Memorial Day

Remembering Those Who Served
this is my older brother in 1954

HAY!

Hum? What is that I smell? It is, can it be.....new hay for me and my good friend Gilly!!!! (darn, wish these flies would stay outa my nose! ahhh chooo! pfffftttt!)
Dad cut hay on Tuesday and the next day it smellllled soooooooo goooood!!! Gilly said he wished we could eat it right now....but I told him no we can't, it will give us a belly ache if we do. We have to wait until winter when all the green grass is gone. He said I was a smart ass, he is just jealous cause I "AM" smarter than he is!!!
Wow, one hundred and seventy two bales of yummy hay for me and Big Gil this winter, we are soooo lucky. Hehe.....even luckier that we don't have to do anything either, just eat it! wink, wink! :-D
My mom didn't get any pictures cause she was too busy, picking up hay bales and driving the truck and trailer in the field. Me and Gilly just stood in the barn, in the shade in front of our fan and waited knowing that this winter we would have plenty of sweet hay to fill our tummies!

Then we took a nap!

The End!!!

Morning Sunshine

Monday morning I moved Gilly and Pokey to the pasture across the creek to the back field. When I check the electric fence the voltage was way down, meaning the fence was down or something was on it. Since they were busy eating I walked around some of the fence by the building on this side of the creek. I found the bad spot, a deer had knocked the insulator off a post and it was snapping on the metal post. But as I looked back the hollow along the road I saw the sunlight streaming through the trees.
I went back to the house to get the camera. When I came back I captured this; Gilly and Pokey walking along side by side back the road to the shed and more grass. Well, the fence could wait, I didn't want to miss the beauty of the early morning sunshine.

I moved to another spot to take this picture, if you click on the picture to enlarge it you can see them back along the fence posts. I love looking at the sun light coming down like this, so beautiful.

One more! I crossed the creek to capture this one. A spider had been busy building a web on the old gate. There were many more there also but this one was the largest. The dew was sparkling on the heads of grass too, wish it would have shown up more.

Yesterday evening we cut hay, now the waiting begins and hoping that it doesn't rain before we get it dried and in the barn. Drying time is longer here in the hollow, but for now we have had a nice breeze and high temperatures all day.

Good ride, cat bite, birthday, hooked rug....

I have been absent because this PMR stuff (yes, I have the Polymyalgia Rheumatica too) is kicking my ass!!! With all the rain we have had is aggravating it also and every time the meds are changed, we are stepping back every 2 weeks.
I did get in a couple of rides, (sorry no riding pictures). Rode on May 10th and Gilly and I had a good ride; just the easy stuff. We worked on leg yields, turns on the forehand, haunches; I felt really good that day and he did well, we also just rode, back the hollow to the fence line, up and down the road.
I rode again on Sunday and it wasn't a good ride, I didn't feel very good, couldn't seem to stay balanced and Gilly felt it too, so he was having a hard time doing what I ask of him. I don't blame him though, he seems to pick up on my feelings when I have off days.

This past Monday, May 17th, was my 59th birthday....I can't believe that next year I will be....oh, my, I don't even want to say it.....60!!!!! How can that be??? Wasn't I just 39 last year??? Well, apparently NOT!
Anyway, this horse plate was a gift from my neighbor and horsey friend Kim. She had been a little second hand store and had seen some boxer plates, she has a really nice boxer, Sohpie. She found two plates with boxers on them and then found this horse plate. She said she just had to get it cause it looked like Gilly! The star is the same but no blaze but still it does resemble Gil. What a nice gift!!!

(picture of evil cat above)
Thursday morning I was sitting here on the couch looking at my computer. Kitty was bumping her head on my hand as it was hanging over the arm of the couch. I was petting her and all of a sudden the little devil bit the heck out of my hand!!! BAD KITTY!!! She always has been a biter, definitely NOT a nice kitty. Her only good point is that she is a very good mouser.
Well, I just wiped the blood off the top of my hand and (this is bad) didn't even wash my hand or put anything on it. Thought it didn't look very bad, got ready and went to town to do shopping and such. Well, Friday morning it was pretty swollen and very red so I went to a quick care place. Had to get a tetanus shot and a huge amount of antibiotics to take for a week. Still have two more days to take it then it will be all gone.
Went back to my regular doctor on Wednesday for a follow up and he said it looked good. It is still very sore and has a knot the size of a dime that is hard. When she bit down it felt like she hit the bone. Cat is fast using up her 9 lives!!! :-(

This is the Hess rug that I have been working on. I am pretty slow, hands have been bothering me too. I am not in any hurry to get it done and this is the first time I have seen the rug off the frame in awhile. Not sure if I like the colors in some of the leaves and may have to redo some of it. But I will wait until I have it finished, then study the colors. It always seems to help to have a picture of it to look at and study instead of the rug itself, not sure just why that is?
I do need to get this one finished and on to something else. Still want to do a little dog mat for a giveaway! :-D
I will try to keep my posting more current so Lisa won't have to get after me! LOL

I know, I know......

