Trying to keep it together

I love spring for many reasons.  Mostly because I enjoy not having to wear so many layers while hiking.  I do like spring for the simple fact that I can go out and find new things appearing from what looks like a barren forest floor.

Here the ferns are just emerging on the 16th from on top of a rock. The curls are nearly as small as a pencil eraser.
Next to them is a Virginia Waterleaf emerging.

My grand daughter went on a very early morning hike with me on Sunday morning.
The dew was still heavy on the grass in the valley.

And as we dipped into the steep valley we walked into areas that the morning sun hadn't even come to yet.

Eventually we made it to the Big Spring.  It is a spot that water comes from a hillside and adds to the existing creek.  The spring sports a beautiful morning delight for us.
Marsh marigold everywhere.

Ariel busies herself while I take several shots of the flowers.  She works on a story line for Doe Story with a Meerkat and Fox toy.

Our journey kept us going.  Ariel asked if we could try a another route home and I said we could.  We decided to go along the rock ravine and climb up to the old logging road.

We had more adventures, but I am going to stop this here. I've run out of time today and have to get ready for work.
I know that we had a great time though.

To be continued...

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?

Just some art today

And some Mandelbulb 3d.

What I do sometimes when I am having my morning coffee and waking up.

Sometimes I need a break from all of the other busy things going on right now.

Looks like the digging for the basement will begin as soon as next week.
I best get busy and get the rest of my preparations done.

Going to be busy.

While cleaning out the back 'almosta' room, I came across and abundance of seeds.
Apparently I am a hoarder of seeds and didn't realize it.
I have now located all seed packets past and present.  I have an ice cream bucket full of them.

Combine that with all of the perennials that I have yet to dig up before the remodeling starts and those I gave away, it is a wonder that I should even have a yard.

Well this year I am sharing my seeds and my neighbor is getting quite a few perennials as we thought sharing would be fun.

I know some of the seeds are old but I'll plant them anyway and see what happens.

I finally got some Stella Doros to plant.  I have always loved their cheery blossoms in the summer.
I look out my window at the place where we have our garden.  Last year it was used as a pumpkin/squash patch and not weeded.  It looks like it will be an intimidating job to clean up and plant.

I am hopeful though.  I have beets, lettuce, and green beans to plant.  

Of course then reality hits.  I have a mess in the driveway from the last big snow fall, I had raked and cleaned the yard already once and now need to do this task again.

It looks rather daunting.  I started work on it again yesterday until the rain/snow/sleet forced me back inside.

After it quit, I went out to do some more work.  Alas the mess had turned to muck and there was no raking or shoveling it.  It needs to dry out again.

Then there is hubby who is finishing up cleaning up the Dexters's summer pasture.  We spent a whole day picking up the last remnants of stumps and debris that we intended to take care of last year before he had to go through cancer treatment.

This section was the messy area. The tree stumps are those left over from trees that were damaged in a bad storm.

It has taken us quite a while to get it all cleaned up.

The rest of the cow pasture is in good shape.

As soon as this weather breaks, it looks like I'll be back to fence repair in the Merry Meadow.  The deer and coyote have busted some of the electric line on the second wire.  We have brush piles to burn and more trimming to do.
Oh.
That is to be done while we are remodeling, and somehow I need to stick gardening in there also.

Hmmm.  Don't forget work!

Looks like a very busy spring.  

When the winds blow!

April fools!  We awakened to 30 mph winds and gust of winds up to 45 mph!

It was snowing and sleeting at the same time and looked like a whiteout.  When we did chores we gave our slices of hay in strategic positions so the hay wouldn't blow away.

Whew was it cold.  Just a few days ago it was 50 some degrees.  I just can't get with these wild temperature changes.

The girls were doing there thing with their butts to the wind and gathered together like the little herd they are.  Every once in a while someone would jostle another and they'd resort themselves in some predestined order that only equine can understand.

