Horse Update, June

As mentioned in my May Frugal Accomplishments post, I found the perfect chair for my tack room. I'd been thinking for months about getting one, and had nailed down the requirements:

• all wooden so there would be no upholstery or cushions for mice to destroy (because, barn = mice, it's inevitable.)
• comfortable for sitting on to change into riding boots, as well as to just rest on as needed
• in good, sturdy shape
• CHEAP (no brand new stuff, we're looking used furniture here)
• local, because it wouldn't be cheap if I drove an hour for it

I'd been looking on Facebook marketplace for a few weeks and hadn't found anything that fit the bill.  Craigslist was no help either.  Nor were the community yard sale or free pages (on Facebook) for the communities around me.

Then, I got an urge to go to Goodwill. Which, since Goodwill is somewhere I no longer drive past five days a week--now that I work at my own farm-- and I had no other errands in that area that needed running, I ignored the urge.  For about five days I ignored that nagging feeling that I should go to Goodwill; until I did indeed need to drive that 15ish miles away to go grocery shopping. But before the grocery store, I stopped at Goodwill which is just down the same road.  And there, I found it:  the perfect chair for the tack room!

I knew it was perfect because, since it was the exact same design as the dining room chairs I'd had for over a decade when the kids were teens, it definitely met my comfort factor as well as the no upholstery or cushions rule.  (I had only replaced those dining room chairs as they broke, not because I no longer liked them.  In fact, the non-broken ones are still in my basement as back-ups for when I need more seating on holidays and family gatherings.)

Not only was it the perfect style, it also didn't wobble one bit when I grabbed the seat with one hand and the top of the back with the other and shook the hell heck out of it. Good and sturdy.  

The price?  An affordable $5.29.  The best part of all, which took away any doubt in my mind that it was meant for my tack room?  The legs and back had been painted a hunter green, and the seat had been left oak.  My barn in tan(ish) with hunter green roof and trim. That's my farm color scheme.  The chair fit perfectly.

An interesting tidbit; when I got it home and peeled off the price sticker, I noticed that it had been put out for sale six days before I'd gone to Goodwill and found it.  The exact day I'd first had the thought that I should go to Goodwill. . .   (Did the hairs on the back of your neck just raise a little?)  Definitely meant to be in my tack room.

That chair is the only new addition to my barn lately. I had been hoping that DH and I would put in the mats for the remaining two stall floors before the hot summer weather hit, but that didn't happen.  Could have, except I was doing too much around this little place here and aggravated my right knee to the point that it threw on the brakes and sidelined me from any strenuous work for a few weeks.  Well, anything strenuous other than riding horses (but no posting! knee said uh-uh to that), feeding horses, and cleaning stalls, and cooking and laundry in the house (with DH carrying the clothes hamper), oh and feeding and watering chickens. (I am severely not good at resting my body; there's just too much that needs to be done.)

Several nights running, DH had to bring horses in for me because by dinnertime I was crippled up and couldn't walk out to their pasture.  It was an injury reminiscent of a few years ago when my left knee blew up, so after a week of 'resting' and ibuprofen to no noticeable improvement, I dug out my sheet of beginning physical therapy exercises from when I had PT on the left knee.  Four days of 'resting', plus ibuprofen, plus PT at home and I was on the mend again!  But, now it's hot and we're not feeling like lugging 100 pound rubber mats into hot stalls in the heat of the day.

With my knee good enough to post the trot again, I've been riding the Poetess multiple days a week.  And, as you read in the previous sentence, we trot a portion of each ride.  She's been very attentive and patiently trying to figure out the unfamiliar stuff I'm telling her to do.  Her halt has gotten much better; I don't have to make a hasty exit out of the saddle when I stop her for dismounting at the end of the ride.  She stands calmly while I get off (as long as I don't take much more than a minute).  She has really picked up on the concept of yielding her body and bending to slight leg pressure or weight change in my seat.  We look very much like a beginner baby horse going to the first weeks of Kindergarten still while riding, but compared to the very first ride in April, miles of progress has been made.  We have had 14 rides now, and I'm fairly confident I can ask her for a canter without having her bolt thinking it's racing time.  Will probably give that a try later this week.

