Month: September 2020

My Weekly Smile; Sept. 30, 2020

On By DianaIn blogging, weekly smile18 Comments
Welcome to my weekly smile! I have a lot to share and smile about, what makes you smile?

I am smiling at the weather! YES, we got some foggy mornings and I usually stay inside when its really foggy but this last week I decided to get my walking in and headed out into the fog. I thought it spooky and creepy, like maybe there is a fog monster hiding out there somewhere? Haha, it was cool to be out but I kept thinking lets keep this walk short. I had to talk to myself and say “keep walking Diana, it’s not that creepy, just go another block!” I have lots of blocks to walk where I live. There is this really short block, its ridiculously short so I rarely walk it and the next block is a good block. It’s almost a mile around, but I should have taken the third block which is longer and more hills. I am happy I got myself outside and moving, despite the fog! 😀

  • Heading down the street! Spooky!
  • Looking at the park, the lights are confused!

I know this doesn’t really matter, but I had to turn this post that I started this last weekend into my smile post because I just could not find the time during the weekend to get my weekend coffee share completed. Holy smokes! I get so busy it is sometimes hard to fit in time to write. I have trouble keeping up with my blog and all the blogs I follow, so I am doing my best. I know I should never feel any pressure as then it would not be fun. I so enjoy my blog!

Speaking of fun, I thought I would share some fun photos of the stables where I keep my horses. It is a big stables at least a couple of acres if not more. It has many turn outs and there are 2 turn outs that are in the front of the property when you drive in the gate. I decided to take the horses and turn them out up front, which is just far enough away from where they live in their paddocks that it was like going on a little adventure!

  • I Love the Welcome sign every time I drive into the stables!
  • Pretty ponies out in the front turn outs! I really like this photo!
  • Hey Chloe and Zack, whatcha looking at?
  • Zack and Chloe out together. Zack is growing his winter coat!

These are nice big turn outs and they can run around if they want to but they mostly moseyed around checking out their surroundings. They are looking towards the street where the neighbors across the street where outside doing some things in and around their car. It is a through street so there is always cars driving by as well. I decided to turn Gracie, my girlfriends horse out in the paddock next to Chloe and Zack. Since I did not know how they would react, I thought this to be safer for Gracie. She is at the bottom of the pecking order in this tiny herd.

  • Gracie looking for a place to roll!
  • Gracie and Chloe!

I always have so much fun at the barn. They did really good in the up front turn outs until it was ready to go back to their paddocks. I took Gracie out first and as soon as Chloe lost sight of Gracie, they both started yelling for each other! Here I am leading Gracie and she is neighing SO LOUD! I told her it’s okay and I will get your friend in a minute. Then I went to get Chloe and Zack. Chloe was trotting back and forth along the fence line screaming for her friend! Well, it was very loud neighing. As soon as I reached the gate she stood quiet as she knew I was going to put on her halter and lead her back to her friend. And Zack, what a trooper. He just stood calmly watching these crazy women, running around like they lost their best friend!

I put on Zack’s halter as he stood there so quietly and I always lead the two together. It can be tricky walking two horses as I have one lead in each hand. I have been practicing doing this for over a year, so they are very mindful and respect my space as I am in between them as we walk along. As I opened the gate, I let Chloe walk out and held on to the rope as I let Zack come out and off we walked back to Gracie. Chloe did not neigh any more and am thankful for her respect to me and Zack. A fun day, and my training and consistency with these huge animals paid off. Good Ponies! ❤

The horses are up front in this photo. This is the road into the stables and the road I had to walk down back to the paddocks. If you click on photo and zoom in you can see them. Pretty Day!

As I walked them back to the paddocks I decided to wash them off as Chloe actually was very sweaty after running back and forth along the fence line. I also think it is good to get them cleaned up and make sure they didn’t accidentally injure themselves while turned out. They are pretty good about these things, but it is a part of grooming making sure all is okay.

Thank you for visiting my smile post today. I had a wonderful weekend and week so far and I am really looking forward to some cooler Fall weather. We are having a bit of a heat wave this week, and as I write this it is 106F (41C) outside right now at 4pm. YIKES! I think I am ready for winter, any day now!

Smiling, horse loving cowgirl!

~Diana ❤

My Weekly Smile; Sept. 23, 2020

On By DianaIn Horse stories, weekly smile15 Comments
Welcome to my weekly smile! Some teeny tiny flowers blooming today!

