down because he was not listening (reacting) to my signals.  We walked down the mountain in circles... as soon as I would come out of a circle, he would bolt, and I would have to calmly take him right back into another.    He was lathered by the time we got home.  He looked so bad, and I took the rest of my time, rubbing and brushing both horses to make myself feel better.

Every ride is a training ride...
Every day is a day to learn...
Too bad most people get content with their level of knowledge!

He is a good boy, he just wanted to RUN, and that we did through the woods just before I let him go.

Just the softness of Sweet Pea's nose breathing on my hair, neck and nose is enough to calm me down for a week....Thank goodness for passions... Thank goodness for my horses.