Ripple ~Pay it forward...my story!

In 1997 I needed jumper cables in order to jump start my ever-lovin-blue hoopty ride.  I asked a neighbor for a jump.  The neighbor was overjoyed???  I thought it was weird, but whatever, the car needed to be jumped it's all good.  She rushed into her garage, and brings me a set of bran new, never opened jumper cables.



" I have been waiting for this day for over 4 years!"  she exclaimed with excitement...



(in my mind I am thinking, glad I could help you out)  I didn't say that of course, I just smiled quizzically.



She explained further, "Four years ago, I needed jumper cables, I was in a parking lot and asked a man nearby if he had some, he opened his trunk and handed me a bran new never been used set and  he said ~ keep them, just pay it forward.  If anyone ever asks you for a jump you pass these on.  I promised him I would, and you my dear friend have answered my prayers of four years.  That day, I went and bought these to hand on to the next person and here they are."



She finished by brandishing the jumper cables towards me.  I reached tentatively for them, almost feeling guilty.  I started to tell her I would bring them right back.  She would have not of it!



My happy neighbor leaned towards me and said



 "Now, I am going to ask the same thing of you.  If anyone ever needs a set of cables, please pass them on"



I thanked her profusely and promised to myself that I would do so.  I didn't buy a new set of cables that day, but about a week later.



It wasn't until 2008 that I was in an apartment complex parking lot when a young gentleman walked up to me and said



"Excuse me, Miss, do you happen to have a set of jumper cables I can borrow?"



I was thrilled!  My reaction got the same response from him that I had those many years ago.  I clasped my hands together and said



"OH! Yes, I have been waiting for just this occasion!"



The gentleman literally started to turn away from me, thinking I was being sarcastic.  I quickly reassured him.



"No, no, I am serious!"  I opened my trunk and brandished bran new jumper cables at him with a flourish.



I told him my story and asked him to please do the same for someone else should they ever need a set of jumper cables.  He promised he would.



I really hope he does, I hope that it's the set of jumper cables that makes it around the world, all because one man in 1993 helped my neighbor, she helped me in 1997, and I helped someone in 2008, maybe in 2015 we will see a facebook post, or Youtube video of the jumper cables continued saga.



~ Those of you who were there that day ~ do you remember this?!



For real,  pay it forward people.  It's a feeling that really can't be beat.  Be awesome today!

Abandoned stable becomes off-grid, luxurious family dream home

Simply magnificent!  It's like a fairy tale ~ :)

Foster Project Day #3

Today is Day #3 since Morning Glory arrived.  I have to admit, I seriously considered making this a "foster fail."  I live this little girl.  She is so willing, so sweet, so trusting.  You couldn't ask for better in a Mini ~ or any other size horse.  

After considering it for awhile and discussing it with my son, we collectively decided that it's best to just allow Morning Glory to go to a great forever home.  The biggest reason being, we will do not  need another horse around here.  That would mean selling pony (in with the new and out with the old and all of that.)  

"Pony"

That would be okay, except for a few minor details:

• Pony is an escape artist ~he would end up back here anyway ~ with a passport, stickers and an attitude. 
• He likes it here ~ he may not like it anywhere else.
• Pony and Donkey have a love/hate relationship and if Pony leaves Donkey will be sad.
• Pony may rebel and never be caught again by his new owners. 
• A friend of mine has "shared custody" of Pony and it woudl be hard to give him his half. 
• No none except for us would put up with Pony's shenanigans.  

It's all true you know, Pony is here to stay.  We have made a commitment to tolerate, bribe, brush, coddle and roll our eyes at him forever.  Thus, the charming, and endearing Morning Glory will have to be allowed to go to a wonderful forever home that will dote on her and allow her to enjoy the wonderful life she so richly deserves.  I hope they have children.  She really likes children.  This will also give us the opportunity to help more Equines in need.  We can't keep them all and I am not going to be a collector.  

