#2

#1

picking pictures

The beginning of a Story by House Mouse


This news just in……..The mythical magical gnarly gnomes have moved to Oklahoma. There are now only forest creatures and lovely fairies left in the Land of Squatamala. A joyous noise was heard to be coming from the center of the Land as the celebrating got into full swing.

The King of Squatamala just reported that he is ready to put more outside stuff on the Fort. I am going to post several pictures of possible Fort finishes and we will vote for the one we want.

The Queen of Squatamala says this is not the finished Fort so there will be no coffee drinking there yet.

The 'Pretty Boy' Trouper

Precious at the fence waiting to be seen.

Three Llamas and two Guinea Fowl. Can you see the black Llama
behind the brown one?

This is the Fort being built by the King of Squatamala for the Queen of Squatamala. He hopes to have it ready for a royal visit by the Little Prince and Little Princess of Squatamala this coming summer. There is no word as yet as to whether or not the moat has been completed. There is a Flinging Machine in place to fling pomagranates at troublesome gnarly beasts of mythical nature that may approach.

...........UPDATE........UPDATE...........UPDATE.................UPDATE.....................

The troublesome gnarly beasts of mythical nature have decided to go live in Oklahoma! Good thing too since it is not pomagranates season and they were fixing to have to use dinosaur eggs. The awesome Flinging Machine has been converted into much more functional cooking contraption so the King of Squatamala can cook a feast for his Queen and all who visit.

Hey....HAY!!!!

They put us a big round bale of hay up here in my big red barn yesterday. I did not know why but I was ready to help if help was needed. The human girl told me that I needed to move back so the tractor could come in. I needed to see what the tractor was going to do once it got in there. Didn’t they want me to go in and make sure it was okay for that tractor to go in there? I guess not. That human girl put both her hands onto my chest and started pushing me backwards…UPHILL! And I did it too. Oh sure it wasn’t much of an uphill but it was uphill and I did back up it. YEA ME! So then she had me out of the way of the tractor and he went in my barn backwards. What’s going on is everything backwards today? I needed to go inside and see why he was going backwards. But that would have meant me going forwards and that was not going to be allowed so I stood there ready to help if they needed me. Somehow they got that roll of hay out and in place without my help. I went in to make sure it was good hay and it was. But then I realized my horse, The Pretty Boy, was not coming in to eat some with me so I went out to tell him we had fresh hay and he should come have some.

My Pretty Boy’s foot is still hurting him some so he is slow. I make sure to wait for him no matter how long it takes. I was going down to see the guinea hen in the old barn this morning and about halfway down there I realized my horse was not coming with me. Well I wasn’t going to leave him up there by himself so I went back up to him. Checking on that hen can wait I have to take care of my horse. He, Pretty Boy, is being real nice to the human girl too. He is picking his foot up and letting her hold it while she puts medicine on it. She got him some powdered stuff the other day. Told us she was not going to put his foot into a bucket of Epsom salts until it heals some. She said it would just burn too much and the powder stuff doesn’t burn him. That’s nice of her to do that for my horse. We both try to take good care of him and we know he appreciates it.

I got a really good brushing yesterday and so did the Pretty Boy. We looked real pretty afterwards so of course we went down to the pond and rolled in the mud. Oh boy what fun was that!!!

The human girl told me that tomorrow after the thunderstorms it is going to snow. I’m still waiting to see what my horse, the Pretty Boy thinks of snow. We don’t think it will snow in the land of Squatamala but we haven’t heard from the King of Squatamala or his Queen so we don’t know for sure.

Did I tell you that the King of Squatamala is building a new fort? I heard them talking about it the other day and it sounds like he might have almost finished the outside stuff. The Queen of Squatamala said she would send the humans a picture and if she does I will see if the house mouse will post it on here for you to see. I hear it is a very big castle set in the woods by a big lake. WoW! That's sounds neato doesn't it.

'Have you been talking to the humans about me?'

A grey Guinea adding an egg to the small clutch of only about 20 eggs.

One of four, that we know of, clutches of Guinea Hen eggs. From what we
have heard all the hens lay eggs in the same place then one or two or three
of them sit on the eggs. Keep in mind we started this with about 30 hens.

Guinea Hen eggs. Just one of three nests.

One of the Gray Guinea hens on her way to lay more eggs I presume

The Guinea Hen down at the old barn sitting on twenty or thirty or who knows how many eggs

More Guinea Hens?

