Moving horses and donkeys

First I want to thank my very good friend Cindy for letting me borrow her horse trailer. Without her the move would still be ongoing!
The first to be loaded up were Houdini and Pewter. Thankfully they just walked right on in to the trailer, unloaded great and as you can see settled in to their new pasture just fine.



The next two to come over were AJ and Doughnut. Much to my surprise Doughnut ( donkey) jumped right into the trailer. AJ took a few minutes but she got in. Yup, they settled in to the pasture as if nothing happened.




The next to come over were Arnold and Cookie. Now Arnold ( red blanket) has always been difficult to load. Before walking to the trailer I asked him to please load up easily as it would make it less stressful for both of us. After a few minutes of coaxing, in he went.

Now Cookie, who I thought would load up quickly, turned out to be a struggle. Finally after 20 or so minutes we got her loaded. They also settled in within minutes.




The distance between the old house and the new house is almost an hour so we were only able to make three trips in one day. The following day it was back to the old house to load up the remaining three. Mike ( pic above) was not having anything to do with loading. It was a flat refusal. Nothing would entice him to walk into the trailer. I tried every trick in the book but alas, nothing was working. My main objective was to make it as less stressful for the animals as possible, but between the driving time from one house to the other, the daylight shorter, well, it came down to pretty much brute force getting him loaded. It actually took four people to basically pick his big donkey butt up and get him in. Talk about exhausted after that.
By the time we arrived here at the new house, poor Mike was sweating and shaking. He was one upset guy! After a few days he finally settled in and was 'talking' to me again.




Cookie ( spotted donkey) happy to be out of the trailer and with her friend Doughnut.




Pearl here was a bit of a challenge, but loaded up fairly nicely.




The last trip of the second day was for Mr. M. Mallow.  Not really knowing how he was at loading, I geared myself up for a good struggle. He was going to have to travel by himself. After putting his halter on, clipping on the lead rope, walking to the trailer and talking with him, there we stood in back of the trailer looking in. I gave him a hug, whispered in his ear, and I walked into the trailer. Him on the outside, me in the inside. Then, he took a step in! Before I knew it both front feet were in! But he backed out quickly. Okay, that's fine. We did it again and again and again. Not wanting to use force, I stepped behind him, cracked the lunge whip behind on the ground towards his back feet and he jumped in! 
Yay, the last of the big animals was loaded! Two days of loading, diving and unloading but it was done. 

Thankfully not one of them got sick or colicked (tummy trouble). Each and every one settled in beautifully.

Tomorrow I will post another chapter of moving animals.

Until next time..................
  



Wild neighbors

Am having to use the old desk top computer until the wireless is hooked up for my notebook. In the meantime I have uploaded images from the web. Day before yesterday while chopping wood ( that alone is an adventure), a neighbor stopped by to let us know that there is a Bobcat in the pasture with the horses, donkeys and goats. He said in all his years here he has never seen one in daylight! He also said that our donkeys chased the Bobcat back into the blackberry bushes. I drove the Gator to the end of the pasture and sure enough, sitting there was a wild neighbor! Beautiful. He or she, looked at me and went back into hiding. I don't worry about the Bobcat hurting the horses, donks or goats thanks to the donks being the magnificent guardians that they are. Although the outside cats and the chickens may be in danger if the Bobcat comes close to the house. My chickens are locked up at night. The outside cats go into the garage at night.

After some thought I wonder if the resident Bobcat may be a descendant of one of the trained ones that once lived here when Roy Kabat ( he trained animals for Hollywood pictures and commercials) lived here. Hmmmm. Who knows.



For several days I have watched a somewhat young buck hanging around the house. This morning he was in the front yard! I mentally told him that as long as he stays here on the property that he and his does will be safe. And speaking of does, there are about half a dozen that come down the gully behind the house.



I must mention the wood stove. My hat is off to everyone who has one for their heat source. Having one is a lot of work! Gathering the wood, splitting the wood, stacking the wood, bringing the wood into the house, keeping the stove loaded, cleaning the ashes out and cleaning the wood pieces from the floor. Yes, I admit I got spoiled with today's conveniences. Just pushing a button for heat was really nice......and warm! :)  One more thing. Am looking forward to when the toilet seat is not cold!!! lol

Tomorrow the moving adventure stories will start. Have to say I am glad it is over!!!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Until next time.....................



Thankful

Internet is up and running. Hooooray!!!!!!!!!!

I still have to download all the pics taken throughout the move.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and I am not sure if I will get a chance to post for what I am thankful for, so, am doing it today.

I am thankful for my family ( even the ones who I don't speak to because I wouldn't be the person I am because of their ways).

I am truly thankful for all my friends, both near and far ( and yes, it includes all of you!).

I am thankful for all the positive energy everyone sent out for the right place to be found so all the animals would forever be with me.

I am thankful that the move went pretty darn smooth.

I am thankful for my health, strong will, Independence, humor, etc.

There is so much to say thanks for.

Wishing all of you a fabulous Thanksgiving. May you be surrounded with love, happiness, laughter and yummy food.

Will post on Friday and start letting you know all the adventures of our moving!! :)

Until next time....................

Checking in with you all

Just a real quick update. We have made the move to the new house. It's been an exhausting two weeks. Really could have used a magic wand, but lost it somewhere along the way. I am still trying to find  Internet service, but is proving to be very difficult. Hopefully within the next week or so I will be back up and running. Then I will let you all know the excitement that happened along with pics.

Everyone has settled in quite nicely.

Snow fore casted tonight and tomorrow.

Wood stove is sort of doing its job keeping the house kind of warm.

Hope you are all doing great. I will try to check in when I can until I get Internet service.

Hugs to you all.

