All these days

Life.  So many twists, turns and so much happening.  I can't even begin to make sense of it all.  The world is ever-changing and constantly evolving.  My head just spins trying to take in even a small picture of events.  But we go on, we keep on, soldiering on.

We have had several days of non-stop rain, flooding rains and landslides.  Our world is saturated and our skies are grey.  It's beautiful in its' way, but a break is so appreciated.  Today, the rains have subsided and our waters abate.  For now.  I am thankful for this...

Lots of stuff going on in so many people's lives.  With every passing day, there seems to be a whirlwind of stuff.  Changes.  Happenings that fall within that grey area in time.  Mind numbing in their numbers and possibilities of outcome.  Throughout it all, we keep our faith.  We do what we can to keep our heads above water and our spirits above.

I try to keep myself aware, but in many cases it's overwhelming to me.  I have no power to change it, but I can do good and possibly impact someone else's life in a positive way who might bless someone else, who can bless someone else.  Regardless of the bad everywhere, we can overcome by sharing love and kindness everywhere we go.  Spread a little light and it makes a huge difference in a dark place.  That's what we can do.  I believe that's how we change our world.

One tiny little piece at a time.

Our horses are all doing well, having a bit of cabin fever like the rest of us, but enjoying their freedoms where and when they can.  They look terribly scruffy and most are covered in a fair amount of mud because man, we have enough of that everywhere.  They must be a bit itchy because even the ones who don't normally trash themselves, are trashed.  Harley was the first I had noticed to start shedding, and now Eagle's face is shedding.  Before long, we'll have piles of the stuff everywhere, and little nests being feathered with their hair and life awakening to spring.

I can't wait!  I am so looking forward to riding my horse.  Just getting out there and walking along, breathing in the fresh air and hearing the birdsong and coming out of my cocoon again.  Yeah, that's what it feels like for me.  Along with the season, I experience an awakening too.  It really does feel like the shedding of those heavy layers and being freed up.  Unstuck and so ready to move on again.
Riding my horse is my freedom.  That one place where I feel better than anywhere else on this earth.

Earlier this winter I was a bit worried about our hay supply.  It seemed to be dwindling at an alarming rate, but for whatever reason, our consumption (even though it remains steady) seems to be slowing and our pile of hay seems to be sufficient for our needs.  Funny how often that happens.  I can't explain it, but there it is.  I am thankful.  God is good.

I remain photo challenged here on this blog.  But knowing how important pictures are to most of us, I will be borrowing something inspiring or beautiful, or just interesting to me to share with you all.  I hope your winter days are numbered and sunshine is making its' way to your doors.  Just over 4 more weeks to go...

and my Ladde's birthday will be here again.  Oh my, how these days fly by...21 years old this year, my big and beautiful boy!  May we be blessed with you for many more to come.

Days go by

Thoughts for the day

According to my calendar, there are exactly 5 more weeks until spring.  Awesome, right?  I've not really been bothered terribly by this winter, but I will say that it's been really wet, colder than normal, really wet again and some sunshine.  Enough sun to prevent going hairy-cairy anyway.

We even had real snow.  Like 3 times, and it stuck around for a while.  But to think we're on the downhill side of old man winter, makes me smile.  And then my brain gets to thinking of all the things I'd like to do, places I'd like to go, projects I'd like to accomplish, adventures to experience... you see what happens.  My brain gets all busy, but trouble is my body doesn't quite live up to what my mind or imagination comes up with.  Creeping age, that's what it is.



Here's the girls strutting around the back yard.  Had I mentioned that we had chickens now? Acquired chickens is more like it.  You see, when our neighbors from behind our property moved out last late summer or early fall - they abandoned a bunch of their chickens.  Why, I have no idea. Maybe they didn't lay anymore, maybe they escaped?  But for whatever reason, the girls moved to our house. Guess they got hungry.  But, I love watching them!   I've never had chickens before, and have always had a bit of a fascination with them.  Fresh, farm eggs and all that!  So we bought chicken feed, save our veggie and bread scraps - they love their bread - and have yet to find an egg.  We're down to 5 hens, having started with 13 hens and 1 rooster...I don't know, so don't ask.  We have coyotes, lots of hawks and who knows what else.  They do and go where they want, we feed them and do our best to provide them with a safe shelter.  Trouble is, they keep moving.  Lately their favorite roosting spot is in the tops of these trees, except for Henny Penny, who appears to be the "godmother" of the girls and for one reason or another, sleeps by herself in the wood shed.  (I stole that godmother name from dancing donkey - hilarious read) My husband even mounted laying boxes on the wall in one of our sheds and they refuse to use them.  So, freewill and all things considered, they choose their path.  Not unlike us.



Aren't they cool?

We really haven't been doing much lately.  Just sort of going through the motions, doing what we need to do every day and looking forward to days where we can spend more time outside.  I can't remember the last time I rode my horse.  Any of the horses.  And that's very, very sad...my body has gone soft over this winter, and that's sad too.  *sigh*

Anyway, we're in the midst of a few beautiful days and the dogs and I have gone on a few walks lately, but I don't know how to get my pics off my phone, which is what I seem to carry more often than not lately.  Poor quality pictures, but so handy.

We finished viewing the first 3 seasons of Black Sails recently, and I can't wait for the next season to come out on DVD...oh my gosh!  Very raw at times, but I love it.  One of my favorite characters was hung by the bloody red coats on the last episode, and I'm still reeling from that one.  :(  What's a girl to do?

Now we're just getting started on a new series that will hopefully be just as good.  Outlander, set in 17th century Scottish Highlands - time travel and all that.  Oh my word, one episode in and I'm already hooked!  See what I mean?  This is why my body goes all soft in the winter.  Not enough time spent outside being active.  Thank goodness winter only lasts 3 months.