I know I have been missing in action of late, have no excuses.....have thought about posting but doing it....well, that's another story. Thought I would post a picture of the boys, yes, they have snow on them, think this was taken in January of this year.
Yes, I have ridden a few times; had to go to the doctor because my evil cat BIT me, (Kitty you are using up your nine lives...quickly!); had a birthday and lots of rain.
I promise (Lisa) that I will be telling you all about it soon!

Happy Mother's Day!!!

It was a beautiful day for a ride......

The clouds in the sky this morning were really unusual and I thought, "what a beautiful day for a ride!" But sadly for me it wasn't going to be......I had 20 pounds of raw beef stew meat in the refrig to can today....ugh!
Yesterday I had heard the weather was going to be rainy all day, I thought goodie, then I won't mind working in the house all day.
Darned weather men, they got it wrong again!!! It was a great day for a ride but the canning had to be done.

Here's what the beef looked like after I cut it into small bit sized pieces. It was in much bigger chunks when I picked it up yesterday and I like it smaller. This is a lot of work but boy does it taste sooooo good when you are in a hurry for something quick; pop open a jar and YUMM-O. I can just open a jar and get a fork....eat! LOL

Another shot of the big pot at the time of day when I started cooking it; I hot pack it in jars.
I had already washed the jars, lids and had the pressure canner heating; started at 8:30 am.

Ready to start putting the beef into the hot jars and into the canner, 11:35 now. The beef had to be in the canner for 1 hour and 15 minutes under 10 pounds of pressure. Then after it's finished it has to cool down for about half an hour, then take the lid off and start again. Lots of time, so while I was waiting, I also have to watch the pressure and adjust the fire to keep it at the pressure it's suppose to be. I worked on the rug of Hess. I will have to take some pictures of it tomorrow for all to see.

Here is the first batch, the canner holds 7 quarts, I only got 3 quarts from the second batch. I think I really packed the meat in the first 7.....oh, well. It sure is wonderful tasting stuff in the dead of winter!! :-D
I got finished at 3:45 so long day and not feeling like a ride not.... :-(
Once when I needed something fast for lunch I opened a jar, mashed the meat up, mixed some horseradish and mayonnaise into it and it was the most wonderful sandwich spread ever!
We are supposed to get some really high winds tomorrow night, gusts up to 40 mph! Wow, hope it doesn't blow any big trees around here!
Maybe Monday will bring some good ride weather.........

Gilly's 7th birthday ~ Cinco de Mayo ~ May 5, 2010

Yesterday, May 5th Cinco de Mayo was Gilly's 7th birthday! Wow, I have had him for 6 years. I made him a "cake" with apples, carrots and rolled oats with honey mixed in; I added this to his regular oats and he shared with Pokey.

Oh, yum-o, Pokey, isn't this goooood stuff??? munch, munch, munch, yum, munch....

this is so good I am almost in a trance! lick, lick, slurp, munch.... how many days until my next birthday, no wait, Pokey has a birthday in September, oh, goodie, goodie!!!

Oh, yes, my birthday, more carrot and apple cake, how many days Gilly???

I'm in heaven! Such a good birthday cake, and I didn't have to go for a ride today either, this is the life!!!!

This is the last shot of them in the barn munching away on their hay, sighing a deep sigh of satisfaction of a meal to die for, in horse-ville that is!

Pokey gets a new fly mask and boys at play

Pokey got a new fly mask awhile back but the ears were for horses so I had to do some surgery on it. It said it was for a small horse, I think it would have fit Gilly so I took a tuck in the front cut off the small ears. They just weren't right for those majestic donkey ears, found some material to make them for Pokey's ears sewed them on and there you are donkey mask. But then it wasn't an hour before Gilly had pulled it off him! Bugger! I had to take it back off Pokey and redo the velcro; the jaw pieces wanted to overlap way under his jaw. Move the velcro then put it back on, it stayed!

Pokey is not too happy with Gilly pulling on his face mask and getting grass slobbers on it! Pokey likes getting it put on because he will come over and hang his head to be suited up!

Gilly says, "Who me? I didn't do anything! Just look at how innocent I look! :-D"

Pokey decided he was leaving and headed up the hill behind the barn. I went back in the house, came back out a little later to fine this going on! Had to run back in for the camera!

Click on these pictures to make them larger to see the goofy mouth expressions on these two!
They play pretty rough, ouch!



Pokey is giving me the eye here, funny donkey!

Gilly is trying again to rip the fly mask off!!! Bad horse!


Oh, OUCH!!! Look at the twist in Pokey's hinny as those teeth pinch a piece of skin! But then Pokey is biting Gilly on the leg as it's going on!
Boy, those critters have some tough hide!!!!

Gilly just ran off and had a bucking fit here, look at the dust clouds following him.

"What? Who me? What are ya looking at, I didn't do a thing, nope, no way not me...must have been the donkey!"