Horses.
Morgan, on Zip, riding with trainer Mike Trader. Pics taken before last night’s trail ride. Morgan is still working on remembering to forget to neck rein. She trained in Western riding for years. Zip has been trained in English reining. Morgan remembers, then goes into auto reining, and tries to neck rein her. Every time she tries to neck rein her, Zip says–
“I don’t know what you want, honey,” and she either comes to a dead stop or turns in the wrong direction. Which, I have to admit, I find not so secretly amusing since I never learned any of that neck reining stuff so my horse always goes in the right direction. (Zip is COMING HOME this week!!!)
Other current obsession:
Soap. Pictured: a lightly scrubby but nourishing apple-oatmeal bar. If I’m going to keep obsessively making soap, I think I’m going to have to start selling it.
Or get a whole lot dirtier.
twiggityNDgoats says:
Morgan looks great on Zip.
I’m really looking forward to the soap class. I get dirty a lot. Do you have any recipes for homemade insect repellent soap?
On July 15, 2012 at 12:11 pm
Suzanne McMinn says:
Shelley, you can make any soap recipe an insect repellant by using essential oils that repel insects, like citronella, tea tree, eucalyptus, cedarwood, and lavender. You can make your own essential oil insect repellant blend or they do sell blends ready-made.
On July 15, 2012 at 12:20 pm
LisaAJB says:
You should totally sell soap!
On July 15, 2012 at 12:12 pm
silentgoddess says:
Etsy would be a great place to set up shop to sell your soap.
I have been successfully selling on Etsy for 6 years… email me if you would like help getting started. I would be more than happy to help you with any questions you have.
Also your local farmer’s market would be a great outlet for your handmade soap.
On July 15, 2012 at 12:45 pm
Murphala says:
I’m with Shelley… can’t wait for the soap class! :woof:
Don’t burn out on making soap before we get there, Suzanne!
On July 15, 2012 at 1:37 pm
Claudia W says:
I want to buy some of that soap! It looks and sounds wonderful!!!
On July 15, 2012 at 2:59 pm
Country Blossom says:
Speaking as a girl who was obsessed with horses as a teen … I didn’t think a whole lot about boys or trouble until I was … married, LOL. Well, almost. I’m 46, have 9 horses and still stay out of trouble. :woof:
On July 15, 2012 at 5:08 pm
cincyjojo says:
OK, I misread the title of this post on FB and thought it said, “Currently Obsessed With Chickens In The Road”. Of course, I’m obsessed with the Chickens In The Road Blog or I wouldn’t check in on you on a daily basis! I thought one of my chicken sistas wrote about being as obsessed as I am! I have learned so much from this site and the 2011 Retreat. I can now drive my kids crazy by saying, “You can make that”. When they post things now on FB, they leave a note for me saying, “and don’t say I can make this, mom!”. But don’t you know, I’m the first one they ask when they want something made from scratch. Suzanne, I can’t wait for you to post on how to grow a successful vegetable garden. I have a successful weed garden with a few vegetables growing in their midst. I’ll keep checking for that blog!
On July 15, 2012 at 6:31 pm
cabynfevr says:
Are you sharing the soap recipe??? :moo:
On July 15, 2012 at 6:50 pm
liz2 says:
Love your posts about Morgan, horses & the photos! Your soap looks wonderful.
On July 15, 2012 at 7:36 pm
Erin F says:
I would gladly buy your soap!
On July 15, 2012 at 8:50 pm
cleo sentell says:
Suzanne I would love to buy your saop, just go for it.
On July 15, 2012 at 9:05 pm
princessvanessa says:
I would buy your soap, too. I have bought home-crafted soap from e-bay and from a place that I loved their goats milk based hand cream.
I just don’t have the time to make my own since I work full time. Maybe when I finally retire Ill find the time.
On July 16, 2012 at 12:50 am
twiggityNDgoats says:
I’m with Murphala. Don’t burn out before the class!!! You’ve got anxious and curious students coming.
On July 16, 2012 at 5:54 am
GingerB says:
Congrats with the new obsessions. But be careful with starting to sell your soap! I had a soapmaking business that took on a life of its own….eventually had to give it up because I had more business than I could keep up with and was doing a fairly poor job of keeping up with the rest of my life. Could be my lack of organizational skills played into the situation too! We were featured on a popular Discovery Channel program and I spent two years after that trying to keep up with soap order as well as work at my full-time nursing job, maintain the farm and livestock, and have some clue as to what my kids were up to (also single mom here). Don’t even remember most of those two years! All that business was a nice problem to have, but I’ve opted for more rose-smelling and less packing and shipping! Good luck to you, love your blog.
On July 16, 2012 at 9:50 am