No crisis

Why do I spend so much time with manure, freeze, sweat and put up with all the mess and hard work of horses?

Well, Java of course, she is worth every bit.  But the other reason is walking out the door to feed, and this is my view.  They are in there, ready for breakfast and to start the day... and I get to do all that here at home.  I like that.

While they are eating their breakfast, I set up the paddocks with hay, water, etc. 

The dogs come with me.  Bandy is always near by, keeping watch.  Mackie is always wandering around.

This area is bigger than the photo makes it look, but this finally will be another paddock soon.

Then I wrangle the dogs back into the house and head back to the barn... gazing at all the grass growing, and what a nice spring it has been. 

And, toss the horses out.  They are still acclimating to grass, so they spend most of their time in their sacrafice paddocks... eating hay and looking at the grass...  They get it later in the day.

And, good news.  I am going to skip the midlife crisis. 
And, our septic problems worked out.  We built an outhouse... just kidding!  A couple of experts checked everything out and we worked out a plan.  All is well.

The builder neighbor finally moved in... I'll update you soon.  No, he does not have horses, that's OK.

Life is normal here:

I would post more often, but I'm busy. Taxes, dogs, feed deliveries, riding, grooming, septic tank failure, concrete deliveries of the wrong size, property tax reassessment, tree people that work for the state to get approval to cut down trees along the road, you know all the stuff!  As soon as I got over filing our taxes, the septic system is having some form of mid-life crisis... which seems like something that I want to have.  Those are fun, right?

Blue skies and sun this week.  Mackie loves sun baths:

The barn is still here:

The horses are spending a lot of time outside, the love the warmer temperatures lately:

Java's favorite paddock has been re-seeded and is resting.  Germination is prolific, and that is good:

Bandy got a hair cut. 

The top paddock is still resting, growing, looking good so far:

Bandy and Mackie, both have their toys safely in reach, ready for dinner:

tax time

I'm alive, all the animals are alive... but it's tax time, as I know you know... I LOVE tax time.  I am almost done and will post pretty pics of green grass and happy horses later... after I'm done with all this paper!!!  Do you love tax time as much as I do?

we did not float away

We got 8.44 inches of rain in a day.  Awesome.

The rain finally let up for a few mintues, and I took these photos.

The barn, it's still here. 

The horses at the time of this photo are in the barn happy as can be that they did not have to endure the monsoon.

Mackie's realistic squirrel toy looks drowned:

Mackie: I did not know there was a stream here:

Bandy:  Uh, I'm a little soggy:

Then I go down to the koi  pond and walk along the stream that feeds the pond and quickly confirmed something.  I had a suspicion for a while that something was not right... YES, I have a hole in my welly boots.  It's been a great 3 years wellie boots, I thought we would be together forever, but... apparently not.

SO, I wore my much boot shoes the next day.  The mud sucked the shoe off, and my foot with sock went right into the mud, deep.  Then I had to put my mud socked foot BACK INTO the shoe.  I wonder how long until I wear those again.  The sun is out today, so I'm back in my wellies.  :)

rain, new tractor - John Deere 2320

I'm miss you all... but it's been busy.  One horse out (good), one horse in (great!) and a new tractor.  We can get twice a much done now with me on one tractor and husband on the other... and the more we get done, the closer we are to one day... doing other things other than getting the property the best it can be.  We have a lot of projects going on, and neighbor drama, and horse antics, so we're not worried about being too boring at least.

But... sometimes the weather gets in the way... like... every three days.

Hmmm.... we empty the rain gauge regularly, since it only goes up to 6 inches.  But now the rain gauge is SITTING in water.  It's just a lot of rain that we are getting.  As long as we don't float away, it will all be fine.  Unfortunately, about 75 lbs. of grass seed that we just meticuliously planted probably has, but I"m sure someone, somewhere downstream will enjoy it.

The new tractor.  It's a John Deere 2320. 

