Category: weekly smile

My Weekly Smile; Horsey Fun!

On By DianaIn Horse stories, weekly smile19 Comments
Murphy makes me smile! 😀

Welcome to my smile post as I am enjoying everything horses from this last weekend. It was a very cloudy day on Saturday, so gloomy that I actually did not feel like riding. I know a lot of people would love the cool weather but I woke up not feeling like doing much and so I went with my mood and didn’t ride. I took the opportunity to visit my horsey friend who I use to ride with and she has moved her new horse Roscoe to a new stables a few streets away but in the same town. I enjoyed my visit with her and was able to see Roscoe’s new stall and see him turned out in the arena.

As we head into Sunday I woke up to a beautiful day. The sun was bright and no clouds in sight which always makes me smile. I so enjoy sunny days and I was really motivated to do more today and ride my horses. I will tell you that I was a bit exhausted with all that I did on Sunday which is a good thing, right? I know I will sleep well. Here is all that I did as I took some photos of my day.

Murphy is tied to a hitching post/rail. I have had him here before and he is learning to stand quietly.

I usually use the cross-ties with Murphy which are ties that attach to each side of his head. This way he can’t move around as much with the sides of his head held straight. He can still turn his body but he also can’t try and bite me which I will say he doesn’t do any more. He use to try and bite me frequently because he is young and thinks it is a game to bite, like I am a herd mate which clearly I am not. He was really good tied to this rail except he was biting the lead rope and pulling on it and almost untied himself. I tied it so that it would not come off but in a safe manner (slip knot) if I needed to get it undone quickly. I’m so proud of him! ❤

Here is Murphy in the cross-ties. I thought I would share so you can see the difference in the two places they need to learn to stand and be tied.

There are horses that can’t stand tied in these cross-ties. We have some at our stables where if they are tied here they will freak out and pull back. Yes, they pull back all crazy and either snap the clips, fall down or break their halters trying to get free. It’s all a terrible mess and not safe for the horses and so those horse owners stay away from the cross-ties and never use them. It takes training and a sensible horse to learn to stand tied to any post including the first one I talked about. They can do the same thing at the straight bar hitching post and can freak out and pull back. Horses are flight animals so if they get spooked or feel trapped and feel like they need to bolt to get away, and boy they are so huge it is not fun when they get that scared. I’m very thankful that both my horses are very calm, sensible horses that do not get spooked easily and they both stand nicely tied to any cross-tie or hitching post/rail. 😀

If you are wondering what owners with horses that can’t be tied do? they teach them to ground tie, which means they teach them to stand in one place with the lead rope just hanging down to the ground. Some people just loop the rope loosely around the tie rail so they aren’t tied, but just sort of tethered loosely. Horses can feel the rope get taught, so they stand still in place. But if they get spooked and pull back the rope just slides around the rail and they are free. They don’t usually go far as they all like to stay near the herd which is all the other horses in their stalls nearby the tie area. Some people just brush and tack their horses in their stalls where there is no need to tie them to anything. These are some ways to get around complete restraint with sensitive horses that may not tie well.

Murphy after my ride standing so very tall and being a good boy!

After my ride I just had to take another photo. He can reach for the rope he is tied with and he just chews on it a little bit. (I would rather he chews the rope and not me! Haha!) He knows I need to brush him and pick out his hoofs. Then we walk to his stall so he can get his lunch. He loves food and looks forward to being done with all this nonsense of getting cleaned up! Haha, He would rather be dirty. It isn’t his favorite thing being brushed but he is getting much better and I can tell enjoys being out and hanging out with me each day. 😀 I find that routine is our best friend and he is very smart and I know that helps us bond!

The weekend was fun with my stable friends!

After taking care of Murphy and getting his lunch I got Miss Chloe out and got her ready for a trail ride with a couple of stable friends. We had a nice time and it was a gorgeous perfect day! Trail rides with friends are the best and make me smile! What makes you smile? 😀 I will end with a photo I took of Chloe and when I took the photo she was just about to sneeze! She is such a good girl, I have so many photos of her but not one where she is about to sneeze. Haha! Now I have this funny photo! Even though Saturday I didn’t feel like doing much, I ended up making up for that on Sunday where I almost did too much!

Bless you, sweet girl!

