Scenes from the Country

Now wouldn't this be an awesome pic had I had my real camera? Which I do not, as you know--before it can be shipped back, I have to get a duplicate receipt and evidently that is not as easy as you would think. But my old point and shoot at least got the shot--I was running errands after work, and caught this scene. It is not that rare around here, but I bet most people do not see it often. What I would have done for serious zoom and a sensitive lens!
On the way home, I saw a teeny kitty on the side of the road, so I stopped to see if she was okay. I no more got out of the truck and came around the side, when this little sumpin came bounding across the road and jumped in my lap. There were no houses around, and no mama kitty---but she was so friendly, someone has handled her. Maybe she was dumped? I brought her home to the barn--she talked the whole way home and climbed all over me. Which is why I am sneezing and itching now. I am sure she is not four weeks old...she fits in your hand. She cracks me up the way she sits on her little hiney and looks at you. And she runs to me just like the pig. I so do not like a cat, but I like kitties. She ate every time I plopped her in the bowl--I tried putting her next to it, but she is so little, she could not reach good over the edge. That dish is the bottom of a plant pot--the water thing is a plastic cereal bowl. She does not know what to make of the water. I hope she does okay, I kind of like her.
This is a section of the new fence. This farm had cattle for the 100 years before we bought it and many of the posts still remain. Not pretty, but many of them are still good. Ugly, but sturdy. I have had someone working on replacing all the wood and posts in the bull shed and the sand pit and this section in between them, and we are almost done. That is a story in itself, but at least this section is something to show--I think it is pretty

Lazy weekend coming up--nothing more scheduled that a farrier fix-it job tomorrow, a ride with Madison probably, maybe going to Cedarhurst Craft Fair (a fancy fair, but they have corndogs!) and on Sunday, we are going to Sam Dale Lake to ride with Headleys. Hammer's rest and recovery from saddle galls is over--he is going out again. I have only one more saddle to clean and it is Madison's-an old circle y that has not been cleaned since God knows when, so I had better get to it. I am going to read a pile of new books and hang out with my puppies and try to rejuvenate a bit. Oh yeah, and fix the lawnmower. As usual

Mish mash Friday-and a count

Since Monday, I have had 6 workouts. Not bad since water aerobics did not start until Thursday. I never skipped a day EVER! My goal is to do 10 workouts a week for a while--at least when I have full weeks (which I will not next week since I am leaving Thursday nite to go to the Futurity). That can be done with one water aerobics and one gym per day on every weekday, and if I skip one, I will have to add one in on the weekends.

Is that nuts? Am I setting myself up for failure with that high of a goal? Should it be 7, you think? Barry thinks one a day is enough, but if I can do it, to do both. I think I can, since one is morning and one is after work. Mom thinks I can do it. I do not want to disappoint myself, and I really need to see some results. I have to admit I feel awesome

While at the dollar store buying Sly's get up for the Xmas cards, I asked Rita if maybe I was going to be one of those exercise-orexic people? Of course, she fell out laughing, but even worse, the guy in front of her did too and I do not even know ol boy. What the hell does he know, I could totally be that. God knows I get addicted to everything else. What are those people called? Exer-rexics? Probably not, but I think that is what I will call it---maybe people will think I am claiming to be an exorcist. Whatever. They would probably take that without laughing, which is a whole other issue.

I also have not had a beer since last Friday. That is pretty dang good. That was not by design, it just happened and had Jenna had some free time on Thursday, I would have then, but she did not. However it happened, that is removing a BUNCH of calories from my diet since I drink beer like I drink water and iced tea--lots of it, until it is gone. I bet I drink beer tomorrow since there are big doings on the agenda, and some varied and sundry people are coming to town for a TB and equipment auction and that will inevitably end up with dinner and drinks, it usually does. I am looking forward to it though, as is Barry, which makes it more fun.

I also did not eat any fast food this week. I have been working on that. I ate out twice and Subway once, which is way less than usual but probably chalked up to Rita being gone most of the week. I do not anticipate being able to keep that up, but it is one week better than usual. I also have been eating those stupid smoothies with Activia yogurt in them, and as much as I wish it was not true, that stuff WORKS. And with enough strawberries or raspberries, they taste really good and make up for the yogurti-ness of them, which is required for me. Yogurt makes me sick, all slimy and gross--ick. Oddly, they have kept me from eating Totino's pizza every nite--in fact, I don't think I have had one all week. That is a MAJOR accomplishment for an OCD binge eater, believe me.