The other day, after getting a new pair of full seat riding tights on clearance for just $20, I made the discovery that over three years, in the course of buying new stuff on sale/clearance, I inadvertently made the Poetess and I a very Dressage Queen matchy-matchy ensemble:

1.A lavender saddle pad and polo wraps for her (bought last summer--2023)

 

2. a light purple shirt I had bought myself on sale BOGO in 2022

 3. My $20 tights (2024) that were described as "mauve" and looked, online, like a summery light pinkish color, turned out in person, to be more of a lavender.  So of course needed to be worn with the light purple shirt bought in 2022 and the lavender pad and wraps must be put on the Poetess for our work session.

Unfortunately I had no way to get a picture of me in the saddle so you could see the full effect of all our DQ matching attire.  You'll have to settle for a between the ears picture from that ride.  Note her ears directed towards me, concentrating on what I'm doing, listening for direction.  Our between the ears picture from May's post had her much more focused on what was around her than the person on her back.

The Little Black Mare is still here, still getting ridden by me three days a week.  We walk, trot, and canter every ride now, although canter work has so far been contained to the makeshift arena within the perimeter fencing of the greater pasture area.  Trotting we also do in the unfenced 'outdoor' arena and also while 'trail riding' around the property.  Now and then she has a slight spook (rabbits darting out from under spruce trees, something clanging next door and near her back end when we're riding very close to the property line, scaring up deer in the woods that leap away with white tails flagged and bouncing through the trees) but she's quick to calm down with a quiet word and me staying calm in the saddle.  I have noticed, though, that areas she went through with not a care in the world back in March, April and May, she is a little more wary of now that there's vegetation nearly chest high on either side of us, and trees and bushes fully leafed out that could possibly be hiding horse eating creatures and also block her distance vision.  I'm interested to see how she responds once the corn planted in the field grows up high enough to create a tunnel effect on our path to and from the woods.  It's all good practice for her, and also gives me a chance to hone my reacting-to-spooking skills before I take the Poetess outside the fences. 

The 'fenced' arena behind the barn, within the perimeter fencing.

Our "safe" zone, although the hay field on two sides is kind of sketchy; could be hiding monsters.

Sewing and Stitching Update, June

Do I have sewing and stitching stuff to show you!  

First up, I finished a long-time UFO: a Black, Bright and Batik quilt that began as a block swap in 2013.  Originally I had received 12 blocks in the swap.  I knew, at the time, that I wanted to make a bed-sized quilt out of them.  But then came news of Grandbaby #2 (Toad) being under construction, and my focus went to making a baby quilt for him. 

And time went by, and I found out my brother and his wife were also expecting (actually, at the same time Toad was due), so I quickly added another baby boy quilt to my agenda.  And then more time went by, and some king sized jean quilts were made for the two kids who got married, and then more time went by, and I needed to make a third grandbaby quilt (for Rascal).  And then I totally forgot I had swap blocks stashed away.  (And made some throw sized quilts, and a baby quilt for Grandbaby #4--Faline.)

Along came February 2022, and I uncovered the Black, Bright and Batik blocks.  I decided that those blocks needed to become a quilt and there was no time like the present. So I designed up a twin-size quilt that required 20 blocks and some sashing.  I had 12 blocks, and a nice chunk of black-on-black fabric leftover from a previous project somewhere along the way since 2013. So, diving into my fabric stash (that had grown exponentially since 2013) I came up with blacks, brights, and batiks that I then used to create eight additional blocks.  Got them all sashed, sewn together, bordered with the perfect fabric that matched everything in the blocks, and had a finished top.  I even bought large amount of a cheery lime green and yellow batik and made the backing.  And then I layered it, and rolled it up without basting because guess what; my time was needed for planning and constructing Grandbaby #5's (Buck) quilt.  The Black, Bright, and Batik quilt, that just needing basting, quilting and binding, became a rolled and then folded mass on one end of my cutting table.  Relegated to UFO status again.

For about two years. (Grandbaby #6, Sixlet needed a quilt of his own too.)  And then, in late April, I grabbed the wad that was the BB&B quilt, unrolled it, saw how close it was to being done and decided that this is the year the Black, Bright and Batik quilt gets finished.  So I did. I stopped worrying about making it perfect and just went for done. 

