My Crazy Summer

I'm impressed I'm actually posting before the end of August. Okay, it's the last day of the month, but it's something anyway...

Since my last post:
I discovered that Jul (Diadem Golden Jul) had cancer and was going downhill quickly. I called the vet, had a final grooming session with her, gave her lots of treats, and had her humanely euthanized. She's now buried next to Rho.

Diadem Golden Jul 1973-2010

My photography business is picking up a bit. In the past month or so I've photographed a dressage schooling show, a dog show, a high school senior, a rodeo, and plus sized model troupe after dark at a county fair. I need to get some more equipment soon, especially if I'm going to be doing more after dark and indoor shoots. On my list are one or two good flashes (I'm looking at the 580 Speedlites) and the 24-70 2.8 lens. I'd like the 100 2.8 macro as well, and I may get that first as it's a bit less expensive than the 24-70.


Bahim injured his leg while I was gone one weekend. When I got back, his whole leg was swollen. I cold hosed it that night and gave him some Bute for the pain, and made an appointment for the vet to come out the next day. The vet determined it wasn't broken but probably an infection in his hoof somewhere. She prescribed antibiotics and Bute, cold hosing and stall rest. He was fine the whole day, hosed him and fed him that night and he was in good spirits. The next morning he was dead. I think the infection went to his heart and he died in his sleep. He's now buried next to Jul.

CBA Bahim Shetan 1984-2010

I've been to Bristol twice this year, and it looks like we're going to try to get to closing weekend. We're also planning to go to the Minnesota Renaissance Festival in the next couple of weeks. I'm still hoping to get to the Michigan Renaissance Faire, as I won a family 4 pack of tickets, but I'm not sure when I'm going to get out there. I have until the end of September I think, so we'll see what happens.

I've been lazy and distracted, and haven't been keeping up with my diet and exercise goals. We signed up for a free month at Curves, went for two weeks and stopped going, at first because I was out of town for a few days and SBC 1 wouldn't go on her own. We decided that it wasn't worth the cost membership, because of the trip to town and the atmosphere and such. I got off track with my diet, my weakness for throwback Mountain Dew and burgers may be my downfall. I'm trying to go for salads, but it's tough. I am working more veggies into my meals, and trying to eat more fruit too. I am drinking more water, though, and adding a little lemon juice for flavor.

Weight this morning was 184.3.

Wow, I'm actually posting!

You know, I knew summer was a busy time, and yet I thought I'd be able to write a post at least once a week. I guess not. So, time to bring this up to date.

I had Rho-Dawn, my chestnut Crabbet related stallion, humanely euthanized shortly after my last post. a few days later, Willow had her foal, a handsome red colt with two socks and no other white, by CBA Bahim Shetan. We've been calling the colt Oz, and his registered name will probably be something like Oz Triumphant, to mesh with the Graces theme as well as the Whedonverse theme. Oz is doing well, frisky and healthy. He seems more delicate than Alex was at that age, but I attribute that to different breeding. Bahim is Babson/Old Egyptian and more refined, and Rho was Crabbet and built like a tank.

Oz at 1 week old

Oz at 46 Hours old

In other news, Ken has been building a new blacksmith shop at the Bristol Renaissance Faire. I've been trying to help out, but mostly I've been documenting the process. This past weekend was opening, and it was mostly done, it just needed a roof, which should be on by now. He's had so many comments and compliments on it, as well he should because it looks great.

Iron Wolf Forge building, opening day of Bristol 2010

I've been lax in my diet and exercise regime. I've been trying to eat right when I can, going for salads and such, and choosing to park farther away from the store so I can walk more, but sometimes a soda sneaks in, or I spend the whole day editing on the computer. I'm going to try harder now. I found a program in Fitness magazine that I'm thinking of trying, to prepare for a 5K walk/run. I'd be starting with the 6 week 'Your First 5K' plan, with the hopeful goal of participating in a 5K either in Chicago (the Lung Run) or Minneapolis (the Skirt Chaser 5K) We'll see how that goes...

I've been around 180-183 for the past weeks. Yesterday I weighed in at 183.

Oops, three weeks of no posts!

I've been a bit lazy about posting lately. The past three weeks haven't been particularly busy or interesting, but I have been a little distracted and when I was online I just didn't feel like blogging.

