Fare Thee Well For Awhile

As much as I have been meaning to get back to blogging on a regular basis it just hasn't been in the cards. Lately there has been so much going on. Gracie's mom was fired over an emergency here at home. Her bosses are lying and fighting her unemployment. Hopefully after the unemployment hearing she will get her unemployment. This whole thing has been emotionally draining as well as financially.
AJ, my Mustang has some serious hoof problems that I am trying to get under control.
I took in two more goats for a Face book friend who is going through some of life's challenges herself.
The work car needs, well some work thanks to a gas leak. Which only leaves the trucks for transportation and with the gas prices climbing again that is putting a pinch on things. Living in the country does have its disadvantages at times.
I am back to selling on EBay which thanks to the economy isn't going as well as before.
Gracie is already going through the terrible twos. And Gracie's mom is still fighting for the sperm donor for child support ( which he still hasn't paid anything on).
Plus I am active in saving the Mustangs, trying to end dog breed discrimination, trying to stop slaughterhouses from opening to slaughter horses,  helping the elephants who are living horrendous lives, etc....
In a nutshell, life is not leaving much breathing room. Yes, I am aware if I step away from helping the animals that need a voice would give me more time, but it isn't in me to do that.
I believe we are never given more than we can carry at a time, but I have to admit, my plate has been full enough these past few years to last a frickin lifetime.
Okay, enough of the whining.  
So, my goal is to start blogging on a regular basis come winter.
I truly hope when I come back I will still have some followers!
Jim and Ron, please give Miss Sophie a big hug for me.
Stew, I will catch up with your wonderful posts about your profession.
John, I really miss keeping up with your adventures.
Tina, please give all the donkeys a hug from me.
Lilla, keep up all the good work.
Deb, I'm sure your Grand baby has already been born. Hugs.
Kelly, continue to get the word out about elephants! You are amazing.
Inger, hope life has dealt you better cards now.
Everyone else who I didn't mention, hugs to you all. Hope to see you when I come back.


Great big group hug!!!!!!!!!!!
Love ya'!
xoxo

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

A project, BSL and Grace

Oh my, I actually have a few minutes to post!

I have been wanting to get to a project for awhile and yesterday I actually found some time to do it. Periodically I see an old rotted out wood stump and when I do I bring it down from the hills behind the house. My idea was to finish hollowing them out, secure the bottom and plant flowers in them. And I did it!!!

I have also still been busy trying to stop the BLM roundups of our Mustangs. And now I am involved in getting BSL stopped.  BSL stands for Breed Specific Legislation. Pit Bulls are the main target of this ban. Dogs are being taken from their homes and killed because they are the wrong breed! I don't know if any of you heard, read or followed what was going on in Belfast North Ireland concerning a dog ( who by the way was not a bully breed) named Lennox. Rather than go into detail, do a search on Lennox and read for yourself.  The BSL ban infuriates me as well as thousands and thousands of other people. No one has the right to target any breed and try to eradicate them. Sometimes I wonder if there is hope for the human race when it comes to certain people who think and believe they are Gods!

Grace's sperm donor ( biological father) is starting to cause trouble now.  I mentioned this to Grace's mother not long after she was born that I had a feeling the sperm donor would cause problems somewhere down the line. He won't pay child support but wants to see Grace. However, he is doing drugs and is an alcoholic. I have a feeling this all may be going to court.

Well, my few minutes is up. Grace just woke up!

Hugs to you all!

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

A Quick Trip to San Francisco!!!!

Made a quick trip to my absolute favorite city.........

San Francisco!!!!! The city by the Bay.  My Aunt had a mild stroke a few months ago and I have been wanting to go visit her. It's been nine years since I've been down there. It was time. And thankfully the stars lines up perfectly to make the trip. It is a 6 hour drive from here to there.

Here is a trolley car. Look at all those wires above! Wow! That's what makes the trolley go round.

I love old buildings. There is so much history. And the craftsmanship is superb.

