The Real Christmas Eve :)

12.24.16

Apologies for the post before this one. I have no idea why it is weird. I couldn't figure out how to fix it either and gave up. Sometimes it's more wise to walk away than get frustrated.  Or, maybe screaming at one's computer monitor?

So far, Christmas Eve Day is nothing like in the past. No snow, for example... heck, it's 45 degrees outside now. Oh well, the rainy day Could have been a blizzard. The first Christmas spent with Glenn took us to Maryland on Christmas Eve. We enjoyed the festivities with my family, and figured we'd head home to Pennsylvania the next afternoon.

HA! Seems Mother Nature had sent Maryland a HUGE snowstorm overnight. The main road we took hadn't been plowed but maybe once and the smaller roads had been plowed. Wow, did it snow!

By the time we drove down the little road to our farm, the snow was SO bad we could hardly see.. The photo below is the next day.

                Our farm had become a fairy land !

But thanks to the Jeep,and Glenn's good driving, we got home with out a problem.

Talk about a WHITE Christmas!  Wooooooooooohooooo.

Tonight, there will be none of that though. I'm sitting here enjoying a glass of wine from a local winery. The good folks who make it come twice a year and get our horse manure. A pretty fair trade, don't you think.

The horses are all tucked in their stalls, as are the hens in their houses. Simone`, our new kitten, was happily playing with the kitty ball she found when I left.

Now, this 'new kitten' Glenn chose to help replace our two other house cats is another story. Oh lordy, he is an absolute destruction team built into one longggggg cat! Life is a wonderful game for this dude- and everything is to be batted about the house, or dragged. He's knocked over the window candles, broken bulbs and some of the actual candles. He attacked the toilet paper in the guest bathroom and had it all over the place... he has stolen items from the office and I've not seen them again. ( I know he's got all that hidden away somewhere) He chases our poor American Bulldog, grabbing her tail, and it's been just recently that she has started retaliating.She is a very gentle soul but this idiot cat brings out the worst in her. Just this week, we put up the Christmas tree.... I did the decorating of it and now ? MAYBE 4 balls are left hanging way up top. All thanks to Glenn's Cat.  Needless to say, the tree is not as magnificent as it could have been. Never in my life with animals has one small cat been such a terror in the house!

< sighhhh>  Hope he grows up soon.

 I hope you all are having a great holiday season- no matter if you celebrate Hanukkah, Yule or many of the others that happen around this time of year. Hug those loved ones as you just never know how quickly they might be gone.

Christmas Eve.... 2016

I realize this has some troubles- blogger has had bad day, I think !


Christmas Eve....  Such a magical night.

"Say goodbye to November
She must be on her way
The cold winds of December
Feel like they're here to stay
Me, I'll just count the snowflakes
As they start to fall
Getting lost in the beauty
The magic of it all...

And our eyes filled with wonder
As the reindeer take to flight...

It's Christmas eve
Bells will ring
Through the town we gather to sing.
Christmas eve
Has begun
Peace and love to everyone

Light the festive candles
They'll chase the shadows away
Gathering round the yule log
With handfuls of holly
Winter winds will whisper
Through the shivering pines
Never have the stars
Looked brighter than tonight...

It's Christmas eve
Bells will ring
Through the town we gather to sing.
Christmas eve
Has begun,
Peace and love to everyone''

(Blackmore's Night
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xzd1qVtItIc&list=RDMMXzd1qVtItIc )

When I was little, I couldn't wait til Christmas Eve. As poor as we were, Christmas was always a huge event. First, school let us all free for the holidays, lots of time to play. We'd tramp out to the woods where the crowsfoot grew, gathering lots of it ,and standing pine, stuffing it into burlap bags. Some weighed more than we did! Home again, then to making wreaths. Adding a huge red bow made each one perfect. We would then, take our treasures to each of our neighbors' houses.   For those who've never seen Crows Foot, here's a picture:

It grows close to the ground and makes a wonderful wreath.