Some things that happened:

SBC1 and I went to Milwaukee to Boerner Botanical Gardens, then to Southridge Mall to wander. We discovered that the old Yonkers/Marshall Fields/Gimbals building now houses an indoor glow-in-the-dark mini golf course. She pleaded, and I was curious, so we tried it. It was fun, even though halfway through our round we were invaded by a birthday party full of 7 year old girls who had no idea how to play and didn't really care.

We finished our round without incident, then had supper at the food court. We stopped at Borders, and that would have been our last stop before heading home, but I wanted SBC1 to meet a friend first. So, after a lot of texting back and forth, we finally met up. After about 5 hours of chatting and laughing, we headed for home. We pulled into the driveway at 5am exactly, I fed the stallions, and then slept for about 6 hours. :)
On Sunday we went to the Chippewa Valley Renaissance Faire and I got a lovely sunburn on my chest.

The next week I went to help Ken with building the shop at Bristol. I drove down Wednesday afternoon and bummed around Racine for a bit, waiting for them to pick up their other help from Chicago, as they got a late start. I finally decided at around 9pm that I was just going to spend the night at my moms, mostly because it was cold and I had somehow developed a rash/hives like reaction on my sunburned chest. I think it was my sesitive sunburned skin reacting to the fabric softener on my shirt. Whatever, I ITCHED!

Thursday I helped with the shop for a bit, until the itching drove me crazy. I went back to moms to shower and find something to ease the itching. Then later that evening I attended the last ACen meeting for a while, and had a great time as always.

And that's pretty much been it. We didn't go the the ren faire this past weekend, as I still itch and my chest looks awful. I've been a little lax on exercise, but my eating habits haven't been too bad.

Last weeks weight was 180.6, today's is 180.2. Holding steady, but I'm starting to exercise again, so hopefully I can drop down some before the end of summer.

Home again

I had a great time at Anime Central, fondly known as ACen. I didn't get a lot of sleep, drank too much Mountain Dew, and ate very little. There was a ton of food, but I just wasn't hungry. I was nervous, but once I relaxed I had a great time meeting new people and taking pics of just about everything. Some of the guys on our press team gave me a brief tour, as did SBC3 before she had to report for duty at dispatch. Later she and one of her team mates took me to a really great photo vantage point, where I think I got some good shots of the costume contest.

I got a lot of exercise this weekend, mostly walking. I took the stairs when I could, walked the long way to the exhibition room, wandered around looking for photo ops. I also did some heavy lifting and such when we were setting up and taking down, and I also enjoyed some extra curricular activities as well, so I'm finding sore spots and bruises in the oddest places...

All in all, it was a great weekend, and I really want to do it again!

Weight this morning was 180 on the dot. Not bad for all the soda I drank.

Here and gone again

I've been running all around here and creation for the past few weeks. Between doctor visits, ultrasounds, meetings, hanging out with new friends, Mothers Day, and such, I haven't been home long enough to gather my thoughts, much less spend any amount of quality time with my horses.

This week I'm home long enough to pack and bake and then leave for Anime Central, fondly known as ACen. I've been to Cons before, but it's been a while, so I'm a little nervous. Plus, I'm actually working there, taking pics for promotion and profit (mostly promotion, I'm not really getting paid). Hopefully soon after ACen I'll be able to sit down with the doc and find out what's wrong with me. At least the labs and Pap came back negative.

Weight as of Monday was 181.4. Not a major weight loss, but it's still something.

Doctor's Appointment

Wednesday I went to Burlington again, because I had an appointment with my mother's OB/GYN to check out a pain I've been having off and on for the past three years (yes, I know I'm naughty for not having it checked out sooner. I've been broke with no insurance.) It went pretty okay, I gave her as much history as I could and tried to describe the pain, which was entertaining.

Then the exam. I forgot how much a pap smear hurts. Okay, not really a hurt, more a stinging pain. Not really fun. Then she palpated me, and after a minute or two of feeling around in there (which didn't really hurt at the time, but I'm still feeling it almost a week later) she decided to schedule an ultrasound, just to make sure of what's going on in there.

So, the soonest they could schedule the appointment was this Thursday. Luckily, I'm planning on being in town anyway for another meeting in Kenosha (last one -sad-) so it's so far working out. I may even go see Iron Man 2 in a midnight showing, if I'm lucky! Then the doc wants to see me within a week of the ultrasound so she can go over the results with me. That's going to be interesting, as I'm going to be at ACen from Thursday until Sunday at least. If I make the appointment for Monday or Tuesday, I might as well just stay at Mom's for a while. Yay.

