Sun Flowers

I took Seven out on an unplanned ride on Tuesday evening (7/9/13) and rode over to the farmers land, across the rail road tracks. As I came down the other side I was treated to bright yellow sun flowers all a bloom with the evening sun just touching them for the last time!

Fearlessness & Fire

Meadow showed me how truly smart and fearless she is by jumping up two steps and into the hay barn to check things out! She went right over to the mattruss and poked it and then checked out the freezer and the bag of sheep mineral.  She didn't even take a bite of hay! I was unloading some stuff and turned my back for a second and in she went again! 

Finally got a free evening with NO RAIN! So I burned the pile of brush and branches from the tree that got knocked down in the storm, a few weeks ago! Up it went! 

Twila Is Kid Tested & Approved

Kid Tested and Approved!! A visit today from friends Will, Bev and their 5 year old son Henry. We visited and fed the sheep and Henry chased them all round herding them!  Then we caught Twila and he led her in and helped groom her. Will led Twila around and around the yard for Henry to have a nice long donkey ride. Then Bev wanted to take a spin around the yard! She even got some trot out of her too! Then Henry wanted to ride with Mom so we tried her double! 

Twila was well rewarded on this hot day with some watermelon. 

Bev and Henry riding Twila double! 

Bev displaying the Queen Wave and some laughing, 

for which Twila is famous for producing in her riders!!  

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Awesome Neighbor Comes To The Rescue

A few weeks ago a really bad storm blew through town. Hard rain and some wild winds, I was lucky to only lose a few shingles from my roof and a tree at the bottom of the pasture.  That night I moved the mules/donkeys into the sheep pasture and the sheep in to the pasture with the tree down. Being an Oak tree, I did not want them to eat the leaves and mess with the partially down fence.

On July 3rd I had a big tooth pulled and spent most of the day on the 4th in my recliner but by that evening I was feeling better and that tree at the bottom of the pasture didn't seem so big. (This was also the first BLUE SKY day we have had in weeks)
So I got my little electric saw-zaw and my hand saw and headed down the hill. As I got closer I remembered how much bigger the tree was than I remembered.
OK, so move to plan B.
Cut some of the side branches off the tree so that when someone came over with a chain saw it would be easier for them to chop the trunk of the tree down.
So I raised my saw-zaw and started in on the first limb. It was not really going well as the shaving had already gone into my eyes, hair and down my shirt, when David drove down his driveway on his trail machine. He stopped and asked me what I was wanting to do with that tree.
I told him plan B and he said, "Stay here, I am going to go get my chain saw." He was back in minutes and cutting the tree to bits! I could hardly keep up pulling the big branches away as he cut them! WOW!  He soon had the tree off of the fence and the broken part of the trunk on the ground!
I am so grateful for all that help! So amazed how quickly he just took care of that problem!

Neighbor making short work of the damaged tree! AWESOME! THANK YOU SO MUCH!

Beautiful Butterfly who came to check out the good vibes of neighbor helping neighbor! 

Something from 7 Different Places, Equal 1 Special Bridle for Meadow!

This is Meadow's Bridle. I used something from the following places to pull this all together!

1. Used Horse Headstall I got with some stuff from a friend (brow band too small)

2. Brow band from a old mule bridle (head stall was too big for Meadow)

3. Used Bit purchased from a friend

4. Throat Latch replaced by a leather smith 

5. Horse Hair Tassels - from some stuff I had from another project

6. Reins from supplier on Ebay

7. Conchos from different supplier on Ebay

Finally got to try it on her today! Perfect fit and not too shabby either! 

Mmmmmm that MAGIC Number 7 at work again.......???

Meadow Meets The RED BALL!

Originally my Corgi's ball was a horse toy ball I bought for the mules and when they didn't like it I gave it to Reuben. I now have a new red ball that Levi loves to play with all the time! On this evening the mules were standing around looking bored. So much to Levi's dismay I took his ball and threw it over the fence for Meadow to take a look at!  She stepped away from it at first but then walked right up to it, sniffed and then pawed it. I kicked it around a little and she followed it a little but soon lost interest. Seven was not too interested in having that ball any where near him.  

Levi sure was relieved once he got his ball back!  Maybe I will order Meadow on of those giant horse sized balls to play with!

Meadow and the RED BALL! 

Seven leaving the area! 

You Know It Is HOT When......

The Corgi's want their Pool set up! And YES that is a Corgi DOOR I cut into the side of the pool! 

