365 in 2021, days 43-49

02/12/2021

Texas froze over, most of eastern Portland metro was having horrible ice storms, and we got some snow and sleet. We still had ice but no where as bad as elsewhere. And the dogs could still play in it.  

Leia is getting quite gray now. She's 10. She still runs and plays hard, but she feels that later and will start limping and having trouble getting up.

2/13/2021

Leia used to jump up and down this retaining wall A LOT.  We call her monkey for a reason. She can jump high and really liked to even if we tried to slow her down or stop her.  

Chewie won't jump as often, but he was having a blast running through the snow playing chase and tackle with Leia and dove off the retaining wall a few times to escape her because he knows she'll only jump once. 

2/14/2021*

For Valentine's day I made chicken parmesan from scratch cause it's one of our favorite meals. We were all snowed in and we're still in a pandemic, and we don't really like going to restaurants on the busy days anyways even if they were open so it was better to chill at home.  

This is my hue shift afghan that I've been working on/not working on for like 5 years now.  I don't remember when I started it. There are four sections of the afghan, and this is the end of section one. I'm having a horrible time with this last block and have had to rip it out and start completely over 5 times. I keep dropping a stitch or forgetting a decrease or doubling the decrease or I dunno what's wrong but it's wrong. I got a little bit further than this photo and put it up for the night, and haven't had a chance to pick it up again.  I'll eventually finish it and it will be lovely. 

2/15/2021*

Us over on the west side were finally thawed enough to get the horses out. They won't get turned out when it's sleet or ice since it's miserable for them and/or they could slip and get hurt.  

If you look close you can see the rainbow right above Chester.  We had a pons at the end of the rainbow! 

2/16/2021

Cheddar ponies!

2/17/2021*

I got stuck on the couch under a Chewers. I sat down to watch a show, he curled up next to me and fell asleep and I didn't want to wake him.  

 2/18/2021*

There was another really awful stormy day, and because it just makes Chester look miserable I had them keep him in for the day.  

Since he stayed in and didn't get a lot of movement, Carus had him run around the arena a little when we went out for chores.  

He kept trying to go over and stand in the mud. Cause he's a weirdo. 

365 of 2021, days 9-18

I didn't really intend to go as long as I did before an update, it sort of just happened.  (Cell phone shots are marked with an asterisk.)

 

1/9/2021

This is my Angelfish, Two-face.

The other side of him is yellow/white, which is why I named him Two-face.  

Fish are surprisingly hard to photograph. They're much prettier in person. 

1/10/2021

Two of my four ghost catfish (or glass catfish). I purchased them as ghost but a lot of online sources call them glass.  It was also fitting that I got them in October. They shimmer when the light hits them just right and they're pretty cool looking. They're whiskers move all over when looking for food - they'll tap along the ground independently.

1/11/2021

The other side of Two-face.  

He's hunting for shrimp pellets. Or more babies. I got three baby Ember Tetras before I got the Angelfish, and I saw a new one about a month after I got them - but haven't seen any since. Pretty sure the Angels are eating the eggs/fry. Which is annoying. 

1/12/2021*

Watching Carus and Chester, which is common.  

This turned out to be a not great ride. We had a storm coming in that evening and it started to hit not long after she got in the saddle. The wind and rain was hitting the roof and the tarped side quite a bit and was making some weird/scary sounds.  Chester spooked a bit so she got off and went back to practicing showmanship as it's easier to reassure him from the ground.  Then he really spooked and she gave up. I had him calmly stand in a few of the scarier spots while we gave him loves and reassurance and then he got dinner and a bunch of cookies for being a good boy.  He's done well with losing his sight, but days like this are harder. 

1/13/2021*

The aftermath of that storm.  We lost power for a few minutes. Others lost it for hours/days. Some trees fell around the area - no injuries that I heard of though - and there was a ton of flooding.  The main road that we take to the barn has been closed for months as they rebuild the bridge, though it would have been closed for flooding anyways.  This was the next road to take - also closed for flooding. We ended up having to take the long way to the barn, and then in an attempt to go into town after leaving and not having to go the same long way back we tried another road. I should have gotten a photo of that one - we got stuck. There were cars and trucks going through without a problem, but Carus's small car definitely would not have made it.  She stopped and said nope. Then we had to figure out how to get turned around with cars behind us.  A few guys in trucks helped direct her back, into the other lane, and back some more before we cleared the line of trucks that could make it through and we could turn around. Her inexperience driving was very good here - I might have risked driving through with all the others doing okay and might have landed us in a bad situation - not completely sure what I would have done if I was driving and my car is bigger and higher up than hers too so maybe. Hopefully I don't get the chance to find out! (Although this will stick with me too and would affect my choices in the future - heh.) Carus did good. 

1/14/2021

After the storm went through we had a couple days of drier weather and clear skies which allows the sunsets to be gorgeous. Bright beautiful oranges, pinks, and reds and it's always good when I'm already outside and at the barn. Much clearer views of the lovely show. 

1/15/2021*

Just Chewie being a dork.  He was rolling around and making noise behind me as I fiddled with the DVD player - and then just froze like this and sat there for a few minutes.  He's such an adorable dork. 

1/16/2021

A current crafting project - a show shirt for Carus. 

I've wanted to make her one to rival the super flashy ones we see for sale all the time (hundreds to thousands of dollars!!) and finally figured out a path to go - there are so many designs and colors to do. 

