Bad For Sale Pictures

This should just be a bad item for sale.

Did they even mean to use this picture?  Who would pay $75 for that?  Is it a joke? Torn, stained, in the yard, not even on the porch.  I would be embarrassed to show up at the dump with it. 
 

Just Kit Plus House Plants

I said awhile back that my pothos was getting leggy.  When I unwound it, it was 20 feet of vine with 1 foot of leaves.  I think there were 7 vines total. 

When I was working with it, Kit decided it was a good way to get some attention. 

I ended up cutting it back to about 4 inches, then took the leaf ends and stuck them in water to root.

I think this is the third time in 33 years that I have done this.  Since it is a plant that came with Joe, I don’t mind making the effort.  
 

Tommy Toes

When you can just walk out on the deck and pick tomatoes.

My volunteer tommy toe vine has gone crazy.

It has now made it through the porch rails and is spreading across the deck.  But at 35 degrees this morning it may not last much longer.

 But it’s been good while it lasted.

Twice In One Week

 Joe is loving riding Hugo.  He is so calm and steady out on the trail.  So today, we headed to the trails again this time doing the 8 1/2 mile Iron Mountain loop.  The temperature was in the upper 50’s and a little breezy, but very comfortable.

Hugo was a dream again.  He may have lifted up his head a little bit when a bicycle meet us but that was about it. We also met a hiker with a couple of dogs, no reaction there either. 

He does great out in front, walking on without any encouragement.

Did I mention he is barefoot?  Our other horses can barely walk around in the field without shoes, and here is Hugo on gravel roads and rocky trails no problem.  (When I turned around to snap this picture, Joe asked if I wanted him to take my picture from back there.  He said he could caption it “two big hips”.  I did not give him the camera.)

The horse trailer doesn’t have an updated inspection so we have been using the cattle trailer.  Hugo loads in it fine.  But Otoelene isn’t liking the noise her shoes make on the aluminum floor.  It is quite loud. If we keep up all this trail riding, we are going to have to get the horse trailer going again. 

New Boots

Virginia never sends Sadie with shoes she needs here on the farm.  So today I bought her a pair of farm boots. 

 

Now she will be ready for anything, rain, mud, snow, manure…

They didn’t have horses so I went with dinosaurs.  
 

Sadie Horse Sunday

Sadie is in a routine when she comes here after church on Sundays.  And the routine is horse, horse, horse.    

She wants to go see the horses, watch the horses, pet the horses and ride the horses.

Today we added brushing to the list.  She also has added “trot” to her vocabulary.  More trot, more trot, every time I stopped trotting on Otoelene.  We introduced Hugo but I forgot to take a picture.  Sadie won’t say Hugo, she just calls him black horse so far.

 

First Trail Ride With Hugo

The weather was perfect for a trail ride today, so we headed up the road to horse heaven.

I gave Otoelene a little Bute before we left and I will give her another dose tomorrow. Hopefully, she won’t be sore tomorrow (she has navicular).  From this angle, they look the same size.

But Otoelene dwarfs Hugo from this one. 

Joe lunged  Hugo around an a couple of circles and he was ready to go.

He certainly didn’t mind being in the lead.  And Otoelene didn’t mind falling behind.  We would trot occasionally to catch up.

               We saw a couple of new things this time.  I have never seen gentian growing up here before.

And we saw a mama bear with 3 cubs. (Although I can’t find them in the pictures I took).  Joe spotted them first and stopped.  I think the horses heard them but didn’t react past perking their ears up.

Hugo was pretty chill the whole time.

Joe was surprised at how well he did.  When he was in the back, he checked his speed and never got on Otoelene’s tail.

I think Hugo has found his calling as a pleasure trail horse.  Joe is already planning more rides.

I just hope Otoelene can keep up until Draper gets home from boot camp.

And we will have to get the horse trailer inspected so we can get out of the cattle trailer.

Outdoor Time

Today, after dropping off Draper at boot camp, we came home to work more on Hugo.  I saddled up Otoelene and we went for a ride outside.

Hugo was out walking Otoelene most of the time. 

Joe did some off the rode work and Hugo took it all in stride.

