Happy Birthday!

Someone turned 21 today:

She wants her own phone for a present

Update...

Axe's nose is looking much better-the swelling is almost gone. She's eating without pain. Her temp is normal. Thank god for small favors!

Water, water everywhere....

I finished the water portion of Beacon House:

Then the snow....I have to remember I want to add a lost mitten in the snow somewhere. It's not on the chart but I think I can wing it.

In other news, the Axe pony was the source of angst and lessening of the bank account today. The barn called to say she wasn't "acting right" and didn't finish breakfast. Not good- and made for upsetting flashbacks to the weekend Axe coliced over the summer and Bob died. Emily got there first & called to say "get the vet- her head is swollen". Which is kind of bizarre, but sure enough, when I get there, her muzzle is grossly swollen- close to twice its normal petite size. And very sore to the touch. The farrier came by too- he was supposed to do her shoes, but wanted to see what was up  with her face, and he said it felt very warm- like an infection. Long story short, after a sedation, a shot of pain killer, and a very painful oral exam, the vet thinks it's an allergic reaction to something she's ingested. She administered a steroid shot and gave me an Rx for steroid tablets. And a follow up visit mid-week.

Our guess was an infected tooth, but the vet said her mouth looked "awesome" - no cuts or foreign objects or broken teeth.

That's me: Mary "The strange, the bizarre, and the unexpected, day late and a dollar short, queen of procrastinators" Murphy. Also, very cold. Brrrrrr

BAD pony!!!

(Not my barn- just a random video I saw today)

>

A Really Big Fish story…

From Yahoo News- A Real, Live Moby Dick!
The pony came down with a very swollen ankle this week. Alice & I think it’s mostly due to lack of turn-out this week, because of all the rain we’ve had. At the old barn, Axe would have been able to walk between her stall, which was about 12’ x 12’, and the pen outside, which was about 24’ x 15’. Axe’s stall now is maybe 10’x9’, and no 24/7 pen. All the walking was good for keeping her aging joints mobile, and keeping excess fluids from building up in her lower legs. Emily thought she was a bit gimpy, but we’ve been liniment-ing, and hand-walking, and she looks much better as of today. She may have twisted her ankle early in the week, and the extra inside time caused the fluid to build up. I also turned her out in the big field this afternoon so she could walk around more. And I pulled out some stitching! I’m more than 3/4 done on the Lizzie Kate Joy Sampler- I’ll take a photo tomorrow and post. If I was a real woman, I could finish it watching football tomorrow. Here’s my last update photo.
I bought all my Thanksgiving fixings yesterday and today, and my .49 cents/pound Marval frozen turkey is de-frosting in my refrigerator. I think I’m going back to the store tomorrow to get another turkey for Christmas.

It’s Alive!!!

It has been a while since i posted a picture of Beacon House:

As you can see, we now have a boat, and more ocean.
I have other news: the owners of my barn have sold the property to move to Florida, and we had to move the pony to another barn. We've ended up at the barn we wanted to move to way back when, but they had no stalls, which is why we went to Jodi's. Alice has 2 of her own horses, plus one other boarder. She doesn't have the acreage/pastures like Jodi's, but I know she treats Ax like one of her own, I completely trust her and her care. Ax is settling in nicely; Alice is impressed with her manners and good sense. It's almost as good as a compliment about one's own child!
Emily has found close access to some nice riding trails, so that's been a plus. Alice does have an indoor arena, but it's much smaller than Jodi's. It's almost uncomfortably small considering Ax has such a long stride, but at least it's something.
Back to Jodi: her dog Jackson, who was not a very happy camper the last time I barn sat, ended up being diagnosed with a thyroid condition, as well as coincidentally being afflicted with sudden onset blindness. His sight seemed fine when i was there, but within about 2 weeks of them returning from vacation, he was almost totally blind. Now his sight is completely gone, and his thyroid treatnment seems to be working, so he's still not the same dog (perky, bouncing, wacky and off-the-wall). Now he's timid, cautious and subdued. He's going to have a difficult adjustment at their new house, learning where everything is.

It was heaven on earth at Jodi's. Beautiful property, and wonderful friends.

