A "Pet" Scorpion

So, there are no "wild" Scorpions in Mass (thankfully) but as I was looking for some sandpaper for my next art project I found an old journal. I love finding old handwritten journals. I will always thumb through them and reminisce. Well this one had a little surprise. A sort of comic strip I had drawn to illustrate a story to a few friends of mine. I blogged the story years ago on a different blog. So I can now share it here WITH the illustrations. :) Enjoy...

It all started on a Shabbat, too. Which is what we are celebrating tonight. Here goes...

Well it's more like a science project... but here is how we ended up at this:

Erev Shabbat, my mom was coming to visit and we were waiting outside for her arrival. I was wearing some capris with folded cuffs and sitting at our picnic table outside in the dark spending time with my hubby, my daughter and our dogs. Apparently as we waited there a scorpion was hunting for his dinner and came across this fold of fabric and crawled inside.

 I, being none-the-wiser came in later after my mom arrived, came in the house, changed into my PJs and folded and placed my capris on the bathroom counter as they really were not dirty and I planned to wear them again soon.

Next day, about mid-afternoon, we were preparing to go to our Messianic Fellowship so I was in the bathroom at the sink (next to my folded capris on the counter) putting on makeup and fixing my hair. Suddenly out of the corner of my eye I notice a bit of movement... looking over I was astonished to discover a scorpion meandering through my belt loops on my capris!! "YIKES" I screamed, and I contemplated what do do.

 I decided it might be best to close the drain in the sink and try and 'dump' him/her in there. The scorpion, still blissfully traveling across my capris, had now come to the far corner closest to the sink, so I took the opportunity and picked up the garment and shook it over the sink with the closed drain until he/she fell into the sink.

 Now he/she was trapped. So I was thinking of course, I want to squish it so it can't harm me or my family. Well while I was waiting for my, at-the-time 'indisposed' hubby to arrive and rescue me (and now my daughter) we observed the little Scorpion who was not too happy with his/her current situation... he/she was running about in the sink trying to figure out how to get out of the sink. Well remember, I had been getting ready to go to our fellowship and there was a small, I mean miniscule puddle of water in the sink. The scorpion ran through the puddle and then calmed a moment and stooped down to get a drink of water!

How neat to see this little guy(?) drinking water. Then I had an idea! We have a spare aquarium we keep empty, mainly it's used for our baby cockatiels when we have them, but we haven't bred cockatiels in about 2 years. We also use the spare aquarium for little critters that have had a mishap. It's housed baby wild birds of different sorts from time to time mostly, but really hasn't seen any action in quite some time. Sooo, we put the scorpion in there with some rocks. As I said previously, we were preparing to gooo tooo fellowship. So this would have to do for now, and the scorpion approved upon find a rock he could climb on to and hide.

 Later when we returned from fellowship, my daughter and hubby went out and and collected some sand that we had previously used to fill a hole on the side of the house. We only needed a little after all, just a small layer for a 10 gallon aquarium. Of course there were some other critters that came with the aquarium. There were about 3 or 4 ants running around like mad, and a tincy tiny spider. Later we found a tiny millipede crawling around in there. The next morning, I took an old pickle jar, and went out and found some breakfast for our little scorpion whom has now earned the name, Pinchy, from my daughter. I found 1 grasshopper, and 2 pinhead crickets. This morning, the 2 crickets are still alive, but the grasshopper was last seen running for it's life (he was missing a leg, and we found Pinchy with the missing leg grasped in his... pinchers). Kind of grim... I thought at that point, we may not keep little "Pinchy" much longer (I haven't yet told my daughter). Being that we kept him alive this long, we more than likely will release him towards the back of our property within the next few days.

We had met my oldest brother in town earlier in the day for lunch, their house is seemingly plagued with scorpions! He joked and asked if we would like them to simply send their scorpions to us instead of killing them. I just said maybe we could do a Scorpion WWF or something (of course I was just joking, but you know how brothers are with their sarcasm).

***UPDATE***

So, a few people wanted to know "What happened to Pinchy?" This is my response to that aching question:

"Yes, there is an update on Pinchy :)! Well a few weeks after housing Pinchy I kept letting dh and dd know that it was close to release time for the little guy/girl. I now think it was a boy because he was sort of smallish. Dd and I were out looking at some fossil rocks we had collected from our property and dh grew weary of seeing our fossil rock collection on his newly built picnic table so he put them in a spare pot that I had ready to transplant a little tree I've been growing. Well we were taking the rocks out of the pot to look at them and I was telling dd, "... please be careful, there could be snakes or scorpions." A few moments later, dd says, "...Mommy, you were right! There was a scorpion in there!!" Sure enough a big chubby scorpion... more than likely a female! So we decided to bring it in and introduce her to Pinchy. The ran about in the aquarium for the afternoon, no drama, they were very cordial together. I hear they do a little courtship dance when the meet to mate. I don't suppose they would have been up to that, it would have been funny to watch though. Anyhow, when dh returned home from work that evening he took the happy young couple to the back of our property and released them. Mazel tov! :) "

Until Next Time, Yah bless and keep you... Shalom!

