I'm Baaackkkkk!!

3/26 I do believe I have time to write more often.I Hope so anyhow. It's been an easy winter up here on this little farm. Maybe a couple of snows deep enough to plow, but other than that? Ehhhh, nice. Now, the temperatures are a different story! Bitter cold weather for sure. Some nights were in the single digits, and the days were not much better. Luckily, for me, I could stay inside for the most part. This is the first time I actually thought it was great to not have 12-15 horses to care for. Freaking cold like I'd not felt since I moved away from central Michigan. 

Major BRRRRRRR. 

  Life has become so different in the past few years. Sometimes I ponder how much it's changed, but then again, it's still my life. Rick has become a huge part of my present, a part I don't want to ever lose. There were a few negative things to get sorted out, but slowly they're becoming a very small piece of it all. Spring is trying to arrive early, but Winter still wants to have control for a while longer yet... I love watching the seasons change even now.  We don't know if there were any flowers planted here before, but we plan on having veggies, perennials, and some annual flowers, too. I would like some dwarf fruit trees, but deer like the fruit like we humans do, sooooo, stay tuned on that. And Chickens!! The little house arrived last week, and I have been checking on what is available in various farm stores up here. Then, because one shouldn't expect little one-day-old peepies to survive alone, we are ordering a small heated place for them to be out here in the entry room.

I would have been happy with a converted tote, but nope. The above is what our little peeps will live in till it's warm enough to be outside. It's exciting to be getting back to animals. Not as much as before, but it's still exciting.

  I think I will end here . One thing is that it's close to dinner time. Guess whose turn it is to create something delicious ? Meeeee. 

💜💜💜

 

Sighhhh, Another AWOL moment

 Many apologies to you all. Losing my brother and life in general made a mess of my life. Now, it's almost Christmas. Where did the time go? Wow... this downhill slide in life is getting faster with each year. 

Let's see....... we ended up buying the old farmhouse up north and moved in. It was a total mess for a while. With the combination of two households, life got interesting. Then learning how each person responds under pressure, when they are angry, and well, I'm sure most of you understand all that. Life is much better now that we have things sorted out. Not All things, but the big ones. Let me tell ya how convenient it is to live with someone who is TALLLLL.... things that are on the tippy top shelves -not a problem. LONG arms come in handy...😁

Happily, some wilds come into the yard and snack on the fresh grass. A few doe with their almost yearling fawns, one young buck who managed to lose one horn already, and late at night, a good-sized buck. We also have some wild turkeys that used to come by early in the mornings and late evenings. We have neighbors' dogs who have decided that our yard is a good bathroom, which is going to stop. Yuck. 

There have been small snows this month. Nothing to hinder people from traveling, and it's kind of pretty. Nothing like those 2-3 foot snows like when I lived in Newport, PA. Thank goodness! 

I have NO idea what the heck just happened above, but when I try to get the size back to where it was, it threatens to delete the whole page. So for a few words, it will be easy to read ;) 

Wishing you ALL a very Happy Christmas

 and all of the other holidays.. happy, happy. 

Now to try to find where my photos are stored...

I can't find the darn turkey pics, and I totally forgot to mention that our barn got a facelift!  Here are a couple of before and after shots.

 Also, the huge evergreens, when it snows, get turkey tracks on their branches...

One of the 'short Christmas tree'... a combo of both folks living here :)

                             Peace to you all during this wonderful season...💗💙💜

Welcome Summer. NOTTTTT

 6/22/25

New Beginnings

And so it is Summer, again 

Summer is the season that is the worst season of the year. As I have grown older, it has worsened. Summertime, in my world, is treated like winter for many. I tend to hibernate, getting all of the things I didn't get done when it is nice outside. Today, the temperature is expected to get close to the mid-90s. Humid, too. No thanks. 😣🙅

This past March, my youngest brother, Ken, died. It was a big blow to us all, and I still miss him a lot. There was a ceremony for him in church, and one outside to add his cremains to the memory garden.  He was thrilled to have granddaughters and loved them dearly.  He had purchased a van to travel the country with, but never got to use it. A new place in Florida so he could be close to his son and his family ... Sadly, he only got to see  “his girls “ grow for a few years.

