Merry Day After Christmas

We’re on the tail end of the blizzard that has been hammering us since Sunday afternoon…it started out blowy and blustery on Christmas Eve and just got steadily worse.
But, we’re almost through it, and by tomorrow, it’s supposed to be done. And then, the clean up starts.
*sigh*

But, everyone is safe, well fed, and doing just fine.
The horses were even kicking up their heels a bit this morning. 😉

Hopefully, once the weather settles, and the clean up is done, I can do my annual Yule photo shoot with the Girls.
Yeah, it’ll be late, but that’s okay.
I’ll still enjoy doing it, and I’ll enjoy sharing it, and I’m sure y’all will enjoy seeing it. 😉

In the mean time, I hope everyone has had a warm, happy, and healthy holiday season…

Happy holidays to all y’all!

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Slugabug

Pardon me for the lack of posts. I had fully intended to get a post up for Scavenger Hunt Sunday, but it just didn’t happen. And, I’m not sure it will happen before the link closes.

Between Hubby working crazy over time hours, work on the farm, and some made-prior-to-Yule commitments, we’ve been a bunch of cold and tired folks. Slugabugs.
Add to that, I’m trying to be a photo editing machine. lol
I have…well, let’s just call it “A LOT” of photos sitting on my memory card(s)…and, I really want to get the images pared down to the usable ones.
Today I finally got through the set of images from an Elaine Potter Dressage Clinic I shot waaaaay back in November….so yeah, Ima little bit behind.

And, I still have some shots from around Yule to get done.
We had friends and family come out for festive photos with the horses, and I’m working through those next. Thankfully, those were all shot in natural lighting so there’s very little processing I have to do to them. Yay!
Plus, I have a whole new round of jolly ball/asshat-ery shots too…

That’s what I’m going to share with y’all today. 2 of those shots, that were going to be SHS, but, just hasn’t happened…

Sable and the peppermint ball

Ruby

Do you think Professional Photobomber could be a real job?
Because Astrid is really good at it, and it’d be nice if she could make a little $$$ while doing it. 😉

SHS~January 10th Edition

We’re still cold. lol! The joy of this weather is I get to practice my extreme cold photography. What I have learned is I need some gloves that are warm enough for -35*c, but supple enough to handle the camera buttons as well. My nasty hay slinging gloves are thick wool lined leather gloves, and while they look terrible (they are soooo well broken in, I love them!!) they are incredibly warm.
So, I’m on the hunt for warm and supple gloves. I’m happy to take suggestions from the other farm folks/photographers out there!

This week’s prompts are New, Red, Breakfast, Simple and Circle.

New

Daphne has a new toy…

Yes, that’s a log from our wood pile.
Yes, my dog is weird.

But she loves her new toy. She growls and barks at it, while she pushes it all over the yard. She can even carry it. Needless to say, we do not throw it for her. She’s just silly enough to try to catch it, and that would be very bad!

Red

Red Ruby

3 red things in one shot…Ruby (rubies are red) wears her halter (that’s red) and she’s a bay (red in horses) tobiano.
With a steady diet of top quality hay, beet pulp and flax, she shines in the sunshine. That copper red you see in the picture comes as close to her true color as a photo can.

And of course, my little red horse…

❤ Ms Astrid ❤

Breakfast

The Girls, in this weather, get increased hay rations. Ruby is not a horse that we can just set a big bale out with…the words “easy keeper” don’t quite apply to her. She’s more of an “Eat until she bursts” kinda horse. Now, I’m not complaining about this. I’ll take an easy keeper over a hard keeper any day. Ruby does present us with certain challenges though. Especially when her Paint cohort has food issues anyways…which is why we have 2 feeders, separate food stations for beet pulp, and why they have to be supervised when buckets are almost empty. Ruby will snort her’s down and work on pushing every one else out of their’s if she’s not supervised. So, Fat Girl, mixed with being the lead mare, makes feeding the Girls fun. 🙂 Wheeeee!

All of this to share this picture of Ruby…

“Whatchoo mean no more food ’til breakfast?!?”

I told her last night not to snort all the hay down, because there was no more until breakfast time. lol!

Simple

It amazes me every day, how a simple sunset can be so satisfying to the soul. I can never get tired of this view.

Circle

Feed buckets are circles!lol
I was feeling a bit stumped on this one, oddly enough. Until I realized, while taking the red pictures, that The Paints buckets are circles.

Cookie’s bucket…

Ruby’s bucket…

Sharing with Scavenger Hunt Sunday hosted by Ashley Sisk.

Memories, Dreams and Reflections 2015

This is the end of year photographic wind up, hosted by Ashley Sisk of Scavenger Hunt Sunday fame.
I really enjoyed doing this last year, even though it took me nearly all day! It was fun though, to look back at all the pictures I had taken and to choose the ones that worked best with the prompts.
I’m just going to jump into the prompts without listing them first, because, well, there’s 25 of them.

Let’s start!

Me!

❤ ❤ ❤

Me and my favorite horse. My bestest Girl. No surprise that any picture I choose of myself has her in it.

I Love You

Not only do I love them, but these two love each other. I can trust that horse to keep The Kid safe, no matter what. Our Sable is a blessing, for sure!

