Just stuff

This is our Mini horse crop out. We purchased him from a friend many years ago. His job while we were still breeding for mules was to tease the mare and get her ready.

He is an expert an not getting wrapped up in the tie out line. I've dubbed him my self propelled mower who also does fertilizing at the same time.

He may as well be out in the yard instead of his winter pen. You'd think after doing nearly 20 years of yard work, he'd pick up the pinecones for me and pile up the sticks.

Lazy pony! He just does his thing.

I took a short walk in the woods on the way to go pick up my mail. I'd ordered a skort to try out this summer. A skort is a skirt with shorts in them. My son's wife wears them and says they are super comfortable. I thought I'd give them a whirl.

I also ordered a new t shirt for myself. I thought the graphic was appropriate for me. The shirt features a compass with the words below it: "All who wander are not lost..." 

~~~~~~~~~~~~

My youngest son and crew made a date to come and visit this weekend. Hmmm. More about that later or not. My eldest son predicted a Circus. He was right but I'd call it a Circus of Drama. It was not beautiful like the Cirque du Soleil but a train wreck of consequences.

It will be a very long time before I decide he and his crew can visit again.

'Nuff said.

We did take a hike and I got to see the wonderful Swans! They were so beautiful. I didn't bring my long long lens because I was herding kids like cats. But I did catch one pretty decent shot of the Swans.

A couple of my younger grand kids enjoyed floating a rubber ducky in a lazy little stream we found.

When the Duckie got stuck, they'd push him along with sticks.

The shot below is a photo of my second oldest grand daughter, Lily. She is carrying her puppy named Oakley in her jacket as he was tired and cold.

The kids enjoyed the hiking and adventures. 

Well. In other news, the weather turned frigid on Sunday and will warm up once again through Tuesday and then we are back to winter with a freezing mixture which is typical for March.

I have a 'date' to go hiking with another 19 yr old tomorrow. She was my neighbor for a few years. I've known her and her siblings and mom since she was 9 years old. I'm looking forward to that.

First I have to take some naps to get back to feeling human again after the circus came.

Kids and Mules

This is a very unflattering photo of Siera's rear end. As you can see none of these animals are suffering from any kind of malnutrition. They are all glossy and a bit 'round'.

I pulled them out of the meadow and tied them up while I figured out who we were going to put in the winter pasture. The grand kids were coming and they had .... well... they wanted to ride.

I understand deeply what the urge to ride and the want to ride is like. I of course just wrote about being a kid and aching to ride. I don't want the kids who visit here to have to feel that ache.

However, the kids who want to ride can't just walk on the place and jump on and go.
Nope.
Siera, Fred, and Sunshine are really great mules. They are calm and patient. Well, after yesterday, I think Siera is the calmest one I have.
Don't get me wrong. Siera is calm because she is so lazy!
After Ariel and Dennis did a refresher 'class' with Fred in the round pen, I saddled Siera and brought her in.

While I talked about Siera and held her reins, she stood like some Zen Statue. Siera is 14.2. That means she is 56" tall. Fred is 52" or perhaps 53" tall. You may think that those few inches wouldn't be an issue. That is until you try to get your foot in the stirrup that is now 4" higher than the one you are used to!

So the kids practiced getting on and off from Siera safely. I guess that is one of my sticking points when teaching kids anything. Dismount, remount. Be able to dismount on either side and mount on either side.
Note...my mules have been trained to be mounted from either side and are used to quick neat dismounts as well as horrid sloppy dismounts. Why?
Safety!

Siera just stood there while the kids practiced. She just sighed and waited. She didn't try to walk away or move. Siera is one of those mules that is just happy when she has a human with her.

The kids then rode her around the round pen a bit.
We were ready for the next step.

I put Sunshine in the pen and the two kids mounted up and started riding. At first I told them specific things. Then I realized that they would learn more by simply just going about the field without me nagging them on this or that.

Siera didn't want to 'work' for Ariel and I didn't realize why. Rich watched from inside the house and pointed out some things.

I've pretty much been Siera's only rider since she was started under saddle. My body language is very different than Ariel's on top of Siera.
When I settle back in the saddle and simply lift my hands, it is a silent cue for Siera to stop.

Mostly so I can take a photo.

Siera halts and waits until I sit forward and lightly cluck to her while tapping her side with my foot.

Rich saw the difference in how we rode. Siera was taking a cue from Ariel to stop, stop, stop.
