Temps were in the 60's this weekend....awesome!

What a great weekend!  Temps were in the 60's and it did not rain.  Woo hoo!  Some of the mud dried out enough to play around and get a few things done.  Brian was hunting up north, so I was flying solo again this weekend, which I enjoy once in a while.

This is the first year we have had our winter hay in one organized spot.  I got to worrying about another horribly bad winter, so I talked Brian into ordering 1 more months worth...that should be delivered soon.  Yay!

 In a previous post I mentioned the Bale Buddy.  We got the XL size because the rounds we get vary quite a bit.  Here it is partly eaten down - very little waste around the bottom.

We have had some rain and it got pretty muddy in the pen area, but they are still eating out of the Bale Buddy and there is almost no waste at all.  If the round would have been out here without the Buddy, it would have been strewn all over the place and stomped into the mud.
I was not sure how I felt about them having to eat out of the top, but if I pull it down the edges a little bit, there is no problem for them to get to it.  I was also worried about it getting wet, etc., and it did not get icky at all.  So far so good.....last night we dumped the extra and put in a new bale because rain is in the forecast.

 It was another perfect day for hoof trimming....Mr. Sonic Boom was one of my victims and he thought I did not mean him....so he took off running.  This is not normal - usually there is no problem catching him.  It was very windy and he was feeling it!

 He stops to snort and Chase is right by him.  Now Boom doesn't put up with any guff from the llama, so why the llama thought he had the upper hoof, I will never know.  He kept making faces at Boom and acting like he was going to spit on him.

Then Chase walked around him....I walked back up to Boom and had my arms around his neck to halter him up then WHAM!  That darn llama body slammed him on the other side, knocking Boom into me!  ACK!  Boom tried not to hit me, but failed....I bounced back.....

  Then away they go!  I got the shot too quick, darn it!  Give it about another second or two and Boom will pop Chase right in the chest!  It was quite a THUD!  OUCH!!!!

 But Boom wasn't done yet, he took another couple of laps after the llama!  The llama thought he was safe under the canopy....wrong.  Hee hee!   Everyone finally settled down...

Boom headed over to the Hoof Jack to check it out....

 Here is Boom looking innocent.....hey says "Look into my eyes....because you are a girl and you love my eyes....."

 Batman got his pedicure the day before, so he thought he would help teach the others the ropes.  He is holding the lead line just like I did with him.  :-)

Then when he tugged on it, Boom dropped his head!  I thought this was so cute.....it is nice to know that even Batman can ask Boom to drop his head and he will.  

This is the only picture I got of Batman helping with Wyoming.  We did Wyoming first and it was pretty uneventful other than this......

 Tripp with a slight reflection on the pond....

Tripp and I hamming it up....

Tripp thought he looked better than I did in this shot.  He is right!  :-)

It was a fun day, we got a lot done...but nothing inside the house!  HA!  No worries...it will be there later, right? 

Gotta great ready for work now....

Until later....Karen and Tripp who is glad he doesn't have to go to work.  He likes being a kept fellow!  ;-)

I heard "Wood Chuck" instead of "Wood Duck...."

So here is my side of the story.....a friend calls and tells me that her dog Rusty brought home a wood chuck and it is still alive.  She doesn't have a pond and I was the person she thought of that did have a pond.  I was thinking to myself "I did not know that a wood chuck needed a pond, and if they do, they are probably about as destructive as a muskrat."  So we are talking about the wood chuck and the whole time I am thinking how I am going to sneak a wood chuck to the house without Brian knowing.....hee hee!

Well, as the conversation goes on, I realize she isn't talking about a wood chuck....it is a WOOD DUCK!  HA HA HA!!!!!  They had him in a stall with some food and a water dish to play in, but he was not eating.  They knew he would not survive like that, so they wanted to try something else.  I picked him up and put him on the lagoon with the neighbors ducks who hang out.  He was very afraid so I stayed away for a few days.  A week or so ago I went out there and scared him, and he flew across the lagoon.  I immediately left him alone and sent my friend an e-mail to let her know Woody is still here. 

This weekend I was out there checking to see if he was still there, and I startled him out of the brush onto the water, and he swam around with the other ducks for a while.  He was much more relaxed than the last couple of times. 

Here is Woody the Wood Chuck....hee hee!  He is so pretty, his eyes are red, and he has the cutest little voice.  I don't know how long he will stay, but he is welcome to hang out as long as he likes.

Until later....Karen and Tripp who thinks it is fun to have a pet wood chuck!  :-)

Great start to the weekend....

