My knees... they hurt....

Here are some pictures of the leaf patio. This is the middle step of the process. We washed and scrubbed the patio to remove the extra release. It will dry the rest of the day, and tomorrow, we will go back and tint leaves... Oh dear! There are a *lot* of leaves here.

These pictures are before we washed it. It is still completely covered with release, so you can't see the actual color which is a nice cream.

This picture is particularly interesting. It came out of my camera "upside down". It is an optical illusion that makes the leaves seem to stand off the concrete instead of going down into it. If you flip it upside down, then they look impressed instead of raised. It is a bit easier to see in the larger version. If you would like to see the original size, I will be happy to email it. I have some pictures of the concrete on the back patio at the Cowboy Hall of fame. There are horseshoe and cowboy boot tracks, and those pictures do the same thing. It makes me think I have lost my mind. Ok, we all know that my mind is lost. If you find it, would you bring it back? Thank you.

As I am going through the pictures I took this morning, I found more "upside down" examples. The imprint with this pattern is very delicate and doesn't have a lot of depth. The tiny shadows made by the angles of the sun cause this illusion. The leaves really are stamped down into the concrete, and not raised. For someone who has vertigo, this can be disturbing. It makes my eyes hurt. I can change the focus of my eyes and make it go up or down. Ah well, hopefully my mind will find it's way home, and straighten my eyes out.

Here are some examples of the patio after it has been washed and scrubbed.

We always sign our work :-) I usually leave at least one footprint where I stepped off the tools. I managed not to on this job. :-P Tomorrow, I will post pictures of the finished project. It should be pretty neat! Of course, my knees will demand a day off. I guess it's a good thing the weekend is coming...except I am out of hay... My knees will not be happy.

Tattoo You? Aww come on!

Well ok, maybe not. I didn't get my first till I was forty. I always wanted one, but I couldn't ever find just the right thing. After all, it would be there forever... Forever is a long, long time. I haven't ever particularly cared much what anyone thought about me. I figured anyone who would judge me badly because I had a tattoo probably wouldn't like what is inside me either, so appearance wasn't much of a consideration. I just wanted it to be an image that said something about who I am, and what I like. So I looked. And looked... and looked some more. Do you have any idea how many horse drawings/gifs/jpegs/paintings/etc, ad naseum there are on the internet. Well I do. I probably spent several hundred hours searching and viewing pictures. I narrowed it down to a few favorites and let them stew in my brain for a while. I finally chose this:

It's on my right upper arm. I have to admit, (though I didn't know any better at the time), that I stole this design. The original did have different feathers, but for the most part, it is someone elses' design. I found it on an art group. I can't remember which one, but for the record, I have since asked for permission for all the designs I have considered using.

This design puts together two of my favorite things, horses and birds. I love the colors Lesa used. I need to take some new pictures, but it really hasn't changed much. It is still very vibrant, and I still love it.

The second one was about a year later. I had seen a picture online that I fell in love with. It was a Vavra photo. I wrote them to find out what a print would cost. Uh... yeah. $500. Sooo, instead, I hopped on Ebay and got a copy of the book cheap. Nice book by the way. I adore his pictures, and this book is just full of very creative shots. Here is the actual picture.

It fit right in with my theme of feathery horses. I took this picture, along with a ton of other pics and drawings showing anatomy to Lesa, and she drew up a design. She is an amazing artist. I watched her sketch a phoenix on a guy's arm as a pattern, and it took her about a minute. It was beautiful. I can't believe that she takes a picture and actually translates it onto (or into rather) skin. I am in awe of her talent. It does take her forever though. You should be prepared to wait, but the wait is well worth it. Here is the finished tattoo:

This is not a great picture, but it's the best one I have. Maybe I will get some new ones ;) This one is on my left arm. Now I have matching horses! Woot! My poor MIL about had a heart attack. I think she has gotten used to it now, which is a good thing, because I am nowhere near done yet. I still have lots of skin to use up. I love my horses. They make me happy.

