Wild West

His name is Wild West.  You can imagine a beautiful

white stallion running across the desert (or across the plains, really it doesn't 

matter).  He is every little horse girl's dream come true.  They have a magic

bond which no one can understand.  Usually there is no magical
white stallion.  But there are special ponies and horses out there
that are every little (and not so little) horse girl's dream.

To give an illustration, I go to Happy and her pony Wild West.
I literally think that he thinks that little girl saved him.  You will
see why if you finish this story.  She can grab him by the mane and lead
him anywhere.  He will pick up all four hooves for her, but stand
firmly rooted for me. She rides him and though she's a beginner,
he is perfect for her.

Unfortunately, she is starting to outgrow him.  She is adamant, however

that we are not going to let him go to another little girl.

Instead she wants a harness and cart so she can keep him 

forever.  Personally I'm on her side.  Even though he won't have anything

to do with me, I like the fat turkey. He's come a long way

since we got him.  Not bad for $75.00 plus a little gas

(Thanks Summer!)

On a side note, beware of "rescues".  If all of your dogs and horses

are skinny, patchy from lice and mange, limping, and being bred because

he/she is so "pretty" you are not dealing with a rescue.

I would have left him there, because I didn't think he would make the

trip home.  But my non-horsey husband insisted we get him. We

had his feet done, gave him groceries, got a good worming,

 and scrubbed him twice a week until the lice was gone.

Meanwhile Happy was down at the "seclusion pen", sneaking him carrots and apples.

I'm glad we got him.

Auburn versus Texas A&M

On Friday, Happy and I went to the Auburn University and

Texas A and M equestrian meet, held at the Auburn University Horse Center.

It's got beautiful arenas and is just across from where I used to work,

AU College of Veterinary Medicine, in the Equine Repro Unit.  It is a state of the art

 facility, and very well laid out.  They are on either part of Wire Road, and 

I lived down the road from the facilities, so I passed them constantly

But back to the subject.  We went to the equestrian meet, and enjoyed

ourselves.  There was English and western equitation, as well

as over fences and western riding.

My favorite jump!

I didn't get as much  western riding as I would have liked to
get, because the arena was kind of dark.

Slightly blurry, but this is the shirt she got.

All in all it was a great amount of fun.  We looked at pretty horses

and some excellent riders.  There were also inflatables, pony rides, 

kids crafts, and "gimmes". It was all free.  If you are around Auburn, look

 up the Athletics page.  It has the date of meets and times they start.  

P.S.  #4 ranked Auburn beat #9 ranked Aggies!

War Eagle!

My Little Project

As I mentioned the other day, my husband and son shot a coyote. It had 

beautifully colored, thick pelt on it.I couldn't let it go to waste, 

so we skinned it, and I defleshed and salted it.

This morning I rinsed it out good, and dried it.  This afternoon, I oiled it

and stretched the skin.  I am hoping it comes out okay with this method.

As of right now the hide side is butter soft. Tomorrow, if it is nice, I will work

it again and oil it again. Then I will sew up the holes in the skin with 

dental floss. I am debating on whether or not to line the pelt with satin,

or to leave it unlined. Or I might send the husband for a couple

more, so I can make a coyote fur vest.  Then I would be rednecked

up whenever I went somewhere!

Drying out the fur.  The left side was the head side, and
it has that beautiful ruff.  The right side would be the back
end, and it is still wet in this photo, so it's not fluffy.

November Hunting

Hunting season is already upon us.  Hunting is very important to

our family.  Not only does it bring in food for us, we cull our area

so it does get overcrowded with deer.  We also use hunting as

a bonding time for our family.

We usually hunt deer, but that season is still a little ways off, 

so today my husband and Rooster went squirrel hunting.  They bagged two

which really is not a enough for a meal.  So I froze it and I am patiently waiting for

more to come along. They had gone hunting yesterday, 

and shot a young coyote instead of any squirrels.  His pelt 

was beautiful.  But don't worry about a waste. Even a coyote

has a use at our house.  I fleshed it out and it is waiting to be turned into a fur.

