Different stuff...

Dirty girls. They look awful like this and then go roll in the sand 'pit' and come out looking much cleaner. They have burs in their tails and their manes. The manes won't be an issue because I trim them off.

Fifteen is our only horse and I never wanted her here anyway. We don't like each other much and the feeling is mutual. I don't have time to do right by her. 

The mules are trained and have perfect manners and will accept a saddle and go without any extra work.

I may have finally found a home for 15 with someone who will work with her and give her what she really deserves. Of course we have to wait and see if it works out. If not, then I will search some more.

She is pretty, but as I said, I don't need her and she and I don't exactly see eye to eye. The photo below is her this past fall. She does have a pretty color to her. She is a bright red bay with a beautiful mane and tail.

Less mouths to feed = less expenses in feed. With today's economy these things are important.

My hiking pal --> Jason the Geologist Pony Tail Guy -- is coming out this afternoon with his two tumbleweed dogs. [My stepdaughter calls him the Pony Tail Guy so we've given him that moniker!]

Jason is going to provide me with some coverage while I get our taxes done and some other errands that take me out of the house. We'll also have some time to explore the creek bottom and give our 'puppers' some time to stretch their legs.

Apparently Jason is coming with some food and plans on doing some cooking for us? I never thought a random meeting during a hike on December 31st 2021 would produce a friendship like ours. Jason and Rich get along too. That is another bonus. 

This week will be busy also. 

Taxes, errands, and then another visit from one of our ex neighbors [along with the home aide and the nurse].

Caring for Rich is like having a toddler again. We arrange things around his 'eat' time and his 'nap' time.

Yesterday afternoon was so beautiful! It was up to 70F in the late afternoon when I took Charlie for a walk up the road to get the mail and some exercise.

I took my Infrared Camera with the 850nm filter on it. 850nm only lets you shoot black and white. Anything with chlorophyll will show as bright white. The clouds will show up white also, blue sky shows up dark colored.

This was our walk up and out to the ridge. 

It was another very windy day and I heard a tree fall in the woods, so we stuck to the gravel road.

This was the view of our house after our muddy walk. Our gravel roads turn to mush when the frost is coming out of the ground. Charlie got properly dirty and wet so we spent some time drying off on the porch.

We love our porch.

I found this doll head in the ditch. I know who lost it there a long time ago. One of my previous neighbor's kids used to take his dolls and make them into Zombies. [No, he did not grow up to become a serial killer..].

I found this on the edge of his old property and had to laugh as I recognized his work right away.

Perfect for a black and white photo.....

Zombie gal...

A 45 minute walk is about perfect for Rich's nap time and break time to breath fresh air.

This summer, I will be the yard mower since he won't be able to help. I plan on doing a bit more flower gardening to keep me near the house and focused.

I'm thinking Cone Flowers, Dahlias [maybe], and bunches of Lily's of different kinds. Bachelor buttons and then my mixes of cosmos, zinnias, morning glories, sunflowers and whatever else I can dream up.

I have most of the seeds I need from collecting them last year. Now I just have to figure out where I'm going to expand for more flowers.

I can always dig up the not so great sections of the yard to mow!

Last year's side garden....

March in like a??

I have to admit it. I am now craving color. Like the color green instead of the color mud. 

Suddenly I'm looking at the flower garden and wondering where I can plant MORE flowers. How much yard can I get away with digging up? 

But wait. March is too early to think planting, but planning is fine.

So far we've had snow/sleet/thunder/lightening/winds/warm days and cold days. So we've essentially run the gambit of March-mad-ness.

I spent some time wandering around the upper pasture and then sat for a bit under a box elder and watched the neighbor's meadow. The crows always seem to be busy out there.

Then I heard some snorting.

Why hello Miss Fifteen! She has got to be the one of the biggest busy bodies we have.
She and I generally don't see eye to eye. But she sure is a looker.

Sundance saw that I had no hay so she turned and watched out over the woods.

Her sister, Sunshine, acted bored. 

No food? Not interested! 

Behind her is the roof of our house. As I said we live in a 'bowl' or a hollow. We look up at the surrounding forest.

Only the pony has started to shed. He is always the first one. The others still have their wooly winter coats on. Soon enough the hair will be flying.

Charlie and I are going to go look for birds on Thursday and visit an ice falls before they melt away. 

The weather is cold this week and then it is supposed to be 50 on Sunday?

Oh March, make up your mind!

Of course April can always throw in a surprise or two also.

Mule Attitude

So the big snow is occurring. I don't think it is going to be a 5 to 10 inch snowfall here, however ... the 'event' is not supposed to end until this evening.

