The STINKer

Our house stinks. Man does it stink. Here's why (and I have to back up and give you a little history).

The weekend before Thanksgiving, my in-laws were in town and we discovered a stray dog. It's a blue Australian cattle dog and my father-in-law fed it. It never left. He's really a happy go-lucky dog. He's always excited to see us, jumping up and down, tail-waggin' kinda happy. We set up a dog bed in our garage (which cannot be closed - the door's busted). He's free to come and go, preferably go.
So we're watching a Christmas movie this afternoon, around 3pm, and he starts barking. We ignored him a while, and soon realized that it was more than just boredom. Hubby got up and looked out the window and said something like "O crap, don't go outside." He stood there and watched, getting our (My kid's and my) curiosity up. We 'ran' to the window to see what was the matter. The dog was very concerned with something in the far corner of the garage. After a while, I saw a very large skunk! about 5 feet from the door. The dog decided to remind it that it was leaving. The skunk said "bite me" and lifted its tail to give him access. Uggghh! Did you know that skunk spray is yellowish-green. It went outside the garage and my husband, not thinking, opened the door and went out after it. Luckily, we have a side door out of the garage that he could go through to go shoot the skunk. The smell swarmed into the house. Uggghhhh!

Hubby shot it (we have a great suspicion that he's rabid) and I went out with my gun to help. Hubby's gun has a bad set of sights. I got 3 shots out. The 1st shot missed. I hit him with my second. I thought he would be dead (hubby hit him a few times also) but he was still getting up, so I shot a 3rd time. He quit moving.

We tried to call the game warden. You know they don't answer on Sundays? Then the sheriff. The sheriff's deputy called back and said in essence, that he wanted nothing to do with this stinky mess. I thought that the county was supposed to be notified of rabid creatures. We buried him about a foot from where he died.

After burying him, we went for a walk in the pasture. It was getting dark so we weren't going far. We got to the pond pasture and stopped. The rabid skunk isn't the only new varmint to our property. We've lived here for almost 4 years and haven't seen even one little piggy. There is a large section of our pasture that has been shredded. In addition to their rooting around and tearing up several square yards, they have wallowed out a large deal of the pasture. The area torn up is larger than my house. Fortunately they can get under the fence and didn't bother tearing that up.

I'm sorry I haven't been posting news about the ranch and my riding. There has been very little to talk about and I have been really busy with school. I'll tell you soon about my trail ride and saddle issues.

Way, Completely, and Totally off topic!

I just got an update on my sister and her doctor's visit. Thank you for praying for a resolution for this. God has allowed the doctors to find that Tanya has MS before the symptoms are too far along. The doctors were happy that they were able to catch it this early. Right now, they are planning to treat the MS symptoms with injections. These will not cure her or stop the disease but will slow the progression. We now have a hard road ahead. The doctors believe that even though she has caught the disease early, she will still eventually have to go on disability.

This means that one day, Tanya will need to quit her job. Someone will need to take care of her. She is not married and has no prospects. She's in her 30's and my dad is in his 60's. If it takes 15 years for her disease to progress, I may be taking care of my dad and my sis at the same time.

In addition, this also now means that I have two immediate family members that have been diagnosed with MS. My mom was diagnosed when I was 1. She was 28. and she was 48 when she died. I am now 32 and my sister is 34. Since my mom had MS, I had a 1 in 40 chance of getting it. If my sis was a twin, I would have a 1 in 4 chance of getting it. She's not a twin, but I think my chances are now going to be between the two. My sis's doc said it isn't more than 1 in 40.

I also am very concerned about my daughter. She now has 2 close blood relatives that have MS.

I am not looking for sympathy. I am asking for people who pray to say a prayer now and then for my sis and for our family. I also just wanted to be able to verbalize this somewhere besides my family and torturing the poor souls at church about it.

Back on to ranch business. I'm still trying to get rid of the donkey (anyone want it?). I'm still riding at least 1 time a week, usually on Sundays and/or Thursdays. We have finally had a good amount of rain. Our rain gauge has been full several times. I have not had to fill the horse tank lately. It has kept full from the rain. Of course, the horse now has a touch of thrush (but what horse in central Texas doesn't right now?) On the plus side, I went out to give her a carrot, and she RAN to the fence to visit with me. And, my kid's riding again. Every time I have ridden lately, so has she.

Wow!

First I want to ask, does anyone know what the stuff on my window in the picture is? I think I've seen it in a dream before, but that was a long time ago. Whatever it is left 1 mm of water in our fence measuring cup. Weird.

Anyway, if you didn't notice by my lack of blog posts, school started. Between gone until 5:30 pm at the earliest, the kids band practice, our homework, and so on, i have not had time to ride or posts blogs. Not to mention, school's started so our home internet goes down!

I'll try to catch up on everything this weekend.

Day 5...Kinda

I did say that Monday would cause an issue with riding. There it was. I predicted it. I left the house at 7 am-ish. We had all kinds of meetings with for the first day of teacher inservice. I got kind of concerned when they said that I had a math department meeting at 2, another one with a principal at 3, and another with our new "instructional coach" after the principal's meeting. They told us at 4 that the coach was in another meeting until 4 so she would be late - should be there about 4:10 or so. Understand that I have an hour drive, and my kid's in band until 7 and hubby's an hour another direction at an eye appointment at 6. The coach and algebra lead talked at us until 5:45 when I asked if we could continue the discussion tomorrow, that I HAD to go. When I got to the school to get my kid at almost 7, it started raining. I thought it might rain at my house 2 miles away, so I dodn't get the horse out. No such luck with the rain, and my chance to ride was gone.

That was then. Today, I got home at 6 and called to Koda. She came to the fence! So I got her out and brushed her down. I let her graze in the front yard until it was time to get the kid. I tied her in the pasture and didn't really want to ride when I got back. I sucked it up and rode on though. I just rode down the road 1/2 mile and back. I didn't feel like arguing with the bullito (little bull). It was dark when I put her back in the pasture. I took the halter off and she started to walk away, but I grabbed her mane and she hung out a few minutes and let me scratch her all over.

