And the hits just keep on coming....

Jake, the mighty hunter kitty, and I say ENOUGH ALREADY!! We both want to stick our head under the couch and come out when it's May. This is just nuts! We got 3 or 4 more inches of snow last night, and about as much is forecast throughout today. I've totally lost count of how much snow we've gotten which is good because I would be even more demoralized.


On the other hand, the horses are pretty happy with this stuff. At least the temperatures are up in the 20's now rather than the 4 BELOW (that is NOT a typo) yesterday morning. I was able to catch these pictures of the boys running through their pasture from the warmth of our office. Needless to say, they were having a great time and frequently run by. The donkeys, on the other hand, are cranky like their human mom and either console themselves by eating or standing under the cedar tree sulking.


I have to kind of chuckle at Bailey, in that while he does canter once in a while (usually coming to the barn when I call him to dinner), most of his playing and running around is still at a trot. I guess it's not easy to take the trot out of an old hitch horse.


I know, most of you have seen a snow plow before, but this is a really big one that actually came down our road! I took this this morning from our front room window while I was still in my snowman jammies. I went outside not much later (dressed, of course) and there was still easily 3 inches of compact snow and ice on the road. Yuck.


This is actually the little deck off the office from which I took the above horse pictures. I can't find my yard stick, but I would guess there is 18" of snow on here easily. It's compacted somewhat over the last week (this all started LAST Saturday) so I would bet we've had over 20 inches. I do have to admit it is pretty, but the chores are actually getting to be a chore!! That's not happened before!


We have another "dome o' death" forming on the sides of the barn. The good news is that so far it's coming down a little bit at a time instead of one big WHOOSH! I wouldn't want a horse under that when it came down! Good thing it gives a little warning beforehand.


Today was a special day for the chickens in that they got their outside door opened for the first time in 5 days. This is one of the new australorp hens looking to the right to check things out:


Then she looked to the left:


Then she looked forward and gave a "I am NOT impressed" cluck and went back in. I'm with you good hen, I'm with you.

More Winter Wonderland (enough already!)

Today dawned bright and crystal clear, but bitterly cold. It is stunningly beautiful. This picture (and the one below as well) was taken from the warmth of our office looking to the west over our lower pasture. I love how the snow is still on the trees. We are expecting high winds tomorrow, so I wanted to capture it before it all blows away.


Of course I didn't have my camera ready when the boys went cantering all over the field, first Bailey chasing LB, then Bailey taking the lead. Here they have found something fascinating in the snow that they worked over for about 1/2 an hour. I didn't want to get all bundled up to go check it out. This picture is a little deceiving in that there is a pretty good bank on the other side of the fence (that's not hot right now!) so they are standing lower than the ground on this side of the fence by quite a bit. But regardless, there is a LOT of snow out there!


Too bad this photo is a little shadow-y, because I love their expressions. Frank was coming back through the mini's pen after breaking ice in the trough in the lower field (there is another trough up by the barn) and he stopped to talk to sweet Maddie. She doesn't seem to mind the snow and cold, but she sure loves her stall. This little mare had a terrible health scare this summer (liver values off the chart, vet said he'd never seen a living horse with numbers that high) but she's doing well now. Don't even ASK what we just spent on a ton of special hay just for her. Good thing it'll take almost a year for her to eat it!


Here is one of the troughs that Frank has been tending. Luckily, after tonight it is supposed to start warming up at least a little above freezing during the day, so maybe our days of taking 6" of ice out of there are almost over. Thanks to Frank for all his hard work during this cold snap. Especially for trucking the full wheelbarrows down to the compost pile. It's HARD to wheel a wheelbarrow through over a foot of crunchy snow!


I just thought this was a pretty face. What you can't see is the mugging I was getting from Daisy the donkey from behind...pulling on my hat and my hoodie, snuffling my ear, pushing on the middle of my back. As usual, she makes every job so much harder, but also so much more entertaining.


I just wanted to say I'm so glad I got a red barn. It makes for lovely contrast in all the winter pictures! When I was sitting down with the builders and we got to the part where they asked what color to make our new barn, I just looked at them and said, "It can't be any other color than RED!" We went with a white roof, and I'm glad for that too.


This picture shows how badly the netting on the top of the chicken run has been trashed. We will be totally replacing it as soon as we can. Also notice the depth of the snow on the header of the old swing set, as well as on the roof of our shop. This is just so incredibly unusual for this area, with our usual marine influence and 40 degree winter days. It's been beautiful, but I'm ready to get back to normal.


