I Don't Stink Anymore

Today's photo is of one of my favorite horses Stinky. I bought him about 5 years ago. He was a rescue out of Newberg. The guy I got him from kept him in a stall, never let him out, never had his feet done and fed him very rich alfalfa. His stall was knee keep in horse poop and pee, his coat was stained yellow from the urine and he stank like urine, hence his name Stinky. In spite of his prior life he turned out to be a really great horse and I love him.

Today was a big day for John and I, he submitted his letter of resignation to his boss and is taking a new job. This is really exciting for both of us because now he won't be on call all of the time and won't have so much stress in his life.

We've had nearly 3 weeks of nice warm weather and today that all came to an abrupt end with wind and raing moving in.

John, Luke, Trishia and I have been busy remodeling the basement so they can move in by the end of March. Today Trishia and I got Riley's room all mudded to prep for painting.

Those Pesky Elk

I hate elk.

No, I hate the fact that every time I get myself in a good spot to get some photos something happens.

I just spent over an hour, jumping creeks, climbing fences, pushing my way through some of the prickliest crap that the devil put on this planet, sneaking on my hands and knees and crawling flat on my stomach in the mud to get photos of some elk. I was all decked out in a camouflage outfit that John loaned me and froze in place every time they looked at me. John would have been proud of me. Of course during all of this, I’m trying to keep my expensive camera out of the mud, water and branches only to not be tempted to spike it off the floor when I get back to the house.

The danged elk SPOTTED me and took off so I put my camera on the sport setting because that's how you get ACTION shots and every danged one of them is BLURRY! The only thing I can figure is that in order to use the sport setting the lighting has to be really good. I had pretty good lighting but not full sun. What a bunch of baloney.

Well, I did manage to get a couple good ones of some STUPID cows. No bulls tho. SPIKES DON’T COUNT!

A Good Investment; A Boy and His Pony

Today's photo is Riley and his pony Honey. It's been awhile since he's ridden her and they did awsome. We had fun just walking around the house for awhile.

The weather is awsome!

A Frown From a Happy (Normally) Boy

Riley is here for the weekend, of course, we have him EVERY weekend so that's nothing new. But, in honor of him today's photo is one of him frowning at me for taking his picture.

I got up early this morning so I could sneak up on the elk and get some great shots of them. That didn't work out at all because the darned elk decided to not show up.

A Really Good Way to Start the Day

Today's photo is a sunrise that I shot while visiting my Dad in Sisters, Oregon. I was there to help them with some chores and whatnot. It was really early in the morning (of course) and I hear my Dad come rushing into the house squawking for Marilyn to get the camera, quick quick. Well, there must have been something out there that was just too good to miss so I jumped out of bed, grabbed my camera and made a mad dash for the door. The three of us stood there each taking photos of the sunrise, for some reason my camera is the only one that captured the vibrant colors.

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Today's photo if in honor of our upcomming spring. It is a flowering plum tree in full bloom.

I was able to go outside for a short time and trimmed Kiwi and Cajun's feet. They REALLY needed those trims. I am ebarrased that I allwed their feet to get that long.

I met Steve down at the tack shop this morning and we were finally able to get Jamie's new laptop connected to the wireless internet. WAHOO!

Tuesday February 19, 2008

Today's photo is Mt. Jefferson taken Monday morning on my way to work.

There was 7 big branch antler bull elk out in the field below my house this morning. They were alternating between grazing and sparring with each other. I would have loved to get a photo of them but they were just too far away, even with my big zoom lense the image of them would have been small. I really want a bigger lense with a stabelizer for stuff like that.

Yesterday evening was exhausting but I managed to get a lot done with John's help. We burned 2 pickup loads of trash, it's so nice to see all that garbage that was once in my house go up in smoke.

I had to move all of the horses and mules back into the barns because they are predicting rain for Tuesday (today). Of course the rain is delayed a day but that's okay, my pasture really needs a break.

Well, the laptop I bought for Jamie didn't have the correct wireless card in it so of course it wouldn't connect down at the shop. I brought it here to the house to see if it would connect to my network and it only would if I had it in the room where my wireless router is. I'm going to meet Steve in the morning so he can take it back to his shop and fix it. In the mean time, I'm installing all of the software that she needs while I have it here tonight.

