New look for the New Year!

OK... I decided to freshen up my blog for the NEW YEAR! What do you think? I wanted something with Appaloosas but unfortunately I couldn't find one that specific but I did like this horse one the best out of the selections. I will see how it "fits" for a couple weeks. May be later I'll get creative & learn how to make one up myself with our Appys... we'll see. ☺

Nothing special planned for New Years, staying home where it is warm & safe. We've got LOTS of snow drifts out there thanks to the arctic blast that was here yesterday. Thank goodness it was gone by this morning. Wonder how long the snow will be here? Is it Spring yet?!?

Happy New Year all!!!!

Here's to a FANTASTIC new year!!!

•°*”˜˜”*°•.¸☆ ★ ☆¸.•°*”˜˜”*°•.¸☆
╔╗╔╦══╦═╦═╦╗╔╗ ★ ★ ★
║╚╝║══║═║═║╚╝║ ☆¸.•°*”˜˜”*°•.¸☆
║╔╗║╔╗║╔╣╔╩╗╔╝ ★ NEW YEAR ☆ 2011
╚╝╚╩╝╚╩╝╚╝═╚╝ ♥♥♥￥☆★☆★☆From Smith Rescue Ranch☆★☆★☆￥♥♥♥

Screeching halt ... HOME SWEET HOME

Well... after many sleepless nights, moody days, some nightmares & weird dreams we have come to a decision. We are putting our move to Florida on an indefinite hold. When we moved here to our dream ranch we said THIS would be our LAST move EVER!!! The thought of packing up all our stuff, cleaning, the drive there...UGH!!! Not anything I feel up to tackling any time soon. I have been absolutely sick to my stomach at the thought of not having Gypsy & Cheyenne, our beloved Appys! My daughter & I swore we would never re-home them and it has truly been bothering us at the thought of having to do that. Always wondering if they were ok & being taken care of. Well we do not have to wonder any more. We are staying here on our 40 acre ranch out on the Eastern Plains of Colorado. I have been looking at property in Florida since October & even have 2 different Realtors and my FIL also looking and NO ONE can find a place comparable to our ranch. The largest place I found has only 5 acres and that house is SMALLER than our current home! It seriously just isn't doable with all our things and all our critters. We'd be pretty much starting out totally new... new house, new neighbors, new job (if we could find one), only the in-laws that we don't really know. I have a few people that I've met on Facebook that live in Florida but we do not "know" them personally. It is just way too much stress that hubby and I really don't want to deal with. Things are getting better for us here and we love it on our ranch, all the fresh air, space and no BS unless we allow it around. Cut ties with the idiots and life is good now. We have some awesome neighbors/friends here too. ...we are home sweet home! Smith Rescue Ranch is our home =)

The BLAHS

Well... it's Winter once again here on the eastern plains of Colorado. With that comes freezing temps, howling winds and just a general grumpy demeanor in everyone here! We just do NOT like Winter any more!

We have decided we want OUT of Colorado! We are spending one last Winter here so we cannot say later that we miss Colorado and Winter. Come Spring 2011 we will not be living in Colorado any more! That being said we decided we want a warm climate.... Hawaii is lovely but there is only so much you can do on an island & moving there would be too costly getting everything over there. We have decided on moving to Florida! My husband was born in Pensacola & his Dad, step mom, and other family members are there too. We have been house hunting and there are a lot of homes available. We have a few months until we are going so we don't have to be in a rush to get a place & can be a bit picky so it has been an ongoing project house hunting.

The kids are getting excited about moving to a new place & we adults are more than ready to get out of this miserable cold.

I will attempt to keep writing about this process but I have not been very good at blogging every day. I will try to do it at least once a week. =)

Beaches, sunshine & ocean here we come soon! woohoooooooooooooooooooooooooo

THANKSGIVING SONG ADAM SANDLER

Hope you ALL have the most wonderful Thanksgiving Day with your loved ones!!!♥♥♥
From our family & critters on the ranch to yours!

