Good and Bad

We had a calf that had not been doing well for a couple of days.  This morning, we spent over and hour in the rain looking for it, then another hour trying to get it to the barn.  We ended up having to haul it in the tractor loader.

I thought we were just going to run down and give it an antibiotic shot so I didn't even wear a raincoat.  Once Joe roped it and we examined him, we saw that it was theileria from the ticks.  So the plan changed to get him to the barn with the cow and do a blood transfusion.  

But it was also Camp Mimi day with Sadie and Allie.  I finally got the transfusion done but it was very complicated.   Back at the house, Allie had to have a change of clothes and I had to have my third change.  Sadie just took her clothes off and didn't want to put anything back on.  I was at least able to convince her to put on a tee shirt.  

After a late lunch, I pulled out a game from my youth,  Hands Down.  The "slam-o-matic" was a big hit.  

Then we played a game of Lego, Race to Build It.  Sadie wanted to play a second time but Allie just wanted to play with the blocks.  I ended up taking Sadie to the TV room for another surprise game.  Allie didn't last long by herself with the Legos, and she joined us.  

We spent the rest of a rainy day (almost 2 inches) playing Wii Fit.  

They had a ball.  But there was lots of reminders about how to take turns.  We sent them home after supper and probably ready for bed.

Joe and I then went back to the barn to check the calf.  It died while I was giving it more IV fluids. It was a rough day. 

 

Hell's Kitchen

I took a little trip Saturday to see Ann and Matt and to use Mitchell's season ticket for a Broadway show at the Tanger Center.  

On the way, I stopped at a mid century modern store.  They specialize in refinishing and reupholstering mid century furniture.   I had seen this style chair on another site several years ago and had been looking for it ever since.  It is very comfortable and would go great with the leather and chrome sofa I have.  Only, I have rearranged the living room and am happy with the current layout.  Plus, the chair was $2250 as is and $3000 if reupholstered.  A little out of the thrift store price range I was wanting.  

I also saw this coffee table size stereo cabinet.  I have not seen one this height before.  I made me consider the possibility of having something like this under my new gallery wall instead of a bench.  It is definitely something to think about since I do have a pretty good record collection.  

Then it was onto the show, after a nice seafood dinner.  

According to Google,  

Hell's Kitchen is a Broadway musical by Alicia Keys, with a book by Kristoffer Diaz, inspired by Keys's life growing up in 1990's Manhattan, featuring her music, a coming-of-age story about a teen named Ali finding her voice, and a mother-daughter relationship at its core. 

No pictures were allowed during the show.  But I did snap one at the end. 

My review, the story was ok, the music was good, the singing talent was great, the dancing was a lot of jumping and arm waving.  Overall, it was an enjoyable evening.  Thank you Mitchell for the ticket and place to stay, and  thank you Ann for everything else. 

 

Ice Storm And Play Day

Snow, sleet and freezing rain. 

 Yesterday started with about 4 inches of snow, then progressed to sleet and freezing rain.  I stayed inside.  Joe had to work outside.  This morning I ventured out to clear off the parking pad and take a few pictures.  Allie's daycare was open but Sadie's school was closed, so I volunteered to Sadie sit.  

Ice was hanging off everything.  This is the only activity the bluebird box has seen so far.  

A few days ago, before the weather turned bad, I worked on my lamp art again.  This time I found another ceiling light fixture from an apartment remodel that I had in the garage.  I am thinking this added the necessary umph the structure needed.  

There was about 1/4 to 1/2 inch of ice.  

Then Sadie arrived. 

She brought an appropriate toy with her.  She went upstairs to play Barbie and horses.  As she was playing with a 25 year old Nibble's stable and complaining that the bridle was broken, (which I fixed with needle and thread),  I started looking up to see if there were new Barbie horse barns.  Sadie noticed I was doing that and said for me to keep looking. 

Of course, there was some cooking with the Easy Bake Oven.  It is more like 55 years old.  

Sadie asked to do a craft.  I used a paper chain stencils to make a butterfly chain for her to color.  She picked out the Disney Princess colored pencils to use.  

Then, between episodes of Unicorn Academy, we had another tea party.  No dressing up this time but I did use my grandmother's china which is 80+ years old.  It is nice to be able to share treasures from multiple generations with the new generation. 

 

Harveys Bristol Cream Sherry

Mama was cleaning out a cabinet and came across this unopened bottle of Harveys Bristol Cream.  We are not sure how old it is but I am going with 25+ years. 

I was interested in having the blue bottle. 

But Kerian was interested in tasting it.  After a quick Google search he determined it was probably safe to drink but would most likely not be any good. 

