Middle of January

Yesterday- the ides of January- was an absolutely gorgeous day and certainly did not feel like the middle of winter. Didn't look like it either.



For all you southerners, this is particularly balmy weather for this time of year in Canada!


When I went out to do my afternoon chores, I had an entourage. The cats followed me around, and the dogs kept bringing the ball and dropping it at my feet with that pleading look that border collies have down to a fine art.

The cats were in fine form, posing and playing.

We are expecting cooler temperatures and some snow, probably on Thursday. But nothing like they are getting in Alberta.

I love living here.

Sunday Stills

Corners- they are everywhere, and are the subject of today's challenge.

I have always admired the artistry of dove-tailed corners, like on this old Kodak tank box my husband recently acquired.

This corner is on a church window that I will be restoring; these are the windows from 1906 that were in the original Catholic church here.

Strong light puts some interest in the corner of the shop that would be otherwise uninteresting.

The best corner of all, the corner of Beamer's eye......

A gorgeous day

Today was one of those days that just gets your heart singing.  A gorgeous sunny day in the middle of winter, the morning dawning with a clear blue sky and the moon in all it's waning glory.

Beamer was hanging out in the top corner of his pen, all relaxed.

When I got home from work I peeled off his blanket and turned him out, then spent about half an hour playing with him. He was almost too relaxed to play, but we did have a little fun. We played follow the leader, where I walked and he followed, no matter which way I went.

Of course, Reba had to follow too; she thinks the horses are her personal wards and she has to keep track of everything they do.
Then we had our little dance,

 and after much coaxing I got him to show me his belly and toes.

(Yes, he does need his feet trimmed! Next week!)

But he was much more content to just soak up the sun.

There is supposed to be snow in the forecast but so far, the sky is still clear, just a little cloud coming up from Idaho. We could use some snow, or there will be problems this year- unless we get a lot of rain. Drought, forest fires, and low water tables are all issues of concern when the snow pack in the mountains isn't deep enough, and as you can see from these photos, there is hardly any snow in the mountains here, and none down on the flats where we live.

Spoiled

Since Merle spends a lot of time in the shop with Ted, and is pretty good at being underfoot, Ted designed a way to get him out of the way. Merle likes to keep an eye on things, so the idea was to get him up out of harms way to a little higher elevation, and when my husband designs something, he does a really good job.
He built a ramp

complete with a chrome siderail, that leads to a little cubby with Merle's name on it.

Just perfect for little Merle legs!

He quite likes his new little kingdom.

And he doesn't share.

Ted showed me all the things Merle has packed into his lair  mancave - things like electrical wire bits, tubing, pencils, you know, all those boy toys!

Wordless Wednesday

From beauty to blustery

This was one of those mornings that just makes your heart sing, warm and still, and with beautiful clouds hugging the contours of the mountains.

I put Beamer out in his paddock, and felt it would be a good day for him to romp around without his blanket on.

By the time I got home from work, about 5 hours later, the north wind had kicked in and the first thing I did- before I even parked the car!- was to put Beamer's blanket back on. Poor boy! He seemed quite relieved to get some relief from the wind. By evening chore time, right around sunset, the mares were performing- and that always means a photo op around here. It was miss Gussie who was putting on the show.

She didn't succeed in getting the others riled up though, much to her disgust.

"humpff! Spoilsports!"

Since the others wouldn't play, she challenged herself by deliberately walking across a patch of ice.

Soooo, all you astute horse people out there, here is a question for you. Is Gussie pregnant? Here is a photo of Coyote Belle taken today: (let's just call her Coyote Belly!)

and here is a profile of Gussie today:

Keep in mind that Gussie is a much bigger mare, and that Coyote Belle was bred 3 weeks earlier than Gussie and has had a foal every year for 3 years in a row. Gussie was last bred 3 years ago. To me, she looks open. Which isn't a bad thing as it means that I would have an extra riding horse this year. But I was so looking forward to two foals!

Sunday Stills

This week's challenge was light painting, and I really had a blast with this one! I set my camera for the night setting, and made sure the flash was off. First I tried candles as my light source.

This one was my favorite of the candle ones. Next, I plugged in my Christmas lights outside- they are up all year round.

This was getting to be fun! So then I focused on the distant lights of town, zooming in on them.

The yard light..

All of the above photos, I moved the camera in patterns. So then I tried using a flashlight, moving the light instead of the camera.

Thanks for the challenge Linda, this one was really fun!