So my week of riding isn't going too well. I didn't get the ride on day 5, but I rode today. I guess if I ride on Wednesday and Thursday, I could maybe fudge the rules a little.

Gotta go, have school work to do.
Enjoy your rides.

Day 4

Success! I rode before church today. The church's ranch rodeo team was practicing in the arena, so I went across the creekbed into the "obstacle course." There are trees and limbs down everywhere there, spooks - you know those scary vines that hang down, and dips and turns. Not to mention the deep creekbed that you have to cross to get there. It's a good 45 degree angle on one side and a little steeper on the other. Koda's doing great! No hesitation over the logs and trees, walked down the creek sides, and was relaxed enough to munch tall grass bits she could reach without stretching.

At church, my hubby preached his first sermon. He is working towards getting a preaching license. I am proud of him. His sermon was called "When you Pray..." and is on the internet on our church's website. The church voted today to sponsor us in the licensing process.

Because hubby was preaching, My dad and Hubby's parents came to town for the church service. They stayed after for dinner and then my kid and I left (we had an 'eat and run') for a back to school party at our church's sponsor church. There was a ton of activities for the kids and one of my best friends came from near San Antonio (a 2.5 hour drive) to bring her kid. Her's and mine went camp together and this was a 'reunion' for those who went. After the games, devotional, door prizes and dinner, the kids went swimming. We got home about 9:45.

Now, it's off to bed. I have to (excuse my language:) work (sorry for that) tomorrow! Good night ya'll .

Day 3 of 7

Ok, so I am trying this week of rides again. I am on day 3. Thursday, I rode at Bible study. Yesterday, our church had a playday and I was on horse most of the evening. I did not participate in the events, but did mostly stay on her from about 6:30-9:30. Today, I saddled up and rode in the pasture a little, took a break for dinner, then rode down the road to the end of the pasture and back. I started at 7 pm and finished after sunset. I have been doing various riding situations. This is good for Koda and me. Tomorrow, I am taking her and riding before church. That's a morning ride, where I have only been doing evening rides. I think I may have her go into the other field. The tricky part will be starting Monday. I begin the work year again. I will be gone from 7 am to at least 5 pm. At least the kids won't be back until next week.

By the way. Update on the fish experiment. Both fish were alive and feisty yesterday. I can't say that they have made any improvement on the algae. A friend asked what I am feeding them. Hehe. I am feeding them algae. They have enough of that, I don't believe that I need to add to it.

Oh what a ...

MARE!
Koda was all mare and trying to be alpha today. And I think she might have won in the feed pen, except that she didn't get any feed. I locked her out of the feed pen because she was being SO disrespectful to me. I loaded her up at 4:30 for the 7pm Bible study. I had a family meeting in town at a local hamburger joint before the Bible study, so I wanted to make sure that I was ready.
Anyway...Koda was in the trailer from 4:30 until about 7:15 and most of that time she was waiting impatiently in the trailer. She was kicking the snot out of the side of the trailer when we walked out of the hamburger joint. We had to make another stop by the school to pick up our kid from band. At the school, Koda was still agitated and was completely covered in sweat, so I let her loose in the big section of the trailer. That didn't work. Then I pulled her out and brushed her down, trying to calm her some. I think it worked a little.
When we got to the church she started prancing in half-circles where she was tied. She continued her attitude a little when I started to ride, then majorly disrespected me at the house. She was pushing past me and moving when I tried to get her back hoof. On the way back to the pasture she was trying to bowl over me and was in my personal bubble. Of course, I did have a scoop of feed in my hand. Since Koda kept getting in my space, I kept pushing her back. She finally got annoyed and ran in to the main part of the pasture. I locked her out of the feed pen so she can't get to that feed. I figure that if she's got the energy to have attitude, she doesn't need grain. She's not lacking in food.

While at the Bible study, I noticed that there were some cattle roaming free on the open church pasture. I asked our arena team leader about it and he said that after the Bible study, he was going to pen them in the arena and load them in his trailer. He got distracted so us ladies decided to do it. So Kyla, Jolita, and I herded them in. I really enjoy doing this type of work with Koda and prefer it to the arena events. I would love to learn how to work cattle with Koda, and be able to put that knowledge to use. With no cattle of my own, and our leasee not "needing help", I don't get any practice doing that work.

On the plus side, I made a beautiful cake today for a 12 yr old's birthday I modeled it off of this cake on the Wilton website. The girl told me she wanted flowers connected with an ivy. She wanted bright pink and deep blue and purple.She got this cake: She loved it and it was gone immediately.
Chop, chop, chomp, goodbye!

Weekend happenin's

We went to the Youth Rodeo hosted by our sponsor church. I was late getting home from my dad's house so we were late to the rodeo. It started at 7:30 and we didn't get there until around 8 or 8:30, just as the straight barrels were finishing. I think we completely missed the clover leaf barrels. They then had all the normal competitions for rodeos. We watched the straight poles firstThe kids did well. I was proud of one girl who took her time and got her horsemanship and the pattern correctly instead of rushing and knocking poles over.

After the poles was goat tying. The goats are tied in the arena and the kids ride in, flip the goat and tie two of the legs. I think I need to learn this so I can deal with our goats better.


This gentleman was the time flagger. He parked his horse there, and never once looked in the stands. Just stared down the fenceline at the end of the arena.

He was judging the calf-roping. They had break-away and tie-down roping. I think this picture is the tie-down, but I'm not sure.
They also had calf ribbon roping. The girl stands at a starting point and waits. They release the calf, and the boy ropes the calf. The girl starts running when the horse breaks through the line and after the boy has a hand on the calf, pulls the red ribbon off the tail. I can figure most rodeo events, but the reason behind making a girl run for the ribbon is beyond me.


