Not much

I went for a hike yesterday mid morning. It looked like rain and I just wanted to wander around a bit along the creek and see what all the heat and rain had done.

It sure has changed!

And I found where the flea bane had begun to bloom...

I was surprised to see that I'd missed the bloom of morel mushrooms by a few days.

I found a few dozen but they were beyond the picking stage. I wonder if they will be in the same area next year?

I spent the early morning hours replacing some electric gate handles. They should have been replaced last year but I never got around to it. I must admit, I was pretty impressed with my work. Rich used to do all of the fence work, but I have watched over the years and learned quite a bit.

I solved the issue of that horrible hard place to mow behind the shed that is full of holes and stumps. I used our automatic self propelled weed eater/fertilizer pony to do the hard work.
Yes, I'll have to rake out his piles but at least he did the hard work for me. He isn't quite as good as a lawn mower or gas driven weed wacker, but he is less noisy.

Our neighbor at the top of the hill mowed alongside our driveway and cleaned out the end of the culvert that was plugged up. I had planned on trying my hand at using the weed wacker to clean that up.  Our farmer friend will be coming over sometime soon to fix the driveway for us. He rebuilt it in 2007 just before the floods and it has stayed reasonable good. The 2016 floods and rains made it deteriorate. Well, that and all the normal wear and tear a gravel driveway has to take on a hillside.

Here is a shot from the before and after work from 2007.

After supper I thought I'd saddle up Sunshine and take her for a ride. She is a good little go getter mule. Daughter of my very first horse.

I intended to ride to the Ice Cave and back but we got turned around by the booming of an incoming thunderstorm.

We got to the old electric fence in the 'Merry' Meadow -- it was not on. And I took down the lines so we could beat the storm home.  I leave the lines up because those folks with the 4 wheelers don't cross it and tear alongside my fence line and terrify our animals.

Today, the mules are due for their worming and then I'm going to transfer them to one of the rotation pastures. The Dexters that stayed on the farm are going to rotate to the pasture I would like them to clean next.

I think I should just label my pastures with numbers, it will be less confusing for Rich.

Then I start planting the veggie garden.
Hmm. I said Not Much.
But I guess I did do a few things.

I hope today is more on the boring side...

Creative Mowing, the Organic Way...

I did this once before I believe in 2006 when hubby hadn't felt well and I'd had surgery on my shoulder.

The grass got long and out of control, not to mention the $4 price of gasoline.

We found that they actually did a very good job.

When the gals were finished 'mowing' and 'fertilizing' we put them out on pasture and simply raked the fertilizer and mowed the leftovers down.

Except I realized that sharing the laundry line with donkeys was not the best idea.  They loved to put their faces in it and hide from the flies.

Although my favorite time was when we 'lent' the yard to an equine was when our old mare had a foal.  It was nice to take a lawn chair and sit with Cheyanne and her foal Sundance.

We kept her very close so we could keep an eye on Cheyanne who had had a difficult birth.

Last night I fenced off a large section of the yard for Siera, Fred, and Dyna. I know these 3 respect a single line fence and will do a good job of 'mowing' for me.

I have two more sections that I wish for them to clean up before I let them into the meadow.  Then I think that with a self propelled mower I may be able to keep up between the long drives.
If not, I'll keep using the organic method.
I've gotten very good at creative fencing and these 3 mules have gotten very good at adapting to moving about often.

My Daughter and her hubby ... and the kids may be up this weekend and apparently I could get help with the yard!  Whooo!

I'd like to plant some flowers too and cheer things up around here.

Let us not forget our best 'weed whacker' that we have, who doubles as a guard pony.

And he is a great yard trimmer, along with being a pal to Morris.

I'd like to get Morris to come home for a visit this weekend.
It will be a 3 day weekend and if the grand kids are here, they will want to have him along to take walks.

I do miss the farm comedian.  

Chores are a bit easier now that the gals are out on the Meadow.  I soon hope to have some other places for rotation.
I'll have to sneak off into the woods and string some new wire.  We 'meant' to do it last year.

It is an old forest pasture but there are many goodies to be found in it!
I don't want to waste the opportunity to save my energy by having it available as pasture!

Well off to wake up hubby and start the process for the day.
Today is a super long day.  

Have a great one.

And so it goes.

Today was re-qualification day with our firearms.

We have to shoot targets and get a passing score.  We also take a test on the State Laws regarding Lethal Force.

Today I was given 'most improved' on the Glock 'award'. And yes I will agree, I made a huge improvement over my scores for the past two years.  My first year was awesome, then ... well I slipped!

It clicked together and I did very well.  The shotgun is normally my best weapon.  I nearly flubbed it.  I didn't pull it tight enough into my shoulder when shooting [timed event] and got smacked hard by the recoil on my cheek bone.
I made it though.

Hubby was at his daughter's last night so I had some 'free' time. Yesterday.  I worked hard at fencing and adjusting things to make my chore life easier.

Hubby hasn't been able to mow yard yet...eeeeks!
I can't run his Country Clipper and am looking to get a self propelled mower.
In the mean time, I decided to put up temporary fence and get the mowing done organically.

This is Dyna, she was with Fred and Siera who did a fine job in mowing and fertilizing this portion of the yard.

They have another two sections to do and most of my knee high grass will be taken care of.

These mules know the routine.  When I come out at night I just wave to them and give them a kiss sound.
They follow me back into their paddock.  Such good mules!

This is the fence that the grand kids helped with when they visited.
I hope tomorrow to move the rest of 'the gals' out to the Meadow.

Here is Dennis proudly showing off where he helped fence.  He loved the details of electric fencing.

Here is my other helper I had for the day.  She found a morel mushroom!

Ariel is more oriented towards the animals.  She took Dixie out for more than one walk.  Dixie listened to her and they got along so well.

My hubby is in the middle of his treatments and things are going sort of rough for him.

I appreciate all of the help I got from my Grandkids and daughter Steph this week.

Lastly...a photo from Goose Island.
I had to take my Subaru in so they could install a remote starter.

I had some time to kill before Qualification and so I stopped at Goose Island.

Onward we go.
One
Day
At
A
Time.