how about some photos?

Smokey, aka Cutest Cat in the World with his mouse toy

So in looking back through here recently it seems too text dense!  Here are some photos that I never posted:

At the Hitchin' Post

These are the boys, getting ready to pick up the elk that Brian got, the day before end of season this year!  You can see they are very excited to be put to work.

Here they are- Mule loaded up and ready to roll. (figuratively, not literally)

Um... the coat makes me appear a bit larger than life, Really.

 These two were taken in our back field, just as we were approaching the final stretch.  These were taken after Episode One, in which the mule broke loose from us, bucking and running, managed to dump EVERY bit of meat out of his packs and get his pack saddle wedged under his tummy.  Luckily, he is not a dumb mule and stopped at the gate for our assistance.  We obliged by re-loading everything back on him...

Ahhh, the drafties...

These sweetie-pies helped my husband move this ENORMOUS tree that had fallen and blocked our road.  Brian cut it enough to move it and they first dragged it into the front field.

Then, since there was still not much snow on Thanksgiving weekend, Brian hooked them up to the logging arch he constructed and they hauled it out to the burn pile.

Good boys!

 And these last ones are for anyone that is feeling like the snow should go away, or anyone in a warmer clime that might be gloating about how pretty it is where they are:

Pink sunrise, from our front deck

Photos can't really capture how surreal and beautiful this was

Ice fog tree

Well, Lisa and I are making soap tomorrow- Hurray!  I'll let you know how it goes and I also have some handspun to show off!!

Happy Valentine's day!

I'm going to Summer Camp!!

Oh my gosh... I can hardly believe it.  I have been dreaming about Horse Camp for 2 years now, trying to figure out how to make it work.  Well, apparently asking the universe is how to make it work!!

In this post I practiced the Law of Attraction: you know-asking the universe for what you want. And, by golly, it worked!

This is the chain of events that precipitated this most awesome outcome:

First- The Asking.   This was more difficult than you might think.  Even when it is completely clear to you what you want, it still feels selfish to ask.  You start second-guessing yourself, wondering if you really deserve "whatever it is".  All I can say, is if it is something you really want, put it out there.  and then prepare yourself to take the next step, which is:

Recognize the opportunities.  When I wrote my blog post about Horse Camp, Rother Horsemanship commented with ideas on how to decrease the cost- which was really my biggest obstacle challenge.  Since one of the reasons I want to go to camp is because I don't think I can do the basic exercises (more about that later...), I figured becoming a "club member" was my ticket to a discount!  Well, the universe provided again- (or really Rother Horsemanship did...) Club memberships were on sale!  I joined up (which has been totally fun in and of itself!) and now I qualified for a 20% discount!

Then I got a Christmas bonus, so I could put a deposit down for camp. Now, the key step:
Commitment. did I want to go enough to commit to it? This is where the Universe lays your wish at your feet and you have to decide if you are going to pick it up and run with it or turn your back on it.
For me, this step involved a lot of question asking- What are the available dates? Can I even make these dates work? Can I get time off?  Is my dear husband willing to take care of the ranch while I am gone?  If I choose a date and then later it doesn't work, what are my options? Once Brian and I hammered out all the details, the biggest question remained and only I could answer it:

Will this decision lead me in the direction I want to go?

Wow. Okay, that is a big question, mostly because then I have to figure out what is the direction I want to go.

Yes, camp would be fun.
Yes, I would get to spend quality time with other horsey people.
But, when it comes right down to it: am I willing to spend the money and time to just goof around? Maybe the answer is yes, and that's okay- we all deserve some play time. 

However, when I really, truly looked at it... what am I craving?, what direction do I most sincerely want to move in?  it is very clear that what I want is more confidence in me.  I am tired of being stuck in the front field due to my own fears.  I have tried on my own to move my horse out into the "big country", but never get farther than our neighbor's driveway. He dances and whinnies and we retreat to our safety zone.  Reading and watching videos, I know what needs to happen- we need to keep working at it, expanding that comfort zone.  However, I have done what I can do by myself- I am ready for professional intervention!

Decision made.  The rest is just...
Follow through.  I made the deposit.  I was committed (to camp, not "committed").  This is when the Universe truly opened up and provided.  I figured I would just pay a little off each month until July.  Well, Rother Horsemanship offered another deal (can you tell I love them?) that you could save yet another $200 by paying the full tuition by January 15th.  And, coincidentally (if you believe anything is a coincidence...), my dearest husband received a small windfall that allowed us to pay off the balance of tuition before the 15th!!

I am still a little bit in awe of this series of events... and I promise to make the best of my good fortune.  Cheyenne (that's my horse) and I are already working on "Level 1 groundwork" and he is so good at it! I am still trying to not hang myself with the excess lead rope...
I am totally enjoying the HorseBook club- always good advice, you can ask all sorts of questions and gain knowledge from the answers to other people's questions.  There are video clips and photos- it's awesome. 
And in addition to my free DVD (Series II), I pulled out our Series I DVDs and am enjoying them as well.

