Win A Few .... Lose A Few

      I just took back the second saddle I purchased for Amiga.  It was a 96 mile (round trip) excursion to Parrish's Tack shop.  There was no financial loss, (except gas money) but time and energy were spent.  This is the 5th saddle I have tried on her, so I am bummed that it didn't work.  I am looking for a saddle that doesn't rest on her back bone, or restrict movement of her back legs for gating. The square western saddles do not work and I do not want English for long trail rides.  I have been looking at different endurance saddles.  I really liked this last saddle; looked good, felt good when sitting in it, but it was too tight on Amiga's withers.  So the search continues.... and I am due to come out a winner on this sooner or later.

      It was so beautiful coming home from work Tuesday, on a whim I veered off course and went to Lowe's for some flowers.  I also priced some trees and saw one I wanted to buy, but decided flowers were enough for one day.  Once home I pulled out all of last years planters and started cleaning them up and planting flowers.  They don't look too impressive just yet, but once the flowers fill in, it should be pretty. I have some extra plants left over that I want to put in the beds once I get them weeded.

    
      Joe decided it was time to plant the garden.  He put in corn, sugar snap peas, carrots, lettuce and spinach. I mowed a riding path through the large pasture with our Kabota tractor after Joe was done mowing around our yard with it.  Our riding mower is temporarily out of commission.  He then worked on the fence line mowing with the trimmer.  We have some ginormous weeds that have roots like dandelions, only bigger and longer.  We have both been working on digging them up on a regular basis.  They are in areas we do not want to spray.  The horses enjoyed more time on the front pasture, and Zorro is finally starting to get acclimated to the new, rich,
green grass.
Amiga did not have near the problems he did.      
     Courtney came over at 4:30 as usual, and we did our routine of brushing, (they are loosing their darker winter coat) then round pen work, and I went for a ride on Amiga (bare back once again).

     When I drove up to the house Wed afternoon, I saw a big ground hog on the north side of the corn crib.  He was not in a huge hurry to take cover, but sauntered over to and under the corn crib.  I have seen him several different days and many times since.  Time to get out our live trap and move him to a new home.  Neither Joe or I know how to set it....that was Daniel's job.  We need to find the instruction sheet.  I had a bunch of grading with mid term grades due Thursday by noon.  So I set my mind to focus on that and not be distracted by gardening or horses.  I set up camp in a lounge chair with pad, pillow, snack, drink and papers.  Needles to say, the distractions occurred.  First a very bold ground squirrel came around.  I watched it go in and out of the various little sheds I had left open to air out.  He stood up on his hind legs and checked me out a few times.  Then Ron,
                                                     a mower fixer, came and took our one

mower we sold to him, and would be back for the one we are keeping that needs repair.  Since I was up, I got the dog and hooked her up near by to scare off the ground squirrel.  The chickens and barn kitties proceeded to come over and investigate what I was up to.  At one point Sis attacked my bare toes that were hanging over the end of the chair, scratching them enough I had to go wash and band-aid one cut.  Once things finally settled down, I really started getting some grading done.  But it wasn't long before the monotony and warm sun lulled me to sleep.  After a bit of snoozing, the dog got all tangled up and started barking, which only allowed me to nap about 20 min.  I guess that was good....but I was not happy.  Sometimes you just can't win.  Back to work and it wasn't long until Courtney showed up.
I told her she was on her own with the horses today.  She did her routine with Zorro, and then worked Amiga in the round pen some.  Amiga is kind of fearful of her, so Courtney is trying to build that trust and respect relationship.  She had better luck keeping Amiga from coming in too close to her, but saw the problem I have been having.  Then she walked her around in the lush, long grass of the front pasture.

     Got my grading done Wed. night and posted on Skyward Grade Book by noon Thursday, but was a little short on sleep.  It didn't help that Joe got up at 2am to work.  He ended up having to go into State Farm at 4am.  When I got up at 5am, it didn't seem like I had slept much with all the interruptions to my sleep. Today on my way home from school I went back to Lowe's and bought the River Birch tree cluster I was eying on Tuesday.  Once home I started working on the hole.  It is on the south side of the barn where we had fenced off 4 red maples last summer, later to discover they are poisonous to horses.  We cut them down in the fall.  The birch is safe and will grow fairly quickly. As you can see by this series of photos, I had help with this project.  To better see what is in the picture, just click on the photo and it will enlarge.  The only reason the horses aren't in the picture is because I had moved them to the front pasture.  I got the tree planted but didn't have time to dig up all of the big fern like weeds because Courtney arrived for our lesson. 

