Most Treasured Possession

Mom and I were at the hospital earlier this week waiting in the pre-op for one of her procedures. If you are familiar with these areas, you will know that there is absolutely no privacy whatsoever. On this day, I was actually glad of that. If the little "rooms" weren't separated by thin fabric sheets hung by chains from the ceiling, we never would have heard a very tender and beautiful moment between a father and daughter.

A family was in the cubicle next to us. The very young daughter was having her appendix removed. (You learn everything about everyone in pre-op.) While waiting for the nurse, the older sister came in and told the mother that the father was out in the parking lot crying.

He eventually came in to see his little girl. When she asked him why he was crying, he told her that he was worried and was wanting her to hurry up and get all better. She then wanted to know why he was worried. He replied that she was his most precious treasure in the world. Mom and I were both starting to wipe at tears but then hurriedly had to muffle our laughter when she squeaked and said, "Even more important than your horse?" He started laughing and assured her that she was even more precious than his horse. It was such a sweet exchange.

It made me recall a time when I was in trouble and my dad offered to sell his valuable (and most precious to him) horse (the mother to both Cinderfella above and my mare Cindy) in order to get me out of a jam. I wouldn't let him do it, but it just goes to show that good daddies will do anything for their little girls. I obviously wouldn't trade mine for the world!

Since we were there at the hospital for almost six hours for Mom's 30 minute procedure, we had lots of time to discuss and reflect on what we'd heard. We posed the question to each other as to what our most treasured "possession" would be. Excluding our loved ones, friends and critters.

When you are surrounded by "things/possessions/stuff", how do you narrow it down to just ONE item? What would be YOUR most treasured possession?

After contemplating it for quite a while, I decided that mine would probably be my engagement ring. Not just because the love of my life is the one that gave it to me, but for another reason as well. Michael designed my ring to be fit with the three diamonds that I inherited in my grandmother's ring. The diamonds belonged to her and my great-grandmother. I always dreamt of having the ring reset into something I could wear daily. Michael made this happen with the most important piece of jewelry in my life. This makes it even more sentimental for me because there are generations of happy, long-lived marriages attached to my ring.

All of this pondering (besides straining my brain) follows along with the fact that I am into some extremely heavy de-cluttering of our lives. Our move has really brought the point home that we have TOO MUCH STUFF. I am planning on doing some future posts on de-cluttering and probably will have some giveaways involving fabric & craft stashes that are taking over my new sewing/craft room......stay tuned

Moving, Moving Never Stopping

I'm starting to think that I will never be done with this move. We are packing and unpacking on an almost daily basis. Above is my kitchen/dining room table as it has looked for the past month.

Below shows some of the most important pieces of "FURniture" that we moved into the house immediately. For our sanity and theirs...

They both have a bed in the bedroom as well, but none of this keeps them from sneaking up onto the sofa when we're not paying total attention. Spoiled little beasties.. gotta love 'em, lots.

Hopefully I will soon have less whining about moving to share with/dump on you. Thanks for putting up with it!

Guest Post - The Hubby Report

Today's post will be authored by The Hubby. He has graciously been coerced into writing some guest posts for the blog in October during Blogtoberfest. Maybe I can get him to consider extending his contribution and keep giving our dear readers a fresh perspective. (I have included the above photo because it is very relevant to today's entry and gives you another look into our life with the critters.) Without further introduction, The Hubby speaks/writes...

Life In This Crazy House

6:30am, the "children" start to stir. By 6:45, the sound of the cats' thundering paws resonate on the hardwood floors as they race up and down the hallway. Time for me to get up and start my day in this crazy place we now call home.

I step just one foot out into the hallway and am instantly greeted by many fuzzy little faces. It kind of reminds me of that "Got Milk" commercial where the elderly lady runs out of milk and it shows the paw reaching up to flip off the lights. Kitty??? See the commercial here

Moving around at this time of day takes a lot of skill and acrobatics. With the small furfaces in front and the two dogs behind me, the trek to the front door begins. You see, if you don't put the dogs out before feeding the cats, Chandler will sneak in and inhale the cat food.

The fun is still not over. Once the boys are safely outside looking for gophers and toads to protect us from, the long journey to the kitchen begins. Like a cargo ship cuts through the watery wakes, so must I make my way through a sea of fur.

