This Week In The Garden

We have had some unbelievably wonderful growing weather.  A little dry spell, but then plenty of rain for the last 10 days. 

 The beans are blooming and running.

 Still no broccoli heads but plenty of worms.  I have had to start dusting.

 I already gave V 3 banana peppers.

 The tomatoes may outgrow their stakes.

 And we need to get our Tommy toe restraining fence up soon.

 It won't be long now until we get some blackberries.  But the Japaneses beetles have arrived. Hope they don't beat us to them.

And the cucumbers are going crazy.  I have to go out every day and make sure they are going in the right direction.  They just want to run everywhere.   Happy Gardening!

New Shelf Project

We ended up with a lot of plywood and 2x4s from the bridge project last year. 

 We stacked it up in the barn loft to be used later.

 Well, with the hot and rainy weather, I decided to make a little project. 

 A new set of shelves.   They ended up being so heavy I almost had to wait until someone else could help J move them out of the shop.  And no, it is not for my couponing stock pile, just for random things that end up in the barn shed. 

They are a vast improvement over the set I made 20 years ago out in the driveway with scraps from the house. 

To Buy Or Not To Buy

That is the big question.  J and I are both on the fence about this one.  We had previously decided not to buy any more land unless it touched something we already owned or was on the way to something we owned.

 Well, this 64 acres came up for sale and it is about 1/4 mile off the path between two of our farms.

 It all lays fairly well.   They just made the hay off of it and the grass is not too bad either.

 And most of the fences are in usable condition.

 It doesn't have good running water though.  There is a well and two automatic waterers.  J couldn't help himself and had to pull the grass up that was growing underneath it. 

 And it has access to a spring one the neighbor's land.  There is not much water coming into the spring box though. 

I love the neighbor's gazebo with the satellite dish top and what looks like a wheelbarrow fire pit. 

 The working pens need some work. 

But overall, a pretty nice place.   So we have to decide if we are going to be happy with what we have, or go a little bit outside our perimeters and buy more work for ourselves.

Another 5 Hour Ride

V got to ride with us again yesterday.  We went out for another 5 hour ride.

 This was our ususal arrangement, J in front on Jessica, me in the middle on Otoelene,

 And V bringing up the rear on Hank.  Back in the parking area someone was driving past our trailer while we were saddling up, stopped and yelled, "Damit Hank!"  It was one of Hanks previous owners.  He got out and rubbed on Hank and chatted a bit.  Said he was glad Hank found a good home.

 We haven't ridden on all of these trails and don't know where they all go.  Consequently, we did take an unexpected turn that worked out well.  We found a way to avoid riding on the gravel road for so long.

 We had a nice lunch break, then back to the trails.

 I made it out front for a little bit.

 There were some rhododendrons blooming, very pretty.

 Then I ended up in the back.  We past a couple of small groups, one that had a pack of 8 dogs following behind.

 And once again, no drama.

V rode in a different saddle this time and said it suited her and Hank much better.  Then back home safe and sound, so another successful ride.

Coupon Saturday #12

Not  much to report this week.  But if they will give me free stuff and it is not out of my way, I'll go get it. 

The NutriGrain had a coupon on the side for a free box.  At Walmart I picked a young cashier and asked if I could go ahead and cut it out and use it.  She said sure, so FREE.  The razors were 27 cents. And then the Dove was free at Dollar General with a digital coupon that was $2 off any 2 dove items.  The bars were $1 each and I used 2 different accounts, so FREE.

Brother Clarifications

A couple of points of clarification.  The transport company is out of Texas and crisscrosses the county picking up and dropping off horses.  There were already 2 horses on the truck and they were headed to pick up a 4th before starting the dropping off.  He had been in Alabama, Tennessee and Virginia before heading on to Maryland. 

And the new owner didn't ride him because she had broken her arm being thrown from a Thoroughbred and isn't suppose to ride until August.  He daughter had just graduated from college and was on the riding team.  She was a very good rider.  I think Brother will be well cared for with plenty of attention.  Also, her 22 year old son is looking forward to a western horse. 

New Home For Brother

Brother has left the farm for life in the big city. 

