Happy Friday!

2. Singing -

Blaze - a baritone, very loud and boisterous, but not in a choir, it would be a gaelic folk band in our village pub.

The other one would be a tenor in a choir if he has time to do it because he's always on the go.

Toby would've been a countertenor if he'd been brave enough to go on stage and sing because of all the 'scary bushes in the audience'.

Sasha and Pepsie, both contralto but expected others to entertain them with music and fine dining.

3. Hands - Increasingly we measure horses in centimeters.

I can't get used to it. I was a child when we moved from imperial to metric, but I can't picture the size of a pony when someone uses '148cm'.

5. Weather - Storms Elin and Fergus passed to the south at the start of the week. They caused grey, cold and wet weather. The following days were a mix of everything. Next few days are to be grey, wet and 12C/ 53F.

6. Tea/Supper -

At the moment, porridge and lemon, ginger and honey tea; lunch will be homemade vegetable soup, thick enough to stand on; and, tea will be chicken with steamed veg.

7. Everything else -

I'm on holiday now. Other than Tuesday next week, I won't be back in the office until the new year...

..aaand, right on cue, I've picked up the dreaded lurgy that's been circulating amongst friends. I can't say that I feel awful, just not entirely well. I'm snuffly, have a dry cough and my voice is either very deep and rough or gone.

I was supposed to ride last night. The plan was to travel for a lesson, however I didn't feel that I had the puff to cope with exercise and the arena would've been too cold, so we postponed until next week.

I've nothing planned for today other than writing cards. I did most of my shopping mid week, early in the morning, as the Christmas mad rush has started.

My vacuum died yesterday with a sad grinding noise and a slight smell of burning. While I could use it as an excuse to not do the vacuuming and dusting, I'll see what I can buy online today.

Plans for the weekend include visiting the yard to clean, feed etc and perhaps for a short bareback ride. I'm meeting a friend for lunch and a present swap. I made her a fancy card and bought her a necklace.

Have a great weekend.

 

I will be checking out the cat agility link--didn't know about that either and I am a cat person!

If my paso sang he'd be midrange somewhere. No idea about my KMH because I've never heard him whinny or even nicker!

Interesting about hand measure. Heard it before I think but good to read again.

I will never understand why Christmas is stressful because I love it so much!! I say if you don't want to host a big party then don't! Or if you don't want to go to a party then say you have to work that day or the horses need you or whatever! Christmas is a sacred and special time to be enjoyed. Yes this is my first Christmas without dad being there and he will be missed. He always read the Christmas story from the Bible before we opened presents. Now someone else will read it and dad will be watching us from Heaven.

Last Monday mom wanted me to come over and help her bake Christmas cookies. So I did--they are a "secret" family recipe. It's the kind you have to roll out and use with cookie cutters. She said it's too hard for her now because it hurts her arms and shoulders. I haven't helped make these for years! But it came back to me and they turned out pretty good--tasted good anyway.

This is the board we rolled the dough on. Mom said that dad made it for her ages ago. It's the same one we have always used since we were kids--

Here's the cookie cutters we used--

And the end result--

Weather is back to being kind of mild with temps in 40's-- 50's during the day and 30's--40's at night. Some rain but now a few more sunny days too.

Shouldn't have to work Christmas or Christmas Eve so that will be nice. Have part of my shopping done but not sure what all to get for some people. Some things you have to get last minute. Did get cards sent out already.

 

Yesterday was the last day with students. A grand total of 75 showed up. Of the 7 in our room one stayed home sick (flu after passing it around), two came in sick and were sent home (one 🤮 and the other 🤒) so we were all 😷, except our temp teacher that was experiencing both and decided a 2am text was the appropriate time to share so she stayed home too. That meant a parade of other teachers made it through. 🤕😎 was my day after a very long, short week that made it a very long day.

We're wet, and humid and the chill is seeping into everyone's bones. I've enjoyed a week of the boys' cooking as husband and brother are both in FL. Both due home tonight but I'm still not cooking. I'm thinking a few of us from work are meeting for 🍸🍸🍸 to celebrate two weeks off. 🤔

 

Hello all and happy Friday!

