Emma

Had a nerve wracking evening. Went out to feed last night, brought the horses in, fed them as usual. Emma wouldnt eat. Now if you know this horse, that is not a good thing! I pulled her feed and caught her. I then took her out to see if she was interested in grass at all and walked her some. No go, all she would do is push at the grass. This mare has never refused food in her life! In fact its hard to keep her out of the fresh grass when I take her out in the yard to hose her off or whatever. She stretched a little and peed while I had her out. I brought her back in and locked her outside gate, she usually comes and goes as she pleases.

hmmmmm I made the commitment to call the vet. I dont have any banamin on hand. We have a new vet in town, she recently graduated from vet school, oh, in the last 2-3 years. She is a really nice person and a horse person. So I asked her to come down, she got here and evaluated Em and gave her a shot of banamin and listened to her gut, took her pulse, etc. (not necessarily in that order). Emma wasnt bad enough to warrant tubing her, so we left it at that. She said it was ok to give her her hay. so I did. It was around 7:30pm by this time. The vet only charged me $70. which I gladly paid!!!  I went back out at 9:30pm, still no poop. Went back out when Hubby got home from work, at around 11:30, finally a small poop!! So I rested better! So the vets conclusion of a little gas colic was probably right!

Checked on her this morning when I fed, she was fine and ate her breakfast, she had pooped a couple more times. Still hadnt drank more than a little water. She seems good this afternoon.

I have a theory, I walked down the driveway to check the mail, and through them some apples off of the tree. Bad idea, I think the apples are fermented, hmmm. No wonder they gave her a belly ache. duh.
I googled whether apples can ferment on the tree, and what came up was a zillion stories about drunken Moose and Elk, from eating old apples, hhhhhmmmm again. Well that wont happen again!!! ever!!!!
Live and learn, at least nothing bad happened. So I am passing this lesson on to all you horse people.

So this is what I have been up to....

A long post!!

I have started doing my artwork again. I plan on selling at the local High School Christmas Bazaar this year.
So I have 11 months to build up an inventory!!
This is my studio area. The desk is one that my Father in law made when he was in High School in the '40's.
I wanted a more friendly area to work on, Hubby found me a piece of glass, which I love, easy to clean up.
My Dad come over today and put a removable top covered with Formica on it for me!! He spent about 5 hours doing this for me today!!! Thanks Dad.
I cleaned all my stuff off of the desk so the top could go on.

 The top is wonderful!!! huge! I love it. I wanted four inches over the right side so I could fix my magnify lamp onto it. It also extends about 8 inches over the back, clear to the wall. I forgot to take a pic before I started putting all my stuff back onto it! LOL I was pretty excited.

My view behind me of my storage and staging area. I have since cleaned most of the books from that shelf and have my things on it now too.

 And the view to the right, down the stairs, LOL, the puppies wondering why its taking me so long to come down and feed them their dinner.

The shelf all cleaned off and used for my storage area now. We bought a great big package of those plastic boxes at Costco, to store all my completed stuff in.

This is the project I completed last night. I think these are so cute. I used a pattern Idea for the reindeer, the back is what I call "money strokes" LOL a way to finish them off so they are special, making them my own design. The original pattern doesnt do anything to the backs.

 This is how they start out, a huge 6" memo clip.

 And now I will show what I have done so far.
Let me know what you think. What you like and dont like! Its been awhile since I have done bazaars, so I want a feel for what people like.
This first one is a giant light bulb, about 10 inches in length.

 I really liked how the Santa stars turned out. The hangers were a clearance find at Joanns fabrics. I love them, they finish the ornaments nicely!

 The Santa stars where another clearance find, they were blank stars and I painted the Santas on them. I would love to find a lot more of these! There was only a package of six. The other ones came in a package of 12. I gave some away at Christmas.

 The bear is holding a hand stitched quilt.

 These are my first Santas that I painted in November.

 An Angel. I shopped the craft stores for sales just before Christmas.

 The star above is a little box, the sides are painted too.

 When I was going through all the old Christmas stuff we got out of the attic, I found this box of clothespins. They are vintage!! LOL I really dont know how old they are, but they made really cute reindeer! That is the box they were in! I had enough to make nine, it take 3 each.

