Hunter/Jumper Heifers?

I had a bit of a surprise yesterday morning when I went to go outside. 

There was a heifer grazing in the yard.

Not just one but three.  At least they stayed on the pathway through the flower bed.

Now we get to see how they got across the cattle guard.

I think they would excel at the water jump. 

 

Two Lamps, An Ashtray Stand, And A Light Shade

The other day I saw a birdbath on Facebook that was stunning. 

It was a glass bowl glued to two vases.  I knew it was a long shot but I decided to start looking for a similar bowl. 

Would you believe that I found this on my first trip to Goodwill?  It is not a bowl, it’s a ceiling light shade.  But definitely the look of my inspiration piece.  Next, I wanted a lamp for a base.  It just so happened that the route 21, 100 mile yard sale was this weekend. 

I scored this lamp for $1.  The base is glass.

Sister C gave me this metal lamp piece a few years ago when I was thinking of making a lamp totem pole.  I still have that as a goal but I decided to use this on my birdbath project instead. I used a hacksaw to remove the handles.

The dangling crystals are from an old ashtray stand.  Under the base I attached the weight from the yard sale lamp to make it less top heavy.

I am thrilled with how it turned out.  It is not currently able to hold water because of the hole in the center.  But I thought I might just stick a piece of As Seen On TV Alien Tape over it to see if that works.  But even if it doesn’t function as a bird bath, it is still nice yard art.  I have also driven a stake down the center of the hollow rod where the lamp cord would be and into the ground to give it a little more stability.

I think Kit Kat approves.

 

Allie Rides!!!

Mike and Virginia brought Allie over after church yesterday.  Sadie was already here because she had spent the night.  Sadie wanted to go ride the horse and Allie wanted to go to the barn too but probably not ride.  On the way to the barn I had a talk with Allie about not screaming around the horses.  Sadie added that horses like to be calm.  She is a very intuitive child.  

Sadie had picked some leaves for Draper and Otoelene.  Allie did not have any desire to get closer during the treat time. 

I was able  to convince her to brush a little bit, as long as I held her hand.  The rest of the family arrived at the barn and watched Sadie ride. 

This time she went some by herself at the walk and trot on the lounge line. 

She did great.  

And then the biggest surprise, Allie said she would ride with Mommy!  And there was no screaming!  Just big smiles.  

She even asked to go faster.  Sadly, Otoelene was lame and riding was very limited.  But I think it was enough to have a good start for Allie.  

 

Sadie, Flowers, and Goats

Sadie came over to spend the night. 

But first things first, we had to pick flowers.  I told her we were going to do and experiment.  We added some food coloring to the Queen Ann’s Lace water to see if we could turn them purple.  Fingers crossed that we have purple flowers in the morning. 

After dinner we put on our boots and headed to the barn. 

We now have a second kid with a broken leg.  It is one of the bottle goats.  Joe thinks he stepped on it while they were mobbing him to be fed.  Sadie enjoyed finding different plants for them to eat.  Looking forward to Sadie and Allie Sunday tomorrow. 
 

From The Driveway

You just never know what you might see traveling up and down our driveway. 

This morning it was a turkey hen and 6-7 poults.  

We also have a somewhat tame deer that hangs around.  

 And this red tailed hawk was nice enough to stay still while I took this picture.  

Airlie Garden Visit

Since Sadie has such a love of flowers, Virginia thought it would be nice to take her to a botanical garden.  There was one about an hour from where we stay at the beach.  I went with Emily to it several years ago and throughly enjoyed it.  That time there was a gnome exhibit.  That visit can be seen HERE. 

This time there was a bee theme exhibit.  It was a little rainy and overcast so we were not missing anything at the beach.

Sadie was vey excited about the flowers.

She even recognized that these pink phlox were like what I have at home.  

But her favorite part was the butterfly house.

We go a family photo for them.

There was some interesting Spanish moss on the ground.

We got to see some turtles in the lake.

And there were lots of  photo ops.  

But then it started to rain again which was fine because I think we had reached the end of Sadie’s and Allie’s attention span.  We went to The Boathouse for a great lunch.  They had shrimp and grits, my favorite.  When we got back the sun finally came out and we were able to get in some more beach time. 

Sadly, we will have to leave tomorrow. 

 

The Beach

Day care is closed all next week. Virginia asked if I could help babysit.  Sure! Let’s go to the beach. The big problem was Joe had to stay home to babysit the farms. 

I came yesterday because Virginia and Mike were going to leave at 3 am the next day.  I didn’t really want to do that. 

So I had one afternoon to myself. 

Then look who arrived this morning!

They are loving the water.  Allie wasn’t a fan of the sand at first but she soon got over that.

They have played in the water, picked up shells, and made a sandcastle.  

Sadie is now inside coloring with C while Allie is taking a nap. 

I think the sun is past its peak so we can head back out soon.

They have had a great time so far.

We will see if it continues.

 

Birds, Goats, Rabbits

Someone found an injured bird and brought it to the clinic today.

The other doctor was looking at it and thought it was a woodpecker.  I said there was no red on its head so, no it couldn’t be a woodpecker.  Ok, maybe a female or juvenile woodpecker wouldn’t have red but still, it didn’t look like a woodpecker. 

It was a Kingfisher.  

It had a piece of fishing line tangled around its leg and wing.  Nothing was broken. The Good Samaritan took it black to release it near where it was found. 

This was the little piece of fishing line with a tangled feather.  

As for the goats, we were moving them to another field and I noticed one of the kids limping.  It had a broken rear leg. (That bend is not supposed to be there) I have no idea what happened to it.  But is was one of the kids that I supplemented with a bottle for a few weeks after it was born because it had injured a front leg.  

So it is much tamer than any other random goat kid we might have.  He will live in the dog pen and barn for a couple of weeks while he recuperates with a splint on.  

Then coming back from the barn, not one, not two, but three rabbits were in the yard.  

Anyone like rabbit meat and want to come get some?