Rock Recycling

I hate for things to go to waste.  Even a rock.  I paid good money for these rocks 10 years ago.  They looked beautiful when we put them in.  But 10 years has taken its toll. 

 This is the area under the pergola.  I had put down landscape fabric before layering pea gravel on top then stepping stones. 

 As you can see, the fabric is showing now,

 and it has been a nightmare to try to control weeds.  The roots attach to the fabric and won't let loose.  Then other weeds just come up through the numerous holes.  I thought about using mulch instead of the gravel now.  J recommended just spreading the mulch on top of what is there.  But then my rocks would be wasted. 

 So I have to add more work, sift the rocks out,

 wash them,

 then I am using them to mulch my horse tails.  I am about 1/2 way done, but I am liking the affect.  I might have to bleach a bucket full to dress up the top layer and make it look fresh. 

Loving the horse tails. 

This Week, In The Garden

I am not complaining but we have had so much rain it has been hard to get much planted in the garden.  I have gotten to the point where I just buy plants anyway, except for the beans, I do plant seeds for those.  

 I had a new idea for the cucumbers.  V and Mike were visiting and glad to help. 

 They took a 16 foot cattle panel, arched it and secured it with posts.  The plan is for the cucumber vines to climb up and over, and the cucumbers to hang down for easy picking. 

Stay tuned to see how that works out.

 We did get a row of beans planted between rains, and they are already up. 

 The tomatoes,

 broccoli and peppers are all doing well too.  Now I am just waiting for enough tommy toes to volunteer so we can make a row of those.  Then I will plant another row of beans so the crops will be a little staggered.   J had been keeping up with the hoeing, so the garden is off to a good start.

Coupon Saturday #8

OK, maybe a day late with this but who's counting? 

 Oxi Clean was on sale at Rite Aid for $3.99 and there was a $3 coupon, so $1 each.  I have decided that I will spend $1 on Oxi Clean, but if it is Gain or All, I think I will wait for it to be 50 cents or less. 

 Back to Dollar General to use a $5 off $25. 
Coke $1 x 3       = 3
Beans $1.50 x 2 = 3   - 1 off 2 paper q
Band-Aid $2 x 2 = 6  - 2 off paper q x 3
Toothbrush         = 6  - 5 paper q
Tide                   = 4.95 - 2 digital q
Cascade             = 3.50 - 1 paper q  then - 5 off 25
total $6.45 plus tax.  I consider it that I bought the Coke and beans which I would have done anyway at the grocery store, and got everything else free. 

Still at DG
Pepsi was on sale 5 for $10
Cottenelle                        4.75 - .75 paper q but there is also a 0.50 IBOTTA rebate
Toothbrush                      6      - 5 paper q
bandaid                           4      -5 paper q
koolaid                               .25 (needed to get to $25) so - 5 off 25
total = 9.75 plus tax 
so once again, bought Pepsi and got everything else free!
Don't forget to scroll down and see Kit Kat Sunday.

Just Kit Sunday #134

Scary Kit Kat story.  As you know, we have had a fox hanging around the farm. (click HERE for a reminder)  He sometimes comes up to the barn and he has been in the yard.  We even saw Kit "fight" with him and we yelled and he ran off.

Well, a couple of mornings ago, at 5:30, I woke up to the most awful cat screeching and possible fox growling noise in our front yard.  I yelled out the window, jumped up and ran outside.  It was still pitch dark and I couldn't see anything and it was deathly quite now.  I rushed back inside, grabbed a flash light and shoes and went back out, certain to find either a dead cat or a pile of fur.   I called and searched to no avail.  Then, I checked the back yard and there he was, sitting on the porch like nothing was wrong.  Not a mark on him, not even any ruffled fur.  I think it is time for the fox to disappear. 

Awesome Ride

V had the day off and wanted to join us on a trail ride. YAY!  So we loaded up Hank, Jessica and Otoelene and took off to the trails.  

 J got along pretty well with Jessica.  She took the lead because she just does not like having to adjust to anyone else's speed.   We didn't think about the recent rains and that the river might be up until we got to it.   But the horses all went across with no problem. 

 Otoelene was a dream again,

 and V said she could have ridden Hank with her eyes closed. 

 It was a pleasure to have 3 well behaved horses. 

 We stopped for lunch and let the horses take a breather. 

 We rode for a total of 5 hours.  A little long for the first ride of the season, but I think everyone will recover fine. 