He seems much more comfortable in the out of doors than the barn.  He may not be the easiest thing to catch either.  But what’s life without a few projects.
 

Just Kit # 184

A lot going on right now, Zipper missing, Hugo training, Draper heading out for a month of lessons tomorrow, and then tragically, a local farmer and friend that we buy most of our hay from, was killed yesterday.  He was driving a tractor on the road, was rear ended by a car and thrown off the tractor.  He was 59 and leaves behind a 10 year old son.  Slow down people, just slow down. 

 

Gone Again

Zipper is missing again.  We last saw her Friday night when we fed the big dogs.  She had been hanging out with the big dogs at night and laying around the yard all day.  Last week a neighbor called and said she was on their front porch.  So Joe started tying her up at night.  But Friday, we let her stay out with the big dogs again.  She didn’t come back for breakfast Saturday.  We drove up and down the roads,  called some neighbors, messaged others on Facebook, nothing. I had the clinic post it on their Facebook page.  It has been shared 30 times.  

The not knowing is the hardest part.  I don’t understand why she doesn’t stay in the dog heaven we have here. 
 

New Arrival

We decided to get Hugo.  We went for more of a grandchild pony than endurance horse.  We are hoping that a couple of more years of riding had hauling around will make him a solid citizen.

He did well, never blew up about anything, but not totally relaxed either. 

I tied Hank up in the barn for some good calming vibes.

Joe walked him around everywhere to show him his territory.  We lunged him and did some ground work.

Then it was on with the saddle.  He accepted each step with a little apprehension but that was about it.

When Joe got on, Hugo was a little nervous and didn’t want to stand still.  We are guessing this was his first time being ridden in a barn.

Lots of walking and stopping.  His stop isn’t much and he seems to know nothing of giving his face with rein pressure, but there is always something to work on with any horse.

Then Joe rode him around outside for a bit.  No issues there.  I think we might try to take him out on a trail ride this weekend. 

Yard Work Day

 I spent the day working in the yard.  There is always something to do, I just have to get motivated to do it.

I decided it would be a good time to go ahead and plant my  Dwarf Alberta Spruce trees, that have been living in pots for years now, in the ground.
 

The pots are 18 inches wide and 16 inches deep, so I had to dig some pretty big holes.  It was all I could do to get the trees out of the pots and lift them into the holes.  I think they will be happier in the ground now.  Next, I need to decide what to plans in between them.  I would like for it to look a little less chaotic.

I also worked in my long flower bed.  I decided I don’t like the gladioluses anymore.  The blooms don’t last long, they fall over and spread way too much.  So I dug them up, 2 buckets of bulbs.  My Siberian irises had also been spreading so I dug some of those up, 4 bags full.  Some bearded irises where out growing their spot, 1 bucket full.  And I got a small bucket of seeds from my purple coneflowers.  Now I just need a few people to share with. 

In Bloom At The 4Rs

I think I need to work more at fall flowers.  Things are getting scarce on the blooming side.

The crape myrtles are finally blooming so you could notice.  It seems like every time I go to North Carolina they are in full bloom there.  But mine don’t get around to it until almost frost.

This is one of my favorite views right now.  I love coming around the corner and seeing the different layers of flowers.

The hydrangea also finally has decided to bloom.

And some sun drops have decided to rebloom.  They are a late spring flower so this one got a little confused.

 And who wouldn’t smile driving up to a pink Mandevilla in full bloom.

High Alert

Horses don’t like change. They are keen to notice anything different and assume it is something that could eat them until proven otherwise.

This is Otoelene on high alert.  What was going to eat her you might wonder.
 

It looks like a pile of dirt.  Joe corrected me and said it was gravel.  But then when he was fixing the driveway with it he said he could grow corn in it.  It was better than the dirt in our garden. Otoelene didn’t care about any of that. She just kept snorting at it.

That is until we got outside, then she took off.  In my defense, I was using a rough nylon lead rope and didn’t really care to get a rope burn from it so I let go.  She is not that hard to catch.

She finally got over herself and decided it wasn’t going to eat her after all.

Next up was Draper.  She was pretty suspicious.

But none of the drama that Otoelene had.

And this is why I use a rough nylon lead rope.  I don’t want Draper destroying my good ones.