I know our parents liked us finding things to keep us busy as they had many things to be finished before Christmas Eve. We'd make decorations for the tree- popcorn strung on string, cranberries and blueberries on thread.  All of our 'store bought' decorations were quite old- they'd be very expensive antiques by now. We were so careful to not drop one on the tiled floor, but at least one got broken each year.

Our tree was one that'd been chosen a month before from the 'woods'. Our Dad would take an axe and we'd all walk out to cut it down. The little ones were told to ''stand back!"  They did- not wanting to get squished under a big fuzzy tree! When I was young, my Dad told us all a story of how the tree never wanted to be chosen as a Christmas tree... that it wanted to live out it's life in grandeur and in peace in the forest. So, we'd all bow our heads and one of us ( who'd been working on it all year long) would read our prayer to the trees. To thank them for being here and helping Mother Nature to continue living. Some of these prayers of thanks were real short, and some went on and on and onnnnnnnnnnnnnn.  Soon, we had a gorgeous tree in the tree stand, as my parents argued over whether it was straight or not. We kids thought this was silly. After all, what Christmas tree wasn't perfect, no matter what ? Let the decorating begin!

Then the long wait began. Those who already knew Santa Claus lived in our hearts and wasn't 'real', tried hard to not let on that he wasn't... 

I still have a handmade sign that simply reads "Believe". I still believe. Not in Santa or St Nick, or whatever name is given to him, but in Christmas and what it stands for. As I got older, I liked to celebrate the Winter Solstice as well- "Yule"...  Two grand celebrations with in the same week ? How perfect.

 Now that I am older, Christmas doesn't hold the fascination that it did when I was 10 or even 20. I noticed how my parents, as they grew older, got more into the religious side of Christmas. Sure, it's a Huge part of the holiday but as a child , those gifts called my name.  

We tried to go to the midnight service at church Christmas Eve, but it turned out that the littler ones stayed home and wait for Santa. I have some old family photos of various Christmas' and each one brought back such memories. It wasn't long til we were all adults and off on our own. We'd all 'go home' for Christmas Eve though.... The Finnish peoples celebrated Christmas Eve more than Christmas Day.

( http://www.dlc.fi/~marianna/gourmet/xmas_2.htm  , for some reading ) So that's what we did. It was great fun, and even after my Dad was gone, Mom still had that evening for all of us. 

Back to being 8 again!  Morning arrived after, ohhhhhhhhhhh, a good 24 hours of waiting in bed. We were not allowed to get up until our parents did, which was sheer torture. Breakfast and then it was time! We'd each get a gift, and had to wait politely until the first gift was opened, and enjoyed. Thankyous, hugs and kisses on cheeks for the person who'd given it.  It was marvelous.

For me, Christmas is still magical and fun- just different now. My siblings are scattered to the 4 winds, parents are long gone,as is our homestead. No place to go 'home'. My husband and I have a quiet celebration, open gifts and create a wonderful Christmas feast for the evening. It's pleasant and peaceful.... 

but I still miss those early Christmas'...

''It's Christmas eve,

Bells will ring

Through the town we gather to sing.

Christmas eve,

Has begun...

Peace and love to everyone.''

2016- Goodbye

What a terrible year for me.There's a lot of good though- I have a brand new hip that works perfectly, some delightful gals here at the barn and healthy husband,horses,and hens! Life is goooooooooood.

The terrible part was women leaving when I needed them the most. They moved the horses I'd given to them ( yep- free, w/ no board due). Here I was a few days out of surgery, and yep- one had dreamed up something she didn't care for and gave notice. Turns out I wasn't the only one relieved when all the proverbial dust settled. The barn's inhabitants settled down and got back to happy/ relaxed again, as did the people. Sometimes awful things have to happen to make room for more good things- and I think that is what happened here this past Spring. I am looking forward to 2017 with high hopes.

We finally got to take a 'real' vacation like normal people do- driving up the coast to Maine and relaxed a bit. It wasn't long enough though- not for me. I fell in love with Maine big time and could easily move there when we finally retire.Of course, the husband warns me about the cold weather and big snow amounts. I tell him that I lived in Michigan and did alright.