Our newest Chihuahua addition

We have another new Chihuahua! He is a chocolate & white tricolor long coat & is absolutely GORGEOUS!!! He & Dharma will have beautiful pups when they are mature enough to begin breeding. We will begin breeding next year in late Summer early Fall. He and Dhama have become very close with each already. I am still looking for another female to add to our family for breeding.

Dharma♥ Is here!

Our newest edition to our Chihuahua family is here! Dharma arrived on August 14, 2010 in Denver. We drove up 82.7 miles from our ranch entrance to the Continental Cargo pick up in Denver, Colorado ONE WAY! It is WORTH it because these beautiful pups are priceless to us! Amen she made the flight fine because of all the precautions her loving & awesome breeder mommy took to make sure that her tiny 2.7 lb chocolate and tan puppy would arrive safely to us! Dharma is from "Robin Brannan's Chihuahuas" based out of Moore Haven Florida. We absolutely adore this precious girl! I got her CKC registered today so she is officially my baby! Her CKC registered name is, "Marie's Chocolate Dream Dharma". In about a year or so she will be old enough to be bred. Here is a photo of the little sweety!♥

Savannah Joe & Orion Welcome to the Ranch!

On Tuesday August 17, 2010 a family made the hard decision to owner surrender one of their horses to us here. He is a 22 year old registered American Paint that is western broke & an absolute sweetheart! He will be staying here on the ranch with us! ♥♥♥




While we were away from the ranch for a couple hours picking up Savannah Joe a long awaited miracle occured!!! Artemis FINALLY had her cria!! He is a tiny little male that we have named "Orion". His sire is obviously D'Artagnon, who is also Patriot's sire, & Blake & Zeus are his older brothers. :)

What a day full of blessings! ♥

Kid Rock Only God Knows Why

Patriot is here!

On June 30, 2010 Ruby had her cria!

Way off in the distance I saw Ruby pacing back & forth. I called my daughter, Johannes to see if she could see a cria, cuz I can't see very well. She said she couldn't see anything. So I got my camera & zoomed in...that is why the 1st photo is a bit blurry cuz it is way off in the distance. I showed the photo & off we went out into the pasture to see!

The other llamas hadn't noticed the newborn cria yet but as soon as we got up to Ruby & the cria her previous son, Bleu & the others, came to greet the new addition to the herd. The cria was still wet & not far from the placenta on the ground; you can see it in the background on the ground in the 2nd photo. The cria stood once the other llamas started to approach. Lily (Snowflakes cria) came up humming...a llama her size! As you can see the newborn cria is almost as big as Lily & she is 7 weeks old....it is HUGE!

Soon we motivated the herd to move to the other side of the pasture to the water troughs & run-in shelter, I saw that the newborn cria is a male. His coloring is so unique....it reminds me of merle cuz of the blues & pinks. He is absolutely D'Artagnon's son! He's got the white on his forehead exactly like him! I have to research the many different colors of the llamas coats to figure out what he is...

Now...what should he be named? After much thought, his being a male & July 4th just 4 days away... his name is "Patriot". He is a very unique & handsome cria!

Welcome to the world Patriot!♥

A gift to MYSELF :)

I decided you only turn the big 50 once... so I bought myself a gift. I deserve it & don't need permission or approval from any one to get myself a dog! (Only because some people have made nasty comments about my getting this new baby.) He is a Blue Merle Chihuahua and I named him "Marley". He is absolutely adorable! He is the sweetest, friendliest, snuggliest puppy & we all love him dearly.

I got him from Nancy White in South Carolina. She has her own Pet store & grooming shop. I love the blue merle color & absolutely fell in love with this little guy from the first time I saw his puppy photos. Then Nancy posted a pic of him with a large crocodile tear & that is what made up my mind that he was going to be my new baby.

If you are looking for a new furbaby or featherbaby I recommend Nancy! She is an amazing person that really cares about her animals.