I realize that I neglected to say how the chickens were doing in the last winter storm posting. Well, they are a tiny bit cranky because they haven't been let out of their coop for a number of days, but they have the heat lamp on in there and I just happened to stop and pick up a case of lettuce trimmings from the grocery store (they throw them away!) on the way home Tuesday before the storm hit, so they've had fresh greens every day and there is enough for tomorrow yet too. And the funny thing is that the girls are also laying up a storm. Got SEVEN eggs yesterday from 13 hens. Now that's amazing for older hens and in the middle of the winter when the days are so short. Good girls!

Well, that's it for now. We were thinking about trying to venture into town for a few groceries, but changed our mind when we saw the road is still just compact snow on top of ice. Our neighbors are buzzing around on their 4-wheelers and the kids are sledding in the neighbor's pasture, but there aren't any cars leaving the neighborhood, just a couple of big 4x4's. Oh well, it's not like we really NEED anything. My well-stocked pantry will keep us going for a long time. Maybe we'll try to venture out tomorrow. More later!

That wasn't snow, THIS is snow!

You've got to be kidding me! We left Wisconsin because of this! We are on our 2nd day off of school, with only Friday to go before Christmas Break, and we're betting that we actually started our break last Tuesday after school! The snow plows haven't even been here yet today. I'm measuring 12 inches of snow on a porch that Frank cleared at least 6" off of yesterday! We just got slammed!! It sure is pretty, but it is causing a lot of extra work here on the farm. Here's Frank and his trusty dog Sandy taking a break from shoveling the driveway. He said, "I never thought of this driveway as long before!" Poor Frank!


I took these pictures about 5 days apart. I thought the first one was about as much snow as we would see! Foolish Jayne! You can see that there is at least a foot of snow now on the lawn chair. You might remember from the Nov. 30 blog that it was nice enough for us to be out in T-shirts and enjoy sitting outside in that very same chair. What a difference a couple of weeks makes!



Too bad it's hard to get action shots with a digital camera, because I missed a LOT of good ones. The mini's had been locked in the barn the last two days and when I let them out they went NUTS!! They ran and ran, then rolled, then ran some more, of course with the all-important bucking and farting. The snow is truly up to Yak's belly (well, that's not saying much!) and he just trucked on through so happily.


Here's Maddie pawing in preparation of another rolling session. It's amazing to me that they didn't have snow stuck up their noses the way they just plowed through it. Yak is behind rubbing on the fence. Look carefully and you can see Daisy on the other side of the snowy fence! I didn't even see her there the first time I looked at this picture!


Yak is covered with snow! He's got it just smashed on his head and all over his body. I would say he's having a good day! Luckily it's cold enough that it's not melting and he just shakes it off and starts out again.


I couldn't end this blog without pictures of the rest of the horses! Here is Bailey taking a break from his endless hay buffet to talk to the minis. He and Little Bit like the snow and are happy to stay out. The donkeys not so much!


Snow sure makes things look not so white!! These girls are looking pretty dirty here. They are good natured about being outside for a few hours, then then want to come in and be spoiled. Well, as long as it's not snowing heavily, they're staying out until it's time to come in. I'm sure the neighborhood will reverberate with their cranky hee-haws before too long. Hey, it might shake some of the snow out of the trees for us! (Frank is going around beating the fruit trees to reduce breakage, as well as the trees that are leaning into our electric fence in a few spots.)


Lastly is a picture of the best pony ever. He is a fuzzy buffalo with more hair than two horses and he would never come in if I didn't make him. He's such a likable guy and is loved by every other horse/donkey on the place. He's been picky about his hay and beet pulp, so I've added a scoop of complete feed and he's happy.



I hope you are all enjoying your winter weather and preparations for celebrating the birth of Christ. We're enjoying our snow, but enough of it already!

Winter Wonderland!

Our friends and relatives in Wisconsin and Illinois will be laughing at this posting! We do realize that this little bit of snow that will be gone in a few days is nothing compared to what happens elsewhere, but it's the most we usually get here and it's fun! Plus, it's awfully nice to have pretty snow that's gone before anyone can get sick of it!

I thought it would be cute to start with another picture of our nativity scene in the yard. This one is in the 3.5 inches of snow we got last night. We actually put a ruler in the snow on the porch and measured it, but the picture didn't turn out.


