So Much To Be Thankful For

     Driving home late Saturday afternoon from a great weekend in Iowa, I spent some time reflecting on the past week and the great year we have had.  I had gotten all my grading done so typed up much of this Blog post while we rolled down interstates 80 + 74. 
                                                                                       Even though

the issues with Zorro have been at times trying, they are teaching us great lessons.  Through our horses and trainer, we are learning so much.  In this photo Zorro is going from one stall to the other.  I hook both gates open so he has more room. 

     I am especially thankful for Amiga, and the fact that she is such a nice horse and getting along so well.  I hope and pray Zorro heals faster, and can soon get the exercise he needs to be in a better frame of mind and of a calmer disposition. He is a sweat horse, just not happy about stall rest.
                                        Amiga in the paddock....not much grass left.

      I have finally come to the conclusion that Sissy was most probably devoured by the coyotes. It is so sad to think about. I know I shouldn't get attached to my barn cats....but I can't help myself. I am thankful though for the time I had to get to know and share with this wonderful kitty.

                                                          My neighbor lady Lisa, who came
to feed while we were in Iowa, said they had all 12 of their chickens killed a few weeks after Sissy disappeared.  It occurred in one night by something that squeezed into her coop.  Most of the chickens were left somewhat torn up but two were completely gone.  She didn't think a coyote could fit through the hole at the bottom of the door that doesn't fit tight...but who knows.  She also commented that the coyotes get very loud when they have made a kill. This coyote looks just like the one I have seen 2 miles from here.  I got this picture off the internet.

     I was planning to go back to the barn where we got Bro and Sis and bring home their other sister.  Courtney had set up a time for us to go on Tuesday.  But then Monday night our neighbor Brian came over with a little
black cat, that fit the

description of Sissy.  She had shown up at his machine shed Sunday night. I was so excited to think Sissy had been found. But as soon as I picked her up, I knew it wasn't Sissy. She is skin and bones and upon close inspection has scabs on her face below each eye. She is super affectionate and very friendly and loves to be petted.  Because she is so sweet and appears homeless, we have taken her in to stay with Brother in the barn. Has God brought her to us for both our sakes?


 

      Tuesday I went out to check on our new barn Kitty and the wind had shifted from out of the south to out of the northwest. And as you might guess....the temperature had also dropped 18 degrees from what it had been  earlier in the evening. That night and Wednesday morning we got  
                                                                                    lots of rain.  It
was puddled in the paddock and a muddy mess.  I did not walk out to the water way ...but did not see pooling out there, so hope it is doing it's job.  On the way to school Wed. the rain was freezing on the over passes and cars were in the ditch.

     Thanksgiving Day it rained some more while Joe and I were out doing some last minute "winterizing".  I got all the water buckets and dishes plugged in and Joe took care of the stock tank.  We decided to make smaller turn-out areas for Zorro and  moved the fencing pens closer to the barn, and made sure they were all attached to Eletro-braid to make them escape proof.  Luckily we did this before the real cold hit and the ground froze.  So, they will be "permanent" over winter until the spring thaw.
Hopefully by then Zorro will be given a

clean bill of health and won't need the confinement.  The rain  started freezing at about 2:00, but soon after it stopped raining.  So, things like our deck were covered in a layer of ice. I had had enough of outside work so came in and helped Britney with Christmas decorations. The chickens had decided to hang out in the barn rather than search for food in the freezing rain.

     This is the hay feeder Dan built.  He still needs to put legs on it but I wanted to give it a try.  It seems to be working... keeps the hay from blowing away and getting spread all over the ground.

       We had our Thanksgiving with Joe's side of the family at Tracy and Teresa's house on Friday.  Like two weeks ago, it was a tasty feast...only this time I had nothing to do with it's preparation. Again, fun was had playing games, talking, and watching tv.  To burn some calories, many of us gave a shot at "just Dance", a Wii video game. I also went for a few walks because we had taken Kaysha with us.

     I was ready for school Monday and Tuesday, but had to scramble to prepare for the rest of the week. I had thought I was in better shape.  I also was wanting to work on more Christmas decorating and finish up this Blog post.  But pressing school work prevented that. 

     By today I was really wondering  if the new barn kitty was going to work out.  She has attacked both Kaysha and Bro.  They were keeping their distance each time... but she ran up on them and attacked.  She is a real survivor.... she growls while she eats... probably what she had to do with siblings or other cats in order to get enough food. 

      She follows me around and is super affectionate,  but thinks she has to be tough and on guard all the time.  It makes Bro and Kaysha keep their distance.... which I don't like.  I want piece and harmony on our farm.  In these two pictures she is by the wheel of the wheel barrow and growling at Bro and a chicken.  Notice her reaction when the dog shows up.  Now there is hissing and howling.  I am not sure how long I should give this a try to see if she is going to work out.

