My PSA for the day!

I received this in an email from a good friend of mine.

I would like to make it my Public Service Announcement for the day.....week....heck for the YEAR and beyond that!

Stay Warm :)

Brrrr...Curl Up With Etsy!

Dang it is C.O.L.D.! .... not that I am complaining! The ground is frozen again and the horses can go out....but their water also freezes not more than 10 minutes after I crack, break and refill their buckets! I guess that's the trade off!

Here is a not-so-great pic of them last night when I went to bring them into the barn. There was a full moon and it looked so cool! I can just hear Apollo going "Hurry UP MOM. It is 5* out and I want my dinner!"


Ok, so for this weeks Etsy finds....

This is becoming increasingly harder as I fall in love with browsing this site more every day! Everyone makes such wonderful things and it is so hard to only pick a few of my favorites every week!

This week, I decided to show some of the bags & totes I love! (Beacuse I need another one like a need another horse or hole in the head!!) I showed one in my first ever Etsy Finds Post that I am still saving up for :) but all these are wonderful too. I want them all! And since I love aprons, I threw in a new one I found & love just for the heck of it!

Enjoy****************


Ok, this first tote is from Handcrafted at Wit's End. Of course I like it because there is a horse on it, but it is also a recycled flour sack- so cool! Love the recycled 'feed' sack totes...LOVE them! This shop also sells local to me at Lehamn's in Kidron. How cool that must be! And this shop is also offering free shipping on orders placed before Valentine's Day!

Next is this messenger bag in toile by Originals by Kathleen I love messenger bags and I love toile prints; what's not for me to like about this one then! LOL :) This shop takes custom orders too!

This next one is super great because she uses recycled HORSE TACK :) LOVE LOVE LOVE it! Shop at Free Rein Designs for these awesome purses! I love the fabric on this one and also the repurposed braided rein for the straps! Ohhhh how cute!

Next is a market tote. How cute would these be to take to farmer's markets with you to hold all your goodies! Funny, I am not a fan of chicken's (long story) but prints with chickens I seem to like? Go Figure. This market tote is from Quirky Bags and they also take custom orders or will find 'the perfect novelty fabric for you'!

To show my Gypsy flare, I love this bag too! It is by VeryOrangeBird and they call it the 'Gypsy Dream Vintage Fabric Tote' - My inner Gypsy is in love!

And last, but certainly not least, is the apron I had to throw in. And SURPRISE, it has a chicken print! I need more aprons about as much as I need more totes and bags....and horses! It is made from a cotton flour sack towel [cool!] by StolenTime As they list it in the description, it is "funky country, stylish and ultilitarin' all at the same time!

Have a Good Weekend All & Stay Warm!

Change in Plans

Well, my 'To Be Continued' from yesterday changed a tad from what I was expecting.

Meet 'Penelope' :)

I was minding my own business at work. It was about 3:30pm and I hear one of my co-workers calling "Allison.....Allison [meow meow meow] ALLISON [meow meow]".

I thought the meow's were coming from the tv in the lobby and I couldn't understand what my co-workers fuss was all about. I walked out into the hallway and there was Penelope having a royal fit. This poor girl was FREEZING, wet, totally underweight, nasty goop in her eyes and crying up a storm. I quickly got her into my office and shut the door. (We had a visitor from corporate and I was instructed earlier in the week by my boss to be sure my litter boxes and feed dishes were put away before their arrival!)

I gave her some food and she was so hungry she was crying while she scarfed it down. She was making such a fuss that I knew she wouldn't last another hour before the work day ended. I called Kitten Krazy and off we went! She cried the WHOLE WAY THERE.

I am happy to say, this little girl was very lucky hiding in our bushes at work! She is now resting comfortably after being de-flea'ed, nails clipped, tested for all the kitty dieases [which were negative], wormed, given some IV fluids (poor thing was so dehydrated) and feed till her belly was full. She literally scarfed down a WHOLE can of wet food while we did all this. She also got medicine for her cold and 'good goop' on her eyes to treat the 'bad goo!' She weighed in at 3 lb, 3 oz. and she should probably be atleast 4 lbs. You could feel all her ribs and her spine and butt bones :(

I swear Wendy is going to stop answering her phone when she sees my number come up! But she is in good hands now! As one of my co-workers put it, we seem to be [here at work] the secret 'Underground Railroad' for stray cats and kittens! As for the cat my hubs called me about yesterday that was on his job site, it took off and he was not able to get it. They did buy some food at the corner store and leave it out for it though, so maybe it will be there today.

In other news, check out my fellow Cleveland Estian, Lazy T Crochet. She is running a weekend special in honor of her 3 year Etsy Anniversary and she makes WONDERFUL things!