OK on to something besides talking about how swell I am this week.


It was so cold here today, there were icicles on the fence boards when I got home from work. The sun was still out, as I got out at 3 pm instead of 6 since I worked so much extra this week. Go me!
I was trying to be artsy, but the ice was kind of in the shadows. They are still cool pics, but I bet Holly could have done a lot better. I was in a tshirt and no jacket, so I could not screw around out there all day to take better pictures or I would be frozen solid. As it was, I had to bring water hoses home to thaw them in the shower, and that is not as easy as it looks. As usual, my car was full of stuff, and I had to jam 100 feet of frozen hose in the back---I bet it was funny to watch while I tried to jam it all in there and it fell out and I tried to slam the hatch on it. I was in a good mood though for some reason so I did not care.


I got home to feed the boys, and got treated to the Sly-loves-his-mommy show. They have been hanging out behind the house eating on a round bale but as soon as he knows I am around, he comes running like he has not seen me in years. Maybe it is because I am the dinner lady. I choose to think that he has a deep love for me. It is hard to catch a pic of that though as he was darting through the trees to get to me.
That face always does my heart good. I can feel all the tension go out of me when I am greeted like that.
Now can anyone tell me what in the world happened here? This is a section of new fence that went up this year. On the left side is the front of the hay pasture where the geldings are living for the moment. To the right side is the old farm road that runs between the hay field and the barns and leads to the back pastures. For the love of God, what could have done THAT to the fence?
It is not only pulled off the fence post, but it is unwoven! It looks like the devil was in a box and this was his only way out. I have never seen anything like that. And of course, it is in the middle of a line of about 400 feet of fence, so it is not easily replaceable.
The best pics of the day were of Fonzie--he is just so cute and was playing hard because that rat dog from next door and his hateful mutt friend were chasing him. I think we might really have to do something about that one of these days, I thought I was going to get my head kicked in from the running and bucking they caused. But so far, no harm no foul.
Doesnt he look like something prehistoric? All that hair is appalling, but when Lori called him a yak, it hurt his feelings. He thinks he is handsome and above anything as absurd as being trimmed. She talks crazy.
I think this was mid-run from the mutt, but I liked how the composition came out.

Now that I see this picture, maybe he is a bit yak-like.

So Lori if you think you are a big enough girl, load up those clippers you helped shave the dogs ass with and come on down the road to address this.

Fence building

Have you ever noticed how much fence building goes on around here? Too damn much

This was BS last nite, working on a replacement section of fence that is about 300 feet long. He got about 60 feet done, and a gate moved, and the tops of the posts sawed off even with the top board. It looks was better.

We left the new dude to run more of the wire fence today, and although he interrupted Barry to tell him he knows how to do fence, he did a terrible job. So bad it has to be taken down and re-done. Now how bout that for a dilemna? Why do I pay him twice for doing the job right? Assuming he does it right tomorrow, that is. He evidently did not brace a single post before doing it, so it is all messed up. That is so not cool, and since we need this done fast, it makes me even crazier. Guess we know what BS will be doing tomorrow nite if he does not get this right in the morning. That will not make for a happy BS, or me.

Seasons changing at Sam Dale

Finally, I am back on schedule with our Sunday afternoon rides at Sam Dale Lake. I have been out of town so much, I have not been in five weeks. We picked a great day for it-- about 75 degrees, although it was windy. Radar was his usual wonderful self, I love riding him more every single time. I have to remind myself not to ask too much of him since he is just a baby but he acts so solid that I forget how young he is. He seems to learn things so quickly and easily--like today, his shoes slipped on the asphalt. A month ago, he would have scrambled to get better footing, probably making things worse. Today, he just rode out the slide and moved along. He probably slipped four times, but I don't think there was another issue the rest of the day, and I know I was more concerned than he was. Nothing phases him.

The big event of the day was that Head rode a new horse. She came from a rescue organization that Linda works with pretty closely, and little is known about her, other than she is 7 and does not know much. And she GLOWS in the dark! Head is doing really well with her though, and she was pretty impressive today. She has been called Nellie (as is Whoa Nellie!) which I cannot stand so I am trying to think up good names that I will then pester them with so I don't have to think of that poor girl being called Nellie all the time. Linda rode Thumper, who is 22, and does not make many appearances, so that was kind of neat.