Guinea Hen update……………This just in and it’s crazy wild news……..I have been hanging out with the human girl all day today so I heard what was being said when she was talking about those guinea hens. My human man had seen one of them run up under the trailer by the water well and she looked under there to see what was going on. WELL!! She came back up saying that hen ran under there to sit on some eggs and there is another pile of eggs under there with forty or fifty eggs in it!!!!! Yes. And the pile that hen is sitting on there are so many that they are not even all under her. This is on top of the hen they found yesterday down at my old barn that is sitting on twenty or thirty eggs. We are fixing to have a population explosion here on the farm I’ll tell you that for sure. Then they were talking to the man that actually owns the guinea hens and he tells us that all those birds came from just one Mother Bird. Yep. She laid about 30 eggs all by herself he says and that’s where all of them came from. Now I don’t have fingers to count on so that leaves me with just my four feet for counting but I’m thinking if one bird lays thirty eggs and there are thirty birds out there laying eggs then we are not going to have a population explosion we are going to have a population …. Well I do not know what it will be called but I’m pretty sure we will not be having any trouble with grasshoppers this year. Now if we could just get them to eat moles and gophers………….I wonder how much guinea hens sell for? And how would a horse go about catching one?

Hay and Eggs

You would think that human girl would learn to use a rope but she doesn’t seem to. And I told her that. But she told me that if we would stop doing stuff we shouldn’t be doing then she wouldn’t need to do what she needs to do to fix us therefore no need for a rope. AND, she said, Would you rather I leave you like you are and take the time to go get a rope or do you think you could just hold your whole self still while I deal with this then you can go do what you want to do and so can I! This was because she was trying to wash my neck after I had just seen her hanging on my horse’s leg. My horse the Pretty Boy. She was trying to put medicine on his hurt foot and he wanted to walk away. It wasn’t like the other day when I thought I might walk away from her nope she was already all bent over ready to doctor his foot when he started to leave and I saw her grab his leg. She said NO Stay here! And he did because he is a good boy. Handed his foot right up to her then so she could do what needed doing. So she finished with him and came at me. I know not to walk away from her but sometimes I feel I must. Today she didn’t even touch me just gave me that big ole speech about acting nice.

When she left us she wasn’t done with her healing I guess because next thing you know it that fuzzy little dog let out a yelp. We, Pretty Boy and me Precious, looked around to see what was wrong and that human girl had that little dog tucked up under her arm washing it’s face. Yes she was! Washing that dog’s face smooth off from what we could see. Don’t know what that dog got into but apparently it was wrong. So far the only thing safe around here today is Mudfoot the red lab dog………..but the day isn’t over yet.

No hay left to eat down at my old barn. The guinea hens have decided to use the leftovers to lay their eggs. One hen is ‘sitting’ on a clutch of eggs right now. I do not know how many eggs because they are small and there were a lot of them. Also it was dangerous for me to be down there with all those feathers and eggs. Guinea hen eggs are the size of a golf ball but a little bell shaped. I saw the human girl go down there with the camera earlier so maybe we will see a picture of something soon.

Good news! The hair on one side of my neck is starting to fill back in from where the rain rot got me. Boy am I glad about that. The human girl wasn’t taking my picture as much as she usually does and I thought it might be because I was bald. She said that wasn’t it that it has just been way too windy.

And now a word from the house mouse

House Mouse here. It has been a hard week here on the farm so Precious is laying low. The Pretty Boy has been having some leg trouble. That leg with the hoof injury got an infection in it so he was feverish one day maybe two. The human girl was soaking his leg in Epsom salts two or three times a day trying to draw the infection out. He is a real good horse but sometimes things happen even to a real good horse. Just as the human girl was putting his foot in a bucket of water he got spooked by something and things went flying. He wasn’t hurt and the human girl was walking okay just a couple of days later, slower but okay. Then Precious got some rainspot on her neck.

She is well behaved so she goes without a halter on most of the time. The human girl comes out a couple of times a day with a little bowl and a big red brush. She scrubs on that big ole paint horse like she is scrubbing on a saddle.