I have never tried Sherry before, but I don't think is should be brown.  And I can say, after smelling it, that I still have not tried Sherry.

Emily said it was nasty. 

Kerian said it wasn't that bad but it defiantly wasn't good.  The rest got poured down the drain. 

My Johnny West Horse

The farrier was here the other day.  I had the shoes pulled off Hank and Jessica for the winter, but I kept shoes on Otoelene and Draper.  

 When it was Drapers turn, she decided to throw her tail up and take off running around the lot.

I couldn't resist taking a few pictures.  When I saw this one it reminded me of my Johnny West horse, Flame. 

 Don't you agree there are some similarities?  I thought there was a palomino one, but that must still be at my mothers house.  This bay is one of J's.  Maybe this is why he is so attracted to solid bay horses. 

But I found this one on Ebay.   I knew Flame came as a palomino.  

 After a few laps, she was done and she settled down fine for the farrier.

Repurposed Tractor Seat

Well, technically, not a tractor but a horse drawn threshing machine.  But I have been eyeing it for the last 30 years.  Whenever I have mentioned it, J would say the bolts were too rusty and we would need something to cut it off.  So the last time I was over there, I checked it again, and discovered that the wood and bit of metal it was attached to were rotten and I just tore it off. 

 Next came figuring out how to mount it on something.

 I was cleaning out a barn we are trying to get torn down (for the last 5 years) and saw this tire rim.

Worked prefect if you don't want to actually sit down.   It is just not quite heavy enough with the angle of the seat.  Maybe if I bury it or stake it to the ground somehow.  Now I have to find a place to put it.

End Of An Era

J said it was ok to get rid of his house shoes.  

 He originally got them when he was in 10th grade.  Any identifying mark as to brand has long since worn off.  But he said his dad took a spell of ordering things from LLBean and Eddie Bauer around that time. 

 The gum soles look more like asfalt with all the rocks that have embedded into them.

Ever since J got some crocs from Walmart to slip on when he has to run outside for a minute, these have been languishing in the closet.  Now they are ready for the greenbox. 

Road Trip

 I fell in love with this china cabinet as soon as I saw it on Craig's List back in January.  It was at a vintage shop specializing in mid century modern.  I thought it would be perfect in my living room.   I just couldn't picture anything else in that spot after I saw this. 

 It is a Kent Coffee piece from the Perspecta collection.  I loved how the sides were glass too, not just the front.  I kept talking about it until E got tired of it and said she would go with me to get it.  It was a 3 hour drive but I think it was worth it.

The weather was nice, no rain or wind but the trip back was still nerve racking.  We made it back with no damage.  Now it is sitting in the garage waiting for some stronger help to move it into the living room.

Cheap Wall Art

Several years ago I got some  1950's Life magazines from my Grandmother's estate.

 Looking though them I found these fun Jello ads, "When I'm eating Jello I wish I were..."

 Unfortunately, over time they have faded quite a bit from their former glory.  I thought about going through the magazines and getting other ads but then I know those will just fade too.

 Enter the 1953 Deko wall paper book with "Non-Fading Colors"!  This was also at my grandmothers house.  She kept it out in the wood shed and I remember looking through it at admiring all the patterns and colors.   She had always said that we would use it for some project but that never seemed to happen.  I drug it out of the garage today and picked out 8 samples and reused the same Jello frames.

 The colors are much bolder than the faded Jello ads.

 They really brighten up the stairway.

 J said the cowboy was his favorite.

Luckily there was a hunt scene to balance it out.

 I was hoping for some mid century modern patterns but only found mid century, no modern.  I think this would have made Grandma happy.

Vintage Day

I got a new printer/scanner/copier for Christmas.  I had one but it stopped working and I never really scanned many pictures with it.  I thought I might try to do a little better with this one.  And, since this is a farm/ranch/horse blog what better way to start than with some vintage horse show pictures.  

 How about a vintage horse show line up from 1979.  Our judging team wanted to raise some money to go to contest in the midwest so we put on a horse show and raised enough to take all of us out there on a 5 day trip in the back of a pickup truck (with a shell top).

 We had a great turn out and I was able to show along with helping with the show.

 Yes, that's me and Hot Toddy in first place.  I had a sprained ankle at the time and wasn't able to put my foot in the stirrup.

Hot Toddy was my sister's horse that I ended up showing for several years.  He was 1/2 app and 1/2 Thoroughbred but I got asked endlessly if he was an Arabian or Quarter Horse.  We always thought he was lazy because he would trip, stumble, drag his feet and fall sometimes but when I got into Vet school I found out he was actually a wobbler.  It did make for a nice western pleasure horse though.