Cats are extremely agile but I tend to think of them as less trainable than dogs, just because I think dogs care more about their owner’s or trainer’s approval. My mom has cats and they are the king and queen of her house!

i’ve read the explanation for measuring in hands before but will have to re-read.

Singing in a choir: King would be bass, Missy would be the one standing in the back following everyone else’s lead, and Skip would be the lead singer, trying to get everyone else to sing along. I’m not sure where in the vocal range he would fall.

Christmas has always been stressful but it used to be a lot of fun. My siblings and all our kids and all their kids and my mom would get together and have a white elephant Christmas as well as cooking competitions and other fun stuff. As the grandkid generation has gotten older and gotten their own lives and moved off, etc, those get togethers have dwindled into non-existent and now everyone kind of does their own thing. I don’t have grandkids and only two kids, so our get together will be very small, just DH and me, the kids and my mom. DH has kids but we rarely seen them due to distance.

A cold front has come through and it’s supposed to start raining around noon.
I fixed a big pot of stew last night and we’ll
have leftovers tonight.

Our riding team does a gift wrapping fundraiser at one of the local western wear/saddle/gift stores so we’ll be doing that Thursday-Saturday.

Skip is much better and has been out to the pasture the past couple of days after wrapping his hoof really well to keep out moisture etc. I’ll keep him in today once it starts raining. I thought he was handling being stalled and being in pain really well as far as the FWS goes, but he’s having a full blown flare up yesterday and today. Can’t blame him, he’s had a rough week so we’ll deal with it as always!

Y’all have a wonderful weekend and upcoming week. Stay safe, warm and dry!

 

1. Can't imagine a cat agility contest. Mine would accel in walking in front of your feet and being tripped over and longest leap towards the feed bowl.

2. Kiowa would be a tenor and Major a soprano.

3. I was aware of how the hands measurement originated and I always felt it had a lot to do with the lack of the common man having a measurement tool( ie. ruler) and everyone hand a hand.

4. When I was first married and the kids were young there was stress at times due to finances. Now it's not as bad as it was. Shirley does the shopping mainly on line for all the kids/grand kids so any pressure is on her. Me , I just eat the food and goodies. Shirley makes a fruit and nut bread that is my Mom's recipe that is outta sight. She made a loaf this week and I've been foundering on it. On another note I'm not good about what I eat and love fried foods with lots of gravy. Irritates the heck out of my oldest daughter who is in the health field. Well I got blood tests this last week and my cholesterol was 130 and my good increased and my bad decreased. I'm sure it has a lot to do with my activity level.

5. Supper isn't set in stone yet but, I'm tossing around Ham & beans with cast iron skillet cornbread.

6. Been a beautiful week with mild temps. There is rain coming in today around noon and they are calling for 3/4".

7. I rode almost everyday this week and it has been great. Ki and Major both working good. Did a lot of transition work. Also worked with Ki on slowing her lope down to a rocking chair. Sometimes she likes to hurry too much.

 

Then there's bunny show jumping...

I remember a wonderful old movie called Friendly Persuasion. The eldest son was played by Anthony Perkins (of Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho" fame). I think he was enlisting to fight in the Civil War. When asked how tall he was, he said "17 hands". Only a horse person would remember such a line from a 1956 movie.

It is a lovely old movie if you've never seen it. Some really great "bush racing" in buggies, one horse being a "Narragansett Pacer". I might have to watch it again tonight.

I'm going through the "newly old" horse ownership adjustments. Vet is coming out next week to have a look at Laddie's teeth and take a little blood.

Weather is best described as "tentative". Some sort of in-between. 30s-40s, dripping wet inside the barn some days. Downpours and dry spells, snow in the mountains that's washed away by rain.

We'll probably have our usual Friday night "sausage pot" for dinner. Last night I cooked some organic grocery store kale, trying to match the wonderful feral stuff I harvested from the burn pile last week. The texture was a little bit like wet newspaper. The stuff I had foraged was a totally different experience. No wonder people don't eat enough vegetables anymore. Kale will definitely be on the garden list this year.

 

1. More power to anyone who can train a cat to do anything. LOL

2. I'm not musical enough to know which category each would fall in but TJ could probably break a glass. I always tried to keep him from neighing in public because it's embarrassing! 😳

3. @Caledonian , we measure the minis in inches but I haven't heard anyone advocating for changing how to measure any others. I hope they don't, I like tradition!