This morning the human girl was just going to use a squirt bottle and squirt something white on Precious. The bottle made a funny noise when it squirted the first time so Precious wanted no part of that. She started to walk away. Now that human girl doesn’t come very far up that big mares neck but I wouldn’t bet on the horse winning any contests against her. She told that horse to WHOA and she didn’t. So she put her hand out and said WHOA to her again. Precious sort of thought about not walking away but didn’t really want to stay either. The human girl put her arm out against that big ole horse’s chest and said ‘WHOA YOU that means STOP stop stop STOP!’ The human girl by this point had her heels dug into the ground leaning back so far I don’t know what was keeping her up but that horse finally did WHOA and didn’t try to walk away again. The girl told her Thank You, which is the polite thing to do you know and then she went about brushing the stuff on Precious.

The Pretty Boy had thought he might want in whatever it was that was going on till he saw that human girl digging her heels in then he decided to come back in the barn with me and watch from here.

None of us are a match to that human girl when she digs her heels in.

A habit that is good

I told you the other day that the little girl across the road got to come over and play with us well she got to come over again today! But she was in the main house not outside looking at me and petting on me and giving me baby kiss's on my nose. So I stood as close to the back fence as I could and made sure most of me was near to the pen where Mudfoot, the dog, lives. She barks for me to get the humans attention and she does a good job of it. Didn't take long before that baby girl came out in her pretty pink coat with the hood up. She started to run at me but the human girl said 'no' very quietly so she stopped running and just walked up to the fence.

Teach them young. Yes that is a good thing to do. You teach the children young how to act so you will have time for more important stuff when they get older.

The baby girl got picked up so she could pat my head and give me little baby kisses and smooth my mane down. Then they went inside. But it was ok because they came out the front and out to my pasture! Oh Yes! The baby was excited. I looked at her and made sure she knew to not run. Then she was right beside me with her arms up so the human girl could lift her up onto my back. She got a little bit of my mane in her little hand and sat there very still. She is such a tiny thing I forgot she was up there and put my head down to eat some pretty green grass. Ooops. I heard that baby girl say 'oh'. But the human girl had hold of her and snatched her right off my back before she could slide down my nose onto the ground. Which might have been fun to watch but not a very nice thing for me to do. So then they went to the Pretty Boy for a sit but he had seen me put my head down to eat something so he was more interested in what I was eating then giving the baby girl a horsey ride. She can get a ride on him first the next time she comes to visit. It was really a little chilly out today for that baby to be outside for long anyway. Not long after that her Mother came to get her. She always has that boxer dog, Jade, with her and today was no different. That dog is a very happy dog. Have you ever seen a boxer dog smile? Well Jade smiles, no she doesn't just smile she grins from ear to ear! Such a happy dog.

The Cat and Guinea hens

Hello! My barn name is Precious and my horse’s barn name is Pretty Boy. OK. Just checking to see if I had gone crazy but if I know our names I guess I’m okay.

You know how I have told you that we have guinea hens that come to visit us? Well they are not babies anymore. They are full grown guineas and there are a lot of them. Some of them are gray and some of them are pure white. Most of the flock just passes thru on their daily rounds of eating any bug they can find but there are maybe three to six of them that stay around here all day. I think they think of my farm as their second home. This morning what got me to thinking my thinker might be broken is that I saw one of those white guineas chasing the big gray cat. First time I ever saw that happen. You know most of the time it would be a cat after a bird but nooo not with guineas I guess. That cat was walking very low to the ground trying to make himself invisible I suppose but it didn’t work out for him. He was doing okay when he had places he could go from one cover to another but then he got out in the open and that’s when I could really see the show! For those of you who do not know guineas I will get the house mouse to tell the human girl to take a picture and post it on here for you. For now you will just have to imagine a very funny looking chicken with a long neck. Now imagine that chasing after a rather large cat. Very funny indeed. And the noise that guinea was making as he tried to tell that cat he must learn how to play nice was enough to wake up the Pretty Boy who was napping out in my pasture. That guinea hen chased the cat from the East to the West fussing at him the whole way till the cat finally made it to the feed shed and ran up under it where the guinea hen couldn’t follow. That was surely funny to see that big cat thinking ‘I do not need to run I am a big cat’ get run up on by a fussing guinea hen. Yes ma’am that surely was funny to see.

This news just in to the barn........

My friend the King of Squatamala Ranch says I, Precious, should start using my horse's name, Pretty Boy, instead of just saying 'my horse' all the time. So in the future I will try to remember that names are important to use. Names are an important part of who we are. The Pretty Boy is not just my horse so I should use his name when I am talking about him. Well that seems just like it is the right thing to do if I am going to be talking about him now doesn't it.