Confession: I didn't take apart the layers, nor did I iron the top and backing, then re-layer.  I just unrolled it as it was, pin basted it, then off to the sewing machine we went. As a result, there's some not-so-perfectly smooth areas on the backing.  I decided not to fret about it.  It's a utilitarian quilt, not a show quilt.  Nobody laying under it is going to notice a few sewn-in wrinkles.

Most of the blocks have echo quilting in some form or another.  A couple are heavily quilted where it accented that block's pattern or fabrics, others are more understated in the quilting. Once it was quilted, there was enough backing leftover that I thought about using that to make the binding but ultimately decided to go with a solid black. To help it pop.  The binding is sewn down with the same variegated rainbow thread that I used to quilt the top (a pale yellow in the bobbin) and boy, that black sets off the stitching.

Binding finished, I took it outside the next morning for beauty shots, then into the washer it went (with several color catchers).  That night, it graced the twin bed that's used for a grandkid when they spend the night here.  And, truth be told, I've slept under it a few times since then on nights that DH was snoring so badly I was tired of getting woken up every 30-60 minutes and I removed myself to a quieter room. It's a nice, cozy quilt. Sleeps well.

fairly true to color photo

 

showing some of the green backing

Once the BB&B quilt was finally crossed off my to-do list, I began working on the Airplane Quilt I'm hoping to give to DS1 by the end of this year.  I need 42 blocks with airplanes on them.  So far, I've made 10: 4 gray, 5 (of 20) blues and 1 (of 18) red.  As there has been time, I've been cutting pieces for a couple of blocks, then sewing those blocks, then cutting pieces for a few more blocks.  Even if I can only squeeze out 15 minutes for sewing, I can throw together one block using pre-cut pieces.  Or, I can grab a fat quarter or piece of scrap fabric, and cut pieces for two blocks.  

In the past week, I've done some cross stitching on my Celtic Santa.  Due to self-imposed restrictions on physical activity (disclosure: I really aggravated my knee and could barely walk, so spent a lot of time on the couch with my leg up being iced, or heated, or just rested) I had a lot more crafting time than I normally would in this season of the year.  Since the sewing machine is down in the basement, and stairs were  restricted to only for getting to the bedroom at night and then back to the main floor in the morning, I couldn't do any sewing. So I cross stitched instead.  Santa is pretty close to halfway through the stitching.

Now that my knee is much happier and (fingers crossed) nearly back to normal, I have a lot of catching up to do in the garden (weeds!!!), but hopefully I can spend some time down in the basement and get some more airplane blocks cut and sewn yet this month.

Knitting Update, June

 As expected for this time of year, there has not been much knitting happening.

I am, however, through the heel portion of my first Churfirsten sock.  Perhaps I'll actually finish it this month.

Currently I am reading The 8:55 to Baghdad by Andrew Eames.  As a long time Agatha Christie fan (I started reading her in middle school), I thought this book sounded interesting.  So far, about 60 pages into it, I am not disappointed.  The author accompanies history and biography with modern day descriptions of the locations traveled.

Since last month's knitting update, I read two other books:

The Island, by Elin Hilderbrand, which was typical of the author's subject and style, yet still enjoyable. 

 Second Chances by Jane Savoie, which I found disappointingly trite.  Having long been a fan of this author's horse training and sports psychology related books, I had expected way more of this book than it turned out to be.  That said, however, the riding-related sections of the book were great. The characters and plot were just rather shallow and undeveloped (and sometimes a little unbelievable too).

The Frugal Things of May

Ugh!  How did I overlook posting this before now???  It has no pictures to accompany it, so can't use that excuse (having probs with pictures lately, that is why there is no Knitting Update today.  Hopefully tomorrow, fingers crossed!)

These are my notable frugal accomplishments for the month of May:

I cut DH's hair.

As always, we ate from our stash in the freezers, cellar, basement and pantry.

Speaking of freezers, I managed to neatly fit the remainder of the meat in the upright freezer into the chest freezer.  So the upright has been defrosted and unplugged just in time for the summer electric rate hike on the first of June.