Lather, Rinse, Repeat…..

Here’s my latest Beacon House update:

I had to unstitch about 3” of the top line of the water, back to where I stopped infilling, because I had mistakenly repeated the previous section of chart. This JCS version of the chart is horrible. The chart runs across 3-4 pages and breaks at very inconvenient places- it’s been difficult trying to keep my place. I finally taped all the sections together into one big chart.

Em got me a new purse for my birthday. It has smaller outside pockets than my previous bag, and a single large inner compartment. So I made some zippered organizers so I can find my all-important lottery cards: 

Here are the lining colors:

And this is for my Mom- the thread catcher:

Then Em got me this- a leftover from the Olympics:

Google “Steven Colbert” and “Dressage”. He’s made several hysterically funny videos in an attempt to skewer the Romneys, but the videos are too funny. Oh- here: From The Colbert Report and this. And dressage queens united to produce this at Gladstone (site of the Olympic Trials) 

Stitchy Update….

First of all, thank you for the kind words and electronic hugs- they are much appreciated and comforting. I am doing a little better each day, but then I am also trying to keep my activity level at 155 MPH to be distracted as much as possible. At night when I inevitably have to slow down, I watch a little TV, then go to bed early. Needless to say, I have a LOT of DVR hours to go thru.

Anyway- here as promised, are some stitchy pictures:

Beacon House- here’s where I left off last time:

I rolled the scrolls over and here’s where I am now:

And a zoom of Mr..Snowman:

Here’s Joy Sampler by Lizzie Kate:

I could finish this up this weekend if I sat down to it.

Here’s Jackson from the barn:

His 2 big sisters were put to sleep a couple of weeks ago, so this was his first time being all alone while I barn sat. He’s been vaguely “not right” since before that, and the vet(s) can’t figure out what’s wrong. He’s eating, pooping and peeing normally; he’s just not the bouncy wing-nut he’s always been. He got along good with Chicken, just a few growls, but no fights, so I was able to have her sleep over with us instead of leaving her alone at my house.

Off to do house work- my favorite! 

 

NOT!

Happy Memorial Day!

I hope your day is blessed with sunshine as we remember those who’ve given the ultimate sacrifice for our country.

This is the first Memorial Day weekend in 3 or 4 years  that I’ve had “off” off, because of my barn owner’s show horse having colic surgery. KoKo is recuperating well, with no problems (quick knock on wood). Next weekend she can be turned out into a small pen; she’s been out of her stall only for brief periods to  hand graze 3 or 4 times a day for the past month. She’ll have a month of “pen” rest, then another month of pasture rest, which will bring her to the beginning of August before she can go back to work.

Here’s my progress on Beacon House. This is 2 weeks worth of stitching and it really doesn’t look like much, but I’ve dipped into the water:

I’ve been procrastinating on doing all the snowflakes scattered in the sky areas. There are 3 different size Smyrna Crosses to do and I’m dreading them!

I made a Peanut Butter sheet cake for snack at stitching last week:

I thought it was excellent. Jeanne had the idea of Pioneer Woman’s Chocolate Sheet Cake with the Peanut Butter sheet cakes’s frosting.  A must-try for sure!

Have a nice quiet holiday tomorrow!

Good News & Bad News….

The good news: I barn sat this weekend, and stitched a bit on Beacon House and on the Lizzie Kate Joy Sampler.


The bad news is: I was supposed to stay over both Friday and Saturday nights, but at 6:00 pm Saturday, I got a call from the barn owner who was at a horse show in Topsfield. Her horse had coliced and was about to go into surgery. They were going to come home Saturday night around midnight.
Long story short, her horse came out of surgery fine. She’ll be at the vet’s until the end of the week, then back home for several months of recuperation. So basically my barn owner’s show season is over, which is sad because  she does so well. She was hoping to go to Nationals this year in July, but that won’t happen. And even if her horse is recovered in time for Worlds in October, I don’t think she’ll have the points to qualify. (I’m assuming one needs a minimum amount of points to qualify.)
Needless to say, no discounts on my board for a while. %^(

Strange Days…

I had to barn sit this past weekend and it was very odd not to be stitching on Garden Grew. So instead, I put lots of time into Beacon House. Here are some daily photos from Friday thru Sunday:

  

I also started Lizzie Kate’s Joy Sampler (because one cannot have too many ornament-of-the-month starts in any given year-even if we’re still on January’s ornament):

This is on  a piece of DMC 28 or 32-ct. linen with the called-for threads.

