the Snowman

Going down the freeway this morning, we noticed that the SUV in front of us had an extra passenger, a real snowman! When we came up to it we could see it better.

These cell phone pictures don't do it justice. This little traveling snowman had eyes, nose, mouth, and even little buttons down the front. I wonder if he actually arrived at his destination as little bits of him (snow) were falling off all along the way.

The Snowman - narrated by David Bowie

Sunday (textures 1/31/10)

This week's Sunday Still's challenge was Textures. I decided to do a few photos around the old homestead. Here is my front driveway and my little dog Buddha going for a walk. The snow is almost higher than he is! These icicles are hanging from the roof of my house.I love how the shadows play on the sparkly snow and there are rows and rows of pipe fencing. Also interesting to me is the way the pristeen snow is so pretty next to the churned up snow.

Here is a closeup of a snow covered bush.

The inside of a feed bag has a really neat woven texture next to the grain. I looked around the barn and found an old towel. I will always remember Yalla!'s birth and rubbing her brand new, warm, and wet body down with this old, soft toweling.What does anyone else do with all the old haystrings? I hang them on my wall- deco art or handy accessory?

Here is part of a hay bale with the infamous hay string still attached.

Sunday - song: Sunday, artist: David Bowie, album: Heathen

I could do with the money

Sometimes it's not worth winning the lottery.

I came across these headlines today: Body of missing lottery winner found. Look here to read about a Florida $30 million winner who was murdered and buried under a concrete slab in the backyard of his ex-girlfriend's boyfriend's home earlier this year. His family and friends had been hoping he was on a beach in the Caribbean.

Yesterday, I read this story, about a 47 year old woman who, after winning $8,000 in a game show, went to celebrate in a bar. She was hit and killed walking away from the bar.

That got me thinking...

I've read that it often changes people's lives, for the worst, most often. Usually, million dollar winners are rich for a time and then lose it all and revert right back to where they started, sometimes even worse off than before. This article tells about how many winners became losers.

Me, if I won lots of money, I would go on an extended cruise around the world with my sister. That's the deal, if either of us win. I would probably go ahead and include some other family members too. (I have a relatively small family. Of course, it gets lots bigger when money is involved!) This would give me time to think about my future and what to do with the money without any temptations.

Then, I would look for a good investor and put most of the money away so that I could have long term income. I would probably get a new ranch, a small one, or just really fix up the one I have. I would most likely quit working full time and then take up some kind of part-time work, or do volunteer work. I would not go out and buy expensive cars and lavish gifts.

The only thing that might tempt me is horses. I would possibly buy a pureblood Friesian or Andalusian. I might want to pursue a racing or show career with Yalla!. I would love to learn how to work cattle.

Actually, I would prefer to keep the money as secret as possible, however, with today's media coverage, that's just not possible. A million or two wouldn't change my life much at all, really.

What would you do if you won?

I could do with the Money - song: Rock n Roll Star, artist: David Bowie, album: TRAFOZSATSFM

Stay by my Side

LOL, doesn't Yalla's face look LOOOOONG in this picture?

Yalla is probably asking, Why are you doing that? Annie is saying, This feels GOOOOD!

Now Yalla is thinking, since you aren't paying any attention to me...

Stay by my Side - song: Amazing, artist: Tin Machine, album: Tin Machine

Waiting for something

Since I posted my Friday Foto early, I figured I'd post a few more pictures. These were before the BIG storms this week.

Waiting for something - song: After Today, artist David Bowie, album: Young Americans

snowflake on my face

It's a blizzard today and all the horses are warm in their blankets of snow

except Annie. She never has enough fur or fat to keep warm. She was damp and iced up so I rubbed her down with a flannel. Since she was still slightly wet, I decided to throw on the flannel sheet and a blanket. That way she can dry off and warm up. Notice the snow already accumulating on the blanket?

I love the way Yalla looks with snow all over her

Don't ask me why I turned the camera at the end! thumps head!

Snowflake on my face - song: Sell me a Coat, artist: David Bowie, album; David Bowie

Friday foto

Friday - song: Friday on my Mind, artist: David Bowie covering the EasyBeats, album: Pinups

But he can kick

Blue Hors Matine, the dressage sensation has died! It seems that she broke her knee in a freak pasture accident and had to be put down. For years now, I've watched this video with tears of joy from the beauty of it. Tonight, it's with tears of sadness.



