For Every Rule an Exception

I just didn't have a great title for this post but it would seem this summer does have its exceptions to the typical "rules"! The first one being rain and lots of it. It poured yesterday, and Friday we got a gully washer of a thunder storm. That one brought a little fire up on Soda Mountain. While hard to get to, it lay down nicely after torching some trees and was contained to about a 1/4 to a 1/2 acre or so. Both Greensprings Fire & Rescue and ODF (Oregon Department of Forestry) were on it. The call went out around 8:30 pm and Gene was home sometime around 2:00am. The other exception has been the temps. We actually had to fire the outside boiler Rube up yesterday it was that cold and damp, in JULY! In the downpour I was out taking flymasks off wet grumpy horses.

The next rule, although not a hard and fast one, is pants should be a solid color. I know where this one comes from. Most people, myself included, when buying pieces for your wardrobe try to get the most mileage out of them. They have to go with other stuff, like shirts, jackets and sweaters, so I certainly fell into that rut when making clothes. Why can't I have patterned pants or jackets? I mean I can make what I want to match and am not left to the whims of the retail racks for either fabrics or style. Isn't that why I sew, or weave or knit? To make what I like? Of course it is!

So two beautiful Japanese fabrics came home with me last week, both patterned and both destined to be part of my fall wardrobe. I can't say enough about the beautiful quality of these fabrics, heavier than shirt weight and the cotton so fine, you would think they were a medium weight woven silk. I was smitten when I saw them last week (and a half a dozen other patterns too) at Fabric of Vision. And look, some beautiful shirt weight fabrics were in house and just begging to be tops for these lovely prints. The caramel is a soft woven and almost brushed silk, the other a nice weight cotton.

Even the spools of sewing thread look pretty together.

My folks have booked their much anticipated October visit and I'll be stepping out in style!

So, some sewing has gone on and a fair amount of riding still.

I had some company last Thursday to ride with and it was awfully fun to have an experienced rider to go out with and get two horses exercised instead of one in a day.

As an update, the fawn, sadly, did not make it. It stopped eating and the lovely folks who took it in decided it would be best to have it humanely euthanized.

There has been a lot of puppy attention too.

Both young and old have all had some quality time. Dennett has his highs and lows although truthfully, it's been mostly good these last couple of weeks. Every day is a much appreciated gift. Miss Bea has arthritis in her back and as she ages it has become more noticeable.

The damp cold weather we've had has not been comfortable for her, so each night before bed, she gets a nice and gentle neck and back massage and then I bundle her up in the blankets in a warm spot next to me. During the day I try to get her out for a walk too as it is helped by light consistent exercise. Jack, Pogo and Smoochie are taking Robin into their male circle, not without it's little upsets along the way, but he is fitting in nicely. Charlotte, as is her way, shows nothing but disdain for most of the dogs but Peter and Dennett.

Robin continues to change daily. My gosh puppyhood is such a rapid affair, if you blink, you miss something. I am trying not to blink. I will say he is one of the sweetest puppies I have ever been lucky enough to meet let alone have as a companion. He is a cuddler with a capitol C. No doubt about it, this pup is very people oriented but not obsessive. He's just as happy to play or sleep with Stella or Smoochie or both!

I even caught Bea cozied up to him, but if you want to reach down and pick him up and tuck him in with you, he will stay there as long as you want.

Parting Shot: The Flying Nun (Stella's ears did a similar thing at this age)