Sunday Stills Challenge: The Letter "C"

This week's challenge, the letter "C", was relatively easy...I just stepped out the door, looked around, and took "C" pictures...not good pictures, but the subjects do start with "C"...

My first one wasn't actually taken outside...this is my model of an edible cell.
No, I'm not enjoying Biology this year... :-/

It was pretty annoying to make...but there it is...it's a Cell, with a Cell wall and Cell membrane and Cytoplasm and Chloroplasts...lots of "C's" (in case you want to know, it was made with a brownie)

Each year, a place pretty close to where I live hosts the Cosequin Stuart Horse Trials. All entrants to the event (which has included Jean for summer 2007 and 2008...at least, those are the summers that I went, too) receive a Cosequin bucket with merchandise...I got one of the buckets :) I love them. This one is pretty faded, but...another "C" for Cosequin (Cosequin is a VERY good, VERY expensive join supplement for horses)

Next "C": Cats.
Miss Genevieve tonight...a little bleary-eyed...

And cat number 2...Groenemeyer...who came home today sporting (for the first time in 2 years) battle wounds...wonder what animal he was hunting! :P his nose is scraped up, and so is his paw and the base of his tail...I put some antibiotic ointment on...he'll be fine.

And, last but NOT LEAST, I made a video of my CROSS COUNTRY jump schooling I went to last weekend with Daisy-Mae! Our first one!
I know, it's not actually a "still"...so that's why it's not the main part of the post. Feel free to watch it, if you're interested...and I apologize for the *terrible* quality, I'm not sure why the quality got so much worse after the video was saved on my computer... :-/...I'm not a tech geek, so it'll take a bit for me to figure that out... :(

Check out more subjects with the letter "C" at Sunday Stills!

Sunday Stills Challenge: Photoshop

Sorry I'm so late! I realize probably not many people will check my blog now..if at all...but it COMPLETELY fled my mind this morning that I had Sunday Stills to post! And considering I spent time making 4 photoshopped photos! :P

I don't own any sort of photoshop software...I know...*GASP!*
I use picnik.com...my computer is *painfully* slow, but I get through it...I took all but the last picture of Daisy and I...that was taken by my cousin Anika on the day that I bought Daisy, 2 1/2 years ago.

We start off with this ex-standardbred racehorse that I met during a 4H Equine Careers Camp in June named Snickers...he's here to show his support for breast cancer victims... :)

And this is my chicken, Bibbi...she is not generally that orange, but I played with saturation on this one...

My barn cat, Gronemeyer...first I played around with the saturation on the photo, than I used the black & white brush to make everything but him black and white...I was going to leave out the green altogether, but then I figured it looked kinda cool...so voila.

And, Daisy-Mae and I April 17, 2007...I used the "cinema scope" tool on this, than changed to black and white, than added words and the "museum" frame...

Check out Sunday Stills for more!

Sunday Stills Challenge: the Color Purple

Alright, soo...I'm pretty lame-ooooooo, I know...I've had a very busy week, and rather than post nothing for Sunday Stills, I've edited one of my pictures from my archives...sooo...I'm a cheater...I used the archives, sorry Ed! :P

This is my cat, Genevieve, taken last year...edited on picnik.com. I generally am not a fan of the tool I used on this pic (can't remember what it's called), but for this picture, it turned out alright...and hey, I actually took it kind of following the rule of thirds! :)

See more shades of purple at Sunday Stills!

Macro Monday: The King

I've neglected to feature one of my barn cats (actually, both...if Genevieve holds still long enough, she can be next) lately, so here is Groenemeyer (aka, to me, "The King")...named after Herbert Groenemeyer, the German singer, in honor of my Uncle Volker, who died January 18, 2007... --------------------------------------------------
Yes, I realize the last pic isn't actually macro. :) See more Macros here!

Sunday Stills: (some pretty random) Sounds

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This was a tough challenge...All the pics were from my archives.

Check out more Sounds "caught" on camera at Sunday Stills!

Genevieve and Gronemeyer

Gronemeyer -> <-Genevieve

I'm going to write about Gronemeyer and Genevieve because I didn't really ever cover how we got them sooo long ago and because I have nothing else to post about...

We originally had one barn cat, Gronemeyer #1, but we didn't know what we were doing, so he disappeared one day and didn't come back.