I read somewhere that she was kicked in the knee by another horse who was out in the field with her. Such a tragedy!

My Annie was a kicker in her younger days. She has quite a lethal history too. After we bought her, we found out that she had kicked another horse in the knee and it was put down. Then, about six months after owning her, she kicked Scout's mother, Beighley, in the neck. Beighley used to boss everyone around and bite at them so, one day, when Beighley was snaking her head out to bite at Annie, Annie nailed her. Beighley's neck swelled horribly and we had her under vet care for ten days. The vet was coming out twice a day and giving her water with a tube, since she couldn't reach the water to drink, because of her stiff, swollen neck. As the swelling subsided, she went into choke on a wet mash. Long story short, the vet felt there was esophogeal damage and told us we needed to think about putting her down. Beighley made the decision for us when, one day, she got colicky. As my husband walked her around, she tripped and fell, breaking her neck, and dying instantly.

I've seen Annie kick my other horse, Riddler, in the knee. She liked him so it wasn't a hard kick. He didn't even swell up. We were lucky, very lucky! Even now, the other horses steer clear of her and her random kicks, which are rare, fortunately.

This morning, I noticed Yalla! kicking out at Scout. It brought back memories of Beighley, Riddler, and the other unknown horse victim. And then I read about Blue Hors Matine. What a kicker!!


But he can kick - song: All the Young Dudes, artist: David Bowie

It was time to unfreeze

Almost two weeks ago, I went online and ordered a textbook for my auditing class. Then, I checked my mailbox daily, anxiously waiting and hoping. Finally, on Friday night, when I checked my cluster mailbox, I found that I had a key in my box. YaY!!! However, when I put the key in the door of the big vacation mailbox, and turned it, the door wouldn't open. Uh oh! I noticed there was a layer of ice across the bottom of the door, freezing it solid. I thought, jeez, I can't get the door open or the key out. Someone can steal my $169 book! Of course, they'd have to get the box open first.

When I got home, I told my son about it and we went back out and used a blow torch to melt the ice. I'm holding the plastic key tag out of the way of the flame. I kept joking that he better not burn my book up. We didn't harm the post boxes at all so I'm hoping that we didn't commit any felonies. We did get the box open and the package out. ;)

It was time to unfreeze - song: Watch That Man, artist: David Bowie, album: Aladdin Sane

Sunday (1/24/10 Sports)

Good morning all! Today's sunday stills is on sports. When I think of sports I think of team sports: baseball, football, hockey, etc., however I don't have any photos of that. Here's my offering:

Hiking Backpacking
Throwing rocks
How about rock climbing

Canoeing (For more about my paddle down labyrinth Canyon, Green River, Utah, click here)

Hot air ballooning (for more ballooning, check here )
and horse back riding with friends. (click here for more about this ride.)

Sunday - song: Sunday, artist: David Bowie, album: Heathen

A winter's day

This is what I crave most in recent days! Lol. It's cold outside!! I like to hang out by the wood stove and lots of wood is needed to keep it going. This past week we have been seeing the effects of El Niño. We have been getting a little snow almost every day. Look here for an explanation of this particular weather pattern.

Here's Yalla! looking for me to feed her in the morning. It looks dark, doesn't it? I think it was around 7ish, daylight. These trees are the same ones in my header photo but from the opposite direction. Aren't they pretty? We planted them when we first built our house.
I like the snowflakes in this photo. Same tree as above, only it's from a different angle. Notice how half the tree is heavy with snow while the other half has far less? The wind was blowing while it was snowing.
This strange picture is looking out of my bathroom window. I like how the snow collected on the screen.
Here are icicles in the barn. This afternoon the horseshoer came to trim the horses' feet. Yalla! neighed and neighed while he worked on Scout. Then, when it was her turn, she played hard to get. Not too bad, but she is usually much easier to halter than she was today. And then, she was extremely restless and pulled her feet away a few times. The shoer was very patient and said that this time (her third time being trimmed) she didn't have mama telling her it was okay and she was just behaving like 'kids' do. She hasn't been turned out for several days either. I guess to him she was just acting like an Arab. lol. For the first year, he won't be charging me for her trims either. He considers it her training and an investment so he has an easy horse to work with in the future. Annie wasn't really well behaved either. She wigs out when he picks up her off back foot sometimes. She's not awful but she pulls her foot away and won't stand still.

