Fall Thrifty Finds

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This week I'm linking to "Thrifty Thursday" at Tales From Bloggeritaville. You can find all the other participants here:

http://lbratina.blogspot.com/

Visiting GW and the Thrift Shops!

First stop here was my favorite Thrift Shop in town. The most I paid was for this old tool carrier. ($12.00) But I have a thing for them, what can I say! I got the red check table cloth and that little candle for a couple dollars.

Another favorite Thrift Store had a half off sale so those two frames were only $1.00 and $1.50 and that set of CD's of an audio book was only $2.00. Great for when I'm driving.

The rest of the things I got at my local Goodwill.

I had a couple of these red check bowls already so there were a lot more there and I got a place setting for four. The desserts were 50 cents each and the rest were $1.00 each with 20% off that.

I just think they are sort of country and cute.

You can always use white cups and saucers. (50 cents ea.)

I buy all my barn clothes at Goodwill and there's nothing better in the winter to have a turtleneck as one of the layers! (I have lots of them!)

Now, here's a bargain I got at Marcs. It's a grocery and sort of everything store around the Cleveland area that has good prices. This huge 160z bag of Kale Greens was marked down to 50 cents!! I never made kale but I know it's really good for you. You can sort of use it like spinach I think. I tore up a bunch of it and put it in with some chicken I was doing in the crockpot tonight. I guess I'll go read up on things you can do with kale!

Shirley

Digging For Worms!

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I'll link up this post with A Southern Daydreamer for "Outdoor Wednesday"

http://asoutherndaydreamer.blogspot.com/

An Important Summertime Game

I took these pictures on one of my Wednesday babysitting day's with my two grandchildren. Jack is 1 1/2 and Ava is 3 1/2.

This was one of the last hot summer days.

Jack is all boy. Thus the love of mud!

Ava starts the big dig.

Searching and searching.

I think she's found one!

Yes, but it's a little dirty.

Jack is happy to help her give wormy a bath in the birdbath.

There it is, clean as a whistle! A successful dig!

And what better to do with your clean little pet . . . take it for a wagon ride, that's what!!

Shirley

Working With Echo

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Bend Horse Bend!

I'm working on Echo's headset and also getting him to bend in his body. His neck is very flexible and I can bend his nose to my boot with two fingers on the rein with no problem but he doesn't respond to my leg when I'm riding him. He needs to be more flexible in his ribcage.

Today when I rode him I can just start to feel that he is getting the idea! It was a mini breakthrough day : ))

Michele will ride him tomorrow.

Shirley

Not Really Saying Goodbye

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We are sad today because one of out best "horsey friends" is not going to stay at the new barn with us for numerous reasons. Pam and her arab horse LA, we've known for about 4 years. Pam is truly one of the nicest women I have ever met. She got her horse LA from H.O.P.E. Horse Rescue where she volunteered and has given him a wonderful forever home. We will miss them both but we'll still see them at their new place and there's always those hour long phone calls

: ))

When I was going through my photos, I have lots of LA but Pam must not like her picture taken!!

Here is photos she took of LA right before they left.

Shirley

Our Barn Cats

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I'm joining with the Little Red House for "Mosaic Monday". Here is her site so you can enjoy all the different participant's mosaics.

http://dearlittleredhouse.blogspot.com/

These are the barn cats we brought to this new barn. The grey one (top right) is the most feral but is starting to hang around us much more. Thanks to Pam for most of these great photos.

Simple Crock Pot Roast

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I haven't been doing that much cooking lately but this week as the temperatures cooled outside a little, it got me back in the mood. I'm linking up with Michael Lee's blog, Designs by Gollum for "Foodie Friday".

http://designsbygollum.blogspot.com/

I got the good old crock pot out and picked the simplest of all the recipes! I mean SIMPLE!!

I normally don't eat red meat but this chuck was on sale for $2.29/lb this week.

After you don't eat red meat for a few years, you pay for it the next day with a belly ache but I must say this still tasted delicious!

I cut the piece of chuck into two pieces, put it in the crock pot and poured an envelope of Lipton's onion soup over it.