New Year plans

For the last week, I've been battling a particularly nasty chest cold- you know, the kind that starts out feeling like your lungs are getting heavy and filling up, but no other signs, and then days of trying to cough it up.... bleah! On the bright side I now have abs of steel from clenching them during cough spasms. It will be a while til I'm back to normal. This really put a damper on my plans for riding; I was planning on riding both Beamer and Chickory on the last day of 11 and the first day of 12, but spent those days curled up on the couch with a wad of tissue. So sadly, the equines have led a really boring existence for the last week or so. Beamer did get saddled up on Boxing Day so that the wife of the fellow who did my header shot could ride- her second time on a horse. She couldn't stop smiling! Her husband took lots of photos which I hope to get a couple of to share here. After we rode I put Beamer in  the round pen to play while Larry snapped more photos. Can't wait to see them! He said he'd do me another collage. 

The snow in the photo is all we have- less than an inch, it sure has been a mild winter so far. I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop and the temperatures plummet, but mild weather is in the forecast for a while yet. I'm okay with that. 

I should have the hitch on my truck soon and be able to start hauling to the indoor arena, which means little Miss Chickory will be entering the serious part of her education. One of the things on my must-do list is getting the equine dentist out this spring to do all the horses again; that should run about $700 to get them all done. Sigh. Rio will get branded, once he is sedated to get his wolf teeth out. 

I now have a building to set up as an art studio; Ted's former shop is now mine since he has moved his set-up into the larger shop . I need to get a window framed in, and put in my mom's old wood stove for heat, and build a drawing desk. It will probably be spring before all that gets done as Ted has a lot of projects on the go.  I'm hoping to make enough money doing artwork to pay for my horse habit! 

That isn't a lot of goals but it sure should keep me busy this year. 

Wordless Wednesday

Sunday Stills

The challenge to ring in the new year is to post our favorite photo of 2011 and to tell our photography goals. I had a lot of trouble picking my favorite photo. What makes a photo good? To me, it's the one that gives you either the wow factor, or has a strong sentiment attached to it. Since you all have seen my horse photos, I'm going with sentiment on this one- every picture tells a story, and there is a story attached to this one- you'll have to go over to Own A Morgan & QH and click on the label "story"

It isn't perfect, but it shows the love between Janice and her 34 year old horse, Tex.
My goal  is to improve the technical aspect of my photos, which Sunday Stills has really helped with, but I have so much more to learn.

Soft away the old year passes....

I've been reading a lot of reviews of 2011 on blogs, and my life seems pretty tame compared to others. There were some highlights, like going to Kamloops with my sister (and getting to drive the Dodge Charger) to visit my dad, who is in declining health.

I come by my love of dogs honestly

Another highlight was my trip to Red Deer with Janice, to watch the events of the Canadian Cowhorse Supreme and meet up with Crystal (Ranch Riding) and her friend Charlene, and Sherry (Fern Valley Appaloosas). Good friends, good weather, and good horses = a good but short vacation.

We had a few canine type highlights too- the Stock Dog Championships that Janice and I attended,

I loved seeing so many border collies all in one place- and everyone of them watching the sheep

and a lesson with sheep for our dogs: finding the right home for Sammi: 

and having a new little bundle of fluff in our lives- Merle!

As far as the horses go, it was pretty well all good, only a couple of hitches like Rio getting  banged up and coming off Gussie.  Getting Gussie back in February was for sure a wonderful moment (Thanks Pat! She is loved and cherished here!) 

Reunited with her daughter Velvet

Finding a new home for Velvet was a good thing, even though she didn't get to stay with Jessie she is now ruling the roost over in central Alberta. 

That helped me to buy my new custom-built-for-Beamer Wade saddle:

After riding it for a while, it really is a good fit

One of the greatest joys was the birth of Diamond Rio Peppy (aka Rio).

5 days old, in full flight

He quickly became a favorite around here, with his sweet disposition and cute heart shaped star.

With my husband working away from home most of the year, we didn't do a lot of things together other than routine farm maintenance, but we did work an auction together. A big highlight for Ted was getting together with his son (who had been adopted at birth) and family this year. We are blessed to have them in our lives. 

The only really sad thing that happened was losing our old cat Bubby, who had been with us through thick and thin, and was one of the best cats ever.

Like I said, it was a pretty tame year, but the older I get, the better I like it that way. The only thing I'd like to improve on for 2012 is more time in the saddle especially with Chickory. And getting together with some of my blogging friends for a riding vacation in Alberta. 

From Diamond Lazy H to all of you who read my blog, I wish for a happy and prosperous 2012, full of love and laughter, and not too many heartaches. 

Winding down

I didn't take any photos of our family and friends who came over Christmas, I was too busy just enjoying their company, preparing food and eating way too much, especially the sweets. I do have a sweet tooth, it's my downfall. One of our friends who is a professional photographer took some photos on Boxing Day and will share them with me after he makes a couple of collages. He did the new header- good job, Larry!
The horses got plenty of hay and extra hugs, the dogs got new toys, and all in all it was a wonderful Christmas, spent with some family and friends- and warm weather made it all that much more enjoyable.

Feeding time....

has become a fashion statement, apparently.