4. I'm not stressed yet but if I don't quit procrastinating and get Christmas cards out I will be. I've been intending to do it every day this week.

5. Been decent during the day and cold at night. Got to unplug the heaters yesterday and if the last time I looked at the weather forecast holds up will not have to plug them back in until Sunday.

6. Hubs is going to the doctor today and will eat while he's out and about. I'll probably just snack. I've got some garlic breadsticks in the freezer and can whip up some cheese sauce for dipping and that is what sounds best at this minute. By the time I get around to wanting anything it may change.

7. Not much of anything new. Yesterday sis texted a picture of some cousins we all haven't seen in years. I wouldn't have known a single one of them if I'd run into them.

 

I’m another one who can’t imagine “herding cats” for an agility contest😂

We are in for more rain this weekend but supposedly not the storms like we saw last weekend. I think I saw that 48,000 + residences & businesses were without power after the tornadoes went thru last weekend. The count is down to under 50 as of today‘s noon news.

A HUGE THANKS to not only the Tennessee power crews but those who came in from various states to help put in new poles, run new lines, clear downed trees, and whatever else they do to give us power. They have all tirelessly worked 24/7.

It pays to have the critter chiropractor look at the horses a few days ahead of the farrier. They are both on a five week schedule with chiropractor checking the horses on Monday and farrier trimming on Friday.

The Boys were rock stars this morning. Rusty is always perfection but Duncan can be a bit of a pip if he hurts. The farrier has figured out how to position Duncan’s rear hooves to make him more comfortable and cooperative; especially the leg with the bad hock.

The sun felt good this morning and The Boys are comfortable enough with the farrier to enjoy a snooze. If you look close the farrier is trimming Rusty’s left hind. Duncan had already been trimmed . Scritchies were in order becasue they were both so good. I love these guys🥰🥰

 

@walkinthewalk , looks like they are so relaxed they are about to fall asleep!

 

Happy Friday!

1. When I was a kid, I was probably around 9-10 I got a kitten, fast forward a few years I had taught him to jump obstacles and I would make a course for him, he learned that if he jumped the course he’d get cookies. Needless to say, it took me awhile but it was successful.

2. My gelding would be a tenor, I imagine him having a high-pitched baby voice. My mare would totally be contralto.

3. Interesting.


4. Thankfully not much stress this holiday.. I got all the gifts wrapped and put under the tree by the second week in December! (I’ve never done that before, usually it’s Christmas Eve 😅)

5. Weather has been cold. Sunday we got so much rain that it literally flooded the pastures which never happens. It was warm up until then, and it has now turned bitterly cold. Lots of frost in the morning too, it makes everything look like it’s coated in a thin layer of snow. Today will warm up to 56° which is an answer to prayer, lately the highs have been low 40°s to 30°s.
Tomorrow will be 60°. Sunday 65° but rain and after the rain it will get really cold again.

6. I was thinking about grinder subs, last night I made soup.. in the mood for something different.

7. been a difficult couple weeks and trying to catch up but been feeling down. Had a migraine attack earlier this week so I really struggled the first half of the week, nothing would cut the pain either.. I should have known I was getting a migraine because I tend to get a symptoms before the migraine, but I ignored it. Trying to figure out what type of rehab to do with my gelding after the diagnosis, kinda lost my motivation since I know the end result. Farrier is coming sometime to put a patch over a large crack on my horses hoof that’s just not getting better. Just came back from the feed store and cringed at the bill after purchasing only a couple bags of feed. Also “horse sitting” for my neighbors while they are on vacay. Tried to clean my truck out a little but gave up half-way. Trying to also gather up the inspiration to make some Chocolate Chip cookies to drop off for my parents. Finished my finals for college and got an A overall for the class, glad this semester is over, I’ve been too busy I’ve barley got any of it done, but it was the highlight of the week. I have a long shift at work tomorrow and trying to stay motivated. Hoping next week is better.
Went to check on the horses and there was a fox wandering around the pasture they were in. Usually I don’t worry because foxes do come out in the middle of the day to find food. its behavior was strange and had no hair on its tail. Walked real funky and was turning in circles some. I grabbed my gun and had a good shot at it. Definitely hit it but it but it ran into the woods. I feel really guilty for shooting him, cause I know he’ll suffer some, and he might have been healthy but there has been an issue with foxes having rabies around here recently. It wasn’t bothering the horses too bad but my gelding went after it, I think if it had rabies it would’ve gone after the horses, but I didn’t want to risk it Incase it was carrying something. Plus it really wasn’t afraid of me and usually foxes are afraid of people. I’ve seen healthy foxes but this one was not quite right.

