June 2015 !!!

Sorry, happy fathers day to all pops of 2 and 4 legged kids, hope you had a nice day.

Wanna see somethin funny, come thru the mountains of colorado and watch a teenager go thru cell phone withdrawal...lol

We drove thru yellowstone nat. park, saw lots of wildlife and lakes were beautiful blue in color, saw a glacier in the grand tetons which I never knew we had....saw a huge buffalo herd of at least 500 as I stopped counting at that number in the tetons, not in yellowstone. saw grizzly bears, moose, elk, buffalo, antelope, eagles.....

Then we went thru flaming gorge in utah, dinasaur momument in vernal utah and the museum.

Drove thru the ski areas in colorado, hated those mountains, up and down and swithbacks and mostly no guardrails anywhere.....yikes....I couldn't breathe!
We have discovered colorado has the most snow left and also has the largest mosquito e population in the united states!

Drove thru jackson hole wy and what a tourist trap that town has become....couldn't even find a parking spot anywhere close to town and mobs of people.

Headed home now, nice trip, but everyone tried to cram too much into few short days....baby harper is 10 lbs now and cute with her perfect lil bow mouth. she smiles and it shatters ur heart into millions of pieces of love.

Later taters

CB, I've been to many of those places you mentioned. It is such beautiful country!
We were standing on the bank above the Snake River, looking west toward the Tetons. There was still snow on the tops of the mountains. One of them had a pattern of snow and bare rocks that looked for the world like the head of a St. Bernard.
We were camped at Colter Bay for a few days. From there we ranged out in all directions to see as much as we could, including Jackson Hole and the little chapel just north of there. At the moment, my memory won't allow me to come up with the name of the chapel, but it would be a wonderful place to go to church. Behind the pulpit was a huge picture window so you could sit in the pews and see God's majesty in the mountains to the west.

CB:
Your vacation sounds like it was really fun!  I would like to do some of those things.  Have a safe trip home!

ELLEN:
 Your vacation sounded great, too!  I would love to go out West and see some of those sights.  Donnie and I went to NM for a week several years ago, but never got further.  

My internet was confused for a few days, but now I am back.  My Kindle is still confused.  It has decided to type in Spanish!  I type in English and it comes on the screen in Spanish.  How did that happen?  I don't know.  I am on my computer to avoid the problem which I don't know how to fix.   It's always something....

I had a really fun lesson on Ivan a few days ago.  Lori had us practice a simple dressage test.  It was fun, but I found out that Ivan and I cannot do a round circle.  We do lopsided ovals.  It gives us something to work on.  The good news:  I didn't  have any bad reactions to riding.  

It has been very hot here, like everywhere else, I guess.  I have been doing barn duties early while the horses are grazing thru their muzzles.  That takes me almost two hours, by which time they are ready to come in for hay.  They stay in the barn area for the day, then I fix their dindin in the evening.  My riding lessons are late in the day when the shade covers the arena.  

Kazi, the ever enterprising mare, has learned a new trick.  She is good at getting her grazing muzzle off by rolling, so I put her flymask on over it to slow her down.   As I work on the barn area, I glance out at her now and then to make sure she still has the muzzle on.  If her flymask is off, so is the muzzle, so I go put it back on her.  Today she came in with the flymask on and the grazing muzzle off.  I had seen her grazing with the flymask on, so thought she was eating with the grazing muzzle on, too.  Sneaky mare is too smart for her own good.

We took Kazi and Daisy to Tech for trims on Monday afternoon. The vet kept saying Daisy had gained weight despite my vigilance with the grazing muzzles. So after the trims we all marched to the weight scales. Kazi had lost 27 pounds since her last trim!! She now weighs in at 875 pounds and the vet says she is at a good weight. Daisy reluctantly got on the scales and had lost 20 pounds!! She still needs to lose a lot more, but the vet couldn't give me his Big Weight Lecture this time.

