Monday, August 31, 2009

Monday Bunday

I tell everyone that rabbits are not cute and cuddly, they are bossy and opinionated. The Cat Patrol knows this. (this is not my bunneh either.)

Sunday, August 30, 2009

Grazing?



There are four of these turnouts available at Indian Hill. If someone else is waiting, there is a 15 minute time limit. Because I have to be carefull about the horse on the other side of the fence, Janow goes when it is not peak time and we don't wait or have to leave in 15 minutes.

You can see how bleak things look around here at the end of summer, and why it is wildfire season. California bad weather does not come as blizzards or hurricanes, it comes as wild fires. California leads the nation in wildfires. This small patch is safe from wilfires--nothing left ot burn.


Janow likes to be out here for short periods. Whenever we walk near here, he nods in the direction of the turn outs: "We could go here today..."
Remember, Janow has Peripheral Cushings and does better when he is a bit on the lean side. He gets lots of hay.
He rolls in the dust. He walks around looking for food. He eats twigs. It must be like eating the last of the warm wilty celery sticks that taste a little bit like salt because people have been touching them. He smells where other horses have been.

"What have you been eating...?"

Saturday, August 29, 2009

current progress, how boring



Here are the ones in progress right now.



The brown one has been boiled and waits for laundering.



The pink one from last week is boiled and waiting laundering before the next pic, so you don't see it here.


The green one was started this week and I think that's it for batik on it. I'll get it boiled this week.

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Is it Halloween yet?

Boo Hoo
Middle School PE class Course Description:
"Maximize physical activity with limited resources, space, equipment, money, time"
Welcome to life. You didn't think you were exempt did you? Sorry Hon, the teachers union can only do so much.




Rabbit
After more than a year and a half, Silver is giving me nose bumps. If it had been easier and quicker, I probably wouldn't think it was as important. For those who don't know, noise bumps are an indication of affection from rabbits. Cats too.



Feral Cat
The little tuxedo cat captured in our backyard by the cat rescue this summer, spayed, and returned, has been spotted several times in the past two days. I am putting out food. Her presence here is population pressure against new cats who may be fertile.



Homework
The first week of school has already turned up one late homework assignment. All he had to do was give it to me to sign, then return it. It got misplaced between my signature and his backpack.

Hot Water
The Spa is up and running. That was a project! Dave bought it used on Craig's List, then had to hire a company to move it to our house from Livermore. Then he had to get a contractor to level a spot in the yard and pour a concrete pad. Then he had to have the moving guys put it on the pad. Then we had to buy a gazebo. Then he filled it up and it leaked. Then he fixed the leak. Now we can use it. At 96 degrees, he is too warm. At 98 degrees, I am just getting comfy.

Limping Horse
Janow is much improved in the front lameness after having his hocks injected. He is signed up for the Chiropractor on September 9th. He seems more himself too.

Ouch
Mary Shelley bit me again. Between nose bumps, she bites.

Picture Card
All three picture cards are still pogged. This means that I have to click-unselect 110 pictures every time I want to upload, and that I can only take 6 pictures at a time. All the pictures are of sentimental value. They are all backed up. Dave said he would take care of it for me. After he did, I found that he had only write-protected each one so I could not erase them easily. This is not the same. I may have to buy a new one!

Supernatural
Joseph and I have been watching Supernatural TV show. It's like mini horror movies. Last night, after dark, in the spa, the radio turned itself way up all of a sudden and Joseph couldn't turn it down. Dave turned it off. "Why...?"
"Maybe it's haunted." I answered. Then I turned to Dave,
"Maybe that's why they sold the spa......maybe someone died in here!"

"MOMMMMMMM!"

Monday, August 24, 2009

Saturday, August 22, 2009

Batik Saddle Pads in Progress

Here are all the batik projects currently in progress. They all start out with white fabric. These are all on a nice twill, lighter than denim, heavier than broadcloth.