TGIF!

It's Time!

I cannot believe, with the blizzard we are having at the moment, that I am thinking about and working on the vendor applications for this coming seasons Farmer's Markets :) It will be here before we know it.

We're hoping to get in on some markets this year that we didn't last year. It was really a lack of knowledge on our part more than anything; a learning curve if you will! I am also going to work on more formal letters to mail out to local restaurants about buying local [from us of course] for their Apple and Pear ...and Quince needs! (Although I think the Amish have us tagged for their Pears this season; last year they ordered from MICHIGAN before they realilzed we were selling!)

We'd like to sell some of our vegetables this year too. Allen is going to make a cold frame so that we can have different greens even past the growing season. It's also a must on my list this year for us to grown onions....which we need to get started NOW....I am so tired of the craptastic onions I buy at the store. They are terrible - they rot in a second and they are slimy- they just are no good! My mom is letting us use her growing light so we'll be getting all that going soon.

Last fall, we also purchased some heirloom seeds from local heirloom farmer Dawn at Harvest Thyme Farm. We bought some unusual things, like Easter Egg Radishes! Okay, I cannot recall if that was their exact name, but we were told they grow into really cool pastel colors like dyed Easter eggs :)

I have not been studying for my chemical license; I am undecided if I am going to get it this season. We did fine with the orchard and the "over-the-counter" chemicals we used last year so I am wondering if it is worth it. Other than I am sure, with the license, I could buy more and at wholesale pricing probably.

We've decided the first weekend in February is when we'll start pruning. Mom and I are going to a Local Food Cleveland Seminar on Entrepreneurial Farming! Should be interesting.....

In other farming news, my husband called to tell me their is a skinny cat at his job site today. Seems he feels bad for it [so do I naturally] and he was waiting for me to say 'Bring it Home'....to be continued......

Well Hallelujah!

Amen! Temperatures are turning back to frigid! The ground is freezing up again!! :) No, I am not crazy. No, I am not nuts. I am excited because the horses should be able to go out in the pasture now and my barn area won't be one big mud pile :) Wooo Hooo!

This also means that our 'Mud Room' won't be as muddy either. I swear, even though the dogs feet get wiped every time they come in, and we do not wear our boots into the house, the dang room still looks like a tornado of mud went through it *sigh* I give up.

Yesterday I broke the bank and used some of my birthday money ;) to purchase an 'Easy Walk' Harness for Whinny :) It is even pink like the one in this picture! (The pic of this dog kinda looks like Mossy's body with those markings, lol)

We've had plenty of harnesses; they have all ended up chewed because for one reason or another, by no fault of my own or Allen's of course, they end up laying around within the dogs reach ;) The new rule is, this one goes right on the coat rack when Whinny comes in or I kill the person who leaves it on the ground for them to chew ;)

Whinny is notorious for pulling on the leash. She also is notorious for slipping her collar :( Since she has a petite build, I don't like having a choke collar on her....even though she doesn't even pay the darn thing one bit of attention! So, I bit the bullet and bought this harness to see if we can not nip this bad habit in the butt!

So far, so good. 2 walks since I brought it home last night and she walks like a dream :) The big test will be today when I get home from work and have her and her brother to walk together; the morning walks don't count because sometimes I think they are still half asleep. If it goes well after work, HALLELUJAH! It would be another miracle!

Maggie Update

Ms. Maggie is doing so well here! She is even warming up to Whinny. Mossy is still a little intimidating for her if he gets too close! I bet she'd be fine in a home with a lazy dog :) You'd never know she was the same cat that was making ferocious, panther type sounds at the rescue!

She is all talk -- purr purrrrrrr meowwwwww meow pay attention to me please purrrrr. I think she definitely has Siamese in her; I learned today from Wendy at Kitten Krazy that it is a trait of the Siamese to be 'talkers'! So add that to her facial features and I think I hit that nail on the head!

She also LOVES to take a small stuffed ball out of the dogs toy basket and play with it; it's too cute! And she LOVES her kitty nip ;)

I'll miss her when she goes, but she definitely deserves her forever home! If you know anyone who'd love a lap cat, Ms. Maggie is it! She'd probably do well too as a companion for a senior citizen.

Deal of the Day!

Today was my birthday....after you celebrate 21...and in my case, 22 as well, the birthdays start to seem less relevant ;) In any case, we had a relaxing day; dinner with my family last night and today Allen and I went out to do some Antiquing. On the way home, we had to stop at the feed store for horse, dog and cat food :)

As we were entering the store, I was adding in my head how much this stop was going to cost us! Ey yi yi. Then, I noticed a sign on the door that said 'Broken Bags Discount $5, Inquire at Desk'. I was thinking SWEET, maybe they'll have a few of Strategy (for the horses) or maybe even one of the dogs food.

