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.