They will be my thinest pads, with only one layer of needle felted poly to help keep the shape so you won't get wrinkles under the saddle. I am going to line them with more of the twill. It's not heavy, but I think two layers of nice cotton will be more absorbant than commercial pads and will wear better with less creep than flannel.

Because they are all going to be saddle pads, so each has two sides that are pretty much mirror images.

Having several going at once, it helps to have a good plan first.









Friday, August 21, 2009

The Good Guy

I have finished reading The Good Guy by Dean Koontz. If anyone else would like to read it, send me your snail mail and I will send my papereback copy to you USPS Media Mail.

Thursday, August 20, 2009

A Chicken in Every Pot


Joseph saw Paula in the pot yesterday and I snuck this picture. That is why it is taken through the screen. If she had known I was there, she would have run over to beg.

And then there is Waldo. I decided to give each batik a working name to keep track of them. I have tried numbers and letters in the past and it's confusing. There are so many layers and steps. and a right and left side for saddle pads, that you can't do it one-at-a-time.

Waldo was dyed, waxed, and then dyed. It had one more wax and dye left, but I set it out to dry and forgot. The shade moved and the sun melted the wax, causing it to seep. So I had to boil each side, then launder to remove residue. The boiling took two days. Now I can wax it and dye it to finish.


I've been using leftover dyes to dye my socks. Once the mordant is added, the dye is only good for about an hour or so.


Currently reading "The Good Guy" by Dean Koontz

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Veterinarian

No new pictures because:
Dave still has the picture cards all pogged up with photos of sentiment. I can take three photos before I have to upload. To do that, I have to un-click all of his. Too much clicking.

He bought a hot tub on Craigs list. We had contractors level a spot and pour a cement pad for it. After that, there are problems. Dave spends all his extra time on the problems.

The vet came for Janow yesterday to see a slight problem in front that has been bugging me a lot. I was afraid Janow was developing changes in a front pastern or coffin joint. He could not find anything to indicate that. Was it his damaged laminae? No.

His hocks were bothering him and he was mildly positive to flexion tests. X-Rays showed some slight narrowing of joint spaces, pretty good for a 20 year old horse. There was possibly more inflamation that would not show on x-rays. I had his hock injected with cortisone in case they were bothering him more than the pictures and flex tests indicated. He has stall rest until Saturday. Then he can come out and I can see if he is significantly better. Or not.

I will sign him up for the next chiropractic clinic.

Monday, August 17, 2009

Friesians are Iberian

My cousin Dana started a blog. She has Friesians. Click here to go . She is a newbie to blogs.

I went to a Horse Driving Event on Saturday. It's like Combined Training but with carts and carriages. It was fun. I met a lot of nice people. I wanted to go Sunday for the marathon, their version of cross-country, but I had a migraine.

I finished "Duma Key" by Stephen King. It was good. If you want to read it, I will send it to you, the first person to email your snail mail address. caradrouin@sbcglobal.net

Yesterday I wanted ice cream with Grape Nuts, so Dave got it for me. Joseph had never had Grape Nuts. Because he is lactose intolerant, he did not put milk.

"These are really crunchy."
"Most people put milk to soften them up."

He put Koolade.

"This is better! These are really good.............. The Barf Factor is going way up...... Do I have to finish these?"

Sunday, August 16, 2009

Thursday, August 13, 2009

A Janow Story

This is an old picture that I found when I was scanning picture cards looking for one that wasn't crammed with Dave's pics that he can't bear to erase even if they are backed up. I think I need to buy a new picture card.

An old picture of us goes with someone elses Janow story.

Some history first: Janow is a confirmed nudist. He has NEVER liked a fly mask, managing to destroy them within days of purchase, soliciting assistance from neigh-bors if needed.

This year I purchased a new kind with huge bug eyes. He likes it, lowering his head to have it put on. Once, when he was tied for grooming, mask off, I looked up to see him standing with his face pressed into the mask where it was hanging on the fence. "Put this back on, please."

