Crochet Me Crazy

Just been doing the usual routines since my last post. Animals, horses, working in the garden and running kids around.

Here's some pictures of the progress on the garden...




It's going to look amazing when we are done with it. The black stuff is weed barrier. After we get all the weed barrier down, there will be mulch over it.

We are using the "Square Foot Gardening" method.



I started on a rag rug I am making out of old sheets.



This is the method I am using for cutting up the sheets...

This Vintage Chica: October 2006

This is the method I prefer for cutting up T-shirts and pillow cases.

How to Crochet a Rug out of T-Shirts - CraftStylish

It was another beautiful day. The Stable's came and picked up their grandkids and Alison went with them to town. I was home today so I spent a lot of time outside with Grace today. She loves for me to sit with her.


I went outside with a book and a glass of water....She came up and drank my water that was sitting in my chair arm rest (even thought she has her own). Well, thanks....I didn't want that water anyway.
I put out my hummingbird feeder because I noticed they've been coming around looking for it.
I went down to the garden for a little bit and Mrs. Grain and I worked on getting the irrigation system working on one of the raised beds.
I crocheted a bunch more flowers for Alison's cards...These little things are addicting and a fun little things to do when you don't have a lot of time.





Well, tomorrow's another week. I have to get up and take Michael to the stables tomorrow morning so he can catch a ride with the other guy to go sift goats tomorrow. A little jangle for his pocket that I'm pretty sure he's already got spent! LOL

Have a good week everyone!

Yesterday, we hung out around here and Alison had her friend over. They had a fun day...rode horses, had a pic-nic, swam in the owner's pool, then later in the afternoon we went and picked up a couple more kids and I took them to the river to swim. Actually, I dropped them off there and then went to visit with Mrs. Grain at the stables then went back and picked them up later. Michael had his friend spend the night, Alison had hers.

Today, we worked at the stables but it was a slow day with only one trail ride and a few pony rides. We piddled around working on getting a table display set up and watched Cooter work with breaking one of the young horses. We unsaddled a little early and then took the kids to the river to swim again. It was fun because Mrs. Grain went with us and we watched the kids. Came home to feed here at the house and brought the two grandkids from the stables that the kids are friends with home with us. Jeff hasn't been getting home until way after 10 PM both last night and tonight so it's just been me and the kids. At this moment, the kids are playing some game with flashlights in the horse arena. Oh, to be a kid again...I'm glad my kids still have fun doing stuff like that. I haven't made them come inside yet but I'm about to because I'm ready to go to bed. I don't want them getting too loud and bothering the owners.

So that's about it around here...just staying pretty busy and the weather has still been stunningly beautiful! Just makes you feel great....the birds are singing, the flowers and trees are blooming, the sun is shining, the breeze is blowing....my favorite time of year!

I got a little carried away with crocheting the little things for Alison's cards yesterday. I made hearts, butterflies, and flowers...pictures later.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!!

What a nice day today was...Jeff was off today and we took it easy most of the day. Alison took went riding on Magic....



Piddled around most of the day and got a few things done but nothing stressful. Jeff added wire to the rest of the fence in our yard so now Gracie has the whole yard to roam around in. She ventured out into her new area a little bit. Now she has more grass to graze on. She tried to follow me out the gate when I left tonight and Jeff said after I left she ran around the yard for 5 minutes. She ran to look out the gate and then ran to the other gate. Are you sure she was looking for me or did the car starting scare her? Jeff said he's pretty sure she was looking for me. I'm going to have to take this deer with me wherever I move now. This adds a degree of difficulty to things now doesn't it? I love her so much though.




I even crocheted a little bit today. Alison makes cards that she sells in a shop in town. I decided to see if I could crochet some stuff for her to use on her cards. I'll post some pictures of the cards when she gets them made.



I took pictures of these potholders that I made a few weeks ago....



Here are a couple of new things my son has made recently...great job again!

Today felt a little like old times. Jeff was off and we spent the WHOLE day working on the garden. We got a whole lot done today! We're a long way from being done with the whole garden but we've at least got the beds ready and full of dirt. We finished filling the beds with dirt and compost today and laid down the huge 12 feet wide sheets of weed barrier that is going between the rows.



I didn't get a picture from later in the day after the weed barrier was down. Mulch will be covering the weed barrier in between the rows. We also have some big tractor tires we are filling with dirt to plant in. Mrs. Grain has the whole thing invisioned and it's going to be beautiful. I'm doing a really bad job of chronicalling the garden progress with pictures. I'll have to get back down there with the camera tomorrow to show what all we finished today. Then, Alison went horseback riding with the Mr. & Mrs. Grain and Jeff and I came back to the house and cooked dinner. Jeff grilled some yummy hamburgers and I made potato salad and baked beans. It was a beautiful day today. We just got finished watching the movie, Hidalgo, that we checked out from the library (a horse movie, of course) -- lol. Now, I'm about to hit the hay.

