the roxy on valentines.

some of my fav. images from last night's show at the roxy. both bands were great! 

stop by the FACEBOOK page and like it for more photos and updates! 

~ grace under pressure ~

~ falling for scarlet ~

Katie & Austin. at liberty.

kay, im actually behind on some things I want to share with you guys...

First off, Katie & Austin. Which I have put some stuff out about on my facebook page. 

the session was mainly focused on videography but can't help myself with photos either. im kinda getting into the videographer side of things. its like photography but i don't get an instant product. which for an inpatient person is kinda funny that i like being challenged by the unknown of hoping what i'm filming is working! anyway, please enjoy :) what Katie does with Austin isn't something easy, it requires the horse's complete trust and his will to want to do that for her. it's a really special bond.

~ WATCH VIDEO BELOW ~

 

late night thoughts.

so here i am writing yet another blog post on things that are on my mind. most of the time these blogs just sit unpublished in my blog files. sometimes there too ranty, or maybe i think i'm a bit opinionated, i'm afraid to offend people or show every side of me. but then i sit here and think why can't i show every side?

fear is the only thing that holds people back. fear blatantly holds me back. like when i don't push publish or when i second guess myself, don't give someone my business card or call it as it should be called. 

there are too many fears i have, i find myself almost screaming at myself in my head to get over them. in a way i have conquered some of them. like when i was a kid i would get so stage fright. i would freeze even if i had to read something aloud in my class or recite a poem. 

then i joined a band when i was 14. all those fears left me the first time i stepped on stage. with a fender bass in my hands i had NO IDEA how to play. yet we still went up there and played as good as we could... but from that day forward -  i never felt the fear that used to hold me back from public speaking. weird right? 

anyway, the point is, at some point we all need to face those fears. even if your unsure, you'll have to face them one day. what's the obvious of this post. that we all have fears? 

well, yeah and to be honest, i think fear shows your a real person. not a person pretending. i would only hope my uncensored blogs tend to show my imperfection to life. a good example of fear i read in blogs is - about how life is hard...*pitty jerk* because everyone's life is hard in some way... so to post a blog on how hard i work or don't - is just annoying lol. i kinda like it laid out. but it's fear that would push someone to write a post on the obvious. i never have time, i don't sleep, i work too much... ugh don't we all? write something real people! 

i say grab whatever fear you have and push publish. but publish the truth. 

jeez, maybe i'm just blogger-cidal.  

a dog perspective.

what happens when i subject the dogs to my camera... look at pinot's face in the first one! lol

Do you Hate Rats?

most people hate rats. or that's what they say. like most things in life, people make opinions before they are educated on something. watever, you know you do it :p 

Anyway, rats in particular i feel get a pretty bad rap. Mostly from their friendly neighbours, the wild rat. 

rats in actuality, when raised by humans make very good pets. 

first, i'll go over why people "hate" them. 

1) they are dirty. 

actually- rats keep themselves very clean, they clean each other and as well, will bath themselves when given the amenity. my rats have a bowl of water, they are always very clean. With my past rats i would only give them a water feeder. I noticed they would keep themselves as clean as possible by grooming themselves but they would need baths. Our rats now are some of the cleanest rats i've ever had, because I give them an option to bathe when they want. 

If you choose to just do a water feeder - they are pretty clean and require a bath once a month at the most. 

2) they are mean.

wild rats are naturally shy. they are scavengers and they will avoid humans for the most part. but they have developed a "mean" rap because they are usual pests when in the wild.

Pet rats are very friendly and I have never been bit. even when they were babies. hamsters, gerbils and other rodents i've heard from my friends are more agressive. i think of all of them rats and guinea pigs are the way to go for children. i've never owned a guinea pig but i know alot of people that do and they do quite well with being a pet. overall, as long as you are not abusing them, i cannot see them being agressive. but that is like any animal. 

3) they stink.

sure, they stink ... if you DON'T clean their cage! 

i have heard from soooo many people that their rodents stink. 

Rodents, bunnies, guinea pigs only stink if you let them. and if they get to a point where you're smelling them all the time, that is abuse to the animal. 

Our rats require a cage clean every week in a half to two weeks. depending on what they've been fed. some small pets may require more, like the bunny. 

but for the most part, RATS have a bad rap because of media. 

yep, kids shows, tv, movies, story books... rats are always the mean, invasive little rodents everyone hates. 

so you've read all this and you still hate rats. i know why you still hate them.

...

their tales and their teeth! 

well, i can't change their actual physical appearence. i guess you shouldn't own a rat. lol

our rats are $2 feeder rats we bought when they were about the size of their heads now. 

in the past i have purchased "pet bred" rats and have nothing but issues with them. including death, one by stroke that came out of no where. 

my last "feeder" rat lived for 4 years and died of old age peacefully. 

these guys, tweak & butters, have been around since Aug 2011. So far they have been very healthy and well behaved. 

they are vey easy to keep. they live in any type of shavings, i give them old beer boxes to nest in and we built shelves for them to climb by using chicken wire. the cage is an old bird cage i bought at a thrift store for $10 - overall the rat is easy to keep and cheap. 

they probably cost about $5-8 a month. $8 if i'm feeling generous lol.

rats will eat anything. i often call them little dogs. while grains are a majority of their diet. they enjoy fresh vegetables and once in a while meat scraps. i think from given them small portions of table scraps a few nights a week keep these rats pretty healthy. their coats are still very soft and they are not obese. 

though rats can get fat easily! 

hope you liked the rat post. have any questions you can post below! 

i've had rats for almost 10 years now! 

some barn photos.

a bunch of photos from today.

my evenings now.

everything from funny faces to wet dog kisses. most days i now spend taking care of lilly and other horses during the day, or taking photos or... lol most nights now consist of jocelynn being a goofy-loofy toddler. but we love her, she's so funny. even when she forces maggie and pinot to walk up and down the hall over and over. im pretty sure they'd sit if they hated it (like pinot often does) but maggie can't say no so she usually gets subjected to this. after joce goes to bed i basically fall asleep! but life is pretty sweet right now. i like how things work out, even when they arn't making sense right away it always seems there's a reason for it in the end. 

so my lack of blogs is mostly cause of this... i will try harder. promise.