Someone elses story as told to me: She was walking up the lane past his paddock/stall when he whinnied to her. She looked at him and saw that his mask was off of one ear. She went into his paddock and fixed the mask. He put his nose into her stomach and nickered his thanks. She was blown away!

That's Janow, "Smarter than the average bear."

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Barn Boy

The summer has been pretty good. “Not frantic” has been the theme and has been accurately executed.


I have had Joseph working for me at the barn, earning money. Grandmother was critical of how much money he was getting, and it sounded like a lot to him too, at the start. Then he started planning all the things he was he was going to buy and he found that if he got what he really really wanted, it meant he was going to have to save and not buy a bunch of stuff. He followed through, which is the hardest part of planning. He finally got his new air rifle, 1200 feet per second. He told me, out of the blue, that he liked it even more because he had to work so hard to get it. Of course, I feel vindicated because he learned something vital to adult life. Unfortunately, your mother is the last person to whom you can say “I told you so!”



Today we are planning a trip to the driving range at Spring Valley. Joseph is going to hit balls with a stick as hard as he can!

Monday, January 19, 2009

lemonade


I have received the Lemonade Award for cheerfull blogging from Horse and a Half's Onthebit! Thank you!

One of the privilidges of this award is passing it on to ten more bloggers! I may not be able to get to ten of them today........It's hard, we all read each others blogs......I have to pick ten who havenot recived it yet!

Lauging Orca Ranch for moving forward in spite of the ejection seat.

Ramses at Ramses Meowings for dilligent posting from across the pond, in spite of Tigmutep trying in vain for center stage and Isis's catlets.

Rabbit's Guy at House of Rabbits even if his last blog was NOT about rabbits, it was about letterboxing that someone else has written about but never EXPLAINED! Thanks for the explanation Rabbit's Guy.

Bai Bai at Hamsterific blog who is always happy and cheerfull and plays a mean game of hide and seek.

Miss Eve at Bunnies Needles and Books for welcoming Bing into the warren.

Enough for now!

Wednesday, January 07, 2009

buried treasure

A place in the mountains with a history......A metal detector.....


Both Dave and Joseph got metal detectors for Christmas. Dave got his from Mom and Dad, Joseph got his from his Auntie Moe and Uncle Jeff. They didn't communicate or coordinate, each came up with the same idea independently and selected identical metal detectors. Great minds think alike.

The next trip to Mt Hamilton included metal detectors.

They found evidence of target practice. Using many different guns. These were all found very close to each other.

The dime in the photo was minted in 1964, but you still see some of those in circulation, so it only means it wasn't lost before 1964.

Since 1964 is the year of Dave's birth, I can tease him and say he has been lost since 1964!


They also found some very old square nails and a piece of metal of unknown function. The treasure they found was a fun day.

Joseph wants to take his to the stable next. To find spare change that falls out of people's pockets when they are mounting. As if people who own horses have any spare change left!

Monday, January 05, 2009

post holiday post

"I SAW SANTA"


The Holidays were fun, but after is hard. Inside too long, eating junk, wiped out from the frenzy, can't think of anything you want to have or do, outside is grey. Now that is over too and I'm ready for real life to resume.


This is Joseph. We had a good laugh messing up the picture with photoshop. He wanted a bean bag and I made this the day before. It wasn't as big as I wanted. I have since added more fabric and faux beans and it is better. Joseph liked it how it was and didnt want me to change it, but I did anyway and now he likes it more. Dave couldn't believe I made it in one day.

Whiskers liked it too.

I have marked even more things down on my wevsite and my ETSY store. This year I am satisfied with the work I am producing and I need to create a more uniform appearnce. Thses things have to go. If you are interested, the links are on the sidebar. You're probably not and that's fine.

Saturday, December 27, 2008

Bunneh!