Chicken stuff: Issac has been doing what he's good at and we have had ummm,5 new hens grow up here. Four blacks and one Lavender hen. Turns out this is great because a couple of months, we lost Daisy our other Lavender hen. Also,we have discovered that Gracie, the small Silky hen is a horrid mama,but oh myyyyy,she'll sit until something hatches on fertile eggs. What I've learned is to let her sit, and then once her baby hatches, to raise it in the tack room. Otherwise, she'll hurt the babies... duh. Little to no motherly instinct in that little gal. She tried her best to make her feet hatch this Fall- to no avail. This means she went broody and decided that she was sitting in the nest, on her little feet instead of eggs.(we took them away because it would have been way to cold for peepies) Winter isn't a wise time to be born when you're a teeny little chick.  Some of the girls have gone thru a molt earlier this Autumn. Oh lordy did they ever look Horrible!Some only did a semi molt and others like Chocolate were all but bald for a couple of days. Thank gosh new feathers grew back in fast.

We have a new short guy here. He's the newest part of the farm. This is Eli :

He's all of 11 hands tall and is a rescue. He'd been sent to an auction sale in New Holland, Pa which is a big " kill buyer" sale.  Long story short- he arrived here a couple of weeks ago and everyone loves him. I bought him a little teeny pony turnout blanket as it turns out he doesn't like the wind/ cold very much at all. He still isn't sure about us not getting after him for something but is getting used to the routine and people here. Even my husband seems to think he's an okay pony. We want to teach him to drive and what grand fun that'll be! I am hoping "Santa" brings us a new teeny little harness for him. Ha- I have Never had an equine so short. According to Eli, he's as tall & fierce as any of those Percherons he's seen. 

I had to face facts about the ancient barn kitties. They were totally deaf and so arthritic their lives were pretty awful. I had to make the choice to call our vet to let them both move on or risk someone running them over, or being stepped on by a horse. The most kind thing was to peacefully let them move over "Rainbow Bridge". I know we all shed some tears over having them go, but even though it was hard to say goodbye, it was the kindest thing.

Seems that God/Goddess saw what was happening and decided to send our farm a lovely little kitten. We had no idea if it was a male or female, so I started calling it "Simon/Simone`" until we figured out which it was. SHE is now becoming very friendly and is gorgeous. The plan is to get her spayed after the first of the year,and hopefully she will stick around. She adores Amanda who keeps her pony here!

That's about all of the news here in PA. WE are getting ready for Christmas and our annual party so it'll be hectic here for a while. I love this time of year, but it needs to get a little colder to seem more like Christmas. A little dash of snow would be perfection.

Hope your Thanksgiving was wonderful.

Wishing you all a wonderful holiday season,

 no matter what holiday you celebrate!

Welcome October!

10.4.16

Happily, it is October. My favorite month of the whole year.... Time for hoodies, jeans, bonfires on the beach ( well, if you live near one- and I did), and the world becomes strikingly gorgeous.
Halloween is my favorite holiday- right behind Thanksgiving and Christmas.

The chickens are molting ( loosing their old feathers and growing in new ones) and some look positively horrid. Skinny, partially bald and not real happy with life. I swear the hens know they look icky, because they don't seem to want much attention. In all reality, its' because it takes Lot of work growing in brand new feathers. Lilly is the bald lady of the week, so far... Silverwulf has lost her tail feathers and a couple of others aren't looking real good either. Egg laying comes to an abrupt stop during this time, but I don't mind. So all in all, I have mouldy looking hens, no eggs, and even Issac is walking around looking at them oddly.

The drafters are getting incredibly fuzzy and their heads, where usually their black skin shows up, are all covered in silver. Due to their great ages, these two are pure white now, with Lynn developing " flea bites". Little black specks- I have no idea who came up w/ the name as a description, but it has been like this for a lonnnnng time. Perhaps from back when people got bitten by fleas a lot ? I dunno...

