Sandy and Tessa joining in the fun Christmas Eve after we turned the donkeys out with the herd. They have gained weight nicely. Their rumps are rounded and showing good muscle tone for their ages. Tessa even lopes a little now and then. Yesterday the temp was 75, windows open to the fresh air. It was wonderful considering the date was the 26th of December. This morning about 3:30 am the cold front came through. Thunder, lightening, wind and rain. Outside temp is now 39. We needed the rain to settle the red dust. Of course the power flickering didn't do my old computer any good. Took me 30 minutes to get it to boot up. Hmmm, maybe a new PC in my future soon. I really hate that, love my Dell but maybe it's time to put it to rest. But then, what do I do with the body?????????? Have a great weekend everyone.

Here is our new little goat, Pepper. Styling in her little coat. Pepper came to us very sick and thin. A vet visit was done before coming home. She is getting much better and just needs to gain a little weight. She has a place in the barn to sleep and stay in when the weather is nasty.

Well, it's Christmas Eve. We will be staying in Oklahoma and not going back to Missouri. It will be just the 2 of us but we will have a nice dinner and exchange gifts.

Merry Christmas everyone. Remember "Jesus is the reason for the season". God bless us everyone.

Upper 40s, foggy. The horses love it. OKC airport doesn't, lol. Closed to incoming flights. All critters doing well.

New kids are home. Dunkey and Belle got to see their new digs about 6:30 last night. Buddy is checking them out lol.

Snow

OK, we've had a bit of snow...I'm ready for Spring. The temp is 18 degrees right now at 6:30 a.m. Dressing in layers, pulling on the insulated overalls, heavy coat, stocking cap and, oh yes, gloves designed to keep your fingers warm but not to allow you to use them!!! I'm worn out before I get out the door, lol. But the horses appreciate a warm breakfast so it's all worth it. Hugs.

Funny

Weird things that show up in pictures. Before our daughter and granddaughters left, we took a picture at the front of our porch. After I got the picture down loaded to my computer, I noticed the reflection of the sky in the storm door. The horse decal is on there to remind us not to walk through the glass door. It looks like horses running in the storm clouds to me. I just thought it was cool. LOL

Our daughter and granddaughters made it down here ok. Right now the house is quiet but soon all will be up and stirring around. The weather has changed a bit. Cooler with light rain. Glad the run-is finished. While we were unpacking the kid's stuff, Star came over to investigate and seemed to remember the kids. The dogs were beside themselves with seeing the granddaughters again. Much tail-wagging and jumping around. The girls have a small, white dog and she thinks she is a pit bull. LOL. But all 3 dogs get along well. We will have our big dinner today at noon, then open the pesents under the tree. This evening we will watch "Wall E". Looking forward to that myself. Have a great weekend, stay warm and dry.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Tomorrow is a my favorite holiday. I try to be thankful for all my blessings. Tomorrow is a family day. My family is very small now. No parents, only 1 sister, only 1 child, 2 granddaughters and last but certainly not least, my wonderful husband. He has a sister and his mom is still alive. He will be going back to MO to spend tomorrow with them. I will have the critters here to take care of. That's OK. I am thankful for my critters. They give so much love. In the barn, after all the horses have gotten their meal and they are quietly munching, I take a moment to just listen to them eat. A wonderful sound. I am thankful we can give them a home, love and food. So many don't have that. I wish I was filthy rich, I would do so much to change that.

Work has started on the run-in on the south side of the barn. We got the headers up yesterday (boards that connect the posts horizontally and on the barn horizontally). Gary put huge lag screws on the boards on the barn so that the shed would be very stable in the strong winds we get here from the south. We will use hurricaine brackets to attach the boards connecting the barn side to the post side. Hope that makes sense, lol. The cold front arrived about 3:30 this morning with high winds from the north so it is very cold outside, temp is 35 degrees. Don't know how much it will warm up this afternoon. How much work gets done today depends on the temps. I have to go get feed today for the horses, don't want them to run out!! I have taught Hawk a trick. I ask him if he is a good boy and he nods his head up and down. So funny. They are so smart.

Sunday

I was out in the south pasture with the herd today. It's so wonderful to see Tessa walking with a normal horse gait. Gently bobbing her head evenly with each step. No sign of a limp. I admit I was very worried she wouldn't get to this point. She and Sandy are still very bonded. It's like there are two separate herds. They all stay within sight of each other but the two older ones like being off a little on their own. Rose does join them sometimes. They each came up to me to say hi and then wandered off to eat some of the dry grass. We are putting out large round bales, two at a time. And we are putting Tessa and Sandy in their own pen at night with a whole bale of hay to themselves. Gary is picking up the materials for the run-in shed tomorrow. Hope the weather holds long enough for us to get it done.

