January 2017

TRUDY, wow, just so sad for that family.  The service sounded beautiful.

ARK, I can get the TV open but does the photo have to be in a file or can it be dragged from photos?

No rain yet here today, but it's coming.  I can feel it.

ARK, the same chicken n noodles can easily be made in a crock pot.
Because the crock pot is slower cooking time, only put the noodles in for the last hour if on hi or last 2 hrs on low.................the pressure cooker is fast.  I used the manual setting and pushed the button for 5 minutes.  The pressure takes about 15 minutes to reach full pressure and I let it vent release the pressure on it's own.  It was about an hour  I think.  Once it went to "vent" I was outside.  It may have been 45 minutes.  Then the pressure cooker automatically goes to "keep warm"
Seriously, it so easy........my family will be sick of it by May when we go to the mountains.  Ha, then my mountain friends will get to share all the fun...............I'm going to "perfect" 3-4 recipes and all potlucks will be one of the 3...........it will be "you choose" potlucks.

Everyone have a good day.

Accck. Have harry in er. Keeping him.

Oh no!  Prayers & hugs from here CB.

  ARK, I can't drag & drop the picture to "drop file here"...............hmmmmmm.

Cardiac observation....more tests tomorrow to check out heart....wheeeeeee.

Noah at his Granddaddy Cunningham's funeral 2 years ago with one of the Honor Guard soldiers.

Just wanted to see if I could do this.

ARK...I need help if you can Where you say "computer", I'm limited to my iPhone.

Maybe I tried too much...?? Two "pics" about recipe and then three pics made with phone to show cobbler.

This is done in slow cooker / crock pot.

Love to all...
Fat, lazy, old Rick

Good grief, CB.  If it's not one thing for you, it's another.  I pray they can get him back on track quickly.

Rick, a neighbor brought me an apple tart the other day.  It was so good.  It is sweet, but not so rich it's hard to eat.  (That might not be a good thing.)
3 large Granny Smith apples, peeled and sliced
1 frozen pie crust, thawed. (Love Marie Callender's) Prick holes along bottom
Lay the apple slices in the crust, overlapping them
Sprinkle with honey and cinnamon
Spread with apricot jelly
Fold the sides of the pie crust in and over the apples.  The apples won't be completely covered.
Brush with egg white.
Bake at 375° for about 40 minutes.

I will definitely be using this recipe for gatherings.

I left the butcher shop with a slab of ribs that I will use to test my pressure cooker.  Well, test my ability to use it.

WOW ROSE.............Noah is a big boy now and so handsome.  Tell him to watch out for the girls, they will be crazy for him.

RICK & ELLEN..........oh boy.  This will become the "to die for" recipe club...............YUM.

CB, hoping all testing goes well for HARRY.  

TRUDY:
I am sure your nephew was watching and loved his service. It sounded very personal and very nice. Big hugs for your family....

CB:
wow. I sure hope Harry gets better fast. You certainly have issues to deal with lately. I hope it slows down and you both get healthy....Big hugs to you, too.

GRAYMARE:
Well, let me see.....I haven't used the "Drop your files here" button, I used the "Select FIles" one. So I don't know, but encourage you to try it both ways until you discover which can work for you. If you make a mess, I will delete it for you .

RICK:
The photos I used were in a file on my computer, I don't have a smart phone, so don't know how that works. Like GRAYMARE, just try everything. It is better if the photo isn't too large, but you can change the size of it on the First TV screen where it says "800 Px Width for Forums". Don't do anything bigger than 800 Px and a bit smaller is better. You obviously got the pix to post, so you did something right! The recipe looks yummy!

ROSE:
Wow, what a handsome guy Noah has grown up to be! I can't believe how old he is, I remember when he was born....just last year, right? Good job on posting the photo!

ELLEN:
You folks are going to inspire me to get my pressure cooker working. The recipes sound great! And fast would be nice. Today was DIEt Day, so everything besides what I ate today sounds soooo good.


It rained here ALL day. We are soggy, muddy, yucky, messy. Brown horses. I think it is starting to move away this evening. I didn't have a signal for the internet this morning, it was raining so hard. I got the barn cleaned up between showers and even re-bedded the pony stall this afternoon. The ponies look like dirty sponges.

We didn't get the terrible storms that further south got, no damage beyond mud here.

I was gonna try to "fix" my posting, but something is not right. I'll try again another time.

That's Little Louis, Rex' best friend.  He has turned into such a good dog
since my daughter got him as a rescue.  We all love him so much.

I get it ARK...........the problem was I didn't have my screen wide enough to see the green "select file".  Duh.

I'll be on a roll now.  

GRAYMARE
You did it! Cute pup! Hopefully we will see pix from everyone now. I wuv pix.....