From our school's band boosters we bought a beautiful wreath and centerpiece. Since we put up a screen door, we had to find a new place for the wreath this year. I think it looks lovely on our little shed/pump house that Frank painted to match our barn.


OK, you have to squint for this one. Over the top of the chicken run we put netting so that the hawks can't swoop in and get a chicken. Normally, you can't even see it, but the wet snow accumulates on it and weighs it down and stretches out the netting. We call it the "Dome 'O Death" for its potential chicken squishing properties!


This is the run after the sun came up. Frank went into the run with a little shovel and beat the "Dome 'O Death" into submission so that it wouldn't hurt his chickens. Here are a couple of the girls showing their appreciation for this as well as the 8 wheelbarrows of gravel he put in their run just yesterday.


When I went out after I made a scrumptious breakfast of biscuits and gravy, I caught this picture of the trees looking nice and fuzzy and the horses enjoying the brisk air. It was so beautiful outside in the bright sun. By now all the snow has dropped off the trees, but there is no melting going on. We're having a little cold snap and it didn't get above about 30 today and isn't expected to get any warmer in the foreseeable future. Good thing the horses like the crisp weather and I have a barn full of hay to keep their engines stoked.


I didn't tell you earlier that the dark photos in this blog were all taken this morning at about 6:00am. I always go out at that time to put the horses out and feed them, but Frank came too and we had fun turning on our Christmas lights and looking at all the pretty snow scenes. It truly didn't seem that cold and we were surprised to discover that we had stayed out about 45 minutes! This is one of the neat pictures that Frank took when we were out before the sun came up:


We sure hope you are enjoying your holiday season! Today we are playing Christmas music while I am starting to make cookies and Frank is working on schoolwork. I also made turkey and homemade noodle soup from Thanksgiving's bird leftovers. All in all, it has been an enchanting, lovely day. Merry Christmas!

More Christmas things around the ranch...

How do you like our new Nativity Set? We wanted another feature for our yard and thought it should be something other than an snowman or santa, so this is what we got! Like our neighbor, Burke, said, "It's whimsical!" At night it is lighted. I got the chickens in there so you could kind of see the size of it, but they're in front and look giant and make it looks smaller than it is! Actually, if I stand up behind it, it is about 1 1/2 feet taller than my head.


Now we have all our inside decorations up as well, such as they are. Here is our tree. We couldn't find the lights with the green wires so we had to go with the ones with the white wires. Oh well, we just think of it like some garland! You can't really see it well, but we have an angel on the top that we have had since we got married. Her dress is a little faded, but she is still lovely.


Over the entry to our office we have put a saw that Frank's Uncle Ray painted. At Christmastime, we add some garland and a ribbon on which to put our Christmas cards. Frank has to duck once it gets full!


Here is Frank (and the elusive Jake) working on his laptop in his old LazyBoy. I want to get him a new one, but he likes THIS one. Kind of like Marty Crane on Frazier, but not quite that ugly yet!


I know this picture looks all friendly and cozy. Actually, it is neither one of 'the yellows' wanting to give up their part of the pet bed, so they're each holding a base! The minute one gets up the other one hogs the whole thing. I don't know why Sandy puts up with this, actually, because the bed is hers. Now if Carly was here, she would just flop down in the middle of the pillow whether there was a cat there or not. We're missing Carly this first Christmas without her.

I went shopping today to get all the ingredients for the cookie plates we take to friends and neighbors. I'm going to make:

Mexican wedding cakes
fudge
pecan pie bars
rocky road bars
ginger snaps (maybe)
chocolate covered pretzels
peppermint bark

Luckily, some of these have a good shelf life so I can start making them now and save them for when I put the plates together. Only I have to hide them somewhere so Frank doesn't find them and clean me out!

Merry Christmas to you please remember the reason for the season as you make all your holiday preparations! Love, Jayne

Christmas decorations at the ranch!

Franks says HI on this stunningly beautiful fall day. It was in the upper 50's, sunny with nary a breeze. We were both in shirtsleeves as we cheerfully went about our outside chores. He spent quite a bit of time putting up 14 strings of lights not including inside the barn and our horse/carriage winter scene. We still want to put lights on three smaller trees out in the yard, and maybe get another lighted thing for the yard too!