The weather is overcast but somewhat warm, and I just played most of the day.

I let the horses and donks into the yard and Wyoming is wondering what I am up to.  I was putting the dog food dishes on the front porch....check out that innocent look!  :-)

Had a beautiful moon....I was sitting outside listening to the night sounds, waiting for Tandee to finish her meal.  What a beautiful night...

Ace and I trying to do a 'mood' shot....uh yeah, we look so natural....ha ha!

Ace and Susie....they followed me all over....

Ace hiding behind the tree...

ACE:  "How you doin'?"

Batman got his hooves trimmed....he wanted me to show off his mustang roll to prove he is a real mustang.  It was hard to take a photo and hold the hoof at the same time....just know that he did get his mustang roll.  :-)

Batman after he escaped!  I had him in the barn, got the front hooves done and I was going into the feed room to get a couple of alfalfa cubes as treats for him doing so good, and no sooner did I walk in the door I heard his little hooves going into turbo boost!  He ran outside....

Millie begging for a treat....

Nevada peeking thru the tree....

Nevada nosing around....

Susie nosing around....

I got Batman trimmed all the way around, Tandee's fronts done (got dark too quick) and just hung around outside.  I did not get anything done inside that I wanted to.  It will be there later...that is one thing I can count on. 

Hope everyone is doing well!!!

By the way, Levi the mustang got his cataract surgery and he can see now!  Woo hoo!  He is still in the horsey hospital but is being a little spoiled by all the girls working there so he is okay with it. 

Until later....Karen and Tripp who says his hooves are just fine thank you very much!  ;-)

Little bit of this....Little bit of that....

Another winter closing in on us so blog material will be a hot commodity when it pops up.  We have been very busy trying to 'winterize' as much as we can, which means I have not been taking my camera out with me.  It is amazing!  We get so much more done when I don't have it with me...altho I find myself say "DOH!  Wish I had my camera out here!" quite a bit.  :-)

Brian and I went on a date...seems like it has been forever since he and I could just go mosey around doing a whole lot of nothing and enjoy it.  We did not make it to the Rutledge Flea Market last year, and there was one more left this year....so we went.  It is hard to explain the Rutledge Flea Market...it isn't like your great big acres and acres of nice stuff, then after the weekend they pack up and leave.  Here there are a lot of 'stores' that have been here for YEARS and YEARS, and well, I like to call it the red neck flea market.  This is not meant as a slam - we love it!  You never know what you will find here.  In addition to the permanent 'stores', people do bring in their wares and set up in the back of their pick ups, under pop up tents, and some out in the open if the weather is nice.  There is a section in the woods where people sell hunting dogs, and other related items.  This time there was no horse stuff.  Bummer.

This morning it was very chilly and breezy, so some of the vendors had their fire pits going.  It was an awesome morning.  I was so glad we got there early.

 

I really don't know what the percentage of two legged travelers to 4 wheeled travelers are.  There are 4 wheelers, golf carts, and sometimes scooters to haul people around.  Most are very polite but you still have to be careful...some aren't.  Just after I got thru growling about the 4 wheelers this cute little couple goes driving by.  Aren't they adorable?  I love how she is holding on to his waist...I bet he drives a pick up truck and she sits in the middle and holds his hand while driving.  :-)

People bring their pets with them - they are here the whole weekend so why not?  This little goat had horns and her own box to jump around on....oh, and sleep.  She was very social and loved to play.

 She was all about rearing and doing the head butting thing...watch those little pointy horns!  She seems to aim them just right so they poke ya!  When her 'Mom' came out of the store area, the goat made a b-line to her...she wanted potato chips!
These people pulled their trailer with an old Studebaker pickup...I will post pictures in another entry.  For some reason I am having problems loading some pictures. 

 One of the cool signs on the outside of a building...

 Playing with the stuff....

 A view from the 'street'....

 Another mode of transportation...I thought this was cute!  Love the spare tire on the back. 

These two were a hoot!  When they would stop, the chihuahua would take his goggles off.  They traveled all over the grounds...

 I am lucky to have a beautiful garden where I work....it is a great place to walk at break or at lunch.  It is free to the public and so many people take advantage of this beautiful place located in town.  The squirrels are a plenty around here....this little guy was chewing something in the upper corner of the gazebo.

This one was mad at me.  I just walked into the gate and it chattered at me, then ran up the tree and chattered at me again.  I really don't know why he was so angry.  Maybe he was flirting? 

