New Help

I have been running an ad on the local Craigs' List for some folks who would like to learn more about horses in exchange for their labor. I got a few responses, but some wanted to come and have all the fun- with none of the work. Some wanted to come later in the evening and skip the stall cleaning,etc.... Some didn't know one thing about horses, but wanted to learn- then got intimidated , I suppose.  Only a couple actually showed up for a visit- and one actually is going to be a BIG help here .  She's done a fine job so far- one morning- and I hope she hangs around until we get thorough winter and this farm gets pretty again.

The weather has been nice but had High winds yesterday and today it is colder. The temps are "supposed" to hit nearly 60 degrees by Friday... YAY !  I realize this is a mere tease of nice weather from Mother Nature, so I'm enjoying it to the fullest and Then will go back into 'super care' mode for this farm.

Jasmine !

 It seems I have purchased a new horse this past week. I'd been looking around just slightly for another lesson horse due to losing our Suzi this past December. I want to bring in more students for lessons because there doesn't seem to be anyone wanting to board " way up here".

Her name is Jasmine, she is 6 yrs old, and is a very large pony size at 14.1 hands tall. She is a blood bay color with one white sock on her left hind leg. She's a non-registered Standardbred and is touted to be a fine trail horse. When I went to see her last week, she had never been to the farm where I was told to meet the owner. I got to see how she dealt with new things and she passed that test with flying colors !  I watched her get ridden, and found her to be just 'okay' with it all.  Jasmine needs some more ring miles to become a better, well trained horse .The most positive item is her wonderful sweet personality. She is adorable and in my barn- she will become More so.  I have a very happy barn with happy horses in it- so Jazz will blossom here. 
Here is a photo of her looking oh so pretty last summer:

She rides and knows how to drive as well, so Now I have another lesson horse for those who want to drive too. I can' t wait till she is here !!

Wow- Warm Weather & Glenn's birthday

2/11/2011

Today, my dear husband turns 62. HE says he is " old " now, I say that is nonsense. His body may be, but his quick wit, great sense of humor and more is Very well intact and working just fine. We are planning to celebrate tomorrow ( Saturday) and go out to dinner at Pizza Hut this evening....

Our area is being blessed with a tease from Mother Nature for a few days. Usually in February, one expects snow storms, ice storms and more, but THIS week is supposed to be Gloriously WARM. I actually did horse chores this morning with out 3 layers of clothing on !  This week is going to be wonderful....... from one's knees , up. Soon the snow will melt, and that will create much mud, which will in turn be ground up by big and small horse hooves. < sigh>  We are on the down hill slide towards Spring now- and I , for one, will be VERY happy to bask in warm sunshine once again.

More Icy pictures...

I went outside to snap a few more pix and it sounded like it was raining ice. Very odd !

Turns out it was ice melting off of the forest trees.... and doing it quickly. I couldn't quite catch the full impact, but here's what I tried... If you look VERY closely and see what looks like flying ice- that's the ice melting from the trees. The bottom one is a little easier to see it.

Ice Storm 2/2/2011

So far Ol' Man Winter has tossed some miserable weather at us this year. No blizzards yet, thank goodness. It's early yet. This AM we woke up to ice.... ALL over the place outside. Tree branches were coated, the hemlocks were coated, as well as our deck, and vehicles. Ice all Over the place !

Here are some pictures of it :

Aidens x 2 !

Glenn & I went to the Pa. Farm Show a couple of weeks ago. As we were waiting for the shuttle busses to come along, I noticed a little fella in a red winter coat, talking to his mom. He was very excited about going to see "Cowwwwwwwwws" . He'd ask his mom over n' over again about those cows. I asked him if he liked cows, and he smiled and grinned at me. Then I asked him what his name was, and he looked at his mom as if to see if it was okay.
She smiled and said " well, what's your name , Aiden?"

