Pictures

This day managed to have too much work and not enough time and the blog is getting the short end of things this evening. We did manage to upload a few pictures so enjoy some scenes from around the farm!

Murphy

Renny

Silver

While Silver was napping he was sandwiched by a very dirty Gus and a very relaxed Fonzi

Rampal enjoying a good roll

then doing his dogwalk so he could roll on the other side

mission complete

Sam and Chili grazing while Fuzzy napped

Moe and Homer

Lucky, Thor and O'Reilly on the move

Thor started to pull away from Lucky and O'Reilly

Thor left the others in his wake

Good Enough ?

Melissa and I get complimented on the new place fairly often, and for some reason this is especially true lately. As you might expect we never get tired of this....I don't know anyone who *doesn't* like to hear praise when someone is complementing their choice of real estate, but at the same time it's kind of embarrassing because when Melissa and I look at the place we see everything that remains to be done. To us, it's a work that is still very much in progress.

With a couple of exceptions, most of what remains to be done could be considered "finish" work. We need to change the grade in a couple of spots, we could always use a few more loads of gravel and we need to work away at finishing some of the interior spaces in a couple of our buildings. Truthfully, it'd be nice to add a couple of lean-to's to some of our existing structures too, and there is always fence to paint, etc, etc, etc. Most of this stuff will get done eventually, but as much as our Type A personalities would like to get it all done right now I think Melissa and I are taking the winter off from any more construction projects. Maybe after years of marriage and working together we're finally learning that there is sanity in saying, " Good enough." It's a nice thought, anyway. Stay tuned for more !

Have you hugged your goat today ? Jason and Jo enjoying a treat.

Kennedy, Rocky, Toledo, Johnny, Tiny, Stormy. WHY are they in the run in sheds when it's 72 degrees and sunny ???
Does it get any better than this ? Lucky, Snappy, Lightening, Thor, Silky and Noble
Apollo, Ivan, Moe, Grand, Thomas and Hemi

A nice shot of some of our buildings

Norman and Calimba

Leo

In Memory of Missy

Yesterday was another sad day on the farm. We said our final goodbyes to Missy. We knew this day was coming and it was planned, not a surprise, but it did not make things any easier.

Missy

Missy was a bay Quarter Horse cross pony. She spent many, many years working very hard on a dude ranch in Colorado. Her job was to make sure the kids visiting the dude ranch had safe rides in the Colorado mountains. She worked tirelessly and always brought the kids back safely.

enjoying some down time in her well earned retirement

After many years on the dude ranch she was no longer physically able to hold up to the long days in the mountains. She was repaid for her years of work and dependability by being sent to the kill pen. Luckily for Missy an employee of the dude ranch contacted a family that had a ranch in the area, hoping they would give Missy a home. This person was Missy's guardian angel as the family did buy her from the kill pen and gave her a home, a forever home.

A warm blanket and a big mouthful of hay make a rare middle Tennessee snow day much easier to take.

Missy's only job in life was to be spoiled rotten by their daughters and teaching their youngest daughter how to ride. As always Missy was dependable as ever and taught her young charge how to ride.

An early morning grazing session as the sun was rising. MyLight, Missy, Harmony and Cuff Links.

One thing that Missy would not do was canter undersaddle. The dude ranch absolutely did not want Missy to ever canter with one of their guests' kids undersaddle. The way they taught her that cantering was bad was they essentially beat the crap out of her anytime she cantered. Missy learned the lesson well that she was never to go faster than a trot. EVER.

Missy, MyLight and Maisie

Her first summer as she carried her new young rider around she walked and trotted. The next summer when the family returned to their ranch her young charge was a stronger rider and that summer they learned to canter together. She was also trusted with any young friends that were visiting both on the ground and undersaddle.

A happy yet very sad picture for me. Buffy, Missy, and Harmony walking through the pasture on a summer afternoon. All three are deceased.

Eventually Missy became to stiff behind for any riding at all. Her family kept their promise to Missy for a forever home and even when she needed to be fully retired she had nothing but the best care. We had the pleasure of living with Missy for the last few years. Although stiff on her hind legs she was still a feisty little girl. She was never shy about expressing her opinions on things, either to people or horses. She was very, very attached to her group of horse friends and she got to the point where she just detested coming into the barn. She didn't want to be groomed, she didn't want to see the farrier, she wanted to hang out with her friends. We would practically have to drag her to the barn, and then jog along with her trying to keep up when it was time to go back to her friends.

passing a quiet afternoon under a nice shade tree

She never forgot her lessons from the dude ranch about not being allowed to canter. If her friends were running and being rowdy Missy would usually be lagging a bit behind, trotting instead of cantering. On a couple of occasions she forgot her lessons about not going faster than a trot and she would start galloping. It never lasted for more than a few strides and then she would come to an abrupt halt. It was as if she suddenly remembered she was breaking the rules. She would look around anxiously to see if anyone had seen her. Without question those few times that I saw Missy run and act carefree are my most cherished memories of her.

Missy and Buffy

Missy was well loved by her friends here through the years. I've written more than one post about the "pony wars" that tend to happen here, and Missy was always proudly claimed by a mare. For a long time Buffy staked her claim on Missy. When Buffy passed away MyLight took over ownership of Missy. More recently Silky and Missy were often together.