I really believe that in situations like this, when the right family comes along it will be an instant match and all of us will be happy about it.  

But I digress, because Morning Glory is such a wonderful mare, I decided to go ahead and put the harness on her and do some long-lining with her in the halter. 

***Disclaimer I don't share each and every step with you on this blog.  You see "jumps" in progress. I wouldn't recommend putting a new horse in a harness without previous work prior to doing so.  Please keep this in mind when you see huge improvements within a day.  That simply means I worked with the animal earlier in the day and based on the body language and attitude of the horse, I felt it was okay to move forward in the training.  This applies to all scenarios." ****

(ahem) having said all of that so that no one (horse or human) gets hurt lets move on.  It started out a bit rocky, she was confused when I put the long lines on tried to steer her.  It didn't take long for her to catch on and we went down the driveway and back up several times with very few issues.  I have found that when training to cart, the thing so many people seemingly skip is the quiet "whoa."  What is it with a cart horse that makes it so hard for them to stop and stand?  We are starting Morning Glory out right.  She is going to stand quietly and stop immediately.  We will make certain of it.  

Morning Glory in the Harness learning to long line.

 ~ Speaking of which, this harness is a bit small for the larger Morning Glory, so I would be happy to take a donated harness  ~ hint hint.  What a sweet, lovely mare.  She is progressing so quickly.  I knew in my heart of hearts she would have no problems with the harness at all.  I will be doing this for awhile, then we will add some weight to equation.  Last but not least, the bridle and then, finally, the cart.  It shouldn't take long at all with this girl!  

Meanwhile, I didn't want to slack off on her trick training either.  If she stays around long enough I expect her to be a very well-rounded girl that will be happy to do anything asked of her.

This time, my son did the honors of asking her for the obeisance. I took a yucky photo, but the result of the request was awesome!  

A more proper looking Obeisance! 

The catch with asking Obeisance is getting the horse to understand several things, one of the most important things in this exercise is that the horse understands to rock back on her hindquarters and lower her withers.  Morning Glory is getting much closer to doing that.  This is the closest yet.  The rocking back on her hindquarters does several things, it teaches balance, it encourages her to use her back muscles and engage her hind, and it will help her to be more fluid under saddle or pulling the cart.  I don't want a horse stuck in frame like a block, but a fluid moving happy horse. 

We will be doing more of the same things for a while, so I will take a break from the posts until we can make another "jump" in training.  

Thanks to everyone for the private emails and PM's on facebook!  I am enjoying this so much and I am so very happy to help!  

**Last Plug I promise ** 

• Morning Glory is available for adoption for the VERY low price of $150.00

 (nope, I'm not even kidding) 

•  Adoption application must be filled out, interview conducted, references checked etc.  
• This is all done through hoosierhoovesandhounds.org  **

Day # 2 with Morning Glory ~

Due to lack of a resident Palmer Alarm, I woke up and shuffled into the kitchen for my customary and mandatory, cup of coffee.   As I was just lifting a fresh, hot cup up to my lips I glanced out the kitchen window to see...a black blur!

Oh boy, a black blur around here can only mean one thing.  Pony has (yet again) escaped the pen.  The pen Morning Glory was in, the Pen that was supposed to keep my new Foster baby safe and sound, the Pen that was to provide comfort and safety!!

No coffee for me.  I donned a random pair of boots, the ugly coat and a pair of gloves.  Part me of me was still whining about lack of coffee, but I went out side to find Morning Glory in the pasture with the big horses.  She insisted upon charging at my biggest horse.  He took exception to that and snorted at her with pinned ears and squinted eyes.  She merrily trotted off with the entire herd following at a safe distance.

If the Palmer alarm had been present, the moment that Pony escaped the pen I would have been alerted.  Not so now, I have to look out windows and stuff!  For those of you who don't know it, Palmer is a boarders horse, and she moved to warmer climates and sold Palmer to a place up North.  No more Palmer alarm.  We were hoping that perhaps another would step up and fill the need.  So far, no takers.