Anyway, whatever I had that was making me sick seems to have passed. I'm still not interested in food, but I do have a little bit of an appetite now.

Weight the morning was 181.8 Yay me!

Blargh

So, I was sick pretty much all week. Not in the vomiting, head cold sort of way, but the jumpy tummy, nothing solid through the colon sort of way. I think it may have been food poisoning, but my neighbor thinks it could have been the flu. If it was the flu, it's the weirdest I've seen. So I pretty much ate saltines and chicken broth, drank water and Pedialite (yuck!), took charcoal caps, and walked around like a zombie for most of the week. Fun. Needless to say, I didn't get in much exercise.

The charity photo sessions at CWC went well, even if I wasn't. There were a total of 6 customers Thursday and Friday, and I was asked to come in on Saturday too for a couple of sessions. I had a mini meltdown Saturday morning, but got better as the day went on (kitties and bunnies and good friends texting you does wonders).

After the open house was done, SBC1 kidnapped me for the rest of the day. We did some shopping, then picked up a friend and headed for Wausau. I had won a gift certificate to Tangos a couple of months ago, and still had some left, so we all had steak! Then we went to see The Losers, and I loved it! Lots of explosions and eye candy. We got home at 2am, and I eventually fell asleep.

Weight yesterday was 183.2.

Another busy-ish week

Last week had me traveling to the Burlington area on Wednesday. I stayed in Kenosha for the night, and Thursday I helped a friend dig up some hostas, daylillies and irises, which I now have to find a place for and get them in the ground. I went to lunch with my mom, to a nice authentic Mexican place in Burlington. I attended a meeting in Kenosha that night, and it was as fun as always.

Saturday, SBC1 and I were planning to go to the Midwest Horse Fair, but decided not to go because money is tight and I haven't been feeling well. My period finally started on the 14th, and it went a little longer than normal, with a little more cramping. I'm glad the appointment is next week!

Sunday was another band photo shoot for Snakes and Sparklers. It was a little more difficult, the lighting was worse and I was trying to get more creative. I think I got a couple good shots though. I didn't eat supper, as I wasn't hungry, but I did drink 4 cans of Dew and ate some sushi. I'm thinking I shouldn't have, as it still seems to be disagreeing with me. I also didn't get home until 2:30 am, and didn't get to sleep until 4:30, so that may also be part of the problem.

My weight yesterday was 185.2. My weight today, according to the nice lady who took my vital information for health insurance, was 175. I like her scale better. I'm walking more, but I'm still not eating much.

Fun in the Dells

I didn't do much traveling this week, most of it was spent updating my website and redesigning my business cards. I did take a walk to the end of the block and back, and I've been setting an alarm so I take more breaks from the computer. I've been eating a lot more veggies, though fried foods have really been calling to me. I've also been craving hot and sour soup from Shaw Lee.

SBC 1 and I went to Parsons Trading Post in Wisconsin Dells on Saturday to get a dreamcatcher for a friend in need. I got a map and directions from Mapquest, so of course we got lost. We ended up stoping at MooseJaw for food and directions. I had the cajun chicken sandwich and SBC 1 had the BLT of course. Both were excellent, but we agreed that next time we'll try the pizza.


We found Parsons after that, and spent a long time browsing and trying to decide which dreamcatcher to get. I think I got the right one, I like it at least...

After that, we drove down and parked in our usual spot and walked the strip. We stopped at the Wizards Quest gift shop where SBC 1 got a crystal ball and stand and a flattened penny, and I of course got a fortune from the 'gyspy' fortune telling machine. We walked down to the gem panning shop, but got there too late. The Big Dogs store was gone, which was another disappointment. It was a good walk though, and I was feeling it a little by the time we got back to the car.

My weight yesterday morning was 186.4.

Fun times in Libertyville

I was asked by a friend if I could come down this past Saturday to Libertyville, IL. He was filming an event and was hoping I could take some promotional pics for him and some documentary type pics for the organizer of the event. I said sure, even though it was a 3+ hour trip and I probably wasn't going to get paid. I was looking for an excuse to get out again, and I was so glad I went. I had a great time, hung out with fun people, laughed a lot, and slept in a clean, peaceful room for a couple of days. Total bliss, and my idea of a great mini vacation.