      As always, the drive home last Saturday afternoon seemed long and somewhat depressing.  None of us like to see the good times end. It was a beautiful day for a drive, with the sun mostly at our backs.  Looking out at all the farms; we spotted a horse and rider, several cattle herds, and even a large herd of deer in a corn field. There were flocks of geese and as the sun set, Christmas lights started to appear.

    
Driving up the drive we could see our own Christmas tree... So now I have this next season to look forward to.

My life is so good

and God has
blessed me 

and my family 

abundantly.  

For all of these 

blessings I am 

thankful.

The Never Ending Saga of Zorro

      Now don't get me wrong..... I think Zorro is a wonderful horse and I love having him here on our farm..... BUT...... sometimes he can be a real pain.   Actually in his defense, any pet can be a lot of work, expense and down right troublesome. 

     As you may recall, Zorro has been on stall rest (for almost 3 months now) due to lameness.  Well, because he was going stir crazy, we have tried different things to break up the monotony and boredom that he has been experiencing.

        We have tried hand grazing him and leading him around....which is time consuming and sometimes didn't work because he would get all revved up or even buck, wanting to break loose and run free.

     This was usually triggered by Amiga who would run by and cause a stir.  Here she is just following Joe and Zorro to the barn for dinner time.

We made little pens for him, which worked out great....

....until we ran out of good grass along the perimeter where we could tie into the electric fence.  So we moved to center pasture and no electric.  Zorro loved the alfalfa, but in no time at all, the grass was soon taller on the other side, and he figured out the fence wasn't hot. 



(side note- I think all the bumps on Zorro are from the mosquito bites he got the night before)








Amiga didn't help matters here either.... because Zorro preferred to be with her.

     And as you might guess....the lure of grass and friend was too much.


(Look how cute Amiga is here with alfalfa hanging out her mouth.)

     Once Zorro escapes, he and Amiga would run off.....and hide when I came out looking for him.

     Trying to catch Zorro would end up in a chase which was of no use, and bad for his legs....so I would just wait until dinner time when the two of them would come walking back to the barn.

      These "great escapes" occurred 4 or 5 times, no matter where we put the pens, unless they were hooked to the regular fence and were hot.  When Zorro does get loose....he runs with Amiga....bucking, kicking, and jumping for joy...none of which is good for his leg injuries.

     Zorro didn't seem to be hurting himself (was not limping afterward)  but we knew he should not be running, So we started giving him half the paddock with Amiga.  The idea was that if he were out with Amiga all day he would not get revved up and go crazy bucking and jumping and spinning.  We also thought the small space would not allow him to run.

Wrong again.... they would run and chase and he would spin and turn and go too fast. In fact he managed to do something to cause him to start limping again.  Not good. Usually the two horses were relaxed and grazing together so we had hoped this would work out in the paddock....but decided it should probably be back to confinement for Zorro.

    













     We were due to take Zorro back to the U of I for follow-up ultra sounds on his two injured legs, and were anxious to see if they were doing better.
I was really hoping so.

     Zorro is a bit ADHD and is constantly frigidity.  He is smart and needs to have his brain and body stimulated.  Here he is nosing around the barn while in the paddock.  

     Back in the stall at least he has cats and chickens wandering through and his Jolly ball which he actually plays with.

     Floppsie likes to pick up the oats he drops while eating....and because he is always on the move, he walks around his stall while chewing,                                                so there is food in various places. 

     Monday, just before feeding time, we let Sir Loin out of the corn crib for a first.  We still had the rope dividing the paddock in two and Amiga was on the other side.  Zorro looked on from the stall, out of trouble for a change, although he was pawing at the gate.  The cow was real tentative, and then in a burst, kind of galloped and bucked and then stoped and look around again.  Joe, Britney and I just watched.  Amiga came over to check out the action.  Fairly quickly, Sir Loin decided eating grass was the thing to do.

 




















     A little later we fed him his grain.  The "dirt" on the tail end is due to a diarrhea problem.  Hopefully it will clear up as he eats more hay.  He had this issue when he arrived.  The short, little fence just behind him is the one dividing the paddock.

     Tuesday I was very busy with school work, so Joe helped Courtney take Zorro to the U of I in Champaign to have him reevaluated to see how he is doing.  They left him there over night, so Wednesday morning I decided to let Amiga and Sir Loin be together and I opened the gate to the back pasture.  Sir Loin headed out first and Amiga soon followed.  They quickly accepted each other, becoming grazing buddies out on the new grass.

     Courtney and Joe went back to the U of I 
     to pick up Zorro Wednesday evening. They tried for 3 hours...in the cold and dark of night, to get Zorro to load on the trailer to bring him home. Food, lifting his feet up, blind folding, and even sedating did not get him to go on.  He absolutely refused. So they returned home without him.  Sometimes I feel like he is such an ornery young punk! For some reason he was scared to death to get on that trailer. 

     We did not have time to go get Zorro until the weekend, because we wanted to load him in the day light.  In the mean time, Amiga and Sir Loin got more and more used to each other.



















