Hello Friends!
Goodness. It’s been a month. I’m tempted to do a rapid fire recap, but maybe it’s easier to take the major points one by one.
To start, my little Ro is so so soooo done. She is really tired of being babied due to her arthritis and random back injuries. My normally level headed little mare full on tantrumed a few days ago and I have been on a mission to create new and fun experiences and completely shake up her routine ever since. I am also on the lookout for some tack and equipment based solutions, but the long and short of it is I’ve been trying to be so careful of her legs (vets recommendation) that I forgot how much this girl just likes to go. So, I’ll keep you posted on how that goes, I have spontaneously tested gravity once already this fall (my fault). I really don’t know what the rest of our season looks like, it’s all very up in the air.It’s officially “goathead coming out of my ears” season. I am fighting hard to keep this crazy weed under control, I am firmly convinced it is of the devil. I am not terribly excited for fall yet, but it would be nice to get past the burn ban so I can take fire to the little suckers. Does anyone have any goathead tips? I’m all out. It’s dangerous to walk barefoot in my home right now because these little guys come in on clothes and shoes and then lie in wait to stick you in the middle of the night.
Those are not the only concerns we’ve had on the farm this month, Watson got to take an unexpected trip to the vet and scared the ever living tar out of his mother. He decided chewing was optional on the little treat he got and it ended up lodged in his throat. I tried to help him out myself but it was more than I knew how to deal with so off to the vet we went. Luckily the treat had mostly dissolved and Watson was over it by the time we arrived, but I still had the vet double check for damage and we were under intense supervision at home for the next couple days just in case. This happened at the beginning of the month and I’ll be real with you, he only this week got a cookie again, and only because Joe and my dad lobbied hard on his behalf. I was not sure how ready we all were to try that again, and I still won’t be giving him cookies when I don’t have backup at home.
Now, I know what you are wondering, Amanda, what was up with your power situation, why did you miss a week and where did the Tuesday posts go? All super good questions and the answer is, dude, I don’t even know.
So, basically, I walked into my room one afternoon after a day out on the farm, and I went to wake up my computer to find it unresponsive. A small panic and large assortment of sear words later, I realized my desk lamp and phone charger weren’t working either. So, I tried popping breakers and resetting surge protectors and the like, and realized two things, that the wiring in the wall of my cloffice outlet was dead, and my house was wired by Dr Suess. I had my cousin, the electrician, come out to look at it, and she spent three or four days chasing the wiring through the house, literally that wall, and a wall on the complete other side of the house, and the back porch are all on one breaker, even though all three were constructed and wired in at different points in time. My cousin walked out at one point holding the bridge of her nose and muttering, “This is the most ghetto wiring”, so ya know, that made me trust my house so much. We then had to punch a bunch of holes in my cloffice, and closet proper, which meant my work and living spaces were all a massive disaster, half packed away, half stacked on my bed, all smelling like spackle and spray texture. Luckily my other cousin is a general contractor and expert drywallist , so he was able to come out and patch up my wall for me too. But all in all, between the hunt, the rewire, the patch up, and the re-organize, I was about three weeks without my office, or really my room at all with the amount of stuff all moved, and I couldn’t even work at the dining table because the power for that part of the house had to be off. I was a total basket case. I’ve been back in my space for a minute and I am still not caught back up. Between work, adulting type stuffs, blog stuffs, and other things that need my attention, I might just be back on track by… Halloween? Oof.
The kicker? The porch lights (same breaker, remember?) went out a couple days ago, and it’s not a bulb problem…. But I am not quite ready for more holes.
From me and my questionable wiring,
Until we chat again, my friends!
Month: September 2023
A Stormy Morning on the Porch
Broke it
I broke the house, well, specifically my office/bedroom/personal space, and basically my desk, the computer I do all the blog work, most of my closet, much of my storage, and my whole crochet hoarding issue are all stacked out in the living room and there are holes in my walls (the electricity in my part of the house just quit, for no discernable reason). I was going to try to edit on my phone, or rig up a temporary desk, but to be honest, I am a little overwhelmed by the whole thing so we are just going to skip a week since its a 5 week month. If I can’t get back in my office soon, I’ll work something else out. Sorry!
Décor
Hello friends!