Maritza Kelley

May 2014 Vlog

So, yes, it's July. I realize that. If you've been sticking with our adventures though you won't regret checking out this Vlog. Based on April's Vlog, I decided to try this again. Only May had a LOT more stuff happening than April for some reason so here are our May adventures broken down into 3 sections to make it easier for you, the viewer/listener. 

I hope you enjoy hearing about our New England excursions as much as we enjoyed having them. 

So without further adieu, here is Part 1 of 3 for May 2014

Part 1 of 3 - Dino tracks, etc.

Part 2 of 3 - Horse Shoe Crabs, etc.

Part 3 of 3 - Shabbat... with Testimony towards the end!

I think June was shorter.... ;) I'll get that one rolled out maybe as a combo with July since we are almost in August! Wow, can you believe it!!

Yah bless!

April 2014 Vlog Post! First ever!! :) Enjoy

In Memory of Tasha

Today my daughter was having trouble with one of our kitties trying to being dominant over her. He was trying to boss her around. My recommendation to her was to ignore him. Limit her petting of him and have him sort of miss her touch. He is incredibly adorable and it is difficult to not want to touch his soft fur, squeeze him and kiss him on his fuzzy ears. I told her, "you must resist him, let him know what it feels like to not feel your love." The mention of this stirred up a memory I had not thought of in YEARS. It reminded me of a dog I once knew, Tasha.

Some that know me well know that when I was 17 I used to work as a volunteer at The Wild Animal Orphanage in San Antonio, TX. If I was not at School, Work or at Home I would more than likely be found here. Some that knew me then used to refer to it as "Maritza's Menagerie." I absolutely loved it there and it was not unusual at all for me to pack my lunch and for "senior lunch" I would go sit on the play fort at the WAO and oversee the animals. One day when my job was done I had stopped by the owner's home to say bye and when I walked out to my car to leave a man got out of his vehicle and walked up to me, he had a husky, on a rope. It was not uncommon in this area, unfortunately, to find animals that had been dumped. Usually it was cats or pet rabbits and occasionally dogs. So I thought it was interesting that the guy brought the dog with a rope for a leash. She did have a collar, being that I was the only person around he asked me if we accepted dogs at our facility. I told him, "no, I'm sorry." So he shared his story with me. The short version is that he and his wife were having a new home built and their former home sold early and they would have to live with his in-laws until his how was finished which would be approximately 6 months. He really didn't want to give her up, but the in-laws, already having two dogs of their own, did not want his dog at their place. He checked into boarding and he felt it was too expensive so opted to find a place for her. At home I had my own dog, Ivan, an Alaskan Husky. He was a cross between a Malamute and a Siberian Husky, but to the undiscerning person he was a Malamute. I had a large yard and plenty of time on my hands so feeling pity for the man's situation I offered to board the dog for the man at my place as long as he agreed to vet the dog as needed and provide food for her. He enthusiastically agreed. I reached my hand out and presented the back of my hand and suddenly Tasha dropped her nose and stared a horrible stare with piercing beautiful blue eyes that stared deep at my eyes, that unnerved me for a second, long enough for her owner to intervene and pull her head away. He told me, "oh she doesn't like hands." A little confused and needing more info, I inquired more as we went to the pet store together and picked up a few supplies. A large bag of dog food, a dog tie out and some other odds and ends and then we went to my place and set her up. He told me that she had never bitten anyone except one person. He told me she just simply did not like hands. Not really understanding what he meant about this I decided to go ahead with the arrangement, I figured we'd get that issue sorted, somehow.

The man told me more about his beloved dog. Her name was Tasha, she was a 6 year old Siberian Husky. Purebred and unpapered and not spayed. She had never had a litter. She only ate Gainesburgers and that was all, "because that's what she liked" he told me. I told him that I could break her of that and start her on regular kibble. He fed her in a specialized bowl with an "ant moat" because she would often guard her food and not eat it until she was "good and ready." After setting Tasha up at her new set up at my place we exchanged phone numbers and other pertinent info, vet numbers and so forth, and he went on his way. Feeling like a good Samaritan helping this guy in need I went to the back yard to console Tasha who was in a totally new situation, probably feeling sad and afraid. I walked over and spoke softly to Tasha who was huddled up against the tree she was tied to. She was curled in a ball and had a nose to the ground, the same look she had given me when I offered her my hand at the Animal Orphanage parking lot. Then she broke loose, charging right for me at full speed. She had a 15 foot tie out and I was standing 10 feet away from her. Somehow, to this day I still don't know how I managed to fly out of her grasp but I was airborne and landed on my feet JUST out of the reach of her snapping jaws that were intent on ripping my calf apart. As soon as I hit the ground I felt a surge of retaliation and I chased Tasha aggressively back to her tree. She did not expect that out of me and she ran and cowered, this time BEHIND the tree. I was like "GREAT, 6 months of this? What did I get myself into?" I was not happy with the situation and would have to figure out a way to handle it.

