Redneck Closet

Sorry for the break. I've been at a Continuing Education meeting in North Carolina. I got the visit my sister there with my mother, E and another sister. We had a good time eating out, checking out thrift stores and flea markets, playing ping pong and watching Monty Python, and having a cookout over a campfire. The others went to the mall, hiked to see a waterfall, and visited the Thomas Wolfe house while I attended classes. C has all of the pictures of the trip. Too bad I can't post the one of my mother getting a fabreez shower after the campfire.

I will show you this though. We pass this house on our way the the trails we normally ride. They always have laundry hanging on the porch. The articles of clothing do seem to change. It appears that they just use the clothes line on the porch as a closet.

Walnuts

It's time to pick up nuts.

Black Walnuts that is. We have several areas on the farm to choose from. This one is in the horse field. They have done a good job grazing so the walnuts are easy to find.
J wanted to pick some up in one of the cattle fields also. Emma may look like she is helping but I think she just found an interesting hole.
E on the other hand did help.
J strapped on the buckets and headed for the house. Now we have to let them dry and get the hulls off so we can crack them this winter.

Awesome Ride

J and I went trail riding today. V and E didn't want to go - UNBELIEVABLE . The weather was perfect, sunny, upper 60's, no wind.

J rode Jessica. She had a small spell of trying to buck but got over it with about 5 minutes of lunging. J had a great ride on her after that.
Surprisingly, we didn't run into very many people out on the trails.
The trees and mountains were beautiful.
It's hard getting a picture of the horse you are riding. Hank did his best to cooperate.
He really is a super horse. I hardly ever had to hold the reins. A few times he did veer off the trail but only under the pretense of getting stuck in some bushes so he could eat. We rode for about 3 hours.
Jessica has put on quite a bit of weight since the endurance ride. It doesn't seem to take long for things to get out of shape, people included. I hope I'm not sore tomorrow.

Beautiful Day

It rained this morning 6 tenths of and inch which was badly needed. After the rain it turned into a beautiful day.

I made a double batch of pear sauce. Can you see any pears missing from the tree yet? Maybe I need a bigger pot.
The sunset was very peaceful.
The fall colors are starting to reach their peak. I'll have to try to get some good pictures of the mountains this weekend.

Auction

I went to an auction this weekend of 24 acres w/rustic cabin and junk.

The land is even more rural than where we are. The views were great.
The "rustic cabin" was an old trailer with an addition tacked on the front. They spent 4 hours selling the junk. The land only brought $56,000.
I had to leave before they got to the horse equipment. At the rate they were going it probably would have been another 2 hours before they got to it. There was a brand new pack saddle I would liked to have bid on, not that I would have ever used it but nice to have just in case.

More Calf Weaning

Because of the dry weather we are getting short on grass. So today we are weaning the calves here at the house.

J was calling them to the barn,
and I was following up behind the stragglers on Hank.
Hank is very good about riding through the cattle but he doesn't seem to know what to do to move them. I think this is the first thing I've tried with him that he wasn't that good at. Maybe with a little more experience he'll catch on.

Garden Finds

I'm still getting a few things out of the garden.

I haven't tried this cucumber yet but I'm not betting on it being very good. The tommy toes on the other hand have continued to be great. I've got lots of peppers getting ripe. The surprise was the singe pea volunteer. They are great raw.