Color My World

      Different colors have different meanings and moods, which actually vary among different cultures and countries.  I am not interested in the actual meaning as much as I am in the beauty, creativity, and multitude of blends of colors you can get.  It is also obvious that people come in many varieties of color too. 





     I like Maya Angelou's quote: "We all should know that diversity makes for a rich tapestry, and we must understand that all the threads of the tapestry are equal in value no matter what their color.

     Irish Green Saturday- Hope you all had a great St. Patrick's Day.  Not sure why it is a time to wish folks luck (luck of the Irish).  I know a 4 leaf clover is lucky, but was unsure about the horse shoe so had to look it up.  Whether you hang a horseshoe over your door with the open end up or down does make a difference.  Open end up means you'll collect lots of luck, open end down means you're spreading it to those who pass beneath it. I guess I should flip this picture 180 degrees and share the luck.  I think turning the Chicago River green is over doing this whole theme.
                                                           I worked on
  last weeks Blog post most of the morning.  Just as I finished it up while eating my lunch, Lisa called inviting me to join her and the boys for a ride at Moraine View.  I got dressed, loaded tack, brought the three horses in off the paddock, loaded Roni and got to the park in just over 30 minutes.  It was perfect riding weather, maybe a bit hot actually.  The trails were mostly dry, and things were just starting to green up.  Notice how green our field has gotten.

     Lisa's boys are great little horseman.  They enjoy themselves and are funny... so it was a joy to ride with and watch them.  Again I kept Roni behind Lisa's horse in an effort to slow him down.  He spent most the ride alternating between revved up and semi relaxed.  Several times he started doing the Classic Fino gait, moving his feet real fast but making little forward progress (Mark was right in front of him). But he did great going through creeks, up and down hills and stepping over dead logs and branches.  He really rushed when he figured out we were headed back to the camp ground, so once back, I had Roni gait around, and also do circles, zig-zags and serpentines.  He had
                                                     really worked up a sweat during the
ride and this made him even worse.  Once untacked, I used a bucket to pour water over him and wash off the worse of the sweat.  He held very still for this.  As he cooled and dried, I walked him around and let him nibble on grass.  He really thought he was lucky to get sweet clover, even if it wasn't four leafed.

     I added our flannel sheets to the laundry I did and put cotton on the bed.  I also packed away the electric blanket.  Next I need to wash and stow winter coats.  I had to shut windows because it looked like it was going to storm, but nothing ever panned out.  I was too tired to accomplish any other useful tasks.

      Rainbow Sunrise Sunday turned into a yellow sunshine day.  I worked on lesson plans until we left for Church at 11:00, going to the late service.  Courtney and Mike came out to the farm while I was eating lunch.  We chatted briefly while Courtney brushed Zorro.  He really loves getting his ears scratched.


     Then Joe and I headed to Moraine View with dog and horse.  Joe and Kaysha relaxed while I gave Roni a good brushing, lunged him and got ready to ride.













     The four of us headed off into the woods.  Joe ended up jogging, so I had to bump Roni up into a gait several times to catch up with Joe & Kaysha.  They turned and headed back to camp but I continued riding a while longer.

      As I got back to the camp ground Lisa called.  She and the boys were coming to ride.  So I tied Roni to the trailer to let him rest and cool down. 





     Then we were off for another ride.  I think I was on him for a total of almost 3 hours.   He actually did better when we were by ourselves, just Roni and I.  He did better today than yesterday, so we are making progress.

     After chores, dinner, and a shower, I was too exhausted to do anything but check e-mail and Facebook. 

     Black and White Monday- It started out gray and cloudy, and I even got rained on while driving to school.  But the sun did emerge and it ended up being a beautiful day. The snow-white flowers of narcissus in our yard.




     I usually give Roni Mondays off, but since we didn't have Growth Group and Roni gets a three day weekend off, I decided to ride him.  I just wanted to do some light work, keep it simple and keep it short.  I ended up riding bareback and was only on him 40 minutes.  When I had him gait in the round pen, I felt like I didn't have great control without my stirrups, so once going out into the pasture and around the perimeter of our property, I only let him walk. 

     The black and white bovine like to walk along the fence line with us sometimes.

     Riding Roni up the drive for home was the most difficult part for him.  He really wanted to rush.  I had to stop and back him up 5 or 6 times.  But he finally got the message, "walk only".  Walk vs gait is black and white to me, but may be kind of gray for Roni.  

     White cherry blossoms to the right and the pear tree below is also loaded with white flowers.








     Black on white, Missy takes time to smell the flowers.










     The chickens and ducks like to seek shelter from hawks and rain or shade from the hot sun under our black and white (the horse trailer)...