The third tattoo was not what I had in mind. Since my mother had recently passed away, I had thought I wanted to have her and my dad tattooed as a memorial. I spent several days going through all of the pictures I had of them, and found two that I liked. I went in and showed Lesa my pictures. She was not comfortable doing them because she didn't think they would translate well. They were very old pictures, and there was not enough contrast and shadow to give a good result. I like that she is willing to tell me that my idea just won't work. She explained why she felt that I would be disappointed with the result, and was very nice about answering all my questions, and went into great detail about how the depth she felt was needed for portraits couldn't be done with what she had to work from. She is a hoot. She's about 30, and talks a mile a minute. She's very funny.

Anyhow, I asked her if she liked orchids. My mother raised them, and there were several blooming in the greenhouse. I love them. They are such delicate and strange flowers. The colors are just fantastic too. She said she loved them and had a few growing at her house, so I asked if she would like to do orchids for my tattoo. Good lord, you would think I had come in with a big bag of hundred dollar bills. She was jumping up and down. I told her how much space and how much money, and she told me to come back in about two weeks. Well, two weeks apparently wasn't enough time for her creative self. I got there and she was late. This is typical, and expected. It's safe to show up a bit late and know you won't be wasting her time :-) She was upset that she hadn't gotten the drawing done, and said it would only take her a little time. I waited a while, and she got more upset, so I told her that maybe it would be better to try next week. I trust her implicitly, having given her free rein over my arm, but I didn't think it was an excellent idea to have her work on me when she was less than happy. We waited a week. Here is my favorite of the four. I promise I will take a picture of the entire tattoo, but take a peek at this for now.

My mother loved this tattoo. She would grab my arm and run her finger over the flowers and say how pretty they were. She really loved her flowers. I miss her a lot. This one is on my left arm, below the yellow and blue horse, running down to my upper forearm. So, I feel good about this "tribute" to my mother. Anyone who knew her would appreciate how much she loved this tattoo. She told me that she wished I had gotten them all earlier, because she would have gone with me and gotten one of her own. That made me cry. Did I mention how much I miss her? I still can't believe she is gone....

The latest one is also one that was a favorite of my mother. She didn't get to see the finished product, but she did love this guy in the book. She loved fairies and strange beings. She was very artistic, (sheesh, what happened to my share of the art gene anyway?) and always liked things that were a little different. This guy is different. He is the Fairy of Honesty. He can see into your heart. He is in the upper middle of my back, and is the start of a full backpiece with other fairies. It is going to be awesome when it's done. It will take quite a while though. I am a weenie, and can't take more than a couple of hours at a time. This picture is at about 3 weeks, and it is still healing. The colors will be more vibrant when it finishes healing. I think he is pretty cool. My hubby hates him. Doesn't like to have something stare at him LOL!!! Here is a picture of the actual drawing. She changed the colors a bit as part of the overall plan, but he mostly looks like the drawing :-)

It's finished peeling pretty much, at least for the first round. It will peel again though.

If any of you are thinking about getting a tattoo, I say go for it. First, find a *good* tattoo artist. Look at their portfolios. Check out their studio. Make sure it is clean and licensed. I think tattoos are great. Your own personal art, and when they are well done, they really are works of art. Poorly done, they can be a major regret. They can be dangerous too. You can get dead if the artist doesn't sterilize things or use new sterile tubes and needles. And if you are afraid of the pain, well I am not going to lie. It doesn't feel like a swedish massage, but come on. Pain is relative, and yes it "hurts", but it doesn't hurt that much. That said, there are certain areas that i will not have tattooed again. The elbow was an adventure in pure, nerve burning pain. I was shocked at just how much that did hurt. I almost threw up. It didn't help that it was towards the end of a 5 hour session and my endorphines were apparently all used up. Now that I have scared you to death, I say go for it! Life is too short for regrets :-)

I will update the pictures soon, I promise, so check back.

Work is a dirty word!