 I did give Jessica and Hank some pain medicine before we left. 

Beautiful weather and wonderful company on a drama free ride. 

Bad Horse For Sale Pictures #32

 I just realized that it has been over a year since I posted any Bad Sale Pictures.  Shame on me.  And this one isn't technically for sale, it is At Stud.  Found it on Craig's List.  They had 10 chances to take a decent picture.  See if you think they were successful. 

Like yall to meet Ice On Fire! He is one of our Stallions at xxxxxxx. Ice On Fire is very well made stud ( he's a tank, nice strong legs, very wide chest, very wide rump, very well mannered, very intelligent ) he's a dark bay roan almost like a blue tint. Ice On Fire is proven to throw roan from (blue roan, bay roan, red roan, and black roan). Ice On Fire is 100% pure mustang. His colts has very good features ( nice bone structure, great muscle structure, very hardy to the elements, lots of loyalty to there owner's, very intelligent, lot less foot problems than normal horse's )  The colts I have seen are very easy going and laid back. Very good looking colts.  Ice On Fire is way bigger in person than in pictures. He's 15hh and 17 inches wide in chest and 21 inches wide in rear. Ice On Fire  already has bookings and don't let them fill up be for u miss your chance for a breeding this year! Ice On Fire's parent's came from Wyoming. **(Pryor Mountain Mustangs)**  Most of his girlfriends are Quarter horse's, Draft horse's, Mustang horse's and Thoroughbred horse's. Ice On Fire makes very nice colts threw theses type of horse's. You will see lots to come from Ice On Fire. He's never had any training for riding till now but I'm starting him and he's doing great. Ice on Fire is a very fast learner, and what 10yr old stud never been rode till a week ago and he's doing great. Ice On Fire he done amazing!   I will show u he can do it and will show u video's of him on his way to learning how to do it! 

New And Improved Bottle Goat Feeder and Rorschach Test

I decided to go ahead and splurge on buying enough nipples so all of the bottle goats could eat at once.

 That meant I needed to expand the feeder from my original 4 holer.  I am only feeding 7 but I went ahead and made it 8 for the sake of symmetry.

 So far it is working like a charm.

Getting everyone lined up is the biggest chore.  Then, as they finish, we just pluck them off and put them back in the pen.  After we are finished with everything at the barn, I turn them outside so they are not living in the pen 24/7.

The last one kidded Friday.  Not this one but I love her markings.  I think it looks like a dog head.  What do you see?

Final Kid Count - 110.

Coupon Saturday #7

I won't bore you with all the details, but this was a couple of different transactions at Dollar General, Free candy bars from Family Dollar and Walmart paid me 50 cents to take the Zyrtec.

My biggest DG was $6.50.  I as anticipating $2.50 but the $2 off coupons for the Colgate didn't work this time so I has to pay full price ($1 each) and didn't get the $1 each overage.  Win some/lose some.  The next transaction worked fine and was $1.50.  So, total of $7.50 plus tax for everything pictured and a total of $40 in savings. 

Update to Previous Post

I started cleaning my new cabinet, and look what I found.

I knew it was a nice piece of furniture. 

New Acquisition

Whenever I get the  chance, I will run into the State Surplus store just to see if there is anything interesting.   Most of the time there isn't anything I want.  But sometimes I get lucky and there is a jewel.  

 I went to the bank during my lunch break Wednesday and took a swing by the surplus store and saw this cabinet.  I thought to myself, "I don't need another piece of furniture,"  and was strong and didn't buy it.  But that night I couldn't get it off my mind.  So lunch on Thursday I went to see if it was still there.  I was totally prepared for it to be gone, but no,  it was there and $10 off the price from the day before. 

 It is a nice moderate size with two adjustable shelves. 

 It is only 4 feet tall and a little over 3 feet wide. 

There is a little condition issue on top, but I think a little steel wool and polish should take care of that.   Now I just have to decide where to put it and what to take out to make room for it. 

Guest Photographer

E was home for a few days between the end of school and start of summer internship.  While she was home she went birding every morning.  She said she identified 44 birds by sight, 3 by sound that she didn't see and she saw several more that she couldn't identify.  Here are a few she shared pictures of but didn't identify to me.

But I know this is a red headed woodpecker.

Cedar waxwing

Not sure

Don't know

Brown thrasher

And I'm going with the red bellied woodpecker here.   Looks like we have a pretty nice place to go birding.