On Mother's Day Sunday I wanted to plant some flowers I bought 2 weeks earlier. As it turned out, I was at my desk most of the day, and even this past week I have been unable to plant them. Several plants "turned belly up" due to the wind and lack of water. I tried to keep them watered but some got dried out. Those that are
drought tolerant survived...that, or they were in better soil or got more water. On my "day of rest" from work on the farm....I did school work all day long. At one point I heard the dog barking. After last Friday's excitement and needing a break from my desk, I decided to go out to see what was wrong. One of the barn kitties had caught a baby bunny and was making it yell. This little bunny was not going to be one to later munch down our garden plants. I decided I did not want to take a closer look, so I brought the dog in and got back to grading papers. Later I discovered both kitties napping in the dog house. Bro had rabbit fur between the paws of one front foot and some stuck to his upper lip... ewww, nasty. I looked in the bushes where I heard the screaming. I did not want a dead carcass stinking up the place. But I only found the intestines full of green poop....yuck. Smart to leave that behind. I have cut way back on barn cat food, and stopped feeding them canned food completely because they were killing stuff and leaving it untouched after playing with it awhile. Well, now they have resorted to hunting and eating their kill. Lately I have been finding wings or hips, legs + tail in various places around the farm yard.We had a little storm pass through the other afternoon. I went out to the barn to let the horses in to their stalls. Zorro came walking in to the barn all "du te do" and relaxed. Amiga was hiding out from the coming storm in the corn crib, watching....and not coming. I went and got some treats, gave one to good boy Zorro. Stuck my head out and called for Amiga again. She just stood there. The lightening and thunder were getting closer and some drops started to fall. Then, out of the blue, Amiga decided to make a run for it. And run she did. She rounded the corner into Zorro's stall so fast she almost wiped out. I was out of the way but Zorro nearly got hit. Once to safety she calmed right down and walked into her stall. What a silly girl. I have learned that much of the time a
horse does what it does as a survivalmechanism. It is built into them.
You need to be sure to be out of harms way when they decide to fight or flight. The purpose of training them is to get them to use the thinking side of their brain and not the reactive side. Building their trust and confidence in you, really helps with this process. Courtney and I continue to make progress with training Amiga & Zorro.
While playing golf over a week ago, we saw a goose that was missing a foot. It had a leg but was walking on a stump. It was all by itself. Again I hate seeing this side of nature and felt bad for the poor thing. Walking was difficult and I wondered how it could steer while swimming. Could it "take off in flight" and then land when ready? Sometimes I wonder if a life full of trials and tribulations is worth it. I guess each of us is a fighter to survive in one degree or another, and no matter how hard the struggle, life is worth the battle. There are always going to be ups and downs with rocky roads. The tough times help us better appreciate the easy times; the calm after the storm; the smooth sailing. In spite of what the world is dishing out at us, it is important to realize our many blessings including the gift of life itself.
We have had many failed attempts at trapping the rats which has lead me to realize these creatures are true survivors. But humans have the size advantage, both in brain and body, so we'll see how this battle with the rats pans out. I am adamant about catching all these buggers because since the day we stirred them up by removing their "apartment complex" from under the roost in the chicken coop, they have been doing some damage. They chewed a new hole in the edge of the chicken coop door where it didn't shut tight because of the extension cord. In the process they also chewed quite a bit of the cord. Lots of the wires are now showing. How the rats didn't get electrocuted I do not know. I had to unplug the extension cord from the garage shed and am now back to the old lighting system...flash light. RATS! And who knows what they are doing inside walls, or other
areas we can not see.
We eventually decided to switch from live traps to something a little more severe. Joe bought and then set two rat traps (they look like a giant mouse trap). In this picture you can see how much larger the rat trap is. Brothers back food is on the mouse trap. (No animals were hurt in the taking of this picture, but don't look too close at the stain on the rat trap.) :-/ Joe put one rat trap in the furnace room and one in the chicken coop. The first night the trap in the furnace room had sprung and the bait was gone. Second night the whole trap disappeared. This is not good. What ever drug it away is probably crawling around in our duct work somewhere. These rats are too good at the game of survival. The second rat trap in the chicken coop had gone untouched for several days. Because we had caught a chicken in the live trap set for the ground-hog, We put a milk crate over the rat trap so the chickens and cats wouldn't get caught in it. I normally leave chicken feed out at night so that the early risers can eat (not fight) till I get up and open up the coop door. Well, the first night I decided not to do that, we had a rat in the trap the next morning. I guess it got desperate for food. Two nights later we caught a second one. Hungry rats are not as smart?I canceled Golf Tuesday and my riding lesson for Thursday. I was in a huge time crunch with school work, needing to get a humongous amount done by Friday morning. After grading all day Sunday, it was now time to write my semester exam and review. I also had a bunch more end of the unit grading I collected on Monday.
Heading out to pasture one morning.