This whole experience has done two amazing things for me already (and I haven't even gone to summer camp yet!)

1. Totally confirmed my belief in asking the Universe and letting it provide.
2. Renewed my excitement about working with my horse.

 So thank you, all of you who showed an interest in my summer camp wishes.  I feel that making it a real request here, for all 6 of you to see, helped me believe in it.  And believing in it made it happen.

It's just like Brian says about anything we want to make happen:
Put it on the calendar.

Sage advice. I did it.  Now what do you want to put on your calendar?

Crochet Mania!!! (as promised)

It all started with a mouse...

No longer so clean, as Smokey has been playing with it!

Actually it really all started with a newsletter from Joybilee Farms with a pattern for a crocheted rabbit.  It was soooo cute, but, alas, I did not know (or remember) how to crochet! Well I shared my lament with Chris (owner of Joybilee Farm) and she promptly posted a link to a "learn how to crochet" video.  If you "Facebook" (hmm... a new verb) you can see Joybilee's page HERE.

As it turns out, you can learn almost anything on You Tube... I followed through a 7 or 8 part "crochet a giraffe" series, learned the basic crochet stitches necessary for amigurumi (a fancy word for: crocheted toys), and started my new obsession craft endeavor. Mouse was the first product.  Stuffed with Greta wool and organic catnip from our garden, this mouse is one of Smokey's new favorites!
(on a side note: never, ever, ever plant catnip somewhere that you don't want it to take over. and if you let it flower, you can just forget about ever not having it. Just sayin')

Encouraged by my success, I quickly made mouse 2:(he even got facial features...)

Pretty cute, No?

The mouse pattern, BTW, is available (for free!!) from the Lion Brands Yarn website.  You have to register, but it doesn't cost anything and, so far, they haven't clogged my inbox with email messages.
Of course their pattern calls for using their yarn, but I actually used my very own hand-spun (it is okay to be super impressed). and I left off the bell from the end of the tail (Smokey just eats them anyway).

Now that I had successfully crocheted up some rodents, I was looking for a different little creature.  Enter "The Birds", not the 1963 Alfred Hitchcock release, but a blog with another free pattern: Birds of a Feather

Santa Bird (the hat was my idea!)

This one was crocheted with mill ends- wool singles. A little easier to work with than my handspun.  I learned something here: if you are planning on putting plastic safety eyes on your crochet toys, you need to do that before you stuff and close them.  Yeah, I know, sounds pretty basic, but I am speaking from experience here.  So Santa Bird got button eyes.  Still too cute.

Onward to... Bird #2:

Can you stand it?

 This little one was made with some handspun that I had in my stash. It was not spun by me, so it is a little more balanced and easier to work with.  He got a jaunty comb instead of a hat!

Then, since these last 3 were all going to sunny So Cal to live with my sister, niece and their 2 cats- I had to make mouse 3 (2 cats, 1 mouse, no good).  Alas, no photo of him (that's what happens when you have to do a rush job and get it mailed out!)

Bird Friends

Are you really going to need that hat in California?

Look this thing has his wings on his head!

Away we go!

Hey!!!! Wait for me!

The End.

 So there they are ~ Crochet Critters.  I have another bird done and am working on a sheep!  The rabbit I originally was interested in is a little more complicated, so I need to get some skills mastered first.  Apparently, winter is kinda slow around here LOL!

Hope you all have a wonderful New Year.  Personally, my 2012 is gonna rock!  I am going to 5 day horse camp!!!!!  I'll tell you how we managed it next time!

Intermission: Horse Creek Internships

Ok, the crochet mania post is coming (complete with photos of super cute crocheted things...) however, I had to put this out here for all my 6 readers to see!

Even if you aren't a "horse person" this is a beautiful video and will make you want to intern at Horse Creek!

And BTW- I AM going to horse camp this summer!!!! More details to follow...


Happy Happy Happy!!!!!!!!

My Sister's Birthday!!

Happy Birthday to you... Happy Birthday to you...

Yes, it's true.  My sister had a birthday last month and I have been dying to write about the placemats I wove for her!  But, I didn't want to spoil the surprise- now she has them and I can show you all photos!!

It all started a year ago, when she asked me to weave her new placemats for her birthday this year.  I tormented her with photos, questions- What colors, what pattern, what size?? And she dutifully answered everything, picked a pattern, suggested colors... so I went ahead and did something totally different!! I know, I know, I'm like that.

Four Placemats

I wanted to use the warp that I painted in the class I took with Kristie at Blue Flag Handweaving Studio.  It was originally supposed to be for scarves, but my sister didn't want scarves... She wanted placemats!  The painted warp is perle cotton and the colors don't show up very well in this photo, but they are the lighter stripes.  Then I had to buy some blue perle cotton for accent stripes and weft.  I did use some of my stash for the green and yellow (can't really see the yellow...) stripes.  This is also cotton, but it is cotton rug warp.