She’s just so cute and beautiful too! I hope you enjoyed my horsey post with some fun sort of educational things about how we handle the horses when needing to have them stand to be groomed and tacked up! I hope it isn’t too boring for both horse and non horsey folks. It’s so FUN to share!! I hope you all have a great week as we smile through to February!

Horse lover forever!

~Diana ❤

My Weekly Smile; Jan. 16, 2022

On By DianaIn Barn stories, weekly smile21 Comments
My giant ginger cookies! Yummy!

Welcome to my weekly smile. I can’t believe it’s been two months since I wrote my last smile post and that surprised me as I didn’t think it had been that long when I checked. I will blame my work schedule as I try to balance work, my horsey time, my blogging time and I like to spend some free time with my crafts. I haven’t been able to fit in reading as I’ve been wanting to get back into novels I have sitting here just waiting for me! I have to set aside some time to read. I would read before I go to bed, but my hubby is in bed before me and I can’t have a light on and I don’t want to wake him. Hmm… I suppose I could read in the family room before I head to bed. I’ll figure it out! This sleeping at night thing takes awhile to figure out scheduling things. (For anyone new, I use to work grave yard shift for over 30 years!) Now I work swing shift.

I am smiling as I devour my giant ginger cookies. They are delicious and I will share! 😀 My son has been asking me to make them since Christmas and I ran out of time to bake my cookies this year so I finally made them this last weekend. The house smelled wonderful while they baked and I am very happy to bake for the family. I have a few other things that bring me smiles and I hope they may bring a smile to you!

An accidental photo of Murphy galloping and Murphy checking out the neighbor steer!

I thought I would share a couple of photos which the galloping one was an accident. It may not be the best photo but I liked how I caught him with almost all 4 feet off the ground! 😀 I thought I was taking a video when I snapped a photo. I like accidental photos, they are fun!! And at the back of his stall on the neighbors property they have cows and steers. You can see the steer with its horns in the next photo, Murphy is very curious. We have had horses boarded here that have been very scared of the cows that get close to the fence. I am proud of Murphy as he checks things out! Not much phases this big guy!

He is such a fun horse checking out the bags of bedding for his stall! Silly guy!

I thought this a funny video as Murphy is a curious 3 year old! He is so darn cute, and I usually take him out to add shavings to his stall. It was fun interacting with him. He has such a personality, they all do and I mean all animals do right? I have so much fun and I knew as the months go by, I can say that we are really bonding. It’s so wonderful and that truly makes me smile!

Murphy and I riding in the arena! Me and my shadow, I just love shadows!

I have to tell you of one last smile. After Murphy and I had a fun ride together I rode to the gate of the arena and pushed it opened and we walked down the aisle and I decided to ride out the front gate all by ourselves to the trails out front. He has gone out through the gate before but with other horses. When we walk off the property we have to walk between the house and the garage of the owners place and since there are trees and bushes around too, it can be a bit scary for the horses. Also, horses don’t really want to leave the herd (or all the other horses that board there which they would consider “their herd”) so it can be challenging to get them to be brave enough while riding them out the front gate!

I am smiling from ear to ear as he just walked right on down and through the gate and out to the trail! YAY! 😀 Once we got onto the trail out front we turned right and took a few steps and then he stopped. He just looked around and did what I had asked him and I didn’t really have a plan once I was at the trail. This was all fine because I am not ready to go down the trail by ourselves yet at his age. We will take our time, and so I let him turn and head back into the stables and back to the hitching post or cross-ties where I dismounted and tied him so I could untack him and get him ready for his stall. He is so much FUN!! ❤ ❤ ❤

One more photo of my ride with a great shadow! His mane is so thick it falls on both sides of his neck!

I hope you all have a wonderful week, what makes you smile? And I have to thank Trent who hosts the weekly smile post each week. It is so much fun to join in and linkup with his blog which is here.

Smiling, Baking, Horse Crazy Gal!

~Diana ❤

My Weekly Smile; Nov. 15, 2021 Family Fun!

On By DianaIn Living life, weekly smile21 Comments
  • Pismo beach, California!