Life has been crazy the past few months.  Whoever controls my destiny threw me a proverbial curveball that went wild. Each time I  applied for a job, something went wonky, and I was not hired. Talk about getting discouraged! I  started feeling like I was carrying a sign that read “Do not hire”. One time, I had a job driving school vans and went to get a cursory physical, and some Dr found that I had a heart murmur. She freaked out and sent a note to my GP about it. I knew that I had one, but according to her, I was going to die the next day. I was sent back to the hospital to get my heart checked out. Three big tests later, my new cardiologist said that he couldn't figure out why all the panic had happened and approved me to be good to go. Sheesh.

 You'll not believe this, but I was in the process of getting the form approved, testing done, and sent to the new hires section when I learned that all hiring was to stop for the location because some other company had outbid this bus company. I  couldn't believe it! It never fails. So again, there was no job unless I wanted to drive a rather long distance to work. 

I began to wonder what the heck was going on. Why were things happening like this? All I wanted to do was earn money so I could pay my bills. Simple, right? Not. 

In the meantime, the tall guy and I were getting more serious about each other. He stayed home at Christmas so we could celebrate together… and we have been heading to each other's houses weekly. All of a sudden, he started sending me houses for sale from online realty companies.  ????  I was confused and figured that he was going to move.  He asked me for my opinion on each one and we discussed them, bantering back and forth. I finally asked what he was thinking because I surely had no clue. He replied that he wanted to purchase a small place for us to  live together

                                 😬😮  !!!!!!!????????!!!!!!?????😲😼😮

 Up to then, not a word had been spoken about anything like that. Not a word. When asked, he said that he was a man of few words…. um, well, I like knowing what is going on, and would he please speak the words/ thoughts out loud from now on? So the house-hunting became a team effort. I've known that if you want to get to know someone better, build something together. Now, I am adding a search for a house. Hahahaha! 

“No, that one is awful. That is a piece of land on a cliff. What is the garbage doing all over the ground?”  We looked at some awful places that always needed something fixed or repaired. One house was just flat-out spooky.  We drove to look at an old farmhouse that came with all of the furniture, etc. That one had two bears in it and needed to be repaired big time. The odd thing was that the backyard was full of flies. It made me think about the house in Amityville, NY. There was a movie made about the haunting. 

We searched in southern Maryland, and while there were some wonderful places, they turned out to be sold in an auction setting. How miserable to see a place that was close to perfect, only to find that the price was where the bidding was to begin? To me, that whole routine seemed a little unethical. But it happens a lot. We stopped asking questions if we saw that it was being set up as an auction.

One evening, my tall guy sent me a place that was listed for sale online. It was an old farmhouse all redone inside. Sadly, the “old” aspect was gone, but there were a few “old” things left.  It was an acre plus a little bit more. Flat, cleared, in the country, 9 miles away from a nice-sized town. Plus an ancient one-story barn was on the property!! It was perfect and I had tears in my eyes as I looked at the photos. Perfect.  I couldn't believe that this little bitty piece of land existed. Oh, it was located North of where we both live.  Up till then, he wanted to live close to the water. And Ocean City. I grew up close to the Chesapeake Bay and knew what the weather is like in the southern part of the state. Hot! And humid.  Exactly where I did not want to settle down again. I complained about how the heat was awful in the southern part of the state and how I didn't like it at all. That's when he found the little place in the north. Yes, the man is a keeper.🩵

We drove the two hours to get there, and I would have purchased it right then. But I left it up to the man doing the paying. We decided that we both wanted to own the little farm, and he kept putting off making an offer on it. This was one place I didn't want to lose, so I mentioned that fact. Also, there was a showing that Saturday; some other folks were interested in it. Finally, I just said what I had been thinking, and that week, my tall guy put in an offer. It was not any time at all that the offer was accepted, and a downpayment was sent. Once again, tears on my end. I was so happy that finally, perfection was ( almost ) owned, and how easily it had been. As though it was “meant to be.” My whole life has happened that way. When it's the right time for something to happen, it just does. It happened when I saw Lynna in the show ring that winter many years ago, when she stole my heart. It happened when I got my best dog friend, Petey. Lately, it happened when a very tall man entered my life. The best things that happened in the past have created so much happiness for me.  Now this small piece of heaven.

 Now I understand why those jobs never came to fruition. God must have been watching and waiting for just the right moment once again. Now I see why barriers were put in the way of me finding a job and more.

There you have it. Life up to the present. There is room for a few hens and a great place for my tall guy to work on things if wanted in the barn. Next Spring, I want to have a small veggie garden. I can start my herbs now, and a lot of wildflowers for the bees and butterflies. Plus, I love wildflowers. Before, I was too busy with the farm to have much of a flower garden, let alone vegetables.