Still Laughing

I’m still laughing about Ruby and her in-front-of-the-camera antics…

She’s a card, that horse…

And she knows how to play to the camera!

Winter Wonderland

I had to go all the way back to March for this…we haven’t had enough snow yet to get some great asshat-ery shots, so here’s last winter’s Bella and the Ball series for some Winter Wonderland fun…

Evil ball!!
Popped out and scared her…

“What the hell Ball?!?”

Get away! Get away!

“Ima teach you, ball!”

Birthday

Cookie is the only one of the Girls whose birthday I know for sure. That’s because it’s on her registration papers. When her birthday comes around, everybody gets a chance to wear the birthday hat though…

Daphne modeling the birthday hat.

Then came Astrid…

And finally, the Birthday Girl herself…

Friends

What better for friends, than images of Cookie and Felix?

Or Nancy and Daisy Mae?

Or the 4 horses together?

🙂

I Was Inspired

Remembrance Day was the inspiration for these shots…

“Soldier’s Daughter”

“Soldier’s Horse”

Spring Fever

Spring fever always bring on the Krazy Kantering Horse Games!

Sable makes the best faces, when she’s being silly!

And looks right at the camera when she does! “Look at me Mom! Take my picture!!”

They got around front, trotted up for some snuggles, and then, were off again!

Travel or Vacation

We have livestock…no such thing as a vacation. 🙂
But, we did do some traveling. Just day trips…

To a couple rodeos…

Saddle Bronc Saturday…

After the ride…I was torn on whether or not to share this one. It’s a powerful image, and yet, it feels like I, as the photographer, am intruding on the rider’s pain.

Freedom!!!

We also made our weekly trips to the Stable, where Hubby has been assisting with the rebuild of the owner’s home after a fire consumed it in May.

Summer Days

More rodeo shots, because our summer days were filled with rodeo fun and much editing afterwards.

Saddle bronc, sans rider

Saddle bronc

And, with rodeo pictures, I learned a new editing technique…

Here’s a sample of that new technique I learned.

A Day In My Life

A day in my life has this:

Dorkite

And this:

Tools of the stinky trade…containers, toothbrushes and paper towels. And a place to do it outside…

And this:

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

And this:

“Mine! Mine! Mine!”

In short, a day in my life is a mixture of mad crazy motion being photographed, quiet work on jewelry and the day-to-day running of a hobby farm.

All Smiles

Hello Not-Bob!

I was all smiles when this guy showed up.
Seen a couple of others since. Makes me smile every time. 🙂

Autumn Harvest

Blue Bean Killer

As the garden was finishing up, BlueCat decided to help me with the final bean harvest…

Storm

While StormCat did what every good farm cat should do…

Home

Home is where my Girls are.

My symbol of Home…the 4 nags together.

Celebrate

We had many celebrations here this past year. And many that I took pictures at. My favorite (at least photographically) was our Samhain bonfire. I really enjoyed taking pictures of the bonfire.

A few folks standing ’round the fire.

This ^^^ was my favorite one of the night.

Let’s Do It Again

The garden. Because we’re gonna do it again…and again, and again, and again…

Corn!!

Rows of tomatoes

A row of lettuce

Purple pole bean flowers

I Miss You

Yeah, I got nothing for this one.
The folks who made the choice to leave my life this past year are gone, and I don’t have the energy, or the urge, to miss them.

Beautiful

Sable and Astrid

Yup, they sure are!

Dress Up

Hahahahaha!!!
Happens a lot here…we dress up the horses. 🙂

MudaMino!

And sometimes, they dress themselves up…in mud!

MudaStrid

You know the mud was bad when Astrid is covered!

MudaRoo

Really, Ruby does have white spots…

MudaCoo

So muddy, her white neck spots are gone!

Macro

Love those short, fuzzy hairs…and the colors. She just makes me smile. 🙂

Holidays

We did a bunny ear hat for Easter:

Astrid 1 eared it…

No surprise, Sable wore it like a champ!

Cookie was not. happy. 😡

My Favorite

This is a tough one. I had a ton of great shots in 2015. Finally, I settled on the Miniature Lions.

Don’t Ever Change

Cookie

I don’t want her to change.
I love her just the way she is, Miserable Cow and all.
I do want her to learn and grow and be the very best horse she can be…all while keeping that amazing, sweet personality (yes, it is in there!!) and incredible heart.

Just Because…So There!

Best. Joke. Ever!

It’s a terrible angle.
It looks like her head isn’t even attached to her body.
It’s odd and just plain off.
But, it makes me smile and I love it.
So there.

Hopes and Dreams

Hopes…
I hope to grow so much more food on the Farm in 2016.
The chicken coop is done, and ready for birds.
We have the spot picked out for a couple of feeder piglets.
The garden seeds are picked and ready to be ordered.

I am tired of being a slave to food prices in grocery stores.
I am tired of someone else growing my meats and eggs.
I am tired of not being hands on in our meat eating.

It’s time to utilize as much of this land that we have worked so hard for, to grow our food. Not just the fruits and veggies, but the meats as well.