Betcha we, my horse Pretty Boy, and I just missed out on getting an extra cup of feed today. That human girl came out here and filled our water tank but she's gone back inside now.

Is it Grey/Gray enough for you?

My goodness but I miss the sun! I think rain is an alright thing to get but I do not like it to be gray skies day after day. And I know we have had a dry winter that we need to make up for but come ooooonnnnnn! There just has to be something other than way windy or gray. I heard my little friend across the road singing this morning so I know he is done with this too. He was singing the song 'Rain rain go away my sister and I want to play!'. You know how he does. He sings as loudly as he can because the clouds are pretty far away.

Oh and now the House Mouse is asking me if I am saying GREY or GRAY and how am I supposed to know since they both sound the same to me. I think we might just have to start saying some other word. I there a difference in the definition of those two words? How about I just say 'If it is not too much to ask I would like maybe just one day of sunshine without the wind blowing ninety to nothing.'

My horse is still favoring his healing front foot and the human girl has not stuck it in a bucket of water for him since yesterday morning when I heard that commotion in my barn and he came running out. He told me he might be in big trouble because he had on accident made a big mess and maybe hurt the human girl. He said he had not meant to do it that it just happened. He said she was putting his big ole foot into that big bucket and had sort of thought he might not want to do that right then so he moved his leg. That made his big ole hoof hit the bucket which made a noise which made him jump and that bucket went flying and that human girl went to yelling so he high tailed it outta there. He said he forgot he even had a sore foot he wanted out of there so much. I saw my human girl leaned over in there and stuff laying where it shouldn't be so I headed farther out in my pasture. That much of a bunch of mess surely meant that someone was going to get a talking to and I didn't want it to be me. I let my horse have my feed. The human girl made it out of the barn and headed for the main house. That was the last I saw of her till late in the day. She was favoring her leg even more than my horse favors his.

I guess she's better today, the human girl that is. She came out and fed us after the worst of the storms passed this morning and she wasn't even limping. That's a good thing. I don't mind it if the human man takes care of feeding me and my horse but I do not think it counts as really getting our feed. I think that just counts as 'treats' when he does it. You know us horse's, we are creatures of habit for sure.

A special day

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY TO YOU AND YOURS

FROM ME AND MINE!!

We had a storm last night

My horse and I 'rode out' a storm last night well it was mostly this morning. There was some wind and rain and thunder and lightening. We stayed inside till it was gone. Then not long after that before it turned wintertime again the human baby girl from across the road got to come over and sit on my back. She likes to do that. I hold very very still. She used to not want to sit on me since I am so very big but she is not scared anymore. She sits up on my back and if I turn my head around I can see her face smiling. I don't turn my head to far so she doesn't get off balance. I only turn it enough to see her. She is so little it's not easy to tell she is sitting on me. I let her sit on me as long as she wants to. Makes me no matter. If she is happy sitting up there I will stand there. My horse says he will be happy when she gets big enough for him to give her a real ride instead of a rocking horse ride. Well that is just funny since I am not rocking but when he gives the little ones a ride he does rock! So anyway that is our day so far. Storms, fun, winter winds. Just waiting for our early afternoon snack now.

This afternoon the baby girl's big brother got to come over for horsey ride. He is in pre-kindergarten now so we don't see much of him. Maybe once a day is all we see him now except on the weekends. But I was telling you he came over for a visit. He gets on my horse and hangs onto a hank of hair. He is strong enough and big enough now that he can sit up there all by himself. Of course my horse, Pretty Boy, does not walk fast with him and one of the humans always has a hold of the lead rope but that boy is becoming a real cowboy. Today he said 'yeeeehaw! ride 'em cowboy!' That boy needs a cowboy hat.

Early Spring Flowers

We have some flowers coming up out here on the farm. They are not the kind I like to eat. some of them have a very strong smell to them. I have told my horse he needs to make sure he doesn't bump up against them when he is grazing on the beautiful green grass. That is not a smell you want to get on your nose if you don't know how to stick your nose in the water and shake it around. Heard the humans talking about them the other day. One of them said they are called Paper White's and the other one said some fancy name that didn't sound like anything I have ever heard before. But it doesn't matter what they are called as long as you know those pretty little white flowers are to be given a wide berth. I was telling my horse the other day that sometimes those flowers will even poke their heads up out of snow. Not that we get a lot of snow out here East Texas. Told him also that the next flowers that come up will be the daffodils. We don't eat those either they are just for looking at. Sometimes there are a lot of them that come up but this winter has been pretty dry from the looks of my pond so there may not be that many come up this year.