Chuck & Flopsie came to investigate.         I dug up the red maple roots
Notice the top fence board has been          and the big fern like weeds. 
broken....Joe put up a new one later.          More chickens came to feast
Also see the volunteer red maple in            on the up rooted worms.
the bottom right hand corner.                     Chuck tried to eat tree leaves.

Eventually the chickens left and Chuck got bored and laid down....and he then fell fast asleep.  Sometimes I really like this cow.

As I progressed, I put the pot in the hole to see if it was big enough.  My "helpers" came back and were only in the way.  I needed to dig a bit more and then I got the tree planted.  Flopsie approves of my work, and I give it a watering containing root stimulator.

Chuck wakes up and plays with the empty pot.  I get all my stuff picked up, set down the bucket of weeds, and walk south to get a picture of the tree with the barn in back.  Chuck proceeds to knock over my bucket of weeds before I can put the camera away and go confiscate them.

     Courtney and I loaded the horses and went to Marj's as usual.  In today's lesson Marj rode Vinni (One of their Paso Finos) to set an example for ours. It helped keep Zorro and Amiga in gate better, riding behind Marj and Vinni.  I was trying out my new bit that had arrived in the mail Monday.  Amiga was mouthing it some, but eventually accepted it pretty well. I was trying one of Marj's bridles, but it was a bit too big for Amiga.  Got home from our lesson just after 8pm and Joe was already in bed asleep.  Friday morning he said he didn't get home from work until 6:30 Thursday evening.  That is 16 hours straight.  CRAZY!  When they run these projects, quite often many long hours are spent in the process of getting them to work. They are running a different one Sunday morning....hope it goes better than this last one.

     Friday morning I woke thanking God it was Friday.  Even though the week flew, it seemed to have been too fast, furious, and exhausting.  I was looking forward to having some down time over the weekend.  Also, because the rains came as predicted Friday morning, I knew outside work would have to wait, so I could get much needed inside work done.  Once Courtney got off work, I picked her up and we went shopping.  We headed 48 miles down the road to Parrish's Tack shop.  I had a very successful
                                          shopping "spree".  I bought a used saddle,
that I really hoped and thought would work, but later was disappointed to discovered it didn't.... lose a few. I also purchased a bridle, a 24"girth, and a picket line with clips. (We actually picked up a few items at Farm & Fleet and Tractor Supply too.) It was after 8pm when I got home, so I quickly did chores and came in to watch TV with Joe, and have my favorite dinner (A Mike's Hard Lemonade and popcorn).  It wasn't long after the exciting episode of Survivor that I crashed and went to bed.  One "adult beverage" will do it to me every time.

     Saturday morning it was mild, moist and muddy.  The clouds that hovered sent occasional rains through-out the morning.  Our Unit 5 website was down so I could not take care of some e-mails (read or send) nor could I work on my school web site.  The frustration I experienced took the wind out of my sail and I sort of flounder all morning, not doing much of anything.  At a loss again.  I wrote Mom a letter but didn't even get it out in the mail box before the mailman came. Just after noon a man came for 25 bails of hay.  I think he got rained on before he got home with it.  I was out putts-ing around with Joe when another fellow (Dave) came up the drive.  He was a former owner, one who had 2 horses here, and had done a lot of fix it up stuff around here.  Come to find out, the guy who bought it from him really let it get run down. He even tore down a lot of the wood fencing.  Dave was glad to see us fixing things up once again.  We ended up walking around and chatting for quite some time.  We learned several bits of information that will be most helpful. After he left Joe and I got back to the business at hand, which was the chicken coop.  We had put old square corner posts around the foundation outside, and then hay on those.  Well, it was the perfect hidden entrance for the rats which had chewed their way through the wall in a few places.  As we moved the post boards from the ground, Kaysha caught one juvenile rat, and once she killed it, I gave it to the barn cats, who after playing for quite a while, ate half of it. Joe saw a much larger rat scurry through the hole into the coop.  Flopsie came to investigate the tunneling and holes.
We didn't have time to clean the bales of hay out from under the roost area in the coop which is where I am sure the rat(s) live....that will be another day.  I did make a way for the barn kittens to get back under there.  Maybe they can help with the eradication project.  Some more heavy storms came back through mid afternoon so I headed back in to work at my desk, since the web site was back up. 

