Sunday Morning Sunrise....

I was actually up this morning in time to catch the sun peeking through the trees. The light was a beautiful golden orange so I grabbed the camera real quick, I know it wouldn't last long.  Of course Dior and Gunner had to stop and look to see what I was doing, LOL......

Hope everyone has a great Sunday Morning!

~DEANNA~

Snow, and a new pair of Mules.....

Hi everyone, I've not posted in over a week, and the only thing new around here is the snow and we got a new pair of mules yesterday. We have about 4-5 inches of snow on the ground which is a lot for around here. I got out this morning and let Greta run and play ball in the snow...she loves it! We also snapped a couple pics of the new boys. I think we are gonna brave the roads and run to town to pick up a few things, and I'll probably take Greta out to play again when we get back.

Greta in the snow this morning........

The new "boys" settling in to their new home...................

John Boy stretchin' over the gate to get a better look at the new pair of mules.......

Dior after rolling in the snow all morning....he loves it, and he seems fine without a blanket, so we don't put one on him very often. He has snow and ice all over him, so he is keeping his body heat in good. We always make sure all our horses and mules have unlimited amounts of hay in the winter to keep their body temps up, it really is the best thing you can do to help them generate more body heat in the cold weather.  I just watch them and make sure they don't start shivering or showing signs of being really cold............

Mr T. coming up to the gate to check out the new guys................

That's all for now, everyone have a great weekend, and stay warm!!!!!!

Nothin' new going on, just some pictures...

Well, there's really nothing new and exciting to write about, so I just thought I would post some pics I took yesterday while outside doing the chores. The weather has been really warm, and the dogs have  enjoyed getting outside more and playing (between the downpours).......

Greta doing her favorite thing...finding a stick to chew on.........

Ralphie on top of the barn looking down at me.........

Gunner in the paddock up by the barn recovering from his leg injury....notice the lovely muddy coat, we have had lots of rain the past few days.... : -(

Gunner getting up close and personal..................

And of course, it rained nearly all day here, so I caught Greta looking out the window watching it rain...she will do this for hours when it is raining........

And of course Ruby Jane...taking it nap, cause there was nothing else to do today.... ( I know, I know, she is a little chubby....we are working on that.......)

That's about it, I'll be back later with more of nothing to write about, LOL.......

All This for .81 cents!!!........

Well, I've got the bug again, I have cleaned out my coupon binder, re-organized it, and I have been shopping and finding a lot of great deals lately. Here is my latest shopping trip....

At Food Lion they had the Lubriderm marked down from $3.79 to $1.89. I had $2 off coupons....so....I bought 6 of them, used six of the $2 coupons, and made a profit of .11 cents on each lotion! The register never beeped and it took all 6 at $2 off (sometimes the register won't take a coupon for over the amount of the item and the cashier has to manually enter the coupon, but in this case it took off the full $2.)

At Family Dollar, they had the Electrasol dishwasher tabs for $3, and I had $2.50 coupons, making them only .50 cents per pack, I got three.

Then on to Walgreens....They were running a promotion, when you buy any Theraflu product and a Lipton product you get back a $4 Register Reward to use on your next in store purchase. They also had the same promotion when you buy 2 Wet Ones you get back a $1 Register Reward. So, I had coupons that made the Theraflu free, and I had coupons on the Wet Ones.  In the end, I spent  only $4.97, but I got back $5 in Register Rewards, so I made a profit of .03 cents on the two boxes of Theraflu, the Lipton Tea, and the 2 Wet Ones. My total out of pocket on all the items you see pictured was only .81 cents plus tax! Regular price on these items would have been around $48......It takes a little work and time to figure out these deals, but I save so much money doing this.....it is well worth the effort! 

Oh, and we had a nice visit last night from my daughter Olivia and her boyfriend, and Greta was very happy to see her to say the least (Olivia raised Greta from a newborn on a bottle!) She doesn't realize that she weighs 65 pounds, and is not a lap dog, LOL.........

