Thursday, October 29, 2009

It's a mystery....

This is Jennifer Rain.

She is 4 1/2 years old.
Her daddy is a registered QH.
Her mama is Gypsy our 1/2 Arab - 1/2 ?.

She has had 6 weeks of professional training
with the Parelli method, the summer of 08'.

Even with all this training ($) she is not quite where
I'd like her to be.
So, more money will be spent to get
her where I want her, but that wont
be till this coming spring.
I'm not sure if I'll take her back to the same trainer,
whom I really, really like or go with someone else.
Decisions, decisions...


Anyhow, this is her a few weeks ago.
You can't really tell in this pic,
but her tail is nice and long.


And today when we went out to pet/brush the horses
I saw that her tail looks like it's been hacked off
on the bottom!


Not sure what has happened to her,
but could not find any hair anywhere!
(that sounds funny)

My thought was she was too close to the pig pen
and one of them had a nibble.
My hubby doesn't think that is an option.
He thinks she got it caught on something and
tore it off.
Chyann thinks someone came to our house and cut it.
Who, I ask and she say's the same person who took
our halter and brought it back.
--
Chyann forgot to take a $40 halter off Gypsy
and the next day it was gone.
This was back in August
and she found it on Monday out
in the pasture.
It was right out in the open,
where we'd see it if it were there before then.

That's my mystery.
Lost then found halter
and
Jenny's tail cut.

Strange.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

After the snow...

You'd never know,
with the exception of the mud,
that we had snow last Friday.
Chyann decided to rake leaves,
thinking that I would pay her for it.
She was mistaken.
As far as I can tell, raking leaves is not
worth the effort and makes good mulch for
the lawn.
Monkey boy likes to climb trees.
Scares me to death though.


Just me, petting Scotch.

My hubby helped a friend casterate bull calves too.

They had a hell of a time with the bigger guys,

as you can probably imagine having seen how big

their "Rocky Mountain Oysters" are.

All else is well here.

Expecting some more snow this Friday,

but let's think positively and hope not.

(Can't figure out what is giong on with this double spacing)

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Man, that was heavy...

We got about 2-3 inches of snow on Friday.
It was the really heavy wet stuff.
So, heavy that my trees got all
bent over and some broke.

This is the choke cherry along the driveway.

A poor little maple. It had a branch broke off.

These are the lilac trees by the barn and
cow pen. We ended up having to cut down
three branches that fell and fix the fence.
The cows ate all the leaves off the ones that fell.


Chyann had to coax the mini's into the barn
as they didn't want to navigate the
sloppy, muddy mess in front of the barn door.

We had a power outage that lasted about 13 hours.
Cal fired up the B-B-Q and cooked some hot dogs for dinner
and we played card games till 8pm then went to bed.
It didn't take long for the snow to melt yesterday
since it got up to about 50*.
Hopefully, that will be our winter teaser till December.

Thursday, October 22, 2009

FYI

This whole working full time thing really is
putting a cramp in my blogging time!

Not to mention that I now
have incredibly busy evenings!!

There is homework when the kids come home,
dinner to cook, dishes to do,
a load or two of laundry to be washed or folded,
floors to sweep and mop,
animals to feed and brush,
lunches to be made,
and
finally
fall
into
bed.

Then get up and do it all again.

Not that I'm complaining,
(at least not too much)
because
I really LOVE my paychecks!!

Boy, oh boy are they nice!!

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Monday, October 19, 2009

Rainrot


Our ol' gal Gypsy appears to have a mild
case of rainrot.

Rainrot often affects horses in wet weather. It is
caused by a fungus-like organism that lives in the soil.
The combo of water and dirt, as when a dusty horse
gets wet and rolls, makes an ideal place for this nasty
stuff to run-a-muck infecting the skin.

The hair gets matted in clumps that detach, leaving
oozy bald spots. The bald spots then scab up.

So, how to treat this problem? I talked to our vet
and he said to keep her in the barn - nice and dry
for about 10 days, grooming everyday, but no picking
the scabs! If that hasn't cleared her up, he says we'll
do some antibiotics.

I've read a lot of info about rainrot here on the Internet
and there appear to be a lot of different methods of
treatment. Since we've never had this particular problem
before I'm not sure what other avenues we should be
pursuing. Any ideas, let me know.

