Category: Living life

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 ❤

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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. 🙂

My Weekly Smile; May 5, 2021 – Busy Days!

On By DianaIn Living life, weekly smile16 Comments
Look at all the buds and flowers! I couldn’t resist and had to take a photo!

Welcome to my weekly smile post and I have a lot to smile about these days. I wanted to share that I went and visited my daughter this last weekend and enjoyed some much needed mother/daughter time together. I have been wanting to go see my daughter and her kitty that she adopted at the beginning of this year. I finally got to meet Evie and I have to say she is the most friendly, lovable kitty that I have met in awhile! She walked right up to me like we have met before and meowed, so adorable!

As I visited throughout the weekend there were many times she sat with me or laid on me as we watched some TV. Haha, my daughter was getting a little jealous I think! BUT that’s exactly why we love these animals so much, right? She found the perfect kitty, so snuggly, warm, gregarious, fun to play with and is into everything but in a good way. She finds the silliest things to play with, such a cute kitty! Here is a few photos of Evie! She makes me smile! 😀

She is so black with a few white hairs on her chest. The sweetest, friendliest kitty! ❤

While visiting my daughter she took me out to dinner for Mother’s day which is this coming weekend so we celebrated early. We made reservations and arrived at Ada’s Fish House in Pismo Beach. We got there a little early and walked to the pier. It was a bit chilly with the wind coming off the ocean. It was a great evening and the food was delicious!

My daughter ordered a Lobster roll and I ordered Sand Dabs with au gratin potatoes ~ They both were scrumptious!

I so enjoyed my time with my daughter. It is so wonderful to be together and connect and enjoy each others company. One of the things we like to do together is color in our adult coloring books! Haha, I know it may sound silly but they are a great stress reliever and another fun thing to do is to shop for… try and guess? more adult coloring books! AND colored pencils and crayons which I have plenty of so I bought some colored pencils!

The next day we got up and decided to eat breakfast in Solvang. We had breakfast at Brekkie’s restaurant! I took a photo of their coffee mug which I will be sharing on my next coffee share. We forgot to take breakfast food photos, it was really good. And then we shopped a bit and if you had to guess, we went to a book store and I bought a Swedish book that is really inspiring on how the Swedes live and their philosophy of life and I couldn’t help myself, more coloring books. Haha, this one is all horses! I couldn’t resist and when I finish my first page I’ll share a photo! SMILING!

Sending HUGS AND LOVE to my daughter!! I had a great time and I know it meant a lot that we got to spend this time together. We will do it again soon!

Heading down the trail with my bestie Sally on her new horse Roscoe!

Wrapping up my smiles for this week is being able to see this view! I love the view between my horses ears! My bestie girlfriend and I had super fun trail rides. It is warming up but we ride in the mornings so we aren’t melting. Haha, it’s not that hot yet and I didn’t want to go down the rabbit hole talking about the weather. We are so lucky to have the nice weather that we do, so no complaining from me today!

Thank you so much for visiting and I thank you Trent for hosting all the smile posts and if you want to visit more click here!

Smiling Animal Loving Mom,

~Diana ❤

Weekend Coffee Share; Weekly Smile Fun in April!

On By DianaIn Living life, weekend coffee share, weekly smile18 Comments
  • My bloom in my garden! A gift from a friend last year, blooming this year!

Welcome to my weekend coffee share where we share what’s been happening in our lives with old friends and new! What can I get for you today? I have both coffee and an assortment of teas. I have recently discovered how much I like Earl Grey tea and have been drinking it more often. This last week was a busy week as we celebrated birthdays. It was my hubby’s birthday and my sweet daughter’s. My daughter’s birthday is one day after my hubby’s. She came home for her birthday and spent time with one of her best friend’s here who’s birthday is one week earlier so it’s a busy birthday month! I am going to also call this my weekly smile post. I’ve always written these posts separately but this week was super busy so I’ll use this post for both. 😀

My daughter bought tickets to an outdoor symphony at the beach. It was super fun and an adventure to drive an hour to the beach to attend this small intimate style concert literally at the beach. It was held at Bolsa Chica State Beach which is in Huntington Beach, Ca. We arrived early enough to order food that was there for us so it was dinner and a concert that was approximately an hour long. The symphony was performed by Orchid Quartet and these women are part of the LA Philharmonic Orchestra and the music was excellent. The last performance included a keyboard player who travels and performs with the quartet. The only thing about this evening at the beach was that it was a bit chilly. It was barely 60F (15C) with the wind it felt colder. We dressed warmly and brought blankets which helped. It was super cloudy, looked like storm clouds but it did not rain. I captured some fun photos I will share. They make me SMILE!

