Ebay Purchase

I made my second ever ebay purchase which arrived today.  It is a Billy Royal Mexican sterling silver western show halter.  I had to go catch Pep and try it on her as soon as it came.

E will be very glad to replace the 35 year old buck stitched halter she has been using for shows.

Does this halter look familiar A?

I think this new one looks pretty good on Pep.

J has decided to try and ride V's horse Jessica now.  He got along pretty good on her today in the ring.

Garden Disappointment

I told J this was going to be my year of the garden.  I was going to get it planted on time and keep the weeds hoed out and the tomatoes tied up.

We bought broccoli plants at Lowe's and had them set out by early May.  E was looking forward to having fresh broccoli because she was getting tired of asparagus.
However, it looks like our broccoli has turned out to be cabbage.  This is a major  disappointment as none of us like cabbage.  J said I could always sell them at the farmer's market.

V on Mt. Rogers

V brought along her wilderness kit C had given her.  The binoculars came in handy looking for M back on the trail.

We saw some of the "wild" ponies.  I gave this one a couple of carrots.  It really didn't want to leave us alone after that.
Toward the end of the trip V was getting tired enough to lay on the ground during our rest stops.
She said after 3 trips to Mt. Rogers that it is boring and she would rather go somewhere else.

E on Mt. Rogers

E decided to carry a wide assortment of objects with her for the 16 mile hike.  While I was debating wether or not to carry the added weight of  some band-aids and first aid cream, E was packing along her library book.

She also entertained us with some knock-knock jokes,
brought along a hand exerciser,
and a slinky.
When we got home I also discovered she had carried a rubber lizard that she never showed us.  She claims her shoulders were not sore toting all of this around for 8 1/2 hours.

Mt Rogers 2009

Well, we did it again.  We hiked the 16 mile round trip to the top of Mt. Rogers yesterday.  Some of us are walking better today than others.  The whole trip including rest stops and lunch took 8 1/2 hours.  M was all smiles at the beginning of the trail with Bunny.  Bunny was wearing his parka C made him for Mt. Everest. 

J stopped to wait for some of us by this interesting tree.
The very top of the mountain is tree covered so there is no view from there.  There is however a large open area called the scales that affords wonderful views. 
There has been a lot of rain lately and parts of the trail were very wet and muddy.  E went through 3 pairs of socks trying to keep her feet dry.
You can't tell from this picture but M is all smiles again at the finish.  We were all very glad to make it back in one piece.
More pictures to come...

More Bad Pruning

Our love hate relationship with the goats has swung back to the hate side.  They got in the yard again and showed their preferences for shrubs and trees instead of grass.

They really like this red twig dogwood.
This is the second time they have gone after this poor maple.  I might have to give up on it.
They tried the iris but left the leaves on the ground after biting them off.
They also seemed partial to this river birch.  J is ready to sell them all.

Working Cattle

We worked the cattle at our other farm this morning.  We used the new cattle pens for the first time with the whole herd.  The cattle worked through the chute so much easier than with what was there before.  It took less than 2 hours for the 2 of us to work 39 cow/calf pairs.

Before, I would have to hide so the cattle would come down the chute.  Now I can get in a position to actually help.  Plus, I get to stand in the shade of the covered head gate most of the time.  Quite a luxury on an 80 degree day.

This afternoon I sprayed the thistles in the riding ring.  The horses really hate dodging those things.