Calm Before The Storm

With hurricane Florence on the horizon, my sister and I went to help get our mother out of harm's way.  She was sitting in the direct path of the predicted eye landfall.  

 The ocean didn't have a hint of things to come. 

 But with possible 80 foot waves, I'm not sure the house will be here next week.

 The beach was pretty much deserted. C and I went for a short walk and I found some faces to express our thoughts.

 A hurricane is coming, "Oh noooo!"

 Such a sad day.

 Maybe it won't be as bad as they say and everything will be fine.

 Guess we will have to wait and see. 

 Just a pretty bird picture.

Hope there is a house to come back to. 

If Blue Is The New Black Then Why Is It Purple

I was looking for some black paint to use on a new yard art project (more on that when I finish it).  So, I headed to Lowe's to check out their clearance paint rack. 

I found this can that said, "New Black" on the label and the sample looked black. It was $8 off original price and was a primer/paint in one.  I thought it was going to be a score. 

 Then I painted with it and I am going with blue not black.

 The paint brush handle is black, at best the color could be a blue/gray but definitely not black.  I might just have to just it as a primer and search more for maybe an Old Black.

 Then I thought I would try out this Blu-Kote on Otoelene's hooves.  Another blogger is using it on her horse's cracked hooves with great success.

 Otoelene's feet have been worse, but I don't ever want to go there again.  I would really like for the hoof wall to stop flaking off below the nails.  And what color do you think Blu-Kote is?

 That looks purple to me.

So the experiment begins.

Coupon Saturday #16

I have been talking myself out of couponing for awhile now, but there were some diapers on clearance at Walmart that I couldn't pass up.  I am sure some of you may be wondering why I want diapers.  Well, they make great hoof bandages for abscesses.  

Old picture for illustration only.  No current abscesses, knock on wood.

And I am sure you know I have plenty of those.  

 And the great thing was, everything had a coupon.  I first went Thursday, handed over my coupons and the cashier said, "I can't take those, they are for more than the item."  I tried to explain that it was fine, I had done it before, friends had done it before, it should work.  But she wouldn't budge.  So I walked out with nothing.  I tried again yesterday.  This time I had a copy of Walmart's coupon policy in hand that stated,

• "The coupon value will be applied to the price of an item allowing any overage to be applied to the transaction total."

And also, this time I picked an express line that was long and with a young cashier.  She scanned everything without question.  Then, when she got to the total, she said, "Wow, I need to do this."  The diapers have a regular price of $9, and the kleenex was on clearance down from $4.44.  I think I got my 86 cents worth.

A Little Ponying

Draper has started to test her boundaries while riding.  So far I have managed to get her over her little spells, but it is always a little scary.  Sometimes she stops and stubs up, then starts backing up then rearing a little.  I have had to get off, lunge her, then get back on to continue where we were going.  The rearing is really troubling to me because she does it when I am not putting any pressure on the reins, just asking for forward.  So today I decided that Otoelene could teach her a thing or two. 

 But first, I thought I might start working Otoelene on thinking about jumping.  I figure if Brother is doing it, she should be able to also.  She already trots and canters over ground poles so this was just a refresher today.  Tomorrow I think I will add a cross pole jump. 

 Draper hung out in the barn while I rode Otoelene, then I untied her and took off after a little directing by Otoelene to keep Draper in her place.  It is impossible to take a picture of yourself doing this, so this was the best I could do. 

 We went up and down some steep places and across a small creek. 

 When I got to the cattle I realized that I had dropped my camera somewhere so I had to backtrack.  J had just turned the cattle into this field and the grass is 1 1/2 feet tall and lopped over.   I thought my camera was gone for good but as you can see I did find it.   Draper was calm around the cattle.  Hopefully, Otoelene's manners are rubbing off. 

 We headed back to the barn after a successful outing. 

Love my two blonds. 

Short Local Hike

E was home for the weekend and since she doesn't care for trail riding (really, unbelievable right), so we went on a hike instead.  

 This was a short 1 1/2 mile up and back trail.

 But the view was wonderful, overlooking the town.

 It was overcast and thundering the whole time.

 We could even see it raining in one direction.  Amazingly, we didn't get wet.

  Since there were limited flowers,  I took mushroom pictures.

 E pointed out some mushrooms.

 She said this was an edible one called black trumpet.

Very nice short hike.

Amazing Brother Update

Brother's new owner has been kind enough to update me on how he is doing.  Apparently, his first month was spent getting use to barn life

 and coming in and going out to pasture.  

 The second month has been getting him back to working.  And they have even started JUMPING!

I really didn't know he had it in him.  He looks wonderful.  I am so happy things are working out.  The new owner still has not been able to ride him yet as she is still recovering from a broken arm.  This is the barn manager riding and he also has a trainer.  Looks like he got a great home. 

Starting Calving and Feeding

Our fall cattle have started to calve. 

 Looks like the Hereford bull did his job.  Now J has to drive to JJ's daily or more to check on things.  This is a first calf heifer and J said you can't even tell she calved (other than there being a calf there of course).

The other night I mentioned that the calves grazing behind the house looked pretty, green grass, blue sky, healthy cattle.  These are the ones we just sent to feed in Nebraska yesterday.  J's comment was, "I think they will look a lot prettier in the bank account."