Moved the mares, play time, and happy Beamer

With my internet down the last few days, I've got a lot of catching up to do- after this post I'm going over to Sunday Stills to check out what everyone did for the toys challenge.

We got some hay in, finally, and I decided to bring the mares in from their rented pasture so that I can get busy and teach Sparkle and Chickory some fundamentals.

Yeah, that's me, riding my stallion in a halter and wearing flip-flops, sorry, not a good example for children! I was bring him in from his grazing pen as he had no shade and it was very hot. He had to inspect the hay on the way by.

The next morning it was misty and cooler, so I put him out really early and was lucky enough to get a photo of him in the mist backlit by the rising sun. What a beautiful morning!

Every day I take the dogs swimming, and I've been teaching Tess to be patient and wait her turn when I throw the stick in the water; otherwise Reba doesn't have a chance- Tess is the more aggressive of the two, and hogs everything from sticks to attention. So she was cooling her heels in the water.....

while Reba got to play.

We mowed all the weeds in the horse pens, and gave it a day to dry out- those weeds were 3 feet deep! Ted got to play on the tractor- this is the picture I wanted to do for the Sunday Stills toys challenge, but we didn't get to it in time.

We got the mares here, and Beamer couldn't believe his eyes-his girls! At last! no more lonesome stallion!

The mares spent some time ripping around and checking everything out. I'll post some more pics tomorrow, as blogger won't let me do any more right now. Off to check your blogs!

Sunday Stills-Toys

One of the things I try to do on hot days is to take the dogs swimming; then they can stay cool for a couple of hours. They love it! I make them take turns fetching the stick, and they put all that border collie intenseness into waiting for me to throw their stick, which is the dog version of a toy.

Nothing like a good shake, while guarding the favourite toy!

Wordless Wednesday

On Dogs and Shadows

Summer is pretty quiet for us here, which is just the way we like it. I got up in the middle of the night and the stars were shining in all their glory, I could see the Milky Way. It was a gorgeous night.

Today is cloudless and likely to be over 30 Celcious again, so I put Beamer in his grazing pen around 6 AM, then bring him back in around noon just before I go to work, as he has no shade in his pen.

The other evening I couldn't resist taking photos of him with his shadow, carefully attended by the dogs, of course!

My, what a handsome shadow!

As you can see I don't use a feeder for the hay, and he really doesn't waste much of it although you can't tell by this photo. By morning it's all flipped up against the wall and not much left. He does not pee in it either like the mares do.

Tess is always very attentive no matter what I'm doing,

and Reba is downright obsessed with Beamer. She could watch him all day, and does unless I call her off. She lays by the fence and watches him, which means she is working him in her mind- not a good thing if she was actually a working dog, but since I don't have any stock to work and she isn't causing any harm, I let the old girl do what makes her happy. Every once in a while she does a "fly-by" run at him, which he ignores. (And which she gets in trouble from me for!) Mostly, they are well behaved dogs.

Hope you all have a good week!

Sunday Stills-Awwww Nuts!

Well, I just have to start this challenge with my favourite cartoon character, couldn't believe that this Mazda car pulled up with this little guy airbrushed on the back just in time for this Nuts challenge!

Makes me laugh just to see him!
Nuts by the binful! Sparkling in the sun, just waiting for a mechanic's greasy hands to reach in....

Green Walnuts, can't wait for them to ripen, these trees are at the place where I keep my mares, and I've been told to pick as many as I want.

Still a princess

OK, I know I said I wasn't going to post any more pics of Sparkle til she finished shedding out, but..... she is three months old today, so I jus' hadda do a photo shoot!

She posed so nicely for me, I'd set her up and she wouldn't move. After a while though, she started the Beamer yawn-

She stood patiently groundtied while I took about twenty photos, then I turned her loose and took some more.....
I'm pretty happy with the way she is turning out, she still has Princess moments, but she is starting to get more of her daddy's kind personality.

Wordless Wednesday

Sailor's Red Rose update!

Early in January of last year, I had a filly, out of a sister to Beamer, that I sold to a friend of mine. She was a sweet little thing. Later that year, she fever foundered, and as a result can now only do light work. She's three now, and they ride her around the ranch bareback.

This is what my friend has to say about her: "she rules the roost let me tell you, she has the run of the ranch, she has even been in his bunk house to watch Buck Bannerman tapes with Dan so she can learn from a different kind of class room, hehehe"

My friend spends a lot of time in the mountains, and sent me this picture. I reckon she's pretty handy with that rifle!

The brat cat

We had a great sunny weekend, then Sunday night the rain hit. This is perfect weather, nice weekends and the rain during the week! We have a lead on a place to rent, I'm not saying any more til we know for sure, but it is a perfect place for us. Now we wait and see.

The kitten, Chip, is getting really playful and mercilessly torments our older cat, Bubby.

Who-me??

But I'm so cute!

Maybe if I pretend I'm dead he'll leave me alone!

Sunday Stills- Texture

This week's challenge is texture. I could have gone over the top on this one, there are so many interesting textures just begging to be photographed! I settled for my kitten's fur:It's so woolly! Unlike the sleekness of the dogs and horses.

I love the texture of old wood, like this pitted fence post,

and the silvery sleekness of the barn boards.

