Chickens!!

I got my first hens the other day

Spotty and Dottie

I decided to start small, 
I just got two for now

They are pretty easy to take care of

No eggs though

Which is okay because I think 
they might have a bit of a metallic taste ;)

Puppy Cuteness

My mom & stepdad got a new puppy last week, he's a Shiba Inu.  They still miss their big guy, Mack, but it was time to move on and add a new member to the family.  Mom had been considering a Shiba for awhile now and they knew they wanted a male... their little mini doxie Holly just doesn't do well with other females in her pack (although she gets along fine with our Misty)

Kuma's been out twice now to meet our pack and he and Tucker get along so well.  They run around and play, they "fight" the same way... wrestling and pulling on each other's face, taking turns pinning each other.  Its a good match and when Kuma is full grown he and Tucker will be similar size and weight. 

Welcome to the family little bear.

Sunday Stills ~ In the Sky

This week's Sunday Stills challenge was In the Sky "This can be anything in the sky, planes,clouds,birds or just about anything you can come up with..:-) "

The 4 flags that stand at the end of our driveway
(L-R Canada, Greece, Saskatchewan, and the Roughriders)

My brother came out to our place and flew a kite
(this is at the edge of the hayfield, the neighbour's indoor is in the background)

he did manage to get the kite higher

although the photo doesn't do it justice the moon was very orange this past week
(taken from our deck as it was coming over Pie's workshop)

all week there have been big puffy "Simpson's" clouds in the sky

(I love our backyard)

Applejerk

I rode Applejack the other day.  I was trying Voodoo's bit that I use for sorting and everyday riding so I started in the arena.  He seemed to be working good so we went out in the big pasture.  And that's when I discovered Applejerk had come out to play... that bit just did NOT have enough "whoa" for Applejack once we added any speed.

he looks innocent here doesn't he?

this is before heading out to the pasture

My biceps, shoulders and back hurt so much Thursday night (this ride was Thursday mid-day) that I could hardly sleep.  

To get him to smarten up I had to take a good hold of him and haul  him onto his ample ass a few times.  It worked, he started listening and I was getting a decent slow down by deepening my seat and a good whoa by sitting deep, saying whoa and moving my feet a bit forward.  But I'll still be putting him back in his other bit lol

Other than that it was a good ride, we rode up 'the hill', checked fence, and just in general moseyed around trotting, loping and walking.

I think he was more than ready to head back to the barnyard though, poor guy hasn't been out too much this spring.  And with this EHV going around I'm not sure if I'll be doing any competing this summer anyhow.  So there will be lots of pasture riding... too bad we don't have more land ;)

Friday Funny ~ Buttercups & Golf Balls

BUTTERCUPS AND GOLF BALLS

Towards the end of a round of golf , Dave hit his ball into the woods and found it in a patch of pretty, yellow buttercups.
Trying to get his ball back into play, he ended up thrashing just about every buttercup in the patch.

All of a sudden POOF!!
In a flash and puff of smoke a little old woman appeared.

She said "I'm Mother Nature! Do you know how long it took me to make those buttercups?! Just for doing what you've done you won't have any more butter for your popcorn for the rest of your life... better still you won't have any butter for your toast for the rest of your life... as a matter of fact you won't have any butter for anything for the rest of your life!"

Then POOF!!  She was gone!

After Dave recovered from his shock he hollered for his friend "Fred! Where are you?!"

Fred yells back "I'm over here, in the pussy willows."

Dave shouts back "Don't swing Fred!  For the love of God DON'T SWING!!"

Blogger Peeps Rule!

I just wanted to give a quick thanks to y'all.  I really, truly appreciate the support and friendship that was extended when I posted P!$$ Off.
I think what bothered me most is that the comments were mostly by e-mail (I think there may have been one that was actually left on a blog post) and from what I can tell its not from someone that really follows my blog.
I have to say, there were lots of comments from people that I didn't even realize read my blog.  It was kinda humbling to know that you all are out there :)

So I'm back and hopefully I'll be able to come up with some posts that are worthy of your time...after all its barrel racing season, sorting has started and there's trail riding, rides with new friends and just plain old riding out to do.  Here's a hint of one that might get worked up yet - I rode Voodoo over a horsey teeter-totter, and he also 'followed' over it at liberty.  Oh, and yeah Friday Funny will be back tomorrow, with a joke that is a teeny bit off colour :p

Wordy Wednesday ~ RIP Ethel

Those of you that are on Facebook with me know that this past Saturday we lost one of our barn kitties, Ethel.
I have suspicions on what happened to her but nothing is certain.  We found her lifeless body in the colt pen with not a mark on her. 
Tucker does torment the cats but the 2 females he tends to leave alone, they refuse to play with him.  The 2 males he plays with, and quite roughly, but the little dummies don't do anything about it.  In fact Oliver will come running to him for a wrestling match.  BUT the last time Tucker was anywhere near her she was alive.
Because of the lack of any visible injury and finding her in the colt pen what we guess happened is that she was kicked by a colt.
It sucked, even though I told myself she was a barn cat and it there was a chance it would happen one way or another.  It also sucks because she was our best mouser, even catching moles.