Welcome to my weekly smile post. I am back from a super fun weekend visiting my daughter who lives 3 1/2 hours north in Orcutt, Ca. She is currently a Major in the Space Force and she is stationed at Vandenberg Space Force Base. They have officially changed the name of the base and so here is to a new era of a new branch of our military. We visited Pismo beach and had the best ever cinnamon rolls which I have shared before since we often go there when we visit. The place is called Old West Cinnamon Rolls and oh my, they are so delicious and every time we sit down at the pier to eat them I forget to take a photo of them. Haha, trust me, they are to die for!! 😀

We then went shopping at a local mall as it was recently my youngest sons birthday. Oh, I forgot to mention he came up with me to visit as he hasn’t seen my daughter’s house she is leasing and he hasn’t met her kitty, Evie! He is bad about shopping and buying himself clothes and so we went to Macy’s and they had great sale’s and he got the pants he needed and a new belt. I found a pair of shoes with memory foam that I was looking for at a great price and my daughter ended up buying 2 pair of shoes. A totally fun day! I am always smiling when I can spend time with my family.

I took this through the front window of the car when we came up on the light at this intersection! I thought it so cool!
My son meets Evie, my daughter’s kitty!

Evie is such a friendly cat. I am so incredibly happy my daughter found her and was able to adopt her as she cuddles and plays. She is such a wonderful pet and friend for her and its so fun to visit as she sits on all of our laps and treats us like family! For those of you who don’t have cats, some cats can be really scared or do not like strangers. Then when you visit they just hide under the bed! Haha, we have 2 cats and one of them is like what I described. She will hide until the strange people have gone, but thankfully she will come out if you spend the night. Then she realizes she doesn’t need to be that scared. I just LOVE Evie! ❤

Funny story, my daughter is taking piano lessons. She took lessons as a youngster following in my footsteps as I took lessons for many years (which I followed in my father’s footsteps as he was almost a concert pianist!). I am so proud that she is back taking lessons again. She has a wonderful piano teacher who put together a recital with all of her students. I was so excited and told my daughter I wanted to attend. She said it is a Sunday night and that she didn’t really want me there because she thought that would make her even more nervous. It turns out our visit up there was from Saturday thru to Monday and what a coincidence the recital was this last Sunday evening! We were able to attend, she didn’t mind and even though she was nervous she performed well. Here is a half a minute snippet and a photo at the recital. She played a Chopin Nocturne, one I was not familiar with but it is beautiful.

I’m so proud of my daughter and the teacher is nearby to turn the page for her so she doesn’t have to stop playing the piece.

This teacher explained how this was a casual recital and that it is good to have casual performances to work out the nerves and to have fun with the pieces you play. We are all so hard on ourselves when we perform and I was so pleased to see how encouraging this piano teacher was with all her students. There were many children, I think more boys than girls playing and a handful of adults as well. It was such a joy to see and hear them all! I am SMILING! 😀

This is just a 30 second snippet. I thought it was a beautiful piece but then I just LOVE Chopin and can play many Nocturnes and Preludes. She is doing great and I’ve already said but will say it again, I am so proud of her and for her getting out there and performing this piece. She struggles fitting in all the practice needed since she does work full-time.

I wanted to mention that the gentlemen you can see his head in the video brought the really nice camera and recorded the whole recital. He also played in the recital and takes lessons with his very young son and daughter. They will edit the video and then send to all the students. I think that is so COOL!! Another huge smile on my face today! 😀

I started a new project, cross-stitch which I haven’t done in some years! Can you guess what I am making?

On to my last subject, my new craft project. You know I share my crochet projects and I make a ton of crochet things from blankets to crochet animals. After I finished the baby blanket and mailed it off to the Mom who absolutely loved it thankfully, I decided to pick up my cross-stitch. This piece I am working on is the third project in a book of four. They are called Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter. I am working on Fall, and you can just make out the beginnings of a barn! I will share photos as I go, and my next blog post I will share the other ones I have completed. I wanted to end with this sunset photo and ask you, what makes you smile?

The sunset from last night! We didn’t stop and I just took a quick photo and I thought it’s worth sharing.

I hope you all have a wonderful week. I can’t believe Thanksgiving is just over a week away! The time just flies by but I am enjoying each day to it’s fullest. Keep smiling! 😀

Happy Smiling Mom,

~Diana ❤

Smiling And Past Squares!

On By DianaIn Past Squares, weekly smile26 Comments
I took this photo last May when I first got Murphy! ❤

I wanted to share a smile post this week and as I thought about smiling I thought I could also share this post with Becky B’s Past Square challenge for the month of October. Since she picked the theme “past squares” we could use past photo’s from other square challenges or use things from our past that we want to share or re-share. I’ll be going through my archives to retrieve photos that I wanted to share that make me smile and they will all be selfies.