The day was so lovely the chickens were leisurely sunning themselves, getting up only once in a while to scratch for bugs or eat some vegetation. Egg laying has slowed WAY down as they are mostly in molt. Good thing those new girls are producing or we'd have to go somewhere else to meet our needs. No more store eggs for us!


While the chickens were out, I tackled cleaning their coop. It is actually a room just off our shop/garage that the previous owner had converted to a bedroom with insulation, sheetrock and electrical outlets. It makes an excellent, warm and safe coop for the girls. But it does get stinky! So I took everything out and stripped it and put in new pellets under their roosts (where they poop the most) and shavings over the rest. They'll spread them out for me!


While Frank was still working on lights, I cleaned the barn and then put up a few decorations. I think I might have to rethink the placement of some of the decorations as you can see below. Leave it to Miss Daisy to check everything out!


The donkeys got two stockings on their stall this year. While Daisy was a baby, I let her share with her mom, but she's a big girl at two and a half now so she gets her own! (Side note: you have no idea how many shots it took for me to get a picture with all four ears forward! Sheesh!) Momma Lily is on the left and Daisy is on the right. I know I will always be able to tell them apart, but it's getting harder for everyone else!


Bailey gets a giant stocking, of course. Those are 2x6's on the front of his stall, so you can figure out how big it really is! He was giving me a hint what he wanted me to put in it. MORE HAY MOM!! Bailey eats with his head hanging outside the stall quite a bit of the time, so I'm constantly forking hay back into his stall. He's such a good boy I can't really complain about a little thing like this.


I was at a store the other day and found this stocking that I just couldn't resist for Yak's stall. In case you can't read it in the picture, it says, "Dear Santa, SUPERSIZE me! You'd have to know him to see how well this fits, because in his heart, he IS as big as Bailey! He always charges Bailey at the fence line (which Bailey ignores) and when we take Yak on a walk in the neighborhood, he gets all puffed up and prancy when we walk by actual full-sized horses! He's such an wonderful little guy; maybe in pony heaven he'll be as big as his heart desires!


Well, as much as we didn't want it to, the bright, sunny day came to an end. We came in and ate turkey leftovers and pie. I paid bills and Frank got caught up on some school work. As the sun went down on our wonderful day, we caught this amazing sunset over the Olympic Mountains. We are so blessed to have been given this property and thank God every day for the riches He has given us.


Once it got dark, I went out to see if I could get a picture of Frank's hard work. I tried not to move during the slow shutter speed, but I think you get the idea. On the chicken run you can see where he wrote NOEL. (The neighbors behind us want to know why we put LEON up!) Also note the long grass. It has been a warm fall and our grass is still green and quite long. It probably does need to be mowed, but, come on! Who mows the grass in December? Not us!!

Not much going on....

I came home from a quick run to the feed store and found the namesakes of Red Pony Ranch and their honorary not-red giant pony all taking a nap together in the weak fall sun. There is a fence separating the two littlest ones from the big ones...not for their protection, but to keep them off of grass that would make them fatter than they already are. You can also see framed in by Bailey's legs and belly that Little Bit has laid down right next to the big guy. I'm sure the others will be laying down soon too as the sun warms their fuzzy bodies. I love how peaceful it is here.

After this picture, I went looking for the donkeys and found them in the lower pasture taking their own naps. You would not believe the bottom lips that hang down on sleeping donkeys. Oh! And those giant ears get lower and lower as they get sleepier and are eventually out sideways like helicopter rotors. I found this picture from two summers ago when Daisy was a baby. It shows the helicopter ear thing going on:


Now some of you know that Frank has taken on a part time job teaching math on-line for an internet-based high school in Idaho. I think he's having a good time and learning lots of new technology. I took this picture the other night while he was doing a classroom session. I call this one "Mission Control"! If you look you can see he has a laptop to his right as well as the one he's using for the session. I won't tell you more because he has promised to guest-blog and tell us all about it, so consider this a preview of coming attractions!


Once again, I'm sorry it's taken me so long to update the blog. Not really that much exciting going on around here. We are very thankful for good health and steady jobs and wonderful family and friends. Our pantry, freezer and barn are full. Our lives are simple and peaceful, just the way we like it. Frank has his college football on Saturdays. I have my book club that I think is really a wine club in disguise. We have Thanksgiving coming up with our friends the Dutys in Tacoma. I still think I'll cook a small turkey just to have something to pick on. We wish you all a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday, filled with warmth and family and friends and of course, thankfulness. God Bless.