How to pose a Jack Russell

How to pose a Jack Russell for photos.

Bribery.
Bribery.
Bribery.

Nice doggy.

No petting though, that really distracts him from the cookie I have on my head.

You read it correctly.
A half a dog bisquit on the top of my head [actually on a hat].
It holds his attention.

Food= Bribes.
In the photo where he is wearing a scarf ... I held the cookie high with one hand ... and took photos with the other.

Thank goodness for auto focus!

After the silliness was done, we went out to play in the cold.

Goodwill and lending a hand

Sometimes you just do it.

It was a lark really. I didn't mean to get involved ~~ but I went to my neighbor's house to pick up a package that FedEx left at their place. I was irritated as this was the second day in a row that the FedEx person had left packages at the wrong address.

When I got back into my car, I could see Josh's car on the ridge by the old tobacco shed. I knew he was tearing it done to clean it up and recycling what he could out of it for money. The wind was blowing hard and I knew that it was cold, so I decided to drive out and see if he was okay.

He'd loaded tin from the roof of the old shed onto a small trailer.
I looked at his vehicle, I looked at the load on his trailer and did some mental math.

No way was he getting that anywhere in this snow squall with that little SUV that no longer had 4 wheel drive.
I tried to help him remove some pieces of tin that he couldn't get at, then told him that he needed a pry bar~~and by the way did he know that his right front tire was going flat???

He sighed and said that he didn't have a choice, he had to get this done today.
He was very polite and thanked me for stopping.

I drove home and asked hubby how he'd feel about helping 'the kid' out. Hubby tossed on his coveralls, we grabbed some pry bars and ropes...then took our full sized 4 wheel drive truck up to where Josh was working.

Long story short.
We helped. We pulled the load for him.
Then as he stepped out of the truck into the cold to retrieve his vehicle, I asked him down to our place for supper.

He said he had money and that he could go buy something to eat.

I said a home cooked meal would be nice.

We felt sorry when Josh left after eating with us and visiting for a couple hours.
His company had been fun.

And we knew that he was sort of 'homeless' in his own terms.
Yet he was determined to 'find his own' way.

He promised to come down and say good bye before he headed south for the winter.
We hope to see him again and wish him the best of luck.

Sometimes a lending hand and some Goodwill goes far.

For the Givers as well as the Receivers.

It Is Miss Dynah to You

Name: Dynah or Dynamite
Age: About 11yrs old
Molly Mule
Color: ~~ well you can see she is a loud appaloosa colored mule with the classic appy tail.

I promised earlier this year to catch my blogger friends up on introductions to some of our mules.

Dynah isn't really 'our' mule. She belonged to a good friend and has been passed on to us. We are her keepers.

But something strange happened along the journey of her becoming a member of 'our' family and herd.
She started tugging on my husband's heart strings.

Dynah has all the basics down, but she can be a bit pushy at times. She demands your attention and absolutely LOVES having her nice big appy butt curried. She literally groans with delight.

In the middle photo you can see my husband talking with Dewey our farrier as he unconsciously rubs Dynah's ears and neck.
Dynah absolutely respects his space, allows me to curry her, and catch her. But she really truly [me thinks~~~]makes googly eyes at Rich!

Nah, I must be seeing things.

He has worked with her quite a bit in the round pen and we are getting to the point of saddling manners and Beginning Riding 101.

Tonight when we came home with 18 round bales on the hay hauler, guess who was the first mule to run to the fence and start braying?

Miss Dynah.
I remarked to hubby that I believe Miss Dynah had just seen 'her take out dinner' arrive.
We really had to laugh because the expression on her face was remarkable.

...oh and I don't recall when I started to refer to Dynah as *Miss Dynah*.
But it sure seems to fit her.

[and she just loves BIG round Bales of Hay!]

The Point

I went exploring with Badger yesterday. The temperature neared 50 degrees and the sun was shining.

The day begged me to come out and play.
So I saddled Badger and grabbed my camera and packed it on the saddle.

Morris ran circles in the yard and finally stopped and sat under Badger.
I sighed, 'What a good mule you are.'

