Dream House Front Doors

Okay - so I have a secret. I have the most gorgeous pair of solid mahogany beveled leaded glass front doors in storage! When we moved from our traditional home, that was one thing I could not bare to leave behind! If....NO NO ...I mean WHEN we build our dream house - the doors will come out of storage and be the crowning glory of our home!

Horse Fever ~ Chapter 1

My Father used to always say that the worst mistake he ever made in raising me was to take me over to Main Street to ride the Shetland Ponies. I remember it like it was yesterday:

My heart would race on the drive over. Tightly holding onto the bag of change I had been collecting for doing chores around the house, my fingers started to sweat. At the ripe age of six, I could hardly sit still in my seat. From the moment we pulled into the driveway to park, I would scope out all the horses. Never would I allow them to tell me which one to ride. Waiting and watching carefully, I looked for a horse of size and spirit and one who would certainly canter if I asked. At the Main Street Pony Rides, a horse of size was only 11 or 12 hands high. After watching the other children ride and carefully making my decision, I would take my bag of coins, mostly made up of pennies to the ticket booth to make my purchase.

“Four tickets please.” I requested handing over my bag.

The old man behind the booth was tall and thin. His unshaven face or the dirt under his fingernails did not blemish my opinion of him. In my eyes, he had the best job in the world.

Moving my money to the side of the counter, he started to tear off the tickets.

“Aren’t you gonna count it?” I asked.

With a chuckle, he looked me straight in the eye and said, “No, I trust you.” And he handed me the passport to my dream.

Sitting astride the small steed I picked out to ride, we would walk a few steps onto the track before we were out of reach of my Father and the barn hands. At the very second all was clear, I would kick and cue the horse to a canter, knowing very well we were not suppose to canter the ponies. A few times I was not allowed to ride the same horse for all four rides. I also knew to never make eye contact with my Father until all four rides were over, lest he order me to obey the rules!

Happy Birthday Emily!!!

This is a photo of Emily (right) and her younger sister Joy.

My first born child is 26 years old today! Her name is Emily Faith and she, her husband and their daughter live on Luke Air Force Base in AZ. I miss you and I love you Emily! Have a wonderful new year of life!

Great weekend find!

No auctions and no resale shops...just a visit to Hobby Lobby. Some of you will be horrified to hear that they are currently putting out both their fall and Christmas decorations! That thrills my socks off. Since they needed more space to display these new treasures, they have quite a bit on sale..and on sale big!

I bought this lantern and stand. They are both very heavy and is almost identical to the ones I saw at the Pottery Barn that were very $$. The glass is beveled and the finish is polished. The lantern will be used in the arbor by the new lambs pen and the stand will be used in the garden elsewhere with another lantern. (BTW - I love lanterns!) You will see them both later in some 'after' photos.

Before and After Shower Curtain

Before - You can see how I lowered the curtian and tried to use ribbon to fill in the empty space.


After photos show the add on black silk panel(no more machine washing!)and coordinating ribbon

As some of you know, I had a problem with a decorative shower curtian that I made for our home. After I washed it, it shrunk no less than 8 inches!

My inspiration for this project came from Rhoda's blog. Her Mother made her beautiful curtains that happened to be in the same toile fabric as my shower curtain and looked so elegant with a top panel that I could not wait to redo mine. Thank you again Rhoda!

Before and After Cabana

Before

After!
Just trying to organize a few things together and just because I love seeing the before and afters of every project!

Dream House Drive Way Gate

If I am going to dream - I am going to dream big! So here it goes..

Great Easy Christmas Cookie Project!

Ohh - Just a Beech Kat posted this wonderful simple cookie idea in her December 2006 blog. I loved it so much I wanted to have it stored away in my blog and we all know how crazy I am about Christmas!

Craft or Recipe? During the Christmas season ~ What can you do with a bored child, a tube of premixed sugar cookie dough, a bag of pretzels and some red and brown candies? You don't even need a recipe - just the picture!

What do you love to see in other Blogs?

I love to look at new blogs and some draw me in and make me want to read every word and page through every entry...and yet others leave me cold. I can tell in a few moments that I am not interested in going any further.

This is what I love about a blog:
1. Tell me about yourself...and not just the good stuff. No ones life is all roses.

2. I think it is strange not to post a photo of yourself. It makes me think that you do not like yourself.

3. Use your own photos...or at least most of them. Although I am inspired by magazine, catalog and even other peoples photos, I love to use and see other peoples REAL projects, before and after photos, their real homes and pets.