     Sunday I hit the school work hard, accomplishing a decent amount.  Then I rushed off to early Church, (Joe was stuck at work) and after that I went to school where I drained and cleaned 3 fish tanks, their filters, gravel, and plastic plants.  I brought home several more plants from the greenhouse along with the turtle, guppies, and goldfish from the tanks.  Shortly after getting home, Joe helped me load Amiga and I headed down the road to Marj's.  She looked at my new saddle and bridle to advise me on their fit.  The bridle with bit are going to work great.  I rode Amiga for almost 2 hours with the new saddle.  By the time it was all said and done, we decided that the saddle really does not fit and may be hurting Amiga.  So the search for a saddle continues and I will have to make another long trip back to Parrish's tack shop.  Marj did let me borrow and bring home one of her saddles she is not using at the moment.  It was after 6pm when I came in, and I still needed to finish unloading plants and fish from my car. 

These photos were taken today. 

You can see the chickens sunning in the background.  Hercules is warning everybody of my presences.  And Sis is coming over to see what I am up to.  You can see an extra (rather scraggly) plant I brought home from school on the hose keeper. (upper right)


Later, the barn yard pets moved into the shade on the deck to cool off.  There are two chickens under the grill even.  There is another plant in the wishing well (far right corner of picture.)

     Once showered, I threw a load of dirty farm stuff (jeans and saddle blanket) into the laundry, grabbed a bite of dinner, and sat at my desk to read e-mails.  Mid way through reading the posts of my Face-book friend's, my computer server quit on me.  Guess I should have been focusing on something more important.....like school work.  But now that I couldn't get e-mail, face book, Skyward grade program, my Blog site, or my web site....I decided to throw in the towel.  It was after 11pm and bedtime anyway.  You win a few....you lose a few.

Record Time

     Contrary to last week's blog on counting or not, to know if a time is a record, you have to count and record it.  Today's running of the Boston Marathon occurred in record time by a Kenyan.  Wish I could say the same for this blog post, which took longer than usual to finish.  Sometimes our perception of time leads us to believe it is moving faster or slower than usual.  We all know that time marches on at a steady, unchanging pace, but gosh does it seem to speed by usually.  Although sometimes it just drags.  I always hope my Biology class does not drag, but there are just some things that need to be taught or accomplished that aren't as exciting as others.

     I woke up last Monday feeling just as bad as I had Sunday when I last posted.  My throat was so sore and I really struggled to talk.  I quickly made a change in my lesson plans and showed a 20 min video, postponing a lecture until Tuesday. So class seemed to zip by today. When I got home from school, I took a nap in the hammock.  I was much too soon woken up
                                                     by Hercules who noticed me and
thought something was amiss.  He was all puffed up and yelling (gobbling) at me. In this photo he is doing his thing.  You can sorta of see the hammock behind the white benches.     
     Since I had gotten so much school work done over the weekend, I spent some time shopping for and buying a Side Pull Hackamore bridle (seen here)  and a Colombian Paso Fino rubber bar bit (seen on the right).  Marj was much help in advising me
on these.  This will give me two
options when riding Amiga and give Courtney something to use until she buys what she wants for Zorro.  I still need to buy a bridle and a saddle with pad.  I have seen several for sale on e-bay, advertised as lightly used, that had been bought but didn’t quite work out.  I do not want to become one of those “sellers” of a saddle that didn't work, so am really trying to get something I know is going to fit and do the job.  I can't believe I have had this horse for almost 6 months and still do not have tack.  Where has the time gone?

     Monday night my Bible study group prayed for me to get better, and my headache immediately went away.  My sinuses cleared and there was no longer all that pressure.  The sore throat and hoarse voice were much slower to heal.  But I felt so much better even before a good night's sleep.