On the negative side, I weighed in at 188.4 this afternoon. I still haven't had my period yet, but I'm not totally worried as I don't really cycle regularly. I am, however, scheduled for a GYN appointment at the end of the month, so maybe I can get stuff figured out.

Another week goes by...

The weather this week has been beautiful, and I've been trying to spend more time outside. Misty and I have been taking more walks, and I've been stretching and doing leg lifts and such when I can. I still haven't been hungry, but when I do eat I try and go with healthy choices like baby carrots and such.

I did slide back a little on Thursday when I traveled to Kenosha for a meeting. I drank a 20 oz bottle of Mountain Dew in a 3 hour period, drank a large bottle of water, and many glasses of unsweetened iced tea for most of the night. I stayed up until 4am-ish, then gave up and stayed awake the rest of the day. I got home at about 5pm, then slept to 9am the next day. I can't seem to sleep past 9am, and that's a good thing. The horses would get pissed at me otherwise.

Weight this morning was 186.4. I think I'm bloating a little as it's coming up on that time of the month, so we'll see how things go this week and stuff...

Happy Belated Ostara!

Ostara was Saturday, and to celebrate my live in sister-by choice and I went to a 'mind, body, spirit' type fair in New Lisbon. It was smallish, but had some cool vendors. I got my cards read by someone other than my live-in sister-by choice (from now on SBC1), and they weren't too far off. I guess I'm supposed to be getting going on my businesses, and focusing on the stable first and the photography second. Don't know if that's practical, but we'll see. When given their names she said that SBC2 is a hinderance but managable, but SBC1 (who was with me) is a major problem. When SBC1, who was not introduced to the reader by name, asked if she was a problem or a help, the reader said 'a big help', so I'm taking her reading with a grain of salt. She never mentioned my love life, or lack of it, so I'm going to guess it wasn't important or it's always going to be non-existant.

I haven't really been hungry this week, but I have tried to make good decisions when I do eat. For some reason I've been craving leafy greens, broccoli, oranges, and yogurt. It must be a Spring thing. I'm trying to get walking more, and the belly dancing in the morning is still touch and go. I haven't noticed much difference in my shape, but my pants do seem to fit better.

Weight this morning: 187.6 Yay!

Week 2, a little late

This will be a short post, I'll update on Monday to keep on schedule.

I didn't post this past Monday because, well, I ran away. I really needed to go, leave, do something away from home. Something that didn't involve my well meaning but nosy neighbor that's a bit in love with me. Away from my two sisters by choice, who care but tend to smother and take advantage of my good nature. Away from my absent-minded, unintentionally callous soon to be ex husband and the disaster area that is his shop space. Away from the daily chores that I should be enjoying, but I end up doing the bare essentials because I'm frustrated with everything: barn, pastures, house, animals, business... everything.

So I ran in all directions trying to find peace. I found a bit, and I was happy. Then I had to come back home, and what happened next I didn't expect.

I hurt. Emotionally, like I could feel again. Not the muted 'oh I'm happy' or 'that's really sad' type of stuff, but open the flood gates, tears on the keyboard type stuff. I haven't felt like that since my heart was smashed into tiny pieces years ago. It was like I was sleeping and dreaming, and someone kissed me awake and brought me back to life. I think somehow the wall that I built around my heart cracked a little.

It's not a good feeling, but it's a start. It means I'm not totally broken, that someday maybe I'll love again. That I can let down my guard and I'll be okay. It also means that I'll hurt more when bad things happen, but I think I'm okay with that. There's a phrase from a song that says 'I'd rather hurt than feel nothing at all'. I understood it, but never really gave it much credit. I mean, who wants to hurt? I get it now. I realize now how much I was missing without emotion.

Anyway, back to the blog. I'll pick up again on Monday, with weights and stuff. And things. To whoever reads this besides me, have a great weekend.

A week later...

I've decided to do a weekly update to track the changes in my habits, weight, and endurance. I'm hoping that this will help me get more motivated and figure out what works and what doesn't.

I've been eating somewhat better this past week, but I'm having trouble arranging my schedule to get more activity worked in. The first two days I got up at 7am, fed horses, came in and did a 30 minute belly dance basics workout, ate breakfast, went back out to turn out the horses and feed hay, then cleaned stalls. The rest of the time I cleaned house and worked on the computer.