4. Share all of your passions. I like a blog that is diverse..not just one that is only about cooking or decorating etc.

5. Share stories with me. If something funny happened to you or a family member, share it. I especially love a good laugh!

6. Share a dream or fantasy. A travel dream, a dream car or a dream house... it is not materialistic to have a desire.

7. Share a failed project - not just the perfect ones.

Who am I?
I am a woman who had to leave her marriage after 16+ years because things just had to change. I live with my Father and am spending more and more time with my husband and going to counceling. We have a long road ahead of us. I pray that I will be living full time back at the farm by Thanksgiving, but I refuse to put a time limit on anything.

I believe with all my heart that Jesus is the Son of God and came to earth to pay the redemption price for my soul, but sadly I am not a consistent church goer and I have a lot of guilt over that. God did not shun me, some people did and I stopped going. I feel almost scared to get involved with a church again.

I adore animals, but am alergic to cats. We have them but I cannot cuddle them to my face or I break out in hives. We currently have 7 horses, 5 dogs, 5 cats, 4 lambs and a fish. I spend too much money on clothes, but may have solved that problem with my new favorite resale store!

I work for an airline and do Military and Government contracts between the two. It is a boring computer job, but I love the ladies I work with and in 4 years I will have the option to retire.

So in here lies a challenge ...
1. What do you love about other Blogs?
2. Post on your Blog more about who you are.

My Dream House Windows

I love Pella windows. They come either double hung or with a crank out design which is my favorite since that is the type of windows that were in my Grandparents house. They are so elegant with the wood grills that separate the panes of glass and other than the initial cost, they are very economical. That was one of the few things I hated leaving behind in our old house.

Meet Dr. Milam and Jeanette Leavens

Here is one of my favorite photos of my parents. It was taken shortly after they were married and on a vacation only days before my Father went to the Korean War. I think they are in California in this photo, but the actual road trip was from Texas to California.

Ivan and the Lake

It was a beautiful summer day and Joy, was home from college. We decided to go riding and meet up by the lake, with a neighbor, Stacey. It is about a half miles ride for each of us to get to the lake as Stacey lived in the opposite direction. Our gelding, Ivan likes our mare, but he loves Stacey’s mare, Lacy! He always acts like a fool around her and never wants to leave, giving me a grumpy horse to deal with on the way home! Well, Joy and I started to ride toward the lake. It took about 15 minutes to get down there and it was pretty uneventful. Half way around the lake, we met Stacey and decided to go North into the woods and ride on some trails.

Everyone turned their horses North and started to walk. Ivan refused to move. He was ignoring my requests; clucks, kicks and giving him all the reins he could need. All of a sudden, Ivan started to back up. I have no explanation why he decided to do this, but my go forward requests became more demanding at this point. We were maybe 8 feet away from the water.

Ivan is a very large horse, measuring 17 hands at the withers. Add the classic Saddlebred neck and to the average sized person, he is huge! For this reason, from the moment I purchased him, I decided to never fall or bail off of him. Because of the distance to the ground and his brute strength, I was better off fighting any battle I had with him, on his back!

All the other riders were twisted around in their saddles staring at me with their mouths wide open. Ivan continued to move backwards and we were now in the mud. As a last ditch effort, I tried to hit Ivan on the butt with the crop – once again asking him to go F-O-R-W-A-R-D. But no..back, back, back we went. This is a man made lake and after a short shallow ease into the water…there is a 30 foot cliff! We were in the water and then with one more step, it was as if someone had removed the floor out from beneath us and we went under. For the first time ever, I decided to bail off of Ivan and fend for myself. The only thing above water were our heads. Swimming back to the shore, I could feel Ivan’s legs swinging under the water, dangerously close to my own.

I was crawling up the bank on my hands and knees and ironically, so was Ivan. Neither of us could get traction on the slippery mud. Ivan managed to get out only covered with water. I, on the other hand, was covered in green slime. I had slime strings hanging off of my arms and legs that were over 3 feet long! I smelled like dead fish. At this time, I looked back at my riding partners. Ironically, they had not moved one inch, still sitting on their horses with their mouths wide open. I grabbed Ivan’s reins. He was dancing around in circles snorting fiercely at the lake. I knew exactly what he was thinking. In Ivan’s pea sized brain, I am sure if he was telling the story, it would have involved a lake monster who came up out of the water and drug him in by his tail! ..and since the Lake Monster claimed one of Ivan’s show shoes, I had to hand walk him back to the barn. For the entire mile walk back, Ivan refused to flat walk beside me. He instead trotted a level side pass right in front of me, staring at the lake and snorting.