The two draft pony mares are fuzzy too- I love it. Those two are not going to be cold this winter, if their shaggy coats mean anything. Briana is terribly fluffy ( ha- in more than one way) and she reminds me of a little black furry blimp with legs hanging out. Rose is a little taller and looks good in her winter splendor. This is a photo from last winter.... she's more black now and not as sunburned but still ummm,'fluffy".

The light horses have yet to have much of a winter fuzz even beginning. Such is a protective coat of cold blooded animals, I guess....my drafters; they won't need heavy turnout blankets to often.

We have a new addition to the house...Dexter! He's a little guy, but oh wow, Full of play and mock fighting. He is 100% Glenn's kitten- which means no more litter box cleaning for Me! ( yay)

                    He's 11 weeks in these two photos

For the past two weeks, I have been dealing with a twisted/ sprained ankle. Many thanks to a horse taking off and my landing wrong. The weird thing is that it swelled like mad, but never has hurt to walk on it. Finally my ankle is going back to normal, and the bruising is leaving too. Sheesh- if it's not one thing, it's a swollen ankle.(tease)

That's about it for now- Bess's little brood are quickly out growing her. The Lavender Orpington peep is really getting tall. Still, I am lousy and figuring out sexes of little chickens, so it's all a guess til one starts to practice crowing. ( have you ever heard a teenager rooster trying to crow ? Omgosh- it's hilarious!)

Enjoy this wonderful weather and All Hallows Eve !

Molly the Mouser

  The other day, one of the gals who takes care of evening chores for me stopped at the house before leaving. She had some very amazing news it seemed.

This past February, we hatched out a peep. The mom was only good at hatching her babies but in no way was she going to care for them too."Molly" ended up being raised in the ever popular Cosequin bucket. She is half Lavender Orpington, and half who knows what.This is herself checking out a friend's cell phone:

She isn't a year old yet, and has become the most incredibly friendly barn chicken in a long time. She follows us around, supervising our work, she likes to ride in the wheelbarrow when we are putting hay in stalls for the horses, and loves checking out the manure we have put into the wheelbarrow while cleaning out stalls. All in all, Molly is quite a character.

She is now laying eggs and I think she's finally settled on a small place beside a hay bale for a place to do that. Used to be we would find them in the fresh hay in stalls, in a corner of a stall, and once or twice, in an actual nesting box. 

So- that's Molly. Now, back to the news that the gal brought to show me.....

It turns out that while she'd been mixing up feed for the horses, she heard a scuffling about outside. It was Molly. She'd found a mouse and was doing her best to catch it. She finally did, and killed it. The video from the gal's cell phone showed Molly checking the mouse out,pecking at it a little. Ok- so that's a normal behavior. Then she ate it WHOLE !!!

Yep- swallowed it right down. I was speechless at seeing that, let me tell you. There it all was- on a video. Thank goodness the gal had her phone with her and thought to record it. She hadn't a clue that Molly was going to do that and wanted to show me that Molly had indeed done a good thing.

Well, Molly seems to be fine still and is happily hunting about for spiders, flys and other items of interest to a chicken. Amazing stuff one sees at a horse fam if one is observant enough!

IFFFF I can figure out how to share the little video, I will add it here. 

Three cheers for our "Molly the Mouser ''!

To 'hang' or not to 'hang' ??

 I bet you're wondering, "what in the heck is she up to now?" 
( and why are some words in a different font here? Hmmmm)

 Yep, that is the question... Should a "horse trainer" hang out a 'shingle' advertising that they can and will train your horse for you, or not......  There seem to be no regulations or licensing to become a so-called "trainer''- anywhere.  Not that I have noticed. Sure there are some horsey schools that turn out people who think they can train, just because they can ride and some are really very very good. Then, there are the others.

Anyways, I have always been impressed with many horse trainers. Those who actually know what they are doing, and understand the equine mind.This is a wonderful thing to me, and when I see someone who understands, I'm in heaven. Now- there's a person I could talk to and know they'd understand. Without that understanding, the door for mental and physical abuse opens wide.

