Last SHS of 2015

Last Scavenger Hunt Sunday of 2015.
The prompts this week are simply Photographer’s Choice.
My choices this for this week are some festive photos we did with the Girls on Christmas day.
Seems to be a tradition with us…wake up, take the dog out, feed the animals, make coffee, open presents, then go out and photograph the horses. 🙂
Works for me!

So, on to the pictures.

Photographer’s Choice #1

Festively adorned Astrid

I borrowed the ribbon around the neck idea from the MRDA Santa photo shoot. This is the best of a bunch of not-so-good shots. I was trying to do this on my own, without a halter on Astrid. Hubby and The Kid were working on getting Sable bridled…I wanted to do a photo of Sable with the ribbon and bow, plus The Kid on her back…didn’t work out. Sable was having an off day. 😦 It’s never fun when Sable is having an off day.
All that considered, this isn’t a bad photo, it’s just not as good as I had wanted it to be…so, I’ll try again.
Astrid is a real beauty, and I really want her 2015 Christmas photo to show that.

Photographer’s Choice #2

Christmas Sable

She was having a rough morning. Still not sure what was up with her, but we finally got a good shot. Not great, but good. Again, I will give it another go later on this week.
Afterwards, I did give her a bit of a back rub, and a couple of gingerbread cookies, and that seemed to make her feel better. The weather’s been pretty steady, so I don’t think her tummy was off. I think, maybe, she was just missing her humans.
Our dear Sable is very much a people horse, so when she doesn’t get what she feels is enough attention, she can be grumpy, and will make her tummy upset over it.
She’s our big special Girl. ❤

Photographer’s Choice #3

The Christmas Cookie

Who said “Why yes, Mama, I will wear that bow and pose real pretty for you!”
I figured of all of them, she’d be the one to run off, never to pose with the bow. Just had to prove me wrong. Big silly.

Photographer’s Choice #4

Hubby and Ruby

Ruby was another one…”Oh! Pose for the camera with Daddy and a bow? Sure!!” And easy peasy, this shot was caught.
Paints.
Go figure!

Photographer’s Choice #5

This last shot isn’t mine…it’s a shot by The Kid. You can see why I didn’t take it…

❤ ❤ ❤

Yup, me and my bestest Girl. And, she’s looking fabulous.

Sharing with Scavenger Hunt Sunday hosted by Ashley Sisk.

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Merry Christmas

7 days

We’re looking at exactly 7 days to Christmas.
And we’re exhausted. lol! But, that’s farm life, right?
Let me say though, it’s not the work. There are things that have to be done, so we just do them. It’s the weather. We’re on the tail end of our first big winter storm (which, considering it’s 7 days ’til Christmas is not bad!) and well, I’m ready for winter to be done.
Thing is, I’ve been hoping for snow. I love the snow, and taking pictures the horses in the snow…and then, at least, we’re done with mud for a while. Oh, but it’s the wind. It was blowing pretty hard out here, and non-stop.
*sigh*
It grates on the nerves, making everyone short tempered. Especially the horses.
We’ve had a couple “Come to Jesus” meetings with Cookie this week, due to disrespectful behaviour. I 100% understand that it’s the weather, but, 1200lbs of pushing humans, or aggressive pushing of other horses into humans, will not be tolerated.
And then, during last night’s feeding Astrid tried to kick Sable, who deked out of the way, leaving me in the line of fire…thankfully, she realized Sable had moved and swung that pretty bum of hers away from me. Still, I was not happy, and I let her know she screwed up.
No asshat-ery allowed when humans are in the pasture!
Again, it’s the weather. I know it, the Girls know it, but I still won’t let that be an excuse for bad behaviour.

Sunday is supposed to be lovely. Cool, crisp, with little to no wind. I’m looking forward to it.

That said, the lead up to Christmas and Yule has been delightfully full with work for me. I’ve had more than a dozen custom orders for Equi~Gems, and several sales of ready-to-wear pieces made from the Girls here. I was given the opportunity to put some pieces in the display case at the Stable where Kid takes her lessons. That is awesome. 🙂 Makes me smile. The profits from them get split between our hay fund and the emergency vet fund. Any time I can bolster those funds is great!

We’ll have some new stock on the Equi~Gems For Sale page in the new year. I had planned on getting some new stuff posted up before then, but life got busy. Making Equi~Gems.
There will be some changes…good changes!

~Chains will now be included with the pendants…of course, that means prices will change to reflect that. I did find some marvelous sterling silver chains that are well worth the price though.

~Earrings!! I’m working on some earrings…The joy of the Equi~Gems is they’re light. I’ve been wearing my piece of Dorkite on a hoop for several months now, and I can’t even tell its there.

~Gemstones! I’m excited about this one. 😀 Much like my Dorkite necklace:

Dorkite

I’m working on being able to offer this simple setting as an option for Equi~Gems.
The Kid and I are in the product testing phase of this setting…again…I had to adjust how it’s done after loosing that ^^^ emerald to tiny tabby teeth way back when the Meatloaves were really itty bitty.
I have an adjustment to the procedure, so hopefully that equals new style for y’all come the New Year.

And, once I re-stock the sale page, I’ll be adding the paypal button. Just to make everyone’s life easier. I’m all for that! That way, you see an Equi~Gem you like, you hit “buy it now” and I send it out on my next trip to the post office (typically Tuesdays and Thursdays). Easy peasy.

