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!