We feed the dogs "Exclusive". It is by PMI Nutrition and it is the only food I have found since we've had Mossy that he is able to digest normally :) (I will spare details!) It ain't cheap, that is for sure; but, the feed store also has a buy 6 bags, get a bag free program which is a perk!

So, at check-out, it turns out there were no broken bags of Strategy, however, there were some of the dog food! I said I'd take one. After 2 bags of Strategy, which should have been about $25, then a $40 bag of dog food minus a $5 discount they told me the total was $30something!? Turns out the broken bag discount wasn't $5 off normal pice, it was just that - $5! GET OUT!!! (Oh, btw, they didn't have my cat food so I took a free sample of another kind to hold Savanah over until tomorrow-lol-yep, that's how I roll!)

Of course, as Allen and I are getting in the car to go through to the loading area, we were discussing this awesome dog food discount and decided if they had more, we should definitely get another bag. So, as the kid was loading up our Strategy, turns out he had 3 more bags of the dog food; Allen and I took one look at each other and said "We'll take 'em all". When Allen got back into the truck after paying for the additional 3 bags, he said they rang up as $140 normally and he paid $14!!! Can you believe it!!! So we basically got almost $200 in dog food for maybe $20 if that (after you count the originial bag we bought!)

Of course though, it is never without incident with us. These bags were in their warehouse and in this big, open warehouse there are always birds flying around. Yep, you guessed it. After we crammed the 4 bags into the truck cab with us (bed was wet from the rain) we realized that there was bird crap on the bags - ewwwwwwwwwww - and Allen rested his arm right in it! UCK! Speaking of which, I need to go put his jacket in the dryer now!

Allen, now squished in with the bird pooped dog food bags, trying to steer clear of them ;)

Etsy Finds for a Frumpy Saturday

I say Frumpy because the weather is so blah!

My farrier visit this morning went extremely well! I am so happy and will definitely be calling Joe back for the next trim!

Last night was a fundraiser for the horse rescue; I would like to thank any of you who came, that also read my blog, one more time for your support. The horses are truly lucky to have people like you behind them! We had a great turn-out.

So, moving on, today's post of my Favorite Etsy Finds of the Week!

I think I am going to go with a little bit of a theme this week and focus on hand knitted and/or crocheted items! I see a lot of it in my favorites and, after all, it is still January....even though it's 40* out today!

So without further or do.......

This hat is from Pixiebell. This shop has the CUTEST hand knited hats I have ever seen; I am in love with all of them!! They will even take custom design orders, but with so much to already choose from, I think you'd find 10 you already like :)

Next is this hand knitted, wool scarf from The Ruby Needle. Have I mentioned I am a freak for scarves and this one...I just love the 'Rich Autumn" color scheme. They also take custom orders as well.

On to this colorful beanie from The Crochet Queen! I love the bright colors with the green trim! There are all kinds of cool things in this store including bags and scarves too!

This hand knitted slouch cowl from blackmustard plays with my love affair for turtle necks! I am a freak about my neck catching a breeze in the cool weather...it makes my whole body chill. I love this slouch cowl -- I need one!

And last, but certainly not least, are these Green & Red Pom-pom Slippers by TheCrocodileRock! Tell me you wouldn't want these on your feet on a cold night by the fireplace!!

Have a Great Weekend Everyone :)

Something to Ponder - Horse Owners

*sigh* I am tired. Who cares right? We are all tired.

Anyways, I thought I would do up a post on something to ponder for horse people considering having their horses at home with them. I have come across this situation a lot lately and I want to state, for the record, that this is by no means a rant/vent/complaining session! It just got me thinking....again.

I truly love having my horses at home with me; I wouldn't have it any other way. It was my goal and I achieved it! However, there are lots of others around me who don't understand it. Part of the educating we do at the rescue for new horse owners considering moving horses onto their own property is drilling this into their heads - YOU HAVE TO/MUST/WILL WORK/LIVE/EAT/SLEEP/BREATH and make plans around your horses schedule! Sorry, that's life...that is the way it is! (Unless you are lucky enough to have a trusting, horse friendly neighbor to cover for you when you need to be elsewhere.)

So, horses have to be kept on a strict regime. They aren't like us where they can forgo a dinner and/or be fed 2 hours past dinner time - this is a big no-no! They can be fed a little earlier than usual, but not late. You will have very upset horses; and, depending on your horse, you could end up having a colic case on your hands too. And for non-horsey people, sometimes they just cannot comprehend this! (Note: our families have learned to understand this now! Whew) And when I say "we" while I write this, it is because I have a right hand, my hubs, who can help me out. For those who are solely on their own, there is even more to have to consider.

