I’ve joined the new craze.

I’m sure you’ve heard of Pinterest. It’s another social media site. That’s right. Another one.

I’m on the Facebook. I’m on the Twitter. I’ve got this blog that 8 people read. The Huzzy keeps raving about this Google+ thing, but I’m not so sure it has what I need. (it probably really does have everything I need – I’m just hesitant to get involved in something new.)

Then I saw this whole Pinterest thing. It’s new. It’s different. It’s a place to gather your thoughts, fascinations, and inspirations. It’s pictures of really cool stuff. And yet it’s a whole lot more than that.

I had my Pinterest invite sitting around for a while before I had any inclination to actually use it. It was neat checking out the pretty pictures, but I didn’t take the plunge immediately. This New York Trip gave me a great reason to use it.

Now, I understand that I didn’t get much feedback from my blog post asking for your recommendations on stuff to do in New York. In fact there was only one, from my silly cousin. Pretty funny. You should check it out. (I guess one out of 8 readers actually is a pretty good return, though.) But a whole bunch of you responded to my Twitter and Facebook pleas for the same help!

I took bits and pieces of everyone’s great advice, added in some stuff I researched on my own, and started a PIN BOARD to gather all of those ideas in one place. And you know what?

It’s really cool, that Pinterest thing.

I would now very highly recommend it to anyone wanting to gather up information and inspiration from the interwebs in one place. Forget the bookmarks and tabs. You can have an entire vacation plan at your fingertips. Or a wedding. Or a shopping list. Or a new wardrobe. Or even a menu for cheat day. (yum!) All the pictures you gather will automatically keep their links to where the pic came from. Instant credit. Instant bookmark for everyone that stops by for a look.

Here’s a sample of what I have to offer on my great NYC pin board. Have a look. Follow the links. And keep those suggestions coming!

I’ve collected stuff to eat:

Stuff to do:

and stuff to see:

New York City?!

Ah, New York City. The gritty and romantic symbol of American life for the rest of the world.

Is it?

I honestly wouldn’t know, because…

…I’ve never been to New York!

The airport? Yeah, I’ve been there. Newark and JFK. That’s it, though. I haven’t even seen the Statue of Liberty through an airplane window.

I am so freaking excited!

How did this happen?

The grand Huzzy sold some stuff and won some tickets to a grand LIVE EVENT of some sort in the big city. He asked me to come along. That’s just super, since I may have wrung his tough little neck if I wasn’t asked. Things kind of snowballed on him, though. It’s not just me on this grand tour. It’s the kids, too.

(Serious lack of available family up in here, folks. Vacations occurring every which way)

So sometime in October, the family will be packing up, boarding a train (I simply adore traveling by train – but only if there’s a sleeper car involved), and heading to the Big Apple.

Here’s where I need your help

The Huzzy will be busy with the rich, happy and hot women part of the time. I have no problems with that, but I don’t want it to stop me from living out my childhood dreams on this vacation. I’ve purchased applicable study guides. Like this, and this, and this one here.

Besides someone telling me that these are ridiculous purchases, I need a few things from folks that know and love New York City:

Keeping in mind the presence of children in tow (but NOT disregarding the desires of a thirty-something, wannabe-chic Mama), please tell me:

• Your favorite place to eat – think: inexpensive, hole-in-the-wall, classic, been around forever, must-have, New York. Chains be darned. Someone better mention pizza.
• Must-see place for this Southern tourist – monument? library? museum? park? a particular street? part of town? vintage clothing shop?
• Something unique and cool for the 5 & 6 (almost 7) year old girls. -Please remember inexpensive. Free is better.

Multiple picks for each item are acceptable. We will be there nearly a week!

Give a girl some help? Retweet, repost, and ask your friends. I can’t wait to see your recommendations and share them!

I wrote the majority of this post months ago, it seems. So from here on out everything I am writing today will be in red. We are in the final stretch of our quarantine. Just waiting on final word from the state. It seems she had a tough strain that has taken a lot of time for her to shake. It has been hard, but I wouldn’t change any part of what we have done for her. The sickness never went further than the one pony, and she will recover fully. In that, we are tremendously blessed. I have learned so much about caring for a sick animal. I have also learned quite a bit about the stigma attached to an illness like this. Also, quite a bit about myself and how much I can handle, physically and emotionally. It breaks my heart that a little girl lost so much time with her best friend. That, we can’t get back.