I bought a plain black show jacket. Then we found a lovely lace flower fabric that I've cut the flowers out of and sewn them on in a pattern. I've been sewing beads onto the flowers, some shiny metallic thread, and was gluing some rhinestones on when I found out about an affordable hotfix applicator on Amazon from a crafting group. Both glues work and are creating strong bonds - but I think the hotfix ones are stronger bonds.  It's so shiny! 

1

1/17/2021*

I figured with trying to enjoy things I used to enjoy again I should maybe work on my hue shift afghan again. Maybe I'll finish it finally... 

I'm still working on the first quarter, but that's getting very close.  

I didn't get far - found I had a mistake and couldn't figure out where so I had to completely undo the square that was on the needles and start over.

1/18/2021*

Just Chewie cuddled up next to me on the couch while I edit this batch of photos.  

Bonus shot from 1/10/2021

I may not be getting any baby Ember Tetras - but I have a baby shrimp! 

I had two crystal black shrimp (Bert and Ernie), but lost one after getting the Angels. They may not be responsible for my missing shrimp and a lack of new Tetra fry, but it is definitely suspicious.  

I also had a cherry shrimp (Cherry), blue shrimp (Blueberry), yellow shrimp (Lemon), and a clear and blue shrimp (Mystery). 

The clear and blue one (Mystery) is also gone now and I rarely see the remaining crystal black one (Ernie), but I do now have this guy! They're completely clear from what I can tell and mostly hang out under the big rock. I believe Cherry is the momma as they've looked quite chunky a few times but not 100% on that.  

Project 52 - week 4 - Macro again

I branched out away from all eyes this week.  I just have a little macro attachment that I put on my regular lens so these aren't as good as they could be or as good as I necessarily want them to be, but I'm happy with what I have.  For now.  Maybe someday I'll splurge for a really nice macro lens where I can take some of those amazing close up bug shots.  Well, if I also feel the urge to capture and attempt to pose live bugs/just get really close to bugs. (Or do they kill them without squishing before photos?) 

ANYHOO!

First up - Salt and Sugar.  Or Sugar and Salt.  I can't remember which is which now. Pretty sure it's sugar and then salt.

Sugar?

Salt?

Broken colored pencil.

Shading stylus.

Unbroken, but dull colored pencils.

Three yarns from my knitting project.

Jade plant leaf.

Avocado leaf.

Avocado leaf.

Avocado roots.

Spider fern leaf.

This week's theme:  Hidden

Santa dogs

The result of my crocheting project - a Santa hat for Leia.


My 7 days photo - putting it on Leia.



The alternate - I think Robert was taking pictures at this point though instead of me using the remote.



I'm not happy with the lighting.  Meh. Maybe I'll try again...maybe I won't.





Of course we had to get Timmy in some pictures.











Good dogs and kitty. (The other cats were not interested. At all.)

Final 7 days

The final run of 7 days has begun.

I'm going to miss the group of 7 dayers, but thankfully we can still keep in touch - yay for internet!

I was working on a crotchet project while watching TV. It's for a surprise project that you will see tomorrow, if it works out as well as I think it working out.

The rest of my 7 days posts are here.

Last week and road tripping

Wow, I'm nearly a full week behind in uploading.  Hadn't planned on that.

But really, does anyone plan to get behind in things?

Anyhoo - I left off at last Tuesday, with an evening full of band concert attending for this goofball. Just a quick "look what we can do" concert.
77/365

 I think most of these concerts are to encourage parent support up through high school.  High school is where they get really good and I think it's where the band teacher, who teaches 5th grade through 12th grade on very limited funding and purchases sheet music out of his own pocket and drives to 3 different schools everyday (middle school and high school classes during school hours and then upper elementary band after school hours), gets to enjoy all his effort.  He really loves to listen to them play, and to teach; and that shows.

78/365
Knitting to unwind after a lllooooonnngg day.  Changing colors, which I learnt thanks to Youtube.


79/365
Playing with Leia after work before I had to start packing for our spring break road trip we took this weekend.


80/365
We went over to eastern Washington to visit some family friends for the weekend, and had a lovely visit.  The drive out took longer then it should have, and then we expected, because Leia is a turd and wanted to climb into my lap (no room for her with Yoda on my lap) and/or Robert's lap (which doesn't work well with him driving). But we made it, and a good weekend ensued. They have a 4 month old shihtzu puppy, Sophie, which Carus attached herself to and carried around all weekend.  Thanks for having us Dave and Eula!

The week in photos. Also, there are words.

Things got away from me Monday and I didn't get my 365 uploaded and shared, and didn't get around to it Tuesday and then before I knew it the week was over.

And now my weekend is over so I figured I better get on things before I get too far behind.  Maybe I should continue sharing weekly instead of daily (or mostly daily).

55/365
An itty bitty ant that Robert made using resistors. It's about as big as a penny.  He got a big kick out of scaring me with it.



56/365
I finally finished knitting the shawl I've been working on for like 3 years so I decided to start a blanket.  These were the new "tools" I got for that blanket.



57/365
My new yarn basket for the living room.  I grabbed it because it was marked 50% off, then I got to the register and found it was an additional 25% off of the sale price.



58/365
I make my coffee about once every 2 weeks.  I make the first pot REALLY strong and then run a second pot through it and combine them for a perfect (still strong) mix.  I keep them in canning jars in the fridge and heat up a cup at a time if I want hot coffee, but mostly I just use it for iced coffee. Thursday was a make coffee day and the jars had a lot of condensation on them.



59/365
Pretty Timmy kitty.



60/365
Homemade pizza night - BBQ chicken pizza and pepperoni.  I tried a recipe for sourdough pizza dough so I could use some of my starter. It was good, but it needed more rise time and the regular one out of my family cookbook was liked better.