Just Kit Sunday #171

Kit Kat had a very special visitor today. 

S was so excited to see Kit.

She just wanted to pull and tug on him. 

But she was trapped and couldn't quite get there. 

So she found something just as interesting within reach.  
 

A Favorite Place

Otoelene has been lame for a month.  She goes sound on Bute (NSAID), but lame again when I take her off.  It started right before her shoes needed resetting last month.  She has terrible hoof walls that flake off and don't hold nails well.  I was visiting E in Idaho when the farrier came and I think she had lost the shoe.  I have been hoping that rest and new shoes would help but not yet.  It is still possible she has a small abscess.  Hank did that once, was lame for several weeks before it finally worked out.   The farrier was here a couple of weeks ago and checked her with hoof testers and didn't get any tenderness.  There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with the rest of her leg and she is just standing in the barn lot.  I will give her a little more time before I call my equine vet friend to come check her out.  

Meanwhile, Draper has been getting all of the riding attention to herself.  Riding her 3-4 times a week instead of 1-2 times has made a world of difference.  She is gaining confidence and I am gaining confidence in her.  I am pretty much taking her anywhere I want at this point.  Plus, she is improving on her arena work.  Today, I rode up Chaney Branch, then the back side of the back 40.  It is always nice and cool and quite along here.  You can't drive to it and walking to it is a lot of work.  But it is a great place to ride a horse.  One of my favorite places on the farm. 
 

E's First Hummer

J came in yesterday and said there was an injured humming bird at the door.   I immediately jumped into action.   First things first, Kit was put in the garage.  Second, I snatched the feeder off the deck. 

Next, E was called into action.  

She said she had never held a hummer before. 

We did a thorough exam and deemed her uninjured.  E thought that maybe she had just addled herself running into the window. 

We perched her on the feeder and left her alone,

after a few more pictures anyway.  When we check later, she was gone. 
 

Couponing #60

I actually didn't need anything, imagine that.  But I do like those chocolate covered pretzels, so why not. 

I got a few more things that I like and some that I could use.  

Not a bad day.  One bag of pretzels was $2.  So I'm good with $1.50 for everything. 
 

Kit Kat Sunday #170

Kit was out in the yard enjoying the nice green grass.

 

Solving One Problem And Creating Another

We have newish gates at our working pens at BJ's.  The problem with older gates is if water gets in them it can freeze and they bust open. 

To remedy that, the gate makers put in holes at every cross bar and vertical support.  

Well, that just makes a perfect home for bees and wasps to move in. 

J has been stung twice this year and I have gotten stung once.  

Today we remembered the bee spray. 

After a  couple of laps around the field we were successful in getting the cows up.

J sorted out the replacement heifers, first calf heifers and a couple of possible problem cows to put in a field near the barn in case they have any trouble calving.  Then we loaded up 2 open heifers, a cow that lost a calf and a cow with a vaginal prolapse that I stitched last week, and brought all of those to the house.  Fall calving is suppose to start September 1st. 
 

Taking Orders

I was at a craft fair at the beach when I saw a wind chime made from an air tank.  I have been dying to try to make one ever since.  Awhile back, when the oxygen delivery guy came to the clinic, I asked if they ever had any scrap tanks.  He said they did occasionally and he would save one for me.  

So when he brought me this small tank, I was thrilled.  

The hardest part was getting through the top of the tank.  The valve stem was still in place and I didn't have the right tool to remove it.  It took a lot of drilling, but I was finally able to get through.  The easy part was cutting off the bottom with my chop saw that has a grinding blade.  It cut through like butter.  I then wired a chain top and bottom.  It makes a nice clanging sound.  The paint I used didn't stick so I need to try something else next.  Maybe I will try some red Rust-oleum.  

Then look what showed up at the clinic last week.  The oxygen guy brought me a whole crate of tanks!

Three different sized and all of the top are already out. 

Looks like I have enough to keep me busy for awhile.  
 

Bees Again

A client recently dropped off some honey at the clinic with instruction that when the honey bear was empty, let them know and they would bring more.  I asked if they ever sold the bees.  I got a phone call a couple of weeks later that they had a nuke ready and I could come have it.  Wow!  Of course I went the next day.  He gave me and hour and a half of instructions which probably wasn't enough.  But he also gave me his card and said call with any questions.  