We got home around 12:30 that night. I got up Saturday and make a "blueberry buckle" for us to take to the workday our church was having. We helped paint old tin sheets with polyurithane and sheetrock the upstairs rooms.

Hubby had a men's night at the church last night and their menu included steak and baked potatoes. I couldn't find anyone to hang out with, so I decided girl's night out was a great alternative. We went out to Red Lobster and the movies. Yummy fun.

Today was church and not much else. We've been especially lazy today. And so much for riding every day. That kinda bit the dust. Oh well, I'll leave you with our beautiful sunset with a wonderful shadow in front. Koda was enjoying the buffet in our front yard on Tuesday after my ride.

As I feared...

I didn't ride today, but I went to the church arena and rode yesterday, I am feeling more confident in a trot and Koda is going longer. We are also getting the ability to turn at a trot.

When I checked last night, we still had two fishies sitting on the walls in our horse trough.

It's off to the rodeo for us - just spectators. See ya later.

New farm experiment and more...

Or could be called "Fish, Fish, and Life"

So the first "fish" is about the Health care bill #3200 and the White House's latest response to America's outcry. Check out these websites:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/Facts-Are-Stubborn-Things/
http://energycommerce.house.gov/Press_111/20090714/aahca.pdf
http://www.gachristianalliance.org/action.htm

I feel like this could be a repeat of the Mccarthy Communist Hearings in the mid-50s. The White House recently asked Americans to report to the government any "fishy" e-mails or other information that they hear including the email address and/or contact information of the "mis-informants". So the first link is where the White House makes the request. The second and third are links to a copy of the bill (may not be current) and a response by the Georgia Christian Alliance. Maybe I should report myself. I DON'T want THIS bill to pass. There has to be a different way. I am not smart enough to know it though. It may have something to do with the churches stepping in. One of my issues with this bill is that I don't live in a socialist country and don't want to convert.

____________

Now off the soapbox, so to speak, and on to the second fish. We have started a ranch experiment. I picked up 2 algea eaters and placed them in the horse trough. We want to see if that will help us in the quest for cleaner water and a healthier horse.

We were told that the chlorine in our tapwater would kill the fish. I don't know if that's true or not. We'll find out.

Then the final subject, "Life." I REALLY want to ride for 7 days in a row. However, today I left the house early with my MIL and went to Bryan- an hour drive. I didn't get home until after 1. It was HOT. When it finally cooled off, I was at church and didn't get home until after dark. There went the ride. Oh well, Friday was gonna be bad anyway.

Week of rides, day 1

I challenged you to ride everyday this week. I'm going to do it too. Sunday was supposed to be my first day of riding, but I got distracted yesterday when I went to pick up my kid from band practice. I didn't get home until 1 am this morning. :)

Anyway, today I waited until my mother-in-law and niece came down from Ft. Worth. They didn't get here until after 6:30. I chated with my MIL for a little while then invited my niece to go to the pasture with me. She received the keys to the 4-wheeler and I rode my sweet mare. We started riding at around 7:15 and rode for an hour just wanderin' around.
I couldn't keep up with her. I don't like to ride Koda faster than a trot in any part of the pasture and faster than a walk through most of the pasture. We have a lot of holes in the pasture from the cattle and the burrowing critters. I rode around the fence-line to make sure the year's rains have not ruined any fences.

I went into our hay pasture to walk around there and a very curious cow (the white one) started following me in.
It followed me a couple of times and was so cute. It wasn't sure whether to be scared of us or to follow the different herd creatures.

I then had to go around and visit with the cattle. Here is SOME BULL. He's big, but has no horns. Some of the cows have horns. I wonder if he has a mental complex about that?

This momma has hoof rot. She's confined to a small working pen to receive special TLC. I checked to make sure she had water. I figured she did, the guy that leases our pasture takes good care of his cattle. That momma has a suckling baby that is also stuck in prison since mom is.
The youngest member of our herd was not sure at all about the strange creatures in the pasture. It kept trotting away from us. We have a few cows about to domino (have babies). I enjoy watching the babies play and run. They have such large ears compared to the rest of their bodies and their tails pop up really high. When done with the ride, I took Koda back to the house and hosed her off. I tied her in the yard to mow, I mean eat, some of the grass and try to let her dry some before she rolled. Unfortunately, I didn't watch her and she rolled anyway. Our ride ended up about an hour long.

So how's your riding?

My driveway has a leak!

I went to church this morning about 7 miles from my house. At the church, it sprinkled some, but there was a BIG puddle at the front end of the driveway. My only logical conclusion is that there is a leak in the driveway. That's especially considering that we have only been receiving thunder, lightning, and promises that the next day the rain would go around us, again. I guess that the other option is that we possibly did get rain! woohoo!

I rode Koda today after church while Hubby had a meeting to attend. We did a little in the arena, but mostly I wanted to ride around the property and just have fun. I feel I am required to work in the arena, but if I do free riding, I can have fun and work at the same time.

The temperature here is a very chilling 85°. I think that I might have to pull out the parka! I love it!I may go ride again here in a little bit. Problem is, my sis is here and I don't let many people ride my horse. Not that I don't trust them with her, but I don't trust Koda with the other people.

Alright people. Challenge time. Ride EVERY day this week and post about it here, or post on your blog and give me your blog address.

RAIN

After 2 months of practically no rain, we got almost 2 inches of rain this morning. There's nothing like waking up to the sound of rain on our metal roof. I slept in until 10 this morning to the nice sound of rain.

At the "Riding through the Bible" study tonight, I was the only one to bring a horse. There were 18 people there. One has had surgery on his shoulder, one had knee replacement surgery. The rest just don't ride or didn't bring a horse. It's so lonely riding by myself. Everyone in this area already has an agenda or routine with their horses so I end up riding alone. It's really hard being the new kid on the block. It's just too bad that I've been here for 4 years. Isn't that a nice pity party?