We do not see the seasons change much here in Southern California but I am excited it is now Fall. My tiny garden in my other container is done. I had fun growing my tomatoes and bell peppers this summer. We are not cooling off as much as I would like as we still are hitting 90F to 100F degrees high (32C to 38C) but getting down into the low 60’s at night (15’sC). I sure wouldn’t mind a rain storm to blow through, where are you rain? I am smiling as we head into Fall, what makes your smile? How about some horse fun, that always makes me smile! 😀

A cute little pot belly pig I passed by on my walk this morning!

Before we go to the stables, I ran across this cute guy on my walk this morning. As I walked by he ran up to the fence when he saw me, friendly little thing as its little tail twirled in circles and he was doing his little “oink” “oinking” noises. He had me giggling to be honest. I do not know the people who live here so I didn’t stay long at the fence and quickly took this photo to share. Haha, I could have a little piggy, or some goats and even some chickens living here if I wanted. But even though they are all adorable animals, I feel like its just one more thing to take care of so we don’t have any more than what we have ~ 2 dogs, 2 cats and 2 horses, plenty! 😀

  • Miss Chloe is the same color as rusted tin siding! My Camouflage Pony! ❤
  • Further away, she blends in even more as she stands in the shade!

Funny story, my girlfriend was taking care of my ponies the other day and had them all lose in the big arena. As she was finishing up her chores over near the paddocks, she looked in the arena and saw Zack and her horse Gracie but she couldn’t see Chloe anywhere. She started to walk a little closer to the arena but could not see her and thought maybe she got out some how, But how? you never know, maybe a gate wasn’t latched? But as she looked through the trees and she could see Zack who was blocking Chloe’s black tail and Chloe did not look at her so she couldn’t see her white blaze! Haha! She blended right in with the tin siding! Especially when there is shade, Chloe just blends right in and we were cracking up with my bay roan who is the color of rusted tin! She is way prettier though! Haha!!

Fun day with the horses!

As I was riding Zack with my bareback pad (which has no stirrups) I thought how about going faster! Smiling here as the video turned out way better than I expected. My hand as I watched it was bouncing up and down when I was bouncing on Zack’s back as I was taking the video. But I guess my wrist and the phone didn’t jerk up and down like I thought when I played it back. YAY! And I have had in the past some people tell me I should buy a GoPro but I am just too cheap. These short handheld videos work just fine for me and what I want to share. They are enough to smile about right? They sure make me smile and giggle too! I ain’t no professional, just a pony loving gal enjoying my day.

I always have fun with these pretty ponies and I already thanked my girlfriend for a fun day. I will say this again, as I think anyone who spends time outside the weather plays a part of a great day. It was nice but I can’t wait for it to cool off. Thanks for visiting my Smile post! 😀

Riding and watching my camouflage pony!

~Diana ❤

Weekend Coffee Share; Sept 19, Wait What?

On By DianaIn blogging, weekend coffee share24 Comments
Welcome to my weekly coffee share where we catch up with old friends and new! Can I get you a cold brew? or an ice tea? Too hot here to share a warm brew. How are you doing?

Welcome and I can explain – Wait what? I am amazed because September is half gone. I just can’t believe how the weeks fly by and so I figured it is worth contributing a bit of time conversing over time and its passage. That’s right, how in the heck do these days, months, and years go by and as I look forward to a new chapter in our lives I am also looking back. There will be a lot of heart string pulls as we go through items packed up that belonged to my parents that have longed passed. I’ve been really bad about keeping things and/or not going through stuff, STUFF! There I said it, we really have too much STUFF! One thing I did want to share is a very old parlor grand piano. My dad’s pride and joy, and I am sad to say it is time it goes to piano heaven. 😦

Parlor Grand Piano. In her day she sounded amazing and so beautiful with the top open. Unfortunately it has been taken apart so I can’t open the top. Someday I’ll find old photos I can share. I have played such beautiful music on this gal!
She served us well with many piano lessons. My Dad was almost a concert pianist, he was so talented! He ended up choosing to be a physician instead.

My kitty Duchess enjoys being up on the piano. We often have a small blanket on it and both my kitties enjoy time laying about on it and it has served its time as a beautiful sounding piano. Back in the 70’s my Dad invested over $10,000 rebuilding the entire inside of this antique piano and we then enjoyed many beautiful preludes, sonata’s and other classical pieces played on this beauty by my father and me. But as she’s aged, she has really fallen in disrepair and for us now as we age we just do not have the money nor think it is worth salvaging her. It is extremely expensive, not only to repair but to move around the country. She has been with me my entire life and through 6 moves as we are in our 6th house with my hubby and I. She has actually lived in 8 houses total. She will be missed and this is my tribute to our Grand Piano! ❤ ❤ ❤

Just want to add that a parlor grand is the smallest of the grand piano’s. It is longer than a baby grand which helps create a deeper overtone when being played, hence why my father chose to buy this and it isn’t as huge as a regular size grand piano. I also want to add that as sad as I am to see the piano go to piano heaven, maybe where it is headed somebody might see its inner beauty and decide to invest in repairs. It will take a lot of money, she may make beautiful music again some day. I will always remember her and the beauty that filled our ears!