Mother-In-Law came down for a few days and brought with her a bunch of stuff leftover from that week's pop-up food pantry that she helps with: bacon, pork chops, grape tomatoes, cucumbers, and a half-sheet cake.  The package of pork chops was huge, and had previously been frozen, and arrived to us completely thawed, so we called the kids and those who were available came over for an impromptu potluck dinner featuring grilled pork chops and white cake with bright pink frosting.  The bacon, grape tomatoes and cucumbers were used multiple times in the next week.

I found the perfect chair for my tack room in the barn for just $5.29 at Goodwill.  I'd had my eye out for a non-upholstered chair I could use in my tack room for resting and also for sitting in while changing into riding boots from work or waterproof boots.  Pics of that perfect chair will be featured in June's Horse Update.

I decided to cull a rooster and seven hens from my flock.  The hens were laying more eggs than we could use, I was having no luck selling eggs due to a dearth of local people now keeping backyard flocks and so I took them to the local auction the third Saturday of the month.  You never know what prices you'll get there, but this was the best possible Saturday for me to have done that as after office fees and the sales commission, I received a check for $85!  That will pay for feed for the remainder of my flock for several months.

I planted seed potatoes from the cellar as well as the tomato and pepper plants I'd started from seed indoors.  So my potatoes were once again free (been saving my own seed potatoes for decades) and the 74 tomato plants and 46 pepper plants cost me maybe $20 in seed.  

I received a flat of marigolds and 9 pepper plants (3 jalapeno and 6 California Wonder green bell, which had been crop failures in my own seeding) as a Mother's Day gift from my daughters.  DD2 is one of the FFA Advisors at the school district they both teach in, and the FFA was having a plant sale where it was only $20 per flat, didn't matter what types of flowers or veggies you fit into the flat.  So they got them there based on a hint I had given in late April.  The hint being that they both love tomatoes I grow in my garden, tomatoes love marigolds planted with them to deter the tomato worms, so therefore my daughters giving me marigolds for Mother's Day would be a perfect symbiotic relationship.  Plus it supported FFA.

I also got 1/2 off a flat of petunias and pansies plus a begonia and three geraniums thrown in at the discounted plant sale the FFA put on to disperse their unsold stock from their original sale. 

DH and I ate asparagus from the garden several times.  Unfortunately the asparagus was ready early here and by not checking the garden three weeks earlier than normal I missed out on about two dozen stalks before they got too mature to eat.  But we enjoyed several dinners featuring steamed asparagus that was freshly harvested in the remaining couple of weeks of the short season.

Tractor Supply had a 10% off sale on stock tanks, so I bought a brand new Rubbermaid 100 gallon trough.  Tractor Supply is about $30-40 cheaper on them normally than any of the other farm stores within an hour of me, and with this sale I knew it was time to grab one.  I'd been trying to find a used and not leaking one for months, but even the abused/leaking ones people wanted only 20% less than a brand new one from TSC, so I went ahead and bought a nice shiny water-holding one.  Just in time to fill it up for the hotter weather of the coming summer.  Now I don't have to drag my original (leaky) one from pasture to pasture as I move horses to fresher grazing every couple of week.

I took advantage of a couple good sales and a 20% off coupon at Missouri Star Quilt Company to buy more batting, quilting thread, clips, and some more white on white fabric that perfectly matches what I'd used as the background in the blocks I started making for the Airplane Quilt.  Now instead of doing an assortment of whites in the blocks and hope they all read the same degree of whiteness in the finished top, I have enough of one fabric to make every block's background the same.

I took advantage of a promo from Rada to get a free pie server with a $29 order (plus free shipping!).  So I picked out a couple things I'd had my eye on for a while now, ordered them just barely hitting the $29 threshold, and got that pie server (and no shipping costs!).  I all ready have a pie server from Rada that I love, but it's nice to not have to use the same server on three different flavor pies during family holiday gatherings.  Now I have two Rada ones and the one my grandma gave me (so, sort of an heirloom as it had been hers, not brand new, when she gave it to me over 31 years ago) and we can serve three pies without flavor cross-contamination. 

Whew!  Listed out, that's a lot more frugal goodies than I'd thought we'd managed