Wednesday night after 10pm I got caught in the front end of a storm while putting the horses in the barn. We had been watching a movie and I could see lightening in the distance. I kept saying "got to go put the horses in" but the movie kept going .... it was good ("Seven Pounds") so we didn't want to pause it...but it went longer than the normal movie. When I finaly got out to the barn, the horses came right in, but I didn't see Chuck. I had to close barn doors cause it was starting to rain lightly but was really blowing in from the northeast. I gave the horses hay and water and feed the barn cats, then went to count chickens
which Joe forgot to do when he closed the
Bro found a good place coop at 8pm. I had looked for Chuck in the
to ride the storm. corn crib on the way to the coop but did not
see him. Courtney had closed the back gate and let the horses out after feeding them but I got to thinking Chuck might be stuck out there. So I went back into the paddock. I kept calling him, expecting him to come running and mooing like he usually does. But there was no sign of him. It was pitch black out and I could only see slightly when lightening lit the sky. I am sure my pupils were fully dilated. I was looking for Chuck's white in the darkness and listening for him between the rolling thunder. I went around the north side of the grain bins thinking I would run into him. But he was no where to be seen. By now I was sure he was out in the back pasture. I made my way through the pitch black, looking about when it lightening. The rain was increasing intensity. I kept yelling for Chuck, expecting to see and hear him come running from the back pasture. I open the gate, secured it with the cement block, stood up and gazed into the pasture. Yelled Chuck's name one more time. By now I am wondering if he escaped or got hit by lightening. I turned towards the barn and bumped right into Chucks big head while simultaneously letting out a blood curdling scream. Once all my air was exhaled, I proceeded to laugh at myself. And Chuck just stood there perfectly still, not reacting at all, just watching me. Well good...he was okay and I headed into the house through what was now a driving rain. As I was drying off, warming up with tea, and letting my nerves calm down so I could go to bed, I was thinking that would have been the perfect scene from a scary movie. I don't think either Chuck or I were very fit survivors this night.The nicely shaped, cute little red bud we moved from the front pasture last summer did not survive. I kept hoping new life from down in the depths of its roots or trunk would spring forth this spring, but when Joe hit it with the riding mower and a big section of it snapped off, I knew it was a goner. So we removed what was left of it. Then I bought a new one and planted it Thursday morning before school cause it was to rain for 2 days straight. After school I hit the school work hard. Courtney took Zorro, without Amiga and I, to Marj's for a lesson. Later I took an hour off of school work to watch
Survivor with Britney and Joe. Now
twist to survival....Out wit, out play, out last for 1 million $$$. By Friday I had gotten most of what I needed done. But there were still the exam and 2 review puzzles to finish. Having locked myself in to my office all week resulted in the horses not getting any attention from me. You know the saying... "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy". As for me...I get cranky, irritable, grouchy, and grumpy. I develop a pent-up inner force that makes me want to kick and scream, or crawl out of my skin. Like an animal pent up at the zoo....that paces...I go from my desk to the kitchen and back. The caffeine is to keep me awake and cookies to keep me energized. But they also cause that inner energy to build and resonate within. After a while, I am ready to explode. So, come Friday afternoon, I went out to work Amiga and ride. Courtney joined me later and rode Zorro bareback. We actually were able to make several circuits on the mowed riding "trail" in the side pasture. It winds around trees, round pen, a row of shrubs, and makes a giant figure 8 in the pasture as well as goes along the inside of the fence line. We had a good time.
More school work Saturday morning, was followed by a nice productive day outside. I did some weeding, re-mowed our riding trail, straightened up the garden shed, cleaned the fish pond and deck fountain, and cleaned out in the tack room. I was interrupted at lunch time to help a hay buyer load 24 bails of hay on his truck. We now have about 70 bails left to sell. Then the neighbor and his friend drove up to ask about using one of our pastures for their cattle. He was looking for a summer pasture while he does work on his. I really wanted to help him out...and it is tempting after we get one cutting of hay, because the hay business is not real lucrative and is a lot of work. After a late lunch I completely cleaned out the two horse stalls. I threw the soiled shavings out in the paddock
letting the wind take them and spread
them about for me. I emptied at least 10 wheelbarrow loads out there. Here is seen the "pee pit", Amiga's choice spot to urinate. I could keep digging to get all the soiled dirt, but have to stop at some point. Letting it air out all day before covering with new shavings seems to help. I would like to find some kind of product that neutralizes the acid and smell. When Joe got back from his golf outing, we emptied the truck load of new sawdust into the stalls. We then proceeded to put up hardware in the tack room so we could properly hang all our equipment. I moved the ladder and plank out from
the window look-out the cats love, and added a shelving unit that had been out in the garden shed. Then it was off to a late dinner at "Jack's" in LeRoy.
I woke up Sunday feeling a lot of sore arm and shoulder muscles. After working in the nursery some and going to Church, I went to school for a bit. Once home, knowing I needed to do quite a bit of school work still, I decided to just do the one main job of planting the seven Blue Spruce I bought a few days earlier. Joe and I decided where to put them out between our fence and the railroad tracks. He dug the holes, and I mulched in peat moss, planted the tree, watered with root stimulator, and added a rim/ring of 
upside down sod to hold in the water. Joe moved faster than I did, but then worked on cutting down a bunch of branches from trees in the back. He is planning another bonfire I believe.
Courtney and Mike came over before we were done, and Courtney and I eventually went riding, both of us without saddles. Zorro was a little out of sorts and misbehaved at first, while Amiga was a bit wound up. It might have been the cold windy weather causing their rowdiness. I didn't ride long because I needed to return to my semester exam and review. It was a late night of school work and I was out like a light when I hit the hay.
Up early on this rainy Monday morning, I drove off to school 30 min ahead of schedule to xerox my exam study guide. The cold, cloudy weather did not help my sleep deprived body feel awake, but it was good at keeping the students subdue. It didn't even lure me outside when I got home from school. The near continuous drizzle throughout the day was perfect for the corn that recently emerged. I was glad to get it on all my recent tree transplants as well. And then there's the store bought flowers that haven't been planted yet. Some of them look worse for ware, while others continue to survive. I guess some are better adapted for neglect than others.
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