 For another time in my life, things are being sorted out to be perfect. Like I said,  it is almost unbelievable, but I know it's true, and I am going to cherish each moment and the tall guy most of all.

Regard's Little Stinker!

2/2/2025

Regards loved being a mama. She enjoyed her extra attention and was thrilled to show off her filly to anyone. That filly, however, was huge in the personality department. Very confident too.  She would walk up to a human and attempt to introduce herself by nosing about their pockets or chewing on their clothing. She was so cute that it was hard to be angry with her. She learned that to not get in trouble, all she had to do was scoot around her mama and ‘ hide’. 

One day I was grooming Regards. She was enjoying it immensely as her winter coat was beginning to come out. All of the horses were incredibly itchy, too. I was currying her tummy when her daughter slid her face underneath from the other side to see what I was doing.  She was fascinated. All of a sudden, she scampered around to my side of her mama. I looked up and saw two little hind hooves flying towards me.  She had decided that I wasn't supposed to be there and was letting me know by kicking at me. Ears back and a baby grunt with the effort.

Ok, that was the end of baby cuteness. Had I not known to keep an eye on babies, I would have been kicked. Those foals look adorable but a kick or a bite can be serious. It was time to respond to this as another horse might. She could learn how to speak  ‘ human ‘ soon enough. 

The next time she was a bit more confident...trotting up to me, shaking her head. I ignored her and let herself get into trouble. I wanted to be sure that she understood that it was because she had been a bad filly and she caused the discipline.  I had to grin at her fierceness...she was so darned cute. As she got close enough to reach out to bite me, I stood up very fast and got “big”. Arms stretched out to my sides, my jacket also, and I roared at her in my most intimidating voice

. “ Don't you ever try that again !!!” I clapped my hands as I yelled at her. Regards, who had grown used to the fact that humans were all pretty much crazy, turned her neck around and calmly continued eating her hay. 

The filly whirled around like she had been hurt somehow, ran to the safe side of her mama, and peered from behind Regard's tail. It was really hard to be angry with her, but I had to let her feel my anger at her trying to hurt me. Those mile-long eyelashes were blinking at me in between Mom's tail hair. After I finished what I had been doing, I gave Regards a piece of carrot, ignoring the little stinker, and left.

 

Regards Becomes a Mama & Skunk Grows Up

 Regards was heavy in foal that early winter. It was her first pregnancy and I figured from how she would waddle around that she didn't think much of it. Regards was not a happy camper at all. She discovered she couldn't keep up with the other mares due to foal later in the Spring and rolling in the mud wasn't as fun as it used to be. 

She could feel something in her stomach area that kept moving around.. she didn't remember eating anything alive, so what could that be all about? Sometimes she was sure it had kicked at her, which was quite bothersome. She finally got to the point where she would kick at her belly with a hind hoof. "whatever is in there needs to STOP!"

I ensured that she had the right supplements a mom-to-be would need and that she had gotten her vaccinations at the correct times. I could only imagine how miserable she felt. She was used to being fit and in top condition, not walking about feeling like some walrus. Two more weeks and she would finally understand just what was going on.

The farm ran along regardless of miserable mares, snow, sleet, or mud here in Maryland. Just like all of the other farms, animals, and livestock needed even more care in winter it seemed. The horses being turned out, went with blankets on to keep them warm, and those who had grown heavy winter coats always had hay available to eat. You see, hay turned into energy which in turn helped them stay healthy and fat. Extra feed to those hard keepers, and topped off with corn oil for extra calories but not as much feed. Water that was warmed by stock tank heaters, and heated water buckets in every stall. We made sure that every horse drank plenty so there was no colic. 

 Jellino was full of himself. Not enough miles and he was so fit that he could easily gallop for quite a few. Wintertime was not a safe time to go galloping through the forest. No matter how wonderful one thought himself to be. 😆

When I would turn him out for the afternoon, I would be confronted with hind heels flying and turbo boosts. ( aka - toots, farts, etc) He'd race about like an idiot bucking and throwing his head/neck from side to side. I told him like some others that one day, his head would go flying away from him, and that would be that. He didn't seem to care. 

The babies from last year will soon be considered to be yearlings. Every Thoroughbred becomes a year older in January, no matter when they were born that last year.  My little Skunk was not a pure Thoroughbred, so she will get to keep her actual birthdate. Speaking of my little baby horse, she was getting tall. And incredibly fuzzy! We practiced all of the things that a proper filly would need to know. So far, she would pick up each hoof, waiting for me to hold it and clean out anything that may have been collected in it. I could brush her literally from ears to toes without a fuss unless she had an itchy spot. Then she would move so I was currying that itchy spot some extra. She would follow me all over that barn and eventually all over the farm. I had a little black shadow and loved every minute of it. 

