Another Fine Day

Another fine day today! What a great life! Fresh hay, fresh feed, fresh water, some pasture to graze on and the bright sun to keep us warm while we nap. Lot's of human's coming and going today till late this afternoon. Then human girl came out to the pasture with a lead rope and a set of reins. I don't know what she was thinking but she looked like she might be...thinking that is. She put the lead rope and the reins on my horse and lead him over to the water tank. She thought she was going to step up there and climb on his back but I got him to move just in time. I'm wasn't completely sure why but I did not want her getting on his back. She walked him over to the pickup truck. I got pretty excited thinking maybe we were going to go somewhere but she just got up on the bumper and right before she threw her leg over his back I stuck my nose on him so he moved. She didn't let him go but she did walk him back over towards our pasture shaking her head and mumbling something about me being awfully rude and that's when I knew why I didn't want her to ride him right now. It was my dinner time! That's it Time to feed me please!!! YES YES Yes that is a good idea. Let's us get us some feed! I walked on to the barn so she finally understood what I was trying to tell her. She took all the ropes and stuff off my horse and gave us a hug each then we got to eat our feed. It was a great day!!!!!!!

Christmas Eve

It is the night before Christmas and all is right in my world. We have hay out for Santa's reindeer. And the water tank is full to the top with fresh water in case they are thirsty. I have been watching the sky which is easy to do since it is clear as a bell. What a beautiful day we had today. It was just warm enough, the sun was shining brightly and if you listened hard enough you could hear people in the distance laughing. That is a good sound to hear. Sometimes I think the humans have forgotten how to laugh the way they walk around shaking their heads and mumbling to themselves. And used to people driving down the oil top would slow down and look at me but now they just zoom by without even thinking I might be looking at them and wanting them to look back at me. I do sometimes too just keep my head down and pay no attention to anyone's comings or goings but I do listen. I do listen.

Sometimes things happen..........

I was left alone!!!!!!!!

I was left alone! All alone! Well not actually all all alone I had my horse and all the animals in the next pasture, my dog Mudfoot and the road dog Pansy but other than that I was all alone! Well Karen did come by and said Hello from up at the gate. Also my boy across the road was out there in his yard singing and playing with his little sister but other than that I was left all alone!! I was worried for a little while that there was going to be no food for us to eat but then I remembered we walk on our food so I just put my head down and started grazing. Good thing I remembered that isn’t it.

Want to read the Chicken Story? Doesn’t matter I am going to put it on here so you can read it if you want to. We used to have chickens here and then we just had roosters and now we just have whatever walks or fly’s in. So here’s the Chicken Story from a few years back……

Things Happen for a Reason

We got a Rooster and two Hens a few years ago. We had them in a chicken coop. They escaped. They became many. At one point there were seven Roosters and seven hens. A silent killer started coming in the night picking up hens one by one till there were but two. Two Hens and Seven Roosters.

Something happened one morning that scared the Rooster right out of one of the new roosters. He ran around the house with his wings behind him yelling his dang fool head off for almost an hour. I went out to see what the ruckus was and saw nothing. None of the rest of the flock seemed effected by whatever scared that one rooster. Mr. Chicken kept to himself for a couple of days and never really fit back into the group. I would sometimes find him sitting in a Hens nesting box. He never laid an egg but it was not for lack of trying.

Seven Roosters and two Hens is just too many roosters or not enough Hens so the boys came by every once in a while for a couple of weeks and caught roosters till we were down to just two. Mr. Chicken and another of the young ones.

For some reason I decided that we needed more chickens out there. The flock needed replenishing. So I left eggs in one nesting box. Both chickens started laying eggs in that one box and ended up sitting on that pile of eggs together. The new girl, Ms. Bossy, started sitting in there first and she hatched out three new chicks. HennyPenny, one of the original Hens, sat in there until about 20 chicks hatched out. Oh my. I didn’t know that could happen. What were we going to do with THAT many chickens!

The silent in the night killer came back when the chicks were just a little over a week old. It got HennyPenny and all but one of her chicks. It also got one of Ms. Bossy’s three chicks.

Hens do not take on chicks that they did not hatch out. And Rooster’s have no patience for chicks and will peck them if they get too close. Ms. Bossy was taking care of her two until two nights later when one of them went missing. Now she was down to just one chick. I thought maybe, just maybe, she would Mother Hen the poor little lonesome one that was out there peeping all the time. She did not. Lonesome tried to get close to her but got rebuffed over and over again. The future was not looking very bright for Lonesome but she was surviving the nights somehow.