My own dog, Ivan the Alaskan Husky was only 10 months old, sir fluff and stuff. Very playful and he had been lonely with my hectic schedule. I would walk him regularly so I assumed that Tasha would be a nice addition to his existence. It was too soon to do introductions. First I had to get Tasha to accept me before I could rationalize her meeting Ivan. So every day I came out to feed the dogs. I put Tasha's food down with a commanding presence and then I would walk over to my floppy puppy, love on him and take him for his walks and play time. Tasha was reduced to staring at us going about our business. I didn't know at the time, but I was unwittingly learning the role of "dog dominance." If two dogs disagree they can do 2 things, (1) fight or (2) ignore each other. Since I sort of won the first fight by chasing her down to the tree, I was now doing step 2, ignoring her. Still showing kindness by offering her food. I didn't just give her any food though, I gave her the yummiest, tastiest food with an ounce of love. She had been eating Gainsburger patties for who knows how long. I had bought her "Gravy Train" and wet it down with warm water. Secretly she really loved it. I rarely came back to find food sitting idle in her bowl.




Weeks went by and we had all settled into a routine. It had gotten to the point that when Tasha saw me coming with her bowl, she would now greet me by standing up, yawning and stretching and wagging her tail in approval. I still did not touch her or visit with her much. Until one day ... I was on a typical day. I had gone to school, gone to work, and after work I would stop by the Animal Orphanage to do the evening feeding. Feeding the Big Cats was a difficult event to miss out on! This day when I arrived the owner of the facility, Carol, told me that my Mom had been trying to frantically reach me, "something about a dog being lose and your brother is going to get rid of it." I could only imagine what could have happened. My skin crawled as I stopped in my tracks, hopped in my car and hastily headed straight home (this was before the time that everyone had a phone). I arrived home and no one was there. On the drive home I had time to stir up some ideas and inner strength. I had to come up with a way to ... face the infamous and vicious Tasha. We had a showdown, and this time... I would not have the protection of a tie out to stop her teeth from ripping me apart. I came in the house, put my things down. I made my way to the back door and through the windows I could see Ivan bouncing on his tie out, excited to see me and a little worried. As I prepared to go outside I saw his concern was more than warranted because I was wondering where Tasha was, but as soon as I was prepared to open the door Tasha trotted out from the side of the house confidently towards Ivan. She walked up to him and postured. Ivan greeted her excitedly to which she returned a nasty session of dominant thrashing bites. It was all I could take to see her ripping into my puppy so I ran out there bravely and YELLED at Tasha to STOP! This did make her stop, immediately. She turned around and looked at me, then trotted off, away from Ivan. I stood there confidently, prepared for battle. I needed to get her tied back up because allowing her to be loose and constantly attacking Ivan was NOT a viable option. I came up with a plan. I went back inside and prepared Tasha and Ivan's dinners. I went back out and fed Ivan, by now Tasha was out of view. I did not know where she went. I put her food down where I normally put it, then turned around to see her materialize out of a bush on the side of the house. I took her bowl and placed it in the middle of the porch and confidently but not sympathetically called her to eat. I stepped about 2 feet away from her bowl but still faced her, square on. She in turn, confidently trotted up to her bowl, sniffed it and then walked to me. I did not move but was ready for a fight if necessary. She sniffed my HAND and then she slid her head up into my hand so that my hand now rested on the top of her head, in between her ears. I returned the affection and pet her reluctantly back. She wagged her tail and returned to her bowl and ate, all of it in one sitting. No need to worry about ants. I was able to take a leash and clip it to Tasha's collar and I did not return her to the tree at once. I took her out, for a walk. She thoroughly enjoyed her walk (Ivan was a little jealous, but I walked him after). From this day on I took her out and walked her. I could approach her and clip her collar and pet her head. She greeted me and showed her approval each time.

Because of all the hullabaloo about Tasha the day she had gotten loose, unbeknownst to me her owner was now freaked out and decided he needed to just find her a home. Some friends came by and we were going downtown to the Riverwalk in San Antonio, but they wanted to see the infamous dog. I did not know it at the time, but I had done a disservice to poor Tasha. I took this man back there and I told him not to touch Tasha. Well this 6 foot tall plus guy walked over and defiantly touched Tasha. To my surprise Tasha was ok with that, until he rubbed her back. Even I had never ventured to do such a thing. She retaliated to his touch by quickly sinking her teeth into his middle two fingers on his hand. I was furious with this guy for pushing the poor dog to her limits. I was furious with myself for allowing Tasha to be violated like this. So the owner of Tasha had placed an ad in the paper offering Tasha up "free to a good home." Who would not jump at the idea to snatch up a "free" husky. Her owner, to my STRONG disapproval, accepted the first offer. A young couple from the local Army base. I pleaded with Tasha's owner that all was well. That Tasha was fine, that everyone was over reacting. He had already set the ball rolling. With a HEAVY heart I watched as the couple pulled up in their car. I held back tears and obediently I brought Tasha's food and other belongings to the couple. They loaded the things in their car. I brought Tasha and put her in the car. She sat in the back seat. I forgot an item, but I had my nephew nearby and asked him to run back to the backyard to get that item. He came back empty handed. So I instructed the people firmly to NOT touch Tasha and I would return promptly with the last item. I RAN to the back yard and as I rounded the corner I heard a YELP. My heart sunk, I did not think that was possible as my heart was already dreadfully low, I knew what had happened. The man did not listen, he reached out and offered his hand to Tasha and she in turn bit him frightfully hard. In once sense I was relieved and my heart temporarily lifted. Naturally the couple would no longer take Tasha. So I took Tasha out of the vehicle, collected her items from the car and happily, yet regretfully returned her to her place in the yard.