One morning in February, I arrived to see a lot of people walking around looking very important. Or at least trying to. I ran to the foaling barn and realized that Ms. Wonderful was finally foaling! Oh, she was not pleased with anyone being there that she didn't know, so I told the strangers that they had to leave. Once they were gone, I got a soft nicker from Regards. She was relaxing and not pinning her ears any longer. My boss was there along with Anna, quietly waiting and watching the much-awaited event. I joined them as soon as I could. By now the mom-to-be was really seriously pushing as her body told her to. It wasn't long before we saw some small hooves. My boss said that seeing the tops of hooves meant the foal was going to be born properly. Seeing the bottoms of hooves told him that the little one was coming backward.  A breech birth. Regards was pushing that little one ( who didn't look so little from the size of its hooves!) out further and further. A nose laying on top of those long legs, then a face, neck. It was difficult pushing those monster shoulders out but with one final heave, out came baby!  We all softly cheered and told Regards what a grand mama she was. Of course, Regards was napping, finally comfortable. My boss let me do a dose of iodine on the new born's umbilical cord so no infection would happen. Wow, what a gorgeous baby it was! Four white stockings, and a blaze just like Papa had. All of a sudden, I thought:  filly or colt!!?? Anna checked and said quietly, Regards has a daughter...... Once again, I was in tears. What a miracle a birth is. A whole complete baby horse and in 5-10 minutes was attempting to line those long legs to get up. Regards woke up at all of the noise, looking around at us. All of a sudden she saw the foal. What a wonderful soft welcome nicker she did. The filly looked around to find the creature who spoke her language and saw her mama. She too, nickered back to Regards. That was it- Regards was In Love. She licked and caressed her new daughter with such care and I could feel the love coming out of her soul to her baby.  Mom got up and turned around to be sure her little one was alright. Then, she looked right at me and turned her face to her daughter. Just as though she wanted me to come meet her. I slid the stall door open softly and walked to Regards. I knew because of her past life, to not trust her explicitly. She looked at me and caressed her baby, nodding her head towards her. She was inviting me into her world and to meet her new foal. What a special compliment it was from a mare who would attack the stall bars to injure me.  I walked over to her foal who was trying to figure out life as it was for her. When I touched her, she flinched like she was surprised. When I opened my hand and touched her again, she was happier.  My boss came back into the stall and gave Regards a piece of carrot.  Then stepped back to help guide the hungry baby to the milk department. It was so sweet to see that little pink tongue looking for something to latch onto. She took a big step and reached her neck under Regard's tummy, looking to find what smelled so delicious.  All of a sudden we heard slurp, slurp, and my boss smiled widely. 

 "We have a first breakfast, Houston," he said. Anna and I gave each other big hugs as we knew how important it was for a new foal nurse to get the colostrum from her mama. That filly slurped and sucked like she was starving. Regards kept licking her rump and nickering things that only her baby understood.  

I ran to the house to let my boss's wife hear about the new foal and she immediately came with me to the foaling barn. 

'Oh, what a treasure,' she said, watching her trying to lay down. She too, had tears in her eyes... she knew how much it meant to have a strong healthy foal on the ground and such a fantastic mare caring for it.

                            Welcome to the world, little one! 

 

NEWS! 1\14\25

Happy New Year, belatedly !!!

 A lot has been happening since the last time I posted it seems. The last time, I had just moved into the farmhouse... Heres one.. 

As I find more, I'll share them. Those are my grandfather's hand-carved decoys. I used to have many more but had to sell them due to finances. Here's one of the horrid sofa left behind when the other folks moved.

 Anyway, it's looking homey as I get more things unpacked.

It's so quiet here, I love it.

Next on the list is that I met another guy the first of October! He's not boring, no lies, no games, just absoutely normal. We spent the holidays together and things have gotten better and better as time passes.  We are in touch daily and I'm quite happy. He lives an hour from me . Sometimes I drive up to his place, and sometimes he comes to the farm. He's TALL so I will refer to him as the Tall Guy.   6'4"-- 😵   Also, he's a Keeper!