Gah, my DH is trying to kill me. We have had most of the winter off, waiting on a couple of big jobs to kick off. During that time, I was pretty sick for about 6 weeks. All of this means that whatever muscles I had left were all sad and flabby. Actually, they were pretty happy. They got to sit around and party, instead of working. Now we are actually starting back to work, and those same happy, flabby muscles are groaning and complaining. They are NOT happy campers. They pay me back by ignoring the ibuprophen I throw at them, and nagging me while I sleep.

We did a small patio and sidewalk this week. They are double stamped with two different patterns. The first is a base pattern that covers everything, and looks like like a slate texture. The second is a mixture of leaves from a tropical forest. I created this stamp several years ago from leaves that I stole out of my mother's greenhouse. It has bamboo and several other interesting leaves. Our OK City contractor used it in the zoo there, in their restaurant. It won an award! It looks very cool when you go back and stain some of the leaves, but it is very labor intensive.

Thanks to some idiotic politicians hoping to further their worthless careers, we are short handed. Besides my DH and me, we have one guy on the crew. This means that there is virtually no StampMonkey Nap Time. I have to actually help! Akkk. I cannot begin to tell you how much this distresses me. Yesterday, I had to shovel concrete! No, I really did! Do you know how heavy concrete is? I do...intimately. It's a travesty I tell ya! It's very difficult to be a Fairy Princess when you are shoveling concrete. I think I actually got sweaty! Oh the HORROR! I survived, just barely. I still feel like someone beat the crap out of me, picked me up, and beat me again. I am getting too old for this stuff!

After a few days, we will go back and tint individual leaves by hand. There is about 400 square feet of this stuff, so it will take a few hours to make it look good. Crawling around concrete on your hands and knees for hours, is not conducive to happiness. It only leads to lower back pain, and thighs that scream for mercy. I swear, I would rather do an hour and a half riding lesson without stirrups, including jumping than crawl around a concrete slab on my knees. Mercy, I beg you!

I will take pictures of the patio when it's done, so you can see the finished product. We are going to make a new stamp that has native leaves on it. I find it hilarious that years ago, people would break out in pimples if there was an accidental leaf print, or an animal walked across their concrete before it was hard. Now, people will pay a premium to have leaves and animal tracks on their patio. Aren't people a riot?

Susie's Little Trouble AKA The Nanny

This is my girl. I love her. She makes my heart happy!
Look at those perfect ears!!

Susie's Little Trouble is The Nanny's registered name. What possesses people when they are naming baby horses? I know that they are often trying to include elements of the Sire and Dam's names, but sheesh people! Imahezashezalittledarling. I often go to Allbreed pedigree and just read the names. It's a very amusing way to spend some time.

I call Susie "Old Lady" or "Nanny". To me, Old Lady is a title of respect that is very well earned. She is 23 this year, and her face is starting to gray. I was told that she has done some reining, and worked cattle a little. She is perfect on a trail ride. She is definitely a been there, done that kind of girl, and there is no drama. A great ride for someone like me who has done all the exciting stuff, and just wants a relaxing outing on the trail. I really adore her, from her floppy ears (Only the finest horses possess this trait), to her strange roany patch and her gentle eyes. To me, she is perfect.

She is a good companion for Baxter. He is a very active horse, and he thinks constantly, which means he is always getting into stuff. He tears around acting like a fool, until he encounters The Nanny. All it takes is a look, and he settles down like a little kid caught in the act of random naughtiness. She is very strict with him at feeding time.


Hey you punk kid! Who do you think you are? Manners
PLEASE! Were you raised in a barn????

This is why I am so amused at Susie's ability to twitch in Baxter's general direction and have him fleeing in utter terror. She is the supreme ruler of the pasture, the Queen of all she stomps on. Baxter, despite his size, is still very immature mentally. He will still make the baby face if he is unsure of a situation. They are such a Mutt and Jeff team. It is amusing. Susie is very protective of him, and will stand over him while he sleeps. She will not however put up with any of his nonsense. If he gets too rambunctious, she lets him know in no uncertain terms that it's completely unacceptable. She likes to pretend that she doesn't like him, but I know better. If I take him out of the paddock she gets nervous. If I take him out of her sight, she runs hysterically back and forth, screaming as if the pixies were pulling her tail out one hair at a time. What a show! When you bring him back, she turns away and acts as though she really couldn't care less. Silly girl.