I haven't crocheted in over a week now. I should get something going but I don't know what. I'll wait for some inspiration...right now, I'm in no hurry. We plan to make a trip to San Antonio at the beginning of April so I'll probably line out some projects before then and buy the yarn. I'm not sure I should start on that Blue Star afghan with life being as it is now. That would probably be a better winter project. I think I'll pick out something that's a little more easy going for now.

Lots of hail! I was working in the garden when it blew in. We were rushing to get the horses in their stalls when the hail started. Most of it was golf ball sized but there were two that fell near the barn that were just smaller than a baseball!! I've never seen hail that BIG before! It was lightning and raining like crazy when we went to bed. We were under a flash flood and tornado warning. Alison didn't want to sleep in the RV so Jeff slept on the couch and she slept with me. Today was a very happy day around these parts today when we got up and realized how much rain we got. I'm not sure what the actual amount was but there was water flowing where water hasn't flowed in a very long time! We have a low water crossing to go over when we leave our house and the water was rushing over it. The river is really up today! We hope for MORE rain because that will be a good tourist season this summer. We've been in a drought for so long that its hurting all the businesses. Jeff and I heard water running this evening. There's a creek that runs through the property but its been dry in most places since we've been here. We walked down to take a look.



This used to be our road....



It was also a happy site today when we went to the grocery store and saw bluebonnets and some other wild flowers along the road! We didn't get any last year because it was too dry! Tomorrow, Jeff is off of work. We'll be getting some work done here around the ranch...probably working in the garden.

All I can say is WOW...what a week! We got a lot more business than I was expecting. Every single day was busier than the average day of the summers since we've been working the trail rides at the stables. Saturday, we had 64 riders. I was running ragged with people crawling out of the woodwork and calling. I had to turn away so many people. If we had more trail horses, we could have done even better. It's great to have a good week but it left me with very little energy when the day was done. One of my biggest problems this week was finding the time to eat. I'm so tired when I get home, I'm trying to get us something to eat for dinner and try to figure out something to bring for the next day...throw a load of laundry in and go to bed. Most nights Jeff got home before us and fed the horses here at our house. Thank God, Michael was scooping the stalls in the mornings before we left. I'm just left wondering how I'm going to have the energy to do both jobs this summer. I guess if there's one thing I've learned through the past 2 years is that you can do more than you think you can! I guess we'll just take it one day at a time. I hope these hours we will be keeping during the summer will be acceptable to the people where we live and work.

I'm so proud of Alison. She's 15 years old and handling a lot of responsibility by doing these rides. She's doing it in such a responsible way and got a good taste of what it's like to be an "adult" this week. The other kids up there help when they wanted but spent the rest of the days playing and having fun. She loaded hundreds of people on the trail rides this week single handedly....meaning, she lined up the horses and decided which rider to put on which horse, then rode on a horse for probably over 60 hours this week. I know she was pretty tired by the end of the week. They hired another wrangler that she's working with but he's still learning the horse order, personality, saddles, etc so he mainly pulled the horses, helped saddle and rode on the rides to be the "adult" there in case there's some kind of emergency or something goes really wrong. Everything went very well all week though.

This morning, I slept in until 7:30! Felt good and I feel rested today. I've been catching up on all the laundry and trying to pull this place together a little bit. We've been running in and out so fast, things were a mess. We made a trip to town to buy feed, go to the library and post office.

I had no time to take pictures this week....this is the only picture I managed to get taken.

It's "Wishes" with a tarp on his head. Wishes is the goofy horse that bucked Jeff off. He's scared of everything. The new wrangler is a horse trainer and ferrier and he was working with Wishes to get him not scared of stuff. Next, we're bringing him some Tic-Tacs to desensitize Wishes to!

is that I'm tired this week! By the time I'm able to get on the computer, it's already time to go to bed which is where I am heading in about 5 minutes! This was another good day with 51 riders! It was Jeff's day off and he worked up there with us today so it was like old times today. I miss Jeff not being there. Jeff said he misses it but he sure is a lot more tired after a day working up at the stables than after working a day at his job. It's looking like tomorrow is going to be another busy day because I've already got quite a few reservations on the board. Poor Alison is tired too. She's not an old lady like me but besides riding every single ride, it's stressful to be loading all those rides. What I mean by loading the rides is that she knows the horses personalities and she decides which person to put on what horse based on numerous factors...size, personality, whether the rider is nervous or not, etc. Well, it's another early and long day tomorrow so I'm hitting the hay early tonight. Have a great week!

