Category: Living life

Weekend Coffee Share; Tomato-less Plants and Murphy!

On By DianaIn Barn stories, Living life, weekend coffee share20 Comments
  • Welcome to my coffee share, can I get you a cup of coffee or tea?

I am brewing up some coffee thinking to myself what the heck am I going to share this weekend. It seems I share the same thing and sometimes it seems I am a broken record. But am I? Haha, I sure hope not but it seems my hopes and dreams are one thing but the mundane day to day stuff is the same. I have felt a bit stuck lately, maybe its because I am not planning much towards future goals and/or long term plans. I feel like I am in what I will call a steady state time of my life or like a holding pattern ~ holding to wait and see what the future of my grown children is going to be and waiting to see “what’s next”. I didn’t know the things that have happened throughout this year so far was going to happen, and so here I am. I said good-bye to my handsome horse Zack and have welcomed into my life my new horse Murphy. My steady mare with me all along as I enjoy this ride called life!

  • My tomato plants, but sadly there has not been one tomato come to fruition. There has been many small flowers that dry up and fall off. Strange!

I can get my self all twisted up with frustration if I try and make plans that are huge. Meaning, I had set my mind a couple of years ago to move to be close to my family in Arizona. It was a journey my family was behind until door after door was shut and I decided this was not a good idea. I am super happy in my home town here where I live and maybe this is where we will stay, but will we? I am not sure, and I do not know what the future holds. I am not in a position to make a decision for myself and only myself as I have a husband and need to be compliant to all who surround me. It’s only fair. But for those of you who are single and free to do as you choose, you are lucky as I find life more complicated when you throw in a bunch of people and animals! 😀

I am surrounded by such wonderful friends. I had a wonderful lunch this weekend with my best friend and it is so wonderful to catch up with her and we are planning to do this more often as we share and update our horsey stuff. We will also share our family goings on as well. I thought I would share some of my thoughts and feelings as I am hoping it makes my post a little more interesting. I know I am not alone in this world with these same thoughts about life. I do count my blessings and am so thankful for all that I have and for my wonderful family. ❤

  • Murphy standing pretty but his ears are not forward.
  • Murphy’s looking forward with his ears, but his tail is swishing!
  • I like him standing next to these pomegranate trees! I zoomed in and enlarged this photo from the photo above with the tail swish! ❤

Can I get you a refill? I have some cookies too…. I had decided to throw some tomato seeds into my container with some new fertilizer and grow some tomatoes. Last year I had grown tomato and green peppers in this same container which fruited fine but I bought little starters from the store. Once these tomato seeds started growing I thinned them out and left 4 to grow. When my plants were half this tall with no fruit, I thought maybe its too crowded and I pulled out 2 plants and left 2 to flourish. They are growing taller and taller with some small flowers but no tomatoes. The flowers just dry up and fall off. I have never seen this happen before! CRAZY! Maybe there are no bees or other insects to pollinate them? that’s probably part of the problem, I am not sure. I have always gotten tomatoes, sometimes I over water and they split but this is bizarre. I’ll give them more time, maybe buy some miracle grow but I am just growing tall tomato plants with nothing! Haha!

He is the sweetest boy! He is tied at the tie rail or hitching post. He is learning and is so smart! He stood perfectly today!

I always turn Murphy out before I ride him. Since he is only 3 years old I like him to have this free time to be a horse and be silly if he chooses. (I will say, he mostly walks around and doesn’t do much unless I encourage him, lazy guy!) This way he can be silly and trot around or canter, buck if he chooses without me on his back. He is very smart and now knows that when he is free to do these things he does, and when he is under saddle he minds his manners and is very calm and respects what I ask him to do. He is very smart and is learning fast! The above photos are when he was lose and I loved how he was standing in the shade of the trees!

What a handsome guy! I LOVE this photo and you can see he is starting to muscle out a bit and gaining some weight! He also is standing perfectly square which he did on his own. (This means if you look at his legs and body it is shaped like a square box if you were to draw a box around his body. I think he has super nice conformation.)

I took these photos today because I bought a new girth for my saddle. My old girth is all black and a bit too short but I made it work but found as he is filling out it is not long enough. This girth has fuzzy white sheepskin which is so nice as it snugs all around and under his belly. (The girth is what keeps the saddle on the horse. Western riding it is called a cinch.) My old girth for this English saddle is a size 52″ which is fairly long but not long enough! So I bought a size 58″ which is the biggest size I could buy. I must say it is almost too big, but he will grow and fill out and so it is the perfect size! I measured Murphy today and he measures 17.2hh and he is still growing! He is a BIG BOY! Gentle Giant!! ❤

His other side and he is not standing square. Just to point out the difference. The new girth looks great! He stood so well today before our ride! 😀
Last photo I promise! His kind eyes say it all. He loves people and enjoys the time we are together. Love you Murph! ❤

I feel like the luckiest person, falling in love with this horse on a video I saw with a trainer I follow who trains off the track thoroughbreds up for adoption in Oklahoma! He is truly such a mellow fellow, a kind horse wanting to please. I have thanked the horse trainer for her honesty and great work with these beautiful horses! ❤

Thank you for stopping by and joining me for my coffee share. I enjoyed sharing some of my thoughts and feelings as we are heading into Fall here. I think I am thinking about these stuck feelings because we are heading into the holidays and oh, how I wish I was closer to my grandkids. But I know we will see each other and am thankful for that. I am so grateful for my beautiful family, and I am also very thankful for all my wonderful friends. Thank you to Natalie who hosts our #weekendcoffeeshare she does a wonderful job!

Horse Crazy Grandma,

~Diana ❤

Weekend Coffee Share; September ~ Fun In The Sun

On By DianaIn Living life, weekend coffee share23 Comments
These blooms are going crazy this time of year in my front yard!