I must say that my farrier is about the most efficient farrier I've ever worked with. Too often he comes early. It takes him an average of 15-20 minutes to trim a horse. I never want to cancel or reschedule appointments because he's booked out for weeks. He marks his calender for the next appointment 8-9 weeks from now and then his wife calls to remind me a day before the appointment. He's definitely a keeper.

Tonight, I went out and visited the horses in the dark. I decided to put a blanket on Annie since the wind chill has been so cold (30, feels like 18, in the evening) and there's a possibility of more snow. She's getting better about blanketing but she's not good yet. I went into her stall carrying the blanket and she wanted to be rubbed on her neck until I pulled the blanket out to put on her. Then she ran out of the stall and stood looking at me. I waited a few minutes and she came back into her stall to me. I rubbed her back and sides and everywhere with my hand but again when I presented the blanket she ran away. We did this again and then she stayed for me to lay the blanket on her back and strap it on. There was a time when she wouldn't ever have come back to me and the blanket so I know I am making progress. She is hypersensitive and flighty but she loves to be scratched and rubbed. Basically, she's a very 'people' horse as long as you take your time with her.

We have a game that we play where I sit on the rails and she'll walk up alongside me. I will slide onto her back and she'll walk around and then back to the same place alongside the rails. She stops there and I get off. I'll scratch her neck and talk to her and then climb back on. She walks around again, veering this way or that, and then again stops by the rail where I climb off.

Her daughter is very much like her. I cannot go to the barn without visiting Yalla! She likes me to rub all over her body, especially between her front legs. Tonight, when I rubbed her belly and between her back legs she turned her head towards me and stuck her nose in the air like she wanted to groom me. Then I hugged her and we shared kisses. She sticks her nose straight out towards my face and breathes. She is such a loveable horse. I am so glad I have her.


A winter's day - song: Sell me a Coat, artist: David Bowie, album: David Bowie

It's the theater of financiers

I got this email the other day. Haha. Do people really respond to this stuff?? What do you think?

COMPLIMENTS,

TRANSFER OF US$56,559,000 TO YOUR ACCOUNT.

I want to make an
investment/partnership business proposal to you which value sum of $56,559,000
(Fifty Six Million, Five Hundred and Fifty Nine Thousand United States Dollars).
Of which I believe, will be of mutual benefit to both of us.

I need
your co-operation to transfer the above mentioned sum out of Accra-Ghana to your
account. I am confident that you will give your consideration to this proposal
and response positively within a short period of time. I am available to discuss
this proposal with you and to answer any questions you may have in regard to
this fund.
As soon as you give your positive response to this proposal, I
will not hesitate in sending you the details information of this business. This
transaction is 100% RISK FREE.

I look forward to discussing this
opportunity further with you.

PLEASE REPLY ME HERE EMAIL:
adofokwasi.voixxx.fr

Sincerely,
Mr. Adofo Kwasi
Barclays Bank
Ghana
Head Office
P.O. Box GP 2949
Accra, Ghana.
Email:
adofokwasi.voixxx.fr

Phone:+ (233) -543-74613

It's the theater of financiers - song: We are the Dead, artist: David Bowie, album: Diamond Dogs

Gabriel's Heroes

Here is a very moving video with Peter Gabriel's cover of the David Bowie classic, Heroes, for "Hope for Haiti."

This video is from a few years ago. It's called "Haiti" and the song is by Arcade Fire, one of my favorite music bands.


In partnership with the UN Foundation?s Central Emergency Response Fund, Habitat for Humanity and Dave Matthews Band's BAMA Works Haitian relief effort, Music for Relief is working to provide immediate aid with food, water, and emergency medical supplies, and long-term sustainable housing solutions for the people affected by this catastrophic natural disaster.

Watch. Listen. Then download the album, and support the cause.
I did.




