Category: Living life

Trail Riding Adventures!

On By dprastkaIn Barn stories, Horse stories, Living life10 Comments
Love this view!! Looking between the ears of my mighty steed! ❤

I started writing this blog because of my love for my horses! As the title states I definitely want to share my life but I don’t want to forget about my horse stories and so I wanted to get back to sharing my beautiful horses. I have a fun story to share, it really wasn’t scary, I suppose it could have gone awry but my calm and well trained horses took everything in stride. And the key to a great outcome is I didn’t get nervous or show fear, I was more like “really? did this just happen? “

I was out on the trail with my best friend who was riding her horse Gracie. I was riding Chloe and Zack was at her side as I was ponying him on this ride. We crossed a busy street and as we were walking along the trail and talking, I noticed that the lead rope on Zack had slipped under the front of my stirrup and went under my leg back to his head. He was walking by Chloe’s side (on my right side) and I thought this is not good, as I now have no control over his head. So I told Sally I have to stop to fix this rope and I said “Whoa” to Chloe and pulled back on her reins. As I pulled the reins, SNAP! my left rein just pulled off of her bit and I now had only one rein controlling her head!! OH NO!

Zack walking along and you can see the blue and black lead rope which went under my right leg on the stirrup of my saddle!

As I pulled Chloe’s right rein to stop I hopped off of her as fast as I could because I had no control to speak of, just turning her would not last and I have Zack to think about also. Oh dear, as I look at my rein I could see right away what happened. The leather that keeps the reins attached to the bit is called a “water loop” and the small leather pieces that ties it onto the rein had come untied! As Sally sat on her mare watching me work on the rein, she told me Zack is lose on the other side of Chloe! “What? Oh no!” BUT he just put his head down close by her and was eating some weeds and grass. I went to the other side of Chloe and took the lead rope which fell from behind the stirrup and I put it around my saddle horn. I just looped it around a couple times because I wanted to get that darn rein tied back onto Chloe’s bit!

This is a photo to show the reins coming from her bit. They are tied on and I never thought in a million years that these leather pieces would come untied! THEY DO! This is not from the day in my story as I had no time or inclination to take any photos as things unfolded!

I was very thankful that I had not lost the leather piece that needed to get threaded back through the holes in the reins and retied. I checked the other side and sure enough it had come untied once. These leather pieces are in triple knots and over time these knots loosen and come untied! YIKES! I am learning, CHECK YOUR TACK before you ride. I purposely do not have these screws that can hold your leather together. In western gear, these screws are called Chicago screws and once they come unscrewed and fall, they can be hard to find. I suppose you could carry extra, but then you would need to carry a screw driver to tighten them. English gear just has buckles, very small like how you would buckle a belt around your waist, but they can break too…. I have had a thin leather english rein break riding Chloe years ago, same scenario only I was just riding her and did not have another horse with me.

After I attached the rein, I lead the horses to a fence that runs along the trail so I could step up on a rail to get on Chloe. She is tall so a little step up is nice if one is around. As I was walking my girlfriend says “Zack is lose again!” DARN IT ALL! the rope which was just looped around my saddle horn slipped off and he was just walking over to eat again! Haha, I have to laugh, because in the end it was rather comical and I am so thankful nothing bad happened. I slip knot tied his rope back on the saddle horn, led Chloe to the fence and once on we just rode down the trail like nothing happened!! I know all the non-horse people out there may not be able to picture what happened, but I am sure thankful for very calm trail ponies!!

She is the BEST EVER Trail Pony! Miss Chloe is so calm, I LOVE her so much!
Chloe and I, my girl, she is the sweetest horse I have ever owned!!!
I rode Zack the next day!
Zack is so silly, he would not open his eyes! He probably didn’t like the rim of my hat. HAHA! I have to share anyways!
He is a goof ball. This is him begging for a treat! Silly boy!

I enjoyed sharing my trail fiasco as anything can happen and am very thankful my girlfriend was with me as I was so busy attending to Chloe and the reins I could not keep an eye on Zack. I may have been more nervous or upset if I had been by myself when all of this happened. I just know that remaining calm in a sticky situation is key to a much better outcome! How do you handle problems that arise that are out of your control, until you can get things back in control again?? Haha, that was a really long question. I hope you enjoyed my trail story. I have SO MUCH FUN with these horses. They bring me much joy and happiness. ❤ ❤ ❤

They melt my heart!