When the kids swapped riders Siera moved for Dennis, but the way he sits the saddle is different.
Fred moved for Ariel and did what she asked.

I think Ariel got a bit frustrated with Siera and I could see why. She is the ultimate Lazy Gal. However, she also does not spook.

The kids spent until nearly sundown riding.

After we put away the mules, there was some daylight left.

Those who ride, must take care of their equipment. My saddles were dusty and dirty from last year and I hadn't taken the time to clean things.
I had two sort of willing folks who did a rather nice job on the porch.

The kids want to get up early and help with chores so they can start riding while it is still cool out.
Today I will saddle Sunshine up and join them.

We may even decorate the mules up and ride them up the hill past the neighbors, and out to the Y in the road. A mule parade?
Why not?

There is nothing better in life than a good mule [or horse] and a kid.

The email you don't want to get

Well we were woken by Elena screaming at 430am. Our house was on fire. We are all out safely and at Judi's house until the all clear is given. Do not know the extent yet.

I really am not too sure as to what to write here. I am having the knee jerk reaction of running to the vehicle and racing to...oh, what?

They no longer have a place to live and I think...think? wonder... where do they go from here?

My son blames the wife. I told him not to make blame but to look forward and not backwards, as it does NO good to lay blame anyway.

I could have lost my son, his wife, and two grand kids. Why place blame at this point? Just thank the gods that be that the 3 yr old got up to go potty by herself and started screaming bloody murder. Hmmm, smoke detector had NO battery.

For the moment they are at the mom in law's apartment but I think they are in contact with the Red Cross as this makes them 'homeless'.

I don't know what happens next but I do know that I am so happy to know they are alive.
I am lucky that I have a wonderful rural neighbor who whipped through her kids drawers and closets and I've netted 3 big bags of clothes for the little ones.

I'll be leaving in the morning to see my youngest son, wife and kids. I just sort of need to put my arms around them. I'll stay at a motel and then be back on the farm by Sunday.

Miss Lily and The Purse.

While Lily was here for her short visit, we were busy as all get out. We tried cramming a full weeks worth of activities plus school shopping in just a few days.

Lily wanted to visit the second hand stores in our local town of Viroqua. Last year we both got lucky with some really nice finds.

When we got into the store Lily moved down to the childrens section and started to browse. 

I stopped at the adult section that had some interesting looking pants and found some nice shorts from Patagonia and North Face. They were super soft and pre-worn.

Lily came back with a handful of clothing. She hadn't found anything in her size that she liked, but had found some very nice outfits for Elena and Sterling. What a good older sister she is. Plus she knows clothes.

She held up my items of interest and looked at them. She shook her head at one pair of pants I had and stuck them back in the rack. "Not for you, Grandma," she said.  She grabbed another pair and held them up, nodding. "More like it!"
She handed them to me and told me to go try them on.

Oh yeah. Lily will be 12 years old late December.

We put the purchases in the back of the Subaru and walked to the next store. Immediately Lily walked over to where they had purses on racks.

"You need a purse Grandma," she stated, her eyes on the items. She fingered one or two purses and looked inside of them.
I wrinkled my nose.

"I haven't had a purse since..." I shrugged. I couldn't remember the last time I'd used a purse. 

"Well you need to get organized," said Lily. "You have a smart phone that needs to be carried in a purse, you have keys and you are always forgetting which pocket you put them in." 
Lily wrinkled her nose.

"And that wallet. Ewww." She shook her head.
"I'll think about it." I replied.

We shopped and browsed, Lily found a few shirts and suggested a pink shirt for me. I liked its weight and softness so I took it.

We ended back at the purse rack. Lily handed me a purse. It was pretty but...
I shrugged and sort of acted interested.
Then after a few false starts, Lily handed me a red canvas purse. She adjusted the strap and hung it on my shoulder, then proceeded to hang it crosswise like she'd seen me wear my sling camera bag.

"This is it, Grandma. This is your purse. See? Not complicated at all. Not large and it looks enough like a camera bag to suit you." She nodded in satisfaction.
I stood mute with a red purse slung over my shoulder.

Then she turned and started to dig through the ladies wallets. 
"You have to get rid of that thing you have now. It is so ..., " Lily shuddered and made a face.

We settled on a lady's wallet and went to the cashier to check out.

I'd just bought a purse and a lady bug wallet. I wasn't exactly sure how that all just happened.