 I never advertised myself AS a horse trainer, but as time went by, plenty of people saw the results of how I taught my own horses. Slowly, but surely, I developed a waiting list of sorts. ( this was LONG before the internet, facebook, twitter and blogs!!!) This list was good for my ego but often folks found another person to deal with their troubled horse.

Horses really do want to have life easy.They want food, ( IE: grasses if they are wild), quiet times, good pals to scratch backs with and enough water to stay happy. When a human is introduced onto that scene, things can go terribly wrong and fast.

Treat them with the understanding that they will need to become fluent in a language completely different. Different body languages, different verbal sounds, just different everything. Imagine being an English speaking person, and then have another person tell you things in a language you have never heard before... That's when trouble starts.

Horses are pretty darned intelligent ( just ask the pony who unlocks his stall door and unlocks only his best pal's stall door) and use it alot more than many folks know. They've survived for millions of years and have gotten so much more intelligent. BUT- they are still horses. Horses that get confused and then frightened because they are trying to understand so hard that they sometimes shut down into a hysterical panic.  When a horse goes there, you may as well re- think your 'training' procedures.

So- all of that written, do you think there should be requirements and/ or licensing for horse trainers ? I think if there were, it would save a lot of pain and confusion in the equine.

SEPTEMBER- yayyyyy

9.5.2016
We are holding a Tack Sale/ Swap at our farm!This coming Saturday from 10--4.We have been working on cleaning, washing, and deciding just what we want to offer for sale.

Many thanks to those of you who've helped out with this.... you know who you are.

September is here and it was cooler for two whole days. It seems this week, summer is returning with a vengence. Upper 90's and humid as can be. Yuck. I loved the cooler weather and really do not like the summer h & h.

Fall is good for heading out to ride some trails,getting those extra things done around a farm that summer made to hot to get done. Fall is a lovely time of the year and my Favorite season.Horse show season is slowing down by now, too. I remember when I showed Appaloosas' we'd have finals up almost to Thanksgiving, and then head back to it in mid January. Body clips, shoes got pulled and the show string was let down a little. Still kept them going enough to stay fit but not quite so much"go, go,go".

The same with showing the drafters... Just that those shows didn't really get up n' running til spring and then, thru late Autumn. Now, since I have slowed down considerably, that mad rush to get horses trained or super fit doesn't happen. I kinda like this. Having shown horses from age 11, it has been a LONG time coming. Now I can thoroughly enjoy the 4 horses I have now... and let the younger crowd get up at 3AM to clean a pooh stain off their horse or be on the road by 5AM, sweat their butts off all day and come home ribbonless (or not) and exhausted. Makes for a very very long day- especially when one hauls a ton of kids along w/ their ponies or horses.My patience is not nearly what it used to be by now, and thank goodness I can slow down and enjoy life now.

I can't say how many hot steamy summer days spent in a saddle, waiting for a class to begin. Sweat soaking my nice clean show shirt and running down my breeches, into my boots. It is such a wonderful feeling. For those who've shown , I know you know just what I'm talking about.Trying to look fresh and eager to show one's horse to the judge with sweat soaked leather gloves, soaking wet hair and sweat running into one's eyes. No thanks- 40 some years of it is Plenty for me.

I love showing, don't get me wrong. I compete against myself, so there was ALWAYS room to improve on something. Being a perfectionist who knows not every living being isn't, I tried to get each horse as close to perfect as it could be. It worked well but it took me a heck of a long time to become a world champion... with a mare that I had trained.

Was it all worth it? The backpain, torn tendons,the concussions, crushed toes--- and jumping the jumps when my horse chose not to ?? ( whew- now THAT hurts!)

All in all, I think it was. Showing isn't important to me like it was before. Perhaps Briana and I will get to some driving shows, maybe we'll just go trotting down the road to town.... either way, it's me and my horses. That works!

Oh, I forgot!  Introducing Issac. He is a sweet, well behaved rooster and has been busily making fertile eggs.
Next Spring, the plan is to house all of the Lavenders together and get fertile eggs to hatch. Hoping it works !

August...