I am not sure why I like selfies so much, but I do, they make me smile 😀 and selfies and horses are hard! I should stand in front of them and then take the photo, but I usually try to squeeze their enormous head next to mine, haha, which is really difficult. It is really fun to try and here are a few more selfies!

Murphy and I and a fly! Haha, he was so curious looking at the phone when I took this photo! ❤
These three photos are from summer 2020. Chloe in two and Zack’s nose in the middle! Wonderful memories, which makes me SMILE! 😀

I am sorry the first two photos are rather huge but I made them both square. The three together are not square but I found out that’s okay. I have a few more selfies I will share and they are with my grandkids. I have slowed down my selfie taking with them partly because I’ve slowed down taking photos of them in general. I think when I visit my grandkids I am trying to spend quality time and so I don’t think to pull out the camera (my phone) and so the time zooms by while visiting. My son has been taking some awesome photos and sending them to me so I am not missing out too much. I make a photo book each year of the grandkids and so I can use his photos too!

Here are some selfies of my grandkids, Love them and they are so silly! Love my daughter and I too, they all make me SMILE! 😀

I just realized that I do not have any selfies of me and my sons. Guys are just busy doing their thing as I just don’t think to ask them to stand with me for a selfie. I think they would say what? Why do you want a selfie Mom! Haha, I am joking as I really don’t know what they would say but I never think to ask or make a selfie with them. I do have a few with my husband. Let me see if I can find a good one to end my post.

Oh I found one of me riding, even though my friend did not know I was taking this photo! Haha! AND my hubby and I at a beach concert last year. It was cold at the beach that evening hence why we are bundled up!

I so enjoyed sharing and as I am thinking about what makes me smile, these silly photos always bring a smile to my face. And it is great to look back into the past and re-share fun times. Oh wait, I hear Chloe asking to end this post and she says Smile, it will make you feel good! ❤

Chloe’s selfie! Sweet silly pony! 😀

Selfie Silly Grandma,

~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 ❤

My Weekly Smile; Summer Flowers!

On By DianaIn weekly smile20 Comments

Welcome to my weekly smile post. I’m smiling at all the fun I have had in the last few months. A new horse, spending time with family and my grand daughter’s birthday celebrations to name a few. I have a best friend who has moved to Kentucky and she knows I LOVE flowers and from time to time she sends me the most beautiful flower photos! I asked her if I could share on my blog. These are recent blooms from Kentucky and they just make me smile! 😀

How can you not smile 😀 such beauties!! Here are a few more she shared with me!! Thank you sweet friend!!!

I know I usually fill my posts with lots of narration. I do love to chat, but there is also something about just taking in the beauty. I really wanted to share these super pretty flowers, what makes you smile?

My last photo from Kentucky! Such pretty blooms!
These pretty red flowers are blooming in Arizona. I just had to take a photo! They make me smile! 😀

Thank you for visiting my smile post for this week. I have to say it’s been a rather hot summer here and I am looking forward to the fall even though we have at least another month to go with hot weather. It can stay hot through September here! YIKES! I am also smiling as I have more travel plans in the works and that is to visit my sister in Colorado. I need to secure airline tickets soon. I hope you all have a wonderful week that is full of SMILES! Thanks for visiting! 😀

Smiling, Flower Loving Grandma,

~Diana ❤

My Weekly Smile; Thankful Thoughts

On By DianaIn weekly smile23 Comments
My tomatoes are growing and growing!

Welcome to my weekly smile and for this week I want to share thankfulness. I am thankful my horse Murphy is doing good and the belly ache he had is gone and he is eating well, looking great and back to his happy self.

I am thankful for our health and well being. I know we all are busy and with being busy we need to be mindful to take care of ourselves. I know I am thankful for my new job being able to sleep at night which I know is keeping me healthy. I have been at my new job 8 months now and all is very good.

I am thankful for all of my loved ones and family. We have had our ups and downs, but we all love each other and are so supportive of all we do, I feel blessed. I big shout out to family and loved ones!

I am thankful for all my friends. I have such gratitude for all of my friends, even if I do not see you every day or often I think about all my friends and how lucky we have each other.

Lastly, I am thankful for this blog which brings me lots of SMILES! I am smiling as I write this and this is the shortest post I think I have written in a long time. But that’s what blogging is all about right? Write what you feel, and for this week I wanted to share that even if I do not know you well, or you never comment but read my blog, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Its such a pleasure to share, and brings me joy and smiles. I also like to hear from you, what makes you smile?

