I think I am playing farmtown too much, riding too much and just staying too busy for this every day or week blog LOL!!

I rode in the Fourth of July parade here in my little town. My first parade – not the horse’s! We won second best theme – “Farm Life”. Biggin was his awesome self – except for the Llamas. I guess all of the horses thought the lanolin smelled bad because NONE of the horses could stand the beautiful llamas.

(side note about this pic – does everyone still feel and look fat to themselves after they lose a lot of weight?! LOL)

The 20X40 shed is gutted, inventoried, dispersed to the burn pile, dump pile or salvaged and the new ones are up. I painted the shed – referred to as the barn – pink! The walls are med pink and the floor is cranberry.

There is hay in it and four saddle trees – pic shows just 2. I am working on a shelf that will run the width of the barn across the back for seasonal items like the water heater and duck heat lamp.

Thinking of the ducks…. I am entering 3 of the young ones in the county fair this year. And the orchid that grows 8 – 10 shoots full of blossoms. We found out that 2 of the new ducks are male… was wondering why I was not finding eggs! Hopefully when the sheds are completed, I will be able to finish the duck house before winter. The sheds are getting the roofs finished, a storage area made between them and steps to my barn.

I have been riding Biggin about every other day now. Up and down the mountains and around the trees….. the other day we went about 8 miles. I just keep pushing farther and farther

Hopefully I will be back soon…. happy trails, everyone!

Catch up time Been very busy here since the weather has warmed up and the snow and MUD are gone. Lots of yard clean up to get ready for new barn roof…. these were taken during breaks in the work….. I call them Eye Candy

This is what I was working on…. it is bare naked now

baby ducks – almost full grown already!

The young and the old

just the babies…. they are very pretty!

and…. the VERY BEST eye candy!

The new…

First day home from the feed store

day 6

The old ~ and the new snow

Bathing in the wash/creek that runs through my property

I went on my first trail ride, ALONE, yesterday. I have been scared to go alone but I have not found anyone who will ride with me and I can’t wait forever! I used to be invincible – I am too old to really believe that anymore! But my confidence took a great jump yesterday! Biggin and I went down a road with cars and all around a treed field. He was excellent! One small step today…. 

Nirvana will be when I can take my camera out of my pocket and take the same pic of being on Ruskie – without being scared of him taking off out from under me!

So, this is my view from Heaven!

Our trip to the fair was fun. Leavi felt better after a 3 hr nap and the storms made a parting in the sky for the fairgrounds. It rained all around us! We opted out on the Demolition Derby because we got such a late start. I got a few pics with my camera when the full battery died… time to go buy another. The boys took off with their friends and, for the first time, I went wandering by myself. I have always enjoyed watching people and found lots of entertainment!

The Tall Man was very colorful~

I followed this little number around for a while

Then I stopped to watch the Magic Show~

I went to check on the Little Man while he was waiting in line for a ride..

Went off of my diet for a Philly Cheese (oooH it was sooo GOOD!) and an ice cream. While I ate my ice cream, I was entertained by this guy~

But I think my favorite part was the 4-H Livestock Auction. I had many friends from “home” who were there to sell their projects -- chickens, rabbits, a turkey, cattle and pigs. This was the Grand Champion steer. His size put my Arabian to shame!! Sorry for the lousy shot -- I only had one chance to get this.

 The auctioneer man was VERY entertaining -- you will need sound ~on~ for this.. again, sorry for the video quality -- it was my phone… but I really wanted to share the audio part.

I could have stayed until closing but I had to get home and feed the critters that I own!

This is where I spend as much of my time as I can – with the horses. They calm me, center me and make me laugh. The ducks have been going out to Shadow’s pen to help him eat his oats for the past week. Please, excuse his bony butt and winter hair…. he is about 26 now and this is the best that he has looked since I have had him.

See the brown one in the hay, waiting to dive into the oats?

This duck decided to stop and groom a bit….

And this is of my two big guys, Biggin on the left and Ruskie, on the right… both on a diet (and always hungry!) and needing exercise… my bad!

I am reallllly happy that WP did this last upgrade. I have been wanting to share so much but when this doesn’t work properly, I just get to frustrated to deal with it. And this is suppose to be fun for me!

Two more ducks joined the farm the other day. They are young still and I am hoping that they are hens, like the two that I already have….more eggs

In their house- the new ones are on the left

wooo hooooo! – let’s try another!

Late afternoon swim time

This is for Tonka – a little guy who was rescued with his mom and another filly by Beauty’s Haven last Friday. He was only 4 mos old. He, his mother and several other horses were starved to skeletons. Beauty’s Haven did all they could and more… gave him love and never left him alone. But he lost his fight last night and crossed Rainbow Bridge. I am sending prayers and love to all who tried to help him not to suffer any longer.

I guess I will always remain so naive about how mean people are to each other and to all of the creatures that this Earth has been blessed with to love and enjoy. Please, click the link to see news footage of this tragedy and leave a comment. Also, give your fellow man/woman a kiss and don’t forget your four-legged (or other friend) companion a big hug. Enjoy all that you have… now.

http://wcjb.com/a2xv

Beauty’s Haven is a Friend of mine… link on the right. I admire and love all that they do.

update….

This is such a sad day… I just got word that a good friend lost her fight of 2 yrs with ovarian cancer last night. She was the first friend I had when I moved here 8 yrs ago. Bobbette, you will be missed by so many!

Happy Mother’s Day to ALL!!

This morning I was greeted with these blue birds… GH has quit smoking so I was out on the porch at 6:30am to have a smoke alone. These guys have made a nest in the porch support beam.

The nest and the female

And as an added bonus…. Belle at 6 months

Last Tuesday I woke up at 5:30am and was so sick that I could not hold anything down. So after a long nap I went outside to sit in the 60 degree weather to watch all of my animals playing in the sun with each other. The horse pasture had dried out enough so that the horses could walk all over and head box with each other. The ducks were enjoying a warm weather swim while Belle annoyed them and chased the cats. She was having a great time!

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The ducks ignored her as much as they could…….

 while Brandy rolled in the sun.

Then today the snow started again! And it was almost all melted.

And tonight we have this! Thankfully, it has been a light snow and most of it is not sticking.

Sorry for the “wardrobe malfunction” of the blog this week…. was time to renew my domain name. I guess I did not get notification of the year anniversary because I changed my email addy but failed to notify the domain registry site.

Next week is Spring Break here in Northern AZ. My oldest daughter will be here from Santa Cruz, CA for the whole week and my younger daughter will be here for the weekend, too So, I will have all of my kids here at the same time!! I will miss my GH, as he is still on the road. His birthday is Monday and we will make a call to sing him Happy Birthday!