53 riders today. I'm so proud of Alison. She's basically running the rides with the other wrangler only supporting her. (He's an great horse man but he just doesn't know our horses) There was at least two rides today that she just started loading by herself because the other guide had disappeared. We have to keep moving if we want to keep the rides on schedule. They catch and saddle about 14 horses every morning. She labeled the saddles with the horses name because the other wrangler doesn't know who's saddle belongs to who yet. She's doing most of the catching of the horses because they run away from the new wrangler. She's decided which horses to use on the rides and which riders to match with which horses. This is not an easy job and dealing with the various types of people, ages, and personalities that show up. Then, they take the tourist on a 45 minute ride on a 2 miles trail. The have been doing that 10 am until 5 pm every single hour for the past two days with no breaks. All the rides have at least 4 and sometimes up to 11 tourist they take out. They have to make sure the people and the horses do what they are supposed to do on the trail. I couldn't do this job if I tried. My 15 year old daughter is amazing me that she can handle this! At the end of the day at 6 pm, the horses have to be unsaddled and fed.

We love those horses! They are soooo amazing!

One of the top busiest days ever at the stables today with 63 riders! One of those with non-stop rides all day long and barely even a moment to eat. I'm so proud my my daughter though! She loaded all of those rides herself. After a day like that, most others should seem easy. The horses did great though for their first day back after a long break and there were no major issues all day. What a great day... All I have time. My eyes are closing and I must go to bed.

I am completely exhausted. I remember having this problem last summer though and not having the energy to cook dinner when I got home and then I started taking my vitamins and it helped me. I haven't been taking them. I'm going to have to order some this week when we get paid. I have to be able to go longer. I have to be able to still cook dinner and feed animals and maybe scoop stalls when I get home from the stables. Today we didn't have to feed and I'm getting Michael to go down and scoop the stalls. Today wasn't even a hard day. It was too muddy to ride this morning. By this afternoon, it had dried up enough and we had 1 ride. It was, however, a very chaotic and hectic day because we had all kinds of kids and visitors there. You know...too many chefs in the kitchen.

Oh, Jeff got the highest "numbers" in the district and he's getting some gift cards for recognition! Way to go, Jeff!

so we stayed home on this very, very soggy, rainy day. Hopefully, things will start to dry out tomorrow! The kids were up and raring to go this morning. We got mixed up on the time change and Alison was up at 5 AM! I was up before 6 AM!

Well, remember all my talking about Pinterest and how much I love it? Well, I deleted my account today. Here's why....Pinterest: Change Your Terms or We’re Leaving | The Window Seat Click on that link and make your own decision but I just see this as a train wreck waiting to happen and I'm not going to be on there when it does. So...it was fun while it lasted!

Our boss just told us that we only have to feed the horses one time a day for a little while because there is grass in the pastures -- well, this couldn't come at a better time! I was going to have to try to feed the horses earlier... then take Alison to the stables... then come back home and let the horses out...then clean the stalls...then go back to the stables and work. Now, I don't have to worry about the morning feeding so I won't have to come back home after dropping Alison off. This is good news! Summertime will be a different story...I just hope we can manage to keep them happy out here where we live this summer with us being gone all the time during the day!

Today was a completely yucky and COLD day! Yesterday, it was warm enough to wear shorts and then all of a sudden, the wind started gusting and a cold front blew in and we had a storm last night. It was either hail or sleet. Jeff said it was still piled up on the roads when he left this morning. Well, there goes the plan for bathing the white horses today! Can't do it now that it is cold and I hate to see how muddy they all are today! We are supposed to get some more rain. That's good but bad too. The trail rides start tomorrow and the weather is not cooperating! Alison is so excited to work at the stables this week. We lose an hour of sleep tonight plus I have to get up earlier so I'm going to bed early tonight!

I have made a couple more of these that I haven't taken pictures of yet. Just something that I can sit down and do for a couple of minutes here and there. I guess it's a potholder? LOL!

FRONT:



BACK:

Things have settled down with my son for the time being but I've been so stinking busy. We have been working to get the garden ready. Most of the planter boxes are built. We leveled the ground and put the boxes in. We sifted through the dirt we had dug up with the bobcat to get all the weeds out of it. Alison and I have been spending a lot of time at the stables getting ready for Spring Break which starts on Saturday. Alison has been getting all the horses and grooming them and trimming their manes. I've been having trouble having time to get dinner cooked most nights! Tomorrow, is a trip to the grocery store. Next week will be even busier and it will be a primer for us for what the summer will be like. I'm going to be trying to work at the stables as well as get our work done out here. I guess we'll get it done...it can't be worse than last summer when we were working 7 days at the stables and getting our 24 hours a week of volunteer time in at the park. The park hours were a lot more flexible though. We could get those whenever we wanted. I'll try to check back in here soon!

Just a whole lot going on. I haven't been home much. Jeff is off today but he and Michael went to work goats today. Having a myriad of problems with my son which is really getting me down so I probably won't be posting much. When I feel like this, I just can't post. Posting will be sparse for the next couple of weeks.