30 November 2007

Believe it or not the first two pictures above are of Taxes (7 months old!!!!) taken a few days ago. Snap shots I am afraid, it has been cold and windy the past few days and wet the days before so they arent too crazy about getting outside. The second one his head looks a bit big because of the wider angle lens I used as I was quite close to him. He is still a brat and I am still threatening to tie a road map to his neck and send him down I70 in Mike's direction!!!!!! LOL
This shot is from yesterday evening. The three boys were having a rough and tumble in the new enclosure and were running around the outside of what is left of the roundpen and jumping up on each other mock fighting.

Our helper has been coming over all week and he and Larry have been getting all the stuff fixed in the barns. It sure has helped me as I have been able to concentrate on cleaning stables and getting ready for the horses to all be spending more time inside.

Nothing too exciting to report from this end of the world except that it has been really cold and windy the past two days. I can handle the cold but when it is windy too it is dreadful LOL.

Hope everyone has a great weekend. (((((Hugs)))))) and welcome to my new blog visitors.

Lori
xx

27 November 2007

I always find it hard at this time of the year to keep motivated especially when the dull weather, short days and cold really set in, so I have been absent for a while but am back for the moment LOL.

On one of my regular blogging buddies' blog, MiKaels Mania (the link is on the right side in my favorites), we have been discussing submissive behaviour and different responses in horses and two of them have been what some of us call "foal mouth" which is when the foal stretches its head and neck out towards an older horse, pulls the corners of its mouth and tongue back and makes a sort of chewing motion. The other is called the Flehmen Response, which is a response to a smell that I horse may encounter which causes them to curl their top lip up, one explanation is that doing this heightens their ability to smell whatever it is that has caught their attention.

Here are two pictures of these things happening. The first one is of Eb doing the foal mouth thing with Wiggle when he was still a baby, and the other is of Blue when he found something interesting to smell out in the pasture after the mares had been there before him LOL.

Not much happening, just getting through each day one at a time at the moment. Yesterday was dreadful, cold, gray and wet, we had another inch of rain. Taxes is not feeling well today, I am not sure if it is him going down with something or just depression. Yes horses do get depressed and with the weather and them being inside more because of it they feel down and go off their food. I am hoping that it is just that because I will take him out for a walk tomorrow and that will hopefully perk him up, but if he is getting ill that is a whole other ball game.

Not many photo ops the past week or so with the mud and cold. Hope you are all well. ((((Hugs))))

Lori
xx

23 November 2007

Huggy Cat on the new fence

L-R : Wiggle, Cayenne, Lori, BB & Girl Sonny

Cayenne, Wiggle and BB (these three were born the same year)

Dee and Dawn, two of the yearling fillies.

After a couple of very soggy days and a pretty cold one yesterday, dank and dreary, we had a beautiful day filled with mostly sunshine today, with some periods of cloudy weather but in general it was cold but pleasant.



I fed the starving masses and then put them out in the fields and they were very happy to be out in the fresh air. The one new spicket (water hydrant) that I had replaced in the main barn had started leaking during the night and I got into a barn under water this morning, just what I needed with the cold and no chance of it drying very easily. I baled water, threw down sawdust to soak up the remaining water and managed to make an adjustment to the faucet which seems to have solved the problem, we will see tomorrow morning!!!! I also managed to get five stables cleaned and filled with sawdust, will get the remaining 8 tomorrow. We also had some snow last night so there was a nice dusting on the ground this morning, makes everything look so clean until it melts and turns to mud LOL.



The pictures today are a few that I took this morning, had to get the kitty one in for Catblogging Friday. This is Huggy Cat on the new fence next to the electric tape. Good thing he didnt zap himself. Muddy horses LOL I love muddy horses.

Hope you all have a great weekend and are recovering from Thanksgiving dinners. ((((Hugs)))) to you all.