You see strange Cloud Formations! I have a friend in Missouri who sent me a photo of in Face Book or nearly the same looking clouds from the same afternoon! Amazing! 

We decided it looked like GOD took a rake to his clouds! 

Your very sensitive mule, SEVEN, stands with out being held to be hosed off! 

Even the Butterflies are looking for a DRINK! 

 You see a wonderful Rainbow after a big thunderstorm! 

 The Farrier comes REALLY early in the Morning!  This was an exciting Day! I have owned Twila the donkey for 1 year now and we trimmed the last of the White Line damaged hoof off! 

A celebration is in order! 

Navarre was so excited he had to step into the mix of things to give Twila a HUG!  

Might have even been too HOT for HUGS! 

A Concert, A Competition And A Cut!

We started Friday Night with dinner and a Zac Brown Band Concert! With Reed, Tara and Jim! Late night but it was a wonderful concert! No one sat down the entire time!  Zac played some of his music but then we heard everything from Metallica to Dave Matthews Band! 

Tara and Reed waiting on the lawn for the show to start! 

The next morning Christina and I left for an obstacle course competition called the June Jam, in Lumberton, NC. I also brought along Meadow for a field trip! She was great and showed a lot of patience being at the trailer for most of the day. I tacked her up and ponied her all over the show grounds and she impressed me with how well she took everything in.  

Photo by: www.goodcallequineservices.com/  Jan Brown DeVos 

It was a HOT day that went back and forth between blazing sun to clouds and drizzle. We never knew what to expect, but we made the most of it! I met some new friends and got to know some new ones better.   

Seven and I won the in-hand class out of 20 people! This is one of the tougher obstacles! 

Photo by: Beth Antone Herndon

Then in the Open Riding Class I placed 4th but Christina placed 2nd on my own MULE!  She has been asking to show him in a competition for a while so I let her and she beat my on my own mule! 

We returned home at Mid-Night so I slept in the next day. But with some really hot weather predicted for the next week I knew I had to give Navarre his Summer hair cut! He was very good and I think knew I was helping him out! 

So after that, I was glad the next day was Monday so I could go to WORK and get some rest working!

Fitting It All Into One Weekend

I traveled home Friday night and landed late at my parents house.  The next morning Mom and I met with an old friend Trish (I used to show Quarter Horses with her daughter). We visited her new horse, she got from a friend of mine, and got a tour of her nice house. Then we headed out for a great lunch in down town Clifton and a visit to a local store there. After that we headed to Clifton Saddlery, a store that started in Clifton but had gotten so popular they had to move out of the little town. It is not a huge store and now sells to all pets and even carries horse feed now! Mom even found some new boots to garden in! We said out good byes in the parking lot and Trish surprised me with a bag filled with goodies! The other week when she was visiting my place she saw my donkey planter collection and gave me a wonderful addition to it! I just love it! Thanks Trish and it has been so nice catching up with you....  Wishing you many happy riders with your new horse Tye!

That evening we celebrated Fathers Day, as day early. With dinner and a fun ice cream cake for dad! He also enjoyed his cards and gifts too! Happy Fathers Day to the best Dad ever! I love you! 

On Sunday we all headed over to Liz Coughlin's house for a Farewell Party for my Best friend Cricket and her Family! They are headed to Australia for possibly three years for work. I hate to see them go but I know it will be a wonderful adventure for everyone in the family! 

Me, Cricket and Perrin, friends since High School. 

Dad Met a new friend at the party! He owned a 1967? Jaguar. He had bought it new and let Dad have a sit in it!  It was Awesome and one of Dad's dream cars! 

Quick Storm but Lasting Problems

On June 13th, 2013 we had a bad line of thunderstorms crossed over the St. Clair Red Mule Farm! I got home from work and barely had time to move my truck and horse trailer out of harms way and let the dogs out for a bit before it started kicking up! We ran for the house! We sat in the living room and listened to the wind blow so hard. I have never heard my house creak and moan like that before!  The power went out!
Jamie my neighbor called me and said the giant pecan tree in their yard had broken in two! I went to the side door to see it just as the rain hit! It blew some more and rained cats and dogs for another 30 minutes. I looked in on the mules and donkeys and all five of them were loaded into the stalls together! I took a short nap!
Soon it was over, the rain let up and the sun peaked between the clouds. I went out and checked for damage. Found tons of sticks down in the yard and some singles blew up off the corner of my roof. After a quick call to my roofer, to get on his list, I went to feeding and checking fence lines.
I found one of the smaller trees at the bottom of the pasture was snapped in half and laying on the fence in the back. I quickly switched the sheep into that pasture and the mules and donkeys into the other pasture. The Mules were already chewing on the down tree and I did not want to get them sick from eating it! I would have to deal with that tree later!
I drove out to see if I could find something for dinner. I found my neighbor Larry's big tree was down in his front yard and covering the whole road in front of his house. The city workers were already there starting to clean things up. Such a shame to lose such a pretty tree.
The power was out in much of Zebulon but when I did find Taco Bell and Arby's had power they also had a long line of people waiting for food. I decided that I would go home and just have some cereal.
On the way home I spotted a rainbow and as I arrived home one of the most beautiful sun sets I have ever seen! Of course I took some photos!

