EQUINE SOCCER SCHOOL

The ball is finally ready for use.

The directions said to add small amounts of air and then let it rest.

After a year and a half it was blown up to capacity!

Libby was not impressed!

She thought it was a chin rest.

And ignoring it, might make it go away.

Using it for a belly scratcher made her eyes roll back.

Maybe I can eat my way out of this.

Since I was not getting very far very fast, from the ground,

I got the trusty ole saddle out and we went to work!

I had to do a lot of forceful encouragement to get Libby 

to walk in to the ball to make it move.

She got it!

But she was lazy about it!
The more I praised her
the better she got.
She did so a lot of licking
Which I was happy to see.

We ended on a good note, when she gave the ball a good push!

Then it was Poncho's turn.

He had been watching us the whole time.
He keeps a vigil over Libby, and she could care less!
She is such a beeawch sometimes.

So I think he learned something.....?

He thought the belly scratching was relaxing.

He smelled it all over, and even licked it.

I know he thought he had died and gone to heaven

and this was the biggest horse cookie and Libby was not around

to interfere!

But then the belly scratching was nice too.

Ummmm...COOKIE!  COOKIE!

So I put the saddle on him too.

Poncho got it!

The more excited I got with him,

and telling him he was a good boy!

He moved that ball!

It started out, he would push it with his nose,

then he accidently kicked it with his feet,

and I was all over him, praising him!

Rubbing his neck!

Giggling!

I think he kicked the ball just to hear me giggle!

Yep! I think a few more times, and he will

be a SOCCER HORSE!

I was hoping that Libby would stand and watch us,

and hopefully learn, but you can see in one of the pictures, 

She was more interested in eating! LOL

It was a good day! 

I only wished that my round pen was bigger.

The ball kept getting stuck in a corner, 

(Yes I have a CORNER in my ROUND pen)

and while I moved it with my foot, 

or reached down to give it a push to the center,

Neither horse spooked or shied away from it.

They both did well.

Libby got a C for effort

and 

Poncho got a B for a good performance!

And I now know, 

Poncho is not as good in a halter as Libby!

:))

But it was do-able in the round pen.

Soon we will be ready for a team!

Maybe.

When you have a cookie.....

You are the center of attention!

Can a 2 year old sew?

When Nana, (that would be me) gets my sewing mood on, there is nothing stopping me from sitting at the sewing machine.

Even the grand-kids, be it the boys or my granddaughter.

So when the sewing bug hit me, 

(I got my crap craft room clean, and this allowed me to be able to move around in there!)

This little guy wanted to know what I was doing.

So, I showed him how the mechanics of sewing worked.

He did learn how to poke a needle and thread thru fabric.

He also learned that needles bite!

 And you can't pick up a hand full of pins, 

because they ALL bite you then.

But you can poke them into the pin cushion,

and Nana's magic holder will magnetically pick them all up at once.

Yes a two year old CAN learn to sew.

I can't wait to see what he will create when he is three!

When I am NOT working....

Let me explain....

I quit my job.

I put my resume out there.

Someone finally listened!

And I start work on Monday!

Part time!

Life is good.

But in the mean time..........

I am always looking for creative things to do.

I can not stand to be idle and do,

NOTHING!

There has been one thing that I have been wanting to do.

Well actually 101 things I want to do,

but this one was easy and quick.

Never be afraid of  

COLOR,

only the design.

Because I do not have an imagination for design,

but I do know what colors I want to use.

I LOVE COLOR!

In the house that we replaced with this one,

I colored each of the 4 walls in my crap craft room

a different color!

I was in my own little world.

It was beautiful!

My family thinks I am nuts really does love me.

Especially the hubby because he just goes with the flow of life!

After 36 years there is no more surprising him!

He expects the unexpected.

 Hunting season is upon us.

That is usually when I get my most creative.

Once I decided to finish off our kitchen.

So I thought I would texture the walls.

I used a whole box of mud on an 8 x 12 section of wall.

I thought it was beautiful with all the swurly designs I made.

Hubby was more shocked that I used the whole box on such and little area

when he said that it should of done the whole kitchen.

Teach him to leave me with a box of mud and an unfinished wall!

Another hunting season,

A friend of mine, and I

set out to redo a room for all his huntin' stuff.

It actually turned out really good.

I can't remember all the stuff I have done over the years.

I keep threatening to paint our exterior doors, "RED"

But personally by the time he goes hunting,

it is too cold to leave the house open, and I don't think the paint would dry properly.

This time around though, 

it is before huntin' season.

I had some time to utilize.

So I painted a bookcase!

In our Bathroom!

No large commitment here.

I could always just paint over it if my color idea didn't work.

 Work in progress...

I did not want just an all orange or green case.

I did not know what design I was going to use when

I broke open the paint can.

As I painted the back and sides, 

I got my roll of painters tape out,

and just followed my heart.

 I got Triangles.

I LOVE TRIANGLES!

Had to show you how we feed the cat(s)

because Taumee, or Sydney, could of been Sassy,

Kept eating the cat food.

The finished product.

Lets see...Next project...

I want to get rid of that tub!

We don't use it!

I don't like it!

It is taking up good usable space!

I could have a walk-in closet with windows?

:))

What is this, PART TWO

A while back I did a post on 

WHAT IS THIS?

I only had one person that pursued this with so much enthusiasm!