Oh yes my pond is nearing the mud puddle stage of rolling in it readiness. I might not be doing that though if what I heard is true that it is going to be winter time again later this week. I think it is supposed to be real cold again in three moons. That's how I tell time. Sun, moon, sun, moon. When the sun comes up it's time to eat. When the sun goes down we, me and my horse, are on our own out here. We have a lot of fun sometimes at night when no one is around. Right before dawn and right after the sun goes down there are sometimes fairy's that come out and dance for us. They are quite beautiful with their yellow tiara's.

Our human girl played a trick on us today. I went to the front of the house and banged on the thing that makes noise to tell her that I wanted her to come out and give me something to eat. I made noise two different times. The second time she came out telling me 'backup back up back up'. I thought she meant it since she said it three times so I did back up. She started towards the barn telling me and my horse to just mind our p's and q's that that was no way to be acting. She said that there must be something wrong with our clocks because it was only a few minutes after four o'clock not four thirty. She told us to go out there in that pasture. The way she was pointing we decided it would be a good idea for us to do just that. She went around the barn so my horse thought she was going to come out that side door with him some food. That boy still has a lot to learn. She came out, but she came out with a brush and other stuff. We did not get feed. We got brushed and toes painted and then she went back in the house leaving us standing in our pasture to 'Think About IT'. That's what she said she said 'Think About IT'. I'm not completely sure what we were supposed to think about but I didn't go back over to the house and bang on that thing I'll tell you that. A few minutes later, which must have been four thirty whatever that means, she came back out and gave us our cup of feed.

Too late for Pre-Emergent weed killer

Pre emergent weed killer

Heard them talking about the weed crop growing. They said 'Too late to put out any pre-emergent weed killer this year'. And when I heard that I just had to snort out loud because it was so funny. I was thinking 'YOU THINK?!' there are weeds coming up everywhere since we had those days of summer weather back last month. There is some grass too. Beautiful green tender grass. HOORAY!!! In my yard I have weeds, grass, gophers and moles. Me being a horse and all I don't know for sure about the gophers and moles. What I mean to say is I don't know the difference between the two. There are trails of humped up dirt and there are mounds of dirt here and there all over the place so I know that there is something under the dirt I just don't know what to call it or them. But let's get back to growing grass. My horse and I have been trying to do our part by eating awhile here and then awhile there and we both seem to have our preferences as to what we will eat. Me I like young tender grass because it is so sweet. But my horse will eat anything and it doesn't even have to be green.

What we need is for the humans to get busy and put us some fertilizer out on our pasture. I wonder what kind they will use this year. They use three different kinds of fertilizer on different years. Sometimes it's liquid, then they will use chicken litter, and then sometimes some kind of dry white stuff. I think the dry stuff is powdered lime.

WHOA nelly!! That human girl came out to drag my pasture using her 4 wheeler and she just about made my horse nervous so I took him out to the front pasture. But then she was out there at the top end of my pasture which is close to that front pasture so I took my horse over there to the lower pasture. He is just going to have to get used to that human on that 4 wheeler because she is on it a lot. We both try to tell him that she is not going to run into us but he isn't quite sure about that just yet. We are up here getting us a drink of water while she is in the house getting herself some lunch.

My horse is sore

Well my horse has a sore foot today and it’s all my fault. You see I love to play in the pond so I was.

There isn’t a lot of water in it right now because it has been a rather dry winter but it’s still fun to get in there and splash. I pick my front foot out and hit it down on the water making a big splash over and over and over. When I tire of that I go to the shallow end and roll in the mud. I especially like to get covered in mud after the human girl has brushed me till I shine like a new penny.

Well this time when I was down there playing in the pond my horse decided he was well enough to join in. He said he thought it looked like it might be fun. He said he had never played in the water like that before. Now that is just a shame that some horse’s don’t get to play the way I do. Don’t those humans know that we work just as hard as they do and we like to have some free time and some free space to play ourselves.