Here is her information:

Nancy White

Pet Shack of Northside

110 N. Congress St.

Winnsboro, SC 29180

(803) 815-PETS

Let her know I sent you! :)

My 50th Birthday

It was a wonderful day yesterday! My mom threw a surprise 50th birthday party at her house. I thought it was just a family BBQ. Although Mom had been talking to my daughter & husband a lot lately! I really enjoyed myself.... it's not THAT bad turning the big 50! I am pretty damn hot for a 50 year old! ;)

I also got a lot of Happy birthday wishes from my Facebook friends, that was fun seeing all of them! Thanks everyone... you ALL made me feel special! :) ♥

Surprise Party Album on Facebook

Whose next...

Can you tell Lily adores Donnie! All he has to do is go out there & she watches, then he calls & she comes running to him. She is ADORABLE!

I went out yesterday and was checking our female llamas out. I am predicting that Ruby will have a cria hit the ground in the next week to 2 weeks, then Artemis and lastly Lucy. Llama crias are the cutest little furballs! Now that it is getting warmer it will be easier on the crias, mamas & of course us too.

Lily, who is Snowflakes cria, is a sugarbooger! She gets this look on her face and she nonchalantly sneaks away... then she spies on the adults & whomever is cush is her victim! LOL She runs at them at full speed & climbs up on their back or she runs up and pulls their tails. There have been couple times that we've seen the others chasing Lily around the pasture cuz she's annoyed them to the breaking point. But I know that the other llamas adore her cuz they watch over her. She is a very independant little cria cuz she will just wander off in the pasture away from her mama. But if Snowflake is not right there by her side the others are watching. :)

Unexpected Surprises

On Saturday morning, May 8, 2010, we were blessed with an unexpected gift! One of our llamas, Snowflake, gave birth to a beautiful, white, female cria! Much to our surprise we were not expecting her arrival as we thought that Snowflake was unable to have a cria.

Llamas gestation period is 11 1/2 months long (I know shot me dead!) and she hasn't been kept with Lakota since last summer. Most definitely Lakota Dotz is the sire of this adorable little cria.

Donnie worried over her cuz she wouldn't get up and nurse that morning. It was a windy & very brisk morning for her to be born on but as you know we don't get to pick the day and time of our blessings. After working with the cria for about 1 1/2 hours & Snowflake spitting on him trying to protect her cria, Lily was up & nursing. There were a few occasions where she fell or was blown over by the wind so Donnie would go back out & get her up & steady on her feet.

Now, 2 days later, she is just wonderful! A bit of a curious, social butterfly, as she doesn't stay close to her momma at all. If it is quiet you can hear her mom humming & see her running after the little white fluff of energy! All the other llamas in the pasture assist in watching over her too.

Welcome to the ranch Lily! Congratulations Snowflake & Happy Mothers Day!

The Weekend...

T.G.I.F. What does it mean... that it is Friday and the weekend is almost here. Weekends used to mean "family time" but things have changed a bit with that. Saturdays are usually spent running around like chickens without heads to the city to get things done that can't be done during the week when DH (Dear Hubby) is working. It takes the majority of the day. No such thing as "sleeping in" around here... I WISH we could but we very rarely sleep in. Sundays used to be church in the morning but that has slipped away. Now Sundays are days used for going to my parents house & running errands for them & doing things at their house they need help with. Sundays... laundry day for DH. Also used to do projects on the ranch when the weather is warm outside... which by the way should be happening in May. *fingers crossed* When it is summer we love to have BBQ's on the weekends. Good food, good friends/family and just chatting & chillin. Nothing better than that! Thank goodness for the weekends cuz it does bring some rest & relaxation for us and hopefully for yall too. :) Have a splendiferous weekend all!

My Eyes...