What does this mean? This means when we have to be somewhere at 4 or 5pm, we say, "Sorry, we'll probably see you around 6pm, we have to feed the horses first". This means when you are celebrating a holiday, for example, and you are all enjoying dinner with family at a family members house, someone is going to have to leave to go home and feed the horses. If you live 5 minutes down the road, no biggie. If you live 30 minutes away, you better learn to compromise.

This means when your mother calls to tell you she is having Sunday dinner at 2pm, you say "Ok, we can stay for 2 hours, then we have to leave so we can get home to feed the horses". Maybe for some, 2 hours is much longer than you can stand spending with family - lol - and in your case, you are home free! You have a built in excuse ;)

This means, as I am facing tomorrow, when you have a fundraiser to go to for the horse rescue you volunteer with, and it starts at 6pm on a Friday....and you have to be there early to help set up....and your husband cannot get off work early and won't be home until 5pm and the event is at least a good hour drive for you....this means YOU have to take a half day of vacation from your paying job so that you can get home, get the horses (and dogs) fed and (potty walked) and stalls cleaned so you can get to the event early for set up and your husband can get there at a decent time because it will all be done for him when he gets home. All he needs to do is shower, put on some decent clothes and head out! Reminder: Not ranting, just stating the facts :)

This means when you have to go out of town overnight for work, your other half has to be sure he will be home from work on time. This means YOU have to come home from work on time every day, unless you have a other half to be there to do the chores and feed for you, or you don't feed until hours after you get home from work.

This means when your family wants to go on vacation or you and your other half just want to go on vacation, you cannot join in or go unless you a.) Have loads of money to spend on a pet-sitter that you truly, truly, TRULY trust with your animals or b.) as I said, a horse friendly neighbor that you truly, truly, TRULY trust with your animals. (For the record, LOL, I have neither! haha)

This means if you and your other half want to take a day trip somewhere, you plan that around being home to feed, or, default to my previous suggestions in the paragraph above.

Ok, ok, I think you get the point I am trying to make here! This is not an inconvenience for us because our horses are our family. We've taken on the responsibility of caring for them and they look to us to make sure they are fed, groomed, turned out, exercised, loved on and have a warm stall at night. We made the decision to bring them home with us and knew the extra time and planning that would be involved in our daily decisions in doing so. But it is sad because there are so many out there that view animals in general as disposable and not as important....and that is not fair to the animal. So for anyone considering bringing your horse home with you - please consider this!

Gotta Give Him Props!

The hubs held down the fort....errr, farm, last night after work for me. 'So what' you say? When I came home, he was EVEN still in a good mood - that's what! :) Ha!

I had to take Maggie back to Kitten Krazy after work last night. Turns out the kittens that were supposed to be coming in for me to foster never showed up. Since Maggie puts herself through such turmoil anytime she is around other animals, I just brought her back home with me so she could chillax! She spent time in my lap while I worked on the computer and when the dogs went to bed, she roamed the house. She was happy & content.

Anywho, back to the hubs. Sometimes he gets flustered and then completely aggravated when he has to handle the dogs and tend to the horses all by himself. Not that he can't - it's just how he is sometimes *sigh* However, last night he fed the dogs and took them on their walk, then cleaned stalls (all 4 to be exact...but I did Gypsy's in the morning so hers couldn't have been that bad...ok, besides my point again!) and fed the horses.

I am sure you are scratching you head still saying "So What?" right? Well, I forgot to remind him that I asked the Amish guy down the road to stop by any night this week to trim the horses hooves! ;) hee he hee he - I wish I could have seen the look on his face while he was cleaning Daisy's stall and turned around to a "Hello" from a Amish guy, standing in the dark, with a pair of nippers and a file! This is where he probably got flustered.

You see, our usual farrier is MIA and I ran out of other options so I figured I would ask Amish Joe - seriously, that's his name - Joe - down the road from us if he had time to fit us in. He does have a sign at the road that says 'Farrier'. One problem, my golden child, Apollo, has had many issues over the years with having his feet done which stems from his trust/rear end issues. I have worked long and hard with him to overcome this and for the most part, he now does so well I barely have to hold the lead. HOWEVER, anytime we introduce a new farrier, he always likes to try and be a major BRAT. (And this is with me as his handler - let someone else, like hubs, handle him and forget it!) If you combine this with rough handling, everything I have worked on with him for the last 4 years will be blown right out the window....and the hubs knows this.....so he scheduled with Joe to come back when I am home! There was no way he was chancing Apollo and a new farrier on his own ;)

Most farriers are no nonsense kind of people. Your horse acts up and they won't stand for it. In my own experience, they will find the quickest way to nip the issue in the bud. Seeing as farrier work can be a dangerous profession, I get that, but it's not for me. All my handling [with the horses] is done with trust and patience's at the horses pace. There is no smacking, rough handling, yanking, pulling, chains or twitches. NO WAY! And I am not saying Joe would do that....but if he did, I'd need to be there to say "Uh, I don't think so buddy!" ;) This is how we do it over her at Apolloson Acres ;)

So everyone was tucked in and happily muching hay when I got home, Joe is rescheduled to come out Saturday morning and the hubs was still happy - works for me!


