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It’s another demolition weekend here in ThimbleannaLand, and while TheManoftheHouse was off to rent the tools of destruction, I decided to type up a quick post, just to tell you a new tip I learned from my camera.  (Wait…here’s the tip:  I hate using the flash on my camera ’cause it always looks like I’ve used a flash.  I discovered this really cool button though — it lets you reduce the intensity of your pop-up flash.  Do you know about it already?  Here’s a picture of what it looks like on a Nikon DSLR…)

You just pop up your flash and then hold down that little button and adjust the intensity in your viewfinder by turning the dial on the front of your camera.  Other DSLRs have the same feature, but I don’t have pictures of them.  Try it — it’s really cool!)

Anyway, just as I was about to take before and after flash pictures to show you, the phone rang.  It was TheManoftheHouse returning home — “Quick!  Grab your camera and meet me on the driveway!”  (I have him well trained LOL.)  I jumped in the car, and off we ran down the street to check out this giant snapping turtle on the side of the road.

I’ve never seen a turtle this big around here — it was pretty cool.  The only problem was, that he was on the side of the road — nowhere near any water.  Several people stopped and after much discussion, it was decided that we should try to move him so he wouldn’t get hit by a car.  Have you ever tried to move a giant snapping turtle?  They’re Mean.  They SNAP!  I always thought a turtle would stay completely in his shell if he was even remotely threatened.  I wish I could have caught a picture of him snapping — and look at those claws!

One neighbor lady brought out a recycling bin and we threw a towel over Mr. Turtle and TheManoftheHouse sort of grabbed/pushed him by his tail until he ended up in the bin.

Then we took him to a creek that was in the direction he was headed.  We felt he would have been better off in the pond in the direction that he came from, but he probably would have just ended up back on the road again.

Poor turtle — he wasn’t very happy. Hopefully he will figure out where he is soon. And hopefully we saved him from being a spot on the road.

Must run. The jackhammer-thingy is back to work and I better go help. Have a good weekend!
XOXO,
Anna

I had a fabulous time at market — it was so much fun. I’m going to make you wait one more post though, before I start the market reports. Before market, I went to my parents’ hometown and visited my aunt and cousins for the weekend and had the most exciting time.

On Saturday, we toured my cousin’s new house and got to meet some of her horses.  I always love to see the horses and farm animals, since I’m a city slicker.  Look at this beauty —

I can’t remember her name, but see that big belly?  There’s a baby horse in there!  I asked my uncle lots of questions about horses and babies.  You know…things like, how do you know when a horse is getting close to foaling?  He said the mare will get wax on her nipples.  Or how do you know when it’s “time”?  I remember the phrase “when the wax starts dripping, it will be three hours.”  I was really fascinated by that fact — do people actually sit around and time these things?  Inquiring minds want to know!

Here’s another pretty horse that was at an old barn that belonged to my uncle’s father.  This is Strawberry — I think they told me he’s a one year old colt.

Oh, and here’s a shot of what’s left of the old barn.

On Sunday evening (around 8 p.m.), after a fun day of visiting with lots of cousins, my aunt, cousin’s daughter and I were playing cards, and my cousin called several times to talk to my uncle.  It was pouring rain and they were worried about the pregnant mare and they were debating whether to move her.  She thought maybe the “wax was dripping”.   They finally moved her to the barn in the picture above (a half-a-town (technical distance) away).

Around 10 p.m., my uncle wanted to know if anyone wanted to ride with him to go to the next town, to my cousin’s and check on the horse.  I really debated, because I was leaving for Salt Lake and market early the next morning.  But I kept thinking, what if I miss something exciting?

On the way there, we called my cousin and she said they’d moved the horse and she was getting cozy in her new barn and that I really should stay an extra day, since they felt certain that the  little foal would be born on Monday.  So, we went to her house and played a game for an hour.  On our way home, we decided we should check in on the mare.  It was 11 p.m., drizzling and dark.  When we pulled up to the barn, Strawberry was standing near the door pictured above, but his head was in the barn.  I jokingly told my uncle that “something must be going on in there and Stawberry is watching”.  We had a good chuckle.