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Busy, busy...

I got a haircut on Thursday night while Caden was
at his last football practice.
About 2" off the back and WAY too short
bangs. I look like a dork (good thing it grows fast)...
That's what I get for running my mouth and
not paying attention to what the gal was doing.
I suppose you get what you pay for and since
my cut was only 11 bucks, I did.
I'm cheap like that.

Friday was the big Homecoming football game.

Chyann and a bunch of her buddies got together
after school to paint their faces, spray hair
and dress up in cute Viking clothes.
All to cheer on the home team, you know. Didn't
have anything to do with the boys that would be at the
game or so I'm told...

Caden had to have his hair done too.



Colton was there too.
The band played at the beginning of the game
and during timeout's.
But the big draw was the half time show.
With the combined talents of the band and
dance team they did a great production of
Michael Jackson's Thriller, complete with
zombies and Ol' Michael coming out of a coffin.
Plus a Batman, Dark Knight song, and
a Harry Potter tune.
I got it all on video, but can't quite figure
out how to put it on here.

It was freezing that night, but the stands were full.
Too bad our team lost.


Next day, Saturday,
Caden had a football game.
He wanted to do his hair red again, so
we did. His team did well, but
no touchdowns for Caden.


After the game we took three of his buddies home
for two hours to play until
the bowling alley opened at noon,
then we went bowling.
One of the kids was difficult, bouncing
off the walls and in general causing mayhem
the whole time!


Both Cal and Krissy took a turn bowling
in their socks and threw some good balls.

The party included bowling for an hour and a half,
2 pizzas, soda pop, treat bags and
a real bowling pin for the birthday kid.

I must say and this is probably TMI, but
I am a very regular gal in the bathroom.
With the new work hours and sitting on my bum
ALL day long my very efficient system has been
thrown completely off,
until I had some pizza at the
bowling alley..... Enough said...

Had to come home and take a three hour nap.


Today probably wont be any less busy.
I've got lots of housework to catch up on
and my Hubby wants to load the basement
up with wood...





Thursday, October 15, 2009

Winter coats

The horses are getting their winter coats.

They are so soft and furry.

Cowboy is the guy who has the most dramatic
change with his coat.
He gets very dark, then
in the spring he'll get very light.


This is Cowboy and Chyann, picture taken
just the other day...


And this is them in July of 2008.
Quite a difference.

Scotch, he's a Welsh Pony and gets a nice thick coat.



Poor Gypsy and Jenny, they both have some
Arab blood and don't get very fuzzy like the
boys do. They get blankets instead.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

New Author

I've found a new Author that I love!

His name is J. A. Konrath.

His main character is a tough Chicago cop
named Jacqueline "Jack" Daniels.

If you like Janet Evanovich , Sue Grafton,
Karen Kijewski or Lisa Lutz you will really
LOVE J.A. Konrath!

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Pumpkins and Cake

This morning the kids and I went to
Krissy's to feed her animals.
Burr, was it cold out.

Afterward we went to the Grain Bin.
A local bakery located in the middle of nowhere.
We'd never been, but heard lots of good things about it.
They had huge pumpkins for sale, 10 bucks each.
We got a bunch of cinnamon rolls instead
and they were delicious!


These are the pumpkins I bought at Aldi's.
They were the cheapest I've ever seen pumpkins
selling for, a whopping 2.69 each.


After carving they weighed
16, 26 and 18lbs!


My baby, 7 years old today.

Saturday, October 10, 2009

Beautiful colors

I didn't have to work on Thursday night at
the Library so the kids and I took a walk
around the place enjoying all the beautiful
colors.

This is the soy bean field to the west of
our house. It is ready to be harvested.



This is taken looking East.

Another shot to the East.


This is looking South.
I just love WI's rolling hills.


A maple tree in the front yard (North),
with my very favorite willow tree
directly behind it.

Another maple along our driveway.


I am completely enamored with all the beautiful autumn
colors in our area.


Found this paper wasp nest on our walk as well.

The kids were off from school on Thursday
and Friday this week and Colton
went with some of his friends to work
at their Aunt's Turkey farm on Thursday.
He said you cannot imagine the stench,
it was so foul. The turkey houses held
up to 14,000 birds that weighed 60lbs each!
The birds are being raised for the JennO
plant up in Barron, WI.
He made some good money and will
be helping out again in November.
So, that left Chyann and Caden
home alone.
They actually did well.
No fighting and the house was half way
clean when we got home.
They did some fall decorating and coloring
of Halloween pictures.