Rooster with his two squirrels.

Halloween

Today we had fun at the downtown Auburn trick or treating.

Tonight I just went with Happy and Nana (my husband's mother)

We had a blast, even though Rooster didn't make an appearance.

I think he is starting to think he is to old for these things.

So here come some pictures of Happy.  See if you can guess who she is!

Happy and Anna.

Happy and a guy from dressed as Game of Thrones character

Happy with someone (and some bird) from the
Raptor Rehabilitation Center

Happy with another Game of Thrones character and
his super sweet (and huge ) wolfhound.

Happy and Elsa.

I'm sure most people by now is thinking of Merida from the movie Brave.

But she is actually Tauriel from the movie The Hobbit.

The highlight for her was not the candy or cool costumes.
The biggest thrill she got was meeting the Auburn Equestrian Team
and getting a signed poster.

Pee Wee Football

Peewee football season is finally winding down.
I am so glad it is over.
Don't get me wrong, I love football, especially
when my son is playing.  But by this time of the season
I'm tired of going to practices which last until dark-thirty.
I also get worried for the players.  They play two,
sometimes three, games a week.  These boys play rough
hitting football too, not flag football.

Rooster getting buttoned up for a game. 

Rooster had injured his hand during the previous game.  We took

him to the doctor to have x-rays done. Luckily it was just a

sprain.  When the doctor told him no more football, Rooster 

told him "You have to let me play.  The team depends on me"

This boy has some heart.  The doctor finally agreed to let

him play as long as we wrapped it tight.

That's Rooster blocking #13.  That child was as tall as me!

Unfortunately, there were some other injuries.  One player

on our team hurt his knee, enough to keep him out of the 

rest of season.  Another boy on one another team badly 

broke his arm.

Another shot of him blocking #13.

This is him blocking #12 and #13.  Rooster is one tough cookie.

We have had one heck of a tough season, and we still

have one game left.  As long as there are no more injuries,

I'll be happy.  Then it starts all over next fall.

Jack Of All Crafts

I'm the kind of person who starts many things and finishes none of them.

As a result, I have a lot of unfinished crafts just sitting around.  I mean a lot.

I have : two unfinished quilt tops, two finished quilt tops with no backing, 

two quilts with backing and no binding (this is starting to sound like a quilt ark),

three cross stitch pieces (I had four, but I finished one two years ago, and framed 

it last year), two felt piece works, a shirt and an apron cut out but not

sewn, a rag rug only half way done (I have an excuse for that one - I ran out

of scrap material), feed sacks waiting to be up-cycled into shopping 

bags, and I'm sure I missed some things.

I am the jack of all crafts, master of none.

This is a picture of Starbuck Sadie. She was
foaled in the mid 80's, so I don't think
she was named after the coffee shop.

Deciding I do not have enough on my plate,

I added on painting.  And not just one kind.

I started watercolors, acrylics and oils simultaneously.

It seemed like a good idea at the time.  After all, I can draw.

Unfortunately, I am the same with painting as I am with 

crafting.  I have canvas boards and watercolor paper with

sketches on them all over the house.  Despite my shortcomings,
I have finished a few.

This is one of my first watercolors.
The colors are kind of funny looking,
blame it on my scanner.  The real picture
is not so blah.

Not bad but not good.  If anyone has any constructive
criticism for me, feel free to leave a comment.

Lilmisssteelmagnolia

I've gone over my two children, and have skipped my husband

 entirely to go to my favorite horse.

Her registered name is Lilmisssteelmagnolia 

but that is a mouthful.

Instead, she is Maggie.  

Maggie 

I did the "art work" from a computer program.

It's pretty I think,  and I might try it again on another equine (or caprine)

on this place.  Maybe soon I will post some real artwork of mine. 