here’s some pics.
this mornings sunrise.

the sunset the other night after feeding the horses.

Hope everyone has a wonderful and safe weekend and week ahead.

 

1. Cat Agility? The grandkids' cat is very agile but doesn't follow cues. At all. Mostly seems to be trying to run through his nine lives as quickly as possible.

2. My horse would be a tenor. He's not very chatty, though. I'll try to give him opportunities to sing. If I start a song maybe he'll join in. Maybe he'll buck.

3. Measuring in hands gives a nice estimate. I did work with a guy who had incredibly wide hands. Another man said "Every horse you measure will be a pony." So we used to joke that, say, "Bomber" (a really rough gaited horse) was 15.2, the ham-fisted fellow would call him 8 hands. I was the most petite on the crew and they'd accuse me of saying everything was 20 hands.

4. Cute. I'd never seen that before.

5. We're still having nice weather. 40s at night. 50s or 60s during the day. I like it.

6. Just hamburger stroganoff.

7. I've been baking a lot. Shipping some bread and popcorn balls back home. Gave apple-cinnamon loaves to co-workers and made 34 bags of caramel corn for the department we share space with. Still doing some maintenance projects. Got snow tires on the "go cart" (my little work car).

 

6. Just hamburger stroganoff. I've had a difficult time finding decent burger.

I've been grinding chuck. I can hardly stand grocery store burger anymore...unless maybe it's local "branded" burger which is hard to afford.

 

It took me awhile to thinking about the vocal talents of my two, but I don't think either of mine would be singers - they'd be in the band.

Dixie has the most perfect, rhythmic, movie-horse nicker. I think she'd be keeping time in the percussion department!

And Laddie...well, I think Laddie does a great imitation of a trumpet!!

 

@boots, I worked with a guy that had 5 fingers and a thumb on both hands. His hands were really wide too. He wore corn husker gloves, the ones that have thumb sleeves on each hand so you can turn them over when one side wears out. I ask him if he had 6 toes too and he told me he indeed did.

 

Boojum would be a one-horse band. He loves to get his lips wet and then run them along the rim of the water tub, making eerie glass harmonica-type music. He appears to know what he is doing and he seems to love it. He also bangs everything with his hooves. His chuckling nicker sounds like a baritone.

Saffron would be a Wagnerian soprano... think Brunnhilde... but she really only sings sotto voce, quiet but musical nickers.

 

Butting into the Amish and Mennonite discussion, my grandma was Amish but left and converted to Mennonite (not conservative Mennonite though)
and her cooking was AMAZING! So that’s when she started a bakery. My mom then grew up Mennonite, and created recipes for the bakery. I grew up going to a little Mennonite church that sure wasn’t conservative! We walked into church wearing shorts and tshirts or our farm/work clothes, no one cared because it’s what everyone did at the time. Fast forward to now, I have some pretty good cooking skills to say the least.. and I can make some pretty good butter, too!😆😆

so.. quick tip.. if you walk into a Mennonite or Amish bakery, the best thing you’ll try is the butter, icecream, pies/muffins/bread/cookies, and cinnamon rolls! 😉

 

@walkinthewalk - I do buy the butter. So good. Regular grocery stores in Wyoming even carried the rolls of it.

@baysfordays - I have daughter who was Mennonite Bretheran for years. The only reason she started going to a different church was because the new place has a ministry she wants to be involved in. Her cakes and pies are works of art and taste great.

 

@walkinthewalk: I cannot tell you how much I look forward to your/our weekly gathering... Thanks ever so much!