About 2/3 of the way through the ride, I saw what I was sure was a colt running straight at us on the trail. It never occurred to me to wonder why that was, I just accepted that it was happening. I swear it took me a couple of minutes to realize that it was not a colt, but a deer, and it was part of a pack. None of the horses seemed to think it was strange that we were being invaded by deer running straight at us, which was a nice change from some trips!

All in all, another great trip. I wish Barry had gone but he stayed home to finish fence, which I had about as much faith in as the Great Pumpkin showing up for dinner, but the damnedest thing happened----he FINISHED THE FENCE! At least the wire part which is what he has been working on since July (more off than on of course, but whatever) I am so proud of him. This is a huge weight off both of our minds. The top board still needs to be put on, but I think we have until spring to get that done, since they won't be leaning over the top to get grass on the other side until there is some.

And in case you think this day could not get any better--another crazy thing happened .After I got home from trailriding, about 6:15, we attempted to load Target to take him to the trainer. I was all ready to try Head's foolproof idea (and kind of looking forward to it, since I was still irritated at Target acting up earlier in the week)- and Target just got right in the trailer. Well not right in, but he was in within 3 minutes, and no one was pissed off about anything. Well maybe Radar was as he was still in there, and had to go on an extra road trip as a result, but what is another hour and a half in the trailer in the name of brotherhood?

This week's agenda and accomplishments

Yesterday there was a threat of rain. It was overcast all day, but we only got about 12 raindrops, despite really black clouds and lots of wind. Typical.

There was some excitement at the farm though. I needed all the weanlings dewormed again, it is time. They however are in the front pasture with no good catching area and are in that funny stage where they are hell on wheels and I had too much to do to be chasing babies in the wind--which never helps. There were also some in the middle pasture where they got yesterday --somehow getting through the divider fence--I had caught some and put them back, but they seemed to be back in the wrong spot again. So Madison and I set ourselves to collecting up babies and putting them back where they belong. Like most things, this sounds a lot easier than it is. Barry got there in the middle of it and was a big help--I cannot send Madison into the herd to shoo babies for fear she will get hurt, but I can him!

We got the babies peeled off and put where they belong. Hemi, Harley, Phoenix, CC, and Squiggy got wormed.... Hammer, Cricket and Riot were not due yet, and Vixen was just done. I felt good getting that out of the way even though Barry was mad that he got roped into helping with that. They get their shots this weekend, and I may wean Cricket tonight. At least she is easy to play with.

I went out to the back pasture to deal with the water babies, which takes a really long time because they drink the water as fast as it comes out of the hose. I fed the old people, and waited and that is when the 12 raindrops came. Of course. Madison wallered around on Marvin the donkey--she has taken to riding him, and in just two sessions, has gone from being hesitant to get on him at all, to hopping up on him whenever she can catch him, haltered or not.

When we got back up front, Barry was chasing a red baby and cussing a blue streak. Evidently the chasing game got out of control, she got trapped in the run in shed and JUMPED out of the window! The window is way over her shoulder height. As usual, I am torn between irritation at having another chore, and being impressed she could get that kind of air under those circumstances.

I was in bed early last nite, although it was not peaceful. That pig gets louder all the time. He wanted in the bed, which makes Thor mad, but it was a lot quieter that way. It did result in me getting up early to keep them from arguing over who got to lay where and I was at work my 8 am--that NEVER happens.

When I got here, I learned that the timothy shipment is not coming today, despite Barry's day off to receive it, the rental of equipment, etc. I am about a 7 on the irritated scale on that. The alfalfa arrived early though, and is probably unloaded by now. I have about 69 round bales of that stuff right now. They are big mothers though. On my recommendation, another local guy is buying a semi from this dude, so I hope that bodes well for me in the future.

Hopefully Barry will be working on that damn fence today, I really want it done by October 26, when we pull out of here to go on vacation. The last thing my mom needs is to have to chase horses.

What else happens this week? If things go well, I am going to take Target to the trainer tonight....assuming it does not rain (yeah right), he will get in the trailer (he better), and BS does not need the truck for something else.

