Monday, September 30, 2013
Tuesday, September 24, 2013
Trespassers
Last night - (not in any order) two loads of laundry, dinner, taking the horses out to the electric corral and back, feed/water/hay - walk down to the bridge construction site to monitor progress (getting close).
Normally, Lexie needs to go out around 8:30 - 9:30. So last night I take Max out to peeeeeee (about 30 seconds) and bring him back in and get Lexie - I'm out there with her - she's taking her time, trying to eat grass, sniffing here, and there (not like all-business Max) and I see a flash down the power lines. I have new glasses so I'm thinking it was hitting them, or reflecting off the power box on the electric fence. Then I see it again, and then again. Now I see a beam of light, up in the air and around the woods (those are our woods). I go towards the house; he's at the window so I motion for him to come out.
At first he doesn't see anything, I tell him not to blink, and he’ll surely miss it. We stand there watching the light flashes, now going around and around, flashing up the pasture.
Now he says he is going to yell, because he knows how to do that. I know he does. Back in the day a woman named Sharon (lives in Southwestern Virginia) was telling us about the WORST NIGHT of her life - stuck on the top of a ridge in West Virginia overnight with her horse and two others and their horses - people she didn't know and they didn't know each other, after getting separated from the group - it was a RIDE TO THE CURE fundraiser event, two-day ride. The first day was ride on the yellow ribboned trail, the next day ride the pink ribboned trail. They were separated from the group and come to a trail junction and the pink crosses this, so thinking it will be a shortcut, they go on the pink, in the direction they think will go back down to the trailers. It did not.
It was a beautiful day but as the sunshine waned, and got closer to twilight the chill descended in. They were not dressed for the changing temperatures. The other woman had on a sleeveless shirt, the man had on a t-shirt. Now fully dark, they find themselves on the top of the ridge, in the woods and decide to stop for the night, because they are lost and don't know if they are going further away from where they want to be. They have between them a couple bottles of water, granola bars and horse treats. And their three horses. On top of the ridge, in the woods, getting colder by the minute. They have nothing to build a fire with, so they don't. It is getting colder and they have no other clothes than on their backs. Taking the saddles off their horses, they use the saddle pads as shawls.
They huddle together, talking, and eventually fall asleep. They are awakened by a horrific scream. They figure it might be a cougar, but can't see. The horses are not happy. Sharon said the woman let out a blood-curdling shriek like she's never heard in her life, coming from this woman. They hear thumping and crashing off in the woods, and whatever it was has left, quickly. The woman explains she belongs to a Hunt Club, like Iron Bridge or Goshen. The horses immediately settle down.
They resume sitting in a tight cluster. Not long after that the wind picks up, it starts raining. Perfect, right? Now they move under their horses, crouching, and the rain beats down.
At the first hint of dawn they saddle up, wet, hungry, thirsty and miserable and head out to find the trail and their way down the mountain. They didn't stay for the second day of riding, the three had had enough.
ANYWAY - Tom says he knows how to make that sound, says he doesn't even have to warm up - he can just do it - So around the campfire that night he demonstrates for us the sound and she said - that's pretty much it!!
LAST NIGHT he did just that, knowing what it sounds like I moved away from him so my eardrums didn't burst. He did this several times in a row and the trespassers were coming up the hill! I said, 'the keys are on the hook, go get the RAV.' He runs inside, and then gets in the car. I have Lexie (she still hasn't gone) and he roars past me into the unfenced pasture, heading right for them, bending the grass. The guys (there are three) come up the hill with their hands up! One of the funniest things I've seen in my life! It was so hard not to laugh out loud - really - I said, 'what are you doing in my hay field?' The biggest one said, 'we're lost, we were tracking a deer and it got dark, and we don't know where we are. We are coming from George Warfield's place.' I said, 'you are two farms over from that.' Then one of them says, 'they got a German Shepherd.' If Max were out there he would have dragged me off my feet, down on the ground and gone after them - but Lexie just stood there.