So I have a horse with Strangles. It’s the end of the world as I know it, and possibly the end of my career.

Surely it isn’t, right? Every morning I wake up and feel like I’m gonna have an emotional breakdown. Then I take a deep breath. I’m still a little shaky, but there is too much work to do.

The first and most important thing you need to know about Strangles is QUARANTINE. We have been on quarantine since the beginning, and out of a barn of 17 horses, only the one has been sick. I like those odds. Anyone who takes a sickness like this lightly is hopefully just ignorant at best.

The moment you touch anything that the sick horse has touched, you are officially tainted. You can’t touch anything that any other horse will touch. You may feel an urge to purchase some paper HAZ-MAT suits. You can save some money (but not any time) by following these suggestions:

-Find a place on your property to keep the sick horse away from all the others

This could be tricky for you. Our vet recommended the lowest place on the property, and said that at least 100 yards away from any other pasture or place another horse would even walk was the best place.

Fortunately, my parent’s house in on the same piece of property as the barn. We set up a temporary stall with some high, chain-link dog fencing. The pony is small, so the 10′ x 20′ space we erected was plenty of room, as long as I could walk her around the area for a bit of exercise once she was feeling better. Of course, fence panels from a round pen would work, too. We put a tent over half of her stall so she would have shelter from the rain, and also a shelter for all of the supplies I would need to properly care for her.

Since her drainage stopped, we have moved the pony to our lowest pasture. Her water is hers alone, and still changed and her bucket cleaned. She is out of noses-to-nose contact reach of any other horse. I am able to ride her in the pasture so she can be back in shape when her clean bill of health from the state officials.

-Choose ONE person as a primary caregiver for the sick horse

This is very helpful. If there is only one person available to feel all the horses, then they will have to care for the well animals first, then take care of the sick horses needs, then go home immediately and change to clean clothes and shoes before returning to the well animals.

By having one person dedicated to caring for the sick horse, you can save time and make sure the sick horse is fed and watered at the same time as the others. Of course, the caregiver still needs to change their clothes after every treatment.

I am still the only person (besides the owners) that touches the pony, and we still use the bleach water bath religiously.

-Have all the supplies you need near the sick animal

This also helps to avoid cross-contamination. Bring whatever feed tubs and water buckets the horse was using prior to moving them. These will have to be cleaned with bleach water daily. You’ll also need food, medications, lots of latex gloves, thermometer, dish washing liquid, bleach, a container for stall waste, a pitchfork, rags, and access to water. Since our enclosure is by my parents home, I have cold water from a hose and also HOT water that I tote in a bucket from inside the house.

I also used ichthamol and hot compresses on her throat bulges to draw out the infection when drainage was slow. She only ever got them under her jowl. I understand some horses will have eruptions in all kinds of wicked places!

Also important, is a container of bleach and water to rinse your boots in before returning home or anywhere else. I keep my wellies in the car and put them on when I pull up, then bleach them before removing them when I am done.

Ideally, you will only be treating the sick horse twice a day. Each visit will include a temperature check, cleaning of food and water buckets, feeding, cleaning of nose and open sores, and general doting on the horse. Don’t let them forget they are important and use the time to bond with them. Mix things up with food to encourage proper intake of food and water. Ours wasn’t interested in water, so I made sure to put enough in the food to help make up for it. Bran mashes and soaked alfalfa mixed with the feed in many different ways. It takes a lot of time. I think I spent well over 200 hours of the first month with the pony.

These are just a few tips, in the grand scheme of things. I am tired and I have lost clients because of my unavailability this winter. It’s hard. It’s really hard. It’s also embarrassing. The important thing is to not be ashamed of something you couldn’t control (we still have no idea how it got on our property and we never will). You can’t hide. You have work to do.

It’s Christmas Eve Eve. What am I thinking about?

A television show. Last year I was the one yelling at the screen because a certain show kept winning at the Emmy’s. Or was it the Globes? It doesn’t matter. For the past 4 days I have been the gal realizing what all the fuss was about. I forgive them. I hope they win more stuff so I can cheer next time.