That was when he grinned at me again and told me his name was Aiden.
It turns out that we have a Dominique rooster who's name is Aiden also. He used to be "Ada" before he began crowing- thus letting me know that Ada wasn't a wise name choice any longer.

So- here's a couple of photos of Aiden ( the kid ) and Aiden ( the rooster:

Farm Show Aiden:

 This one's Our Aiden....

Pleasure Show 1/13/2011

 Am busily catching up on blogs, as you can tell....  The Farm Show Pleasure Draft show was held on a Thursday, from 3-6 PM.  A stupid time to have a show but the seats were pretty filled up with people watching! Again- a few friends showed, and I got some photos. Still learning with this camera and new lens.....  I can see it's going to take some time . :( The guy below drove a Shire X stallion, and they did really well !

This is called a Tandem Hitch....

 And a dear little Spring Wagon made to look like a covered wagon in the commercial driving class below...

This was one of the gals in Lady's Cart...

Farm Show- PA. 1.8.2011

Today we went to see the hitch horses - cart classes at the Farm Show. Basically, this is a giant winter time State Fair for Pennsylvania, and they include the Draft horses. It was great seeing so many long-time friends, even though I no longer choose to compete with those high stepping, fancy giant Percherons -  my horses look like Percheron ponies next to them!  I'll add a few photos of the classes...

1-18-2011 Ugh

Well, snow arrived, and then we got ice as a topping on it..... made for a very slippery walk to our barn. My husband had gone to work early due to most probably slippery conditions, and he Hates being late.

I hauled water to the outside tubs with my little JD tractor After plowing a path with Moses, our ancient tractor. Then, I got the stalls done after turning the light horses out for the day. I Thought it was going to be a nasty day but it turned out that that cold front moved out of PA faster than expected. The weather was cloudy, but warm compared to the last few weeks.  The draft horses were quite full of themselves having been in all night long, and they insisted I give them hay FIRST, please. Not being one to ignore one ton horses pleading for hay, they got fed before anyone else. I was so pleased to get the other horses turned out for the day- Less work for ME and they enjoy doing "horse things" out in their pastures.

 Side Bar :
A few days ago I was walking home when I saw a weird looking spot in the snow..... Turns out my Clydesdale mare, Carli, had made a BIG horsey 'snow angel' !  I went to the house, grabbed my camera and here it is ... See how it's "horse shaped "

I kept trying to get a photo of it, and the camera Just wouldn't take one ! I tried All the settings, and then came to find out, I'd still had the lens cover on the camera.DUHHHH.
But alls' well that ends well- and I have a photo of a Clydesdale sized snow angel.  :)

 Back to the blog. As I was finishing up, I noticed that Glenns' car was in the drive..... Hmmmm...  It was a good 30 minutes later that I finally got inside that he told me he'd "T-Boned" some woman on his way to work .  'You WHAT ?????'  Then he explained that on his way to work,some gal had lost control of her car while passing him on the icy highway. She slid back n' forth, and did a couple of full circles in front of him. He said he thought maybe he was going to miss her, when all of a sudden, here she comes again, over steering - right out in front of him. He hit the mid section of the passenger side, and they both ended up sliding onto the median strip. She had her cell phone, and called the police. Thank God neither of them were hurt- her car was though. Glenn's little Pacifica has a small amount of damage that'll have to be repaired but not much at all compared to the other car.  Thanks to Chrysler and Mercedes Benz for creating one helluva wonderful little car , my dear hubby only wrenched his back a little more than normal. He'll be feeling much worse tomorrow, I know ! 

 The rest of the day went alright - and we are all done for the day. Inside to curl up with Sadie and enjoy the evening. I WAS going to head to Harrisburg ( Farm Show Complex) to the Pa. Draft horse sale, but I've opted to not bother driving . As the temps go down tonight, those roadways will become a skating rink again.  Below is a photo I took of a gorgeous sunrise at WoodFinn...