The "bunneh" ate my sweater. I just finished patching 6 small holes. I don't know when she could have done it, except maybe last year before I knew better.

She didn't actually chew it on purpose, but she loves to rearrange cloth. Her teeth are razor sharp and the puncturing is unintentional.

It is an old sweater from Land's End, before they were owned by JC Penny. It will still serve. After all, a wool sweater with a sweatshirt on top of it is very warm.

Christmas was busy, as usual. I did not blog, I didn't even try. You can only do so many things at once. It was cold rainy and Janow needed extra care. Something had to give. I look forward to catching up on everyone else's holiday as soon as I catch my breath.

Friday, December 19, 2008

Silver Anniversary

Silver has been here one year now. I have enjoyed her. Joseph wanted a rabbit really bad. I wouldn't have agreed to the rabbit if I hadn't wanted it too. So we went to Oakland Animal Services and selected a bun from many many unwanted buns.

When we got Silver home, she was one stressed rabbit! Joseph thought she would be cuddly and affectionate right away, even though he had said he understood that rabbits were not very cuddly and were pretty independent. So now she is my rabbit. Mostly. He enjoys her sometimes, now more that before. I gave her a year to get really settled after the shelter. That's how long it took Whiskers to really settle in to be the cat she is.

Rabbits are natural chewers and diggers, so life with a rabbit is pretty much a story of damage control. That is why she has her own towel pile and phone book under the chair. She has a plum branch by the TV and a rolled up towel stuffed behind the sofa. The towel did not prevent the customary burrow behind the sofa that most rabbits have. That is what all the newspapers are for. That's the picture, newspapers stuffed behind the sofa. They distract her and get in the way. Now she is dead set on newspaper removal. This is messy but harmless.

She's really great. Playful and opinionated. She spends most of her time in her cage by the chair where I sit to be on the computer. She pays very close attention to wherever I am. Sometimes, it I leave the room, she will come out looking for me. It's funny. She can hear the skin being peeled from a bannana across the room.

People have always asked me about horses in comparison to dogs. Now they ask me about rabbits in comparison to hamsters. The best comparison for horses and rabbits are rabbits and horses. They are more alike than different.

They are great pets for people with patience who can tolerate a bit of a mess.

Silver likes to be petted. She never seems to get enough. This is a pretty individual thing with rabbits. Some like it more than others.Rabbits groom each other. The dominant bun is usually on the receiving end.

As a 4 year old, Janow was not particular to being groomed. He tolerated it, but I like to do it, so he got used to it. Now he really enjoys it. Lately though, he wants to move our relationship on to new levels. I do not. I want to remain friends but keep it platonic. I need to get myself a squirt gun. Anybody else ever have this problem with their horse?


This is the trench with pipes in it. Dave and Joseph got all the exposed part done before it started to snow. Ew.

Today I was doing the last part of a saddle pad and I noticed a mistake. Up until this point, it has been very subtle, but......the pad is no good and there is nothing I can do. Ten+ ours of work and $40 in materials. Poof!

I wanted to get Joseph a bean bag chair for Chrstmas, but they were either too small or too expensive. I can sew one, so I priced the fabric. I think I have a line on peanuts to fill it, but with Craigs list, better to have them in hand before you make any real plans.

Thursday, December 18, 2008

palm trees

Things have been accelerating to Christmas and I have been too busy to blog much.
Here is a picture of Dave on Mt Hamilton. The weekend after this was taken it got cold. Monday night saw snow.
No more shirt sleeve weather up there until spring!

I don't have to tell you who that guy in the bike is. He is smiling because he doesn't have to dig a trench and lay pipe.

There are a lot of artifacts that have been collected around trees. We don't know what they all are. Most of it we thing was from the garbage pile behind the one room school that used to be there.

My sewing injuries are healing up fine. I am not covered with band-aids like Les Nesman anymore. Sure is easier to type! I still have the fake thumbnail on, and one finger is still sore.