About one minute after I took this photo, the delivery guy carefully unloaded it off his truck...

Then ran the ROPS (roll over protection) into the garage frame and door. 

The ROPS folds over... too bad be are about an inch short.  Well, at least we know now. 

So, what do you do with a brand new tractor?  Well, it was raining, big surprise, so we go to the one thing that always needs to be done... move manure!

Jeremy (that's Mr. Java's Mom's real name) takes the tractor up to the barn right away for some work!  Don't worry, I opened the gate for him:

Clean, shiny bucket (except for the delivery writing on the bottom that the dealer apparently was too bust to wipe off... that's OK, we'll get to that, or wear it off in about two more days:  

Clean, spanking brand new bucket:

Manure in.  Welcome to the family 2320!

As you can see in the background, Jim-bo's house is up.  He's getting ready to move in.  Suburbia found us.  Darn.  :)

no title

More snow...
It's nice. 

Lobster leaves at the end of this month.  We have a new resident coming in.  I approve of this move. 

We got the most awesome load of hay and straw in yesterday, and Mr. Java's Mom loaded it all.  Wow, it is stacked beautifully... neat as a pin.  Its the most the loft has ever held, about 225 bales.  Thank you.

I will soon be bedding on straw with pellet bedding underneath to absorb wetness.  Shavings don't break down fast enough, and there is more waste.  I like mucking the straw, and it makes such a nice fluffy comfy bed.  Java was my test case.  A couple of months ago I got a starter bale for her, and got the hang of mucking it, and lucky me, she does beautifully with it.  Stretch is going to start soon after I make sure he does not eat it, and the same scenario for the new horse when she arrives.  Lobster is on only pellet bedding.  Dear pellet bedding: I love you, your little pellets take the worst situatoin stall and make it nice.  No horse, even one who lives here cannot make me go insane based on his housekeeping habits, or lack thereof.  I would prefer pelleted straw, but the pelleted straw dudes don't call back...


Envisioning green grass and happy horses out here soon:

The kids were in the barn eating breakfast as I set up their paddocks:

Miss Super Princess Java enjoying her life:

Bandy making use of the freshly plowed path.  And, always on guard. 

Pretty snow...

I can't wait until this paddock is done "resting".  Patience is required for propper paddock rotation.  I'm not great with patience.

Stretch munching on his soaked hay cube brunch and hay.  He is wonderful:

Java bored:

Mackie being Mackie.

Irony

SO, life and manure management gets in the way of blogging sometimes.  When I figure this all out, I'll write a book for other small farm owners.

The chapter for this week would be: Isn't it Ironic.

I wrote about 3 drafts for this post.  And before I was able to post a single draft, the situation changed.  I'm even hesitating big time about posting this one...

I find the camera and take pics, then it snows.  The pics with no snow seem out of date. Then I have to find the camera again to take new photos.

I move Java away from a crowded, develeoped area to get away from machinery and development and a builder buys the lot next door and develops it.  And, stores all of his machinery there.

The boarder experience.  Ironic from every angle possible in a good and bad way.

The neighbor across the street ... editing out my comment.  Some people can be real Greedy Buggers.  I would like to invent a game called The Greedy Bugger's Cookie Jar.  Teach us all that at a young age if you get too greedy, diving in for another cookie, being greedy, rude and ugly, you get your fingers slammed in the cookie jar.  Whap!  I would whap someone today.

There are a few things I can depend on: manure, irony, and annoying circumstances.  When I was younger and less worried about being "nice" things worked out better.

This is actualy is very funny to me.

I'm ready for whatever today brings.  Aw, isn't that nice.  nice nice nice.

Recent photos, because that's the good stuff:

Snow on the big field.  It is still resting since it was renovated this fall.  The new grass has taken very well and the horses and I are looking foward to putting this big paddock into use as soon as it's ready... probably late spring.