Welcome to my coffee share and yes, I usually share a cup of coffee as my first photo but I got to thinking the last few posts I’ve featured some pretty flowers. This bush in our yard is just going crazy and so full of blossoms I just had to share. Fall is in the air here even though we are still getting pretty hot each day, we can feel and see the days slowly getting shorter as we head into fall. I have been busy the last few weeks which include visiting my sister in Colorado for a long weekend and riding and taking care of my ponies and working. Of course, being busy includes family time here at home and if you know or have known any horse crazy people you will realize the horses take up much of my free time! 😀 😀 😀

Can I get you a cup of coffee or tea? I will have some ice tea since we are having a hot weekend. I have so much to share. I had a grand time with my oldest sister and her beautiful family in Colorado. She lives south of Denver and the day I arrived there were scattered thunderstorms and rain. We had to drive home in the rain and at her house it even hailed! The hail stuck and looked like snow, and I asked if they get big hail and yes, they can get such big hail storms the hail can dent cars and cause damage. We never get hail that big and it never lasts long in our area on the ground.

Some beautiful trees and my sister’s backyard. It was so pretty in Colorado! Perfect weather!

The first photo is a beautiful tree in my nephews front yard. The second photo is my sister’s front yard with the pretty aspen and her back yard with her deck and greenery. My nephew and his wife live a couple streets away from his mom. I am so happy my sister has family so very close to her since she lives alone, family isn’t far away. Her grandkids would come over weekly or more often when they were younger. She always has a Sunday dinner so her son and his wife always get together with her to break bread. I just LOVE that tradition and it helps bring everyone together. I think family that eat together, stay together. I enjoyed being there for my long weekend to enjoy all the things they do together and their wonderful company.

My sister treated me to sushi! Thank you Sis for the wonderful dinner! YUMMY!

Here is to more visits with not only my sister in Colorado, but I am hoping to visit other family members as we wrap up this year and if I can’t fit it in these last few months then I will be traveling next year for sure! I have Portland, Reno, Idaho and Northern Calif to visit. Who knows? Maybe I will head back to Colorado next year too!

Some pretty photos of Murphy I took this last week. I am actually standing pretty far away, but zoomed in to create these photos! He just melts my heart and makes me smile! ❤
I am riding him both English and Western. I am actually riding him the same way, just with different saddles. My go to training is hunt seat. In the Western saddle I ride more forward because that is my go to training. I like the western saddle for the trails.
I am riding with my friend Jane, on her horse Irish! Murphy was a good boy and I thank you sweet Jane for the ride today!

I had such a great weekend with my horses. I like to call my horses my ponies, even though they aren’t ponies at all. I have mentioned it has been hot getting into the high 90’s (37C) and so I actually gave my ponies Saturday off but was able to ride both of them Sunday. Even on their day off I turn them out and let them be horses, meaning I am not doing any particular training with them. They can mosey around or run around and enjoy the time out and about in the arena. Can I get you a refill on your coffee or tea? I can tell you that the trail ride with Murphy went really well and I am so proud of him.

He remains calm through out the ride as we head down the trail. He will spook on occasion which is totally normal. I am always praising him and reassuring him which helps him learn that the little bit of scary stuff isn’t that scary. He is a very brave horse especially at his age of 3 and so I know that every ride he will just get better and braver. He has a lot to see out on the trails, so in time he will be just as seasoned as my girl Miss Chloe! ❤

Miss Chloe is the sweetest horse I have ever owned! She melts my heart just as Murphy does and I am a lucky cowgirl!

I had a super fun ride on Miss Chloe after I rode Murphy with another friend at the barn. We rode around the block and it was a bit hotter and later in the morning but it was a lovely ride. She is such a good pony, walking along as not much phases her on most rides. She is a horse of course, so there will be times when she will be frightened or scared but we have been together for so many years it doesn’t take much to reassure her that we are fine and she calms right down if she spooks.

Thank you for visiting my #weekendcoffeeshare and I want to thank Natalie who hosts as she is doing a wonderful job. I am just going to make it for this weekend share, but wanted to join in since it has been a couple of weeks. I want to thank my best friend for a wonderful lunch we had together this last weekend. We don’t see each other like we once did and so we are going to meet for lunches more often to stay in touch! YAY! I just love that and I will try and stop by her barn more often as well. I hope you all have a wonderful week ahead! 😀

Happy Trail Riding and Traveling Cowgirl,

~Diana ❤

My Weekly Smile; End of Summer ~Aug 30th

On By DianaIn Living life, weekly smile28 Comments
  • I had to use this flower again, so unusual and it makes me smile! 😀

Welcome to my weekly smile! I have been taking a bit of a blogging break. This summer has been very busy, so different than last year right? Lot’s of family visits, which I LOVE SO MUCH! There is more visiting coming up for me as I will be heading to Colorado at the end of this week to visit my sister. I have seen her as she has come to California a few times in the last 5 years but I haven’t been to CO in about 8 years. As I am writing this I am thinking I will continue with this blogging break until I return from vacation for another week or so. Since I have some fun video’s I made to share I decided to write this post and explain my break.

When I return to blogging more regularly I’m going to give myself permission to not feel pressured to write a blog post. I feel like I can get a little OCD about writing my blog thinking I have to write and share on this link or another and then I pressure myself into thinking I am letting everyone down if I can’t keep up. Isn’t that a little crazy? Do you feel like that too, or is it just my crazy brain as I so enjoy being involved and join in. I guess I need to just take a chill pill and blog when it feels right and not worry! I’ll take my advice! Haha, I’m smiling!! 😀

It really has been nice to work on some of my crafts, and relax and not make myself crazy with pressure about my blog. This should be fun and so I am not leaving but I may post less often so that I can balance my busy life. 😀

I Love this baby blanket pattern! I decided to try a different background color which is variegated grey, white and pink!

I am smiling as I am finally making progress on another baby blanket I am making for a good friend and her baby girl. When I find something I love to make, I will make it in different colors and then gift it to my relatives or good friends. I have done this with fingerless mittens and scarfs, haha, I guess I get a little OCD about crochet patterns!