     Tuesday morning I woke up feeling great, 
compared to how I had felt the day before.  I still struggled to talk but managed to get through my lecture in all 3 classes.  Once home I finally had some energy, so went out and worked in the yard.  I re-did the compost bin, making it secure from Chuck who keeps pushing it over.  I think he likes the smells coming from it, sticks his head through the fence and pushes it over.  I had to wire it back together because it was broken in several spots, and then with Joe's help, put up rope to keep Chuck out.  Then I wired the bin to the fence and side of the barn.  Time will tell if this is going to work.  In this photo you can see the dried up garden (little rain in 2 weeks) in front of the green compost bin.  There is onion I transplanted from the south side of the barn, and a tomato and a pepper plant.

     Courtney and I again brushed and then worked each of our horses.  After awhile we put them together in the round pen for some additional work.  They look so pretty, cute, happy and showy working together.

Moving at a faster gait.                                   Slowing it down.

       Wed. morning I experienced another relapse with this head cold.  I was all clogged up, my head and one ear really hurt, and the throat and voice were still in bad shape.  Once I got going, and blowing, and clearing my throat....and took cold medicine, I had relief from the sinus pressure.   I did a little weeding and yard work after school.  I think the fresh air, sunshine and exercise helped me.  I bought some flowers, but didn’t get them planted because the bed had too many weeds that I worked on weeding for what seemed like a long time.  Later, when I went out to the barn, I hooked Kaysha up near by.  She just can't be trusted to let roam because she wanders off.  She is also digging big holes out in our field.  This series of pictures shows Bro loving on the dog.  The barn kitties really do enjoy her.  The last picture was taken a different day with Sis napping with Kaysha on the back door step. I think Abbey, our indoor cat is a bit jealous...she really likes the dog also.

       I brushed and then worked with Amiga in the round pen.  I rode her bare back again.  She will do so much better once I have a bit.  On my way back from the barn just after dark Wed, I caught a wild animal off guard.  It ran from the side of the garage shed to the back of the corn crib.  It moved like a cat but was much larger.  I did not see a tail, but it might have been tucked between its legs.  It had to have been about a 30 lb animal, with its back about knee high.  In the darkness it looked quite light in color, maybe a tan.  I did not see its head….only the hind end fleeing.  I am thinking maybe it was a coyote…but really have no idea.

  






 
          We have been putting the horses out on the front pasture most days.  They really like this little section to the west of our house because it is shady and there is lots of clover in the grass.  After getting their fill, they will rest in the shade of this apple tree.  Once the leaves open up and grow more, it will provide nice shade.

     I had to be at school at 6:30 Thursday morning to present an award. I then had 3 extra hours to spend there, getting caught up on school work.  I came straight home after teaching my 3 classes, to do more gardening and then Courtney and I were off to our lesson.  We rode out in a corn field, along some ditches and up and down the road.  Both horses did very well.  Marj and her husband Richard rode with us, so it was like a trail ride.  I could tell Amiga and Zorro were watching their horses, and that really helped build their confidence.  It was so nice to finally “hit the trail” with these two.  Once back to the stables, Courtney and I worked Amiga and Zorro on our own in the outdoor arena.  We practiced gating, starting, stopping, turning, backing, etc. Once we had had enough ridding we tied the horses at the hitching post.  When Courtney removed, from Zorro, the saddle she bought, we discovered that it is sitting funny on him. That might explain why he has recently acted different under saddle. He keeps trying
                                                                                    or wanting to
Barn kitties take a morning nap.                                      go sideways. 
They are more like deck kitties lately.                              So, Courtney   
is going to need  to go through the hassle of returning it, and being without a saddle for awhile.      I planned to  do some much needed house cleaning when I got home from our lesson, but it was almost 9:00 by the time I got in from the barn and I was just too tired.  Where did the time go?  I decided Friday was another day.
                                                                                      
     Joe had “the guys” over for some Texas Hold em Friday just after noon.  They were going strong when I got home at 3pm.  I worked on neatening up Britney’s room, including vacuuming, dusting, and washing sheets, and then spent the majority of my time out in the barn.  Courtney came and worked Zorro. I brushed Amiga, did round pen work, and then rode her in the round pen and out in the field.  She does pretty good considering I only have a halter with reigns and no saddle.  I can definitely tell when she is gating well or not, cause she gets real bouncy when not in gait.  She still goes in and out of gait regularly cause she is still learning and it is hard to get her head to tuck without a bit.  She is listening to me and really trying to please me though, so I am quite happy with her. 