Crazy horse loving cowgirl!

~Diana

My Weekly Smile; Kitty Swap 2020

On By dprastkaIn Family is important, Living life, Smiles, weekly smile11 Comments

We are one week from our family kitty swap! This week my smile is for a smooth transition and for HAPPY CATS! All of the swapped kitties are settling in and all is peaceful which was the goal of kitty swap 2020!

The run down of what happened in case you didn’t read my previous posts. There were 2 kittens available to adopt. My daughter had one brother, Wolfie born last year around May. The other brother went to my son’s house who they named Dublin. They are part Siamese and amazingly look almost the same. (My daughter-in-law had a family member who’s cat had kittens and is how the brother’s came to be available). My son already had 3 cats so Dublin = 4 cats. My daughter’s cat was a handful, so much so (long story) she asked me if I could take him as I had put down my kitty so I became cat-less. I was able to take in cats and LOVE THEM and have always had cats, dogs (and I have my horses too!)

As this was happening my son’s cats were not all getting along. For whatever the reason the dynamics of the 4 cats the spraying and even fighting was getting worse each week. They did try many things to get them all to get along but they were not having any of it and so we came up with a plan. It is working out great and I do not need to find kittens to fill my home as I now have the sister’s! The drive with all the cats went so smoothly. They were mellow, a little meowing but nothing bad as it is a 5 hour drive to and from Arizona. Here are some photos of these pretty kitties, first are the sister’s that now live at my house!

This is Duchess and she is not bothered by anything or anyone. She settled in the fastest like she has lived here forever. She is a solid, calm kitty which helps calm her sister. ❤
It took them 3 days to sleep together again. They have done this since they were kittens with my son and his family! ❤
This is Dinah enjoying the sun! I like how it is lighting up the back of her head! She is a beautiful dark gray and the sweetest of the two of them. She still looks around as she was the one being picked on when she lived with my son and the other 3 cats. ❤
I was going to edit this photo but I really like it as this is my family! My son is drawing a treasure map and his daughter had so much fun with it. My other son is on the couch with the 4th kitty, Penny. This orange tabby was the one fighting with the dark gray Dinah. Silly kitties, wishing they all just get along. We fixed all that!!

Once we arrived in Arizona, Wolfie was kept in the bedroom where my hubby and I stayed. I shared photos already of this in my last post but those brothers immediately knew there was a kitty on either side of the door! They were so cute, playing with each other under the door. They had this low growl – or weird growl they both would make. I can’t say what they were saying to each other but they were playing what we called paws! You would see these long kitty legs sticking under the door, hilarious!! They have since been introduced slowly and are doing great!

The brothers back together again! Dublin is in front, Wolfie behind him. I can tell because Dublin has a spot on the right side of his nose, Wolfie has the spot on the left side of his nose! Aren’t they just the most handsome cats? I Love them!!

What makes you smile? I sure do love sharing my smiles each week. It makes me think of things I love or just to be thankful for as we go through this crazy thing we call life! I hope you are having a wonderful week and I hope you will share something that makes your smile!

Cat bliss Grandma,

~Diana ❤

My Weekly Smile; Jan. 1, 2020

On By dprastkaIn Family is important, Living life, weekly smile7 Comments
Happy New Year! My sister loves sunsets, and takes many photos of them where she lives in Northern CA. She took this photo of the last sunset of 2019. It made me SMILE and she said I can share with you all! What makes you smile? This is my weekly smile hosted by my blogging friend Trent! I just love to share!

I can’t believe it is 2020! I can remember back when I was in my teens the year 2000 was so far away, a date that people talked about and the scariness of what will happen when we hit the year 2000! Of course, nothing happened but it is I think wondrous to think we are well on our way into this century as we start this new decade. The New Year can be so revitalizing, a time for us to start anew, maybe rethink our future and/or start working on that resume to find a new job. Or maybe it is a time to reflect and see how far we’ve come and look forward to new things that may be coming into our lives. I think this rings true for so many people around the world. My smile is the future and what it will hold for me and my family. My smile is also for family as that is what I LOVE so much about the holidays. 😀 😀 😀

I have a lot to smile about and this is my family’s Christmas tree in Arizona! It is beautiful!
My granddaughter and her Papa! I Love them so and we had a grand time visiting! 😀
This is Dublin the brother to Wolfie which is here to live with him. He is in a room and will be slowly introduced back to his brother. We will be taking 2 cats home with us, the sister’s.

