Magical Frost

We awoke to a fog that had turned to frost this morning.  J said it was the biggest frost he could remember seeing. 

 E thought at first that it had snowed.

 Everything was so pretty but very hard to capture in a photograph.

 Since there was no wind, the ice crystals were growing off of everything.

 Including the horses ears,

 and tails.

 The calves we weaned yesterday and had in the barn lot had frost on their backs.

 They were very curious and seemed to want their pictures taken.

 That is until J opened the gate.

 Then they headed out to see where they were and if they could find their moms again.

 Since we hauled them here from the other farm, there is no chance of that, but it still didn't stop them from trying.

 They are in the field with the yet to be named little horse.  J said at times she was completely surrounded but just stood there or pinned her ears and bit at them.  She was unconcerned as they licked her.    As the calves were running and bawling, J said she would just calmly walk around with them.  We may have another good cow horse here.

Blown Egg Ornaments

Since the first time my Father blew out an egg for me and I took it to kindergarten and painted it, I have been fascinated with blown eggs.  

 Now my sister does amazing artwork on eggs and luckily, she shares them with me at Christmas.

 I asked for a horse one time and she created this.

 She has now been doing faces on eggs, stunning.

 But I live in a simpler creative world.  I finally found something I could do with the eggs.

 It technically should be paint dotting but I improvised and used metallic markers.

 I had a little trouble with the hangers.  When I tried to copy my sister's technique it just broke the egg.  So I found this idea of threading a needle, then using a magnet to get it to come through the opposite hole, going through a button then back out the top.  After a little trial and error I finally got the "hang" of it.  Then a coat of mod podge and

voila!  These were my gifts to J's aunts and cousins this year.

New "I Spy" Game

Today I helped J move our cattle from the rented farm back over to our farm.

 There is a fine line between hiding and helping that I have to walk.  Right now I am hiding while J tries to get the cattle into the temporary lot so we can drive them out to the road as one herd.

 I'm still hiding as he tows them in with the bale of hay.

 There is always one that hangs back in every herd it seems.  J had to run around, climb the fence behind her and drive her on down.

 I finally got to get out and help get them into the lot then block the road as they came out.

 And I got the drive them down the road to our field.
Now for the new game.  While I was hiding in the truck I started thinking about the random assortment of objects on the dashboard.

I spy a star, a spoon, an arrow, 2 syringes, 2 bent staples, 50 cents, 7 nails....
What's on your dashboard?

Project Done!

I can't believe it was September when I first talked about doing this project, HERE.

 I ended up choosing an oil painting version that I worked on after that post.

 It measures 3 feet by 4 feet.  I had it printed at Staples as a color engineering print.  The paper isn't all that great but if you are looking more for an impact it does the job.

I then got a 1 inch foam insulation board, cut it to size then used spray adhesive to stick it on.  I think it looks kind of cool.  And yes, I got the idea from Pinterest so I am calling it another success.

Jessica's Lameness

Jessica has been lame for some time now.  I'm embarrassed to say how long.  At first I thought it was going to be an abscess because everything here is an abscess but an abscess never happened.  Plus, Jessica is the toughest horse we have and has never really had an abscess.   Then of course, rest heals everything, so she has been resting.  Granted, resting here is out on the side of a mountain running on 20 acres.  But instead of getting better she kept getting worse.  What at first seemed to be just a front leg lameness also became a rear end stiffness and general just not feeling good and suddenly looking very old.  Then it dawned on me, maybe she has Lyme disease.  She is acting like the Lyme positive dogs we see at the clinic every week.  I ran the dog test on her and she was positive, which means she has had exposure but doesn't necessarily mean that it is causing her symptoms.  

So I had my equine vet friend come look at her too.  She agrees the left front was her worst leg but there was definitely stuff going on elsewhere too.   She did a nerve block on the left front which blocked most of the lameness there but she was still in rough shape.  So I decided to go ahead and start treating her for Lyme disease to see what happens.  If she is no better then we will do more nerve blocks and radiographs.  I started her on doxycycline twice a day on Friday and by Tuesday she was running away from me again.  She hasn't done that in weeks.   She is still lame but moving much better overall and has more of her old attitude back.  I'm not 100% convinced yet that this is the problem but I'm hopeful.  We still have 25 days left of treatment to go.

Small Town Parade

Jordan from the Clinic where I work suggested we have a float in the Christmas Parade this year.  The boss thought it was a great idea so Jordan took off and ran with the idea.  I decided to support the effort by waving when they went by.  (there was plenty of help I think)

 When J and I got to town we found out the Rock House Museum was having and open house.  Since I had never been in it we took the tour.  It was set up as Christmas in the 50's.

 Next was an open house at our financial adviser which is on main street.  Here we waited for the start of the parade in warmth with refreshments.

 Here comes the parade!  There was a big turnout.  Lots of kids.  It is sort of like trick or treating in reverse.  The parade people hand out and throw candy to all of the kids on the route.

 The town council had a good idea with the light show.

 I thought this igloo was cute.

 Rudolf was there.

 This one reminded me of a toy my sister had that I loved playing with.

You don't see the Confederacy represented at just any parade.

 Just in case you haven't seen a grader.

 This semi was really tricked out.

 There were a couple of local bands,

 and some old cars

 and even a few horses.  

 Then our clinic float!  I think they did a great job.  "Pets Light Up Your Life"

Merry Christmas Santa.
It was a pretty long parade for such a small community.  No Rose Parade but it did last about an hour.  Little Caesars was out of pizza by the time we got there so it was popcorn and frozen pizza for supper.  But I was pretty full after all of those open houses.  

Good Fences Solo

I haven't linked to Good Fences for a few weeks.  But this week I thought I had some good fence pictures so I was saving them for Good Fences.  Low and behold, when I went there to link up she had quit.  There was another blogger willing to take it up but her internet connection wasn't allowing her to do the link.  So anyway, here are my Good Fence pictures by myself.  

 The new little horse had passed her 2 week quarantine with flying colors so I was allowing her fence line contact with the other horses.

 You can see how excited everyone is to meet her.

 If they can't get to the front end they are checking out the back.

 It's a little overwhelming for such a little horse.

 Here is the family picture with Brother, Otoelene and "Sis"

Pep patiently waited her turn to meet the new little horse while the others were off getting a drink. And Hank is such a loner that he was never even close enough to get into a picture.