The month in review

After the July 4th parade, I spent another week not riding for a total of 2 weeks. Since then, I have ridden many days. I try to ride every Thursday at the least, and want to try to ride every day but some days I wasn't able.

The kid went to camp the 3rd week of July. It was a cowboy camp where they are only allowed to ride horse during the camp free time between 3 and 6. Remember what state we live in? 3pm in Texas is the hottest part of the day and it was 100+ degrees outside. No riding for them.

I rode Koda in the pasture on that Sunday, She rolled in the pond. She's getting good at the rolling with me thing. This makes twice now. The first time was in the church arena. That one hurt! She had her hooves trimmed on that Monday.

One of my best friends came up the Thursday evening before our kids came back from camp. She brought her kids' horses with her. We rode horse that night at our church arena, then went to the house. We put a beautiful paint gelding in the pasture with Koda. We had to tie their other horse, a mare, inside a small working pen. They were worried that she would either get pregnant from the Jack donkey we still have or get spooked by a vast open pasture and hurt herself.

She was fine but Koda and the gelding got in a fight. We think that the fight was over food. When we went out to get them, they were buddy-buddy in the back-end of the pasture conspiring how to keep from working. Koda ended up with 2 nasty cuts and 1 not-as-bad cut on her side. Two of the cuts were obviously from a shod hoof. The third was a round sore the size of a silver dollar right where the back skirt of the saddle sits. We were supposed to ride on Friday morning at the church and Saturday at a Trail ride and parade in a local town. No ride for her.

For the trail ride, I borrowed a friend's (different friend) horse and of course, I had to do a test ride. We rode Friday night heading out from her house around 8:45 and got back close to 10pm. Though it wasn't my horse, we had fun! This week I went to help the original horse friend move. I didn't get to ride very much, but there was Thursday.

We still have the dumb donkey and the goat has not had babies, but our new kitten is earning her keep. She caught a mouse today and, after playing with her food, disposed of it properly. ;)

July 4th!!

I want to say "Thanks" to all the soldiers who are currently fighting to keep us free.

233 years ago, several brilliant men got together and signed the Declaration of Independence, naming us a free country. Right now, our country's freedom is in danger, yet, we still have brilliant men and women working hard to protect our freedom. For those of us who are not in the military, our job is to support those who are and to express our desire for morals and safety to the government. Don't forget the country was founded on the "by the people, for the people" principle. Don't forget to call them if needed and vote when it's time.

By the way. The 4th of July parade was on a float instead of horseback. Man that stinks. Horseback is the way to go!!!

Riding Ban

Due to serious leg issues, I have been banned from riding horse for a little while. :(
Hopefully I will get to ride in the July 4th parade. If not, I'll ride in the float. The sad thing is that Sunday, when I rode Koda, she had a swollen leg. I haven't even been able to go out this week to check on her. I am waddling short distances only. Daughter says I look like a penguin, just need to hold my hands out.

Very Busy Weekend

As is always true, the last weekend in June is very busy. My daughter's birthday is the 26th and our town has their annual festival called Polski Dzien (Polish Day). Our church has been a big part of the parade the last 2 years but I'll talk about that in a little while.

So we start the week Monday night at the church. I took Koda and rode while hubby had a meeting. Two friends also took their horse and we rode a mini trail ride. Just north of our church building the church owns a RV park, and on the other side of that, there is a dry (right now) creek bed and then another field. We crossed down in the creekbed, then went in the shaded field. There were some tree limbs down and so I took Koda over them. The most fun was when we went over the one with about a 10 inch diameter and a foot off the ground. Koda walks over large limbs on her front end and hops over with her back legs.

Next was CLEANING for 2 days for the party. We had to totally rearrange a couple of rooms since the kid got new furniture. We got rid of the "office" and made it more of a "study/guest room." We put the kid's old twin size bed in there so when guests come, there's a bed for them.

Then on Thursday, the real craziness began. We drove out to Temple (about an hour away) to pick up one of my kid's best friends for the b-day party. Of course, that meant the horse trailer so I could get friend's 2 horses. I decided we should be back home by noon to settle the horses and girls, finish cleaning, and getting ready for party. The cake was made Wednesday evening. (I'll post about the cake later.) The other partiers arrived between 3 and 3:30 and soon we headed to Waco (another hour drive) for the bowling part of the party. After driving to several restaurants, we finally ate at Pizza Hut and then bowled. After bowling, was a Walmart trip for our movie feature (we only had 5 pre-teen girls with us). The movie has yet to be seen.

Friday, I woke the girls up at about 10 and they went 4-wheelin'. Well, we have one 4-wheeler so my girl rode with a friend and the friends took turns. The girl who brought her horse rode that instead of the ATV. The 3 extra girls left and hubby and I headed into town to begin working the Polish Day BBQ cookoff activity. Hubby and a church friend set up then traded off watch night and work at the BBQ pit. I helped them some then while they were working, I took the girls to the arena to ride and then my kid's friend and I rode the parade route so our horses could be familiar with the road and some of the extra noise like motorcycles, loud music, and loud drunk people walking around.

Saturday was parade day. I have NO pictures. :( It was very hot, but Koda was fairly good. She still thinks she has to run through a parade. The kid rode the four wheeler again and her friend rode her horse beside me. Hubby worked on the BBQ stuff. My dad came down to see us ride and missed both my kid and me! How that happened I'll never know. We finished the parade, hosed off the horses and pastured them. We then went back to town and worked the church booth. I took the kids home when mine started getting too hot then hung out with my hubby and our friend at the BBQ pit.

We took the friend and her 2 horses home today. With them went one of the 2 donkeys. On our way home, I called the Monday riding buddies and we went riding in my pasture. It was about 8:40 when we headed out, so it was so close to dark when we came in. My kid was worried about me riding in the snakey pasture. It was sweet.

That's all for now.

