Hoppy Easter & a Garbage Truck ???

 Over the years up here in PA,we have gotten an interesting
"Easter bunnies" showing up.

One year, we had Easter Geese. Some actual bunnies,some ducks, and who knows who will show for this Easter.

This garbage truck showed up on Thursday-
perhaps THIS is our " easter bunny" for this year ??

And a shot of one of our barn kitties,'Kissa',doing what she does best :

More New Things at WoodFinn 4/23/2011

 This past week,Brad Reisinger came out to add some firring strips to our stall ceilings, and oh joy- a stairway to our loft !

Here's a photo of his tools , all set to get busy building...


And for those local folks who are following our blog, a photo of his van-  " Free advertisement" !  We highly recommend him  :)

More exciting things happening here

 Today was the day for Fencing! Mr Fisher ( Of Fisher's Fencing in Richfield, PA) called last night to make sure it was still alright to come work on the pasture fencing. They arrived just as I was turning horses out this AM. I got out of their way, and they got started tearing the old ugly wire fence down, and rolling it up. I was cleaning stalls, and getting morning chores done as they were chugging along doing that. They had it all down and Alan started putting up the new wire. Its small squares of high tensile quality wire and gets smaller as it goes down. The top squares are approximately 3x2" and at the bottom- very small.  Very SAFE fence for the horses who live here. We are getting this new fence to replace the disgusting hi-tensile strands of wire that was here when we bought this farm AND the cheap crap that I hired some guys put up right after we moved in. It was all stretched, and torn in areas- and NOT safe at all. Plus it looked horrid. Then as soon as  the ground firms up, we'll have them come back and re-place the hi-tensile wire along the road front , up one side past the neighbors' houses, and to the far corner of the farm. That way, we'll have no loose dogs in our fields, and no kids either. The horses will be much safer as well.

They ran out of wire fencing before they got one pasture done- the one around the ring & plans are to return tomorrow to get that accomplished, plus begin tearing out wire in the other pasture.

Below is the front pasture , minus the old stuff, waiting for new.

 Again- waiting for new wire fence !

  And this is how it looks when done- 

running up the lane towards the barn :

This is SO thrilling to me..... To others, it might not be so, but to a horsewoman ? Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhyeah.... new fence !

Happy April and what's happening

It's April!  FINALLY Spring is on that way. We had a rough start to April, with some rain and snow in other areas near our farm. We just got rain, luckily. Rain, in turn, creates mud which has been prevalent here lately. Everyone I speak to is in agreement-  Spring can't arrive Soon Enough !  The horses are shedding their winter coats like mad, and my daffodils have bloomed at the house. Those at the barn are still waiting for it to get warm enough up there. It's  cooler at the barn than at the house.

The chickens have started laying eggs like mad !  I get 6 one day, then 4-5 the next- and this is from Five Hens.  Someone is really doing a super job at laying eggs, it seems.


This morning my husband had an appointment with a "handy man". They discussed things that Glenn wanted done concerning the barn. So far, we're getting all of the stall windows repaired, and new plexi-glass in them if needed, the big ends of the barn are going to be painted- to match our hen house- and the ceilings in all of the stalls repaired. The BEST surprise to me was a stairway up to the hay loft !!!!   I'll have steps to walk up instead of climbing up a ladder- that was a Grand surprise for me. 


Things are being accomplished around here- and I'm 100 % amazed at it all. This is better than a kazillion Christmas' to a horse woman and I am so blessed.


I have to get a photo of the hen house ( yes, finally got it all done being painted last Fall) so you can see the colors chosen for the main barn.  


Yes- April is a most wonderful month here at our farm !

March ... SNOW ????

 Yep- it snowed.  Last night, around bedtime, I checked to see how much sleet we'd gotten, and lo' & behold- it was Snowing !  This morning, I got up, dressed, and looked out a window. No, I hadn't been dreaming- there was snow on the ground. About 3" worth- wet, heavy snow- perfect for making snow people.(no sexists here!)
I grabbed my camera on my way out to the barn and snapped a few 'snowy' pics which I'll add below.  The horses had All stayed in their barn last night because of sleet, rain predicted. Well, the weather forecasters were Wrong once again.  Oh well, such is an early spring ! The snow is busily melting now due to the fact that it has warmed up Quite a bit. It should be creating some scrumptious MUD for us to struggle thru.

                Once again- a snowy walk to the barn

My Yucca plant- looking decidedly yucky :
  

Hemlocks along the creek...

my Dogwood... 

 poor ring- it was flooded AND iced , then snowed on:

Once again- the infamous Buffalo Mtn !

Betcha can't tell which way the winds were blowing :

Our creek was flooded as well... 