The reason for all these words? The reason is what happened next. The reason is not that so many were lost but what I saw this morning.

There was no peeping from Lonesome this morning. I assumed that was that. Figured now we have two roosters, one Hen and one chick. And then I saw it. The strangest thing I have seen in awhile. Out from under Mr. Chicken came little Lonesome!

Lonesome now has a chance because Mr. Chicken got frightened by something all those months ago. I like to think he learned compassion that day. Something scared him, he ran screaming and then spent a few days in solitude considering his situation. I want to think that he decided then and there that if he ever came across a scared and frightened thing that he would not turn his back and pretend nothing happened. I want to think that he learned to love. I think what happened to him all those months ago was preparation for his role today.

I think he needs a new name. I think I will call him 'LOVE'.

Christmas getting closer

It was a beautiful day today right up to the point where it got all gray and cloudy. It really wasn't bad then either just different. They had that log splitter working again today but this time it was on the other side of the fence at my friends house. With four humans helping they got about a cord of wood split in a about an hour. That's unloaded the logs, split them and stacked them. Pretty good team work. I kept my horse over on the other side of the pasture because he doesn't like that log splitter. Ok it's me that doesn't like the log splitter but I kept my horse away anywho because he could get hurt by flying wood since he doesn't really know about that machine.

We had a good day and no one got hurt.

Rain moving in tonight so we got us some hay inside in my barn. That's pretty nice until my horse either eats all of his or spills it on the ground and wants mine. He really needs to learn how to share. I used to share everything with my other horse. Not feed. If he wanted my feed I let him have it but we always shared hay. My new horse will learn there is enough for both of us it will just take him some time since those last people that had him were not nice to him like my humans are.

Another day in paradise

The frost is frozen on the ground this morning making it look white like snow has fallen. There is a thin layer of ice on the water tank too. But the sun is bright and there are no clouds in the sky all this shouldn’t last too long so I’ll just stand here and munch on some hay Popsicles awhile.

Yesterday there were some humans here but they didn’t care too much about hanging out with me. Came out and patted on me and rubbed my head but that’s all. My horse didn’t even get to give anyone rides. They were all in the house talking and laughing. I could see them through the window watching football games. I could play football good I think. I know I would be a good kicker!

I tried to get in that silver truck yesterday but they said no. I only wanted to put my head in and see if there was anything good in there to eat because I thought I smelled something good.

I have nothing else to say right now. Going to go wander around and see if I can uncover some green grass to munch on.

Had a great day!!! No problems at all. Fresh water, good feed nothing to worry about. Till about four o'clock when I was pretty sure I did not have enough hay to keep me warm. Oh sure my human had been out to feed us an gave us hay only thirty minutes earlier but I really thought we needed more. So I bothered the dog, Mudfoot. Bothered her on that side of her yard till the human came out and said 'I know what you are doing and I want you to stop it.' and I did. Stopped it that is...on that side of her yard. Lucky for me her yard has three sides I can get to. After forty five minutes of Mudfoot barking she finally came out the front door saying 'Ok Ok I give!! Come on lets us go to the barn and get some more hay!'. And I was happy. I didn't kick my heels up though I just got happy inside. We got us a lot of hay to keep us warm tonight. Good job human!! And Thank You.

Bright sunshine today

Not a thing happening this morning. Hi how are you good to see you here’s your feed and some hay see you later. That’s all I heard from the human this morning. Must be the 28 degree weather makes her not very talkative.

Walked by the front of the house and saw that Abetta saddle out there on the front porch. I’m going to go tell my horse he is going to be giving rides today. He’s lucky he gets to use that saddle. It is lightweight compared to my big leather western saddle. I wonder if his foot is going to be too sore after I played with him all day yesterday. He still has on both is front shoes which is pretty good for him. He usually throws that one on his hurt hoof every three or four weeks. That means it is getting better because it is getting stronger. I was looking at it this morning when he was standing over that at that other pile of hay eating and it looks to me like there may be about an inch and half of good hoof on that leg of his. I wonder how fast his hooves grow? I think it is about a half an inch a month so it should be before the end of next year that he has all one piece of foot down there to walk on. That will be good for him. I heard them say it will never be the way it was before but you know I have noticed there is not much that is. It may never be the same but it can be as good someday. Or at least it will be fine.