A few days later, the owner contacted me and let me know that the vet would be by in a short while to collect Tasha to have her tested for Rabies. I pleaded with him to NOT do this. I told him, she does NOT have rabies, she is not sick, she is misunderstood. He would not listen. He was afraid that too much damage had been done. The vet showed up, they loaded Tasha into the back of a pick-up truck. My eyes welled up, in order to test for rabies, the dog would be euthanized. Her head would be removed and autopsied to check the brain for signs of rabies. This was it, I had failed Tasha. Crushed I watched as they drove off. I wished people would have listened to my words. They were not vain words, they were truth. Tasha was misunderstood, plain and simple. No more walks, no more pats on the head, no more tasty dishes and bowls licked clean. She would be no more.

R.I.P Tasha

February in Review

This month has been a whirlwind, lots of things went down but I’m not sure I remember all of it. Normally I would rely on my journal to jog my memory but unfortunately I opened up my February Journal Folder to find it was EMPTY! In a case like this I can thankfully turn to my Dropbox folder to get a “month-in-review” at a glance. So here we go…

Jan 31st & Feb 1

January 31st was a Friday night and we had an untoward “visitor” again… stop by unannounced. Based on the previous visits my husband decided to install surveillance cameras to assist us on finding out who these perpetrators were. So Friday night these people stopped by, unannounced. My husband was quite a ways away at an event for work and I knew he would not be home until late. I felt upset and could not pinpoint the reason why. I wasn’t sure if it was just the fact that my husband was not there, I can not say why, but based on the feeling I requested prayer on facebook.

“Prayer Warriors - Please lift me and my family up in prayer tonight. Unspoken request. Thank you!”
So while my daughter and I quietly sat at home in our usual evening routine minus one (hubbs) we had someone stop by. That night when my husband arrived home he reviewed the video from the day. We were shocked to find this footage. When my husband showed me I was in disbelief. He watched it over and over to pick the video apart and try to get more evidence.

Video Capture 1-31-14

It was evident that our camera was in a poor location to fully capture the man’s face or to get any credentials from his vehicle. We did not know if he was alone or accompanied by somebody else, and we don’t know what their purpose was for stopping by. I mean, maybe he was selling Girl Scout cookies? Our analysis of the video is as follows: You can not see as clearly as I can on my computer (quality is not as good here) but he has a hoodie on and walks up to the gate to open it but is unsuccessful due to the lock, he walks back to the drivers seat and just before the film ends he pops back up, so he didn't leave right away. The video time was 6:58 PM and the next video reads 7:02 PM so we don't know how long he was there and what transpired after. Pretty scary! Since this “visit” we have not had any other visits that we are aware of. Although we have seen what we feel might be a clue in the way of a “stray” husky dog. We have seen two people walking the dog. A female and a male. My husband saw the female walking the dog and said she was pretty bundled up to tell features, but I saw the male. When he was walking by he was acting strangely. At first when I saw him I wanted to throw on my boots and run down and talk to him because his dog was loose on our property back in January (you can read the story in the January post) and I wanted to talk to him just to find out where they lived so ‘if’ the dog were to return I would know where they were and/or how to contact them. I felt it was important because we *might* be getting some chickens this Spring and I don’t want a “high-prey-drive” Husky running down and snacking on my chickens. Anyway, back to my boots, well I did not have time to throw them on, he was walking a little too fast for that. Instead I just observed him and observed that he was acting strangely as I said. He was looking really “sharply” all about. Scanning sort of. He was scanning all the properties and their houses very thoroughly. Scanning back and forth as if he were on a mission. I left me a little disconcerted enough to call Jason and ask him what he remembered about the female “husky walker.” He did not offer any further details to help my hunch on the case. I almost wonder if we were to somehow figure out where this husky lives, then me might find the “black Toyota Camry” (mentioned in January post) and find out who these people are or more about what is going on here. Maybe we could ‘break’ this case of robberies, or at least ‘part’ of them?

Sunday, Feb 2nd

The first weekend of the month we had a reprieve in the weather, a balmy 45° in Mass. While everyone was gathered around their television sets to watch “the big game,” The Superbowl, we set out to knock out some chores. One chore we needed to get out of the way was to move a temporary manure pile up to the top of the hill to the GIANT manure pile. The size was so massive that instead of using our little tractor we employed the skills of our trusty old Dodge Ram affectionately named, “Hoss.” I set about loading Hoss up as much as possible with tons of shavings. I shoveled and shoveled and shoveled some more. I was having some trouble because the center of the manure pile was FROZEN nearly solid. We were using snow shovels with blades on the end to chop up the shavings into chunks and then tossing the shavings into the bed of the truck. We finally got Hoss loaded down as much as we could and we all hopped in for the ride UP the hill where we would then need to shovel everything back out.