This is Dinah, my other kitty! They are so adorable!

I can’t share photos of one kitty and not share the other. They are sister’s after all. Can I get you a refill? I forgot to ask earlier, but then that’s how I roll. When I get going talking it is really hard to shut me up! Haha, sounds harsh. When I was growing up my older siblings nick named me “motor mouth” because I would just talk and talk and talk… I think you get it…. I digress.

I wanted to share something I am extremely excited about and that is my daughter who was the one who turned me on to blogging and hooked me up with WordPress is going to start blogging herself!! YAY! I am so excited as I am so enjoying all that blogging has brought to my life and I know she will really enjoy it too! We are so much alike, I can’t wait to read what she shares! I am so proud of all her accomplishments and it would be so fun to share in our blogging world her blogs as well. She wants to improve her writing skills which in turn will help her at work. I told her to go for it, and it can be a bit scary to hit that publish button but it has been the most amazing journey so far and I can’t wait for her to join in on the fun! GO BLOGGING FUN! 😀

  • Taken last year! Love my Chloe girl, thought I would share again!

Thank you for visiting! I am hoping for some cooler weather soon. It cools off at night but it is still hot during the day as it usually is in September. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. And I am so thankful for my blog and my blogging friends. I also want to welcome some new followers, you all are awesome. Thank you!

Pianist, needing a new electronic piano! (someday)

~Diana ❤

Weekend Coffee Share; Sept. 12, 2020

On By DianaIn Barn stories, Horse stories, weekend coffee share31 Comments
Welcome to my weekend coffee share where we share what’s been happening in our lives with old friends and new. Can I get you a cup of coffee or tea? I am enjoying a cold brew.

I drove in from the stables and walked into the front yard and the honeysuckle smells wonderful. I am getting so many blooms right now and even though the air quality is bad with all the smoke from the fires I can still smell the flowers! We are totally safe where we live and my heart and prayers go out to all affected. The visibility in our area is very poor. You can’t see the local mountains and when you look on the weather app on the phone instead of saying “sunshine” it says “smoke”. This morning it was not too bad outside so I will be heading to the stables. Can I get you something to go with your coffee or tea?

I rode Zack first in arena and set my timer for 20 minutes. Then I switched and got on Chloe and set the timer for another 20 minutes. Having fun with them together!

After I rode Zack mostly at a walk in the arena, I took my bareback pad and bit-less bridle and put it on Chloe for another ride. The walking and a little bit of trotting is really good for their joints and gets them limbered up. I say this because as I was riding Chloe after a few minutes she kept wanting to head to Zack. Silly pony, they love each other and she really wasn’t bad, just mostly wanted to herd him around. I decided instead of finishing up her 20 minute walk I would turn them lose together and see if they want to run around. The limbering up usually helps them really feel good. I will share a video of my ride and another video of them lose together! Such pretty ponies! 😀

Chloe and I riding around our nice big arena!
Running horses! They feel so good and I love it when Chloe runs and calls out!

Whenever they are turned out in the big arena I always try and give them the opportunity to run. If I left them alone, they may move and trot or canter around a little bit. I usually have to encourage them to move, horses unless spooked or frightened are usually pretty lazy by nature. They are older horses, so their energy levels have declined. But every month or so they get such bursts of energy and I am so thankful they have an area where they can run and stretch their legs. Today I am so happy I was able to video Chloe. So fun to watch! ❤

They are all tucked in to their stalls with a nice lunch after a nice bath!

So much fun bathing, grooming and taking care of these horses. I may have to video them getting their treats, especially Chloe who gives me kisses. They have such personalities, and of course bring me so much joy! It would be fun to share that with you all with videos.

He says, treat please? YES, I have a treat for you Zack. I have bathed Chloe and put her in her stall and forgot to take a photo. So it’s Zack at the end so nice and clean. They roll and get so dirty, as they itch and scratch from sweating from the heat of the day. When the bath is complete and they are all groomed, they don’t roll as they feel so satisfied and content. I’m a happy horse mom. Thank you so much for joining me for this coffee share! I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Obsessed with my Ponies,

~Diana ❤

My Weekly Smile; Sept. 8, 2020

On By DianaIn blogging, weekly smile16 Comments
Welcome to my weekly smile!