My daughter said that her friends colors in the nursery are pink and grey. I am thinking probably more pink than grey, and I didn’t ask for photos but as I looked through the yarn to buy I found this variegated yarn that is really pretty in person. The photo doesn’t do it justice but it is grey/white/pink. Very light pink, so light in pink that it mostly looks grey. Darn it all, it’s not really a very good baby color but I am going to finish it and I found a nice pink yarn you can see in the photo for the border. It will help bring out the pink in the grey, I hope! It’s kind of antique looking and really super cool I think. I can always keep it if I don’t think it’s worthy of gifting! Sorry about this long description, it’s just been a challenging blanket to put together with the colors I chose! 😀 Now, on to my horsey adventures!

  • My sister riding Murphy for the first time! What a good boy, they look great!!
  • Murphy on the right meeting Ava!
  • My sister’s son on Murphy!
Riding with my sister and her son. They were here visiting from Idaho! I’m smiling at all the FUN! 😀

We had so much fun riding when my sister visited this month. She drove from Idaho with her oldest son who is on Murphy. We rode out on trail with my best friend and Roscoe. My sister came for her youngest sons birthday who lives here in California not far from us and so it was so great to also have her meet Murphy! I am so proud of Murphy as he was so good with everyone and I also had some fun trail rides. (I am one of 6 kids, so it can get confusing. This sister here on Murphy is now visiting my sister in Colorado. I have a sister in Oregon and another in Northern CA. I have a brother in Reno, NV. It will take a lot of weekends away to catch up and see everyone, eventually!)

Trail riding with my best friend on Roscoe and my sister on Fashion and her son on Chloe! 😀 😀 😀

I’m smiling from ear to ear! What fun trail rides while my sister visited. My sister brought cool weather with her the week she was here! She is riding a good friend’s horse and her name is Fashion. She is a black and white paint and she is in her 20’s and knows the Norco trails well. It is really good for Murphy to go out with other horses. He wasn’t bothered by the group and with 4 of us we all had a blast!

I am in no hurry with Murphy and his training, taking one day at a time and he gets days of rest or turn out to just be a horse. I am riding him in the arena with him learning what I want him to do for me and we are working on the walk, trot and canter. He is extremely lazy, so I ask a little bit and reward him when he does what I ask of him. He is very smart and learning so fast. He is learning to move off of my leg, which means I use my leg to have him move over to pressure from either side and I use my reins as well. I won’t go into all the detail, I am just so happy he is understanding my cues and I reward with a release and a nice free walk. It is all so much FUN!! 😀

He is really happy and has such personality! Murphy and I are bonding well. I Love this boy so much! ❤

I can’t believe this month is ending. Where did this year go? It is really going fast so I am trying to slow down and enjoy each day. I think the last few weeks I am accomplishing this and I am finding my stride. I know one thing and that is I am looking forward to Fall and hopefully cooler weather. We have been hitting 100F(38C) too often this summer and we are expecting cooler weather this coming week. This weekend was really hot and I took a video of Murphy after I hosed him off and he likes to play with the hose and loves the water. I will end with this short video and I want to thank you so much for visiting my smile post! What makes you smile? I do love hearing from you and I thank you for reading and following my blog!!

I want to thank Trent for hosting My Weekly Smile! With the world craziness, it is great to smile at the simple things whenever possible. Have a great week!

Smiling Happy Cowgirl,

~Diana ❤

Weekend Coffee Share; Trail Riding Fun in August!

On By DianaIn Living life, weekend coffee share17 Comments
  • Welcome to my weekend coffee share! Cookies anyone?

Howdy! I got inspired by my daughter when she told me she has a friend who had trouble making a good chocolate chip cookie and her friend decided to make Mrs. Field’s Cookie recipe. I looked in my cupboard for my Mrs. Field’s cookbook and I have 2 copies of her cookie cookbook from the 90’s. One is new and one is well used, not sure why I have 2 and will give one to my daughter if she doesn’t have one. I just looked it up and it was published in 1992! My daughter told her friend those are cookies from her childhood, yup! I cooked many, many cookies from that cookbook. I haven’t cooked from her cookbook in quite a few years, sticking it in the cupboard I just stopped using it. I know one reason is she bakes her cookies low and slow, it takes double the time to bake one sheet of cookies! BUT IT IS SO WORTH THE WAIT!! These Blue Ribbon Chocolate Chip cookies are the bomb!! YUMMY! ❤ ❤ ❤

Forgive me, can I get you a cup of coffee or tea with some cookies? I sure wish I could share them with you all! I just could not resist sharing a photo with you today. I may use this photo from time to time as cookies go with coffee very well! Now onto my weekend, and I had a ton of fun with my stable friends and both my horses. I am getting to know my new horse Murphy better every single day. He is so much FUN!! 😀

My girlfriend at the stables saw me ride in from my trail ride with my friend on Roscoe and took these photos!
This was on Saturday and I was able to trail ride both Saturday and Sunday!

I will tell you that I am a bit out of shape. Riding the trails on my other horse Chloe does not take all that much effort on my part so my riding legs are out of shape. Too be honest, after riding each horse the last two or three days I am a bit sore. My legs (or thighs) are sore this evening but it is a good sore meaning it is worth the riding as I want to get in shape. I need to get stronger, but Murphy is out of shape too because he is young and hasn’t done much which is perfect. We will both get into shape together! We are a team! Haha, a wonderful team and we are working really well together! YAY!

I am sharing my video’s a bit out of order but I figured it doesn’t really matter what day is what ~ it all happened this weekend. This video I took on Sunday as I didn’t think to take a video on my Saturday ride. I have another video I am going to share which I took on Saturday on Miss Chloe. It was so fun to be out with my horses this weekend. Here is Miss Chloe!