Until next time, be well my dear readers.

How do you plan on spending the last days of the winter season?

Time rolls on...

Our winter snow has been gone for a couple of weeks now, and we've normalized to warmer, damper weather with lots of grey days.  It always somehow feels even colder when it's damp to me.  I prefer clear skies, drier air and cold over grey skies, damp and cold.

But it's still winter and it's supposed to be cold, right?  We're still enjoying quiet times by the fire, warm meals and early bedtimes.  Since we've been so much colder than normal, our stash of firewood has shrunk dramatically.  I'm pretty sure we've got plenty to last the season, but it's surprising to me just how fast those stacks of wood are disappearing.  Our bedding supply is another one of those shrinking stashes.  We may have to buy another ton before it's all said and done, but it's been really nice having so much on hand.  I firmly believe that the less often I have to visit the farm stores, the more money we end up saving over the long haul.  That's true for any store I visit!

Last Sunday we took the day and drove to the beach.  We walked and walked along the shoreline and spent some quiet time sitting and just listened to the ocean roar and the waves crash.  It was wonderful!  There's just something special about time spent on the beach, the quieting of the mind and the peace that comes over me.  Truly, my happy place.  The dogs had a blast - of course!



For the end of January, in the midst of a cold winter, the weather couldn't have been more perfect.  There was no wind and with sweatshirts and vests, we were warm and toasty.  We enjoyed lunch at the Roadhouse in Lincoln City.  A wonderful day spent away from home, felt so good.






From the looks of it, there have been many high tides and rough seas that have thrown drift wood and lots of logs onto the beach like matchsticks.  There was even a short area where a wide, graveled walking path was completely washed away.  We were careful not to turn our backs to the ocean, as the tide was high and the beach itself was quite narrow.  There were some impressive waves and at times, the ocean absolutely roared.  It was incredible and intense!  I loved it.  Whenever I spend time at the beach, I never want to leave, and always wish we could stay...someday, I hope to have a little cottage near the ocean.  Oh, those dreams...



Monday my boss/vet came over and it was dental day for all the horses.  It had been many years since we'd had them done.  I was a bit worried about that, but as it turns out, routine dentals were all that was required.  We are fortunate because all our horses seem to have good teeth that stand the test of time.  This is Shad, we started with him and as you can see, Eagle was very concerned for his friend.  So sweet.  Since we weren't sure how Eags would respond, we decided to let him watch all the others first, and do him last.  He was a dream.  Absolutely a perfect gentleman!  I believe they learn by watching, just like we do.



This kind of looks like a medieval torture device, but it's just a cushioned head sling that keeps their heads from hanging too low.  As you can see, the boss man is kind of tall and it helps make his job a bit easier.  My job was to keep the rope taut, but allow them to back up if they needed or wanted to.  Tough, I know.  



Ladde lost a tooth!  And of course, I saved it.  We didn't think he had any loose teeth, but in the process of filing down the sharp points, this one just flew out of his mouth.  And as you can see, it really isn't all that long, so there wasn't a lot of material below the gum line holding this one in place. I'm hoping his other teeth are longer than this and will stay in his mouth for many more years to come.



Here's sweet Ladde all relaxed and just about to have his dental procedure begin.  Every single horse was quiet and very relaxed about the entire process.  No nervous Nellies in the bunch!  I'm always a little nervous about this because working at the clinic, I've seen a quite a few horses get very fractious and that always worries me.  Years ago, we had a serious incident take place at the clinic with a horse loaded in the stocks that tried to jump out and got hung up.  That's something I'll likely never forget!
So I'm thankful everyone remained calm and quiet, and the dentals are finished for a few years.



We had a leak!  We'd noticed that our water pressure was a bit weak, but one morning my hubby noticed a puddle in our yard where there's never been one before.  Uh-oh!  In all the years we've lived in this house, we've never had a broken pipe.  And we're not sure if this was caused by the couple weeks of below freezing weather we had, or if the pipe just failed because it was old.  Doesn't matter why, we are just so grateful that the leak was outside the house and not under the house.  Sure made the repair job a lot easier!  My handy dandy hubby got it fixed in a day.



My frozen rain chain off the back deck.  So pretty!



Charlotte relaxing on our bed after a long and very cold walk...what a spoiled dog!



Sweet, sweet Ruby helping do the horse chores.  Whatever would we do without such amazing help?


My very first homemade chicken pot pie.  Oh man, was it ever good!  And so very easy, not quite sure why I've never attempted one before, but now that I know I can do it, I'll be making more of these beauties in the future.  So delicious and so comforting after spending time in the cold.



 Yummy!



As I said before, our snow is all gone now, but I smile whenever I see this photo...the dogs and I have traipsed here and there and everywhere in the orchard and neighboring fields since the rains have been gone.  And even though the snow is melted away, we really haven't had much rain for the last month or so.  Well, I remember a couple of days where it rained really hard, but once it cleared up we've been primarily dry.  What a blessing!  It sure makes doing everything that needs to be done outside, so much more enjoyable.  Grey skies and fog are better than water falling from the sky.  I'll take it!

Those weathermen are forecasting another possible bit of snow and/or ice towards the end of this week.  Oh boy, I hope for no ice, but if it snows a bit more, I won't mind.  We'll have to wait and see what happens.  We're just about halfway through winter now and I'm trying to just relax and enjoy the quiet and reflective qualities of winter.  Spring will be here soon enough.

Wherever you are, I hope you're keeping warm and cozy, spending time with the ones you love.
Oh, and Happy Groundhog Day tomorrow!!!  :)

Will he or won't he?