I haven’t said this in awhile, I can’t believe it is September! Wow, this year is flying by and I think I can speak for everyone that I really want to put this year behind us and am hoping and praying for a better year, next year. But as we push through this year we should all remember to smile, what makes you smile this week? I have a few things I want to share that make me smile and are helping me stay busy getting through these crazy days! 😀

This last weekend my daughter was able to finally come home for a visit. We were so excited to have her home and we were able to eat outside at the Original Pancake House in our town. We had a delicious breakfast, and not only did I smile with my yummy food, my tummy was smiling too! 😉

  • Apple crepe, filled with diced apples, pecans, sour cream tempered with triple sec, and cinnamon syrup. Topped with warm apple syrup! YUMMY!

Oh My Goodness, that was the BEST Breakfast crepe and I am thinking I am going to have to go back again in a few weeks to fill my tummy again. They have so many good things to choose from, and I have never tried this particular crepe and boy, it did not disappoint. I am smiling just looking at it and thinking about the taste! We really had a nice time this last weekend even though it was brutally hot. I mean the hottest it has ever been in the 20 years I have lived in this area. We hit a high of 117F (47C) on both Saturday and Sunday, YIKES!! It was extremely difficult to be outside, which I had to check on my horses and make sure they had plenty of water. They were fine and made it through the weekend. CRAZY! It is much cooler this week, thankfully.

  • Historic Route CA-66, this part is called Foothill Blvd

Last Friday the family and I went to an outdoor mall. My daughter treated us to a wonderful dinner. I had wild salmon crab cakes, another yummy to the tummy treat! We stopped at a light and these were right next to us so had to take a photo. My grown kids were asking questions, does this route go all the way to the beach? Yep, landing you in Santa Monica in Los Angeles. I can’t imagine driving all over the states with just route’s and no freeways or highways. The good old days, but that’s a whole other blog about historic routes in the United States!

  • My crab cake dinner with wild salmon! Delicious!

My last smile goes to my crafts I like to share. I mostly crochet and I whipped up some mittens with no fingers, something I want to continue and will send to family as Christmas gifts. And I am making one more baby blanket. I looked at some different patterns, but I just LOVE the Sweet Dreams pattern I have been making this year. This is for my niece who just had a baby boy. So it will arrive when he is about a month old and since it’s a blanket and winter is coming it should come in handy. I always use a different color background so no blanket is alike. They are super fun to make, love all my crochet projects!!

Probably my last Sweet Dream blanket for ahwile. And my mittens with variegated yarn!

Thank you for visiting my smile post. I hope you all have a wonderful week. I am very thankful I had two days off in a row! So happy and am smiling again. I had Monday, Labor day off and Tuesday night my normal day off. I hope you all have a great week!

Happy Smiling Crochet Gal,

~Diana ❤

P.S. I wanted to say my prayers go out to all affected in the California fires. We are safe and not close to any but close enough to be affected by clouds full of smoke and ash. We have had ashes on our cars for two days now. So very sad and pray for all our fire fighters.

Horsing Around Fun!

On By DianaIn Barn stories, Horse stories12 Comments
Miss Chloe says Hi! How are you today?

Welcome to my virtual barn where I will share photos of my barn friends Chloe, Zack and my girlfriends horse Gracie. These three ponies are the apple of our eyes. Yes, we dote on them and I have to admit I am rather obsessed with their care. I don’t often miss a day, even if it is just to check on them and make sure they have enough food and water. Even though we pay for their care at the barn we board at, we as horse owners like to check them daily if possible. I use to not go every single day, and when I was baby sitting my granddaughter I would take days off until she got big enough to go with me. I miss those days, since she now lives in Arizona. We fondly call our horses, our ponies. They are not ponies, its just a term of endearment. ❤

The last few weeks had some very hot days, although the horses didn’t seem to mind too much. We just turn them out on really hot days because it is still good to get them to stretch their legs and walking helps move their gut and keep the blood flowing. Just like for us, walking and exercise is essential for well being but when it’s over 100 degrees (38C) we do not need to over do it so we can avoid heat exhaustion. In the last couple of weeks I was able to take some videos I would like to share, along with more photos of the ponies turned out. I’m just a horse crazy gal! 😀

Zack, Chloe and I in the round pen. This is a small arena usually 24×24 round – this one I think is bigger, I’ll have to measure some day. It’s a great place to exercise them!

You might be wondering, two horses in a small arena? I wouldn’t try and do this with just any horses. It is a small enclosure to where if the two horses did not get along, there could be kicking or fighting or? but my two horses are a herd. Actually, all three horses are a herd with us humans being in the mix as well. They have been acclimated and turned out together for many years.