Anddddddddddd, a couple of photos of my husbands' little car after his accident today . 

Not to terrible, thank you, God...

12/13/2010

Today our ancient pony crossed over the Rainbow Bridge.... Suzi was soon to be 48 years old . She got a colic on  December 9th, and try as we might- our vet & I could not get her past it. Suzi's intestines had impacted and she was to old to get things 'moving' again. She was put down at 1PM, and the vet told me that as Suzi was passing, Alli and Scarlet ( her two pasture pals) came galloping up the hill to say goodbye. I had Suzi buried on top of the pasture hill where she and Alli used to enjoy standing on hot summer days.

" If love could have saved you, you'd have lived forever".... God speed, Suzi.

1963- 2010

Dead ???? Mouse

 I was sound asleep one morning when I was awakened by a loud slapping noise in the dining room. I wondered what in the world it could be when it stopped. Only half awake, I fell back to sleep. There was nothing out of place when I got up an hour later and promptly forgot about it.


Glenn got home from work in the evening to tell me of his Great Adventure of the Morning.  It seems that Shadow, our house cat, had caught himself a mouse. Glenn figured he would just leave him alone with it until he finally killed it. He kept checking on Shadow to see if the poor mouse was dead yet, but Shadow had in mind to simply torture it a LOT.I'm sure you all are aware of how a cat will treat a mouse that has been dumb enough to be caught.....

It was then almost time for Glenn to leave for work, and the danged mouse was STILL there. He decided to do it in, but with what?  AH!  The Broom.  He said he whacked it and whacked it, then whacked it some more... The mouse was still alive.  He whacked it a few more times, then swept it into a dustpan and dumped it outside.  I hadn't seen a mouse anywhere out there, but I hadn't looked too hard either.

We both went out to where he'd chucked it and it was gone. Now- either one of the barn cats found it or Glenn didn't really kill it as he thought he had.  A great mystery neither of us was going to worry about much at all.

Happy New Year !!

It is the first day of 2011.
 Many have resolutions made that will never be fulfilled, others ?  Perhaps. Mine are as follows:
Get out there and hitch Abby so that we can possibly enter the Carriage Driving Class at Devon in May
Begin walking again….either behind my mare Eve, or with Sadie
Eat Healthy !
That is about it…. not to big but plenty big enough, I think. I Also want to build up the lesson area of this business so it pays for another horse.  I had to have Suzi put down the 13th of December, due to a impaction colic. I have lost a piece of my heart …… 

Not much else today but Glenn n’ I cooked a delicious New Years ‘ Day dinner. :)

YUMMMMM, and now we're both stuffed with a good meal, and looking forward to this coming New year.

Merry Christmas !!! December 25 2010

If the dates don't coincide with these blogs, its because I'm catching up.   Sorry !   We woke up to a peaceful Non Snowy Christmas morning. Turns out that my two barn rats came to help do morning chores on Christmas !  I was so pleased, I just wanted to hug them Both in thanks.  We got done in record time and Glenn brought us all some nice warm cappucino to drink.  Once I landed back in the house, the gift exchanging began. I had two Secret Santa gifts to open, and a couple from my brother n' sister, plus Glenns' gifts for me. Glenn had a TON of gifts from me as I'd been shopping all year long for this day. Sadie got her favorite gift - a real bone with yummy filling in it, and Shadow got a fabric "cave" which he is scare of.  < oh well >


Glenn got me a telephoto lens as my 'big' gift !!  I was Floored- and have taken some pictures with the camera and it. I'll add them here soon.  We relaxed some, I did some reading online, and it was soon time to start our Christmas dinner. We had a standing rib roast, some mashed potatoes and some applesauce. Not nearly like holiday feasts in our pasts, but plenty for just us...
Once the horses (*AGAIN) had their dinners, we collapsed on the sofa to watch some tv and then to bed. All in all a wonderfully peaceful Christmas Day. :) Below is of our creek....  I loved that old branch with ice on it...