Ta-da!

Stitching Fun…

Here’s tonight’s progress on Beacon House:

Have I mentioned how much I hate Windows? It has taken over 5 minutes to post everything you see above this point!
Anyway, here’s my February ornament:

Ewe & Ewe & I  Friends Christmas Sampler (again). I stitched this last year and gave it to my barn owner this past Christmas. It’s a really sweet design and I wanted it for myself.
I have to go before I throw my chair through the monitor. More updates have come thru and I seemed to have slowed to a crawl……….arrrgggg!

Saturday Stitching….

I think I’ve figured out why I haven’t felt like stitching lately: I’ve been reading. I don’t know why, but if I’m on  reading jag, I don’t stitch. I want to stitch, but it’s so much easier to pull out a book.

Anyway, this morning doing barn chores, the other lady, Michelle, asked if I’d do a little sewing project for her. Her husband is a police officer, and the Velcro on his rip-off tie needed refreshing. It never occurred to me, but evidently, perpetrators may grab the officer’s tie in an effort to thwart arrest, and potentially cause harm by choking the officer. So the ties have a Velcro closure at the back of the neck so they’ll rip off easily.

So because I had to dig my machine out, I also grabbed some more fabric to make Ort Bag #2:

You’ll recognize the floral fabric from Emily’s Christmas apron. The pale blue was something I had in my stash. This one came out more like Deb’s- the weight and floppiness was just right. I just need to work on the curves at the tips. I should also invest in some “invisible” thread.

Chicken wants me back on the couch:

Sunday Stuff…

Worked at the barn Friday, Saturday, & Sunday morning and afternoons. Had a small side job to do Friday morning as well, and then a call to help out my HVAC engineer friend Saturday morning. Here’s my progress on Beacon House:

It doesn’t look like much, just more snow infill, but I did 2 birds over one (the 2 darker blue ones):

 

Today, I tried to recreate Deborah’s ort “jar” from memory:

Looking back at Deb’s, I see I need to use a narrower seam allowance, plus make it a tiny bit bigger overall, and a larger radius on the arc on the points. Oh, and maybe be a little neater when I double-sew seams….

Wonderful Wednesday Wrecipes…..

Sorry about the lack of post-age. I’ve been helping out at the barn a LOT due to the barn owner’s rotator cuff surgery at the beginning of November. She’s started P.T., but it’ll be  while before she’s ready to toss 20+ bales of hay down from the loft.

The other lady helping out is there a lot, too, so I feel compelled to stay as long as she’s there, plus she’s riding one of the retired horses, and asks  several times a week if I’ll ride with her. So instead of my usual in-and-out in 90 minutes or less on any given evening, I’m there 2-1/2 hours or more, plus cleaning stalls for about 2 hours three mornings a week. By the time the weekend comes around, I just want to sack out on the couch. Blech. Plus my computer has been slow- I think I have to start taking old stuff off…

Anyway, I came across the soup thru this link from Edgar’s blog. I think it’s the best soup I’ve ever made- it was really hard to stop at one bowl! My recipe below is a tiny bit tweaked from the original, mainly by substituting turkey for beef.

Pasta E Fagioli Soup

Ingredients:

• 1 pound ground turkey (or Shady Brook Farms 20.8 oz. package)
• 1 small onion, finely diced
• 2 carrots, finely diced
• 2 stalks celery, finely diced
• 1 can diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1 can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 can cannellini beans (or white kidney beans), drained and rinsed
• 1 (26 oz.) carton beef broth (or 3 cups)
• 1 jar (25 oz.) spaghetti sauce (I used about ¾ of jar)
• 2 tsp. dried oregano
• 2 teaspoons dried parsley (I used fresh because I had it on hand)
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 3/4 cup uncooked ditalini pasta (or your favorite pasta shape)
• Salt, to taste (about ½ tbsp. kosher salt)

Directions:

1. Brown meat in a large skillet; drain excess fat & discard. Add to crock pot.
2. Drain & rinse both types of beans, and add to crock pot.
3. Add all other ingredients, except pasta, to crock pot and stir to combine.
4. Cook on low for 6-8 hours, or high for 4-5 hours.
5. My crock pot was too small (YIKES!) so I used a French oven (6-quart, I think), and cooked in the oven at 275 degrees for about 4 hours.
6. During the last 30 minutes of cooking time, add the pasta & stir.