*Side note - leave it to my husband.....

He asked Joe where his horse and buggy was as he looked into the driveway and Joe said he just walked over!
Read this story to find out how else we make complete asses of ourself with our Amish neighbors :)

Monday Blahs

Blah bahhhhhhhh blahhhhhh
Hmpf.....Another Monday.

The weekend is over :( Yesterday I was 'semi-successful' in getting some house work done. It was so damp and dreary outside that I didn't want to be out any longer than I needed to to tend to the horses. I think they felt the same; they were less than thrilled about being out for once.

Maggie, my foster cat, is scheduled to go back to Kitten Krazy tonight and I may be picking up kittens.

I haven't much for a post today - I am in a BLAH Monday mood ;) So I thought I would share with everyone a cool giveaway I discovered! If you like aprons, you'll love this.


Salt Says is having an Apron Giveaway in honor of her 100th blog post! Go Check it out; you could win one of these super cute aprons! (Aprons via flirty aprons dot com)

Unique Etsy Finds for a Saturday

Welcome the Weekend ....ahhhhh!

I have a new foster cat here for the weekend. Her name is Maggie; she is a possibly an older black cat. She was having a hard time settling in at the rescue as she doesn't seem to like other cats (or dogs) at all. I brought her home with me for the weekend to chill out and she is doing very well. Of course, my second hand rescue gal, my niece Val, has been socializing her :)




I found tons of cool things on Etsy this week! I even have someone working on a custom order for me for the orchard :) But it is a secret until it is finished! In the mean time, my favorites page is overflowing - here are a few from it :) I could go broke surfing Etsy!

This skirt is from Weeza wear

Actually, she has 2 super cute skirts and tons of cute cute cute headbands :) She'll even take custom orders to size the headband for you, a child or whomever. Check out her shop - she has Valentine's Day & Easter Headbands listed now too!

This spoon bracelet is from Dank Artistry

I have always been a fan of this kind of jewelry - ever since I found my mom's spoon ring in her jewelry box when I was younger. If you like spoon jewelry, check out this shop; they have bracelets, earrings, rings and pendants!

I love scarves and turtlenecks in winter so naturally, I loved this item when I spotted it! It is a 'Scarflette' by Scrap Soup and Crop Circles

This shop has all kind of handmade goodies including gloves, scarves and these scarflettes and they even accept custom orders!

This last item is just the coolest! How unique and what a great idea. It is a coffee cup night light from micah7 Super Cool! All the items in this shop are coffee and tea mugs turned into night lights! Love it!!

So those are my Etsy finds of the week! Take a second and check out the sellers shops; you will probably love what you see ;) And check out a few new pics I added in my shop too :) ApollosonAcres

Dear Mother Nature

....are you on CRACK?

I just saw your 10 day forecast? While I think it is great that you want to reward everyone with a lil' heatwave after the brutal, frigid temps you have made us endure, I'd like to remind you what these crazy warm-up's do for those of us on the farms.

1.) MUD
a.) Muddy Pastures
a1.) Horses have to stay in or sacrafice their summer grass

2.) FLOODS
a.) Wet Stalls
b.) Wet Barn Floors
i.e. Pain in MY REAR :)

While I truly appreciate your thoughtfulness, as this well help fill the back cistern some with all the melting snow, I'd appreciate it more if you could either slow down on the drastic warm ups, or install french drains throughout my whole property and build the horses an indoor arena while you are at it!

Thanks much!

Farm Yard to Scrap Yard?

I am convinced that the reason why, in my own humble opinion, most homeowners with horses on their property do not have nicely landscaped foliage and maticulous lawns is because they simply don't have the time! I can speak to this first hand. Horses are a lot of work and take up a lot of time....and if you have your horses at home with you becasue you truly enjoy spending every waking moment with them, then the last thing you care about is your landscaping. (And guess what, the horses feel the same way about your flower gardens!)

My mom tells me often that my barn is so clean you could eat off it's floors....my kitchen table, that is another story.

