This and That

The girls have been enjoying an hour on the backyard grass each evening. Even though we don't have a "pasture", the backyard is about 3/4 of an acre which allows them to have some green. If we don't get some regular rain soon, the yard is going to dry to a crisp though.


Ta-Dah ! Here's the finished chicken coop - Bobby did an awesome job !



Now here's a picture of a glad that popped up - I just thought it was pretty in the evening sun.

Fun in the Sun

I went camping with my friends Cathy and Traci at Doe Lake from Monday afternoon to Thursday morning. Cathy and I had to come home, but Traci is staying through the weekend. We all had a blast playing in the lake with our ponies and riding through the woods to a small neighborhood to get homemade blueberry ice cream. Here's a link to more pictures....and here's a link to my camp journal.

Giddy Up Cowgirl !!

Well, my good buddy Traci went and got herself a tattoo Friday night. Boy... when she made up her mind, nothing was gonna stop her! YEE-HAW !!!

On to another type of giddy-up.... I joined some friends for a Happy Trails Horse Club ride at Diamond D Ranch. We rode from the powerlines down to the little church and back for a 2-1/2 hour ride. The trails were pretty dusty but there were no bugs - the sun was out and there was a nice little breeze on our way back when the temperature had climbed. I used the bosal I made for Stylin from an old roper tie down noseband and she worked really well in it. I've found recently that she prefers to go without a bit...she's behaved perfectly in a rope halter and now this easy going bosal. Who woulda thunk it? :)

Chicken Coop and Horse Poop

Bobby started working on a chicken coop today for the new hens that Jenny got us. It'll be a nice little condo for the girls when he's through. While he was working on the coop, I was mucking stalls and spreading poop. The grass is coming up nicely in the back yard now, between the little bit of rain we've been getting along with the poop and grass seed we sowed about a month ago. I also cleaned and disinfected the horse trailer with Simple Green (after being shamed into it by my friend Cathy). Those little flower things (or whatever they are) are still falling from the oak trees and staining everything so I'm going to wait until they're done to clean the outside of the trailer. We came inside after lunch to clean up, take a nap and wait for the big storm to come through.




I went riding with Cathy yesterday....she took the day off for her birthday and we had a nice relaxed ride at Sal Taylor Creek Preserve. When we stopped at the creek, I was teasing Cathy about Busta and how she has to stay on his butt to keep him from rolling in the water..... and to my great surprise....Stylin dropped and proceeded to take her a cool water roll WITH me and the new saddle I was trying out. Luckily - we both liked the saddle, because she made it a final sale by getting it completely soaked! Of course she picked the deepest part, but I was able to step off in the thigh high water and didn't get completely wet. Needless to say - Cathy got a big chuckle out of that!

California Coast & New Ride

I went to San Diego and Long Beach on a business trip this past week. It was a successful trip but I sure wish we had time to sight see a little. The only sight seeing I got to do was riding as a passenger along I-5 from San Diego to Long Beach and back. I was cool to see the different landscape - hills instead of flat land; the ocean to the West instead of the East and the different architecture and vegetation. I did get to see a Pacific sunset though. I also saw the West Coast Choppers shop which was just down the street from our office so I was able to pick Bobby up a t-shirt.

Today we picked up a used Nissan Sentra that Bobby found in Gainesville. I'm excited to be able to have a car again that will have decent gas mileage. The diesel for Big Red was killing me! We'll use the big truck just for hauling the horse trailer now.

It's Official - Congratulations !

Ringer is a permanent member of the Farmer family now....Michele and I sealed the deal at our club ride on March 14. I'm glad I had to opportunity to raise and train a youngster and I'm very happy to see him go to such a great home.

SPRING !!

What a beautiful time of year ! Our azaleas are blooming and the weather is wonderful. Our niece Melinda came for a week long visit and we enjoyed her company. She got our Dixie harnessed up and worked with her. We even took her down the street for her first "on the road" experience. She was very nervous so I walked along beside her with a lead rope attached as Melinda drove her. It went well for her first time pulling the cart out off of our property. She did better than I did when a big garbage truck went by, sped up, changed gears and HONKED as he passed us!! What a jerk ! We were giving him the signal to slow down as he came up behind us, but I guess he didn't care. We got her back in our yard and then worked her some more in her comfort zone, then ended the lesson on a good note. We took some videos and pics.

Easter day was great! We went to church and then came home to fix lunch for the family. We had Mom, Jenny, Robbin, Tim, JT, me and Bobby. (Melinda had to leave early in the morning to drive back to Nashville.) Everybody pitched in and lunched turned out yummy. After everyone was full and napping, Jenny and I loaded up and went for a ride at Sal Taylor Creek Preserve. We rode for 2-1/2 hours through some shady trails winding up at the creek - very few bugs and a nice breeze the whole time.

I also went on my first motorcyle ride in years and years. Bobby took me for a short tour of the neighborhood on Tim's bike. I was a little nervous, but it was mostly fun.

We are blessed ! He is risen !