So, I had an interesting experience recently. I had a tradesperson in my home, who unfortunately made himself a rather unpleasant guest very quickly. Most of what he said is a story for another time (and not a pleasant story, let’s just say I watch just enough true crime), but one of the things he said was “you can tell you are one of those crazy horse people, but only if you pay attention”. He was referring to my decor. He was meaning, at least I hope, that the decor I contributed to the home was tasteful, and while some of it was a nod to my chosen passion/hobby/lifestyle/vice, it wasn’t super in your face.
I think with the rise of Joanna Gaines we saw a huge influx in “farm” decor, and it became a huge trend to have farm animals, and implements, play super heavily in your aesthetic. Which is totally great, if that’s your thing, and it’s also a little funny, because “Chip and Jo” never really went the full “farm” vibe, it always stayed in the more classic “traditional farmhouse” realm.
I have seen a lot of horse people go full tilt in their home furnishings, and there’s nothing wrong with that, but I have two questions. How do you find this stuff, and was it intentional? Or, like me, did it just happen to you too?
Don’t get me wrong, I love farm themed decor, I personally think I fall mainly in the “industrial farmhouse” aesthetic, but I don’t think I ever made the conscious choice to decorate with horse decor. In fact, I don’t think I ever really made the conscious choice to decorate “farmy” at all. It’s just a funny sort of thing that happens the minute you start on your horse journey.
I have some horse paintings in the guest area, there’s some western themed decor in the living room, little statues of horses in my room, and a coat rack made out of horseshoes. It’s funny, because I love the pieces, but I don’t think I’ve bought a single one. It’s always been a gift. I’m grateful, because like I said, I like having the little nods to my favorite thing all throughout the house, and although I don’t go nearly as hard as some people, I like that others can see that love and are being so thoughtful in their gift giving that I get decor that truly means something to me. I think, like any style, “equestrian” or “western” can be done really tastefully, and I am excited to keep adding sweet little sentimental touches to my home.
But, that leads me to my next point, does anyone around here decorate their house with tack? I will admit I have a couple bits up on the wall, mostly just because I pick up interesting looking bits for fun at garage sales (it’s dual purpose, I learn a thing or two about them and their uses and I get a potentially scary bit off the market). But I’ve had friends and neighbors who use saddles as seating and bridles as wall art. I think it’s for sure a style, but to me it sorta takes away the magic of the tack room, and it can look cluttered. That’s just me, and that’s probably rooted in my impatience with lots of random clutter, I love having little sentimental things around, but I don’t love lots of clutter, it majorly stresses me out, and the “western” or “equestrian” decors are often quite cluttered up.
I’ve seen it with not just those styles either, I have a cousin whose living room looks like a mechanics shop, and I have a friend whose entire place is devoted to her video game setup. I think it’s super cool when people devote their living space to their hobbies, and I am always super impressed when they can find all the pieces to pull a look together. I can appreciate the time, effort and skill, to make a space like that.
I am firmly of the mindset that if your space works for you, if it makes you happy, brings you joy, and is a peaceful place to lay your head? Then it’s perfect however you have it. I have spent a long time working to get my room to a place of peace, since it’s my little getaway in my shared living situation. It’s a constantly evolving process but I think it’s a good mix of the dorky computer nerd side, the overly enthusiastic horse girl side, the academic bookworm side, and the sentimental adult who-also-just-really-needs-whatever-this-is-to-be-functional side. It’s forever evolving, in fact, as we speak I am mentally planning to save for a different desktop, because while I love my antique teacher’s desk, it’s’ not long enough, so I am going to protect it and make it more functional with a floating top and some kind of desk legs. Wouldn’t have even thought about that a year ago, but currently my keyboard is in my lap because I am truly out of space. Not great ergonomics.
So, let me turn it on you, what is your style? Do you decorate according to your hobbies or more of a curated aesthetic? Are you more Joanna Gaines or David Bromstead? Saddle pads in the living room, yay or nay (neigh)? Moreover, do you set up a space and leave it, or is your space constantly evolving? Have you ever outgrown a space and had to get creative?
And finally, have you ever thought this hard about decor before? Because I seriously don’t think I would have written a whole blog post about it if I wasn’t really really annoyed at the cable guy and trying to be productive with that frustration.
Anyways, all for now!
The Farmer's Blogger 