Java supervising my gear in the gator.  Muck buckets to be dumped at the manure cabana compost station, hay for the boys, water for the boys.  She is so bored, we have got to get out for a ride.

The usual photo, Java looking fatter.

Lobster laying down the day before more snow.  Not the best pic of him. 

He loves to snooze in this corner, it's very soft there.

Stretch's sweet face.  He is about to sneeze in this picutre with his nose crinkled and crooked.

back in action

Lost the camera again, twice.  Found it.  I can tell you how many times each horse poops a day, load the loft with food for the horses to the n'th degree, but cannot keep track of the darn camera.  Something to improve on...

The latest here:
Snow is gone for now.
It's gorgeous out.
The horses (Java, Lobster and Stretch) have been amazing and perfect angels (some censorship there).

Today though... it's cukoocukoo day.  Wore my hat to turn out.
Really wondering why I did not attach stalls to paddocks... oh, because I wanted the horse to have manners and human interaction and not run all over me.  Well, they have manners after I yell profanities at them.  And I swear to god I'm not making this up, Java, no matter how stupid the geldings act, is perfect.  That horse has amazing manners and is so smart.  Ah, I love you Java.


She is shiny because she has rolled in the wet muddy ground... a beautiful effect.  Very nice.

Not much has changed... except I put half and half in my coffee now, and switched to organic yogurt, it is runny just in case you are tempted to switch too.

But I am pleased with the way my window box looks with it's evergreen winter mode:

dogs

I took these pictures after we got a little more snow...and since then we got more snow...

Bandy mid stride getting warmed up for a good walk in the woods:

Bandy choosing a stick to swing around and hopefully not poke Mackie in the eye with:

Bandy miffed that this particular 15 foot long stick is not cooperating with her demands:

Bandy getting a good view of her land:

Mackie looking... black... as the day ends and we're done with our walk:

Java watching us. 

Thinking:  You know I don't love blankets, please remove this one soon.  And, I'm about ready for dinner.  I would like... hm... I have to think... oh yeah, oats, hay and well, that will do for now.

snow and horses

The tons of snow from my last post got rained on and melted... and today we got more snow.  Snow is better than mud, ice or mud and ice at once.  Now that the horses are home, I prefer only two things on the ground:  snow or growing grass.

We know snow looks like here:

Christmas wreath on the gate that is open at the moment of this photo and luckily nobody unwelcome pulled into the driveway (yes, I can be antisocial).  The wreath on a closed gate says "Merry Christmas, please keep driving past, not in".  That's not too antisocial, right?

Java.  Baby Java.  The most wonderful horse in the world.  She is watching the boys (Stretch and Lobster), I am near their paddocks.  Super Princess Baby Java likes to be near the barn best, but that does not stop her from supervising at all times.

Snow...

Stretch.  The new guy.  He is AWESOME.  I thought I was going to die when he first arrived, but we get along great.  He was extremely nervious when he arrived, is bigger than Java and very sensitive.  We do yoga together after meditation hour daily and then everything is OK.  Just kidding, he settled in well, and gets fed constantly (ulcer prone) and he realizes that I can be useful for things like delivering food to his paddock or stall at any moment, gentle grooming sessions and... food.  And, Stretch likes Java, he gets bonus points for that.  We are both very relaxed around eachother now, and he knows that he is safe and his job is to gain weight and get old and chill.  He happens to be cute too.  I'll get some pics of his adorable face soon.

Lobster is right next to him in another paddock (the infamous sacrafice paddock that we split into two).  Not that Lobster and Stretch seem to appreciate eachother much, but they are a good pair up there.

Lobster on the right of photo: "Hey Stretch, want to pretend to be friends?".

Stretch:  "Hey Lobster, No."

Lobster: "Hey Stretch, I have tons of hay, but do you want to share some of your alfalfa cubes?"

Stretch:  "Hey Lobster, No."

That's OK, Lobs is allowed candy, apples, etc, and Stretch is not.

I'll go take more photos now and post more later. :)