A Horse and a Bathroom

A Horse
After some issues with an Amazon seller, I finally got Silky's grazing muzzle last week. Ray and I went out by Mom and Dad's on Saturday and put the muzzle on Silky. She was NOT impressed! She kept shaking her head up and down, trying to get it off. We fed her some carrots through the hole, so hopefully she'll figure it out.

As you can see from the picture, it looks like a torture device! The fly mask is not part of the torture, actually. She really likes to wear it and definitely needed it on Saturday - she had about 25 flies swarming around her eyes before we put it on - yuck! You can also see in this picture exactly why she needs the muzzle! That's quite a belly she has :)


A Bathroom
Ray has been slowly working on our main bathroom for over two years now! Since it's only the two of us, and we have another bathroom, this project always seems to get shoved to the bottom of the to-do list.

Ray and I both took the week after July 4th off, and Ray took the opportunity to get a little more done on the bathroom... well, a lot more done, actually. Prior to that week, the drywall was up and the tub in. During our week off, Ray got all of the mudding done - a very time-consuming process - and he and his dad got our shower surround cut out (it's Corian).

We've been trying to put some more time into this project lately, so since the week off, Ray and I have also sealed most of the walls and primed the whole room. I want to save before pictures until the project is complete, but here is what the room looks like with it's coat of primer:


It may not look like much to you, but we're pretty excited to be this far :)

The goal is to paint the room this summer and for Ray to get the surround and the glass blocks in this fall. Then, Ray can spend the winter making the cabinetry. He's really looking forward to that part since he loves woodworking!

After we're done painting the bathroom, I'd like to spend some of my days off starting to paint other rooms in the house. We're keeping busy!

The Old Mare Just Ain't What She Used To Be

Last fall, I took my 23-year-old horse, Silky, for a ride and noticed that she was limping ever-so-slightly. I knew I couldn't take her for another ride until I had a vet take a look at my elderly old girl. Last week, I *finally* got around to booking the vet appointment for Silky, and the vet came today.

Lots of bad news. Silky has arthritis (which I had suspected) in her front knees, and it's pretty significant. There's not much that can be done, it's just going to continue to gradually get worse. No cure, no medication that's worth pursuing (too many side effects and it wouldn't "fix" it anyway). No more riding (the vet actually didn't say I couldn't ride, but it would obviously cause Silky pain).

There are some things I can do to hopefully slow down the progression of the arthritis:

• Number one is to get Silky's hooves trimmed more frequently. No problem, I'll get the farrier out as often as I need to.
• Number two is for Silky to lose some weight. Hmmmm. That's a bit tougher. My dad is a notorious animal over-feeder and he feeds Silky since she's out on my parents' farm. I've told him numerous times in the past that he's over-feeding Silky, but it never seems to do any good. Luckily, my vet had a solution. A grazing muzzle. Looks like torture, doesn't it? There's a tiny hole in the bottom that Silky will be able to get grass through. Poor girl! The trick is going to be getting my dad to put it on her every morning. *sigh*

She's been an amazing pet and friend through the years, and I want to do right for her in her senior citizen years. I sure do love this old horse!

2005

1995

2-Year Wedding Anniversary

Ray and I both worked on our anniversary this year and had agreed to go out to dinner and not get each other anything as a gift.

We went to dinner at the Red Ox (yummy!!), which is the restaurant we had our reception at two years ago. Good memories :)

While I held to our agreement and didn't get Ray anything, he came home with this:


It's a euonymus bush I've been wanting for along our fence line! I've been spending so much on plants this year that I was putting off buying the bush. I am really happy Ray got it for me. He also made another romantic card for me, like last year. My husband, the poet!

I love you, Gimpy!

What I've Been Working On

My friend Julie is having a baby in August (yay!) and her baby shower was last Saturday. I had been planning on just buying something off of her registry, but then I saw what our friend Leah had planned! Leah made Julie a really awesome baby scrapbook so that Julie can just add pictures in after the baby is born. I decided I needed to give Julie a more "personal" gift as well.

My gift isn't anywhere near as cool as Leah's, but I really liked how it turned out:



In case you can't tell, it's a bib on which I cross-stitched the little dog and saying. I did get Julie something off of her registry as well, but I was really excited about being able to include something I had made myself! I finished Friday night, in the nick of time :)

Backyard Gardening

Last fall, the neighbors that we share a back property line with put a fence up. Both us and the neighbors have large picture windows facing the back, and two of our arborvitae had died, so we were happy to have the fence put in. Now we don't have to look out our back window right into theirs!

Anyway, as soon as I saw the fence last fall, I knew I would want to plant a flower garden in front of it. I've already put some things in and have a few more items planned but not bought yet. Here is what the fence area looks like now:


I'm hoping to put another picture up next summer that has a lot more color in it (and a lot less fence). We'll see!

Also, we bought and planted a lilac bush in one corner of our backyard. I absolutely love lilacs and hope to enjoy this bush for many years to come!


Since I just cut back to working part time this week, I'm hoping to be able to spend a lot more time gardening this summer. It's something I really enjoy. Grow, flowers, grow!

Waddling By

Look what came waddling through our yard the other night!

He was chasing after his wife. (I didn't get the camera out fast enough to get a picture of her.)

So cute :)

Flying to Madison to Go Shopping

Last week, our friend Tony emailed Ray and I and asked if we wanted to fly to Madison with him to go shopping at REI (an outdoor gear store). We couldn't possibly say no!

We met Tony at MaxAir in Appleton on Friday afternoon. It was really neat to not have to go through security or arrive an hour before our flight or anything. Tony had already done his pre-flight safety check before we got there, so we pretty much got out of our car and hopped into the airplane!

On the flight down, I got to sit in the front with Tony and Ray sat in the back seat with Tony's gear (yep, that accounts for all of the seats in the entire plane!).


It was really neat. We flew over Lake Poygan and the Fox River. Plus, we flew a lot lower than commercial planes do, so we could see houses and cars and things during the entire trip. I even got to take the yoke ("steering wheel") and fly! Obviously, I did not kill us :)

Once we landed in Madison, we took a taxi to REI and had some dinner.


Ray took the front with Tony on the way back. I think I actually like the back seat better. It was very relaxing!


Oh, and we flew past the Capitol building! It was lit up and really looked gorgeous. Here's a picture, though it doesn't do it justice.


A very fun night!