You will all get a kick out of this one.
https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/xU7FdD1SpHc?rel=0

I wonder if CB is home yet. They should be either home or close.

Ark, I'm glad you were able to ride comfortably again. That's good news.

It's been more than 20 years ago, but we traveled with my cousin and his family to make 4 trips out west. Each trip was different, and I loved all of it.

Was home when I posted, sorry forgot to mention it....I bad.

Severe thunder storms....omy!

Animals r fine.....ponies are not snotting but every once inawhile we still hear a cough...so still have it.....doc says it will run course by 21 days usually....my horses were fine after some snot and a bit of coughing...and then just stopped? thankfully. mine had banamine right away to help with respiratory/nasal swelling every day twice a day while we were here and doc gave it for the week we were gone....they seem fine now. cost me some moolah but so well worth it and she did it on her way home so no office call charge or home charge...and I think she gave me a huge break.....banamine runs 25 bucks a tube here! we can buy it over the counter in the vet store, just vet supplies and medicines in the store as so many folks do lots of own doctoring here it makes it easy to get stuff you know you need without vet call....I like it!

Well, hope we don't float away...several counties have flash flood warnings...I can feel those webs growing between my toes

CB, I'm glad you made it home safely, and found the animals mostly okay.

That webbing between the toes is becoming an ordinary part of life around here; we've had soooo much rain. It rained most of the night and has been spitting rain all day. The weatherman is saying that tomorrow is going to be nice. Boy, I sure hope he's right this time.

Ark, did you get your new TV hooked up yet?

Graymare, is it nice and cool in the mountains?

Beech, where are you? Are you out riding the scooter?

Trudy, how's the garden doing? Did it get flooded out?

ELLEN
Nope, we won't pick the t.v. up until the room is more ready for it. We got the wall painted and it looks pretty nice! All the wiring for the t.v., satellite, computer connections, air ducts for the new heatpump, and who knows what else is all built into the wall so we won't have cables running everywhere. That is part of what took so long, dismantling the wall, wiring, then rebuilding that wall. Now for a truck to hit the new t.v., it has to cross 18 feet of room from the window where it hit last summer. We moved all our electronic things across the room away from the outside wall. Anyway, Donnie is putting in cover plates and such on the wall as I type. It is so nice not being able to see inside that wall anymore! Next comes carpeting the t.v. room, which we have here waiting to be installed. That won't take long. We may get the t.v. this week!

It is a beautiful day here today. 70 degrees, sunny with a bit of wind. It feels like a spring day, not the hot summer days we have been having. We are off to the lower field to dig up thistles and pull up johnson grass this afternoon. Second cutting of hay may be over the July 4th week if the weather cooperates. No rest for the wicked!

Still here, Ellen, faithless FOOP that I be.

And worried about being hopelessly witless, too, because I've just spent every minute of the entire morning just past, from 9 to 12, combing the house for a missing book -- one I'd had in my hands and been reading as recently as Friday afternoon. Examined every horizontal surface in every room, including bathrooms. Rifled through every standing pile of books, papers, magazines, newspapers. Upended waste baskets. Got down on my creaky knees, shoved boxes aside, and peered under the bed. Tore the bed apart. Got a spotlight and shone it under and behind freezer, refrigerator, couch, recliner, bookcases (and grimaced at all the filth revealed in all those spots). Plumbed the crevices of the recliner. Sorted through every item in the recycling bag. Got an umbrella to brave the pouring rain outside on the off chance that Lucy (new dog) might have left traces somewhere of having devoured it. NOTHING. Now this book is important because it's due up for discussion at next week's meeting of our little book club, and it's one I myself recommended, and it's also one I taught in another incarnation 150 years ago (45, actually!), and, as such, contains markings made then that may help me remember why it's -- well, memorable. FINALLY, I looked in the CLOTHES HAMPER and: VOILA!!!!! Now I take heart from the fact that I know I didn't place it in that odd spot deliberately in some fit of galloping dementia, but that I simply swept it up amid a pile of bedroom items headed downstairs, including dirty clothes destined for the hamper.

