I hate pictureless posts

but if I wait to grab a picture, I may never post again.

Life is crazy. Someday I’ll tell the world all about it. Not enough time to write it all out now. Suffice it to say that the Resident Non Knitter is in Australia, I’m home alone and we still haven’t sold our house.

Meanwhile, I’m doing a major computer migration. I’ve got a new laptop — a Mac none-the-less — and I’ve made the decision to abandon the old desktop. This afternoon, I completed the migration from that machine to the new desktop. New being a comparative word in this case. I’ve had the machine about a year and have used it off and on for months. Used it enough in fact, that I have probably introduced Windows issues and it needs to be rebuilt. More work. That may just have to wait. I did solve all the little boot error problems so at least I can get a clean boot and it seems pretty stable now.

In between file transfers from one machine to the other, I read several Mac tutorials and loaded a lot of software on the Mac. Of everything I’ve done, so far, Quark seems like THE best company to work with. Their software license allows me to load the program on my Windows machine and on the Mac laptop with no extra fees. Adobe on the other hand, would require a cash outlay of something on the order of $1,700 for this privilege. Hmm. Time to migrate to Quark along with all the other changes?

In between all of these little projects, I’ve got lots of work and lots of projects to deal with on the home front. No knitting. Mom’s sweater languishes. She came out to visit for a week and went home sweaterless.

There is some happy news: Tag the old horse I watch for the neighbor is on Equine Sr. and some stuff called “Weight Gain.” He looks so much better and I can tell he feels better too. I’ll have to get a picture of him. He must have been a magnificent horse in his day.

Two parting comments. First, I just have to say I’m right in there with Sheri from The Loopy Ewe on the Twitter thing. I just don’t get it.

Second, check out the yarn contest at Yarn4Socks. It’s all about Hand Maiden Sea Silk and Shawl knitting and the winner will win a skein of Hand Maiden Sea Silk so they can knit their own lace shawl/scarf of their dream!

The Horse

I think I have mentioned the horse, but I’m not sure I’ve ever shown a picture of the horse. He’s not super photogenic because every time he sees me near him, he either walks up to me

or . . .

he yawns. Which is so unflattering. Really, he is a handsome boy.

The most wonderful thing about him though, is his personality. Oscar loves people. He likes being with people almost as much as he likes being with other horses. He likes being with people almost as much as he likes eating. If you know horses, you know this says volumes about his proclivities towards humans.

The horses got out one day a couple of years ago. They came over to the house to look through the living room window. I’m pretty sure he has always had a burning desire to see what goes on in the house and to see what we do in there because I often see him standing in the coral, staring into the window across the way. I know he’s looking because if I wave, his ears move. Unfortunately, we weren’t home the day he came by for his close up look.

The neighbors found Oscar, and his stablemate Tag — you can see Tag in the background — eating out of their alfalfa stack. We knew he had made the stop by our window because of the humongous tongue marks everywhere on it and the dainty little hoof marks he left underneath. Also the calling cards. I can tell his poop from the other horse’s poop. It’s a different color. (As if you care.)

Anyway, the neighbors called the other neighbor, who owns Tag. He drove over, got a feed bucket, shook it out the window of the truck and they followed him back home to our house. Anything for a feed bucket. Better than alfalfa even. Horses are smart. But sometimes, I just wonder how easily they can be duped. Or maybe, they just know a good thing.

Life isn’t too bad here. Plenty of food. Good water. Treats. Lots of scratches. Occasional forays out into the world. Maybe they are smarter than I think.

By the way, poor Tag had a rough winter. He’s an old boy, getting upwards towards 30. I’m trying to put some weight on him; but, he’s not as much interested in food as he used to be. Any ideas on good ways to fatten up an old horse?

I guess it’s time for Senior Feed and that’s on my “to do” list. I’m open to other suggestions though. He doesn’t like apples, so apple-flavored supplements are out. He does like carrots. He adores watermelon. But I haven’t seen any horse supplements in watermelon flavor. Yet. I’m sure it’s up and coming.