The dogs and goats

We bought 3 female goats when our one momma died. One of the females, the oldest, had already had a baby, which we brought with her as the third female. The other female was young, but old enough to breed. We quickly lost the oldest goat so now we have just 3. 2 young females and a young male. IT appears that the older of our 2 females is pregnant. We are expecting to have babies the middle of July. That will be perfect for county fair next year.

We also have een struggling with our dogs. I miss my Samson. We think instead of Lab and Rottweiler, he may have been Geat Dane and Rottweiler. I saw some Great Danes the other day and fell in love with their BIG heads. Since he died, we have had lots of trouble with Tama, our pure bred rottie. She went into a depression. All she would do is lay around (she was fairly fat) and she quit eating. We have had a time trying to get her back on track. We thought that in addition to the depression, she was allergic to the food we had switched to. She started losing hair and biting her feet. We tried several different treatments, starting with gioing back to a healthier food. We were giving her treatments for hot spots for her itching and nothing was working. We finally took her to the vet. This was about the same time our puppy started showing the same symptoms. We discovered that she had picked up mange. So now, a month after the vet, Tama has spunk, she had lost about 25 pounds during the non-working treatments, and she's got her appetite back and does more than just sit and scratch. They smell better too.

My first summer update

It's one week and two days since high school graduation. Already we have done a lot and nothing at all. Our church has a new Bible study they started. It's called "Walk through the Bible" and is held in the church arena. Before and after the Bible study, we are able to ride our horse in the arena. Of course, I also ride on some Sundays and Mondays when they aren't promoting the arena portion of the property. The advantage is that there are others there to ride as well. So I want to attend the Bible study but have not been able to attend but one time. That was the Thursday BEFORE graduation.

The weekend of graduation, the church had a Tractor Pull. If you've never attended one of those, I would suggest you attend one. I don't know that I would be interested in going every week, but when my church hosts it should be ok. We invited my Dad to come watch and he came over Friday. He also returned my kiddo who spent the week with him while I finished school for the year.

The first week of summer was spent kinda relaxing, kinda cleaning house. The kid got a new (to her) bedroom set. This required that she CLEAN her room. We have now removed 2 lawn garbage bags and 3 boxes (1 large) of junk that she doesn't need want anymore. We have to have the house clean by the 25th for the kid's b'day party.

Thursday, we loaded up the horse, dogs, and kid and went to my dad's. My sis fed us our birthday shrimp dinner. My birthday was in May and Dad's was June 1st. We hung out and chatted on Thursday night and I cleaned his house on Friday - all day Friday. After it was clean, we decided to get the horses out (my 4 legged and his 6 wheeled). My dad has been wanting to ride Koda for a while. We brushed her down and saddled her up. I always lunge her before I ride and started to do so that night and she decided that since it's rodeo weekend in a nearby town, she'd celebrate. She started bucking and rearing and running out of the lunge. I finally calmed her down. She did the crazy routine at his house last time we were there and I didn't ride her because of it. This time I was not going to let her get away with it. I took her into dad's smallest pasture and rode her around a little.

We had a birthday party to work (we do sound for our church) on Saturday. (Saturday was a very popular day for events...2 birthday parties planned, a family reunion, and a parade and rodeo). After the party, we went home and waited until it was cool. The kid and I went to the rodeo and hung out.

Sunday, Hubby's parents came over and picked up the kid to go home with them. We had lunch and shipped them off. They were coming in from the reunion and were hauling a camper trailer and a boat. They also were carrying 4 dogs. It made quite a show when they pulled in to the church parking lot. The dogs got loose and ran around and into the church.

Today, I worked on shredding old bills and then we had a meeting at the church. I couldn't let the evening trip to the church go to waste, so I took Koda up to practice riding in the arena. That was interesting. We did some turn work around some traffic cones and then worked on establishing a cruise control on her trot. I also want to start working on side passing.

I'll post about the goats and dogs tomorrow. Meanwhile, I'm enjoying not having many requirements.

Please hurry Summer

Ok, so I know I posted that it's coming and here and all but if that's so, why am I still at school???? Nothing much else is happening except trying to survive 2 more weeks.

Summer's coming...

(Well the holiday part, the weather's already here.)

Only 3 weeks and 3 days of school left!!! Summer's almost here!

Wow, summer's here!!!

I took Koda to church to ride today and, after church and lunch, I went out to groom her and start to ride. It was at that time that I decided that 91 degrees (according to our local school's marque) and humid was too hot to ride. There went the ride. Our church is starting a Bible study on Thursdays at 7 pm through the summer. I think this is a GREAT alternative to Midday riding during the summer.
One of the local news stations said that these were our actual numbers for the temp today. This does not include our humidity at 65%. Ouch!, I'm melting!

Unwelcome Guests

My daughter's puppy is having trouble behaving in the house. She is over 7 months old and still uses the restroom in the house. I took her outside at around 11:30 pm. Hubby started to follow me out and said "Oh, Crap!" and went back in the house. He saw a snake right by the garage door - the one that opens to the house. We started to chase it around the garage and finally caught it. I was moving stuff around with a garden rake and Hubby had 2 machetes he was hunting with. When we finally caught it, I was holding it still with the rake and Hubby started hacking. When it quit trying to get away, we moved it into the open and Made sure it was dead. I told hubby NOT to chop it's head off. I wanted to take it to school for the science teachers. They told me that it's a bull snake - good for killing rats and mice. They were VERY upset that I killed it. :( The arrow points to his head.




So today my hubby called while I was tutoring and said he found another one. Sent me this pic. I told him I wanted that one in the feed shed. I have a nice dinner in there for him. Bon Appetit, snakey. It must be spring. Many varieties of wildlife are popping up around our house.

Get the gun! or the camera!

