Easter

10th Anniversary ~ KC & Me!

I wanted to mark this anniversary with KC. I got him 10 years ago today! He was born March 23, 2003 and I brought him to Millhaven New Year's Eve when he was an 'aging' three-year old. Being New Year's Eve, I wanted to stay as long as possible with my new pony, my little man, and ring in the new year with him. He looked so small and scared in his stall, next to Skip. Unsure of what just happened to him and what would become of his life.

There was something about him that I was drawn to, that I needed to have him and bring him along, protect him from a cruel world. For some reason I thought I had to be that person. I don't think I've let him down. I think he does realize I have his best interests at heart.

Stormy Weather (Tornado)

The day started out sunny and bright, but by noon the skies were darkening and the barometric pressure was falling. The two boys, KC and Beau, spend the day inside anyway, so I checked their water and picked up as many things as I could find that might become projectiles or broken on the patio.

The radio announced that if you lived in a certain location to seek shelter; basement, interior room with no windows, etc. The location was fairly close to our place.

Leaves flying, sticks falling, water coming into the dining room ceiling. I put two skillets on the floor to catch the water.

The confirmed tornado stayed on the ground an incredible length of time: Nineteen (19) minutes! The tornado traveled nearly 13 miles, with a 500 foot wide continuous swath. It is rural out this way, so there was some buildings and houses damaged, but it could have been much worse if it was only a couple miles south.

Lots of trees broken, some over the roadways, power outages, etc. Could have been much worse.

Strawberry Moon & Summer Solstice

The Strawberry Moon was named by native Americans as the full moon that occurs in June, which also would kick off strawberry-picking season. The full moon occurring during the summer solstice is actually rare; the last one was June 22, 1967, and will not happen for another 46 years, on June 21, 2062. I doubt I'll be around to see it.

Belmont Stakes!

Creator - by a nose!

Hot and humid today, and we spent the day working outside in this oppressive heat! Trimming trees and hauling branches and debris to the burn pile. It was so hot later in the evening that I opted not to work Alli in the round pen after her dinner. Just too darn hot!

Windy, With A Chance of Knocking Down Trees

A cold front blew in. Cold being relative in June. Predicted to have scattered showers and wind gusts up to 30 mph. In actuality the wind gusts were 40 mph. And branches, leaves, and debris were blowing around. Batten down the hatches!

A tree fell over in the old fence row in front of field #3. A 'ghetto palm' Tree of Heaven that was comprised anyway from all the concrete debris that is piled under the trees. The roots of these trees are so below any rainfall reach, that they are in a distressed state and all of them are failing. BOOM. Another mess to clean up.

Play Doh is Found!

This missing horse, Play Doh, has been found. Fully tacked up, even had his fly mask on. I can't get Alli to keep her's on for more than an hour.

Found by three hikers

miles from where he was last seen.

Play Doh first went missing May 27, the Friday before Memorial Day, when Susan Crawford was riding him on a trail, close to our horsey club, where she was camping out. Crawford said the trail gave out, causing them to slide. Play Doh got spooked and ran off.

When the hikers found Play Doh, he was caught on his saddle. However, Crawford said he must not have been stuck for long, because he was not dehydrated.

In this picture you can see the cuts and lacerations on this guy. He will make a full recovery.

The War Never Started

I'm saddened to report that The Rodenator is a bust. It did not perform as advertised. It is wildly expensive and just didn't do anything. We went through one and a half tanks of oxygen, but still not one single ground hog has been killed, relocated or otherwise dealt with. We're back to square one.

In the meantime, a couple more holes have popped up, one in field #2 and the old one outside field #1 down by the creek.

We're sending it back, returning the air tanks.

Alli's Fifth Birthday

Alli has definitely come a long way while with us. Starting below baseline, setting the bar extremely low, but she has grown while with us, and her real personality is coming out. She is a princess, and is enjoying herself.

She's put on weight and is taller. She is really getting civilized and easier to manage. He's also been working with her, doing the hardest, scariest, part. She honestly wants to please and not cause problems. She's getting soft and sweet, is showing how brave she can be. She's going to be a good riding horse.

Bonus Day!

Because we couldn't get off on Thursday, we took an extra day today! Yea! And we chose to ride, a bonus day!

Washed Skip after the ride. He really needed one, first one of the year. All that winter smell and spring sweat is rinsed away. He smells like flowers.

The Rodenator has been delivered! This means war!

And the lost horse remains missing.

Memorial Day

Last Sunday in May

He took today to work on the rust mitigation on the old trailer. He's had this trailer for nearly ten years, and it was not new when he got it. The rust is taking over, and he periodically busts it out, repairs with Bondo, then sands and paints. Just like new. He took the tires off to get on the underside of the fenders and realized the rear right tire was bald. Not just bald, but looked like it had been locking up and not rolling, making it bald.

From time to time I would say the fender was warm, and smelled like burning rubber. We tack up on that side of the trailer. It wasn't each time, but regularly enough that this is the result. He swapped out the spare tire, which is fairly new with the bald tire.

Also discovered that the wheel bearing was compromised. Being a holiday weekend, it was difficult locating a vendor that was open. He found one in Rockville, a Marine Boat store, and while in town did a grocery run for his mother.

He continued the rust work and pulled the spare tire stem out; this was also compromised, with the peg barely anchored in rotted plywood. With the Bondo work, you can't even tell it had ever been a problem. He used a torch to loosen up the old paint on the bolt.

While he worked on the trailer, I mowed grass with the push mower, then went to Todd's to get hay. This is all the hay in Todd's barn. I put as many would fit in my car, leaving one bale that I could not manage to fit in.