8.10.16

You know the song "Summertime" ?  I swear it was written about August. Only the 'livin' ain't easy. We horse folks usually sweat thru two sets of clothing daily, not to mention Everything sticks to sweaty bodies. The humidity is miserable in August in Pennsyl-tuckie, and we have a rain deficit big time. Lawns are brown and nothing much grows, but for WEEDS! Good grief, do we have healthy,thriving weeds. It seems all I have been doing this month is mow weeds. Allll different kinds of weeds. My step-dad would have had a wonderful time telling me their names. He was a biology professor and told my husband one time, that weeds are simply 'misplaced' plants.   Go figure. I have to admit that some flowering weeds are very pretty to see. I have a whole corner in the yard just for Queen Annes' Lace to grow. Wow, has it grown too. No lie- I bet those weeds are 4' tall. Lovely, dainty flowers - they make me smile. The blooms are super for drying too. I used to dry some for using on Christmas packages. Got that idea from my ex mother-in-law. She was so talented that way.

The hens are doing well in this heat/humidity. You know it's hot when a chicken pants. Egg production is very low though. Even our barn chicken, Molly, hasn't been laying much at all. Issac, the new rooster parades about on a daily basis, struttin' his stuff. What is it with roosters n' BIG egos anywho? He makes me chuckle sometimes with his crowing. ( and he's got the song down perfectly too) Any noise at all, and guess who joins in ? Yep, Issac. That's him below, attempting to look fierce and scary.

One of the gals at the barn snapped a photo of Molly with her cell phone- it cracked me up :

This hen is Gorgeous! She's solid black but if you see her in the sun, her feathers show an shiny blue and purple sheen. She's a funny chicken- comes when called, LOVES playing " catch the fly" on cell phones, and inspects just about everything we do.

We have a new teeny addition- another peep being raised in the tack room. This is Casey and we all hope it's a girl.

The horses are doing great. The three boarders' horses are being worked and are doing wonderfully. All are slick n' shiny with many equine coats all dappled.

Other than dealing with the temperatures, all is well. I am healing really well from hip replacement back in March, and only have to be careful of my back. Life is gooood- now for Autumn to arrive just a little early.

Have a wonderful month everyone!

Happy July

7.6.16

It was a quiet 4th celebration here, thank goodness. Rain certainly put the damper on any firework displays, so I wasn't overly concerned about the 'nightmares'.

There's a fun gal coming here to help w/ the horses... she's great and is doing fine in working w/ those that need to learn not to fear. I enjoy having her around- lots of laughter and knowledge.  :)  Sadly, I don't want to risk being dumped off any more- so this gal can have fun working w/ them.

Whew, did it ever turn hot!!  Like overnight ''we got moved into the tropics'' hot. It is STILL 95 degrees at around 5 PM. Each summer that happens on the east coast, I despise this sort of weather more and more. Ahhh, the life of horse people, eh ?

Even the hens don't want to lay eggs in this heat/ humidity... not that I blame them. We are down in numbers now, and I don't forsee more chickens in the future. Just one of the Hippie Chicks are here- I named her Grace after Grace Slick.  She n' Liza have a good time chatting amongst themselves. My good ol' Silverwulf' is still here, and when I sit outside the barn, she will come wandering over and ask me questions I haven't got an answer for. So, we just enjoy chicken things and human things together.

We have a new rooster! "Issac"- he is such a blabber mouth!  Constantly crowing, and then he'll do this "growly'' noise that cracks me up. Imagine sitting on your sofa, trying to nap or watch some tv, and hearing a grey rooster growling to himself outside the window.....  That's our Issac.

Below is our February peep... she & Bess live in the barn. She's maybe twice this size now with gorgeous black feathers that shine iridescent purple in the sunshine.

The yearling (now) draft pony has really grown. He'll be soon heading to his new family. If he's brought along the right way, he will be spectacular. 

Oh my gosh- what a time we've had with lawn mowers! To begin with, I really didn't want the one that took me two years to buy. It broke down, the deck froze, and all it did was cost money.  So it took some time for me to run out of patience with getting it fixed, and called the manufacturer. Not much good came from that so it got traded in on a much more powerful mower that sure does get the job done. YAY for a tractor that isn't "dying" on a weekly basis !!