      First thing Saturday morning Joe and I finished loading junk into the truck, including five feed bags of poison ivy.  I guess the truck looked different to Hercules so he came over in record time to see if he needed to warn off this new intruder.  Joe headed for the dump and after doing some work at my computer, I did some much needed, but dreaded house cleaning.  It always looks so good and feels so good to get it done.  Don’t know why I wait so long between cleanings.  I guess the dirtier it is the more rewarding it is to get it cleaned up.  I am thinking no inside animals would really cut down on the hair.  As for dust, dirt, hay, and bugs….I guess that stuff is going to get in here regardless.  So, what’s a little more pet hair?  Joe's sisters arrived mid morning and as typically happens when we have company, I was still doing some last minute cleaning when they showed up.   Joe was busy selling

hay.  Seen here is our 2nd customer leaving and the third chatting with Joe.  By the time the third guy got 35 bales loaded into his truck, we girls had settled in and then were amused yet worried by the man's exit with the
                                                                                    over sized  load.
I guess he was trying to save time my hauling it in one trip.  I am sure he did not get back in record time, but it had to be a record on # of bales you can fit onto a pick up.  It was quite windy so that added to the challenge of keeping the bales on the truck.  He stopped at the end of the drive, just after this picture was taken to re-secure his load.  I really hope he got it home in 1 piece.  Notice our "Hay For Sale" sign at the end of our lane.  We will need to take it down soon, because we have about cleared out all our un-needed hay.

     We had an easy going day Sat....visiting, walking around the farm, and messing with the horses, barn kitties and chickens.  It was rather windy and cool so we didn't stay outside all day.  Courtney and Mike joined us for grilled chicken dinner and more chatting. 

     Sunday morning it was cold.  Extra tea and coffee helped warm and wake us up.  I decided to work Amiga and ride her before lunch for something different.  She continues to do well, except she keeps wanting to come in on me when I stop her after lunging.  She is supposed to turn and face me and stop.  I'll need to get more help from Marj on this problem.  For Joe's birthday today, I gave him two certificates, each for an hour riding lesson.  I'll make a horseman of him yet. LOL  The Villhauer ladies left around 1pm and then it was time to get some work done.  I set up my little fountain on our deck and then cleaned my pond and filter.  Got the pond filled and pump running and the chickens showed up for some fresh water.

A little later the barn cats also checked out the pond and had a drink.  With day after day of sunshine (and quite often wind) I watered all the recent transplanted flowers and shrubs and also the ones we had planted last fall.  The pine tree we moved in September really looked dried out.  The day, and weekend came to an end all too soon along with the realization that I would not get all my school work and this new Blog post completed.  Time flies when you are having fun or just keeping real busy.

     Today I had a doctors appointment to be sure I was good to go to Guatemala.   Since it was at 3pm, I decided to just stay at school and work to save on time and gas by not going home.  And then after leaving the Dr's office, since I had our Growth Group at 6pm, I chose to still stay in town.  I went to Schlotzky's Deli for a very late lunch/early dinner.  I sat at the quiet restaurant for almost two hours and got a bunch of papers graded.  It felt good to accomplish so much school work.  I can't believe how quickly this school year has been going.  It feels like record time.  Of course it isn't over yet, and we are at the stage where many students have already checked out....so it is more difficult to keep them motivated and working.  Time may slow down at this point in the school year....but I doubt it.

Who's Counting?

      When you get to be my age, some where between 50 and 55, you stop counting birthdays. It's not that I don't like to celebrate, it's just that I can't keep track any more. I seriously have no idea exactly how old I am.  If I really need to know, I ask my twin sister Carol.  She is better with numbers and counting.  Today is Kaysha's birthday....I think she is around 10.  Last Sunday was Daniel's birthday...I know he is 20.  And next Sunday is Joe's birthday....again, I am guessing 57, either he will be or was.

      Some folks have already started counting the number of school days left for this year.  I know it is just over 6 weeks, but don't have the exact
count of the days.  One of the days last week when I collected eggs, I came back with 7.  I think I am getting an average of 6 a day, but I usually collect some early in the day and then more after I get home from school so I don't usually have a very good count.
     
