Season's Greettings! I return!

Mercy got a surprise package in the mail
from the contest over at OhHorsefeathers

Thanks Mrs. Mom!

we're enjoying this book a lot
and the glasses!! OH the glasses!!
we love. those.

********************

I've been missing in action this week
mostly due to working
and a strange unforseen development

I've suddenly developed a tremor/vibration
when I move my neck down

it varies in strength
doesn't hurt
is just bothersome

however this made me go to the Dr.
who said ABSOLUTELY
NO SHOEING OR RIDING
until we know more

this is very depressing to me

while I have refrained from those activities
I have pushed it a few days
and the symptoms escalate

I'll keep you posted as to what this mysterious
vibration is

and the jokes from my co-workers...geez
I think I've heard them all...

**********************

Wade returned to the OK Corral today

prepared

and it was all fine!

******************

I took the child out on the quad
the other night

I froze to death

but not the child

she got off and ran to investigate
a dry cow tank

and we came home to this

I forgot to take the garbage out
so someone took it out for me...

that's Special Bean right there
oblivious to his guilt in making this mess

************************

I got all worked up this morning

I'm back to watching cows
come in for water

as Wade was leaving this morning
I noticed this cow with what looked like
a scuff or cut above her nose

I squinted
she moved closer
and it was pink

hmmmm that's weird
I thought

then she turned and I saw the whole side of her
looked like this

that's just wrong!!

someone paintballed this cow bad
at least 10 rounds hit her

I called Wade back in and made him
call the rancher

I was so mad!!

again
what is wrong with people??

who does something like that?

grrrrrrr

*********************

during this holiday season
I'm starting to pay attention to detail

as I was slurping my favorite artery clogging syrup
I decided to read labels

not for calorie content or any of that stuff

what's important to me is this

PRODUCT OF U.S.A

think about gifts this year

I know I like to give food products

something that will be used

and I thought about local products
like this one below
who can use the business

I read the label and was surprised to find
all the uses for this syrup

including in your margaritas...

it was very tasty over french toast
*I can attest to that*

Made in USA

think about it while you do your shopping

look for the
MADE IN THE USA
label

I know I will

While the turkey was cooking...

we had a bunch of stuff that needed to be done

first and foremost was moving that calf
to another pen
and rearranging pens

Wade decided to rope him
since there was no walking up to this thing

he's quite wild

see me?
on. the. fence.

I went out to "help"
in between basting the turkey
and making green bean casserole

in my stretchiest pants

Wade got him down
and started cutting the old halter off

the idea being to put a makeshift rope halter on

the one on there wasn't long enough
and we planned to "lead" him to his new pen

then he started kicking

and I bailed
that's very bad

my only excuse being that it was Turkey Day
and I didn't feel like getting kicked in the face

I got back in there

and got right back out


Wade says "You wanna take this rope honey?"

and I'm like uumm, NO.
I hear my turkey calling. It needs me.

so the calf ended up slipping the makeshift halter
we ended up running around on foot
and he ran right into his new pen

along with Princess the pony
who needed to be in a different pen

eventually it ended up looking like this below

Wade added another shade
we made 4 pens instead of 3
this area is home to the oldest animals
who bear watching

like Jack the donkey in the back

since it was Thanksgiving
we turned him loose to roam the desert
which he loves

but he gets around
and then the neighbors call me
and tell me to come get my ass

so this time I heard his bell
going too far down the road
so Wade went out to get him
on the quad

I thought it might be interesting
so I videoed a bit
but it was all very tame

Wade leading Jack back in the gates

his brief forays around the desert
make that old donkey very happy

************************

I have to update Special Bean

remember how cute and little he was?

these pics taken the day we brought him home

and today

he's more than a handful

and he CAN EAT

He says

"See these feet? I'm growing into them!"

"More ham please. PLEASE?!!"

The First Horse Whisperers

Scientists think they've found
evidence of early

"Horse Whisperers"

interesting reading..

Happy Turkey Day y'all

The turkey's in the oven
and I'm ready to eat right now

sorry it's been so long for a blog post
but this week was exceptionally busy

mostly I've been working at the vet's office
all day long for days
so all I've been able to do is snap pics
here and there

and NOT adopt a Basset named Cletus
who desperately needs a good home
NOT DOING IT
don't let me people

I've always wanted a Basset named Cletus

no no no

we are full here

but in the last week we had a special visitor..

behold Lynette
frequent commenter
dog trainer
and the woman who saved Thelma
and countless others

she loves all animals

with Grandma meeting Lexi

and perpetually surrounded by dogs

we were so glad you came out Lynette!!
thank you again for the dog and people treats!!



we also took a minute to go fishing at the lake
and we took Special Bean

he is such a monster
he went swimming for his first time
and he loved it

we also took Shady and Samba
and I can tell you this

the only thing I caught all day was a dog...

