We have been doing some searching over the last few weeks, for several things, both in-store and on-line.  These things would definitely profit us if we got them, but one of the questions is:  Where do we get the best deal?  I have to say that I have seen a wholesaler or two that didn’t seem to have “wholesale” prices, but then again, I’ve seen some that you wonder how they stay in business with prices so low on their products.  I would say, in my unprofessional opinion, that if you could find the item you are looking for through a wholesaler or close-out specialist…that would DEFINITELY be the best way to get a deal!!

God Bless!!

It seems, as the Summer is going quickly by, that my days are getting busier and busier.  Life here at home is FULL of activity with all of our animals and the possibility of some more in the next 3 or 4 weeks, if things go right.  I would have to say that busy-ness is my natural weight loss formula…..LOTS of activity with the animals, and not much time to sit down and take a break some days.

Have gotten a halter on Alice the last 3 or 4 days!!!  Wouldn’t you know it?  She actually leads, and she has NO fear of a lariat!!!  She also, at SOME point, has apparently either had some rope training or has been tangled up and/or hurt in a rope or something similar.  My partner and I have been picketing her out in the pasture and letting Pheline be loose out there because we figure Pheline isn’t going too far as long as Alice is staying put.  I’m KIND of interested to see how she reacts to saddle blankets and a saddle.

Got some goats the other day.  Someone was getting rid of them because they aren’t “show worthy” anymore, so now we have two adult female milking goats and a little buck (the son of one of the females that’s not weaned…YET).  It has been interesting the last few days because they have actually been eating on the black locust trees that we have out in the pasture….thorns and all!!!  WORKS FOR US!!!!  Maybe they can help us get the things killed!!!

God Bless!!

…Looking at counter displays here the last couple of weeks.  Just looking….and talking….and seeing what is out there that we might want…and what we haven’t found yet that we might want….and how difficult it would be to BUILD what we haven’t found yet.

Summer has come to Kansas at last, I think!  It is 90+ degrees with a HIGH humidity level today!  It’s not too bad, unless you are trying to do something….THEN it seems a tad warm.

Animals are taking the heat surprisingly well!  Of course, having fresh water ALL the time DOES tend to help!

My son went to his Father’s last night for a few days.  It’s definitely different having him gone.  Even Jasper The Donkey and Orangy, his cat, seem to miss him.  I’m sure the time that he is supposed to be gone will fly by, and he will be home again before we know it!

Have ALOT of thoughts and things I want to write, but they aren’t all formed yet, so we’ll say….God Bless, and We Miss You, Buddy!  Momma and Kemosabie love you!!

I have to say that I would LOVE to be done going through boxes and rearranging things, both in here and out in the out-building!!!  Then I could work on FINISHING rearranging here in the house, and move some things.

Might have to look in to investing in a couple of new pet beds for the dog and the cat.  Color-code them or something maybe?

Have a BLESSED weekend, all!!!  Miss you, Son!!

Springtime has finally arrived, once again, and we have started seeing babies everywhere out here at our house!

Last week, when we were loading an acquaintances trailer with some of the manure that we have from our stalls, I stuck the shovel into our pile to fill it so I could walk it over to the trailer, and the pile started making a WEIRD squealing sound.  I couldn’t see anything….and, with the coming of Spring, I’m thinking snakes would be the biggest possibility to be out there in that pile of manure.  After about 2 minutes of trying to see what was squealing, my partner and I finally uncovered a nest with baby rabbits in it.  Talk about weird!!!  You would have thought that Momma Rabbit would have sent us some baby announcements or something that said they were planning on moving in.

Have a BLESSED day, all.

Just got done riding a mare that goes by the name of Chikala again, for the second time this week!!!  Chikala is one of the horses that was here when we moved in, and we have become a sort of “foster home” for them, and I work with them and see what they know and what they DON’T know, in hopes that it will help the woman that actually owns them.

I first rode her for this Spring this last Sunday afternoon.  My son, partner and I all got outside to enjoy the NICE weather, and my son and partner worked with one of the donkeys that is here that goes by the name of Jasper.  We have adopted him as ours.  While “the guys” worked with Jasper, I combed and saddled Chikala.  Then we walked up the road and back, which was about three-quarters of a mile, and then I got in the saddle and we rode up the road to the corner and went West for about a mile, and came back home.  When I got in the saddle, Jasper got put away and my son and partner got on the 4-wheeler and followed me, just in case there were problems, but mainly to run interference for the traffic on our road.  Chikala didn’t think anything about the 4-wheeler, or my partner’s dog that went with us and was running up in front of us and back behind us….she didn’t think anything about the 1 or 2 cars that passed us, or the horses in the pasture that we passed, or the barking dogs that we went by that started to come down towards the road.  She was calm and collected, and a pretty good ride, except for the fact that she holds her head ALOT higher than what I like when she’s trotting.  The biggest problem I had with her was when I went to mount…she has a BAD habit of backing away when you go to get in the saddle.  I would say she’s had some bad experiences with saddling and mounting at some point in her life.

