Roll in the Daylight

While Annie was pregnant, she never laid down. Now that she's herself again, she rolls every chance she gets.

Although she doesn't run as much or as hard as she used to, she still flashes a pretty trot.
I like this photo of mare and filly investigating together.

Roll in the Daylight - song: How Lucky You Are, artist: David Bowie

I'm chameleon

Yalla! is starting to change color. But is seems to be concentrating on one side of her back. It's beginning to appear grayish smoky brown in certain light. It looks like an overlong saddle blanket mark. Isn't it strange?The other side hasn't changed from the light brown that it's always been. She looks mangy here, doesn't she?

All of her many scraps are turning black - it's either skin or black hair, depending on the location.She has lost all the hair around her eyes and muzzle now and her skin is all black there too. Is she going to turn all dark like her daddy? Or will she shed out to gray in the next year or two like her mom? I wonder.

I'm chameleon - song: The Bewlay Brothers, artist: David Bowie, album: Space Oddity

One inch thoughts

Why do we park on a driveway and drive on a parkway?

If we make corn oil from corn, and olive oil from olives, where does baby oil come from?

Why do we say heat up and cool down?

If we swim in a swim suit and smoke in a smoking jacket, what do we do in a windbreaker?

If quizzes are quizzical, what are tests?

Why is it called rush hour, when everything moves so slow?

When you put THE in front of IRS it forms the word THEIRS, coincidence?

Why are there flotation devices under plane seats and not parachutes?

If vegetarians eat vegetables, what do humanitarians eat?

Why is it when we ask for a check in a restaurant, they bring us a bill instead?

Can fat people go skinny dipping?

Do infants enjoy infancy as much as adults enjoy adultery?

Why do they sterilize needles for lethal injections?


What is life about?


One inch thoughts - song: Sons of the Silent Age, artist: David Bowie, album: Heroes

Sunday (Nuts 7-19-09)

I found this photo challenge hard but I delved into my photo files and memories and came up with this picture of a squirrel and his nut.

For more Sunday Stills, please visit here.

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

scraps on the cutting room floor

Sydney at Bitless Horse, Science vs Tradition has scrapped me.
The rules are: you must tell 10 things to your readers that they don't know. Okay, here goes:

1. I'm a packrat. I find it hard to get rid of things, especially if they are worth anything. I wish my fairy godmother would come into my house and remove lots and lots of stuff without my knowledge.


2. I am a third child and the baby of the family. I believe this comes with privileges. You fall into a lot of good things by being the baby. I always found that if I didn't challenge my parents, I'd get more than my fair share. In high school, I got my brother's car because he joined the military. I didn't especially want or need it...but who am I to complain? I had to make payments on it, but it was definitely a good deal...


3. until the engine blew out on it. It was a '74 Vega with an aluminum block. It had about 65,000 miles when the engine went out. Jeez, they don't make em like that anymore. Thank the Lord. I will never forget when it happened. I was visiting a horse out of town with my friend and we still had to drive about 15 miles home after it happened. Some of that was freeway and some of it was uphill. I couldn't go faster than 15 mph, but it got us home!


4. I go to movies alone. Well, maybe you did know, because of my Moon post. I went to my first movie alone a few years back, Insomnia, with Al Pacino. I remember because it was a big scary deal for me. Now, I don't mind at all.


5. I love popcorn cooked in the big popcorn machines. That's probably why I like going to the movies, to smell the popcorn. I buy big bags of popcorn and eat all the really yellow, buttery ones. Then, I throw the rest to the birds. I even like the popcorn flavor jelly bellies.
6. I had rose tinted glasses when I was a little girl. I hated them.


7. I love David Bowie! Well, maybe you knew that already. I worry that he has retired now and we will not get any more music from the man. It's been 6 years since his last album and 5 years since his heart problems.


8. I am allergic to both dogs and horses. However, I believe that by being around them so much I have developed an immunity so that I am not as bothered by them.


9. I want to publish a book. I have actually written one! It's about canoeing down the Green River. Now I just need to get it published!


