Famous Daisy

I told you I was going to tell you about Daisy's big day and I promise I didn't forget. On Friday, Daisy became a local school celebrity! Our school holds a big fundraiser for Relay for Life. Our school team promotes a big event that whichever teacher raises the most money will earn something or have to do something in front of the school. I haven't been on the team in the past - mostly because our church has a team also and I would feel guilty picking one over the other so I support both and do what I can.

Well we always seem to be the 'givers' of the school event team - in the past the 'money winner' has had to kiss a frog (gotten from the pond beside our little Cove House) and one teacher got to hang out in our VW Bus for the afternoon. This year, they had a western theme and the 'winning teacher' was going to have to ride a bucking bronco. Well, that quickly got downgraded to 'ride a horse' (for obvious reasons!). While trying to find said horse to ride, I was asked if we had a 'tame horse' that could be used. Um, of course we do! Daisy was chosen because she does very well in front of people (although never in front of that big of a crowd of crazy elementary school children). So Logan took off and brought her to school on Friday for the event.

She was a hit! Although the winning teachers (and principal and vice principal) only got led around by Logan (definitely for the best!) the kids loved seeing them up there and I was even (conned) into getting up there and seeing one of their teachers really ride. By then Daisy was VERY grumpy and threw a little fit in front of everyone with me on her but that was even better for the kids and I was able to trot her around a bit and show her off.

All in all it was a very successful event and Daisy made it to the front page of the paper! To see the article, go to : http://www.swvatoday.com/comments/relay_coming_around_again/news/2359/

Meet the Newest Morrison

Meet Miss 'Splendid Jetta Bar' - aka Jetta. It was all I could do not to write about her yesterday but heaven knows I have to keep to a schedule - haha. We bought Jetta because sadly, we are going to sell Brisco. If we had enough land to keep him we would in a heartbeat because he is honestly such a smart, sweet horse but we decided just spooks way too easily for him to be a good trail horse. Just like some people aren't cut out to be baseball players or doctors, some horses aren't cut out to be trail horses or race horses or cutting horses. Just one of those facts that I am trying to come to terms with - Logan assures me that this is part of owning a horse - finding the 'right one' - some people go through tons of horses before they find the right one. I hope I don't have to. So, if you know of anyone that would be interested in a very sweet gelding Thoroughbred - you know where to come. I am pretty positive he would make an excellent English rider or even a jumper or sport horse.

So, about Jetta...She is half Quarter Horse, half Paint and she is registered as a paint - hence the complicated 'fancy' name. She is a bay with tobiano paint markings and she is only 2 years old so she is still kind of a baby - this was Logan's big great idea. He has been wanting to train a horse for awhile - mostly so he knows their background and can stop any bad habits (like Brisco's scared of cows) before they begin. He knows the girl that owned him - she breeds and trains/starts paints - so she's from a very good background. Right now she is busy getting used to her knew home. Her and Daisy were instant best friends and she is getting used to Logan and me slowly but surely. She's got a ways to go but hopefully will make a very good horse - right now Logan is kind of in charge of her - I will ride both Brisco and Daisy until she is 'ready' for me :) So now, let's meet Jetta - I will get better pictures soon! The first day she was kind of jumpy and then it has rained, rained, rained so these will do for now!

Jetta comes up to say hi!

The girls munch on some hay.

Here you can see her really pretty paint markings - and a lot of mud - it poured BUCKETS! (yes that is the body of a Beetle - anyone want it? You come get it you can have it!)

A view from behind - I love how her tail starts out white and fades to black - the brown tips are just 'split ends' that need to be trimmed - in summer her main and tail - other than the paint markings - will be black from her bay coloring.

This is the first time anyone has gotten on her bareback - she did very well! No riding was done - just sitting - a good start!

Mother Earth Monday - Plastic Panic

It was a wild and busy weekend which I have a LOT to blog about, but today is of course Monday which means we have to talk about Enviro-mente today. I wish I could say I thought up this idea but I credit this one to Becca. I think it was as we were eating pancakes Sunday morning and recycling plastic was brought up - I think it was because the margarine tub was a '5' and the lid was a '2' which I thought was weird. She asked what was the difference and what the numbers meant so I thought I would give everyone a little Plastic 101 today. I wish I knew the difference...I have pulled most of today's info from National Geographic's new magazine "Green Guide". So here we go!

All plastic is made out of chemicals (duh, no plastic trees around here I guess). Some chemicals are safe, some are not. Some can be recycled and broken down, some can't. Some are ok to have your food and water in contact with...some scarily aren't. Here's a breakdown of the different numbers...

"1" - PET or PETE (polyethylene terephthalate) - This is safe plastic and is recyclable. We most commonly see this in water and soda bottles. It is safe but you shouldn't be washing and reusing these - they chemicals eventually start breaking down (and getting into your stuff - yuck!) so these are a 1-use-only-please plastic. Make sure to recycle!