You may want to have an additional can of broth on hand- the pasta will continue to absorb liquid as it sits leftover in the refrigerator. When you re-heat the soup, stir in a little additional broth.

Merry Christmas!

I’m pooped! But I had to share that my wicked awesome daughter got me a Keurig “Elite” coffee maker and a ton of assorted accessories!  I’m so excited- I can’t wait to try it tomorrow am.

I hope everyone has had a marvelous day with family and/or friends. Thanks for  visiting and all the wonderful comments you leave- I truly appreciate them all!

(Image from the Green Mountain Coffee website)

I made an apron for her:

It’s reversible- “evil” side and “good” side.

I also finished this pillow, and made a second:

I have to get a bigger form for the top pillow.

I made this for Michelle at the barn:

“Barn Yard” by Bent Creek I think. Here’s the back and a 3/4 side shot to show the thickness:

 

The horse I tried to emulate Molly, the horse Michelle rides. She’s a chestnut Appaloosa, although the only white spot is low on her belly on the left side, and she has two white socks on the rear.

Off to the couch for me. Merry Christmas and good night!

Five More Days...

I mean posts, before I can hop off this bus to crazy town. I didn’t even make it thru one episode of Hawaii Five-O last night before I crashed. I never even saw who done it. I’ll try to stay awake for more tonight- I have the last episode of Fringe, several CSI’s, a Glee or 2, and a bunch of Prime Suspects. I have to get it all under control before The Closer starts Monday. I LOVE that show!

Absolutely stellar weather today in Massachusetts- about 63 degrees, partly sunny, little to no breeze. I went for a little ride on Axe this afternoon around the barn property. We can open all the gates and 2-1/2  laps around all the paddocks is about 40 minutes. it’s like a mini trail ride without going on the trails.

I didn’t get to my x-mas lights- tomorrow is supposed to be marvelous too. Barn chores this morning as well as tomorrow morning, plus seeing Bob, and a couple of household chores. I gave Bob most of my apple pie- the chocolate cake is wreaking havoc with my waistline, but I’m NOT giving it up!

Mom’s birthday is today- HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!

First Day….

of NaBloPoMo. I must be completely insane!
I survived my barn sitting- 10 days of dark mornings and not-early evenings. I ended up going to work everyday, as I’m not sure anymore if I have paid vacation days, and was up by 5:15 on the weekdays and 6:15 on the weekends. There were several mornings I had to get up at 3:30 to let the dogs out because one had been having “tummy trouble” prior to my stint, and I was afraid of having to clean poop out of carpets. So as soon as I heard whining, I was up in a flash. Luckily, no accidents!
I made great progress on Garden Grew- I have just one page left.
Here’s where I left off:

Here’s after my first day:

Since I have 30 days to fill, you’ll have to wait for subsequent pictures!

I’m Back….

and almost done with this:

I have one page left to do. More when I can keep my eyes awake…

Garden Growing by Leaps & Bounds..

I finished a ten-day stint barn-sitting, and I’m trying to get back to my normal routine. Chicken was at my BF’s for the 10 days, and was spoiled rotten; so much so that I think she’s unhappy at being home!

Here is my Garden Grew progress. I am now 3/4 done!

    

I have created a fix for my Quaker Halloween and installed an A/C in my downstairs office (formerly the kids’ room) in preparation for the Hotter-Than-Hades Heatwave Tour coming to a town near you soon. Chicken demanded that at the very least. She also wanted dropped eggs on toast for breakfast and a medium rare rib eye for supper, too.

Yeah, right….