Just random things....

This is a wonderful picture of Frank's terrific mom, Dolores or Dee. She was visiting us and her daughter Jean (Frank's sister) took this shot which I just love. She is so happy here!! We'll be driving to Wisconsin this July to go visit her as she isn't doing any big traveling anymore. Who could blame her at 90 years old! I just love my mother-in-law and am so blessed to have her in my life.


We are about a week from putting the boys out on their other pasture. Once that happens, the chores will get much easier around here! No more coming into the barn every night to poop it up!! There is a nice pasture shelter in their field for those rainy days. It also means that they will be totally sustained by this pasture and no longer need hay. I will take them a little grain with their vitamins every evening and check them over, but they will be happy to be out 24/7. The donkeys stay home on our pasture as they would not be able to keep their girlish figures on that kind of grass. The minis, as usual, stay on their dry lot...those poor things!


I always get such a chuckle out of goofy answers kids give on tests, and this one is no exception. However, by this time of the year the jokes start wearing a little thin, so Spring Break hits just at the right time. We got smart and realized that we could use some sunny and hot weather, so we got a condo near Palm Springs for a few days...so we're OFF!! Kacey will be staying here taking care of everybody, and we'll be floating along the lazy river and eating some real mexican food. Can't wait! We're leaving tomorrow, so hasta la vista baby!!

Spring is really here!!

First, my apologies again to my faithful readers, a few of whom were kindly chiding me to bring the blog up to date. I was complaining that I didn't feel like I had anything new to say, but was reminded that even an update of the simple things is enough. So here are some simple things!

Now I used to think that Fall was always my favorite season, but living on a little farmette is making me appreciate spring very much as well.


We do not have any tulips or daffodils on our property, but we do have one other plant that often is the first to show some life in spring. Here is our rhubarb coming up for the second year now. This poor rhubarb has had a rough life. The first year we planted it, Frank kept running over it with the mower. I finally drove a stake by it so he could see where it was and that solved the problem for that year. The next year I noticed the rhubarb really struggling to get strong and the leaves looked really tattered and I couldn't figure it out. Then one day I noticed that chickens like rhubarb too!! (When the chickens are bad, we refer to them as The Peckers. Bad Peckers!) So this spring I have it protected so hopefully it'll be the near-weed that it's supposed to be!


I know this is not a good picture, but it is showing another sign of spring here at Red Pony Ranch: the blueberry bushes are budding. We planted these lovely bushes just last year, so seeing that they made it through a fairly harsh winter for these parts is a relief. We planted 5 and 6 year old plants, so we should have a decent crop this year. That is if we can keep the peckers out of there! Darn Peckers!


Last year we also planted two hazelnut/filbert trees. These trees need two to polinate each other. These little hangy things are made in late fall and hang on the trees all winter and these are what spread the pollen back and forth. We haven't gone a full season with them, so I am interested in which part actually becomes the nut. Hopefully this crop will be pecker-proof!


One thing I love to see growing and Frank isn't too crazy about is the GRASS!! That means that my leased pasture is getting ready to for the boys to move over for the rest of spring, all of summer and fall until about mid-October. It feeds them completely, except for their vitamins/supplements during that time. That is a relief to the feed bill, let me tell you! The winter pasture here at home will be fertilized then left to rest and will recuperate in a month or so while the donkeys are sequestered up by the barn. We are very blessed to be able to grow good grass here. The downside is that we have to mow our lawns very frequently, but to me it's worth it.


The other day I was cleaning the barn and my hair kept falling in my face, so I did what most farm girls do and reached for the baling twine and tied it back out of my way. Then I forgot about it. When Frank came in he noticed and got a kick out of my ingenuity and resourcefulness, so he snapped a couple of pictures.


There are many things on our farm that are held together with baling twine, and I'm sure if you have some, you're using it in creative and useful ways as well! We use it quite a bit in our garden to string things that climb and to mark rows while we're planting seeds and waiting for them to germinate. I heard you can even jury-rig a fan belt in an emergency! Hopefully I won't have to test that one!

Spring?

I noticed that there is a theme to these pictures today: I took them all from inside the house! Now I am outside a LOT, obviously, but sometimes it's fun to stay in my jammies and do what I can without having to get dressed to go outside. Well, today would have needed even more dressing as it SNOWED...AGAIN!! It's been in the mid 50's every day, so who expected this!!??


The good news is that this is one of those good snows that looks so pretty, but you are happy because it's barely 32 degrees and you can be sure it will be gone by noon. My kind of snow!! The horses didn't mind, but Daisy the donkey tried to come back in the barn to her stall for her morning hay! Apparently she's had enough. Sandy had fun running through it, although she brought in a lot of snow balls on her legs to melt on our new carpet! Oh well, I have to remind myself...this is a FARM and it can't stay pristine forever!


Now while I stayed inside keeping warm and drinking coffee, Frank was not too thrilled to be shoveling snow once again. Hopefully this will be IT for the year.


I took this picture of our chickens a few days ago when the weather, obviously, was much nicer. I have no idea why they were so intrigued by what was going on inside the house! Like Frank said, "Uh oh! Now they know where we live!" Those darn donkeys do too, and if we're late for feeding they come and yell into the back door. Who is in charge here, anyway?


I realized that there was yet one pet who had not been featured on our blog: Pete the lovebird. Pete's parakeet friend, Niles, went to bird heaven last week after a nice long life, so we brought Pete out to live in our main living area so he wouldn't be lonely. He's a funny little guy who likes it when there is a lot of activity and noise, especially when we play music fairly loudly and he squawks and whistles along. We thought maybe he needed a new friend, but for now he seems perfectly happy with just us. He has no fear of the cats and tries to run up to them and bite them if they are close to his cage. Luckily, they don't seem to be interested in him at all. Pete loves apples and lettuce and spinach leaves in addition to his regular food. He also loves to take baths, flinging water in about a 4 foot radius from his cage. We love Pete and he brings a lot of enjoyment to our family.

Happy Spring! And to think, I was going to plant some lettuce and peas today!