We moved on to these two. We found out about them from a free kittens ad in the paper. I called the people and they said their kittens had disappeared and they'd call us when they got back (lol...). Well they called while I was in school the next day, and my mom was in town, so my mom went and picked them up. We didn't have a cage with us, so the people made us a "cage" out of an old litter box plastic container. The cats were SO small. We let them loose, and they both ran right away under the floor of the tack room and didn't come out. I was afraid they'd die there and ew...but thank goodness Mr. Gronemeyer is such a sucker for food. :) I put wet food outside on the floor of the tack room, and he came out (of course) and went to eat and I stuck him in a cage. But Genevieve doesn't fall for just anything (like food). She came out, though, because she was lonely, and I caught her. For the first week, she shook really hard when you picked her up. She was SO tiny! Gronemeyer was always pretty good about being picked up. I personally think Genevieve was the runt of her litter, because she was smaller and frailer then Gronemeyer for the longest time. What cute cats, though. We had to keep them locked up for 2 months to keep them safe. If the barn door was open so Daisy could come in, they were in a cage. If the barn door was closed, Daisy had to be either in or out and they ran free. They played in Daisy's pile of hay when she was eating, and cleaned up Daisy's extra bits of grain, too.

The day we let them out was very exciting. The world was already snow covered when they stepped out for the first time.

We had them fixed last February (I think...) when they were still pretty small. We had them spayed and neutered at Habitat for Cats, which does it for just $35 for stray or outdoor cats (barn cats). They were kinda funny in the car ride home---still all drugged up ;-). Now they are happy cats...Gronemeyer still gives us a scare now and then, leaving and/or getting into cat fights...but he's always ok. They've both gotten stuck in trees...I recall a day where I walked down the driveway calling and meowing (the neighbors already think I'm weird, so it couldn't really get worse ;-)) trying to find them, and lo and behold, they were "stuck" in trees, side by side.

Genevieve is the motherly figure to the cute but slightly dumb brother. She'll be waiting on the saddle rack in the barn when it's time to come in, and when I carry him in (he doesn't go in himself..he's always roaming) I hold him up to her and she always licks him twice on the forehead. They sleep together at night and to keep warm, too. And they are both quite the pros at killing nasty creatures-snakes seem to have "disappeared" and moles and chipmunks don't last long here. :D

Those are my two little babies, now almost a year and a half old...idk if this post was really necessary but it was still fun. :)

Have a good week, everyone! I'm still meaning to post a vid. of Daisy sidpassing over poles, but it just hasn't happened so far...

Bloggin' Out,

There Once Was-

-A Box.

There once was a little boy cat who made it his home for the day. He enjoyed it, as it was right by the door of a house. He slept in it, and was the doorman.

There once was a sister of the little boy cat. She followed her brother's role and played door-women while he went off to eat. She enjoyed it, as it was right by the door of a house.

There once was a sister of the little boy cat who played doorman and she stuck her head out while on-duty to see what was around...luckily, there were no intruders.

There once was a little boy cat who had a sister, and the two of them united and became an inseparable, clever duo, always on the lookout for intruders to the home.

Luckily, there were none.



(Uncle Gregor, this one was for you.)

Showing and All the Rest-AKA, Longest Post EVER

Sooo, I'm sorry it has taken me two days to update you, but as you watch the slide show, you will realize it was a BIG job to make it, as I got pictures from myself, from Jean, from Jean's mother, and from my mom. Thank you to all the people contributing pictures, I appreciate it!

So last week staying at Jean's started with the Stuart Horse Trials in Victor, New York, which Jean rode in. It was a BIG deal to ride in, and it was pretty cool to watch. It was a big eventing competition-in eventing you ride in three different parts: cross country jumping (jumps on a big course made of "natural" materials (trees, wood, indestructible fences), stadium jumping (jumps in an arena made of stands and poles that are more destructible and yeah....) and dressage, which is just a complicated riding on the flat (without jumping). Congratulations to Jean, she got SECOND! Bubba was just pretty much awesome, and it was all cool...

On Sunday we went to the game show, which I wrote about, so just look at pictures and that's all I have to say about that...

Monday was an open show, which I have no pictures of right now, and I rode Bubba in the morning. I rode him in an English Pleasure class, which is where you ride through your gaits and they focus on how the horse carries itself. Unfortunately, I was a little more in the mind frame that it would be easy, a piece of cake, so I didn't focus as much as I should have. When we went to go from a canter to a trot and then a walk again, he wouldn't stop cantering, he more like started galloping, and I was so shocked I didn't try hard enough to stop him, and they dismissed me from the ring ("Rider number 50, you are excused"). Well, that was disappointing. I entered the next class, English Equitation (same as English Pleasure, except they judge the rider's form) in walk/trot instead of walk/trot/canter, and we did better. That afternoon I rode Daisy in a trail class. There was a bridge that I had to walk her over, poles, a mailbox to ride to, open, and take out a paper and show it to the judge, a rain slicker to pick up and put down, a box to do a 360 in, and a part to back in. Daisy (in my opinion) did very well, but we only got 7th. That was ok, though, because the class itself was fun, and it didn't really matter to me how we placed. That night we did Western Pleasure and Western Equitation (like the English versions) and we placed 2nd in both...out of 4 riders ;-). Then we went home, late at night.