Sunday we are supposed to start out the morning in the 20's and reach 65 by mid afternoon.

I tell you, the weather is crazy!

The cold temperatures and winds kept me inside most of the day.  Outside it would snow, sleet, rain, and then the sun would come out.  And the winds kept the trees shaking and the pines did the hula dance.

I got out some of the skulls I'd been working on.  There was an old deer skull that I'd found.  It was in poor shape and had been chewed on by mice and other animals.  I looked at it as a challenge and wondered if I could paint it up to put on the garage or the outhouse as a 'country' decoration.

I had spent the morning cleaning out the back room shelving and packing it away.  The back room will be one room that will be completely replaced when the remodel starts.

Anyway I thought a bit of quiet time was in order.

I took some Antique stain and began to stain the skull.

I wasn't sure I was even going to like what I'd done, but it was such an old skull I thought I'd just mess around with it and see what happens.  

I sort of like the color and the way the staining brought out the age in the skull. The areas that had been gnawed on were slightly highlighted.  I set it on a rack to dry.

Then I turned to my new find.  A 'possum skull.

After it dries, I will retrieve the rest of the teeth that I have and put glue them into their places.  

The 'possum has such a flat head compared to that of a raccoon.  

I also had two ground hog skulls.  One with teeth and one without.

I used a 50/50 mix of Elmers Glue to seal and preserve the skulls.

'Possum skull in the middle, ground hogs on each side and raccoon for reference on the wood.

I'm thinking that someone reading this is really curious as to why I collect skulls and paint them or seal them.  My veterinarian and I are huge fans of skulls.  He has a huge display in his waiting room.  Frankly I am quite jealous of his amazing collection.  Of course his skulls are animals from around the world.

All skulls are the result of what I find while hiking in the woods and...

I do it for art.

Some painted skulls can sell for quite a bit of money.  The one with the red dots on it sold for $200.  I've given two others away as gifts. I collect antler sheds also and hope to have enough to make a lamp or something very artistic one day.

This is another old doe skull that had seen better days before I stained it and finished it off.

The really fresh bones are left alone to show off their natural color.  
I can't wait until Spring gets itself sorted out.  I have a garden to plant and outdoor things to do.

Oh yes, and the remodel.  The start date is getting closer!

Searching for Doe

I have no idea why I keep having fun with these toys.  Okay, let me say that I do have an idea!
It started with an idea between my Grand daughter Ariel and I.  We would take toys out and photograph them and then caption them with a little story.

Well that grew and I added Trolls that I found, and a Skunk, a Dinosaur, a Buck, and another Doe. 

I explained one day to my new neighbors about the ongoing Toy Saga of Doe.  Val Barbie ended up at my door one day delivered by Carson.  

Next I borrowed a Poison Dart Frog from the kids. This week another toy was 'donated' to the cause.  Carson explained that he felt this Koala bear would be nice because 'it was realistic' and he knew that I liked those kinds of toys.

Friends of mine from Kenosha have also participated in the fun.  So, this story goes on and on with no particular end or direction.  It just happens with no plot.
And so it goes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
#SearchingforDoe

Val Barbie was getting concerned.  She called a secret meeting with her Secret Agents.
Kola the bear, Venom the frog, and Dear who has gotten close to Doe but hasn't convinced Doe to come back to her friends yet.

Dear, Kola, and Venom meet in the Dynamite Box with Val Barbie

Their mission should they accept it:  Seek out Doe, make friends with her and bring her back before the Maypoles come up!

Venom decides he won't use his Poison Darts on anyone.  He runs out to the creek to begin a search.

Checking the Creek, Venom sees no sign of Doe

Kola decides to do what he does best.  Climb something and watch.

Kola observes from a Gooseberry Plant

Doe spots and odd looking Bear in the woods.  She isn't afraid and walks right up to him.

Are you a bear? A real bear? asks Doe.

I am, says Kola.