Who all is moving

 Tomorrow we start the big push to move. The animals will be going with us in stages. Here are pics of who is going with us. AJ.

 Pewter.

 Houdini

 Doughnut ( left), Arnold ( middle) and Cookie ( right)

 Marshmallow and Pearl

 Mike

 All the chickens.

Four goats. Yes, you can only see three in this pic.



Also going are two dogs and 16 cats!


I am still working on who will be our Internet provider. Since we will be living further out, well, the providers are slim pickings. Actually there are only two choices. One is dial up ( ugh) and the other is a wireless provider that I no nothing about. 

Oh, thanks for the Quince info. It will come in handy. 

Wishing you all a wonderful day! 

Until next time.............................

A few more days

 A few more days and the big move is happening. We have been going to the new house getting it prepared. You know, the hanging of the curtain rods and curtains, shower curtains, scrubbing all surfaces, weatherizing windows, etc..  There is a Quince tree next to the garage. I don't even know if I spelled it right or exactly what type of fruit it bears. If you look in the center of the pic you can see a yellow looking ballish shape. That's the fruit.

 Before moving in, a wood stove has to be placed in the fireplace. There is an oil furnace, but at three dollars a gallon, well, using that is not an option. So..... our heat source will come from a good old fashioned wood stove! That alone should be interesting since I have become accustomed to pushing a button for heat or air.

 Behind the house there is this huge tree that produces the most beautiful little red berries. Haven't a clue what the tree is but in time I will figure it out.

On the way home form the new house yesterday I saw a huge rainbow going over one other Table Rocks. Since the new house is on the other side of the valley I won't get to see the Table Rocks unless I drive to this side of the valley.

Now, I am going to try to play catch up with what is going on with all of you!!!

Until next time............................

Progress with the move

 Leaving the chicken coop was not an option. So......we took it with us! Here it is loaded up and ready to make the move to the new house. Yup, looks very redneck, but, it will help keep the chickens a bit safer at night.

 Stew Pot wondering why his coop is up on the trailer.

 After several stops due to tie downs coming loose or just flying off, we made it to the new house. Poor coop is a bit worse for wear! But it made it in one piece.

 Coop unloaded next to the Rubbermaid shed that is going to be used as the hen house. Nope, it isn't fancy, but it will work.

 Yesterday with the help of some friends, we leveled the shed, put the coop in front of it and thankfully looks much better now!  I decided to put the coop next to my bedroom window so when a wild critter thinks they are going to have a chicken snack in the middle of the night, all I have to do is open the window and holler. I am also going to hang some bells around the coop so when  a critter gets too close, the bells will sound. I want to make sure the chickens will be as safe as possible.

 Poles are in and set. Cross fence ( in the background) strung, pulled and fastened. Pasture is ready for the horses, donks and goats. This weekend the gates will be put up.

 Before heading out to the new house I stopped off and bought some frozen burritos for lunch.  When we were all hungry I went in to the house, turned on the oven, and after a few minutes realized the oven wasn't working! The stove top does, but the oven does not. Great! Okay, on to plan B. Turn on two stove top burners, place frozen burritos on cookie sheet and start cooking!

My oldest daughter had brought over her sandwich maker so grabbed that and started cooking burritos on that. Took awhile, but lunch was hot and ready to eat. This is the very first cooked meal in the new house!!!!

Calling the landlady today to let her know about the oven not working. Going to be really hard to cook a turkey for Thanksgiving with no oven.

I promise I will catch up with everyone's going on's as soon as I catch a few minutes.

Wishing everyone a fantastic day. Headed out to the new house with another load.

Until next time.........................

Why do animals scare the heck out of us?

Late yesterday afternoon we loaded up the Rubbermaid shed which I am going to use as the chicken coop at the new house. Since we needed to get to the new house while the sun was shining the shed was loaded up and off we went. Arrived at the new house, unloaded the shed and hurried back home. It was dark by the time we got back home.

Game plan was middle daughter to go lock up the chickens and I'd start dinner.   As I was preparing something to eat middle daughter comes running into the house crying. In between sobs she tells me Little Inger, my favorite chicken, is dead. "What?" "Where?"

Sprinting out the door with a flashlight I ran to the chicken coop where middle daughter said that is where Little Inger is laying by the fence. Holding back tears I bent down to check her. Yup, she's just laying there caught in the fence.  No movement.

As I reached to get her out of the fence and start talking to her, she lifts her little head and starts talking back!!!  "What!" She's alive!!!!! After a few minutes of getting her wing and head out of the fence, I picked her up, held her close to my chest and  she began telling me all about her ordeal. Somehow she managed to get out of the fenced in area and tried getting back in on the opposite side of the fence. That's when she got stuck. And since it was dark out, she played 'dead'.

After she and I both calmed down, I put her back inside the coop and told her she was going to get a stern talking to in the morning for scaring me like that!!

Our animal family sure know how to scare us!!!!

Until next time................................

Getting closer

 What can I say except where the heck do the days go? Geez. This weekend all the posts were drilled and set for the cross fence in the pasture at the new house.  My oldest daughter and I unloaded 584 bricks to be used to fix the brick pillars along the fence in front of the house. Thankfully the bricks were free thanks to a guy she knows who had no use for them. Most of the inside of the house has been scrubbed so it is ready for the big moving day. And moving day is the weekend of November 13 & 14th.  Trying to get everything arranged this week so there is no surprises when the big day arrives. You know, the list that keeps getting longer! This week the weather is saying no rain. Just the dreaded............

fog!!!!!! Out of all weather there is on this wonderful planet, fog is the one I really, really do not care for. It's cold, damp, and you just plain can't see very far in front of you.


Now I have to catch up with what is going on with all of you. 


Until next time..........................