He has wonderful stories to tell and I enjoy hearing them. Oh, and the man can COOK!  Wow can he cook.  I have gained 12 pounds over the holidays and meeting him... THIS IS NOT GOOD.😆

  I will get into how we met, how things went and some goofy things too.

Lets see....... what else.

I start a new job this coming Thursday- Happy Dance!👍👍

I just found the emoji area, can you tell ? 

 Training, how too do things, etc. I desperately neeed to begin getting money coming in ; I'm so far behind that I don't know if I will ever get caught up again. A month off being terribly sick sure was Not a planned item for sure.

Anyhow, I'm excited to be making money again, and I like the gal who's been helping me get hired too. 

Aside from horses here, there are some Barred Rock hens that are protected from predators and have a nice hen house to sleep in too. There's 2 small donkeys that adore carrots it seems ( gosh, they are so darned cute. It's a joy to arrive "home" )

There's one walking horse who should be named Houdini as he gets out frequently. He doesn't really go anywhere, but eats the grass in the yard and hangs out. All of the animals are friendly and I can tell that they are loved. :) 

I guess that's it for now, stay tuned for more on my Tall Guy and life here at the farm house.

Below is a doe who, with two others, were grazing in the back yard.

On my way to work one morning, the moon was full and so beautiful.

have a great week.

Catch Ups!

 10/ 20/24

Well!  So much has changed in the past month that I found it tough to keep up with. I kept getting emails about how my life was going to change for the better. “yeah” I thought to myself…. “ heard that so many times before “ I don't think about it much, but they kept showing up. Oh well…

 I had been told to move out by the woman I rented the room from. I'd been looking for a good while so it was not a surprise. The trouble was that I couldn't find a place to rent. If it was in my price range, it was a dump. If I liked a place, it was way out of my price range. Sighhhhh….

 I was desperate. So I  took a chance and made a post on my Facebook page. There's not much, but I got the expected replies from folks. I checked back later and there was a private response from a pal I knew online and a horsewoman too. I had to be moved out on a Monday, which happened the Saturday before. She said that she didn't know that I was looking for a house.… that they had an empty farmhouse. I sat there stunned. It sounded like a dream coming true.  A farmhouse…on a horse farm! I sat there in tears, it was so hard to believe. Could this really be happening to Me? Nothing good ever happened to me. Not in many years. I called her and made plans to go see the house on Sunday… It was a bit of a drive from where I worked but if it was great,  I decided I could figure it out. 

It was lovely. Two floors and a clear area that can be a craft place upstairs. I fell in love with it. Horses that would not run me over and I could see them from the windows. Big kitchen and country dining area.

                                                      A bedroom

                     The area I think that will be a great area for beadwork.

Kitchen 

 Needless to say, I said Yes!  There were one and a half days left. I packed and loaded the Escape and drove the miles to the farmhouse four times. 

Needless to say, I was exhausted, but I was out of that house. Just one more carload and I got those things the next day. Luckily she had dumped the rest of my things on the porch. I didn't have to go up those steps 😁. Finally, it was done. On my first night, I didn't get much sleep. The old leather couch that I had to sleep on was not the most comfy. I got used to it though.

It's been a couple of weeks now and  I love this place more every day. It's become a way to leave the world behind for a while. 

Not a new man for long..🤔

 10/14/24

Turns out the guy was boring as can be. No, thank you. I just stopped replying to or answering the calls. I am not going to play second fiddle to a bunch of records. Such is life, I suppose.

 I had a reply to a dating site that I have decided not to continue. It's a waste of money that I don't have to spare. In the meantime, the man who responded seems very nice… stay tuned.

Autumn is here, and I am enjoying it immensely. It's the best time of the year, what with the great holidays and winter coming.😊  I used to love to decorate, but ever since I was married to a man whose mission was to destroy me, I had stopped. I decorated for Christmas when I lived in the little apartment. But ever since, I just didn't feel Christmas or Yule in me.  That spirit is hard to find anymore.

A New Man 😁😁

 8/18/24

I know you have to meet a lot of people who are not your type before you find a special person to hold in your heart. I had been contacted by quite a few men who were either totally weird or unaware of how to deal with folks like me. Many didn’t want to get to know me because I was a straight shooter who was honest about my feelings, ethics, and morals.  Apparently, they didn’t like me having an opinion on anything. Or they just wanted to get laid.. or they wanted someone to take care of them. Then the one person I thought was wonderful decided that I was to be controlled. Ummm, No..  A few more of ‘ maybe we can just be friends’ get-togethers, and I was about done.  I resigned myself to being alone for the rest of my life. Granted, I was ok with that,t but it would have been nice to have someone to go out with or to various places of mutual interest. 

