Shout For Joy!

     There have been so many good things happening I keep thinking of the chorus to this song.  "Shout for joy.  Sing His praises.  Lift my voice, unto the Lord."

     The weekend of the 21'st went quickly as all weekends seem to do.  It was still rather cold and windy.  We even got more snow Sunday evening
                                                     with stronger winds.  Joe fixed the

section of fence the cow had broken through, and moved some hay down from the loft.







     I think it is neat to watch Amiga and Sir Loin digging through the snow for grass.  Amiga is much more intentional, digging with her hoof, while the cow just pushes the snow around
with his nose grabbing bites of grass.

     Joe spent the majority of the weekend watching TV and playing on line Texas Hold-em.  Dan was at Courtney's all weekend and Britney read and watched TV quite a bit, so I was able to get lots of school work done.

Frosted birds nest awaiting
    the coming of spring.

     Saturday I went to Marj's for our 3rd class in "Lessons On Lightness".  I did not take Amiga because of the extreme cold, blowing snow, and iced up trailer and Expedition. I was there for almost three hours. 

     Church and a quick stop at school on Sunday also got me out of the house, as did a trip back to Marj's to walk Zorro Sunday evening.  In this
                                           picture he can be seen looking out of his stall.

       Driving home, down the gravel road in Joe's pick up truck, with his station of tunes playing on the radio as the snow blew across in front of me, I felt so good to be alive.  I really enjoy the country life, and even though things get tough sometimes, I like being outside, messing with the live stock, taking care of the land, and being a farmer/cowgirl.  Yippee ki yay!

    
     I ended my last Blog post with a series of pictures of a cat sliding off a deck.  Here is Abbey, trying to get a crumb and then sliding off a stool at the kitchen island.

     Monday morning I fell asleep for about an hour during my regular Bible reading time.  And then when I got home from school and was working on school work I got so sleepy I went up to bed and ended up taking over a 3 hour nap. I don't know what my problem was, I felt fine and was getting my regular nights of sleep...but I still couldn't seem to get enough sleep.  Wonder if I was either fighting some sickness or just in the hibernation mode.
                                                                                    Missy continues

to be more adventuresome.  She is coming farther and farther away from the barn.  She will explore around the buildings and in the yard.  She has even been practicing tree climbing.  If you look closely (click on picture) you can see her up in our old pear tree.

     Brother likes to get in on the climbing action as well.  He goes a lot higher than Missy dares to climb as you can see here.

     Tuesday I took Amiga to Marj's, not knowing she had some lessons scheduled.  One of the two high school girls that was there for a lesson was our former neighbor (Dani) whom watched our old house for us when we were on vacation.  Britney had sat with her a few times also. Richard helped me with unloading Amiga who has been bolting off the trailer.  He worked with her for 15 minutes and ended up having her step up, stand calmly and then step back off.  Marj was so nice to still let me test ride in two of her saddles.  The one Courtney bought me for Christmas is very nice, but is a bit wide on Amiga and too wide to sit in.  I really like the style of it though. It is an endurance saddle.

      Amiga waiting patiently for some saddle fitting.

     I tried to stay out of the way of the lesson people as I rode Amiga around. It was fun, and I enjoyed watching the girls jumping their horses. Amiga did okay, but was as distracted as I was.  When I got home, Joe and I took it slow unloading her and she did better, but still went too fast when told to step off.

     Wednesday was a long day of school work from before sun rise till well after sun set.  I need to quit grading so much of the homework I give.  It is pretty sad when my entertainment for the day comes while doing chores.

In the morning the chickens make their usual trip from the chicken coop 

to the barn.  Looks like "March of the Penguins" in this little video clip.  

Notice the two young roosters bringing up the rear?

At night I have more time to spend watching and talking to the animals.

Come on Sir Loin, time for dinner.             He always comes to the corn
                                                         crib when he sees his grain bucket.
     Be careful Amiga. It's slippery.   
She also comes to the barn when I  call for her.  Sometimes I have to go get her from way out in the pasture.  She usually follows me back to the barn.  Or she will run ahead and be in her stall waiting for me to feed her.

     When Hercules can't get into the coop at night, he comes up to the house and waits for me.  He usually roosts on the deck railing until I come out. Then he'll hop up and follow me back to the coop which I open for him.