Today, we had a BIG problem with her backing away when I went to get in the saddle.  Not sure how to stop her from doing that, but I WILL figure out something.  Time to do some research when I get a few minutes and see what kind of ideas I can come up with.  I got frustrated with her today when she backed away from me, but I HAVE to remember that it’s probably NOT her fault that she does that.  She learned to do that because of some other stupid human.  If I have it figured right, we rode ABOUT 4 miles today, in just about an hour and 20 minutes or so.  We had 3 or 4 cars pass us, and we went down past another horse of the male portion of the species and he got ALL excited when we went by, and Chikala started to show her attention in that direction, but I was able to bring her attention back on me without too much problem.  We went through a marshy area in somebody’s pasture that’s not fenced today again, just like we did on Sunday, and she hesitated, but she did go ahead and step into the water without any problem.  I took the lead rope off of her halter today when I rode her.  Up to now, I have been leaving it on as a “back up” in case I came off and needed something a bit longer than my reins to hold on to her with.  But I took it off today, thinking that the weight of it was the cause of her holding her head so high when she trots, but she still held her head high without it.  So I figure that’s just the way she is (and some horses are).

About time to grab something to eat and maybe a shower before I have to leave, so you have a BLESSED afternoon!!!  Maybe I’ll post a picture or two of the horses one of these days!

I really don’t want to say it, but I feel a declutter bug about to hit with a hurricane force (I hope).  I have even thought of decluttering the bathroom when I clean, though I won’t declutter my make-up or prevera or anything like that, I don’t think.

This last Sunday, we went for a ride of about 4 miles total!!!  It felt good!!!  I was going to try to ride again yesterday or today, but I don’t know if I will have time yet or not.  SOOOOO many thing on the To-Do List!!!

Have a BLESSED afternoon, all!!!

Nope, I still haven’t had much time to slow down and smell the roses lately.  Though my family DID TRULY make Sunday a “day of rest and relaxation” this last weekend!!!  It was a GREAT day!!!  We spent the day together, doing things that we WANTED to do…things that maybe we haven’t been able to do lately because of various circumstances!!  The only thing bad was that it ended!!!

I can’t really say why, but I’ve been getting ALOT of e-mails lately that are more spam than anything.  You know the ones I’m talking about….they ask you if you are worried about your age spot or whether you have home insurance or not….or whether you have a place for Mom.

I have spent the last several days working, off and on, to declutter my e-mail box…AGAIN!!!  I can’t say I’ve made much headway, really….YET…but I haven’t been losing ground either.  My e-mail box is just the FIRST thing to come into the target zone for “decluttering”!!!

Have a blessed day!!!

*sings*…Hush, little baby, don’t say a word….Mama’s gonna buy you diamond engagement rings….

Well, life around here has been busy, busy….as usual.

I’ve had a job situation change the last 2 weeks, so I’ve been able to spend more time at home during the day, so I have been working with a couple of horses that are out here….Alice and Pheline (her 18 month old filly).  Alice is a character with a story ALL of her own!!!  When we moved in here, Alice had been basically untouched for who knows how long.  And Pheline had never been touched, as far as we know.  Last week, I had hands on Pheline 2 or 3 different times….only the nose, though….but that’s a start.  And then, I decided I NEED Alice moved from where she is at, which happens to be in my “round corral” that I’ve created, so I started working with her….VERY slowly.  I had hands on her 5 or 6 days in a row up until it was raining in torrential downpours yesterday!!!  She prefers to be approached from her off-side at this point, and you CANNOT approach her face.  But in that 5 or 6 days, I DID finally get her to where she wasn’t jumping every time I touched her!!!  And I had gotten to where I could rub her neck, and shoulder, and about half of her back and upper belly, AND I HAD gotten to where she was accepting me rubbing the OTHER side of her neck and letting me put my hand on her nose!!!  That translates into BIG steps for Miss Alice, even though I am NO WHERE near ready to attempt to put a halter on her.  A few minutes here….a few minutes there….and not pushing her into territory where SHE’S not comfortable yet.  I have NO doubts that if you push her into some place where she’s not comfortable, she WILL hurt you (as I suspect she has done with other people in the past).  She is beginning to trust me more, though, or she wouldn’t be letting me touch her, so that is a GOOD sign!!!  A couple of more weeks, if the weather will dry back out, and I will have her haltered and moveable to another pen/area, and I MIGHT even know how close she has ever been to being ridden!!!  One SLOW step at a time, though!!!!  I use the opportunities that I have had to get my hands on her and get close to her to clean the mats out of her mane that have been there since God knows when…..and I use the opportunities to help shed out her Winter fur that’s still hanging around because it’s matted and such.  A couple of weeks, I should have her mane cleaned out completely!!!  And she will be a prettier girl than she is now!!!

