Accepted into a New Gallery

Ink and Brush Creations at UnTapped Source.

I have been accepted into a more private Online Gallery and see this as another step up. Will take me a couple of weeks to get the pieces I plan on putting in this Gallery up. But if you want to take a look now, just click on the link above.

Home Made Bread

Have been experimenting with a different no salt added bread recipe and I think this batch is the best one yet! Isn't it pretty and the taste and wonderful smell... .. yum !

And not to be out done.. DH made a very nice Lemon Bunt cake for the Holidays, that was very, very good too.

Frosty Morning Pictures and a Hello to Grammy

First off I want to apologize to Grammy for not sending her the Monthly letter. Things have been so slow lately and not much as been going on, so I have been at a loss as what to write. But I am always thinking of you Grammy and want to let you know how much I care and love you. Hugs and Kisses.

We plan on hand walking some holiday card to the neighbors as soon as I get this blog done. No snow this year and I am not minding that at all!

Took some pictures of the frost we had this morning. Thought this was a neat contrast between my Icelandic Mare Stjarna's mane with the frost on it and the old tree.

Maggie is frosty too.

This photo of Edda was taken a few weeks ago in far weather.

Spiky frost on the gate latch.

Fir cones with frost.

Frosty Rosemary

If you have Cats you can't.........

If you have cats,,, you can't be depressed..This morning Sadie and Mia were fussing at the end of my bed, while I was trying to work on the coding for the blog. Told them to quit but in usual cat style, they ignored me. So I tapped Mia with my foot gently, she just gave me one of "those" looks...and for some reason... Sadie launched herself straight up, over and off the side of the bed. Did not even touch the silly cat. I felt bad.. but that was really impressive and I couldn't stop laughing!! And the look she gave me afterwords.... LOL
Sadie is our Orange cat.

Happy Holidays !

Wishing Everyone a Wonderful Holiday and a Happy New Year!!

The mtDNA line for the women side of the family

mtDNA Results for Shari Nees
Maternal Ancestor: Renee Breau #2
Test result: Haplogroup H13 - European

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Shari's mtDNA test results:

HVR1
16CRS

HVR2
263G
309.1C
315.1C

Shari Nee's Maternal line:

13. Shari Nees
12. Shari's mother
11. Elizabeth Josephine Kelley
10. Beatrice Elizabeth Amireau and a Kelley
9. Josephine Le Blanc and Pierre Rene Amireau
8. Marie-Jeanne d'Entremont and Pierre LeBlanc
7. Scholastique Amireau and Francois-Jacques d'Entremont
6. Marie-Anne Surette and Simon Amireau
5. Madeleine Amireau and Paul Surette
4. Claire Dugas and Charles Amireau
3. Marguerite Bourg and Claude Dugas
2. Françoise Brun and Bernard Bourg
1. Renée Breau and Vincent Brun

Renee Breau b.1620 and husband Vincent Brun b.1616 and Daughter Francosie were born in La Chaussée,Loudon, Poitou, France. Bapitizum records can be found in the church there. Came to Acadia in 1648 with 2 children.

Mom as a young girl.

Need to find a good photo of my Grandmother.

Great, great Grand-Mere, Josephine LeBlanc/Amireau and her daughter, my great Grandmother Beatrice Amireau.

Great Grand-Mere, Josephine LeBlanc/Amireau

Beautiful Farm

Our family really loves this farm. It has the quiet I need because of my Menieres, wonderful neighbors, our dream place. Here are a few of my favorite photos.

DS in the evening during summer.

Plenty of room for the family, our animals and feeds my love of trees.

The indoor cats and Edda..

Sadie and Mia, playing with their newest handmade toy.

Wild action shot of Edda today.... no ...wait.... well...her mane is moving a little bit. When there is the slightest of breezes.. she looks like she has Albert Einstein hair... Fluffy and all over the place. LOL

Was trying to show her next to Dyfra who is a solid 12.3 hands tall. But she moved a little ways away by the time I got the camera.

