Hugo And Joe

I guess I was making Hugo look so fun that Joe made time to ride him this morning.

So I moved over to Otoelene.

We had a nice ride around the farm but the biting flies were pretty annoying.

I felt Otoelene was a little off.  Joe didn’t notice anything while we were riding but when we got back it was clear she was lame on her left hind.  I gave her some bute and if she is no better tomorrow I guess I will have to hunt for an abscess.  I knew the recent long streak of soundness was too good to last.
 

Sadie Sunday And Unexpected Visitors

When we got home from church this morning we has some unexpected visitors.

This was a first, turkeys in the yard.
 

There were 3-4 adults and several little ones.

I am blaming them for my missing tommy toe that I was keeping an eye on.  It should have been my first tomato, but when I went out with Sadie to pick it for lunch it was gone.  Wildlife can be both a joy and a curse. 

Sadie came home with us after church.  She is always a joy.  I thought I would give Virginia and Mike half a break and keep Sadie for the afternoon.  They said Allie was so much easier to take care of without Sadie.  We had a full day.  We watched Frozen, made zucchini bread in the Easy Bake Oven, and of course, rode Otoelene.

Sadie likes to try to do as much as she can by herself.

Saturday, I had bought a Little Tikes swing at the 21 yard sale.  It’s an annual 100 mile long yard sale on our road.   I scored this for $4.  Sadie tested it out and loved it.

She also wanted to go seen the baby goats, which aren’t so baby anymore.  She claimed the white one from the beginning and always wants to feed her.  I have named her Glitter and the other one Gold.

Sadie was so excited when Glitter ate the leaf she had picked for her.  I thought it was pretty impressive seeing the the goat was already grazing free choice.  

Another fun filled Sadie Sunday.

Different Ears

I have decided to take more of an interest in Hugo.  Joe is always so busy with all the other farm stuff.  And because Hugo was supposed to be for Sadie and Allie, he needs a lot more work until they get old enough.  He is still difficult to catch.  I’m not sure that will every change.  

But once you start riding, he is pretty good.  I even worked on cantering out in the open yesterday.  Maybe he will be our next endurance horse. ( not likely, not enough stamina)

He still doesn’t like the old barn.  But in his defense not many of the horses do.  Plus, there were goats jumping all around in, under and on it.

Cattle haven’t bothered him any, and we rode up the road without any problems.  I am getting him use to bathing.  He is still pretty jumpy about the water spraying on him at first.  But he settles down and may even enjoy it.
 Lots more work, so lots more pictures of black ears.

Babysitting Duty

Daycare is closed for the week, so Virginia wanted to do some sort of vacation.  She wanted to know if we wanted to go to Dollywood with them.  I suggested that we keep Allie and they take Sadie.  Virginia thought that was a good idea.  This was Allie’s first time spending the night away from home.  We kept her from Sunday morning until Tuesday evening.  She slept 12 hours straight each night and took two, 1 1/2 hour naps each day.  That didn’t leave much awake time to do much else.  We did manage a trip to see GiGi, Carol and Linda.

We spent a lot of time playing in the rocks.  It seems to be one of her current favorite activities.  Kit was keeping a close eye one what was going on.
 

He decided to venture closer,

and closer, 

and right on past.

Allie is not a fan of Kit yet, that is not a happy face.

We never made it to the other animals, just mostly humm around on the porch and in the yard.

I decided she was resting up from all the playtime she has with Sadie. 

Easy Goat Day

Joe and I had a good day working the goats yesterday.  We got an early start and the weather was cool.

Power Puff Girl met us.  Wet grass and dry dirt are not a good combo for a Great Pyrenees puppy.  She looks like this a lot of mornings but is back to white again by the evening.  She seems to have taken up with the other dogs without issue.
 

All of the goats were able to fit in the barn.

We then took small groups, cut out the Nannie’s because they al looked good, and crowded the kids into the chute.

Joe could easily grab them one at a time and I would give them a copper bolus and then a dewormer.  We kept count of the kids and surprise, surprise, it matched what I thought we should have, 116!

We also gave a copper bolus to the yearling nannies.  We turned them all back out except for one.

Apparently, we missed banding one a couple of months ago.  He is getting big enough to maybe cause some trouble.   So he is now in the dog pen in the barn being weaned.  After that, we will see if he will stay with the other two billies we kept from last year until we sell the kids in the fall.

Then we had some company in the afternoon.

Sadie helped in the garden,

and enjoyed looking at the flowers.

Then the sun set one another Saturday.

Morning And Evening Work

This morning Joe sorted out a calf that was just weaned that had sore foot. 

I went with him to help get the steer in so we could treat him.
 

But one of the others still in the field got a little too curious and got his head stuck in the fence.

You can see Joe’s frustration with the situation.  But he got him unstuck in short order.

Them in the evening we went out to get the goats up.  

Tomorrow morning we plan on getting them all in and giving copper boluses and deworming the kids and whichever nannies look like they might need a boost.  This will be the first time we have tried the copper boluses.  They are supposed to help  with immunity and parasite control. 

We plan on getting an early start so hopefully we will be finished before it gets too hot.

Can you count 190ish?  It’s going to be a rough day.

Catching Up

I have been a little busy lately and have gotten behind on my blogging.  With the long days there is always something to do outside late into the evenings.

Friday we spent most of the day weaning the fall calves.  We sorted the cows from the calves, then kept back some culls and picked out some replacements.

Then it was 4 trips back and forth from BJ’s to the house with the calves.  They were a little noisy for a couple of days but have settled down well.  A new neighbor called and asked what was going on because there was a lot more noise than usual.  He thought maybe there was some sort of predator issue causing the bawling.

I thought the dappling on this cow was interesting.  Joe says it shows up on some slick, fat cows in the summer.

On to Saturday, I took Otoelene out for a foggy morning ride.

I liked the look of the cows in the trees.

But it was a little difficult getting a horse that has been in the fat lot all spring and summer to go through a field as lush as this.

Sunday, Sadie and Allie came over with Virginia and Mike.  (They also came over Saturday too) Of course, Sadie wanted to go see the horses which translates into riding Otoelene.  I can really see an improvement in her balance from when she started. 

And she is very good at giving treats.  She always wants to give Otoelene two treats.  

Throw in a pot luck, an outdoor bluegrass/gospel performance, three Dollar General couponing scenarios, checking out a stallion to maybe breed Draper to (more on that if it happens), house, yard and garden work and having to work an extra day this week and you can see how I got a little behind on the blog.

In Bloom At The 4Rs

The pink phlox has been stunning.

Earlier this year I took starts of it and planted them around in other flower beds.  Maybe in a couple of more years they will be as showy.

But for now, this one is the star.

Beach Finds

We got back from the beach yesterday, but I was able to pick up some souvenirs.  I have several collections that I added to,

Sea glass,

What I call fossilized fish poo.  Thank you C for the two  cool curlicue ones in front,

And fossilized coral.
 I also found some interesting faces, 

The alien,

Big toothy grin, 

And skull with black eye.

I also found a few good shark teeth, (with Joe’s help)

And a couple hundred smaller ones.  I really enjoy the time walking on the beach.