The funniest thing Chloe does is she will chase the other two when out in the bigger arena when these big horse fly’s are around (they are akin to deer fly’s in the East only bigger. I looked them up and horse fly’s are bigger than the common house fly, deer fly’s are in between these two for size. Both land on animals to suck their blood and only the female horse fly bite for blood to feed eggs. They are huge ranging in size from 3/4 – 1 1/4 inches long. They are not numerous thankfully!)

Anyways, Chloe will canter around (run around) the arena to escape these dreaded fly’s and when she does this she inevitably runs near Zack and Gracie which in turn run too. Some days they exercise themselves just getting away from the horse fly’s! (They are easy to kill, they are so huge you can hit them easy with your hand and they fall to the ground and then I step on them. Sorry, not sorry horse fly!)

A nice ride in the arena. It is a bit hot so we are just walking to get in our steps!

It was pretty easy to video in the arena. It is nice and safe except watch out for the tree!! Haha, I am happy they walk close to the rail (which is the fence line) and of course the tree isn’t as low as Chloe’s head as she heads near it and the branches are right at my height sitting on her back. You can see Gracie getting exercised by her Mom and Zack is next to me as I pony him to get him exercised as well. I call it killing two birds with one stone, since it’s so hot I did not want to take the time to ride them each individually. If I do ride Zack, I usually ride him in the arena unless someone wants to ride with me that needs a horse on the trail.

My girlfriend on Gracie as we head out on the trail!

I am so happy I have been riding on the trails for many years. Zack is 25 years old and Chloe is 16 years old this year. I have owned her since she was 2 so we have been together many, many years. I have had Zack for about 6 years now. He is part of the team, as they all fall in line with very FUN rides! Consistency and time in the saddle is key to calm trail rides!

They got a few baths in the last few weeks and I washed their tails and thought they looks so pretty! Zacks could use a little whitening on the bottom, but for a trail horse (not a show horse) they look pretty darn good!

I just LOVE to groom them. When I graduated from high school and before I decided to go to college I worked full-time for a horse trainer. He trained Hunter/Jumpers and I showed my horse with him all up and down Southern California. I worked for him for about 4 years, and what I learned was grooming is key to keep all the show horses coats glistening. I bring these years of grooming with me every day I’m at the barn.

I started with Chloe, I’m ending with Zack! Haha, He’s sending you a big kiss!

Love you Chloe and Zack!

~Diana ❤

My Weekly Smile; Sept. 2, 2020

On By DianaIn Horse stories, weekly smile10 Comments
  • Welcome to my Weekly Smile! I enjoy thinking about my smile post each week. What makes you smile?
 A smiling face is a beautiful face. A smiling heart is a happy heart.
                                             Dr. T.P. Chia

I love smiling and darn it all, we now can’t see those smiles when one is out and about! I am missing them and can see in a person’s eyes when they are smiling. Welcome to my smile post and I am smiling because my arrowhead potted plant I am featuring as my first photo is just loving the weather and is looking so pretty. It is growing and doing excellent and makes me smile!

Mind you, I totally understand we need to keep safe, I do not want you to think I do not understand the masks. Just missing smiles and I know one day we will be beyond all of this and will then be able to enjoy all those smiles. 😀

Zack and Chloe out in the round pen.

We have had some cooling off with our weather which has been so welcome as we move into September. BUT (there is always a but) we are expecting another heat wave this weekend. It was a cool 60 degrees this morning on my walk. It felt so refreshing and it did get up to almost 90 degrees today but this weekend it is going to be over 100. Saturday and Sunday weather reports are to hit 113 degrees (45C) YIKES! I feel fortunate we had a nice trail ride today. We won’t ride this weekend.

Heading out on the trail. My girlfriend in front of me is on Gracie. Zack as I walked out was walking right next to me as you can see in the photo. He will eventually walk back next to Chloe near my leg. I have more control when his head is near my leg and my body on the horse.

I am also smiling because my daughter is coming home for this Labor day weekend! YIPPEE! She has not been able to come home since February. We are all excited. She lives near the ocean up near Vandenberg AFB which has the best weather ever. So now she is coming to heat! She will be bringing all summer clothes and am hoping we can keep the house cool enough for her. It will be a fun visit as I was able to take an extra day off! YAY! SMILING! 😀

Thank you for visiting my smile, and I am thankful for my horses that make me smile every day. I am hoping I am not being to redundant with my smile posts as sometimes I feel like the same things always make me smile. I want to stay positive and spreading smiles is my way to bring a little positivity to you, as there is always something out there that can bring you a smile!

  • They make each other happy! Scratching each others backs!

Happy Smiling Cowgirl,

~Diana ❤