He is risen!

Happy Easter/Passover everyone.  I love this day of the year. Christ has risen!!!!  Death cannot keep  us, we will live again.

We had a thunderstorm last night. We have received 2 inches of wonderful rain. We actually have mud. Haven't seen mud for a long time. We were beginning to worry that we would need to start buying hay soon.  The grass was still short and it was beginning to get crunchy.  I am thankful for the blessing of that rain. 

Tessa has been gone almost a month now. I still miss her. The farrier was here Friday and he was sad that she had to go but not surprised.   I picture her young again and running in a huge, green pasture with lots of trees and flowing water. 

Sandy and Ace are doing ok together. She bosses him around like I do Gary. I just don't kick out at Gary, lol.  She wants Ace within sight and will whinny for him if she can't see him.  He was so good for the farrier Friday. I couldn't believe it. He was always good about his feet but the grinder was new and he was afraid of it.  Friday, he calmly stood still and his feet were done in a flash. He has great feet.  He enjoys loping a lot too.  For almost 30 years old, he is doing very well. 

Belle hasn't given birth yet. She is bagged up a little but has a ways to go.  She looks like she could explode any day now.  Bless her heart.

Enjoy all the holiday celebrations you might be attending today.  God bless.

SPRING OR SUMMER????

Wanted to show you all my Poppys. No, I'm not growing drugs, just like them because they come back every year and re-seed themselves. Less planting for me. lol. 

I read TB Friends everyday. Somedays, it brings tears and others joy.  He talked a lot about young girls and horses.  Men probably wonder what the connection is between females and horses.  I think it's the love that God gave us. We want to nurture and heal things.  We aren't ashamed to cry when a horse dies. We get angry as hell when one is mistreated. And, we will fight like a mamma bear to help one.  It's just deep, deep love. That's a good thing.

http://www.tbfriends.com/

Spending the day working on hubby's computer.  How he can get it so screwed up is beyond me. I guess he thinks these free virus protection programs are a good thing. Not so.  Personally, I use McAfee. It has never failed me.  I'm downloading and installing it on his computer and am going to try and clean out the bugs that reside there. Wish me luck.

It seems Summer has made her appearance here in Oklahoma. High winds, high temps and very low humidity. We have had lots of wild fires with homes/barns lost. When there is a bad one, someone always calls the TV stations offering a free pasture for folks horses that are in the path of the fire.  This is true horse country.  We do have kill buyers but horse tripping is illegal. I wish it was in all states and it was enfored.

Sandy and Ace are playing nice with each other. I'm glad.

Stay cool and safe.

Hugs

GOODBYE TESSA

We laid Tessa to rest this afternoon. She took part of our hearts with her. She had always been lame on the L front from previous founder. She was neglected then taken to the Centenial Auction in Colorado. The kill buyer, Charlie Carter was out bid on her and she came to live with us here in Oklahoma 3 years ago.  We had her x-rayed last Friday and her coffin bone was sinking badly, almost through the sole.  They suggested euthanaisa. We knew this time would come but had hoped for more time with her. It wasn't to be.  This last weekend was so hard knowing she only X amout of time left.  Last night I put my face into her neck and just sobbed. I though I had it under control today, until I saw the vet's truck coming down our road. We had gotten Tessa, Sandy and Ace in the barn and gave them all some Thrive. Tessa getting a double helping. We brushed her up and combed out her mane and tail. She had such a silky mane and tail. I cut a piece of her tail from underneath and then we walked her out to the grave which was dug yesterday.  The vet today said that this was how all of them should go. This from a man who was proslaughter 3 years ago when we first met. Now, he's not so sure.  Tessa went down easily. It did take a few minutes for her great heart to stop. Sandy was right there and wasn't happy at all. She galloped around and pawed the ground, then stood between Gary and I as Tessa took her last breath.  I hope she and Ace will now become close.  We put a baggie with letters from both of us and some treats in the grave with Tessa.  God speed Tessa, we will always miss you.  See you on the other side..............

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFySdseMeRc

SPRING

Spring is finally here. I always dread the months of January and February. They seem so long, cold and dark. Then March comes and new life starts to emerge.  First to turn green are the weeds of course. Right now, the back yard is still pretty much brown but there is a patch of green and purple. Weeds yes, but at last some color to the landscape.  Gary actually put in a small garden this year. He planted tomatoes, corn, peppers, carrots, cantaloupe and watermelen. Now IF this all grows to the fullest potential, it will be lots more than we can eat. But, we love sharing, lol.  The horses and donks will always help us with the carrots, lol.  We might even add a few hens for eggs. I would love a couple of ducks but don't know if they could survive here for long. 