For hours all during the rest of the day and into the evening, I could hear snickers of laughter coming from all parts of the house….

The above photo is my friend Janie Hamilton riding Ivan.

My Dream House

One day and hopefully one day soon, we want to build a 'real' house on our land. I adore our barn/house but can not envision myself living up there when I am in my 60's. I miss things like having enough room to have my family stay with us when they are in town visiting and now that we are Grandparents, it is even more important. I miss a fireplace and my husband misses having his own bathroom.

So this will be my new topic...a fantasy if you will. What I shall post under this topic will be what I would build if money, time, space or anything else was not in check of boundaries!

Since I love plants and beautiful airy rooms, lets start with a conservatory!

Let me tell you about our new project!

With the purchase of the lambs and finding out to our delight that they co-habitate well with our Pembroke Welsh Corgi Dogs, we have decided to build a new paddock. We chose a 1/4 acre of land that borders both the horse back pasture fence as well as the woods on one side. The dogs will keep any predators at bey from the woods, so I am not worried about that. I was insistent though that the front of the fence be eye pleasing. We priced many different fencing options for this area and several were going to cost well over a thousand dollars and that was just for the front!

What we have decided on is a traditional picket fence, 4 feet tall, painted black and by using a black iron arbor and gate, it should give us the picturesque view we are looking for. The arbor cannot obviously be bare, so I have chosen the Eden climbing rose.

Here is the description of the Eden rose: "Armloads of Pastel-Hued Blooms All Summer! The charm of Old English Roses plus the profuse flowering habit of modern Roses!"

Above pictures are of the beautiful Eden Roses and the piece of land we are going to use for the lambs paddock.

Roses

With all of the rain we have had this year, I have not had as many roses as I usually do, so the few that have escaped the beating of the rain...I have appreciated all the more. I love antique roses the best, but I was given an unnamed double colored rose bush by a friend when we moved out to the farm, and it has become one of my favorites.
The pale pink rose is called la Maision. My next purchase will be 2 Eden climbing roses for an arbor gate we are going to put up as an entrance to the lambs pen..but that is another project for another day!

All 4 Lambs Now Call Equus Villa Home!

All 4 of our Miniature Chevoit lambs are now at the farm. Meet Isabella, Anastasia, Edwina and Ramses. Two of the ewes are yearlings and should give us babies next spring if Ramses does his job! Each is adorned with a brass sleigh-type bell about their neck and as the herd grows, it should make quite a pleasant sound as there are several different sizes and bell tones.

Before and After

When I moved out, I feared that many of the things I cherished about our farm would go to the wayside, simply because they were my projects and with a limited amount of time, my husband would not be able to care for them. I was right and one such victim was my flower garden that extended all the way down the walkway from the drive to the stairway that led to our home. As I have begun to spend more time at Equus Villa, I made the decision to restore this area. Here are the before and after photos. Please keep in mind that with the torrential rains we have had for the past 60 days, even the blooming flowers are damaged...but a slight improvement to say the least!

Christmas Table Decor

Last year we hosted Christmas dinner for quite a few people and I had to bring in card tables to extend our dining table. In an effort to blend it all in and keep it very elegant, I created 2 large flower centerpieces. The problem occurred when 2 of my guests who were sitting across from each other wanted to talk. My centerpiece was in the way of them being able to make eye contact. I recently found this beautiful idea on the blog sight of MariaJ at The Woodpecker Cottage . Thank you for letting me borrow it!

A Big Surprise!

Today I was finally able to go to the Post office and retrieve a package that has been waiting there for me since the end of last week. The kind ladies at the Post always know to hold my packages and never send them back. To my delight, my parcel was the book I won in Andrea's drawing (Under the Blue Moon) The book, Astrid and Veronika was lovingly packaged along with a few other treasures. The heavy card stock stationary tied beautifully with a satin ribbon, a Monogrammed 'J' gift tag and the most exquisite antique handkerchief! Thank you so much Andrea!! I cannot wait to read the book and am so pleased it is set in Sweden, my Mothers home country!

Birthday details!

Here are a couple of things I made for Madison's birthday party to make it special; Two table cloths, a gift table sign and her birthday hat. As you can tell she adores her drum set...and her Mother is not even angry with me for buying it! ha ha

Story Time!

