Our fuzzy girls.
Sunshine is 25 this year and still going quite strong. We call her our little red mule. She is out of my grade Arab/Quarter mare which was the first and last horse I ever owned.
Sundance is Sunshine's little half sister. Same mare, different donkey dads. Sundance is 14 this year. I've ridden her under saddle twice but she is retired with Ringbone. I've had two offers on purchasing her but took a pass on it. She makes a good pasture pet.
Oddly enough Sunshine got the flaxen tail from her mom, while Sundance got the flaxen mane from her mom! Both are brilliant red mules. We often refer to them as the Reds.
Here is Siera, our Peruvian Paso mule. She is really quite a nice ride. She hates leaving home, and hates leaving her mates, but will go eventually. On the other hand, she is gaited and fun to ride. Once she relaxes, she is pretty calm. With another mule along she is literally lazy.
The ones behind Siera are Mica the grey who is 25 and retired due to health problems. She was a reining fool in her day. She can sit and spin with the best of them! 15 is the horse. She is a pain in my arse. I won't even go into her story. Let's say she and I have agreed to dislike each other immensely.
The weather is bizarre, we have Red Flag Warnings, Flood Watches, and a Weather Watch for snow up to 6 inches on Sunday evening to Monday morning along with thunderstorms on Saturday afternoon.
Miss Ariel is here and yesterday afternoon we went out the the two Flea Markets in Readstown. They are both called Crazy Franks. We had fun browsing all the cool junk and other things. One of the places had a 40 foot wall of nothing but Ertl farm equipment and assorted tractors. I found a tiny tea cup and plate that would go nicely with my little teddy bear girls when they have tea together.
Another bluebird came by and gave us a moment of excitement. We hope they come around again this year.
With this streak of hot weather, the trees have been showing off their catkins with leaf buds soon to follow.
The Virginia Bluebells are emerging along with Dutchman's Breeches.
Virginia Blue Bells
Dutchman's Breeches
Pussy Willow Trees
These plants always show up first in Tainter Hollow along Tainter Creek. I think the Trout Lilies and Wood Anemone will follow quickly.
What a serendipitous drop-in from Miss Merry's goings-on, and what a lovely visit with all the Mule-ladies in your family! It's an eighties Indiana day here, with a nice young man coming later to yard-rake all the beds before the hostas raise their little ears, and to pick up all the sticks from the lawn before First Mow.
ReplyDeleteI've loved seeing your what-you-wake-to, as I love all the faraway places to visit through this magical machine, and I can smell the Mule lot, the creek, the about-to-rise of all the GREEN, and hear their crunching and moving about and those snorty whuffs that always make me giggle.. Sweet memories of Izek, our annual mule visitor to break Mammaw's garden in that little Deep-South town now so far away. And I'm simply charmed with my first mention of "catkins" in years---and now off to look up what are Dutchman Breeches. I can envision a sweepy leaf arising, looking like my tulip leaves out there, like those wide pantaloons, but this looks much like a burgeoning stalk of celery. Anyway, pleased to meet you. racheld @ LAWN TEA
You are welcome Racheld! Our early mornings are now filled with songbirds as they are returning to the area.
DeleteI can enjoy their songs while I sit on the porch in the morning and evenings with a cup of decafe.
With the hot weather yesterday, the blooms on the bluebells are now showing in my yard!
I think Racheld said it perfectly. When I first moved here a neighbor told me that these plants growing in the gardens and around stumps were Dutchmen's breeches.
ReplyDeleteI love those flowers, they are so cool! Bleeding hearts around my house are fun too!
DeleteGlad I brought you a new friend! Your animals are so beautiful and really more like friends. Isn't this weather crazy? I'm glad it was nice for your visit, it sounds like we will all be battening down the hatches this weekend.
ReplyDeleteIt is crazy! Tomorrow we are under a winter storm watch now!
DeleteThank you for being a friend!
Hullo to your mules! Nice to get a little intro to them. I'm following the Missouri Mule Makeover on Facebook and thoroughly enjoying the posts.
ReplyDeleteNot much growing here yet, except all the trees are coming to life.
Ahhh, I have followed some of that. If you've read about Chris French who has done that, the grey mule was trained by him as a project when he was still in high school.
DeleteWe used to travel to Missouri a lot back in the day for riding with others and all sorts of events.
I miss all of that now of course.
Happy looking herd! Good thing they are still fuzzy. I noticed our bluebirds started building their nest in one of two houses we put up. The other one is waiting on tenants. Hopefully blue ones. Glad you had fun exploring the flea market with Ariel!!
ReplyDeleteThey were not happy with the latest weather change but they sure came through just fine.
DeleteI was worried with that rapid temperature changes.
Oh we loved those Flea Markets, I think she wants to do the big book store in Viroqua next along with another huge tobacco warehouse full of flea market stuff.
I love the blue birds. We have them in state parks and along farmer's field. I never see them in suburbia.
ReplyDelete