Month: September 2019

My Weekly Coffee Share; Keep Smiling, Life and Horses

On By DianaIn Family is important, Living life, Love being Grandma, weekend coffee share15 Comments
Weekend Coffee share is a time for us to take a break out of our busy lives and enjoy some time catching up with friends (old and new)! Please grab a cup of coffee or tea and share with us! What’s been going on in your life? any weekend plans?

I LOVE this photo of my daughter as we shared coffee a few months ago. I also took a photo of just my mug that I got served with the “D” on it, how appropriate and what’s the odds that the server at this restaurant happened to serve me a mug with the first letter of my name? Ironic, and fun. I could not help but take these photos as it put such a huge smile on my face! I am missing my daughter and thought what better way to share my weekend but with this cool photo. How is your coffee? or would you like some tea? Hot or cold, I don’t know which I love more, coffee or tea? and I was busy today making something that I wish I could share with you all! 😀

With the cool fall weather I wanted to make ginger cookies. This is before the bake!
After the bake and oh my, so DELICIOUS!! I wish I could share with ya’ll!

I’ll be honest, when I woke this morning I was feeling rather blue. I know this is normal as we can’t always be upbeat and happy day in and day out. What a melancholy morning and with the clouds and threat of rain it just seemed so gloomy and added to my gloomy feeling. I know you don’t need a reason to feel this way but I can’t help but ponder why and I got to thinking that I truly miss my family. My daughter who I mentioned and also my Son, his wife and my granddaughter. We are approaching here the longest time I have been away from my granddaughter and my heart aches to see her in person. I just miss them so much! I will survive and I know I will be visiting them in about a month or so. I was able to keep busy today and thought I would really like to share my thoughts here so that is why I want to KEEP SMILING! I read that smiling for just 30 seconds a few times a day can help you stay upbeat. I know smiling can boost your overall health as well. It is helping lift my mood and it always makes me happy when I share and write my blog. 😀

Feeling a little frustrated with my granny square blanket. I will have to take 3 rows apart as I don’t like how I’ve sewn it together. I have looked at many ways to put together and I decided I like the closer squares pictured which I chain stitched together. The back rows I will take apart, they are sewn together. That’s what happens when you work with these projects, trial and error! 😀

I shared a photo of all the granny squares in a previous post and I am loving how it is coming together. I am trying to get it completed because I want to start on a project for my new grand baby coming next year. I know I could just set this aside, but it really is more than half way done and I still will have time to work on the baby project once I complete this granny square blanket. I must say that part of why I want to complete this granny square blanket is because I’ve never made one and I want to see what it looks like completed. I will share once done so you all can see how it looks. I’m hoping really good. I love all the colors of it so its just a matter of making it look great all crocheted together! I can’t wait, I’m very motivated!!

These next 3 photos are from about 4 years ago. I was going to share with a throwback post but just never did so I am going to share here as they just make me SMILE! I need to smile today!
This was from the same day, I should make prints of these pretty ponies! They did cheer me up earlier today, I go to the stables every single day. It is my second home I think! ❤
Just something about this photo! Another one I should print and frame to see it everyday!!

I am enjoying sharing my coffee with you today. I forgot to ask if you needed a refill? I will say that this blog has really helped me as when I want to share it helps me sort out my thoughts. What do you do if you are feeling blue? I will say that my lower back has been a bit sore so I did some yoga this morning. I know I need to do more stretching and walking and it helped immensely so my blue feelings are pretty much gone now. Thank you for your support and I can’t wait for tomorrow to ride and work on my granny square blanket. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! You all help make me smile. 😀

Life is too short to be sad, so happy smiles help!

~Diana ❤

Festival of Leaves; Sept. 25, 2019

On By DianaIn blogging, Festival of Leaves, Living life6 Comments

I am so excited for Fall. We do have some Fall colors here where I live and so I wanted to share with you the Festival of Leaves. Dawn Miller at Lingering Visions, will be hosting this, for all Autumn leaf hunters. I look forward to fall color finds.

I spy a white guy peaking through the Fall leaves on the trees! Haha

And I just can’t help myself. I can’t forget my beautiful girl as I photograph some turning leaves on the one big tree near the round pen at the barn!