"2" - HDPE (high-density polyethylene) - Another safe and recyclable plastic. Some examples are milk jugs (and apparently the tops of Country Crock margarine?)

"3" - Vinyl or PVC (polyvinyl chloride) - Ok, so anything with 'chloride' in it I am not too fond of putting near my mouth...This should be avoided and is not recyclable. Some products can leak dangerous hormone-messing-with junk into foods. Um, so the example that they give in the magazine are the little vinyl lunch bags - I am going to throw mine away this second...yuck...

"4" - LDPE (low-density polyethylene) - safe and recyclable at places that accept it. Places that accept plastic bags will accept this - this will include plastic shopping bags and even plastic food wrap.

"5" - PP (polypropylene) - You see this a lot with food storage - especially yogurt and margarine containers. This is safe but beware - not all places (like Wytheville for one) accept this type of plastic so find creative ways to reuse this - cat food scoops, paint containers, seedling pots, etc. Be creative!

"6" - PS (polystyrene) - This one should be avoided - think Styrofoam picnic-ware - this can leak styrene - a possible carcinogen - into things. This can be recycled though if your program offers it but I for one wouldn't be using this one!

"7" -

PC (polycarbonate) - For all of you Nalgene-aholics like myself this one you should know is now considered possibly hazardous - it is made of 'bisphenol A' - a hormone-disrupting (what exactly does that mean? I am going to have to do some more research on that!) agent. I still don't know what I am going to do with my 5 Nalgenes - they are like souvenirs I have collected throughout the years! These are not recyclable. Maybe I can plant something in them? Anyone know a cool Nalgene art project?

PLA (polylactide - made from renewable plant resources - I guess there are 'plastic trees' after all!) - These are safe to use unlike the PC #7s but they are not recyclable - they can be composted however.

So, there is your intro to plastics. Be aware the next time you go shopping to make sure your food or whatever might come in contact with your mouth is something safe. A few more tips to remember is that microwaving plastic and dishwashing them eventually breaks them down. I am trying to wean myself off of them and use more dishes but I am always afraid of breaking them or carrying them back and forth to work. Also, look for the 'Preserve' line of reusable plastic picnic-ware - (they also make awesome toothbrushes) - the stuff is made from recycled plastic and is recyclable again. Neat! I haven't been able to find it around except for the toothbrushes but I am still on the look out. Hope this has been informative! Beware the Plastic!

To Brighten Your Day!

Just a little something cute to get you through the weekend! They were caught in a very rare 'kitty friendship' moment. Cleo looks like she is in trouble - hehe.

My friend Becca (my 'City Mouse' friend) is coming to visit this weekend so I will be off and about having a fun girls' weekend! If you remember, the last time we hung out we had our Barnes and Nobel 'knit fest'! I think it's supposed to be rainy this weekend but we always find something crafty to do (please don't make me tile tables again though! just kidding - I still love my table :) ) Have a good weekend and see y'all back here on Monday for another dose of Mother Earth Mondays!

P.S. I might try to post some pics over the weekend - Daisy the horse gets to be famous tomorrow. The teachers always do a contest for Relay for Life and whoever wins usually has to do something rather outrageous in front of the whole school. This year they chose a 'western' theme and originally started by saying that whoever won would have to ride a bucking bronco - well Daisy isn't a bucking bronco but they have downsized to just 'ride a horse' and the kids are still pretty psyched. Logan took off tomorrow and is bringing her down - this should be a hoot!

Thank You Earth!

First, before I say anything, this is what I woke up to this morning (sorry for the poor picture quality - this was at 6:30 this morning and not a lot of light to help it out!) Apparently our neighbor's cows escaped and decided they wanted to come live with us...Maybe someone told them I wouldn't eat them?
Ok, now for the real post. As promised I am taking a 'Earth Day' turn - not like I don't anyway. I thought and thought about what I was going to talk about and what helpful hint I was going to give but the more I thought about it, the more I didn't want to make this like my typical M.E.M.'s - I wanted to do something special. That's when it occurred to me to just celebrate Earth Day by celebrating the Earth. What better way to do that then to enjoy what the Earth has given to us? I dedicate today's post to all of my 'city' friends who don't get this kind of scenery very often and to everyone who just needs a little bit of time outdoors!

We own a little more than 12 1/2 acres and the whole back half is untouched woods - well, mostly untouched - more on that later! So I decided to do some exploring this afternoon all by myself. No husband, no dogs to worry about keeping with me, just me and nature (don't worry Mom - I took my cell phone with me just in case!).

