Catching up.

Sunday morning the farrier, Dan Tesar and Danny Tesar from Tesar Horseshoeing Company, came out to trim 8 head of equine.

Both Dan and Danny work together here they are trimming our Jack Stud, Bob who stands as a statue.

Danny is in the maroon colored sweatshirt, Dan is in the green one.
I really dig their sweatshirts.  I should have one and add the words...."I like my Farriers!"

Thor our other Jack put on quite a show for Dan and Danny.  He is a very odd Jack.

After they left I took Lil' Richard for a ride to see how much he remembered.  He is the first equine I've ever had that did not want to return home.  He was all for the go go go, anywhere but back to the farm.  

However he was polite and stopped for the neighbor kids and let them pet him.  Allie helped Lil' Richard check the mail.

Now Lil' Richard is a small pony so we don't ride hard, we don't ride fast, and I get off and walk with him often.  
However I found him very useful while walking along the roadside to spot interesting plants.

It is so hard to get used to those tiny little ears that are mostly hidden by that incredible bushy pony mane of his.

On our way back down the hill to the farm, I found a Santa Hat that had blown into the woods.
Lil' Richard was more than happy to model it for me.

Apparently my neighbor thinks Lil' Richard should have it as she says, "It suits him."  I think it does.

Monday morning arrived and I walked up the hill to check on Valerie, who is one of our Dexter cows. I thought she was close to calving.  Rich said she was a ways off.

Hah!  

Welcome Buster!
Born on Rich's Birthday!

He still has milk bubbles on his lips from his first feeding.  I was concerned because the temps were only in the 20's and Buster was a bit cold, but in an hour he was running around the pasture driving his mom nuts.

I spent most of the day relocating perennials and dividing them from places that will be effected by the construction.  Our Contractor showed up with the Digger Man and it sounded like they were getting ready to break ground very very soon.

After they left, I grabbed Siera and put on her headstall.  I led her to a stump and she stood stock still while I climbed up the stump and put a leg over her.

Off we went for a quick ride. We went for a cruise in the woods just for fun.

She has either gotten over her 'March Madness' and being herd sour or she thought that bareback was more fun?  

Anyway we went to look at the fence in the Merry Meadow and see where the deer had broken the old electric lines.
Looks like some fencing work for me soon!

We then rode back to the 'farm' and checked on Buster who was sleeping soundly next to his mom, Valerie.

I had left a message with the neighbors to come down and see the new calf since they'd never seen one like this before.
It was time to put Siera back and get ready for company.

Since it was Rich's birthday, I made a family sized pan of brownies and after the calf viewing and playing on the dirt hill, we all went in for a treat.

It was a great couple of days.

What will today bring?

Welcome Stormy & Stella

Our weekend was a busy one.  Friday was a long day heading to Madison for a follow up appointment.
The follow up went well and things are moving along as expected and a PET scan is scheduled for September.

During our last storm we of course had a calf.  Annie finally had her calf and the next morning as we were checking fences and picking up branches we were delighted to see 'Stormy' up and about.

Speedy who was born in around June 1st was checking him out.

Speedy likes to think of himself as the tough kid on the block.  Well he is as he is fully almost 8 weeks older than the others!

Then Speedy had another adjustment to make.

Stella was born during the hottest spell we've had this summer.  The heat and humidity were incredible and nasty.  Yet Stella was born.

She is our only heifer this year, but she is Dun colored and seems to be polled.

I have to admit, she is a knock out. 

Speedy and Stormy will become future meat projects and Stella will become one of the 'girls' eventually.  She and Bunny are both polled heifers.  Bunny is about 15 months old and is pure black like her father Black Bart.

It is a delight to see healthy calves in the pasture.

I imagine when the youngest calves get a bit of age on them, there will be plenty of running and chasing in the pasture.

Bully Bully!

Well I couldn't help myself with this shot.  It was taken just before we moved the Dexters to their next pasture which is a fairly large meadow.

They will eat most things that the equine won't eat so we like to refer to them as the 'clean up crew'.

They do an excellent job at eating weeds and brush.  If we cut the burdock and thistles, they gobble them up also.

Not only are they great pasture cleaners, they are very tasty for home raised beef.

Here the herd is moving through the electric gate and out into their next pasture to work on.

We have had to add extra lines much lower to the ground for these cattle but it has proven to be well worth it.

We are trying to practice good rotational grazing with them.
Next project, fencing the woods?

Morels Morels Morels and more

There was also beautiful wildflowers that were everywhere if you were to look closely.

This is a wild strawberry blossom, barely larger than my pinky fingernail.

Let's of course not forget the cute little Dexter calves we have.

Here is Whodunnit after eating some grain.  He sure has grown!

I hope to get back out again and hunt for more of those beautiful tasty morel mushrooms.

Yum!

These little devils are pretty sneaky.
They must hear you coming and hide!

Cool Beans!

I found this cool app for Windows 8 called Music Maker Jam for Dell.  It was free and I decided why the heck not?

So I put this together as an experiment.



It was pretty darned fun.

Looks like I'll do some more monkeying around with it.

Afterwards...Farm Life continues...

Recovering from Opal's loss has been tough, but we realize that animals don't live forever and they cannot tell us what is the issue if they get sick.
We can guess at what happened but cannot be sure unless we would have had a Necropsy done on her.
[That is an Autopsy done by a vet]

So we move on.

I've been riding Siera a little each day.  She has been my last 'project' mule now for a while.  While she is a dandy mule, she still sometimes has some issues about leaving sight of the herd.

Since my time lately has been limited, I decided to try her out bareback  [no extra time wasted by saddling up]. 
There are very few mules I would ride bareback. 

Badger was one, Fred is another, and Opal?  
NO never, she would spin out from under me and leave me sitting in the dirt!

She has her doubts about me using a bucket to mount her.  But we are working on that.  Twice now we have done this.

She actually isn't too bad bareback, I was pretty surprised.  Right now I appreciate the long mane to grab onto when we decide to boogie up hillsides.


For some relief over our grief with Opal, Hubby and I are going on a 'memorial' ride for her today.  Siera will now step up to the plate and take on more.  Sunshine will be moving up into our regular use line up also.

Training with Princess will continue.  The Dexter gals Valerie and Annie are getting ready to have their calves at any moment.

So while Opal's passing caused us great grief, we have new life to look forward to.

And...
I have found out that riding Siera Bareback is a great pleasure which increases my balance skills and her attitude at the same time.

I can still ride tall.