I spy another, as I call her name she can’t see where I am, hiding in the leaves behind the tree!

The leaves are turning as the days grow shorter, and the beautiful Fall colors show their colors. The nights grow cooler, how I love this time of year. I really wanted to join in the Festival of Leaves! ❤

Loving Fall,

~Diana ❤

Weekend Coffee Share; Trail Riding Success!

On By DianaIn Barn stories, Horse stories, Living life, weekend coffee share12 Comments

Weekend Coffee share is a time for us to take a break out of our busy lives and enjoy some time catching up with friends (old and new)! Please grab a cup of coffee or tea and share with us! What’s been going on in your life? any weekend plans?

I am completely enjoying this month as we move into fall. You can smell it in the air as we cool down especially at night so the mornings stay fairly cool for many hours. The nights will start to dip down into the 50’s soon a very welcome reprieve from the summer months. I often mention how time flies as we get older, it just goes by faster each year so it seems. I really do try and savor each day. I have dreams for the future that sometimes feel out of reach, so instead of getting frustrated I try and concentrate on each day to each week. It does make life more fulfilling this way in my eyes! How is your coffee this morning? I had a delicious cup with my oatmeal and english muffin. Or maybe you are drinking tea? I have been having a wonderful time this last month trail riding on my horses, and it took some experimenting but I figured out a way to pony Zack next to Chloe with little to no biting. I’ll explain!

Miss Chloe and Zack, I ride Chloe and have Zack follow on the lead line. This is SO DIFFERENT for me and my youth training of riding Hunter/ Jumpers. This is a whole new discipline of riding that I am enjoying very much! ❤
I ride Miss Chloe with a short rein that is easy to hold, since I have to hold Zack’s lead rope as well. I am getting very comfortable with them both. TONS OF FUN!
I bought a trail riding muzzle, not very successful! He can still be annoying!

When I started on my trail rides ponying Zack I started with just his blue halter with a stud shank (the chain that is attached to the halter) and the lead rope. For those of you who do not know horses, the stud shank chain adds a bit of strength for us puny humans. Most horses weigh around 1,000 pounds give or take 100 pounds. (Zack weighs about 1,000 pounds, Chloe weighs just over 1,200 pounds. We use a tape that measures their height on one side of the tape and measures their weight on the other side that goes around their barrel/belly and approximates how much they weigh. We use it for treatment purposes, as I have to watch Zack’s weight because he has Insulin resistance a metabolic syndrome older horses sometimes acquire as they age. It is nice to have if you want to see how tall your horse is too!)

Zack knows his strength and my sister and I have had him just put his head down with us holding the lead rope while we lead him and he would trot off pulling us on the other end! He is too strong and he knows exactly what he is doing and so we have to let go or be dragged. I have been working on his ground manners with GREAT SUCCESS! And he hasn’t tried to “run off” like that in some years. But I do not want to lose him on the trail, should he shy or spook at something I want as much control of him as I can while riding Chloe. This chain works PERFECT! It goes over their nose and up the side and they have nerves on their nose which when pressured applied, they will comply. It doesn’t hurt him unless he tries to pull away. He actually LOVES Chloe so he stays pretty close, but that’s where the biting comes into play. He just nips and bites her butt, side or my leg as I ride! He is such a brat!!!

He can actually bite the lead rope through the muzzle I bought him which I show in the last photo above. He can grab the lead rope with the muzzle and lead rope in his mouth and then pull and pull on my arm. UGH! He then bumps Chloe trying to bite her through the muzzle which after awhile she gets VERY ANNOYED! STOP IT ZACK!!

I decided to try a bridle with a bit and I took off the reins. Low and behold he is so much happier with the bit in his mouth. He has an oral fixation and just chews and chews on the bit and rarely tries to bite as we ride along. I finally found a solution to my problem as the trail rides were getting more and more annoying with all the nipping and biting. I was about to give up, but it is absolutely the best thing I started doing because I can exercise both horses at the same time and he really needs the exercise! It is usually 30 up to 50 minutes of walking depending on the trails we choose to ride on any given day.