But I digress, I did the thing that any sane person would do in the early morning before coffee, I bribed Pony with grain,  and donkey and Morning Glory followed.

I put pony in the round pen, donkey was left to wander the yard as per the norm, and I took Glory into the barn to play with her a little before putting her in the round pen with Pony.

I decided to work on some tricks with her. We worked on Obeisance first.

First try

This is how it looks when it first starts, the horses always try to back up instead of bow down.  The hardest part is to teach them to put their legs forward and rock back.  It starts like this and becomes refined as time goes on.  The fact that she was willing to do this much is pretty good.  A horse lowering it's head that low with a stranger really shows a lot of trust for the human. This puts them in a very vulnerable position.  Since horses are prey animals they are very aware of such things.  We use this trick quite often with Mustangs and burrows to help them to gain trust of humans.  AFTER we do many other things first of course (lest you think I dive right into this sort of thing)

Second try

After the first try, I brushed her, worked on some join up, picked up all four feet, brushed her a little and then we did it again.  Above is her 2nd try.

After her second try I decided to go ahead and give her a great brush out and straighten up her mane, tail and forelock.  I don't generally brush out mane and tail because I like it to be long and flowing, brushing it breaks the ends.   

Miniature horses worth their salt are supposed to look like mini Arabians.  So, I am teaching her to pose like the mini Arab she should look like.

Learning to stand like an Arabian.

For the critics out there, yes, I know she needs to have feet squared and slightly parked out to look like a "real mini."  Yes, I know Arabs have one leg back. 

 (see below)

packy sam a miniature horse at a horse show. 

Above is a photo of a miniature horse at a miniature horse show.  I hope to have miss Morning Glory looking like this by spring time or so.  This means the purchase of some SMTG, but that's okay, as I need it for all of my guys anyway.  (The Big Dumb Dog ate my last bottle) 

The last photo is our last try of the day, I went ahead and asked her to do Obeisance one more time before ending our session.  She just got here after all, I need to give her some time to adjust to everything before pushing too hard. 

Last try! 

Look how well she is doing already!!  This is only the third time I've asked!  This girl isn't going to stay her very long.   

See you all tomorrow with updates of the fun we have at that time!

My new Kitchen Island,,and Cat Buffet...

This Blog, brought to you by:  My nagging Daughter Duchess Zaney, who insisted on photos and the story...

They said it couldn't be done, they said it would take too long.  They were right about the too long...but it WAS done.

My kitchen is notorious for not having cabinets, and the cabinets it does have are rickety and not so pretty.  I seriously need some counter space and some storage space.

I wanted a nice kitchen island...I looked them up online...they are expensive.  I don't want one that bad...but I dooo.

Sooo, cue the old bathroom vanity.

Two Bathroom Cabinets Nailed together

Side-view

 We took two old bathroom vanity cabinets and nailed them together.  Then Added a top (plywood)

Before the top

We had to ad some shelves to the vanity of course, because as you know bathroom vanities have no shelves.  We also had to add a lot of inner wood to make that cheap whateveritisboard strong enough to be part of our kitchen.  Next...paint.

Starting the painting process

Okay...the part that Duchess Zaney has been waiting for....are you ready Duchess?

The marbled top...

The Finished Product!!

 The little piece on top of the island is a Marble cutting board.  I know it still needs some handles, and I have to put the casters on the bottom.  But I am very proud of this ~ it has really come a long way!  Finally, I know the large door on the left needs to be hung the other way so it opens left.  I will get to that as well.

close up of the top

Another close up of the top

Taaadaaa!
The Island was much more difficult to do than the Cat Buffet.  Why do I call it a cat buffet you ask...or maybe you don't care and just want to see the photos. (Duchess) I call it a cat buffet because that is where I put the cat food so that the dogs can't reach it.  The cat food was moved into the "no dogs allowed" living room briefly while these items were painted, dried, etc.

