"Just A Dog"

Got this link in an e-mail and just had to share it with you... easiest way is just to go to this other blog, and click on the video... TISSUE WARNING!!! But it's so good...

http://richmondpetlovers.com/blog/just-a-dog/

Uppercut to the Chin...

Well I've never been in a bar fight, nor a boxing ring... but thanks to Hemi, as of this morning I know EXACTLY what an uppercut to the chin feels like! GEEZ! With the cow-boys being so little, I have to bend over to hang on to them... I started working with one of them a few minutes each morning, it's too hot for much more but I've GOT to get started... they are fairly wild and unhandled so it's going to take a while. This morning I had hold of Hemi, was petting him and scratching his poll, he actually stopped trying to run away a LOT faster than the first time (Monday) so I thought I would try to get him to eat something out of my other hand, with no warning he just reared up and CLOCKED me right in the chin with his poll. Yeah, I lost my grip on the halter and he was gone, I saw stars and my EAR hurt! I hate to let the critter "win" but at this point I was NOT feeling like starting over so I opted to walk away... and SIT DOWN!

I think I'm ok now... just waiting to see if my chin turns purple, black and blue!

Wahoo! Portable Panels for Camping...

A gal had posted these about a month ago on AzBCR for a friend... when they still hadn't sold, I asked about coming down a bit in price and HE SAID YES! So tonight after work I went to pick them up. Randy had said, when I mentioned them on Friday, that we couldn't strap them to the top of the Jeep... so I didn't tell him {tongue in cheek} until I was almost home...

But hey I had a blanket to keep the luggage rack from getting scratched, and good tie-down straps, and I knew from the measurements in the ad that they wouldn't overhang too much...

I'm thrilled, I've been using my 4 mini-safe SEVEN RAIL panels for camping, but they are heavy enough it is quite a chore to load and unload them... these are nice and light, in fact I can pick up TWO AT A TIME! And whatever horse I take will have more room as there are 6 of these! Since I started endurance with Katie, I like to give her an actual pen since I have asked her to work so hard, so that she can lay down, stretch, roll, or whatever. She hi-lines and ties to the trailer with no problem, but she's such a good girl I like to spoil her. And Jasmine does NOT like to stand tied to the trailer... in fact even WITH dinner in a bucket, she banged her knee on the trailer Saturday night at Mel's, hard enough to split it open {sigh}.

I think I done good huh?

Playing With Obstacles

My friend Melanie moved recently, and last night had a housewarming and horsey obstacle fun party... I took Jasmine and Sherman, intending to play with obstacles after dinner, but the pot luck contributions were so awesome, I ate too much... and it was so HOT...

So I talked my friend Jenn into taking Jasmine around the obstacles so I could take pictures... turned out to be a good thing, Jasmine was kinda scared of most of the stuff, but if I took hold of her lead rope and went first, she pretty much followed me through everything!

Jasmine did this too...

...and this! But I was leading her so too close for pictures.

FINALLY got her to touch the soccer ball with her nose...

... but no amount of kicking would get her close enough to kick the ball!


The funniest part you will have to imagine... there was a LONG white tube, about 4 inches in diameter, with a string tied to one end. Other horses were pulling it and Jasmine thought it was some kind of monster... so when it wasn't being used, Jenn and I headed in that direction... got her to walk over it a few times, and to stand - albeit wide-eyed and ready to bolt! - while I moved it around. Then Jenn took hold of the string and actually got Jasmine to pull it! Meanwhile Sherman was just SURE that since this thing was moving, there must be a critter inside it, and he was bound and determined to get it out... so his nose and most of his head were inside one end of the tube, then the other... of course by this time it was too dark for pictures :( But when the dogs chase bunnies, lizards etc. at home, the critters hide in similar tubes in our yard, so Sherman was not about to give up... it was hilarious!

WE GOT RAIN!!!

Well, not much, but we did get a nice shower last night about sunset... just enough I didn't take the camera out with me. When it quit though I called Randy and asked him to catch the sunset for me...






He's got to learn the same lesson I am still struggling with on this camera - how to HOLD STILL! But you get the idea :) it was a lovely day to be up at sunrise AND sunset!

Sunrise...

Sorry this first shot is so blurry but it's the only one that caught these colors... I have GOT to figure out how to hold that camera still when I push the shutter button!


Once the sun peeked over the horizon, the colors changed drastically!

With all the cloud cover, it LOOKS like it was nice and cool huh?






Unfortuantely, it was NOT! But I got everyone fed and a few minor chores done anyway. And just before I went in I found this:

Hoping for a storm tonight!

Better Late Than Never... Chickens!

I just realized that I missed posting about the chickens! A few weeks ago, not long after I brought Levin and Stetson home, I picked up a couple of hens and their coop, along with everything else "they" own, from an ad on Craigslist. Their military family is being transferred to South Carolina and of course the logistics of moving a couple of chickens across the whole country is just not computing... The little girl was sad and when she asked me, of course I promised to keep the names she had given them...

Meet Daisy and Sunshine!


The coop and small run


The inside of the coop...

8 nesting boxes and they have to share!


Our first eggs! And yup, YUM YUM!


A gal I know through AzBCR is moving to Florida and she had a few hens too... so I picked them up last Friday. I haven't even had time to take pictures of them yet, and today we lost one to heat stroke :( Sure makes me worry about my little man Peter Pan, but so far he seems to be handling the heat just fine. Of course I keep him in full shade during the day, and let him out at night to exercise... and I have seen him drinking water several times already, so even if he is not hungry for mama's milk, he knows how to keep hydrated!