Crochet Me Crazy

Jeff & Michael took this picture when they came in last night. Mr. Porcupine was paying us a visit...



What was formerly a cedar branch....
Michael cut and sanded these beautiful cedar boards. They smell so good!



He made them to remake our steps outside the gift shop...



He made this display for this "Cedar Memory Chips" It is amazing! this was made from a cedar branch as well! That kid is so talented!



He and Bev (82 yrs old) are joined at the hip. She drives him to town when he needs something. She thinks he's just the best. She's super creative too and knows how to do everything and has all the tools to do it! It's all very sweet...she just lost her husband a few months back to Alzheimer's. Having the kids and us around is making her feel needed and loved. She's the sweetest, toughest, smartest old lady I know!

Michael latest edition to the gift shop. Today he was busy all day using Bev's saw making cedar planks. didn't see much of him today. I'm sure I'll have many more pictures to take of the creations he makes out of those. He's such a talented young man!



It was a better day at the stables today. Let's hope tomorrow we fair even better. We'll be wrapping up the tourist season around here in a few weeks. Things will slow down considerably. It looks like we might move out the Stables in the fall. They have told us we can move into the extra little house they have on the property. It will make doing caring for the horses and doing all the jobs around there a lot easier to take care of with us being on site. It's a tiny little house with a kitchen/dining, 1 bedroom, and a large living room but there's 2 twins and a double bed. As tiny as it is, it will seem huge compared to the RV!

Well, I'm tired and going to bed!

It was a really quiet day at the stables today. We only had 4 riders all day...really sad. I sat down with the kids and helped them concentrate through some school work. It's hard to concentrate on school when there is so many exciting things to do around you! Michael got busy with Old Bev's Band saw and made some nice cedar strips and sanded them. One of them he used to mount one of his snake skins on. It is now proudly hanging in my RV.

Nothing very exciting happened today. Jeff is recovered from his first rodeo he had yesterday while out on a ride. He took out a ride and a little girl started getting motion sick. He stopped and her and her dad got off the horses. They were going to wait for Jeff to go back and get them on the trail in his truck. Well, the horse Jeff was riding was Stormy. She is a young horse that came back from a trainer messed up because they mistreated the horses. They have been trying to work them through it and get them to trust again. Jeff has been working on Stormy since we got there. Well, when Jeff got back on her, she started bucking up and down like crazy! Jeff stayed on her but he was sore from getting banged around like that! We think that when Jeff tied her up, she panicked when she put her head up from grazing and found her head come up in a tree branch with a bunch of moss hanging in it. She wasn't completely calmed down when Jeff got on her. She wasn't convinced the "bugars" were gone! It's funny, that's what we call them to the horses....bugers. When we're trying to comfort them, we tell them "No Bugers". For horses, there are boogers everywhere!!
So Jeff rode her today to see how she was...she was perfectly fine today. There were no bugars today.

I brought my yarn to the visitor's center today and I made this coozie. We had been talking yesterday about stuff we could put in the gift shop at the stables. They like to put western or horse stuff in there. I was thinking how popular coozies are in the area. I finished the main part but I'm thinking of crocheting the top with a trim of leather or putting some type of cowboy/western concho or something hanging from it. I haven't even decides yet....maybe even some twine or bailing string! I started on another one out of plastic trash. This would work good with the bailing string as trim because it is sorta pink in color. Anyway, I post pictures of what I come up with.

Mrs. Stable is happy with how well Alison is working with Princess in the line. She gave Alison some other assignments on how to work with her. Today, she wanted Alison to get a bridle and lead rope to work with Princess with. Alison wants her OWN horse! She wants to be able to go ride off when she wants. She's not to that point yet but Mrs. Stable said that she would leave Princess to her in her will! LOL

Alison got to drive a tractor last week! She wasn't really dressed for it but hey, you can't pass up the opportunity.

Just a few pictures I took a few days ago....

Today was Jeff and the kids first day on their own at the stables. They got home late tonight at about 8:00 pm. I worked in the visitor's center and then came home and started the very large mountain of laundry. I cooked dinner and they ate and told me their horse and rider stories of the day. Jeff and Michael left for the front gate to get some park hours in. Jeff has to start getting up a lot earlier now to get in to feed the horses. Ryan has been doing that up until now. I'm not sure what time he's planning on getting started in the mornings now but I know the horses eat for an hour once you throw the hay and they have to start saddling at 7:30 am. I told Alison she could go in early and help daddy feed and then go over to the little house and take a nap until it's time to start saddling. Well, this won't go on a whole lot longer because the summer will be over before we know it! They will only take out rides by reservation in the fall.

I'm not setting my alarm in the morning...though I know I won't be able to sleep late, I'm sure gonna try! I don't technically HAVE to go into the stables tomorrow but the rest of my family will be there so I'll probably end up there anyway.

I may never have time to crochet again it feels like! I'm pretty sure I feel a hat phase coming on though. I saw some yarn in Wal-Mart this weekend and found myself thinking what a nice hat it would make. Well, I didn't buy the yarn but I definately need to go look at my yarn soon! At least I have it here with me storage now. I need to finish this blanket I've got started and then move on to those quicker, smaller projects. Fall and winter will slow the pace around here considerably.

Hope everyone has a great week!

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All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident. -- Arthur Schopenhauer