It was going well until day 3 when I got cramps. I managed to do chores and clean stalls, but then curled up in a tiny ball for the rest of the day. The next day I didn't get up until 8am, and the morning routine was pretty much broken for the rest of the week. I did keep my activity up during the day, though I haven't been walking the block yet I have been walking the stairs a lot.

I've also been watching what I eat, and how much. I've been eating more fruit and yogurt and drinking more water. My energy has its ups and downs, but I think that may even out once I get into a better pattern.

It's been easy going to movies. Jac gets a large popcorn, and I get a little bag and take a couple of handfuls for myself. We started doing this a while ago because she likes to put a lot of flavored topping on it, and I'm not a fan of the flavors she chooses. The meal deal we get includes a large soda, and she only really drinks Pepsi, so that's a bit of a problem that I haven't worked out yet. This last time I just didn't drink as much of it, but I'd like to avoid the temptation in the future.

In spite of all of this, I'm down to 192 lbs. It's probably water weight, but any loss is motivating. My goals for this coming week are to plan a workable exercise schedule and make more home made meals.

Signs of Spring

Mother Nature has been kind to us for the past week. Beautiful sunny days, blue skies, mild temps in the upper 30's with the promise of warmer weather next week (mid 40's yay!).

The horses are enjoying it as much, if not more, than I am. They're racing, bucking, wandering more of the pasture, stretching out to bask in the sun, and shedding like there's no tomorrow.

In fact, one of my indicators that Spring is coming is when I walk out to the pasture in a brown barn jacket, and come back to the house wearing a multi-color fur coat. It can happen just by brushing up next to them, suddenly you're covered head to toe in horse hair. It will get worse once I break out the rubber curry, as everyone will be lining up and chasing others off to get scratched. There are times I wish I had kids, or at least horse crazy neighbor kids, willing to help with all the grooming and barn cleaning, as it can be so hard to keep up some days.

Spring and Goals

It's March 1st, and while there's still snow on the ground, you can feel that Spring is on its way. The sun is out, birds are singing, and the horses are starting to shed. There's a scent in the air that promises green grass and warmer days coming, and I can't wait.

With the coming of Spring, my thoughts turn to show and riding season. My list of goals in the side bar mostly deals with horses and riding, but I won't be able to accomplish most of them if I don't work on goal number 8: lose weight and get in shape. I'm currently 194 lbs, and at 5'4" that's around 60 lbs more than I should weigh. I also have no endurance and very little muscle tone in my core. This of course is a pain in the neck (and the back, knees, ankles, etc...), so I've decided to start up my work out routine again.



















I'm starting out slow and easy so I don't hurt myself, especially since my back has been twitchy lately. I have a belly dance basic moves exercise DVD that is low impact with lots of stretching and isolations that I'll do every morning in the break between feeding the horses and turning them out. Once I can get through the whole routine without getting winded and overheated, I'll switch to another DVD.

After the morning workout, I'll finish horse chores and clean the barn (muck stalls, sweep cobwebs, scrub and fill water buckets and tanks, etc...), come in and clean the house, and then I get to rest and work in the office for a while

In the afternoon I'll be walking, starting with a short distance at first and working up to walking around the whole block, which is about 4 miles, give or take. I'd like to jog eventually, but I need to either lose weight in my bodice area first (I'm a 38 DD) or invest (and I do mean invest) in a high impact sport bra. It's so hard to find a really good sport bra for big chested women that actually fits well. You certainly can't find them at Wal-Mart.

I'll also be changing my eating habits, much to my roommate's dismay. I'm still researching meal plans, but I want to eat more fruits and veggies, drink more water, cut back on refined sugars, and avoid white flour pastas and breads. It means meal planning and organized grocery shopping, but it needs to be done. I'm planning my veggie garden for this summer, so that should help with the grocery costs and give me more variety.

That's the plan so far. I'll be blogging to track of my progress and to help me stay on course. And I'll try to have actual horse related news and updates as well!

Cold!

It's not the coldest it's ever been, but after the lovely 'warm weather' of 34 degrees last week, 15 degrees with a windchill of 8 feels cold. The snow and ice that melted a little and created a slushy mess is now frozen solid, making the driveway an ice skating rink. We got a little snow overnight, and now the wind is drifting it into mounds and hills, masking ice and frozen horse poop and thus making walking in the pasture a hazard.

