Wednesday 24 September 2008

This is a picture of my mare Lori which I took yesterday while walking down to get the mail. We are still dry dry dry. Since our last significant rainfall which was only about 2 inches about 8 weeks ago we have only had half an inch even with all the hurricanes and cyclones, it just seems to skim past us. You can see from this picture how dry the field is, this is the one that we reseeded. I know I am going to hate the mud when it comes but we could have 6 inches and it wouldnt stand in puddles because the cracks in the ground are so deep. This was the next shot with Wiggle in it too, they are looking so well, but if you look at the larger versions you will see spots all over their faces, that is the flies, there is no stopping them. The only positive in all this that I can think of LOL (and I am sure there are more) is that we have had very little mosquito activity!!
I have put these two into the newly planted field, which did grow and reseed fortunately before the rain stopped so hopefully that will all spring up at the first sign of rain or in the spring. I have only put them out here because it is so dry and it helps with the stable maintenance, that is not having as many stalls to clean. The temps have been beautiful in the mornings, 50s and the evenings have topped out in the low 80s for the most part so it is really comfortable.

I found a dead skunk down in the other field yesterday too, right slap bang in the middle of it so have no idea what happened to the little guy, can see no marks or anything, but boy does he stink. I was going to try to move it but it is far enough away to not affect us here and the buzzards moved in and now it stinks even worse so I dont think I could bear to get anywhere near it. I got some shots of the buzzards but they were pretty far away, I will edit a few and post them if they are any good. Of course I had to take a few shots of the skunk too, yuk!

Every day I regret not taking advantage of the beautiful weather to ride while I can but I am getting better and with Larry bringing in some help to do the manual stuff and help with the stalls it feels like a tonne has been lifted from my shoulders. I am just finding that I am really tired all the time and more often than not have to lay down in the afternoon then end up sleeping for two hours and again regretting the waste of time. Despite that I feel a lot better than I have in recent months so hopefully this will all pass and I will get back to enjoying my beautiful horses.

I am starting to get more worried as I have had no news of my Dad since my brother went back to Johannesburg. I am going to try to phone again tomorrow, but will call the landline, I should have more success getting through that way rather than trying to call their cell phones.

Hope everyone is well and having a good week. I have so many pictures I want to edit for stock, orders and personal reasons and just am not getting ahead with it, suppose I should stop sleeping in the afternoon LOL. (((Hugs)))))

Lori
xx

My Tail Between My legs Again!!!

I know after the big flourish with my new store I went to rock bottom. Had a few bad days.


Thank you all for your wonderful feedback, I am taking into account some of your suggestions and will be making adjustments and additions soon so thanks for your loyal support I really appreciate it and thank you to all my new visitors I really look forward to seeing you all again.


This morning on our little paint horse farm we woke up after the coldest night since last February. I think our low was finally -1F (probably about -17C) and when I went out to feed when it got light at 8am it was 1F (-15c). I nearly died.


It took forever to get the water done for all the horses because any water they hadnt drunk had frozen solid and I had to keep topping up and letting them drink until they had enough by which time I was frozen solid and exhausted. The cold really drains my energy.
The first two pictures are of what I emptied out of the buckets outside each of the barns when I finally warmed up a bit and went out at lunch time again to give them some more hay and put their buckets out in the sunshine upside down so I could remove the ice and fill them at their evening feed with fresh water. These little piles grow by the day if it stays cold for more than a few days at a time so if it does grow I will keep tabs on its progress LOL.
This third one is the tank in the field for which I dont have a heater. Yes that is solid and is about 1 foot deep!!! I just keep adding and letting them drink their fill. When it is totally full and solid I normally resort to smaller containers which I can get the ice out of easily each day.
Mike you are right when you talk about the stat counter and the weird search words that pull your site up. I would put a few of mine in but I would have to blush!!!! Taxes (brat baby) has duly been petted and told to behave in your honor!

Cyndie my Dad and step brother still live in Cape Town, it is a beautiful country but after my experiences there I have no desire to go back!!! Although Cape Town is about an 11 hour drive south of Johannesburg where I lived. I will be checking out your blog soon it sounds like it will bring back memories for me too!! Thanks for coming in.

Julie Blair, good to see you again, I have been thinking of writing a book but when the heck I would find the time I dont know, Abraham gave me a great link to a self publishing site called Lulu.com so maybe if I can find someone to tell me if it sounds sane and to check for grammar, typos and general content I may consider it LOL.

MiKael again thanks for all the moral support and direction, you have no idea how much I appreciate your time and I know how busy you are.

Please check out all the links that I have posted everyone, these are special people and each one has their own unique story and photographs.

See y'all soon.

Lori
xx

17 September 2007

Another picture from the show this weekend, one of my better barrel shots, this young lady ran the pattern in 11.x seconds. Pretty quick!! I dont get many opportunities to shoot contesting so I enjoy it when I do.

I got two stables stripped and rebedded today, also got some of the picture orders done and caught up on a bit of the paperwork that I have been getting behind on. The weather is beautiful at the moment, no rain in the forecast but temps in the upper 70s and low 40s in the mornings.

I can't wait to get the fence finished, hope to get on with that by Wednesday, I really want to get Taxes out to have a run. I turn him out in the area at the end of the barn (32 ft x 40ft) which enables him to get a good run and play in but there is nothing like having them outside. He was always so active. I dont want to take any photos of him until I get him outside but he is filling out and is looking like a tank. He is sooooo naughty, going throught the I want to nip and bite everyone and everything. He is muscling up really nicely.

That is it for today, I am going to get an early night, lots to do tomorrow. Hope everyone had a great weekend and a better Monday. (((Hugs))))

Lori
xx

9 July 2007

I took these when I went to feed the girls this evening. You can see how dry it is, the grass is mostly brown but there are some green shoots from the last little bit of rain we had last week. We are supposed to be getting some rain over the next two days, I hope it happens, we still need a whole lot more than we have had.

Wiggle just wanted to play with me, unfortunately she is a bit big so I have to put a cap on it quickly before she gets too rough. She is one of the few horses I have that actually loves me back, probably because I hand raised her. She looks so cute with her fly mask. She and BB are fine with them and their eyes are looking a whole bunch better.
I went to fetch hay again today and they have cattle there so I took my camera to try to get some shots of them. They are in a barn with a small area fenced outside so it was difficult to get good shots because of the black background and most of them are black. This was one of the odd ones out, cute little face.
Boy you gotta see it to believe it LOL. Their tongues sure get all over the place!!!
We had another day in the low 90s and tomorrow will be the same then expecting it to cool down to the upper 70s low 80s. Thank heavens. I still havent got the lumber for the fence as they didnt get their delivery last night. I phoned before I went fortunately. I will check with them tomorrow again and as soon as they have them in I will go over and collect them.

I am really wanting to ride but it is unbearable from 7.30 in the morning until 9pm at night. I suppose I will have to be patient and wait for this heat to pass.

Well that is about it. The barn swallows are all flying around along with various other families from other nests and the ones that I was worried about in the other barn seem to be fine. I have seen the parents in and out and going up to the nest and they are doing their thing trying to entice them to fly.

((((Hugs))))) for everyone.

Lori
xx