Do you eat Does? asks Doe.

I only eat veggies. Says Kola.

Wow, I have a Dinosaur friend that only eats veggies too! says Doe.

Let's do lunch! suggests Kola.

Doe and Kola collect some maple tree buds and sit on a stump in the woods.

Doe and Kola meet up with Dear and Venom to eat maple buds.

Doe likes her new friends. Venom and Kola are nice. Venom doesn't spit poison darts and Kola doesn't eat deer.  

Even Dear likes them it seems.

Doe thinks about her other friends, Dino and Bo.  What should she do? She misses them.

Kola smiles so nice at her and says Maybe you can introduce us to your friends Bo and Dino sometime?

Doe does something she doesn't do very often.  She thinks about it.

Chores with Siera

When I got home from work on Tuesday the weather was still pretty nice.
Chores needed to be done and I changed out of my uniform and into work clothes.

I walked down to the paddock and took Siera out. She was going to spend some time with me and it might as well be while I did chores.  Morris accompanied us running around Siera and through her legs.
She just sighed and watched him.

I led her into the shed where the hay was kept and put enough flakes of hay in the snow sled to feed the cattle.  I wondered how she'd react to the sled being pulled at the same time I was leading her.  
She smelled the hay and stole a bite.

Well now, she was associating the sled as a food source and not as a monster.
Funny that when I pulled the larger sled with hay in it to feed her in the paddock with Fred she'd eyed it as a Mule Eating Monster.

I walked up the hill to the calves and dragged the noisy sled through the gravel and over the grass.  A wheel barrow would have worked better but that takes two hands.  I had Siera in one hand and the sled rope in the other.

I walked over to the yard hydrant and hooked up the hose to water the cattle.  When I turned it on Siera's eyes widened and then she watched.  She is a very observant mule.

I turned the hose onto her hooves and sprayed her feet.  She picked up one foot and then set it down.  That was her reaction.
I praised her and then told her to 'stand' while I watered.  I dropped the rope to hook up the hose to another line and then straightened up.

She hadn't moved a muscle. She waited until I picked up her lead rope and then she heeled me back to the hydrant where I hooked up the hose for the large stock tank. 
We moved on to where our three cows were and I hooked Siera's lead over a tree branch.
She grazed as I forked hay to the 3 gals.
Annie was quite content and came to the fence line to look Siera over.

Morris ran about and did his Jack Russell thing.  

When I lifted the black plastic cover to put over the round bale, Siera gave it an eye and then curiously watched it.

It is interesting that sometimes under saddle these things seem to be monsters to her and while on halter and lead, they are not.
I've been working with Siera for almost 6 years now and she is broke, or trained quite well.  She has some most amusing quirks and one of them is her spring time ritual of being annoyed and upset about riding the woods trail away from the farm.

This is understandable since I don't get to ride much in the winter.  There are things that bother her under saddle that don't bother her when I am leading her.
Perhaps she thinks I am protecting her by being on the ground?
I don't know.

She does love to be with me in this fashion.  And I have trained her much like one trains a dog for obedience.  However, she doesn't 'sit stay', but she will 'stand stay' when I ask.

We did as much as I could while having a mule 'in hand' and then I groomed her and put her back in the paddock with Fred and Mica.  She stood at the gate and let out a soft nicker as if to say.
"What? Are you not going to keep playing with me?"

Another week or so of this kind of treatment and we will be good to go off on the trails.  


Siera came out with me for a while yesterday.  We walked in a rain shower to go get the mail.  She walked away from her 'buddies' willingly until Fred started to bray like crazy.  It took us much longer to get the mail and I got wet, but there you go.

I am trying to do something little with her everyday.  Rich told me that time with her would only make her 'a better mule' and since she was attached emotionally to me, it would solidify our relationship.

And yes, mules do get preferences in people.  Sometimes extremely strong preferences.  Badger was one such mule, and Siera is one also.