'Tis the Season

Hunting season. Acreage hunting to be more specific.
Pie and I have looked at two so far.
One is a sorta maybe. Meaning that if we don't find anything better, and the price gets dropped, we'd seriously consider it. The other one was way too far away, and the house was... well pretty crappy. (The stalls in the barn on the other hand were TOO DIE FOR)
Pie's cousin is a realtor, he's taking us to see another one tomorrow. I have no real info on it but I have a sneaking suspicion that its going to be out of our price range.
I also have a few picked out from MLS that I want J (realtor cousin) to find out more about and possibly see.
We looked last year and the year before. We take a break in winter because there's too much snow to really know what you're getting as far as land (fence/pasture/etc).
The past two years I was hopeful but didn't really feel like it was going to happen. I don't know why but this year I have a really good feeling about it.
(could be partially because I found out that even if our house doesn't sell we could rent it for almost double our current mortgage payment!)

I got it!!

Errr, actually I got two. See I want to use it on the dogs and cats at home but I also want to take it to the barn to use on the horses. Pie knows that I'm super forgetful so he could just picture me getting to the barn and realizing I had left it at home. So he insisted we get two.
Oh yeah, and what is "it"... well its this SUPER nifty tool that actually really does work:

The drawback is that they are pretty pricey. Ed (owner "Wunderbar/Critters" pet store and feed/tack store where we purchased them) said he used to carry the knockoffs and while they were much cheaper they didn't work worth a darn. They tore/broke the hair leaving the horse or dogs coat dull and rough.
Kimfer's mom had bought a medium FURminator for their Rottie and Kimfer stole it and tried it on the horses. Ty was actually making little happy groany/grunty noises when she used it on him! So yesterday when Kimfer saw how bad Applejack was shedding she gave it to me to try and WOW! Even though she warned me they were expensive going to Wunderbar was at the top of my list for things to do today.
I was having to pull the hair out of my curry with every stroke. After using the FURminator we went for a ride and when we got back I curried Applejack completely without having to clean out the brush! (yup, BOTH sides of him)

This nifty tool has a nice weight to it, it feels substantial in your hand without being flimsy but is not super heavy. It pulls out the shedding hair so it doesn't cut or damage the hair coat. IMO it worked WAY better than a normal shedding blade.

Here's the website for those interested: http://www.furminator.com/

*product photos found using Google Images*

Mud, melting snow, slushy puddles...

...and warm sunshine and a light crisp breeze. What a great day for a ride!
Right now the ground is still frozen underneath so we can ride in the ditches, but by next week it will be thawing and the mud will get deep and slippery. So today we took advantage of perfect spring melting conditions along with the beautiful weather and headed out. Kimfer was on Baron and I was on Applejack. Both of us with our sunglasses and bunnyhugs - NO winter jackets! No Carhartts! No winter boots!
I was kinda expecting him to be a bit of a turd... you know how they can be when the nice weather starts to hit. But no he was little mister lazy. And how cruel was I, I made him jog for about a half mile :o (oh, the horror! lol) All in all we rode about 4 1/2 miles round trip. I was just glad to be out of that blue mood and back on a horse :)

Oh! And I discovered something wonderful that I am hoping to share with you tomorrow
(fingers crossed that I find one to buy for myself)

Spring is here

I received the following `birth announcement` in my e-mail the other day. Its from Kimfer`s aunt Jacquie (my `adopted` aunt) -

Well now I know "SPRING" is on it's way!! March 29 we had our first little heifer, two weeks early but healthy and already escaping, this is the smallest calf we have had so far. It has been a long cold winter and after losing Bear and Ziggy it sure is great to see some new life in the corrals . Her name? "Spring " of course, only 15 more to go!!

Jacquie

*photo by Jacquie Fehr*

Throwing down...

Relax not a fight story but rather a challenge.

although I did "physically remove" a guy from our bar last night heh heh

So I was watching Suze Orman on Ops today (ummm... that would be "Oprah") and I was getting rather depressed (no worries, things here are good so far). But hearing the fear and desperation in some of those people's voices... *shiver*
I got to thinking, although it is easier said than done depending on your circumstances, having a positive attitude can really help a person deal with and get through the bad times.

What can a person do to help their own attitude AND someone else's? Hmm...

Then I decided to challenge all my blog friends to a little thing I'll call "Thoughtful Thursdays".

Let's all try, at least for the month of April (longer if you can) to do at least one random nice/thoughtful/kind thing for someone every Thursday.

I kinda started with a cheat. Because this IS something I do from time to time, but it is Thursday so if I do nothing else I'll count this: today when I went through the drive-thru for my Starbucks fix I paid for the order in the car behind me as well. And you know what, it did make me feel good. It also surprised the gal at the drive-thru window and gave her a smile AND the girl who had been behind me honked rolled down her window and shouted "Thanks!" with a big smile (and I had seen her in my rearview mirrow... she had NOT been looking so happy before)

But that is just one suggestion. Some of us are pinching pennies more than others and can't afford to do that kind of thing. Some of us are living out in a small town/rural area and don't have that kind of opportunity.

There are TONS of nice things you can do that don't involve money. Help someone out (yard work, running errands, etc) that you know needs help, bonus do it before they ask for help! Pay a sincere compliment, bonus if its a stranger.

These are tough times for the majority of us, we all need to stick together. A positive attitude helps. When you do nice things for others YOU DO feel better and so do they! What do ya say, who's with me?

Horses & the economy

Saw this on the news tonight:

http://watch.ctv.ca/news/top-picks/canadian-spirit/#clip156728

(it plays a small commercial first then the actual clip)

Naked

Went and saw the ponies today (its been awhile).
Didn't ride but I gave them a pretty good grooming session while they ate their treats. Cessa (for once) doesn't have too thick of a coat under her blanket. She's starting to shed but there's not much yet... this is pretty normal for her though. But man oh man, it was like a snowstorm when Applejack got his turn! I took one swipe of the curry on his barrel and a sheet of hair (about the size of an 8 X 10 picture) lifted loose. At that point I got out the shedding blade and went to town.
Now that it is finally consistently nice enough out I took the blankets off and turned the horses out naked. I'm sure there's going to be lots of rolling going on tonight! lol
Oh, and before I forget I took a measurement with the weight tape. Cessa has wintered very well, especially seeing as I've been a "bad mommy" and not been out to give her her extra feed very often this last little while. Her weight is right on track with where it was in the fall (around 970-995) I thought Mr Applejack was going to be quite chubby but when I took his blanket off he didn't look too bad, still his weight came in around 1250 which is a bit too high. We're going to try to start riding more consistently though so I'm sure that will help us both! :)

ps - I tried to take some pics (especially of the big, fluffy, white piles of hair) but my camera was dead! :(