All Better!

To say that Sophie is slightly spoiled is akin to saying Charlie Sheen is slightly out of his gourd. It's ok, I'll admit it, without shame or excuse. What can I say? She's my girl.

However, one of our rituals is probably a bit over-the-top, even for the spoiled-dog designation. I can't even remember how this started, but if I don't follow through, Sophie is relentless. It goes something like this (and sorry for the crappy lighting and even crappier blue carpeting--this is part of the house yet to be remodeled).

Sophie: "YELP!"

Me: "Oh no! Sophie, did you get hurt?"

Sophie turns up the big-brown-eyes.

Me: "Oh no! Are you ok?"

Sophie rolls over pitifully. She is clearly at death's door.

Me: "Let me see..." and I pat around on her.

Sophie insists I check her over while making sad-puppy-face.

Me: "You're ok!! Walk it off!!"

Sophie doesn't "walk" anything off. She goes directly from not having the strength to stand to her version of the cyclone in The Wizard of Oz.

Me: "Yay! You'll live!!"

Sophie Cyclone continues. I think I see Auntie Em!

Finally, Sophie stops. She is back to normal.

Whatever that is.

Pay no attention to the woman behind the curtain. And her little dog, too.

~J

Turkeys versus Bull Snake

A couple of times this summer the turkeys have "found" a snake. When they find a snake, they sure let me know. They make the oddest sound--a sound they don't make any other time. It is apparently their "I found a snake" sound.

This one was hidden pretty well, and he laid very still while all the commotion was going on around him.

What commotion?

This commotion (with a little help from Sophie and Evie):

The turkeys thought about eating the snake, but they were already stuffed.

Thanks folks, I'll be here all night. Don't forget to tip your server.

~The Bird Lady

Time To Pay

Today I ran to Wichita (and boy are my legs tired...nyuk, nyuk) to get a few things taken care of so I can enroll in college (again) on Friday. I managed to make it up there quite early, and WSU is so friendly and helpful that I had everything done by 11am. I didn't want to go home and sit in a hot house, so I decided I'd go have lunch and then see what the day brought. I was good for lunch--a salad with grilled chicken--and then I decided to walk around the mall for a bit. After I got bored with that, I decided to head west and stop in at a couple more stores to look around before heading home.

Unfortunately on my way across town I drove right past a Coldstone Creamery. Now, I can't imagine anyone not knowing what a Coldstone Creamery is, but just in case, it's the most super-delicious and most-evil ice cream store ever. I haven't been in one since last September, but over the last two weeks I've had wicked cravings for ice cream, cake, and brownies (cursed sweet tooth). I've been doing well, exercising and eating right, and have managed to get back down to my pre-lay-off weight, but the cravings have been standing their ground. Seems they cannot be stopped.

Viva la brownies and other scrumptious treats!

I went to my stores, but the call of Coldstone held its horrific grip on me until I could resist no more. Before I knew it I was inside ordering a Birthday Cake Remix.

And it's not even my birthday.

To my credit, I did only get the "like it" size. And I didn't even eat it all.

OK, I ate it all, but I didn't lick the bowl.

OK, I licked the bowl. [looks away in shame]

Anyway...the good news is that my cravings have been successfully quenched, but the bad news is now I have to figure out how to burn off all those calories this evening--625 calories to be exact!

Oy vey!!

Well, today I was planning on doing pilates anyway (which I try to do every-other day for my back), so we can automatically subtract that: -119 calories for a half-hour of pilates.

That leaves 506 calories. I'm in a heap o'trouble. Here are my options:

Shoot a bow and arrow for almost two hours.

Blog for five hours straight.

Play the accordion for a little over three hours.

I could ice fish for 2.75 hours, but sort of hard to do in 109-degree weather.

Skydive for an hour and a half.

Eh, maybe I'll just jump on the treadmill until I collapse. I tell you though, it was almost worth it.

Sweet dreams,

~Tubs

Happy Independence Day (redux)

I hope everyone has a wonderful 4th of July. Enjoy your time with friends and family!

I thought I'd post pictures from 2008's celebration. My sister, her boyfriend and I all went to Powell Gardens.

They had a beautiful African sculpture exhibit.

We picked a spot and listened to the orchestra while we waited for sunset.

And the fireworks began!

This one was a camera error but I kept the pic because it looks like a horse :)

Another camera error, but this time a dragon!

The finale:This year I didn't attend any fireworks displays, but that's just fine--there will be plenty more, and in the meantime I have great memories like these to tide me over.

Everyone have a blast!

