Winter comes a-callin'

 And just like that, it's winter. Goodbye autumn, it was nice knowing you!

I think it's time to put the hammock away...

I took a peek over the edge at the river, it had some interesting slush/ice patterns in its slow moving waters.

 I'm sure glad Beamer has a nice snug barn, he was happy to get his hay in there although he was out in his pasture when I went out to feed this morning. 

You can just see that white sock on his hind foot, there really is a Beamer in there!

The mares still had some hay left over, but I gave them more, wanting to keep them sheltered until this storm passes. 

During the day they did go out to pasture and do some pawing, it's good to know that they will paw even though they have access to hay. 

They seem to have their pecking order sorted out. I do have to chase Velvet in at first and once she's in Ruby doesn't chase her out. Ruby can be a little defensive of her space, not mean just wary. Not like Sophie!

As for the cats, well....

They didn't leave "their" barn. All happy and snug in their straw beds! The feral cats have their own shelter where I put their food and water. I still bring it in at night to keep the raccoons away. 

The grid across the front keeps the deer from pulling the feed bowl out, the cats have a small entrance hole in the back and can go in and out of the front if they want. 

I'm so glad we were prepared for this weather! Everything is in order, both for the livestock and for us.  We are supposed to get sunshine tomorrow though!

Done and done

 Got a couple of things done in the last week; painting done in the living room dining room and kitchen- finished. Landlady picked up 3 more gallons for us for the hallway, master bedroom and bathrooms....

Also got the curtains sewn up and installed, looks much more homey now. 

And- I settled on a name for whatsername. 

I will continue to greet her every morning as Hello Beautiful, but-

Umm yeah not the kind of butt....

Hello, my name is Ruby. 

I did a thing.....

 Hello, beautiful.

I have been actively pursuing Facebook ads (thanks to my husband for allowing me to take over his account for pursuing horse for sale ads!) looking for that perfect horse. All I asked for was registered AQHA mare, safe for a senior rider, sound, no maintenance etc. All I got was grade horses or other breeds. Or green broke mares. 

Then I spotted an ad, with video and papers, of a nice looking bay mare and when I asked about her, she seemed to fit the bill. So, Ted and I headed out on a 3 hour drive to look at her. 

Hockey fans may recognize the name on that sign

The drive took us through endless farm country, flat and boring to most , but it's the heart of the nation for grain and feed production. 

It was chilly so I was happy to see that there was an indoor arena to try her out.  The seller asked if I wanted him to ride her first, so of course I said yes. 

He apologized that she had a cinch sore; she had some swelling and scurf, but to her credit, she didn't complain when he saddled her up, although you could see that she wasn't fond of touching that area when I checked it, she didn't get pissy at all. 

Once I could see that she was indeed sane and sensible and no funny business, I rode her. She's very soft in the face and sensitive to leg and body weight, and is what I call feely. Sensitive without being reactive. She does bridle up nicely although it may take more training to get her to stay in frame. 

I also liked that she ground tied without moving as we switched saddles to make sure mine fit her (it does). 

And Ted liked her. Bonus!

So we made the deal then and there and because of her cinch sore, he said he would deliver her for free. The probably saved me 3 or 4 hundred in fuel costs. And the best part is, the sale of Sophie was more than enough to pay for this mare. 

So he loaded her up and here she is!

I will give her time to heal that sore, and get used to her new surroundings. Once I make sure she doesn't have any colds or runny nose I will put her in with Velvet- that will make Velvet very happy, she has been lonesome! Beamer was quite excited too. 

I need a barn name for her, they were calling her Kit Kat, but I have a friend who has a bay mare called Kit Kat so that is out. 

Her registered name doesn't lend itself to a barn name, so I am open to ideas!

Sunday Silence (Scenes from a hammock)

 

Busy!

 It has been a busy week, we went to town and bought paint so I have been busy painting the walls. 

I picked a colour from Home Depot called Dolphin Fin, which is much better than the peachy beige that the entire interior of this house came with. 

Peeling off the 90's floral border- took 2 days

Cutting in the edges

First coat on the biggest wall

Yes those are fluorescent lights attached to the wall above the picture window.... 😒 They will be covered with a fabric (of my choosing) valance; that's my tomorrow project. I still have about 3 days of painting left to do, took me 2 days so far to do the dining room and 2/3 of the living room. Kitchen, long hallway and bedroom left to do, then I decide on if I have enough gumption left to do the bathrooms , one full and two half bathrooms. Then there is the mudroom.... . This is a big house!!! The 2 spare bedrooms will have to stay in their peachy boringness for now. Oh my aching neck!

Meanwhile, Beamer and Velvet have a long distance relationship, at least that's Beamer's perception of it. 

I tried to put them together after Sophie left, which was fine for a short time, then this:

Yup sure looks like Velvet is in heat there! I watched for a bit and although Beamer was moderately interested he didn't try to mount her so it may be a fake heat; and she did try to kick him a little later. So, not wanting a late season foal (if Velvet is indeed not in foal already)  and also not wanting any injuries from kicking, I thought it best to separate them again. 

Beamer did call for her  at first, so I put him in the pen the boyz were in for a couple of days - it overlooks the big winter pen that Velvet has to herself now.

He hollers for her, she hollers back and then they  go about their business. 

He found the roughest old thistle patch to roll in!

After  couple days of that I had him stay in his original pen and he finally realized that he could still see her sometimes and she would answer when he hollered so all is well in his world! 

My niece and sister are coming out tomorrow; archery hunt for my niece and I hope to get my sister to give me a hand with a few things like making curtains so tomorrow will be a busy day too! Good thing Sunday is a day of rest!

