Then and Now

This week's challenge was "then and now", try to get a photo from the past and recreate the scene now.  I had fun with this one, it is good to go back and look through all these photos now and then.  I have accumulated rather a lot of them ever since someone gave me a digital camera and freed me of the guilt and hassle of film.

I tend to expect rather a lot out of myself on any given day, usually too much.  I often end up feeling like I never get anything done because I am not living up to my own ridiculous expectations.  It was good to stop and look and realize that in the last four years, I have gotten rather a lot done.  In truth, this post could have turned into a real monster since I have taken thousands of photos in recent years.  I extensively documented my mother-of-all-DIY projects and I could have posted a hundred "then and now" photos.  Instead, I limited things to a few representative shots. 

6/19/2008 Not quite yet the official owner of 20 acres of abandoned and neglected farm land.  An ocean of weeds with nothing else on it...

Today.  I didn't get the angel quite right, but you get the idea...

12/18/2008 I swore I wouldn't build in the winter only to be forced into it by idiot excavators and circumstance...

Today.  I tried to get the donkeys to pose for me in front of the barn, but had to settle for them nudging me on from behind....

7/29/09  My knees still hurt just thinking about this job...

8-12-09 I was really surprised when I saw the date on this photo.  This was a difficult, backbreaking, almost overwhelming job that still looms large in my memory (and sore joints) yet the dates say it was done in two weeks.  I am glad I did it, but I don't ever, EVER want to lay another hardwood floor.

1/22/09

Today.  For all it was over my head and up in the air, this white pine was soooo much easier than the floor.  I also had a very good friend show up (with scaffolding!) to help.  This ceiling went up in a day and a half.

Through all of this, there have been lots of other changes as well.  The horses I had got old while I wasn't looking.  One of them died suddenly and tragically of severe, acute colic that could not be treated.  The other is now retired and lives with a friend.   I went horse shopping and remembered exactly why I hate trying to find a new horse.  I rescued, and found a good home for, a pair of badly abused draft ponies.  I bought two horses and resold one of them because we weren't a good match.  I found the horse I had been searching for for many years only to have her critically injured by another rescued horse.  I met a man I thought I might spend my life with, but that was not to be.  I bought a donkey and remembered why I do all this.

My saving grace through all has been that some things do stay the same, at least for a while...  

and some changes bring pure joy into the world....

About me

The other day when the winner of my horse naming contest sent me her address she started her email with something like, "ironically, I cant find your name anywhere".  That got me thinking that I haven't really introduced myself.  So, I will try to tell you a little about me, Kris Maxwell.

Growing up , I always wanted to be a vet and was well on my way to it but got sidetracked by some serious health problems (for example, I had pneumonia 6 times in two years).  Instead of going to vet school I ended up with dual degrees in equine science and agricultural technology and eventually, an associates in Histology.  Don't worry if you have never heard of that one, hardly anyone has.  What is means, is that I work in a hospital lab handling tissue specimens.  Not exactly my dream come true but it pays the bills. 

Along the way, I spent several years working in an animal shelter and I have given riding and horsemanship lessons on and off for many years.  Not so much anymore as there just doesn't seem to be that many people interested in getting started with horses anymore and I don't have the time to devote to it.

For many years, I spent a lot of time working with my best friend on her farm where we raise grassfed beef and lamb.  Along with chickens, pigs and vegetables.  I don't do as much as I used to there but, the farm is still a big part of my life.  One of these days I'll give you a proper introduction.  It is a beautiful farm owned by a remarkably hard-working woman.  I got a start on my carpentry skills by building the windows in the barn....

A couple of years ago I decided to build a house.  This had never really been a goal of mine but, having my own farm that did not include a huge mortgage was.  I decided to do most of the work myself more out of desperation than a desire to become a carpenter.  I just couldn't afford to pay what it would have cost to hire someone to do the work.  Also, finding and dealing with contractors turned into one of the most frustrating and infuriating experiences of my life.  If just one more of them had told me to "have my husband call"....well lets just say it wouldn't have been pretty.  I did finally find someone to put the shell of my building up and I did the rest, from insulation to hardwood floor.  It isn't perfect and there is still some work to be done but, it is cozy, comfortable, mine and it is paid for.

A year or two ago, I met a fellow horsewoman who lives just down the road from me and she has become my other best friend and riding buddy.  There was a time that I almost gave up having horses because a lot of the fun had gone out of it.  Having a friend to ride with who understands about the horses has made all the difference.  We have a great time bushwhacking through the woods and riding in the very rare parade.

A few months ago, I was still grieving over Tessa's life altering injury and unsure what to do next.  Looking for a safe, cheap companion for her, I found a little donkey who needed rescuing.  You all know what that has led to.  Lord only knows where we will all end up next.

No, you can't have the car tonight

I have been doing some work on my barn, trying to finish the siding.  This is all part of my Mother-Of-All-DIY-Projects that began in 2008 when I bought a piece of land and decided to build a house and a barn by myself.  That is a long story for another day, suffice it to say that my house and my barn are mostly finished.  Still, in the past few weeks I have been trying to finally get the battens on my barn, which is why it is sporting candystripes lately.

In order to work on one of the walls, I had to move a riding lawn mower out of its normal position under the shed roof of the barn.  Since I like to give my horses ample opporuntily to learn about potentially scary stuff in a safe and comfortable environment, I simply pushed the mower into the area in front of the barn and let Emma and Tessa give it a thorough going over.  Beyond a few nose-prints on the mower, what could it hurt?  

Well, a while later, I returned my attention to the mower.  I was amused to notice that the entire mower was covered with slightly muddy nose-prints.  I remained amused right up to the moment that I tried to start the thing.  My thoughts from that point went something like this:

Oh no, where's the key
OH NO, Emma has the key
OH NO, EMMA HAS THE KEY!

You really don't want to know the exact words going through my head at this point.  I was just beginning to think about how I might be able to get Emma to Cornell for emergency key removal when I spotted a shiny glint on the ground.  Thank God, there it was.  The whole thing was somewhat bent and the plastic bit on the end showed distinct donkey teeth-marks.  

Note to Self (and any other donkey owners or prospective owners):  One's donkey can not be trusted with the keys to the family car, or lawn mower, or tractor, wheel barrow, hammer, clothing, tools, etc, etc, etc,....

In fact, one's donkey cannot be trusted with anything that she can get into her mouth no matter how remote the possibility may seem.  One's donkey simply cannot be trusted.