Phew.

And the dog's off the hook, too.

Have otherwise been amusing myself with getting the garden in, and with a fancy scroll saw I bought second-hand last month (I want to make jig-saw puzzles), and with an accordion that just came by UPS on Friday (I don't know where that last impulse came from. I may well indeed be losing it.)

And, yes, I've been scootering! Not as much as last year yet, because the weather's been a lot cooler. Though we've actually had quite a few gorgeous days lately, unlike all you folks burdened by heat and/or rain. In fact, until just recently, we were actually experiencing a drought, so today's steady drizzle is welcome.

Next item on my agenda: ordering a book that will teach me how to play that accordion -- and re-reading my blessedly-found old book. Satisfying activities for a cool, rainy day.

Whew, Beech! I'm glad you finally found the book. As I read in an e-mail, "I spend half the day looking for things I just had a minute ago."

Whee! We actually had a whole Sunday with no rain. Of course, it rained so hard the last two days that the water level has come back up again. And, there is more rain coming within the next couple of hours.
Yesterday, there was hardly anybody out on the water. Today, with the sun shining, EVERYBODY was out with pontoons, speedboats, kayaks, and anything else that would float. Not too many swimmers though. The water is too cold.
After the weekenders left, I took the jet ski out for a run. I'm very fortunate to be able to do that. With all the other boat traffic, it can be a bit hazardous to be out with a jet ski, not to mention rough water.
The upcoming week will see me cleaning and cooking and getting ready for the relatives who will start rolling in on Friday.

Ark, I hope you get your new TV SOON. Hard to believe it's been so long since the truck made a new entry door into your house.

The guys went to pick up a trencher for digging power line and water line for my brothers camper....I'm having a cuppa....

We got the grass mowed and weed eated and old carpeting. tore up and out....bought some more fence posts to work on the dogging racetrack....spose to rain wed thru sun so making hay so to speak whilst we can.

Hurt my wrist so its ace wrapped....ack....

Tomato plants have maters growing....

Bluey decided she was going to come into season while I was gone, so is now bred....more lil doxies.....but she was in with old beans so I doubt it will be a big litter...he's over 10 now...now watch she will have a dozen! lol


Well later taters.

BEECH
 I am exhausted from looking for your book!  What is the name of this book?  It must be a good one.  I am sure the dog is happy to be off the hook!

TRUDY
 I got a Foley machine and bought some Granny Smith apples to practice making applesauce before our tree is ready.  Any helpful hints???


We have had some great weather lately.  It feels like spring.  I had a good lesson on Ivan doing a beginner's dressage practice test.  It was fun.  We need a lot of practice.

Last night, Donnie went down to the barn after dark to spray a hornets' nest in the barn loft.   A young barn swallow was flying around and Donnie thought he had disturbed it, until the mother bird started shrieking.  A 4 foot black snake had hold of her in her nest in the rafters.  We had noticed we had fewer and fewer barn swallows this summer.  Donnie bashed the snake with the spray can and it loosened its hold on the bird, but was still on the rafter over top of Kazi.  Donnie came running up the hill to the house and told me I had to get Kazi out of the stall. He didn't want the snake to drop on her.  

So we ran back down to the barn and sure enough, the snake was right over top of Kazi.  I turned her and Ivan out to the pasture.  Donnie put a bunch of buckets under the snake, went back up into the loft, and started poking at the snake to get it to fall from the rafter.  (We don't kill non-poisonous snakes and blowing a hole in the roof trying to shoot it didn't seem like a good plan anyway.)  