With the cats fed, I can finally have my cup of coffee and relax. But wait, one of the dogs has actually caught a gopher and is now head deep in a hole. Maybe I'll get my coffee with lunch???

Cattle Sorting Practice

We spent Sunday at the ranch, helping Dad with the cattle sorting practice and just hanging out with him.

Cattle sorting is similar to team penning which I wrote about a few weeks ago and you can read about here. In sorting you also have a team of three riders, but you only have 10 head of numbered cattle (1 each from 0-9) at the other end of the arena instead of the 30 cattle in team penning. The numbers are basically like a huge dog collar with two large vinyl panels with a number on each side. They are put on for the practice and then taken off before the cattle are turned out to pasture for the night.

There is a foul line about 40 feet from the end of the cattle side of the arena instead of a pen you're trying to put them in. Once your team is in the arena and ready, you are given a number from 0-9. You then have 1 1/2 minutes (90 seconds) to bring your cattle across the line IN ORDER with no cattle crossing the line before their turn. Example: my team is given #4. We have to bring them out 4,5,6,7 etc. The team with the fastest time and the most cattle out in order wins.

It's a fun event that the whole family can participate in. You will see a lot of little kids and even some older folks having a good time at the cattle sortings. It's a little easier for beginners to ease into as it's not as fast-action (to start with) as team penning and you can use "greener" or less experienced horses while learning yourself. Playing with cattle and good horses is always fun!

There is also a version called "ranch sorting" that is done in a large pen and with only two riders on the team. The big difference is that you must take the cattle through a gate in order instead of across a line. Both versions are a lot of fun, but I usually prefer the ranch sorting.

I like the ranch sorting because I grew up doing this when it wasn't even an event. It was just plain old ranch work where Dad would put me in the gate while he sorted calves off the cows to be shipped to market. I got to be a very good gate man(girl) and ended up getting a lot of dirty looks from crotchety old cowboys that Dad would hire for day work. They didn't like the idea of a kid, much less a "little girl" doing a man's job. I always had fantastic ranch horses and was a good rider so I could compete with most of the grumpy old farts for the choice jobs. I had been working cattle for my dad and many other ranchers from a very young age and earned a good reputation. Kicker was that even though I was getting a paycheck for day work, I was really there to help my daddy and enjoy the heck out of myself. (Didn't realize that I was championing women's rights when I was nine years old!)

Being "in the gate" was a coveted position when working cattle as you got to work your horse and really enjoy the ride. When working the gate your horse is sliding from side to side and making lots of quick moves to keep cattle from escaping past him. It was always the most fun part of the day to be on a cowhorse that was "getting down in the dirt". I still enjoy it today on my mare Cinderella. It's better than a roller coaster ride by far.

Our day started out with a few minutes with Fred (or as I call him Ferd). Dad rescued him after one of the barn cats abandoned him when he was just about 2 weeks old. He was a fighter from day 1 and is now the ruler of the roost. He has Dad and anyone who comes over wrapped around his little furry paws.

"It's about time you got here to visit me!"

"Why won't you come and play in my house?"

Michael checking the cinch on his horse "Whiskey"

Sonny, Dad, & Les "warming up ", in reality - gossiping while walking around in circles

The cheese stands alone...

Adolph (Dad's dog) thoroughly bored by it all

We went to dinner with Dad after we were through with the sorting practice and all of the animals were (well) fed. A very lovely way to end a nice weekend. Now it's back to boxes.

Harvest Arts and Peace Festival

What a great weekend we had. Hubby and I played hooky from all of the moving and rigmarole associated with it. We ran away to the foothills for a play date at the 17th Annual Harvest Arts & Peace Festival in Prather, held at the Intermountain Nursery (same place I took the wonderful Natural Perfumery Workshop that you can read about here).

The weather was perfect, warm with a slight breeze. Lots of patrons strolling the lovely grounds of the nursery looking at their plants and natural landscaping:

Lots of demonstrations and informational booths such as the one on falconry that this beautiful peregrine was staffing:

Way too many wonderful craft booths for someone on a tight budget like I am supposed to be following. I couldn't resist to add another piece of Halloween decor to our new home:

And thank goodness I have such an understanding and supportive husband. I couldn't leave the nursery without these new herb babies:

We ate delicious Portabella mushroom ciabatta sandwiches and drank natural root beer - YUM. It was a great day and we really enjoyed our little escape from the boxes and mess that is moving.

More on the rest of the weekend tomorrow.