Normally I wouldn't worry about walking the fence in such weather, I'd just do a cursory glance at it while feeding hay and turning everyone out. Today, though, I had to do something about it, and of course I wasn't dressed for it at all (what a day to have my only pair of flannel lined jeans in the wash!)

I did my usual glance while feeding, and noticed that one of the wood fence posts was leaning. I didn't think a lot about it, until I saw the electric cord that runs along the top of the fenceline was broken and dangling on the ground. Crap.

I walked out and saw the post was actually broken at the base, which is pretty impressive for a pressure treated 4x4 wood post. The fence was the only thing holding it up. So I go back into the barn, get my tools and some extra fence cord, and get to work. I'm glad I got a new barn jacket for Christmas, as I was wearing sweatpants and a sweatshirt (thinking I would just be working in the barn). That jacket is so nice, it covered my rump and the hood protected me from the wind without hampering my vision.

After fixing the fence, I walked the rest of the paddock to check for breaks or grounding. There was a part that got covered with snow when the neighbor thought he'd be nice and scrape the snow off the barnyard. It was nice, but he bent a fencepost in the process. One more thing to fix in the spring.

When I was satisfied that now one would get out or hurt themselves, I finished the barn chores, brought in Gem, Jul, and Sparky to get them out of the wind, and headed back to the house for a well deserved hot shower. I'm still thawing out, but I feel a bit more human and less like an icicle.

Catching up

It's been a while since I've posted anything, so I thought I'd summarize they past few months, and try to post more regularly in the future.

Never had been easier to handle since he got home from the trainer. He leads without being pushy, he picks up his feet without a fight, and I can brush him all over without him being touchy. He's pretty dominant out in the pasture, but I can't really do much until the thaw comes and I can put up new paddocks.

Alex is growing like a weed! At a few months shy of two years he's about as tall as his dam, though a little butt high at the moment. He's such a sweetheart, and leads and stands for the farrier with no problems. I've got his Pinto and Half-Arab registration papers ready to go, I've just been holding off until he's gelded (which should be soon).

Willow's Pinto registration application will be mailed this week, hopefully there won't be a problem with the two choices of name I came up with.

Hope had a pasture incident the other day that had her bleeding profusely from a cut just above her coronet band. When I first saw it her hoof was bright red and I thought she had cut her heel bulb through to the coronet band. I washed and wrapped it and gave her a little Bute and kept her on stall rest for a couple of days. After I unwrapped it, I saw it wasn't as bad as I thought, but I wrapped it again for protection and turned her out. That night, I removed the bandage and let the wound air out. She's doing well, a little sore but healing well. I'm hoping I'll be able to send her out for training this year, along with Faith and Willow.

The older horses are doing well, Sparky especially. She's doing so much better than last year, you wouldn't believe that it was the same horse! She's put weight back on, is more aligned in the hips, isn't laying down all the time, and has a zest for life that was missing last winter though to July.

Jul is 37 this year, and is bright and cheerful and has good teeth. Gem is 31, and doesn't have good teeth like his dam, but eats well anyway and acts like he's a teenager. Tassel is also 31, and seems to be feeling her years, but has a bit of spunk every once in a while. Heather is 30 and energetic, I'm hoping to lose some weight and head off to do some light trail riding with her.

Bahim is 26 this year, and has his issues, mostly with his teeth. He choked in October, and freaked me out. The vet came out and tubed him, and there was so much senior feed that came out. She then floated his teeth, and stated he has no real grinding surface anymore, they're plate smooth, so I have to really watch out for choke. He refuses to eat softened pellets, so he gets Purina Senior which seems to crumble better in his mouth. I have his feed pan close to the ground as well, and that seems to have helped.

Rho is in good weight, though he still needs to be sedated to trim his feet. I just don't know what happened, he used to be really good about it.

Fiesta the Wonder Hinny is doing well, plump and sassy. His hooves have been under control for a while not, no more long feet and rocking back on his heels. It took a while to get to this point, and I'm glad we finally did. He also stands for trims with almost no fussing!

All the others are fine, plump and fluffy and content to eat hay and play tag in the pasture. Hopefully I'll keep up with blogging this year, so my posts aren't always so long!