Wacky Weimy Wednesday: Window Art

So, I think it's probably pretty safe to say that most people with dogs at home knew exactly what this post was referring to without even scrolling through these pics...

That's right. I'm talkin' about those unmistakable "brush marks" left by the noses of our canine co-habitators.

In my world run by Weimaraners, all efforts to keep windows clean are completely futile. Not that they would be spic and span without the Weimies. But they DEFINITELY aren't with these two around.

And don't even get me started on my car windows. It's not pretty. ;)

Sunday Stills: Signs of Fall

Yay! I was so excited when I saw the challenge for this week! We have had some absoutely gorgeous fall days lately and I've been taking tons and tons of pictures. I was going to do a "fall" post last week, but then thought to myself, "hmmm...maybe there will be a Sunday Stills fall challenge coming up." And sure enough, there it was when I checked! Love it!

Fall sunsets are soooo beautiful. That warm glow, the golden haze...can't beat it.
I love the way the golden light drenches the dried grass at sunset.And shines through the trees, lighting up dandelions and spider webs.

Spiders, spiders, spiders everywhere! I really liked this second web, 'cause it's on Caspian's fence and it looks like Charlotte spun a heart in the center of it for me. ;)

The "berries" are starting to form on the Cedar trees.And Maple leaves are starting to change already! One of nature's unmistakable indicators.

And at the end of the evening a crescent moon rises amidst a still slightly golden sky.

Ah, I really do love fall... :)

Arabian Night

So...I finally got a gate put on the "arena". I now have stepping stones going through my flower bed and lawn that lead over to the gate. For now, since I don't have nice footing installed yet Caspian can come and go in and out of the arena as he pleases. Often, he'll stand at the front to wait for his dinner.

This new gate is so convenient for me. Since it's on the side of our house, I don't have to go all the way through the back yard, turn off the fence, climb through the fence, yada, yada, yada.

There's just one problem. This new gate makes it all the more tempting for me to sneak out to visit Caspian any time I want. Like when I should be sleeping, cooking dinner, cleaning, etc. I know...not a bad problem to have, right? I love it. But I'm thinking I have to draw the line. What is it about my silvery horse that's so addictive? It's like he's a magnet for me!

One of my favorite things lately is our late night visits under the stars. With the big dipper overhead and a crescent moon poking out from behind the trees, it's like a moment frozen in time where it's just me and my horse. Nothing else. Just a soft muzzle nudging my cheek and a fuzzy chest for me to warm my hands on.

I don't often get inspired to write poetry (and I'm not even sure you could call it that) but every once in awhile something will make my wheels start turning and I have to get it down on paper. I wrote this "poem" after one of our first "gate assisted" late night rendezvous'. ;)

An Arabian Night

On a crisp autumn night,
With only stars to give light.
I’m drawn to a spirit,
So majestic in flight.

While I’m frozen in wonder,
A breeze softly blows through my hair.
As I watch a sleek silhouette,
Silently float through the air.

His tail flagged high,
Until he stops suddenly.
He’s heard a slight rustle,
And quickly whirls to see!

It’s me; I’ve been spotted,
And now I stand mesmerized.
As this magnificent creature,
Glides closer, staring into my eyes.

I’m pulled to his spirit by some invisible force,
I just have to be next to this incredible horse.

It’s so very late,
But still I ghost through the gate.

As I think to myself, “What is this pull?”,
“Why the longing?”, I wonder aloud.
But then my thoughts are soon broken,
By the sweetest of sounds.

And with a low nicker and a nudge,
He makes it perfectly clear.
I should need no real “reason”,
To explain why I’m here.

Surrender feels right,
And I feel so alive.
As I stand here entranced,

On an Arabian night.

I think it's hopeless...off to say g'night to my horse! ;)

Bareback attempt #2: much better! :)

So, I think I'm gonna have to stay home from work tomorrow. All of a sudden I'm coming down with a horrible cough, my head feels hot, and my throat is scratchy. I think it might be the flu.

Or maybe not. Maybe I just want to stay home tomorrow so I can ride my horse. ;)

I had such a blast riding him bareback tonight!!! After our ordeal the other night, I really had to gather the courage to mount up (I'm getting a tad wussy these days). Turns out I had nothing to worry about. Caspian obvoiusly remembered our ordeal too and decided to just completely trust me today. It was awesome. He lined up to my "mounting block" (please note the wood ladder in the background) like a seasoned pro and stood so politely for me. He was unbelievable.