So up the hill we went, only problem was that all the snow that had been accumulated on the ground was melted into the EARTH and we were now driving up that and it was SLICK! Very slick! Thankfully Jason is a skilled driver and he powered up the hill and got us safely up the hill. We emptied the truck bed and then we had to head back down the hill. Alayna was a little frightened about all the sliding around on the way up and imagined it would be worse going back down so she opted to follow us down from a safe distance in the pasture adjacent to the path. So we carefully headed back down the hill. It was a little hairy, but we made it! Phew! We were not able to move the entire manure pile, partly because it was pretty frozen in the center and the other part was because of the slick terrain. We didn’t want to risk a second trip up the hill and back down again. No biggie, meanwhile, the horses do not stop pooping, haha.

Monday, Feb 3rd

Well I remember not expecting snow for a few days, but woke up Monday and went out to do chores and it started to SNOW, again! It snowed about 3-4 inches. We had a few things left that we wanted to accomplish in the barn but we were not going to be able to finish if it started snowing again… so, oh well. Se le vie’!

Tuesday, Feb 4

February 4th began 2 new 1sts: (1) Painting Class for me (actually, this was class 2); (2) Father-Daughter Date night for Jason and Alayna. So off we went to class in Webster, MA under the tutelage of a very talented lady, Ms. Dolores Cowden. She is a mural artist, we met on Alayna’s birthday where I ended up doing an impromptu class with the group of girls we had taken to her home. It was fun and she informed me that she had a class for adults on Tuesday evenings. So while I worked on painting my woodpecker…. Jason and Alayna were going pro in a “new” sport, Candle-pin Bowling:   I was told that Alayna is VERY good at this game. Having the tiny ball puts an all new spin on an “old favorite.” Not easy as I was to find out later in the month… (see further down on this post). Wed, Feb 5 We woke up to a fresh blanket of MORE SNOW! See photo album!! I think by far this has got to be the MOST amount of snow we have seen since moving up to Massachusetts or EVER in my lifetime anyway. Very exciting for us Texas folk. Although there was that one time in Dover, Delaware. We were coming back for my Mom’s wedding and we got snowed in during “The Blizzard of 1996.” I’ll have to blog separately about that. It was really a crazy story and we missed the wedding by 10 days! Whew! That wasn’t the worst part of it… story to come on that!

Thurs, Feb 6 The snow begins to MELT and we are getting the biggest icicles we have ever seen in our lives! We have seen entertaining icicles in the past but none the likes of these lances. You could joust with a Yeti with these things! Here is a small portion of one:   So what do YOU do when it snows. Here are a few things we do, we go SLEDDING, we went on a snow HIKE and we built a lot of fires!  

Feb 9-15 – Week 2 

I finally built up enough bravery to chalk in my Aussie drawing and I am pleased as to how it has turned out. Nice! I was very pleased. I do believe I am ready to attempt to sketch them on a canvas now.   All of my artistic endeavors has gotten Alayna in the mood to draw too. She is doing really good! Here is one of her drawings: Mon, Feb 10 – I decided to try my hand, again, at making flour tortillas. My previous attempts have been far from satisfactory by my own personal standards. After talking to a good friend who happens to be a Master Chef …. you know who you are… and she gave me some pointers, so I went to work.

Making Flour Tortillas VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

As they say, the proof is in the pudding! Alayna approved, and she’s my toughest critic!   My recipe: Homemade Flour Tortillas 3/4 C. Warm Milk (I used Water instead) 2 Tbsp of Coconut Oil (not melted) 2 C. All Purpose Flour Tues, Feb 11 – Painting Class & Father/Daughter Date As for me I painted some more on my woodpecker and I also took some older work with me to show my instructor. It was a Hebrew Alef-Bet chart I had drawn for my daughter for her school.

My Art VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Jason and Alayna went at it again bowling. Again, Alayna schooled her Papa.  

Bowling! VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Thurs, Feb 13 – Taking to the slopes The video kind of goes fast at the end, so don’t complain, you’ve been warned. Use your “pause” button, haha. Prepare for a giggle. I was going to “fix” it but it makes me laugh, enjoy!  

    Feb 16-22 – Week 3 & 4   During this week I transferred my sketch of my Aussies to a canvas and began painting. This is the beginning, more layers to come. I also finished my woodpecker painting. Jason built a snowman, the dogs have turned it into a snow hydrant and have been resculpting it, lol. I made my first-ever  Coffee Cake. It was delicious! I also made some homemade Challah bread. I don’t make Challah every weekend for one reason or another, so when I do, it’s a special treat. All the pics are in the album below.

		3rd & 4th Week of February Happenings VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

One weekend we got up going to Springfield, MA and ended up going to a Sporting convention and next door they had an animal “petting zoo.” We went to check it out and they had elephant and camel rides. Jason and Alayna got to ride them. Here is the video, it has more details.

Well that’s it for February, it’s already the middle of March, I’ll post what we got up to soon.   Yah bless!

January 2014 Digest

January is over and OUT! Here are a few posts to get you up to speed on our adventures for this month! The following are some excerpts from my journal, plus embellishments where applicable.