And with old buildings there are new ones.

The freeway ramps are ridiculous. They remind me of octopuses with ramps going here and there.

On the way back home to Oregon there was this beautiful metal dragon sculpture out in a field. The mountain in the background is Mt. Shasta.

These are the California Crags. Amazing.

Cinder Mountain. Well, that is what most people call it but it is officially named something else, just don't know what it is.

Mt. Shasta. Legend has it that Aliens live inside the mountain!


I have also been busy trying to prevent the slaughter of horses for meat. Petitions, emails and phone calls being made to stop the slaughter of horses. Not only for our domesticated horses but for OUR wild Mustangs as well. I just don't understand this war on horses.

And of course there is the everyday day life here on the farm which keeps me busy.

The deer have decided to sample everything in our gardens. Thankfully they have decided that the tomato plants aren't that tasty.

There is also a raccoon who comes up to the house every evening and cleans up the remaining cat food.

Today is the 4th of July, the birth of these United States of America. Happy Birthday to these great States!

And yes, I think of you daily and hope everyone is doing wonderful.

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

Want to see one ugly rooster?

I have been meaning to post a few pics of Troy. He is a black Frizzle Bantam and he sure turned out to be one ugly rooster. So ugly he is staying!

His feathers barely cover his body!

Troy standing next to Jeff Lewis. Jeff Lewis is Stew Pot's son. Sadly Stew pot was eaten by foxes last year. And yes, Jeff Lewis is very friendly. I can still pick him up without him being fussy. Troy on the other hand is afraid of his own shadow.

Oh, in answer to a few questions. Only a few of the roses have a scent which I am grateful for since I am allergic to rose smell.
I will talk more about the caretaker in a day or two.

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

Roses

Thought you might like to see just some of the roses here. As far as I can determine these rose bushes have been here since the 1960's. Will show the other roses on the property in a day or two. The roses up at the barn I believe are older.

Oh, and speaking of barn, the upstairs of the barn used to be for hay, but in the 1970's a studio apartment was built for the caretaker who has since passed away.

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

Busy Busy Busy

What can I say. Been busy as usual.

After much hard work and some aggravation we are finally able to irrigate the pasture.

It is so nice to see the sprinklers going. Every third day we have to move the irrigation pipes to another riser to water another portion of the pasture.

On top of getting the irrigation up and running the barn cleanup started. Thanks to my oldest daughter she has busted butt getting rid of the blackberry bushes and other foliage that covered the front of the barn. This pic is when we first started.

This pic shows progress.

Finally, the blackberries are gone as well as the other overgrown foliage. We were totally surprised to find another window, a working water faucet and five very old rose bushes underneath all the overgrown vegetation. We also found an ancient grape vine with stocks as thick as a small tree.

After the cleanup the barn is going to get a fresh coat of paint. I swear the barn is smiling and feels better now that the cleanup has started. Poor old thing has been neglected for many years.

Some of you might find this interesting. Months ago I heard old fashioned music coming from inside the barn. When my oldest daughter was up there a few weeks ago she also heard the music. So you are probably thinking what is the big deal. Well, there is no electricity in the barn and the nearest neighbor is a quarter of a mile away!

I finally expanded the chicken coop. Now I have happy happy chickens.

The garden areas are doing great, although I had to open my big mouth and make a statement how the deer have left the gardens alone. Last night I saw deer tracks going into the lower garden and as I followed them I noticed that they have eaten some of the tomato plants. Really! I didn't want to have to build an enclosed area around the garden, however it appears one has to go up. Sorry deer, as much as I love you all, I adore my veggies and don't want to share with you!

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

Knock Knock...........

Still there?

Very busy month.

We finally were able to get this monster of a pump running to use for irrigating the pasture.

We had to dig the water hole deeper and clean it out of all the years of sludge and grime. Now that the pump is ready to go as well as the foot valve, all we need to do is dig out all the pipe with sprinkler heads out of the blackberry bushes, hook them up to the risers and the pasture will be irrigated! Hooray!

