Redneck Closet

Sorry for the break. I've been at a Continuing Education meeting in North Carolina. I got the visit my sister there with my mother, E and another sister. We had a good time eating out, checking out thrift stores and flea markets, playing ping pong and watching Monty Python, and having a cookout over a campfire. The others went to the mall, hiked to see a waterfall, and visited the Thomas Wolfe house while I attended classes. C has all of the pictures of the trip. Too bad I can't post the one of my mother getting a fabreez shower after the campfire.

I will show you this though. We pass this house on our way the the trails we normally ride. They always have laundry hanging on the porch. The articles of clothing do seem to change. It appears that they just use the clothes line on the porch as a closet.

Walnuts

It's time to pick up nuts.

Black Walnuts that is. We have several areas on the farm to choose from. This one is in the horse field. They have done a good job grazing so the walnuts are easy to find.
J wanted to pick some up in one of the cattle fields also. Emma may look like she is helping but I think she just found an interesting hole.
E on the other hand did help.
J strapped on the buckets and headed for the house. Now we have to let them dry and get the hulls off so we can crack them this winter.

Awesome Ride

J and I went trail riding today. V and E didn't want to go - UNBELIEVABLE . The weather was perfect, sunny, upper 60's, no wind.

J rode Jessica. She had a small spell of trying to buck but got over it with about 5 minutes of lunging. J had a great ride on her after that.
Surprisingly, we didn't run into very many people out on the trails.
The trees and mountains were beautiful.
It's hard getting a picture of the horse you are riding. Hank did his best to cooperate.
He really is a super horse. I hardly ever had to hold the reins. A few times he did veer off the trail but only under the pretense of getting stuck in some bushes so he could eat. We rode for about 3 hours.
Jessica has put on quite a bit of weight since the endurance ride. It doesn't seem to take long for things to get out of shape, people included. I hope I'm not sore tomorrow.

Beautiful Day

It rained this morning 6 tenths of and inch which was badly needed. After the rain it turned into a beautiful day.

I made a double batch of pear sauce. Can you see any pears missing from the tree yet? Maybe I need a bigger pot.
The sunset was very peaceful.
The fall colors are starting to reach their peak. I'll have to try to get some good pictures of the mountains this weekend.

Auction

I went to an auction this weekend of 24 acres w/rustic cabin and junk.

The land is even more rural than where we are. The views were great.
The "rustic cabin" was an old trailer with an addition tacked on the front. They spent 4 hours selling the junk. The land only brought $56,000.
I had to leave before they got to the horse equipment. At the rate they were going it probably would have been another 2 hours before they got to it. There was a brand new pack saddle I would liked to have bid on, not that I would have ever used it but nice to have just in case.

More Calf Weaning

Because of the dry weather we are getting short on grass. So today we are weaning the calves here at the house.

J was calling them to the barn,
and I was following up behind the stragglers on Hank.
Hank is very good about riding through the cattle but he doesn't seem to know what to do to move them. I think this is the first thing I've tried with him that he wasn't that good at. Maybe with a little more experience he'll catch on.

Garden Finds

I'm still getting a few things out of the garden.

I haven't tried this cucumber yet but I'm not betting on it being very good. The tommy toes on the other hand have continued to be great. I've got lots of peppers getting ripe. The surprise was the singe pea volunteer. They are great raw.

Pears and Goats

Some pears have been falling off the trees and getting mushy before I have a chance to make more pear sauce (11 quarts so far. They are very juicy and cook down a lot. I drain some of the fluid then add sugar then freeze). I picked up a couple of buckets full and threw over the fence to the goats.

At first they seemed to think it quite a treat.
Then they found some rose bush prunings I had taken out there. Almost all of the goats ran to eat the roses over the pears.
A few stayed back to continue eating the pears. Bumble checked them out but didn't eat any. So if even a goat won't eat them how good can they really be?

Weaning

The cattle at a farm we rent haven't been doing well lately.

J says the calves have been losing weight over the last couple of weeks. It looks like they have been eating acorns of which there is an over abundance this year. Acorns in large amounts are not good for cattle. Ultimately, they can cause kidney failure and death in severe cases. There is no antidote, just removal from the source.
Therefore, we had to round them up, wean the calves and take them to a different location away from any oak trees.
It's always a little upsetting to think of the cows still looking for their calves. But hopefully, everyone will be better off.

Last Show

We went to our last show of the season yesterday. V didn't want to show so I decided to take Hank myself. I don't have any hunter boots that fit so I asked the show management if proper attire was needed and they assured me it was not.

So Hank and I took of to show in English Pleasure.
Hank did perfect. He stayed calm, was very consistent, and just floated along. Meanwhile, you can see the wreck in the background. I don't see how with just 4 horses in the class that one had to run up on the other that way (unless of course that it was out of control). The grey english horse is a Quarter Horse with english attire. The general consensus from everyone that watched the class (that is everyone except the judge) was that Hank won. The judge gave us last. Anyway, I was very pleased with how he acted and think V would do well by showing him next year.
E took Pep in the Youth Halter Class. Katelyn won the class with Scribbles.
The second and third place horses came back in the adult halter class. The third place horse got second and the second place horse didn't place. Needless to say the judging was a little screwy.
The ring condition left something to be desired. One side had to be cut off due to the mud. E did manage to keep Pep going well enough to win the Open Western Pleasure Class.
Of course the first thing when you get out of the ring is to count the prize money.