Working Cattle

We worked a couple groups of cattle today. V took the pictures to document the day.J, E and friend J with the supplies.

J periodically saying, "I'm in a bind back here!"
The mismatched herd at our new farm. J took these because they were the ones he didn't like. But now he says they do the best.

J sorting the calves and cows.

Awards II

Not to be out done by her sister, E brought home a few awards today.-1st place in the Race to the White House (year long government tests)
-2nd place in school Accelerated Reader points
-Outstanding Achievement in art
-Highest averages in Science, U.S. History and Math
-Terrific Tiger Award (no discipline card pulled all year)

Awards

We are very proud of V's end of year awards for 8th grade.
-Highest average in English
-2nd highest average in Science
-Outstanding achievement in world Geography
-A-B honor Roll (1 b in math in one six weeks period)
-President's Education Award for Outstanding Academic Excellence
-4.0 for 6-8th grade.

Yard Ornament III

I got this cute little gargoyle at the Dollar Tree last year. I like seeing him spying out from under the flowers.

The peonies are starting to bloom now. All of my came from my grandmothers house.
When I was in elementary school, my mother would always send peonies for me to take to my teacher at the end of the year. I remember one year being afraid they wouldn't bloom in time. I checked on them every day until they finally bloomed 2 days before the end of school.

Tree

This is a beautiful oak tree on our farm. When the girls were learning to ride it was a destination. Their instructions would be ride to the tree and back. It was also a level section that was easy to lead the horse to and back.

Hay

It's hay making time again. We are still using Grandpa's round baler. I think it's 18 years old. J would like a cab tractor sometime. I don't really see him springing for it however. I can't even get him to get a canopy top for his tractor. I have suggested a clip on beach umbrella but he doesn't think much of this idea.

The hay is very high quality so far but not as high quantity as we would like.

Horse show

We got up at 5:30 to get ready for the show. It takes a long time for me to braid the mane. Jessica started out acting a little silly during warm-up but then settled down and did well for the show. V got 2 2nds and a 4th.

Pep did well also. She stayed calm all day.

E got 1 1st, 2 3rds and 1 5th. Not too bad for only having ridden half a dozen times so far this year. Thanks aunt L for helping us at the show.
I told them next show they were both entering canter classes.

1st Horse Show

Looks like we will be heading out early tomorrow morning for the first horse show of the season. The girls will probably only show in walk/trot classes because we haven't really ridden much this spring.E is very proud of her new show outfit.

Calf

We had to pull another calf this morning using the calf jack again. This one has been a little slow to get up so J has milked the cow and fed the calf.

He can stand if helped up. Hopefully, he'll be stronger tomorrow.

Flowers

I went outside to take a picture of an actual bluebird in the bluebird house instead of the tree swallow, but I couldn't get close enough. So I took some more pictures of flowers blooming now.
These phlox were from a client at work. My grandmother use to have what seemed like hundreds.

I planted some lupine seeds after I saw them at the babysitter's several years ago. I took a while to get them started but now I'm getting volunteers in other areas.

Garage

We worked on cleaning out the garage and washing the floor today. It is amazing how dusty everything gets.It makes it seem so big and open without anything in it.

However, all of this needed to fit back in. It was much faster taking it out than putting it back.

Dish

We have had no television since the wind storm on Sunday broke the Dish. The company said there was no warranty so I would have to buy and install a new one myself. My response was Direct TV would do all that for free. So my next call to Dish is to cancel service. V and E are keeping entertained playing a new version of the Sims. J is having withdrawal symptoms however. Tonight we watched a John Wayne DVD, The Angel and the Badman. They just don't make 'em like they use to.

Irises

A few of the different colors in my Iris collection.This yellow came from my mother's house.

This old fashion purple was from my grandmother.

A neighbor gave me this two-tone.

My boss gave me a mixed bag one year. It included this rust and very deep purple. I've never bought an iris. It seems they multiply enough that someone is always trying to get rid of them. Personally, I've given away buckets full.

Flowers

This sweet shrub, bubby bush, strawberry bush, Carolina all spice, or whatever you want to call it, is a start from my aunt's house in Richmond. It smells wonderful just walking past it in the yard.

The poppies are blooming now. These were originally from grandma's house.

Wind

We went to North Carolina today to look at some Hereford cattle for V and E to start a purebred herd. When we got home this is what we found.

It took out the dish on the way past the corner of the deck. So my fears this winter about the trampoline coming through the window were not totally unfounded. It traveled about 140 feet.

Judging Contest Correction

V's reasons score at the State Contest was misreported. Instead of a 20 she had a 40 (out of 50). This moved her up to 3rd high individual overall and 7th in halter. There were 68 junior 4-Hers and 18 teams.

Steer Show

The steer show was Tuesday and Wednesday. We took Thunder, but left him at the market deciding he was to wild to show. We then had second thoughts and went back to get him. He kicked J getting him off the trailer. The show day was Wed. and V was in the first class. Trying to lead him to the ring he went crazy, jumped sideways, pulled V down and got away. We were able to catch him again but scratched from the show. Quite a disappointment after 6 months of feeding and training.

State Horse Judging Contest

The State 4-H Horse Judging Contest was Saturday. The other 2 girls on the team backed out at the last minute so V and E had to judge as individuals. V was 5th in performance judging. E thought she did better than she actually did.V next to the white cone.

E standing blue shirt.

I don't have a final count for how many were in the contest but you can get an idea of the crowd.

These were two of E's favorite classes, mini halter and mini driving.
We also had a class of Akhal Tekes. I think these are the first I've ever seen. They are originally from Turkmenistan.

Goats

We had a set of triplets 2 days ago, 2 months past everyone else.

We thought she was not going to be taking them all, but it looks like now she might.