New camera arrived last night. I'll never be really good at taking pictures. Not like I would like to be. LOL Cold this morning with a strong northwest wind, about 35 degrees. All the horses are getting so furry. Hard to take pics as they want to see what the camera is and get too close. And, like I said, it was COLD!!!!

New camera should be here tomorrow. Will try to update things then. Meanwhile, maybe this will make you laugh.

Brave

"Ah Ma.....I ain't scared of nothin!!!

She isn't either. LOL

John came this afternoon and trimmed all 7 horses..(can you say "cha..ching"?). Tessa is improving lots. Remember, you can click on a picture and enlarge it. She is eating everything we put in front of her plus free choice hay and all the grass she can find. They are all on biotin 800 daily for their hooves except Star who has no cracks in her hooves at all. Maybe she is part mustang! LOL

Surprise!!

First picture is of Sonny and Tessa munching hay yesterday. Excuse the ratty looking fence behind Tessa. Gary was in the process of replacing it. The little rascals kept getting into the big hay bales we have put back for the winter. Now, the fence around the hay is "hot". No horses in the hay this morning!! The second picture is of the gulch. I had walked down in there again this morning and turned around to start back to the house and there were all 7 horses, the goat and the cat......down in the gulch. I about fell over. Tessa and Sandy were in the gulch. This is amazing to me as Tessa moves ever so slowly most of the time. The path leading down in the gulch is rough and rocky. She has not been limping for a while and guess her feet are ok enough to get down there. I was very surprised and happy to see this. She was munching away on the grass that is there. Hurried and got the camera so I could get the picture. Came back to the house and the next time I looked out the window, a few minutes later, she was back up top next to her favorite cedar tree. If she went up the bank, she is more limber than I thought. Most likely, she came up the same path she went down on and walked around the gulch to the tree. But this is showing me that she is improving as she is going exactly where she wants to without too much effort. Yipee!!

The first picture is a "blast from the past". A long, long, long time ago. The second, I took yesterday. Hawk wants to know..."can I come in your barn?". Ah, no!

Well, I think we are done in the barn for the winter. Yesterday, we were really glad we had the panels in so we could feed in the barn. It was cold, rainy, blowing a gale and just down right miserable! But we survived it. The horses seemed to appreciated being able to eat in the barn and not outside in the rain. Tessa and Sandy got to stay in last night because of the cold wind. Today is sunny but cool so everyone is outside looking for that last blade of grass. The first picture is the north side of the barn. There are 3 pens there. These stay put all the time. The next picture is the south side with the panels extended. We used 2 x 4s for the "gates". These maybe replaced with regular gates next year when we get the run-in shed built, not sure. The last picture is Tessa and Sandy in the barn with the panels swung back against the wall. Works very well, at least for now. Gary also got a couple of outside faucets installed to fill the water tanks so we don't have to drag a long hose this winter. PS: We did clean the barn after everyone was finished eating, LOL.

The Gulch

I talk about our "gulch" some. It is really a shale (soft rock) pit. Shale has been dug out for roads etc. There is a lot of grass down there and weeds. Buddy needs to get after the weeds, lol. The first picture is going down into the pit. The next 2 are the horses coming down to see what I was doing. They don't seem to spend a lot of time down there for some reason. Maybe they feel like they are in danger when down there. Trenches are dug for the water and electric lines. Today we will start putting them in. Need to get it done quickly as more rain and cooler weather are forcast for Tuesday. Two old people don't work too fast but we do get things done in time. We have had to keep the horses away from the barn except at feeding time due to the open trenches. Come on Gary, get outta that bed! We got work to do.

Thoughts for today

There is a lot of chatter on the horse boards about a rescue sponsoring a euth clinic. Lots of feelings pro and con. Lots of emotion involved. As Gary and I are both 62 years old, we have to think about the future of our pets. Worse case senario-we can't afford to feed them......... What to do? Both dogs would not fit in another home. While they both love our daughter and granddaughters, there isn't room for them at their homes. Smokey (pictured) will bite if pushed too far. Scooter is a momma's dog and isn't happy if he isn't right next to me. Both are almost 8 years old. They are both rescues and have been with us for 7 years. They would not be happy anywhere else. What to do with them??? What about our 7 horses????? Spice could possibly go back to the gal who gave her to us. This gal rescued her from going to auction. Star can't be pushed too far either, she would fight to the death before giving in to cruel treatment. And, we couldn't be 100% certain they will be safe anywhere but here. There is NO WHERE that can say they would be loved forever but here. I pray to God that I never have to make any of these decisions and that we will always be able to feed and care for our furkids as long as they are alive. Not everyone is so lucky. But I will not judge anyone for putting a heathly horse to sleep over taking it to an auction. I hope I never have to walk in those shoes.

