Double Double

I missed last week’s Friday’s Hunt hosted by Teresa at Eden Hills.
Since I have resolved to make a valiant effort to do the post every week, I feel I must do a double post this week…starting with last week’s prompts…Starts with D, Week’s Favorite, and Summer or Winter.

Starts with D

How about a dog named Daphne with a jolly ball? A very nearly destroyed jolly ball?

Puppy sure does love beating on that thing!

Week’s Favorite

Taken a week ago, but I didn’t get to editing it until this morning…

Hubby meeting a friend’s Gotland pony, named Huck.

It’s the first in a series of 6, where brave Sir Huck met Hubby, and tried to decide whether or not this new Human in his pasture was a threat or not…it took a bit, but Huck did decide it was alright for Hubby to be there…after all, his trusted Humans brought this new one to meet him, so he must be okay. 🙂

Summer or Winter

Ruby would like everyone to know, she has dropped her winter weight and is now in her fine, sleek summer body…which truth be told, isn’t that much slimmer than her winter one, but we cannot bruise her delicate equine ego, now can we? 😉

“I’m not fat, it’s the angle Mom took my picture.” ~ Ruby

And now, this week’s prompts…
Starts with E, Week’s Favorite and Bounce.

Starts with E

E is for “Egads Woman!! What the hell did you do to your hand?!?”

I haz a boo-boo.

I did that Wednesday afternoon…quite by accident!
I was honing the edge on the scythe, took my eyes off the blade for a millisecond, and sliced myself.
So, the math is this…Razor Sharp Steel + Inattention = OMG!!! Owwww!! (plus some other choice words, and a steady stream of blood) I bled on the deck, the scythe, the honing stone, all the way to the bathroom, and under cold water…
I took the above picture today. It looks much better.
I have been treating it just like I treat an injury on Sable…cold hosing and raw honey. 🙂
If it’s good enough for my Bella, it’s good enough for me.

Week’s Favorite

From last night, while we were BBQing…

Awww! They are the cutest kitties ever!

Hot, tired, half sisters Xena and GreyCat having a snuggle. So adorable! ❤

Bounce

Okay, I don’t have bouncing animals, like our host 😉 so I really had to think about this one. lol
Finally, I settled on the bounce of the hammer off of red-hot steel.

I’m still working on editing the forge images, but as I work on them, I’ll share more. I love the slag flying off the steel after the hit!

My Hubby so needs to get his forge built, so I can do night time shoots!

Hey Folks!

Or…should I say “Hay” folks!?!
Because that’s what I’ve been doing, instead of blogging.
Cutting hay.
By hand…like a crazy person.
The sun has been shining, and aside from a ridiculous 2 hour downpour Sunday which was not in the forecast at all and I swear only rained on my land, it’s been fairly dry.
Y’know what they say, make hay while the sun shines! 😉

When I’m not outside doing chores, I’m trying to get some mass photo editing done. We went to 2 places a couple Saturdays ago and I took a lot of pictures.
One was Cloverdale Forge, where the local blacksmith works. They were hosting 2 guests who were sharing their metal crafts, and well, I wanted to photograph the demos. Hubby just wanted to watch and soak up all the knowledge he could. I think that The Kid found it interesting…I hope so, since she’ll get to test things out once Hubby has his forge built.

So, I have those pictures to edit, and share with the owners of the forge. They had asked if I had anything really awesome, if they could use it for promoting the next few rounds of demos…um, hell yeah! So long as I can come out and photograph those too! 🙂
Here’s a sample image…

What looks like blurring and photo manipulation is the heat rising off the coals. Looks pretty darn cool (lol) if you ask me.

And then, in the afternoon of the same day, we zipped off to the Medieval Festival being held a few miles away.

That was pretty cool to check out too. They had actual jousting…so guess what I was there for. 😉

Knight on a Percheron

There is something about a Percheron prancing and strutting…Oh. My. Gosh. But, as gorgeous as the Percheron was, this one…

Clydesdale

I was wholly and completely smitten with this horse.
So beautiful!! ❤ ❤ ❤

And now, I have another 100 or so frames to finish before I call that shoot a wrap.
But, that can only happen when I’m not outside making hay, feeding chickens, picking eggs, cutting weeds for piggies, working with ponies…LOL!

Oh, and then, we had a rain storm last week…whew, it was a doozy, and even then it didn’t hit us as hard as some. We had some things blown around in the strong winds, a crazy bright lightening show and hard rains, but friends had downed trees and property damage. 😦
What we did have, was our internet go out for half a day…and because it was too wet out to cut hay, I did edit pictures off the hard drive. Over 2000 images were gone through, and with hard editing, I’m down to just around 400 left. And we have room on the hard drive again! Yay!