  I was online one evening, weeding out the whole bunch of men who wanted to   ’ meet’ me. I was giving up on the idea. Oddly enough, there was a name I recognized from a while ago. He was one of the group of guys, and I almost deleted him, too. All he wrote was hi. Okay, so I returned the ‘ hi’. The next morning, I had a long post from him. We had talked a little bit about a year ago, and he went on from there.  He asked if he could call m,e as he had never deleted my phone number from his address book. 

And so it began. 😉  He lives an hour away from me and is working on getting retired. He’s tall and has a super cute smile.  We have been out on a few dates so far and chat online more. We have just hit it off. We both were raised in a similar fashion… he knows something about horses, he was raised in a farming family, and wants to live in the country.  So far, we have been having a great time, and I have been told that he has become ‘very fond’ of me.  We are becoming more than friends, and it’s nice to meet someone who is not in a hurry. 

                                                                 Stay Tuned !!

Fun From the Past

8/19/24

Hope you enjoy these fun memories of mine… from almost 50 years of experience. Sadly I don’t have pictures of my past horses… but if I come across them I’ll post some pics.

 I had an Appy mare who had maybe 20 tail hairs. (AKA: rat tail) My riding students thought it would be better for her to have a tail for swishing flies. I said ok when I saw the plan. Those kids worked and fussed over an hour to attach the tail. Keisha was so good at being patient. Of course, I had to come and see her after they were done.  “ see, Miss Kris?  It’s a delightful tail!”

 Keisha had been sprayed with a fly deterrent so she wasn’t swishing that tail. She kept pulling it out of their hands. 

 When they took her out into the yard, she started swishing and then she started to freak out. She started turning around in circles trying to see what was wrong with her tail! Seemed like Keisha had never seen herself with a long tail before, especially one made from a bright orange kitchen towel…

                  

                               ********************************************************

I have to share this with you…  This little guy was 11 years old and he had just had a birthday, As one of his birthday presents from his parents, he was given horse riding lessons. When he arrived for his first lesson he told me that he loved horses and that he would be a great student for me.

Everything went smoothly with him learning to groom my ancient Appaloosa mare, Alli. Joey was cooing sweetly to her as he curried her spotted coat.

Joey gave Alli kisses and hugs too. It was clear to me that he truly loved horses, especially my mare.  I enjoyed watching him getting to be more comfortable around Alli  (short for 'All the Best')  She would turn her head around and nuzzle his little chubby tummy and Joey would just laugh.

We were all done with the first ride lesson and he couldn’t wait for the next week to get here.

Later that evening his mom called me and explained that by the time they got home, Joey was sneezing and had runny eyes… allergies.  She said that he was crying because he didn’t want to stop riding lessons. We both felt awful.

His mom said that she would send him next time with some allergy medicine and see if that helped. 

The day arrived for Joey’s second lesson …. He gets out of the car and comes running to the barn yelling “ I’m here, Miss Kris!” 

He was full of energy and smiles. Reaching in his pocket he told me that he had a treat for Alli. That he and his mom had made it. Apparently, she had been thinking about safe treats for horses. He had it in a little box with Alli’s name on it It was so sweet to see him open it and show it to me and Alli. I showed him how to safely give a horse a treat and he was thrilled. 

‘ her lips are very soft and she is so polite’

That lesson we didn’t have grooming because of the dust and dander.  He seemed to be doing better Later that day my phone rang again. Joey had been sneezing and coughing since he got home… His mom said that he was in tears again. He didn’t want to stop… He would be okay, honest he would. Mom didn’t agree. So Joey was going to have to stop being around horses.  I could hear him in the background, sniffling. She said that he was going to make something for me and Alli and that they would drop it off when he was done.

 Later that week I was called to be outside at a certain time because Joey had finished his creation. I was at the barn when they arrived. As usual, Joe came running to the barn, this time with his mom. 

He handed me a flat piece of cardboard that he had wrapped in Christmas paper. He was a little bit embarrassed because it was all he could find. I opened it up gently and inside was a watercolor painting of a little chubby blonde boy giving a spotted horse a kiss on the nose. It was all I could do to not cry… he was standing there beaming at me with tears in his eyes too. We all exchanged hugs and he looked for his favorite horse, only to find she was out in the pasture.  I told him to go call for her… see if she wanted to see him. While he was off doing that, his mom explained that he had worked on the painting until way past his bedtime. They had gone to the store and picked out a frame that was the right size, and she had brought it along if I wanted it. When we got to the car, we saw Joey and he was snuggling with his best friend in the pasture.  She truly was All the Best that day. 

