Ordinary Time

Owning horses often feels as though it is an endless procession of repairs, both to the infrastructure and to the horses themselves. This was the state of one of the stalls this morning.  My money is on Major as the perpetrator because he does like to lean and has quite a bit of body mass to put behind that leaning. J. did some temporary repairs this afternoon and will reinforce everything tomorrow. He keeps wood on hand because he's always needing to repair something, but the supply is dwindling.  That's the infrastructure piece, now into the horses. The ponies are now sporting five poultices on their feet between the two of them. When the farrier was out a few days ago, she found the beginnings of an abscess in one of Buddy's hooves. That's one poultice. Moving on to Vienna, she has them on all four feet. The good news is that the farrier didn't see any damage from her insulin spike which means we caught it and acted in time. But she still has some soreness becaus...

This won't be a terribly eventful post as life has been pretty calm lately. Last week when we were driving to church we came across a helicopter sitting on top of a truck looking as though it was being refueled. It was a very odd sight.  Coming home we heard a helicopter and realized it was crop dusting instead of the small plane we're used to seeing. Suddenly it all made sense... both why we saw a helicopter in what felt to be a very random area and what they were doing with it. It wasn't refueling, but filling the tanks to spray the crops. Basil likes to sit in sinks. The other day as I was coming in from the barn I heard a weird scrambling sound behind the chicken coop. I was worried it was some sort of predator so went to check it out. No, not a predator, but a hen who had been hiding from the sun under an old towel that had been left out. When I disturbed her she poked her head out from under the towel.  When it was so smoky here a week ago, P. shared this picture from...

A few days ago I finished The Pelican Brief by John Grisham. I had picked it up because I heard someone mention it as being a book she reread every so often because she enjoyed it. I had never read anything by Grisham, so it seemed like a good summer pick.  It was okay. I finished it and the second half felt engaging enough that I finished it quickly, but I'm not sure it's aged well. Social mores change and the whole 50+ year old male law professor having the affair with the 24 year old female law student felt icky. It pretty much ruined the book for me. It was published in 1992, which meant it was probably written about the same time I was just out of college. I am fully aware that there were teacher student relationships, but while it didn't quite reach the point of being scandalous, it was also not quite right, either. And for the author to be male and writing about it... Just ick.  There was something else that struck me when I had finished the book. Much of the plot in...

I don't know why I've been so tired the past two evenings, but I have no energy to write anything of substance. Maybe I need to find a different time to write blog posts. Or maybe I really am just tired. Either way, for tonight you get to enjoy a picture of some of our ducks in the pond. 

Back in May, when my pattern drafting class ended for the summer, I had just finished drafting a peasant blouse for myself. And the pattern then sat around for a couple of months waiting for me to do something with it. Last week I finally cut it out and took my time sewing it up. (I enjoy sewing so much more if I can really take my time with it.) Today I finished the buttons and buttonholes on the cuffs, which was the last thing needed.  I'm very pleased with how it turned out and with how it fits. I made it out of an old 100% cotton sheet that had ripped and was too far gone to be repaired. As a result, it is incredibly soft, like a very old favorite shirt but without the breaking in period. Here it is: The buttons came from my rather extensive button stash. About that button stash as well as other sewing notions I have on hand. Many of them have been salvaged. Here's an example. This is a pair of J.'s shorts that had become so worn out that they just needed to be thrown a...

I am very close to finishing the book, "Art Cure: The Science of How the Arts Save Lives" by Daisy Fancourt. I also need to share a few quotes with you because they touch on some of my very favorite topics: Connection, creating, and play. "We humans are an inherently social species. Throughout our evolutionary history, we have relied on others for our survival -- so much so that if we find ourselves socially isolated (and therefore vulnerable), we are biologically primed to reconnect with others. Our brains and bodies flood us with hormones, distress signals, intrusive thoughts, and feelings of depression until we take the hint and reconnect. If we ignore these urges or can't find social contact, we put ourselves at substantially heightened risk of every adverse mental illness, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, dementia, frailty, and mortality. One of the most interesting evolutionary theories for the arts I've come across is that they evolved to help us become m...