After we finished cutting up the logs, the thought of splitting the wood by hand was really not an option. So we rented a wood splitter. Talk about a life saver! All we had to do put a whole piece of wood onto the splitter, pull the lever and voila, split wood! Me thinks I want one!

Grace has been 'helping' by being outside while a lot of chores are getting done. She sure is growing up.

You just don't see an old house go down the road everyday!

Since Little Inger is an official house chicken I felt so bad she was alone so I went and bought her some chicks to keep her company. Now there are house chicks! As soon as they get older they will go outside to the coop and I will probably buy her some more chicks.

I have also been battling hoof abscesses in one horse and two donkeys. Lots of poultices being made and put on hooves. Thankfully now that the dry weather has arrived it has really helped clearing up the abscesses.

One of my donks really does not like his feet picked up and it is such a task to get his feet trimmed. I usually call the vet out and have him sedated, but this time around my farrier and I decided his feet were going to get trimmed and that was that! So after an hour of cowboy skiing ( which translates into me holding onto the lead rope while my farrier tried picking up his feet and the donkey pulling me from one end of the pasture to the other), the donk finally got wore out enough to get his feet trimmed! Although my farrier quit trying to pick up his feet and enjoyed the show of me refusing to let go of the lead rope and getting drug around! He knows I don't give up a challenge!

The garden areas are rototilled and the garden is planted! Yay!!!!

One of my brothers who lives close by asked to move in for awhile. Of course I said yes, but as it turned out he found another place to move to.

There has been a lot more going on but I will spare you of all that.

I hope you are all doing great. And again I want you to know I really do think of you daily! I really do!

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

Cheezy Yard Art

My oldest daughter gives me a hard time about my cheezy yard art. So, I thought I would share cheezy with you!

            

Happy Easter!

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

Twice in one month!

Can it be true? Two posts in one month! Wow! ha ha

As usual always busy here.

It's been snowing off and on for awhile. And if it isn't snowing, well, it's raining! Oh, there have been some days of neither rain or snow, but not too many.

See this chainsaw? Well guess who has been using it to help cut that big ole of logs? Yup, me! Since this is the small chainsaw it is perfect for me. I cut the smaller ends of the log pile. Have to say, I enjoy it a lot! By the time we are done cutting the logs, between lifting a 120 pound bale of hay everyday and using the chainsaw, I am going to have some muscles!  

This is what we have cut so far from the log pile.

This is just one pile of cut up logs.



My Auntie Bar sent up a pair of red striped overalls! Now I really look like a farmer, or wood cutter or..... 

I was finally able to save up enough to buy two blankets for the girls. I love clearance sales! Here is AJ in her new jammies.

Pewter isn't too thrilled about her blanket. Don't think she likes looking like a safety horse with her bright neon orange blanket. Oh, want to hear something funny? Since her blanket is very visible, the neighbors have given directions to their places to friends by using Pewters blanket. They tell their friends that when they see the horse with the safety orange blanket on to turn down the next driveway on the right.

Well, Little Inger is now an official house chicken. She has been having trouble getting egg bound. She was getting warm baths and getting blowed dried, spending a few days in my room in a crate until I knew she was okay to go back out to the coop. She would be fine for awhile, then it would happen again. I always make sure there is grit and oyster shell available as well as daily fresh water and food. Yesterday when I went into the coop to collect eggs I couldn't find her. Then I found her wedged almost upside down between a wall and a nest box. When I got her unwedged and put her on the floor she couldn't walk. After a few minutes she started walking like she was drunk. I figured her legs fell asleep so gave her a bit more time to get the blood circulation going. As I sat there watching her she kept very close to me. Well, enough is enough so she is now a house chicken. I will take her outside to get exercise and scratch around then back in the house she will come.  Oh, to bathe and blow dry Little Inger it takes me an hour. A lot longer than giving the dogs a bath and drying them off! Can you tell I love this little chicken!  