Edda measures in at 11.3 hands tall at 6 months old,, not bad for an Icelandic horse.

One of these days I will get some action shots of her.

I know there really hasn't been the usual stories and photos lately. So much going on, that I have to spend time with.

I have a good friend Cindy who knows people and is trying to help DH get in the door with a company she deals with. She has given me more hope, than I have had in a long time.

Even if this job does not pan out, I am grateful she is going the lengths she is.

Its not easy getting a job out there right now, specially in Oregon. Companies here get large tax breaks and are sending the jobs.. overseas. And leaving American workers out to dry.

To those that have stood by us... this isn't for you.

I need to Vent a bit.. due to some relatives..not on my side of the family. Unless you are bored and want to read anyway. ;O)

My Vent or Soap Box if you will.....

The older I get, the more I would just love to stay in one place.

Our family did our time moving while DH was in the Navy... DH served his country, once he got out he stayed around and took contract jobs when his father was dying of Cancer so he could help, then stayed because of his mother. He passed up some good full time jobs so he could stay in the area where his parents lived.

Which help put us in the position we are in.

We can't even find an Under the Table work to keep us going longer... none of the Ranchers and farmers in the area are doing that any more, they can't afford to.

We have good friends that know everyone in the area well... and they have also been asking around for us. Still no luck.
Other Local jobs within a half hour are wood Mills but over half are totally shut down and the others still in business only have a 1/4 of their work force. They are not hiring. Not that they would hire DH.. he doesn't have any background in their business.

Min wage work.... would barely pay us for the gas for him to go to and from Portland.. we would still have to sell the place and no money for food or utilies. Plus.. they won't hire people my DH pay grade.. because he is over qualified.

To get a job in this Clime... you must be a perfect match to what the companies want... you can't be,

Over Qualified...

Under Qualified..

your not in their pay grade...

They don't like hiring people that have had contract jobs... (but they only are offering contract jobs,,which doesn't make much sense to me)

You must match what they want perfectly or they won't hire you

If you are my DH age.. they are passing older workers by.

They are no longer hiring people because they are good workers and work hard.

Contract jobs.. which seems to be the only thing in Oregon right now... His engineering jobs that used to bring in $55.00 to $77.00 an hour because they did not get bennies and it was short term work.... now only brings in Min wage to $17.00 and hour. At that pay.. we would still have to sell the house.

He is on first name bases with all the Temp agents and they haven't even been able to find him a job that isn't a couple month contract, at Min wage. They have even told him to look at other States because Oregon is just about dead.

DH is in "LinkedIn" and he is networking with all his friends... out of work Engineers too.. most of them have Phd's and Masters.. they aren't even getting interviews like DH is.
He is on all the job search sites that are out there....
He knows all the key words to put into the resume's to at least get noticed.

Not kidding when I say he is looking all over the World. Sending out properly cued Resumes left and right.

DH is not lazy.. is not passing over jobs but he is working very hard to find one.

Do we want to sell the place and move... NO ! It is perfect for us and what someone with Meniere's needs badly, peace and quiet.

All we want and need is a Fair Wage job... within 2 hours drive.

Things are not good.. my Father sent some money that will help keep us going a little longer. Thank you Dad!!!

I am spending long hours with my online Art stores but that doesn't bring in enough money to help much. Does pay for my online shops, business licence and some of the special food I have to buy for me. Only thing I can physcially do.

The house is for sale ....before we run out of money. That way.. hopefully,, if we have no choice, we can get the money back out of what we have put into this farm. We have perfect credit and hoping to keep it that way.

But if DH gets a job before a bid is given on the house,,well will pull the house off the market.

We are in need of that Holiday miracle.

We are doing the best we can, with the cards we have been dealt.

For those that judge and think they know all.... I will leave it at this.

My Heartfelt Thank you for those that have stood and still stand by us in our trying times. It means a lot to us. Hugs..