     I think our barn Kitty Bro only has 8 lives left, if I were to be counting.  One morning during chores he went straight up the outside wall of the corn crib.  Sis was quick to follow, but half way up decided it was a bad idea and backed on down.  Bro on the other hand went up to the eves.  He tried to get in to the inside of the corn crib, but the space was too small.  Then he tried to back down but it was too tricky, and maybe slippery with the painted boards.  After I took several pictures of his dilemma, seen here with Bro way up under the eve and                      Sis starting up after him,








          I decided he needed help.  So I tried to talk him down.  Well, eventually he ended up falling all the way down (probably 20 feet).  He did land on his feet, but his big head had such momentum, that it smashed into the ground on the side of his face.  It knocked him silly....but it wasn't funny.  I immediately scooped him up because the horses were coming over to investigate, and he was clearly hurt.  I think he suffered a concussion.  His eyes were very dilated and he acted very confused.  I took him to the tack room. Nothing was bleeding, and his heart rate was slowing down, and as I pet him he started purring.  Because departure time for school was nearing, I left him, saying a little prayer as I headed back to the house.
     Another answered prayer, more than I can count, when I got home Bro was just fine (only minus 1 life).  He came trotting up to greet me as usual, with Sis tagging along after him. 
    
     Asian beetles....too many to count...have invaded our house. They are worse out on the front porch as seen in this picture.  Joe has been spraying "Spectracide", an indoor household bug spray.  And then he vacuums up the carnage. He commented that the vacuum bag is getting full.  It wasn't empty to begin with, but it does contain a LOT of bugs.

     I have been counting the days until Britney gets home from her semester abroad in Costa Rica.  I have really missed her because she is unable to communicate via e-mail except once every two or three weeks.  She is having a great time, seeing and learning more than one could every imagine, and totally loving and embracing the whole experience.  At the moment she is living in a remote village somewhere with an indigenous tribe.  She will also be traveling to Cuba before returning home in 18 more days.

     I am not going to count the number of days I am sick.  Thursday morning I woke up with a bad cold. I don't know if it was a relapse from Tuesday's flu like virus, or different microbes attacking me this time.  Wonder if I got it from Zorro...he had been coughing with green snot coming

from his nose most of last week.  Here he was sunning himself out on the front pasture.  Maybe that's what I need to do.  Even though I felt bad, I drug myself to school.  I was just giving a test so didn’t have to exert myself or be too energetic.  But I had to stay later than usual at school to scan the tests and set up a lab.  I wanted to nap when I got home, but decided to finish up some things at my desk.  Courtney arrived just as I got finished so I went out with her.  We decided to load the horses early for our lesson, not knowing how that would go with either of them.  It went beautifully.  And unloading Amiga at Marj's went well too.  Thank goodness.  We tried a new (used) saddle on Amiga that I was interested in buying, but unfortunately it did not fit. So, my search continues. 

     Friday morning I woke up still feeling rotten and cold.  It was only 32 degrees out and there was a pretty good frost but the sun came up early and started warming things up.  It has been warm and windy all this week.  So everything is growing.  Trees are leafing out, flowers are blooming, birds are sitting on nests.  I have one Plymouth Rock chicken that keeps sitting on a nest, in an old oat feeder in the barn.  I first realized this when I was   
                                                      counting chickens roosting in the coop a few nights ago, and came up short.  I eventually found her nesting in the barn.  I proceeded to bring her back to the coop and have continued doing this the last 4 nights.  I have been trying to convince her to not do this.  It doesn't matter if there are eggs in the nest or not.  I swipe them when she is off of the nest.  A few other hens will sometimes lay eggs in that same nest.  There was a golf ball in it, so I took that out.  She sat there still.  I put a basketball in the nest....she moved down to the next feeder.   I don’t need or want any more hens, so don’t want to let any of them raise a brood.  Besides, with the barn kitties and dog running around everywhere, I don’t think they would be very safe.  They would all be sitting ducks....I mean chicks.

