Twenty Ten is here...or Two Thousand and Ten....or....

You get the idea. Groups of people whose hobby is nit-picking stuff like that are already at it. You have to say the year a certain way to be correct. Just like all the discussions about wild horses not being wild horses, or mustangs, but just feral horses. If I have a barn cat show up here and I can't get up to them, and they have learned to survive without my intervention, I call them a wild cat. Some call them feral. I will continute to call the horses on the range that don't need our intervention mustangs, or wild horses, and I will be happy doing so, just like the cats that show up here are wild cats - as far as I am concerned, we are all right. I have not decided what I will call the year 2010...have not said it enough to give me the right feel to the word. :-) Maybe I will say "Two - O - One - O" HA HA!

Brian's family Christmas was this weekend at our house. We don't have a lot of room but we worked it out. Brian put word on the street to bring blow up mattresses, sleeping bags, etc., and that is what they did. They only stayed for one night, and once everyone was gone, it was back to quiet again. The hard part about the gatherings in the winter is the weather is too cold to get outside for a breather. Everyone is stuck inside. Yesterday a couple of the kids went out to sled and snow board. I gave snow boarding a try and made it about 6 inches before I fell down. Then I went down the bottom of the hill to a flat spot and scooted around until I got the feel. I did not try it again, but I am going to keep my eye opened for a used one - I think I can do this! :-)

Here is nephew Tucker getting some air...show off!



The donks and llama were mesmerized by the kids on the hill...they watched for the longest time.



Snoop on top of the round bales watching the action...



Had a nice sunrise yesterday morning in spite of the cold. I was watching the air sparkle...very awesome! Just another one of God's one-of-a-kind piece of art.
Here are some frosty rumps....



Oh how I wish this was a clear picture...Tripp sticking his tongue out...



Licking the frost off his lips...



Red Bear warming himself in the sun...



Millie gives me the look that says "This is not snow! Head out West or out East, or how about the Scottish Highlands (she is a Scottish Highland heifer and is proud of it)...now that is a SNOW!!!!" Just so you know, I would not mind it so bad if it was not so darn cold - I can survive if we can at least make it to 20 degrees! We made it to 4.



Me and Halo self portrait...



"WHAT YOU DOIN???"



Jester and Ajax dealing with winter okay...



Ajax rests his nose on Jesters rump waiting his turn to the water bucket. They have a water trough with a heater, but they don't like walking on the uneven frozen mud, so I was spoiling them with the water bucket. Now I know why bears like to hang out in camp when you feed them...it isn't that they can't get to food or water, they just found a much EASIER way to get food and water. Hee hee!



Brian came out early enough to see the crystals in the air - and to spend some time loving on the horses. I let him sleep because I knew they had been up late the night before, but I will admit I am happy he came out to see us. I love our time together outside with the horses, just talking and coming up with ideas about things. It is our time...



Niece Tacy came out to help me feed. You all might remember Tacy from my June 2009 entries...she was riding Tiger and Wyoming. She was my Assistant Mustang Trainer for a weekend. :-)



When the weather is cold like this....I wish I was like these two. :-) Thomas is the big orange cat, and Coco is the other one.



Thomas is the very layed back fellow of the pair, and Coco is the one who stayed hidden until everyone left.
Here is Thomas living the good life....



It was a nice weekend, but I am ready for it to warm up. I was looking thru pictures with grass in the yard, dry ground, sunshine, and I was soooo happy! Any more it just hurts my body to be so cold, but I don't like being cooped up inside either. Oh well, the weather will change soon. I will be moaning and groaning about mud before ya know it!!!!

Have a wonderful New Year everyone!

Karen and Tripp...

Snowy Pictures...

We got snow here over Christmas weekend, but not as bad as some areas. We measured our snow in INCHES and other places measured theirs in FEET! ACK! Hope everyone got to where they were going safe and sound. The winds were cold and crazy and it was just plain miserable out there! In spite of the cold winds, the ground stayed warm so we had a few inches of snow on the top with some ice, and several inches of mud underneath. Did not make for easy navigating...even at the walk.