Every night I watch after the kids go to bed. I watched today while wrapping presents. I was thinking about watching while I was frying up pork chops in bacon fat to be served with homemade mashed potatoes, green beans, and pan gravy. Mmmmmm.

This is a lot like that time in the old house when I was hung up on Gilmore Girls…

Thank goodness I can still get my Lauren Graham fix on Parenthood. For now.

I would daydream that my life included such smart and sassy banter between friends and relatives. I still try to achieve that sort of conversation in my daily routines. I constantly fail. I’m just not that cool.

By the way, if you’re NOT watching Parenthood, then you should be. I’d hate for YOU to be the one that gets it kicked off the air.

Then there was the time before that when I was all hung up on Little House On The Prairie.

Wait. Is that Brenda Walsh? Awwww.

Oh, how did I survive waiting for the 2 hours a day that Little House was on?! It was torture, I tell you! And I cried during every episode I watched. I blame the hormones. I was very pregnant during this particular television addiction. This was also about the same time that I watched The Color Purple.  Alone. Pregnant. That was a low point for me. I actually had to call the husband at work for help. I was sobbing uncontrollably. He basically just called me a doofus for watching it. I didn’t know!

Before Little House, there was Toovey.

That's Toovey down in front.

Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman was the first television addiction of my adult life. We would yell “TOOVEY” every time his character, Brian, came up on the screen. He doesn’t seem to be in the business anymore. I check up on him every year or so.

So. We got a Wii. We ditched the satellite TV and now we strictly watch hulu on the laptops or Netflix on the Wii. I was bored the other night and wanted something new and short to take up some time. I watched an episode of 30 Rock. I wasn’t expecting much. I’m thinking it always came on during one of my favorite show’s time slot. I had never given it a chance.

Boy, was I wrong.

I am such a Liz Lemon. If she was married. With kids.

Hey, what have been your TV addictions? I don’t mean the ones that you have to patiently wait for each week. I’m talking about the ones that you don’t discover until they are in syndication. The ones you can tune in to every day until you go back around the horn and start over at the beginning. Now that we are in the age of DVDs and streaming across the World Wide Web, those count, too.

Now, if you will excuse me, I am wasting valuable viewing time. I’m not even halfway through Season 2, yet.

In fact, I have written almost all of it.

The other day I was given a jolt. Actually, it was more of a swift uppercut to the jaw. From a 900 lb. pony. I was blessed that it came from her head and not one of her feet! Now that I can chew my food and speak clearly again, it seems I have a case of whiplash. I would have never made it as a prizefighter.

Anyway, I have been a bit distracted.

I am still on quarantine duty. The sick pony still needs to be fed and cared for. Then I get to wash my clothes that I wear during my nursing duties. I wash them A LOT. So, today I made a fresh batch of homemade laundry detergent. It cuts my costs down considerably. We use it all the time, now.

Then, tonight, we killed Pinkie’s gingerbread house that she decorated at school. You can view the action here. It’s really short. And giggly.

Judo Chop!

I think I have finally let the Spirit of Christmas in.

An Exposé

Maybe you already know what this post is about. Think about it. What is the thing that horse owner’s fear the most? I’m not talking about colic, either. Everyone knows someone with secondhand experience with this. Maybe it happened to the barn across town. Or even at the barn you currently board at – many years ago. I always thought that’s how this worked. It only happened at sale barns with dubious animal husbandry practices. Or it happened at the local boarding stable where we seem to get all our new riding students from.

Hi. I'm Smokey. I'm not sick. But I'll be your visual aid for future posts.

Everyone has heard of it. Heard of some place that had it. The funny thing is: The news comes secondhand. I’ve never heard someone openly admit they had a case at their barn. Or that it spread throughout their stable like wildfire. But I know it has happened. I’ve heard about it.

What is this nightmare that no one talks about?

Strangles

*dun dun duuuuuun*

Just the sound of that word strikes fear in the hearts of barn owners and boarders alike. Speak that word at a horse show and you’re liable to get slapped. Or perhaps forcibly removed from the grounds just for suggesting that it exists.

I think you are realizing what I’m getting at here.

Our barn has had its first (and Lord willing, its last) case of Strangles.