I put the painting in the frame and it hung in my tack room ever since.

❤️😘💖💕💓💗❤️

Life….

 5.27.2024

 Well, it's the day before my birthday. Used to be my birthday was special. Now? Just another day. Used to be there would be a cake and some presents, maybe a special dinner out. Now? Just another day. No celebration, no family, no anything 

 I don’t know… maybe I’m having a tough time with all of this. Ever since I was a kid, I looked forward to birthday celebrations. Not mine, but everyone. We would not have a birthday if we had not been born, right? Therefore, birthdays are important. The Only time I ever forgot a birthday was when I had just said goodbye to my Lynna a few days before, and it was the now ex's birthday. I really felt awful, but I couldn’t make it up. I had forgotten, and that’s all there was to it.   

I realize that as we get older, we might not like to be reminded that we’re another year older. Not me. I love to hear that someone remembered.  So many wonderful memories of birthdays in the past. Not mine, but others I loved and went all out for. Some of mine were pretty cool too. I always think of others before m,e and remembering them makes me smile. 

So, if you have a birthday coming up soon…

                🎶💙 HAPPY BIRTHDAY 

                 TO YOU!!!!💐🎶

Or as Pooh says, 

"Many happy returns of the day !“

Oh Mine Gots!!!

 4/7/20

That’s a saying my Finnish grandmother used to say when she was facing a lot of problems.  I still can hear her.

 “ Oh Mine Gots! Vot vill happen next?”  🩵🤗

Since I last wrote, things have taken a negative nosedive. Literally, twice.  Life was rolling along peacefully through the first couple of months. We got little to no snow or frigid weather like I dealt with when I lived further north by only a couple of hours. Mother Earth is definitely showing that climate change is real, and it's happening Now. At any rate, it was almost balmy in February. If I had been working on the farm, the weather would have been welcome. 

Then March came along. 

On the 4th, I was driving to a FedEx location so I could get a package returned. I was a little turned around and figured I would find the next area with enough room to get turned around and go back again. I saw a rabbit who had decided to sit on the pavement. Slowing down I waited to see what it was going to do. Usually they either make a decision to go back, or do the ‘death dash’ at the last minute. Apparently, this one was undecided and just sat there. I had slowed down a little waiting to see what was going to happen. The stupid rabbit hopped right into my side of the road! By then I couldn’t get stopped enough to not squish him. I swerved to my right and all hell broke loose. BAM!!!  I hit something hard and solid, airbags deployed and I couldn’t see anything. I felt my little VW spinning and I prayed for it all to stop. I did see the windshield cracking like a lightning bolt across from the right. And then things went quiet and still. I got out to see what happened and don’t you know, that flipping rabbit was nowhere to be seen. I did see the electric pole we had broken through. But my dear little car!! The whole right front fender back to the passenger side door was destroyed. Its poor front wheel was all but separated from the car. I remember thinking that I ought to move my car off the road so I got back in and pushed the start button. She started right away.  We sort of limped off the road onto the driveway that was close by. One thing for sure, we were not going to get far had we wanted to make a getaway. Not that I would have anyway but we were out of trouble at least. All of the people that were in the houses were out there and I was almost in tears. My beautiful little car! There was no way it would ever get repaired. I knew that it would be totaled. The police came, took a look at my vehicle, asked me questions about what happened and I realized that I was not hurt. He kept saying that I was very lucky that I hadn’t been injured.  Like before when I would have had a nasty fall from a horse, going over a jump, or simply being unseated the first thing I thought of was my horse. It didn’t matter that I could barely stand up -how was my horse?  I guess that was when the shock hit me because I was shaking inside pretty badly. No, I didn’t need to go to the hospital, I just wanted to reverse time about half an hour. My roommate got lost coming to pick me up and couldn’t find where the location was so one of the other police drove me home. I had to watch the tow truck haul my car away and more tears were shed. It was truly a tragic day. 

 About a month prior I had gotten up to head to the bathroom in the middle of the night and was not awake. I lost my balance and fell backward. Landed on my butt( which was well-padded) and slammed the back of my head on the floor.  This created a mild concussion. Whew, if that was a mild one, I would hate to have a serious one. Still, the dizziness hits me if I get up too fast. Not to mention my bum hurt for a few weeks afterward. Youch. 