I seriously can't even remember the last time I rode bareback, but I'm thinking it's been about 15-20 years or so. I forgot how FUN it is!!! Now it's all I can think about. Which is why I just might have to stay home tomorrow to nurse this "cough". ;) Just kidding. I think.

Hope you all had a great weekend!

Happy anniversaries to my favorite dudes!

If I had to pick just one month out of the year as my absolute favorite it would definitely be September, hands down. Although we may get a few rainy, gloomy days that remind of of the chilly days to come, for the most part our weather is absoutely gorgeous in September. There seems to be a golden hue, an ethereal haze that envelops everything for this one month. The nights are getting cooler, but are still warm enough to be outside. Morning dawns beautiful, crisp and clear, reminding us that there are still many sun-filled, blue sky days to come.

This time of year also reminds me of a very special day...that being my wedding day! Kuntry Boy and I will be celebrating our 6th anniversary this Sunday, which we will celebrate with our annual trip to the fair, our favorite anniversary tradition. We'll scarf down junky food, play skee-ball 'till we win a stuffed animal and ride the giant yellow slide. Of course, I will also drag him through the horse barns, like I do every year. He's such a good sport. ;)

6 years already...wow, time flies. I always like to go through our wedding photos this time of year...here are a few of my favs. We had an unbelievable photographer, who not only put an album together for us, but also put all of the photos on CD. Unheard of, right? Trying to get negatives from a photographer is like trying to get a pig skin twist from Cabela, ya know? ;)

The place where we had the wedding also had an on-site florist (who by the way was also the wedding coordinator and vintner!). Talk about a lady with many talents! I gave her some ideas of what I was hoping to have in my boquet and left the rest up to her...I thought she did a great job. She also took care of the flowers for the cake, the food table, and all of the centerpieces. So convenient.

I was absolutely in LOVE with this building where we had the food table set up. It was an old dairy barn that had been converted. It had an arbor and tent off of it, where the guests sat to eat. The yellow walls with red trim and wood accents were just beautiful. I was so thankful to have found this wedding location. I was pretty picky about the "locale" and after months of searching, this place was just perfect. Reasonably priced compared to so many others and had everything that I was looking for. Notice I don't say we...that's right...everything "I" was looking for...you know boys...generally not too worried about the "details"! ;)
I really like these photos of my grandpa and I walking down the "aisle", if you will. It was a bit of a blur at the time, so I like looking at these pictures and seeing faces (or backs) ;) of so many people that I care about sharing our day with us.

Here we are...the married couple! I felt like my whole face was going to literally fall off by this point after all the picture taking! Notice the golden hue I was talking about? A perfect September day!

Another perfect September day was 9-6-08! This, too, is a day I will never forget. This is the day that I brought my "Prince" home!

Here he is, getting acquainted with Caleb and showing off a little for the camera. He knew he had an audience and was definitely hamming it up.

Here we are at the "pick-up" location...do I look a little excited to be getting a horse? ;) Not just any horse, though. I was SO excited because I knew this guy was my horsie soul mate.

Here he is arriving at his new home! Again, just a little bit of excitement from me. Have I ever mentioned my friend Patches who is awesome and trailers my freeloading butt all over the place? Oh, I have? Well, here she is again. Trailerin' my horse (whom she told me about) home for me! I must thank her from the bottom of my heart for her part in bringing my dream horse into my life. :)
Here we are a year later...still in love! He, he!

I joke with Kuntry Boy that Caspian was my five year anniversary present. You could say that he wasn't ecstatic about the idea of getting a horse. But, knowing how much it meant to me (and after A LOT of me wearing him down...sometimes obvoiusly, sometimes subliminally) he grudgingly agreed to it. He even stepped up and built Caspian an awesome shelter...I think I scared him into doing it by saying I was going to do it myself! Ha, ha! Ya gotta know how to work it, right? ;)

I know deep down he really likes Caspian...he thinks I don't notice the neck pats and extra handfuls of hay he gives him. Ha...I'm onto him. ;) I tease him that he's still trying to find his "inner cowboy".

So happy anniversary to my reluctant cowboy and to my dream horse! I look forward to many years to come with both of my special dudes!

Bareback attempt #1...

...was not so successful. ;)

I recently ordered up this awesome Best Friend Comfort Plus bareback pad from One Stop Equine Shop. I was on the hunt for a really good quality pad that wouldn't put too much pressure on Caspian's withers and I think this one fits the bill!

Plus, the seat seems really soft and cushioney...although I wouldn't know from experience, 'cause I haven't quite made it into it yet!!