That was after the storm…

With how dark the sky was (this shot doesn’t show how dark it really was!) I was sure it was coming back around at us, but it didn’t. Thankfully.

Finally, yes, I realize I missed the Friday’s Hunt post for D…I’ll catch up with a double set of images this weekend. At least, that’s what I’m telling myself. 😉

ps: we’re coming up on our 3 year anniversary here on the Farm. So exciting!

Gosh It’s Hot

I am not complaining though. Winter will be here soon enough, so I’ll take sunshine and warmth while I can!
How hot is it, you ask?
Hot enough to melt my black barn cat…

What ya doing Felix?

He’s just hanging around in the pallet that forms the gate to the Henny Yard.

Are ya hot, Felix?

Just a little bit wilty…maybe soaking in some cold water would perk him up. Like lettuce.

“Don’t even, Food Lady!”

LOL! Poor boy, finding shade where ever he can, that’s still close to me. 😉

The Henny Witch

That’s ^^^^ my Henny Yard Guardian. Hubby brought her home for me one day. I think she’s adorable.

You can see, if you zoom in, there’s a spider and web between the Henny Witch’s hat and broom.

Oh, and remember I showed you my over grown with weeds garden?

That’s my garden…

Well, after some time in there with the scythe, a rake and a pitchfork, it now looks like this…

Whoa!! There’s actually a garden there!

The piggies had mounds and mounds and mounds and mounds of weeds to eat. Still have some left. They burrow down under them in the heat, and then eat their way out. 😉 They’ve packed on a few pounds this week, with all those tasty weeds they’ve been eating.
Mmmmmm, home-grown bacon!

Nigella Piggie after a very much enjoyed forehead scratch.

Nigella has decided that forehead scratches from the Food Lady are quite enjoyable. She often heaves a big sigh and then sits down to enjoy it. I keep telling her, “Enjoy those scratches, Nigella Piggie. Happy piggies taste so much better!” 🙂

Finally, one last picture for today…

GreyCat stands on the Sasquatch…

I don’t know why. She just likes to stand on him. 🙂
She, and all our other girls, have recovered beautifully from their surgeries, and now that baby hormones aren’t in control, are starting to put on some weight. Every one is looking sleek and wonderful…and they’re still hunting like the ravenous velociraptors that they are!

In Under the Wire

Well now, I’m betting y’all thought I forgot about Friday’s Hunt hosted by Teresa at Eden Hills.
Nope, I didn’t.
Granted, I’m a few days behind, but I’ll still get the post done in time to link up. Prompts this week include Starts with C, Week’s Favorite and Unique Perspective.

I didn’t take a lot of picture on the Farm last week. I was working on clearing off as many shots from my memory cards as I possibly could. We had 2 events that I shot at yesterday…a blacksmithing demo, and a Medieval Fair. I came home yesterday with an abundance of images to edit. 🙂

What I have for this week’s prompts are from a few weeks ago, but still, yummy shots, in my opinion.

Starts with C

My Kid on a lesson horse at the Stable.

C is for that gorgeous golden field of canola behind my Girlie and her dashing steed.

One of the boarders and her big guy, enjoying the view.

More of the canola. It makes such an amazing backdrop for the silhouette shots. Have to be fast to catch it though. The flowers aren’t around for very long!

Week’s Favorite

Also shot at the Stable…

Every horse needs a teeny satin top hat to wear…

The Queen expects her grain in her stall when she’s done…

Unique Perspective

Okay, this one was tough. I actually had to go back in my images and search something out. This should do it…

Best. Joke. Ever!

LOL! Unique enough?
I love that shot! 😛

Ooooh!! Look at the Pretty!!

A few weeks ago, I started cutting some of our grass with grass scissors so that I could dry it for small bales of hay.
Yes, I am crazy.
Certifiably so. 😛
Thing is, our yard site is huge, and the grass needs cutting. My hayburners need hay for winter. So, my brain says, cut and cure what I can, put it up for those odd times.
Y’know what I mean…Like when you first start to feed hay in the fall…the horses aren’t quite getting enough from the pasture, but, they don’t want hay 24/7, and the Hay Guy can’t get me a load right away because *he’s* still cutting and baling…and in the spring, when hay eating tapers off and the nibbling of the newly growing grasses begins. Those times when I’m not sure opening an 800lb bale is worth the potential for waste.

A few weeks ago, I mentioned here on the blog that I was looking into purchasing a scythe. Well, I kept looking, because I didn’t want to hand out the money for a new one. I was hoping to find something cheap on the local buy/sell/trade sites.

What I ended up with was something so much better…first, let me show you:

Hubby with the Pretty. 🙂

Yep, a scythe. But where did it come from?
I mentioned on my personal FB page what I was doing with the grass and scissors. I had a lot of friends offer ideas where to buy a scythe…many of them I already knew of, but, like I said, I didn’t want to put a lot of money into one. Not if I could find one the someone had in a barn that they weren’t using.