Ride Time and Skip is a Jerk

The woman that had lost her horse, "Playdoh", on Thursday, was still camping out.

I broke down and had a beer! There was a live band, 'One Louder' playing in the yard, but the crowd was manageable.

We rested plenty of times in the water, the heat and humidity were building, although we did stay in the shade.

Still no sign of the missing horse.

When we got back we thought it would be a good idea to put the boys in field #3, where Alli and Beau had been all day. That was a dumb idea. As you can see, KC is the only one doing what he should be doing: minding his own business and eating grass.

Skip kept trying to get Alli away from Beau, and Alli would not let Skip have a clear shot at Beau. She was always between the two of them. This went on for hours, until we brought them in to feed. Then it got ugly.

He let them all in the interior dry paddock. All hell broke loose. KC was the only one that behaved himself, coming up to the red gate. I let him in; he walked right to his stall like a good soldier. The other three ran around the interior dry paddock like a horde. Skip was chasing Beau, Alli was running interference.

He opened the gate and all three ran into the dry paddock, circling the barn at high speed. Dust flying, out of control craziness. A real melee.

The gate to the round pen was open, and all three charged in. Alli scraped her shoulder on the gate latch. Skip has cuts on his rear right leg, front and back. Beau seems to have escaped any noticeable injury. Eventually everyone got into their correct stall. They all were soaking wet.

Lesson learned: NEVER let the four into the same pasture. Ever.

Friday - Moving Forward

Beau spent time in the round pen in the morning, with my saddle on! I was not on my saddle, but, still! He never even tried to buck, or act out or anything. He didn't care for this and that, but got over it and settled down quickly.

This is huge.

We went to Laurel to the 'air' supply outlet to buy oxygen. We got a nice tall tank. We have serious plans for this tank, as we move forward to another phase of groundhog management.

He washed all the cars with the power washer. Now that it has stopped raining, the pollen is so thick that all the vehicles are dusty yellow.

Later in the day he pulled the truck and trailer into the red gate at the dry paddock. We loaded KC on, then asked Beau to load. He was hesitant but through perseverance, and continuing to ask, Beau stepped in with two feet, resting for a while, and then onto the trailer. Another huge moment!

Tire(d)

The riding lawnmower, which we've had for nearly 16 years, had a flat tire. The tire is shot, and pretty much fell off the wheel.

This happened in Max's field, up against the fence in the corner. A terrible place to change a tire!

We already had a tire, having gotten two to replace the rear tires a couple years ago. We replaced one, but not the left. Now it is go-time.

He managed to jack the tractor up with a fence board and pull the flat tire and wheel off. We got the old wheel off, I washed the gunk out of the wheel well, but try and try, we could not get the new tire to seat or air up on the old wheel housing. The wheel that came with the tire was not compatible with the tractor.

I took the tire on the old wheel to the ATCO in Laytonsville. Originally he said it would be 45 minutes, could I leave it and come back or do I want to wait. I do need to drop by the grocery, so this is possible. He comes out to car to get the tire, sees it is already on the wheel, just needs air, so he does it right away. And charged me NOTHING - it was FREE! How cool is that!

We're back in business, and lots of mowing in my future.

Nail Salon ~ Rainy Saturday

Woke up to rain. It rained all day, heavy at times, breezy and chilly.
Raining, more like heavy misting with a steady breeze

when the new farrier came by.

The boys and the Blacks got their feet done. Shoes on front for the boys, trims for the Blacks. This is a huge milestone for the Blacks. We've never had their feet done, but surely they were done before we got them. They needed doing, too.

We've worked hard on getting them to allow us to pick up their feet. This has taken months. I don't want to ACE them or twitch them. It wasn't easy. They didn't want to give their feet up for weeks and weeks. Persistence has paid off. The farrier was really good with them, too. It's not his first rodeo.

The farrier recommended some 'cow' medicine for Beau - who has an infection in his right rear heel 'Thrush'

so we went to Tractor Supply and then into downtown Mt Airy, to Southern States Cooperative to get feed.

He also installed the new belt in the RAV4 that was aging, cracking, and recommended to be replaced. It's not the miles, it's the years. In the rain.

It rained all day and well into the night. We're officially underwater.

Exaggerator Wins The Preakness Stakes!

Sunny Friday!

This is the first morning that the sun has shone in nearly 20 days. I'm taking advantage of the decent weather to wash the Littles.

Sprite

Lil Fred
This took longer than it should have, and wore me out! I hand grazed them while they dried out, and they look so cute! I know it is futile, it's going to rain tomorrow and Sunday. Probably Monday, too.

15 Days of Rain

We've had fifteen days straight of measurable precipitation. The grass is growing, lush and tall. KC is getting fatter and Lil Fred is portly.

The outdoor activities have been curtailed. The round pen is groomed and unused. He added 25 bags of sand last weekend, which helped in a couple of the low spots. But while it is actively raining, we don't work the horses outside.

Death All Around Us

While mowing I apparently ran over a baby rabbit. I did not notice, but was told later. I didn't want to view the body. I'm sorry that this happened, but they'll make more. It is what rabbits do.

While mowing he ran over a Garter snake in the hay field. It didn't stay long enough to draw flies. Something stole it pretty quickly. I'm sure it is a delicacy for most birds.

A very tiny squab was dead on the bricks. It couldn't have been more than a day out of the shell. The skin was still see-through and blue. It wasn't under a nest, so I believe it was booted out. Nature is as cruel as motorized machinery.