So where I am going with this is, even though Allen and I were lucky enough to find property that already had a lot of nice landscpaing in place, it still takes work to maintain it. And again, my mother always seems to find ways to tell me that we look like hillbillies because maybe a bush has some weeds growing out of it or maybe because I left a bale of molding hay sitting by the lilac bush! *sigh*

So imagine the pit that grew in my stomach when my husband told me this moring that he was going to start bringing scrap home from work! :0

Ekkk - okaaaay. Well, overall, the idea makes sense; bring home scrap that you can then turn into a scrap yard for some extra money. Sounds ok to me :) I told him to put it in his garage [so we wouldn't look like junk yard hillbillies] and he told me he'd set it by the wood pile [Ekkkk]

SO, This is what you need to know about my husbands plan that he doesn't even know yet!
1.) Him putting scrap by his wood pile WILL make us look like a junk yard.
2.) His 'scrap' will start to look like CRAP spewing out into the yard
3.) He will not promptly remove this scrap weekly like he says he will
4.) My mother will probably STROKE when she pulls in the drive and see's a junk yard spewing into her preciously manicured Lilac bushes. [I might to!]

So, Kudos to the hubs for trying to make a few extra bucks, but I am not liking where I think this is going!

On a nicer note, here are 2 pics from the dogs photoshoot over the weekend for the 2011 Kitten Krazy 'Dog Version' Calendar! Alexa did a wonderful job; they all turned out so nice!

Ms. Wednesday Winifred

Mr. Mossy 'wheres my cigar' Oak

Weekend Round Up

So the dogs photo shoot on Saturday actually went pretty smoothly.....other than Mossy laying a FAT, STINKIN' Pile as soon as he got there ;) The girl who shot the photos said she'll be emailing them to me soon; I am excited to see them. And, she said she's pretty sure they'll make in appearance in the calendar! Woo Hooo :)

Savannah was good for another few laughs yesterday while I was FREEZING cleaning stalls. Actually, between the horse rescue and my own horses, I was outside yesterday from 8am-4:30pm.....and I had to wear Allen's Carhartt's because mine were frozen (don't ask!). Clearly Allen and I do not wear the same size so you can just imagine how that worked! By the time I got into the house, I felt like my face was on fire. Anyways, back to the topic at hand.....Savannah. I guess shavings are more appealing to her than kitty litter because her new routine seems to be to use the horses clean shavings as her potty - ewwwww - thankfully I am cleaning stalls while she does this so I can clean up after her too. *sigh* And as I have mentioned, clearly I give the horses special water, while hers is obviously just mediocre, so she insists on drinking out of their buckets.

Here is a pic I snapped of her yesterday on my cell. She decided to stand on the frozen water of one bucket to sip water out of the unfrozen bucket next to it! This morning, after Allen watered, she got her front paws on that black bucket and while drinking, she was also tipping it forward. I am sure Gypsy appreciated the river running through her stall on a 10* morning!

In other news, my most favorite Dutch Oven pot was ruined, or so I thought! Without many details, my husband was cooking venison for chili in it and the after product was a charred pot! I was devastated! I tried to cook it off with water and vinegar but it didn't work this time. Then, as if it was meant to be, I stumbled upon a post by Shirley, of the blog Shirley's World, Miracle of the Burned Pot. I had nothing to loose, so I tried it, and it was a MIRACLE! My pot is usable again! And to celebrate, I think tonight I will make a fryer chicken in it :)

Super Saturday Finds - On Etsy!

Ok, so here goes my first blog showcasing others on Etsy with wonderful handmade products. These are all shopkeepers or items I have been marking in my favorites on the chance I win the lottery and can buy them for myself!
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This first one is an awesome skirt I would love to have from Purple Sage Designz
She has great patchwork items for sale in her shop, however, she is on vacation until 1/17 so you won't be able to place any orders with her until then. Mark your calendar!!

Next is the wonderfully cute feed bag purse! I LOVE IT! This seller is a mother/daughter team and they have many to choose from...actually, I love them all. They say "Green is the new Black"! Their products are quality and you can find them in their shop, ObjetAdapte

I love scarves! Doesn't this one just pop out at you! It's so elegant looking and I love the color pairing. You can find it at Tissage

And last, but certainly not least, a glimpse that warmer weather will make it to us sooner or later! This is a beautiful photograph (that I happened to snatch up already....but no worries, she has more!) from KrissyKayCollection She is from NY and photographs all of the beautiful things we sometimes forget about from day to day - Check it out....she has a 2010 Calendar available right now too!

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So, there are my Etsy finds/Wish List for this week! Today we are taking the dogs to a 'photo shoot'; they have been chosen to be photographed for the 2011 Kitten Krazy Fundraising Calendar :) (Yes, DOGS can be in a kitten rescue calendar!) This event should hail me with blogging material for tomorrow. That, I am almost positive about!