First, we were suppose to set the nuke on top of the hive where we wanted it so the bees would imprint on the new location.  After a few days we were ready to trasfer them to the new hive body. 

The bee man changes his mind a couple of times on how to arrange the frames.  He ended up with 2 new 1 old, 1 new, 4 old, 2 new. J was to look for the queen but he said he didn't know what to look for so didn't really try too hard. 

Even with smoking, I had to back up a bit. 

I think everything went well. 

They are now getting use to their new home.  Now I have to order a bee feeder because it is pretty late in the season and they need to get on with making enough honey for the winter.  I also need a vaporizer and some oxalic acid to treat for mites.  This is to be done in September and December.  Maybe we will be able to keep this hive going. 

I asked how much for the nuke and he said it was free.  I found out his wife use to ride and show horses and now she has a shop where she sells Breyer horses, so I thought I would put a Wrangler painting in the nuke when I return it.  
 

Couponing #59

This is what $3.00 looks like, and that is including tax. 

The Colgate is giving overage.  There is a $5 off 3 and it is working on the $1 tubes.  Looks like I will have plenty of toothpaste.  Lots of good stuff and only one paper coupon used.  
 

Finally, A Trail Ride

I don't even remember the last time we went on a trail ride, maybe last year at this time.  J decided to give Jessica a try at Horse Heaven.  I was just going to take Otoelene, but J reminded me that I keep saying I need to do more with Draper, so off we went. 

Jessica was not her usual spunky self.  

She made the 8 mile ride fine but not with her normal speed and energy.  

Draper had a pretty good day. 

I was trying to work on getting her to be brave and go in front.  There were a couple of times she just didn't want to be there.  After some yelling, kicking and spanking, encouragement,  she decided the front was a fine place to be.  

Looks like we left J and Jessica in the dust.  The weather was nice, not to hot with a little breeze, but the horse flies were awful.  
 

Idaho Trip Photo Dump

I had an amazing trip going to see E in Idaho.  We only ended up spending 19 hours in the Dallas airport on the way home.  I think I took close to 1000 pictures so it has taken me a while to get though them.  Believe it or not, this is a very short synopsis of the trip.  After arriving in Salt Lake City, we got up early the next morning to go to Antelope Island and experience the Great Salt Lake. 

It's like I would dream the beach to be, great floating and no waves.  

The biting flies were non existent.  And the scenery was beautiful.  It was a bit hazy from the fires out west.  We took of from there and headed to Moab for 2 days. 

We started out with a rafting trip down the Colorado River. 

I went from floating in the Salt Lake to floating in the Colorado.  Quite a difference.  

We still had time to see Canyon Lands, 

and Dead Horse State Park.  Spectacular views everywhere. 

We got up early the next morning and headed to Arches National Park. 

Delicate Arch was supposed to be the high light so we went there first.  It was a 3 mile round trip hike to see it but it didn't disappoint! 

Just to give you an idea of some of what it took to get over to it.  No trail or handrails at this part.  I may have gotten a little shaky here.  

But look at what there was to see, amazing. 

There was a very organized line to go up and get your picture.  People behind would take pictures for people in front, very civilized. 

L made it up the trail but didn't want to risk any closer.  From there we headed around the rest of the park. 

Who doesn't like pictographs of horses and goats?  Maybe I could copy it onto a rock around here. 

More arches, 

and more arches.  I highly recommend a stop here in the future. 

The next day we went to Dinosaur National Monument. 

It's really hard to image animals this large. 

We drove on north and spent the night in Pinedale Wyoming.  Then went the next morning past the Grand Tetons and into Yellowstone.  

It's hard to take a bad picture here.  But the crowds were much worse than when I went with E 3 years ago.  

We got to see Old Faithful erupt,

lots of bison, 

and this time we made it to the Grand Prismatic Spring overlook.  Well worth the hike to get there.   We spent the night in Yellowstone and went on to Pocatello where E was working the next day.  

She had to work our last full day so C, L and I spent the day at Craters of the Moon.  

Wonderful trip and wonderful company.