Good Fences #93 Three Sides of the Yard

Encircling our yard is a 7 strand, high tensile fence three strands of which are electric.   

Kit Kat is sitting in front of the east side. 

 And on Sunday, when the temperature was close to 70 degrees, E took her hammock out, hung it between the Yoshima Cherry trees in front of the fence and enjoyed the west side of the yard.  A day to remember, December 27th and 70 degrees, nice.

 V gave me a new camera for Christmas and I was trying out the zoom lens towards the south.  The fence is barely even noticeable (except for the bluebird house).  Pay close attention to the small green clearing at the far right just under a V in the mountain chain.

 And there it is with the full 8x zoom.

And Wrangler is not exactly in front of a fence, just his easel in front of a corral panel, but he wanted to share that some of his artwork is now being offered for sale on Ebay.  Check out his listings HERE.

For more Good Fences click HERE.
and Happy New Year.

It's Done!!!! Wrangler Can Paint Is On Ebay

Wrangler Can Paint!  And you can buy one too!

Wrangler The Painting Horse

I've created my first listing on ebay!

You can find it HERE.

I changed my mind about ETSY and went with ebay instead.  Took me a couple of hours to do everything but I think the next ones shouldn't take as long.  

Now I just have to wait and see.  

Christmas Gift Craft

So now that it is after Christmas I can reveal one of the gifts I made.

I found a picture of a cool box made from magazine (on Pinterest again) and thought "perfect for my sister that collects boxes".

After a little trial and error I think it turned out pretty neat.

I can imagine lots of possibilities for this craft.  And I love turning something that would just be thrown away into something worth keeping.  

Merry Christmas

And peace on earth.

Tree Reveal

Merry Christmas Eve.

V helped me pick out this beautiful nine footer.

Finally, Some More Horse Stuff

All this getting ready for Christmas has made it difficult to work in some horse time.  But with E home from college I was hopeful she might want to ride.  So when she said she was going to ride Pep today I jumped at the chance to ride with her.  

 The weather is unbelievable, 65 degrees and NO WIND.  The horses have all taken advantage of the rain and mud and have covered themselves completely.

 After much brushing we were finally ready to head out.

 I picked Otoelene because I just wanted to enjoy the ride with no drama.

 We just finished watching the movie Unbranded (highly recommend).  I think this could be a scene from the movie.

 I finished up by catching Wrangler for a couple of paintings.

 My boss ended up buying FIVE paintings so Wrangler needs to get busy to replenish his portfolio.

I'm really liking his technique on this one.

More From Pinterest

OK, I lied.  I apparently am still decorating.  But when you see an idea like this who wouldn't want it.

It looked a little fancier than I have time for so I made a quick stop at the dollar tree for my supplies.

And I came up with this.  I'm counting it as another Pinterest success.  

Unusual Condition

J noticed a problem with one of his favorite bulls recently after he was turned out with the fall calving cows.

 Luckily, he had only been with the cows about a week when J saw that he was going to be unable to breed anything.  We already had calves out of our heifers from him and J didn't have to pull any of them.  So he was going to be J's go to calving ease bull.

 But his new problem is called "spiral deviation" or 'corkscrew penis'.  Pretty self explanatory.  We had a local large animal vet that specializes in reproduction to come out and check him.  He confirmed J's observations and recommended selling him.  This was only the 3rd one he has seen in 20 years.

Looks like we will take a loss on this one.

Tree Preview

Here's a little hint of my decorations this year.

I think I might finally get to keep this horseshoe candle holder.  Although, someone from one of the parties that didn't end up with this really, really, really wants one.

And the stocking are hung.

We're ready for some visitors.

And here's a new thing this year.  I had a bare corner (image that, bare, how did that happen).  Anyway, I thought, "tall branches would look nice."  So to the yard with some pruners and now the red twig dogwood is minus 3 limbs.  J wanted lights on it so now not so bare.  Pretty cool I think.  

Decorating and Gift Exchanging

OK, as promised here is what I did with my Crate and Barrel knockoff trees. 