...while black cat (Missy) goes up to the rafters in the barn for safety.  We have a new cat hanging out in the barn yard, but it is too wild to get near to.

     I cooked corn beef and cabbage for dinner.  It had good flavor, but the beef was a bit tough  because I didn't give it enough cooking time.  I was too hungry to wait. 
                                                          Some cooking instructions (like
long and slow for corn beef) are black and white... there is no gray area here.  I kept the beef cooking in the crock pop another hour after we were done and hoped the left over beef would be more tender, which it was.  We were missing a chicken at bed time, which I searched for, but with no luck.  It is one of the Partridge chicks from Carol last spring.  I hoped the hawk or new stray cat didn't get it.
      
     Red Rose Tuesday-  I bought this little Tea rose on sale after Valentine's Day.  Britney will recognize its pot.  Tuesday's Spring equinox heralds the end of a winter that wasn't.  “Vernal equinox occurs when the sun crosses the celestial equator and night and day are equal."  The record high for this date was 77degrees back in 1921  while the record low was -2 degrees back in 1923.  Today's high of 83 was a new record.  The low for today was only 60 degrees.  So far this month, we have only had 0.6 inches of rain which occurred over a total of 6 different days.  Cripes, it has been so dry, hot and windy, what little rain we have gotten didn't
                                                     even dampen the ground.  Today's
Spring equinox heralds the start of the season, even though it feels like we have sprung into summer.

     None of my red tulips are up yet, so I had to use these pink peach blossoms for the day's theme.  Don't let those gray clouds fool you, they brought no rain.  I did notice a red- winged black bird in this photo.  Looks like the cows invaded his territory. 
     I found this old wren house in the
pear tree that has some red paint still.  Reminds me I need to clean out and hang up several bird houses.  Another job for Spring Break.

     I had planned to ride, but with winds at 30 mph I decided Roni and I could both use a day off.  I had ridden him seven days straight.  By the time I put away groceries and filled water buckets, I sat down here and just surfed the net.  Didn't have the energy to do anything productive.  Joe and I took the dog for a nice walk after dinner.  The wind had died down somewhat.  I am beginning to think we live in Camelot...  it has been so nice out.

     A darn cute barn kitty following me around while I was trying to find a red flower to photo.  We were missing three chickens when I shut the coop for the night.  I found them all sleeping in the barn and carried them each back to the coop.   The duck girls have been staying out late catching bugs under the barn light.  They didn't want to go into the coop either.
                                                Grape Hyacinth Wednesday- It was as 
warm as Tuesday.  Many more flowers are blooming such as this purple/pink phlox.












     The Vinca, also called Periwinkle after its bluish lavender color, is doing quite well out in my rock garden.

     I had my usual weekly riding lesson.  Marj rode Roni first this time, but he was not listening to her cues and started misbehaving.  So we put the side pull reins on and lounged him awhile.  He straightened up and did better for Marj, and by the time I got on, he wasn't too bad.  He and I do have a wonderful bond which helps him to relax with me.  But it also helped that Marj had worn him down. 
    
     Joe helped me with chores once I got home, trying to coax the cows in off the back pasture.  I turned the horses out for a few hours after their dinner, letting them have the whole paddock along with the cows. 




     Joe had taken down the tarp in the corn crib and I opened the doors to let the air through.  Amiga was checking it out.
 


     Roni is often seen grazing alone, but he always has the others in sight.





     Golden Retriever Thursday-  We were to have scattered showers off and on throughout the day, which we did while I was at school.  But the showers were off or scattered before they got to our neck of the woods and I arrived home to dry ground.  Day's total rain was 2/100ths of an inch.




     Kaysha is a goofy dog.  Reminds me of how the kids have been behaving at school lately.  Ha ha ha.




     Once home I started in on weekend jobs, preparing to be gone over the weekend.  Laundry, dishes, pack, clean, pet care note, and finishing this Blog, were all things I worked on. 
A golden moment between Amiga and Zorro.

     The daffodils have really taken off in bloom.  And with their golden colors, they are like a jolt of spring sunshine. I appreciate how they dress up the yard.






















     I have not seen the yellow cat since Wednesday when Abbey had chased him up the tree by our deck.  She can be a ferocious little de-clawed house kitty. 

     Red, White and Blue Friday- Can you see our flag in this picture?  If you click on the photo, it will enlarge.  Looks like the wind was out of the south.  Today starts my one week Spring Break which I really need and am very thankful for.  As soon as I get home from school, we are going to hustle out of here for the Yellow Ribbon Weekend.



    


     We will be attending the Yellow Ribbon Reintegration Program with many other military families.  I am not going to post details now, because it is actually classified information.  But I'll tell you all about it in next week's post.