There are walking paths thru the garden...this big tree that started losing leaves caught my attention...

Here is my view when I come out at lunch....the gazebo is a popular place to sit and relax....I got caught out here in a rain storm one day.  It was so bad the rain was blowing thru the gazebo...I finally ran for it and headed back to the building.  I was soaked.  If I would have waited it out, I would have been out there all night.  The quick moving storm stuck around a while.  

 I try to keep my cube at work happy....I have plants and frogs.  :-)  This is one of my shelves....

And here is another.... I also have a lot of pictures hanging on the wall.  They consist of many of the photos I post on the blog.

Then there is life at home...they say that home is where the heart is, and for me that is very true.  I am very lucky...I am happy.

A beautiful sunrise one morning...

 Epona and Tripp are wondering what I am up to....

 Epona then sends Stormy over to check it out...he and Tripp and discussing what the crazy girl is doing behind the scenes....and why isn't she bringing any treats?  (Don't let them fool you...they got their treats!)

I tried putting Wyoming out with the big group a while back, but he got back in with Tandee and the donks.  I decided if he wants to stay that bad, he can stay there.  His personality has changed so much over the past year.  He is more curious, more social, he looks like he is smiling when he is being nosey, he is in our business when we are out working...What is funny about this picture is the gate panel is attached to another panel that is attached to the barn.  It has no purpose except to hold the food pan for Wy and Batman.  When he peeks at me this way, it always looks like he really thinks he is behind a closed gate...

Wyoming on the left and Boom on the right doing what they do best these days....eat eat eat!  Wyoming started getting his regular color back the more groceries he got.  He sure has shaped up nicely!  He is filling out too...can't wait to see how he looks in a couple of years.  He will be mature by then.

Early morning self portrait time.  Ajax the burro was more than happy to play my games, but Boom just isn't impressed.

Batman, me and Wyoming....they know how to have fun!

I tried to get them both in at the same time...but when one would sniff the other would move...Batman and Wyoming are buddies.  Then again, Batman is buddies with everyone...especially if there is food involved, and Wy shares his dish with Batman.  Batman is 1 1/2 yrs old now!  Wow!

We tore out some old fence and put up a temporary pen that is attached to the garden area that is full of weeds and grass.  Yeah...great garden year...but not for humans.  :-)  Red and Halo are not looking good so we put them in this area and we are feeding them different stuff.  They still don't like being separated from the group, but it has to be done for now.  Once they are back to normal, they can go out.  They do have their own feed pans...but they still like to share.  They eat out of one, then they head to the other one.  As long as they get along I don't care how they do it.

Batman thinks he is starving ...... TO DEATH!  ha ha!  He knows he can stretch that mini neck just a little bit farther and get a hold of Red and Halo's food pans.  

We are trying something new....the Big Bale Buddy!  Brian found a couple of reviews on them.  The goal is to waste less....they eat the bale down and the Bale Buddy lowers with the bale.  They are guaranteed for a full year against tearing, etc.  When it rains it goes thru the fabric.  We do have it sitting on a concrete pad - next time we will put it on the ground to test that.  So far it is doing great - the bale is 1/2 way down.  I will get a picture when I get home before dark...oh wait, that won't be until when?  June?????  Okay, slight exaggeration from a cranky person who misses an evening of light...putting my happy face back on now....I will get a picture very very soon.  :-)

 Boom not happy that I am a weirdo with a camera.....

I love shots like this - the ones that just happen.....the canopy is clear but the skyline above it is swooshing....  

Ajax and I early one morning.  

Wyoming and I....he thinks if he closes his eyes I will go away....wrong....not done playing yet.  Hee hee!

One happy llama!  Ha ha!

Now let me tell you about this....one evening we had the horses and donks in the yard, and Chase is part of that group.  It was time to go back to their area and usually Chase is the first one to run after me when I have a feed bucket.  Everyone came in except for Chase....we started hunting for him and this is where we found him.  He was STUCK!!!!  He layed down and got his body below the round part of the bale and he could not get out.

Brian had to get the tractor and move 7 bales out of the way so we could get him out.  I am surprised Chase did not spit on me...I took a bunch of pictures and he was MAD!

 I would not say that things are boring around here...they have just been busy and since it gets dark early, kinda blah.  I am thankful that the temps are still bearable - I can still hang out in the barn a while.  I do like to be half way prepared so the pink coveralls are ready just in case...

Hope everyone is doing great! 
Until later....Karen and Tripp who is thinking about Levi.  :-)