1. Interesting.
2. Chuck is tone-deaf like I am.
3. Interesting.
4. LOVED the vid!
5. It was nice enough to be able to air out the house today. Windows are closed again and the heat is on.
6. Salmon.
7. Mom got back here to (as I call it) her Southern home on Wednesday. She's be here for 5 months... Yay!

 

Since I didn't have anything interesting to share this morning I took a couple of pictures of Pete & Repeat, aka Freckles & Thunder to make up for it. LOL

The elders in their winter fluff.

Yes, they each had their own pile of hay but they can't stand to be a couple of feet apart so they share.

 

Since I didn't have anything interesting to share this morning I took a couple of pictures of Pete & Repeat, aka Freckles & Thunder to make up for it. LOL

The elders in their winter fluff.

Yes, they each had their own pile of hay but they can't stand to be a couple of feet apart so they share.

Look at that handsome pair 🥰🥰. They’re related aren’t they, or do I only think you said that, once upon a time🫣🫣

How elder are they?

 

@walkinthewalk , mom (28) and son (23). Of course being APHA in a couple of weeks they'll be another year older. I got them when Frecks was 5 with a 2 month old Thunder at her side. Where has the time gone?

He is also the sire of Cloud, TJ & Flash.

 

@walkinthewalk , mom (28) and son (23). Of course being APHA in a couple of weeks they'll be another year older. I got them when Frecks was 5 with a 2 month old Thunder at her side. Where has the time gone?

He is also the sire of Cloud, TJ & Flash.

I thought they were related — It is good to know I’m not losing my mind yet.😅😅

Time sure does fly along. Rusty was a green broke 2-1/2 yr old when I brought him home in PA. He is now 29 years & 8 months to the day. He is my last living horse that moved from PA to SoCal then to TN for retirement. We’ve been here 20 years and I still vividly remember rolling onto the property. They were still hooking up water lines to the barn. We lived in an 8’ camper, 30 feet from the barn, for two months until the house was done - I was fine with that, DH not so much, lol

Like you, I sure don’t know where all the years have gone.😢😢

 

#1. Ye gods! Herding chickens is bad enough! Can't imagine trying to herd cats around an agility course, though I know they'd be really really good at it!

#2. Skippy would be Basso Profondo - he has a very deep chuckle when he talks;
Cloney woul be a 1st Tenor.
Patti would be a Coloratura Soprano
Goldy and Snowy would be Mezzo Sopranos
Boo would be a Contralto
Honey (Baby) a child sopranio,

#3. I'd seen the article on hands before. Always fascinates me how we come to do the things we do! Thanks for finding that interesting bit of info and sharing it with us.

#4. Holiday Stress - We always called it ' Silly Season ' because people get so rude and rushed, for reallly no real good reason. I love what Christmas is supposed to stand for, Love and Giving, and try to just stop and breathe when things start getting a little crazy and hectic. When I start to feel pressed or hectic or like I have to do something "RIGHT now" or "You'll LOSE OUT", then I just take a deep breath and walk away. 9 times out of 10, I find I don't miss whatever stellar chance I walked away from. Perspective.

#5. Weather is been meh. Heavy rains and lightning yesterday, clearing up today. Cool-ish at nigh, but not really blanket weather. It's coming though. End of January, all of February, it'll get cold, cold. I'm not complaining about it now though.

#6. Supper today was early due to DH's Christmas p arty. They get to leave the base early on the Friday before Christmas and have a party and this year they chose to have it in Elgin, OK, the little town just south of where we live, and it was open to plus one's so I got to go too. Now Boompa's is not the place I would have chosen to throw an office Christmas party at but, it certainly could have been worse. Hamburgers, Hot Dogs, Salads and a couple other things and that's about it, but they made us all welcome and rolled it all out very quickly and it's all fresh and homemade, so nothing to complain about. I'll say that a good time was had by all and Dirty Santa was a spirited gift swap and thieving was hot and heavy. We ended up with Pepper Spray in glitzy, glittery spray cans, LOL! Got that stolen too! That's ok, as windy as it is here, I'd be lucky to not end up with it in my own face.

#7. Everything else. Not a whole lot to report on this front except that my big shoe rack got here and I got it assembled and got it filled up with my shoes and handbags. Hubby said we need to get me another one, I'm going to run out of room in this one. We'll see.