They walked on out of the field, onto our parking lot and down the driveway, up the closed Annapolis Rock Road towards Damascus Road. We have too much excitement here, eh?
Normally, Lexie needs to go out around 8:30 - 9:30. So last night I take Max out to peeeeeee (about 30 seconds) and bring him back in and get Lexie - I'm out there with her - she's taking her time, trying to eat grass, sniffing here, and there (not like all-business Max) and I see a flash down the power lines. I have new glasses so I'm thinking it was hitting them, or reflecting off the power box on the electric fence. Then I see it again, and then again. Now I see a beam of light, up in the air and around the woods (those are our woods). I go towards the house; he's at the window so I motion for him to come out.
At first he doesn't see anything, I tell him not to blink, and he’ll surely miss it. We stand there watching the light flashes, now going around and around, flashing up the pasture.
Now he says he is going to yell, because he knows how to do that. I know he does. Back in the day a woman named Sharon (lives in Southwestern Virginia) was telling us about the WORST NIGHT of her life - stuck on the top of a ridge in West Virginia overnight with her horse and two others and their horses - people she didn't know and they didn't know each other, after getting separated from the group - it was a RIDE TO THE CURE fundraiser event, two-day ride. The first day was ride on the yellow ribboned trail, the next day ride the pink ribboned trail. They were separated from the group and come to a trail junction and the pink crosses this, so thinking it will be a shortcut, they go on the pink, in the direction they think will go back down to the trailers. It did not.
It was a beautiful day but as the sunshine waned, and got closer to twilight the chill descended in. They were not dressed for the changing temperatures. The other woman had on a sleeveless shirt, the man had on a t-shirt. Now fully dark, they find themselves on the top of the ridge, in the woods and decide to stop for the night, because they are lost and don't know if they are going further away from where they want to be. They have between them a couple bottles of water, granola bars and horse treats. And their three horses. On top of the ridge, in the woods, getting colder by the minute. They have nothing to build a fire with, so they don't. It is getting colder and they have no other clothes than on their backs. Taking the saddles off their horses, they use the saddle pads as shawls.
They huddle together, talking, and eventually fall asleep. They are awakened by a horrific scream. They figure it might be a cougar, but can't see. The horses are not happy. Sharon said the woman let out a blood-curdling shriek like she's never heard in her life, coming from this woman. They hear thumping and crashing off in the woods, and whatever it was has left, quickly. The woman explains she belongs to a Hunt Club, like Iron Bridge or Goshen. The horses immediately settle down.
They resume sitting in a tight cluster. Not long after that the wind picks up, it starts raining. Perfect, right? Now they move under their horses, crouching, and the rain beats down.
At the first hint of dawn they saddle up, wet, hungry, thirsty and miserable and head out to find the trail and their way down the mountain. They didn't stay for the second day of riding, the three had had enough.
ANYWAY - Tom says he knows how to make that sound, says he doesn't even have to warm up - he can just do it - So around the campfire that night he demonstrates for us the sound and she said - that's pretty much it!!
LAST NIGHT he did just that, knowing what it sounds like I moved away from him so my eardrums didn't burst. He did this several times in a row and the trespassers were coming up the hill! I said, 'the keys are on the hook, go get the RAV.' He runs inside, and then gets in the car. I have Lexie (she still hasn't gone) and he roars past me into the unfenced pasture, heading right for them, bending the grass. The guys (there are three) come up the hill with their hands up! One of the funniest things I've seen in my life! It was so hard not to laugh out loud - really - I said, 'what are you doing in my hay field?' The biggest one said, 'we're lost, we were tracking a deer and it got dark, and we don't know where we are. We are coming from George Warfield's place.' I said, 'you are two farms over from that.' Then one of them says, 'they got a German Shepherd.' If Max were out there he would have dragged me off my feet, down on the ground and gone after them - but Lexie just stood there.
They walked on out of the field, onto our parking lot and down the driveway, up the closed Annapolis Rock Road towards Damascus Road. We have too much excitement here, eh?
