My Johnny West Horse

The farrier was here the other day.  I had the shoes pulled off Hank and Jessica for the winter, but I kept shoes on Otoelene and Draper.  

 When it was Drapers turn, she decided to throw her tail up and take off running around the lot.

I couldn't resist taking a few pictures.  When I saw this one it reminded me of my Johnny West horse, Flame. 

 Don't you agree there are some similarities?  I thought there was a palomino one, but that must still be at my mothers house.  This bay is one of J's.  Maybe this is why he is so attracted to solid bay horses. 

But I found this one on Ebay.   I knew Flame came as a palomino.  

 After a few laps, she was done and she settled down fine for the farrier.

Kit Kat Sunday #151

Kit Kat has some reflections to share today.

 I caught him in front of the wood stove with the sun shining on him. 

 I loved how I got a bit of a reflection and a nice shadow.

 He is such a handsome cat.

Goat Sale Day

It was time to round up the goats to sell today.  E was home yesterday and helped J round them up, so there wasn't much walking today.  J said he walked for 2 hours straight yesterday getting them all together.  

 But the work wasn't over with. 

 J had to catch the nannies one at a time to separate them out.

 The kids that were left looked pretty good, but they didn't weigh good again.  Same as last year averaging 43 pounds.  I think the worm issues this summer really took a toll. 

We only kept back one bottle goat and one really big doeling that I thought was a nanny.  So that will make 68 head plus the billy.   Now we just have to wait until April to start all over again.

First Snow and Other Stuff

I didn't get a chance earlier to post about our first snow on November 12th.  

 It was just a skiff but they canceled school anyway.

 Then yesterday, I went with J to help load up a couple of bulls so he could turn them out with the fall cows. 

 I couldn't resist a few pictures of the cows while I was waiting.

 Then in the afternoon, I got in a ride on Draper.

Sometime the view is just too stunning to not try to capture it in a picture.

Sierra Nevada Brewery

I had my continuing education meeting this weekend in Asheville.  We (me and 2 sisters) were supposed to tour the Sierra Nevada Brewery Saturday evening.  But due to an unfortunate scheduling mishap, we were unable to attend the guided tour, but we did walk around on our own.  

Maybe next time I can find out what all this stuff is.  It is a massive building and they are trying to be as environmentally friendly as possible from the look of all the informational signage. 

Second Rider

M and V had Monday off so they spent the weekend with us.  I think M wanted to try his hand at finding that ten pointer from the trail cam. (no luck there yet)

 Monday's weather turned out being so nice that I asked V if she wanted to go riding with me.  I knew Tuesday we were in for temperatures in the teens, so I wanted to take advantage of the last day of 60's for awhile.  V  said she would just ride Draper with me in the barn, but she did visit a minute with Jessica.  I think there is a little bonding going on there, don't you?

 Anyway, I caught Draper, lounged her and rode for a bit.  Then it was V's turn.  So far, I have been the only person to ride Draper so I wasn't sure how she would do for someone else. 

 Looks like I had nothing to worry about.

 After I took this picture I decided I wanted V to take mine since I haven't updated my Facebook profile picture in 3 years. 

 It took several laps to get Drapers stride right.  The only problem was with the helmet and hoodie, it made me look like I had a turkey neck.  Well, maybe I do, but I didn't like it.

So I opted for this one instead.  Here, Draper is visiting with Little Girl, the first horse I raised and trained myself. 

A Study In Contrasts

J and I thought it might be nice to diversify from just farms stuff.  So, we closed on a Triplex unit in September.  Two tenants were month to month.  One wonderful, the other not so much.  We would have loved to have kept the wonderful one, but she wanted to move to someplace smaller.  We did not renew the other one.  Both moved out the same weekend.  Too bad you can't appreciate the difference in odors, now that's a contrast. 

 The nice living room.

 The not so nice one.

Nice bathroom,

 Not so nice.

 Nice bedroom,

 Not so nice.  Note the partially empty ketchup bottle propping the window open.  The neighbors were glad when I closed this and kept the stench from traveling over to their apartment.

 Nice basement.  See that trash can in the corner.  Labeled "things already here when I moved in."  with everything in separate plastic bags.

 Not so nice.  No need to label anything here.  Pretty sure it is all trash.

 Nice refrigerator.

 Not so nice.  Anyone need some condiments?

 Then a few extras, a couple hundred pounds of food left on the porch.  There were two trash bags of stuff out of the freezer, left on the floor, thawed and leaking.

 truck load of clothes in the basement,

 my favorite, baby doll with chicken stock on kitchen floor.  Shelf liners, really?

Then I thought we could play I Spy.  I spy with my little eye, some taco shells, an afro pick, an onion, and a rotten potato.

Trail Cam #9

Well, it's that time of year.  Time for hunters to check out what's up there in the woods. 

 An early Thanksgiving bird for one.

 Some cute does.

Do you see the deer's friend?  Makes me think of the squirrel in Bambi.

Then the bucks arrived, 4 points, 

six, 

eight, 

 and ten!

This one was a surprise, to see them fighting in front of the camera. 

Then, headed out of the driveway earlier this week, I got a first hand look at the ten pointer.