Tragedy has struck!

I hope I didn't scare you too much there...but my Dad's blog has been removed without warning.
All his posts are lost. And we were not notified. But he doesn't seem too sad, I will have him make a new one and will put the web address up. ;)

But apart from that, I can't say there is a tragedy. We have kittens, and two of them are calico, a rare color of cat to see at our place.  The most rare would be gray, and the common color is orange. We have lambs coming in about June/July, and two litters of planned puppies. One is going to be due by the first week of February, and the other in April. My brothers and sisters are starting to learn the piano. My Grandparents are doing nothing but good in Ukraine, and are undoubtedly happy.

Last night the phone rang. Dad mentioned that it might be Grandpa. I don't know why he thought that, but I believed him and picked up the phone. The greeting was very much like Grandpa's.
"Hello!"
I thought; wow, Grandpa sure sounds happy and energetic! And with a big smile I asked if it was Grandpa on the phone. I didn't need to, because I knew it was Grandpa.
But then the speaker on the phone laughed.
And I could imagine my Uncle M. throwing his head back and his face attached to that laugh. I suddenly knew, that it wasn't Grandpa. It was Uncle M.!
But Uncle M. told me it was a complement. I told him that it was good that he liked my complement.

Horsie designs and russian hats

 So, There's my whole collection of paper on wood signs, ones I still own anyway.
And below left is one of the laptop skins I designed, on www.cafepress.com/blackponydesign
And left is just for you Nana and grandpa, see, I don't know if mom sent you the pictures of everyone  else in the Russian shop key you sent us, but there's mine. I wore it to church the following Sunday after Christmas. My Young Women's leader said I looked like a Russian princess. :D
It's not a super good picture, I think mom has a better one...but it's better then nothing!

My first trail ride at a real horse camp

Yes, I know this is really late, you can tell by the pictures that I did this in October. But I never got around to posting it, and believe me I had full intention----enough that I don't care that I'm blogging about something I did last year. ;)

You might think that because I worked at the Flying-R-ranch that I would have been trail riding more then I did. Well, that was my first time. Sure I'd been on the trails, but I wasn't riding horses on the trails....
Clip, clip, chop-chop-chop, saw, saw, saw----I was making them.
As I did with the sign above. It looks a lot better finished, but it needed a little more highlighting, which I never got to do. Pity the picture is blurry, but you can still see my little trademark stick horses.

Saddling up. This palomino's name is candy, one of my friend's friend's horse that she borrowed for the ride, while I rode her horse, Lady. She is an Old fashioned Morgan, one of my three favorite breeds.
 My other companion for the ride has a paint quarter horse named Zoey.

And so we went. Me, Friend 1 and friend 2. You can't see it, but I'm wearing a Flying-R t-shirt. I had bought it a few weeks before and I thought this was a cool time to wear it, even though it was crazy cold. When we started anyway. 

We didn't have any trouble at all on our trip, but as we started off a horse belonging to someone we invited to come with us, broke away and kinda got into a freak-out state. Friend 1 caught him, I think, and returned him.

It was different to actually enjoy the trails, then to cut them. I'll admit it wasn't as beautiful as it was in the summer, the hill in the picture top right with Lady's head, that hill is covered in Daisies in about june, and the river is blue and green and clear---and warm. But Candy wasn't daunted by the freezing water, she was all out for taking Friend one for a dip. 

Winter is finally here!

It has snowed, which makes it a real winter. And what's even better is that's it's the good kind that is best for sledding and snow ball fights. Pictures will be updated later. ;)