I’m smiling because over a year ago I decided to stop coloring my hair blonde. It is naturally blonde but mostly really dark blonde almost brown. It has taken me a long time to accept myself as me. I don’t need to stay blonde to be me and I don’t need fancy hair cuts to be me. I cut my own hair and I love it. (I followed a Youtube haircut instructions!) I am learning to love myself even though I want to lose a few pounds. I am learning to love myself thinking I should work out more, or walk more, or look prettier! We are our hardest critic, I know, I know too well. But we are who we are and I have found with age, all of these things just don’t matter so much any more. It’s what’s in your heart, and my heart is big and SMILING!

Smiling, Thankful, Friend, Mom, Grandma!

~Diana ❤

Tree Square With Lots of Smiles!

On By DianaIn square challenges, TreeSquare, weekly smile14 Comments
I could not resist taking a photo of these beautiful flowers on a trail ride!

Welcome to my #treesquare post hooking up with BeckyB for this month of July and all things trees! I am also calling this my #weeklysmile post as I just LOVE trees and thought not only are trees so important to our planet, they also make me smile. I have an idea of a theme and it doesn’t include this first photo which technically isn’t really a tree and I thought it was a good opener. 😀

This is one of our palm trees in my front yard. They are getting pretty tall and are so pretty!
Looking up at a freshly trimmed palm tree! I think this looks so cool!
This was from our trip to Hawaii a year and a half ago! Everything is so green and pretty!
I thought this was such a pretty photo at the Aquarium of the Pacific. We visited late last year and I love all the palms!

By now I think you see my theme for the trees. Yes, it is the beautiful palm trees. I just had to look them up and there are about 2600 species of palms. Most of them living in tropical, subtropical and warm temperate climates. They are very much a part of Southern California landscape. California is such a big state that it could actually be two states if you were to cut it in half as not only does the climate change but so does the landscape and tree-scape. Northern California is home to the giant sequoias, a far cry from palm trees! It is such a diverse state. So much to see and do in California! 😀

My palm tree at night with a full moon!

This just makes me smile! There are so many trees out there and I have seen some beautiful tree posts with gorgeous tree photos. This is just a sample of the palms that are around and I really didn’t want to let another week go by as I really wanted to share my tree square post and thought this would make a great smile post too!

I hope you all have a great rest of the week!

Smiling, Tree Loving Gal,

~Diana ❤

My Weekly Smile; Good News! June 17, 2021

On By DianaIn Barn stories, weekly smile16 Comments

Welcome to my weekly smile and I wanted to share my huge smile again as I have gotten the green light to start doing more with Murphy! I had my Vet out this week and he took x-rays of his hind leg which had a splint bone fracture. It is healing nicely and he is ready to get to work. I am in no hurry and will start riding him soon. We are currently in a bit of a heat wave right now and so I will go to the barn earlier in the morning to try and beat the heat. This week I have been doing this and getting Chloe out on the trails. We just go for short rides and its just enough to get some nice walking in before it gets too hot. We only walk on our trails and I have been able to ride with my bestie girlfriend on her new horse Roscoe. I have some recent photos to share and a video! I’m just feeling so grateful and am smiling from ear to ear! 😀

Miss Chloe this morning and I liked this photo of Roscoe getting new shoes about a week ago!

It’s a short video but still fun to share! We still have some blooming jacaranda’s on the trails and I am enjoying all the purple blooms on our rides. This video is actually from the weekend but our rides are just like this as we ride around the blocks talking away and catching up on our lives. My girlfriend and I have known each other since we were 10 years old and so we have 50 years of history together and so we are always keeping each other up on all our families happenings as well. We never run out of topics, and we cherish all our time together. I feel so blessed to have such a good friend who is like another sister. Thanks for being here and for all your love and support Sally! ❤ She makes me smile too! 😀

I edited this photo to be up close and personal, he’s such a handsome guy with a very dirty nose! Haha, just so sweet!

I am so thankful Murph is healing up and the Vet gave me some anti-inflammatory cream called Surpass (for those horsey people out there) and he said this will help with any residual inflammation and so I am to apply daily. He said I can also apply it to his front leg where he has an old injury above his knee. He has some soft tissue that may reduce in size if I apply there also.