10. I don't know how to change a tire. I had a flat at school the other day. I called security to help me change it and a gentleman stopped over and offered to do it for me. Although I told him that Security was coming, he said he didn't mind and proceeded to change it for me in the broiling hot sun. I thanked him but I never got his name or offered him anything. Boy, do I feel bad about that! And Security never did show up. Chalk that up to #2 and being used to having things done for you!
    

Anyway, there's 10 things you didn't know about me (and probably didn't care to know). Okay, so now I need to pass it on to a few others:

Michelle at Galloping Grace Youth Ranch

Dan at Dan and Betty's Place

Stacey at Behind the Bit


scraps on the cutting room floor - song: Maid of Bond Street, artist: David Bowie, album: Early Songs

Funtime

Here's some Yalla! fun for everyone!

Notice Yalla!'s back feet and how they're crossed in the next photo and how close she is standing to Scout!

I have no idea how straight her legs really are because she is always standing at odd angles. She is getting very muscular. And her neck is just starting to crest up. She loves to hold her tail up and out all the time. Also, note how many little scrapes she's getting and her face is shedding around her eyes and muzzle. The skin underneath is very black. I think her upper body coat is getting a gray tinge to it although she still has no white anywhere that she shouldn't. I would love to know what color she will turn, however I suspect that she will go gray. Yalla! is still practicing those reining moves. Today, it's circles. Notice Scout and Nadia standing together in the background. lol.

Funtime - song: Funtime, artist: Iggy Pop and David Bowie, album: The Idiot

You're spring to me

I love watching Yalla! and her springy little trot. She doesn't trot much though, she prefers to run, run, run! Check out how she keeps her tail straight up all the time!

You're spring to me - song: Wild is the Wind, artist: David Bowie cover, album: Stationtostation

Ground Control to Major Tom

After school yesterday, I gave myself a treat and went to see a movie downtown at the Guild Theater, an independent films cinema. The movie was Moon, written and directed by Duncan Jones. It was fantastic! Before the movie, they played the song, Cygnet Committee, by David Bowie. hee hee! So what, you may ask? Well, there are Bowie connections to this movie.

This was the director's first full length film and he did it on a low budget, about 5 million, which is low for a sci fi flick. He used models instead of computer graphics. It's got one main character, Sam, who is working alone on the moon and reaching the end of his three year contract. He is played by Sam Rockwell. And there is a robot, voiced by Kevin Spacey, but you don't know if the robot is good or bad and if Sam is crazy or not. It is an excellent "sci fi" flick that I highly recommend. In a question and answer session with Nasa intellectuals, it was approved for accuracy. You gotta see it to believe it. And one day, they will be thttp://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a164340/duncan-jones-moon.htmlalking about Mr. Jones, the director, saying things like, "I heard his dad was a musician or something?"

It is getting critical acclaim but it won't be released in all the theaters. Find out where it's playing and go see it. NOW!

Here's the trailer for a preview.

Click here for an interview with Duncan Jones, the producer.

Ground Control to Major Tom - song: Space Oddity, artist: David Bowie, album: Space Oddity

Sunday (Textures 7-12-09)

I took this photo of a church window in Nebraska a few months ago and I can't think of a better time to use it than now. For more, and much better, Sunday Stills photographs, please visit here.


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

To watch this creature fair

I have a free pass to the zoo from volunteering at the biopark this past spring. If anyone remembers, I used to take a little hike with the school children every Friday down in the bosque (woods) by the river. So, yesterday, I decided to go visit the animals. I know these little guys don't seem very exotic but we have a walk-in free flight cage at the zoo that I always enjoy visiting, especially since it's on the way to the koalas.

These look more like love birds than budgies. ;) Although, aren't they the same sex?? Ibelieve the band on the nose distinguishes the sex, blue for boys and pink/tan for girls.

Doesn't he have a pretty eye?

It was feeding time for many of the animals. I laughed at this koala. They placed a big bunch of eucaliptus right in front of the sleeping koala's nose. Talking about waking up to breakfast in bed!