I am a happy cowgirl, thankful for my ponies and the fun and joy they bring to my life. I was asked on my weekly smile to share a photo of my haircut. So I will share what I took here. 😀 weekly smile

I didn’t share because I thought it was a little blurry in the background. I love my color as it always comes out great. Thank you Preference by L’Oreal! Hehe!
I can barely braid it now that its cut, but a small braid is better than none. I like a braid for the stables as I ride with a helmet. So now I have a short braid, better than no braid at all! Haha!

I hope you have a wonderful weekend and thank you for stopping by my weekend coffee share! I am heading to the stables and am thinking this will be bath day for my ponies. Zack is starting to grow his winter coat and each year I always pray it won’t grow to thick. I know I am hoping for a miracle because he just grows a super thick coat like he lives in Alaska or something. I will just shave the hair off once November arrives. It is just to hard to manage in this warm winter climate here in So Cal. Chloe does not grow a long coat, Love that girl! ❤

Happy trail riding Cowgirl!

~Diana ❤

My Weekly Smile; Sept. 18, 2019

On By DianaIn Living life, Smiles, weekly smile9 Comments
What makes you smile? This is my weekly smile hosted by my blogging friend Trent! Thank you Trent as I just Love everyone’s Smile!

This week I am smiling because after two years I finally got my hair cut. I know I make a big deal about my hair. Part of me loves my long hair but I do not like spending money on my hair because if you were a horse owner you would know that all our money goes to our horses. It is one of the most expensive hobbies/sports around and so where ever I can save a dollar – I do! I am going to say to the whole world that I color my own hair. I do have some blonde hair that grows naturally, but as I age I am getting some gray (I don’t mind that) but I also am a dark blonde, I call it a dirty blonde and so as my hair grows after I color there is a distinct darker shade growing from the roots. I can only go so long with this and I can’t stand it any more so I go buy a box of $8 dollar color and do all my roots really good. Then I am good for some months. AND to save MORE MONEY, I got a free hair cut!! From my hubby! Now that is something to SMILE about! 😀 😀 😀

I took a couple of selfies with my hair cut but to be honest, they are horrible. They are a bit blurry, I am terrible at selfies. I didn’t take a before photo so to be truthful it won’t mean much to show a photo of my haircut if you didn’t see the two inches that was cut before. I am smiling about my free hair cut because my manager at work came in a few months back with her hair all short and styled, including colored. As I was admiring her hair, I told her it looked great and she said it better look good as it cost her $400 dollars!! WHAT? I couldn’t believe my ears. Do you know how I am going to be spending $400 dollars next week? On my horses, of course! Because they are due their winter vaccinations AND Miss Chloe needs her shot for arthritis called Legend which will relieve the joint pain as the nights get cooler. Yes, I can appreciate how much it cost for women to look pretty but since I am a cowgirl at heart, all my money flows into my ponies. I’m smiling all the way to the bank with any way I can save a buck!

Miss Chloe needs a hair cut too! The horse next to Chloe is photo bombing my photo! Haha!
Her mane is all trimmed up nicely. We both got free hair cuts! YAY!

I absolutely love long hair. I braid my hair, or have it in a pony tail. BUT after awhile it gets out of shape and needs a trim. I am looking forward to being able to leave my hair down and/or use a clip to pull part of my hair back behind my head. I call this some up – some down. With the weather cooling down this was a great day to get my hair cut as I can wear it down and not get too hot. I hope you are having a great week! Thank you for stopping by my smile for this week. It is great fun to share!