On Tuesday I rode only Bubba. I rode him in the same classes as the day before, and I got FIRST PLACE in the class I had been sent out of the day before! I was really focused on not letting him get away with me, and it payed off. We got third in Equitation because he was harder to stop the canter again toward the end, so I just stopped him messily, and that cost the ribbon, but the way I look at it, at least I got him to stop! That afternoon we did a command class, and we got third place.

On Wednesday, which there are pictures for in the slide, I rode Daisy. It was all just mounted games (relay races) and it was a lot of fun, a very laid back day. I don't feel like listing what we placed and what the games were, it's too much work ;-).

On Thursday was Western day. I rode Daisy. We got only 2nd in Western Pleasure and Western Equitation (out of only two riders, me and Daisy and a girl named Sam and her own horse, name which I have forgotten) because BOTH TIMES Daisy picked up the left lead when we were supposed to do right...she was having an off day, but it wasn't too bad, so I'm not mad at her (:-P) because otherwise she felt wonderful. We got first place in command class, though! For once her quick, even if they are a little messy, transitions came in handy, lol. We did a trail class again that afternoon, and she got 2nd with me, which is great.

Friday was THE MOST AWESOME DAY EVER! Although between the games I had such a bad eye (it happened on Wednesday, too...my eye must have reacted to something in the air and it burned horribly and watered) I still had fun, and just wore sunglasses a lot. First of all, Daisy is THE MOST AWESOME HORSE I COULD EVER WISH FOR! I had heard that Daisy had done VERY well in western games (barrels and poles) but I didn't know for myself. Well, I rode her in pole bending, and got a 2 second less time then Sam riding her grampa's experienced gaming horse, Joker! Daisy just whipped around everything like she'd been doing it and practicing forever, when in reality, I've NEVER done poles, and she hasn't done them in about 2 years! We won first place in pole bending! We also won first in stake-n-barrel. In that game there are two barrels, standing across from each other about 20 feet, one is empty, open can with a stake in it, one is a closed, regular barrel. You have to run in, grab the stake, figure eight around the second barrel, drop the stake back in the first barrel, and run for the finish. Daisy did great AGAIN! We got second in keyhole, with a time of I think 11 seconds (slow time, I guess). Keyhole is just where you run through the start cones and ahead on the ground is drawn a keyhole shape like on a door handle, and you have to run in, turn around without leaving the white lines of the hole, and run back...All in all, the day was totally fun, and Daisy seemed to like it, too. She was soooo sweet-waiting for the races she stood like she was asleep, but the minute I put her out there by the cones and asked her to gallop, she took off. She listened so well to me, and all I can say is, "Thank you, God, for giving me such an awesome horse!".

Well, I won't bore you anymore. I'm sorry this post was so incredibly long, I can't help it! I hope you enjoy the pictures!

5:49 PM

Miss Genevieve

Well, I made a post once about Groenemeyer, so I decided to do one on his sister, Genevieve. Genny is an awesome cat-I think of the two, she's my personal favorite, although I love her brother, too. She's more loyal, she hangs around at home, and more sensible. REALLY. He's just kind of a "head in the clouds" cat, who will love anyone, but will leave during the day and not come back until a few hours later. Genevieve, on the other hand, comes running as soon as you call, and purrs really loud as soon as you pick her up. We used to have a gray tiger cat named Puppi, who died in 2006, and Puppi never really liked me...she was shy, and very nice once you got to know her, but she didn't really let me get to know her. Genevieve has just about the same personality and looks as Puppi, and it's like having her back again, except this time, she likes me. She and her brother make an odd couple-he's kind of dumb, and risky, and she's there to kind of tag along and get him out of trouble, or watch the trouble take place from a safe place...anyway, I hope you don't think the slide is toooooooooooo long...Enjoy! Summer is here for me, now!

4:42 PM

BTW, you can make the pics go faster by clicking the plus sign ( + ) and scroll your mouse over each pic and read the captions, too!