A Stud Contract

Once we were sure that we were going to move further out into the country and build our farm, I decided to give myself a gift. Always dreaming of breeding and raising my own horse, I though this would be the perfect time. It was springtime and Pin Oak Charity horse show had just come to an end. Hours of winter evenings were spent thumbing through Saddlebred journals that were filled with advertisements for Stallions standing at stud around our nation. Carefully studying pedigrees and body types only confirmed my original choice. My favorite was a former World Champion 5 gaited stallion named Heir to Champagne.

I phoned the barn manager where this stallion was standing to get some information. She advised me of the costs, which when added up were substantially more than I thought they would be. Using a stallion that was located out of state meant that we were going to either have to ship the mare to the stallion or do artificial insemination. We decided to do it anyway and due to the long distance, we used transported semen.

My next step was to take our mare to the vet to get a fertility check up and to have an ultrasound performed to see how far away she was from ovulation. The next day I left Blondie at the vet’s office with the intention of picking her up that evening after work.

During the day, I received a call verifying that the mare was in perfect health, but that she was going to ovulate in only a few days! Very excited and yet panicked, I called the barn manager again. She calmed my nerves and told me how to express mail the check to them. She would fax me a copy of the Breeding contract the next morning, and before we ended the call I gave her all of my vet’s information. I was elated! Another piece of my dream was going to come true.

Barely able to sleep, I envisioned the beautiful foal we would have the next year. I got out of bed and started to get ready for work early and tried to think if I had forgotten to call anyone of our many friends to inform them of the great news. I could not stop smiling.

Getting to work and trying to concentrate was difficult to say the least. Every project I worked on was interrupted by my day dreaming. I knew the contract was going to be faxed to me and was anxiously waiting for it. About mid-morning, most of the workforce had arrived but the office was still a bit quiet. A woman was walking through the isles on our floor from the business station towards me. I could see her over the half back cubical wall that surrounded my desk. Keeping my fingers crossed, our eyes met when she was still about 100 feet away.

“Juuuuuulieeeeeeeeee” Her voice sung out nice and loud as she started to smirk. Skipping and waiving the paper around the top of her head as if she were imitating a helicopter. “I have your stuuuuuuuuuddddd contraaaaact!”

I bit my lip and tried to sink down in my chair to disappear. A roar of laughter rang out over the floor and I realized I had to stand and face my tormentor. “Give me that.” I said as she approached. I started to laugh.

Just as I was about to sit back down, another woman stood up. She was a passive meek looking lady in her mid sixties. I do not remember ever seeing her. Looking straight at me and in a whinny voice she said, “I want a stud contract!” Not sure how to reply, I just sunk back down into my chair.

________________________________

The above picture is of the resulting filly born from this breeding!

Another July Christmas Post

My Mother's parents both immigrated from Sweden. My Father's parents were German and English so I grew up with a diversity of Christian Christmas celebrations and decor. One of my favorite things was a (non-ethical!!) Smoking Santa. Over the years, I am not sure what happened to the Santa that my Gammie had, but I never forgot the thrill of bringing out all of the old fashioned decorations that she had. For those who are unfamiliar with it; the Santa comes apart in the center and there is a plate where you put a lit incense cone. You then put the top back on the Santa and as the incense rises, it comes out of his mouth - as if it is smoke from his pipe. I recently found this one at Tuesday Mornings. Imported from Germany, they can be quite pricey. This was about $25.00. Rarely you can find them with a smoking cup of hot chocolate (instead of tobacco), but I have not seen one of those in years and certainly not for what I wanted to pay!

I Remember..

The above picture is of me, about 3 years old on vacation with my family in Flordia.

Please see the first "I Remember" blog written by Just A Beach Kat! Her blog reference is in my favorite blogs list below.
________________________

I remember seeing our farm property for the first time and knowing that God told me it was ours.

I remember when the Sonogram Tech told me my baby was a boy and I told him he was wrong. 3 months later I gave birth to my Emily!

I remember seeing my husband for the first time and not being able to breathe.

I remember sitting on the floor crying my eyes out the day I left our marriage.

I remember my son-in-law and I, clasping arms around Emily's back, helping her pull up to push during her contractions. It was like a circle of love like I have never experienced.

I remember Madison's first cries and how astonished I was by her beauty.

I remember every time Joy cried because it was so rare and I always knew something was really wrong if the happiest child in the world was crying!