There will be just a few horses living here after the yearling leaves, and I am happy with that. We have a wonderful group of boarders and students now, and after what happened before, I don't know if I am willing to take a chance on anyone else. I've turned down at least 4-5 folks wanting to keep their horses here since April... I like having just a few gorgeous faces to feed. It used to be, it was nothing to care for my personal horses then head out to work. Another 24 stalls mucked, buckets washed, horses turned out, and then brought back in by noon.... And I'd head for home to work 2-3 horses. No way, not any more!

That's about it for now- I will return though. ( hahaaa- how many are thinking " oh please, no!")

Stay cool everyone.

It's June.

This past week has been GORGEOUS weather wise!!! Cool temperatures,sunshine,a great breeze . Very few flies here too- I love it. Folks have been riding and apparently, having a grand time from the smiles I have been seeing.

Due to it being SO nice this past week, the horses living here stayed out 24/7 and really enjoyed themselves. Tonight, we're back to having them come in when they are supposed to. I think we ALL enjoyed not having stalls to clean. ( I do the night horse stalls, but now, that's easy-breezy.)

Always have had a good time "horse watching" during this lifetime. One learns a LOT by merely observation when it comes to equines. It has been fun watching the drafts meet the 'littles' ! Rusty is still the self assigned 'watcher' of the farm and if anything is different ? He melts down mentally and EVERYone knows it.

We are getting another horse at the farm- another TB. I hope she mixes in as well as all of the others have.  Stay tuned....  


As the cliche` goes- "What goes on at the barn, Stays at the barn"
And it will.  Hope your day is the best !!

Oh My !!

6/5/2016

I know- another addition to this blog the very Next Day!

Ever since the creation of cell phones that are actually so much more, I have friends who shared some great photos with me.

Did you know that horses like 'selfies' too? Here (and apparently in many other barns) the horses like taking them just when we humans want to take a great little photo of them being 'cute' or beautiful or whatever.

Lately some have just cracked me up because I know these horses living here so well. Each has it's own distinct personality and like we humans, come with their own set of 'emotional baggage'. Given a chance each one does learn to being relaxed, content and yes, I like to believe, happy.

So, hold onto yer hats- here we go....

This is Flash- he is here on trial and obviously knows all about selfies! He will touch the phone and loves to take his own picture.

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 BoJangles has taken some of himself on my phone- and considers it when other folks here try to get his photo.

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                                    Guess who again...

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this is one of our American Draft Ponies, Rose (aka "pumpkin")

They are the chubbiest ponies in the barn and is forever begging 'horse treats' !

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                   Rusty, coming in for a perfect selfie!

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Haha- this mare belongs to a friend- apparently, word has spread about these things called phones.

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 This nose belonged to my Percheron mare when she was young enough to stick her nose out. She took a few selfies of a nostril of hers, but I lost it when I switched cellphones.

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This guy is a true comic.... he's just a fun horse to have known.

Next, "Horse Nozes" !

It's May ! < happy dance >

Anddddd, all we've had is rain..... one nice day, the next 3-4 - yes, rain. This year, so far has had some good things and bad things happening.

I ( usually) choose to dwell on the good things, so apologies to those who read my 'rant'. Normally, I am not like that, but the slander continues and won't leave me alone.  That is the "excuse'' from me, trivial as it is- and it has been moving on time. I have
( :) Life is to short now to deal with that sort of thing.

Good thing: After surgery on 3/1/16, I am good to go. No hip joint pain at all.Still some muscle healing ( and omgosh- itching) and still getting used to following the 'rules' I have been told to follow, but generally it's Great to have no pain in that joint! I have been constantly finding out how crooked I had been for SO long- now these body parts are learning again that things are not crooked. This has been an interesting trip, let me tell ya.

Good thing- we have a Wonderful equine dentist  AND now a great equine massage therapist! ( If you are reading this- you know who you are < winks>) So busily getting that all in line and accomplished.

