Hemi gets a new brother...much to his disgust...

It is a Monday evening...August 12th.  Wyoming and I are at the parking lot at the Conservation Area when something gets Wy's attention.  I turn around and there is a dog crouching low to the ground like he is in trouble.  I always call out to dogs I see on the trail to feel out the mood.  I called out to him and he got closer to the ground and tucked his tail between his legs even more if that was possible.  Poor guy was scared to death!  I talked baby talk to him and he finally came up to me.  He did not have a collar and he was a little thin.  His coat was not all matted up and gross, so that was a nice surprise. 

I started out on my ride and Wyoming was not so sure about having someone he doesn't know behind him...then it disappeared into the woods!  It was quite a challenge to get Wy moving forward.  The dog finally came out of the woods and started to follow us at a respectable distance.

The dog passed us at one point then came back as if to say "Are ya coming or not?"

The dog followed us part of the way and Wyoming relaxed, and he led the way part of the way which Wyoming liked better.  Easier to keep an eye on the interloper.  Before we made it back to the parking lot I had him named.  Since I am riding Wyoming when we met, I have named him Laramie.  :-)

Laramie and Hemi at the gate to the barn lot...this is one Hemi's "I will show you the ropes kid" moments.

I got home from work the next day and he was sitting in the yard waiting for me to get out of the truck.  He is very athletic and if he wanted to leave he could...parts of the fence are low.

This looks like he is snarling, but he isn't.  He is in mid smile.  This dog smiles when he gets excited.  It is almost like his is trying to mimic humans.  He will be sitting across the yard and I call out to him, he will start to do the body wiggle and he grins great big!  I am still trying to get that in a picture.

Some of the flowers (a.k.a. weeds) at the conservation area.

On our ride the day we met Laramie, Wyoming found a 'puddle' to sniff on the trail.  She must have been cute!
He used to feel the need to sniff every manure pile and puddle on the trail, then we started cutting back.  Now he will walk by most of them by choice.  But every once in a while there is that one special one....this was one of those!  :-)

A random picture of one of the Rose of Sharon flowes.

Laramie is very insecure, and one day I used tone when he ran by me out of the yard.  He cowered down like he thought he was in trouble, when all I was doing was trying to get his attention.  It broke my heart....so I am going to have to watch how I talk to him until he becomes more secure with his new family, but at the same time be sure he knows what is acceptable and what isn't.  I don't know where he came from, but they didn't have toys or treats.  The first time I gave him a Scooby Snack he took it, set it down and sniffed it.  Now he will slowly eat it.  I took the frisbee out to see if he wanted to chew on something....nope, he just looked at it.

At first he and the dogs all got along great with no drama.  Now he and Hemi are adding a bit of drama to the mix.  They have gotten into a couple of fights and I let them work it out.  Laramie would slowly let go, back up and walk away.  Hemi would then charge him (which he does with other things too).  I got a hold of Hemi, told him "NO!" and now we are back down to growling and Laramie moving cautiously around Hemi.  Laramie fought back, which surprised me, but I can tell he would rather just hang out. 

Yep, this is just what Laramie would love to do.....hang out!

We have an appointment at the vet this Friday to get him neutered and his shots.  I will have them check for a chip too altho I don't expect him to have one.

Here is another part of the story....Brian and I have been up and down over our dogs.  Nakita is 13 and Misty is 10.  Nakita is hobbling along and we really don't think she will be able to be pain free another winter.  So yeah, we are at that point of her life when we need to make decisions.  In the meantime we have been talking about another dog or two and loved the idea of bringing someone new into the family, but we dreaded trying to go thru the process of finding someone compatible with Hemi and Thomas the indoor/outdoor cat that is a little off in the head.

It is simple....sometimes they pick you!

Laramie is very different from what I was looking at on the shelter sites, but who am I to question?  Were Wyoming and I there to help Laramie, or was he there to help all of us?  Yes, and yes!

Until later...Karen and Tripp who says they are not tears in his eyes after this story...it is allergies and dust...

My pet snapping turtle....

......not really.  :-)

But we did find a snapper in the yard and it was a good size one.

Say CHEESE!!!!







It started out with the guineas making a bunch of noise and I glanced over and saw this thing that looked like a piece of wood in the weedy grass.  Hemi and I went over to check it out....yep, a snapper!

First I got a long stick and put it in front of her nose - I wanted to know what kind of mood she was in.  She ducked her head, raised her back end and hissed, but other than that it was not too bad.


Then I put my foot on her back to see if she would jump and turn around on me...because I had a plan!






Then I touched her back with a 2x4 out of the burn pile.....so far so good.  I still have a plan! 





Here was my plan!  Hee hee!  Look, she is smiling too!  :-)

 




And she is still smiling....

I walked her to the back of the barn and let her loose so she could head to the pond.  Let's just say it was not what Brian voted for, but he let's me do my thing.  Like picking up snapping turtles.  Well, to be honest he was not on board about that, but he was on the other side of the fence.  I told him he may as well take some pictures because I was doing this!  Ha ha!

