Furry Friday

The View

As Isaac moves into the mainland, the effects for us *should* only be some good amounts of rain. Hopefully nothing severe. Here's the view this evening as the clouds start moving in.

 

And this was about an hour later:

Barnyard Lookout

Out of all of our roosters, and let's face it, we have more than enough, this one has really caught my eye. I love the spots around his "shoulders."

A Roof Over Our Heads

We knew when we bought this place that the roof was in deplorable questionable condition. And now that we've been here just over a year, we've come to realize the full extent of just how bad the roof is.

But change is on it's way. We're getting a new roof! All new shingles, new decking where needed (the entire original roof has no decking... just old shake shingles nailed into tiny slats of wood), and roof/attic venting throughout.

 

This is a very exciting time in our lives!

Take a look at the "before" pictures, and in a week or two I hope to post some "afters."

 

When it rains, we can literally see more shingles flying off the roof, either in chunks or full pieces. And let's not even get me started on having to use all my pots and pans to collect the leaking water! I cannot wait until I no longer have to worry about that!

County Fair Horse Show

We had such a good time watching our oldest daughter at the County Fair Horse Show on Saturday. The show had a really nice turnout- lots of BIG classes and tough competition! Here are a few pictures of her showing some of my sister's horses:

 

Getting instructions from the ring-steward.



Big showmanship class!

 Waiting in the wings for the next class.

 

 

 

 Tough competition!

 

Overall, she did very well, considering how large the classes were. She even got third place in the championship class- just missing Reserve Champion!



Massacre!

We had some fence failures last night that I was unable to fix, and I knew that I would wake up to some drama this morning. And sure enough, I was right.

 

Two young roosters and a hen... cut down in the prime of life by none-other, than this:

 

Please don't let her sweet face and wagging tail mislead you. Meadow is one cold-blooded chicken killer who literally goes INSANE when there are chickens nearby. She is the most hyper dog I've ever known, and I don't think she can ever be cured of her bloodlust. She was so proud of the third and final chicken she killed this morning. She brought it to me as if to say,

"Look mom! I made breakfast!"



And yet the chickens will undoubtedly continue to fly over the chainlink fence to venture onto the killing grounds, also known as our backyard. Meadow is only tied up temporarily. Once the fences are fixed, I will be letting her go again... and then it's every chicken for his or herself.

All the Pretty Horses

I know it's been a while since I posted anything new about the horses. Well, tonight at feeding-time I took the camera out with me. The lighting was beautiful, and the subjects make it awfully easy to take too many pictures. Here are just a few:

 

Here they are, waiting for me at the gate. They see me come out of the house, and come to the gate

whether it's feeding time or not, always hoping for treats, or attention, or both.

Zander is always the first one to greet me. He's also the first to get fed. He's the alpha horse in this 2-horse herd. And that explains why he's also the fattest.

 

The sky was lovely, with the soft hues of the oncoming sunset and the little moon, high up in the sky.

The horses' attention was drawn by the neighbors Paint mare, who had escaped her pasture to come and visit us on the other side of our fence. Right after I took the above two pictures, Zander and Zorro took off running to greet her....

 

and then they promptly turned back and came running for their food.

These guys just don't miss any meals.



Here they are, happily eating away, while the chickens circle like vultures, waiting for any morsel to drop to the ground. They usually end up pretty disappointed, as the horses do a good job of cleaning their plates.



Prettied-Up Bedroom

"Thrilled" cannot even begin to describe how I feel about our bedroom. It's finally starting to look pretty! I hung our newly made barnwood sign over our bed, and placed some old chippy drawers on either side. I then found some junk knick-knacks lying around to decorate the drawer/shelves and here we go! I am so happy with the way it all came together! Take a look:

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My First Barnwood Sign

I'm so excited to share my first barnwood sign project. I've been amassing a pile of "good" pieces of barnwood ever since we moved out here, just waiting for the right amount of inspiration to finally get me to do something with them.

