Wednesday 18 February 2009

Another quickie today, it has been overcast and raining lightly on and off all day. Everything is damp and we are still hovering around the freezing mark. I took this picture a few weeks ago from my kitchen window after we had about 6-8 inches the one night.

We had temps go as low as -18F and as a result had these long icicles hanging from the roof of the house. At sunset the one evening these ones were picking up the red/orange of the sunset and I tried to get behind them so that the color would be reflected nicely but there wasn't much room. I thought they were pretty anyway.

Thanks again to everyone for their well wishes and concern, I will address all of your questions soon (I hope). I am feeling a bit better today but the dreary day didn't help.

(((((Hugs)))))

Lori

xx

Monday 17 November 2008

We woke up to a snow covered deck this morning. It wasnt sticking to the ground because the recent rain and the ground is still a bit warm for it so it melts. It settles on the roofs and branches but that is about all. It snowed gently and sometimes quite hard all day and our temperature was just below freezing all day. The wind is what makes it unpleasant. I filled all the bird feeders today and the birds swarmed them. These little gold finches with their winter woolies made a feast of theirs, thistle seeds, and this is the most birds I have seen on the sock at one time. There are 5 here, one is slightly behind the other but there was a sixth at one stage. Of course the white streaks are the snow, the wind was blowing which makes it very cold out there.

Gonna make this a short one, after my last few posts I will give you all a break.

Lori

Wednesday Feb 27th 2008

I dont know if I have posted this photo before but it is one of my attempts at "fine art" using photographs. This is a picture of Dream's head looking over Eb and Blaze's back.

What y'all think???? Do you think there is hope for me still as a starving artist/photographer, horse lover LOL.
This second shot is from a farm shoot I did last year. I had to cut him out, he had a wooden fence and a red barn behind him, and put him on a new background. I think it worked pretty well and it printed as an 8"x10" really well.

Taxes' wound is coming along, it still looks awful but we are managing to keep it clean and it doesnt seem to be bothering him from a pain perspective at all. I still have no clue how he did this to himself, so it will remain a mystery. The only thing I can think of is that one of the colts on the other side of the bars kicked him, a lucky shot betweeen the bars, when they were playing.

I am still working on getting my stock photos together, catagorised and sent into the Agency. I have so many pictures and it is going to be a long never ending task. One of my projects I have set for myself is to get at least 5 done each day and so far I am keeping that up.

Had lots more snow again, not quite as bad as Chicago and north of us but it started melting yesterday and then froze into an icerink this morning.

Got another stable stripped today so we are making progress. Hope everyone is staying warm. ((((Hugs))))

Lori
xx

Another Cold February Day

I was sifting through some old shots again today and found this one. It is one I shot back in April/May last year while we were coming back from the hospital in Fort Wayne in the ambulance when Larry was commuting there. Thought it was a cute little church with the headstones/cemetry on the left side.

We woke up to 3 inches of light fluffy snow this morning and it snowed on and off all day sometimes quite heavy but not a great amount of accumulation. It is still very cold, in lower 20s for highs and will be for a week or so at least. February is usually the coldest month I believe so I suppose we will have to live with it. Tonight expecting freezing rain again, hope it doesnt reach us.

Eb has settled into his new home and has been introduced to the gelding they have who is his half brother and they are getting their pecking order sorted out but no problems thus far. I will go out and take some pics of them as soon as it warms up a bit, I only go outside if I absolutely have to LOL.

Well nothing exciting to report from this side of the world. Hope those in the grip of winter are keeping warm and those of you that are in the southern hemisphere are keeping cool.