I have so much to be thankful for and I don’t know if any of my family members read this (I know my sister’s read my blog and I so appreciate their support and kind words) but my immediate family may read from time to time, I am not completely sure but I do know I tell them all the time how much I LOVE them and how much I support all that they do and it is important to me that they know I want nothing but happiness for them.

I am straying from my smile, as I get to rambling on and on sometimes. I just want to say that how can you not smile coming into the New Year? I suppose if you are struggling (there are many things that one can be struggling over) just know that a smile can brighten your day. Everyone at any time can smile, and it will bring some peace if you just take a moment to smile. I am bringing in this New Year with a huge SMILE, AND I am really excited about this New Year! Lot’s coming up this year in my family and it will be fun to share. I’ll end with a photo of Wolfie who’s in the bedroom with us in his transition to his new home. He is really cuddly, sleeping practically on my head! Not really, but on my chest and then in between my hubby and I as we keep him very warm. I will share photos of my new kitties soon!

Wolfie in his new home; this is New Year day morning! I will miss him but he is with family and we will see him often! ❤ ❤ ❤

Thank you for visiting my smile!

~Diana ❤

Weekend Coffee Share; Travel and Cats

On By dprastkaIn Family is important, Living life, weekend coffee share9 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 here up North about 3 hours from my house visiting my daughter. My son came along to see her new apartment and I always LOVE our little trips as we usually visit some local cool places. We ate dinner in Solvang which isn’t too far away. It was a wonderful dinner and the evening was brisk as we walked around before our reservations. We went to a book store there, one of my daughter’s favorite stores. It is mine too, I love books of all kinds and usually my daughter and I end up in the cooking section perusing through cookbooks trying to figure out which one to buy! We both have quite a collection of cookbooks, haha, but neither one of us have time to cook like we would like! We both will be trying to cook more, as it is probably cheaper and a healthier way to sustain ourselves! Dang, I forgot to ask you would you like coffee or tea? my apologies, as I ramble on here I have cold ice tea as well. I try very hard to not drink soft drinks, I think I lost a pound or two removing them from my diet, hehe, I try where I can!

All decorated for Christmas in Solvang!
To the right is a park and they were playing live music. Love this little town!
Goofy photo of the three of us! Haha, I only took this one and decided to share!
Dinner, sea bass with rice and veggie. Delicious and thank you my sweet daughter! ❤

While visiting my son and I have been helping my daughter build some furniture she ordered. One of the bigger items was a couch frame. She just loves the 60’s look, it is called boho (bohemian) and I love her spirit and eclectic artistic style! She had bought these big long cushions that are for a couch frame but she just had them on the floor. After a few months living with these on the floor with a bunch of pillows she realized that having it raised would be more comfortable. It was fun to build the couch frame and it is really comfortable now and the small coffee table she bought from Ikea is now the right height near the couch! She will be hanging some tapestry, I can’t wait to see it hung up on the wall! It will look really COOL! But we can’t hang it while Wolfie the kitty is here as he will tear it down, or try too… How is your coffee or tea? Need a refill? I just refilled mine and am eating some homemade cookies we got from the Christmas party last night. We went to my daughter’s work party, what FUN and it was cowboy themed! Yeehaw, my kind of party! I wish I brought my cowboy hat, but I had boots on and a flannel cowboy shirt and jeans. Fun times!

I didn’t take a photo of the couch, but I also put together 2 stools from Ikea! They were really fun to put together. They are very sturdy and will be an addition to her kitchen table with 2 chairs. Eclectic all the way, I just LOVE IT!