I added bedding and hay to Sven's indoor pen. I considered shutting the door to his pen but the other day when I did have it closed he 'locked' himself out. He has access to a rather large area outside and spends most sunny days observing his Kingdom from a mound.

Here Charlie is checking for yummy goat poo.

I loaded a huge hay net for Mica and Sunshine to put in the large stall I built.

Suffice to say that Mica turned into an evil beast when I put her in the stall and put Sunshine in with her for company. She kicked at Sunshine and shoved her around.
I think a few factors entered into this. Mica has a paddock next to the shed and I separated her about a month ago from the others. She has Sven on one side of her and Little Richard on the other. I've been giving her a bit of sweet feed twice a day.
One: Mica wasn't in Sunshine's herd anymore.
Two: Mica preferred Little Richard and Sven to Sunshine's company
Three: Sweet Feed has helped her maintain her weight but has not helped her attitude.

Hmm. I may have to start thinking about using some beet pulp.

Anyway, I got them calmed down and dumped the hay out of the net and separated it into the far corners of the large stall.
Meanwhile, the storm did rage on outside with high winds and blowing snow.

The other mules huddled around their piles of snow and then disappeared into the woods to get out of the stinging winds and snow.

Morning:

Sundance says good morning!

Fred. No good morning.

Get my breakfast!

Fred is 33 yrs old.

Siera and 15

These two are nearly inseparable.

The Breakfast Club

This morning it was obvious that Mica feuded with Sunshine all night. Sunshine was dry as a bone and calm. Mica was sweaty and high strung. I had to tie Mica up in order to take Sunshine back out to the pasture.

Sunshine met up with her herd mates, and walked calmly into the bigger pasture and took a snow bath.

I brushed Mica and fluffed her coat. I walked her quite a bit in the shed to cool her off and at times she wanted nothing to do with me. Once I put her out in her paddock she went and stood by where she gets her morning sweet feed and paced the hot wire.
I ignored her and put out hay.

I'm happy to report that she is back to her peaceful self. I'm guessing the old saying that sometimes when you try to be super nice to a mule, it backfires on you.

Skidsteers, Charlie, Mules oh my

We had a nice snow fall. The NOAA said we were going to have a Winter Storm Warning with blowing snow and then dangerously cold temperatures.

The snow started early Friday and we'd had a couple of inches by chore time.

The mules and 15 waited in the woods for supper with their snow blankets on.

One may think that they would be cold.
However, if you were to stick your hand under that snow, you would find a warm fluffy layer of their winter coat and their skin is warm. I do take my hands and run it up under the snow-coat just to be sure.

By morning we'd had about Charlie Chin High Snow. This is our new measure. How high is the snow on Charlie?

Here Charlie plows through the snow while assisting with chores.
I fueled up the skidsteer and plugged in the engine block to warm it up as I went in the shed to get my sled of hay.

The mules follow me along the fenceline with little grunts and sometimes a little braying. If they hear the sled on snow or on grass, they are coming at the trot.
I used to use this sled to lead our cattle from one paddock to another.

Feed. Animals always follow feed.

Mica has been moved to her own little paddock with Lil' Richard. She eats so slowly that the other mules were limiting her intake of food.
Anyway, Charlie quickly decided that sitting on the porch was wiser. He could watch me walk in the deep snow and he could sit in the sun.

Here is the view from the porch. The heated water tank is to the right outside of the photo and in the wooded area. The one nice thing about living in a hollow is that the cold winds can be dodged just by moving around most of the time.
The mules by noon were taking naps in the sunlight right there were I had fed them.

I started up the skidsteer and everything went very well. I was almost finished when I thought I'd take one more swipe by the house and make it easier to park by the kitchen door to unload groceries. This is a tight area and normally I scoop up snow and back out.
I decided to make a tight turn instead.

[Truth be told, skid steers do make tight turns all of the time, that is the beauty of having one.]
For whatever reason I heard a loud PFFFFT and immediately shut it down. I climbed out and saw that a tire came off the rim. Uh...Oh.

Rich was upset. He got that quiet tone with me and told me how much I messed up in no uncertain terms. He went on and on citing multiple issues about how difficult things were now. How I'd left it in a bad place, how I'd messed up.

In some ways I knew it may have been his frustration in knowing that he couldn't get out there and 'fix' the problem. He went on to tell me that I'd ruined a tire and that it could cost $150 just for a tire. I thought that was odd since that sum of money was not an issue.
I was driven to tears and then I got angry.
Nope. He couldn't be nice.