Have a great week! 😀

~Diana

My Weekly Smile; Sept 10, 2019

On By DianaIn Barn stories, Horse stories, Living life, Smiles, weekly smile15 Comments

We are feeling a bit of fall weather today. My weekly smile is this wonderful COOL day at almost the end of summer! 😀

YES! A high of only 79 degrees. What a beautiful day. We have had nothing but super hot days with many of them topping 100 degrees. I live inland in CA, and even though it isn’t as hot as say the Mojave desert, it is still sweltering. I had a huge smile as I enjoyed my day! And here is a series of photos of my afternoon. I can’t help myself! ❤ ❤

Hi Zack! Chloe is next to him as I tried to capture the cloud cover. SO NICE!
Turn out day, oh my, I’ve been longing for some cooler weather! YAY!
Let’s get moving. I like Zack in front trotting nicely. It is hard to catch them traveling nicely when taking a photo!
I like Chloe in this photo! as they continue to trot around. Once they warm up, they can get excited! 😀
There she goes! This is with my phone camera, not to bad considering. They were feeling good today in this cooler weather!
Run Zack run! Haha, I just pointed and snapped. These aren’t the best, but still fun to share and its all I have at the moment to take photos! 😀
I have the hardest time getting them to both look at me with their ears up! Zack looks so silly to me, like what? Its just is eyes, silly guy. Chloe thinks I have a treat, always on her mind! ❤

I wanted to do something different for my smile this week with the photos telling the story. I am enjoying sharing and I think there is always something to smile about. I have to say that with some extra stress we are feeling at home at the moment, it is truly a pleasure and kind of an escape to be at the barn and share a smile about this gorgeous day with these pretty ponies. What are you smiling about today? My friend Trent hosts these weekly smiles and I have to thank him as I always do for all he does for our weekly smiles. I hope you enjoyed, thank you for visiting. I hope you have a great week!

Looking forward to FALL! AND Cool weather!

~Diana ❤

Weekend Coffee Share; Life, Changes and Crochet

On By DianaIn Family is important, Living life, weekend coffee share19 Comments
Weekend Coffee share is a time for us to take a break out of our busy lives and enjoy some time catching up with friends (old and new)! Please grab a cup of coffee or tea and share with us! What’s been going on in your life? any weekend plans?

Life is full of twists and turns and I can finally officially announce that I am going to be a grandma again! ❤ ❤ ❤ I am so excited my son and daughter-in-law are expecting another little one that is due in March. I talk a lot about my only granddaughter Alice, and she told her Mom and Dad that she thinks she is going to have a sister! Haha, we will see. They will be finding out the gender but it is a little early yet, just past the first trimester. So I am going to put it in writing (again) that I am bound and determined to move closer to them as I NEED to be near these little bundles of joy! AND I miss my little Alice so much, my heart aches but I can’t make the move right now to Arizona. We have other issues we have to deal with before we can consider moving. We will figure it all out, just one day at a time. 😀

Changes are in the air, yes, we did not know what we were getting into caring for an elder parent that has dementia. We are in way over our head with the amount of time needed to care for ALL her needs. It’s very overwhelming so we have found a loving board and care home where we will be moving my mother-in-law some time this month. With the help of her doctor who recommended Eastvale Senior Home, where other elder women reside in the community of Eastvale just 6 miles from Norco where we live. We toured the home and there are 3 other sweet old ladies living there and she will room with one and live out the rest of her life there. I am sure she will make it to her 90th birthday in October, but her dementia is bad enough she doesn’t remember much and so the transition should be fairly easy. I took a photo of her new home to share with my daughter. It is for the best, she will be well taken care of there 😀

My mother-in-law’s board and care new home.

Crochet is a craft that helps me de-stress. I LOVE crafts, I cross-stitch too! But I mostly crochet. I have shared in other posts some of my crochet projects. I have crocheted a bunch of animals, those are really fun to make. I will have to make more of them soon. I also crochet Star Wars figures, super duper fun to make! I have shared photos of those too. My current project is a granny square blanket.

8 squares across by 12 rows for a total of 96 squares. It is suppose to look like spring or summer flowers. No theme, just eclectic colors. They will be trimmed in white yarn.

I have all the squares made and am stitching with an off white yarn around them all. You can see in the photo 3 squares already with the white trim. I wanted a neutral color around the edges to sew them all together to help make all the colors pop! I think this will work well and once completed I will share. It should just barely fit across a twin bed or make a nice size throw blanket. I am thinking of keeping this one, my first granny square blanket as its so eclectic I am not sure how well someone else would like it. I like randomness or creativeness, so even though I followed a pattern for the stitching of the square, I picked all the colors and trim and how I will stitch it all together. I am enjoying this project and am thinking of making another one with a theme which means making all the squares the same colors for a more uniform blanket.