My uncle, cousin, cousin’s daughter and I got up to the door and they pointed their flashlights into the barn.  HOLY COW!!!  The mare was lying down and heaving and the whole process was just starting.  Our timing was PERFECT.  You have to imagine the four of us crowded around that little door in the dark, watching the whole thing with two flashlights and whispering.  It. Was. Amazing!!!

Strawberry was less than impressed that we had crowded him out of his viewing spot, so he spent the  whole time nibbling at the back of our heads.  Before we knew it, the little foal plopped right out.  The mare didn’t pay much attention to her, so my uncle stepped in for a moment and cut the amniotic sack away from her face so she could breathe.  It  took the mare quite awhile to pay attention to her new baby.  My uncle thought that might have been because she was pretty tired and had had a bit of a struggle.  My cousin got some great photos — my camera refused to cooperate in the low light, as it couldn’t find a focus point.

The picture above is the only decent shot I got — that’s pretty much what  our view looked like the whole time — a flashlight shining on the event.  The mare finally got up to inspect her little foal and we decided we should leave them alone, so we didn’t get to see her stand up.

I met my cousin at the barn early the next morning  to see them again before I left town — I was SO excited!  Isn’t she cute?  She was all wobbly legged — just 8 hours old in the picture above.  I left not knowing if it was a little filly or a colt, but the next day, my cousin sent me the picture below to say she was a filly.

So, sorry I’ve made you wait for the market report, but really — this was the most exciting part of my trip!  I had a great time at market, but Watching a Foal Be Born.  What an honor!!!  And did you catch the timeline?  My cousin called at 8 p.m. and said the wax was dripping and the foal was born at 11 p.m. — apparently my uncle is a horse genius.  And on top of it all — it was Mother’s Day!!!

XOXO,
Anna

Yipee!  It’s time for me to take my little breaky break break for spring market.  TheManoftheHouse is going to be brave and hold down the fort here while I get to go have fun with the Gulls.  I leave in the morning and I’ll be gone for about 10 days ’cause I plan to take a little extra time and visit family and PLAY.  Sadly, I won’t appear on PKM radio as I don’t blog while I’m gone.  I don’t have an iPad and I don’t want to have to worry about a laptop (I think I’ve mentioned that I had one stolen on a trip once and I’m scarred for life!)   I’ll take lots of pictures though, and there will be LOTS to report when I return.

Before I go, I wanted to pass on a very exciting tidbit.  A few weeks ago, Susan who blogs at Fort Worth Fabric Studio contacted me and asked if they could use the pictures of my Ghastlies quilts for an upcoming post.  That post is up now and guess what GUESS WHAT????

Eeeeek!!! How exciting!!! I’m hoping to see the new prints at market.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go ogle the Miss Airport 2011 calendar and decide which pose will be most appropriate for me tomorrow when I go through the airport scanner!

Behave yourselves while I’m gone — I hope you’ll save all of your exciting posts for when I get back!
XOXO,
Anna

I know…for some of you, it’s not May Day anymore, but just pretend.  Technically, I’m just squeaking in under the wire here.  Did you all have a good weekend?  And watch THE wedding?  {Swooooon}  Start the weekend with a gorgeous, fabulous wedding and end it with the pretty flowers of May Day — what a way to uplift ye old gloomy end-of-winter spirits, huh?

In between those two happy events, we drove a few hours for our last counter top viewing.  I deemed it would be the last time we looked at stone — a decision would be made, one way or other.  My number one choice would be a gorgeous creamy limestone, but it’s an unknown, so I chickened out and went with the safer choice of granite.  Truth be told, as long as it’s not ugly green tile, I’ll be happy.  The stone place we visited was amazing — they had an unbelieveable selection of marbles, travertines, granites, you name it if it’s a rock.  There were even samples with fossils in them just to remind us what we’re dealing with here.  Here’s a picture of one such example — it was so pretty — I wish you could see it in person.  Needless to say, at ~$35k, is won’t be coming home with us!

So, back to nice, happy thoughts. Stacy Julian shared this video on civility on her blog today and I thought it worth repeating.

Have a great week and let the market countdown begin:  5 more sleeps for me!

XOXO,
Anna

P.S. Here’s a little tip: Don’t name a blog post Dirty Little Secrets. It was innocent enough, but I should have known LOL!