Does anyone who reads this blog like it? 

 That raises another question: does anyone actually look at my blog?

Some Things About Happy

The last post was about football, and how much I loved it.

I put plenty of pictures of Rooster playing, but I didn't have one 

picture of my daughter, "Happy"

She plays spring and summer sports.  As a result there are no fall pictures.

To make up for that, here she is with two of her favorites:

Softball and Horses.

Happy playing outfield, 7 years old.  She was #5.

Getting ready to run, 8 years old.  She was #5 again.

Her pony, Wild West.  We bought a starving, overgrown
hooves, lice infested, full of worms pony.
We took care of his issues.
Now that little pony is worth his weight in gold.

Wild West the day we bought him. It was in May.
He has come a long way since then. 

Believe it or not, this is the same pony posted a few days back.
More on his back story to come.

Football, Oh How I Love Thee

The other day I wrote some of things about fall that I love, like fuzzy animals, changing leaves, the right temperature.  I did not however, list the most important thing about fall that I love. Here it is:

Football!

I am a die hard Auburn University fan.  I mean if you cut me I would bleed orange and blue.  The only problem I have is with my husband, who is a die hard University of Alabama fan.  Things kind of get tense at our house around the middle of November.

Why you ask? Two words.

Iron Bowl

If you you are from Alabama, as in born and bred,  you usually pick one or the other.  It can be  inherited.  If the parents are Auburn fans, then their offspring turnout to be Auburn fans.  If the parents are Alabama fans, then the offspring turnout to be Alabama fans (and the dog gets named Bear, but don't get me started with that).  Sometimes it gets skewed such as when a Bama fan gets a scholarship to Auburn.  This leads to bumper sticks such as Roll Tide on one side and My Child and Money Go To Auburn on the other.  Sometimes you get fair weather fans who switch back and forth to the winning team.  Neither team likes to claim them.

First year playing football at age 8!

But my favorite is youth football.  My son  (who shall be called Rooster for this blog) plays football and has for three years.

#50 and a friend playing the on the line.

Rooster playing his second year at age 9!

#66 on the line and ready to go.

Rooster playing his third year at age 10!

#78 in the huddle.  This year he was a lot bigger! He ended
up playing both sides of the ball.

Fall Is Here!

It is a glorious time of the year for me.  Comfortable days and nights,  opening doors and windows instead of turning on the heater or air conditioner. Vegetables and fruit are picked, and the rush of canning, pickling, and freezing food is over.  It sure beats the other times of the year.  That is: rain coming down in 34 degree weather season (winter), boot sucking off in the mud season (spring), and the I grew up here but why did I stay in the South season (summer).  In the fall, all the critters start to get fuzzy coats.  Even some of the chickens will molt!  

Goldie the Goat is starting to 

to fuzz up, but she has nothing

compared to the ponies!

Wild West sporting a new fall coat!

The other thing I love is the leaves changing colors.  We have a multitude of different tree types on the property: sweet gums, poplars, dogwoods, elm, maples, and several types of oaks.  All of them seem to turn a different color at different times, and the result is spectacular.

The red berries that grow wild.
The birds seem to enjoy them.

Maple leaves in a variety of hues.

A twist of trees.  Who knows what kind
they are.  I'm guessing old cedars.  

About Me

This is my first post and I'd like to share some of things about me.
1.

This is me and my husband, 12 years ago.  We still hold hands and tickle each other.

2. I enjoy turning the above into the below.

3. I homeschool, and yes before you ask, they are well socialized

 4. I enjoy taking pictures of unusual places or things

5.  I live in East Central Alabama, which explains the writing on the barrel.  Why did I take a picture of it, you ask? See # 4.

5. "Happy"

6.  "Rooster"

7.  Horses - I have them and I take a lot of pictures of them, (even Breyer horses).

8.  Goats - they are the cutest babies, and I take a lot of pictures of them as well.