Things only a True Friend would say.

Last weekend my friend Dr. Annie and I were out for a horse ride.  I was telling her I thought the hair dresser high-lighted my hair just a little too blonde...with out missing a beat..Annie said, "Well, now you are the smartest blonde I know."  I busted up laughing!  Great friends always seem to know when to make you laugh! Thanks Little Blue Bird Sings!

The beautiful morning skies.

The morning sky at 6 am.  It is so peaceful to gaze out.

King .. I mean Queen of the hay stack.

Tank...King of the hay stack.

Rebellion...the girls are coming!

Lexi, Queen of the hay stack. 

Bow Hunting in Idaho

Add caption

My  dear friend Annie said, "Hey you want to help take Pete's (Annie's husband) friends to the back country on horse back?"  I said, "Yes!"  She said,"We'll have to be saddled and ready to go by 4:30 am."   Yes you read correctly...4:30am!   I got up at 3:45am, saddled the horses, and lunged Kota (the brown and white paint), just to take the edge off, he's only four and still can be a little rambunctious.  Pete's friends, Frank, who came all the way from New Jersey, rode Annie' solid black thoroughbred and Jerry, who rode  Annie's black and white thoroughbred paint, Chief.  We left my home at 4:35am, with only the full moon for light.  I rode my faithful brown quarter horse, Beau.  He did an awesome job leading us through the trails, safely, under the cover of darkness.  It's a wonderful experience to ride horses in the moonlight through the forest.  It's so peaceful.  I would do it again in a heart beat!

Annie helping Frank on getting situated on Ruella.

 Me on Beau, carrying Jerry's 30 pound pack.  See Kota's cute little face to the right of me.  Annie holding chief getting him ready for Jerry to hop on.

Sorry Jerry...no pictures of you on Chief!  Jerry said this was his first time riding since he was a kid.  Annie forwarded me Jerry's text later that night where he said,"The horse ride to hunt was a dream come true."  I love it when people can really appreciate horses and what they are capable of doing.

Halloween Jewelry

I worked in Cheyene, Wy for 9 months and met a wonderful friend, Dr. J.   She introduced me to making jewelry.  So the other day, I was out shopping at Michaels and went into the jewelry department and purchased my first "tools of the trade".  I made two halloween necklaces...so simple and fun...

My daughters rescue cat, Gus Gus, decided he wanted to help me make jewelry...like there was any more room on my desk.

I am a Pitch Fork Snob.

I was out in the barn yesterday using everyone of my pitch forks and was really enjoying how well they work for the different kinds of work I do everyday.   I thought...hmmmmm...I wonder how many people today know that there are even different types of pitch forks...so I took a picture of them and the things I use them for...can you match the right pitch fork to the right job?

 A. 6 prong    B. 3 prong   C. 10 prong

 1,100 pounds of hay.

Thick hay smashed into the ground mixed with goat poop. 

Horse Poop..yes  I did take a picture of horse poop.

Homemade Ham and Bean Soup

When our dear friends Ann and Boyd came up for a visit this summer, they were looking through one my cookbooks, "Lost Recipes"  and found this recipe....it sounded so good; I have been wanting to try it since then.   Soak 1 lb of white beans over night.  Place beans in large pot, add water til it about 1.5 inches above the beans, add 3 to 4 chopped onions and 2 cups of ham.  Salt and Pepper.  Bring to a boil, then simmer for 2 hours, adding water as necessary and skim off any goop on top.  When beans are soft add 1 tablespoon of Dijon mustard...we will see how it turns out. It sure smells good.

When to speak...When to listen...ok...so i'm not perfect, but i'm perfectly ok with that.

While digging the post holes with our tractor,

the auger stopped digging and would just go around in circles on top of the dirt.

This became increasing frustrating, Joe's first thought was the auger needed to be sharpened.  I spouted off, "how can that be?"  So, Joe checked the hydraulic fluid it was fine, then he checked some arm that works off the hydraulic fluid, he thought it might have broken a seal.  He then thought it might be the hydraulic air filter...finally he talked to his friend at the John Deer Tractor Store and it was the "teeth" on the auger.  The piece on the left is supposed to be in the shape of a rectangle, the bolt is completely warn off at an angle on the side and the nut was almost all sheered away.  I should learn when to listen better, especially when it's not my area of expertise :0)  But the important lesson, was I learned something new and because digging holes by hand sucks, I will always make it my job to check the teeth on the auger! :0)

 Yea! The goats pen is done! Thank you Mikey for coming out and helping your mom and dad!!! Love you!

Fall is Coming! I can feel it!

 Fall is on the way.  The nights are getting cooler, the sun is setting earlier and rising later.  I love waking up to crisp air in the morning.  Joe and I are still trying to finish up our summer projects.  We have finished digging all the holes for the post for the goats pen.  Hopefully, in the next couple of days we will finish the rails and field fencing. Lexi, loves to hang out and watch us work.   I sometimes get distracted petting her and giving her kisses when I'm supposed to be working :0)

 The turkeys seem to be visiting every morning.  I just love the little ones pecking around the back yard.  Although, I don't like it when Abby rolls in their poop and tries to come into the house :0)

 Finally, my gladiola's are finally blooming. I have always planted some where ever I live in loving memory of my green-thumb grandma.  I know she would have loved it here in North Idaho.

Still trying to get stuff done!

