Just kidding! 12-12-12 is supposed to mean something, to someone, somewhere. To me it means mid-week December.
The weather has been a serious roller-coaster - mid 60s, then 30s, up to high 50s, back to mid 30s. Crazy weather.
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Saturday, December 8, 2012
Sunday, December 2, 2012
Sunday, Sunny Sunday Ride
I got up early with Max, but after my little chores were done I got back into bed, sort of, and slept til 9!
The fog was seriously thick at sunrise, the power lines were nearly invisible and were crackling from the damp.
Eventually the fog burned off, so we started out late - 11:30 or so - we chose to park at the trail head in Marriottsville eliminating a little over an hour of riding - we needed that extra time because as it turned out with the clouds moving in, it was getting kind of dark by the time we got back to the trailer at 4:30.
On Saturday I walked out into the pasture to get the coats off the boys. They stood still for this. Sunday I pretended to do the same thing. I had no rope with me, but KC thought about leaving, hiding behind Skip.
I took off Skip's coat, so he was lulled into believing that is all I was there for. I heard him at the gate and told him to STOP. KC was still standing there, so I moved on to his coat. Skip never moved off, so after I dropped KC's coat I held onto his halter, and got Skip, too.
I led them both up the hill. GOTCHA. They both loaded easily onto the trailer.
Had transfered all our equipment: saddles, bridles, etc., out of the LQ and into the Glick. We had to re-install the mats and add sawdust, too. All this takes time. While I was pulling out his chaps the Wahl trimmer came out, too! Yea! The battery is dead, but I have been looking for this thing for months.
We parked at Marriottsville, in the lot with one other car. The back end of the Subaru was plastered with bumper stickers. The best one: 'Freedom Isn't Free, so quit your whinning and pay your fair share of taxes.' While we were tacking up another car pulled in. It had a single bumper sticker: 'Taxed Enough Already.'
On our way to the Woodstock, after crossing the Patapsco River, I noticed a cell phone on the trail. I knew it could not belong to a biker or hiker, because neither ever comes down to the river at this point. The gas pipe line is too steep and the river is too deep to cross without getting soaked, might be a plan in July, but not in December.
I hoped off of KC and picked it up, noticing that the battery was getting low. Also, it was password protected so we couldn't use the phone to call the owner.
Since we did not park at the LOMH we didn't know how many horse riders might be out and about in the park. The entire day we saw 5 horses and two mules.
After we got home we charged the phone up, and well after dark and chores and laundry the 'found' phone rang. He answered, turned out the Aunt of the owner was calling. He googled her name and number: she's a detective with the MPD! and was Cop-of-the-Year last year. Wow. The phone owner was riding on Saturday with his uncle and 'lost' his phone. Soon to be re-united with the help of USPS.
After dinner I took the charged Wahl trimmer out to the barn and trimmed KC's nose, chin and ears. He really likes that trimmer! I next did Skip's face and ears. When I was putting KC out he wouldn't move off to the hay flakes out in the pasture. I turned on the trimmer again and laid it on his face, between his nostrils. He loves that trimmer!
The fog was seriously thick at sunrise, the power lines were nearly invisible and were crackling from the damp.
Eventually the fog burned off, so we started out late - 11:30 or so - we chose to park at the trail head in Marriottsville eliminating a little over an hour of riding - we needed that extra time because as it turned out with the clouds moving in, it was getting kind of dark by the time we got back to the trailer at 4:30.
On Saturday I walked out into the pasture to get the coats off the boys. They stood still for this. Sunday I pretended to do the same thing. I had no rope with me, but KC thought about leaving, hiding behind Skip.
I took off Skip's coat, so he was lulled into believing that is all I was there for. I heard him at the gate and told him to STOP. KC was still standing there, so I moved on to his coat. Skip never moved off, so after I dropped KC's coat I held onto his halter, and got Skip, too.
I led them both up the hill. GOTCHA. They both loaded easily onto the trailer.
Had transfered all our equipment: saddles, bridles, etc., out of the LQ and into the Glick. We had to re-install the mats and add sawdust, too. All this takes time. While I was pulling out his chaps the Wahl trimmer came out, too! Yea! The battery is dead, but I have been looking for this thing for months.
We parked at Marriottsville, in the lot with one other car. The back end of the Subaru was plastered with bumper stickers. The best one: 'Freedom Isn't Free, so quit your whinning and pay your fair share of taxes.' While we were tacking up another car pulled in. It had a single bumper sticker: 'Taxed Enough Already.'
On our way to the Woodstock, after crossing the Patapsco River, I noticed a cell phone on the trail. I knew it could not belong to a biker or hiker, because neither ever comes down to the river at this point. The gas pipe line is too steep and the river is too deep to cross without getting soaked, might be a plan in July, but not in December.
I hoped off of KC and picked it up, noticing that the battery was getting low. Also, it was password protected so we couldn't use the phone to call the owner.
Since we did not park at the LOMH we didn't know how many horse riders might be out and about in the park. The entire day we saw 5 horses and two mules.