This is one of my shorter posts, I’ll say short and sweet! I really wanted to share my good news as I am so EXCITED! I know I keep saying I am going to take my time, and that’s because rushing gets you no where and everything has been going so smoothly with the purchase of Murphy to now the good news with the x-rays, I want to take the next step in stride with no rushing. I know I will be in a good place and he will come along nicely as we get to know each other with me riding him and us getting on together in the arena and eventually on the trails! I hope you enjoyed, and I hope you all have lots to smile about this week and always!

Happy Smiling Cowgirl!

~Diana ❤

My Weekly Smile; June 3, 2021 – Very Busy days!

On By DianaIn Barn stories, weekly smile26 Comments
  • Having fun with my adult coloring book! It’s all HORSES! 😀

Welcome to my weekly smile and I don’t know about you but I can’t believe it is June! The weeks are just flying by and I have been incredibly busy. I am in between crochet craft projects and to help me destress I enjoy coloring. I now have 3 coloring books and the newest one is this horsey one, and it is so much fun to color. I just had to take a photo to share! I want to start another baby blanket which I think I will go purchase the yarn I need this coming weekend. Then I will put the coloring to the side but in the meantime, I need something to do to relax and for some reason creating things whether it’s coloring or crocheting gets my mind off of any stress even if that’s just being busy. It’s just the way I am wired I guess. I think many people do projects to focus on things to help their brain, right? Right!

I will start out my smiles this week with coming home Monday from last weekend after spending time with my daughter and helping her pack up her apartment. She found the cutest house to lease and it is just the perfect size! I am SO EXCITED for her and this move. It will be more room, with a garage and 2 big bedrooms with them each having their own full bathrooms. I can’t wait to visit in about a month to stay in her house instead of her apartment! YAY! Here are a few photos of the weekend. 😀

My daughter at her new house and her kitty Evie, enjoying the boxes as we pack away! We got the whole kitchen packed!

Oh the darn sun was glaring in but I had to share the photo anyways of Evie. She is one of the friendliest cats I’ve met which is so fun when I get there to visit. She is not afraid at all and will sleep on my lap too. Such a joy for us and especially my daughter. I am so happy she has Evie and she has her guinea pigs too! We got so much done and I was so happy to be there to help. She scheduled the movers this coming weekend and we had a lot to pack up and so she is in a great place for the move. YAY! I’m Smiling! 😀

I wanted to share that the horses are settling in as I had to move Miss Chloe out into the paddocks but she has lived in these paddocks for many years. She doesn’t care what stall she is in as they are all similar and she actually likes how big these stalls are and does well in them. I am happy this all went smoothly and Murphy is settling in to his new barn stall with the run (Chloe’s old stall) and he is doing well there. He will remain in this stall, this is his new home. My bestie girlfriend took care of the horses when I was up helping my daughter pack and I’ll share a photo she took of Murph. I am blessed to have the best horsey friends and we help each other out and exchange this help when we travel. 😀

Chloe out in the paddocks and she has plenty of room! She is one stall over from where she use to be, it’s perfect!
Murphy being a good boy for my friend. I am so happy he is really calm and is so relaxed! I’m so very thankful!

I will end my smile post with a trail ride I went on today. It is definitely warming up as we get closer to summer here and as I was riding along the jacaranda trees are blooming! Oh my, they are so beautiful and the purple flowers are along the trails which I realize can be a bit messy, but oh so beautiful non the less. Here is my trail ride;

A short video of my trail ride today!
She is looking at something across the street, I can hear people in the backyard with dogs barking!

What a perfect picture with her looking up and across the street right near the beautiful jacaranda tree! I took this opportunity to snap this photo and then after I made the video. She just kept on walking after she looked and listened! She is very smart and realized there was no threat. I let her look from time to time, and of course I had to take this photo so she got to stand there a little longer than normal. What a good girl, such a great trail ride today! It was short but PERFECT! 😀

Thank you for visiting my smile post this week. I am hoping things settle down a bit for me as I feel like I am always on the run. My new horse Murphy is doing good but is on lay up as he has a splint bone injury on his back leg. I think I mentioned this before but can’t remember and I have made an appointment for June 14th for my vet to come and x-ray if needed. He does not limp, it’s on the outside hind leg but I want it to heal completely before I start working him. In Oklahoma x-rays were taken and even sent to a surgeon there who said it will heal but he needs 30 day lay up. I have been doing hand walks only and getting him use to the stables and the grooming area. He has been a champ and been really good walking all around the property. I am hoping to take more photos of Murph, as I get so caught up in walking and grooming him I forget about the photos!