     Yesterday I got up feeling worse than ever, and not even able to talk at all.  Joe probably loved the peace and quiet.  I was so frustrated because I had a lot of physical work I wanted to get done, but no energy and was too dizzy to exert myself much.  And I couldn’t yell at the dog, call my kitties, talk to my horses, or communicate with Joe.  I decided to stay at my desk and complete my blog post of last year’s moving day.

     Kaysha was dead tired Saturday morning, because she had pulled an "all nighter".  She ran off  Friday night at 8pm when following me around to do chores.  I went into the coop to count chickens and fill their water bowl and feeder.  When I came out she was no where to be seen.  And I could barely yell for her.  I had Joe yell for her several times before we turned in for the night.  Going to sleep, I  said a little prayer for her safety.  I haven't kept count of how many times she has run off....she is usually gone a few hours, and comes home fitly dirty. Here is a picture of her panting and resting shortly after her return home from one of these adventures. See how wet and dirty she is?  I would love to know where she goes and what she is up to while gone.  Although, I do not like or encourage this behavior.  In fact, because of it, we have been tying her to the back deck more often than not.  Saturday morning she was curled up in a ball on the back deck door mat, sound asleep. (The barn kitties have been sleeping in her dog house so that was not available.) After eating her breakfast she slept in her bed on the pack porch all morning.

     Mid afternoon yesterday, I offered to help Joe put up more ceiling in the tack room.  And next thing you know, it is almost 5pm....but the ceiling is done!  These sections were smaller and easier to hold up, but needed lots of measuring and cutting.  It felt good to finally have it all done....well, we still need to put up some hooks, brackets and hangers for all the tack to go on.  You can see in one of these pictures we have the saddle racks in.  I also want to put a shelf in front of the window instead of the ladder and plank we use for kitties to go up and sit in the window.

     Joe mowed while I cleaned up our tools, saw dust, board pieces, etc.  Then I sat and admired our work while I rested with two barn kitties on my lap.  Courtney came to work Zorro so I puttsed around, and then brushed Amiga when Courtney brought Zorro back in.  She had gone to an all day clinic at Marj's yesterday and wanted to try some things out.

     Sunday I actually felt worse because I had not slept well.  I kept waking up to cough, clear my throat, blow by nose and drink some water.  I still ached all over, especially my head and joints.  I am hoping this can't last much longer. 
     Again I spent quite a bit of time here at the computer.  Things kept catching my eye, so I would hop up and take pictures, like of our "guardian" turkey Hercules.  I have noticed that it appears he does a lot of "counting".  He is always watching over the flock.  Today when I spotted two huge birds of prey, bigger and darker than red tail hawk, soaring over our farm yard, I watched in amazement as they hardly ever flapped, but just rode the air currents.  They were definitely searching for something....and then it dawned on me....the kittens or chickens.  Well, I knew the kittens and one chicken were fine because I had just left them in the barn.  I did a quick visual search for the chickens but didn't spot a single one.  So I headed for the chicken coop.  None to be found.  When I came out I yelled "chickens... where are you?"  About this time the large, soaring birds headed northwest and then I see, coming out from under the back deck, the chickens....with Hercules half sticking out because he is too big to fit all the way.  He scooted out and followed the rest towards me and the chicken coop. 
Here are some pictures taken different days, of Hercules on guard.

     He will ward off dog or cat,
cow or horse....he doesn't care.  But it's strange, he isn't mean, he just looks threatening.  When someone he is not familiar with pulls up in back, he will come strutting out all puffed up.  Good ole Hercules.

     Even though I didn't feel up to it, Joe and I tackled the vines in the tree by the garage.  There is poison ivy mixed in with the English ivy.  So we decided to tare off much of it.  The English ivy was growing over the top of the poison ivy.  Almost two hours later it is all done and cleaned up.  We bagged the poison ivy and anything questionable.  It goes to the dump next weekend.  The dog was no help, I just put her in the picture to make it more interesting.  There were vines all over this side of the tree.  Also, notice to the right of the dog, the Peonies are coming up and the grass is really green, and freshly mowed.   

     Other than work on this tree, the day was not very productive.  I did my normal chores, and messed with or played with most of my animals, but mostly I just rested, watched them or worked at my computer.

     Well, I guess I do count things regularly....but only those that are important to me.  As the song says.... each night before I sleep, I count my blessings instead of sheep.