I can understand why she gets so aggravated with him. He will ease up one step at a time until he is right next to her, and then he tries to eat out of her feeder. This is totally unacceptable behavior to The Nanny. He is incredibly persistent, and will keep this up until there is no more feed. Occasionally, she gets really serious and shows him the soles of her feet, double barrel style. Of course he is quick, and runs away, but 5 seconds later he is easing back, one careful step at a time. It can take him five minutes of slow, step at a time inching to approach her feeder. It's fun to watch their dynamic. It is hilarious that this tiny little girl can, with the flick of an ear, send this Baby Huey scampering away at top speed, terror writ large on his face.

Here are the various phases of coat for her. She goes through quite a dramatic color change as she sheds out. In the winter, she is a reddish rusty color, with a coat like a yak. I am glad I don't have to blanket her, since any attempt would result in Dennis the Menace doing his best to destroy the blanket in record time.

This picture was taken a couple of weeks ago. She is just
starting to blow her winter coat, and you can see her head
is turning a nice chocolate brown!





Here she is after completely shedding out. She is almost black. She has very unusual markings. She has socks on both of her hind feet, but the lighter color on her fronts is not socks. The hair is actually not white, it's silver. Very strange. Also her roany patch, and the white mark on her face. Neither of these are from injury, and are probably sabino markings. Also, her lower legs are lighter than her body color, and are brindled. Most unusual. I have cared for literally hundreds of horses, and I have never seen leg coloring like this before. Maybe I have just been sheltered :-) Awww look at that face! Don't you want to squeeze her? She may not be a fancy show horse, but she takes my breath away every time I see her. What a girl!


Here she is in mid-summer. Still pretty dark. See the Rocking L on her shoulder?? What a face!




Here she is at the end of summer. A bit sunburned, so lighter, but still beautiful. Coppery and shiny like a new penny. You can see her lighter lower legs a bit better here, along with her not so white fronts. Gorgeous girl! Oh the ears, the EARS!!

Here I am with her. Don't look at me. I am the world's most un-photogenic person. The camera is not kind, and whoever said it adds 10 pounds was wrong. It's more like 25! She is my girl, and I love her.



Camille

Horses and Doggers and Birds...Oh my! Baxter

Darling boy! He is a few days old here. He is 3 months old in the second picture. The third picture is a few days after we brought him home at just over 4 months. The fourth is a yearling pic. He is 18 months in the fifth, and around 2 in the sixth. The last two were taken in January.

Everyone will probably get sick of seeing pictures of Baxter, but well... too bad :-) He is the first baby horse I have ever owned. I got him from my friend Joleen. She breeds mostly foundation QH's now, but she did breed paints for a while, and appy's before that. She is one of the smartest people I know, and a true Horse Girl. She has done a lot for me, and I am lucky to have her as a friend. Baxter's full name is Imagine Baxter Black. I love Baxter Black. He makes me laugh so hard with his hilarious tales. When I first saw my Baxter and saw that cute mustache, the name that came to me was Baxter Black. Imagine is for his daddy FPF Imagine That, or Roy for short. Roy was a maximum splash white overo. That is probably the rarest paint coloration. Every foal he sired was a splash. His mother is Drift Into Overdrive. She is an appendix QH, and is a very nice mare.

This guy gives Dennis the Menace a run for his money. He is into everything. My hubby built me a little run in shed out of a portable car port. It is a great little barn for them, with plenty of room for two. One of Baxter's favorite pastimes is to take a rubber feeder and bang it against the barn. It looks like the field mice have been having drag races all over the walls. Black marks everywhere! When he isn't banging the walls, he is banging himself in the head! It must feel good, he keeps doing it. Some days his face is covered with black marks from waving the feeder around. He has had to be more creative since I took his barrels away. He spends lots of time throwing the feeder around. Sometimes he drops it on the double strand electric fence, causing it to short out... smart boy! He also loves his jolly ball. He has totally destroyed two, and is on his third now. I have found them as far as 20 feet outside his paddock. The most entertaining thing so far has been the feeder on the peak of the barn. I can only imagine what he was thinking... "Let's see that lazy waitress get this down"! Here are some pics. The barrel when it was new, and three weeks later. And of course the feeder on the barn. He is running away because he knows he "dood it and he's gonna get a whuppin' ". It is a little hard to see, but look on top of the barn. That's *my* boy!