Red Rumps on Alert

If you look closely at the right, upper corner, you can see Tessa coming back to the house. She has a favorite spot to graze. It's on the east side of our property by a huge cedar tree. It's along walk for her but that is good. Walking is the one thing the natural farrier highly recommends. He says walking keeps the hoof growing and in healthy shape. The last couple of days have been cold and wet. So Tessa and Sandy have been kept in the barn quite a bit of the time. Tessa still needs to gain some weight and I don't want her to get chilled and burn her calories up trying to keep warm. They had a turn out area but both choose to stay in the barn while it was rainy. Of course the other 5 are highly put out that they had to stay outside but they had wind breaks and also have a lot of fat on them to keep warm. Gary is working in the barn, getting the wiring put up and as soon as it dries up some, will rent a trencher to get the water and electric lines run. I can't wait. Soon it will be getting dark at feeding time so the electricity in the barn will be great. In the second picture, Spice was looking at something behind them. Guess she was the rear guard, lol. Put a saddle on Star the other day and worked her in the round pen for a short time. She didn't mind the saddle at all.

October Sunrise

I love the month of October. Fall is officially here and it's my other favorite time of the year. Of course when Spring comes around, it's my other favorite time of the year too! LOL All the fur kids are doing well. Our project for next week is to get water and electricity to the barn. Not messing with a hose will be great. Hopefully, we will get some rain tomorrow night. Have a great weekend everyone.

Sonny, Spice, Sandy and Tessa. Shade time.

The fence is done to the south pasture and the gates are up so the kids have new grass now. They are enjoying it a lot. Their internal clocks are still working well, they are up at the barn for breakfast and supper right on time. That's where I took these pics (around the barn) Monday, we got 4 ten ft panels to make a couple of stalls inside the barn for the "old girls". Tessa and Sandy are now being fed in there so they can be out of the weather while eating. Soon, we will get more so all can enjoy their food inside this winter. Next Spring we will build a run-in shed on the south side of the barn so all can be comfortable during bad weather. The stalls inside are able to be folded back along the wall during the day so they can go inside the barn if they want. Hawk is a sissy and loves to stand in the barn when it is hot or rainy. BIL and sis are on the mend. He will probably go back to work next week when his sprained wrist is better. They also have a farm and raise cattle so staying side is hard for him. Sis can't go back to work for another 5 weeks until the cast is off her hand. Thank you to all who prayed for them. It is appreciated.

I just returned from MO this afternoon. We did go and do the closing on the MO property Monday. Then I spent the rest of the week with my sister and BIL. Remember I posted pics of their Harley? Well, last Sunday they were in an accident while on the bike. They were in the passing lane doing 65 mph when a 17 year old in a small pickup moved into their lane. His truck hit their bike and it went over on the left side. I was given a miracle by God that they both survived this. My sis was life-flighted to a hospital in KC but was released the next day. They both have some road rash and she has a broken bone in her left hand. BIL has a badly sprained wrist. This is a picture of her helmet. If she had not been wearing a full face helmet, she would have most likely died from facial injuries. This is her doctor's opinion and mine as well. The white scuffs on the helment are from it skidding on the road with her head inside it. Oklahoma doesn't have a helmet law, neither does Kansas or California. Crazy! Thank you God for sparing my sis and BIL. Horse updates in the next post, I'm still kinda in shock from this last week.

Fence

Well, finally all the fence we have done up by the house is painted. Still have to paint that ratty looking gate but that will take a different kind of paint since it is metal. The fence at the front of the property is done so will get some of that painted in a few days when it gets cooler. Farrier comes this afternoon. Hawk, Star, Spice and Tessa will be done. Gave the horses a real treat last night, carrots! All but Sandy loved them. This morning we tried lettuce. Rose just loves it and Spice, Sonny, Tessa and Sandy did eat theirs. I think Star did too, haven't checked her feed pan. Hawk just spit it out. It's the first thing I have ever found that he does not like. They each only got a little bit. So they had salad as well as their regular food this morning, carrots, lettuce and a little vinegar. The vinegar helps with the flies. Another week has gone by, time is going fast! Enjoy the last Saturday in September 2008.