Just thinking...

Gosh is it cold!  Can't do much outside other then what has to be done.  Certainly won't be doing anything with horses.  I have been studying about training methods.  But all that won't help until it warms up some.

I did make myself a hat and mittens that have a horse theme.  They go with the hoodie that Jenn gave me for Christmas.  Turn out nice.

I also added some pictures to my picture file.  Wow it doesn't take long for a cute puppy to become a cute small dog.  Check this out:

                                                                   Quite the armful!

                                                        
                                                                Just barely an armful!

Here is my newest favorite picture of Sigrid.  It was taken awhile ago as you can tell by the grass instead of snow.

                                                             I love her soulful eyes.

Here is a sentiment that I firmly believe...



Yup that is me...plenty of dog pictures!

I should mention that in the past week I have canned six pints of beef soup and six quarts of canned beef.  These will be my convenience foods as I am still planning on not going to the grocery store for as long as possible in 2015.  Ten days down and counting.

Onward and upward!

It has been 6 months since my last entry...

Wow, it's been six months since I last blogged.  Time flies!  Sure hope to do better now.

The Holidays are mostly over.  New Years is this coming Thursday.  I have one more Christmas to celebrate, that is with my big brother and his wife.  Then things will settle down to a different routine.  During the cold months there isn't much going on outdoors, I just try to keep up with the usual chores and make sure that when kidding time is getting close I have everything ready.

I have decided to declare 2015 as my year of the horse.  I hope to get back to my first real passion and spend a lot more time doing horsey things.  I am planning on doing a lot of on the ground work this winter and build a better bond with my pony Porchia.  I have been reading books and watch videos about build respect and confidence on the ground, so I think I am ready to begin doing some of the work.

I may even go out after I am done with this and do my first set of exercises.  Each one builds upon the first ones.  The method I am going to use is Clinton Anderson's method.  I watched his program about training a wild horse and it all seemed to be an easy to follow program.

Needless to say, I hope to report on the results here.

I am also training Sigrid.  She will be mentioned as well in this record.  And pictured as well.  So far she is a very quick little girl and I will need to stay on top of her training.

One thing that is kind of note worthy of today, I canned seven pints of turkey soup from our leftover turkey.  I also bagged up and froze a good portion of the ham as well.  The ham bones are simmering now and I plan to make both bean soup as well as potato soup using what scrapes come off the bones.  Both of those will be frozen.

Greg and I agreed to try to see how long we could go before we HAD to go to the grocery store.  I stocked up on staples like flour, sugar, and coffee.  There is plenty of meat in the freezer as well as frozen and canned veggies.  Today I went out to the garden a pulled a few carrots to put into the soup.  There are beets, carrots, rutabagas, and parsnips still out there covered with straw to keep them from freezing.  There is also winter squash in the attic along with onions from the garden and a 50 pound bag of potatoes from Chita's work place.  I think we can go for quite sometime before we have to shop for food.

Anyone else want to except the challenge to eat from the fridge/freezer/cellar along with us?

Well  since this isn't a very interesting entry I think I should make good on what I said about starting the first exercise while the sun is still shinning.

Be safe and enjoy your new year celebrations.  See you in the new year!

Looking for places to drive my Prochia...

Being in the area of Mt. Morris yesterday, my husband and I went to check out the trails at E A Cummings Center.  When we arrived there was a judged trail ride just breaking up.  There were several riders left and I spoke with a couple.  I asked if there were trails that I horse and cart could maneuver.  I was told that there were some that would be okay and others that were only wide enough for one horse.

 

We decided to walk some of the trail.  We drove down to a parking area and then went for a walk.  There was a trail wide enough, but the gate was closed and the area next to it that you could see horses that been through was about 6 foot wide.  My cart might be able to get through it, but I'm not positive.  Aside from that, the trail was wide and lined with underbrush and trees which at this time of year were all in autumnal dress.  It would be a very pretty drive. 

I didn't have the camera, so there are no pictures, but I am sure if I had been there for a drive there would be plenty to be taken.

A Day's Musings...

While doing a repair job on a knife sheath for a friend I became aware of a feeling of deep deja vu like I had done the same thing before.  But I have never done anything with leather working.  The stitches came so very easy and even though I had the sheath for much longer then I should have(just kept forgetting about it), I got it done in no time and it doesn't even look like it's been repaired.

I've had this feeling before while learning a new skill.  I remember feeling this way when I first was shown how to spin...I felt like I had done it before, it seemed so much easier then I expected it to be.

Doing hay is another time that feels so much part of me. I feel very peaceful when doing this job.  Thinking a lot about what it would be like to do with horses rather then our 1950's tractor and equipment.