I'm amazed no one called the law on us
when Wade jerked the fishhook out of her butt

as you can see
she's still not happy with me


on to happier news...

Lexi is off leash and joined up
she's found her place

she still lives in the kennel at night
and it's her safe spot if she gets scared
but she's mostly out with the big dogs

she did get kenneled yesterday evening for barking at this

oh yes
the bull calf has arrived
and he's for eating

I tell myself that every time I look at him


here's how it goes around here when you try to read anything

Shady

Dan the Man
who loves Wade desperately

he needs love!!

so does Samba

aw geez

and we won't even start with this character

he really thinks he's people

Turkey is served when??

The Saturday ride and of course, a WTH thing...

Today Mercy wanted to ride her horse
and Grandma wanted to ride the quad

except Grandma
didn't know how to drive it

neither did I until recently

we gave her my helmet
since I have this searing memory
of her on a moped in the 80's
and the subsequent crash into the windmill tower

she just never did master the moped
sorry Mom

yeah
helmet for her
mandatory

it was tricky to get it on

thank heavens for helpful children

she's in first gear

Here she says

"See, I've got the hang of it"

meanwhile
I tried out a new saddle I bought on Ebay

I sold two and bought one
so I'm doing good on cleaning out
the tack room, right?
right

I'm not sure if I like it or not
I need to really ride in it
but I opted not to today

off we went

this series of pictures only serves
to illustrate the fact
that I'm being a total tourist
and this is why I get bucked off so often

but I'm wearing my helmet!!

and wouldn't you know
we're on a weird quest to find
"THE METAL DOOR"

I have to have a mission ya know

yes that's right
and I'll be danged
cause I've only seen it twice
it's out in the randomness of the desert
I found it again

behold
THE METAL DOOR

ok
so it's really an old capped off well

I think..
What do you think?

an old foundation 20 ft away

of what I don't know

********************

here's today's
WHAT. IN. THE. HELL.
moment

I caught Mercy surfing Youtube tonight

I didn't even have it up
but somehow she got onto it
and she was watching football videos

*me blinking*

so I asked her if she wanted to watch horse videos instead
and she said yes, yes, yes!

so I showed her how to type in horse
and this is the result

excuse me????!!

ok I checked later when Mercy wasn't around
and there are no actual videos of that act
but still...

that makes it like the second most popular
horse search?

seriously?

For Grandpa Ron

At noon today
I was videotaping

Grandpa Ron is horse shopping
and Wade is trying one out for him

so I'm posting them here

it's real nice in Arizona right now

excellent roping weather

Wade heading

the owner heading

nice horse


So what do you think, Grandpa Ron?
you gonna come down and get this horse?

Dinosaur bones

I found this in the desert yesterday

a tiny treasure
posed next to the scar on the right
where a horse ran a nail thru my hand

may I just say
that hurt

here's a close up

ok
who can tell me what creature it is?

A video challenge - 9, 12, and 3

So here's my video challenge to y'all
participate if you like

At 9 a.m., 12 noon and 3 p.m.
what are you doing?

cause I'm just curious...

I missed 9 a.m. this morning
I was probably showering

in which case
do us all a favor
if you're doing something like that
skip the video
please

and no still photos either
thank you

but by noon I was doing something interesting

come along with me..

Wade got a call from a rancher
that someone had driven thru one of his gates
and he wasn't close by to go fix it

Could Wade do it?
and if any cows got out
could he get them in?

sure thing

so Wade did fix the gate
that someone literally ran OVER
what is wrong with people?

in order to go fetch the cows that got out
Wade requested I bring 2 horses
and we'd do this in between his shoeing appts

so we did

I was mostly a tourist

check out that nest
what kind of bird out here makes
a nest that big?

I don't know!

we found cows that got out

dead center of this picture
HA!

Wade's got that bunch
he got to have a chase
as these cattle up and run
when they see a rider

me

I'm toodling along in my helmet
and yes
for those of you freezing in the snow up north
it's 80 degrees today
and I rode in a tank top

please don't hate me for it

then I spotted a straggler
and had to haul butt to keep it
from going the wrong way down a back road

it did turn and join the bunch

there's Wade on the left and he's got em

easy like Sunday morning


not so easy on my poor out of shape horse

lathered

but happy to be working

you know
when I loaded them up mid morning
my partitions were all in the way
so I dropped the lead ropes on both horses
in the door of the trailer
and told them to STAY
while I fixed things

no one listens here

I swear those two both jumped in
before I was ready
but I managed

they were SO excited to go

my only complaint was the dirt road

I'd never been on this road

there was a big section of deep sand
that had me eyeing the 4x4 button
and keeping my foot firmly on the gas

this road was NOT made for a dually
needless to say
I put some cowboy pin striping on it

then there was this "bridge"

I had my doubts
but crossed it anyway and it held

I took these pics on the way back
because at least two of these railroad ties
were BROKEN
and SAGGED when you drove over them

yikes!