    











     
     I enjoy a few minutes of playing with the barn cats, brushing my horse, talking to the cow, and running from the dog as she follows me from building to building.  I chuckle at myself while counting my chickens.  Each night I make sure I have all 10 and our 1 turkey before I shut the coop door.  I find myself counting "1,2....3,4,5.....6,7,8,....9,10  and a big fat turkey.  He he he.

      Thursday Marj and Courtney took Zorro to Champaign.  He got a "clean bill of health!"  Several people watched him and examined his legs and
                                         the vet said he is once again sound.  Courtney
said loading Zorro was doable, but not easy.  They actually made the round trip in a remarkably short amount of time.

     These pictures were taken Saturday, but I thought were fitting here.  We are so proud of Courtney and how hard she has worked to get Zorro healed from his lameness.  She really loves this horse and is truly dedicated to him.  What a lucky boy.




      I ordered baby ducks to arrive over spring break and paid for a spot in the gaited horse clinic with Larry Whitesell, at the Illinois State Horse Fair the first weekend in March..... I told Marj I was ready to start up lessons again.  I am excited about the weeks to come. 

     Once back from the U of I Vet, and when chores at Well Green Farm were completed, Courtney treated us all to dinner to celebrate Zorro's prognoses and Marj's birthday.  I felt so happy I wanted to "Shout For Joy!"'  hence this Blog title.

      Friday morning I took Missy to the animal rescue shelter to have her spayed.  I had put her in the dog crate over night so she wouldn't eat or drink.  Late in the afternoon I went back to pick her up.  The vet said she was the best behaved out of all 5 she had just spayed. The vet also talked
                                                     me out of putting Missy in the tack
room with a heat lamp, so we brought the dog crate into the furnace room.  I thought it would be warm and quiet but less stressful for her there...no Abbey or Kaysha to scare her.  On the left, you can see Brother "helping" me out.  Always the curious kitty.  I had Missy in the cat carrier until I was ready to move her.


     Once in the crate she settled in and continued sleeping off the drugs from anesthesia.  Notice her shaved belly.  I checked on her several times before I went to bed and she appeared content and comfy and was not messing with her incision.

      Saturday was a long but fun and productive day at Marj's.  For our class this week we each had a horse.  I took Amiga.  The trailer unloading has improved, but still needs quite a bit of work.  Amiga was really relaxed during much of the session on the ground. She did well with everything except yielding her shoulders.  She tends to block with her shoulder instead of turning by steping across or over with her front feet.  We all rode at the end and Amiga was great at a walk.  Keeping a slow smooth gait was a different story. I still need to work (a lot) with my leg cues and be softer with the bit.  The following are pictures of all of us working our horses.

     Here is a video I took.  You can hear Courtney and I talking .

 
     Towards the end of our riding,  Joe came in to talk with Richard and see what we were up to.  Once all of the horses cleared out, Courtney came in to walk Zorro and then put a saddle on him....the first time since he pulled his suspensory ligaments back in August.  He was so funny, trying to shake the saddle off.  After walking him with the saddle and letting him get used to that, Courtney got in the saddle and I led Zorro around for 5 min.  He was so well behaved.







   






















      Sunday we had fresh chicken eggs for breakfast.  I worked the nursery, went to second service, and then to school.  When I got home, Joe was in the midst of butchering the two roosters we hatched last summer.

 







     I helped with the clean up, and noticed all the chickens were quite upset.  Joe had hung the roosters from the clothes line to let them bleed out so the snow beneath was a mess.  I poured water on top of that to try to dilute it.  Well, we ended up having fresh rooster for dinner.  I tried to cook the bird slow, boiling it in water, but my stove top can't be turned low enough.  I thought it tasted a bit gamey and was kind of chewy, but it might have been my imagination.  This time I only counted 7 chickens when shutting the coop for the night.  I finally found the one lost one behind the broken barn door that is leaning against the south wall inside the barn. She was all the way back against the corner.  I sent Bro in to scare her out, but he just sniffed her and came back out.  Since I couldn't easily get her, I decided to leave her there for the night.  She'd had enough trauma for today.
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