To get to the back of the property you have to go up the huge hill behind our house that is pasture for the horses. This is the view from the top looking back toward our house:


We installed gates to keep the horses out of the back so I had to go through the gates to start my journey - there is a nice wide path at the beginning that I am sure was once maybe a tractor or 4-wheeler path down to the back but is now very grown up and has fallen trees over it -

The walk down to the back isn't very exciting - in fact it still looks like autumn back there with all of the fallen leaves that haven't been broken down yet. It gets pretty steep and like I said there are a lot of fallen trees so it was hard to take pictures on the way down - plus it's pretty boring picture-wise -

I did find this very tiny pretty white flower poking out of all of the leaves. I looked and looked to try to find out what kind of flower it was but couldn't find it - even in my wildflower guide. I will keep searching though and if anyone has any clue please let me know!

After walking downhill for what feels like forever, the forest opens up to a beautiful meadow in the back. I want to build a log cabin back there with no electricity and use it to escape life. Logan would want to live back there forever!

At first I thought this was a small bird sitting on the branch. I got curious when it didn't fly away. It is a very strange growth on the branch - I wonder what caused that? A fungus maybe?

There is a ginormous tree back there and I couldn't resist a self-portrait! Not the best picture in the world - I had to balance the camera on a rock on the ground and hope I was lined up and made it over there before the timer went off! I made it!

When we first bought our property, we explored the back to see what was back there before we bought it. We saw a stream bank that we thought was dried up. I found out today it wasn't dried up and had a pretty good flow to it even though it's small. You don't know how excited I was to find this! Playing in creeks is one of my most favorite things to do - I love lifting up rocks to see what is under them!

Speaking of lifting up rocks - look what I found! Under almost every rock I lifted, I found salamanders! They were everywhere! This tells me it stays pretty damp down there and it's not just a run-off stream that happens when it rains. This was a tiny baby salamander I found.

Then I got real brave and wrangled one myself! Sorry for the sonic glow of my hand - pasty here hasn't gotten much sun yet...And yes Mom, I washed my hands when I came back!

I followed the stream from the bottom back up the hill (mountain!) just to see how far I could go. I thought this might be the end of the road but I squeezed under- yes under - around was not possible - and continued on...

There wasn't a whole lot more exciting parts. I found some very pretty 'flora' -

And fuzzy flora (maybe fern? - I'm not doing very good with my species identification tonight - I will work on it I promise)

Finally I came to the end of the 'road' - this is the hill I hiked up and out back up to the top field. I am definitely going to feel this hike tomorrow but it was fun and very peaceful - not to mention a very good workout!

Happy Earth Day!

Mother Earth Monday

Due to an unfortunate laundry disaster involving a whole pot of Carmex, I am going to have to put off M.E.M. until tomorrow - which is very appropriate considering tomorrow is

EARTH DAY!

Do something good for your "Mother" tomorrow and I will be back (barring any more disasters - keep me in mind, I am taking the 'class' on a field trip tomorrow - I might sleep through Earth Day!).

Until later.....

Back on Track!

Sorry for the short blogging hiatus! It's been a long week and if you read my mother's blog you know that I was a few days without Internet too! That's my first story...

We are installing a water line to the barn and up to the garden to make things a million times easier for us and also running electricity down to the barn. On Thursday, Logan rented a 'ditch witch' so he could dig out for the lines. He thought it would take him longer but he was able to do it all in one evening so on Friday he could work on putting in the lines. Easy enough right? Yes, until I go to hook up to the Internet and there is nothing there. At first I thought it was our lines in the house - they have a tendency to go out and you have to unplug all of the phones, wait about 5 minutes and then plug them up again. After doing that, still nothing. Then it occurred to me...Logan had to go across the driveway with the ditch witch - I would have bet money that he plowed right through the lines. Sure enough....that's what happened. "Someone" is too impatient to check for these things before he dives into a project...Here's what I discovered -

He's lucky that he didn't plow through an electric line but he assured me those don't run underground here...But phone lines do! To his credit, he did call the phone company that night and they came out the very next morning to fix it. Good thing too...

So, here's the ditch-witch digging project underway -

That last picture cracks me up because it looks like it's getting away from him but it's really not - under complete control....I hope!

Last but not least, after coming home from the movies last night on our 'date night' we had a very neat surprise. Check out the picture before I explain farther -

It's our first guinea eggs! Yea!!! Logan went down to check on everyone last night and feed the horses. He poked his head in the coop to check on the guineas and saw these two babies sitting in the corner! Yea! I think it's very interesting that they are 2 different colors. They are much smaller than a chicken egg - here is a size comparison - the chicken egg is on the left - it is an average 'large' egg from the grocery store - the two on the right are the guinea eggs.

Logan had them for breakfast this morning :) I didn't have the heart to eat them - haha. The yokes in them are HUGE compared to their size - the yoke is about the same size as a chicken egg and there is very little 'white'. He said they tasted just like regular chicken eggs. Neat! So ends our farm life weekend...