Monday, January 6 - My first Acrylic Painting

 

On Monday I made up my mind that instead of crushing candy in my spare-time (Candy Crush, my 'one' weakness) I would do something different. So I pulled out my painting collections that I had in my craft drawer upstairs. For homeschool we have Friday as an "Arts & Crafts day" so my daughter and I went out to Hobby Lobby and picked up random activities we either knew how to do or would like to try. Among my personal collection I had various canvas painting articles. I decided to started the “Gazebo” painting. I did ok, but was unsatisfied with some of the colors. So I left it for a while, just stopped looking at it. When I came back later I decided it wasn’t as bad as I thought it was. So I worked on it a little bit more until Jason arrived, then I got to a stopping point and left it. Tuesday I was feeling a bit of anxiety worried about how I couldn’t quite get the gazebo how I thought it should look, like the actual picture I am referencing. So I decided to watch some painting instructional videos. I watched this guy “Shaeffer Studios” and he’s pretty good. He kept referencing Bob Ross so when Jason came home and mentioned Bob Ross’ name once more I decided to look up his paintings. WOW! Talk about talent. This guy was really good at what he did. Very gifted and talented! I was blown away with the ease he seemed to just construct things out of nothing in ways your brain may not be able to perceive things possible, but he did it over and over. I only watched about 15 minutes (3 videos, 5 minute segments) and that alone was jaw dropping. I decided that if I was ever going to paint again I had better stop watching Bob’s videos. I have a long long, long, long long way to go before I could even come close to his talent! Wow! I watched another guy paint a Caribbean Beach and that was nice, but I found I did not like his style. My problem is that I seek perfection in what I do and if I can not achieve I simply do not do it. So there! That’s probably not a good way to go about things. Like my weight loss, horse training, house running, clothes sewing, my list could go on and on. So then that Schaeffer art guy, who I am now subscribed to his You Tube channel, posted a video on “Not being a perfectionist.” LOL All this did was confirm that this was indeed my problem. I guess I just need to keep trying. So I went back today and sat at the little table easel and worked on my painting some more. I was quite happy with the improvements to my trees and foreground. Watching Schaeffer Arts had helped me get that perspective down, but then I did something silly! I white washed the gazebo. :/ 

I guess I really did not need to do it, but I felt it necessary! I white washed it all down and now I have to wait for it to dry and repaint it. I didn’t completely wash it in white I washed it in sort of a lavender color that was supposed to be a soft blue. Oh well, the painting said that shading should be in Lavender so I figured that would be ‘ok.’ The sun is gone down now so I plan to take a critical look at that gazebo tomorrow. I may also watch some more videos and see if I can improve on this game. I was happy to make some of the colors richer and bolder which was part of my desire. I was disappointed to take the pretty blue in the sky to sort of a lavender too, but I will plan on sorting it out tomorrow. It may be Friday until I’m completely through with it. I plan to finish though and Jason said we should frame it. I want to go to Michael’s and browse their painting section. I’m sure there is some kind of art supply place online that might have better deals than Michael’s anyway. I’m not quite sure I want to take this on as a hobby at this point anyway, although I do love drawing and painting. I have some ideas for things I’d like to paint already. I also know that I am quite critical of my work though so I will proceed with caution. 

A few days after this post I did finish my painting. It took me about 8 days. I decided not to linger or be too critical and "just finish" it. So at one point I said, "I'm done," and I literally had to fight the urge to go back and correct it. Now that it has sat for a while I really actually like what I see. I guess (you ladies will understand this) it's like a new hair-do. At first you look at it like "it's all wrong and needs help" but in a few days when you adjust to the "new look" you love it. So I am moving on to my next BIG goal. See the pic below. 

My next painting, I now, have drawings of boots... everywhere!!

Preliminary Drawing, Don't whine about my grid lines, it's my drawing! :P

The following pic is from Feb 9th, but since it is relevant I will post here. I chalked in the above drawing. I think it turned out nice. :) 

I was originally unsatisfied with my "boots" drawings so I have been drawing boots EVERYWHERE. Here is another pair I drew... this one, although I didn't care for it too much, helped me to finally see where I was going wrong. 

Birthday Party - Laser Quest!

 

Sunday, January 19, 2014 - Bday Party at Laser Quest 

On Sunday, we headed to Laser Quest for Alayna’s birthday in Newington, CT. It was a lot of fun. We played 3 games for MLK weekend. We invited 3 other families but only Audrey and her two girls, Sara and Julia. They had never played before, but seemed to catch on and enjoy the game immensely. We followed up with Pizza after and then headed back for the house. They bought Alayna a Sketching set. She loves it! I made a video and it pretty much sums up the day so without further adieu.. watch the video below! :)

 

Wed, Jan 22, 2014 – Alayna’s Bday

This day was Alayna’s bday! We woke up to a wintery blanket of snow. 

What the dogs look like when they come in the sunroom (aka mudroom) covered in snow. This is just the boy Aussies, Ronen and Ty.