Fine is a good word. Everything is fine. Oh that’s fine. I am fine. You look fine. This is fine. That is fine. I feel fine. You did fine. You are fine. I wonder if my horse or one of those guinea hens knows anymore good uses for the word fine.

Never told you about those guinea hens. They don’t live here they just come to visit. At first there were just five gray ones and a white one. Then one day about thirty of them showed up being herded around by two big turkey’s. Boy was that a sight to see! I had never seen so many guinea hens and had never ever seen them being cared for by a couple of turkey’s. Now I have seen that many white birds of course since there are cow birds out here all the time but those guinea hens make very funny loud noises and run around acting silly till the two big turkey’s gather them back together and hush them up. Those guinea hens faces look like hippopotamus faces except with some weird bird stuff and red color. We didn’t know that turkey’s are good baby sitters

Tis the season

Christmas Party Quiet Time

‘Tis the season!!!!!!! Christmas parties for the humans have begun to happen so it is very quiet this morning. Not a creature is stirring except one of the water co-op trucks that went by earlier and my favorite little boy from across the road. He is up at his Granny’s house so he must have spent the night up there. That boy is so full of fun and happiness. Before he got old enough to go to school he went out on his front porch every morning and sang the day in at the top of his lungs. Now his little sister does that but with a twist. She goes out on the front porch and just screams the day in. Sure will be nice when she learns the words to a song, any song will do just so she knows the words. She is only two years old so if she feels the need to go out on the porch and scream the day in then I guess that we should be happy she isn’t holding it in. Her brother likes to pet me and my horse when he comes home from school so we try to be up there in the corner of the pasture near where his mailbox is. He likes for my horse to give him rides too. He knows you get on , grab you a handful of hair, get settled then you get to say ‘Giddyup boy!’. My horse is very good at giving children rides. He is very patient with them and will not move until they are good and settled on his back , no wiggling.

Later the same day..........

My horse is no fun. I am in a great mood today with the cool brisk weather and he won’t play with me! He did a little bit earlier but now he won’t. No matter how much I run at him or jump up and down nothing. I rare up on my back legs and wave at him to play and he ignores me. I tried kicking at him but he knows I would not hit him on purpose so he just stands there not caring just turning his head as needed to keep from getting kapowed.. I think he played too much this morning and now his foot is sore I should be easier on him till he all better. Maybe we should try walking more before we start running and jumping.

House dog got a haircut

Before and after pictures. Yes that really is the same dog!

Oh now don't laugh that's not nice. We are all supposed to tell her that she looks nice. Look at that big smile on her face. The poor little thing doesn't have a clue she looks like that. We cannot let on that she is very scary looking because she has not seen herself. Most of the time when she gets a haircut she does look cute but not this time. This time someone played a trick on her. It is a good thing isn't it that hair usually grows back. I do wonder though what they will be calling her since most of the time I hear them saying 'Fluffy Muffy'..............

slideshow

Obviously the house mouse does not know how to make my slide show show here since she has tried twice and failed both times. Just to help her out so there is not just a blank space for you color on I will tell you that there is winter weather approaching here. The really good news is that the neighbor's Christmas lights really look pretty in that light rain that is falling. I just wish they put some colored bulbs on their house. They don't have any animals so I guess they don't know we like pretty colors. Maybe I will tell them tomorrow. They are nice people. The lady that lives over there sometimes jumps the fence and lets me take her for a ride. She is the only one that rides me bareback. She just gets on and I take her for a walk. One time they put a saddle and bridle and everything on me and she took a rodeo ride. I played nice for a very long time but then no one was watching us anymore and I do like attention so I jumped up and down and up and down and up and down but she didn't fall off. Even when my reins broke she didn't fall off. She just about squished me hanging on with her legs the way she was so I had to hold still and THEN she fell off. I thought that was pretty funny so I kicked up my heels and ran off. But not before I looked to make sure she was ok. Everyone said she should have a re-ride because she didn't get any air on her dismount but she wasn't laughing as much as they were.

