Awesome Bystander strikes again!

Awsome Bystander (see 6-20-10 post) is taking pity on me and helping me figure out when I am when we are out on the trails! I am always completely clueless. Plus, yesterday we saw our family of ducks, a diving duck of some kind catching fish and what I think is a small blue heron. This heron flew in hops along side of us for quite a way, both horses not scared at all.

trail riding and stuff

I am having lots of fun trail riding. It is not too hot at 7:30 in the morning. Wiz is enjoying it too and getting very brave and didn't even spook the other day when a hawk flew back and forth in front of us. He loves to slosh around in the water whenever we cross some or go the the little beach place in the woods. We have been riding around a retention pond by a newly cleared area where some housing will go up and he is cool with that. We saw mommy and daddy ducks swimming in the pond with several babies in between them. They were swimming in a very straight line. Super cute!! Today there were some ducks standing around on the edge. Also, some strange rustling off in the woods on one of the trails so we quickly turned off into another area - . Also working on going slowly up and down the banks of the creek we have to cross. He wants to just run at it! Nooooooooooooooo

Today, I also worked on getting W into the wash rack outside the front barn. It is out in the open and is a U shape. The object is for the horse to be tied in there and stand to be hosed off. Finally got W to walk in there and stand by me but would not be tied and would not be washed in there.

Yesterday, I took the neighbor's dogs in the pool with me. One at a time since neither will actually go in by themselves. Last year, they were frantic in the pool. After watching the dog physcology show on TV and copying what he did, I can now gently coax one of them in and hold her til she is calm and then she will quietly swim back to the steps. I think she finally realizes that she should go to the steps and not try to scramble up any old edge. The other one will get on the first step on her own but then I have to pick her up and carry her in the rest of the way. She, however, did completely relax in my arms and let me hold her belly out with her back up against me and her head resting off to the side on my shoulder!! Cutie! She has no idea yet about swimming to the steps to get out. lol

Have a brilliant (I hope) idea for my duck shoe needlepoint. I'm back to the lace idea for the background after messing with some alternatives. I think I can take some thin white crochet thread to form the pattern and then needlepoint over it in white floss! We shall see.

Going to Florida in two weeks. I'm going to take some knitting and let my mother watch. She taught me how to knit when I was about 9-10. The whole time I was growing up, she had and unfinished pair of mittens in her bureau. She had started them in college and I think they just needed the thumbs but she never finished them. I remimded her of this the other day on the phone and she said, "I love you very much." Oh dear, that is a long sentence for her and she hardly ever says anthing without some prompting. If I can't tell if she still has the phone to her ear and can hear me, I start saying, "10, 20, 30" and she starts counting by tens up to 100.

Who wouldhave thought?

that I was even slightly artistic??? When I was a senior in high school, I begged my mother (guidance director) to let me take art as an elective. But no, I was forces to take fucking Latin IV, where Frank J and I whiled away the year fooling around and being pains in the ass in class.

I still don't think I am particulary artistic, but all of a sudden, starting last year, I am drowning myself in needlepoint projects. Never again the already painted canvas. No Santa Clauses, hearts, flowers, etc. (not that I have ever done a Santa Clause or heart thank you), but I will be drawing my own designs. So far, I have just traced a couple of pictures onto canvas (duck shoe and kb's horses), but I have a couple more in mind.

The instructor in my np class can't stand me because I change so many things, even in the pre-painted canvases. OMG!!!, the sacred painted canvas!!!

The sea scape I am working on now has 5 different scences on one canvas. (pic when I get a chance). I'm so sorry I even bought this canvas from her. It is incredibly boring. So far, I am running the scences into each other and I have put a Del's lemonade and a Mr. Potato Head onto the table under the beach umbrella. This is because this project will eventually be the Christmas or birthday gift of my BIL in Rhode Island, and Del's lemonade and MPH are both based in RI and so it will be a bit personalized. There is a sailboat that may have either an anchor (on the RI state flag) or a crab or lobster. There will also be a needlepointed sign that says Rhode Island hanging from the gate somehow.

My running horses canvas is now stripped of all its previous threads and new ones are bought. The threads are like little colored jewels, waiting to be a finished picture. I can't wait to start it but I have to get rid of all this other crap first.

I found a new needlepoint shop. It's closer than the one I have been going to (at least I don't even have to go near 1960). Their prices are cheaper and the women who work there are really nice. They have better needlepoint supplies too. And they are not all stuck up . . .

I watched the Messiest Home tv show the other day. A woman had 4 kids and when they were young, they had each worn a lion costume for Halloween. They persuaded her to give it up. Nooooooooooooooooooooooo

finally going to ride!

I've been babying my sore back but I'm just sick of it. I'm going to ride today no matter what. Well, if it doesn't rain that is. And if I'm not asleep from getting up at 4 a.m. this morning.

I'm almost finished with one of my needlepoint projects.

I think this is it before I started it. I just have to finish some of the background and put in the beaded fringe on the saddle blanket. I'm not sure if I am going to frame it (too expensive) or put a backing on it with pocket tabs so it can hang on a rod. (lame) This has been very labor-intensive, mainly because my needlepoint instructor suggested little cross stitches for the background. It looks pretty but it is taking forever, uses a lot of thread and is hard to see.

After this one is done, I have to finish a sea scape I started for my BIL and then can work on my duck shoe and my running horses canvases. I just found another np shop and I'm going to take some of this stuff over there for suggestions. I know what I want to do and how I want it to look, but I'm just not sure how to actually get the effect I want.