Lori
xx

22 November 2007

Happy Turkey Day!!!! This is not a traditional holiday where I come from but is a big thing here in the USA and after eating yourself to death on Thanksgiving Day all the big stores have huge sales starting at sometimes 5am the next morning which are attended by thousands. I, personally, give them a miss, I am not a morning person and certainly cant justify getting up that early in the morning in the cold (it is going to be in the low 20s tonight, had a bit of snow this evening) to do battle with the crowds LOL.

Larry and I had a quiet day, his sister joined us for lunch and I made a small Turkey breast (6 lbs LOL) and some vegies and salads and an apple pie and we had a nice lunch and then I made the mistake of laying down and that was the end of the day!!! Nice to relax even though I still had to feed horses, and we didnt get any help from the Home Health Agency today so I gave Larry his quick bath and got him up. I think this is only the second Thanksgiving that he has been able to get up for in the past 6 and a half years, so it was nice to be able to sit at a table and have a meal.

Today's pictures are a few I have been working on for a young lady at one of the shows this year. She wanted some casual shots with her mare for her Senior pictures (wallet size) to hand out to her friends as she graduates next year. These were two of the ones she chose. Larry is also making a collage with 7 of the pictures on it to be printed 12" x 18" which is looking lovely.

I had a great giggle today on my friend MiKael's blog and would recommend it as good reading for anyone wondering about the affliction which we have called horse fever LOL. I am going to give you a link to "Blog Village" as she is in the running for a ranking for her blog and if you click on this link

http://blogvillage.gotop100.com/in.php?ref=471

go to the bottom of the page and click on the button "Click here to enter Blog Village", you will find her ranked at 4th at the moment. Her blog is called MiKael's Mania - Arabian Horses. If you click on the name of her blog you can read her latest post which will, I am sure, make you giggle LOL, and perhaps make some of you understand my affliction, then if you click on the button the right on the Blog Village ranking page "Rate this site" you can give her a ranking and leave your name and a comment if you would like. I really recommend reading this and in fact all of her stories, she is a master story teller and for any horse enthusiast is a mine of information. She is very passionate about her horses.

Well that is about it for today folks. Hope you all had a great day. ((((Hugs))))))

Lori

xx

21 November 2007

This has been a very trying year for me on a whole lot of levels and I am going through a phase of my lost childhood and family possessions, birthright and I have been feeling a bit like a nomad. Growing up in a warzone has had its effect on me and this past week it has been at the forefront of my mind. I am still struggling with the animal abuse problems and now this so I am sorry I havent been very good company. I will try to elaborate at a later time so that some of you may try to understand where I am coming from.

Today's pictures were taken yesterday when I put the 4 mares that have been down the road, in with the horses that have been here. It is always quite a stressful ordeal because when you get a routine in place for the horses it is good to stick to it as they are herd animals and have their pecking order and like to keep it with as little disruption, it also makes it far easier to handle so many horses for one person. I put Cat and Piglette (the B&W and the Black mares) in the field with the three yearling fillies. The fillies really need to get used to sharing with other horses because they have only been the three of them and before that their other 4 siblings. It went really well, Cat and Piglette ran up and down full tilt and because they remembered the field knew where the boundaries and fences are already, just needed a refresher. I put Wiggle and BB in the other field with Dosie, Girl Sonny, Cayenne and Lori. That also went really well and they settled down quickly.

Wiggle loves to roll, and as can be seen, that was one of the first things she did, after finding the muddiest spot of course LOL. Above she and Girl Sonny are feeling each other out and doing their squealing thing.
The picture below has 10 of the 11 horses out in the 2 fields in the picture. The ony one missing was Dosie who was off to the left finding things to nibble on and not too phased by all of the goings on.
Taxes had his first day out in the new enclosure yesterday. He stuck close to the barn and we didnt leave him out on his own for this first time but he did discover the electric tape so knows that it is there now and treats it with respect. I will supervise his first few excursions while he is learning where everything is, then I will be able to leave him out unsupervised.