She is such a sweet horse and we have so much fun just checking out the neighborhood. I don’t know why, but I was noticing the trees and I have walked and driven by all of these houses countless of times when this one house just caught my eye with all the palm trees. I wish I kept the video going as I rounded the corner as the line of palms continues down the other side of the property!! They have quite the palm tree collection that is for sure!! I hope you enjoyed my video’s for this weekend. I have so much FUN making them, and I so enjoy sharing them!

I am going to end this coffee share with a couple of photos of my sweet horses and I hope you have had a wonderful weekend in this month of August. I can’t believe it’s the 15th, half the month is gone already.

My horse LOVES!! I am completely obsessed with these beautiful animals. They melt my heart and fill my soul! ❤

I want to thank Natalie for hosting this weekends #weekendcoffeeshare as she is doing a wonderful job. Thank you Natalie!!

Happy Trail Riding Cowgirl!

~Diana ❤

Weekend Coffee Share; First Week Of Aug!

On By DianaIn Living life, weekend coffee share21 Comments
  • Welcome to my weekend coffee share where we share what’s been happening in our lives!

Welcome to my coffee share, can I get you a cup of coffee or tea? It has been a busy last few weeks and it’s the best kind of busy because it’s been all about visiting with family. My sweet family, my beautiful daughter and my son and his wife and of course my beautiful grand children. During this first week of August it was my grand daughter’s 6th birthday and she has had such a wonderful birthday spending time with her cousin’s at Knott’s Berry Farm. We’ve had cake and ice cream and all the fun that birthday’s hold and then my daughter and I visited Phoenix and we spent this last weekend with them. We flew out but drove home as my son had my daughter’s car and he returned it to her as he does not need it any more. So we drove the 5 and 1/2 hours home and I thought let me put together this coffee share before the weekend comes to a complete end.

We enjoyed a walk around the neighborhood and enjoyed these bushes blooming! My grand daughter is so sweet!
Her mommy and daddy got her a little motorized jeep. Not meant for two, but I thought this was so cute!

I had such a great time and my grand daughter is growing up fast. She is learning to read and is now in kindergarten. She absolutely LOVES school which makes us all so happy. She is now attending school in person which we are all happy about as well. I had so much fun babysitting so my daughter, son and wife could get a night out together. My son and wife do not get out that often and so I am always so happy to babysit. I sure wish we could be closer, but at least I can visit often which just makes my heart so happy! ❤

I am also busy taking care of my horses. I have something very exciting to share as I have been working with my new horse Murphy and wanted to share something I have been wanting to accomplish for the last month. Murphy and I are doing really well bonding and I decided with the help of my best friend to try and take him out on a short trail ride. Yes! I am so excited to share a couple of video’s we made!! He was such a champ, such a good boy. He definitely looked around which is what you would expect, but he remained calm, and relaxed. We have a short loop to walk which takes about 25 minutes and my best friend and I had plans on returning home early if he seemed stressed at all. I even had him in a halter and lead rope (with a bridle) which would be easier to lead him if I needed to get off and walk him home. I didn’t need it! He was great! I can’t wait to ride more trails with Murphy!!

My girlfriend took this video, so kind of her and I think it’s great! It’s hard because Murphy didn’t want to walk next to her but behind her on her horse Roscoe.

I wanted Murphy to feel safe as he followed Roscoe on the trails. He stayed mostly behind him and only once walked up next to him but he didn’t stay there long. So my girlfriend had to practically turn around in her saddle to get the video of Murphy and I on the trail. I think she did a great job considering, but that is why it kind of ends abruptly. Haha, she did the best she could but you can see Murphy well I think! I’m so grateful and thankful for his smart brain, calm attitude and all around willingness to go where he’s never been before. Here is one more video that I was able to take while I rode him on this same trail. 😀

Horses have GPS, seriously, they know when they are heading home. When we rounded the last corner that turns in the direction of heading back to the stables I could feel Murphy relax a bit. He actually relaxed enough so that I felt comfortable enough riding him to make this video. I am so proud of him and I hope you enjoy my video’s!

  • He is so handsome at 3 years old!

My veterinarian has told me that at 3 years old he is not done growing. I know some of that means filling out too. He still has a young body and he stands at least 17hh (at his wither or the point at the top of his back where his mane ends equals 5ft 8, and he could possibly get taller!) I am 5ft 7 and I can’t see over his back. He is one tall dude!! He is a ton of FUN!! I am so enjoying working and riding Murphy!! ❤

Thank you for visiting my coffee share and I want to end with a photo of my son’s cats. Today is international cat day and these kitties are just so cute. They love sleeping together and they have managed to squeeze together at the top of their cat tree. I hope you all have a wonderful week! I also want to thank Natalie for hosting #weekendcoffeeshare!

Super Busy Cowgirl Grandma,

~Diana ❤

Weekend Coffee Share; Last Week of July!

On By DianaIn Living life, weekend coffee share16 Comments
  • Welcome to my weekend coffee share!

I can’t believe July is almost over and oh my, did it fly by fast. I have been having fun in the sun, in sunny Southern California! Can I get you a cup of coffee or tea? I am going to get iced coffee today as I share my weekend and accomplishments of the month. It was a crazy week but as this weekend comes to an end I am home relaxing and enjoying the Olympics that are on in the background as I type away!

  • My daughter’s guinea pigs are here visiting. I am cleaning their cage and this is their turn out cage while I clean!

The happy guinea pigs are here as I am babysitting them as my daughter was to be away for training for three weeks. Unfortunately, it all got canceled for her but I had already picked up the piggies and she will be taking them home in two weeks. They are so adorable and I enjoy them immensely. I think they are so cute out and about in this temporary cage while I clean their home cage. I just had to share!

My hubby was able to complete the retaining wall and I thought I would share a couple of photos. What a job. The bricks weigh 55lbs each and he moved them all into place mostly by himself. He had a few hiccups, lining things up and had to tear down and rebuild at least twice in different sections. Oh dear, he definitely was outside working out as I call it in his make shift gym (as it were) lifting and moving all the bricks. He then filled in the back of the wall with back fill dirt, and he did get some help from a friend with that part. I told him to hire help, but he can be pretty stubborn wanting to save that money for something else. It was just all physical labor which he completed. I am very proud of him actually!