Sunday, September 22, 2013
Autumnal Equinox
Sparkling, bright morning, trees still dripping from the previous night's rain. The humidity is nothing, I believe we should take advantage of the great weather and ride!
There has definitely been a shift in the daylight hours. Barely light at 6:00 a.m., and the sun disappears quickly in the evenings. We'd lost about 40 minutes per day since the first of the month, and
soon we'll be leaving for work in the dark, coming home in the dark. That was fast!
There has definitely been a shift in the daylight hours. Barely light at 6:00 a.m., and the sun disappears quickly in the evenings. We'd lost about 40 minutes per day since the first of the month, and
soon we'll be leaving for work in the dark, coming home in the dark. That was fast!
Saturday, September 21, 2013
Tuesday, September 17, 2013
Pasture Grass
Last year, in March, (seems so long ago, but then again feels like yesterday) we had the big field industrially burnt, limed (6 and a half tons) and drilled with Orchard Grass Mix. It has been a long time coming, fertizling and grooming, to make this grass crop sustainable. Next step: fencing it in.
When we originally fenced in the currently used pasture, it took us several weeks. We were under a serious time constraint to move the boys from their temporary boarding barn to the farm, the penalty being paying another month of board.
We worked weekends, after work, and our week of vacation. Some of those days were hot, some delays for rain, etc. We had to rent a jack-hammer to drill 16 fence post holes, three in a row being 30 inches of solid rock. Oh, the memories.
We need to do this again, but on a much larger scale. The first pasture has 140 fence posts. The new one can easily be double that, I can't wrap my head around the actual math of the situation, but know we need to get this going. Might hire some help, but mostly we can do lots of this ourselves.
Last night he set up the portable corral in a small section with the new grass. By the time he got it installed and batteries charged up it was dark. KC in particular was wary of the new fencing, but Skip dove right in. We kept them out there for over an hour, pulling up lawn chairs to enjoy the evening and the sight of content horses.
When we originally fenced in the currently used pasture, it took us several weeks. We were under a serious time constraint to move the boys from their temporary boarding barn to the farm, the penalty being paying another month of board.
We worked weekends, after work, and our week of vacation. Some of those days were hot, some delays for rain, etc. We had to rent a jack-hammer to drill 16 fence post holes, three in a row being 30 inches of solid rock. Oh, the memories.
We need to do this again, but on a much larger scale. The first pasture has 140 fence posts. The new one can easily be double that, I can't wrap my head around the actual math of the situation, but know we need to get this going. Might hire some help, but mostly we can do lots of this ourselves.
Last night he set up the portable corral in a small section with the new grass. By the time he got it installed and batteries charged up it was dark. KC in particular was wary of the new fencing, but Skip dove right in. We kept them out there for over an hour, pulling up lawn chairs to enjoy the evening and the sight of content horses.
Sunday, September 15, 2013
Mid-September Ride Time
After the hot, hot weather earlier in the week, we got a whole lot of cooling air in for the weekend. The beautiful September-blue sky, low humidity and dry conditions make it ideal for a ride in the park.
Even the notoriously wet, boggy places were dry.
Bone dry, hard-packed and dusty. I opted to stay as much in the shade as possible, even though it was cooler. I wanted to enjoy the ride without KC sweating.
We started out after 10, making a direct shot into Woodstock. We were surprised that so few people were there, but it was officially Bike Week in Ocean City. Also, we were pleasantly surprised to discover newly installed hitching posts and mulch footing. A far cry from well-worn rails, gravel and broken glass.
Even the notoriously wet, boggy places were dry.
Bone dry, hard-packed and dusty. I opted to stay as much in the shade as possible, even though it was cooler. I wanted to enjoy the ride without KC sweating. We started out after 10, making a direct shot into Woodstock. We were surprised that so few people were there, but it was officially Bike Week in Ocean City. Also, we were pleasantly surprised to discover newly installed hitching posts and mulch footing. A far cry from well-worn rails, gravel and broken glass.
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