Jason had taken the day off and we weren’t sure if we were going to go to a class we had schedule to go to with the Blash girls to do art. I got a message from my friend Audrey and she said “it’s on, see you there.” So Jason went out and grabbed the snow blower, he had to change the belt on it which took a while, then he went out and snow blowed the driveway. He was very happy because it didn’t take much time at all. The last time he ran it, it did not run. He was very upset and frustrated. He called the man he bought the snow blower from and told him what was going on. He told Jason, try changing the belt. So he did and it worked! Yay! 

So we went to the painting class and we were late by about 15 minutes! Oops! So we started the class, I wasn’t planning on joining in but the art teacher Dolores asked if I wanted to, I said, “sure.” I thought 'why not?' So I joined in with them painting a Penguin. It was pretty fun. 

Afterward Jason treated us to Cracker Barrel. The restaurant was nearly empty. 

According to Alayna's request, she got Cracker Barrel for her Bday lunch!

We had planned to possibly take Alayna to go Bowling, but when we asked her she said she did not care to do so because she would just be bowling gutter balls (even though we reminded her she could use bumpers). So we asked her what SHE wanted to do and she said she wanted to go home, chill out and watch movies. I believe she wanted to get online with her cousins. So we did just that, we came home. She requested Alexander’s Golden Greek for dinner. So we planned to go back out and pick that up later. When we got home we did chores, and I discovered we were out of our Maintenance Dog Food. So I told Jason that when we went back out to pick up dinner he would have to also swing by Tractor Supply. So what happened was, around 7PM Jason went to town, picked up the dog food and then on the way home he called me and I called in our to-go order for The Greek restaurant. In a nutshell, we went home and watched movies and called it a night! :) 

Friday, January 24, 2014 - Unexpected Visitors...?

Wow, as if my week couldn't have more drama...

So I won't go into the "other" drama cause some things are best kept private but... Let's just say for now that YHVH looks out for His own and that His timing is uncannily perfect!

So our routine this AM was nothing out of the ordinary to start. I do morning chores and then come in for a bit and around 10-11ish I go out and grab the mail and drop hay for the horses and check on everyone. Then I potty the dogs (sometimes before my rounds, or sometimes after it just depends) but today I pottied them first and decided to take one of my Aussies with me. He is one known to get bored so I thought I'd "treat" him and let him accompany me on my rounds. 

Ronen, one of my sidekicks. One of my little vigilantes! ;)

This isn't something I "normally" do, but for "whatever reason" I took him with. I was a little late going out, closer to 11:10 today because my daughter and I were doing our Bible Study and it took a little longer than normal. Once it was done and the house dogs pottied, I headed out. Also, normally I go get the mail first and then go to the barn and then go inside, but for "whatever reason" I decided to take the pre-soaked beet pulp down to the barn so that I wouldn't forget it later (as I have been doing) as we soak it in the house since the water in the barn is shut off since we have sub freezing temps right now. We have heat tape, but hubby said "just to be on the safe side" so we have to tote water back and forth . Anyway, so for this reason I went to the barn FIRST. I dropped off the beet pulp, dropped hay for the horses and let my "barn dog" Natsar out to potty. Then my Aussie, Ronen, myself and Natsar walked to the front gate to grab the mail AND get the trash cans (today was trash day). As I approached the gate, I was about 10-15' from the gate a black Toyota Camry drove up and sort of started to turn into my driveway, but then they driver saw me and quickly turned back into the road and drove off. Now, people turning around in our driveway is nothing out of the ordinary, we have a Y-shaped driveway and people turn around here all the time. I'm not a big fan of it and I've seen other similar driveways put up signs that say "No-U Turns" and have considered that for our place, but anyway... my first thought was, they must have needed to turn around, but saw me standing there, so they felt uncomfortable turning and went down the street to turn around again. The only "interesting" thing that caught my attention was that the passenger, a young lady, maybe in her late teens/early 20s looked like she was out of her seat belt and was moving around a lot, and when they turned back out into the street she turned and looked directly at me like a "deer in the headlights," a face of shock sort of, as they drove away. I did think it was odd, but given the fact that people turn around in our driveway as a commonplace thing I dismissed it, went out and grabbed my mail and the trash cans and came back in and chained the gate. I walked back up to the barn to put Natsar back in as it is very cold today and so I put him in "his stall" because he stays on a tie out in the barn when we are not outside with him (to be sure he doesn't wander) and with his tie out he has been known to open the barn up if his tie out catches the door. I didn't want him to open it up because it was sooo cold and the horses were staying in the barn today to be certain they stayed warm.

When I finished up there, I closed up the barn and went up to the house through the back deck. I walked up and around the back to the sunroom. When I arrived at the sunroom, with Ronen on lead with me I saw THAT black Camry, at my gate, the girl passenger was OUT of her vehicle and opening my gate. I didn't feel good about this now, I was thinking it was curious before but dismissed it and now they are back? Odd...to say the least. I whisper a prayer of protection as I turn and head to the gate to find out what these "travelers" are up to. Ronen is by my side, somewhat oblivious to what is going on. He really didn't see the people. As I got 1/3 of the way down to the gate the girl saw me, was startled, jumped into her vehicle and her male accomplice, the driver, backed out of my driveway. Again, curious... curious that he would back out instead of turn and go out the "Y" of the driveway. Since they have now driven off, I decide that ... to be certain I am not imagining the reason for my "concern" I would tuck myself near a tree and observe to see if they return. Not even ONE minute passed and sure enough, they passed back by going the opposite direction. I'm not sure if they saw me, but I watched them as they drove past, both of them staring HARD at my house and scanning my property. Strange and a bit unnerving, that they would continue to try to gain access to my gated property even after they have seen that the property is not vacant. So I buzz back up to the house and get into the sunroom and I call my husband AND I call the Police department to report "suspicious behavior." The main reason is that over the past few weeks since December there has been reports by my neighbors of some vehicle break ins and petty theft. Also in town there have been reports of drug activity, so we have been keeping an eye out.