I remember telling my Mother I love you the last time I saw her conscience, and thanking her for adopting me as she slipped out of my life.

I remember my Father riding rental horses with me, even though I knew he really did not enjoy riding.

I remember coming home from school after my brother had been in an accident which blew glass into the back of his eyes and wondering if he would be blind forever.

I remember my first horse show and being ecstatically happy to get a ribbon. There were 2 more horses in the class than there were ribbons!

I remember how much fun Joy and I had taking riding lessons together at Sue's.

I remember the horror I felt as I taught my daughters how to drive.

I remember when Don adopted the girls, even though Emily was already 18 and how the judge told us it was wonderful to be a part of something good (assuming he had to hear a lot of bad)

I remember the births of every animal on our farm and the pain of losing our pets.

I remember when my Grandfather took me to the elegant Pin Oak Charity Horse show and I saw an American Saddlebred Horse for the first time.

I remember getting my braces off and getting a stylish hair cut in the same week.

I remember going to Chicago in the summers to visit my maternal Grandparents and how hot it was! We ate orange push up ice cream and always spent 1 entire day at the down town Marshall Fields store!..and Fannie May candy!!!

Oh my gosh - I think I could go on forever!

Madison's First Birthday!

In 2 days I will be going on a special vacation. I am going to Phoenix to celebrate the very first birthday of my first Grandchild, Madison Nicole. Since they live so far away, I don't get to spend the time with her that I would if we were closer, so I am very excited about this trip! I have a suitcase of things for her which include this birthday hat I made. I also made 2 table cloths in matching birthday colors that will coordinate with her invitations, cake and other decorations! Wow ~ birthdays sure have come a long way since I was a child!

Favorite Garden Spots

The Real Reason I Went to the Auction

It was this item that drew me into the auction. I have wanted a floor mirror for years since we do not have a full length one in the farm house. I love the details of it.....and for the best part????? $140.00

Auction!

This Saturday, my Father accompanied me to an auction in a small town called Rosenburg, TX. I had never been to this auction before but had heard about it through a friend. This is what I came home with! For all of $70.00, I got this 3 piece wicker set. As you can see, I am already in the process of painting it black. Plans are to make cushions and to use this outside when company comes to the farm.

Inspiration Friday

Today's inspiration comes from my blogging friend Rhoda. Please visit her wonderful blog http://southernhospitality-rhoda.blogspot.com/ She is an amazing decorator!!

I had a dilemma and she posted this picture, which is the answer to my problem. The entire living area of our farm is decorated in French Country with lots of toile and mattress ticking fabrics in black, cream and deep red accents. ( promise to post pictures later.) I made and built several things so they would match, which included a decorative shower curtain. Several months after we had settled in, I noticed that the bottom of my shower curtain was getting dirty. I took it down and washed it...and it shrunk. Not just a bit - but I swear the thing lost 4 inches off of the length. I have never liked it as much since then.

Well - getting back to Rhoda's beautiful dining room curtains...by adding on a black and cream gingham trim on the top with decorative fringe will not only solve my problem, but it will also look like it was designed that way originally!

Thank you Rhoda!!! ((((((Hugs))))))

Glorious Summer Tomatoes!

This picture just speaks for itself!

Peach Ice Cream

Makes 5 cups

2 cups fresh peaches, skinned, pitted and diced

1/4 sugar

1 tsp. lemon juice

4 egg yolks

3/4 cup sugar

1 1/2 cups whole milk

1 cup heavy cream

1 vanilla bean, split in half or 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

Macerate the peaches with the lemon juice in a saucepan with the lemon juice and sugar for about 10 minutes or until syrupy. Simmer over medium heat until the peaches are soft for about 5 minutes. Let cool completely. Whisk the egg yolks with the sugar until thick and pale. In the meantime, heat the milk, cream and vanilla bean until steam rises. Gradually add the hot cream to the egg yolks, whisking constantly to prevent them from scrambling. Pour the mixture back into the saucepan and cook over medium heat until the cream coats the back of a spoon, 5 to 8 minutes. Strain the cream and let cool completely. Stir in the peaches. At that point use a hand-held mixer to puree some of the peaches and leave chunks in the base. Churn the mixture in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer's instructions. Transfer to a container and freeze until firm.

Story Time

A MIRACLE IN PARADISE
By Julie Size


If you have ever had the notion that a well-bred weanling is priced to high, this story just might change your mind.