Its a very long wall turning in the corner of the backyard. The photo on the left is from the corner of the right photo.

In and done. The wall is done which is FANTASTIC, but we have a lot more work needing to be done to complete the whole yard. It’s all a work in progress in actuality, but the wall was the biggest project for sure! He actually worked fairly quickly and completed it before the end of July. I know he is so done moving bricks! Haha, I would be too!

On to other things to reflect upon for this month. I have now had my new horse Murphy for two months. He has been doing well. He was laid up for one month when I got him because he had a splint bone fracture which is completely healed. He then had his shoes replaced which we do every six weeks or so and after this was done he lost one shoe and after that was replaced he then lost the other front shoe. He only had shoes on his front hoofs. I made a decision with my farriers help and advice to try letting him be barefoot with no shoes. He has great hoofs, and he is very healthy and at three years old we can always go back to putting on shoes if needed in the future. I also may just buy trail boots for him as I think he will be fine in the arena, but the trails may be too hard for his hoofs.

Playing with the hose as I filled up the bucket of water! Silly boy!
These were taken this weekend. He is happy, shiny and doing great. I can’t wait to ride this week and working with him is such a joy.

Murphy is very smart and loveable. He is very lazy but tries and is so fun to work with and what a personality! With his size came some apprehension from me but thankfully as I’ve been working with him his size disappears. I now look at him as my loveable boy and I am so use to his size I don’t blink an eye. Of course, I know to be safe and kind. I think about my actions before I do them to keep him safe and keep myself safe. You can get lax around horses, especially the ones you know well. It is always smart to be smart, alert, very calm and very clear with your actions. This brings peace and calmness, everything they are looking for so they know they are safe. I just love interacting with these giant beasts. They are truly magical in so many ways! ❤

Murphy has a friend! This young chicken has been roosting on his back and a friend was able to take these photos! 😀

Haha, this isn’t the first time I’ve seen photos of chickens on a horses back, but my horse? I’ve never seen this before. Chloe would not put up with a chicken on her back, no way! But he doesn’t care at all! What a chill dude, exactly what I was looking for in my next horse! Murphy, you are just ADORABLE!!

Thank you for visiting my coffee share and having a cup with me today. I am late in posting but really wanted to join this weekend. I hope you all have a wonderful week and thank you Natalie for hosting #weekendcoffeeshare!

Happy, busy, but a good busy cowgirl!

~Diana ❤

Weekend Coffee Share; July Fun In The Sun!

On By DianaIn Living life, weekend coffee share18 Comments

Welcome to my weekend coffee share and how would you like your coffee today? Or I have tea or juice, apple or cranberry today? I can’t believe it is more than half way through July. And we are feeling the heat and I am always thankful when there is a breeze which makes being outside a bit easier. I wanted to share my teeny tiny garden and I actually just threw some tomato seeds in my container with some fresh fertilizer and thought maybe they will grow and if they don’t that’s okay too. I’ve been so darn busy that this year it’s just going to be tomatoes, and even though I long for a fruitful garden it takes work.

I want to give a shout out to all you wonderful gardener’s out there because you all ROCK! I supposed when you garden (and you are good at it) you become efficient, and you are probably organized and so it all just falls into place for you and your schedule of watering is on point and on and on… perfect gardening techniques I am finding takes practice, and so I mulched around the sprouting tomato plants and I know the container is being watered and staying moist more evenly (I hope!) as I know this is important too.

  • Tomato plants growing big and tall! I have 4 plants in one container, I hope that’s not too many?

Haha, I already pulled out a plant early on as I knew I should thin out the container. I then thought let me see what these 4 plants do and I can always pull one or two out if needed. But now that they are getting so big, I want to see what they will provide! They have plenty of room, so I think they are okay. It is great fun watching them grow and I have other plants and flowers I water so I am always outside doing something.

My hubby is almost done with the retaining wall in our backyard, YAY! What a job, but it looks so much better which is wonderful. We will wait until fall to think about landscaping shrubs or ground cover plants. I want to plant some trees too. We have such mild weather here in Southern California I really don’t have to worry about planting in the fall. As I am talking about being outdoors you must know the next subject I want to share is my trail rides and my horses! I’ll start with a video I made today and a shout out to my weekend coffee share peeps! Haha, I hope you all know I say howdy to anyone who stops and visits here! You are all WELCOME! I hope you enjoy! 😀

We were chatting away and as we headed down this street I thought let’s make a video. My girlfriend took out her phone to take a video of me since I am never in my videos ~ how sweet! She accidentally hit slo-mo so her video was all in slow motion, oh dear, haha! Maybe next time she can make one and I can use to share! Thanks for trying pony sister, there is always next time! ❤

After I returned to the barn I hosed off Chloe as it was already pretty hot out and then I turned my attention to Murphy. So I will share some photos and I made a little video with Murph too. It was a fun morning at the barn. It was another pony sister’s birthday. There were cupcakes brought for the birthday and they were delicious. (We like to call each other pony sister’s because of our love for horses! If you have never met a horse crazy gal, well you are reading her blog right now!) 😀

He LOVES people and attention which I am sure you can tell. His nose is super soft and I love kissing his nose when I can!

Silly selfie video, but it was fun to make! I was trying to get his whole head in the view of my phone. I did pretty good, but what I am most impressed with (myself) is I was able to give him a kiss and got it on video! Haha, I have tried with Miss Chloe before and there’s just a way that you need to hold your phone. I had so much fun working with him today.