2 cans of cola equals one 24 oz. bottle of Pepsi. (no diet cola)

Pour it in there, cover and cook on low for 7-8 hours.

THAT'S IT!!

It was one of most wonderful tasting roasts I have ever had!!!!

Sorry about the photo. I did the unmentionable! I took a photo of food with a flash!

But it really looked and tasted wonderful. The juice to this is unbelievable!

Shirley

First Day Of Fall

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Happy Autumn

On this first day of fall, my sister sent me this beautiful handmade card.

This verse says it all.

Shirley

Whiter Than White

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Rauls

What could be more beautiful than a white arab horse. This one is nearly 35 years old. His owner is 88! Before William bought him he had stood in a pasture all by himself for 15 long years. I think William has owned him about 7 or 8 years now. He was very calm in the first hours he was brought to his new barn. (Possibly drugged?) But all of a sudden he "woke up" and was like a young arab! William learned to ride on this horse!! He used to climb on and they'd let him go and it was off to the races. They are quite a team. Now he is retired with his pasture mates in a nice little barn with beautiful pastures. William comes to see and groom him nearly everyday. He is much loved by us all.

These photos were taken a week ago right after his fall bath.

He seemed to glow in the sunlight.

He may be older but he still has the heart of a young arab.

I'm linking this post with Faded Charm for "White Wednesday". Find all the others at:

http://fadedcharmcottage.blogspot.com/

Shirley

Happy Fall

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Please turn off my blog music before watching. (On the right sidebar)

The Head Set

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Echo's New Gear

I've been trying to get a good head set on Echo for over a year on my own with out any special gear. Well, he will put it down when I give pressure when riding at a walk or at a trot but as soon as I release, he pops back out again. Thus he is hardly ever collected and the canter is then hard to ride. So he gets to wear these side reins in his stall for 20 minutes every day. He doesn't seems to mind except for the first day when he backed up all over his stall. Then he got the idea. We'll see if this helps.

Any one have any other ideas? I've tried Clinton's and Chris Cox's ideas. I follow them both and have trained Echo using all their methods to this point.

Shirley (and Echo)

The Barn Cats

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The Cats We Brought

When we left the other barn to come here, we brought 3 cats. They lived in Michele's basement until the one recovered from being spade and the other got over her cold.

After bringing them here and having them in a wire cage for a few days , Michele let them loose. They are still around so that's good!!

The first two photos are of "Grandma Kitty". We call her that because she had multiple litters before we had her fixed and she was "Grandma" to lots of kittens in the other barn.

She is super friendly and follows you around wanting to be picked up. She's a good mouser.

This is "Pepsi", named because her brother was called "Sprite". She is friendly and was just spade before we brought her here.

Also a good mouser.

Now, the light gray cat (of course not seen here), is pretty feral and likes to either go hunting for days at a time or goes into this hidey hole which leads to a broom closet. Sorry, I wasn't fast enough to get her picture. I'll try again another day!

The owner's cats have not mingled with these guys yet.

Shirley

September Pinks

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Some September Pinks

It's hard to find too many pink things outside as Fall arrives. But I did manage to find a few.

For sure Sedum is in its glory right now.

And this bush that blooms all summer still has some pretty flowers on it.

This flower is on a plant that sends out sort of vines as it grows. I wish I could think of the name of it but I've forgotten. I love it's flowers that are blooming now. So delicate.

Autumn is in the air so I'm trying to take my tea on the kitchen porch as often as I can. See the shadows are starting to get long.

I hope we can enjoy a nice LONG Autumn.

I'm linking this post up with Beverly at How Sweet the Sound for "Pink Saturday". You can find the site here:

http://howsweetthesound.typepad.com/my_weblog/

Have a beautiful Saturday. I'll be spending mine with my horses.

Shirley

Where's Dinner??

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Looking For Dinner

Here is Rauls (white 34 yo arab) and Satire (30 yo arab) They are the first in out of the pasture always about 4-4:30pm. That was dinner time at the barn we came from. Here they get fed about 6-6:30. They haven't quite gotten with the new schedule yet. It's like they are looking at their watches and saying, "Don't they know what time it is!!!!!"

Shirley