Well blame it on....

Well blame it on Facebook, blame it on working again, when I started this blog I was off work on SSDI, they kicked me off almost three years ago now. Last time I posted was July! At least it hasnt been a whole year. It has been a long summer though. Hubby has been off work with his arthritic shoulders since Nov. of 2014. He finally had surgery on the right side on May 31, this year. and the left shoulder the end of August, which promptly fell out of the joint 3-5 days after the surgery. So he had total joint replacements, on both shoulders. He had to go back in for a second surgery to put the left one back in joint, and stay in a special sling holding his arm at a 45 degree angle, for six weeks. Thankfully he is recovering now and back in physical therapy.


Thats not all that happened though!! Our youngest daughter got Married on August 8th, to a very special guy. I do love my new son in law. they had been together for about six years before getting married! Here she is with her Matron of Honor, trying on the dresses they chose for the ceremony. Mom got to go with her to a few fittings.

 Dress detail

 We went down to the river and Mom trompped around after them taking pictures for their "save the date" announcements.

 They are so cute. Beautiful Camas flowers in the background.

Wedding rehearsal in the beautiful Columbia Gorge.

 Should we do this, should we do that?

The arbour

 Beautiful day we had, it was really warm! 90's. But no notorious Gorge wind.

 Best man on the left and Marques' Dad on the right.

 This is really going to happen!

 Daddy and his little girl.

I will follow up this Summer with a second post!!

Random....

This "little" guy visited the other evening.

 My Blue Daddy Petunias. My favorite!

 My first Dahlia bloom this year! I has opened up to way bigger than my out stretched hand! A dinner plate indeed!

 The flower baskets I planted and am babysitting for our daughters wedding in a month!

 My funny little bobble head bird! LOL He makes me smile.

 There was a pretty sunset the other night!

I think it is going to be a long hot Summer!!

Horse slaughter or not, a fascinating lecture on the "horse culture".

This is worth the 35-40 minutes to listen to,

http://www.horsecollaborative.com/horse-slaughter-video-series-offers-facts-not-flame/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=horse-slaughter#

Got to ride!

Finally got to ride my girl last Sunday! She did great, she is such a good girl. It was like I rode her yesterday, she did everything I asked her to do.

 She is a little bit whiter every year.

 I just love this mare, she hasnt been ridden for over a year and she just acted like I have been riding all along. I didnt feel a miss-step or limp at all from her left side, while I was on her. I walked and trotted her, side-passed and backed her up and she was awesome! For those of you that may not remember she fell and broke her pelvis in May of 2014, so she has had this time off to heal.

 Yes we is a little fat! Need more riding time!!! She got a hosing off after our ride.

I am one happy girl!!! My mare is back!!!!
My hubby was gracious enough to take some photos of us. I am usually the one with the camera, so I dont get many photos of me riding.
I really need to get her and the old mare some exercise so I can take them on a slow trail ride when my middle daughter comes home for her little sisters wedding in August.

No I havnt posted in awhile! Fun horsey Garage Sale finds!

I found some fun things at a Garage Sale on Saturday.

 I have been wanting to try an English Hack on Emma. I found both of these cheek piece sets at the sale for $1. They both are solid aluminum, no cheap chrome plate here! LOL I had the pieces to make the English hack complete, after scrubbing them with a SOS pad, I put it together, very happy so far, the only problem is now I need a new bridle!!! LOL LOL The one I put on it is pretty old, serviceable but old.

 This is an antique Crocket Hackamore Bit. I did some research and found a little bit of info online about it.

It looks like it did have the bit piece in it at one time, the shank is stamped Crocket, I am assuming it is most likely from the 1950's. Boy I just went back to the book link and it says it is an old Hamley catalog from 1940. Very interesting! 

https://books.google.com/books?id=HVQY-5tBDUMC&pg=PA78&lpg=PA78&dq=crockett+aluminum+hackamore&source=bl&ots=SUxliiIA4A&sig=WrWV5wOKp_tTfasYJ6OFWmvMtZw&hl=en&sa=X&ei=_HJ0VdLXNIuMsAXO2oLICA&ved=0CDIQ6AEwBDgK#v=onepage&q=crockett%20aluminum%20hackamore&f=false

This is the link, dont know if it will work or not.

 Pretty fun, I learned something today! LOL I like the adjustable severity of it, I found that it had a removable bit very interesting, although I would never put anything like that on a horse! I most likely was used by ropers, from the context of this old catalog. The info was online and from a book called "Cowboy Clothing and Gear".

This picture showed me how the heck the swiveling cheek pieces went! LOL

Fun finds! The guy had all kinds of neat stuff, nothing I had room for though! An old sit of leather mule harness, ole metal wheels. I also got this set of hangers! for $1 each! His prices were so cheap!!

Husband was like,"Where are you going to put those?" LOL Oh I will find a place LOL after I wire brush them and paint them black. LOL

I hope to get back to posting more, with FB and work I just havnt been making the time! I miss it!! Good day to all!

Went back to that Garage Sale and took a friend, he found several horse collers and hames, and an old cattle stantion for $52.

I found another bridle, with an old Crockett bit on it. I only paid $2  for it! LOL The leather is not in good shape but it has to old diamonds and concho on the cheek pieces. I think I will do this with it....

Mount it on an old weather board and put some hooks on the bottom.

This is the Crockett bit, which will go on....

....My farm wall in the dining room, along with the hackamore bit, and also another old hack I picked up today too! LOL.