A Tractor Widow...and more Farm Musings

You have all heard of golf widows I am sure. Have you ever heard of a tractor widow?

Welcome to my life :)

As I mentioned in a previous blog, my husband is a freak about snow; he is like a child who wants to go out and build forts with it...except he builds them for our dogs since we have no kids ;) Now that he has his tractor to PLOW snow with, it is even more exciting for him. He actually said to me the other night: "Hon, do you think I should plow the drivewaty? I mean, I know it isn't bad now, but just to keep up with it so in the morning you can get your car through. Just tell me if you want me to, and I will plow it". My response was, "yes Allen, go play on your tractor, I don't care!"

My Husband Playing...errr, Um, Plowing away!

So, as usual, we are having pump problems again....pump as in the PUMP that gets the water from the cistern into our house :/ Shoot me now! Allen is not interested in getting in a cistern filled with water when its below zero temperatures outside with the windchill....can't say I blame him!

It is amazing all the years I took having water at the turn of a knob for granted! Those of you who have this, feel special! Feel very Special! It isn't a good feeling to get into a nice, hot shower after a cold night out in the barn, only to have the water slow to a drizzle and then stop just as your sudded up and wetting down your hair :(

Hay is getting low again *sigh, already!? Really?*

I thought I had a new story to tell, but for the life of me, I just cannot remember what it was. So that is your quick list of daily farm musings!!

I am still pluggin' away at getting my Etsy store up and off the ground. I have found that some of the other Etsy sellers with blogs will showcase fellow sellers they have stumbled upon so I think I will designate one day a week on my blog to do the same. I am excited for this! And I have lots of plans for things to make in addition to my photos.

Here are a few I took yesterday. Nothing special but I thought they looked nice!

This one is not edited (other than I had to crop the date out!)

This one IS edited.

I did a color boost on it via a program someone told me about online

Stay Warm!!

My Etsy Adventure

So. Etsy.

I discovered this website a few months back and fell in love. I love so much stuff on there and I want it all :)

Being the 'entrepreneur' I like to think of myself as, I am always trying to figure out a way to bring in more money. More Money = More Hay & Orchard supplies......

So, I have had some ideas for awhile now of some things I would like to make and sell. Few hold-ups: 1.) I need to learn to sew and crochet (working on it. Aunt Lee is teaching me one, Lauren is going to teach me the other) and 2.) I need my husbands help for a few of the other ideas since they involve me using power tools ;)

So, in the mean time, it dawned on me that I could be selling prints of my digital pictures for now; why not, right? Everyone always compliments me on them so I figured, "Eh, what the heck, I will give it a whirl".

What I like about my pictures is that I am, by no means, a professional of any sorts nor do I even own a nice camera. All my pics are taken on a 'Plain 'ol Digital Camera' I have. I do not have any editing software so what you see if what I get! It's either bad, decent or sometimes nice! I did come across a website that allows some free editing like adding a copyright on the pics and a border, so I have dabbled in that, but otherwise, they are virtually unedited. You like 'em or you don't.

So for now, I am taking a stab at it! If you like photography or are looking for something to spruce up your office or a room in your house, check out my store! If you aren't, just wait! I will put some of my canned goods up there once it is canning season again, and eventually, my other ideas too!

http://www.apollosonacres.etsy.com/



Caution: Buyer Beware - Etsy is ADDICITING :) I found the cutest crocheted Mary Janes in someones shop, emailed them to my sister for Maddy and, of course, SHE BOUGHT THEM :) And then yelled at me for it!

The Hay Delivery

Ok, so I promised in a previous post I would tell the story of our most recent hay delivery. To take a 15 minute break from work, and prevent myself from sticking toothpicks in my eyes to prop open the lids......I'll tell the story now!

As I have mentioned many a times, nothing, even the most mundane things, go without some kind of drama at our house. It's my husbands curse! I should have consider this before I told him I would marry him! (Just Kiddin'....obviously....I think....)

So, hay, as regular readers may also know, is my pet peeve of having my horses at home with me. The only true complaint I can honestly make. Trying to find hay at a decent cost....DECENT HAY might I add, and someone to deliver it and stock it is like try to find a needle in that hay order ;( I have finally found a guy who charges an almost decent price for nice hay! He delivers it when I am not even home, leaves me an invoice, and doesn't blow up my phone if I am a week or so in getting the payment to him. What more could a gal ask for, huh?

