Thistle Begs to Be Groomed

Thistle, originally uploaded by nikki_tate.

I was out and about today, taking some reference photos for Joan Larson (who is hard at work on the new StableMates covers...) and stopped by Bodicea to take a few shots of their paddocks and outbuildings. Thistle was showing off, stealing the brush and tossing it around! He may be the size of a full-grown horse (though he is only just a yearling) but he has the playful attitude of a baby! A Clydesdale, he is going to be huge, but meanwhile, he's about as cute as a thousand pound creature can be!

Jump!

Jump!, originally uploaded by nikki_tate.

Yippee! So gosh darned cute, dontcha' think?

New family member

New family member, originally uploaded by nikki_tate.

...playing in the sun, enjoying the first real days of spring!

Mom

Mom, originally uploaded by nikki_tate.

Here's the mother... looking a little dazed and confused...

The Twins

The Twins, originally uploaded by nikki_tate.

So here they are, the two newest additions to the family! A pair of Cashmere goat twins - one black, one white so I can make fancy black and white hats, scarves, mittens, and socks for Christmas prezzies from now until forever! As yet unnamed, these two are not quite three weeks old. They'll come home with me after they are weaned. When they are big and strong enough, they'll be trained to pull a cart. Or so I boldly declare! I'll let you know what they think about the whole idea...

Crazy Busy Times at the OK Corral!

Sorry, sorry, sorry - I've been busy ticking off item after item on the old TO-Do list - not that said list is actually any shorter, but I have been very productive during the past couple of weeks! My Island Parent column was in on time for a change - reviewed The Book Thief (fabulous!) and Scaredy Squirrel Makes a Friend (also fabulous!!), two completely different books that belonged in the same column because, hey, they are both fabulous!

Details are being sorted out for school visits in Chilliwack, the east Kootenays, Maple Ridge, up-island, and somewhere else I'm forgetting - which pretty well fills up my available tour time between now and January 2008. Planning has also started for the big fall launch of Double Take (a week of school visits here in Victoria followed by a launch at Greenhawk Tack Store - Karen is hoping to be able to fly back from Germany to participate! How cool is that????)

Finished the new draft of Double Take (added thumbnails of all the photos) and sent off the new, huge file on CDs to both Laura (editor) and Diane (publisher)... Still waiting to hear back from Ann re. Behind the Scenes: Horse Vet - wrote an article for the Sidney Times about the upcoming Draft Horse Plowing Match (Heritage Acres, May 12)... Scribble, scribble, scribble - doing lots of that these days!

Worked with Ringo several times and even rode Bonny a couple of times, taking full advantage of the longer days and ever-so-slightly warmer weather! All the horses are needing lots of grooming as their body clocks have all switched over to SPRING! SHED! SHED! SHED! time.

Things are also moving ahead on the new StableMates covers (I LOVE what Joan Larson is coming up with!) as well as the way cool research trip to Ottawa in June (more on that very, very soon... promise!)

All of which to say, sorry I haven't been blogging much! There's no break in the action in the forseeable future... so don't check back too often or you'll make me look bad!