And now, a few photos to share!

Last month, I had looked out our front window to see what I thought was a seagull sitting on our fence.
We had, over the summer, a couple of them walking up and down the road out front, and in some crazed fit of weirdness, I named them Bob, Oscar and Leroy. They would walk back and forth in front of the house, stop at the end of the driveway and stare into the yard…it was a little odd.
So, when I saw this bird sitting on the fence, I was ready to open the window and yell at “Bob” to get off my fence and go do something productive. What I realized though was that it wasn’t Bob at all…it was someone far more incredible than Bob…

Hello Not-Bob!

I have always loved owls. Owls Sing to my Spirit.
I knew we had them out here. I’ve heard them many times at night, and a couple of times caught glimpses of them flying through the yard light.
This visit though, was incredible! That picture above, I was less than 30 feet from him. I know this because our fence posts are 10 feet in between, and I had just passed the 3rd post from him to take this shot.

And then he flew…

Then settled on the post at the far end of the pasture.

I’ve seen 2 more since then.
The wildlife around here never ceases to amaze me. ❤

Today’s Post…

Is just a photo…
I’m tired, fighting a cold, and well, I just love the image.

SOOC, except for the addition of my watermark.
It was just that kind of gloomy, grey day.
It was quite pretty, but, the addition of a little Paint made it beautiful.

Santa Photos

I was invited to be the photographer for the Santa Photo fundraiser at the stable where Kid takes lessons.
This was the second year I was asked to do it, and I was more than happy to do so.

What happens is, folks are offered the opportunity to have their picture taken with Santa, and their horse (if they have one, or a school horse, if they prefer) dressed in festive wear. It costs $20, and for that you get 1 digital image, free of watermarks, to do with as you please.

All money is donated to Manitoba Riding for the Disabled, which is a wonderful therapeutic riding program for kids with disabilities. MRDA enjoys the use of the stable’s facility, as well as the use of their horses.
It is such an amazing program. The difference it makes in kid’s lives is undeniable.
Please, take the time to explore their website to see the work MRDA does. And, if you have a little bit of spare money you’re looking to donate, please, think of them.

This guy will thank you…because he loves his job as a therapy horse. 😉

Brazzle

A Daisy Mae and Nancy Update

My plan, with the Meatloaf Litter, was to only keep Nancy.
He’s my special little guy.
When Sophie (now Suzy) and Robin (still Robin, because he’s a boy) went to their new furever home (together! Lucky kids. 🙂 ) I was only supposed to have 1 kitten in the house.
Why?
Well, because Daisy Mae was supposed to transition back outside, to live her life as a barn cat.

*sigh*

Didn’t happen.
She was inside too long, and she shed out her winter coat. Can’t put the poor little bug outside, with no winter coat.
And then, The Kid fell in love with her.
Okay, no. That’s no quite true…The Kid was in love with her since maybe 3 seconds after she found her? lol

Now we have 4 indoor cats.
Yay!

Daisy “The Weasel” Mae

Sir Nancy of the Fancy Pants

They’re growing very well. Weaned off the formula 3 weeks ago.
We’ve been leaving them free at night now too.
That’s been fun. Sort of. Kittens are smaller, more energetic versions of “Oh, you’re sleeping? I MUST PLAY NOW!!!” cats.
Sleep has been short.
I could be a Miserable Cow, if I wanted to, but 1 on the Farm is enough. 😉

That’s our Daisy, bites Nancy’s butt to force him out of the box.

The evil glowing eyed kitty is The Kid’s.
Not mine.
My kitten is the Good Kitty.

Oh, but Miss Daisy can put on an innocent face when she wants to…

Daisy Mae…I almost believe she’s innocent.
Almost.

Pumpkin Eating Ponies

A while back, a friend gave us a pumpkin to share with The Girls. I put in a cool place, got a little busy, and it ended up sitting for a few weeks. Ooookay…more like a month.
Either way…I cut into it last week, scraped out the seeds for myself (yes, I’m greedy. I don’t share home roasted pumpkin seeds with horses. Or The Kid. Or Hubby.), and cut it into 4 pieces for the nags.

I waited until The Kid came home from school to hand it over to them, because I knew she’d want to see what the horses did with their pumpkin chunks. And, I took pictures…because I knew y’all would want to see too. 😉

Astrid came to the fence first…and rejected the pumpkin right away.

“Uh, really? I’m supposed to eat that? You sure?”
She was not impressed.

Sable was next…

“Mmmmm. Pumpkin is nommie, Mommie!”

She had a great time chewing it. As long as I held it. Once it fell out of my hand, she was bored.
Goofball.

“Nom, nom, nom!”

Cookie vibrated with glee, munching on that pumpkin chunk. When it fell, and Astrid tried to steal it…well, you can see, Cookie wasn’t letting anyone take her pumpkin…

“Mine! I’m not sharing!”

She ate just about half that chunk, before wandering away from it. 🙂

Ruby waited until everyone was done, then enjoyed her piece while the sun went down.

“Mmmmm! Pumpkin! Woulda been better if Mom had put some brown sugar on it though…”

Sharing with Jenny Matlock’s Warm Heart Wednesday.
Even though the pumpkin was given to us a while ago, cutting it up and sharing with the Girls last week reminded me what wonderful friends we have, and that warmed my heart. 🙂