So I walked out of the house and called my neighbor's cell phone and left a message.
When I came back in Rich demanded to know what was for lunch. I wanted to knock my Halo off and tell him to figure it out. I wanted to tell him off. Instead I took out the dish I'd prepared for him the night before and set it on the counter.

Let him figure out how to warm it up while I figure out how to solve the skidsteer issue.

I must admit. I'd done a pretty good job so far.

And the problem could most likely be solved. Yes it was cold and yes I may have damaged the tire. But these things can be fixed and it was not gloom and doom. Nor was the world going to end because the tire came off the rim.

I went out with a scoop shovel and waited for Justin to arrive.

The issue became this. How to get the metal tracks off with the bucket in the way. Okay we used the boom lock out.

Then we used the bucket to pick up the front of the skidsteer and blocked it to keep it in place with the tracks folded out of the way.

After we figured out all the logistics, we were able to take off the tire and the rim. The bead was broken on the outside of the tire but not the inside.
Justin attributed it to low tire pressure and me turning over and over again.

These are things I wouldn't really know as a novice skidsteer driver. He was calm and explained everything he was doing and his reasoning behind it.
He also told me that I should think of this as a learning experience...he did.

By dark we had the tire off.
We'd spent 2 hrs in the cold working together.

By supper it seemed Rich was no longer upset, in fact he seemed to have forgotten the incident.

Charlie? He was content in bringing peace to the house by snuggling up to the Grumpy Guy and dropping a tennis ball at his feet.

So it goes.

Today it is frigid.
So I think I'll go for a nice long walk down the valley out of the wind.

After all, I have the gear for it and I can't stand to sit inside all day.

Tomorrow I'll take the tire into the shop and hopefully Justin and I can put things back together. I will learn more than I need to know about skidsteers.

Plus this spring I will have the implement company we bought it from come out and get it. It needs an overhaul/maintenance job. I'm not really prepared to learn all about changing filters and fuses, hydraulic fluids, and other things...not yet.

The usual suspects...

Siera, the dark bay mule with the funky brand on her shoulder.

I told my grand daughter that Siera was bi polar. Not mean bi polar. Just sometimes she was happy and sometimes she was not happy. Her attitude can go from ho-hum to giving you cranky looks.
Here she stands off to the side looking a bit ugly at her pasture mates. She is consistent in this manner.
Hay is coming, time to stand off and look ugly!

The red heads and Fred. Poor Fred or is it lucky Fred? He is stuck in a pasture with all females.
Poor Fred.

The red headed sisters are their own little clique. They as a rule don't hang with the bay mules, Fred and Siera. They are usually paired off together. They will even lay down and sleep side by side.
I can take Sunshine out and go riding and Sunshine never pays attention to her screaming half sister. She walks away as if Sundance didn't exist.

Mica.
It must be awful to be the only grey flea bit mule.

She truly is shunned by the other mules. She hangs out just near enough to the other mules but it seems as if the other mules are prejudice against her color. Odd isn't it?

Fred cries and fusses for all of the other 'gals' when I remove them from the pasture, but remains mum when Mica comes out with me.

We'll see how this new herd dynamic works out come next spring. I wonder if it will be the same?
Fifteen will be joining them soon so things should get interesting.

School will be back in session for 15 and Sundance once the weather cools down.

Two Sisters Camp

This is sort of a Grandma & Grandpa Camp for non biological grandkids. Grace and Evelyn are not my grands at all though but they are staying with me for most of the week.

I've known Mom and Dad for years.  I taught Mom in 4H when I was a leader in a time long ago and far away. I find it fitting that their children can spend some time at our farm and do some learning about equine and riding.

Yesterday was our first full day. And wow what a day it was.

The girls had some very long faces when mom and dad pulled out and drove away. I thought "Uh oh, I am in for it. The kids are going to be so heartsick and homesick, they won't make it very long."

Well, that hasn't happened so far.
We ate breakfast and before we went out to do chores I sat with the girls and we made out a menu for the week and made up a grocery list.

Then we headed out for chores. Rich came too. The girls got busy with feeding the hounds and putting out hay for the equine. Grace I could tell right off had eyes for 15. And why not? Everyone who has met her has really fallen for the little bay horse.

We did so many things yesterday. I'm not sure I can keep track of them all. So perhaps I'll just try and make a quick list.
Chores
Groceries
Fred introduction:
The first 'lesson' in riding an animal is how to be safe around an animal. We spent the cool morning hours learning about how to safely lead Fred. How to make Fred make right and left turns while leading him. How to stop him and back him up.
Fred is a pony mule and does well with kids. He can also be a bit of a challenge. I thought of using Siera to teach the girls about leading with a rope and halter. However Siera is too polite and too good.
Fred is just about perfect, but will make the kids work for it.
If it was too easy, it wouldn't be a good lesson.