Suffering from insomnia, I have discovered watching TV shows on Netflix DVD. No commercials and you can start them any time you want. But....all my regular shows are either caught up and waiting for the current season to come out on DVD, or I have watched them to the end. So I am looking for new shows. I watched 6 whole episodes of Sex and the City, but didn't like it at all. I had 3 episodes of Stargate, but could not even make it through the pilot! I watched the first four Kyle XY episodes, and it was OK, but I can't see going out of my way to watch it. I would watch it if there was "nothing else on." I got the first DVD of Bones. I liked it, so did Joseph. Now it is on HIS Netflix cue. Hmmmm.
Where do I go from here?

This is a really bad picture of me that I took wearing earrings I bought fromKimsBeads on ETSY. They were only $4.00 + $1.50 shipping and they came in about three days!

Speaking of ETSY, which I don't like to do on my Blog, but I have marked many many things in my ETSY store to $5.00. Take a look, if you dare. The link is that big square one with the wolfy thing on it, over there on your right.

Tomorrow is my birthday. I expect everyone to keep doing whatever it is that you are doing and totally forget. Mama taught me that if I am realistic, I will not be disappointed.


"I'm not dead yet!"
-----Monty Python (and the Holy Grail)

Friday, December 12, 2008

Mt Hamilton

Silver blogged today!

LOL! That house isn't our main residence! Lucky us. We still live in a house in an Edward Scissorhandsian neighborhood in Milpitas. The trailer is up on Mt Hamilton, near James Lick Observatory where the body of James Lick is buried under the dome. Thirteen miles and 40 minutes or so out of San Jose, one hour from the city house. We are there on some weekends.

This is our house:(I had to remove this picture, it was too big! My sidebar was all messed up)
Janow lives at a boarding stable about 10 minutes away. Indian Hills Ranch. I'm taking my saddle pads there and some primitive sweatshirts tomorrow, hoping for a sale.
my truckThis is me, in front of our house.

The taller tree in the front is a magnolia tree, home to many hummingbirds. I have counted as many as seven within sight at one time. Despite their size and cuteness, they are very aggressive!

We are maybe less than 100 yards from I-680. If you think hard, you can make the traffic sound like a rushing river or a flash flood. The commute starts each morning before 5am. Dave installed dual pane windows and that helped a lot! "If the women can't find you handsome, at least they can find you handy." Dave said that in reference to The Red Green Show. I never said that. Ever.

I sewed a bit this morning, and did it wrong. This afternoon, I am ripping it out to do it again. It's 4 seams, totaling about 10 feet. When I die, my tombstone will say RIP and it won't stand for Rest In Peace.

At least it doesn't hurt. I have a band-aid on my left middle finger where the sewing machine needle went through the tip and shattered the nail. It hurt a like heck because there are lots of nerve endings there. It's hard to type with a stupid band-aid. It bled a lot, but slow.

My right middle finger has healed enough not to hurt. I was thread basting and decided to just put some duct tape on my fingertip instead of unpacking my thimble. That was a mistake. The eye end of the needle punched THROUGH the tape and slid into my finger, just under the nail, about a quarter inch. It didn't bleed at all, but left a red line that you can see through the nail. I only wore a band-aid for a couple of days to keep antibiotic ointment on it. Puncture wounds get infected easily.

That isn't nearly as gruesome as my sewing injury of the week before that! I punctured my right thumbnail with the needle of my industrial upholstery sewing machine. Blood came out of the hole! I thought it would become infected because I could not wash it well. It hurt so bad that night that I kept imagining that I would have to go to the doctor and have the nail removed. But it wasnt infected. The hole in the nail worked its way into a crack all the way to the end and then kept catching on everything. I was afraid I was afraid I would rip half the nail off by accident. I bought a set of fake nails and glued a plastic thumbnail on top of the crack. That seems to be working. Ugly though. You can see the bruise through the French manicure.

I should stick to horseback riding. It would be safer.