Blackberry Farm

 

 

We are home from our wonderful trip to Blackberry Farm in Tennessee.  I could’ve stayed a few more days very easily, it is one of my most favorite places to go.  The Hubs was in classes part of the time but I was free as could be.

The horses there are amazing.  This one I wanted to sneak into my suitcase and bring home.

 

I did a lot of riding while there.  The first day I took a private two hour ride into the mountains.  It was a bit daunting to look down from the small trail that we were on as it was extremely steep!  I knew the horse was used to it so I didn’t try to over ride him but let him chose his way.  He was a quarter horse and very sure footed thankfully.

The Hubs and I took a ride the next day and I rode a draft/thoroughbred cross and was HUGE!  He is a fox hunter and I was concerned that he might be ready to run but he was very quiet and fun.  It was a bit chilly, ten degrees cooler then usual for this time of year so we were really bundled up.  I had on FOUR layers!  He doesn’t look it in this picture but he was almost 17 hands tall!

 

 

I liked this horse, of course I have always been partial to appy’s.

 

They had interesting bridles on.  They are Tucker’s and the bit and cheek pieces unhook and it leaves a halter on the horse.  Very nice for when you go trail riding and want to stop for a picnic and can tie your horse without having to carry a halter with you.  I had never seen them before but I am going to check out the website and see how much they are.

 

The grounds are amazing as well.  They have 4200 acres right in the Smokey Mountains and everything is kept beautifully.

This house on the left is the spa and then the barn on the right.

One day we ate outside and there was a bluegrass band playing.  I thought of my parents when they sang the Tennessee Waltz as that is one of their favorite songs.

There was a lady that had beautiful quilts and wall hangings for sale.

Butter beans, I had never seen those before.

 

The Hubs chatting with a friend.

We had fun playing with the truffle puppies.  Their parents were imported from Italy and their job is to dig up the truffles.  They were about six weeks old and were so playful and snuggly.  Something else to sneak into my suitcase!!!!

Have more pictures but I had to buy one of those toss cameras one day as I FORGOT mine!  Grrrrrr…….. I guess I have to take it to Walmart to get it developed……

We never did make it to Dolly World.  We drove in and it seemed very quiet and then we saw the sign where this time of year they don’t open until 2 in the afternoon.  We had a function to go to that night so didn’t have time to wait until 2.

Pigeon Forge is a thriving town with lots of theaters with different kinds of shows to go to.  Again, we didn’t have time to go to any but will probably go a few days early next time we go to Blackberry Farm so that we can see all the sights.

It was a great time, so much to be thankful for.  A beautiful part of the country, I’m so glad we get to go there even though the Hubs has to work part of the time while there.  Works for me!!! :o)

Horses

The snow is gone, it lasted about a couple of days.  If there isn’t enough to snowmobile in or ski on forget it!  A couple of the neighbor kids built a snowman, I wish I had taken a progression of pictures afterwards as he slowly got shorter and shorter until there was just his scarf laying on their lawn.

The boys went back to the stable the day we left for Florida so have been there a few weeks.  I can’t tell you how many times I look out the windows to check on them in the pasture here and then remember they are up the road a couple of miles.  We miss them terribly but it’s the way it has to be in the wintertime. They did go a few weeks earlier then usual due to our vacation. :o(

My sister was here visiting so we went up to see the boys, give them carrots and give them lots of hugs.  This is Jon, he belongs to one of my neighbors who also boards there.  He is about 20 and is a Morgan.  He’s a good ole’ boy and was quite the show horse back in the day.  That is Lil’ Bud in the background.

Here is Nick coming to get his treats.

Kip scratching some itchies, they all are getting so fuzzy!

 

I think Scooter walked up behind me and surprised me.  Nick looks like he is snoozing……..  It was very windy that day, the wind comes right off the river which is at the foot of the hill.

 

 

 

My sister is not a horse person so it was brave of her to get in the pasture with all of them.  Guess Scoot had been rolling in the mud, one of his favorite pastimes.

Just seeing all this hair makes me dread shedding season in the spring and this isn’t half of it for Kip.  He gets enough hair for 5 ponies.