 Just ignore the reflection of the ladder.  Obviouly I wasn't finished decorating when I took the picture.  Come to think of it, I'm usually not finished decorating until I start taking things back down.

 I had another party that involved another gift exchange.  This one was much smaller, just 5 of us.  I thought I was going to have time to go shopping before hand but somehow I ran out of time and had to go shopping around the house.  So I lost the votive holder from my table and a necklace I had bought a couple of years ago and never given away.

 I ended up with this nice wallet/clutch,

and these "unique" picture frames.  I love the clutch and I'm pretty sure what I will do with the frames.  Oh, and there is white elephant gift exchange this weekend.  Hummmm.

Good Fences #91

On Friday J and I sorted the calves that we recently weaned, cutting out the smaller end and the replacement heifers. 

 That left 85 head  to make a load to send out west to the feedlot.

 We ran these through the chute to give 3 sets of vaccines.

 Now they are turned out behind the house getting started on eating grain.

For more Good Fences click HERE.

Wrangler's Still Here

I've gotten tired of waiting for Wrangler to get totally sound so I called an equine vet friend to come out and give me a second opinion.  After watching him lunge, doing flexion tests, nerve blocks and x-rays, she determined the abscess area was still bothering him.   It's nice to have official conformation of what I already suspected, but really, when is this thing going to heal up.  She recommended a bar shoe, filing out the abscess crack and unloading the lateral side of the hoof.  I called the potential buyer and explained the situation.  I told her I was just turning him back out with the other horses and we'll see what happens when we reset the shoes again.  I am not doing a bar shoe at this time.  Amazingly, she is still interested but obviously still looking for something else. 

So what better way to spend some quality time with a lame horse than painting.  

V says I'm getting better at the color selections.  My boss has decided to buy two of Wrangler's paintings for a niece and niece-in-law that both are riders and horse lovers.  So I guess I at least have his next set of shoes paid for.  I haven't had time to set up the Etsy store yet.  The pictures I have to advertise aren't as good as I would like and I haven't had a chance during good daylight to take more.  Just add that to my "To Do" list.

Foggy Morning Feeding

We sorted out the calves that will be going to the feedlot next month and J has been getting them started on eating grain. 

 They learn pretty quickly that the truck is bringing breakfast.

 Sometimes they get a little rambunctious and scoot the troughs around.

 The fist few days J would have to go around and herd them up to the feed.

Now they come running.
It's been unseasonably warm so far which has lead to some foggy mornings too.

Glorious Morning

What a beautiful sunrise to wake up to.  Wonderful weather to sort and work the recently weaned calves this morning.

Wish V and E were home to help.

Then shopping for the next party tonight for which I don't have a gift to exchange yet.

Last nights party netted us $10, a $10 gift certificate to a local restaurant we love, and a party bag of M&Ms!

More On The Painting Horse

Wrangler has several more pieces of paper in his current watercolor book so we've been working hard to use them up.

 I was having an equine vet come to do a lameness exam and x-ray his hoof to make sure he is good to go to his new home in a few weeks but she had an emergency and had to reschedule for Friday.

 This is what he's been doing while we wait.

 I'm also thinking about starting an Etsy store to sell some of his artwork.

 I'm sure as soon as I do that he'll get famous and be gone.

I think he is contemplating his next painting.

After

Here's the after for yesterday's before.

Saddle Club Chinese Santa

Our local Saddle Club had their annual Christmas dinner last night.  As part of the party we do a Chinese gift exchange which on occasion can get quite devious.  The price limit is $10.  Here is what I took.

The star with barb wire which I made more festive with tinsel.

A pet bed J picked out.

And this nice card,

with this taped to the back.  The pet bed and money were very popular trading items.

And this is what we came home with.

A lariat wreath that I might have to gussy up a bit more,

that came with this battery lantern.

A portable handsaw and light.

And 3 horse shoe hooks similar to this one.  V ended up with these and took them home before I could take a picture.  They were even on her Christmas list this year.  

We have another party this Thursday, so 3 more gifts to round up.

Party on.