It'll be worse now with the snow melting.

By tomorrow, it will all be gone but was pretty while it lasted.

Wonderful Weather creates a Clean Carpet

I walked up to the barn early this morning..... my new side kick, Devon wasn't going to be here for a few weeks because she'd been in an accident last week. All the morning chores were left for me to accomplish.  I was greeted by 3 tons of Percherons saying " g'morning to you !"  and then Kiisa, one of the 2 barn kitties as she waited for me to bring her breakfast out. I opened up the tack room door leading into the barn, and fed her. As I did, there was a loud group of whinnies from those horses in their stalls.  ( oh joy- they'd been pooping ALL night long too) I recognized Alli, Scarlet, Sunny, and one really deep chortle from Adele. Jazz, the new girl on the block was looking out of her stall to see when I was bringing FOOD. After everyone had quieted down, she decided to ask 'how long till breakfast' in her little girl whinny.


Got everyone breakfast, and walked out to let the drafters in for the day - And their breakfast.  Abby was well behaved - a nice surprise- and BoJangles took his time walking into the barn. Evie cantered in as usual, while Lynn waited for me. We walked to the barn together... Those three horses know exactly what stalls they live in, and I trust them to choose the correct ones.


 The sunshine felt SO good this morning ! All the "little horses" were turned out for the day with some hay to eat and I got to work.  Taking a Big chance that March wouldn't toss us any more harsh freezing weather or snow, I removed all the wonderful heated water buckets out of all the stalls, and replaced them with 11 freshly scrubbed, and disinfected water buckets that are used during the warm months. Filled those with fresh water and felt good that my horses all would have nice clean water. After getting the 7 dirty stalls cleaned, and checked out each to be sure there was no ammonia smells in them, I raked them all smooth with the clean bedding. Raked out the aisle and went to mix dinner feed in the tack room. I'd been letting the carpeting on the floor go pretty much all winter. Its' so frustrating to have it covered in dirt/ mud  again,after spending time sweeping it all out. I dumped their dinner feed in the feed tubs, and decided to try to get that floor neatened up some more. Junk , plastic bags, winter gloves, and blanket bags were all over the place..... leg straps from blankets, and lots of dirt / dust.  UGH.... 

So I got busy.... swept the crud into small piles, and then got the barn vac out to slurp those up. I then swept Under saddle racks, tack trunks, and got the bathroom neat n' tidy too. Vacuumed all of that up and then went over the floor again with the shop vac.  I was making progress. Then I got out my 'webster' and got the cobbies down and off the walls, and took a glance at ALL of the 'stuff' stuffed in corners. < sigh>  Winter had been hard on our tack room. Took a lot of items off and out of corners, and found proper places for them, and found I had a couple more items for a Pony Club tack swap a friend n' I were going to .  By now I was running on empty , big time.  Tired, I sat down in the wonderfully comfy chair that is in the tack room, and enjoyed the fact that I had certainly made at least a dent in the mess. 


Yep, I had run out of energy for the day.....  so I called it quits for cleaning.  Walked up to the hens coop to check for eggs, and there were 4 fresh eggs waiting !  Emmi must have just layed an egg, because she was in one of the nesting boxes...  Turned off all the lights, shut the tack room door, and headed down to the house for some lunch.  What a good day- it felt good to not be freezing cold, and having to be bundled up like an eskimo.....


Tomorrow ?  The big table in the tack room is going to be cleaned !

Jasmine Arrives 2 19 2011

She's here- FINALLY. After waiting for 3 days, she was delivered around noon. I'll add some pictures here of her upon her arrival and today when she got to go outside for the first time .  We led her to her stall, and she was softly blowing in fear of what she might find down that long barn aisle. Once in her stall, Jasmine did a cursory explore and made a nervous pooh pile. I guess she wanted to 'claim' it as hers.  We left her alone as she was happily scarfing up her yummy hay. After the seller left, I went back to her stall to say hello and inspect her more closely. She is THIN under all of that awful long raggedy winter coat. Where she had been living, she was on 24/7 turnout with a lot of other horses. They only got grass hay in a round bale- no grain.

Today Jasmine got turned out for her first time here. She took a mouthful of hay, and began exploring her new digs. Up the hill, and across, checked out the neighbors across the way, and then back down again...

She looked at Scout n' Adele who were busy eating their morning hay. After inspecting all her small area until she is friends with our horses, she came back down to have some more hay of her own.

So Jasmine has arrived.  We'll give her some time to 'unpack' and settle in .  Then she'll get to be groomed by some students who've been waiting to meet her. I hope this mare fits in here perfectly..... Stay tuned

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