A couple weeks ago my eyeglasses broke out of the blue...so my husband took me to get my eyes checked & some new glasses. During the exam it was discovered that I have cataracts?! My left eye is -425 & my right is -725. UGH!! I'm 49 years old & I have cataracts??? What a shock to me and my family too! I had no idea, I have been having problems with my eyes for the past few years, a couple weeks after getting glasses I can't see as well as I could during the exam. I kept telling myself that the script was off but apparently I have been incorrect. My right eye is the worst and surgery needs to be done on this eye first. My left eye is just showing the signs of cataracts beginning so it also needs to be done at some point. My Doctor has grounded me from driving at dawn & dusk because of how bad my sight has gotten. I never realized how often I want/have to drive at those times??? It has become an inconvenience for me not to be able to drive. My husband works hard 5 days a week & drives all day long, so when he gets home the last thing he wants to do is drive some place. My daughter has extracurricular activities where she needs to be taken to or picked up from at those times of the day??? I never realized it but I need to be able to do my part of driving for them both and this is really putting a damper on us. I NEED to have this cataract surgery! Shockingly the surgery is $2,500.00 PER EYE! Yikes *gasp* but it NEEDS to be done. We were referred to a company that assists in the cost of the surgery if you meet their criteria and are approved by them. At this point we are waiting for them to contact me for an interview to see if we would qualify for assistance. I do not like waiting... tick...tick...tick. We haven't scheduled the cataract surgery yet because I don't have the monies for it so we wait for the approval of this other place before we can schedule the surgery. I am having a hard time seeing because I did not get new eyeglasses, I do have the script eyeglasses from the exam BEFORE the eyeglasses that broke but they seriously are not too much help. I am tired of not being able to see & getting these headaches too! I know I am stressed out because lord knows I don't want to not have the surgery but I don't want to stress out my husband about the costly surgery, also my daughter is very worried about me now since I can't see. My eyes are important to me, I it has been difficult to function normally here at home caring for the animals, the house and my family. Also I love photography & it is hard enough to take photos when you can see... it is next to impossible to do now. I am thankful that I am fortunate enough that my eyes can be fixed as I know there are some people that lose their sight altogether. I am trying not to freak out about it because it can be fixed but it is hard to not be bummed out about trying to get through a day with the way my eyes are now. :( OK... Time to stop with the woes me, pull up my panties & suck it up! Just had to get it out...

Smith Rescue Ranch Zazzle Store

I have a store on Zazzle that benefits our Rescue Ranch. Any money we make from a sale of an item goes to the animals care here on the ranch. Whenever I can get time to take photos with my camera is a happy time for me, so I do it as often as I can. Then I take some time & make merchandise in our store with the photos I've taken. It is very relaxing for me & I love being able to share the photos of things in my world. Please go to my store often as new items will be added often! We appreciate everyones support! ♥

White Prairie Wildflower Stickers from Zazzle.com

Weekends

...are for barbecues with family & friends! I love it when it is Spring & Summer and warm enough on the weekends to have some friends and/or family come out for the day and barbecue some meat on the grill! We sit & chat, take photos, play games and just relax. I love it! In about a month it should be warm enough for the FUN to begin! Woohooooooooo

☼ SpRiNg ☼ FeVeR ☼

It was sunny & fairly warm today so I kept ending up outside. Once the warmth is here to stay I will be outdoors most of the time doing chores & projects around the ranch. I want to get a vegetable garden going in our garden area again this Summer. It was full of snow from the past few storms we got. Most of the snow has melted away & it is REALLY soggy in there. I will have to wait for it to dry up a bit before it can be tilled up & compost mixed into the soil. May be by the end of this month we can get that part done at least. I have a bunch of Butternut Squash seeds & I'll also get some Zucchini seeds too. Now that there are only 3 of us here on the ranch we don't have to cook as much...that is a big change in groceries, gardening & cooking!
The grass is turning green & there are buds on the trees around the area so it won't be long before the wildflowers start to bloom. I have a large variety of flower seeds that I also want to plant around the place to give it some color! I wonder if we'll get much moisture? To be safe I better plant within reach of the hose so I can easily get water to things.
Once the color starts popping I will be out with my camera for hours on end! I can't wait! I love going out with my camera & getting shots of everything I see, it is so relaxing!
Happy Spring & Summer to you all! My favorite times of the year! ☺