I just got the bejeezus scared out of me. Evidentlly our resident house snake has moved on, I just had a mouse in the kitchen. Ran right past me, I nearly soiled myself, I was so surprised! I either need more mouse traps and more bait or I need to go find another snake. Up until fairly recently, we've had a fair sized black snake living in the house. Never actually SAW the snake but I'd find his odd skin when he'd shed out. And I had NO mice so long as I was finding skins. I haven't found a skin recently, so I was kind of wondering if the snake had moved on or ????? Mouse in the house answered that question. UGGH!

 

@walkinthewalk , I had 5 horses when we moved down here, all gone now. Thunder's 3 offspring were out of 2 of the mares that came with us though so they live on through them.

 

Hi All! A little late but here!

I think you probably can train a cat but I have no patience! But my cat is a pretty good people agility trainer.

Cool other facts.

Dinner was a nice go out with friends for a Holiday dinner. Nice seeing friends I hadn't seen in a while. Had the best She Crab soup and a little bit of pork belly.... all very good.

Weather has been cold. Supposed to get bad again tomorrow same as last week. Heavy flooding rains and winds. Hope it's not bad.

Need to go get grain, should have stopped yesterday but didn't get a chance so will run out this morning.

@dogpatch - not sure what you are dealing with but I am having issues with Chal's teeth. I'm on a personal study, I will post a pic later of how he was eating then got the vet out she floated but thought it might be something else but wanted to try wetting the feed. That went good for a while then noticed he's eating by tilting his head to eat. So now after talking to the vet I'm doing a pain management option to see if he eats normal. I will consult again with her Monday after watching him eat all weekend giving bute. What fun is watching a horse eat? lol xrays are next. I hope it's not what she's thinking. I'm going to take him off the pain meds to see if he goes back to what he was doing. I will see.

Working on my candy tins this weekend then hand them out to all that help me through the year.

I hope everyone has a good weekend!

 

I couldn't agree more on that ^^^. This time of year some bronze bells. All decked out with a bit of Christmas finery.

 

Years ago there was a photo on the cover of The Carriage Journal, of a snow white horse in a russet harness with gleaming brass fittings, pulling a gorgeous little sleigh through a snowy countryside. I will never forget that image and the stunning contrast of russet on white!

 

It's been a dark cloudy day here. Sunset is in another 30 mins, just after 3.30pm. The light is already going and my lights are on in the house. It won't be back until 8.40 tomorrow, 9 or later if the weather's bad. I'm looking forward to the 22nd!

I was able to fit in a quick bareback ride this morning on a very muddy pony. We didn't do anything fancy, just a wander down a few tracks. I didn't use a bridle so stayed away from traffic. We stopped by a burn for a time but it was too cold to linger for long. Everyone kept asking if I was fit enough given how awful I sound but honestly I'm not that bad.

Houseplants had a spa afternoon as I've been neglecting them lately.They're all gathered in bathroom at the moment. I think I've lost an orchid and a fern. I've repotted the giant fatsia and planted ginger and lemon seeds. I've too many baby orange trees and succulents, so people will be getting tiny plants in fancy pots with cards and presents.

Tea will be sausages and mashed sweet potatos.


@JCnGrace - measuring in cm is creeping over from showing. I'd hate to see it replace hands. A young lady told me that she had a 167cm and at my blank look she said 16.2hh with an eye roll. We still measure shetlands standards/minis in inches but looking at the breed standard they list inches and cms now.

 

Related to training cats...

There was an elderly man who gate trained young TBs for me when I managed a farm. He also trained his barn goats, and dogs to do tricks.

He decided to teach a couple house cats to jump through a hoop and land on his shoulder. He was successful. But... he was on blood thinners and ended up a bloody mess! Fortunately his girlfriend was a cardiologist and was able to fix him up. But the bandaging on his right shoulder was massive! 😄

He had an interesting life. Had managed to animals for the original Liitle Rascals TV show. And taught a draft gelding named Butterscotch how to drive a car. You can still find video of it on you tube. I spent hours astride Butterscotch bareback when I had young horses with Col. Ham Morris. He was one of those honorary Kentucky colonels. Great hand with animal rehab, too.