Thursday, July 30, 2009

Do it yourself halter





The last couple of days flew by like a jet plane.

No time for blogging.

And I was also very occupied by playing "Farmville" on Facebook.
A rather simple and stupid game, but surprisingly fun...

In case you know it, I would love to have more neighbors on my Farm...!!! ;-)


The other thing that I have been doing is making a rope halter.
I wanted to do that for a long time, but I never found a rope that would be the right material to do so.
Until last week.
So I bought the rope, went on the WWW for a tutorial and started tying knots...

I had to start over a couple of times, but then I finally figured it out.
And I am very happy with the result!




As you can see, I tied metal rings into the knots over the noseband, so I can attach the reins directly to the halter.
That way I can ride without a bit.
Tying the rings into the knots was a bit of a challenge though.




Reins attached to the rope halter rings... (I recycled the rings from an old, broken bridle)



I'll make a couple more halters in different sizes, this one is for Indigo.
It's fun!!
:))




Moa is visiting again today.
She has been sleeping here and we'll take her home later on.
She really doesn't wanna go home though, and I understand, I was like that too when I was a kid and was visiting friends or family in the holidays.

Her she is riding Midas again...
(Notice how clean Midas is - he had a bath yesterday! :))





:))

Monday, July 27, 2009

I love...



Now that I love!
An Award where I don't have to come up with 7 (or 10) things about me...
;-)


Thank you Kelly Riccetti from Red and the Peanut for passing on this lovely Award!

I am following Kelly's Blog practically since the day I started blogging.
Kelly is a Bird Lover and knows a lot about the winged.
She is mostly posting lovely photographs of lovely birds and always sharing all her knowledge about those amazing creatures.

It's like being on discovery channel, very educational!
Go check it out if you like birds.







Thank's again Kelly!


Now I'm supposed to pass this award on to 7 other bloggers, oh my gosh, there is the 7 again!!!

7 Blogs I love... that is an easy one cause I love to read so many different blogs. Unfortuntately I don't have time right now to keep up with all the new posting that is going on every day :(

but here it comes (in random order):














Oeps - that is MORE then 7... :)

And I could go on and go on and go on...

But I have other priorities for today...

Have a great week everyone!


:))


Sunday, July 26, 2009

Apple freaks!


Here we are, all 3 of us on our Mac Books on the sofa! (Ingrid on her PC and taking this photo of course!

;-)

Hilde and her husband were the ones that introduced me to Apple Computers... (still kinda rare here in Europe I guess, Microsoft is still Nr. 1 here)

I will be thankful for that forever! :))






Notice the beautiful rubber boots Hilde brought for her sister?!? She is testing them herself under dry conditions first...


We had warm smoked salmon for supper (served cold of course).
And a nice cup of coffee afterwards.
Yummie!


Hasi and "Sis" are out walking Cleo, it's already getting kinda dark and it's only 21:20 pm...




We had the first combine (harvester) driving by our farm this afternoon. They started harvesting the canola field little further up the road.
It seems to be a brand new machine, really a very nice sight.






I hope I'll get the chance to take some more, nicer harvesting shots the next couple of weeks.



We (Hilde's Hub and I) are watching "Pandemie", a movie about a deadly virus taking over the entire world...
Pretty "scary" - makes you think...
There are more and more cases of Swine Flu around the world, the numbers of people dealing with that virus are climbing and climbing.
I am really glad that I don't have to go "out" into public too much.
And IF we would go somewhere on vacation I would think twice about going places where millions of people are meeting, like on airports and train stations etc...

Well, home is home, especially if it is as cosy as ours! ♥



We'll start another week tomorrow and I am looking forward to nice quality time with family!

:))


The dutch family has "landed" in Fjälkinge!



Our dutch family arrived here this afternoon.

They had a big crate of dutch goodies in their trunk / cooler...






















And last but not least GUMMISTIEFEL with red Tulips for Hasi!!!

A MUST-HAVE!





