Wednesday 7 January 2009

Oooops missed a day already. Sorry but I am back, it will be a shortish post.

One of the new blogs that I found recently and which is sure worth a visit SA Photographs - Joan posted some photos of the monarch butterfly in the southern hemisphere. They are actually very different to the ones here in the northern hemisphere, at least in this part of the USA. So I wanted to show her what ours look like. The only part of their life cycle that I havent photographed in the Pupae stage because I have never been able to find one, this summer I am planning on making some sort of enclosure so that I can see and photograph them as I believe they are very beautiful, green with gold dots around it. I see plenty of the caterpillars but I have no idea where they dissappear to to form the crysallis and I have been hunting for a few years now LOL. The milkweed plant that they feed on makes them unpalatable and poisonous to predators which is their defence mechanism. There are very few insects that will feed on milkweed.

There is a similar butterfly to the USA variety and it is a King butterfly or something I cant remember exactly will have to do a bit of research. They are exactly the same except they have a black line diagonally across their rear wings which the monarch doesnt. I have a photo of one of those somewhere too, will see if I can find it.

Had a cold snowy windy day today and I stayed curled up inside crocheting, andyone care to place an order for a poncho LOL. Cyndie received hers yesterday and seems very pleased with it, my only worry was that it was long enough because she is pretty tall. She is going to have a photo taken while she is wearing it and if it is okay with her I will share it here when she does. I am really finding the crochet theraputic and relaxing.

Hope everyone is having a good week, ours started off lousy weatherwise but I suppose I am going to have to get used to that if I want to live here LOL. ((((((Hugs))))))

Lori

xx

Sunday 4th January 2009

I hope everyone had a good weekend, we had a misty rainy but rather warm day 40sF but I didnt spend much time outside. The horses couldn't get out today because that bit of a warm up and the rain is just enough for it to get real slippery on the clay and tear what is left of the pature up, so this is a picture of everyone's favorite filly BB (IMA Blue Dudette) when she got out yesterday. She was very happy LOL.

I promised to post a picture of Deb with her poncho that I posted a pic of the other day. I made a beanie cap to go with it but ran out of the multicolored wool so ended it with a fold up in yellow. I reckon it will keep her warm and I think she was pleased with it.

Nothing much else to report, this weather is crazy. Adam can't feed the horses tomorrow morning so I am going to do that for the first time in a while. The barn is suffering from the cold weather and indability to get dried out like it does every winter but we are trying to keep on top of it. Every chance I get I put all the horses out.

Hope you all had a great weekend. ((((((Hugs))))))) to everyone who needs them, Julie I hope you had a better day today, MiKael I am jealous of your snow, yes I will admit I love the snow, just not the extreme cold and wind and you dont need it to be extreme cold to snow so hopefully we will have at least one good snowfall before the end of winter.

See y'all tomorrow.

Lori

xx

Thursday 18 December 2008

I finally finished a crocheted poncho that I started 2 years ago!!!!! I havent touched it for years and then decided I needed to keep my hands busy while watching TV and because I get anxiety attacks and this helps to calm me. So here is the finished product, she wanted something bright with a sort of African theme and this was as close as I could get.

(Click picture to enlarge)

Stan has been working in the area the past few days and as he passes the house every day decided yesterday to come and visit my baby horse Goldy. He had managed to get the halter and lead rope on her, she is a touchy and strong little thing and I wasn't getting very far with her. This is just a snapshot taken today of them, she is doing so well I am so pleased with her and am indebted to Stan for his time, he has three horses that we have bred and loves working with the babies so they hit it off immediately.

You can see from this pic that we have a lot of ice, the snow has all blown away and all of the white is our drive which is like an ice skating rink and you have to be really careful when you are walking outside. Expecting freezing rain snow and rain today through the next few days, so we are in for a marathon of bad weather.

Hope everyone is having a good week and hopefully we will survive the dreadful weather this weekend. ((((Hugs))))

Lori

xx