 The woman that wanted a hunter/jumper/dressage horse bought him.  He hung out here for another month while she made arrangements to board him at a stable that also had pasture board.  Her daughter road him when they came to look and asked her mother what else did she want to see him do.  Her mother said, how about an extended trot.  Her daughter and I looked at each other and said, that was his extended trot.   She later told me that she will do whatever he is capable of, and if that doesn't include jumping, so be it.  She just wants a safe sound horse to enjoy. 

 While he was waiting to be picked up, I updated all of his shots and Dr. B came and floated his teeth.  This is the new lead rope and halter that the new owner sent for him.  A little big but it will do.  She scheduled a transport company to come get him.  After seeing the youtube video on it we told them there was no way that was coming up our driveway.  We would have to meet them somewhere else. 

 So we hauled Brother to the local school parking lot.  That's our puny blue trailer.

 Then Gino, the truck driver, took over. 

 Brother wasn't too sure about that ramp.

 But we asked so he went. 

 The new owner paid extra to have him hauled loose in an open stall. 

He looked a little rung out by the time he got there 14 hours later.  But I was told that when they took him to his stall he settled right in and started eating.  The stable where he is staying shows and sells hunter/jumpers and they advertise their prices as in the "mid to high five figures."  I'm sure Brother will fit right in.  He is also getting a name change to Joe (from Just an OtoE)  I said that could be like Uncle Joe on Petty Coat Junction, "here comes Uncle Joe, He's a moving mighty slow."                                                  Godspeed to you Brother on your new journey. 

Cantering!

Draper is really coming along nicely.  It helps to be able to ride several days in a row instead of once every 3 weeks.  And if I keep wanting to take videos, I think I will need a new camera.  This one won't stay focused for anything.  But maybe you can get an idea of how wonderful she is.  This was my second time asking her to canter. 

What you can't see is the big smile on my face when we stopped.  As soon as I can get some shoes on her, I will be venturing outside.

Extra Work

Our last cow here at the house finally calved a couple of days ago.  We bought her last year from a friend because she was calving late in his herd, now she is calving late in ours (strike 1)  This is only her 3rd calf.   You probably can't tell from the picture but her teats are as big as corn cobs.  (strike 2)

 The calf was also sluggish so we thought we would get them up and make sure the calf could nurse.

 J pushed,

 and pushed and finally got fed up with it bracing every step,

and picked it up to carry it the rest of the way to the barn.  Talk about Farmercising!  That is all up hill too.  Anyway, we have still be having to put the cow in the chute to get the calf to nurse, twice a day.  The cow isn't the most pleasant of animals to work with either. (strike 3)  She is definitely on the cull list now.  Three strikes and your out.

Coupon Saturday #11

So this was free or nearly free week. 

 Unmarked clearance at Family Dollar, $1 each but had coupon for $2 off 2 Secret sprays.  The cashier didn't know about the clearance and said, "those are usually more than that."

 Then a little mid week run to Dollar General (and Walmart, razors 27 cents.)

 Then all digital for 75 cents at Dollar General for the other things. 

 This was 2 transactions at Dollar General today, all FREE.

The cashier today said, "you are really getting good at this."
Happy Couponing.

Golden Horse Day

I'm too excited about my wonderful day to wait until tomorrow to share, so TWO posts in one day.

 We started with a morning trail ride on Horse Heaven.  Jessica is always a little bit of a wild card even at 17 so to be on the safe side J always starts off lounging her some.  But no worries, she did great.

 Horse heaven is part of the the Virginia Highlands trail.  This loop is about 8 miles long.

 There's my first golden horse.  Otoelene was a dream to ride. 

 The Mountain Laura (or Yanny for those of you that can't hear right - and if you don't know what I am talking about check it out HERE) is just past it's peak.

 But it is still stunning in spots.

 And then I saw this...bear paw print.  Looked pretty fresh too.  But no, never saw the bear.  Our ride lasted about 3 hours.  Very pleasant weather and very few flies.

 Then this evening I rode Draper again.  This time I made sure J was ready with the camera.  So I now have video proof too. 

She was a lot more calm today and I didn't have to lounge her nearly as much.  I also decided to carry my "hog slapper" (cheap version of a riding crop).  With the slapper I ended up not needing J in the pen with me.  She did kick out once, hit the panels and spooked herself a little, but we just pushed right through it with no problem.  And as promised, a short clip of Draper trotting.

Got to love the palominos!