And Life Goes On

So much has happened since my last post, I'll try to sum it up as best I can.

Sparky (Diadem Sparklette) passed away in December. She was 30.

I attended the Midwest Organic and Sustainable Education Service (MOSES) convention in February for the 9th time, and it keeps getting better every year.

On the Ides of March (March 15th) at around 3pm, my barn caught fire and burned to the ground. It was a warm, beautiful day so all the horses were outside, the cats were by the house, and the chickens were in the back yard scratching for bugs.  But I lost all my saddles, most of my bridles, training equipment, grooming and farrier tools, and so much more. My insurance paid for a small portion of the personal property, but it will pay for a pretty decent new barn. I'm going to miss my old barn, though.

Spring is starting to really kick in now. The lilacs are starting to bloom, the lawn is growing like crazy, the birds are singing during the day and the peepers are peeping at night. I can't wait to get started on building the barn and renovating the house. I've been trying to get stuff sorted, packed and stored, but it's a pretty big job and taking longer than I thought. Soon though, the house will be empty and ready to gut. That will be a very fun day :)

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!