I didnt take photos of the mares when I put them out and they were running or Taxes because I am normally more worried that there wont be a wreck than a photo op.

It has been raining all day, we have had an inch so far but has been really warm, upper 50s but tomorrow we are expecting a drop into the 30s yuk, so it has been a dull grey wet day all day. The horses are all in their new pens and stables and seem to be content and dry.

I need to go and feed the last round to all the horses right now so am going to publish this, may add to it later. Mike mentioned Victoria Falls Hotel which is in Zimbabwe and I thought I might elaborate on that beautiful place. I have a few photos that my daughter took but will have to find them.

(((((Hugs)))))) to you all.

Lori
xx

18 November 2007

Another of my winter sidelighting pictures. I hope I havent posted this before, but I had it entered in a Challenge on DP Challenge so wasnt able to use it at the time until the voting was over. This is a link to this site, it is fun at times and frustrating as well LOL but sometimes it gets me inspired to shoot something as they give you a subject and you have to shoot something to fit during that week. They dont allow a lot of digital editing either which keeps it interesting http://dpchallenge.com/portfolio.php?USER_ID=40386&collection_id=1 . This is Mike's buddy Taxes.

I went and fetched the girls from down the road this evening with a friend of ours, Stan, who owns two of our horses and they all loaded into the trailer like little angels but not before Cat (the B&W) and Piglette (the black) tried to avoid us by heading to the far corner of the pasture when they saw the halters LOL. We got Wiggle and BB loaded and the other two started running circles around the pasture, kicking and bucking and having a great old time LOL. I think they knew they were going home to stables but I enticed them with oats and they let us catch them and load them up.

I still havent got the temporary stalls built but am hoping that Paul, the chap that has been helping out will be over tomorrow afternoon to help me do it, so they are in spare stalls tonight as the other mares are outside still. it is cold but not below freezing so they are coping well out there and I may as well take advantage of it while I can because it wont last long before the temps plummet. Now my problem is to figure out who can be turned out with who during the day without causing a riot and upsetting the heirarchy. Believe it or not, there is one Boss mare in a herd and she has more authority than the stallion. She runs the herd not him. I have a few mares who like to think they are Boss Mare and they just have to get the pecking order sorted out.

Wiggle is so glad to be home, she is already playing with me and being a total brat. Hand raising her has made her a handful LOL. I cant wait to put a saddle on her now that she has picked up her weight, and see how she behaves.

Hopefully I will be able to use this pasture next year again, it has been a godsend not having to worry about the four of them.

Well that is it for today, tomorrow is another one and it has 1000 things to be done. I have a few online orders for business cards, trading cards, a collage made up of 7 pictures I shot and a few prints so the internet orders are starting to work.

(((((Hugs))))) to you all.

Lori
xx

15 November 2007

Not an exciting pic today and no horses, it was VERY cold today, wind chill in the low 30s and it was pretty windy. We will finish building the stables tomorrow for the mares and hopefully I can get hold of a friend of ours who has a horse trailer and he will be able to help us bring them home. We are expecting a low of 26 tonight so I feel a bit bad because there is no real shelter there for them. There are a few buildings which they can stand behind to get out of the wind but that is it.

Larry suggested using the panels from the roundpen that we needed and making the balance of them into a smaller roundpen so we at least had some type of enclosure if we needed it. So we now have a 30.5 foot diameter roundpen LOL. It used to be 60 foot diameter.

I think I am winning the battle in the house and the barn against the rats and mice. Yuk I hate it, I dont like killing things but they were being very destructive and it was becoming a problem.

The picture today is of the seed pods of the milkweed plant. This will be one in my series of this plant and the monarch butterflies, their caterpillars and the milkweed bugs which all survive on this plant. The only shot I need now is one of the crysallis, I have not been able to find one despite checking the plants and surrounds regularly this year. We didnt have so many caterpillars this year because of the lack of rain so maybe I will get that next summer.

