our obsessions can get.
This cartoon is a nice thought, but I know Heaven doesn't work like this.
The reason for this Blog title is because we bought another cow... moo. Well, he is a steer actually. But, I don't want you to jump to a quick conclusion, so I will explain in just a bit.
First of all, let me back track to last week. As you recall, we have been working on a calf pen and 3rd horse stall out in the barn. Well, it was with the intent of getting a third horse and a third cow.
Friday morning a storm blew in. I had to run out to bring the horses in from their grazing pens. There was thunder, lightening, wind, drop in temperature... but no rain. When I went to Marj's at noon, she said it poured there, just 2 1/2 miles from us. Rats, missed us again. I worked with Roni for almost three hours while Marj helped me and 3 other young ladies working with their horses. Back home, I walked Amiga, Joe and I put up some more boards in the barn and then we headed over to
Bob and Marge's for a great dinner, relaxing hot tub, good music, drinks and dessert. In a hot tube... more is not merrier because then you have to share a jet. Four was a perfect fit so we all got our favorite seats.
I had found two more duck eggs (the white ones) Friday, one being very small and then Sat morning found two more with one still under sized.
I was trying to muster courage to go out and work in the heat, when Lisa called. And off I went with her to Moraine View for a nice ride on one of her horses Scout.
Joe was able to get some shavings from the Gilmore's so we could get the 3rd horse stall and calf pen ready for inhabitants.
After chores and dinner, I went to Marj's to work with Roni. It got dark on us in the arena... sun is setting by 8:30 these days, and it hadn't cooled down all that much. I brought Roni home and got him set up in the new stall. These two photos were taken later on Sunday.
Sunday morning I was glad to see all three horses getting along great out in the barn... except the heat was taking it's toll. They were sweating and drinking a bunch of water... and they just stood in front of their fans. Joe finished up his State Farm work early for a change and was available to join me at Church. We went to early service, shopped for groceries and came home with the hope of finishing some work in the barn.
Frankie arrives As it turns out, I went riding again
His name is Frankie.... some day he will make us some good all beef franks.
We put him in the corn crib for a few hours to get acclimated to his new home.
The cow boys check out the new arrival.
We decided to buy him because we like Bob, he was giving us a good price, and we want to get on a 6 month schedule of buying bottle babies and butchering "the fattened calf". So, Sir Loin goes in Oct and we will get a bottle baby then. Frankie will be ready next April and so on ....
After a few hours we let Frankie out into the paddock while
the cow boys and horses were in the back pasture.
He looked around and was feed some grain
Joe had gotten home with Frankie shortly after I got back from Moraine View. After we got him settled in and had a bite to eat, I headed to Marj's to work Roni again. In the mean time, Joe opened the back gate and let the cow boys meet. He said there was a little head butting at first, but then everyone settled in to grazing.
Frankie has long legs, so looks almost as big as Sir Loin, in terms of height. But Sir Loin has probably an additional 400 lbs on him. I did not get home till almost 10pm. I barely had the energy to shower and brush my teeth before collapsing into bed.
Monday marked the start of August and the oppressive realization that school starts in16 days. This is a cute shirt idea that only a Biology teacher would wear, especially when teaching mitosis. I was at Marj's with Roni for a riding lesson at 9 am. We are making progress, although it seems rather slow at times. Rushing Roni could actually result in a set-back... so slow is okay. Basically we are re-training with seat and legs before adding pressure with the bit... because that is what he is so worried about. He really is a nice horse, tries to please, and learns quickly. But, it doesn't take much to make him nervous. He has relaxed soo much from when we first started working with him.
It was another hot day with little accomplished outside. I discovered a big hole in the pasture which was caused from a broken drain tile. Joe dug out the pieces and now we are trying to decide how to repair it. I put up some fencing and flags to detour the cows, and will keep the horses off the back pasture. I went to Bible study and Ralph stopped for the night on his way to Missouri.
Tuesday morning after Joe and Ralph went their separate ways, I trained Roni over at Marj's as usual. The girls she has been working with were getting ready to head to the fair with two of her horses. More puttering around outside for limited periods of time and the day was shot.
Joe gives Sir Loin a "bath" too. It doesn't actually clean him off much because they will all lie in the mud puddle made by the water. But it really helps to cool the cows off, and the mud keeps the flies under control.
Then Joe and I worked on the window between Roni and Zorro's stall. Joe had bought a section of hog panel and we cut it to a 6 foot section, then cut the hole in the wall and put it up.
Zorro can be seen looking at Roni through the new panel.
This additional hole will allow for better air flow and for the horses to see each other and be better company for each other.
I spent almost all day at the fair Wednesday, watching the horse shows the bulk of the time. Casey and Dani both showed in several events.
Here Marj is giving Casey some last minute pointers.
The judge wore a bright red skirt that flapped in the breeze, which I thought was rather rude. Good thing she wasn't judging the bulls. Ha ha ha.
Dani on Buster in an equitation event.
During the lunch break, I walked around and looked at stuff. Here is a braided horses mane I thought was especially attractive.
There was tons of lifestock. Here are rows of the birds, primarily chickens... The more the merrier.
There were even some pigeons ....
this one looks a lot like the visitor we had last week.
There were only 3 turkeys, and I think our former grand champion Hercules would still hold his title.
Before returning home I had realized I had lost my phone. It must have fallen out of my purse. I back tracked some, but I had covered so much ground and was so tired, I gave up and headed home, hoping it might be in my car. No luck. This was a very humbling experience, because I had just given Joe a hard time for getting his wallet stolen yesterday. None of us is perfect... we all make mistakes. Many of the 4-H horse riders experienced this at one point or another during the day as well.
Today I went to Marj's for a riding lesson on Roni. We both made great progress I thought. When working with horses, the more the better, is sometimes the case... consistent, regular practice certainly helps. But, you need to know when to quit. Once the horse has it, you need to move on to another exercise or put the horse "away" for the day. Let him think about the training session. It is so easy to want to drill a maneuver in once the horse finally "has it"... but this is not a good practice.
It had cooled off some, but still made it up into the 90's. I sat in the shade, as I saw the cows were doing, and did some extra Bible reading. Mid afternoon I got back to work outside. I did more cleaning in the barn, gave everything a good watering, planted grass seed and worked on weeding. I whacked all of the weeds down in the garden, leaving the corn and this one flowering weed, in addition to the Rose of Sharon just outside.
I don't know what this is, Hollie Hocks maybe, but I thought it was too pretty to hack down.
We continue to get up-dates on Daniel indirectly on Facebook through
his interactions with others and on the 236th ICTC page.
His unit finished building this decking including the shade canopy.
"OMG this made my day, week, month, however long this will last me!! Brings back some more good memories back in the neighborhood, haha. I remember the grape being the best".
And finally about this radio: He found it on the ground in the "junk yard" and replaced the antenna and took the light set out that was draining the battery... and said it "works like a charm".
This "More the Merrier" idea for firepower sounds like a good plan to me. Seems like the Taliban goes after the small groups of isolated soldiers.
At Bagram AFB our soldiers are relatively safe. The old saying, safety in numbers, is the rule that applies here.
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