Before and After

It's a resurfacing of the disgusting pictures! So there's more after the break for those who don't mind the grossness.

A Party

Or: A Party, An Untimely Death, and Updating Whatnots.

My younger brother is off to college finally. The house is crazy quiet now without the sounds of guitars, various musical instruments, coffee brewing, and things like that....sigh. Before he left, though, we had a going-away party at a friend's house.

Before I explain the untimely death, I should inform you that my brother has a penchant for hypnotizing chickens. I'm not quite sure how he does it, but he does. Case in point:

It has something to do with turning them upside down quickly enough that they get overwhelmed and don't respond for a minute or so.

"No paparazzi!" *tries to hide evidence*

But then tragedy struck...

See that glazed, slack look? That's not a good look.

To make a long story short, she wouldn't come around, and wouldn't come around, and then she'd flop around madly for a few seconds to make us think she was coming around, and then she died. O.o

It was all very traumatic for the non-farmboys standing around for the innocent intent of seeing a chicken hypnotized. We decided that she had been an old chicken to begin with, and the stress of being caught and hypnotized was too much for her. Poor old chicken...

But they all got over it rather quickly.

For the rest of the party there was music, food, good company, good fun, etc...

And cake!

(The writing is a bit of an inside joke...see, my brother's name is Will, but it got changed to Vince for a variety of reasons. So no one really calls him by the same name twice and it's given rise to a variety of conglomerations.)

And there's the man himself. I'm not sure whose bass that is, but so many instruments changed hands during the course of the evening that I will probably never actually know.

Oh yes, and there was archery. I tried to shoot one of the bows and felt like a complete pansy when I could barely pull back the 40-pounder. >.<

They all had fun while I nursed my bruised ego. XD

And there goes Papa Joe and Josiah on the tractor...the latter is our pastor's adorable son, who had never ridden a tractor before. Apparently he thought it was too loud, but still fun.

Oh! While part of the occasion was a going-away party for my brother, the other part was a welcome-back party for this dude. He lives in the Philippines but goes to school in the Midwest--he'd been out of the country all summer and, having been unofficially adopted by our friends, showed up for the insanity.

Oh yes...and then there's the stud. Another friend took it upon herself to ride him for a bit while the others were playing music--he hadn't been ridden most of this year due to some chronic lameness, poor guy.

He was pretty out of shape, but still has a really nice gait and a neck that makes him look incredibly tall when he's probably only a few inches taller than my horse at the shoulder.

You can't tell in the picture here, but he's got some chains linked around his front ankles. Emily (the rider) uses them for keeping track of how even his strides are (each time he takes a step they jingle, so it's something like a metronome). I'm wondering what Colletta would do if I put those on her feet...she probably wouldn't like it very much. XD

So that was the party...I was trying to take some pictures, but most of the time I was just wandering around from place to place and watching/listening to everything. It was pretty fun...

Success and Crates

Yesterday I made popsicles and deodorant. They have nothing in common, other than I've wanted to make both for a while (and they both had to cool before I could use them). So this morning, I got pictures of both!

This is based off of a recipe that includes cocoa butter, beeswax, shea butter, bentonite clay, and tea tree oil. It seems to work pretty well thus far and smells very nice.

And these are basically pudding pops with heavy cream and crushed Oreos mixed in. They're dericious and totally not dietary. :3

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For the past few days Mom has been washing old jars and trying to figure out what to do with them. Most are the old blue Mason jars with the glass lids and wire clamps--they're unusable for canning (yes, we checked) and we have so many that we don't know what to do with them. I'm using one for a water jar and might use others for steeping oils and/or teas, but that's all I've figured so far.

But jars are not the focus right now. They've been stored in these really cool crates that I want to use for bookshelves...the trick is mounting them on the walls and figuring out how to arrange them (after cleaning them up first).

I'm eternally amused by the 'High Explosives' warning on the side. 

I'm torn between hanging them with the 'Atlas Powder Co' print facing down, or putting them on brackets so that they're more like a drawer sticking out of the wall. The first method seems to be more common, while the second would be more interesting. Plus, there's this huge space above my desk that needs to be filled...so much wall, so little time!

I love the explosives thing. It just makes me happy.

Any ideas on how to group and hang these? I'm open to suggestions. So far I'm just going by Pinterest inspiration and we all know how that could turn out.... <.< >.>

Slightly Less Grody Pictures Ahead

Time for an update on the horse's leg! I'm sure you all have been waiting with bated breath.

Bah.

Long day...long weekend. It's just been a long month, y'know? So I'm going to whine for a bit before I recount the good stuff that's been happening.

I have this art commission that I've been working on for a couple of weeks. Most of the time lapse is because I'm only working on it at night, for an hour or so at a time, and it's freakishly detailed. I decided that the best way to do it (it's of four clone commandos from a Star Wars fanfic, by the by) is to draw each figure individually, do the lineart/coloring in Photoshop, and then stack them together so that it looks like they were all drawn in the same picture. But I did the lineart for two of the pictures and it looks clunky and I can't draw hands anymore and guns are stupid and I haven't been using the Wacom at ALL lately and BAH. I'm quitting that for now and am going to listen to Matt Chandler and eat chips for the rest of the night.

