New Year, Same Problem

Sadie had a meltdown yesterday when Allie wanted bells in Clyde’s mane and she did not.  I saw no harm in it and put the bells in. Sadie immediately started pouting, not talking and only grunting.  I told her if she wasn’t talking to me she couldn’t ride. After Allie finished Sadie was still pouting. So I put Clyde up and we went back to the house.  I would not let her go inside and finally got her to sit with me and tell me what was wrong. It all boiled down to not wanting Allie around.   I told her it was up to her to chose to be happy, I could not make her happy. After an hour of pouting she finally came out of it and we had a good rest of the visit. I talked with Virginia about splitting them up sometimes and she agreed it would be good. 

Today, Virginia and Mike brought Allie for a visit while they took Sadie. Sadie was in a better mood today.   Allie is always in a good mood.  

Meanwhile, another tree fell.  New Year, same problem.   This time it was in the yard of the owner of the farm we rent. It landed on the fence and took out about 50 feet of fence. 

Joe told the 83 year old widowed owner that he would cut up the wood for her. She was very thankful. Allie went with me to help. 

She was very enthusiastic. 

And a very hard worker. 

 Fence fixed and wood put on the yard side.  The owner said her son would stack it when he came through on his way back home from Alabama.  When Virginia came to pick up Allie she said Sadie didn’t want her to bring Allie back. We still have work to do on that fence. 

Happy New Year

Just spending the first day of the new year with Sadie and Allie,

Playing marbles 

And crafting.
 

The Big Day

Today, other than being Sadie’s birthday, was Joe’s big day when our calves headed out to Nebraska. 

Yesterday was the last day Joe had to haul 450 pounds of grain to them. 

In the evening he got them into the lot near the barn.  

Then this morning, Mike helped with the loading and we had 3 other trailers haul them to the other side of town to be weighed and loaded onto the tractor trailer. 

We are 99 head lighter here now and a big load off Joe’s plate. 

 

Saddle Woes, or Whoa

I gave Sadie and Allie the saddle for Christmas.  

"It's a saddle Mimi, it's a saddle.  For what?"  Allie is so cute.  For Clyde of course. 

Saturday, the weather was beautiful, temperature in the 60's and no wind.  Allie and Sadie came over to ride Clyde in the new saddle.  It fit Clyde and I even found a 28 inch girth.  But the rings were pretty rusted and it was difficult to get attached.  The problem was more of the stirrup length.  This is as high as I could pull up the fender and as high as the holes could be punched. 

And it is a good 12 inches too long for Allie.  I did use the over the horse stirrups but they slid back and forth a little too much for my liking.   

But I think Allie appreciated having a horn to hold on to.  

However, she still did not want to trot.  

I don't know was was wrong with Sadie.  I think she was getting over a cold and not feeling her best.  She was being very contrary.  I told her it looked like she was trying to sit in a recliner.  But you can see the stirrup issue.  

The over the horn stirrups also set their legs too far forward.   By the time they get big enough to reach the stirrups they will have out grown Clyde.  

I even got on to try out the saddle.  I am pretty sure I could lower the stirrups enough to ride, but the stirrup is too small for my boot.  I have options.

1. return the saddle and try again (not a problem as I got it locally from a friend that said bring it back if      it doesn't work)

2. just continue to use the over the horn stirrups

3. teach them to ride without stirrups.  

4. remove the fenders and replace with more of a hunter type strap and stirrup.  

I may try option 4 before option 1.  But with the temperature now in the teens, I don't expect to do too much riding for a few days.  

 

Happy Birthday, Almost

With lots of love and family we celebrated Sadie's 5th birthday (2 days early).  After a meal at Cracker Barrel, her choice, we reconvened at my house for cake and presents.  

Sadie and Allie have had colds recently and no one wanted her blowing on the cake.  So she got 5 candles on a cupcake. 

She may have gotten more presents than Christmas.  A big hit was the special jewelry from Gigi. 

She did not get bongo drums.  Those are Joe's from Christmas.  

I think Allie knows that she will get to play with everything too.  Plus, her other grandmother brought her a big bag of gifts.  

Mike tried out the "wall walker" trying to get a spider web off of the ceiling for me.  

Linda and Ann helped Sadie was her "rescue" pet, a stuffy wrapped in a net that dissolved in water to reveal what kind of animal.  Then there was a lot of towel drying, blow drying and combing.  

But the most time was taken up pickle hunting.  I hid it really well this year.  

Virginia had set up a family survey and presented the results in a very professional and humorous format. 

Joe won, "who would last the longest without their phone".  Now that he has a new iPhone 16e, we will see if that holds true.  

More blow drying of the stuffy.  

And Matt was the pickle champ.  His persistence paid off and he was rewarded with a cereal box Spiderman watch. 

 

Handmade

I received two very special handmade gifts this year. 

Emily knitted this Sophie’s scarf. She said it is quite the rage. And she did it in pink, my favorite color. 

Then Virginia made this precious cross stitch nativity for me.  I immediately placed it on the mantle.  I am so glad they are seeing the value in handmade.  

And now I can finally reveal what I have been working on.  You might recall the goat I needle felted from a little kit I got at the Sheep and Goat festival.  Well, after that I decided to try my hand at needle felting a picture. 

I wanted to start simple so I chose to try to copy a picture my grandmother painted over 100 years ago.  I think it is a pretty good likeness. And my sister that I gave it to says she can’t stop looking at it. 

Then I tried something a little more complicated. 

This was a barn on my grandparents farm that blew down in the early 90’s. My needle felting was loosely based on this picture. I added the sheep because the sister I was giving it to raised sheep and got a master’s degree working with sheep.  Then I used a frame I had made years ago out of the wood from the barn. 

And I just couldn’t stop. I made this for my boss and another one with two sheep instead of the flowers for Virginia.   I definitely have a new hobby. 

 

Simple Request

We didn’t get Emily and Keiran this Christmas, but they did stop by for a few minutes on Tuesday.

I just wanted a nice family picture.  Virginia suggested we try Chat GPT.  So, Tuesday I took Keiran and Emily’s picture.

Then Christmas Day I took a photo of the rest of us.  Then I asked Chat GPT to merger the two.

From a distance it doesn’t look bad.  But zooming in, AI changes how we looked and our expressions. I asked again, specifying no facial changes.

How many mistakes can you count?  

Next, Virginia tried.  Now Emily and Keiran are squatting for some odd reason.

Her second try magically produced Keiran’s brother, Cord.  

Last try, Virginia went to the professional, her friend Jordan.  With her premium subscription to Canva, she was able to do what AI could not, give me a decent family picture.  

Thank you Jordan, you’re the best!