      We went Saturday morning to pick Zorro up and again he refused to get on the trailer.  After 30 min. of strong persuasion, some help from two vets who basically lifted his rear end on, he did go on the trailer.  Once home, when Joe opened the trailer door, but before he could get the butt bar down, Zorro shot back, pushing and squeezing under the butt bar. He ended up scrapping hair off the top of his back, and I imagine didn't help his already lame legs any. ughhh....  At least Courtney had unhooked the trailer tie and had on his lead rope. She tried to hold him, but got rope burns instead.   

Harvest moon on a evening when the harvest has long ago
been done, but leaves still linger on the American Sycamore tree.

      This horse owning can sometimes be SO frustrating.  As it ends up, Zorro's legs are healing.... but way too slowly.  He needs to be on complete stall rest, and not be allowed out where he can run or buck.  But he should also not be walking circles in his stall.  It is such a pain.  But, I love Zorro and aim to help Courtney out as much as possible.  When I look at what this is costing her, I realize a little more time and effort on my part is the least I can do.  So what if I have a lot more stall cleaning to do, wood chips to buy, and horse handling as I move Zorro to different areas.

I know that he would love to be out running around
with Amiga right now, like he was at this time last year.

  

 On a good note, Zorro has gained 60 lbs since his last visit to the U of  I  eight weeks ago.  The new diet we have him on must be doing the trick.  He really has come a long ways in terms of growth and filling out.  Hopefully he will soon gain better control of his body and settle down some.

This photo was taken of him early last fall.

And this one was from the spring.

And here he is a few weeks ago.

An Early Thanksgiving

       My family started arriving Sat morning (11/13) with many of them
                                                                                   coming to visit

and share in a Thanksgiving feast. Carol arrived first and helped me get the 22 lb turkey ready and into the oven while Joe finished up some chores around the yard.  Kaysha was excited to see Carol's two dogs.

    
    
     Cathy showed up a bit later.  It was windy, cold, overcast, and damp from rain, but we went for a walk to get our blood moving and exercise the dogs.






    

    Various groups of family arrived throughout the morning and early afternoon, bringing all sorts of good yummy food to share. Courtney brought her little kitten Squeaky as well.




     The kids played around the farmyard  enjoying the variety of "pets" we have, while the adults chatted and caught up on the going-ons of each others busy lives. 

Michael plays with Hercules, who is not our Thanksgiving turkey.

Courtney shows JJ Zorro.

 














 


I think Bro really enjoyed the extra attention.











     An exciting part of the day was the arrival of our new cow that Brian "dropped off".  We confined him to the corn crib to get use to his new surroundings. We named him Sir Loin.  He is an Angus who already weights 680 lbs.  Here is the series of photos Carol took.

Sir Loin was curious, and had to check every thing out, but appeared to settle in quite nicely.

     Back inside, many snacked on veggies, chips and dip while watching TV.  The dog and cats provided entertainment, computer education was ongoing and some played cards or just hung out.  Some of us ladies chatted while messing around in the kitchen and doing some taste testing. 

      Then 19 of us gathered around two tables and enjoyed eating a Thanksgiving feast....got to admit the turkey was pretty dog gone good
in addition to all the other tasty stuff people brought.

     After the big meal, things slowed down considerably, but of course we resumed chatting and got into more serious card playing. Some folks relaxed and others even napped.




 

     Sunday was a little warmer and less windy, so I made a point to get out with Amiga and let Nicole ride her.  I was worried that the snaffle bit would not give Nicole the control she needed to handle Amiga, but my horse did very well.....and Nicole did great. 











Nicole started in the round pen... 
























and then graduated up to the large pasture.  



     After Nicole had had enough (she got cold actually) I decided to work Amiga.  She gets a little frustrated when asked to keep her chin tucked....and does this hopping thing in an effort to escape the pressure. She needs to learn to not nose out because she will gait better and be more balanced.  Old habits die hard.

     Three vehicles of guests headed home early.  We (well Cathy, Carol, and Patty) did get some good pictures of the "boys" before they headed off. 

The Sidensticks (and Britney) went out for one last walk around the farm before they headed back to Cincinnati.

     By early afternoon most our guests had hit the road for home.  Carol helped me with putting one of Grandmas chairs together.  Abbey decided the foam made a good place to sleep until I used it to finished a second chair after Carol left.  I needed to buy more foam for the other two chairs because we had decided to go 2 inches with the seat cushion instead of one.

     Britney rested in the sun with Abbey while we twins worked on the chair.

     Earlier Sunday we had let the horses meet Sir Loin, keeping him in the corn crib and turning them out in the paddock.  They were tentative at first.

     Zorro was especially jumpy, but curiosity took hold and he had to get a closer look while Amiga walked off.

Eventually they decided it was safe to graze, and so they ate, of what little grass was left in the paddock, while keeping a watchful eye on the corn crib.

A bit later they both individually went back to get another look at Sir Loin.

     He is a rather cute cow, nothing like Chuck was,
but seems like he will be a nice addition to the farm yard.