Thank you dutch family!!




Now it's time for supper...


:))

Saturday, July 25, 2009

DONE!



That's where all the boxes were today (photo in the previous post), we got it all sorted out today!

We were finished around 10pm.

Just before 8pm we went for a Hamburger at MAX, I really didn't have the energy to make dinner...

When we got back I finished the "Köksofa" (Photo), I still had to staple the new linen on the seat.

Now I am actually too tired to think, the words are coming slowly, so I will just show you how our "front room" looks now.

There is still some decoration necessary, but that will come gradually...






The Köksofa can be pulled out and used as a spare bed... :))



Looking forward to Sunday!

:))

Natti Natti!

Getting closer to the finish line!



OVERWHELMING!!!





☯☯☯☯☯☯☯☯☯☯☯☯☯☯☯☯☯☯☯☯☯☯☯☯☯☯☯☯☯☯☯☯☯☯☯☯☯

Visitors are almost on their way!




We will have family from Holland visiting for a couple of days.

Hasi's big sister and her hubby will come tomorrow evening. I know that "sis" would love to leave for sweden "right now" but it's a long drive and it's good to take one day rest from the work week before hitting the highways.
;-)

We'll tidy up the "front room" today, there are still boxes from the move and my tools are all over the place too...
I cannot even find a screw driver anymore!!!

We discovered another second hand / antique shop just one mile from here down the road, so we'll go there for a quick peak later on.
You just never know what we will discover there!
A couple of candle holders and maybe a candle chandelier would be nice to have...

We put up curtains yesterday in the living room, it's so cozy now! :))

I also assembled two night stands yesterday for the upstairs guest room AND I put fresh linens on the beds.

The dutch can come!!!

AND they will bring yummie stuff...

Can't wait!


Drive carefully you two!!! ♥






Here are a couple of pictures I took from Midas the other day, he looks so sweet, doesn't he!
I just wish I could open up the fence and let him out on the open fields and take pictures there!
How cool would that be?!!!






Have a great Saturday everyone!!!!!!!!!!!



:))

Friday, July 24, 2009

Peak of Summer



First of all!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Mary Jane!!!

Hope you have a fun day!!!

Lots of Love and Hugs from the two legged and four legged of the "Persdal" Mansion!








Oh boy!

The days are getting shorter again!

Summer is presenting itself beautifully.






We had some rain now and that was really needed.

The barley in front of our farm has turned into gold and it's a beautiful sight.


The grain fields will soon be harvested.

They have started already with harvesting the rape fields...

Most of the birds are finished raising their offspring and the geese are back, inhabiting the empty grain fields cleaning up what's left or what was waisted.

I love to see them fly in formation, hearing their calls up in the sky.



My back has been much better until this morning.

It was good to go to the doctors right away and get pills.

As my back muscles were relaxing around the "trauma" the healing started and my friends treatment worked wonders.

I tried to muck the boxes this morning, started with Midas'.

I was half way when I made a turn scraping the shavings towards me...

Autsch!

There it was again...

Not as bad, but a little reminder to take it easy still...



So Hasi is out now finishing the job.

We'll be preparing and cleaning today, preparing for a visit from our dutch family on Sunday or Monday.

Looking forward to have them here!!!




Thursday, July 23, 2009

Busy Busy Busy


We are very busy these days, not much time for blogging.. :(

(And my lappy is stuffed with photos and there is just 1.7 GB space left, so I really have to clean up that mess soon, meaning going through thousands of photos and deleting all the ones that are not worth keeping around...)



Just a quick post about Edith's BD Party...


It was great, the little princess got to shine and smile, unpack presents and play with new toys.

She also got to eat a piece of her first BD cake all by herself.

Her Mummy took off her dress and shirt and you can imagine how she looked like when she was finished... cake and whipped cream all over her hands and face! :))

Sorry, no photos from that ;-)


But I have photos from her with her new toys (we bought them in the second hand shop).