I wanted to wrap up my #weekendcoffeeshare with I connected with my oldest sister and we chatted and I think I have figured out a date to visit her in Colorado. I need to check out airline flights and figure out all the details and this will be at the end of August so I have plenty of time. In just a few weeks I will be heading to Arizona for my grand daughter’s 6th birthday! YAY! She is getting so big and I am so excited. I will say that I kind of wish she was born in the fall or winter, haha, just because it is so hot in August! It’s all good, and I’m so excited my daughter will be joining us too! I hope you all stay cool, safe and healthy!

Horse or pony crazy cowgirl!

~Diana ❤

Weekend Coffee Share; Family Fun and Murphy in Action!

On By DianaIn Living life, weekend coffee share26 Comments
  • Welcome to my coffee share for this second weekend in July!

I think I have made up for last year where we couldn’t visit family as we are getting in lots of family weekends recently. My hubby hadn’t seen my daughter’s house she moved to that she is leasing so for the 4th of July weekend we drove up to her place to spend time with her. It was a great visit however my son in Arizona called me Saturday night and he and his family decided to drive to California for an impromptu visit. They drove through the night while the grandkids slept and then they stayed in our room since we weren’t home. We drove home the next morning to spend the 4th with my son and family which included fireworks!

Oh where are my manners, can I get you a cup of coffee or tea? Hot or cold? I have some cookies to go with, store bought but I think good to go with either beverage. I wanted to share some photos from last weekend because you know, I am always so happy to see my grandkids and share. I always try and get a couple of selfies too! SO FUN!

She ALWAYS wants to do a goofy photo! She is so adorable and fun!
I asked her for a nice smiling photo and she is now old enough to comply. She use to ignore my wishes, she will be 6 soon and is growing up fast!
My sweet grandson! I got him to smile by my huge smile as he can see himself as I took the photo! He is so adorable too!

I do miss my grandkids immensely but it has helped to be able to visit them this year. I think you can see how excited I was to see them and I don’t think I have taken or shared selfies in awhile. I have one more photo I wanted to share as after I took it I realized it has three generations in the photo. A happy accident, and it’s a cute photo of the guys in my family!

My grandson doesn’t look too happy but I think he was getting tired. It was a long day for him at the 4th of July party.

Family is so important to me and I have extended family I wish I could see more often as well. I have all my sister’s and brother, it is hard to figure out who I want to visit next and as I try and figure out my traveling plans the time just keeps passing by. I have sister’s that read this blog and I do want to come visit and am hoping I can figure out when I can come out and spend a weekend. It will all work itself out eventually, and they all know our immediate family’s have priority. I at least can share on social media all that’s happening which includes here as well! 😀

Can I get you a refill? Top off the tea or coffee? I wanted to share some fun horse photos and a video of Murphy in action! I also took an action shot of Chloe in the arena trotting around that turned out pretty good. Both my horses are doing really good. I keep them separated and they are not turned out together at all. I want them to have autonomy and I can tell you that Chloe is much happier not having Zack by her side on the trails. He use to nip at her and was a pesky fellow, and she put up with his antics but is much more relaxed walking by herself or with my girlfriend or any other horses that are ridden out with us on the trails.

I zoomed in on my lucky shot of Chloe trotting, and all but her right back leg are off the ground which I think is a cool action shot. And Chloe up close, silly girl!
It’s nice to let them graze and I can tell you he is enjoying this time on the grass as they all do!

I had him turned out in the arena and he is learning to trot and canter when I ask him and he is so big that his strides cover the ground pretty quickly. Our arena is really not that big, which is a good thing as he can’t get going too fast. He is definitely on the lazy side as horses go and that is exactly the way I like him as he needs to be relaxed and sensible once we get out on the trails.

He is so beautiful and fun to watch him in the arena. At the end of the video I like how he just stops and stands there as that is a really calm and lazy horse. I hope he stays this mellow, I think he will! I also had a set back over a week ago where I did not have the bell boots on his front hoofs. At the end of the video you can see them, they are rubber with velcro that go around his pastern and hang down around the hoof. This will help him not step on the back of his shoes with his back hoof! He did this and pulled off a shoe, so I am hoping the bell boots will be the fix and we won’t have any more shoes come off.

Thank you so much for having coffee with me today. I am sharing last weekend this weekend, but that’s all good. This weekend I am home and just riding the horses and so not much to report. I missed last weeks coffee share and thought this way I can catch you up on all the happenings! Thank you Natalie for hosting the #weekendcoffeeshare link and I hope you all stay safe, healthy and happy!

Busy Grandma Cowgirl,

~Diana ❤

My First Ride On Murphy, My New Horse!

On By DianaIn Barn stories, Living life27 Comments

I have some flowers blooming and so I just had to start this post with this beautiful flower. I have had a super busy weekend as this last week I was asked if I could help take care of horses at the barn. There is a horse owner recovering at home after being in the hospital with a staph infection and I am so thankful she is recovering. She has a good friend who is helping with her horses but she had a planned vacation which is where I come into the picture. I also have had other’s who were away this weekend for one reason or another and in total I have been taking care of 8 horses including my own. Some just needed meds and water buckets filled and others needed meds and some turn outs. Amongst all of this I rode Chloe out with my girlfriend on the trails early morning and then I exercised Murphy Saturday and Sunday I made time after my trail ride to get on and ride Murphy for the first time! YAY! I’m so HAPPY!

As I write this I still have 2 more days of extra horse care. One of the horses will drop off my list as their owners return Monday. I will just turn out my horses the next 2 days since I have to get everything done before I have to go to work in the afternoons. I am thankful it is cooling off a little bit and there has been nice breezes each day so the weather has been good being outside for most of the day. I can’t wait to share my ride so let’s get to it, here he is Murphy doing all grown up horsey things with his new Mom, ME! 😀

I should not admit this but I look so frumpy! It has been so hot, so I am wearing clothes that help keep me cool. But for me it’s all about Murphy, and he looks so handsome!