On to cats, we just LOVE cats but cats can be a handful and a 6 month old kitten who is very mischievous living in a small apartment who’s mom is very busy working very long hours is difficult and since my dear sweet kitty has gone to heaven, I am catless. I just made up that word but it makes sense to me. But the cat story gets a bit convoluted and crazy because we are going to do musical cats! You see my son has the brother to the cat my daughter has and when they took home this brother kitten 6 months ago, it made the total cat number in their house 4 and it seems with this number things have gone awry, and one of their cats is spraying or marking (because of stress, most likely) and they had never done this before. My son and family realize now that 4 cats overall is just too much, so here is the plan.

My son and family have 2 cats that are sister’s and these litter mates will come to live with me and my hubby. When they bring these 2 cats they will take Wolfie, the brother of the kitten they have. So the 2 sister’s will be in the house by themselves and then the brothers will be back together again. My son has one other cat which gets along with Dublin the other brother. I am bringing home Wolfie and the exchange will happen next week when my son drives home from Arizona before Christmas. That is one reason why I am up at my daughter’s to bring kitty home for the exchange. We will go from no cats to two cats. My daughter from one cat to no cat and my son from 4 cats to 3 cats. Haha, are you following along? Did you do the math right? Are we in school with a math problem? how many cats do I have? 😀 😀 😀

Wolfie the obnoxious but absolutely loveable kitty. He loves his cat toys!

As I write this my daughter is making cinnamon rolls. I am hoping for more coffee to go with my cinnamon roll and I am wondering what this kitty pictured above is going to do to my Christmas tree at home! YIKES! I am sure he will try to climb to the top! And am praying he won’t knock it over, I think my coffee share next week will be very entertaining of what this cat is going to do to us for the one week he will stay with us, maybe he will surprise us and not cause to much damage or wreckage or upheaval – what ever word to describe it. I purposely did not put any of my really pretty ornaments that could break on the tree this year. I don’t think it will fall over, but you never know. Think the worse and hope for the best? isn’t that a saying?

Thank you for having coffee with me this weekend. What are you up to this weekend? Shopping for Christmas? Oh dear, I’m behind on shopping and gift buying. I am going to be a last minute shopper this year for sure, I already know this!! Just always busy and the harder part, what to buy? Sometimes just small things from the heart is all you need, usually that’s what I do. I will try and put in a link to the coffee share’s here. And ya’ll have a wonderful weekend!

Cat wrangling grandma!

~Diana

Christmas Tree is Decorated!

On By dprastkaIn Family is important, Living life7 Comments

I said I would share my Christmas tree decorated so I ended up taking about 4 photos and they all came out a bit different. I am just going to share all of them. The lights on the Christmas tree are pretty new, maybe only a year or two old and they change colors which I think is kinda cool. As I took the photos the colors kept changing from all colors to just white! It makes for a fun look I think. This has really put me in the Christmas spirit, maybe it will help you too? We haven’t gotten any presents yet this year, the time is ticking! YIKES!

This is the colorful lights. The other half of the 20 bears I have collected are all around the fireplace. Yes, I counted them and we stopped buying them after the 20th bear!
Another close shot of the colored lights – I accidentally cut off the star, too close! Lol
I like the softer colors of this photo even though it’s a little dark near the fireplace. This is the white lights as they change!
Same tree but with the lights white, pretty cool as I really like this photo and the lighting!

Now, if I can figure out what to get everyone for Christmas I think I would be good. I still need to buy the Christmas cards I wanted and then we are picking names for immediate family. This will help with the Christmas shopping this year! For me, my present is just being with family and enjoying each others company. THAT IS THE BEST PRESENT OF ALL! ❤

To Happy Holiday!

Love, Diana ❤

My Weekly Smile; Dec. 10, 2019

On By dprastkaIn Barn stories, Living life, weekly smile5 Comments
What makes you smile? This is my weekly smile hosted by my blogging friend Trent! Thank you Trent as I just Love to share!

Welcome to my weekly smile and for me this week my smile goes to something that we all Love I think and that is the sun. I am so happy to see the sun and the warmth from the sun just made me smile! I also thought that my ponies were enjoying the sun as well and yes, I just have to share as they were really relaxed enjoying the beautiful weather when they were turned out and you know, I just have to share!

My girlfriends horse Gracie! You can see I am along the fence as she is in the arena wanting a treat!
The trees were being trimmed. The row of trees are all pomegranate trees and the horses like eating them and Zack is rummaging for some goodies!