Another thing....oh my gosh they stink!  I didn't notice it as quick as Brian did, but when I went to wash my hands I almost couldn't get the stink out!  I even broke out the orange gritty hand cleaner and when I was done my hands smelled like orange snapping turtle.  ACK!

Until later...Karen and Tripp who is shaking his head at my follies....

Flowers...

Last year my Mom gave me some starts to Rose of Sharon bushes and they are blooming like crazy this year. I have the white that is shown, a medium pink with a dark center, a darker pink with a darker center, and a lavender with a dark center.  The bees and hummingbirds love them!

The sunflowers are doing great this year!  This morning when I went out to feed some of the row was facing East, and the other was facing West.  It was almost like they were having a chat until the sun came up.  :-)

This one with lots of smaller flowers on it was a volunteer; it is so tall!  It has over 50 flowers on it.

Me in my sunflower row.

Me under the 50 plus sunflower plant.

Sunflowers make me smile!  The first sunflower field I saw was in South Dakota in 2000 when I was headed to Sturgis with a friend.  Wow....it was early morning and all those yellow heads were facing the sun.  It was one of the prettiest things I have ever seen. 

Until later...Karen and Tripp who is trying to figure out a way to get to them...sunflowers are yummy!

Brian and I had a fun weekend...

We woke up with no plans.  It has been a while since that happened!  We decided to go to the Rutledge, MO flea market.  Here is some metal yard art.  This bird is made out of a bike fork, a couple of rake heads, a shovel head and some kind of thing off a piece of farm machinery.  I really need to take a metal art welding class!  I love the crazy birds!

Then we went on a trail ride!  :-)

While Brian was getting Tripp tied in, Wyoming thought he would get a little closer and wait.

"Mom, you might want to come in here to help the Boy out.  This is taking longer than expected."






"Never mind Girl; he seems to have it under control now.  He is just a little slow but he will learn.  Nicker snort!"





One of the fun things about riding with Brian is we can take pictures of each other!  I did not have to do one self portrait.  :-)

"What is taking you all so long?  Oh wait, look at me!  I am walking way ahead and not freaking out!"

Just around the corner from the parking lot....what a great ride!  We could not have asked for a more beautiful day.  :-)

We had a lot of fun on this day.  We did have a couple little "Wyoming moments" but they were not bad.  One time he didn't want to walk down the steep hill by himself so when he got to a certain point he stopped then started backing up.  He ignored me and tucked that butt under him...and scooted back up that hill backwards!  Brian and I were both shocked he made it.  To make a point I backed him farther than he wanted to go, then we went back down the hill where Brian and Tripp were waiting for us.  That was stressful for Wy.  And a couple other times Brian and Tripp went around a corner so we were out of sight for ONE SECOND!  Wyoming didn't like that.  We practiced that a little bit more....and let's just say we need to practice it a lot more.  Ha! 

Brian trotted Tripp today....and he was like a little kid with a new toy!  It was awesome!  It has been quite a while since Brian has spent much time in the saddle, so that was a big deal for him (and me). 

I really do love that we can get out and do this together.  :-)  Sharing something like this with the person you love is priceless!

Until later...Karen and Tripp who wants to know why Wyoming gets the Girl all the time!  It just isn't fair!  And Brian and Wyoming who think Tripp is a Drama King!  Ha ha!

Madison and Red...

When I was out of town for three weeks for work Madison latched on to Jay's horse Red.  Red is like a big dog.  He will leave the hay bale to come hang out with the humans.  He is very laid back but don't underestimate him.  He has some zip when he wants to.  But his first choice is to relax with his peeps.

Right now Red is the perfect horse for Madison.  And the better she gets he will still be the perfect horse for her.  :-)  She is very nervous and unsure around the horses, but Red is different.  He stands there perfectly still to be petted, hugged on, petted some more, and he is perfectly happy.  I have not so secretly wanted Madison to get comfortable with the horses so we can all ride together.  I would go out and hop on him without a halter or anything to show her how great he was.  I would have fun with it and she would just watch....I knew deep down she wanted to get on too...she just had to be ready.  

I contacted Jay and he was good leaving Red here.  Madison now has her own horse.   :-)
She is busy with school activities so she isn't here a lot, but that is okay.  It is a start.

I wanted to get a few pictures of her with Red, and she brought him out to the yard.  Brian asked her if she needed a boost up and she said "No, I will go to the trailer."

 

The pictures tell it all.  It took me along time to realize not all little girls are like I was.  All I have known is the love for horses, so naturally I thought Brian's kids were freaks because they did not feel the same way.  Jordan is still a freak....Madison is breaking out of her freak mold.  Ha ha! 

Until later...Karen and Tripp who says he is building up his glutes too...so it should not be all about the little red horse!