Mist and a frog

We had a lovely misty evening last night -wasn't sure I could capture it on the camera, what do you think?

This morning it was still misty as the sun peeked over the Skimmerhorns, and it quickly burned off.

We had a little visitor in our shop last night, so Ted just had to introduce him to Tess:

Peppy update photos

GM, Peppy.. er....Pepper's new owner, sent me these photos of his blue self. He is going to be one sharp looking boy under saddle in a year or so, don't you think?

Looks like he is going to be tall, like his mama. I have some photos of his sister which I wanted to publish too, but I'm having problems trying to upload them onto a disc from my scanner so you'll have to wait a few days until I get it figured. She is turning just as blue as him, and I can't wait to get her home! That will be mid August or so, and I'll wean Sparkle at the same time, so she will have a buddy. Sparkle is getting blacker by the day, and I'm going to wait a while to get new photos of her- you prob'ly won't recognise her!

Wordless Wednesday

Weather watchin'

One of the things I love about this area is watching the weather roll in. Yesterday we had a great storm,

There were holes in the floor of heaven; the rain poured down, and then we had the splendor of a double rainbow.

It got a little windy just before the storm;

compared to the wind on the prairies, it's almost enjoyable. The wind just seems to herald a change in weather patterns, that roll in fairly quickly. All the moisture is a boon to the hay farmers who just baled up their first crop; a little later than usual -testimony to the late and cooler spring.

Sunday Stills -wildflowers

What a fun challenge this was, since flowers abound here-mostly domestic though! These bushes are everywhere along the roadsides, I think they are a wild version of Mock Orange.

Here is a close up of the blossoms.

Growing in the ditch beneath the shrub were some wild phlox among the grasses.Ed did say we could include weeds; these are the noxious weed, scentless chammomile, or as Ted and I call them, "senseless camel-piles". Their frothy foliage was blowing in the wind, and this honey bee didn't care at all that this is an invasive, pesky weed!

Of course I can't do wild flowers without including chickory, and a photo of Chickory in the chickory!

Hot dogs!

It hot today; I was sweating just taking pictures for tomorrow, and the dogs decided to cool off under the pasture sprinkler, so I took pity on them and took them swimming.

Happy dogs!

As you can see , Tess hogs the stick; I have to hold her by the collar so Reba gets a chance to swim out for it!

The way things are

The farmers are talking $100 a ton for hay here, squeezing as much as they can due to the poor crop in Alberta, which is part of their market. I can't say as I blame them, it is tough enough to make a living as a farmer. I've got my hay spoken for, and can pick it up as I need it, so I don't have to lay out a lot of money at once.

The cherry crop here is only bringing half of what it did last year. I heard a couple of the cattlemen talking that the cow price has dropped too, compared to what it was this spring. Looks like tough times are going to stay with us for a while.......

Canadians now require a passport to go across the line to the States, and I don't have mine yet, so I won't be able to go watch the fireworks at Bonner's Ferry, (Happy Independence Day, y'all!) but on Canada Day here, July 1st, our little town did a half hour fireworks show for us. Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera with me; it would have been interesting to try to photograph them. I hope some of you will get some shots of your fireworks to share with us!

The mares are using the natural dust bowls a lot, the soil is really sandy there and they love to lay in the soft dirt. I have a sprinkler going all day in their pasture, hoping to keep it from drying up too much, but I do have one more paddock for them to use, which has grass 5 ft. tall in it.Sparkle is getting better at letting me use the spray bottle on her, and also is letting me pick up her feet and clean them.

The top of her back is nearly all black now. I have some pictures of my other filly, Gussie's blue roan, but I have to scan them to disc to get them onto this computer; I'm still using Ted's laptop. That'll be a good project for me today, 'cause after yesterday, when everything that could go wrong, did, I need a nice quiet day today.

A brush with death

Hmmm. Stop sign. Most people would stop at a T intersection like this. Right?

Thanks to good brakes on my truck, and quick reflexes, I avoided a wreck. A hay hauler-semi truck with an empty highboy trailer- blew through that intersection and forced me off the road; then as I followed him he drove on the shoulder and dusted me out so I couldn't get his plate number. Fortunately the guy behind me (who, incidentally, thought I was a goner), recognised the truck, and gave me the owner's phone number. I called 911 and then went back to photograph my skid marks. I talked to the police and all they can do is give him a ticket for failing to stop at a stop sign, because I couldn't see who was driving.... I was too busy trying to stay alive! My husband knows the owner, and called him to tell him what happened, and the end result is that the owner phoned me, apologised for his driver, who of course is playing dumb, and said he requested that the cops put a scare into him. I hope they do, because if he keeps up, he'll kill someone. It was nearly me. The worst part is that he had his son with him, and the kid was laughing.

Spa day for Beamer

Yesterday was scorching hot, and the only time I had to ride Beamer was around noon, so the poor boy got pretty sweated up. I gave him a bath and got him all glammed up with some Cowboy Magic, which works great in those long manes and tails. He really hates having his face washed, but I got it done. Here is what he thought of that:I am still working on the lead changes, and can get them from right to left only. So I checked his back, and he is really sore on a rib on the left side, and at the top of his hip on both sides. So A visit from the chiropractor is next on my list of expenses......and light riding only till then.