After Fred
Painting on the porch
Art

Goat visit
Play in neighbor's goat pasture
Climb trees
Laugh
Silliness
Pick berries
Fill the old stock tank aka Mt. Tank
Play in the water
Take 15 out
Apply lessons from the morning to 15

What Grace didn't realize, is that she was actually training 15. 15 was learning that a sponge bath with a towel was a nice thing, that someone fussing over her mane was a very pleasant thing.
15 has always been very quiet and has nearly impeccable manners when being groomed. It was interesting to watch Grace and 15 interact. At first 15 was fairly wide eyed and watched Grace carefully.
By the time Grace was done with her, 15 was so comfortable she was dozing in the shade.

Play in Mt. Tank
Take Morris swimming

I have to give the old dog credit. He went along with whatever the girls wanted to do. He was busy most of the afternoon following them so he could just be near them.
They asked me if Morris could go in the stock tank and swim. I said only if they helped him back out.

Chores
Second lesson with Fred
In lesson two with Fred the girls learned how to mount and dismount. They learned the importance of an emergency dismount. Grace is tall so the challenge of mounting Fred was not an issue.
Evelyn is small so there was a challenge to get up in the saddle. However Evelyn is an avid climber and an athlete like her sister. Getting mounted soon became a non issue.
The girls learned balance and how to ride with poise. We first learn to ride and sit a saddle with no reins in hand and no stirrups. Fred was good, the girls were excellent.


Evelyn jumped in when I started to put the hamburgers together. She helped make them. I was surprised a little but it was a very pleasant surprise.

Grace engaged Rich in conversation and they chatted while Eve and I worked on supper. I could tell by the tone of Rich's voice that he was really enjoying it.
Rich had spent most of the afternoon taking a nap and had stayed inside because it was so hot and humid out.

We cleaned up and everyone decided that it was time for bed. Morris went up the stairs last night to sleep with the girls. His skipped his spot on the couch for better sleeping quarters. He rarely passes up an opportunity to snuggle with a kid if they are willing.

This morning I woke up early as I usually do. I thought about the girls visiting. Outside the fog was dense and I could see that the dawn was going to be amazing. So I stepped out on the porch to watch the sky change colors.

The fog glowed as the sky brightened. The colors began to change from a pale pink to a dark pink, to nearly a brilliant red and then just before everything faded, the fog turned orange ...
and day two began.

Then it hit me. Two Sisters.

Okay. This week I'd call it: Two Sisters Camp

I went inside and made coffee. Day Two had begun.

The Long Day

It started with a trip to the ridge to enjoy the morning purples and the emergence of the summer sun through the fog. I checked out black bottom creek and it was so dense with fog that there were no opportunities there at all.

I moved Annie and Valerie to a holding paddock. They are being sold soon.

This lot looks barren because the mules had used this spot for mud bathing and standing.
However the Dexter cattle love to strip burdock so it is a good thing! They have cleaned up the ox eye daises in their other summer pasture and will devour nettles if I knock them down first.

These cows are the forest gleaners and do an excellent job.

I finally got tired of looking at the mess of the west yard. It still needs to be landscaped and is a mess of lumps bumps and weeds with some areas that are washed out. Rich keeps saying that he will get to it.

I attacked it with the weed wacker. I'm getting better at it. I even trimmed around the garden before I nearly ran out of gas. That is my stop point. If I keep going and going the tendons in my forearms will be extremely painful.
My intentions were then to mow around the back of the red shed with the mower.

I chose instead to have a late lunch with my sweet guy and after a glance at my garden, I decided that a short siesta was in order.
I guess that is one good thing about being home all of the time. I can afford a short rest before heading out again.

I walked past the mower and it begged me to push it and make it roar. However I decided to do something enjoyable.
I caught up Fred and cleaned him up. He got his summer haircut.

After...

After.

Sundance pushed Siera and Sunshine out of the way when I put Fred back. I worked on her tail and ended up cutting it shorter. She was not receptive to the clippers but she also ended up with a summer haircut.

Rich helped me. I decided that was enough for the day and spent some time grooming Sundance before putting her away.

I then went to get 15. Her paddock had gotten muddy and she needed a grooming plus a drier place to be.

With her done, it was time for chores and other things.
I walked by the lawn mower again and assured it, its day would come soon again...and again...and again.

I called the neighbors and asked if they'd like to celebrate the Summer Solstice by lighting a couple of Chinese Lanterns.
And we did.

And the day ended full of joy with children's laughter and cattle complaining about being moved.

Such was the Long Day.