Monday, February 18, 2008

Good morning everyone. Today's photo is one of my most favorite people in the world, my loving husband, John. He's so photogenic in all his ruggedness.  We had been up in the hills behind our house looking for elk and messing around in the snow when he decided to be silly and make this little petrography of Riley. Riley wouldn’t pose with him so he posed by himself while Riley pouted in the background.

The weather is clear and warm today. I actually wore a dress and open toed sandals to work much to the shock and disbelief of everyone that knows me. Of course my feet were still in their mid winter state so a pedicure was one of the first things on my list of things to do today, MUCH BETTER!

I got my laptop fixed today thank you Steve Nichols!!!! I also bought my best friend Jamie a laptop of her own from him so she can check her emails and put stuff on Criagslist without my help. This will make both hers and my lives a bit easier. She’s a dammed good friend and I feel good doing things for her. Friends like her a few and far in-between and I am very blessed to have many good friends like her.

Sunday February 17

This is Mt. Hood, she was really sticking herself up for everyone to see today and what a show she put on for me. I get a lot of photos of this mountain with sunrises behind it but I've never taken the time to take one during the day. There was a little bit of a haze in the air but I still got a nice shot.

So, on with my day. What is it about cleaning a room in the house that makes the rest of the house such a big mess? I started working on cleaining MY room in the back of the house. This room is basically the main dumping ground for everything that doesn't have an assigned "spot". It's also the office, sewing room and waxing room amung other things. I didn't get done with cleaning but I made a darned big dent and now there is a huge pile of stuff in the kitchen that needs to be hauled out and burned.

I also decided that I needed to clean my fish tank that turned into a huge ugly job.

One nice thing I managed to do today is go down to Jamie's shop and get her an email acount and craigslist acount set up. I tried to get her computer onto the wiresless network for Laughlin Logging but I just don't know enough about it to do it on my own. I'm going to have to solicit some help from someone.

Saturday, February 16, 2008

It's cold, clear and beautiful today. Yesterday, Tricia and I spent several hours cleaning out the basement and once Britt picks up the rest of her stuff (it's all in a neat pile now) we can start ripping out the carpet, tearing down walls and getting it all rebuilt.


I got up early and rushed to the top of the hill to get some photos of the sunrise this morning. Of course it wasn't nearly as spectacular as the one I missed yesterday. :(


I love getting Mount Hood with the sunrises but unfortunately, most of the color of the sunrise is South of its location so I have two photos. One with the mountain, and one where I panned just a bit South. This makes me want to invest in a wide angle lens.

Friday, February 15

This little yearling has been hanging around a lot lately so I decided to get her picture this morning. She seemed to like having her picture taken as with each shot, she came closer and closer.



For this photo, I just liked the cloud formations and the way the light looked as it was comming through the trees. I had pulled off into a triangle of an intersection at the bottom of my hill to get this shot. Some dumb ass decided to drive circles around me I guess to try to figure out what I was doing there. What in the hell do they THINK I'm doing when I'm sitting there taking pictures? Duh.

Work was crazy and busy as usual but I love it that way. My boss is off to South Africa for three weeks so it'll be kind of quiet with him gone. I was thinking I'd spend some time out in the barn or maybe even take a nap after I got home but that didn't quite work out. Trishia brought Riley up and we got busy cleaning out the basement. What a dammed mess it is down there. I've cleaned it out really good before but it still gets gross with mouse crap, dust and spider webs. It's a never ending cycle of dirt doom. Anyway, we loaded up a truckload of stuff to go to the dump, moved all of the storage stuff into one room and got everything organized, it looks so much better.

Trishia just headed to town for beer and pizza and I can't waite!

My Ode to my husband on Valentine's Day

The sun is up, the rooster is crowing,
I wake up this morning with something I’m knowing.
I hear the dogs barking, they’re wanting out,
“Shut up you hounds” I angrily shout.


You lay there next to me, you’re mouth is ajar,
Your snoring is louder than grandpa’s old car.
With love and affection, I lean close to your ear,
Scream at the top of my lungs, “WAKE UP DEAR!”