 These are keepsakes, that I probably wont sell. They are made out of vintage Christmas cards that Hubbys Grandma collected over the years. She will be 99, in May. Most of them are from the '70's and '80's. I had gotten some cardboard blanks that they are decoupaged onto. This is one side....

 and the flip side.      

 I thought they turned out rather cute, a use for old Christmas cards!
These are smaller, couldnt find enough cards big enough for my blanks, but I found a lot that I really liked, I still have to decoupage them.  Front....

 and back.

And last but not least! I got to use my new desk! This is the one I painted tonight. About 4 coats of paint to cover, I did seal them! Still took a lot of paint. First color coat.

 The backs of this one. I stayed with the same theme as on the front, the star in the word Joy.

 Finished front and back. I need to clear coat them and then reassemble them.

A snowman is next!! So I guess this is one reason I have been scarce lately!! But I am keeping busy and having fun!!

Late Christmas post!

We had a good Christmas Eve celebration at my Mom and Dads.

Hubby and I found a 21 lb prime rib roast!!!

 It sure was good, and as you will see we made short work of it!! LOL

 My Dad.

 And Mom! (HI Mom he he he he)

 Nicely sliced.

 The gravy! gotta have gravy! Moms china pattern, that her Mom gave to her. I have found pieces and almost a whole set to had to her set. The pattern is called "Golden Raphsody".

 A big dent in that there piece of cow!!

 Empty plates and full tummys!

 Sister inlaw, petting Dads cat Bugs. She used to have his sister, lost her a couple years ago.

 Meghan made one of her decadent desserts!! Caramel Apple Cheesecake!!!

 Meg, and Mom.

 Meg and Marques. (My Moms paintings on the wall behind them).

 My folks have some of my artwork up on their living room wall.

 These cute deer sit on the hearth, they always make me smile!

 Mom and Dads Christmas tree.

 Hubby after opening our stockings and passing out presents. New hat, and blanket! After all that food he was ready for a nap!! LOL

And this was our tree this year, after "Santa" filled the stockings. The dogs stockings are up on the tree so they wouldnt get into them! LOL naughty kids! We had a really nice holiday. I was very lax in taking pictures.
We didnt do a thing for New Years, Hubby worked graveyard and I was home alone with the pups! Nice and quiet though!! LOL
I have a new project I have started and will work on all year! Post to come soon!

Sunday stills....

The challenge for Sunday Stills is to post your favorite photo from 2011 and your photographic hopes for 2012.


Well I havnt posted a lot this month. Just an end of the year slow down I think.
This is a good post to start out the New Year.

This is the sunrise out our back door on this New Years day, 2012. 
We are supposed to post our favorite picture from 2011. I will get to that, why, because every picture I take is my new favorite! The colors of this sunrise only lasted a few minutes, but if you are there to capture it, its a special thing. I dont talk about it much, my car wreck, and my brain tumor surgery. Those things have changed how I percieve my life, I came so close to not being here to participate in its joys and trials. So as I say every photo is my new favorite, it means that I am here, and able to take that photo, and enjoy this life!

As I took the first photo, I look down and see, the mares are waiting for their breakfast. In that black hole in the middle would be Mickey! 
An hour or so later as I walk into the barn, with my camera I see this. "Mom what the heck are you doing!! Feed me." My 1200lb Appaloosa, who thinks she is a Shetland pony, stands on her gate demanding breakfast. The bottom rungs of her gate are flat from her standing on it, little brat. The Shetland we had, she did the same thing, only she wasnt heavy enough to flatten the tube on the gate.

 And these two Characters....

They are always talking dirty !! But they really are attached to each other!

Meanwhile on the other side of the barn, Emma is nodding her head up and down and nickering to me, demanding breakfast!

And finally this is one of my favorite shots from last Winter. It amuses me, LOL It may not be the best photo I have ever taken, but.... Emma on her island.

My hopes for picture taking for the New Year, I just want to keep taking them!

And I want to participate in Sunday Stills, a lot more!!!

Happy New Year to everyone!!