See? It made my hair stand on end!!

3 pm where was I?

getting ready to rinse off 2 tired played out horses

so
who wants to play?

show me where you are at 9, 12, and 3!!
unless you're nekkid
in which case
please. don't.

Deep Sadness Here Today

Casper
3/12/84 - 11/14/09
may he rest in peace

He taught my baby how to ride

Wade's Grandfather back in the day..

magnificent

His knees became so knobby from roping

Grandpa Ron asked us if 2 year ol Mercy would like him
and he could send him down to our warmer climate

it was a deal

Casper front and center of that Xmas card picture

riding in the arena with Daddy

Daddy swaps horses a lot
but it didn't matter
Casper was always an old steady

Grandpa Ron came down to see Casper

He and Mercy rode thru the desert

He loved seeing Casper doing so well for Mercy

they were starting gymkhanas

and Casper was just right

always wonderful with small children
seen here with the Carroll Farm girls

there was a lot of love here

he was always ready to go

a phenomenal horse
one I'd trust a 2 yr old child on any day
and I did

Casper spent 24 years in Wade's family
teaching 4 boys how to rope

he went to a lot of ropings and rodeos
and he won for those boys

he was worth his weight in gold

in the end
his knees gave out
and he had been retired to pasture

he was put back into action for Mercy
but eventually she outgrew him
in terms of speed

she wanted to go faster
and he just can't do that

so we retired him again

I considered us privileged to have him here
and we tried to give him
the retirement a horse like that deserves

lotta carrots

Mercy still couldn't help climbing on from the rail
and just sitting on him

today was his last day

we'd known it was coming
we held out
giving him bute more and more
so he would make it until our fall season
and before it turned bitter cold
we'd have him euthanized

I figured if he lasted thru the heat of summer
he deserved that beautiful fall weather

and it has been beautiful

but this past week the weather turned
his pasterns swelled/stocked up
and he wasn't getting around

he could still get up and down
but he was suffering daily to stand up

these past few months we've been babying him
lots of carrots, baths, brushings

a special brushing from Mercy

hitting all the itchy spots

Wade spent a LOT of time with him today
he took the day off for this
and it was very hard on him

He loves this old horse so much

Shortly after this picture was taken
the vet arrived
it went well
Wade held his head
I guided his back end
and it was quick and painless

a big thanks to our neighbors who
provided a backhoe
dug the hole and then left the backhoe
here for us

Wade buried him personally
as it should be


Casper

a better horse was never known

I don't know why I do this. It's like wrangling 3 yr olds.

yesterday
The Wife
asked

"how do you pet all the dogs?"

that's a good question

I could go on and on about
how it works with the dogs here
how I manage 10 big dogs and 1 little one
I'm counting Lexi in this but she's usually kenneled

how do I pet them all?

well we're always petting them
I'm outside a lot
and they all come up for attention
and I give it out

I start early with wanting to touch them all over
we used to have a big tick problem here
and I'd have to inspect everyone
toes, ears, under the collar, armpits

the problem
thanks to Truly Nolan
is nonexistent now

so everyone gets handled a lot

I expect to be able to do pretty much
whatever I want with them

that said
I have one biter
Dan the Man
who prefers I not mess with him

he gets a muzzle and it gets done anyway

there was one exception
when he got cholla cactus in his gums
and I couldn't figure that out
how to not get bit and get it out
so I took him to the vet
where they sedated him

I maintain strict Boss status here

there is a lot of love given
but I'm also super clear
on what's not allowed

we'll have some manners!!

no super rough play
no growling or sniping
respect the elders
and do what I say

4 things every dog should know
Sit
Stay
Come
Go

enjoy my photo demonstration below

Left to Right: Thelma, Special Bean, YoYo, Shady,
Samba and Maggie

Shady's saying "See how good we sit!!"
and Special Bean is blowing it

6 of the 10
Lexi is not part of this and stayed in the kennel

Dan and his sister Nee Nee below are the working dogs
they live to herd anything

I can yell at a specific horse
from the porch
and Nee Nee will run out and start working
that horse

they really don't want to participate
in whatever nonsense I seem to be doing

but I say
"C'mon, it'll be fun!"

then I say
"Nee Nee COME!"
about 10 times before she actually does it..

she did not want to come sit

Dan says "Mom, Ben's sniffing me!"

Ok, I count 9 in this pic
who am I missing?

Shady! Quit licking yourself!

Maggie and Ben! Over there in the corner!
That's rude!

MAGGIE! and BEN!!

BEN!! Special Bean!
GAH!
Samba, you're the best..

Ah HA! Little Dude!
hiding in the corner
he wants no part of this either

Ok I got it
barely..

so it's not perfect
but there's 10 of them there..

I give up now