About Music for Relief: Founded by the band Linkin Park, Music for Relief is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization dedicated to providing aid to victims of natural disasters and the prevention of such disasters. Since its inception in 2005, Music for Relief has raised over $3 million for victims of multiple disasters across four continents and planted over 810,000 trees to help reduce global warming. For more information visit www.musicforrelief.org.

100% of funds received will support those affected by the tragic earthquake in Haiti.
Funds will be divided equally among the rapid response efforts of the United Nations Foundation, the long-term,
sustainable rebuilding of homes with Habitat for Humanity, and Dave Matthews Band's BAMA Works Haitian relief efforts

http://www.musicforrelief.org/index.php

Friday Foto

Friday - song: Friday on my Mind, artist: David Bowie covering the EasyBeats, album: Pinups

Where's Waldo, part three

After taking a slight detour to Waldo and Cerrillos, my sister-in-law and I again headed north towards Santa Fe. This time we took my usual route, instead of the freeway from Albuquerque, we took the 'Turquoise Trail' highway along the backside of the mountains.

We drove past the old state penitentiary. There was a terrible riot in 1980 and some of the penitentiary buildings were burned. They never tore down the old building. Here is a link to a journal/photo/blog tour of the old buildings. Creepy!! You can still see the old buildings in the background. This is not a good picture. I was driving and had pretty much passed it.

I also took some pictures of the horse pens. They used to have a horse breaking program for the inmates. I don't know when or why they stopped it. They have a huge circle of fence divvied up into pie-wedge turnouts. Look towards the left and you can see the horse pens.

Here is some of the gorgeous views we had along the way. This is the Sangre de Christo mountain range outside of Santa Fe.
When we got to Santa Fe, we found a letterbox that was right along the way. Then we stopped at a few stores Lynne wanted to visit. We decided to go to Tomasita's for some good Mexican food. We drove down to the old railroad station and parked. Here's a painted wall we saw. It was fun exploring the train depot and the trains.

Unfortunately, because it was a Sunday, Tomasita's was closed. Our next choice was just down the road at the Cowgirl BBQ. Isn't this children's menu neat? When I was little, I loved paper dolls. I remember cutting them out from the magazine my mom got, McCall's??

All around the restaurant are photos of cowgirls. I especially liked this big picture and thought of the 'Pony Cousins' bloggers.

The yellow on the wall is not mustard! lol. The paint had sparkles and yellow spatterings.

This frame is made with spoons. Cool, huh?

Here's a better shot of the 'Pony Cousins'. I couldn't photograph head on because of the glare. (Thunks head, my camera has a museum setting, duh! Oh well, too late.)

I would love to have this barnboard advertisement.
The grub was good. Lynne had a barbeque sampler and I had a 'filly' cheese steak. If we had had room for dessert we would have gotten the ice cream baked potato. Since I didn't have it I can't tell you what it actually is but it looked liked a baked potato. The waiter said it was all ice cream. It was interesting... Hmmm, I googled and I guess there is a Cowgirl BBQ in New York too. Here's the menu. I wonder how they're related. They have the baked potato ice cream too but the menu is somewhat different. I remember there being buffalo burgers on the menu and the prices seemed lower. I would recommend eating there. It's really good!

Isn't this a great sculpture? I wonder what it all means?

Look at this next building and then the following photograph to compare the new with the old.
It's always nice when they post history signs about old buildings.

Santa Fe is known as the 'city different'. Well, no wonder, when they keep wagons on their roofs!

There's always a church nearby.
I thought this building was especially interesting. There aren't very many three or four story buildings in the southwest.
I love the glass blocks on this store front. It looks like an old movie theater. LOL. There's Lynne in the door reflection.

After eating lunch/dinner? and going for a walk down a few streets, we decided we'd best get on our way. Here's Santa Fe as we were leaving. We drove down to Albuquerque along the interstate.

> Again, we detoured. This time we stopped at the Coronado State Monument in Bernalillo (Ber-na-lee-yo).

However, they were closing, so after a needed pit stop, we returned to the freeway and enjoyed watching the sun set as we entered Albuquerque. Here's a view of the Sandia Mountains from the park. Check out what's in the photo!

Here's a close up. The park has a camping ground too. I imagine they were traveling through to some whitewater elsewhere.

Not much else happened but we did have a full day! I hope you enjoyed the trip.