So now I'm back inside, I've told my husband to phone me and I'm on the phone with the Police giving them my account. They are concerned and send out an officer to check out the area for the vehicle and the description I gave them. I was unable to get a good look at the license plate, I tried my best but it was just too far away. I was a little unnerved, ready for a fight I guess, but I was fine. Although I was shaking like a leaf (probably a combo of coffee and adrenaline). So we warm up lunch, by now it is 12:30ish and I sit in the dining room with a direct view of the driveway to be sure I don't miss any activity. Sure enough, 12:40 rolls around and they stop by AGAIN. This time, they stop at the right branch of the "Y" driveway, no doubt to get a good view of the house from the road. I had surprised them twice before, so I guess they were a little unnerved about my whereabouts on the property now too. So they pulled in, without turning the steering wheel if that makes sense. They positioned themselves so as to be able to look down the driveway, and then they pulled back out in the road and drove off again. I immediately called the police again to report it. The police officer said that they sent someone out. I told him, I have been sitting here watching my driveway since we got off the phone last time and I JUST saw them stop by now. So meanwhile my daughter called my husband and he jumps in the vehicle and heads home. He staked out the house from a neighbor's home hoping to see the vehicle and get the license plate or something, but we did not see them stop back by.

After I got off the phone with the Police I ducked back to the barn and let Natsar out of his stall and tied him so he could come out and bark in case these people managed to gain access undetected to me. My daughter mentioned that "they could cross the pond since it's ice." That didn't make me feel good, haha. At least with Natsar watching the barn area he would alert us if there was anything we needed to tend to. I was certain of that.

So, that was my drama. Nothing has happened since and we have relaxed our "gate watch." I thought I had gotten a good look at the girl that was the passenger and surmised that I had seen her before. I have no definitive proof, but it looked like they were possibly trying to sneak past us and go to the barn, maybe to raid my tack room? Why else would they continue to try to gain access even though "someone was here?" Strange. The girl looked like someone I had spoken to on FB that was selling a saddle and a lot of other things, like she was in need of some money. She was a passenger in the vehicle which was not the one she described to me in our conversation. Anyway, we'll be keeping an eye out. I locked up my tack room for now and have taken steps to secure the property to the best of our ability. So we'll be keeping an eye out. I also notified our neighbors of the suspicious activity. Ugh! I despise thieves! I'm sorry they don't have money, but don't take my "money" to make up for that! >:-/

Sun, Jan 26, 2014  – A Doggy Visitor

This morning Jason and I were startled awake by Natsar barking from the barn. Jason scanned the barn area and Natsar’s line of sight and saw a Husky dog down by our barn. Jason said he was going to go run it off, I said, “no lets catch it and find out who owns it.” Well I went out to catch it, in my pajamas, and it wouldn’t let me catch it. I soon found out it was a boy. He was hiking his legs on everything. He seemed quite familiar with our property, he walked through the gate with ease and there were pawprints in the pasture indicated the path he had taken. I followed him out into the pasture and he did not ‘run’ but just stayed out of reach. I tried to convince him that I did not mean him harm but he wasn’t buying it. He knew that leash meant entrapment so he kept his distance. I was nearly frozen to the bone so I returned to the house to warm up and he galloped after and then past me. I thought he might let me catch him now, but he did not allow it still. Jason was waiting for me in the house. I came in and he said he would try to catch the dog in the barn. When Jason went back out, the dog was gone. We didn’t see him again the rest of the day.  Jason was feeling crumby so when we got back in the house I made him an essential oil “bullet” of 1:1 ration oil and the following oils: Oregano, Lemon, and Thieves.

To this I added Oregano for an extra immune boost!

I made a pot of coffee while he snuggled under a blanket and I joined him on the couch. Alayna came down stairs. I actually passed her on the stairs because I had gone to my room to change into warmer clothes. When I passed by her room, her door was open wider and I saw Rolf snuggled on her side in her blankets. He really likes Alayna and he likes her snuggy blankets. So I closed her room and left him there because I knew he would not let her fall back asleep, haha, buggy kitty … do your work! So I went back downstairs, and Alayna showed up. Jason was beginning to feel better and not only did he feel better but he was full of energy! He went out and fed the horses and then he came in and cleaned the house. We swept every inch, and then he fixed the vacuum cleaner and vacuumed the floor. It was a quiet day.

So this concludes the month of January, it was a mile a minute. If I wrote about every little thing, you would not be able to keep up. haha! Yah bless you all, until next time!