Today was the day!

 This beautiful specimen of rock-hard barnwood had multiple nails that I removed. I didn't bother filling any holes, as I believe they add to the personality of the piece.

I printed out my letters using a photo editing program, and then cut them out using a razor blade box-cutter. Note, these stencils (above) are just sitting on the wood, and are not spaced properly. I did eventually measure and level everything to get them as close to perfect as I could.

After the stencils were taped into place (scotch tape) I dabbed the paint on with a dry-brush, being careful to not get any under the stencils.

As soon as I finished with the last letter I pulled the stencil off. As you'll notice in the above picture, I used Bulls-Eye Water Based Primer as my paint color, simply because it was available and was plain white, and had the added benefit of being fast-drying and sandable.

After about an hour I lightly sanded my lettering with 80-grit sandpaper just to expose the texture and give it an old, worn look. I think it turned out great!



New Projects?

A few treasures I've been hiding away out in the shop building, just waiting for me to turn into something new and amazing...



Storm's Big Day

Storm had his big day yesterday! We woke up bright and early and headed down to the spay/neuter clinic for his life-changing procedure.

He did VERY well, once we got him in the building. He was initially terrified, as he's never been indoors before. Thankfully, he's such a good natured dog and didn't put up much of an argument.

Here he is on our way home. He did great riding in the car, too.

We discovered that he's a bit heavier than I had guessed, weighing in at 46 pounds. He was also confirmed to be a coonhound of some sort. I've always had a love for hounds, so I guess that explains why I always liked him.

Storm is recovering very well. He spent yesterday and last night in the house, and didn't have a single accident. But he desperately missed his yard and his friends, so I let him stay outside today. He's such a good boy.

25 weeks

25 weeks has come and gone in the blink of an eye. We have aproximately 15 weeks to go!

I can't believe how fast this pregnancy is flying by!

This baby boy is doing very well, and is still very active and healthy.

Feeling lonely...

Today marks the 5th solid day that the kids have been gone to their dad's. They are spending an entire month there with him before we start school. I did okay the first couple of days, but combine this with the fact that Handy Husband has been working some extra hours, and I have to admit I'm really starting to feel alone.

I keep thinking, "I need to go check on the boys" or, "The kids should be waking up pretty soon" and I'm constantly having to remind myself that they're not here. I've been a mom for over 13 years, with most of that time being spent at home, with the kids. This "empty nest" is all very strange to me, and I'm counting down the days untill they come back home.

Furry Friday

A Brighter Bedroom

I finally slapped on a quick coat of paint to the dark wood paneling that is in our master bedroom. It's not a perfect paint job, and I didn't intend for it to be. I just NEEDED some brightness in that room- it was so dark and depressing. We used some of the leftover paint from the boys' room, and I think it turned out so nice!

Now if I can ever get around to painting the ceiling and putting some pretty decorations in the room, I'd be happy!



The View

The universe fascinates me. It is absolutely amazing to think about how vast and mysterious it is. This is the view we have early in the morning, as Handy Husband is leaving for work. Venus and Jupiter are visible in the eastern skyline. Just beautiful!

The View

Summertime...

Well it looks like the triple digits MAY be gone. For now at least, the forecast shows upcoming highs in the mid-to-upper 90s. And while that is still hot, it makes me very hopeful that more comfortable weather is right around the corner.

This summer has been a tough one, for the animals especially. It's almost a full-time job keeping everyone cool and with plenty of fresh water. Not to mention the hay that is already having to be fed due to the fact that there is very little grass anymore.

We did have another little shower the night before last, which was very welcome, and I must say that between that and the good rain we had a couple weeks ago, we're actually seeing a bit of green in our pastures now. That is such a welcome sight!

The pool continues to give relief to the kids when they get too hot in the house. We only run our air conditioning at night, so we can sleep, and to keep the electric bill down.