Unfortunately, my hay guy has had some personal things come up that has made it difficult for him to deliver hay so he's called in some friends to help. On my last delivery, it was the friend. I was on my way home from work; Allen was at home. When the hay guy arrived, Allen was in the house and I had told the hay man we may or may not be home, so he probably assumed we were both gone. I am about 10 minutes away from home and get a call from Allen (you know this is where the drama unfolds right!)

Me: Hello
Allen: Where are you?
Me: Umm, didn't I just talk to you....I am on my way home.
Allen: Well you better hurry up because your hay guy is here and they just backed over the water spicket.
Me: WHAT?
Allen: Yeah. He just backed over the spicket. Hurry up and get home. 'Click'

Ok, so first of all, why do I have to hurry up and get home when he is already THERE? This was one of those days for Allen when it was 'My Hay' so I had to go deal with the situation. Nice huh!

So I pull up to the front garage and go into the house. As I enter, Allen comes walking into the mud room hunched over. Okaaaaaaaaay - clearly he was trying to get through the kitchen with out the hay guy seeing him through the window *SIGH* This is where we bickered back and forth about who was going to go out there to confront the hay guy about the spicket he had just backed over. I'll spare you the dialogue!

And you guessed it. Out I went .... and I was pissed .... at my big baby of a husband...not the hay guy!! Funny, someone shoots up our fence and he has no issues whatsoever stampeding straight to their front door. Someone runs over our water spicket and he hunches down when he walks past the windows. Men, I guess!

As I walk toward the hay guy and his family, I steer to the side of their jeep (yes they towed 50 bales of hay on a trailer hitched to a jeep!) that the spicket was NOT on. I wanted to see if they would mention it to me first, before I had to say "Ah hem, oh um gesh, our spicket wasn't bent down towards the ground when I left this morning".

The good news is, they were honest people. Whewwwww! I sure didn't want to have to be the cranky beotch (like I was when my fence got shot up) and throw out my raging diva about a water spicket! They pointed out to me that they backed over it (how they didn't see it I don't know, seeing as the tractor was sitting directly behind it! But that's besides the point) and they were going to try and fix it. The husband [hay guy] said he was going to try and pull it back upright. I suggested I see if my husband was in the house and that maybe he could help. I didn't want hay guy to try and fix something and in turn make it worse without my husband there to see what was happening....in the event he'd have to fix it all again later.

So, in true Allen fashion for that day, as I pop my head in the back door and call for him, this is the response I get: "I am NOT going out there; no way, too bad". Okay, I didn't know this was preschool...but again, besides the point! So I head back over to the hay guy and he asks if my husband is coming. I quickly reply "Uh, I think he is in the basement and he must have not heard me" *sigh* So hay guy and his wife try to pull/push the spicket back into a upright position. Then, once he gets it as straight as he possibly can [it was still bent a tad] he turned it on and water came out. He then removes the handle and said he'd take it with him to flatten it back out on his work bench and then he'd bring it back with the second load of hay. The problem with this is, we had the pump to this spicket turned off so NO water should have been coming out. *UGH* Whatever.

Hay guy returned later that evening with my second load of hay ... and my now only slightly bent spicket handle. Since then, Allen has fixed the pump that controls that spicket so we are now using it again to water the horses and so far, so good. However, when it is 2 degrees outside, if there is an issue underground with any of the piping, I am wondering if we won't know until the ground thaws anyways?

To be continued.....I am sure........

Here is a picture of the spicket as it stands today!

You cannot see where it is still bent. And after I wrote this whole thing, I realized maybe the 'technical' term for it is not a spicket as that is what is attached to the house.....but whatever....I am calling it the barn spicket...whether spell check likes it or not!!

Simply Saturday

I don't have much of a post today. We took down the tree and all the Xmas decorations and just chilled. I am sad that tomorrow is the last day of relaxation before work starts back up in full force! I still need to tell the story of when our hay delivery man ran over our water pump spicket *sigh* There is always a story! Maybe tomorrow :) I think I am going to go cozy up in front of the fireplace with a book.

Here are some pictures from our 'Simple Saturday' - Allen took them with a different camera and they came out a llittle more blurry that usual...but they are still nice! Apollo is such a ham when it comes to the camera.

The Girly Girls

Apollo doing what he does best....showing off ;)

And Apollo again. For some reason, I love how you can see the bottom of his two front hooves in this pic and they are all covered with snow!

Happy 2010

May your year be merry, healthy & prosperous.

I am none good at keeping New Year's Resolutions and there are so many that I should make! The only one I will say that I really hope to hold to is to plant more in our garden that we can actually eat (i.e. more kinds of vegetables) and to be more active about canning and freezing these things so we have more through the winter.

I also plan to buy more local when we are at the farmers markets as well.

Here's to 2010...........

Cheers!