You jump out of bed, your long johns a sagging,
I fall on the floor and roll around laughing!
“What the hell is your problem?” you madly grumble,
I try to stand up and recover from my tumble.


“It’s Valentines Day,” I say with a smile,
“Now sit yourself down and rest for awhile.
I wrote you a poem, so now you see,
You’ll have to sit a spell and listen to me.”


You throw the cat off the chair, sit there and wait,
I sit down in front of you on an old milk crate.
I fumble around for that wrinkled up sheet,
You wonder why I’m not rubbing your feet.


I set up straight and clear my throat,
I pause for a second and shoe away the goat.
I chew on my lip until I’m afraid it’ll bleed,
Take a deep breath and slowly start to read.


“I love you for the real man that you are,
And the way that you cuss when fixing my car.
I love that when we’ve been out drinkin’
You don’t care what others are thinkin’.”


“I love it when you go shoot a bug buck,
You bring the thing home on the hood of your truck.
You’ve been with me so long; I’m starting to think,
We’ll stick together like skunks stick to stink.”


“I love seeing that missing tooth when you smile,
And the way you pat my butt every once in awhile.
But most of all dear, I love your attitude,
When Mom comes to visit and you’re never rude!”


“This next thing is difficult for me to say of course,
I even love you more than I love my horse!
“But here’s one thing that I can never out rule,
I can’t say I love you more than my mule.”


Now, I’m done with my poem, I site there and wait,
The sun is up and it’s getting kind of late.
“Honey,” I say “I can see you start to tear,
While getting your Kleenex, can you fetch me a beer?”


By Jamie Cheslock

Thursday February 14, 2008

Valentines Day!

Today's photo is of a morning dove sitting in a bush in my front yard. I liked the way it's looking at it's wing wondering, "What the hell?"

This morning was clear and cold again. I let all of the horses out into the pastures today so they could run around and enjoy some time in the sun.


I started off my day with a phone call to my favorite oldest sister to wish her a happy birthday. She got to hear my ugly voice singing her her for a whole minute. HA!


John sent flowers to me at work and they are so pretty! It's a combination of pink and white flowers in a red vase. It looks very classey.


Mom is still house bound since the surgery on her foot. I decided to make a special diner for everyone for Valentines Day. I stopped at Safeway and bought lobster, scallops, mushrooms, french bread and blackberry wine, took it all down to Mom's house and cooked a big fat dinner. It was awsome!!!!!

I bought a new adjustafit blanket on Ebay that arrived today and it is really nice! Brand new and $50.00!!!!!



Lost is one tonight, I can't WAIT!

Wednesday February 13, 2007

This morning the sky was clear of clouds and the birds were making a lot of noise. I must have 400 red winged blackbirds that hang out around my place and they are not known for singing, they just make noise. Never the less, I enjoy the birds. The weather man says it’s going to be a high of 50 degrees today so I went ahead and took the blankets off my horses. I’m sure they’ll all enjoy rolling around in their stalls and scratching their backs.

The photo I've posted is a sunset that I got on January 16th. I love the way the mountians look like layers and the cloudes are in a swirling pattern. It's one of my favorites. I was driving home and could see this one forming all the way. I drove as fast as I could so I could get a shot of it from home but came to realize that it was going to be gone before I made it to the top of the hill. I turned off right outside of Yamhill, climbed up to the top of the hill there and pulled off to get this shot. I sat there for about 10 minutes taking several photos of the sunset and didn't realize until I was leaving that the homeowner whose driveway I was parked in was standing there glaring at me. SORRY!

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Nothing new and exciting to report today. I'm just playing around trying to figure out everything here on this blog. This morning was kind of cold and clear at the house but of course once I start heading down the hill for work it gets completely fogged in. I passed on a couple of opportunities for photos on the way to work because I was in a hurry so here's one of my favorites of John, my husband and Riley, my grandson.

The basement dwellers are scheduled to come up and get 3 of their horses tomorrow night so I thought I’d be nice and move them all into the arena so they can roll around and enjoy a night of laying down in the sand instead of the mud pens they’ve been living in. It took all of 30 seconds for those bastards to bust through the gate and run off. *rolls eyes*.

My first day on the blog

Well everyone has their own blog spot and I've decided to join the crowd and start my own. HERE I GO!