South of Dallas, TX, there is a very large farm aptly named Paradise. It is here where a beautiful young Saddlebred stallion, El Dorado’s Stonewall Jackson, has started his breeding career. The owner and trainer carefully hand picked several mares of varied bloodlines to breed with him, some being quite costly. As with any breeding operation, a few mares are more difficult to get into foal. One or two can be lost early in gestation and usually without enough time to rebreed during the same season. One mare they purchased consistently produced above average, talented foals. She was considered to be the farms foundation mare. Her name is RHR Fury’s Wild Flame and this is her story.

Fury was purchased and brought to the farm in 1999. She has produced 8 foals, 5 while at living at Paradise and 2 of those are by Stony, the farm stallion. Her last colt, Ticket to Paradise, was a farm favorite, which made everyone anxious about the upcoming birth. The days past and her due date came and went. It became obvious, even to the novice horse person that Fury was about to deliver. Her steps were slow and calculated and she was starting to produce milk.

Trent Capps, trainer and manager of Paradise Farms, moved Fury to a front paddock so that he was able to watch her meticulously throughout the day. During the night he and the grooms took turns checking her every few hours. It was during the earliest morning check on March 30th that Trent found Fury laying down in the pasture. He jumped the fence to assist in the long awaited birth. Hearing her loud groans he knew before he reached her, that the foal had not yet been born. Kneeling down to assist, he froze trying to digest what he was actually seeing. The mare was thrashing, kicking, groaning and the foal’s front legs were presenting themselves through the rectum! Trent jumped up and yelled at all the grooms and farm workers to immediately come and help. Only 1 month prior to this had they lost another valuable mare and her filly during its birth. This foal was to be the farms All American Cup baby and Trent could not bear to lose it as well.

All of the grooms and farm hands ran into the pasture to do what they could. Jack, the ranch hand, was on the phone with the vet and yelled out instructions to the others as the vet gave them. Unable to get the mare onto her feet, they had to manually push the foal back into the birth canal, reroute it, and rebirth it. Reaching deep inside the mare Trent and Arturo actually could feel each other’s hands and were able to push the unusually large colt back inside her. Arturo grabbed the front legs and began to pull him out, while Trent was holding his hands inside the mare over the tear. The mare was in anguishing pain, but lay still during this process. Trent continued to speak soft assuring words to Fury as she presented a huge bay stud colt. The colt, however, was born motionless, lifeless. With emotions of anger, fear, and tremendous grief welling up inside, the men were not ready to give up. Laying the colt out on its side, Trent started to massage his chest as one of the grooms blew air into his nose. What seemed like an eternity of time elapsed before the colts chest started to move. His heart pounded so fast and so hard it sounded like the rumble of thunder, almost as if it was catching up for the lost beats. Within seconds, he rose up his head and laid in a sitting up position. “What a miracle!” Trent thought to himself.

For the next 30 minutes the colt was lethargic acting. The mare and colt were given injections of antibiotics. Trent left to hook up the truck and trailer. While he was gone, the other men were able to get Fury to her feet and the colt came alive. Only moments after he took his first steps he was bouncing around the paddock as if he was 3 days old. They were loaded into the trailer and taken to the vet.

Driving away from the farm, Trent had time to reflect on what had happened and what he might have to face. Fury meant the world to him and to lose her would be unbearable. The vet administered Oxitosin and other medications to Fury. Able to stand for short periods, her colt nursed for the first time. Trent milked as much colostrum off of her as he could. He could see it in her eyes. She was bleeding and slowly dying. All attempts to save Fury were failing. The decision was made to humanly stop her suffering and she was euthanized. Trent buried his face into her soft fur. She was his best girl and he had to say good-bye, the single most difficult compassionate act known to horse lovers.
The veterinarian offered to contact Bill Moore who owns a farm in Oklahoma. Mr. Moore has in the past provided nurse mares for these types of situations. Within 7 hours, Miracle was at the Oklahoma farm and being introduced to his nurse mare and new mother, a Haflinger pony who was barely taller than her new adopted son! The mare was put into stocks and hobbled. Miracle nursed off of her and after 2 days she had accepted him as her very own. Both were brought back to reside in Paradise. They spend their days grazing the green pastures and nights getting the rest they need. May I introduce you to Fury’s last foal, a colt named Miracle in Paradise.

Inspired Decor

When I designed the lay out of the barn with our home atop of it, I already had inspiration photos and ideas of what the inside decor would be. I thought I would share with you the very first pictures that brought about our unique home.