Sunday Silence

 

Adios and hello kitty

 Sophie is en route to Ontario now. I took a couple photos (of course) before she left. 

What a solid built horse she is!  I sure hope she doesn't slip her foal on the long journey. 

Beamer had to say his goodbyes too. 

Velvet was not happy that her friend was leaving again so soon!

Loaded up and leaving. Sure hope they have a safe journey, there are 2 other horses travelling with them. 

Sophie just wasn't the right horse for me, too reactive and with such a powerful horse I decided that I need to find something more broke and one that I felt safe on the ground and on her back. The search continues. I was hoping that she would go to a breeder, in a pasture breeding situation and that is where she went. 

I got some more photos of mama cat and the grey kitten the other day. I moved their food box closer to where I think they are living, which is closer to the house. 

She isn't afraid of us, but is not tame at all. 

The kitten is funny, when it gets a notion, the tail goes up and the adventures begin!

Still don't know if its a male or female. 

It has its mama's eyes.  Hopefully it will survive the winter! The barns will be open enough for cats to get in, and we will keep feeding them. 

See ya later boyz! and Sophie news

 The baby boyz got to go home today. Their kindergarten training is done, and they are ready for the next phase of their little lives, which is basically just grow up to be good well behaved horses until they are old enough for schooling. 

I really enjoyed having them to play work with these last 3 and a half weeks. Their little personalities were so easy to work with; Scooter is very smart and sensitive, and Boe is calm and willing to follow Scooter's example. They are best buddies, and were easy to handle in everything I asked them to learn. 

They loaded like champs in Shayla's big trailer, and I'm pretty sure she is happy with their progress!

As you know, I had Sophie out on pasture at Shayla's while I had the boyz here; she brought her back today when she came to pick them up. 

She wasn't too happy with Shayla bringing her in off that 80 acre pasture with her friends!

And yes, she does have a low splint on her right front; a remnant of her scuffles with Beamer in August. 

The big news- she is sold! She is going to Ontario on Friday to a home where she will be raising babies who will be used in ranch classes- and I am sure that the Beamer baby she is carrying will delight whoever ends up with him. 

I put her on a Facebook page, (thanks Ted for letting me use your FB account!) - it's the only thing I use FB for- and since a previous post on her got no results, I changed it up a bit. The first post I talked about her and Beamer, this post I added in some comments about the great horses in her pedigree - and yes I mentioned her blemishes. It took only 2 days to get her sold!

Of course a few good photos helped! Pretty sure this won't make a "Bad For Sale Photo" post over at 4 R Ranch blog!

Although I was hoping for the Beamer baby she is carrying, the trade off is that there will be a Beamer baby over on the other side of the country, hopefully to carry on the legacy of being good minded, trainable athletic horses. 

Sunday Silence

 

Sunset and frosty frolics

 So happy to be back where we get such lovely sunsets (and sunrises).

The mornings have been frosty lately, and it's a treat to see Beamer doing his frosty morning frolic!

The boyz are doing well, standing tied nicely now and improving every day with their feet. I have taken to running the rasp over the soles to get them ready for the feel of trimming- no problemo!

Such good boyz!

Then there's Velvet- can't leave her out! She is getting... round, shall we say? 

I am NOT fat!

No Velvet, not fat just in good shape for what may be a long cold winter. At least, it will take me and Ted a bit to get used to being back where there's real winter! We got kinda spoiled the last 14 years away. 

Thumper Thursday

 Just doin' what barn cats do....

Earning his keep

My hammock buddy

Muleys and Magpies

 We have a resident herd of mule deer does who grace us with their presence daily. All fine and dandy until I start gardening next spring!

They hang out on the lawn which extends at least 300 yards between the house and the road. This bunch were about 100 yards from us. 

A little wary, but with no dogs here they are quite comfortable.

Sneaking through the edge of the hay field, into the trees that border our lawn. 

Across the lawn then over the fence into the neighbour's pasture. 

I am keeping a look out for a buck. Deer season is next month. 

Then there are the Magpies. I noticed that the cat food in Beamer's barn has been cleaned right up lately. I feed our cats at the back of the barn, and usually they have left over kibble at the end of the day. 

I was sitting at the back of the barn with the kitties and saw this fellow at the entrance of the barn; they discovered that Beamer spills his grain so they have been going in and cleaning it up; then they must have explored all the way to the back and discovered the cat food. 

So now I have to put the cat kibble away during the day, right after Thumper and Foose have their breakfast, and bring it out again for the night. 

It's all about good management. 

Fog and smoke

 This morning there was a heavy fog laying on the land, not just river fog but widespread. 

The boyz were snugged up in their barn, barely peeking out at the misty morning. 

The cats escorted me to "their" barn for their breakfast... 

while Beamer waited for me to open the gate to his grazing paddock.

Velvet too was waiting for me to open her gate, and wandered off into the fog. 

I finished off the fence repairs in her winter paddock today so once she has finished with her current pen she will have a large area to graze that should last well into winter. 

This afternoon we had a bit of a scare- that's not fog, it's smoke. 

The farm to the south of us had a fire that spread to their haystack from a burn barrel. Ted spotted the smoke right away and drove over there; it was rapidly out of control as the round  bale stack was burning. He called the fire department, and they responded fairly quickly. Fortunately there was no casualties other than the hay and a quad, but that south wind had us a bit spooked as this was the next farm over to us and on our side of the river. We haven't had rain for a couple of months. And that, folks, is why you teach foals to trailer load. We were prepared to haul them out if things got out of hand but fortunately didn't have to. 

Once the smoke cleared, it was a beautiful end to an eventful day.