And then, I suddenly got tired of the blue perle cotton and was forced to buy some beautiful dark green- thus 2 blue napkins and 2 green napkins.

2 blue, 2 green

Things I learned:

• a plain weave border looks nice, but takes up differently than a twill body.  Next time, use basket weave for the border (thanks Kathy!)
• Perle cotton and rug warp cotton are not the same, they have different stretch and shrinkiness (yes, I made that word up!)
• I hate sewing.  Well, not exactly true, I don't hate it, I am just not good at it- even seams, I couldn't sew a straight line if my life depended on it!
• Napkins and placemats don't HAVE to be square...
• 6 yds of warp is A LOT of warp.
• I love packaging things! One of the most fun parts was folding these up and tying them with pretty twine and a label.

Pretty twine and label (complete with pink kitty button accent!)

Beautiful placemat!!

Napkins and Placemats

So there they are- Birthday placemats!  (plus bonus napkins)

Next up... Crochet mania

Hope you all have a very Happy Holiday!!!

I wanna go to Summer Camp!

Yes, you heard me- I wanna go to Summer Camp!  Not right now (although the idea of summer already sounds fantastic...) and not just regular camp, where you swim in a stagnant pond and make wacky key chains out of braided plastic strips.  I am talking about HORSE CAMP!!!

Yay!  Doesn't it look super fun???

Here is the description from the Excel with Horses website:

THE SCHOOL OF HORSE - HORSE CAMPS

Come join us at Horse Creek Ranch for a complete immersion into horsemanship. These fun and educational camps are a learning event of a lifetime.  Horse Creek Ranch will be your home for at least 5 days as Steve leads you to a higher level of understanding and communication with your horse. The things that you learn during your stay at the ranch will permanently change the way that you handle horses, in a positive way. This is a small group atmosphere that will insure lots of personal instruction from Steve.

Five (5!) whole days of horsie bliss... Steve is Steve Rother.  One can even stay in a teepee (well I think it is a teepee, on the site it is listed as T.P. and I recognize that abbreviation from my shopping list...).

Here's more details if you are interested: The School of the Horse: Horse Camps. I know, I know- it looks awesome, doesn't it?

The mule says "no thank you" to camp.

That brings us to... (wait for it...)

My bullet list of things that need to happen to pave my way to camp:

• Time off- shouldn't be too big of an issue, as long as my dear husband doesn't mind manning the fort while I am off goofing around learning important stuff.
• Trailering my buddy sour gelding (a.k.a "Big Baby") by himself to NE Washington (this issue is multi faceted as it also involves me driving the big Dodge and horse trailer...because, even though he offered, it doesn't seem fair to ask Brian to drop me off and pick me up)
• And lastly, the big obstacle challenge: the cost. It is a totally reasonable price for the experience, I am just presently at a loss of how to come up with the dough.

The reason I am writing this post (aside from letting you in on a what looks like a great horse camp!), is because I am practicing asking the universe for what I desire.  The law of attraction and all that.  Also, and more practically, if I make it real by putting it out there, I will be motivated to make it work.  Yay me! 

This idea (horse camp) also encompasses my 3 life words; Love, Hope, Trust (you know, the blog name?)
Love the horses, Hope to learn better horsemanship, and Trust that I can make it happen.

Anyway, I would appreciate any ideas of how to make my dream a reality and your support by way of positive thoughts, prayers (if you do that sort of thing) and general optimism!!

Isn't he cute?  Shouldn't he go to camp next summer? 

  (and he is not as skinny as this photo makes him look! Yikes. I think it is the angle)

Oh yeah, and if you happen to find a big sack of cash, you know where to find me :)! Just kidding! (mostly...)

Winter- weather we like it or not!

Winter weather.  Ho hum.  I usually love the first snow storm, but I usually love it more when it happens in December...

Here's our forecast, courtesy of NOAA

Snow, snow, snow, snow and snow! Oh yes, and "Wintry Mix" whatever that is (I am guessing it is not like Chex mix.)


Anyway, even though it has been cold (14 degrees when I walked to work this morning!) it has been supremely beautiful.  When I walked through the field this morning, it was like walking through a field of beautiful, sparkly diamonds.  And then, a little tiny breeze came up and the diamonds turned into sparkle lights... I was a little late to work (imagine that!)

This photo doesn't do it justice- Sparkle lights!!!

 And walking through the field is so enjoyable due to this:

Beautifully mowed path

My husband spent last Thursday (pre-snow) harnessing horses, hooking up the sickle bar mower, mowing this path and then raking it with the side delivery rake (which decomposed during the job and had to be repaired- ho hum, the perils of junk equipment).  I feel very well loved :)

The bison like it as well- they have made it their main thoroughfare.

Next up- Crochet projects!