How are you doing on coffee? or maybe some tea? I forgot to ask earlier but I wanted to follow my title on this coffee share so I am writing this a little differently. I wanted to share what has been happening in our busy life which includes how I de-stress. I find working on projects helps me relax and not be so uptight about the daily stresses that we have been facing lately. My horses help me de-stress too, what do you do to de-stress?

I found my last cross-stitch I worked on years ago. I need to frame it! This photo does not show all the vibrant colors very well. Could be the lighting.
My daughter’s kitty, Wolfie. I wanted to share, isn’t he getting big? He is 3 months old!

Life is full, changing and fun, but sometimes stressful. I am so enjoying my coffee and I am thankful you have visited and shared with me. My daughter will be here this weekend. She is coming so that I can drive her to the airport Sunday as she is flying out on a trip to Spain! How exciting!! She travels with some good friends each year to an exotic place, well, to me it is exotic! All I know is that it is far away. Her passion is traveling and she is doing a good job seeing a lot of this world. She is boarding her kitty, but I will be taking care of her guinea pigs for the 10 days of her travel. I hope you all have a WONDERFUL weekend! ❤

Crazy Life, staying centered and strong!

~Diana

My Weekly Smile; Sept 3, 2019

On By DianaIn Barn stories, Horse stories, Living life, weekly smile7 Comments

My weekly smile this week goes to my huge furry friends who make me smile everyday I see them. To anyone who reads my blog it won’t be a surprise that I am talking about my horses. Yes, I talk about them a ton, blog about them as often as I can and take a million photos of them because I just can’t help myself. I sometimes try and change things up and share other things which are important to me, which I think is okay since this blog is about My Life, but it’s also about my Horse Stories. I won’t stray for long away from my pretty ponies! Whenever I am feeling down or sad, it never fails when I am at the barn they ALWAYS pick me up and make me smile! 😀 And of course, I look forward to my daily visits when I am happy too! ❤

My beautiful bay roan, Miss Chloe! She melts my heart! ❤

What I noticed today is how beautiful their coats are as summer is waning, and fall is on it’s way. They will soon be growing their winter coats and I am thankful Chloe does not grow a very long winter coat at all, but Zack turns into a fuzzy bear! I plan on clipping his coat to make it easier to groom him and keep him exercised. Her beauty just makes me smile!

This is my handsome boy Zack. His coat is still nice and short and he is nice and clean! ❤

As they were lose running around I noticed their shine. My photos didn’t capture the shine as much as in person, especially Zack as a grey horse doesn’t glisten like darker colors. He is doing really well, a very happy boy and I am totally enjoying him this summer. He is a funny horse, lots of personality and of course Chloe has personality too. They are both so different since she is a mare and he a gelding, it is fun to see how different they are. Zack loves to chew on things and always tries to nip or bite. He knows not to bite us humans, but still sometimes tries. Chloe is much better and does not have that oral fixation. Its a guy thing for most geldings.

Horses being horses! This makes me so HAPPY! They LOVE to groom each other! ❤

I Love how they groom each other. I’ve written and talked often about the herd dynamics. Chloe is an alpha mare, totally in charge of the herd even if it is only 2 or 3 horses (I often turn out my girlfriends horse with these 2 which I did today but I didn’t take a photo of Gracie). Chloe is definitely the boss lady, is totally in charge and makes sure the herd stays safe! She is as solid as they come, and brings much calm and bravery to the herd. I can’t express how much I love this horse and she and I have mutual respect for each other. It is the most AMAZING bond between human and horse, hard to describe but we are so connected her understanding me and vice versa.

I can say that Zack and I are more bonded then when I first got him and he has learned with Chloe’s help that our group is a wonderful thing and his confidence is growing. But he still gets scared of things on the trail and his fear and flight brain sometimes jumps out but Chloe and I can keep him in check and in control. He’s fun, different and keeps me always thinking about how horses think and feel. They are all different with different personalities.

Thanks for visiting my #weeklysmile! This is hosted by a blogging friend Trent. I think it is so fun to share what makes us smile! What made you smile? Your comments are always welcome and I hope you have an amazing week.