Sealegs at the Beach restaurant is where the venue is hosted and you can see the quartet all bundled up performing!

I loved being at the beach and should visit more often and I am smiling as the drive to and from the concert was traffic free! We have so much traffic here in California and we just happened to be driving the other direction during rush hour and left early because we thought it would take us longer. So thankful it was such a nice easy, fun adventure! I have some video’s I want to share. This music is close to my heart as I just LOVE classical music and some of the pieces I can play on the piano. It was beautiful to hear this string quartet play, so enjoyable. They played Beethoven, Rachmaninoff and Tchaikovsky to name a few composers. I hope you enjoy!

The second video is Rhapsody in Blue by George Gershwin and there is the piano player on the keyboard behind the speaker on the left side of the stage. We were sitting at a picnic table in the back. The picnic tables were cheaper and we were a group of four. They had fire pits which cost more and seated more people. My daughter said it was just about sold out online but there were many empty seats so I am thinking the weather may have kept people from attending. Here are more photos of our fun adventure! 😀

Haha, this is a really up close selfie! I almost did not post but thought why not, its cute I think 🙂 The wind made our ears cold!
Aww, my beautiful daughter and the sun a bit bright washing us out but have to share! ❤
Besties, love these girls to the moon and back again! ❤ ❤ ❤

Such a fun week and I love the setting sun, how can you not smile watching the sun shining through the clouds! I’m so thankful for all our family and friends!

There were over 35 cargo ships sitting out in the sea waiting to be unloaded is our best guess. Port of Long Beach is just around the corner. Maybe the unloading takes longer due to Covid? We’ve never seen so many ships anchored off shore.
You can see more ships out there in this photo. The sun is really trying to shine through the clouds as it sets!

Thank you for visiting my coffee share and I hope I brought you a smile or two as well. I am smiling and am so happy I could spend these days with my family. Since we were down in Huntington Beach we stopped by a dear friend who is my hubby’s best friend. My daughter hasn’t seen him in quite awhile and we were only 15 minutes from his place so it was fun to visit with him. My daughter had to get back home but am so thankful for the time we get to spend together. It will be my turn to drive and visit her soon as I haven’t seen in person her kitty that I am so excited to meet.

I have to thank Trent for hosting the Weekly Smile and Natalie who hosts the Weekend Coffee share! I so enjoy sharing and thank you so much for visiting. I hope you have a fabulous weekend and wonderful week ahead.

Beachcomber Mom,

~Diana ❤

Weekend Coffee Share; What I do for Work!

On By DianaIn Living life, weekend coffee share24 Comments
Welcome to my weekend coffee share!

I have some freshly brewed coffee which I drink with a splash of Italian sweet cream. I also love Earl Grey tea and have some for you if you so desire. Can I get you a cup of either with a donut or muffin? I thought as we visit I would tell you all about my work and how I got involved in what I do for a living. I’ve been wanting to share and thought why not over a cup of coffee. So here goes nothing, as I’ll start with a little history.

Growing up I loved two things, horses and the medical field. I got my first horse when I was 10 years old and was with several English horse trainers and rode Hunter/Jumpers. When I graduated from high school I worked full-time for two different horse trainers grooming and showing year round. I thought I wanted a career in the horse industry but after 4 years of dedicating my life to horses I felt like I was missing something. I thought to myself, is this what I am going to do for the rest of my life? That’s when I decided I wanted more and thought I need to go to college. I wanted to be a nurse!

Yes, this is me jumping my show horse Chester. His show name was Norwegian Wood, after the Beatles Song and for his coloring!

I decided to head to college and while talking to our equine veterinarian at my trainers he told me about a Veterinary Laboratory where he drops off his blood work for testing. I told my horse trainer (my boss) that I could not work full-time and go to college and so I needed to find a new job. He understood and had other grooms and other girls working for him so he continued as my horse trainer until I sold my horse. My show horse Chester my trainer convinced me to sell him which I did to a nice lady who was learning to ride. So he was retired and went to a good home. Before I left my trainer and started college I had bought a young show horse that my trainer wouldn’t let me ride! I couldn’t believe it and I was rather annoyed, so it made it much easier to head out in another direction and I sold that horse and stopped riding for awhile. I felt like it was the right decision at the time. New goals, right? I did miss the horses though…..

