Basketball

E finally had her second basketball game of the season. Because they had missed so much school before Christmas several of the games were canceled and they have only practiced once in the last two weeks.

The game started off on a bad note when no referees showed up. Finally someone with the other team came up with a whistle and the game (slaughter) commenced.

E played for the last 3 quarters. She said no one was playing their positions, teammates were knocking each other over, and the last quarter their coach only covered his face with his hands and gave no instructions on what to do.
Fortunately, the impromptu refs called very few fouls so the game moved along quickly. Final score 4-25.

Merry Christmas

O Holy Night

The Silver Forest

Global Warming?

We have been in an unusual cold snap for the last 2 weeks. So far we are having record cold temperatures for December in our area.

Enough of the snow has melted off of the south slopes that the horses are getting enough grazing.
Hank seems to have recovered.
His shoulder is still a little swollen but the bruise has healed and he is moving well.
The steers destined for the feed lot are still here. The next shipping date is next Monday but the forecast is for snow Saturday, Sunday and Monday. If the driveway melts enough over the next 2 days J is going to try and haul them out to some pens closer to the road. We really need to get them out of here.

Bumble Bea

Here is an update on our guard dogs Bumble and Bea.

First off, it is very difficult to get a decent picture because all they want to do when they see me is flop over and hold there feet in the air.
On this occasion however, Bumble decided to assert her dominance and pinned Bea down.
Emma on the other hand still can control both of the bigger dogs even though they are 2 1/2 times her size. We still have not lost any goats since they have been on the job. J even saw a coyote running down the driveway a couple of days ago but we weren't the least bit worried with Bumble and Bea around.
It does take quite a bit of food for them. Emma's cup is on the left and Bumble and Bea's is on the right. One scoop for Emma twice a day and two scoops for Bumble and Bea once a day.

Unseasonable Cold

Since it snowed last week it has been cold and stayed cold.

Emma has even been coming in at night.
Some of the snow did melt or blow away but came back on Monday.
School has been out Monday and Tuesday. Hopefully they will go tomorrow. J has had to postpone shipping the steers again. Friday will be the next try at that. He is getting very tired of pushing that wheelbarrow around. Temperatures have been in the teens with wind chills below zero and that is during the day.

Freak Accident

Once again our farm is too steep.

Add a little snow and sub freezing temperatures and we have our own luge course.
Apparently, (from J's eye witness account) Hank was at the top of the hill rolling in the snow when he started sliding down the hill on his side with his back down the hill. He picked up considerable speed until, with a sickening thud, he slid into the lower walnut tree. You can see the track in the snow. This caused him to spin 180 degrees and then head off over the ridge out of J's sight. J said Hank was standing when he got over to him. J took him to the barn and called me at work so I could bring home whatever medicine I thought he might need. I couldn't tell in the dark when I got home what all was wrong, but he was definitely sore and swollen over his withers. I gave him a shot of banimine and went back to check on him this morning.

Looks like he hit more on his back than withers. He is still pretty sore today, but walking well and eating fine. Hopefully, everything will be ok. He sure is giving me a big scare. We have now had cows, calves, tractors and horses slide off these hills. Maybe we should just sell everything except the goats. That, or move to Nebraska.

Best Thank You Ever

Grab a tissue for this one,

Thank you so much for Spot. He is the best horse in the world. All my life I wanted a horse, all my life I've just been standing, looking at the horses run. Now I have one of my own to watch. I watch him trot in the fields, walk in lines and roll on the dirt. I groom him and I don't know if I did or not but I think I spoiled him with grain. He is wonderful. I could love no other horse. Really, he is the best I've ever ridden the best I've ever seen! I can't imagine any other horse in the world! By far, he is the Best. Thank you. Jordyn.

At 20 years old I am really praying he makes it through the winter. I'm going to have to go over and check on him pretty close after that thank you.

First Snow of the Season

Originally billed as a fast moving clipper, this first snow has so far lasted all day with a four inch accumulation.

This is making it a little more challenging for J to feed the cattle. We were hoping to get them to the feedlot last week, but they weren't going to have room until next week, so that leaves J having to feed them here longer. Since we don't have a bulk feed bin J has to go to town twice a week to get fed.
Today, he had to shove out the troughs first.
He gets the feed in 50 pound sacks which this feed store won't reuse. (anyone know what to do with 1000 feed sacks?)
Unfortunately, we don't have a vertical feed mixer for J to use.
But he does manage to get quite a bit of work done the old fashion way.

After all of my planing and crafting it looks like I won't be able to ride in the parade tomorrow. With the snow we can't get the trailer in and turned around and the wind is suppose to get up into the 30 mph range tomorrow. Maybe they will postpone the parade.

Patchwork

J wears through a pair of insulated coveralls about every two years. He is due for another pair this year.

He decided this year I could try and patch these and maybe save $80.
They look better but the true test will be seeing if they hold up. He wore them for the first time this season today. It poured rain last night (we got 2 inches after all) and was 60 degrees when I went to bed. Today we had snow flurries and temperatures in the 20's. That's a big change in 24 hours.

Two Things

J said it is suppose to rain 2 inches tomorrow. We have been enjoying the dry weather, it's nice not having to deal with all of that mud, but the ground could use some moisture.

I've made 3 trips to get pine needles to mulch the front of the house. I like the look of the pine needles along the walk better than the wood mulch.
I also tried the jingle bells on Pep and Hank. Pep didn't appear to even notice them. Hank on the other hand, stepped pretty high for a few minutes then settled down and did fine. Looks like one part of the project is done.

Getting Ready

Not necessarily for Christmas day but for the Christmas parade. One of the county's Christmas parades is next Sunday. J said he would ride in it with me. I think he will ride Hank and I'll ride E's horse Pep.

I'm making some bell anklets for the horses. I need to try them out on them before the parade to make sure they will tolerate the jingling.
I've got lots of this tulle. Maybe some bows for the mane and tail.
Then I found this fringe, pom pom balls and red corduroy. I'm thinking about covering the reins with the fringe and making a rump rug with the fabric and pom poms. We'll see how much actually gets done before the parade but it's fun to think about.

Happy Thanksgiving

We are truly blessed and have much to be thankful for.

Auction

J and I went to another auction on Saturday. They were selling a car but it turned out to be too small for us.

There were box loads of stuff that they were selling 4-6 boxes at a time. No telling what was in them. Some very good deals at 5-20 dollars a lot. It was very hard not to try and buy everything. I just had to keep telling myself, "I'm trying to clean out what I already have."

It was a cute little log house on 3 acres, it went for $95,000.
I did come home with 2 pictures. This one is a Piccaso. Someone might be seeing the other at Christmas.

Spot's New Home

Jordyn is being surprised today when she comes home from school to find Spot in their new field.

Spot hasn't been anywhere in the 7 years that we have had him but he loaded like a dream. He backed off the trailer perfectly.

Looks like he is going to spend some time checking out his new digs. They had just finished fencing 4 acres and had the gate hung yesterday. A small run-in shed is next on their list I think.
I hope Spot enjoys his new home. I'm sure Jordyn will love him and he'll get more attention than he was getting here. It was a little sad when he ran after the trailer as we were leaving.

Mud

When it rains you would think the horses would get washed off, but you would be wrong.

For some reason they all decided to congregate at the barn. I guess they knew that they weren't in danger of being ridden in the rain, otherwise I'm sure they would have been at the far end of the field on the other side of the hill.
Why do they roll in the mud like this.
I t just doesn't look very comfortable.