Missy and MyLight

Everyday things were starting to get hard for Missy in the last few months. It was difficult for her to have her hooves trimmed by the farrier. Her back legs were getting terribly stiff. Her daily pain medication was not enough to help her anymore. We knew the day was coming where she was going to go down and not be able to get up, and we didn't want to put Missy through that trauma. She was having trouble maintaining her weight and bloodwork revealed the early stages of liver failure. We talked with her family and our vet about Missy and we all agreed that we would let her enjoy the fall weather for a few weeks and then let her go peacefully. It was tempting to want to be a hero for Missy and increase her pain medications and aggressively treat her liver issues, but realistically the only parties that were going to feel better were the people and not the horse. One of the hardest things we have learned through the years is that sometimes being a hero is stepping up and making the hard decision, the final decision, especially when you will be fighting a losing battle.

Silky and Missy

Silky, Missy and Maisie

Yesterday was as perfect as any day can be. 70 degrees, sunny, a light breeze. Missy had a supersized breakfast and some extra treats. She was grazing with her friends when the vet arrived. I walked out to the pasture and put her halter on her. In typical Missy fashion she planted her feet and pulled back, letting me know she didn't care to leave her friends. Then we walked slowly across the pasture. All of her friends followed us to the gate and stayed with us until the end. It was very peaceful. Missy was 30 years old.

MyLight and Missy

It comforts me to know that Missy and Buffy are reunited. Being the thoroughbred mare that she was Buffy loved to run. I hope Missy is in a place where she feels like she can run freely along with her without fear of repercussions. I know without a doubt that Buffy is diligently guarding Missy and watching out for her as she always did here. Rest in peace Missy.

Buffy was never far from Missy

Buffy doting on her pony

Dressing Up Goats, Cleaning Troughs

We decided to dress up Jo, one of the World's Cutest Fainting Goats, as Batman for Halloween. Unfortunately it just didn't work out all that well. The costume didn't really fit right, the black cape blended in too much with the black areas on Jo, and all in all it was a Halloween fail. We always joke that Jo wants to be Batman for Halloween so we decided to make her wish a reality. She was pretty tolerant of actually wearing the costume aside from the head band with the batwings for her head. She shook and rubbed her head until that was around her neck. Of course since she already has long black ears that stick out to the side I guess she didn't really need that part anyway.

If goats could talk . . . any suggestions as to what Jo is saying right now??

Total costume fail. The bat symbol wouldn't lay flat on her chest.

More costume fail. The bat wings are around her neck and you can't even see the yellow part of the belt. She was too fat and it is all under her stomach.

Yep, total failure. She looks like she has two sets of batwings in this picture between her ears and the wings around her neck.

We needed to clean the waterers again today. Jason announced that he was going to "make this easier." I hate it when he says things like that as I know it is going to be a huge production and not feel any easier. He proceeded to collect a bunch of tools, some pipes (I was like WTF?? as he dug out the pipes) and then loaded the generator in the back of the truck. What went through my mind was "great, more 'don't try this at home' activities."

We went in the Big Boys' pasture first. Apparently whomever installed the waterers used a product called loctite on the bolts. There have been many words used to describe loctite each time we've needed to clean the waterers and today was no exception. I've never heard of loctite before but I have now heard a litany of uncomplimentary things about it. Jason proceeds to get out some socket wrenches and the pipes and starts trying to loosen the bolts on the waterer so we can take the top off and clean it. He inserted the handles of the wrenches into the pipes so he could have more leverage when trying to loosen the bolts - so that is what the pipes were for!?

Jason getting his wrenches and pipes ready

wrenches inserted into pipes for leverage

I am instructed to hold the pipe/wrench on the bottom while Jason attempts to loosen the bolt from the top. I would never bet against Jason in an arm wrestling contest and I would always bet against myself. You can imagine how this went. Jason is putting everything he's got into turning this wrench leveraged with the pipe. I'm trying to keep my end from moving. This resulted in my basically playing ring around the waterer as I hung onto my wrench/pipe while Jason outmuscled me and spun me around. This irritated him. I was accused of not trying very hard. Good thing he had plan B.

Plan B involved the generator and some rotary cutter thing. With an ugly look on his face and much muttering and shouting (I couldn't hear him as the generator and the tool were making a lot of noise and I probably didn't want to know what he was saying anyway) the sparks flew as he cut away. This plan worked as the bolts with loctite have now been cut into pieces and removed from the waterers and replaced with new bolts that don't have any loctite on them. This should make for much easier cleaning in the future although it made things take forever this time around.

Of course the big boys heard all the noise and came wandering up from the back of the pasture to see what was going on. Thomas checking things out.

Moe was happy to supervise

Grand was keeping a very close eye on Jason

Thomas was the first to christen the clean waterer

In the next pasture Tiny and Johnny watched Jason clean the trough

Maisie and Lily were uninterested in all of the noise we were making

Norman, Missy, Cinnamon and Silky

Calimba and MyLight

Darby, Alex and Lighty trotting through the field. They look cute but if you look closely something is a bit off. Yes, that is Darby running away with his feedbag on again.

Dutch, Renny and Sam

Murphy, Dutch and Wiz having an afternoon nap