As it turns out, a FB friend had exactly that…and he messaged me with the generous offer to give it to me. Oh, I was happy to accept! 😀
It took a little bit of finangling to get it from him to me…our Hoof Trimmer was involved, there was a barrel racing fundraiser, and, I finally, after being FB friends for a couple of years, got to meet him in person. lol
In the end though, the scythe came home to the Farm.

This past Saturday, my brother came out to sharpen it for me…because he’s the expert in sharpening things.
If I needed it welded, or hammered while red hot, then Hubby could do that. But, he’s not 100% on his sharpening skills yet. 😉
Of course, while sharpening happened, so did photos…

Clamping the scythe down for safety…

Wire brushing the rust off…

Wire brushing the other side of the blade…

Cutting the new edge…

Oooooh…sparky!

Other side gets sharpened too…

Testing the edge…

Yup, it works! (Love Felix in the background watching!)

And now, all I need are a few good hot dry days, and I can make hay!
Squeeee! 😀

A Slice of My Life

Yesterday was a break in the constant rain. Yeah, I know, shouldn’t complain about rain when others aren’t getting. Really though, we’re soggy. Parts of my pasture are still under water. Oh, we have darn good growth out there. Some of it too much-which sounds crazy, with 4 giant grass eaters, but they, like most horses, are picky. Once the grass gets too long, it’s not as palatable to them, so they don’t eat it. That’s when we mow it…but if it’s to wet to get out there with the mower…well, you can see where that might be a problem.

Anyways, with yesterday’s break we worked on weeding some of the garden spaces. Sadly, nothing has been planted, because weeds got away on us in the non stop rain. I mean, seriously got away on us…

That’s my garden…

It’s overgrown with grass, thistles, stinging nettle, wild canola and clover.
*sigh*
Same with my 9 smaller raised beds. Yesterday, though, we cleaned out 6 of the 9 and I planted some of the starts I had in the basement…I have no expectations from them. After forgetting my first rounds of tomatoes and peppers (they died without water) being busy with Sable’s hoof issues over spring, I replanted things. Well, surprise! I forgot about them again. *facepalm*
And so, if you know me at all, you have an idea of how hard on me this has been, no garden.
The past 3 summers have been like this, while I’m adjusting to planting out here, compared to the city. I’ll get it yet, but it’s been a hard learning curve…one that’s left me a little bruised and battered feeling.

My half dead cukes…they did perk up with watering, so I’m cautiously hopeful.

Sad peppers… 😦
Including 3 Thai Chili Peppers.
Fingers crossed?

Chocolate mint…in a bag wrapped tomato cage, to protect it from the hoard of cats…at least until it gets firmly established.

The other boxes I put in some bush bean seeds. Bush beans are fast growers, and hopefully, we can get some from them. And, well, as I clear more of the big bed, I’m putting more bean seeds in there. Beans is definitely something we love to eat here. 🙂

And, underneath all the frustrations from not having the garden planted, there is the knowledge that all those weeds, as I pull them out, are still contributing to the winter food supply. How’s that, you ask?
Well, all the weeds get tossed to the piggies.

Anthony Piggie sleeping in a pile of weeds.

The girlies LOVE weeds. Thistles are their faves-both purple and sow-with the canola and stinging nettle easy seconds. And grass? Oh yeah! So, even with not being able to produce plants for us, the garden weeds are still not just being burned or wasted.

A little Piggie side eye…hoping for more nummies. 😉

Besides, it’s not like we’re not producing any food for us…
There’s the piggies, who will go to Freezer Camp in October, there’s the hennys, giving us eggs…and how pretty is this sight?

Three hennys sit in the same spot just about every day to give us three eggs.

And, we just added these guys (and gals):

Peepers!!

We got 15 Cornish cross day old chicks last Thursday. Oh my gosh, they’re just so cute! lol
And in 8-12 weeks time, they’ll be going to Freezer Camp as well.

That’s a peeper with some attitude!

One thing the rain *has* been great for is the fruit trees.

Pear

That pear tree was only about 12″ tall when I uncovered it…the pears have been very slow growing. But now, with the rain, and a ring of rotted horse manure around the base, it’s more than doubled in height and thickened up beautifully!

All the fruit trees have been the same…except one apple that didn’t make it through the winter. But it didn’t stand a chance against Daphne, the stick chewing dog, who doesn’t know the difference between a stick in the snow and a tree. D’Oh!

Apple tree…up 8″, and several new branches.

So, really, things may not be going to plan 100%, but, we’re adapting and over coming. We’re getting things done, and we’re learning.
Next year, we’ll try again to make the garden work. I know we can do it, we’ll just have to persevere.