I teeter-tottered quite a bit at whether or not this was blog-worthy. Frankly, my heart sinks at the thought of people knowing. But they will know. Even if I don’t tell them, they will know. It doesn’t matter that it’s a reportable disease here in Georgia. It’s also a gossip chain disease.

But then I really thought about it. If this was the barn down the street, I would want to know. I would want to know so I wouldn’t set foot on their property and possibly bring home tainted soil on my feet. Or let anyone that has been to that barn on my property without being sterilized first.

I should be telling the world about this.

The pony in question started showing signs of illness the week before Thanksgiving. None of our horses had left or arrived for 30 days prior to this, so Strangles was the least of our worries. We were wrong.

The evening before Thanksgiving she was diagnosed with probably (prior to lab test) having Strangles. By the time I sat down to Thanksgiving supper with my family, I had her quarantined in her own makeshift stall with a shelter overhead, as far away as possible from any area of the property that horses would possibly tread.

It has been 13 days since she was sequestered. None of our other horses have shown any signs of illness. The incubation period is supposed to be 7-10 days. I have read that it can be up to 21 days. So unless our other horses come into contact with something that I haven’t thought to disinfect, we should be okay. We should be. I pray that we are.

I’m not finished writing about this. My next post will talk about what steps we have taken to keep this away from the other horses on our farm. It will also tell how we are keeping it as our illness and not that of every other barn in the area. I will tell how I have played nursemaid for the last two weeks to my student’s love for a lifetime.

I know. You’re waiting on pins and needles. Just wait until I tell you in detail about the snot. The stinky snot.

In the meantime, you can read more about Strangles here. Apparently, it is a reportable disease in Maine, too. This is definitely something you should educate yourself about. Eventually, it will hit a little closer to home than you think.

I began looking into my family tree a couple weeks ago. With a little help of a “Zoology” file from my Mama’s closet, and a lot of help from a well known geneology website, I have taken my side of the tree all the way across the Atlantic Ocean.

That wasn’t the part that surprised me. I was fairly certain that my heritage was predominately Scotch-Irish. Most every person on my tree was born in and also died in Virginia. I have learned this past week that it wasn’t just Northern Ireland that my ancestors came from. It was England and Wales, too.

The part that really surprised me was WHEN they came to America. Every one that I have taken back to an immigrant arrived here BEFORE the United States became the United States! That’s just cool!

Even cooler (or at least more interesting), is what happened to the families once they arrived in America.

My ancestor, John William Rees, was an immigrant from Wales in 1684. They came as Quakers, seeking religious freedom in the new land. He purchased land in Philadelphia directly from William Penn. That would be the William Penn. The one Pennsylvania got its name from. He adopted the last name of Jones when he got here.

This was just the kind of cool ancestral information I was hoping to find!

This Meeting House was built in Philadelphia (Merion) by the earliest Welsh settlers to the area. The Quakers met here to conduct business and have fellowship with one another.

But it gets more interesting than that. My great-grandfather was Rufus Jones. He was pretty famous in his own right.

That's supposed to be my great-grandfather on the right. That would be a moonshine still.

By the time Rufus came along the family had settled down in Virginia. The picture above was taken in Franklin County. I remember stories about my grandmother, Rufus’ daughter, standing watch with her sister down the lane to watch for revenuers. I guess they had a plan worked out for her to run home so her Daddy could hide the evidence.

Look how far we’ve come!

So how did William Jones, my immigrant ancestor, beget Rufus Jones, my bootlegging great-grandfather?

I don’t really have an answer for that. But I’m curious. So. Now I’ve got the origins of my families’ life in America (at least for that particular line), and what became of us (ie. Rufus and my immediate family). Now I get to fill in the middle with stories and pictures. I hope there will be pictures.

I’m still looking for my Cherokee bloodline. I was always told I had a little bitty bit of Cherokee blood and I have always been super proud of it. Especially as a kid. I’ll keep looking until I find it.

And another note: I am not ashamed of what I have found and I hope I won’t be ashamed of what I do find in the future. This may be the chemical makeup that made me, but in no way do the actions of my forefathers dictate what my own actions will be.

Have you done any hunting into your ancestry?

What sorts of interesting stuff have you learned about your forefathers?