When we got home, we showed Grandpa Rich the purchases. His eyebrows rose when he saw the purse.

Lily cleaned off the table and asked for my ugly old wallet, cell phone, and keys. She motioned me to go tend to the sweet corn while she put things together.

I was cooling the sweet corn when she walked up holding my old tattered wallet. She was holding it as if it were a dead mouse.
She motioned for me to open the cabinet door under the sink.

With huge fanfare, she dumped the wallet in the trash.
She then presented me with the new purse and showed me how she organized everything.

I now have a nice red purse that is well organized.
I have no idea how I got along all these years without it.

Recipe for fun!

Morris was all up for sledding with the grand kids when they came...

In fact he was so excited he made sure that he made just about every sled ride there was.  Although sometimes he bailed and ran alongside whoever was sledding.

The video below is not of great quality, but you can see that Morris was riding in between my grandson and I.  Morris was trying to see over Dennis as we went down the pasture hill.  

I really don't know who had more fun, the grand kids, Morris, or me!

After lunch we headed to the creek to see the ice wall.  Morris and Ariel led the way.

There was a lot of exploring to do near the ice wall.

The creek may seem awful small here, but it really is such an important part of the valley.
The soothing sounds of the water trickling over the rocks is reason enough for a visit at any time of the year.

By this time Morris was getting pretty tired.  He had given up on running back and forth to physically check on all of 'his people', especially 'his' kids.

So he would pick a spot and watch everyone.

We gathered at the ice wall for a group shot of ourselves.  I set my camera up on a tripod and grabbed the remote.

Morris of course photo-bombed us over and over.

Of course we had to head back towards home and we all came to the conclusion, I think...that the visit was wonderful and jam packed with activity...but too short.

The kids wanted to sled again, or go hike to the east side of the valley.

But we would have run out of daylight.

Fresh cold air, snow, the creek, sledding, and outdoors?
That was the ingredients for Fun.

Morris was rather put out when the kids left.  He searched the house and then laid on the pink sweatshirt that Ariel had worn and sighed.

By late evening, he seemed quite a bit stiff, so we gave him half a baby aspirin.

This morning, he was back to his bouncy stuff.

Thank you to 'gtyyup' at Life at the Rough String for her advice for assisting elderly Terriers who get a bit sore after doing too much.

Day 3? Of Grandma & Grandpa Camp!

There aren't a lot of shots from yesterday as it started out horribly hot and humid.

After eating breakfast the three older kids went out and did what chores they could do.  
'Can we go out to play?'

Yes!
Off they went to feed animals.
I was a bit stuck with Elena as she was very busy trying to move like lightening across the floor and hone up on her crawling skills.

She was following Morris and trying to open his crate and crawl into it.  She got angry because she hasn't figured out the door latch on it yet.

Grandpa had to go back to bed.

When the kids came in they told me that it was HOT out.

So we swapped places, the girls watched Elena play while I went out and finished up chores and watering all the stock tanks.

Then it was snack time and lunch time.

Tell me that Elena does not have the cute-ness factor of 10!  I dare you!

We decided to head out to town and I'd show them where I work.
We started out but then I realized that the clouds to the west were very dark and there were spotters on the ridges.

We turned around and came home.
The storm blew through and while it rained we watched Benji.

After the movie, it was brownie making time.

It was an awesome group effort.  
Everyone had a hand in making them.

Elena supervised from her 'high' chair and ate Honey Nut Cheerios.

The kids each night volunteer to help with dishes.  I was naughty.  I did do a slight bribe on this account.
Whoever volunteers gets an hour with the Kindle to play games.

But hey, I have no shortage of dish-washing help!  And the other grands clear the table and put things away.

Morris has been the 'bomb'.  He keeps tabs on the kids and especially Elena.
He pulled a blanket over to near her Pack n Play last night and made his bed so he could be next to her while she slept.

Last night the kids ran out after helping with cleaning up the 'Grandma Ooops' supper [I didn't have spaghetti sauce in my cupboard!  We had buttered noodles instead!]...they ran outside to do chores with Grandpa Rich.

He merely supervised while they tossed flakes of hay to the proper animals.

The girls wanted to get up early to see the sunrise.
Hmmm.
It is nearly 7am and the whole house is still sound asleep except Morris and I.

Tonight?
Campfire?
Glow sticks?
Today?
Playing with the neighbor kids?
Walks?

So many things to do.  