He told me to keep the snake in the bucket if it fell in one. All this was going on in the dark by flashlights.  I decided turning on the lights might help me see a black snake easier, so I ran to turn them on just as the snake fell into Kazi's stall, missing all the buckets.  The snake was probably a little dazed after being bashed by the wasp spray can, had its meal interrupted, been poked with a horse training stick, falling 10 feet to the ground, then having the lights come blazing on.  Donnie made record time getting out of the loft.  We spent the next ten minutes trying to catch the snake with 4foot poles while it was trying to get out of the barn.  It kept crawling under the buckets thru the sawdust.  Finally after lots of dancing around and screaming,okay, I was doing most of the screaming,  we got it into a feedbag.  Donnie hauled it a few miles away and turned it loose.  I stayed and cleaned up all the buckets, sticks, and feedbags we had scattered around, then put Kazi back in her stall.

Our new policy is to catch any snake we see near the barn.  We had seen this snake, but didn't think it could get to the barn swallows' nests.  It had wiped out at least three nests of chicks and their parents.  The mother bird Donnie tried to save died anyway.  We like the birds better than the snake.  

And where were our brave horses during all the chaos and screaming?  Eating.  If Timmy falls in the well around our barn, the horses won't be coming to save him....

Hi guys. Things have been so darn busy around here now all the excitement is over with, I can sit down for more than 10 minutes and post. I thought I had posted a couple weeks ago, but don't see the post so it must have gotten eaten somehow. Oh well..

The garden is doing well, we have harvested beets, lettuce, cabbage & onions already. So much darn rain we can hardly keep the weeds under control at all. Lots of green tomatoes are growing nicely in the old horse muck buckets. Can't plant them in the garden because of last years spores in the soil that killed everyone's tomato plants around here.

So much rain lately. W spent the weekend dodging rain during the July 4th parade in Lewisburg, this year was supposed to be a celebration for the Viet Nam Veterans, it turned into a fight over the Confederate Flag. What a mess..The Civil War Reenactors were told not to fly the flag, so they pulled out of the parade. Tempers were hot. Amazingly a lot of people showed up to watch the parade in the down pour. People around here love their Veterans and refused to let a little rain keep them from the parade. It was fun and wet.

Sunday was Freedom Fest at the church. Another rain filled outing, not as bad as Saturday though. Everyone tail gates and they have a car show, free food and fireworks. The fireworks...not a good place for George, the combat wounded veteran to be, we won't be staying for the fireworks next year that's for sure. His first and last fireworks in the 50 years since he was in Nam. We went with our friend in their RV so when it rained we just went inside and stayed dry.

ARK: Just make sure the apples are soft when you put them in the food mill. Making applesauce is very easy but takes a lot of what my grammy called elbow grease. EEEKKKKKK about the snake story..

BEECH: I sure understand your frustration with searching. Been there done that so many times I have lost count. Not only for my own stuff but George's stuff also. AUUUGHHHHHHH I call them Search and Destroy missions when we are searching for his misplaced items. I always help even if I have no clue what I am looking for.

ELLEN: We are in the same rain pattern this summer. Can't hardly enjoy the summer for the continual rain with more on it's way this week,

Stay dry everyone...I'm off to pull weeds before the rain starts again.

Rain, whatzat? oh yeah, that's what the weatherman says is going to happen the next 7 days! wowzer wetness...

Wish the great mechanical gurus would make a trencher that fills the ditches back in....ugh...good thing therin is here to help.

Well back at it....

CB, I sure know what you mean about the rain. It rained this morning, but then stopped and ended up to be a very nice evening. IF (big IF) the forecast is right, we aren't supposed to have any rain for several days. That would be very good so the water level will go down soon so that boats can play without damaging docks that are floating - or held down with buckets of water sitting on top of them.
The relatives start coming on Friday, then they will be in and out for the next 3 or 4 weeks.

Hi........short here as ARK will change the month and I'll post tonight.

Everyone have a good day. God bless.

Yep, GRAYMARE is correct. Today we change our calendar. Go to:

https://horsefriends.forumotion.com/t46-july-2015#6098

or click on "Basket" and then "July 2015".

See you in July!

June is now closed......