We rode out towards the 'back valley' on the neighbor's land. There was a place I had seen while walking during deer hunting season that I wanted to explore.
It was a point of land that stood like a sentinel over the 'back valley'.

I'd never been there before, but had seen it from other trails~~in the summer time it is hidden from view by foliage.

I crisscrossed the ridge until I found a spot to safely head towards this 'point'. As we rode out further the land narrowed drastically. I stopped about 20 feet from where the land literally dropped off into thin air.

I unclipped a rein from Badger's bridle and clipped it onto his halter, then loosely tied him to a tree.

I walked out to the edge and stared down a 350 foot drop off. At the very point stood a tree ... there was about 12 inches of earth to stand on.

I could oversee a good portion of the back valley.

I felt like 'Man from Snowy River'...though I was not going to consider riding off the Point. I stood for a while just looking, the view was incredible.
It is...hard to explain it, but the view, the height, the angle of the sun, shadows, and the rocks was very moving.
I felt tiny on the point, yet I felt large.

Doesn't make sense, but there it is.

What a fine day...
Shared by my good mule Badger and Morris.

Quality of Life?

When do you interfere with the end of one of your favorite equine's lives? How do you determine what his/her quality of life is?

This is a very tough question to answer isn't it?

What do you do when you see your beloved old horse fading away.
And before anyone suggests that I immediately take her to the vet~~well that has already been done.

It is old age and very few teeth.
You can't get dentures for an old horse.
You can't make her digestive system work right when it doesn't do exceptionally well anymore.

And yes she gets all the geriatric feed she is able to.

Yet, she is still fading before my eyes.

I'm fighting with myself. I don't want her to die nor do I want her to suffer. So I go out and spend time with her as she nibbles ever so slowly at the hay she has in front of her. I tidy her mane and scratch her favorite spots.

I feel catches in my throat and moisture in my eyes.
She blows horse snots on me in gratitude.

I don't want to let her go but soon I will have no choice.

She is Welcomed

Dinah or Dyna [Dynamite] has made herself at home with the other molly mules and the mares in our 'winter' pasture.
She has some definite likes.

Curry combs...she loves curry combs...so nice to scratch her with. Her lips move with pure joy and contentment.

When I leave the pasture, she nickers at me. I take this to be a very good sign.

Dyna or Miss Dyna as we call her brightens up the 'gal' pasture with her exotic and beautifully colored coat.

Some deer hunters stopped by to talk to my hubby yesterday and she was immediately 'spotted' and wowed over.

Today there is no work schedule for me...hunting season is over, and I'll put on my winter coveralls and go out and spend some fun time [after my honey-do's and chores, of course].

Enjoy your day.

The Landmark...

The Landmark's last photo
Originally uploaded by Mulewings~

This shed was built by a man named Pete Tigen about 100 years ago according to one of his great grandsons who is in the process of taking it down.

I am sad to see this relic go for a couple of reasons.

1st:
It marked a fork in the road and was easy to spot across the ridge in a snow storm. If you lined yourself up with this landmark during a snowstorm from the neighbor's farm, you'd be assured to stay on the road [which would be hidden].
At the shed, I would hang a left turn carefully and head towards the woods and my place.

2nd:
In my 'neighborhood' or ridgetop as it is known...the saying is...drive down Kolstad until you get to the shed and turn right or left...or...go past the Shed to the next place on your right...
or...
If you make it to an old shed, head south towards the woods...

You see, it existed before we had a road sign.

The road sign came after 2005.

Oh what stories this shed can tell.
On one cold December day during a snow storm, my youngest son proposed to a woman just inside of it. [they didn't marry~~no matter]

On many a cold blustery day while walking or riding I've had an occasion to seek shelter just inside of it also.

I've spent years photographing it from every single angle. Yet the Shed never ever seemed to be a boring subject.

Now it is down.
And I miss it terribly.

I told the Great Grandson that we in the 'neighborhood' felt almost as if we should erect a memorial.

'Ye Old Shed Stood Here'



My Flickr set of images...mostly of this shed:
The Shed