The car is electric and has a remote controle!
Her face when the car started to move "miraculously", priceless!





She loves those "paperthings" - I don't know the english word for them - HELP!






This table comes with 4 small chairs and she was totally fascinated by all the little wooden blocks and colors...
And the fantastic thing is that she just learned to stand on her own up a couple of days ago, so she can stand now and play with the blocks...
(And Mummy was playing pretty serious too... she said it's better then any therapy! :))




Sorry, but it's way past bedtime and I'll close my lappy now. And then my eyes...

Sweet dreams everyone!


:))

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Hip Hip Hura!!!


HAPPY BIRTHDAY LITTLE EDITH!!!

Today is your 1st birthday and you'll have a wonderful party!

How fantastic is that?!!

See you in the afternoon..

;-)




PS: We are so blessed to have you in our lives!

Auntie Ingrid and Auntie Micky

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥






GIRL FUN yesterday after the training with Indigo...




Carola and her 3 Girls ... and proud Midas!





:))

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Oeps the daisies!




We had some rain.

The south of Skåne (the province we are living in) had LOTS of rain.



We enjoy the cooler temperatures, we really do.

We also enjoy an occasional Iced Coffee Drink.

They are not easy to get here in the local supermarkets, so if they fill up their shelves with

those delicious drinks,

it might happen that we take all they have. That's usually 10,

or what's left from the packge.

You can imagin the look on people's faces when we do that...

10 cups last for about 4 days...

I'll admit it, we are addicted to that stuff! :))

Oeps the daisies!!!




I did bake that cherry pie the other day, for Hasi.

She has been feeling better since yesterday, after lots of Aspirin and rest.

I don't think the cherry pie helped really, because it didn't turn out so well.

After picking the cherries (at the risk of my own life)...





I put together the dough for the pie with the help of a recipe from the WWW.

I think the recipe was fine, it was my lack of experience (in baking american pies)

which resulted in THIS:




The crust was'nt that good, too hard and dry and the cherries too sweet.

I added too much sugar to those already incredible sweet fruits...

We did eat a little of it, but the rest wandered into the trash can for leftovers...

Oeps the daisies!!!




But then, the next day, I decided to give it another try and bake an apple pie!

I got another recipe from our friend MJ (mancosmulemj.blogspot.com) and cut some apples.

I also took a smaller oven dish, just in case the pie would be uneatable again.

But this time I did OK - the pie looked quite good (keep in mind I'm a greenhorn

when it comes to american pies)

and tasted good as well.

We had wonderful vanilla ice cream with it - at 10:30 pm !!!

Oeps the daisies!!! ;-)





I hurt my back last night.

Carola's girls were visiting in the afternoon and as I was adjusting the baby car seat for the

little one

I must have twisted my back in a way that was not advisable and

BOOOM!

Oeps the daisies!!!



I got through the nigth ok but this morning I could hardly walk or sit, so off to the doctors

office we went.

He prescribed me some heavy painkillers and anti-inflammatory medicine.

Now I'm "high" :))

But the good news is that the pain is less now and I am confident that I'll be OK again in a

couple of days.


No more OEPSTHEDAISIES anymore!!!


:))


Carola will come any minute with ALL THREE of her precious girls - the youngest will be 1

year TOMORROW (looking forward to the birthday party,

then there is the middle one, 11) sweet Moa,

and the oldest - a gorgeaus and responsible young lady in the age of 18!



Carola will help me with my back, her treatments are always a real delight.

AND she will work with Indigo again, a report with photos will follow.



Isn't that harmony??!!





:))

Saturday, July 18, 2009

Tosteberga Hamn III





Here are some more "camera - caught impressions" from our short trip to Tosteberga Hamn last Wednesday...




Great Blue Heron (Fisch- oder Graureiher)






Fencepost with isolator




Don't know this plant - but the colors of the seeds are gorgeaus!




One of the MANY potatoe fields around here...




A field full of hay silage, baled in white plastic...