Maggie and I

After doing the evening chores, I decided to pull up a flake of hay and sit down. I haven't been able to do this with Maggie for a long while. I sat there enjoying her friendship, in the last of the evening sun. Maggie and I have been together a very long time and these moments are precious to me. DH saw us and came out and took this video short and photos. Am grateful he did.

Sadie sleep, a pretty rainbow and the low down to what is going on ~

A few days ago we had a lot of rain and of course, pretty bright rainbows to go with it.

Can see the bright storm clouds in the background but there is a shaft of goldenish light on the tree the next hill over.

Sadie sleeping. It is impressive cats can sleep like that.

Not a whole lot of photos lately. Not much going on than,, DH spending 8 hours a day looking for and applying jobs, working on the farm and doing a lot of cooking. He is getting interviews but for every position there are 1,000 to 3,000 people applying. How scary is that?

A lot of his Engineering buddies are out of work too...another scary part.. they have phd's and masters. They haven't even had an interview yet. We are also finding out,, companies are passing older people by for what ever reason. Guess they don't want knowledgeable hard working older folks... rather hire a grad right out of college and still living at their parents, that "might" get some work done. Sigh ~~ And in Oregon... they are laying off teachers. DH was thinking about sub-ing but there is the same issue there as any where else.

There are no fair wage jobs in Oregon for middle aged workforce people. So we have been looking all over the world.

I have managed to keep us going for nearly 12 months now but I don't have any more rabbits to pull out of my hat.

If the Spokane job doesn't hire DH, we will have to put the house and wee farm up for sale next friday. We have a small but nice house and a very modest mortgage but we have no choice.

Draw back, around here there are a lot of places that are for sale, that have been for sale for a long, long while. And the amount of places for sale around here is mind boggling.

And people are dumping animals as nothing is selling. I refuse to do that to mine. Helps that there is plenty of free food for them.

Me... I have been working all kinds of hours with my Art and on my online stores. Making some sales, which is great. Enough to pay for my online stores, web sites, business licence and such. Just glad I am selling what I am and very Thankful for those that like my Art and buy it!!!

Still working at getting better too. My horses are a big part of that. But still have a long way to go. Using Dyfra as my Hippotherapy horse.

So... to end on a good note... here is a cute video my friend Thumper posted awhile back and I will share here.

Edda is growing up

Edda is growing up. Almost 5 months old in these photos, 11.1 hands tall and 450lbs.
Do need to measure her again, as she is growing by leaps and bounds.

She is going to be a very nice riding Icelandic in the future.

Learning to speak Robot

DH and DS have been working on DS's robot, learning to program in "National Instruments" language. Programing is time consuming and quite a challenge.

Autumn in NW Oregon

Had DH come with me to walk in our woodlands after my ride yesterday. This is about the extent of the Autumn color in this area but it is pretty in its own right.

Front porch... has more color than the native trees. You can see my Japanese Maples and Strawberries changing colors.

The River birch trees changing colors.

Few days ago I woke up to what I call a "Pink Air" sunrise. Seems like everything is bathed in pink, the grass, trees, clouds even the air itself.

Keep hoping that a fair wage job will turn up locally, soon. We would hate to have to move from this beautiful place.
It is by far the most peaceful and stunning place we have ever lived.

The Warmth of Icelandic horse fur, to a cat's paws~

Is that a happy and sleepy cat or what?

Since it was not going to rain today I decided I wanted to do some leaf peeping via horse back. So I had DS help me groom Dyfra up and DS's cat, Nari (our outside mouser) decided she rather lay on Dyfra's warm back be itched and then happily groom herself. Took a couple of video shorts so everyone could see.

Dyfra did not mind at all and loved it when Nari was kneading her back.. had Dyfra's nose going. Nari started falling asleep and so did Dyfra. Really proud of them both.

However, I still wanted to ride......

Of course every time I put Nari down.. Nari was up on Dyfra's back again...so made it a little interesting to get Dyfra tacked up.