The big cats were fed too. This tiger is really enjoying his bone, isn't he?

Just like Fido, huh?

I was amazed how the mountain lions were right up against the glass window with their bone. I think they need another bone because they don't seem to be sharing very well.

The clouded leopard is one of the hardest for me to ever see at the zoo because he's always so hot and hidden. Not so, yesterday.

He even smiled for me. Well, sort of.
These guys must be on a different feeding schedule because the bobcat was snoozing.

So was the Lion King.
It was a really hot day! They turned on the sprinklers and a lot of the children took advantage of the cooling, wet showers.

Alas, some could only watch. :(
I noticed Mr. peacock was sighing with relief as he scurried away past the running children. He wasn't going to be chased today.The sea lions were anticipating being fed too.

This is getting to be a rather long post so I will close for now and continue another day.

To watch this creature fair - song: Lady Stardust, artist: David Bowie, album: Aladdin Sane

She'll scratch

She'll scratch - Song: Song for Bob Dylan, artist: David Bowie, album: Hunky Dory

Sunday (wildflowers 7/5/09)

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

Unfurl the flag

Happy 4th of July to all Americans! May we all live long and FREE!

During the American Revolution, the legal separation of the American colonies from Great Britain occurred on July 2, 1776, when the Second Continental Congress voted to approve a resolution of independence that had been proposed in June by Richard Henry Lee of Virginia. After voting for independence, Congress turned its attention to the Declaration of Independence, a statement explaining this decision, which had been prepared by a Committee of Five, with Thomas Jefferson as its principal author. Congress debated and revised the Declaration, finally approving it on July 4. A day earlier, John Adams had written to his wife Abigail:
“The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more.”

Adams' prediction was off by two days. From the outset, Americans celebrated independence on July 4, the date shown on the much-publicized Declaration of Independence, rather than on July 2, the date the resolution of independence was approved in a closed session of Congress.

One of the most enduring myths about Independence Day is that Congress signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. The myth had become so firmly established that, decades after the event and nearing the end of their lives, even the elderly Thomas Jefferson and John Adams had come to believe that they and the other delegates had signed the Declaration on the fourth. Most delegates actually signed the Declaration on August 2, 1776. In a remarkable series of coincidences, both John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, two founding fathers of the United States and the only two men who signed the Declaration of Independence to become president, died on the same day: July 4, 1826, which was the United States' 50th anniversary. President James Monroe died exactly five years later, on July 4, 1831, but he was not a signatory to the Declaration of Independence. source- wikipedia

Unfurl the Flag - song: Boys Keep Swinging, artist: David Bowie, album: Lodger

Neighborhood threat

Yesterday was the BIG day. We put Annie and Yalla! in with Scout and Nadia for the first time. It was very interesting watching the herd dynamics. The first thing Annie did was show Scout that she was in charge and to stay clear of her precious filly. FYI, only Scout's feelings were hurt.

Scout and Nadia beat a hasty retreat to the "safe zone" in the middle of the arena and stood motionless while Annie took Yalla! all around the arena several times.Annie only had to glare at Scout and Nadia for them to know that she meant business when she said stay away from her baby. Look at Annie's ears!

Scout would always edge closer and closer though.

Annie worked hard keeping Yalla! in place.I like this photo of all my horses in a row, well, sort of. Scout and Nadia obeyed Annie very well and pretended that they were not interested. Scout was very curious and I could see how he wanted to go meet Yalla! nose to nose. He was always watching her.

He even followed them across the field.He tried to be very nonchalant about the whole affair by laying down and rolling around.

Nadia was also very interested.As time went on, Annie let Yalla! drift further away as long as Scout and Nadia showed 'no interest'.It looks like Yalla! is saying,"but I don't want to leave them!"Scout did get to meet Yalla! though, right near us. We got ready for a quick escape in case Annie let loose on Scout but she tolerated his attention.

Oh yeah! Yalla! got to wear a halter! She finally grew into it, well, almost! lol.

Neighborhood Threat - song: Neighborhood Threat, artist: David Bowie, album: Tonight