More Kid Art

This is a picture of me. I don't even own a shirt with a 2 on it. And those shoulders...what's with the shoulders?
At least I'm smiling.

Rhode Island Red

We just finished state reports at school. I love state report time. I have learned so much that I think everyone should go back and repeat 5th grade as an adult. It is so interesting....this time around. This year I was helping a boy with his report on Rhode Island and was surprised to learn that the Rhode Island Red is the state bird. They even have a monument.
I would have to agree that this is a pretty good chicken. We have two (really the neighbor's) that are my best layers. My second best are Black Stars which are Rhode Island Red crosses.


It's a state bird!

Field Trip

Penne needed her feet trimmed so we drove to Eatonville to my aunt's farm so I could show them how to trim her feet. Penne looked great.
Here is her view.


She has a big box stall...in a proper barn!


After a session of trimming, worming and delousing,



Penne told me not to let the stall door hit me in the _ _ _ on the way out.

Almost

Lean in...really close...close your eyes and sniff. Can you smell it?

Still

The weather has been beautiful this week and I luckily have the week off. We need a whole week to celebrate those two presidents. With beautiful weather comes a lot of chores. Rake this, shovel that, clean this, hammer that, keeps me in my happy place. I even like saying the word "chore".
But every once in a while I have to sit and just be. I have to just sit still.
If I hadn't been still I wouldn't have seen the big gray squirrel that ventured out and ran the length of the fence lines like a highway.
I wouldn't have seen the chickens all waiting in line to lay their eggs in the chosen box...instead of the three others. I wouldn't have seen Filbert lie down in the grain trough while Cora Belle nibbled on the top of his head.
I wouldn't have seen how pretty Reese looks when she's standing in the sun. All sparkly...like a vampire.
Because I sat really still a flock of chickadees landed in the tree by me and sang a little song. They didn't even notice me.
No pictures......I was very still.

Sun!

Winter Daphne or Daphne in Winter

Finally

My hens have never been working gals. They are all about sitting around talking and going to lunch. They don't have time to lay eggs. So while everyone I know enjoyed eggs through the winter, my girls were relaxing and taking it easy...and going to lunch...a lot.

With spring right around the corner they just can't help themselves and lay the occasional egg.

He Wore a Raspberry Beret

Rowdy has always had scurs. He has always knocked them off...until now. He grew quite a dashing scur and must have decided to be careful and hang onto this one. I kept hoping I'd go out in the morning and it would be gone. It looks worse than it is. It is not growing in his eye. There is room under it so it's more like a shield. I was on the fence about what to do with it because they can bleed like crazy if you cut them off. So, once again, I was hoping to go out in the morning and it would be gone.
Today we had a nice visit with a real goat vet. That is very exciting because we don't have a goat vet around here. We have very good horse vets but no goat vets, or a good livestock vet for that matter. We were all deemed healthy.
She noticed Rowdy's scur and encouraged me that it was time to take it off. She showed me where to clip it so it wouldn't bleed.
When Hubby got home from work I enlisted his help to be the brawn on the end of the nippers. I put Rowdy in the milking stand and gave him a handful of grain. I showed Hubby where to cut the scur.
He put the nippers on and started to squeeze. Rowdy flew up and went one way and Hubby went the other. He was quite startled to see the whole scur on the end of the nippers and Rowdy back to eating his grain.
I'm going to kind of miss it.

I Rode A Horse, And I Liked It

I got my first pony when I was six and my parents moved to a place in the country so we could have horses. Her name was Dusty, followed by Rocky, followed by Buddy, followed by Peanut, then Bambi, Fancy and Quinn. I grew up on the back of a horse. All I read were horse stories, and all I played with were horse statues. To tell the truth I did play with Barbie....all splay legged as she rode her Breyer.
So maybe riding a horse isn't so remarkable. Except that about ten years ago I had my life flash before my eyes on the back of a horse.
There was no more honest horse than Quinn. She was born at my farm and I trained her myself and rode her for over 7 years. On this particular ride I had asked my friend to come along and ride Fancy, Quinn's mother. We went into the woods on a trail we had done many times. The ride was perfect until the end. All of a sudden all hell broke loose. Quinn bolted and proceeded to bounce me off of shrubs and fir trees (those are the worst).She was frantic and I knew I could die. In all my years of riding I had never experienced such lack of control. I tried everything but since Quinn had always been so reliable she was only in a snaffle and an English saddle.
Well into the ride it was time to bail so I chose a patch of salal to land in and dove out of the saddle. Worried about my friend because I was sure Quinn's mother must have taken off too I jumped up quickly and saw that she was fine, although doing a pretty good job holding the mare back. All upset about my fall I said, to my adventurous friend, something like, "oh I wanted you to have fun"
She said with a big smile, "That WAS fun"
Something in me died that day (isn't that dramatic?) but it did. I lost my interest in riding and was now afraid of horses. I was well aware of how fast things can happen even with the best of horses. I realize now there were probably holes in her training but that didn't take away the fear.
So when a good home came that would take both mares I gave them away. Quinn went on to do three day events and take a girl through Pony Club..isn't that ironic.
With no interest in riding anymore, I bought my sweet little Sunny the mini just to have a horse around and have a reason for all the horse art around my house.
He had that sweet smell of horse and tiny little hooves. All the best things about a horse but I didn't have to ride.
Nearly all of my friends have a horse but over the last several years I've only ridden once, a fun horse named Charlie. I was happy to follow along with Sunny.
So yesterday when a friend wanted me to hang out while she rode her horses and call 911 if need be, I found myself wanting to ride the black and white Tennessee Walker named Laddie. He is such a gentleman and I'd never ridden a Tennessee Walker. They are a fancy person's horse. As we started out I could feel my heart race a bit but Laddie was a very good boy and took good care of me. The worse part of the ride was hiking my leg back over the saddle and trying to get down with my gumby legs.
As I was brushing him out after the ride I entertained thoughts of having a horse again.
Then I quickly put it out of my mind.

Ebony and Ivory

Living in perfect harmony

How Many?