That is it for today, hope everyone is keeping warm, ((((Hugs)))))

Lori
xx

14 November 2007

I have missed a few days again so I am going to post a bunch of photos I took yesterday. It has been raining here and we had one and a half inches over the past two days which was very welcome. The first two pictures are again dedicated to Mike who was doing a series on porches which were fabulous. I saw this yesterday, it is one of the houses on our lane and the red bush looked wonderful and I thought it would make a good addition to this normally mundane porch.



This is a photo of Girl Sonny, she is the mother of Taxes, Lori, Cookie and Dudette. She will be 18 years old in January and has given us some of our best foals, not a lot of spots on them other than Lori, but great minded, well put together foals nonetheless.
I snapped this a few evenings ago, it was pretty dark already so it is not a great picture, but it shows the four girls down the road, all nice and muddy from rolling after the rain. They were waiting for me at the gate to get their grain and I have started giving them a bit of alfalfa hay too as the grazing is not that great now. I am hoping to get the temporary winter stalls built tomorrow and then we will be bringing them home. I am not relishing the thought of 17 stables to keep clean, I have got off lightly this summer because I have been able to have most of the horses out 24 7 because of the lack of rain which meant no mud to deal with.
Abraham commented on the last picture I posted on the blue background. That is a bit that you can see, I am not sure what type it is because there are so many LOL. Here in the USA the western style of riding can be really ornate, not in the working type horses but in the western pleasure, trail and halter classes. They have a lot of silver and bling on their clothing, bridles and saddles. The bridle on this horse has only one loop over the one ear if I remember correctly, very unusual I was quite fascinated when I first got over there and saw all the different tack. Just visit a website like http://www.smithbrothers.com/ and you will see the variety of tack and clothing (I hope that link works, will check it after I publish this).

Taxes is doing really well, he is absolutely huge and still a brat of note!!!! I still havent had him in the great outdoors, he exercises in the bottom half of the barn and bounces around like a ball, jumping on his jolly ball and playing with the three yearlings outside on the other side of the gate. He is a beautiful colt, I adore him, just needs to be gelded so he loses that mouthy stuff which makes it hard to handle him sometimes. He is happy when he is holding the end of the lead rope in his mouth but until he has hold of it he is impossible LOL. I will try to get more pics of him soon. When I build the new stalls I wont have the bottom of the barn for Gee and Taxes to exercise in so I will have to get them used to the new enclosure outside, and pray that they will be sensible and not go crazy and run through something.

Other than that it has been a pretty dull few days. I have had a few more photos to edit and print and spent quite a few hours on doing that, my motivation is still not great but I am in good health and that is the main thing. ((((Hugs))))) to you all.

Lori
xx

11 November 2007

It has been a strange day today. I fed the horses this morning and then felt really bad, lay down and next thing I knew it was 2pm!!! Dont know what was up but I feel better now.

The picture is one I have been working on today for a lady who has ordered a print. The background again was lousy so Larry put him on a graduated blue background after I had cut him out. I am just waiting for the go ahead to print it as an 8"x10" print. So that was most of my afternoon, because by 4pm I had to start thinking about going down the road and feeding the mares and then the horses at home too.

We woke up to rain this morning, go figure, I get motivated to go and shoot photos of the elk and it rained all day, we have had virtually no rain for months!!!! LOL. I am not going to knock it thought it was pretty cold out too which made it miserable. I think we had over an inch by this evening, at 2pm it was sitting at an inch. Maybe tomorrow the weather will co-operate and I will get elk pictures, not sure when they lose their horns so am a bit anxious to get them while they still have them. I intend to speak to the owners first though to get permission to shoot them this time. I always feel strange peering through people's fences LOL like I am a peeping tom!! If they dont have a problem then I might be able to get baby pics when they have their babies in the spring!!! I am not going to have baby horses to shoot so maybe I can shoot baby elk!!