Of course there are horse’s out there that do not like water but I have never understood that. My Mousey horse liked to get in the pond and get all wet but he would leave straight out of it when I started splashing around. So anyway there I was playing in the pond and my horse decided he wanted to come play too. The big boy just didn’t know that pond’s have muddy bottoms I guess. Or he did and the thought he could handle it, which he did but at a price. He walked all the way in very slowly then right out the other end. That was a pretty long walk for him. All that mud pulling on his feet made that hurt one sore. Heard the human girl talking to him saying he can do that again if he wants to but he should just go a little ways at a time not all the way in and all the way out. She told him he needed to work up to that but that for now he should stay in the shallow end or maybe just go crossways instead from end to end.
When we went up to my red barn for our dinner from way down at the old barn I did not go off and leave him. I waited for him to notice I was going and then I walked real slow so he could keep up. One time I just stopped and waited for him to catch up. That human girl didn’t rush us. She was just standing up there by the big red barn waiting for us to make it. She said I was a good girl for waiting for him and that she didn’t mind standing there. She said she would stand there as long as it took. That’s how I felt too. I would have done without eating if my horse wasn’t going to eat too. His foot is not hurt bad, it’s just sore. He can walk on it without limping he just isn’t going very fast today. Nothing to worry about he will be fine by morning I’m sure.

The day after the storms

Precious here. We were very lucky yesterday that the storms missed us. Oh it didn't look or feel like they were going to but they did. I really don't like to see those storms coming over the hill from the direction of Waco. Nope don't like that at all. But this time, this time all is well. When my horse and me saw those clouds and that wind changed direction we just found us some good cover and waited. I am very brave so I stood guard. We got a little wind and some rain. Some very hard thick rain but not for long and as I said we were under cover so we didn't even get wet.

And today it was chilly out but we have green grass to eat. Now isn't that just something. Green grass right here near the first of February. Don't that just beat all. We have us a big ole round bale of hay to eat AND green grass. Can't get much better than that no sir can't get much better than that.

Yesterday before the weather moved in we were looking down at the neighbor's place and saw something new down there. A big white llama. There was already a brown one and a black one but now there is a BIG white one. I don't know when it got there or how it got there but by golly there it is. I think it might be a boy because they are keeping it in a pen all by itself. It looks like it would like to come out and play. Could be they are just keeping it in there till if figures out it lives here. Anyway it sure was a surprise to see it. Might be those people's little goat has had a baby too. I'm not sure about that since it is little and it is pretty far away from here down there in the valley near a pond. Those people over there have two turkey also. Now that's some funny looking things. And they laugh funny too. We like for them to come over here and visit with us. They like to share with us what is going on in their barn. They say there are a lot of animals in there of all different kinds. My horse and I have only seen goats, and turkeys, cows, llamas and that crazy in the head pony who has never been taught any manners.

OH! LOOKY THERE!! Here comes that human girl. I sure hope she is coming to brush me nice not coming to put more of that funny smelling medicine on me. I better get out there see you later.

It's me again the 'Pretty Boy'!

..........That felt just wonderful that she was wanting to know where I was and she was walking all over the place trying to find me. She found the big paint horse and asked her ‘Where is that pretty boy?’ and that was what she was calling out as she walked around too. She kept calling out ‘Pretty Boy! Where are you Pretty Boy!’

She was very nice to me. She brushed me and rubbed on me and hugged me a lot telling me the whole time what a pretty boy I was.................

Yes. I repeat myself but that is a most wonderful part of my story. She said I was a Pretty Boy! I heard her call that out many times before I realized she was talking to me. You see I was not very pretty at that point in my life. I was better but I was sure I wasn’t pretty. I had not gained all my weight back. Since I got hurt I had not hardly walked at all. For maybe five months I mostly just stood in one place. And it was my front foot that was so badly injured so I stood with my two back legs sort of up under me to take some of the weight off my front leg. I could feel when people were rubbing on me that I had developed a hump on my back towards my back end from standing there with my feet up under me. The human lady knows what it is called but it doesn't matter really because that time has passed. Anyway I thought I looked funny not pretty but she said I was a Pretty Boy. Now I can stand proper, walk, trot and even run sometimes. I have been here on the farm since last March and it is February now so I am well accustomed to life here now.