(((HUGS)))

Lori

4 January 2008

A few more pictures from yesterday. This is Girl Sonny (Taxes' momma). She is 18 years old now and this is one of the first times I have seen her have such fun. She was bucking and ran around the whole field harassing all the other mares as she went.
This is Eb's (the B&W colt) momma, Cat, she is one of the mischievious ones and does very good rearing and cow hopping (jumping with all four feet off the ground at the same time) when she is fresh and happy. I believe she rides but have never ridden her, seeing some of her antics makes me a bit wary LOL, she is also quite a bix buxom mare.
Cat doing another Hi Ho Silver with Piglette in the background and the three fillies in the foreground. I wish I could have survived the cold a bit longer because they still had a bit of life in them but my fingers were freezing off by this stage LOL.
And last but not least, this is BB (Eb's sister and Cat's daughter) doing the all fours up thing like her momma does. Not the most attractive angle LOL but she was having such fun. That is Dosie (the gelding - Eb, Cayenne, Lori and Wiggles daddy) behind her. I love the shadow on this one LOL.
The contrast of the mud on their coats still and snow is quite strange. The day before these were taken it was just a muddy mess and they love to roll in the mud as much as they love to roll in the snow.

Still cold today but not as bad, around freezing and tomorrow it starts to warm up with 50s by Sunday. I am hoping for some friends to bring a few of their horses over (ones we sold to them, Dosie's babies) to give me some moral support so that I can start enjoying my horses and getting miles on them so I can go out on the trails safely.

Well that is about it for today. Hope everyone is staying warm, have a great weekend (((Hugs))))

Lori
xx

17 December 2007

It was very cold this morning, no more new snow but cold Brrr!!!

I didnt get the horses out today, the ground has finally frozen and is quite hard under the snow, yesterday it was still muddy under the snow and a thin layer of ice so I didnt have to worry about the horses slipping. I did get them out yesterday and took some pics of the yearling colts. You can still see the mud all over them from the last time they were out LOL. They havent rolled it off in the snow yet. Here is Dream having a nice gallop in the new enclosure. Mud and Snow looks kind of strange.

(Click on pictures to enlarge) Of course no photo shoot would be complete at the moment without Blaze and Eb being brats and biting each other, so here is Blaze biting Eb and then Eb biting Blaze LOL.

And last but not least another one of Dream with his ice blue eye.
I didnt get much done today, wasnt feeling so great, coupled with the cold it certainly wasnt a day that I wanted to spend outdoors any longer than I had to.

I also put Taxes out with Blaze for a while yesterday but didnt get any pictures. He is being so good with the brat considering all Taxes wants to do is jump on him and bite him. I will turn them out again tomorrow, I am glad that it is working out because he really needs to interact with other horses.

Well that is all folks, nothing exciting to report I am afraid. Hope everyone is keeping warm. See y'all tomorrow.

Lori

9 December 2007

It has been a miserable day today, hovering around freezing again all day and this morning until early afternoon we had freezing rain. I dont think we got as much as further south but it is bad enough, to walk around the property is like ice skating especially on the driveway where the snow had been packed down already by the cars, it is just like glass now. Started breaking up a bit this evening. Here are some pics of the ice covering the plants. Unfortunately the light was dull dull dull all day so I couldnt get any better shots, these are closeups and the focus isnt that great.
(Click on pics to enlarge)

So it was a pretty dull day. I tried to get a bit of stable cleaning done but the horses had to stay in today and probably will for the next few days and that makes the job just that much harder. Poor Taxes is looking depressed again this evening. The last time they all had to be in and he didnt get to let off steam for two days he just moped around, I was quite worried about him but I am sure he was depressed.

I have one request from you all with regards to the flooding in Washington state recently. If you read my fellow blogger's blog today she maps out the story of what is happening with the rescue of the animals in the area, they are in dire need and if any of you can help in any small way please contact them or her. Her blog is http://risingrainbow.blogspot.com/ . She was fortunate that they just missed the boundary of the flooding but not by much.

I hope everyone had a good weekend and at least managed to stay warm. (((Hugs)))).