Busy this morning around the farm. My human is here today must be his day off from town work. I like it when he is here because he lets me help him do things sometimes. This morning we worked on the jeep’s engine. I don’t know if it was broken but we both put our heads in under the hood and did stuff. After the second time he walked up to my barn from the old barn I quit following him and just waited for him to come back down to the old barn. We hooked up the log splitter to the jeep and hauled it up to by my barn. I don’t like that log splitter so I went off to see what my horse was doing. They got a lot of wood split and put up by the house so I think it is fixing to get real cold. Do you think I have time to grow some more hair? Probably not. Good thing when I got me a new horse they got me a big one to stand beside.

We, my horse and I, did something for the first time today. We ate hay at the same place at the same time without fighting. I think the cooler weather is making him more agreeable. I could be wrong he might have just been hungry.

Looks like the humans are ready for the cooler weather. They have gone into the house and there is smoke coming from the stove pipe. Sure hope they don’t get to comfortable in there because I am going to need some more hay in the next hour or so. There was a little rain shower came thru that put a real chill in the air so I need to eat hay. Feed in the morning, Hay at night. That’s how the saying goes. That way I have energy to graze all day and hay to eat to make me warm at night.

The sun is down now so we are in our barn for the night. Good thing too because there is a thunderstorm out there to the west.

nap time

sssshhhhhhhh......quiet please it's nap time.

rainy day blues

It was a dreary wet chilly day today so we stayed pretty close to the barn. Till it was about evening feeding time then we went up to the house to see if anyone remembered we were out here in the wet and cold all by ourselves. I got so excited when I saw the house mouse come out that I kicked up my heels with joy! I know I shouldn't do that but sometimes I just get too happy to just stand there. My new horse doesn't do that sort of thing and I don't think it is because of his hurt hoof either. Nope I think he is just lazy to or maybe he knows he can't kick as high as me so there is no reason to even try. But he does bite me sometimes and it hurts. I am pretty sure that his biting me is worse than me kicking up my heels because I do not kick him and he does bite me. Ok back to me being very happy, which I was. After I kicked my heels up real high in the air three times and ran around in a circle I High Tailed it to the barn. That means I ran real fast with my tail up in the air like a flag. Everyone better watch out for that flag too because when I put it up that means I am fixing run faster than the wind. The boy get's his feed inside the barn now days but I like to eat outside in the fresh air. He only does that so he get's his food faster. Our house mouse has to duck under his head to come give me my feed. I stand very still until she has had time to get out of the barn so that boy doesn't get upset. Then I walk very calmly to get my feed. See I know how to act right I just don't sometimes.

What's that smoke about.......

The House Mouse that types my tails for me, horse hooves don't type well, went up the road to the Widow lady’s house this morning. I thought something must be wrong the way she hurried up the road with a big black rake in hand so I made myself very large just in case she needed me. I do that when there is something important happening. I stand up even taller than I already am and puff my self up then I am ready for anything. I watched the House Mouse go till I couldn’t see her anymore and then I saw smoke coming from behind the Widow lady’s place. It worried me some to see that smoke but it soon became apparent to me that the ladies had whatever it was under control so I went to see what the Palomino filly next door was up to. We didn’t see much of her yesterday. They sometimes put her in a pasture way over there to the West where we can’t even talk so we had some catching up to do.

It was several hours before the House Mouse came back and she looked pretty funny all dirty like she was. She hugged my neck and told me everything was ok that they were just burning some extra leaves. She doesn’t know why just that she was asked to ‘come please’ and it is important to do that as often as you can when you are asked so nicely.

I am Precious Dakota

I am Precious Dakota and this is my barn. I have lived here for 8 of my 10 years with my best friend who moved on to greener pastures last year. He was an old horse when I got here so I learned a lot from him and miss him terribly. But my owner got me a new horse earlier this year so I'm not so lonely now. You saw a picture of him before. They call him Pretty Boy. I think sometimes he is Pretty Mean. He's a cow horse and they have big heads. He wants to be the first in any line,the first to eat, the first at the water tank, the first at the door, first first first and I best not forget that. I try to give him room. He is not as brave as I am so I have to take care of him. I think that is why he wants to be first at everything because he is afraid if he isn't that he will be left out. They adopted him for me from a place called Safe Haven which a where abused, neglected or battered horse's get to go to be safe and get well. He had a bad hoof injury and since I am a very patient Mother I took care of him till he was able to get around better. I think it is time for supper now.............

And so the tail begins...........

He was kind enough to adopt her a horse of her own.........