And Pheline is a WHOLE other entry!!!

God Bless!!!

It seems like it’s been a LONG week and should be at least Friday by now!!!  Of course, it doesn’t help that I’ve been running all week either!!  Not sure if I’m running tomorrow or not, job-wise, but have a couple of different engagements to attend,  so may decide to bow out on the job for tomorrow.  Will see what morning brings, I think.  Maybe I’ll be recuperated and ready to go again?

Haven’t had much time at home this week, but have gotten some things done here, as well.

I had hands on a little filly that’s about 18 months old (from what we are told) yesterday and the day before.  This is the FIRST time this filly, which we affectionately named Pheline, has had someone touch her, from what we’ve been told.  Pheline has JUST enough curiosity in her that she has gotten a bit of courage and just a TAD of trust towards humans over the last 6 months or so since we’ve lived here.  I have been watching her over the last few months, as she has been getting closer and closer when I have been out at their stall.  (She is still in the same “run” that she was born in with her Mother, H.B. Alice, though that “run” has increased dramatically in size over the last few weeks!!)  The day before yesterday, I was feeding Alice and Pheline a bit of grain, and Pheline came close enough to let me feel her breath on my hand.  I stretched my fingers out (of course, she is doing this from as far away as possible), and she sniffed my fingers and barely rubbed her nose against them.  LAST night, though, I was just standing out there talking to them from outside their gate, and both Alice and Pheline came up and was standing there.  Pheline stepped closer and was sniffing my arm.  When she pulled her head back slightly, I VERY slowly extended my hand out towards her.  She again sniffed my hand and bumped my fingertips with her nose.  She didn’t pull back any farther than she was already, so when she moved her head to the side slightly so that she wasn’t touching my hand anymore, I ever-so-slowly matched her movements with my hand.  I then intentionally touched her nostrils as she moved her head a bit more to the side.  She didn’t bolt…she didn’t back up…she didn’t even lay her ears back at me!!  This is a BIG step for this little filly!!!  A few more days of that, I think, in between rain storms, and I will have hands all over her and I SHOULD be able to move towards her to pet her, if only to her forehead to start!!!  It has been a LONG 6 months or so with these two horses…..such pretty girls and SOOOOO close, yet SOOOOOO far away right now because of their “history” which has seemed to have made them “untouchable”…at least until we moved here.  I didn’t get to go out this evening to see if I could touch her again because it started raining JUST as we hit the house after school.  I didn’t even get to the mailbox from the driveway before it started raining.  But there IS tomorrow!!!  As for H.B. Alice, well, she is going to take a bit more time and patience, but she, also, has come a LONG way since we moved in!!!  No longer does she lay her ears back whenever anyone comes near her or her “run”.  No longer does she try to grab hay out of our hands when we are trying to throw it in to her!!  No longer does she go to the other end of the “run” when people come near!!  And no longer does she try to “protect” Pheline from us!!!  It’s amazing what a difference of attitude towards a horse can produce sometimes!!!

I got the final panel put up on what was going to be our “third run” which is now our “second run”.  I took the gate that was between the two runs down, such as it was, on Monday and let Pheline and Alice in there to munch what little grass there was.  That was Pheline’s first taste of grass that she didn’t have to push her nose under the fence to get too!  And Lord only knows when Alice had a taste of grass that she didn’t have to get through the fence!!  They BOTH seemed to enjoy the extra room!!  Now, my “round pen” is all set, except for a different gate between the two pens!!!  Now all I need to do is get the weather and the schedule to cooperate and I will have hands on Miss Alice!!!  One step at a time!!!  This next week, if I’m not working on a remodelling project, I SHOULD have a couple of days to work with Alice AND to ride at least one of the others that are in our pasture!!!  I’m kind of getting an itch to be back in the saddle, which is probably a GOOD thing, considering the number of horses I have lined up to work with throughout the Spring!!!  But, I have to get Alice and Pheline to where I can move them around in the pens, if need be, so I can have my “round corral” to work these other horses if I need it.  That, in itself, has kind of moved Alice and Pheline to the TOP of the list….at least to get halters and such on!!

Other than that, not much going on here….as if that’s not enough!!!  It’s about time for bed, me thinks, since it’s raining and windy outside again tonight.

You all have a BLESSED rest-of-the-week!!!