All the horses are starting to shed their winter coats. We turned the fab five up north. They are in heaven. It took all of them a few days to switch over the DLST.  Us too. I just can't seem to get up until the sun does lately. 

The new kitty turned out to be a boy. Whew.  Now to be able to catch him for his shots and possible neutering.  But, Spike seems to be a travelin man. Some days I see him, some days I don't. 

Belle's belly is getting very big.  She is not due until the first week in May.  Hope she gets along ok with the birth.  She loves having her huge belly rubbed.  Cruiser has decided that getting hugs and kisses is a good thing, especially when there is a treat attached. Little Roger thinks he can sit in mom's lap when she sits on an overturned bucket.  I had to convince him that just will not work. 

Well, there seems to be a small storm blowing in, we just got a tiny shower and something blew over on the front deck.  Better go check it out. 

All is well at Hawk's Acres. 

Happy Spring to all.

Update

Can't believe it's been over a month since I posted here.   Time slips by so fast anymore. We all survived the blizzard. Our lowest temp was -15 without the windchill.  The snow was pretty and I'm glad we got it. Then a few days ago we had wonderful rain, a good soaking rain. Now that we really needed. Yesterday, the temp was almost 80. Today however, it's 45. So ready for Spring to truly be here.

This morning, there was a new little being at Hawk's Acres. Her picture is on top. She "talks" a lot but so far, has kept her distance. I just wonder if she followed LIttle Man home last night.  He isn't over joyed at her presence but is tolerating her. It's like he doesn't know what to do with her, lol. Of course, Miss Kitty's nose is out-of-joint again. But, she will get over that in time.  Haven't decided on a name for the new wee one yet.

The second picture is of Ace, the neglected horse from Ks. He is a good boy most of the time. We have been able to cut him back on the amount of Thrive he eats. He still gets a good amount of chopped hay though and will until the grass is really green. I'm thinking about getting a small wood chipper to chop my own hay next winter. It would be less costly and we wouldn't have to lug those bags of already chopped hay home.  They are kinda pricey. We will see what happens with that idea.

All the other critters are doing well. Dogs getting fat due to not being outside much. 

Well, that's it for now. Hugs from Hawk's Acres.

Water...

Water. Every living thing needs it. Daily.

In Nevada, there is a new committe of "wild horse experts". They are to oversee the feral horses in the state. All are "welfare ranchers".  These men get to graze their cattle on federal lands for a very small fee per cow/calf pair. One man is a former mustanger, the others are wildlife hunters.....bobcats, coyotes etc. The chairman, Mr. Stremler is a mountain lion bounty hunter. He gets $1800 per cat. WTH!!!  These are "experts"?  I think not. They feel wild horses have no legal right to the water in the state.  They want to remove the wild horses and burros for "illegally" drinking Nevada's water.  Another bogus group just trying to kill off the wild horses so they can make more money.  Round up all the wild horses and just give them to the scum killbuyers to send to Canada or Mexico for slaughter.

They also want "2-horse ranches". Now, this is plainly just stupid. If I own land, no one is going to tell me how many horses/burros I can have. As long as I feed them well and make sure they have enough water.  They also want only 1000 wild horses in the whole state. 

Give me a break. I guess some people never have enough of anything and always want more. No matter what they have to do to get it. 

The big wigs in Washington are lucky I'm not the richest woman in the country. I would be digging up all the "dirt" I could on all of them and I would use it to stop horse slaughter and the round ups of all the wild ones.  Blackmail you say?  Sure is. 

And, don't forget the young state senator in Nebraska who wants to build a slaughter house there for horses.  He's a buddy of Slaughterhouse Sue.  The whole slaughterhouse gang is making me sick. 

I hope I'm dead long before the last wild horse. 

FIRST SNOW

Well, we got our first snowfall last night. Not a big deal as you can see. But, it was enought that hubby decided to burn brush piles. So, he drives down to the front of our property in his truck. He can sit in the truck and watch the fire. He stays warm and keeps a close eye on the fire.  Now, anything that is different immediately gets attention from Sonny and Hawk as you can see.

Now, the donkeys were too excited about the fire. They were more insterested in the hay. We also kept Tessa, Sandy and Ace in the barn last night. Today, they are out in the pens munching on nice hay.

Ace is on the west side of the barn. We have doors on that side to shut when the north winds blow and they were closed last night. It was really nice in there with the doors shut.  I don't like to keep them in the barn unless the weather is going to be bad. Fire scares we so very much.  Charlie Daniels' barn burned yesterday. I have read that 11 horses and a bull were lost. This is heartbreaking. Thinking of animals dieing in a fire.  Tonight, the temps are forcasted to be very cold with wind chills below zero. So, once again the doors will be shut and the 3 old ones will be inside.  I think they enjoy being spoiled, lol.