So let me set the scene. I cleaned out the feed buckets and decided that at 6:45, I still was not ready to sit inside in a drab house. So I leashed the dog and went walking through the pasture. It rained Monday and Tuesday all day so I wanted to check out our pasture and the fences a little. I also like to check in on the pond. Well the pond is FULL and overflowing. I walked around behind the pond and was halfway to the area between the pond and the creek. By the way, this is where Koda found the snake last April. As I walked on top of the pond embankment, a coyote ran from between the pond and creek across the pasture and into the trees in the back corner of the pasture. I stood still and watched it go. When I called my hubby, he said the proper protocol is to shoot it. I was too enraptured or shocked or something to pull out the handgun sitting in my pocket. I didn't have a good camera. So I didn't shoot the thing either way. I'm glad I didn't have Koda too!

For the nature enthusiasts who want to slam me for possibly shooting a coyote, please remember that I live on a ranch where some of our income is provided by live prey animals. Well, in order to get money they have to be alive. Coyotes work to make them not so alive. I understand that they need to eat too, but my goat babies are generally part of their menu. Anyway, I didn't shoot him or her. I let it live to get hit by cars on the highway or shot by another rancher nearby, or kicked by one of the donkeys currently residing on our property.

I did start getting "eaten alive" though. The skeeters are out in full force!

A Little Praise Where it's Deserved

Today, I looked at another blog site that I follow and they posted about a saddle they found advertised. I volunteer occasionally with a therapeutic riding organization designed to help people with various handicaps, including children and veterans. This saddle is designed by special order and accommodates the handicapped needs. I applaud the owners and creators of this saddle for their desire to help. You can check them out at http://www.grayscustomsaddlery.com. Another interesting I discovered on their website is that they also created a saddle for a Cowboy Church in their area. It was beautiful and was used as a prize in one of their events.

Have a good day.

Sometimes

Sometimes there are weeks at a time where nothing really happens ranch-wise. We do the same ole' same ole', and go about life. I don't really believe that anyone who reads (and there aren't that many) really want to know every Sunday the details of me sitting in a saddle doing about nothing.

This past weekend, our church had our one year anniversary. It was a big deal, but I'm not sure what to write about it. We had barrel racing and team roping on Saturday and Kids' Playday on Sunday. I rode around on Koda Saturday, but didn't do much on her but trot a lot. I kinda pretended to have a job. I was supposed to direct traffic but people in vehicles don't take a lady on a horse riding up to their window to mean that they should roll their window down and take directions. I guess they already knew how to park and didn't want help.

We sold the donkeys. We were supposed to have them for view up at the church on Saturday, but who knew that they do coggins on donkeys too. Not me! Had to take them home, then there was the revelation that I should have picked up their tail and checked their packages. We thought they were geldings but the nursery rhyme "Yes sir, yes sir, 2 bags full" comes to mind now. Last time I trust that rancher on gender labeling. Love ya Mr. Dave! That will be a fun time to tease. Anyway, the grey sold for $20 and the black for $10. The jury's still out on the black's sale though.

Other wise, we have had a LOT of rain, Whoo Hoo!! Over 3 inches since Sunday. (This is Wednesday.) That keeps us pretty well inside with no outside chores. It has also filled up our pond and overflowed the creek. This is a much needed attack on our drought.

That's all the news from D²C Ranch. Can't wait for Summer!!

Donkey Pics

These are the donkeys that we picked up from my dad's for auction. We've taken to calling the grey one Donque and the black one Otie

Once a year trip!

It's that time again. Spring, when all God's creatures turn their hearts towards love and flowers. And Koda gets to make a very special trip. So we loaded up and drove the 45 min down to her favorite person, the vet! Koda got her blood drawn for coggins, then her Tetanus and West Nile shot. I used think that the WNV shot was a big hype, but we think that my friend's horse died from WNV. Anyway. He then gave her a sedative and she started stumbling around. It was kind of funny except it was then that the vet then thought about the fact that he should have sedated her AFTER she was in the wash rack and secure. We finally got her there with the help of a broom handle. Then the midevil torture began. It's teeth floating time. We have had Koda for about a year and I have never had any horse's teeth floated. They talked about putting Scarlet completely to sleep to float her's. But since she was almost 30, there was not much point in grinding teeth that weren't there. So I was interested in seeing how it was done. It was kind of weird. The doc worked on her for a little while and about the time that he was done, she started waking up again.

Wow, it's been a long time!

It's been a long time and there's not much ranch-wise to catch up on. County fair weekend was everything it promised, right down to the major allergy attack. Between the fair and our 40 mph winds, I ended up taking that Thursday off work. We did nothing farmish except that the mama goat died last Saturday. :( I dragged her out into the big pasture on Monday with the 4-wheeler and Dennis' lasso. We've had a good deal of rain and our fields are all nice and green (with weeds mostly).

We were all off work Friday for Good Friday. We slept in, did some house work, then went to my dad's house. We took the horse and most especially the trailer. He is cleaning out one of his barns and needed a covered trailer to carry some good furniture. I cleaned on Saturday and we had a nice lunch. I think I left his house dirtier than when I got there though. My sis coked brownies and left the kitchen a mess and I washed his sheets but never remade his bed. We did go do some target practice though and thoroughly dimpled a metal pig. That was fun.

After the target practice we had to chase down some donkeys to load in our trailer. They are going to be temporary tenants on our property. They are going to be sold in auction at our church. I'll post pics this week.

I rode today. I was the only one at the church to ride, but I loaded up Koda this morning and took her to the church. I left her in a small round pen through church and lunch. I went up at around 4:30 worked her on the ground for a little while and then rode. The church was having an Easter egg hunt, supper, and a sunset service. I worked, and rode, her while people were getting ready. She did great.

Now it's time for Walmart, so, have a nice week and ride your horses please.

Fair Weather

It's county fair weekend in our county! woo hoo. I'm excited. yea. um, yippee. Ok so we aren't entering anything this year, there are NO horse activities, and the shows are boring. We go for the time with friends. Well, my kid's friends. She wants to meet up with her friends and ride the carnival rides and visit. I told her this year she had to pay for me to get in if she wanted to go (I ended up there without cash!) No prob, Mom.