On the Wednesday right after the wreck, my roommate had driven to where my SUV was parked to get the things out of it. I was carrying a cardboard box, forgot that there was a curb step down, and Wham.  Free fall/ nose dive. Smack, on concrete.  My nose began bleeding like crazy and all I could think was that I hoped I hadn’t broken it. After 5 stupid hours of waiting to see a doctor and getting an ex-rays / CAT scan, it was determined that my head wasn’t cracked but basically, my nose was broken. Oh, Joy. 

So far I had no idea what was going to happen as I had never been in a wreck before. No car, my face looked like something from a horror movie and I unraveled right into depression.  My  SUV was totaled and I got a new-to-me Escape. It is nice enough but not like my Tiguan. I loved the little one.  This one is bigger, has more energy, a little better gas mileage, and a bit more room but…. My Tiguan was completely paid for and was the only thing that gave me freedom.

                                                        Josie right afterwards 

😥😢😭🥺

The new to me is Escape.

Lower mileage but a year older. It's in lovely shape, 

but it is not all mine. 

In time I  suppose I will learn to enjoy driving it, but so far? Ehhhh.

But wait!!

 There's more.

  A couple of weeks after I was carrying some groceries to the house. I had on a pair of slip-on shoes and as I went to step up a step, one slipped off. Yep, down I went Again. This time I heard that nose crack. Another awful nosebleed and luckily not as much damage. Last time I had two black eyes and my whole face felt swollen. This time, just a little bruise. 

At this point, I’m almost scared to do anything for fear of hitting the ground again. Needless to say, I’m done with awful things happening to me. 

Good things: 

I have had an interview with a bus company that is ready to hire me as a van driver. The day before the interview, I got a call from a pet rescue/ boarding place 15-20 minutes from here. An interview is scheduled for Tuesday  I’m happy to finally have some way to make some desperately needed money.  I lived on my credit cards and it’s well past the time to get them paid off.

Stay tuned on the above.👆 

That’s been my year so far! I hope everyone reading this has had a Much Better year so far.

A belated happy Easter holiday and  I don’t know about you but I am looking forward to some happier times this Spring.

🩵🐥🪻🐣🙋‍♀️👩‍🦳🐰🐇🤦‍♀️🩵

Happy New Year!

A day or two late… 

Since I have been forced to enter the realm of people more than horses, life has changed. Being able to observe them easily, I think they are fascinating. I spent a lifetime studying horses and ignoring humans…but they are even more fascinating to watch. Sit in an airport and just look around, you’ll see what I mean. 

Told you that so I could tell you this… I decided to not to continue seeing the guy that I had met. As I got to know him better, I realized that he was a little more troubled than I wanted to deal with. We parted ways a few weeks ago. He was very wrong for me. This is why I have never been one of those women who go around professing their love to people after knowing them for a few months.  That’s lust or desperation to me. Nah, I enjoy being with those special to me and observing. He checked off most of the boxes in my ‘ want’ list, but as I got to know him more, he was not willing to give me any time.  That, among other things, made me feel like I was marching in place. A relationship has to move forward, or it stagnates, in my opinion. So we parted ways, and after a few days, I realized that I wasn’t into him as much as I thought. And that it was okay., 

I was laid off from work and am trying to get through to April without finding a job. This is the first year I have ever dealt with seasonal work. My carriage business was available until the new year kicked in, and usually it was nasty weather from then until Spring. Finances are tight but they have always been. I have a small business going, well, almost going, on Facebook. Miscellaneous hand-painted rocks, some suncatchers, etc.  A couple of nice photographs of mine and some other prints by some of my favorite artists. If you’re interested and a part of Fb, the page is ‘Winter Wytch Designs ‘. I’ve done a few custom orders, and they were great fun. 

Those are a few. 😇

In the meantime, I have met another man who is into horses. This is the second time I have dated another horse person, so we will see. He’s very nice.. a good sense of humor, and is smart. He’s supposedly retired, but he is still working every so often. He checks in every evening, and we have a lot of different things to talk about. He knows a bunch about horses and loves the ones who are there now. 

 All in all, the new year has been a good one. Only a week into it! 👍👍Stay tuned as we learn more about each other.

Oh! IT IS SNOWING!!  The first snow of the winter. Here are a few photos of the city in the snow. I much prefer a country setting, but it is what it is. I have learned how to use the iPad to take photos 😁😁

Have a  wonderful  weekend 🩵🩵