17 Months Later

The other day I started organizing some of my digital photos, and I stumbled across some pictures I had taken of the place in March 2010 (when I moved in). Even though I'm the one who has done the work (with a lot of help from my Dad--thanks, Dad!), I had forgotten just how far this little old farm has come in only 17 months. I went out yesterday and took pictures of how all the areas look today, so here are the before and afters:

Entrance to main turnout before:

After:

North of old sheep barn before:

After (a lot of work still to do, including tearing the old building down, but there is still progress):

Horse-area, looking southeast towards (at the time) non-working vapor light pole:

After (still need to finish fence but the vapor light works and all the old crap has been cleaned up!):

Horse area, looking south (the burn pile in foreground was actually 10' tall):

Horse area, looking south, after (need to mow and weed landscaping, and Eddie's grave sunk in again--after I already leveled it off, but those are minor compared to the before):

Inside the horse area, looking south, before:

Inside horse area, looking south, after (still need to finish fence and water spigot and tank will be moved this fall):

My immediate backyard before:

Backyard after:

Another view of the backyard, before:

Backyard after(!):

There is still so much to do, but it's fun to look at these and feel such a sense of accomplishment!

Work, schmork....

~J

Summer of Bromance

This morning I welcomed a new horse to my little farm: MBF The Eclipser, aka "Clipper."

"Clipper" was in need of a good home and when I heard about him, I knew he was the perfect horse for me. He is nine years old, and up until three months ago he was a breeding stallion. Because of the market, his owner decided to geld him, have 60 days put on him and try to find him a home. Thankfully that home was with me!

One of the many reasons he's such a perfect fit is because I know his breeding very well. His sire is GQ Eclipse, which some people may know as the sire of GQ Santana. I've worked with three full brothers to GQ Eclipse, Clipper's grandsire and granddam. Clipper's dam is a daughter of Mr Impressive, who was grandsire to two great mares I've owned.

These horses are all incredibly intelligent, with gorgeous conformation and beautiful movement. Clipper also happens to be sweet and kind, and although I knew I wanted him just hearing about him, meeting him made me absolutely certain he was the right choice. He loaded right up into my two horse trailer and we made our way home.

My only hesitation was that Clipper had never been around geldings. He bred mares and that was pretty much it, for the majority of his life. My biggest fear with getting Clipper was that Fabian would get hurt, and I certainly did not want to take any chances. I had to carefully plan out how to introduce these two, and I had planned on not being able to put them together for many, many months, if ever at all.

I put Clipper in the roundpen at first because that is the safest fence for the horses to meet across. Any kicks or strikes would only meet a single metal bar and not damage the horses in any way. Once Clipper settled down, I let out Paula and Bambi only, so as not to overwhelm Clipper.

At first he was very studly towards the girls. Paula wasn't much of a help--at his first schmoozing she turned her butt right to him. Paula's not much of a lady, I'm afraid.

Bambi reacted like most pregnant broodies, with a squeal and a strike and then everyone ran around a bit--the girls on the outside of the roundpen and Clipper inside of it.

Once everyone calmed down again I allowed Betty and Fabian in as well. Chaos ensued.

As Clipper and Fabian met I held my breathe. I was hoping Clipper wouldn't have a strong negative reaction toward Fabian. Afterall, Fabian "had" the mares and Clipper was the new stud on the block. We all know Fabian is no threat, being the meek gelding he is, but Clipper might feel differently about it.

Apparently (and thankfully) not.

Then they took off running....

I couldn't tell whether they were overly happy or overly unhappy with each other at first.

Fabian had a much stronger reaction to Clipper than I thought he would.

Watching them, though, I noticed they weren't exhibiting any signs of aggression whatsoever. This was a happy dance!

I love you, man.

The boys quickly calmed down and started nuzzling and smelling each other.

Neither of them noticed that the girls even existed.

I moved the girls out of the area and left Fabian where he could stand right beside Clipper and I went inside for about an hour. I wanted to see what would happen--if Fabian would move on to the mares or if Clipper would change his mind about his tolerance of being near a gelding.

When I went back out they hadn't moved--they were standing side-by-side like best buddies, so I took a chance and let Clipper out. I had a halter with me just in case I had to suddenly separate them, but it wasn't needed.

Even with the mares crowding the fence and Fabian saying "hi" to his sisters and niece, Clipper wasn't the least bit threatened. It appears that Fabian and Clipper are soulmates, er...bromates--meant for one another.

They've been out together for seven hours now and as I look out my window I see them grazing next to each other. I would have never imagined that these two boys would connect like this. There wasn't even a squeal between them. It was instant love.

If only everyone got along so wonderfully, how much easier all our lives would be!

~J