Half our church was there showing tonight and I even got to attend a birthday party for a little girl from the church. Umm, cake. The goat show is tomorrow at 12:30. I think it would be wise to attend since we are wanting to show goats next year.

The sun was shining and the sky was beautiful. It was very windy, though, and the wind was cold. We were all the way down to 45! Break out the heavy parkas.

10 after 11 and time for bed!

Good night.

(ps. I don't know why the blog says it's 10 til when my computer says it's 10 after)

All about food time!

I got home yesterday and hooked up the four-wheeler to the spreader. We got this spreader from home depot and modified it. It will spread seed and fertilizer as well as dry manure. I put out 100# in 2 acres. There was already grass out there, I just want to encourage the stubs of grass to turn into a lush 12in deep bed of grass. Koda's hanging out in the front pasture instead of hers in order to allow "re-grassing."

Once that was over, it was feeding time at the ranch. Koda was hollerin' for her food. "Ok Mom, you're home, where's my dinner? You've taken too long. I'm hungry!" So I went and grabbed her feed. She gets just under 2 scoops of strategy every day and currently a box of gelatin every night.


Koda had her hoof pedicure last week and the ferrier said to feed her various amounts of gelatin to help her increase the length of her hoofs to the proper length. Koda gets to "enjoy" the cherry flavored. It's lip-smacking good. "Like my lipstick?" It looks like my daughter when she eats colored foods.

Then the little ones get their yummies. My girl does that. They get two scoops also. (Sounds like a Raisin Bran commercial doesn't it?) Here's those loverlies getting their grub.












Then we have to put the bucket away...
I won't tell you what her nickname used to be, but I think I've seen this pose before.
Then, it rained today!!!!!!! We were told it would, but you know, in Texas, you never can tell. Here's a couple of tonight's sunset views. Now the rain can work in the fertilizer and the horse will be ecstatic.

Spring Break Fantasies

One of my recent posts told of our expectations for spring break. Here's the reality of the week. First, I want to say that it's really difficult to get on a computer at my in-laws house. They have a computer, but there were 3 teenage girls there, along with 4 other adults. My Mom-in-law also had other plans, such as sewing a quilt that they wanted my help with. So, I have not posted since we got there.

When we got to the in-laws, it was still daylight, but barely. We set up the portable electric corral and put in the water and feed pans. We put Koda in just as it was getting dark or I would have taken a pic of her in the "play pen" as one of my blog friends said. I kept checking on her through the evening and well into the night. My husband said I was being like a mother hen.

As always, when we schedule to visit the in-laws, dad-in-law plans to be off work, but they call him in for the entire time we are there to visit. He had to leave on Monday morning at around 4:30 so he went to bed kinda early. We went to bed at around midnight (after checking on Koda one more time). When dad-in-law left he noticed that the corral fence was down and there was NO sign of Koda!!! Talk about a wake-up call. Hubby and I threw on boots and jackets and hollered at the kid to get up and help. I grabbed a lead rope and went one way while hubby went another. Mom-in-law grabbed keys and went in the car a third way. Thankfully they live on a dead-end street, and far from a highway. The horse went the correct way also. She went to the end of the street and got stuck in a corner of 2 fences. She was easy to catch and we walked her back home even though she was completely keyed up. She kept running circles around me, literally. We got back to the house, and, not having an electric corral, put her in the back yard. It's about a half acre in size and completely enclosed with fence about 5ft tall.

When I got up the next morning, I went and looked at the fence to see if it could possibly work and saw that the side where she broke out had a metal u-shaped pen that was split in half. I started by calling the makers of the fence, then the company I bought it from. The makers, Zareba, only offered to replace the broken part. Stateline Tack offered to replace the whole corral. My husband and I contend that there is no point in having it if it can't even keep the horse for one night. We finally convinced Stateline to refund our money, but they only gave us a credit on our account.

If ya'll didn't catch this...I DON'T RECOMMEND THIS PRODUCT. I took the fence down today (after snapping the pics shown) and noticed that the electric tape is stretched in a couple of places where it connects to the corner posts. Also the "u-bolt", or what ever it's called, where the tape connects to the corner post is not a single piece, but connected together with a very thin piece of plastic sleeve. I don't think this could keep a horse in unless it's a 35 yr old nag that's too old to move more than 5 ft from home without SERIOUS cajoling. DO NOT spend your $300 on this product!!! If we had been out in an open area camping, it is fairly possible that we would not have found Koda EVER. I will look into a locking metal panel system at twice the price, minimum. My horse is worth it.

My other fantasy was that I would ride every day. And I did ride on Monday. However, Tuesday, the climate change caught me and I was miserable with allergies. Wednesday, mom-in-law caught me and I was busy with quilt and family activities. Today was busy packing and heading home, after sleeping until 10.

My husband took a live video of Koda eating in their back yard. It appears to have just done a still shot with several seconds of air time so don't bother clicking play. Something went wrong with his phone's recording. Either way, here's Koda in my in-laws backyard.

On our way!

Tama is finally allowing the pup near her.

We are on our way to Ft. Worth for Spring Break (well, we were when I sent this pic, but now I am sitting in my in-law's house because this didn't post to the internet.)

Horse, dogs, and people all made it here safe. I found out after we got here that there will also be another couple here. They annoy the crap out of me and I kinda wish that they had waited until next week. They think our rottie is evil. Oh well.

New look

I thought I'd get a new look. What do you think?

Portable horses

We have used our horses as a great excuse to NOT have to spend more than 1 or 2 nights with parents and such, especially when we had the old mare. She could not get nourishment from pasture grasses or hay so she had to be fed 2 times daily. We did however understand that a day would come when we would need to be at my in-laws for more than 1 day and would need to make other arrangements. So I started looking into local barns that rented paddocks. I went and checked one out that was really close to the parents house and it was reasonably priced. I think they said $10 per horse per night. No problem for a couple days having my horse nearby.