I decided to start bareback training with Caspian mostly because the saddle that I have doesn't fit him very well...it's fairly narrow and needs a ton more lift in the back...if that's how you say that. I'm certainly no saddle fit expert, but I can definitely tell that it does not sit right on him. It's the saddle that I used to use as a kid, and when I got Caspian my mom brought it out for me, hoping that it would fit us. Well, it still fit me ( I haven't really grown since 6th grade) ;) but I was disappointed that it wasn't quite right for Caspian. Like I said, it really doesn't sit right and the slope of it pushes my legs forward...it's really hard to maintain correct position in it. I also really don't want the fit issue to have a negative impact on Caspian's learning, so I've decided that I'm going to dedicate this fall/winter to working on bareback riding. I think this will be really good for both of us...it will definitely help me with my seat/balance and I think it will be great for our communication. Now, if I could just get on...

Last night was my first attempt and I have come to the conclusion that even though I may not have grown since 6th grade, I'm definitely not as limber as I was back then!! Therefore, I do not think I will be attempting to back my steed again until I get a sturdy, appropriate mounting device in place.

Thinking that I would be fine with an overturned feed bucket was severely overestimating my coordination. It just wasn't quite tall enough, even standing on my tippy toes (note: standing on tippy toes on an overturned feed bucket is not recommended for those "coordination challenged" individuals such as myself). I was bound and determined to make it work though. Sometimes I can be kinda hard-headed that way.

So after a few times of leaning over him to make sure he wouldn't freak (I don't think he's ever been ridden bareback) I decided it was now or never and made my first attempt at herking my leg over. Well, that "really stable" bucket tipped out from under me and down went Kuntry Girl! It should be noted that up until this point Caspian was being a real trooper. But once that feed bucket went a-clangin' and his Kuntry Girl hit the deck he was outta there like a bottle rocket! He didn't go too far though and stood for me to collect him and bring him back into the arena.

Needless to say, the next 15 minutes or so were dedicated to convincing him that the bucket wasn't gonna eat him and getting him to stand next to it quietly again. Then, it was time for attempt #2...did I mention that I can be a bit hard-headed?

This time went a little better...I got halfway on at least! I'm convinced that I would have made it all the way on if only Caspian would've worked with me! But once he felt my weight he wasn't quite sure what to do and took off again! This time with me hanging precariously off his left side! Now, when Caspian gets in flight mode, there ain't nothin' graceful about it. So here I was hanging onto mane and reins thinking, "time to bail!!" And bail I did! Just short of the arena entrance Caspian took a hard right as I jumped left...replaying it in my mind now, I'm pretty sure I landed on both feet! Well, maybe not....maybe it was more like a tuck and roll and spring to my feet kinda thing...I do remember being on two feet and stumbling into a post before regaining my balance. ;) For this uncoordinated chick, I think it was a pretty graceful dismount though! Although I would have loved to see it on film. Probably looked a lot less graceful than it felt!!

Don't worry...I was wearing my helmet!

After this I decided to scrap the attempt to mount and just keep working with him on standing next to the bucket quietly and letting me lean (part-way) over him. He was a real trooper.

So, yeah...looks like I need to rig up something a little better for mounting. I can't count on someone always being around to give me a leg up and I've certainly proven that I lack the coordination needed to use a makeshift contraption! After listening to my play-by-play, Kuntry Boy has offered to build me a proper wood mounting block in the near future. Yay! I will definitley take him up on that offer.

In the meantime, I'm on the hunt for another household contraption...only this time, one just a little more stable. ;) But I'm determined to get in a ride before the weekend's over! Stay tuned! Should be interesting!!

Sunday Stills: The Rule of Thirds

I had a lot of fun with this week's Sunday Stills challenge, the "Rule of Thirds"! It's not something that I've put a lot of thought into, so when I specifically tried to take photos keeping this rule in mind, I found myself getting into kind-of a rut, in that I was just putting the subject in the bottom right or left corner of my shot.

Here are my "corner" pics:




I liked these photos just fine, but then had to remind myself that I had a whole lot more room to play with...

So, using Caspian as my subject, I tried to branch out a little. With these, I tried to work with the top/bottom and left/right thirds.

I call this photo "shoo fly" and actually didn't take it for this challenge, but ran across it in my "Caspian" picture folder and thought I would post it, 'cause I *think* it follows the rule.

Lastly, tonight's sunset. I'm usually pretty good about keeping the horizon in the bottom third in sunset pics...but now I'm gonna think about it every time! :)
This one definitely was a bit of a challenge for me! I'm really glad to have participated though because now I have something new to keep in mind when taking pictures!