 

Isn’t he as cute as a button?!

 

This picture should have been cropped……ahem……

 

Their favorite rolling spot…….

 

Scoot is one big boy!

 

 

You can see the river on down behind the trees.

They can go all the way down to the river if they want but not ‘in’ the river, it is fenced off.

 

Lil’ Bud is getting a bit of a sway back and saggy belly but at almost 24 I think he looks pretty darn good.

I’m meeting my friend Ann this morning at the stable and we are going for a ride.  I will ride Scoot and she will ride Bud.  We found out last week that Scooter has no intention of going in the river!  All our horses have always walked into the river when we ride to get a drink or to paw the water and get us all wet but he wasn’t having any of that!!  We will ride down there again today and I’ll let him have another looksy.

 

Last night the Hubs and I went to a play at the Opera House.  It was The Marvelous Wonderettes a show about four girls that sang in the 50’s in high school and then went on to their 10th year reunion and how they all had changed.  It was all music from the 50’s and 60’s and they did a fabulous job!! There was a lot of toe tapping going on!  At intermission they served the most delicious oatmeal chocolate chip cookies I have ever had in my life!!  Sure would like to have that recipe!!!!   Wish I could have taken some pictures but that was a no-no.  Don’t they know that we bloggers want pictures?!

Our First Nor’easter of the season.

 

Well we managed to get through our first bad storm of the season unscathed.  We didn’t lose any trees unlike my SIL who lost several big ones in her front yard!  The wind was bad so the power kept going out during the night but the generator would kick on so we didn’t lose any heat or water.  We wondered if Mom and Dad would get out on their flight Sunday morning but they were only a half hour late due to deicing and 16 minutes late getting into Clearwater.

We only got about three inches of snow which was nice as they were predicting at times up to a foot of the white stuff.  My sisters that live west of here each got a foot, but they live in the snow belt so that wasn’t unusual.  The sun is shining today and melting what snow we have which will make it nice for the little trick or treaters that will be coming around tonight.

I took a few pictures of my decorations as I will be taking them down tomorrow and putting up Thanksgiving.  This first picture is the coffee table in the sun room and notice the pillow that I won in Needled Mom’s Halloween give away last year.  I LOVE that pillow with the candy corn on it!  That is Noodles laying on the floor, he is bored as the project is done and there are no workers here all the time to play with him!

I have lots of things sitting on the self I had made in the sun room.  There are outlets all the way around the shelf so that I can plug in things.

 

This is the dining room table.

This is under the tv on the table.  The little candles are battery operated and flicker when they are on.

This is the fireplace in the living room.

This is on the kitchen counter just some things that I put together.

I got this little cupcake holder at TJ Maxx and love it!  We used it at the HAM Halloween party which I will be telling you about shortly.

This is the kitchen table.  The pumpkin is a soup tureen again from TJ Maxx.

Here are the little guys that hold all my trick or treat candy.

This little guy I have had for YEARS. Back in the day when I was still doing hair one of my clients made it for me in her ceramics class.  It lights up and blinks.  I think he is soooooo cute!

The weekend after we got home from Florida the kids held a Halloween party fundraiser for HAM which is for the Hemophilia Association of Maine.  This is close to our hearts as one of our dear friends has a little boy with the worst case of hemophilia in the state of Maine.  His name is Devin and he is three years old.

Tthe kids started working on the decorations before we went on vacation and continued when we got home.  They put a ton of work into this.  Most of the things were made out of cardboard that they painted to look like something else.

They used a pulley to make it look like this Rhino hit the tree.

 

 

This whole thing was made out of cardboard, even the black trees.

 

This was the mad scientist booth.

 

 

There were different characters at each station.

Devin driving the Rhino (with some help)!

Getting the pool shack ready for all the food we had.

Putting up spider webs.

All these pictures were taken in the daylight but believe me it was must spookier in the dark with the black lights on and the music and all the people dressed in character.  We had about 150 people attend and we raised $900. for HAM!!!! It’s our dream that they find a cure for hemophilia, SOON! We had a great time and I am proud of the kids for spending so much time on such a worthy cause!!