Posse Trail Ride 3-25-17

Saturday March 25th Doyle and I went on a trail ride with the Palo Pinto Sheriff's Posse. We rode on the ranch that I rode last year as a benefit. It is called Holt River Ranch. In fact I rode part of the trail ride last year with the owner Dr. Glenn Rogers. He was not on this ride as His mother had passed away two days before. The Posse  offered to cancel the ride but the family insisted we enjoy their ranch. We were all very appreciative!

We gathered up for instructions and prayer before we start.

There were about 35 for this ride. A big group for a Posse ride.

Rock creek bed.

This guy's wife attends church with me and occasionally I feed their horses when they are out of town.

A beautiful view of the Brazos River.

Not a glamorous picture of me. I knew Doyle was taking a picture but I didn't know I was in it or I would have smiled. I look like a real grump!

His is a better picture of the river.

It was real pretty through this part.

We took a break. I'm not sure who was more glad, us or the horses 😉.

Here we are on the "cliff" side of the Brazos River. Just in front of Fancy's ear you can see a cross. Dr. Glenn Rogers son, Holt age 6 was killed riding his bicycle and the cross was built in honor of him.

It was not a good time of day to take pictures here as the sun is behind us. We definitely didn't want to be any closer to the cross....I'll show you in the next picture why!

This is the view of the cross from below. You may have to click on the picture to see it. Doyle took this one. The pictures really don't do the scenery justice.

This makes me think of the days when people traveled this one across the country side. Open plains.

Our beverage cart 😉.









Back to where we started. We had a wonderful meal of some "melt-in-your-mouth" brisket, tater salad and cowboy beans. Ummm good!

It was a great ride but Doyle and I were both beat by the time we got home!

Have a good one!

Butterflies and Mesquite Leaves

Means it is SPRING!

March 15th I noticed the leaves of the Mesquite tree! That is always a good sign that Spring is here.

Within 5 days I saw this gorgeous butterfly collecting pollen from my one lone Dianthus in my flowerbed.

It was very windy this day and it was hard for the butterfly to open its wings but after about 50 shots I got one!

While trying to get pictures of the butterfly I noticed my yard decoration that my sister-in-law Doris gave me last year. The sun was sparkling through the fake droplet. I didn't quite get what I was seeing but it still made for a really neat picture and one that I will probably enlarge to enter in the county fair next year 😉.

I was about to put my camera away when I saw this butterfly. It was about a third the size of the other one but still pretty.

I liked it when it turned around because I liked the shadow it created.

Have a good one!

Some Simple Cards

I've been a bit on a crafting roll. At least where cards are concerned. I've been watching live videos from Unity Stamp Co on Facebook about different crafting techniques and different ways to use their stamps. The cards I'm sharing today are my take after watching a live video with Whitney Magnuson (daughter-in-law of Angela Magnuson owner of Unity Stamp Co) on March 7th.

The jest was to make a simple background using water colors. I thought it would be fun to use my H20's which are a water color with mica (it makes it shimmery although you can't see that in this photo.) This color is "Lemon Drop".

 This stamp set is from Unity. It's an Itty Bitty Bella Blvd called "Tail Wagger" The paw prints are from another Unity Stamp Set called "I Ruff You". The sentiment is also an Itty Bitty by Unity called "Orange You Glad".  I colored the dog with Copic Markers then cut him out and used foam tape to give him some dimension.


This next card I actually liked better. I felt like the first dog was too dark so I switch the areas I colored. The sentiment for this card came from the "I Ruff You".

I decided to change it up just a bit on the last card. These two cuties, the sentiment and paw prints are all from the "I Ruff You" Unity Stamp set. On the green background I used Distress Ink "Mowed Lawn" and brushed on with water. It kind of looks like grass! I stamped the sentiment and cut the words apart. I used foam tape to pop the words plus the dog and cat.

I do like how they turned out for the most part and they were pretty simple to put together. In the video Whitney didn't use any background paper so I could have simplified by doing that.

Thanks for taking a look!

Have a good one!

Remi's Spring Break Visit 3-22-17

This week is Remi's Spring Break. Vanessa picked her up on Friday March 17th. Vanessa had quite a
few activities planned. Although we did get to see Remi some, Wednesday was the first day she and Kennedy came to stay the night. I picked them up after work.

After a bite of lunch Remi wanted to go to the craft room (a girl after my heart!) Kashton came over too for a little while.

Remi got glasses since we saw her last. It sure changes her looks.

Even Kashton got in on stamping! This is his first time!

See the mare and foal that is stamped on paper? Kashton stamped that! He stamps better than I do! 😲

A heart that Kennedy colored for Remi.

Vanessa came and picked up Kashton. Later the girls and I head to the horses to ride. As we head out the door I see something big hovering like a hummingbird around a floral bush I have. On a second look I see it is a White-lined Sphinx Moth. I've seen them before but they haven't visited my yard in several years! Probably because of the drought and I didn't have any flowers! At first look they appear to be hummingbirds. They are almost that big! And the way they fly is similar too. They are nearly as quick in their movement. They are unique creatures!

I was thrilled to have this opportunity to photograph them!












As we are driving to the horses it occurs to me that if I'm going to get pictures of the girls in the Bluebonnets I should do it then as I may not get another opportunity so I tell the girls we are taking a slight detour to do just that. Thankfully there are several small patches of Bluebonnets in town making it easy to get a quick photo shoot!

They girls couldn't resist picking these beauties! It wasn't until just a few years ago that I thought it was against the law to pick Bluebonnets because it is our State flower! I learned that the myth circulates to keep people from picking them!

The pink flowers are Primrose. At least that's what they are called here.

These pictures only took about 15 minutes then we were on our way.

These girls love this horse. Especially Kennedy. She insists the Clyde is hers. Remi (not believing her sister - imagine that 😲) asked me "is Clyde really belong to Kennedy?" I say "No, he is really Granddad's horse". Kennedy is still emphatic that he is hers 😏. It will be a sad day indeed when he is no longer with us. He really is beginning to show his age (27). That IS really old for a horse. He's not holding his weight as well, He's got a bit of a sway in his back and moves like a turtle but I can trust him with the girls 😊.

Look how relaxed and confident she looks!

Kennedy was happy to ride with me.

Unfortunately my phone battery went dead so I didn't get any other pictures. I wanted to get some video of the girls taking turns getting Clyde to trot.

The girls spent the night and went to work with me the next day. They had a great time and so did I 😊!

Have a good one!