Then one of three horses taken from our Deck ! That's quite some distance...

Then one of my favorites I had to take fast because Glenn was in a hurry for some reason.... this one is of Carlene & Glenn talking..

Our Annual Christmas Party

 December 19th was the chosen day..... the weather turned out Perfect and it was to begin at 3 in the afternoon.  People showed up early and I'd decorated the barn so they got to see it earlier than the other guests.  I used to go all out in barn / house decorations but as the years passed, they got less and less.  Seems once its' all decorated, its' time to take it all down.... sooooooooooo I didn't go overboard.  Here's how it looked- and that is my friend at the end of the aisle being goofy.

The party went well, everyone brought a dish to share and we offered a huge deli tray of luncheon meats/ cheeses and the extras that one might enjoy on a sandwich.  Then I had to go up to the barn and feed horses for the evening ( duh- don't plan a party with horse chores in the middle of it !) Everyone who wanted to , came to 'help' and we got done in record time. Horses were all snuggled in their stalls, and we took a few minutes to say good bye to our Suzi. This was mostly for Jaide who loved Suzi so much. We did a short prayer for God to keep good care of her, and that we all loved her very much. I gave Jaide a small decoration from Suzi's "necklace" and she carried it with her the rest of the evening.  Soon everyone was sitting around like stuffed whales - me TOO- and chatting happily.  What a good time was had, gifts were exchanged and everyone left in great Christmas spirit.

These little parties mean so much to me- Its my way of saying thank you for all of the help in the past year to everyone who has anything to do with my barn.

Merry Christmas Everyone !!

December 13th, 2010- Suzi is gone.

Our pony, Suzi, had developed a slight colic Thursday evening, the 9th of December. I called our vet to come check on her, and Suzi got a shot to slow her digestive system down and then once it wore off ( a few minutes later), to start it moving again. Suzi felt much better, but by Saturday I was sure she had 'impacted' ( similar to a clogged pipe in one's house- Nothing moves past it).  Becky came back again, and Suzi got dosed with a pony-sized amount of oil and warmed water.  By Sunday evening, once Suzi's painkillers wore off, she was in great pain. I kept giving her shots to keep her comfortable and praying that she would pass some manure. That would mean that Maybe her impaction was clearing up.  She did not, and on Monday morning, our dear ancient pony passed over the Rainbow Bridge.  Her students were so sad, as was her best equine pal, Alli. They had been best friends for 12 years.  


That week was terribly hard to get thru, and Alli moped around a lot. I was beginning to be very worried about her because she too is OLD...  The next Monday however, when I walked into the barn to give all the horses breakfast, Alli was the first to call to me to " Hurry, Please !! We are Hungry !"


Suzi is out of pain now, and everyone seems to have adjusted as I write this blog. I miss her terribly, but know it was for the best.....  Below is a photo of she and Alli waiting to come in for FOOD, as usual... from September, 2010

Rest in Peace, Suzi......

1963---2010

Tis Almost Christmas !

12.12.2010

Just a little while until Christmas Eve , then Christmas Day !  I have been busily shopping for all those who have been kind enough to help here at my barn , and family and The Husband too.

The weather has been Cold the last week or so. Much rain, and a little dusting of snow the other day.Today we are in a rainy pattern and I'm so happy it is not a big snow storm. The horses have been wearing their blankets and all but Suzi are doing great. She is dealing with a colic that has moved into an impaction we believe. Since Thursday evening....  I hope she makes it thru and begins passing manure again. Suzi is 48 this year and one ancient pony !

All barn repairs have gone on hold til spring. It's to cold to paint now, so we'll just wait til warmer weather arrives.  :) 

Evie's wound is looking pretty awesome after healing since June. Its Slowly closing up but no hair is growing there yet.  Let's hope she doesn't end up with a bald patch ! 