Here are a few of her guess's

#1: An Ear Tagger:

The tag would be in two pieces one sharp one and one that is the tag.  The implement would push the sharp thing through the cows ear and into the tag side.  It does look like it lifts but I think it actually presses and the bracket allows some variability in with of ear? 

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#2:  I checked with the girls here and we think it is for piercing nipples.  

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#3:   With how its oriented in the picture, it looks like something a farmer would use to open up an animal’s mouth to float their teeth or do other dentistry? 

Though a better design would have a more hooked lip on the bottom part of the pry base then...   hmmm.

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#4: OK, my know it all best friend tells me it is a cherry stone remover.

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#5:  “An old timer friend of mine says it is an animal twitch.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twitch_%28device%29

Ugh.   He could be wrong... “

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here is the CORRECT answer!

#6:  Well there’s a first for everything. It’s a shoemakers tool called a “stretcher”.

It’s for stretching the shoe leather in an area of the foot where a client may have a Bunion.

http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/antique-vintage-tool-new-ball-ring-shoe-stretcher

Marilyn WON!

I have sent a gift for working so hard.

I think it went by slow boat to China because I mailed it a week ago,

and she still has not gotten it!

Thank you for making this fun!

ENJOY your surprise Marilyn!

Oh yes I almost forgot!

This device REALLY does work too!

I loaned it to a friend,

cause we were talking about Bunyons,

(Friends talk about all sorts of things, this being one of them)

and so I gave it to her to try!

NO MORE OWEE SHOES!

That was so cool!

Many Changes......

Things have been changing so fast lately that I can not keep up with my blogging.

First there was a job change!

Yes, "I QUIT"! 

Imagine that in this economy.

But I did.

So to celebrate 

Me and a friend went to the coast!

On the way there, Mt. Hood looked beautiful!

 Then I had to go in search and make a stop at my most favorite fabric store in Portland.
Mill End Store

But on the way there we passed by this and just had to stop!
Bob's Red Mill Store

As we were leaving, I spotted this across the street!

I AM in LOVE!

My new Bread!
Dave's Killer Bread

They even had samples of everything and it was ALL GOOD!

The waves were just spectacular and the roughest I have ever seen!

They crashed on the rocks. It was so cool!

Depot Bay was the best place to watch them.

Of course the trip would not of been complete without stopping at 

the Tillamook Cheese factory!

STUPID! STUPID! PEOPLE!

See that sign!?
Yes! There was a family with three little girls.
Right before I took this picture,
there was a wave that hit the rocks right behind them.
They had been standing there three seconds before,
ONE OF THOSE LITTLE GIRLS WOULD OF BEEN KNOCKED OFF THE CLIFF!
UGH!
There are signs for a reason!

More STUPID People!

At Depot Bay, people were actually getting wet from the waves!
It was so cool!
Newbies that stopped by would take a look over the wall, and
if it was timed just right,
WHOOSH! They would get a face full of sea water!
Yes, I laughed!
We were just out of way of the wall of water.

I like Bridges!

One day we headed south to Newport.
This place looked interesting so we stopped in.

 It was a store full of crafters wares in booths.
It was so cool!
And decorated pretty cute.

I came across this interesting piece:

(I left this picture original size and I am hoping you can click on it and see the detail!)
This is a big piece of burl wood that had horses carved into it!
All over it!

Here is a close up of some of it!

This piece of art was breath taking.

I do not know if it was for sale.

I did not see a price tag on it anywhere, and I did not ask.

 Some shots of the inside.
This place was huge and we spent 2 hrs and did not see everything!

Of course ONE hour of it was.....

 Playing Dress Up!

We laughed so hard,
At MY expense of course!
But it was fun!

I always have to check on my favorite tree.
This is called a Monkey Tree and it is on
Hwy 101 in Garbaldi.
It actually has coconuts on it too.

We stopped at this little Thrift Store.
I has never been open when we have been to the coast.
Well this time it was!
We did not stay to long because the smell of pet urine was super bad!

We went to DEL RAY Beach which is 1 mile north of Gearhart,
just outside of Seaside.

You can drive for MILES on this beach.
I was not brave enough.
This is as far as I went.
But this beach is the
SAND DOLLAR BEACH!
There were lots of them, but all broken.
I did find ONE Whole Sand Dollar though.

Taumee did not like it much when we got to far apart.
She did spend a lot of her time, racing back and forth between us.

We explored many beaches this time around.
"I" was in search of agates.
Finding agates on the beach is really a lot of fun.
And relaxing.
Every beach we traveled to,
we found nothing but sand.

At one of the beaches we met up with a park ranger.
His name is Ryan Parker and he was so nice.
He told us that at this time of year, all the agates were 2 feet under the sand.
All summer long the sand moves in on the beach.
Then the winter storms move the sand out, and the best time to go agate hunting is
December thru March.

He told us a couple of good spots to go.
So our next trip, we will certainly be checking them out!

We also met up with a new found friend that we met in the spring.
I was so excited to get to visit with her.
'T' is a wonderful person and really a lot of fun to be around.
We ate dinner at Mo's and had a very wonderful time.
She has a dog, Chip, and he and Taumee had a blast playing on the beach!

I really look forward to visiting with her EVERY TIME we go to the coast!

My trips to the coast is a healing process.
It is the only place I can go where I can rejuvenate my soul!

The Ocean waters, and Salt Air have healing properties for me.

So with that, I will leave you with some various pics.