Hundreds of (common) Blackbirds show up for a evening bath...






:))


Friday, July 17, 2009

Under the weather



Summer can be full of pitfalls!

Hasi is under the weather, feeling sick!

She must have picked up something - somewhere...

She's resting.

:(




I have been out doing "stuff". We bought a new sprinkler yesterday, for the round pen. It's too dusty otherwise...
Dirt doesn't taste so good you know!
I've also worked on our last piece of furniture, it's a "köksofa", a wooden bench with a padded seat. It's also possible to make it into a spare bed.
The seat needs to be coverd with a new linen, so I took the old one off.

But now...

Time for a break.

I am eating Cauliflower seasoned with herbs, sea salt, dried onions and sprinkled with some olive oil...
Not bad!
It's HOT again and then a light snack is ideal.




I also put up a hammock on one of the big birches in our garden,
right next to the cherry tree!

:))


I wish MJ could come and make a yummie cherrie pie??!!
I would go and get vanilla ice cream...
How does that sound??


MJ! Where are you??!!

:))

Big horses and little horses



Carola was here again, she worked with Indigo for the second time.
She brought one of her saddles, because Indigo's (practically brand new) saddle doesn't fit him anymore.
He got it just a couple of months ago, it's amazing how a horse can change "form" in such a short time when they are growing.
So he will have another one, we'll just have to find a shop around here and try to find one that fits now.

***

But back to the training, it went well!
We put the jumping saddle on him, because it "sits" just a bit better then the other one...
And brought him to the arena.

Carola noticed right away (the moment he came out of his box) that he wasn't feeling so well.
She said "He drank too much water" - and yes, we checked the water bucket... it was almost empty! He never drinks that much water during the lunchbreak...
Hmmm.
Anyways, Carola started to work him slowly so that he could get some air out of his belly and to see if he could handle some physical work.
He seemed ok after a while and then she started to do the things again that she did the first training session.
Jumping up and down, flapping with his stirups, longing him right and left etc...
Then she introduced him to the reins.
He'd done similar exercises before but it's always nice to check if they yield to the reins with their neck AND mind.
She attached some english reins on both sides of the rope halter and asked him to bend neck and head to the right and to the left.
Then down and up.
All fine, all cool.
:))
Then she asked him to move his shoulders and front legs, yielding to her cues from the ground.




All fine, all cool!
:))

Then it was time for the chair again, and for some weight in the stirups and the saddle...





All fine, all cool!

He made a couple of steps forward (led by Hasi) with Carola "hanging" in over his back.
First he was a bit spookie but then it was cool.
He will do even better the next time!

A couple of months ago, last fall, our friend (and stable owner, horse trainer, riding teacher, artist) was sitting on Indigo about 3 times, very short each.
He always tends to get tense when you want to get up, but once you are in the saddle, it gets better.
So what Carola is doing now is giving him time to relax even more before anyone gets ON his back and desensitising him even more.
Also teaching him important cues from the ground before she gets on.
Cues she will need him to understand when she rides him for the first time.

This subject will be continued ...

:))








Here are some more photos from the trip to Tosteberga Hamn:


Most Islandic horses are smaller then Haflingers. (128 - 148 cm)
(Haflingers are required to be over 138cm up till 150cm - in rare cases even taller)

The horses on the photos beneath are domestic.

I heard that there are practically wild horses living on the swedish island "Gotland", but it's not islandic horses. It's a swedish breed and the horses do have owners, but live in the wild...
They are called "Gotlandsruss" and VERY stubborn, little ponies, I've heard.
:))






Islandic horses have 4, sometimes even 5 gates.
Next to walk, trott and gallop they can also "tölt" and "pass".
Those additionals "gears" are very comfortable to sit (similar to paso's and tennessee walkers).

And they can be ridden by adults as well, because of their strong constitution even though they're quiete small.

Cute, tuff horses!





Time for work, have a great friday everyone!!!

:))