I am outside the arena fence taking this photo with Gracie right near me in the first photo. I decided to zoom in on Chloe as she is WAY in the back of arena in the corner which I found amusing as she just stood there for a long time. I later saw some cows in the adjacent field that I am sure she was looking at, I wonder what she was thinking?

I haven’t seen her do this before as she stood there resting her leg for a long while. Over 10 minutes which is a long time when you are lose in an arena!
Zack finally made it down to where Chloe was standing. I thought my zoom photos turned out pretty good! I can’t believe how clean and white Zack’s coat is as there is mud everywhere! I am a happy grey horse owner with his nice clean coat!

That’s my smile for today! Short, simple and sweet. What made you smile this week? it can be something really simple like having the sun warm your cheek. I actually took these photos yesterday, such an awesome day. Today it was actually colder and more dreary without the sun. The clouds were hovering for most of the morning and then the sun peeked out and I enjoyed a wonderful trail ride just Chloe, Zack and I – so peaceful. I hope you all have a great week and thank you kindly for visiting my smile!

Smiling Cowgirl,

~Diana

Weekly Coffee Share; December and Decorations!

On By dprastkaIn Family is important, Living life, weekend coffee share20 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?

Welcome to my weekend coffee share. I just got back from the stables enjoying my time with my ponies on a sunny day until the rain clouds moved in and they just rolled right on in and no more sun! It is raining now this afternoon and 50% chance of rain Saturday and Sunday. Basically it will be raining for the whole weekend. Welcome December! Wow, we had a crazy wet year last year and I was hoping for a bit of a break this year. I know we always need the rain, but when you own horses it’s a love/hate relationship with any kind of weather! I forgot to ask, do you need a refill on your coffee? or are you drinking tea, maybe ice tea? I’m getting a refill to go with my cookie snack! CRAZY WEATHER!!

My hubby is such a sweetheart and put out a bunch of Christmas decoration. I always decorate the tree. So this is the before photo, and I need to get off my lazy butt and decorate the tree. Instead I am sitting here writing this coffee share! 😀
Earlier in the day I was here getting them out, exercised and groomed! 😀
I called Zack’s name and he looked at me while Chloe ignored me. I’m lucky their stalls are dry under their shelters!
Chloe is so sweet. I can’t help myself and say often, I just LOVE her winter coat color! She is so dark this year, pretty girl!

I won’t show a decorated tree in this post because I really want to share this now and it will take me too long to get the whole tree decorated. It will be motivating instead to get the tree decorated so I can write a new post about my decorations! I like that idea, so ya’ll will have to wait to see the finished tree. I know everyone has seen a million tree decorations but it sure helps put me in the Christmas spirit! And I shouldn’t be so lazy, but working night shift and taking care of ponies, one gets a little tuckered out and now I have to decorate a tree! Are you feeling sorry for me yet? Haha, I’m just kidding of course, I enjoy Christmas but I have so many decorations I just need to get motivated to decorate! I’m just going on and on about this, I’m the hugest procrastinator. LOL 😀

I just LOVE our collection of Christmas bears! This is only half of them. There is one snowman in the bunch. We bought one a year as the kids were growing up!

I am trying really hard to get into the spirit and thought I would share my bears. How do you decorate for Christmas? I won’t put everything out as I do not have enough room. I definitely have too many decorations, just stuff I have collected over the years. Usually we decorate Thanksgiving weekend but with my sister and daughter visiting I didn’t want to pull out the decorations. Visiting with them was a ton of fun, and I still have plenty of time to get it all done. I will end with one more photo of my day. She always makes me smile!

Miss Chloe is so beautiful! They bring such joy to my life these two ponies! ❤ ❤ ❤

Thank you for sharing coffee with me. My thoughts are rather all over the place, thinking of family, weather, work, Christmas, what to do for Christmas! It can sometimes be overwhelming during the holidays. I’m trying really hard to just take one day at a time. I made it through Thanksgiving weekend and I thought it all went GREAT. Now I want to buy some Christmas cards and then we will pick names for gifts this year. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! Thank you for stopping by! 😀

Busy with the Holidays!

~Diana