I got my camera back from the Camera Dr., and it finally works! They tried sending it back a 3rd time telling me nothing was wrong, so I told them to keep it, look again, use it like a consumer would, because something WAS wrong. It came back and all the settings were different, so someone did something to it - and it works! I still have a few settings to fix (noise when it turns on) but I can do that later.

Here are a few misc pictures from the weekend, and they are not going to be in any particular order.

Here is my 2008 Extreme Mustang Makeover horse, Tripp. He is still a luv bug.



Tripp in the snow...



He consistently has a snowy nose...



Susie wanted in the action. She is Brian's Quarter mare.



Nevada in the snow...



Head shot of Nevada - he is such a regal boy and keeps everyone in line. I love watching him work things out with the trouble makers (Tripp). He never attacks anybody, he just has chats with them.



Nevada and Tripp....



Nakita the snow dog...the Huskeys are happy!



Mustangs in the snow...



Chase the llama nosing around...wondering what we are doing...



Batman with a snowy nose...he was moving around like a mini bull dozer...CUTE!



I spent a couple hours out there y-day when the sun came out, and Batman was all lovey dovey and gave me a smooch! In fact, he gave me lots of smooches. :-) He loves me!



Batman with the donks, and Tandee my Arab mare peeking out the barn door.



Batman and Tandee under the new canopy yesterday...



My Mom came out to visit. She says that Batman is hers, so if anything happens to me, Batman can live in her back yard with her dogs. :-)



Ajax the burro, with Tandee peeking thru the plexi stuff on the barn door...she was not coming out if she didn't have to...



Ace, last years rescue, has come along quite nicely...he is nosing the camera...



On the ugly snowy day the horses came up to the barn looking for treats. It was hard to see thru the blizzard and Joker took a left at Albequerque and ended up in the large pen...Ace followed, not knowing they were off the path...oh no! They are stuck! What are a couple of young mustangs to do? I will tell you what they did - they got saved by a girl! HA HA!!!! That would be me!



They are dealing with the weather, and it is obvious some of them don't care one bit for this stuff, and others are happy no matter what. Me....I am ready for summer! :-)

Until later....Karen and Tripp who is one of the snow lovers!

Decorations at The Horse Farm...

I have my camera back, and I am going to do a couple of entries instead of putting a gazillion pictures on one. :-)

The Horse Farm (www.thehorsefarm.net) is about 20 minutes from us, and she decorated their barn and had a small tour the past couple of Saturdays. Brian's son took riding lessons there for a while so we became real close to her and her horses. Sharon is a wonderful person who doesn't believe a horses life is over just because they are 20 yrs old. She is also one of the special people who can give lessons to kids AND adults both. A couple of her older horses had moved on, and there are some new ones to take their place. It was fun to go out and visit a while, and to see the pretty decorations. The weather was yucky out - very bitter cold and windy and still snowing (but thankfully not as much as other places).

Sharon got some corn stalks from the Amish and she built herself Cornelius the Horse. She has a beautiful little black Arabian that she took measurements of, and she built Cornelius based on her measurements. I was very impressed! Cornelius was wearing the whole harness!
Here are Brian's kids, Jordan and Madison, with Cornelius the Horse.



And here we are with Cornelius the Horse...



Front of the barn...



Close up of the wreath...they were so pretty.



When you walk inside she has music playing, there is garland and home made crafts around the tops of the stalls, and the manger scene in the hay loft. It was soooo cool! She made the manger scene out of things she had around the farm, and she said that once in a while when you walk in, one of the barn cats comes crawling out of the baby manger.



She has stocking for each horse, and she had to quit putting stuff in them because the mice were chewing them up. The names are held on by velcro. The person who made them did a great job!