I hope everyone out there has gotten most of their Christmas shopping accomplished and are looking forward to a great holiday season !

Happy Thanksgiving !

Well , Thanksgiving dinner has been cooked, served and eaten.... dishes are washed and placed back to their proper places. It was deemed " Good" by Glenn & Sadie, our American Bulldog. She got to have a small taste of the "potato filling" we had prepared.

   Earlier,the day dawned cold, with sleet -- a pretty miserable start to a good day. The horses got to stay inside their stalls today, and seemed quite happy to do so. We got to try out the "new overhead" door and it worked perfectly. The barn is going to stay nice and cozy , thanks to those two overheads being half way closed. Kiisa and Moxie even had a nice dinner of kitty food. I gave the chickens a treat of some cracked corn this evening . The egg count is falling off as winter moves in .... I'll get 3 one day and two the next. Before when it was warm out, I'd get 4 one day and 5 the next from 5 hens I knew were laying. The two Barred Plymouth Rock hens have begun laying off and on, but most likely will be good layers next spring.

I have been 'winterizing their coop by nailing boards over their windows. The glass was broken when I bought it, so that will have to do for now. I still need to buy a bale of straw for their nests and the floor.

Got the winter blankets out for the horses- Alli & Scarlet will no doubt need stable blankets too. Those two mares figure they are 'show horses' and need to be treated as such. Suzi looks like a wooly little thing...her winter coat is So heavy now.  I'll have to be sure to get some recent photos of them all.  Perhaps Saturday when the sunshine returns !                 

The New Door - October 31,2010

The new overhead barn door is here and installed !   It works like a dream- soooooooo simple to lift up. Its designed to look like a carriage house door, but it slides up , out of the way.  The folks who did the work And ordered it for me were Wonderful !   Gotta plug their business:   "Garage Doors Plus"   Lisa & Ron Short, from Enola, PA.  They were so helpful in letting me know what my choices were, and the costs as well, up front. No hidden fees or surprises. I'd called a few other garage door installers, and they all had to " get back to me".  Lisa was on a job, and asked if she could call me back in a few minutes. I figured she'd call later on when they'd gotten home. No- she DID call me back and With some suggestions, AND prices.  Then they both came to see what work was involved and we ordered the door.It arrived faster than I thought and they were here that Monday to install it !  Here are some photos of how it all went. Ron was great about answering my 'stupid human' questions as he worked and I learned a lot about garage doors .
                                                
                                                         Lisa and  Ron kind of posing !

                                                             This is their information....

    Lisa doing something important- the door is Almost up ...

                                                                The finished product   (:)

I love how it looks- now to get the Rest of the barn looking as grand !  Things always look crooked here because the whole farm is on a slope doing dowwwwwwwwwwwwn. The barn really IS straight though.

'Henny Pennys's' Hen House

 My hens have been laying eggs for about a month now. I get four eggs one day, and three the next...this from 5 hens that are laying. Pretty good , I think !   I've been saving them by the dozen to give to our chicken sponsors, and so far the eggs are getting rave reviews.  The hens and Aiden have been "free range" for quite some time, and meet me at their little gate in the mornings, waiting to go out for the day. Lately they have been heading up to their little hen house in the evenings when I am there to do evening feeds/ turnouts for the horses. They're learning the routine  .  All but for the two new babies I bought- the " Little's".  They aren't so little any more though ! These are Barred Plymouth Rock hens and they're growing up fast. Roxie n' Annie..... I shall have to get a photo of them.

I finally got around to buying some paint for the coop too.... Have been working on it in between rainy days. I ran out of the deep red paint, so in the picture, you can still see the yellow it was when I bought it.  Here's a couple of photos of it as it got painted.... I need to get some more red, but it is supposed to be chilly & rainy again tomorrow.  There's no rush then. This shot is a little crooked but you get the idea !