Home is where your heart is

This is Dazzle a 2 year old Great Dane she was owner relinquished to us today because our room mate Jody is moving back to Kentucky after being here for almost 6 weeks (Feb. 21, 2010). Things just didn't mesh with her, her Great Dane & my family & critters. We are a pretty independant family, all doing our own things in our own areas of the house. We rarely go any where unless it is for groceries, shopping or to visit my parents; other than work & school. We enjoy living out here in "BFE" without other people & distractions around. Apparently Jody needs to be around people, going some place to do something, with a man or she is lonely. Which is totally not the impression I got from talking to her, that she was happiest at home. We always think the grass is greener on the other side of the fence... but in truth it turns out that nothing is sweeter than "Home Sweet Home". I have moved away from Colorado many times throughout my adult life and I always come "home". Unfortunately no one can come from Kentucky to pick Jody up so her only option to get back is to take a Greyhound bus. With a lot of tears & sadness Jody has made the decision to owner relinquish Dazzle, her Great Dane, to us (Smith Rescue Ranch) so she can get back to Kentucky. We will do our best to place Dazzle in an appropriate home as soon as I have her vetted. I wish Jody happiness...

Cabin FeVeR

Photo taken 03/26/10 before sunset MSmith

OK... it is March 27 & we have been experiencing a Spring snow storm since yesterday evening. Howling wind gusts up 50 mph rattling the windows all night long & the thought of the power going out & possibly freezing my tush off does not make for a restful nights sleep! We have been blessed with a few sunny days in the past couple weeks but as usual Mother Nature snatches the sunshine away & dumps frigid temps and white crap upon us to see if we are paying attention. ACK!!! I am paying attention & want warm temps & green every where on the ranch already. I want to be able to grab my camera & head out to our pastures & get amazing shots of Spring blooming & our horses, burros, llamas, chickens, peacocks & turkeys enjoying basking in the warmth of the Colorado sunshine. Not to mention me getting some vitamin D & fresh air, I sooooo love living out here in the country in the wide open spaces & the fresh air! ♥ Our new room mate, Jodyann, has adjusted pretty much to the altitude change and she is ready for some Spring weather too! We want to get outdoors, do a little sightseeing and show off our gorgeous state! Come on Mother Nature cut us a break puhleeze! I ♥ Spring & Summer!!!!!

This is my second attempt at blogging today cuz right before I posted the previous one the power went out here & I lost everything.... of course this is not what the other was about cuz I can't remember it. LOL But I hope you all can relate...

Kefir... it does your body GOOD!

We have been drinking Dairy Kefir for a few months now and are feeling pretty good. So I decided I wanted to expand our horizons & try some other types of Kefir also. I got my new types today! I got "Organic Water Kefir Crystals" - for making healthy Probiotic beverages & "Kombucha Culture" - to brew my own healthy Probiotic beverages. The first works with Spring water & dried fruit and turns it to a healthy flavored carbonated drink. I can even add ginger root & make GINGER BEER! Yummy I loved that when I was younger & I love Gingerale now. The Kombucha works with sweet tea. I already started the water Kefir crystals & am working on starting the Kombucha now. I cannot wait to try them both. They all have so many benefits for you & balance out your bodies systems. I'm very surprised that not many people do them. I know there are a few that will turn up their nose to it just because of the concept that it is healthy for you & I feel sad that someone wouldn't want to help themselves to get healthier in such an easy & natural way. I love Kefir & if you would like to know more about it let me know! But to each his own...

I finally did it!

To blog or not to blog.... what a corny saying. After reading a couple friends blogs I finally did it.... I created my own blog! Now what to write about??? I guess I will post about what is on my mind & things I do on a daily basis... So yall grab your favorite beverage & pull up a comfy chair... :)