Finally was able to get Dyfra tacked up and took Ella with us on our short trail ride. We have a little fall color and really enjoyed looking at it while riding and then letting Dyfra eat some grass while sitting on her back. It is hard to put in words just how peaceful that was.

Fall Harvest

This looked so pretty, I had to take a photo of it.
DH learned to braid Onions so we can hang them. Have a winters supply of small sugar pumpkins, only a few Delicata squash and only 3 of the Japanese Kabocha squash. But I am glad we have gotten what we did.
Makes we wish we had a proper cool house for storing food like this.

Latest News

First I wanted to show you a photo DH took a few days ago of the beautiful pink clouds.

Nothing much is going on right now other than trying to keep our chins up.
DH keeps going for interviews and is still in the running for a few possible jobs but most are not in this state sadly. And the companies sure don't seem to be in a rush to fill job slots and they seem to be passing older workers by, not good for us.
I really, really don't want to move from this farm but we have to go where the jobs are and they sure don't seem to be in this State. Oregon is second worse in the US, for loss of jobs and unemployment.
The logistics of moving the household, farm equipment and fur kids just boggles the mind.
But that is down the road at least for a few months, so trying very hard not to worry about what might happen later.
They say things happen for a reason but you know... I am rather tired of that saying at my age. Is getting rather old, the saying.. not me. ;O)

Other than that.. I am keeping busy with my Art and the Farm, DH is busy looking for a job and working on the Farm and DS... should be taking his driving test...finally with DH's wee manuel car sometime next week...we hope. Not mind...there are any jobs for people his age around here right now. So he keeps busy here on the Farm too.

So that is it in a nut shell.

Edda video

DH took this photo of Edda running around while I was driving Maggie down our country road. Needless to say she loves to canter and gallop!

Drove Maggie yesterday

Drove Maggie yesterday and lets say I have never seen her be so bad. Pretty sure I figured it out.. if you don't the have the shafts before the point of her shoulder, she can get right cranky.
Looks like I need to buy a third set of Traces, since the last folks did not heed my measurments. Sigh.. Not that I can afford to have a new set of Traces made.

Yes, Maggie's long Mane has been hogged. Did it for a couple of reasons, the weight her her very thick mane was pulling her crest over and this way it makes her easy for me to wash her mane with the Dandruff shampoo. Think it looks pretty good, sure is easy care and much easier to harness her.

Latest Project ~ The main horse shed

We need to enclose the shed for this winter and with no money coming it, we decided to go rustic. We are using things already on the old Farm.
Alder trees won't last more than a couple of years but it should work until we can afford something a bit more permanent. It would of been better if we could of debarked the logs but we do not have a draw knife.
I will cap the T posts in the next couple of days.

Now all DH & DS need to do is make some kind of rustic gates for both ends. This way if I need to keep a horse in, I am able to now.

I would really like to insulate and put a vapor barrier on the ceiling of the shed but it will have to wait sadly. Reason it is needed, in this climate, the underside can weep and it makes the inside as wet as the outside, so the shed can't do what it is needed for and it helps keep the noise down, to which the horses aren't overly fond of the way it is now.

DH sat out with me today as I watered the plants on the porch and at first, I did not know he had brought the camera out. Here is one of the photos and I can be seen without a horse. LOL

One happy Cat, Corn and Ducks

Nari is one very happy cat, enjoying being with her person on a nice summer day.

Corn in the kitchen Garden.

Ducks nearly have their adult plumage. Pretty sure we have one male and two females. Haven't seen many slugs around lately, which is a good thing.

Sadie....

DH had to take this picture of Sadie sleeping... shouldn't be possible to curl up this way sleeping without breaking something but obviously she doesn't have a problem with it.
Impressive.

A Day in the Kitchen Garden on nice afternoon

Can you find where Nari is hiding?

Nari supervising DS in the Garden.

We harvested some Squash and Corn.

DH just had to get a photo of me picking some corn.

The string beans are finally making it out of the pumpkin patch and climbing the poles. Though it does present a challenge on how to get to the Beans. :O)