RICK
I am on my Kindle now and see what you mean about your photos. On my computer your photos come thru completely. On the Kindle I get half the photo. If you reduce the pixel size to about 600 or a bit less as I mentioned before, it should fit the smaller screens. I did the same thing, in my photo showing Lori and her dog, I was actually in the other side of the photo with Ivan. Keep working at it!

I am going to a birthday lunch tomorrow in Blacksburg at Macados. Yum!

That might be too dark....it's so fun to watch them play.

ARK, heaven help everyone, you've taught us a way we can flood this forum! Thank you so much.

GM, I had written a really long post about sweet Miss Shadow passing in January of 2016, in Lori's arms, while I was still broken and in bed from my accident. Lori and Robin decided that I shouldn't be told till I was at least back on my feet. I also didn't know that Lori was taking care of my Mitzie (my little fox terrier) at the same time. Anyway that really long post got "lost" because Rick and I were posting at the same time............... Please send me the title and author of that book. I feel Shadow was a Carolina dog x too.

CB, prayers for Harry and that the tests all come back as normal. You guys have had so many burdens lately! Please feel the gentle hugs. I'm sad that you and Harry are both hanging up your saddles. I had hoped you'd find a suitable grandma mount. Totally understandable.

TRUDY, so very sad about your nephew and the service certainly sounded like a fitting tribute. So sorry.

RICK, that recipe sounds delish! One certainly worth trying out. Thanks for posting it.

ELLEN, hang on, our racing season will start soon although we will be missing the bad boy, Tony and Mr. Good Guy, Carl Edwards. And now Jr. is a happily married man! Jeff will be a full-time commentator. Wow, changes in the air!

After much consideration I think I will be selling my sweet Inky! He is half Gypsy Vanner, half Paint. I still love him dearly but I have come to realize his nature may not be calm enough for a grandma rider. He will only go to an approved home and since I do not have to sell him I'll be very selective. He'll get more handling/training and be gelded before he goes anywhere! I will be keeping Cross, he is full Gypsy and is displaying all the calmness and laid back nature of the Gypsy Vanner. Robin would absolutely go nutso if I got seriously hurt again. She feels like Cross would be perfect for my trail riding to continue, and I do also. A couple weeks ago Cross and Inky had a halter tugging contest and somehow Cross pulled Inky's off (his was already off) and Cross ran through their pasture swinging and tossing Inky's halter. So next morning I decided to walk through and around the pasture to find Inky's halter and silly Cross, without halter or lead, followed every step I made with his big ol' head over my shoulder.............did I tell ya'll that he just loves attention, lol. Cross begins riding training in April. We'll see how all this goes.

ROSE, so sorry about Shadow. Look up Carolina dogs on the internet, you will be surprised at the black. The book was Hope In Every Raindrop by
Wesley Banks.  It's a quick easy read fiction but interesting about South Carolina. It was among our collective bookshelf up north.  Good luck making horse decisions.  Keep checking in here. We miss you.

Rose, I hadn't heard about Carl deciding not to race. I looked it up to see why. It just confirms him as a good guy. I'm looking forward to the start of the season too.
Jeff was in the Fox booth last year, too. I thought he did a good job. Tony might be seen more often at the dirt track he owns in Ohio, and at his Indiana home. I thought Jr. might get married in the off-season since they got engaged last year. It wouldn't surprise me if he retires in the next year or two.

How are things going with Harry, CB?

I got some sad news today. The young cousin who was having triplets has lost the twins at 12 weeks and 4 days. The single is a girl who seems to be healthy and doing well. Everybody had adjusted to the idea of three babies and were excited to welcome them into the world. We are praying for the remaining baby to be strong and well.

AWWWWWW.  That's a shame ELLEN.....so sorry for your cousin's loss.
Prayers for a good outcome for their upcoming daughter.

Gosh, nice afternoon here, about 48, but very windy.  The sun is starting to go down and so is the temp.

Nothing new here.  Shoer tomorrow.

God bless.  Prayers for ALL.

Awwww, im sorry to hear that ....i was excited for them....but i too will hum for the single girl that she remains healthy.

Rose, sorry about Shadow, its hard to lose them.

Harry was discharged as ekg, bloidwork, heart monitor all was good, but he has a stress test voming up on friday to check things out a bit more.

Soooo...back to a more nornal routine, laundramat tomorriw, oh yeaaaaaaa.

Rose, you can start riding cross sooner, too, so thats good.

Nite, sweet dreams.

ELLEN:
 Well, that is terrible news.  I am so sorry for the loss of two of the triplets. They must be pretty upset.  I hope the little girl does well.  