Most of the picture frames and all the doorways
were decorated with leaves.

Interesting, wouldn't you say...

P.S.
Woke up to a very light dusting of snow this am.
It's coming....

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Yowzer!

Looks like the Vikings won last night's game against the Packers!

I only watched until half time, but what I saw was good.


The new job is going well.
This 4am crap is gonna be hard to get use to tho!
I'm running on empty about 3p, but get a second wind about 5p.

Training for the new job is going to be for four weeks
instead of three and I'll be doing a little bit different stuff too.

Most of the temps I worked with last year are there,
just working in different areas and there is a gal in my class
that was in my group last year. So, lots of friendly faces.

The kids are doing GREAT getting themselves up and out
the door in the am. I can't tell you how big of a relief that is.

It's a rainy, windy and cold day here. I may have to break down
and finally buy an umbrella as I got soaked waking/running
across the parking lot today. Of course we took ID photos
and most of us gals were having a really bad hair day!


In other news Caden is going to be the BIG 7 years old on Sunday.
He is so excited. We'll have a party for him at home on the day
then next Friday he'll have a slumber party with two of his friends.




Sunday, October 4, 2009

Painting part 2 and other stuff

Finished painting today.
Only took about 9 hours.

Chyann and occasionally Caden
gave me a hand.
And now I know why when I was a kid
my Dad would run me off when he painted.
And he painted every year, inside and out.
I believe his exact words were
"Get the hell out of here kid!"


(She wrote Chyann Rocks)

They got paint all over the floor, wood trim,
and themselves.

Really it wasn't so bad....
I was patient...
Really...

Anyhow, as you can see the paint I was covering up
was quite dark. It took four coats of primer.
If I ever get it into my head to paint ANYTHING
that dark again I will need a swift kick!!
What a pain.

Digital cameras are a wonder because
I can delete all the junk pictures the kids take.
When I had a 35mm
I'd take the film to be developed and
end up throwing half away.
You would not believe how many animal/floor shots
my kids took. I even had a very clear picture
of toilet contents one time. Someone
who will remain nameless, was very
impressed with their waste.

I down loaded my camera this am
and there was over 45 pictures on it and I knew
I'd only taken two.
Most were Chyann taking self-portraits.


This is the yellow I picked out.
It is nice and cheery.
Makes me feel good just looking at it.


A ginormous carrot from the garden also.
I need to get out there and pick the rest.


Not sure what I'll do today, other than
laundry of course.

We've been invited to a Horsey day at
our horse trainer Jen's place, but
I've got a lot of stuff to get organized
before I start my new job tomorrow.

I'll be working at United Health Group (UHG)
in Eau Clare. It's a temp position for
their Annual Enrollment for seniors.
I worked there last Oct thru Mar on
the 3p to 1130p shift and I'm so glad I
got the 6a to 23op shift this time!
My honey and I can car pool.
Only draw back, having to get up at 415a
to be on the road by 515a. YIKES!

Friday, October 2, 2009

Painting fun

I've been wanting to repaint my entryway all summer,
from the Caribbean green it is to something lighter and
more cheery. The primer and tape have been waiting
for me, but I just never found the time.

So, yesterday was the day.

After I got the kids off to school I got busy.
You never realize how much junk is packed into an
area until you have to clean it out. I was amazed at
how many badminton racquet's, baseball hats, gloves,
rocks (yes, rocks), horse brushes and other miscellaneous
items had been stuffed behind our little bench.
Not to mention something had been spilled on the rug
under the bench that I had to scrape off, nasty whatever it was.

The green paint I was covering was so dark it took four
thick coats of primer to cover. Needless to say I only had
enough primer for the main part and will have to get more
for the area where we hang the coats.

Also, my tape disappeared and I had to free hand all the trim.
I'm not the best painter, so if you come to my house don't
look too close, okay..

Tomorrow I'll be getting more primer and actually picking out
the final color. I know, painting a room and not knowing what
color I want it to end up is odd, but I had to start somewhere
and I know for sure it will be some shade of yellow.