And it is a wonderful life. There is fresh water, grass to graze on and hay to eat. Every morning we get a bucket of feed and every afternoon, twice, we each get a large cup of feed. I am very grateful to the pet of Precious. She really does keep very good care of me. She has decided it is time for me to get into shape so she takes me for walks or she wanders off then calls me to catch up with her. I am strong enough to carry big people now. At first I could have too but the human girl said NO don't do that to him he needs to heal. So I only give babies and small children rides. They are not afraid of me even though I am very very tall. I am taller than my big Paint horse even but those babies don't care. The big humans just throw them up on me, tell them to grab some hair and off we go. It is very exciting for those babies. I think that is pretty funny since we never go more than maybe ten steps then the human man says "That's enough for now". He is so funny. Such a worrier. The human girl not so much. She wants me to try to do things. She says I will not know if I can do it if I don't try. So I try to do something different or more everyday.

I am very happy to live here on the farm with the big red barn.

The Pretty Boy 'Trouper' March of 2007

Super Bowl Sunday

Precious here to tell you it is Super Bowl Sunday and no one wants to play with me! There are humans around but they are talking and looking and petting and patting on me and my horse but that is about it. When they come up I go to greet them and let them know I saw them coming in is howcome I get to get petted on. Of course my horse wanders up too so then everyone as to oooohhhh and aaaahhhhh over how pretty he is which makes me real proud since I have been working with him a little every day. I don't make him run anymore like I did a few times we just walk and sometimes trot. He seems to be gaining strength.

Just so you know I got my rain rot scrubbed already early this morning and the human girl said that it is looking much better. I don't stick my nose in that bowl of mouthwash anymore when she is scrubbing me. Just don't like the taste of that stuff at all.

Here comes another truck I better go see who it is................

My story continues....

When we last talked I had just arrived here on the farm and met my new friends. I was supposed to be put in a paddock so as to keep me from walking around too much. But I was brought here to be a pet to Precious. And the human girl didn't like the idea of me being couped up like that. I was rather happy she had that notion in her head because here there was grass to graze on. I had not really had any grass to graze on in a very long time. The human girl told me that I should be mindful of my injury and not over exert myself so I just just walked around slowly eating the wonderful grass. When it came feeding time she did put me in a pen, for my own good, she said. She would carry out a big bucket with warm water and epsom salts in it and set it on the ground. Then she would get my feed and put it into my feeding barrel. That is when she would pick my leg up and put my foot into the bucket. I didn't mind that at all. It made my foot feel a lot better. Seemed to take some of the heat out of it and throbbing. I would stand there with my foot in that big white bucket and eat my feed then just stand there with my foot in the bucket till she told me it was ok to take it out.

For the first few days she would leave me in the pen overnight and let me out in the mornings. That was ok with us. I would stand on one side of the gate and Precious would stand on the other. Then one afternoon the human lady left the farm. I was not real sure that was a good thing but Precious told me it happens sometimes and that she always comes back. And she did come back but something bad happened while she was gone and hour or two or a lifetime which is what it seemed like.

I had big spot of infection start to come out of my leg right above the injured foot and the human man was just about worried sick. He was trying to get me to go to my pen but my foot really really hurt so much that I didn't want to stand on it much less try to walk. So the man went into the house and came back out with the white bucket. He did not do the water like the human lady. The water was cold. I think that might have been a good thing thinking back on it. Anyway he put my foot into that bucket and had me standing there for some time then he said I could go if I could or just stand there till the lady got home if I couldn't.

It wasn't much later before she did come home and I was so happy to see her I forgot how my foot was hurting. She called me her Pretty Boy and told me to come on and she would help me. I could hear her muttering to herself as we walked ever so slowly towards that red barn. She was saying 'mercy me mercy me mercy me' over and over again. I know now she does that while she is thinking of what needs to be done first. Well she said ' Get me a bucket of warm water and a cup of epsom salts please we will be at the barn'. He did and we stood in that bucket of water till moon was up in the sky and the coyotes were singing to it. The whole time the human lady was telling me and Precious that it was going to be ok. Everything is going to be ok. Well we thought she must be right since she said it so many times. She gave both of us a final pat and a hug and told us she would see us in the morning at first light.

How I came to live here

'Ok ok I’ll talk about how I came to be living here' says the Pretty Boy Trouper. So here is his story in his own words……….