7 December 2007 (2nd post)

Wow every time I look at this baby I find it hard to believe that he is not even 8 months old yet. He is such a little monster LOL. He loves his time out and today I snapped a few shots of him in the snow. I had to put him in to put the other 3 stud colts out too and he wasnt very happy with me because he was just having so much fun. I am so tempted to turn him out with these 3 because they have access to each other all day and play at what MiKael calls Face Boxing all day over the rails but am scared that 4 ungelded stud colts may be a bit too much especially when there is a year difference in age, even if he is just about as big as them already. He wants someone to play with and it breaks my heart. He and Eb (the black and white colt) seem to spend the most time playing at the partitions so maybe I will try them together but then Eb is the colt we have sold and it is just a matter of time before he goes to his new home (Stan is building him a stable and pasture).



We had another 2 inches of snow last night so have 6-8 inches on the ground at the moment. It was a lot warmer today just around freezing and I put all the horses out after they had eaten their breakfast. It was cloudy all day so they werent as happy to be out as they were yesterday when it was sunny despite the fact that it was so cold yesterday.

Well that is about it for today. I find it very hard to spend time outside, the cold really drains me physically and the stables are gradually getting behind again. I am glad that they are able to spend time out though, it just makes it a little better.

((((Hugs))))) to everyone, have a great weekend.

Lori
xx

7 December 2007 (1st post)

Wow another day almost over. It is my Brother's birthday tomorrow 8th. I have not seen him or my Dad for such a long time and know I am really slack with keeping in touch with them. They are both in South Africa, brother in Johannesburg and Dad in Cape Town. So if either of you are reading this I love you lots. Today I got the hell in with Gee's owner (the thoroghbred mare I board). She is bouncing off the walls because she has nowhere to exercise now that I am using the bottom of the barn for stalls. I have been nagging at him to come over earlier before dark so we can try her out in the new field I have just fenced, partially for her benefit and he just never does so this morning I thought to heck with it I am just going to have to take a chance and I turned her out and kept a close watch. I did it before I had put any of the horses out so she just really wanted to stay close to the barn but she made a few excursions. These are some of the shots. We will repeat the process tomorrow, it went very well.


(click on pictures to enlarge)

I normally dont leave halters on my horses but I did as a precaution this morning because if she had gone through a fence or something stupid I would have been in big trouble if I didnt have something to get a hold of her with. I will do this for the next few excursions and when she knows the boundaries I will start taking it off. They kind of spoil the pictures but I still love them. I love this mare she has such a great attitude for a race horse and considering she has spent the past two years with virtually no out time she does really well.

I am going to end this post off for now and do a second one which will feature our Brat baby, the infamous Taxes. He also got his little bit of time out today and I snapped a few shots of him too.

Lori

6 December 2007

Once again I am behind on everything. In typical Indiana fashion we have gone from heat to cold in record time again. We had 4-5 inches of snow yesterday and I put the horses out which they really enjoyed. I had managed with the help of my helper to get the stables all sorted out on Tuesday so everything was clean and dry. Here are some of the mares out in the field yesterday.

I put the 3 stud colts out too in their new enclosure, and here is a pic of Dream breathing steam and of him and Blaze playing in the snow also shot yesterday.

(Click on pics to enlarge)

We woke up to 4F (for those of you in celcius, that is about -12C) this morning!!!! No wind thank heavens and beautiful blue skies and sunshine but just too cold to be out there. It is lunch time now and it is about 24F right now, expecting a high of 32 (right at freezing), but I havent been able to bring myself to do anything other than feed the horses and come back in because even with two layers of gloves my fingers are freezing by the time I get back in. I so want to get some pics in the snow with the lovely light but may wait until this afternoon sometime first. We are expecting another 3-4 inches or thereabouts tonight but it is not going to be as cold (when I say not so cold, I mean just below freezing but not like this morning).

I started with a sore throat yesterday and it is still feeling blaaah so I am not a happy camper today. Thought I would get this in early. I am hoping to have some pics of Taxes in the snow later, the last time it snowed was the day he was born and then it was wet slushy snow that turned into mud before he even got his first outing.

I am going to end for now. If I do get more I will post again later. (((Hugs)))

Lori
xxx

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