GOOD thing-  The folks who make hay for the horses to eat here tell me it is looking great in the fields!  < YAY> Now to find the money to buy it once it's baled..... it will come from somewhere, I hope. Perhaps Santa will bring an early gift ?

One of the gals at the barn has finally found 'The Horse'- we hope! She's been looking for a time and I thing she hit paydirt. Stay tuned on that one.

Lately, fox have been stealing my chickens- at least 5 by now. A friend's hubby drove out and shot one last winter, but we both know there are a kazillion more. I set up a trail camera and actually caught the tail end of one!

See below.... Obviously it is shedding, but it's a fox alright. The camera gets moved all the time, so perhaps I can catch anything/one who is up there at night.

The hen is Gwen- she's so curious and there are a few of her photos.. Did I happen to post one of my photos of another chicken?

Lynn apparently is curious too- I had one photo of a huge nostril earlier. Was it BoJangles or Lynn's? Who knows.

 We have a new rooster named Issac. (with thanks to a friend who 'found' him for me) 

 He's very handsome and is ( so far) well behaved. The girls adore him- especially Chocolate... they're always together.

It's good to have a true friend.... even if it is a chicken, I guess. Right now, he is standing outside my office window, crowing...

We celebrated my birthday over Memorial Day- I am officially 'OLD' now.  Lately I've been enjoying the peace and solitude this farm brings me, but have found myself wanting to not have as much hard work to accomplish.  A farm is hard to keep up with and being achy just creates a harder part to deal with. Oh well- I'll no doubt be into horses for a long time yet.

The horses are all being happy campers now- it is wonderful to have them back to normal. Yesterday, the old folks got a full body massage and you should have seen Lynda (age 25) tooling down the hill at a nice free walk!  Wow, maybe I will be next for a massage. She's back to telling me all kinds of fun stuff, 

and I love it.

 As May is actually over and it's June already, I guess I should have named this entry " June", eh ?

Thanks so much for following and reading- hope you enjoy this blog!

Welcome March..... I think

Welcome March
3/13/2016


What a lot of changes have happened since the first of the year! We had 4 rescues in, and they were happily eating a TON of feed and  hay... but looking better daily. Each one had a human who loved them, and they really enjoyed life here.

Then, it came to light that I could no longer do the heavy work in the barn. My hip hurt SO badly and my back was screaming in just handling the normal day to day items. Luckily some of the gals here pulled together and while I waited to get this hip replaced, they kept the barn going.

March,1st was my hip replacement ( yep- a brand NEW hip joint) surgery and I'm just 13 days out of it. I am walking without a cane,no longer needing a walker, and in the process of weaning myself off the super (Opioids) drugs for the pain. Let me tell ya- it was no fun. Once Glenn & I got organized on where, when and how, life was more comfy.Now, I am finally on the upswing from the initial pain and am able to walk w/out my hip hurting. It is just pain from the surgery and muscles being cut and pulled, etc.   YAY !!!   Stay tuned - I'm looking forward to a great summer.

Two gals who fell in love w/ two of my 'rescues' ended up owning them, and today the mares left to live on another farm.  I wish the owners the best- and even more so for those two mares.

So that leaves me with 8 horses in the barn- pretty simple work. I'm NOT considering any more horses in here other than maybe a Paying boarder or two in the future...Will have to see how I feel , come summertime.  Once my little draft pony,Toby, is paid for, he will leave for his new home too- but that's mid summer. Holly has a new person too and has sadly moved on- By the time Toby leaves, this farm will be set for another boarder ! MAYBE.


I own Lynn, BoJangles, Briana and Shonee and care for Rose, Toby, Jae and Rusty as boarders.  This spring will be wonderful as I won't feel so overwhelmed w/ caring for so many horses.

We have a new addition to the chicken flock- "Molly"- who was born here in mid February . She lives in a tote in my garden tub. She's goin to be very pretty, once all of her feathers come in.

And that's the news from our farm- hope your springtime is coming to life too.