Well that is it for today. Welcome to all my new visitors, it is great to know you all and I will visit you all from time to time although I havent been that reliable lately LOL. I do appreciate your visits and time to comment. ((((Hugs))))) to you all. Strawberry Lane has a wonderful love of animals and way of writing, you must go and visit her blog, it will make you smile. Her link will be in my comments from yesterday's post.

Lori
xx

10 November 2007

I didn't post yesterday, it was a sad day for me with lots of sad memories. My Mom passed away at age 43 on this day 27 years ago and my first marriage ended in divorce on this day 23 years ago. Not a great date. What makes it harder is that I have no personal possessions or photos from my life prior to USA because it was just not possible to bring them all over, the costs are prohibitive. I lost a lot of my possessions from growing up when I left Zimbabwe at age 25 because we were not allowed to leave the country with anything other than our clothes and 500 Rand which is the South African currency. The government thought it would stop people leaving and taking money and possessions out of the country, whole nother story which I dont want to get into now. Then after 15 years in South Africa I put what I had collected into storage and headed to London. I tried to take some of my precious stuff there with me but was limited to what would fit into my luggage and stay within the weight limit. Needless to say most of it is still sitting there now and the friend who I had there and who moved to England with me has subsequently dissappeared and wont get into contact so I cant arrange to have the possessions in England at least, sent over here.

It sometimes feels very lonely here, no friends, family or familiar comforts and it is hard so this has been part of my dilemma on top of the situation with the horse market and other animals for that matter and the uncaring and cruel attitudes of a lot of the human race.

I am very grateful for my blogging buddies here, I really enjoy hearing from you and it feels like I have known you all forever, I hope that one day we can meet up in person. In the meantime I hope you will all carry on visiting and bear with me while I work throught this difficult confusing time. You are all in my thoughts every day.

Today's picture is one I shot back in February, I have already probably posted it around then but it was prompted today when I drove past the Elk farm which I thought had closed because a few months ago I went past and there was not an animal in sight. Today there were quite a few, still not as many as back then but there were a few with really beautiful sets of horns, not sure when they lose them, but of course I didnt have my camera so I am going to try to get photos of them tomorrow if the light is good. They are so majestic, when we drove past there was one male a few feet from the fence standing with his head in perfect light, it would have made a stunning image, I will have to keep that one etched in my mind as I have so many others that I missed catching on camera.

Sorry it is such a dreary post today, I will try to perk up and hopefully if I get some nice shots tomorrow I will be able to post them. ((((Hugs)))) to you all.

Lori

xx

8 November 2007

This will be a short one today, the day got away from me again and before I knew it darkness was falling and I still hadnt fed the horses and finished chores.

The picture today is of the 4 yearling fillies the other day when they saw the dog down the other end of the field. Lousy background but I liked their nice alert look LOL.

Beckz, thanks for your visit, I am still struggling with the issue of the horse abuse etc. but I am not as obsessed as I was a week or so ago, very troubling. But you are right I have to do my best to protect the ones I do have and not compromise their future, any more than that I cannot do other than to try to educate people on the subject.

Mike I know what you mean, I may have told you this but as a child my parents bought my bother and I a Brownie camera each and we used to go to the train station in our town which had a bridge across the rails to the other platforms. Those were the days of steam engines and we used to go and visit there and try to get pictures of the trains and their steam. I dont remember if we ever got anything significant or what happened to those photos LOL. My father worked as a fitter and turner and brass finisher on the railways most of his life so trains were very much a part of our life too. Our holidays were always by train (the place we always visited was a 2 and a half day trip by train). It was so exciting and we used to hang out of the windows looking at all sorts of stuff and just watch the world go by, only problem is that on a few occasions we got a small piece of coal in our eyes from the steam engine and once it had to be removed at a hospital.
Brings back so many memories.

Hope you all had a great day, ours was not too bad temp wise and we are expecting a slight warm up for the weekend still (Indian Summer) which will be nice. ((((Hugs)))) to you all.