The next is with the trim on,but not done because I wasn't tall enough to reach the top! We still need to get some plexi-glass to cover the openings for winter.  I really like the way its going to look  :)   This one is crooked TOO

Of course, one has to add a couple of the chickens.... Glenn took these last Sunday:

This weekend, I HOPE to get it all finished !

October 13th, 2010

Things have been moving along it seems. We now have a super safe fence that travels the distance of the whole farm, width-wise. Its a no climb horse fence- and seems to have been Perfectly designed for idiot Percheron mares who insist its alright to Roll into wire fencing. Once I got to talk to the fellow who owns the fencing ( Fisher's Fencing) company, and he came out to take a look at what was needed, things really happened. They returned the Next Day and the new safe fence was done in a day and a half. Turns out they had a lull in-between another job and could fit this fence in easily. I love it, and here are some photos of it  installed :
This is standing at the gate, lookin' down the fence line. The guys are still working....

  This view is up the hill from the gate. See the unpainted hen house ?  Its' almost all re-painted by now !

I have ordered a new overhead door that will go on the front of the barn . It looks similar to a carriage house door, but is an over head one. I can't WAIT to see what its' going to look like.

We chose to not have the upper part of the barn covered in anything. Instead- and to save money, I'm trying to find someone with scaffolding to paint it. Deep red with deep, dark blue trim. It should look very colonial once its done.

Now to find someone to remove the old stall windows and put in new awning types for a small amount. Ha- small ???  I will be sure to sit down when I hear the quotes !

September 13 2010

There hasn't been much happening around here other than the normal items needed accomplishing on a farm. I'm impatiently waiting for the return of my lawn tractor so I can get the yard ( AKA:  the jungle ) mowed. The grass is close to a foot tall by now. The hens are happily laying small to medium sized eggs - I get 4 one day and 3 the next. Considering there are 5 hens laying- that's not bad !

Things Are going to be picking up here though..... I have a fencer coming tomorrow ( Tuesday) to see what I want done and then to work up a price. I HOPE its not going to be a lot - but what ever the price- it will be worth the expense to keep my horses safe.

Then this coming Friday, I have an appointment with a company that does vinyl siding. I want to get the top part on the front of the barn redone..... Here's what it looks like now.

I would like to have the top replaced with a brick or dark red color in vinyl and then a new over-head door there too. Get some good paint in a dark blue and paint the trim that color. It'll look nice, I Hope  :)

Soon I want to contact PP&L about moving the electric box on To the house and from the sorry looking pole it is on now.  Its not safe and we want the wires from the corner pole to come underground to the house. I see this as being much more safe.

Sadie has been growing and filling out like mad. She is just about all grown up by now as she's a little over one year old. She's been a great friend - but not a barn buddy like Petey used to be. She's allergic to shavings and sawdust;  Sooooooooooooooo she won't be up at the barn very often.

Evie's leg is healing up well.  Here is a recent photo of it:

It is still inflamed but is looking SO much better !

Glenn has been doing fine since his bout in the hospital, but he gets tired faster it seems now. His new job is hectic but he says he likes working there. I just wish there was a financial way he could retire soon ! 

More news on farm improvements and pictures to come - stay tuned.

Summers’ End…

9/3/2010

Summer will soon be over here in central Pennsylvania. The acorns have been dropping from the oak trees since mid July and I’ve seen some squirrels running all over attempting to bury some they find. I imagine that will be the last time they find those buried acorns ! As Sadie and I were going on her morning pee walk about the yard, there was one who was very surprised to see us.  I didn’t know that squirrels could jump quite so far .  Sadie didn’t know What it was and watched that squirrel climb the electric pole in amazement.

Most of the horses have light winter coats by now. The ponies especially ! During these left over hot/humid days of summer, they get all sweaty during the day. The drafters get the most sweaty it seems.

I love the up coming season- Autumn.  The weather is cooler, the days are crisp and is a warning of pending winter……   Below is a photo of a setting winter sun…  one of my favorites.