Then there is Rusty, one of the farm mascots. They lost a dog a long time ago and picked Rusty up as a pup. She has grown into quite the dog!



Before we left, another couple was out braving the weather for a visit. We had a very nice time and we got caught up on what all has been going on.

Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season! Well, I guess it isn't over yet! New Years is right around the corner. Wow...time sure does fly....

Until later, Karen and Tripp who likes snow

Snuck in a few shots before taking the camera back...

So I call the number the camera people gave me...you know, if I had problems. When I told them the zoom only works when I am up close to something she says "Oh, so it doesn't work at a distance....." Uh, yeah! Now is it just me, or should they check it like they would sight in a gun? You test it at all distances then decide if it is fixed or not. So, it is back in the shop. I will say the person I talked to was very very nice, and I am not one to shoot the messenger. Hopefully I will get it back real quick! I am going crazy without a camera!

So while I was testing it I took a few shots...

Tripp says "Ptooey!" while Millie looks on...



Two of the young roosters who lucked out and did not make the trip to the Amish. They are not aggressive yet, and they are quite amusing to watch, so they are sticking around a while. Okay, they are pretty too! The white one is that large chick, and he has a cute beard.
I am sad to report that Rooster Cogburn had a fatal accident this weekend. He got into the yard and the dogs got him. We are very sad about that...he was a neat rooster. :-(



Wendigo is one of the first mustangs we adopted. I am ashamed to say I let her feet get out of control and she ended up with a rear hoof crack that was causing her problems. I had to keep her up and soak the hoof, which she did real good with. We had to wait for that to feel better before we could trim her up and put her back out. This weekend was her moment...she was pretty good about the trimming, altho the last rear hoof was a challenge. Thankfully I had Brian's help and we got her done, and now she is back out with the others.
Here she is begging to go out...giving me that fake happy look. :-)



After the trim I had Brian double check my work, and Batman and Wendigo were checking me out.



Nevada: "How you doin?"



Chase the llama is in the hay bale...the bale that is on the tractor waiting to be put into the field. Hee hee! This is the thing that makes Brian so mad...guess this one will be done and he won't have to take it out next week.



We are adding a canopy to the other side of the barn, and we got so much done this weekend! Yay!
Brian is adding boards to attach tin to.



I was helping attach boards when a turkey flew up by me. This was a self portrait opportunity if I ever had one! :-)
The turkeys are very curious...they follow us around and watch everything we are doing.



I was on the main part of the barn helping to slip new tin under the edges, then I was attaching it on my end. Since I was up there and my balance is not that great, I stuck to taking a picture of my feet to show I was helping.



Remember Ace, the rescue mustang from last year? I could not get a good picture of him, but you all get the idea. Our boy is growing up! I hope I can stick to my plan and make him a Spring project. It will be time to start preparing him for a new home. And if we decide to keep him, I have to prepare someone else for a new home. As much as I would love to, I can't keep them all. I really want to be able to rescue more in the future and learning how to find new homes for them is the only way I will be able to do it.
Ace is filling out a lot. He has a real short back, his legs are thick and strong, and he finally has someone to pick on - Flash, the pony who came back. He is not mean about it - just makes faces and I think it makes him feel good.



I got an update on Wyoming. One of the girls at the ranch has been riding him, and she started doing back flips off him! Woo hoo! I can't wait to go visit him. Just need for the weather to hold out so I can go out on a day they are riding.

I have not heard anything about Copper the past couple weeks, but I am sure he is doing great. I bet I hear something soon. It has been almost a month that he has been at the trainers. I have not heard from the adopters either, so am not sure what is going on there....maybe the trainer has heard from them. I will know soon. I know he technically is not my responsibility any more, and there comes a time when I have to let go, but it isn't time yet. Once I know where he is and that he is settled in someplace, I will relax. :-)

Guess I better find something to fix for dinner.

Until later, Karen and Tripp who is still as cute as ever!