Grace's mom finally bought a car. Yay! Now I don't have to drive her to and from work anymore which frees about about an hour for me everyday.

Not sure if you are aware of this, but there are horse haters who are pushing to open slaughterhouses to slaughter horses! There is one planned for Oregon as well as other states. Yup, you can bet we ( the ones who are against it) are having our voices heard. There are so many lies, answer dodging, excuses from the folks who want to slaughter horses that their argument for slaughtering horses is getting weaker.

Oh, oh on a happier note. My oldest daughter bought me a Fire Kindle! I have to say I LOVE it! It is amazing! I have been downloading free books for three days now in between taking care of Grace, getting daily chores done, etc.... Did I mention I LOVE the Kindle Fire! lol

Alright, enough for this post. Watch out, I just might make it three posts in one month!

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

Lots going on.

Yes, I know it's been forever once again. Ugh.

As usual there has been lots going on.

We had a log truck of logs delivered to use as firewood next winter. Now we have to cut all the logs into much smaller pieces that will fit into the wood stove, load it up then stack it so it can season the rest of the year until we need it.

Jennifer, my oldest daughter, rescued a Boxer about three weeks ago. The day she rescued him from a very busy road she sent me a picture of him and my first thought was he looks like a Marvin. She and I and the vet she works for put up found ads, called the shelters, etc, looking for his family. No one ever came forward so now Marvin is Jennifer's. As you can see he has made himself at home on my couch! And he is wonderful with Grace and my two dogs. When I go to visit Jennifer at her house it's like Marvin has always been there. Meant to be!

We had one heck of a winter storm come through two weeks ago. It was snowing so hard that I couldn't see the mountains across the road! We ended up with between six and eight inches of snow! For some of you that isn't very much, but for here it is something! I truly enjoyed all the beautiful fluffy white stuff!!

Had to put a pic of my horse and some of the donkeys in today's post.

Grace's mom has been looking for a car of her own for awhile now, but alas, no luck as of yet. It will be nice when she has her own car so that means I don't have to pick her up from work everyday she works. And she can go to town to take care of her business and I can stay here playing catch up on some stuff I need to get done.

I finally joined the local historical society. I am so excited.

After consideration I started selling my eggs. I was giving them away, and still do to family and friends, but my girls are laying a dozen a day now and their feed is costing more. So, I sell the eggs to pay for their feed.
 Speaking of chickens, again after much consideration I am going to raise some meat chickens. Our meat supply is so tainted that it is scaring me. The beef industry alone is so contaminated ( I am referring to the big big feedlots) that beef is being recalled at a consistent rate. And the chickens, jeez, have you seen the size of chicken breasts on the shelves? They come from what people refer to as Frankenchickens because they grow at such a genetically altered rate that if left to live too long their bones will break under their own weight. Now that is not natural nor is it right.

Okay, I will stop my ranting and raving before I really get going!

Oh, I am going to raise worms to compost the household food items that the chickens can't or won't eat.  Of course no meat will go to the worms, that goes to the foxes and bobcats up on the hills behind the house. I am trying to recycle and reuse as much as possible.

It's getting close to getting the garden areas ready! I have a diagram of where everything is going to go. And I was reading that you can start seeds inside the house in cleaned out half egg shells, then plant shell and all into the ground when the plant is ready to go outside into the garden.  

I also bought a bunch of hay and slowly but surely got it from the feed store to here and unloaded and stacked in the barn. I can only put eight large bales in my truck. The bales are three string and weigh about 130 pounds each. Gotta keep in shape!

I am still working on enlarging the chicken area. It's taking longer than I want, but between watching Grace, taking care of all the critters, household and outside chores, etc, well, either I run out of steam or time.

Rather than bore you with a long post I will close it up for now. I really am going to try my best to more diligent about keeping up with it. And yes, I still have to catch up with all of you. Oh how I miss my 'me' time these days!

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