That's all for now, I am off to clean and re-organize my spare room where I keep many of the extra items I get with coupons. I watched Hoarders last night, and it has motivated me to get more organized!! Have a great day everyone, and .....

....USE THOSE COUPONS............... DEANNA

Pedicures, Haircuts, and Updates.....

It was a yucky, rainy day here, so we got all the horses up and trimmed their feet, de-wormed everyone, and gave haircuts. We decided to just pull everyone's shoes and give them a good trim this go round. We don't ride much in the winter and if we do it is very light riding, so we like to leave them shoeless for a few months about this time every year. They seem to be fine without them and it gives their feet a break from having shoes on all the time. We have been needing to do this for a couple weeks, and today was the day. We also cleaned Gunner's incisions up and doctored them, the leg is healing very well, I am so pleased with his progress......    Here are a few pictures of our day......

Terry pulling Dior's shoe.........

Dior getting a haircut, and Gunner watching from the stall..........

This is Mr. T....he was getting bored waiting for his turn and was doing a lot of yawning............

Mr T before his haircut.....his bridle path sticking straight up in a mowhawk  (his name was appropriate today, LOL)....

                                                                                      

                                                                                 

Mr T relaxing and enjoying all the attention..............

Terry trimming Mr T's hoof.....

                                          Sonny.....just waiting his turn...........

Mr T and Gunner saying hello.........................

And last but not least, here's an update on Gunner's leg .....it looks really good, there is only minimal swelling, not a lot of drainage, and no warmth or redness. Although he needs his feet trimmed too, we decided to wait. I didn't want to add more stress to him or his leg, and he is still a little sore. His feet are not bad, they can wait a week or two until his leg is healed more.  Here is the "just injured" picture and a picture of how it looks today....pretty good for only 4 days healing time, huh.......

Well, that's all for today, I am gonna have a bowl of Taco soup that I made this morning, after a long day in the cold and rain, it's gonna be sooooooo good! Have a great evening everyone!

So Far So Good......

Well, Gunner is doing very well today, he is walking almost normal, and taking it all in stride. Yesterday he was really sore and could barely walk, but he is much better today. There is a little swelling in the leg, but not nearly as much as we thought there would be. He stands great for his antibiotic and banamine injections, and cleaning of the sutures. We are hoping all continues to go well, and I should have some updated pictures in a day or two. Hope everyone has a great day!

Update on Gunner....

While the injury was bad, we don't think it was as bad as it looked. We cleaned it up, and was able to suture most of it up, leaving on a few small areas open for drainage. Terry doesn't seem to think it will cause any permanent damage, but only time will tell.  Our vet is aware of the injury and has prescribed antibiotics, a tetanus booster, and will be monitoring his progress. He will be on stall rest for a day or two, then he will stay in the small turnout area up by the barn so I can monitor and treat him daily.

Terry and I walked the field, and he was able to see what I didn't....Gunner cut his leg on the hay ring around the round bale of hay. We have used round bales and the hay rings for years and have never had any problems. We even made sure they were the ones for horses and not cattle, made sure all the bolts, etc were tight and not loose to where they could get a foot caught between the sections. Terry found the small blood trail and the very tiny amount of hair and skin on the ring. Apparently, he had laid down by the round bale and probably rolled before getting up, and his back leg went through the top section and then up getting caught, and when he jerked free, it caught his leg and ripped open the two areas. So, I guess we will be taking the hay ring out before turning him back out to pasture.

Here is the picture when Terry was stitching  up the top wound, there was quite a bit of bleeding, but he was able to get it stopped. Notice under Terry's hand,  the lower wound and the flap of skin that is hanging down, and will have to be pulled back up and sutured. The bottom picture is after he is all done and  partially cleaned up. Gunner did great, he hardly ever flinched the whole time, but the lidocaine helped with the pain.   It looks sooooo much better......my camera batteries died on me after these two pictures, but I will post more in a day or two...

Very Bad News....