Tomorrow we are hoping to go to Jersey Valley for a picnic with the neighbors.  Grandpa and Lily want to have a fishing contest.

Just need to say this.

I have the most awesome-ist Grand kids ever.
I think Grandpa and Grandma will be crying when these wonders have to go home.  And not crying with happiness either.

These few days have enriched our lives and I must thank the parents for allowing their little wonders to come and stay on the farm.

GG Camp Day 2

Day 2.
Wow already?

The kids slept in late.
I guess country air is good for them.

Even Elena slept in late.
[This morning it is past 6am and she is still zonked out.]

We all went to The Fort.  Which is a pile of rocks in one of the wooded pastures.

The kids loved climbing around on the rocks and looking at the moss.


Elena even got her first taste of clover buds.
At this age everything goes in the mouth and she tried out the sweet ends of red clover. 
She liked it!

Our morning walk turned into a rainy morning walk, but we all had a blast.  Elena absolutely loved the stroller that my neighbor lent us.
She cooed and kicked her feet the whole way, even when it was raining on her legs.

The rain passed and the afternoon got warm.  The kids changed into their swimsuits and played in the stock tank and baby pool.  

Elena sat on the large carpet and watched cheering them along when she wasn't banging on the ice cream bucket or charming Grandpa Rich.

Then there was supper and a meeting on doing a few things to help this ol' Gramma out.
The kids each volunteered to assist with washing dishes and clearing the table each night.

I wasn't too surprised as they have been going out in the morning to do chores on their own.  Ariel usually leads the way.

After evening chores Grandpa and Dennis played catch.  The girls went to visit the mares, donkeys, and mules in the Meadow and Elena slept.

Another beautiful day at Grandma & Grandpa Camp.

Conversation with Lily

I went out of town last week to visit my youngest son and his little family.

Lily is 9 years old today.
If you where ever lucky enough to get to meet her, you simply would not forget her.

She is a very serious but funny and clever young lady who adores her little sister very much.

Change Elena's diaper and feed her?  She tries to get to it before anyone else can.

While we were working on decorating a Ginger bread man, I asked her what grade she was in.

"3rd," she replied quietly.
"I heard you got a good report card."
"Yes.  I guess I did."  Lily goes back to working on her Gingerbread man.
As any grandma does,...I asked.
"How do you like school?"
Shrug of the shoulders. 
"It is okay," she replies.  "The kids sort of picked on me because I go to some special classes."
"Oh yeah?"
She grins.  "Yeah.  They said I was dumb and then I asked them what was so dumb about having to go to 4th grade and 5th grade classes for reading, science, and math?  I like math."

Dumfounded I sit back and watch her continue to work on her Gingerbread man.
Indeed, what is so dumb about that?

 

Sunday Fun.

We started the day off with a bang.  Walking in the woods in the rain with Blaze Orange on, and hiking chaps attached to belts on the grand kids.

Morris got filthy.  We started to get soaked so we made it a short trip.

Some nice kids I know...grand kids...offered to give Morris a bath.

He liked it.

After the bath the sky broke open and the rain stopped.

The morning was still quite young and the kids were in no way ready to spend time indoors if at all possible.

I asked if a 'photo hike' would be fun and they said yes.
I passed out cameras and off we went.

 

The sky, the clouds, the multiflora rose hips became instant hits with the kids.
Everything at once became explored through the eye of a lens of sorts.

Even Grandma.

[thank goodness her face is hidden right?]

Water droplets on leaves became discussion worthy with the kids.
We knelt and examined the water and the leaf textures of the oak.

Dennis and I spent time trying to get as close to a multiflora rose bush without getting bit...

The skies then turned ominous and the winds began to pick up as the temperature dropped.

We headed back towards home discussing sumac bushes, red berries, dead flowers, deer tracks, gravel roads, the clouds...the wind...

And as we walked down the driveway Dennis headed towards the house and Ariel stopped and said loudly to him...

'Dennis! Wouldn't you rather stay outside and look at animals?'  She looked at me.  I smiled at her and said, 'Oh I agree.  The house is boring, and animals are cool.'

In about 15 minutes, the skies changed even more. 
We went inside to eat lunch and enjoy a movie.

Morris is currently pouting on the couch.  He misses his kids.
Grandpa has gone to bed.  He misses the kids.

Me?
I'm here looking through photos.
Yeah.
I miss the kids.