After we got home we charged the phone up, and well after dark and chores and laundry the 'found' phone rang. He answered, turned out the Aunt of the owner was calling. He googled her name and number: she's a detective with the MPD! and was Cop-of-the-Year last year. Wow. The phone owner was riding on Saturday with his uncle and 'lost' his phone. Soon to be re-united with the help of USPS.
After dinner I took the charged Wahl trimmer out to the barn and trimmed KC's nose, chin and ears. He really likes that trimmer! I next did Skip's face and ears. When I was putting KC out he wouldn't move off to the hay flakes out in the pasture. I turned on the trimmer again and laid it on his face, between his nostrils. He loves that trimmer!
Saturday, December 1, 2012
Sick as a Dog - Max's Version
Max has been 'sick.' I think he feels alright, but he has diarrhea. We were lucky to get away with it on Thursday, but Friday not so lucky.
I had planned on going to the grocery on Friday night, and we stopped on the way home to fuel up. Plans have a way of getting changed, right?
We spent the evening cleaning up after Max, mopping the floor, hosing off his feet, the patio, his crate, etc. He did not sit in his crate after the episode, so I am imagining he was exhausted by the time we got home. I thought we'd have to bathe him, but he was completely clean, except for his feet. Poor Max.
I really felt sorry for the guy. All evening and into the night we took turns taking him out. And he was exhausted. Slept most of the day, too.
The internet is a wonderful tool: Google says to not feed a dog, at all, and offer electrolytes instead. Pedia-lite, grape-flavored, is what he got. And lots of rest.
One thing we learned is that he is house-broken. Seriously. He doesn't want that in the house, or on him, or anywhere he might step.
I had planned on going to the grocery on Friday night, and we stopped on the way home to fuel up. Plans have a way of getting changed, right?
We spent the evening cleaning up after Max, mopping the floor, hosing off his feet, the patio, his crate, etc. He did not sit in his crate after the episode, so I am imagining he was exhausted by the time we got home. I thought we'd have to bathe him, but he was completely clean, except for his feet. Poor Max.
I really felt sorry for the guy. All evening and into the night we took turns taking him out. And he was exhausted. Slept most of the day, too.
The internet is a wonderful tool: Google says to not feed a dog, at all, and offer electrolytes instead. Pedia-lite, grape-flavored, is what he got. And lots of rest.
One thing we learned is that he is house-broken. Seriously. He doesn't want that in the house, or on him, or anywhere he might step.
Hay, Man
We slept in - Max was not feeling well so we both have a sleep deficet.
We got a call back from Corey at Cedar Lane Farm and dropped in mid-day. We got 60 bales on the flat bed and loaded all of it into the hay loft. I do have to re-arrange some stacks up there and get more of this great hay.
We got a call back from Corey at Cedar Lane Farm and dropped in mid-day. We got 60 bales on the flat bed and loaded all of it into the hay loft. I do have to re-arrange some stacks up there and get more of this great hay.
Friday, November 30, 2012
Hay!
In the last batch of hay, 40 or so bales, we had five or six bales the horses would not eat, at all. The latest opened bale is still in stall #5 – and in intact flakes in the field and the hay net – won't eat it. I felt badly, too, because it was a cold night (couple nights ago) and didn’t know none of them would eat it, all night long.
Then LAST night, after their dinner, KC was at the gate – looking at me through the kitchen window – that hay they also would not eat. Argh! He hand-picked each bale, climbing up into the barn, high in the stacks, but some they would not eat.
We only have a couple bales left, so it is imperative we get hay this weekend.
Then LAST night, after their dinner, KC was at the gate – looking at me through the kitchen window – that hay they also would not eat. Argh! He hand-picked each bale, climbing up into the barn, high in the stacks, but some they would not eat.
We only have a couple bales left, so it is imperative we get hay this weekend.
Thursday, November 29, 2012
Buckets
We're had a long stretch of cold nights - the frost is glistening in the field, on the car. Keeping fresh water for horses is very important and when it freezes in the buckets they are challenged to get drinking water.
We have electric heated buckets, in the stalls and in the pasture. We've had the boys' bucket turned on for almost a week now.
We have a 50 gallon trough, which we used at first but no longer. We got the heating element for it, but we change out the water so frequently that it was a waste of time and water. We use a 10-gallon bucket, changing out the water twice a day.
This summer there were several fatalities in the bucket. Birds and a ground squirrel. Hate seeing that, hate fishing them out. Skip won't drink out of the bucket after a fatality unless it is scrubbed out.
We have electric heated buckets, in the stalls and in the pasture. We've had the boys' bucket turned on for almost a week now.
We have a 50 gallon trough, which we used at first but no longer. We got the heating element for it, but we change out the water so frequently that it was a waste of time and water. We use a 10-gallon bucket, changing out the water twice a day.
This summer there were several fatalities in the bucket. Birds and a ground squirrel. Hate seeing that, hate fishing them out. Skip won't drink out of the bucket after a fatality unless it is scrubbed out.
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