Can I get you a refill? or another muffin? I was able to contact the veterinary laboratory that the equine vet recommended and went for an interview and was hired on the spot! I started working there in 1982 and never looked back. It was cutting ground in the veterinary laboratory industry back then and we were using instruments that you use in the human laboratory. When I think back it is amazing how we use to do the testing compared to today. There were no computers – NONE! A lot of the testing was very old school, chloride testing by titration for example, (anyone remember chemistry in school?) a lot of manually testing that is now all 100% automated. I was hired into the Chemistry department. I was just starting college, and it was such a fun job and still is believe it or not! I Love my work!

To this day anyone can open a veterinary laboratory. There are vet hospitals and vets who have tried, and there are many smaller vet labs around that are growing but there are now two GIANT vet labs competing against each other and I worked at one and left to work at the other. The veterinary lab work is not regulated by the state. There is some federal regulations which would be for special tests that are not routine like rabies testing which I believe is done at Universities. The federal government also regulates an Equine test called Coggins which is for a highly contagious disease that the federal government has complete control over. You have to go to “Coggins” school in Iowa and be trained on how to perform this test. It tests EIA which stands for Equine Infectious Anemia which is transmitted by bloodsucking insects. Anyways, I’m going off on a tangent here and what I am trying to say is no one needs to be licensed or degreed to work in a veterinary laboratory. It is helpful but not a requirement!

This is our state of the art Chemistry instrument, Beckman AU5800. Where I work there are 2 of these instruments. (Do you see Thing 1? They named the instruments Thing 1 and Thing 2 and put the character on them! Haha)
Open lids you can see the pipettors which move the reagents and the 2 big circles hold reagents for testing.
Looking to the right, this is the second instrument with the other side open. More pipettors and a wash station which is where all those tubes are in the photo.

It is all really complicated to explain how these huge giant chemistry analyzers work but they are completely amazing. These are used in human labs as well, all our instruments are used in both settings. I have been to training at the manufacturers on many occasions on generations of analyzers over my 40 years of working in the laboratory field. I didn’t take photos but there are two more instruments called Immulites that run endocrinology testing. I have many certifications of my training which gives me expertise in this field. I did attend college but did not get my degree. I ended up getting married and had my 3 beautiful children which are all wonderful grown adults. In the beginning, when I started at that vet lab, I just thought it a job to help me get through college. After 4 years at the vet lab I quit and went to work at a human lab which was a great experience. I was there for about 12 years and without making this too long of a story I quit to move and live in our local mountains and be a full time Mom. That only lasted one year and so we decided to move back to suburbia and I contacted friends back at the vet lab and became the supervisor of the Chemistry department. I actually love helping animals through my job and veterinary science has come a long way and is just as good as we get for ourselves! 😀

As the supervisor for 20 years I learned so very much. I realized that my job was really my career. Moving back to town and getting into this position really pushed me to learn and be a leader. I am very proud of my department and all I did for those 20 years but they were all working grave yard shift (night shift hours). Last year I decided to look for day shift employment. I knew being in management for the last 20 years that there were no viable jobs to stay with this company and so I looked elsewhere and landed a job working swing shift hours with almost the same rate of pay. I now take care of 4 instruments full-time, run blood work and prepare another 9 instruments for the night shift run. I just run quality control on those 9 instruments with a little bit of daily cleaning. It is all doable and I really enjoy this new job, with these great new hours! 😀

I hope this all isn’t too boring and sorry for the techy language which I didn’t want to over explain. If you have any questions, please ask as I’d love to share! I so appreciate you having coffee with me today. I’ll end with this photo!

A photo of a photo, he just loved to jump! Chester and I in 1978 at Del Mar Horse show in Del Mar, CA

It’s only fitting since I found my career because of my love of my horse. I know I am helping all those with furry friends as I run their blood work through the analyzers to see if their kidneys are working or if they have diabetes for example. There is so much more, but working in the medical field has been very rewarding. I hope you enjoyed and thank you Natalie for hosting our #weekendcoffeeshare!

Keeping animals healthy, with Love!

~Diana ❤