Doesn't Matter

The sun peeks over the mountain 

and fills the earth with light

Waking up the little ones

who slept on the tramp last night

They scurry in to mother

who's slept right through the dawn

They're looking for a heat source

to put they're cold feet upon.

But one little munchkin,s still sleeping

 the sun beating down it's heat

the whole world is up and going

I guess she just don't get cold feet.

This is one of those kids that could sleep through an earthquake.  Nothing wakes her up until she's good and ready to wake.  even the subtle enticing of a warm sun.  

Just because.....

I wasn't planning on sewing when I got up yesterday.  I just did.  I made two skirts out of some stretchy material that my Mom gave me. It's hard to tell from the pictures but they look like they're pleated because of the materials pattern  I wasn't planning on sewing when I got up this morning but I looked at the skirts and thought they wouild look cute with a little vest to go with them.  Unfortuneately I had no pattern for that so I made one up from a little sweater pull over vest Oaklee had.  It turned out a bit to short for her so when I made Aubree's I lengthened it even more and made it a little more fitted.

 putting them into perspective.  Thanks Oaklee =)

 Modeling: a side view

 Back view

Both my sweet little models

.

 Oh,  and I made cookies.  I only mention this because when my two boys came in for a quick dinner after building fence all day, they grabbed a few on their way out to change sprinklers and plant potatoes.  They left.  Then they came back in and grabbed a few more.  

"Hey, Mom,"  says Braden, "You should always make these kind of Cookies.  "Oh how sweet," I think  "What good boys They must really love my baking.  sigh"  Then he grins and says,  "We can't tell if you burned them or not."  

"Oh hey, yeah," say's I, I mean after all if they came all the way back in the house to grab seconds and tease me, I know that's just his way of saying  "WOW!! these cookies are GREAT!!"

Thanks Braden  I believe I'll look into a years supply of Hershey's special dark cocoa.

Caib and Jack

This is Caib's second horse to break.  If you can call it that.  I think a better way to say it would be to teach.

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I've sat by the round pen many times and watched my cowboys teach the colts how to trust them.  They begin by making them run in circles.  The horses natural instinct tells them to run from danger.  The horse will run but it also wants either another horse or person to turn to to keep it safe.  So they begin by running the horse in a circle pen for awhile.  when they stop the horse, if the horse turns and approaches the cowboy he will pat and reward the horse, soon the horse learns that the cowboy can be trusted and he shows that he is ready to trust the cowboy.  the cowboy then teaches the horse about a bridle, then a blanket and saddle. Each time the horse jumps or shows fear of the item the cowboy runs him in a circle until the horse starts to show submission and ask for help.  They stop the horse and the horse will turn to the cowboy for help. They soon realize  that the cowboy or bridle, blanket or saddle wont hurt them and by the time the cowboy climbs up on the horse there should be enough trust from the horse that he really is just more curious about why the cowboy's on his back then scared of the cowboy.  

Sometimes a sharp slap on the rump let's the horse know that he needs to move.  The horse eventually learns that a quick kick in the side is the signal to move.

 Learning to turn

 Tucking the head

Circling the ring.

I thought it was fun watching Caib on this particular day.  Caib started out in a bad mood for who knows what reason.  Jack, the colt,  could sense Caibs mood and started acting ornery and ill tempered a bit himself.  I told Caib that I really knew nothing about breaking horses (I've never done it) but that I did know a little about animals and I knew that they could feel or sense the mood of a person and would respond that same way.  Caib finished with Jack in a much better mood and Jack calmed down and even calmly let Caib try spurs out on him for the first time.  

I sometimes wonder who's teaching who what?

Or, if both the horse and the boy really need each other.  I think so.  =)

My Pride Damaged

Do you ever feel Like Life is zipping by and you're just hanging on as tight as you can so you don't get left behind?

That's right......  I kinda feel just like this...sometimes, so I grabbed the camera and headed out to snap some pictures so I wouldn't miss it.

 Braden's been working with this little Bay filly

He's pretty good with her.  But, then again it isn't the first horse he's broke.  Every now and then I grab my camera and go out to see if I can get some good shot's of my cowboys.

I have a secret ambition to get some amazing action shot's of my boy's.  

My pride was damaged yesterday.. I've always thought with the right camera I could be an amazing Photographer.......Uh  Not so.

I snapped this one just before the horse got a bit irritated and rared up with Braden  I was so worried about Braden staying in the saddle that I just stood there with gritted teeth and silently prayed.  I could have had some awesome pictures.  With Braden staying put.  GRRRRRR.  That wasn't the end of it.....

The Horsed once again decided she didn't want to turn for him and decided to balk.  in doing so she lost her footing and Braden professionally stepped out of the saddle when she fell over and rolled herself up against the fence and got stuck.  It's kind of scary when an animal as big as a horse get's into a predicament like that.  We hollered at Caib and he came out.  Braden took off the saddle and they pushed her over and she stood up.  She was a bit shaky but Braden re-saddled her and climbed back on. 

Yeah,  so how do you like my excellent Photo of the whole thing?  I was so busy truing to help, that the camera was the last thing on my mind.  sigh  I guess I'm not meant to be a great Photographer after all.

It's just that I really thought I could be.

By the way....I was REALLY proud of Braden  He Never said one cuss word because his mother was standing there  though he threatened to,  A LOT!! 

Chancee's Chattering

Chance approached me the other day and told me his plan for the large Loa Metroplolis area we have here.


"I am going to build a giant aquarium in Loa when I'm big!! As big as two sky scrapers.  But it's going to be deep in the ground so it'll probably look short."  


"Really"  Says I.


"Yep, and it's going to have dolphins and killer whales and sting rays and...."


"Well, I'm going to live in Loa, too" says Oaklee not wanting to be out done.  


"Well Oaklee you probably will need to live where ever your husband has work."  I say, trying to help
her understand that she may not always live in Loa.


 But then again.......


Chance pipes up.  "Well,  I'll just hire her husband to run my aquarium"


So that problem is solved.. BIG sigh.

Venus Eclipse

I woke up this morning to Chance standing by my bed whispering "Mom,   Mom,  Mom!"

This is not unusual so I mumbled a muffled "What Chance?"  

"Guess what I'm gonna be when I grow up?"  

"What?"  I smile.

Chance, Caib, Aubree and Oaklee all slept out on the trampoline last night They watched the stars, found the big dipper and the North star.  And apparently sparked another interest in Chance and his scientific mind ."I'm going to be an astronaut and go to every planet in our Solar System. " He replies with absolute surety.

"Well why don't you run down and get your books on our Solar system then." I yawn as I flip over and try to catch a few more minutes of sleep.  That was all I got because in exactly a few minutes Chance was Back with three books on stars, Solar systems, and Planets.   

So then......

 I was a bit discouraged when I heard about the Eclipse happening and we had no way to see it.  But then I happened to turn on the news and they suggested turning a telescope backwards and projecting it on to a white surface.  Caib grabbed a plate and I grabbed the spotting scope.  So look really close at the bottom of the light circle and there is a pin prick of dark.  That's Venus.

Here's our set up.  It worked really well and after a few seconds of viewing Venus as it traveled across the sun I patted myself on the back for being a great mom, just like my mom.  and I rushed the boys in to get ready for their Father Son outing at the park.  Chance was enthralled for those few seconds and......Who knows...Maybe we have a future astronaut on our hands....Whatever he ends up doing I have no doubt that it will be some sort of scientific occupation.