I am shaking and so sad as I write this, but writing seems to help and pass the time for the next 45 min. If you are squeamish at all, do not scroll down and look at the following pics. I went out to water about an hour ago, and I found that Gunner, my paint horse had cut his leg pretty bad. It is his left rear leg, and there is a hunk of flesh cut out near the hock, and another more longer gash down on the cannon bone.  I immediately called my husband, who is on his way home from work and should be here in about an hour (he works 2 hours from home). As soon as he gets here we will get Gunner from his stall, assess the injury and decide if it's something he can handle or if we should take him to the vet. Now I know, when you see the pictures, many of you are thinking ~She's an  idiot, there's no way they can fix that themselves, those injuries are too bad. But, let me explain, my husband Terry, worked for a large animal vet for over 10 years. He knows how to sedate a horse, suture, pull teeth, deliver foals and calves, assist with c-sections, and just about anything else you can imagine he would have had to do working with a large animal vet. But he is not stupid either, he knows when it is something he cannot handle, and if that is the case with Gunner, we will have him at the vet's  ASAP! We have  all the medicines, and supplies, it's just a matter of what he thinks when he gets here.

Now, back to the injury,  I have NO IDEA how he did this, we are super careful about safety, we don't have anything in our pastures that he could have cut his leg on, especially up that high~~I checked the fence line, the run in shelter, the hay ring and walked every inch of the gates that make up the riding arena, and I have not found a speck of blood, hair, NOTHING.....so I am very frustrated to say the least, since I don't know how he did this, I can't fix it....but I am gonna go look again and see if there is something I missed. In the meantime, I have wrapped the leg, to control the bleeding and to keep dirt out of it, although the bleeding has almost stopped now, and he is in his stall munching contently on his hay. I was very wary about how he would react to me wrapping his leg, he has never had an injury like this, but he stood like a statue, so that helped a lot. He is putting weight on it, so that's good.....I just hope and pray he will not have permanent damage....scars don't bother me, he will never be sold, he will be with us forever, but I have plans for him to be my next trail riding and cattle working partner.... I'm gonna go back out and check on him, and Terry should be here anytime....so here are the pictures, and I will post an update later.......

My latest great shopping deal.....

Well, this is my first post about using coupons and shopping, mainly because I had slacked up around the holidays and wasn't clipping coupons and matching up sales like I should have been, but anyway...... As my family already knows, ( I get teased about it alot)  I am very thrifty, and I use coupons religiously. I don't buy anything that is not on sale unless I absolutely have to have it, and I rarely pay full price for anything. I make my own laundry detergent, shampoo, liquid soap, and sometimes dishwasher detergent (but most of the time, I can use coupons and get it for free or almost free.)

So I was shopping at Food Lion, and stumbled upon this awesome deal. All Special K cereals were on sale  2 for $5. On some of the boxes, there were peelie coupons that stated "Buy this box of Special K cereal and recieve a free 4 pack of Special K protein shakes, protein bars, or protein water mix." Ok, so immediately the wheels started turning, and I was thinking, OK, this deal has the potential to be very huge, so I started searching through my coupon binder for additional coupons to use on top of the ones on the boxes of cereal. I knew I wanted the protein shakes, because they were very good, and the regular price was $5.99 for a 4 pack~~way too pricey for me to buy without coupons, LOL.  I found a coupon in my binder Buy one box of Special K cereal , get one free...so this was going to make the deal even sweeter! So, I put the 2 boxes of cereal in my cart and went over to the other aisle to get the protein shakes. When I got there, my heart skipped a few beats, and I got lightheaded ( this is something that happens to "couponers" when they find a great deal)  when I seen the sign that said......Buy any 5 Special K products and receive $5 off your shopping order! So I bought the snack bars and the protein water mix to make 5 items on each order.... AND ..... each one of those boxes had a $1 off peelie coupon too..... I was in coupon heaven by now!!!!!!!!  I knew right then, I was gonna make out like a banshee on this deal!!

So, I did this order 4 seperate times, at 3 different Food Lion stores in my area....here is the breakdown:

8 boxes of cereal                       ($2.50 x 8 = $20)
8 four packs of protein shakes   ($5.99 x 8 = $47.92)
3 boxes of protein snack bars    ($3.29 x 3 = $9.87)
1 box of protein water mix                           ( $4.29)

Ok, so regular price on all these items without coupons would have been  $82.08 plus tax.