Well, Spring Break is coming and the inevitable has happened. I have to go Sunday night and am coming back on Thursday. That's 4 nights and I now only have 1 horse, so I called the people to schedule a place for my horse. The price went up to $20 a night. That's $80!!!!! You know I rent about 35 acres for 10 -15 head of cattle for $20 a MONTH. The 20 was just a place to stay. That did not include hay or feed of any kind. I was supposed to bring my own feed. WOW!!!!

So, I started looking for other options. We had looked into getting an electric corral for when we went camping and hubby got paid extra this month sooo... I got this portable corral from Stateline Tack. Of course, I looked at several on the internet before deciding on the Stateline one. It helps that I already had a Stateline account. The fence is 900 sq ft and both hubby and Koda informed me that it works. :)

We are going to put her in it for an hour or so every day until Spring Break, then she'll have to stay in it at the in-laws. I think I just figured out how to mow the grass with out the lawn mower!

I am curious if it is expandable though. The in-laws have an acre and it would be a shame to pen her in such a small area if not necessary.

Trail Ride

The church had a trail ride today. We went the same route as the last trail ride. We started at one church family's house, went down the road from her house to our pastor's property, through the trees and back to the original property. As usual, Koda acted a fool all the way down the first road. She wanted to run. She wanted to be in front, I think. I fought her all the way to the end of the road where she finally decided that she could walk. After that, she was good. On the way back, one of our boys (about 13 yrs old) started having trouble with his horse. The main problem was that he hurt himself on Thursday while riding his horse. His horse loves to try to run back to the barn and usually the boy will sidepass on him to wear him out some. This time the sidepassing hurt. We convinced him to switch horses and ride a calm horse.

The real fun started after we got back to the starting location. We grabbed a snack then went on a second ride. This time we actually used a trail. There were ravines, gullies and logs to climb over. I like those rides better than the road rides.

Is this Sid?

I saw this @ a car dealer. I thought that maybe someone plucked the feathers off Sid Vicious, a rooster discussed on Laughing Orca Ranch's blog.

Sunday riding

So I am a little late with this post but I thought I'd feel you in on how my ride went Sunday. I took her to the church arena again and longed her before I even thought about riding. She was responding pretty well, so I climbed on. Meanwhile, there were 3 other people in the arena and they were playing with cattle. They would release one from the chute with a loud clang and then chase it down to rope it or run it to the cattle exit. Koda gets REALLY excited/nervous when they do this.

I'll finish this in a few hours gotta go to town first.

(the next Sunday...)
Sorry, I never managed to finish this post. I will sum it up with letting you briefly know what happened.

We struggled with attitude for a little while especially when we were around the cattle chute. She finally calmed down after I took her around some cones in a straight line.

Missing blogs

When I posted last night about my kid's competition, I checked to make sure that the page looked ok the way it was. It was good, so I went to bed, then spent the day at my dad's. When I got home, I went on my post to read the comment that was posted, and my posts were missing. I had my hubby check it on his computer and his looked the same as mine.

The info at the right was still there, such as my profile and my blog archive. So I clicked on one of the posts in the archive. They were still accessible. I was (and still am) really puzzled about why everything in the main blog section was gone. I decided to sign in and see if I accidentally erased that section from the page layout. It showed to still be there, so I clicked on edit to see if there was a feature that was selected wrong and everything looked ok there, too. I'm stymied. So, I went back to the page and there were my posts.

This is really weird. Did anyone else have this problem today?

My baby's Goooooodd!

My kid's in 6th grade band at her school and plays the clarinet. She started "band" in 4th grade with a recorder, then went to the clarinet in 5th grade. Her grandpa, my dad, bought her a subscription to an internet program called SmartMusic that helps her with her work at home. Most kids have to be forced to practice and "forget" to take their instruments home. Mine begged us to go to the school during the holidays so she could practice.

So, she went with the band to a local competition. It was a private judging, so it was just her in the room with the judges. They grade on a scale of 1 -4 with 1 being the best and 4 needs work. LAST year, she got a 2. That's with only a semester of clarinet practice. THIS year, she go a 1!!!!. She rocks!!!!

She loves band and is planning to use that for scholarship opportunities for college. You go girl!

Sorry the picture is blurry. It's from my old cell phone.

Memory Lane

Remember the pictures of the goats I promised? I finally got them today. When I loaded them on the computer, I had an unscheduled trip down memory lane. I'll share a little with you.

I hope I don't offend anyone at the church, but they will be on our church website anyway. But here are some pictures of Common Ground Cowboy Church's 1st trailride. We had fun and I think I wrote about it already. Koda likes to kick others was one thing I learned that day.



The Baby was passed from horse to horse and was asleep before the end of the ride.



This man, Brad, is our 4-H riding club leader and a good man.



Melanie hosted the trail ride from her house. We left her house and went down the country road onto our pastor's land. There we got lemonade and did some ravines and "forest" trails. After that we went back to Melanie's. Thanks Melanie.

I let a girl my daughter's age ride our old mare. I require anyone under 18 riding my horses or on my land to wear a helmet. Scarlet got kicked by Koda on this ride and scared the fire out of the girl. It was her first ride and I had to pony her a little while.

Anyway, here are some pictures of our goats: BRIAN


You've met Brian. He's our billy. There are better pictures but you already know him so I wasn't worried.





MAMMA
Mamma is the older nanny we bought. She's around 3 I think. She is the mother of our baby Lulu.

LULU

Lulu is so cute. She is just getting her nubs and is still friendly enough to come running when we go out. With or without food. She's a sweetheart.





LILLY

The "middle-aged" (as in not oldest or youngest) female. We think she may already be pregnant. She may have been pregnant when we got her, but if not, she should be now. She's been with Brian for a couple of weeks now.






And don't forget my favorite, who came up to investigate what we were doing and if we had food.