The next morning still no power, my hopes of it coming back on quickly were dashed when Jamie told me the main wire was down in her side yard.  I got dressed and headed to work. Found that the power was also out there too and no idea of when it would be restored, I headed home to deal with the problems at the farm.  Debbie had power and offered to let me bring over all my food so that it would not spoil and fill up a 50 gallon water tank! Then we went to lunch! My neighbors kids played all day in the downed pecan tree like it was their new jungle gym!

As the day went on I started getting backed for my trip to Virginia but was still not sure if I could leave with the power still being off. At 2pm the linemen showed up and put the line back up! Then at 4pm they turned on the power! YEA!!  I decided to leave my food at Debbie's house till I got home and still take the dogs as planned to Judy's for the weekend. Christina would come and feed everyone else for me!
So I got a shower and took off for some fun and REST with my parents!

Wind whipping through the leaves in the huge oak tree!

Mules and Donkeys not worried a bit about the big storm coming.

Storm approaching.

Neighbor's pecan tree.

Roof Damage!

Rainbow after the storm!

Most beautiful Sun Set EVER!!! 

Riding with More Friends! 6/9/2013

Another fun day of riding and friends!
I rode Twila and Debbie Richardson brought over he new awesome donkey named Blue.
Reed Tucker rode Ted and Amy rode her horse Fiona. Tara, #2 came over for a ride on Sadie Mae!

Great day, a little humid but we made it work!

Twila got to wear her new Bridle! I picked out the sliver and Circle G Livestock Feed-Goods fixed it up for me and made the brow band bigger!!  Twila approved of it! !

The view from Twila Merrill 

Heading through the all grass

Debbie and Blue

Amy and Fiona/Reed and Ted

Tara and Sadie Mae

Amy and Fiona

Twila Merrill and her new bridle! 

Two Mule Rides & A Delivery

Had two nice rides with Suzette today! She rode Sadie Mae while my first ride was on Meadow in the pasture and then on the trail with Seven. 
We rode over to the river by 64 Bus. between Zebulon and Wendell to see the river AWAY over it's banks and running hard! We got about 6 inches on Friday from the first tropical storm of the hurricane season. 

Then we wished the old Ray's Restaurant was open for a late lunch. 

I left Meadow tied to the back of my trailer in the shade while we rode out. I had to laugh when I came home and found a delivery from FedEx. I can't imagine delivery guys surprise when he walked into the yard and came around the back of the trailer to see Meadow standing there. I bet the both jumped! Nothing but good training for her!

Riding with Friends 6/2/2013

My friend Trish came down to visit the mules. I have not seen her in well over 10 years. I used to show Quarter Horses with her daughter and I also used to house sit for her. We had a great time catching up and stayed up way to late the night before!
Sunday we dragged ourselves out of bed and got breakfast ready just in time for my friend Carol to show up. We pulled out all the mules and started getting everyone ready to ride.
Soon Christina showed up with her horse Oakley and then Tara with her horse Tye.
Soon the trail ride was on!
We had a wonderful ride! All the equines were good and the weather was wonderful with a cool breeze blowing!
Once we returned, we were treated to lunch that Tara brought, a salmon pasta and some delicious bread! Then it was time for birthday cake! We sang Christina, Happy Birthday and then made a big dent into a strawberry torte cake!
It was a lovely day with some lovely ladies! Not a day I shall soon forget!

Trish and Tye

Carol and Sadie Mae, Carol's first trail ride!

Tara and Twila Merrill

Carol got Sadie to get on the stand! 

The Group!

Tara and Twila

Christina and Oakley

The group between from between Seven's Ears! 

Trish, Tara and Tye

Meadow spent the day learning some patience! Good Girl!