After all my manufacturer coupons, coupons on the boxes of cereal for free shakes, the coupons on the boxes of bars and water mix, AND an additional $5 off each order from FoodLion, my grand total out of pocket for all these items was......drumroll please....... a whopping   $5.16 plus tax!!!!!!!!!

Here is a picture of everything, and I'm sure you already figured out I'm pretty excited about this.......

Have a great day everyone, and use those coupons! ...... Deanna

Beef & Broccoli Stir~Fry

I made the best beef and broccoli stir fry for dinner tonight, if you like Chinese food, then you should really try this, it is great.

Beef & Broccoli Stir~Fry

8 oz lean steak trimmed

2 garlic cloves, crushed

dash of chili oil

1/2 inch piece of ginger, grated

1/2 tsp Chinese Curry powder *see note*

3 tbsp soy sauce, divided

2 tbsp vegetable oil

5 oz fresh broccoli florets

2/3 cup beef stock

2 tsp cornstarch

4 tsp water

Cooked rice

*NOTE*  I didn't have Chinese curry powder, so I made my own

Mix together the following ingredients in a small bowl, use 1/2 tsp for recipe and save the rest for later:

1 tsp chinese five spice powder

1 tsp curry powder

1/4 tsp chili powder

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp ground cumin

1/4 tsp ground mustard

Cut the steak into thin strips and place in a shallow glass dish. Mix together the garlic, chili oil, ginger, Chinese curry powder, and 2 tbsp of soy sauce in a small dish. Pour over the beef, tossing to coat the strips. Leave to marinate in the refrigerator for 1-2 hours.

Heat 1 tbsp of vegetable oil in a wok or skillet, add the broccoli and stir fry over medium heat for 5 minutes. Remove from the wok and set aside. Heat the remaining vegetable oil in the wok and add the marinated steak along with all the juices. Stir fry for 2-3 minutes until the steak is browned. Return the broccoli to the wok and stir in 1 tbsp of soy sauce and the beef stock. Blend the cornstarch with the water to form a smooth paste, and stir it into the beef and vegetables. Bring to a boil, stirring until thickened. Cook for one minute, then serve over hot rice.

This was really good, so good in fact, that I burned my tongue and the roof of my mouth, REALLY. BAD.  Because, of course, I couldn't wait for it to cool before I dug in....anyway, after I got over that mishap, and downed a half a glass of sweet tea, I really enjoyed it...... :^)

"Snow Filled Days", LOL.....

Well, we have about a good 1-2 inches of snow here, but I actually think all the critters are enjoying it. It is still snowing, with highs around 20 today and lows in the single digits tonight! The horses and mules are doing very well, they are all eating and drinking good. Greta, as you can see below, is LOVING the snow....she would stay outside all day and play ball if I would let her, LOL! Here's a few pictures from this morning when I went out to feed and break ice......

Jack and Dan not wanting to get too close to the camera........

Dior thinking....why are you sneaking up behind me?

John Boy and Billy in the snow......

Greta wanting me to throw the ball for her......and her frozen snow beard, LOL.........

Gunner getting a drink after I broke the ice in the trough........

Old Man Winter is HERE!

It is bitterly cold here in Tennessee, highs in the 20's with lows in the single digits and no warm up for the next week. Now don't get me wrong, we are used to cold winters, but, I must say, it usually doesn't stay this cold for this long at a time. I am having to break ice in the watering troughs twice a day now,  the water faucet has frozen, and we have to keep a heat lamp on it so we can run water every couple days! We have even decided to blanket the horses, and we haven't had to do that in a few years, so it is COLD here! And, we are supposed to get 3~4 inches of snow Thursday.......Well, at least we are over being sick, so things could be worse. I am thinking nice sunny days, and green grass, so I decided to post a few "warm" pictures of the horses.......

Dior peeking through the Cherry blossoms......                

Gunner enjoying a good roll.............

Sonny just being himself..........