Dreams…

I dream of getting on Cookie.
Of taking the next steps in her training. Not until her feet are 100% grown out. We are so close…once those cracks are gone, then, then, I can seriously consider getting up on her. Not before though.

I dream of Equi~Gems becoming my full-time job.
Not just fits and starts, here and there. But solid, steady work, that brings solid, steady $$$ into the Farm.
I’m working on it.
I am happy with the new gemstone settings.
I am happy with the new earrings I’ve been working on.
I am excited to share those with you all!

Most of all, my hopes and dreams revolve around the happiness of everyone who calls Midnight Calico Farm home.

The Kid.
Hubby.
The Girls.
Daphne.
The Marauding Hoarde.
The Meatloaves.
And yeah, even myself.

Here’s to a happy, healthy, prosperous 2016.
Not just for us at Midnight Calico Farm.
For all of you, our readers and followers, too.

Ruby says…”It shall be so!”

Sharing with Ashley Sisk, who is hosting Memories, Dreams and Reflections.

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.

We’re Back on the Hunt!

Scavenger Hunt Sunday that is. 🙂
This weeks prompts are When I Grow Up, Pattern, Festive, Triangle and Fancy.

And, away we go…

When I Grow Up

Erik the Viking

This little boy needed a fierce name. A name that would strike fear into the hearts of all men…okay with that cute face? Not going to happen, no matter what we named him. I just wanted to give him a name that would override his habit of pooping himself when he got picked up.

Poor little boy…he was so scared the first couple of times we caught him, he just let the poop fly. lol!
He’s actually Nancy, Robin and Sophie’s (now Suzie) littermate. Yup, he’s a Meatloaf too.

When he grows up, Erik the Viking wants to be just like big brother Trouble…that’s who he’s looking at, sitting on top the cat house.

Pattern

Hmmm, what to use for a pattern picture…I think we’ll go with this:

Cookie and Ruby

Patterned paints are a good thing. 🙂

Fancy

Though, neither of my Girls are as fancy as this boy…

Marty

Marty is an adorable gelding at the stable where The Kid takes her riding lessons. And he likes to have his picture taken. 🙂

Triangle

Another image from the stable…where the owners are in the midst of building a new house.
I had a tough time coming up with something for triangle, until I remembered I had pictures of the roof trusses being lifted.
Voila!
Large triangle!

Festive

Nancy (sitting) and Daisy Mae

We are hoping to have a festive holiday season. However, since we now have these 2 ^^^ in the house, there will be no Yule tree in the living room for us. It’s just not a good idea.

Between crazy kittens and the short dog with the over excited tail? Yeah, festive Yule trees will be outside.
In the pasture…
With the horses…
Who will wear Santa hats for Yule photo shoots…
And anyone in the area who wants to come out and have their picture taken with festive, Santa hat wearing horses and decorated trees, is most welcome!

Sharing with Scavenger Hunt Sunday hosted by Ashley Sisk.

SHS~August 16th

Today we celebrate 2 years on our Farm. At 9am, August 16th, 2013, we took possession of this place, and the first part of my lifelong Dream came true. 🙂
In this past week, we have come close to putting together something Hubby has wanted for a very, very long time…at least as long as we have been together. The story is in a few of the pictures, so let’s get on with it, shall we?

Prompts this week are Starts with S, Leading Lines, Powerful, Frozen, and Daily Task.

Starts with S

If you’ve followed us here for any length of time, you can guess what around here starts with S...

Sable!

Sable starts with S…but then, so does…

Sky!

Sky starts with S! That was our sky this morning…looking a little like rain. We only got a small spittering of rain, nothing much.

Leading Lines

Whole bunch of ’em hanging by my back door…leading lines (lead ropes), lunge lines, even Sable’s bridle and The Kid’s barrel reins…if it’s a rope that has to do with horses, it’s hanging there.

Powerful

Ahhh, see, now here’s where we get into the part about Hubby…

See that?

That’s an anvil.
Just like Wile E. Coyote used to have. 😉
The two of us weren’t strong enough to get it off the truck…he needed something more powerful. That’s where Daisy came in.

And this?

That’s a brake drum from a Frieghtliner…given to Hubby by the StableMaster.

These two things will form the foundation of Hubby’s home-built forge. He’s got some work to do, to get it set up, but I told him I want to be taking picture of him working steel in the forge before the snow falls. That’s going to be an awesome photo shoot!

Frozen

Home made naan bread. Left over from last night’s celebration/get together. It’s going to be frozen and used a personal pizza crusts.

Daily Task

Just one of my daily tasks where The Girls are concerned…

Beet pulp buckets.

Soaking their beet pulp before feeding. It’s a daily thing, so they can get the ground flax in them. Makes for shiny coats, healthy skin and hooves, and happy horses.
Plus, there’s the bonus of me rubbing my Cookie’s ears while she eats. We both like that. 🙂
A few times I’ve been sick enough that Hubby has taken over the beet pulp feeding and I always tell him “Don’t forget to rub the black one’s ears while she eats!”
She says he doesn’t do it right. Haha!

Sharing with Scavenger Hunt Sunday hosted by Ashley Sisk.