Friday, July 23, 2010

My Cast of Characters - The Animals

While sitting here feeling sorry for myself because I'm not in Salt Lake City at the center of the stamping universe this week, I realized that I organized this post way back in May but never finished it.

So, after introducing you to my human cast of characters, I've pulled this out of the draft pile, shaken off the moth balls and will now introduce you to the four-legged crew that roams this place of ours.

This is Nadia.

Correction: this is Nadia about 10 minutes after arriving at our place and enjoy what was quite possibly the first ever pile of hay in a clean stall she had ever had. She was roughly six months old when she came to us. The Peanut named her after Nadia Comaneci...of course. What else does a little gymnast name her horse? I'm sure Ms. Comaneci is very flattered. She (the horse) has been here for almost two years now and is no longer this skinny, though still on the small side. We love her to death and I'm starting her ground training this summer.


Then there's Classy.
Classy is MY baby. She is the horse that brought me back into the equine world and I am ever so grateful. I've learned how to train on a whole new level with Classy. We've learned together and she is the perfect training partner. She is the Trigger to my Roy Rogers. Oh, how I love this horse.


We've got a bunch of smaller furry creatures around here too. This is Oliver.
As you can tell, Oliver has quite the personality. He was the first pet that we got as a family. He was a five month old kitten at the time. Now, he's ten and has burned through most of his lives. His age is starting to show...but he still sticks his tongue out when he sleeps.


This is a very sad picture. This is Jazz.
Jazz was the sweetest little Hemingway cat in the universe. About four years ago he just showed up in our barn. After a few weeks he got the nerve to venture up to the house and decided he was home. We called him the Bean Bag kitty because, when you picked him up, he would go totally limp. Unfortunately, on Father's Day last month he took a nap right behind the wheel of our car and Maverick didn't see him when he was leaving. I should probably take his picture out of this post but I can't seem to do it. We miss the little fur ball.


When my son (aka the Calm) was 12 he wanted a rabbit SO bad. Not for the normal reasons a child might want a pet, to love and play with. No he wanted a rabbit just so he could name him:
Mr. Scruffims. And I gotta be honest with you here. The name fits.

Last, but never ever least (in fact, he will tell you that he is the closest thing to a people animal we've got around here) is the newest addition to our little menagerie:

This is Mario. Mario Kart Brown to be exact. While working a booth for our family business last summer, a volunteer from the Humane Society was walking the event with Mario who had a little jacket on that said "Adopt me". He went straight up to Maverick and put his head in his lap. The next thing I knew I got a text message, not from one of my kids but from my husband, saying "can I have a dog". We picked him up from the shelter the next day and he wasted no time making himself right at home.

So there ya go, our family zoo. There have been other animals along the way, a couple hamsters, another cat, the occasional fish, but this is our brood as we exist today. Everyone is a rescue and everyone just sorta. . . fits.















Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Fun Contest on another blog

For all you stampy/crafty type people, my Stampin' Up! upline is having a contest on her blog. She is currently having a fabulous time in the "Center of the known Stampin Universe" (that would be Salt Lake City, Utah) at Stampin' Up!'s annual convention.

She's got a little trivia question posted and anyone who leaves a comment with the answer will be entered to win a little taste of the goodies she is encountering this week.

Friday, July 16, 2010

BEHS 2009 Before/After

Horses have been a passion of mine since before I have memory. When I was a kid, if someone had give me an option of spending a month at Disney World and just one week on a ranch working horses, my boots woulda been packed and Mickey kicked to the curb. About six years ago, I found a group of people associated with an organization that not only shared my love of all things equine but worked to save, rehab and rehome abused, neglected and abandoned horses.

This group of people later became Bluebonnet Equine Humane Society (BEHS) and through them I've learned and done things with these animals I never thought possible. If you had told me 10 years ago that I would ever get into a stall with a horse and administer meds through an IV into his eye, I would have asked where you got whatever it was you were drinking. But I've done that and many other things I never thought I'd do.

Among this group is a wonderful lady by the name of Norma. Every year Norma documents some of the horses from the point of rescue through rehabilitation. She puts music to her pictures and comes up with a kind of video yearbook. The following is 2009. Some of the before pictures are heartbreaking but the after pictures? Oh wow, that's what it's all about.

Please watch and if you're able, click on the link and see what you can do to help.


Before & After 2009

Norma | MySpace Video