Aren’t we always so critical of ourselves! And I am rarely in my photos since I’m taking them. I asked to be in this so I need to stop being so critical. However, I do not like the way I look in this photo as I wish I was wearing riding apparel, like English riding breeches. But this is super comfortable for me and eventually I will be riding him in my western saddle as I get him use to it as I want to eventually get him ready to ride out on trail. Baby steps, it will all happen and it is SUPER FUN to ride him English as well. Maybe one of these days I’ll buy a pair of riding breeches, it would be worth the investment and I can ride in my western saddle in English breeches too. I have to say, I am really enjoying this whole adventure!

My first ride on Murphy! What a good boy!

I am so proud of Murphy! For those horse people out there, I lunged him before I rode him and he trotted around like a champ with the saddle and bridle on and remember he hasn’t done anything like this in just over a month. He relaxed on the lunge line, as he trotted around each direction which is what I was looking for before I mounted up on him. We have a mounting block in the arena and he stood perfectly still as I positioned it to mount and he didn’t move a foot. After I sat on his back he just stood there as I patted him and then I asked him to walk! YAY! What a solid horse, not scared or frightened and took everything in stride like he’s done this a hundred times before and I could not be happier. It will be fun to look back at this video as our adventure grows and he gets more and more rides under his belt!

I know they are almost identical photos except Murphy is licking in one of them so I think it is really cute. I like the other one because he has his ears forward! Haha, my girlfriend who took these photos said I’m just clicking and clicking and so I have 8 or 9 to choose from and these I zoomed in and these are I thought good enough to share.

I decided to share more photos of this weekend as I took some of my girlfriend on her horse Roscoe and a couple of photos out on the trail as I rode Chloe with Roscoe! It’s just so fun to share, I hope you enjoy too!

I tried to get both Chloe and Roscoe in the photo as we rode down the trail!

As I share with you my weekend I am thinking of how fortunate my girlfriend and I are to share this love of horses and being able to ride together each week. We are truly blessed and as I mentioned in my previous post my girlfriend and I have known each other for 50 years. We grew up together and rode ponies when we were young so in many ways we are doing what we grew up doing! Haha, that may not make much sense, but it is amazing that for the last 10 years or so we were able to connect and board our horses together or near each other so that we can keep riding together just like we did so many years ago. Who is able to do that? I don’t think a high percentage of friends stay this close.

I did split off in my late teens when I went to a horse trainer and showed in the Hunter/Jumper division. My girlfriend also went off to college so there were some years of separation. We both got married and during our early years of marriage having babies of our own and once they got a bit bigger that horse LOVE never died and only grew stronger. And here we are with grown children and now grandchildren and horses that we love and can ride together. So much to share, I could write a novel. ❤

Thanks for visiting my horsey loving post! I am so excited I can ride Murphy now and will keep ya’ll posted on our progress. I love to share video’s and will continue to make them when I can and with help from my friends. I am thinking of investing in a Pivo as then I can video with no help and I have seen on other posts they follow the horse really well as you ride around the arena. One step at a time I always say… something to think about!

Horse Crazy Mom and Grandma!

~Diana ❤

Weekend Coffee Share; June Fun!

On By DianaIn Living life, weekend coffee share27 Comments
  • Welcome to my weekend coffee share where we share what’s been happening in our lives! How are you today?

Hello and come on in and I have coffee or tea handy. I also have it hot or cold. Today I’m drinking a cold brew as it is a hot weekend. We are heading into a heat wave this next coming week which will get up over 100F degrees (38C) for most of the week into next weekend. It isn’t even officially summer yet, and I know it is cold and winter on the other side of the world. It is so interesting how in my little world I am going to sweat it out in the heat while others are heading into winter.

I can’t believe its June and the weeks just seem to fly by even though I am trying to take in every day and enjoy it to it’s fullest. I have been thinking a lot about the future and when I do I realize we can’t see the future, and even though we can plan for the future what ever will be will be ~ are you humming yet? 😀 Que Sera, Sera ~ I’m just thinking philosophically today about life and all that we can enjoy and even though our plans to move near my grandchildren have been put on the back burner, I will still dream to live near them one day. I can at least visit as often as I can and in the mean time enjoy what I do each day and that’s what I’ll be sharing here today. Here’s a couple of cute photos of my grandkids!

My son said he went into the closet and put the hat on his head! And he got into his mom’s paints sort of, water colors! And my sweet granddaughter with the gift she got with some money I sent to her in the mail!

They are so adorable and my granddaughter is getting so big. She will turn six in August! My grandson turned one in February so he is almost sixteen months now, toddling all over the place and into everything. As it should be with little ones, he is a handful but such a joy. I can’t wait to visit them and am so thankful we are able to travel now and visit as often as we would like. My entire family is vaccinated and thankfully we are all doing well. ❤

As I share I realized that I have not shared what’s been happening here at the house. We removed all the carpeting in the living areas and replaced the flooring with a wood-base laminate that is really durable. We just love how it turned out and I thought I would share some photo’s. This was done last month. My hubby is also working in our backyard putting in a retaining wall. A ton of work, what a busy year so far!

The only rooms with carpet is our bedrooms. We will be replacing them with new carpet in the near future. Our kitchen and the entry way has really nice travertine tile so we did not need to replace that and thought the flooring went well throughout the house. What a difference it has made in the openness and feel in our home!

I also can’t wait for the work in our backyard as the retaining wall (stackable bricks) will add support for the slope and eventual vegetation we want to plant. The previous owners never finished the back yard, and we never did either and we have been here 15 years now. I think its about time! These improvements will make our home enjoyable and add to its value.

Murphy and I are enjoying each other, he even enjoyed the water from the hose! Chloe and I out on trail, look at the tree bloom! So BEAUTIFUL!

I am enjoying the horses, trail riding with my best friend and sometimes by myself with Chloe. My vet will be out this coming week to check out Murphy’s leg and I am hoping I get a green light to start doing more with him. I am enjoying working with him and I took a video of him and thought I would share.

