Time for a little roundup!

 Coupla updates…

Black Betty has been renamed Black Pearl 😂

She is also getting quite a bit of work done. New starter, flywheel, clutch, brake lines, hoses here and there (thanks NAPA!) new (bigger 😮) tires, new wheels, and a little cosmetic stuff on the interior - new dash, door panels, upholstery, and possibly even a stereo 🤯. Im leaving the black paint and rust as it is, but I’m definitely going to put a little Sandice touch on the interior… I’m not going to know how to act in 2024 when she’s back in commission. 

Chase and King are really living the best life ❤️. Chase had his eye surgery and is healing up nicely. King was hesitant to be too needy in his new home with his son, and kept to himself in the beginning but is now learning his human family truly love and value him as a companion.

I’m realizing I overbooked myself this month and haven’t had a day off since August 30 😳, but I have made every single appointment and the all the dogs on my books currently are the best and make it easy 🐾❤️. Looking forward to Sept 13, which kicks off an 8 day weekend 🙌🏼!

There are loads of other happenings ‘round here that I’m just not going to get into until November when the weather cools, everything goes dormant, and I have the time to write about it all. I have acquired some new tools for my printmaking and I just reserved my spot at the Indie South Holiday Hooray again this year, so get ready for that in December! It’s my 8th year participating! 

I hope you all are having a lovely Friday and I’ll be back here soon with all the deets on what’s been happening round here soon enough! 

xoxo

-s

august so far..

It’s been a wild ride the last several weeks. From family stuff to wildlife stuff to farm upkeep and dog rescue, annnnnnd the work that pays the feed bills, I have had my hands full. 

First off I am so grateful for the folks who have ordered prints. Making them - I mean actually having to set aside time to do something I LOVE, has been what keeps me sane. As much as I am grateful for the income it brings, I also don’t view it as work. It is the most gratifying process from start to finish. Speaking with customers about the wood they prefer (or sheet metal), editing the photos, printing and mounting the photos, the sanding, keeping the customer updated on the process, and then personally delivering or shipping them out is always therapeutic. 

August has been pretty slow with petsitting due to this last little outbreak of colds/ allergies/ or other funk, so I’ve been more active this month at the shelter. 

Yesterday the wildlife removal company took the final step in the exclusion service they performed and removed the one way door since nothing has been spotted on the camera since Sunday night, and closing up the crawl! I am thrilled. As much as adore and love all the wildlife, we can’t go through another winter waking up to skunk smell and hearing the brawling between the skunks, opossums, and cat that were living under there. 

After I got home last night from a full day away from the farm helping out with family stuff the next town over, as I was putting up the ducks I noticed Quack Nicholson had fly strike. If you are not familiar with fly strike, it can be deadly and this was my first experience with it. I soaked Quack in an epsom salt bath for 20 minutes (in which I had to hold his body under the water and his head above in a most awkward position, so it felt like hours) and will take him to the vet today. Since I’m not familiar at all with it, all I had to go on in immediate care at home was what I found on the internet, and it seems depending on how bad his case is - which was a quarter sized patch of exposed flesh being devoured by maggots, he may have a long road to recovery, and could even possibly not make it. Birds are very risky to anesthetize, but this will likely have to happen in order to clean the wound and remove all the maggots. 

I’ll update later this eve when we’ve seen the vet. 

I’m off to work outside a bit before the heat rolls in! 

xo

-s

Monday…

 Christian worked a wedding yesterday and brought home some flowers left behind…. <3

Quackaroni thinks every time she gets in the pool she needs to show me how happy and wild and free she is… she also let me pet her for the longest time on the head today. 

Reece makes sure I get in my steps even when I don’t necessarily wanna..

… ice cream always makes everything better!

Our quiet little dirt road is pure zen whenever I need it. 

I’m currently in bed with Poptart snuggled up next to me and my red light therapy wrap on my knee. I’m thinking of taking the rest of the day off and not gonna mow again until Wednesday I think …. Maybe… we shall see. I also still have about 10 years of mulch to spread… 

Happy Monday y’all.. see you tomorrow! 

xo

-s

I’ve got a birthday soon!

It is the middle of summer, I turn 47 next month, and I am realizing more than ever that I need to prioritize my own care. I have not really put myself first in the last several years, but am now at a point in my life where I’m feeling like the time is now. Like right now. Before the planning for holiday markets and before I take on a new special needs animal. I had some kind of funk the last few days and was left with no choice but to stay in bed for most of the last few days… The last few days I have done red light therapy treatments on my knee for 20 minutes - the knee that I messed up horribly and tore my meniscus a year and a half ago. *** might want to skip this next part if you get nauseated easily ***

It was so bad that a flap was getting caught in the actual joint action so when I would either bend or straighten my leg, depending on whether or not the flap from the meniscus was ‘caught’ would mean tremendous pain. Everyone advised surgery was the only way to fix it. Even my chiropractor said these things don’t heal on their own….. however, I was not keen on having surgery. The downtime the possibility that it still might not be normal. I said to myself that centuries ago people must have done the same thing and been able to continue living without surgery, right? So I wrapped tightly during the day, walked a LOT, bought a red light therapy band for daily treatments, and tried to only bend my knee minimally. After about 4 months, I still had pain with the minimal movement, but it was improving. Sleep was even hard. Then after about 8 months, I had full range of motion back. Then after a year, I was back to 100% - I could get on my knees without pain! 

All that to say that now I’m committing to my body to get back in shape for my overall health. I’ve reached out to a coach, I’ve made the commitment to myself, and I hope in the coming months I will have motivating updates for others. I’ve had really great excuses/ obstacles keeping me from taking this step for the last several years, but now I don’t. I have zero excuses to neglect my own health now. 

So starting August 1, which is Tuesday, going into my 47th rotation around the sun, I’m prioritizing myself again so that I can continue to help others where I’m needed. 

I have a plethora of facial masks, spa care essentials, and nail polishes and I’m going to start using them all again! 

Here are a few snaps from the last week…

Quack & Quackaroni enjoying a little buffet…

…an evening stroll down the dirt road with my boy…

Me and Quack :)

Between power outages and the heat, ice cream is slim pickins ‘round here…

…one of the sweet kitties I'm sitting…

Two pups I’m sitting and likely one of my favorite pics of pure joy!

One of my red light therapy sessions… 

My sweet boy knew I was under the weather… 

Christian dig the hole for my sweet boy Cluck… RIP

The moon over our little house… 

The pretty garden spider that hands by more door at the shop.

My very own private little quiet place. 

I hope you all have had a sweet weekend. I’m finally on the mend and am feeling myself again! 

xo

-s