Lori
xx

7 November 2007

My first picture is dedicated to Mike one of my regular blogging buddies. He has a passion for trains, (if you click on his name in one of my comments you can have a look see at his wonderful pictures, he is also linked in my list to the right - Mike Missouri) and as we live right next to a railway track I have decided I am going to let him be my inspiration and see if I can get some decent train shots. Periodically we have machines like this one and in all sorts of shapes and sizes that come down the track in a long procession. They are for the track maintenance and who knows what each one does but they are all orange and space themselves out enough to allow the booms to raise and lower between them crossing the roads so any cars can get through because there are sometimes 15 or 20 different ones in a row!!! They honk their horns the whole way too because they have to when they are crossing a road which is at the bottom of our property.
I spent part of the day up to my waist head first in a hole (4 and a half foot deep!), trying to replace a water spicket (outside faucet or tap for my english and european friends), the one that we did the other day that didnt work after we had installed it. Thank heavens this one did work and we checked it before we filled the hole up this time!!! We had someone redig the hole which I would never have managed and I did the rest with his hands as backup to pass me things and shine the flashlight. After doing that we had a huge pile of old wood and branches etc. that really needed to be burned, so I had a bonfire. It was much lighter out than the picture shows, I just increased the contrast and made it "pop" more. This one was with a slower shutter speed, 60th 400asa f22 (dont know why I used 400asa, forgot I had it there from some shots earlier inside), so the flames have sort of blurred nicely.
Huggy cat was sitting on one of the stumps that we were going to burn. He is always in the middle of everything and loves people. He has to have a paw in whatever you are doing LOL. I call him Huggy Cat because if you pick him up he will lay up against your chest with his front legs on either side of your neck and snuggling into your neck like he is hugging you.

Well that was my day finished, I didnt get a chance to do anything else, except watch a friend of ours at the AQHA World Show with his 3 year old stallion (live feed on the AQHA website). Unfortunately he didnt fare that well, a beautiful horse but not on top of his form today.

Abraham I look forward to seeing your horse pics. You arent that far from us but I bet you are nearer to a friend of ours who has welsh ponies, I will check on mapquest. Maybe I can find somewhere not far from you where they have lots of baby horses in the spring and you can go visit or even if we have snow. The moth on my other blog I shot with a 100mm 2.8 lens so had to be pretty close to it and it was very difficult because as you found out they move like lightening. I was hoping to get another chance but I never saw one again. You are also right about Taxes' leg looking good, if these leg wounds are not properly treated they can be awful with dreadful ugly scars and flesh bulging out which is called proud flesh. There are a lot of people who dont know how to treat leg wounds on a horse. I had 4 months of training with my other stallion when he cut his leg badly.

CG I am so glad that you are still visiting the stables despite the pain you are experiencing. Horses have an incredible healing effect on people.

That is my ramble for the day, thanks all for your visits (((((Hugs)))))

Lori
xx

6 November 2007

LOL I just realised that me saying that I made the pictures into my wallpaper, I meant the wallpaper on my desktop on my computer, just to clarify!

Today's picture is of Dee (with the white spots) and Dudette (Taxes' sister) out in the "pasture" a few days ago. Not much of a pasture at the moment but at least they are in the fresh air and not in a smelly stable breathing ammonia fumes which build up from their urine. Even keeping the stables as clean as I can you still get the fumes.

We woke up to 28F this morning and very windy, wind chill 20F. It was pretty cold all day and we are expecting a hard freeze tonight. We even had snow flurries this afternoon. Expecting a warmer weekend so that is something to look forward to.

I have made two new posts on my other blog which I have never really got going. One is a picture update of Taxes' leg and the other is of Hummingbird Clearwinged Moths, which Abraham has also had the good fortune to capture pictures of recently. Bear in mind these guys arent much more than an inch long and move like lightening, their wings are a blur. If you click on my Profile on the right it will give you a link to Lori's Critters.

Well that is my excitement for the day. ((((Hugs))) to you all and keep warm those of you in the northern hemisphere.