  I actually had a set of triplets in my classes when I was doing student teaching.  Annette, Anita, and Alice.  They were pretty blonds that were identical.  I thought for awhile that I was having the same kid coming to all my classes before I caught on to their names.   Their parents had a one year old son when they had the triplets, so had 4 babies in diapers at once.   Nice kids.  I guess those girls are probably grandmothers now, time passes fast.
 Strangely, my team teacher partner while I was doing student teaching  had three brothers who were also identical triplets.  They were a little older than the girls, but made a cute sight when they got them all together.


GRAYMARE:
 Good photo of the pooches!  Rex looks like a happy guy with his friend.

CB:
 I hope this means Harry is okay!  I'd rather be at the laundromat than the hospital!

ROSE:
 Sounds like a reasonable plan with your horses.  Being safe after that accident is a very good idea.  I rode Areion last week, the first time in a while.  She is so different from Ivan, who is basically my comfort zone horse these days.  I will have to be very careful on Areion.  

RICK:
 So did you make that recipe?  

Tomorrow I have lessons on Ivan and Areion.  It is supposed to get up to 65 degrees with actual sunshine!!  It was chilly and misty all day today after a lot of rain the day before.  It is soggy out there.  I had a very nice lunch, though!

Donnie defends his dissertation on Thursday!!!  I thought it was on Friday, so the day is sneaking up faster than I thought.  We have to try to find him a decent pair of pants tomorrow evening, I hate the cut of his suit pants he has.  I hope the styles have changed since we last bought him those pants.  Baggy butt pants...

CB: Good grief girlfriend. Praying Harry will recover and al his tests will have good results.

ROSE: Sorry to hear you are selling Inky, but follow your intuition, you know if something just isn't the right path to follow. We sure don't want you get hurt.

ARK: Dress Donnie up nicely for his BIG day. What an exciting day he is going to have.

ELLEN: So sorry to hear about the babies. There are just no words, what a horrific thing to have to happen. Prayers for the family and the little girl who is still hanging on.

A friend called last night, someone gave him a side of beef all wrapped and frozen, he didn't have room to put it in their freezer and wanted to know if we did and could we find some needy Veterans to give it to. I made room for the beef and am making a list of people who are struggling this winter. A half is a LOT of beef, we only get a quarter and it lasts us all winter. I have some rearranging to do in the freezers today.

The eye doctor visit went well, new lenses of course, but I knew that was coming. At least no cataract surgery until maybe next year, hopefully NOT then either. Not comfortable thinking about eye surgery.

We had snow Monday night into Tuesday morning but by afternoon it was all gone, it started raining instead. WHEW we missed a big snow storm. The fields are mud.

Hard to believe it is only a week until Feb already. This winter is flying by and that is fine with me.

Ark, wgen we did the cruise, we went to a western store and got a suit for Harry, the fit was great and he looked good in it, hes not a business suit type. Good luck in the oants search. Good luck to Donnie!

We will know after stress test if any vessels are weak or leaking.....but the other tests went well.

Trudy, thats a nice thing you are doing and that your friend did also. Ty.

CB:
That is a good idea. i think we will try finding Donnie's next suit at a western store, but luckily, today we found some nice pants at WalMart that look good with his jacket. I just got finished hemming them, so he is ready for his defense of his dissertation tomorrow.

TRUDY:
Don't be too quick to dismiss the cataract surgery! It was the best thing I ever did medically! I had cataracts in both eyes, but couldn't really tell it. When they were removed, I had corrective lenses implanted and can see well for the first time in my life. I couldn't tell how many fingers were held up at 6 feet away, now I have 20/20 vision. Truly a miracle. I do have to use reading glasses, but those can be bought anywhere for next to nothing. I do wear safety glasses or sunglasses when I go outside, mostly because I am paranoid about getting anything in my eyes at the barn. So check it out, you might really want to do the cataract surgery. It was a piece of cake, easiest thing I ever did, and I also was afraid of eye surgery before.

What a nice thing your friend did with the side of beef! You must have some big freezers!


It was 67 degrees today with sunshine....real live sunshine! After what feels like weeks of clouds, the warm sunshine was wonderful. I rode both Ivan and Areion during our lessons today. Ivan, my comfy couch pony, did a very nice job. He has been so nice lately, other than pushing thru the hackamore last Saturday and wanting to trot faster. Today he was very cooperative and didn't push thru it. Lori finished up Ivan's lesson by cantering him in preparation for me to take cantering lessons on him. He did okay, but is a little stiff thru the turns. I don't mind cantering on the straight, but going around tight curves gives me the willies. I came off of Arkady at a canter many moons ago while being lunged by our trainer. Anyway, I want to fix that fear.

Areion was kind when I rode her, she didn't dump me. She is so sensitive, much more sensitive than Ivan who puts up with about anything I do. I have to learn her rein lengths and cues that she has learned from Lori. We had a good lesson today.

The temps are dropping tomorrow and won't get back up to the 60s for the foreseeable future... Snow is forecast for Sunday. Boo-hiss.