Thor goes to the vet tomorrow at 11:30 to get all his shots to stay in the kennel while we are gone. I am not giving anyone else any chances to hurt my baby while I am gone, and this is a kennel different from what I have used before. I hope he does not think I have left him-- I have always avoided it before I dont want to court bloat, but getting beat up at home like last year is not an option either.

Other than that, I don't think I have a huge amount to do this week. The goal is to get fence done, which is hard when it gets dark by 6:30. I also have to finish my SCUBA tests online so I just have to do my dives when I arrive. There is so much to do there, that I am afraid there will not be enough sleeping time!

Oh that reminds me, I made my air arrangements for our cruise in February. Paid more than I wanted to but got what I wanted, and booked the hotel for the night we are in San Juan on the way back--it looks like a nice place and is located well. This is it http://www.normandiepr.com/?src=ppc_google_brand

Unseen portions of the farm

Today we worked on the outside perimeter of the hay field--horses don't live there but hunters love to cut parts down to hunt on our property (without permission of course). There are always things to repair there, in order to turn horses out on the hay field for the winter. There are a lot of trees and really thick brush covering most of the fence line, so it is like going through the Amazon to drive the Gator as close as possible to the fence line. It is old old old field fence, with barbed wire on the top, which I hate, so we take it down as we go, and replace it with hotwire (that is never hot due to the brush, etc). I bet Barry pulled limbs from 15 trees off the fence today. Many of the T-posts are flat rotted off at the bottom, so they have to be replaced as we go as well. No wonder, of course, as the fence is at least 50 years old, and probably more.

This year, I am only putting some hard keepers out there, as it has not grown but a couple inches since our first cutting on Jun 8 or so. The lack of rain kept it from growing, and the heat burned up what did. Surely though, twenty acres can support four or five of them for a couple of weeks, and there is some hay out there that never made it off the field at all. I will keep a close eye on them, but I cannot pass up the chance for them to have green grass, as nothing works better on their weight than good ol Dr Green.

Since it has been so dry, out first smaller pond DISAPPEARED. It has been known to dry up , but this is ridiculous. It is so completely empty that there is more grass growing in it than anywhere! The lower, brighter green is one side of the pond, but even the taller brush at the bottom of the photo should be covered by water. This second water photo shows about 1/4 of the other larger pond. It is really low as well, so low that we could finally get into the previously underwater parts so that we could get the barbwire off of the T-posts there. Maybe sometime we will be able to let the horses have access to it after all.

The wierdest part of the ponds is that there are FROGS everywhere! Hundreds of little chirping frogs, they even sounded like birds. It was the craziest thing...this dude is one of the biggest ones. They blend in so well with the green stuff floating on the water, their eyeballs are the same green.

TSC is a Demon

At least ours is. How long ago did I buy the wire fence for the farm? More than two weeks by now. BS was at a bike race, so I paid and sent him to pick it up later. They were fine with that. Of course they were--they did not HAVE any fence. Not that they told us this. When we discovered this, they said it would likely be in this week.

Guess what? It is not. Are they sorry? No they are not. They mention that there are 4 rolls supposed to be coming. Well, big deal. We paid for SEVEN ROLLS. Explain this to me how this is all right?

BS talked to some young girl there yesterday who was on her way out but came up with the brilliant idea that they could special order it for us. Ya think? But did she do it? No.

This is unfortunate. For them, at this point, as I am going to have a little chat with them about this turn of events. I am paying interest on my credit card for 2K worth of fence and I do not have it.

Jiminy Christmas, this pisses me off.

Just to make things worse, I am trying their Platform SEnior feed, as a friend sent me some coupons that make it cost effective, plus it has 6% fat compared to the others at 3% fat. But ...you will be shocked.....they are out of it now. Don't know when they will get more.

Isn't that something? I know someone else who runs their business this way ( a few actually) and I don't suspect they are long for this world...how does TSC get away with it? What I would not do for a Rural King, or a Farm Fleet or someone who knows how to work inventory and does it.

On a good note though, I hear my tractor will be home this weekend. Let the bushhogging commence!

Gotta follow the signs!

I am superstitious. I know it, I also know it is stupid, but I am --I plan everything so as not to jinx bad things into happening. It does not so much work. Consider this as I whine about the state of my growing of things, and maintenance of others.