Lori

xx

5 November 2007

Happy 5th November to my British blogging buddies!!! Hope you got pics of lots of fireworks. Today's picture is me trying to think "outside the box". This is Dream's head across the backs and butts of Eb in the foreground and Blaze in the middle. My attempt at being artsy LOL. I find that a good test for my pictures to know if I really like them or not is to make them into my wallpaper and see how long they stay there before I find something to replace it with, so this is going to be my wallpaper for a while.

It is turning VERY cold today, lots of wind and we are expecting snow flurries in the next few days, oh boy it is hard to believe.

Nothing too exciting happened today except that I have mice and rats in the barn that are taking over the feed bins and my poor barn kitties can't keep up. I am having to take drastic measures I am afraid. The farmers are harvesting late this year because it has been so hot and dry for so long and we always end up with more rodents when they start harvesting (being out in the country). The mice come into the house too and unfortunately I have to put a stop to them quickly or they will chew everything they can get their teeth onto. So I think that I have freed the house from rodents now, hopefully, the barn will follow suit soon, I cant feed grain that has had mice pooping in it to my horses and it is very expensive at the moment!!!

See Y'all tomorrow, ((((Hugs))))

Lori
xx

4 November 2007

This is Dudette, she is the full sister of Taxes and is a year older than him. I was trying to get some up to date photos of the yearlings for ads and it was hard because I had to follow them round the field or just sit and wait until they put their heads up so I could get side shots of them. Of course they were never standing on level ground and on the few opportunities I got the sun was on the wrong side LOL. Anyway this is one of my favorites from today, even though she is standing oddly on her back legs and it is backlit. She was watching a dog that was running across the field, it had been chasing a groundhog by the railway tracks, then cross at the bottom of the field so they perked up for a few moments (of course I was not in the right place and by the time I was they had put their heads down to graze again!!).

Nothing much happening today, I was lazy and unmotivated as usual. I did clean two stables and top them up with sawdust though!!! I need to get them all squared up and cleaned and bedded because we are expecting snow flurries sometime from Tuesday onwards, can you believe it. Anyway I would like to be able to bring the mares in when it is really colt and miserable at night so I have to get them all ready.

Am working on my calendars for 2008, I know a few of my blogging buddies were asking about them, I will let you know when I have something to show you which I hope will be soon.

The Colts lost their Football game today, but it was a close one and pretty exciting, two very good teams and unfortunately the Patriots came out on top, especially after the colts lead in the second and third quarter and most of the fourth quarter too. Oh well.

Hope you all had a great weekend. ((((Hugs))))

Lori
xx

3 November 2007

It has been a difficult week and I am still not resolved on the last issue I posted about or if there is anything I can do about it. It is so frustrating. Thanks to all of you who visited and commented on my last post I appreciate it.

I have been sifting through some of my old photos, I have bought an external hard drive which I want to use to just save the original files of pictures that I think have any value as stock images or art. I am not sure where to start. I also am getting stuff together for the magazine that I have been submitting photos to. I have thousands and thousands of photos and if I ever get my negatives back there will be so many to go through there too. I really need to get it all together, get a DVD of my horse stock made up and distributed to the magazines I submit to with all the keywording etc. and hope to get that done this winter. The one above is one I shot a few years back and is a crop of a larger picture but I liked the shape of the mane when I saw her riding in the ring and zoomed in as much as possible but still had more in the frame than I wanted. I love all the different ways that they braid the manes here it can look so cool.

Well not much to report other than that. Finally finished my fence and it is working great and holding up so I am pleased and we have found someone to help with the replacing of the water spickets, only problem is one went in and worked perfectly straight off and of course we went ahead and put the other one in which was 4 foot down underground and a pain to dig down to and like dimwits we filled the hole back up before we tested it and guess what????? It doesnt work so we are going to have to dig up four foot of clay mud AGAIN!!!

Hope you are all having a good weekend. (((Hugs)))

Lori
xx