Happy 4th of July

It's kind of looking like a soggy 4th of July here in Maine. Last night was a thunder storm like we have not seen in years and years. It stalled right over our house, the rain was pouring down in buckets and the thunder was the loudest I have ever heard in my life! The lightening lit up the whole neighborhood at times. Today when putting the horses out the ground just squishes as it is just so over soaked with water. I was so glad that they were all on their feet this morning as I'm sure the commotion didn't set well with them. So we will see what tomorrow brings.

I had a little help with baking this week. I figured I needed it after the debacle last week with the flat gingersnaps.

Yummy, that dough sure tastes good!




We went to Miss T's riding lesson on Wednesday. Last week it got rained out but this week we got in between a couple of showers. She had the first half hour with another little gal who is only five and then did an hour with the older girls. She wanted to come right home and ride Kipper but we had a birthday party to go to so couldn't.

Cantering is coming easier all the time to Miss T. She is very relaxed.

Great dismount! This gal is five years old and has been riding since she was in diapers! She does walk/trot and does a great job of it! Good old Duffy the appy is such a great babysitter and takes good care of her!

I signed on to play Pay It Forward over at Pea's Corner. Now I'll head over there and copy the instructions.

"You don't pay love back; you pay it forward."The expression "pay it forward" is used to describe the concept of asking that a good turn be repaid by having it done to others instead.

If you want to join in the fun, just leave a comment saying you'd like to be included. The first three people to do so will receive a gift from me sometime during the next year. In turn, they will post a Pay It Forward on their blog and send a gift to three people who agree to participate. You never know when the gift will arrive in the mail. It could be next week or next June. It truly is a lot of fun trying to find out what people like so you can send an appropriate Pay It Forward gift. It can be bought or handmade and doesn't need to be expensive at all.

I've never participated in this one before and think it will be fun to send something to someone when they least expect it!

I hope you all have a safe, dry, happy and exciting 4th of July!

Disaster Cookies Tutorial

Have you ever had a day that you knew just wasn't going to go right? I had that day yesterday. When I threw my pj's towards the hamper and they went in the toilet instead that was a pretty good indication! Good grief! I never should have tried to bake with the day beginning that way but Hubby likes his homemade cookies so I thought I would give it a whirl.

I even thought I would do a cooking post like Pioneer Woman does with pictures and all. Nothing like copying......

Hummmmmm........rather flat.......

They are actually flatter then they even look in this picture. They are so flat that my camera couldn't focus on one so I had to tip it a bit! So much for my cooking tutorial!

I have been looking for birdhouses to put up over my cupboards and hit the jackpot at good ole TJ Maxx last week. You can't beat TJ's for home goods.

Notice the sweet little bird beside this house, he came all the way down here from Canada! Thank you again Miss Pea!

I love the way they are putting sayings on picture frames now. I found this one at Kohl's the other day and just love it!

I have been having a problem with pigeons around my bird feeders so had to take the feeders down. I really missed seeing the small birds so bought a feeder that wouldn't lose seeds on the ground that would attract the pigeons. I put the feeder out this morning and guess who loves it? Can you see him? Unlike many others we like our squirrels and find them very entertaining. They love peanuts in the shell and we go through tons of them. I left the door open to the sun room yesterday when I was cooking the Disaster Cookies and guess who came in???? I had to shoo him out before he got into any mischief!

Guess that's about it for today. I'm going to try to make some molasses cookies today. Wish me luck! xoxo

Friday night on the ole farm.

We got another day of sunshine today, dodging the rain, thunder and lightening that was forecast. Funsize came over for dinner and then she, Hubs and I went out to the barn to do some riding.

We harnessed up Kipper the Rotund Rebel and I took him in the cart while Funsize saddled up Lil' Bud and off we went. Hubby manned the camera so that I would have some pictures for the 'ole blog. We got them brushed up and sprayed with lots of bug spray and lots of people spray on us.

Funsize and Lil' Bud have a special relationship. She has been riding him since she was 11 years old and he goes better for her then anyone else. He does a lovely rocking chair canter for her that he will not do for me or anyone else but her.



We headed out through the carriage trails and it was blissfully bug free as there was a nice breeze. (Plus we had on enough bug spray to cover the whole town.....)

Now you may have noticed the Confederate flag saddle pad. When I bought it I thought it was pretty because I like red, white and blue. When I got back to the stable everyone started giving me a hard time, the Yankee that I am, with a Confederate saddle pad. I was clueless but I wouldn't take it back!

I took some pictures of my flowers this afternoon. The have started to perk up with a couple days of sunshine. These are in an old bean pot that I found in the basement of one of the houses that I redid.

Mock orange that has the most delightful scent.

I put white and yellow daisies along the walkway this year instead of petunias. They will get so big when they fill out and be gorgeous.

Aren't these shades of pink just delicious?!

More next time! Have a wonderful weekend everyone!!

Cats, cats and more cats

We finally got a little bit of sunshine to day. About an hour or so and it seemed so weird, really, I know that sounds odd but we have had so much rain in the past few weeks when the sun did come out it seemed odd. Well, the oddness didn't last long and we got some more showers off and on all afternoon. So much for mowing my lawns, they are going to be knee high, I'll need a mower and baler pretty soon!

Funsize has two new kittens! Sadly she lost her cat Madison about a week ago and her house seemed awfully quiet so we made a trip to the Humane Society to see what was available. We have had tons of kittens, over 150, but now are down to 20-25 thankfully. We looked around and Funsize picked out a few she wanted to look at in the kitten room where you can take them to get acquainted.

Doing the pre adoption paper work. That is Youshi our resident cat on the counter.

These are some of the prospects.

Look at those faces!

I think we might have a match.......

This is Lauren one of the adoption counselors. She transports the kittens to the kitten room. It's a rule. We don't want any dropped kittens!

Bingo! I think this one is a go!

Getting used to each other.

The new family!

They will stay at the Humane Society until they have all their shots and are spay and neutered and will come home on Friday. These will be indoor cats so that they won't get near the road like dear little Madison. It was bittersweet time for Funsize as she was excited about the two new furry kids but still in mourning for Madison. I'm glad she got these two though as it will help fill the empty spot in her heart even though there will always be a special spot there for Madison.