Always smiling with my beautiful horses!

~Diana

Labor Day Weekend ~ Sept 2

On By DianaIn Barn stories, Horse stories, Living life5 Comments

It is Labor Day Weekend, What? I can’t believe it is September 2, 2019. As I am writing this I have the news on watching Category 4 Hurricane Dorian stalled along the coast of Florida, my heart and prayers go to all those that may be affected by this hurricane. I know we can have disasters here where I live, earthquakes and wildfires to name a few and am thankful they are far and few between at least in the location of my house. But what I wanted to talk about was the lovely weekend I had at the stables. I am so thankful for my horses and all the joy that they bring to my life. It is also helping me to stay grounded as there are new stresses at home, so the escape to the stables is a blessing in disguise.

Zack on the left, Chloe next and then Gracie on the right in the cross-ties. ❤

It is getting more crowded at the stables. We have always had the same amount of stalls, but sometimes they are rented to people that either don’t ride or don’t come down the same time as all the “trail riders” and so there is sufficient room when I am there to exercise my ponies. Now there are more and more woman that are riding in the mornings making things like hitching posts or cross-ties a commodity. So all the photos I am going to share today are my ponies after my trail ride this lovely weekend but I had to tie Zack to the side of the cross-ties because there was no where else to tie him. Thankfully, he ties REALLY well, so does Chloe for that matter and there is a place to tie him to the side of this cross-tie. I LOVE all the grass at this boarding stables, for many reasons and one of them is when I hosed off Zack I was just watering the grass, NOT making a mud hole since this isn’t really a “place” to tie your horse. It works, it works really well I think! I can see myself doing this more often in the future with all the new ladies at the barn! Lol 😀

A more candid shot. I like it! If you look closer, Gracie isn’t “tied” she is what we call ground tied. Just standing without being clipped to the cross-ties. She pulls back and does not tie, silly girl gets scared when tied to anything. But she stands perfect without being tied! ❤

We have had really FUN rides and it has been great bringing Zack along as I am getting more and more practice ponying him next to Chloe. I now have gone across our busy 6th street with no problems (I didn’t think it would be a problem, but I wanted to feel confident before venturing out on trails where there could be more for either horse to spook at and I am getting it done with confidence!). I am very proud of myself and all my riding experience is paying off as I train more each time I ride out with both horses. Today we rode out and on our ride a motorcycle came towards us down the road and Zack got really upset as he doesn’t like motorcycles or bicycles especially riding towards him and he jumped up and really bumped Chloe hard but stayed in my hand on the end of the lead rope really well. He calmed right back down and just started walking again with no issues. Chloe was a superstar as she always is and just took the bump and let him be up and scared and she just stood her ground. I was really happy how it all turned out, no ride is perfect and you just have to be prepared for anything. This all turned out fine.

A friend at the stables asked if I wanted her to try and get their ears forward? Sure I say, silly ponies!!
Finally, with a bucket of carrots Zack is interested and giving us that pretty look! He has lost hair around his eyes, this happens to Chloe too, from fly spray use during the summer! That’s why he looks like he has dark circles under his eyes.

I so enjoyed riding this weekend and every day I can ride. I am so very happy I decided to try this ponying thing, bringing Zack along on our rides and it is a great challenge and is turning out to be a ton of fun and also is a super time saver. I am “killing two birds with one stone” as they say, which with what free time I can dedicate to my horses always has me leaving one of them less exercised as the other. Now they are both getting a nice 1/2 hour to hour ride each trail ride we go on and I am a happy camper with my new found confidence and trail ponying abilities. ❤

I started out this post with a beautiful rose bud from my garden. To say good bye to summer and to say hello to fall. We can still have some summer heat through the month of September, I pray it will start to cool off soon. It does cool off at night so that is helpful, if you get up early the mornings are really nice. I will end with a photo I took as my son and I went out on a late walk this weekend as the sun was setting. I hope you all have had a nice holiday weekend and enjoyed this last weekend in August.

Pretty sunset, good bye August!

Happy trails with my ponies Zack and Chloe!

~Diana ❤