An Allie and Sadie Afternoon

Virginia and Mike brought the girls over yesterday after lunch.  We had a few hours to enjoy playing before we had to get ready to go to a concert we had tickets for.  

The weather was nice and Sadie wanted to run around outside.  So of course Allie wanted to too.  I wanted to test out Sadie's new sparkle brush and stirrups that we gave her for her birthday.  

Sadie said the brush worked good.  

And I think the stirrups worked too. I tried to get her to stand up to test the length better but she just didn't understand what I was asking.  She thought I wanted her to stand up on the seat of the saddle.  Oh well, the length looked fine for the limited riding we do.  And she seemed more balanced.  I even let her trot some by herself.  

Allie is still scared of the horse and didn't want anything to do with her.  She played in the shop and on the tractor with Virginia and had a ball. 

Otoelene was a good girl so two treats from Sadie.  Next up was going to visit Glitter and Gold. 

But we had a greeting from Power Puff Girl along the way.  Surprisingly, this did not scare Sadie in the least.  She petted her and talked about how silly dogs are.  

We made it to the goats.  Sadie talked about how their mothers didn't give them milk but we did and now they are getting big like their mothers.  (Notice the stuffed horse she is carrying around.)

Next came playing dress up.  Allie did not want to participate in this activity either.  Virginia worked on getting her to take a nap instead.  I ended up changing Sadie's dress 3 times.  She really likes this one I made for Virginia when she was 2.  Sadie ended up wearing it home. 

Virginia didn't get any chocolate stains on it at her birthday party. 

I think Emily was 4 when she wore it. It will probably fit Allie next week. 

 

New Helper

Monday we worked the cattle that will be going to the feed lot in a couple of weeks.  

Joe was wonderful with the pre work as usual.  He had already gotten one group from another field in and was working on towing this group in with the tractor and hay. 

Of course when I show up they all have to stop and stare.  

Then it was on to the sorting, little ones and replacements out, feedlot ones in.  

The ones from the first field had to stare too. 

                             

Next stop, the barn.  Emily is a wiz at the headgate so she took up position there.  Joe brought the calves up the chute and I gave the shots.  But we had a new helper...

Keiran was eager to learn.  Under Emily's tutelage, he too became a wiz at the headgate.  I don't think he liked giving shots as much.  

Work done, cattle sorted and turned out.  February 14th is the appointed day for the long trip to Nebraska. 
 

Still Riding

I am not much for riding in bad weather anymore.  I have gotten wimpy.  But we did have a couple of nice-ish days recently.  

Saturday I caught Hugo.  Surprisingly, he wasn't too difficult to catch this time.  I spent about half an hour combing his rats nest of a tail.  

Once he was all cleaned up I went ahead and saddled him up.  I lunged him for 5 minutes, he was acting fine so I got on.  There were no issues until I went to get off.  He acted like my right leg coming up was the spookiest thing ever.  It took quite a bit of desensitizing  for me to be able to get back off without him scooting sideways.  Not really sure what that was all about.  
 

Then the farrier came Monday to reset Otoelene's shoes.  So while I had her up I went ahead and rode her around.  I want to keep her tuned up in case Sadie or Allie want to ride.  She did perfect.  I could just jog around on her all day.  

Cattle Obstacle Course

Earlier this week we moved the cows off the rented land across the road and took half to the house and the other half a mile down the gravel road to our other farm.   We ran into a bit of an obstacle that the cows really didn't want to go past.  

 With some whistling, yelling and stick waving I finally got them to go past the barking pack of Rhodesian Ridgebacks. 

From there it was easy sailing.  And we didn't even met a car. 

Afternoon Pinterest Project

Sadie loves to play dress up.  I have a bunch of costumes that I had saved from when Virginia and Emily where little.  They are all stored in a box that Sadie digs through to find what she wants.  Recently, I put the dresses on hangers and hung them off the ironing board.  Sadie could see them better and seemed to like the new arrangement.  But I didn’t think the ironing board should be their permanent home.  So I googled DIY clothes rack. 

This was the one I picked out as my inspiration.  It looked pretty simple and doable.

 And this is what I ended up doing with some stuff I already had on hand.  I haven’t decided yet whether or not to cut off the overhanging shelf.  And when the weather is better I plan to paint it white.

But I think it worked out well.  The box with the accessories fits under the shelf, there is plenty of room for outfits, and the shelf can hold the shoes.  I might add pegs on the ends for scarves and purses.  I am calling this a Pinterest success.

At The Feeder

The other day Emily said she had seen a fox sparrow at the feeder.  Fox sparrow is not on my eBird list yet so I asked Emily to show it to me the next time she saw it.  

So the next day she showed it to me along with a song sparrow for comparison.

This is the fox sparrow that I saw today.  With the temperature in the low teens, the feeders were very popular today.

I spent about 15 minutes checking out the feeders this afternoon to see if I could identify the birds on my own. 

There was a red bellied woodpecker enjoying the suet feeder.

A dark eyed junco.

Lots of house finches,

A pair of Downey woodpeckers,

And a white crowned sparrow.  I didn’t take pictures but I also saw a chipping sparrow, nut hatch, cardinal, blue jay, tufted titmouse, and a chickadee.  I am sure there were more but that was all I could manage without Emily.  

 

Wanting To Learn

We are wanting to go ahead and sell our billy goats soon.  This is the second year we have used them.  They were easier to keep over the summer than some have been in the past.  But since they have been busy breeding 70 nannies, they have lost some condition.

I thought I would check their eyelid color (for anemia) and deworm them if needed.  They actually both looked pretty good.  

Keiran said he wanted to go with me to help and learn.  He and Emily have talked about homesteading when they get settled with new jobs.  The billy goats were good to learn from because they are pretty tame, wild enough to no run over you but tame enough to catch out in the open with a little grain.   I ended up deworming one and giving copper boluses to both.  Keiran was good help and a good student.