Joe and I are still trying to dig holes for the 6" poles for the goats pen.  It was raining and lightening yesterday, so we only got two holes dug.  AAAAHHHHHH....I just want it done!

Pattern for Dr. Joy's Solomon Wrap

Dr. Joy’s Solomon Knot Wrap

August 2013

For this project I used

Yarn: Caron Simply Soft …I think I used 4 skeins :0)…sorry I should have kept better track.

Color: Sticks and Stones

Hook: Size H-8 US hook size for wrap and Size I-9 US hook size for beginning chain.

Stiches:

1. Chain: ch
2. Single crochet: sc
3. Double Treble Crochet: dtr

4. Solomon’s Knot Stitch (SK):

Step 1: Work one chain and lengthen it to about ½ inch.

Step 2: Wrap the yarn around the hook and pull through, keeping this loop to a normal size.  Hold the lengthened first chain separate from the yarn leading to the new loop.

Step 3: Insert the hook under this separate yarn, wrap the yarn around the hook, and pull through the first loop.

Step 4: Wrap the yarn around the hook again and pull through both loops to complete the knot.

*I know the SK sounds hard, but once you get the hang of it, it really goes quite quickly…don’t give up! :0)

Foundation Chain: Use multiples of 4 ch +2, until you get the desired width of your rectangular shaped wrap.  I chained 94 with I-9 hook.

Wrap: Use H-8 US hook.

Row 1: 1 sc in 2^nd ch from hook, *2 SK, skip 3 ch, 1 sc in next ch, repeat from * to end, turn.

Row 2: 5 ch, 1SK, skip [first sc, 1SK], *1 sc in closing sc of next SK, 2 SK, skip [loop of same SK, 1sc, 1SK], repeat from *, ending 1 sc in closing sc of last SK, 1 SK, 1 dtr in sc, turn.

Row 3: 1 ch, 1 sc in closing sc of first SK, *2 SK, skip [loop of same SK, 1 sc, 1 SK], 1 sc in closing sc of next SK, repeat from *, working last sc in 5^th of 5 ch, turn.

Repeat rows 2 and 3 until you have the desired length, don’t bind off.

Edging:

You will now have 2 longer sides (lengths) and 2 shorter sides (widths),

Begin in the corner working in the direction of one length (this side you will wear around your neck area) evenly space out a row of sc along the entire wrap, when you get back to where you began, sc back across the beginning length of sc.  Bind off.

(Basically you will have three sides with a single row of sc, and one length of two rows of sc.)

For the other three sides:

I stung 600 miyuki cubes, 4mm, transparent dark brown on the remaining yarn.  (yes this takes awhile)

Row 1: Attach at the corner of the two rows of sc and one width with the wrong side facing you. 

Ch 3 and slip 3 beads close to the hook. Ch 1 to join beads, then ch 3 more.  Skip 1 sc, then work 1 sc in the next available sc.  Repeat this pattern around all three remaining sides.  Bind off.

Sherri's Sugar...Sister Sherri the Super Sugarist...

My sister, Sherri, is a true artist.  I am constantly fascinated by her baked cookie designs.  She made the Lady Bugs for our niece's first birthday party. and the Dr. Seuss hats were for her son's play.  I think they are awesome!!!   Shouldn't she go on some food network program..."Aunt Sherri's Cookies" or "Sugar with Sherri" or "Sherri's Sugar" ... :0) Sis you rock!

Finally the third stall is completed! Yea!!!!  It has been so much work, I still can't believe we actually did it!  Now...only two more outside projects to complete.  First, the permanent outside goat area and Second, cutting the fire wood.   We have to complete the goat area before I start back to work, but the firewood can wait til it cools off a little more.  Well, I don't have much time to write, I have to go out and dig holes and set posts with Joe :0).

Inside Barn Work...It Seems To Never Be Done :0)

 Inside the barn...the work never seems to be done.  Since I have accumulated two more horses this past year, we are in dire need of more stalls inside the barn.  This would be easy, except everything needed to be reconfigured.  We had to move the opening for the dogs, we added two more goat stalls for the girls, Rosie and Lena will now have their own stall and the boys Lars and Xavier will still have to share, then we will have to cut a 14 ft high x 4 ft wide door for the third horse Kota.  Today, Joe is going to finish the outside of the dog door, he is going to put up two sides and a roof so the snow and wind doesn't blow into the barn...what a guy! I think he did a great job on the cement and cutting the hole.

 The two new private goat stalls...post's set with cement. Thank goodness for the tractor with the post hole digger on the back!  Dad ...Thank you so much for buying us the cement mixer...it's a back and arm saver!

 The finished goat stalls.  Picking up the gates on Wed.












Joe hammering a handle on the 14 foot pole which will hold up the left hand side of the stall opening for the new horse stall. These long poles are a pain to move.

 Joe says we probably have one to one and a half more days inside the barn until completion; then it's off to the outside to finish the permanent goat fencing.

Time to do your outdoor projects in north Idaho is coming to an end.  It isn't like sunny CA, where you can work outside for most of the year...here once the ground freezes and freeze it does...your outside projects are done :0).  We can feel the weather changing...already the sun doesn't rise until 5:45 ish and it's so nice and cool outside in the morning you have to put on a sweat shirt.  At night time it is getting darker earlier, around 8:30ish...Joe said he'll be glad for the winter...he's tired from all the summer time projects.  He has certainly been working straight through with everything...he works me into the ground...sometimes I just say, "I'm done" and I stop.