Next time I will tell you about The Nanny.

Camille

Our shop

My husband's mother and father started this business about 30 years ago. For a long time they worked out of their home, storing all the equipment in their garage. After they started doing stamped concrete they soon ran out of room to store all the stamps and color. They moved into a warehouse space with an attached office. Eventually, the business became successful enough for them to start thinking of building their own office and shop.

They looked around and found a piece of property that was close to their home, and affordable. Then they found an architect to help them design the building. If you have never built anything from the ground up, let me tell you it is an experience that I will never forget. And one that I also don't want to repeat. It's an exercise in frustration to say the least. Since we are concrete folks, a tilt up building only made sense. We stamped the front. We used a patio stone tool that makes nice flat stones. Then we stained them by hand for that nice varied look. The back section that houses the shop was left plain. We are close (one block) to Route 66, so we painted a route 66 symbol on the building. It's kind of fun to have such a large canvass. Here is an in progress picture. I will have to find a completed one to post.

The sidewalks and patio area, along with the entry to the drive are all stamped with different patterns. This makes a great sample yard for customers who would like to see what the finished product looks like before they decide on a pattern or color. This is a good way for us to see what patterns look good with which color, and to just be creative. It's hard to believe that some of it is concrete.

Next time, more pet pictures :)

Camille

The Tootsie Trimmer came today

I posted a little about my great farrier last time. His name is Craig Stark. He is so good with the horses, and he helped me teach Baxter that getting his feet trimmed didn't mean he was going to be lunch for the guy doing the trimming. I have a lot of years experience with horses, but hardly any of it has had to do with teaching a baby manners. I did pretty well with leading and tying, but the foot thing had me stumped. Craig was patient and cheerful about it, and Baxter is now very good for trimming. Last time he actually lopped his ears and almost fell asleep. I always give Craig a bit extra for gas, and a nice gift for the holidays. I am heavily into using bribes to keep an excellent farrier!

This time started out fine. We did Susie first, since she was closest. She is getting up there in age, and is starting to have that old horse stiffness. It takes a bit longer with her, to give her a chance to recover from having her hocks flexed so much. She is a good girl and never moves while Craig works on her.

Baxter was good for both the right side feet. Craig was doing his left front and asked me if Bax had been lame. I thought about it and said no... why? Well he has this hole here... Dang! I looked, and it appeared to be an abscess that had already blown. It was a pretty good hole, but it was clean and dry, so I told him to let it go since Bax is sound now. I started thinking back and remembered that Bax had been kind of off for a couple of days. Now you have to understand that Baby Huey is often tweaky. He plays so hard that he frequently has twinges and soreness which resolve in a day or two. I have learned not to panic unless he acts very painful or he doesn't want to eat. I keep an eye on him, and if he gets worse I call the vet. Anyway, back to Craig trimming Bax. He moved on to the back left, and I'll be darned if the little darling didn't take a swat at Craig! I couldn't believe it! This horse has only ever tried to kick one time, and was so punished for it (Bax meet Mr. Bucket) that he never even thought about it again. I stood there with my jaw on the ground, swearing to anything that would listen that he had never done that. Craig was not upset. He said he knew he hadn't, and tried again. Bax waived his foot around and Craig smacked him. Finally, he held his leg up and got his foot trimmed. I am assuming that he didn't want to weight the front with the blown abscess. I made him pick it up later when I fed, and he was fine about it. Hopefully he will take a break from injuring himself for a while. He lost barrel priviledges after the last time I had to hold his feed bucket for him to eat! That is a long story. I will save it for later

Camille