School has been somewhat on the back burner lately--it's all my fault, I know, because I work on art and after getting too frustrated to continue I've been internetting for a bit, and before I know it two hours have passed and I'm lucky if I get around to doing school twice a week. It's sad. I mean, it's getting done...but the process is SLOW. It's like my art commission, but worse.

I guess that's the only 'blargh'ish thing that have been going on lately...let's pick up on some good stuff!

The horse's leg is looking massively better. All the swelling has gone down, all the icky oozy disgusting stuff has dried up for the most part, and she's not nearly as ouchy as she was a week ago. I just haven't taken pictures yet. (I meant to today, and went for a ride instead thusly forgetting).

Work is going well. I got to decorate some cakes today (by which I mean 'pipe some icing on the edges'), and have a couple of short shifts each week instead of constantly working entire afternoon shifts.

While riding the horse today (I ran home, changed immediately, and went for a ride before my body could catch up and remind my brain that it was tired) I ran into a variety of reactions. See, most people wave and say 'hi' and occasionally some people want to pet the horse. We were walking past a woman and her three little girls--all probably under the age of 6--when one of the little girls asked if she could pet the horse. I said sure and started walking Colletta towards them when the younger girls started screaming in terror--full-blown, tearful, wailing terror--and hiding behind their mother. 

Now granted, the horse is basically a large pony in size. But when one is 4 or 5 she looks awfully big. So I stopped, tried to reassure them with their mom doing the same, and they kept on wailing. When their mom said, 'look, I'll pet her first' they just screamed louder. I was at least 10 feet away at this point, and the horse was completely unperturbed by the ruckus. So instead of completely traumatizing the kids for life I took her on down the street, with the older girl following the horse a little ways yelling 'bye' and the younger girls continuing to sob in terror. I could still hear them half a block away. XD

Then a couple of blocks later a flock of about 10 kids under the age of twelve came over to pet the horse and feed her apples. So you never know how kids are going to react.

On a side note, part of my reason for riding today was to race people. Last week I was passed by a black car with a growly engine that was just begging to be raced, but I was riding bareback at the time and chickened out. I know I'd be creamed in a literal actual race, but it's pretty funny to pace people and look over to see their expression. Today I didn't follow through because the horse seemed a bit tender-footed--when she's walking on grass she takes big, easy steps, and on pavement her stride gets shorter and choppier; while there's no stumbling, I'm not sure how great pavement is for her legs. Meh. 

Next week I have a friend coming over to stay for a few days...I can't wait. It's going to be nice to have a couple of days off to just talk and not be obligated to do anything other than feed the animals and ourselves. 

There's not a whole lot else going on. It's still been a long day...a long week...a long month...a long several months...and there's still never enough time to do everything that needs to be done.

"Beware the barrenness of a busy life."

I'm feeling pretty barren these days. Things NEED to be done, and the things I WANT to do are an afterthought.

Anti-fungal Salve

In my grody pictures post I mentioned the salve I've been using on Colletta's legs. It was really quite simple to make...but here's the process anyway!

From left to right we have tea tree oil, black walnut hulls (I ran over them with the van to separate the hulls from the nuts), some comfrey oil (it's been steeping since June), and various herbs from the garden/yard (a mixture of sage, echinacea leaves, and plantain). Not shown is the goldenseal powder, because it was in the freezer and I forgot to get it out for the picture.

I strained off about a cups' worth of oil from the comfrey, added the herbs and hulls, and rounded it all off with another cup of plain olive oil. Ideally I would pack a quart jar with the mixture and let it sit for a few weeks to get a really high-quality oil, but since I was in a hurry I put everything in a double boiler on the stove, put said stove on the lowest possible gas flame, and let it simmer for a couple of hours.

This method does the trick, but since it's more of a quick-and-dirty way that yields a less rich version, I'm going to have some oil cold-steeping in the pantry soon for future experiments.

So after a couple of hours I strained it off, and came up with this lovely black-green stuff. The walnut turns it super dark and stains my fingers (the first three fingers on my right hand are a couple shades darker than the rest of my hand thanks to the daily application thing).

At this point, with the double boiler still on some heat, I tossed in some grated beeswax and the tea tree oil. I'm not sure how much beeswax...maybe 4-5 tablespoons? And there was something like a capful of tea tree. I hardly ever measure anything, can you tell?

 The last time I made salve I had to hack wax off of a 1-lb block, and swore that that was a hassle and grated the rest. I'm so glad I did, for obvious reasons...beeswax is handy, but so stinking obnoxious sometimes.

After the beeswax melted I turned the stove off and poured the results into a couple of jelly jars. I have my tins, but they only hold 2 ounces at a time and I only wanted to have a couple of containers on hand.