This last week has made me crazy--the mower has been broke, and Barry has not been home early enough on any night to take the starter off so I can take it to the not-dealership to have it fixed. So the grass is appallingly high and we thus look like bigger hillbillies than we do on a normal day. The only two things that are worse are the pastures which are in desparate need of bush-hogging, which I have also been unable to do because the tractor is in the shop (which is a huge improvement from NOT being in the shop as it was for the weeks before this move); and the weed eating which BS has failed to do all year. I do what I can with my little battery weed eater, but the battery only lasts so long, and it juggles my arms to death--the situation is so dire that there are actual weeds that are TALLER than the swimming pool. That is serious, and ruins a person's good time when they are actually in the pool. Guilt at being a terrible home and yard keeper is a powerful thing. I swear my anxiety level gets higher with every inch above standard this stuff grows.

BS' biking friend Brant offered to help with the fence, in hopes that BS would then be allowed to go bike sooner rather than later. Friday nite, BS did not get around to picking up the fence at TSC, which I bought and paid $2K for last Sunday. He got up bright and early Saturday morning to get the starter off the mower so I could take it in, and pick up the fence and be at the farm by 9 to meet Brant.

Did any of this go right? Oh hell no. TSC does not have the fence. Nor did they have it when they sold it to me. What a waste of Brant's help this will be, I say to myself. We finally get someone to help us with something, and this is what happens. A whole weekend free to do this work and we are not going to be able to do any of it. This makes me cranky.

It gets not so much better when I take the starter to the shop and it actually works. I think I might have cried a little as this means I STILL cannot mow, in that we have an unidentified thing wrong with the mower, instead of the quick fix. I am confident I scared the bejeezus out of the mechanics there, so they tell me to haul the entire mower up there on the trailer.

I go to the farm to tell BS this, knowing he will yell and say he does not have time for that crap, but he does in fact have time, due to the lack of having any fence to put up. Off they go to take the non-going mower to the shop, where poor Brant falls through a rotten spot on the trailer. Just flat disappears I guess--oh my! A fine how do you do for helping us huh? Now Brant says this is their "next project"-- well boy howdy, where did this dude come from? I don't care but I am keeping him if it gets things doen around here.

By this point, I have had enough of this day and it is not even noon. I have weedeated and pulled weeds and am working on an asthma attack, when my sister shows up to swim. That means I have to clean the pool--which needed to be done anyway, but the rate I was going, I was likely to blow up the pump.

Things did get better from here on out. I am satisfied that is because I have pretty much written off the entire weekend. At some point, BS calls and says the mower is FIXED! And it can come home. I swear I felt like I won a marathon, and all I am doing is putzing around in the pool complaining about every single thing that goes through my pea brain. Of course by now, all of Brant's time for helping is pretty much used up and I even forget to ask if any headway was made on some other part of the fence. Ultimately BS comes home, and tells me that he and Brant set ALL the poles. There had been 70 of 195 remaining, and BS had never been able to do more than 15 in a sitting, and they did them ALL!

This was wonderful news, and meant that we could make some real progress around here, what with me being able to mow, fence being ready for the next step as long as TSC gets with the program.

Except, as is standard around here---we were no longer fit to do work--too much sun, too much laying around, and too much general rabble rousing--but at least I did get a cute pic of BS and my sister playing in the pool. AND--she is getting freckles for the first time ever, which does my black heart good--even if they do look cute on her. Typical

As far as the eye can see

There Shall be fence. Fence fence and more fence. Forever and Ever Amen.

Tonight starts the Great Fence Building Debacle of 2007. Barry's brother Jeff is coming down to help--this will be his first Onn-A-Wym Farms building project. Other brother Zach, on the other hand, has been a building fool. He will put up a lean-to in a weekend, that one will, but he is studying for summer classes and cannot get away. Maybe we finally wore him out?

In any event, Jeff arrives at 7 tonight or so, then he and Barry have to fetch 150 railroad ties and get them home. This will be no normal fetching as they will not be loaded in bundles, but picked up one by one by hand. Tomorrow morning, the post-hole digging starts bright and early, and post-setting commences.

At least the ground will be a little softer than usual, since it has rained all this week. Hopefully my tractor will have some sort of energy in the morning and get me through a little bushhoggin--but I don't hold out much faith on that. I have to think of something to do so I don't have to help with the fence debacle--those sorts of projects lead to some serious animosity between Barry and I.