Bragging rights will belong to the commenter with the best caption for this photo.

The FH took the picture. I edited it. So I guess it’s a collaboration.

I can’t wait to read your caption ideas!

I’ll end the “contest” when I pick the best one. Or whenever so much time passes without comments that it just seems silly to let things continue. Don’t let it come to that!

Pinkie’s very first school “project” was due today. They’ve been studying a different bug each month of K-5, and this month’s selection was the mighty tarantula. Perhaps this choice had something to do with the creepy season? I dunno, but neither the Fuzzy Huzzy nor myself are fond of eight-legged creatures.

It was a fairly simple project. Construct a tarantula out of whatever you like and bring it to school with a couple sentences describing the beastly thing.

We opted to make Pinkie’s tarantula out of bread. Our favorite local bakery had some tasty honey-whole wheat spiders for sale this month. It didn’t look too difficult. I don’t often make wheat bread, though. (why should I, when the folks at Great Harvest do such a good job?) I make a basic french-style loaf. Just flour, yeast, water, and a teeny bit of salt and sugar. Simple enough for a kid to make.

The double batch of bread may have been a bit tough for a little gal to knead by herself…

I stepped in when the going got too sticky, and let her take control again after the dough had its first rise.

Each spider had 4 extra long legs that really made 8. We laid them over tube-shaped and scrunched aluminum foil so the legs would arch up. Then she placed a big roll on top of the legs and a smaller one in front for the head.

Gina sprayed each spider with cooking spray (so the spider fur would stick), coated each one with cinnamon and sugar for color and texture, and added chocolate chips for eyes.

Aren’t you dying to see the finished product?

Personally, I think they were pretty cute.

Not Great Harvest worthy, or anything, but Kindergarten Cute, for sure.

I really wanted to rip the legs off the not-so-great ones when they came out of the oven and dip them in soft butter. But it was late, and the FH didn’t want any. So I would’ve felt like a pig if I had done it without him. I regret my decision.

These were the two that came out the oven with heads and eyes intact. I was told that after the class had dismembered the poor beasts, their bodies were sliced and eaten. According to the teacher, not a crumb was left. That also means that I do not have a tarantula left to take up space in the “we can’t throw that away” drawer.

My daughter is so cool.

In a recent discussion on Twitter concerning cold soups, I was reminded of a delicious soup my Mama made for me.

I had recently returned home from a trip to Italy, Austria, and Hungary, courtesy of the People to People Student Ambassador Program (and my dear parents wallets). While in Budapest, Hungary, I ate a delicious cold soup with the family that hosted me. I had never had a cold soup before! It totally blew my mind. So, in addition to slices of bread covered in thick layers of spreadable, herbed cheese, I craved that soup when I got home!

My Mama found this recipe, which she altered a little bit. The font used in the print looks like Southern Living. I have a photocopy of the recipe, so I’m not completely sure where it came from.

My Mama’s changes are in italics. Enjoy!

Summertime Cherry Soup

1 (16-ounce) can pitted sweet red cherries, undrained [or 1 1/2 c. fresh cherries]

1 c. water [1 1/2 c. if using the fresh cherries]

1/4 c. sugar [1/3-1/2 c.]

1 stick cinnamon

1/8 tsp. ground cloves

1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg

1 T cornstarch

2 T water

1/2 c. Burgundy or other dry red wine [Mama omitted this one]

2 T lemon juice

1 (8-ounce) carton sour cream

Drain cherries, reserving syrup. Set cherries aside. Combine syrup, 1 c. water, sugar, cinnamon stick, cloves, and nutmeg in a saucepan. Bring mixture to a boil; reduce heat, and simmer 5 minutes. Remove and discard cinnamon stick.

Combine cornstarch and 2 T water in a small bowl, stirring until smooth. Stir cornstarch mixture into syrup mixture; cook, stirring constantly, until slightly thickened. Remove from heat; add wine and lemon juice, stirring well. Let cool completely. Add sour cream, stirring well with a wire whisk. Add reserved cherries; stir well. Cover and chill thoroughly. Yield: 4 cups.

Thanks to @DrewKime @soupiton and @PKorf for reminding me about this! It’s not too late down here in GA for cold soup!