I've heard it said that some people are "old souls", and I wonder if that could be me.  I know some don't believe that we may have lived before, but I have a feeling that that just might be the case.  Nothing is more comforting to me then to be doing something "old fashioned".  Even sitting around a campfire leads my thoughts to what it might have been like to travel to a new homestead in the wilderness.  It is a warm thought, not one wrought with fear, but with comfort.

Here I sit using a computer and I feel quite comfortable doing this, but I really did feel "all thumbs" when I first started to learn how to use this technology, but there are times when I do something very low tech that it just comes without much fumbling.  Like old brain networks are relight and muscles remember the process.

And I do, like many others sometimes do wish things could go back to a simpler time.  I know it really wasn't that simple, there were just as many worries, just more personal.  Now a days there is so much outside stimulation for things that we really have no control over...wars in other countries, religious struggles, Victoria Secret ads, lost and starving children and animals...it just gets over whelming.

I guess it's time for me to put up my stockade around my place and do some blocking out of the outside world.  Watch less TV news and such!  Focus on what is personal to me...family, friends, and critters.  Make my life more simple.  

So, I guess this "old soul" is done rambling for the day.  Don't know if any of this will make sense to anyone else, but I feel better having said it.

Ad journal writing as another old skill.  I have my Great Grandmother diary and to read those entries are such a pleasant adventure for me.  Maybe I should go read one now...

Cider making time...

Had a fine day yesterday making apple cider.  Jeremiah and youngins' came bearing about a half bushel of apples, we had about a bushel and one half of our own, so we set about smashing and pressing them into yummy cider.

 

 

Then after making cider we all got into the carriage and went for a quick ride.

 





 

I said a quick ride because it was kind of nippy out and the wind on the way back was in our faces.  It was fun though and it was the first time Porchia has pulled more then just Greg and I.  There were six of us in the carriage, Jeremiah, my self and four kiddlins'.

Jeremiah was able to clock our speed at the slow trot we were moving about 7 miles and hour and the quickest was about 10 miles per hour.  Not bad for a fat little pony!

Enjoy the sunshine...Onward and Upward.

First snow of the season!

Yep, that's right the first snow of the season.  While Greg and I were putting the finishing touches on the new machine/shade shed it spit snow at us.  When we were in and having lunch it snowed like crazy.  Just enough to make the driveway sort of white for a very short time.  Didn't last long.

Got most of the outdoor work done, so it can begin to get  cold and start becoming white and clean looking.

I know that there are a few of you who really don't like the idea of winter  coming, but this is Michigan folks the "Winter Wonderland".  So get out your snowmobile suits and get ready....Onward and Upward!

I'm a happy human!

I'm a happy human today.  After walking for an hour on the treadmill this morning, forth time this week.  We had breakfast and then Greg and I went outside and spent three hours doing horsey things!  Oh Yippy and Skippy!  It feels soooooo gooooood.

The sun was shining and it wasn't really warm, vest, hat and gloves to start out, but once moving it was nice.

First off we harnessed Porchia and hitched her to the new carriage and I drove her about a half hour in the arena.  What a great ride I am soooo loving my new carriage.  Comfortable and also it maneuvers.  It is also easy to get into.

Think now in your head "Heaven, I'm in Heaven!"  Sing the words to the song by that name.

Porchia and new carriage.

Porchia and new carriage.

Greg's view from the back seat.

New carriage minus pony.



 

Then after the arena work, we headed down the road for a real drive.

 

 



Greg's view next to me in the front seat.

You can't see them but she had on her new boots as well.

 

 

After about 3.5 miles we were back home.  Porchia had been in harness for one and one half hour and it was a great time!

 

 

Now it was time to bring out Isis and play with her for awhile.  It has been a year since she was last hitched up so I wasn't sure how she was going to do, but I was pleasantly surprised.  She had no trouble at all, that is until I asked for a trot, then things got a bit spooky.  For both of us.  So I've learned that she is very uncomfortable at the trot.  We will have to work on that.  But at the walk she is a sweety.  The cart is too small to be much fun and the ride is rough, but we did get about one half hour of work on her before calling it a day.

 

 









I see some changes that need to be made the next time I drive her, but otherwise, I really like this picture of Isis and I with the corn field as a background.

 

 

 

 

I like this shot, except for my scowl.  I'm not unhappy, it's just the sun is bright and I'm looking right into it.

 

 

So that is the story of why I am a happy human today.  I exercised and I played with my horseys!  Really it doesn't take a lot to make me happy.

 

Onward and Upward.