Wait, What?

Normally Mondays are my Mother-Earth-Mondays but today is just way too screwy to pass up. It is April 14th right? It is blizzarding here! No lie and no exaggeration. We currently have about an inch of snow and I have the pictures to prove it. Luckily it is just laying on the grass and porch - nothing on the road. I will be raging if we are out of school tomorrow for snow - really... A delay might be nice however.

My poor fruit trees - I probably should have covered them so their pretty little flowers won't freeze off but they really aren't quite old enough to produce fruit yet so I'm not too worried. I did buy 4 rose bushes and brought those in since they aren't planted yet. This is why I don't plant anything until after the first week of May. This is C-R-A-Z-Y! I am so ready for summer - when it's green outside I want sun, not snow :(

This is what it looked like at around 4:00 when we got home. You can see the ginormous snowflakes starting to organize themselves. They were literally as big as quarters!

Here is the same scene an hour later. Note the crazy white stuff...

Hard to see but a HUGE snowflake in my hand - yes that is just one!

Almost an inch in just a short amount of time.

Daisy is NOT pleased with this turn of events. Especially since the horses have about shed off all of their winter fur! Hope the guineas are staying warm. They have learned to go in and out of the coop and spent a long time walking in then out then back in then back out the other day. Poor dumb things.

Spring Scarves

Just in time for spring (haha) I finished my basket weave scarf over the weekend. Yeah, I should have been finished about 2 weeks ago but have had a lot of distractions with guineas and birthday sickness. So, let me introduce to you my beautiful scarf!

It was knit on size 10 needles with Bernat Black Lites in Big Blue. It is a wonderful cheap/bulky extremely soft acrylic yarn that I bought to teach my friend Becca how to knit and loved it because it was so soft! Too bad it has to wait until next winter to wear it!

An up-close of the basket weave pattern - stockinette and reverse stockinette pattern

5 feet of glorious scarf!

Mmmm -warm!

Only A Mother Could Love...

We had our first guinea escape this afternoon! Well actually I did. After coming home from school I went down to the pen to check on them to make sure everyone was ok and had figured out how to get OUT of the chicken coop - we finally got them in last night. I found them in the corner of the pen and they went running for cover when they saw me and I think it's the female built up enough power to fly over the top. I clipped their wings yesterday but I guess maybe I didn't clip them short enough. Well, she took OFF - across the road to who-knows-where. Luckily Logan came home soon after and we found and caught her and I clipped those wings shorter just to be sure! It also let me get some better 'close ups' - not pretty birds are they?

Brave hunter Logan with his prize guinea - had to crawl through thorn bushes to get her!

She is not a happy camper!

And...her 'head shot'. Beautiful huh? hahaha Seriously - would you want to mess with her?

Good Guineas!

I promise I haven't been avoiding posting. I haven't been sick all winter - maybe a small little sniffle but not sick...That is until yesterday - the day before my birthday! Sore throat - check, chills - check, fever - check. Super day let me tell you. I came home from school (where I probably shouldn't have been to begin with - yes, Mother, I should have gone home) and slept from the time I got home until this morning. I woke up this morning feeling much better - still a scratchy throat but at least no more chills and fever. Oh yeah, happy birthday to me today :) 27 - now *late 20's*. Eeek! How did this happen? So a fun birthday spent sickly.

But let's not sit around and feel sorry for ourselves - we got guineas today!! A lady I work with gave us a pair - male and female - of guineas. They are seriously the funniest birds I have ever been witness to in all of my life. Not bright animals either. I literally watched them run into the same spot in the fence 20 times trying to escape. Now? How about now? What about now? Do you think it will be open now? No? Well what about now? Seriously - how do these things make it out in the wild?

Why have guineas then? Besides the fact they are hysterical to watch, guineas are excellent at keeping down the insects and especially ticks around places. Our chicken/fowl pen is attached to the barn where the horses are so hopefully this will control some of the flies we get in the summer and also once they learn that this is their 'home' they can be let out to forage in the fields to help with the insects also.

They seem ok so far (Logan overheard our neighbor saying under her breath that they - the guineas - were going to drive them crazy - uh, what about your psycho barking dog that won't be quiet? Trust me, if you can't hear him barking at 11:00 at night - you are not going to hear the bird....Just wait until we get the roosters - mwuahahahahahaha) except that they won't go into the super chicken condo that we spent so much time building...Maybe once they learn their food and water is in there they will? Or maybe not, like I said - not smart birds. Anyone have any solutions for this? Maybe time will tell. So....here's some quick pics of them - they wouldn't stand still long enough to take some good ones but I will have to try again!

No, the last one isn't missing his (her?) head, it was just tearing around at warp-speed and ran out of the picture :)