He is so funny because he knew I could not pay full attention to him while I was holding the phone to video! He is very smart and it has been fun seeing his personality! I am in no hurry with Murphy and I really want to take my time with him, especially since he is just 3 years old. I am enjoying the process of getting to know him and I am thinking we will have many years ahead of us of fun trail riding together! ❤

Surprise! Two videos today! He is such a character enjoying the water from the hose! My girlfriend at the stables did not know I was doing a video and was telling me about a sick friend and so I was responding which sounds kind of strange in the video but Murphy is so cute with those flapping lips I just had to share. We hope the friend will be all better soon.

Thank you for visiting and having coffee with me today. I always enjoy sharing the happenings around here and boy has it been a busy year so far, I can’t believe it! I have to thank Natalie for hosting the coffee shares providing us a link and you can visit other coffee shares here. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! I know I am enjoying mine! 😀

Happy Grandma Cowgirl,

~Diana ❤

Weekend Coffee Share; Family and Horse Fun!

On By DianaIn Barn stories, Living life, weekend coffee share27 Comments
  • Welcome to my weekend coffee share where we share what’s been happening in our lives with old friends and new!

Can I offer you a cup of coffee or tea? I have so much to share and I can really ramble if you get me going. Should we have some Speculoos cookies from Trader Joes that goes great with a cup of Joe? Yes, sounds yummy! I have missed a few coffee shares as I have been really busy these last few weeks. After I visited with my daughter, the following weekend I visited with my son and his family for Mother’s day. I had such a great weekend with them and it was my daughter-in-laws birthday too! What fun celebrating with them and I soaked in all the family time I could get. It was so fulfilling and I am so happy and thankful for this time with my grown children. I thought I would share a few photos from last weekend before I share some super fun horse news!

My grandkids and me. My grand daughter and her silly faces! They both melt my heart and are a handful I might add!

My grandson is walking all over the place, climbs on the couch and into everything! They just run around and wear out grandma but it’s all great FUN! Alice and I have fun coloring. When I finished up my weekend and was going about my work days this last week I came upon a video of the most beautiful horse that was being worked with a trainer I follow online. To make a long story short I thought to myself I want this horse! He is so beautiful and my sweet horse is getting older and has old injuries that she manages with but I am thinking soon I will have to retire her from trail riding. I thought to myself I think it would help if I had a project and a new horse so that I can let Chloe enjoy her retirement and I can be fulfilled by riding a new horse to train and be my next trail horse. Hmm.. I might even train him up to attend some small horse shows! Fun to dream! 😀

As I went through this process, it was fairly stressful and I thought I have to give it a try and if I am able to buy this horse then it was meant to be and if things do not work out then this horse was not meant to be owned by me and I would then have to look for another. Here he is, the stars aligned and I bought an off the track thoroughbred from a horse rescue who rehomes OTTB’s for a life after racing. He now has a new career and life with me! His registered name is Midnight Murphy and for now I will call him Murphy (but will see how that name fits him as I get to know him).

He has the sweetest face and (us) horse people LOVE their eyes! These are the only photos of him at this time. ❤

I am OVER THE MOON, EXCITED! There is a video of him that I can’t share because it isn’t my video but he is just so handsome and beautiful and all of the things we love about horses. He turned 3 years old May 1st and he never raced. He is Kentucky bred and he is very big and that could be the reason he never raced. He is 17h tall which is very tall for those non horse people. I wasn’t looking for tall or short, I was looking for temperament and he is very calm, quiet and is sensible. I told the trainer he needs a good brain to be a trail horse in my town. She said he would be perfect and that he is like an old soul in a young body. I think of these big guys as gentle giants, and so my journey begins with this beautiful registered thoroughbred!

He currently resides in Oklahoma so first thing in the morning I will be calling for horse transportation. It’s been a dream of mine to own one of these off the track thoroughbreds and as I dreamed watching video after video after video I thought it crazy that I could ever buy one then have it shipped half way across the country to California. Covid has really spurred the industry of adoptions (along with other furry friends), and with the help of this wonderful trainer who is Monty Roberts Certified, Jamie Jennings has helped retrain off the track thoroughbreds with gentle methods from her training. With the exposure with her podcast which I follow and listen too – Horses in the Morning – the rescue who normally adopts out maybe 20 – 30 horses a year, last year they adopted out more than 100! I think the number is 103 which is fantastic! I thought with all the people interested I would not have a chance to adopt, but I did! And I couldn’t be happier. 😀 😀 😀 I feel it only proper to thank Jamie from the bottom of my heart for all she does for these beautiful animals! ❤

I will keep you posted on how the next few weeks go as I get transport set up and hopefully it won’t take too long to get a hauler to ship him to his new home here. I can’t wait to meet my new boy! ❤

Enjoying the trails with my sweet Chloe!
Out on the trails with my pony sister’s! We had a wonderful ride this weekend and it was wonderful weather!

We are enjoying some really cool weather with lots of clouds and a spitter-spatter of rain here and there. I am taking in all the cool weather because the summer is around the corner and with that comes the heat. Maybe this year will be a cooler summer. We do get them sometimes. Chloe is always willing to go out on the trails and I will taper her outings a little bit to begin the process of retirement. In the meantime, my trail rides are so enjoyable and she is such a JOY!

As I share my coffee with you today I am thinking about my family and my horses. We only have this one life and I am trying to enjoy it to its fullest, the best way I know how. I hope you enjoyed your coffee and I hope you all are enjoying your life too! And if you have any dreams, don’t give up on them because you never know they just might come true!

Wolfie and Dublin aka The Brothers! My son sends me these absolutely wonderful photos and I just have to share!

As I share these two with their brotherly love it makes me think how I am sending hugs to you! Remember to stay smiling and enjoy what you can when you can and thank you for visiting with me today. 😀

Happy Excited Cowgirl!

~Diana ❤

P.S. I missed the regular coffee share linkup. It’s been a very busy weekend. 🙂