There they go, solidifying up as they cool...

...and the finished result! I just wrote out the labels rather than printing them since they'll be for personal use. As soon as they were cool I ran out and slathered Colletta's scratches with them, sprayed the walnut liniment over the whole mess, and left it alone. So far I must say that her leg looks a lot better--the swelling has almost completely gone down, and while the skin is still tender and a bit raw it doesn't look near as nasty as it did.

The salve turned out well, except that I think I added too much beeswax. It's hard and a little grainy in texture, but if I crush it and melt it a little between my fingers before smoothing it on it works. Next time I'll cut down on the beeswax and hopefully will have a better oil on hand. But for now, this seems to be working.

Grody Pictures Ahead

Remember when I did a post on scratches a while back? And I lamented the fact that I had forgotten to take pictures and such before treating it?

Well, Colletta has scratches again. This time it's on the left hind fetlock, and looks worse than the last time it cropped up. So of course I've been taking pictures and documenting the whole treatment thereof...but since I know that some people may not like to see pictures of gross scabby stuff there's more after the break.

Fury

"Beware of him that is slow to anger; for when it is long coming, it is the stronger when it comes, and the longer kept. Abused patience turns to fury." -- Francis Quarle

"Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned, nor hell a fury like a woman scorned." -- William Congreve

"If anger proceeds from a great cause, it turns to fury; if from a small cause, it is peevishness; and so is always either terrible or ridiculous." -- Jeremy Taylor

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Without going into an absurd amount of detail, just know that right now I am furious. It's a fury born out of months of silence and deliberate avoidance from another person (they did the avoiding) that was suddenly broken off without warning. 

It's impossible to remain silent. All I want to do is scream and rail into their face about the injustice felt, about the building rage that is pouring out its darkness, about everything that was broken and how dare they think that anything is 'okay' anymore.

It's not 'okay'. It never was 'okay'. And the anger is not something that's going to go away anytime soon. I'm not a switch that can just turn something off (though that would be nice).

For brevity's sake...

"...they called him Bossuet."

Wait, wrong quote. Ahem. Les Mis, step over for a bit.

So I'm on a schedule (self-imposed, really, but still important) to finish several projects. But in the meantime I figured I'd ramble about random stuff, but keep it all somewhat concise.

First off, I got an awesome teapot yesterday!

It's from the Adagio Tea company, and while it looks small and flat it holds 34 ounces and is made of cast iron, making for a nice, heavy pot. It will last me forever and never ever break ever.

I love the finish. It's just so aged-looking. :3

I did have a problem with a spill (the spout was plugged with paper or something, and the tea was spilling out from under the lid. Once it got unplugged it was fine).

Last night I got commissioned to repair a ton of jeans and make some skirts...thus, this is what my room currently looks like:

Am I the only one who thinks it looks like my bed threw up all over my floor? Those are the scraps and contents of a body-bag (okay, it's an under-the-bed storage bag, but it's the general shape and size of a body-bag) of fabric...it's a good think I saved them, all things considered, but it's SO messy.

These are the holey jeans. There's about 7 pairs here, with another slung over the back of my desk chair and two more freshly patched and stuck in the bag of 'completed' items. I get a lot of time to sit and listen to sermons while sewing.

(I'm currently listening to this series on Luke. I just finished part 29 out of 100 last night...it's so cool. I love Mark Driscoll.)

And! And and and! Last week I went shopping for some clothes at a second-hand store (albeit a very classy second-hand store). While poking around I found this awesome black leather bag/backpack. It was brand new, incredibly soft with a large interior, and bolted to the wall so it wouldn't get stolen. XD So I admired it and petted it for a bit, checked the price tag, and decided that I wasn't going to spend $75 on a bag. I went home with some clearance-rack stuff instead. (Yes, I'm cheap. I'm okay with that.)

So two days ago, after I came home from work, Mom said that something came for me and was sitting on my bed. Lo and behold....it was the bag! She had heard me talking about it and got it for me...I have a great mom. :3

So here it is in all its lovely soft slouchy majesty!

There are SO many pockets...and the interior is enormous. And it's so soft that I just want to cuddle with it. I needed a bag upgrade rather badly--my current/old bag is an army messenger style thing that my grandpa used in WWII. And while it's done a fabulous job, it's starting to rot and shred away in places and I'm just waiting for the straps to give way one day. O.e

Last but not least: The Hobbit is going to be a trilogy! At first I was skeptical, because The Hobbit isn't THAT long. But I've been reading through the Appendices at the end of Lord of the Rings and read The Quest of Erebor...and I can't WAIT to see how it all works out. There's so much material and stuff going on in the background that I'm happy they get the chance to tell the entire story without feeling the need to cut bits out so we aren't sitting through two 4-hour movies (though I wouldn't complain at all. Just sayin'.). 

So I'm now excited about that, even more so than I originally was. Yee. :3 

Now it's off to patch stuff...wish me luck and I'll try to update somewhat soonish.