SO...now for the Cat Buffet

Cat Buffett before

Cat Buffett Before ~ close up. 

Yes, I know ~ these are not great photos.  Listen, I wasn't planning on posting to the blog (because I am lazy and don't have time for this happy /posty stuff.  However, my loyal fans nagged ~ I mean begged, so I remembered half-way through the whole remodel to take the photos.  However, if you look closely you can see what rough shape this thing was in.  This was actually the top portion of some sort china cabinet that was left in the house when we moved in.  I got rid of the falling apart bottom part, and let this part lay around in the kitchen to hold tools while we worked on the rest of the house.  Then it sort of gained squatters rights in the kitchen, and the cats really liked it...so it has been here in the kitchen ever since.  I promised myself that over the Christmas break from school I would get several things done around here...well getting rid of this eyesore was one of them.

testing the painting 

This is the bottom of the cat buffet.  We added 2x4's to the bottom to elevate it just a little bit, and while it was upside down, I tested some paint patterns on the 2x4 that wouldn't show.

Handles from the Cat Buffett

When we removed the hardware from the Cat Buffet, I noticed how very heavy the handles were.  Hmm....they were completely black, totally....above you can see the back side of one of the handles they were all even darker than that!  The one in the white dish is mid-soak in flour, vinegar and salt.  The one that is face-up is wiped off and looking pretty coppery!

Putting on the doors

Sneak peak at the marbled top and the pretty cleaned up Brass Hardware ~ the doors were being put on...I was practically hopping up and down with excitement...much to the annoyance of my assistant who just wanted me to hand the screws to him on command!

The finished product! 

The top

close up of the top

 The difference on this is amazing.  I love the way this looks.

Here they are in all their glory!

This poor kitchen sure has come a long way...in case you have forgotten where we started with this whole thing...let me remind you...

When we first began

After wall paper removal, prior to painting the walls. 

 There you have Duchess Zaney!  We have come a long way baby!!

My Miniature Horse Foster Project....

So, let me start at the very beginning in regards to my new Foster Mini...

My friends mom the enabler sends me little facebook messages all the time in regards to animals needing foster homes or adoption.  As if I really don't have enough animals around here.  

Well, in a weak moment, I clicked the link...that was the first step to my journey down the fostering road...I read the story of Hoosier Hooves and Hounds organization: http://hoosierhoovesandhounds.org/

They had taken in several miniature horses from a place in Indianapolis that had all of the animals confiscated.  Several of them were Equines.  The conditions they were kept in were deplorable, and there were signs of abuse as well.  There were even animals on the property that were deceased.  It was so very sad to hear about.  So, I offered to take in a foster, leaving the decision of which mini would be best suited to come here up to the director of Hoosier Hooves and Hounds.  

After going through the proper steps of being interviewed and filling out the necessary paperwork and applications, I was approved as a foster home for a miniature horse.  

They were kind enough to bring her to me.  Her name is Morning Glory.  She is about 3-5 years old and she is doll.  She is a little paint with one blue eye.  She is very sweet and gentle.  She arrived today, and we put her in the pen with Pony. 

Pony and Morning Glory

 I intend to train her to trick train her this winter in the comfort of the barn and train her to cart next spring/ summer when it is warmer.  I think that will help to be very adoptable!  I am so excited about helping this girl to find a new forever home.  I get the benefit of playing with a horse and someone else gets the benefit of giving a wonderful animal a forever, loving home. 

I will post updates on her progress on this blog for those of you that like to keep up on the daily adventures around here.  (yes, yes, I know I am way behind) 

So, today, is day one, and I am just going to let her hang out with Pony and get acclimated.  Tomorrow, I will take her in the barn and play with her a bit and see what we can do from there.  I took the halter off of her right away so that the impressions on her nose will go away.  Check back in tomorrow for what happens on day 2. 

The lovely, Morning Glory