Busy Smiling Cowgirl,

~Diana ❤

My Weekly Smile; May 20, 2021

On By DianaIn Barn stories, weekly smile23 Comments
  • She makes me smile! Miss Chloe looking pretty!

Welcome to my weekly smile post. It has been a crazy month and I talked about the happenings in this month on my last coffee share post. My last coffee share I missed the coffee share link up, so if you missed it you can click here. One of the most exciting news I shared was that I bought a new horse, and I’m grinning from ear to ear! I am also very EXCITED! I have some more news to share as things are just falling into place and I feel so blessed. I have to thank all my friends and family for all their wonderful support with my crazy decision to buy a Thoroughbred retired racehorse. This horse I bought never raced so I shouldn’t say he is retired, but for whatever reason the trainer/owners who bred him decided that he was not worth racing and so he was responsibly donated to an Equine Horse rescue who rehomes these beautiful animals. I am excited because a place to keep him opened up at the same ranch I keep my horse Chloe. I take this as a sign that this all was meant to be as how ironic I bought this horse and a stall became available!!

Ultimately, this is what I wanted all along but when this horse came up for adoption (the horse rescue is a non-profit, I am donating a designated amount which helps the rescue feed and take care of the horses.) I had to make a decision without having a place to keep him because there were no open stalls where I board. I reached out to a good friend and its actually the boarding facility I had Chloe and Zack at last year and she said they had openings, so I went forward with buying the horse. I was planning on having one horse at one stables, the other horse at the other stables until an opening would become available. Happily, a stall has opened up and my new horse is being picked up early Friday morning in Oklahoma and being transported to California and will arrive early Sunday morning! YAY! (I was told it could take up to 2 weeks, it only took 2 days when I got the call with a schedule for pick up!)

  • This is the only photo I have of Midnight Murphy, my new horse!

I am smiling about my horsey adventures. My girl Chloe is 17 years old this year and although she looks great, her legs are having issues. She is serviceably sound which means she can still go on walks on the trails and I give her pain meds to make her more comfortable. These pain meds are like Ibprofen to us and are easy on her stomach and I know helps with the aches and pains of the arthritis she has gotten in her joints. Since she is still able to be ridden, I have plans on using her to pony my new horse on the trails to help him get use to everything out there and that will help when I start to ride him out on trails in the future. I will then plan on reducing the trail riding as I slowly transition Chloe into retirement.

I have some time, I am thinking at least one year as I go through this transition. Mr. Murphy is 3 years old, so I do not want to rush him either. A young mind is impressionable, and he needs training so I am hoping this mix of a senior seasoned trail horse with a young (hopefully) gentlemen will work for all of us as I figure out how I will work with them individually and together! Haha, I don’t even know if what I am saying makes sense but I have lots of ideas and I can’t wait to see how this adventure evolves!!

As I put all my horse thoughts down here I wanted to share a trail ride I went on a couple of weeks ago by myself on Chloe. We were on our main street in town and it’s such a pretty street I thought I would make a little video. They are always fun to make and I just love to share and I hope you enjoy! It’s just all about the horses this week, they sure fill my heart and make me smile! 😀

I sure love the trails and my bestie girlfriend has a new horse too! Her horse Roscoe will be great to trail ride with my new horse too, once I get to that point in his training. I am just incredibly happy everything is falling into place. This will be an exciting weekend and by Sunday I will be able to share in my coffee share more photos of my new horse! I haven’t decided what I will call him, Murphy is a nice name but I might change it, however Murphy is growing on me. There is also seeing what his personality is like once you get to know him. We will see!

Super Happy Cowgirl,

~Diana ❤

P.S. If you are interested, if you type in Midnight Murphy name on equibase.com you can see his breeding. If you click on his sire or dam’s name it will show you their breeding. You can then click on their sire and dam’s name and see more relatives. I did this and it went back to Secretariat, Bold Ruler and Nasrullah. (So much history! I just love it!) He has excellent bloodlines with his sire (dad) Midnight Lute winning over 2 million dollars and was trained by Bob Baffert. Bob Baffert’s horse won the Kentucky Derby this year (lots of controversy over this win and drug testing.) This is all just so much FUN!

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 ❤