One final photo…

Gabrielle

Our wilding kitty Gabrielle…Anna and Banana’s mama.
And now, a spayed kitty, who can focus on her real job here…hunting.
❤

It Can Be Tough…

Sometimes, to keep up on the blog in summer.
Sorry, I know y’all want pictures, and to know what’s been going on.
I’ve got pictures, and I’m trying to make sure I get posts written, but it doesn’t always happen. So, bear with me, I’ll get you caught up.
But first…

I said I was going to make an effort to do the whole alphabet for Friday’s Hunt hosted by Teresa at Eden Hills, and I’m not jamming out on b! So, this weeks prompts are Starts with B, Week’s Favorite and Patriotic.
All these shots are from my Canada Day shoot with Cookie…

Starts with B…

My poor big baby. She was terrified of the flag, the head-dress, the beret…bugs were bad, she was in a mood and it was tough getting her to trust me that nothing was going to eat her.
We did this to her…which happens to be my Week’s Favorite shot…

Cookie wears the Canadian flag.

No, she’s not happy.
Flags are scary. Mama said “Wear this scary thing for me, ‘kay? Imma be over here though, so you just wait for me.”
It was hard on her. Super mega bonus points to Cookie for not pooping in fear, and for waiting as patiently as she could for me to get this shot.

And then, we tried this…

Oh, my sweet Baby Girl!

We clipped the flag to her mane, and draped it over her rump, like Hubby did with Sable…well, the wind picked up and caught it and my big baby went sideways! You can see the tension in her body…poor baby! She tried so hard to hold still, but the fear won out. Again, bonus points to Cookie, when Hubby dove to catch the flag (it never did hit the ground!) and I called “Stand!” she did. She snorted and honked like a goose, but she stood.
It’s one of the best things I’ve been able to teach her…

Finally, Patriotic…
What’s more patriotic than an ex-military man helping out on a Canada Day photo shoot, while wearing his beret (and the flag draped around his shoulders)?

Hubby, soothing my big baby. ❤

Oh, and one last one…
After I took her for a walk to work off the tension, unhooked the lead and let her go, Cookie gave me this look…

“I am so done with you today, Woman!”

Best.
Side Eye.
Ever.
❤

And So We Begin Again…

First…

Thank you everyone who sent good wishes after Cookie’s *ahem* incident. She’s doing very well, and back to being herself 100%.
And, a huge thank you to those whose shoulders I cried on during and after…words can’t express how much I appreciate the support and love y’all sent my way. ❤ ❤ ❤

This week marks the 2nd round of the alphabet for Friday’s Hunt hosted by Teresa at Eden Hills.
I am going to work very hard at making sure I get the whole alphabet done this time. No slacking, no missing letters, no excuses. I hope. 😉
And so, this week, we have prompts Starts with A, Week’s Favorite and Macro.

For starts with a, we have this cutie…

Anna Kitten

This is Anna Kitten. She and her sister…

Banana Kitten

Are the last 2 kittens of the season. And, with a whole bunch of spay and neuter surgeries in progress, hopefully some of the last kittens we have here on the Farm.
We had an awful spring with kitten loses and sick Mamas, that I looked for a low-cost spay/neuter clinic and have been working on getting as many cats fixed as possible.
One of our girls, though, had these two Numpkins hidden in the garage. Well, once we caught her for her spay, we had no choice but to catch them and bring them in. Right now, they are loving the indoor kitty life. So, we are hoping to find them an indoor home.
We already have 4 indoor cats. I don’t want 6. lol!

Snuggling and being cute

Anna Kitten showing me how tired she is of my taking her picture. 😉

My favorite this week was taken yesterday…
I went out, with Hubby, to take some Canada Day pictures with the Girls. As always, Sable shows what a natural in front of the camera she is…

Hubby draped the flag over her rump, stepped back and Sable just turned like this…perfectly beautiful.
And then, there’s Ruby.
Hubby was showing her that the one hat wasn’t scary. Just look at her expression…

“Seriously Mom? What *is* this guy’s problem?!?”

She ended up wearing it no problem (I’ll share that shot later on in the week.), with her trademark shake to dump it at the end.
We tried to get Astrid and Cookie to wear that hat too. Astrid was not impressed. She did wear it, but wow, I don’t think anything has come across as so scary to her before. We let her sniff it over and over, which led to a great couple of macro shots.

Astrid checks out the head wear.

I’m sure the problem was a combination of too many bugs, and the fact that the head wear had shiny moving parts that made odd swishy noises by her ears.

“So scary smelling. Can’t let this any closer to me. Sorry Mama.” ~Cookie

Cookie wouldn’t even stand for me to raise it to her head. She sniffed, snorted and backed up away from it every time I tried to raise it. In the end, I just let her sniff it until she relaxed and then took it away. It wasn’t worth fighting with her to try to force it on her.