I got hurt real bad. I couldn’t even eat I was so hurt. Some men came and said they thought I could be ok so I went with them. They took me to a vet and then to a really nice place with other horse’s who were very nice. The place is called Safe Haven. The other horse’s in my living area were in pretty poor shape as was I so we watched out for each other. The humans at the place were very nice. They were gentle with me and took very good care of me. I loved the attention and the food. Everyday I stood with my hurt foot in a bucket of water while I ate my feed. After a few months two humans came into the corral and looked at the three of us in there. The lady was talking to me. She seemed to like me. Then they went off looking at all the other horse’s and visiting up at the house for awhile before they left the property. I thought they were just visitors. A few days later I got loaded up into a trailer. I thought it was just going to be another vet visit but he took me to a new place and got me out of the trailer. I still couldn’t get around very well. The man, Richard from Safe Haven, took my halter and lead rope off which I took to mean that I was free to go. So I did. Richard started out after me so I had to speed up so I could go over behind those trees and see those horse’s that I was thinking were over there. I heard Richard say ‘Well I guess he’s a lot better than I thought he was.’.

I found another horse, a big Paint horse, down there behind the trees and on the other side of the fence was a small Palamino pony. We all seemed to like each other and got along right away. Richard, the man that brought me here left. The human girl stayed out and watched us for a while then she went into the house. Not too much time went by then she came out again and she was looking for me.

That felt just wonderful that she was wanting to know where I was and she was walking all over the place trying to find me. She found the big paint horse and asked her ‘Where is that pretty boy?’ and that was what she was calling out as she walked around too. She kept calling out ‘Pretty Boy! Where are you Pretty Boy!’ And you know what? I knew she was talking to me when she said that!

Story Delay

The story about that big paint horse's new horse is going to be on hold for a few days due to some fresh hay being brought in and put down there at the old barn yesterday. I have only seen those two horse's twice since that new hay got here. They are not even coming up here to drink water out of the fancy tank they are going down in the pond which is closer to the old barn. I will try get Precious or the Pretty Boy to talk to me in the morning when they come up here to the red barn for feed........if they do come up that is. Sorry for the delay but it is the middle of winter here and that hay is how those two keep their innards warm. When they do come up here and talk to me again I'll remember to remind you of what we have already learned about the new boy.

Pretty Boy's story continues...

The story continues……….


When we left off the men from Safe Haven had gone to see about a hurt horse they had been asked to put down and they said NO we won’t do that but we will take him and try to make him better if you sign him over to us.

So that is how he came to be a ward of Safe Haven. They took him to the vet and had him checked out. They took him back to their place and started spoiling him as best they could while nursing him back to health. They called him ‘Trouper’ because he was one. A lot of horse’s in his shape with his injury would have just given up but he didn’t. He put up with anything they did to him without a moments trouble out of him. He had to stand with that bad foot in a bucket of Epsom salts a few times a day and he did it. Hence the name ‘Trouper’. To this day you can take a bucket out there and sit it on the ground beside him and say ‘Put your foot in there’ and he will…but I get ahead of myself. The fine care given to him at the Safe Haven facility got him to the point of being well enough to be adopted out which is how he came to be my horse.

My humans decided to get me a new horse since I had lost my Mousey several months earlier and I was very lonely. The human man, my owner, had heard about the Safe Haven organization so one day they took a drive up there to see what it was all about. They had talked to the man in charge of the place on the phone and told him what they needed which was me a friend and he had one picked out he thought would be great. He took them out into a corral where there were three horse’s. The palomino he thought would be good for me to have as a friend and two other ones. First the other one and then the palomino ‘Trigger’ walked away as the humans approached. Which left my horse standing there.

I think I should go talk to my horse and see if he wants to tell you this part of his story since I wasn’t there to see it for myself…..I’ll be back as soon as I get back.

About my horse

I have been telling you I would tell you more about my horse ‘the Pretty Boy Trouper’. He is a Red Roan Appaloosa they got for me from a place called ‘SafeHaven ’. It is a horse rescue operation. My Pretty Boy is a cutting horse and from the little I have seen he is a fine one. You put a rope on him and pull from the front that boy isn’t going anywhere. Now a lot of you might not have a clue what that means but when you see it happening right there in front of your eyes it’s a very funny thing. That boy can plant his back feet at the drop of a dime. Of course I too can stop and not move but for it’s just that I’m walking along and decide I have gone far enough so I stop walking. My Pretty Boy stops cold in his tracks. And he can spin around so fast you might think he has just one of his back feet on the ground. I told the house mouse to tell the human girl to take you some pictures of my horse and to also show you some of the pictures of what he looked like when he got here.

When he got here is when he started being called ‘Pretty Boy’. He was being called ‘Trouper’ because the people at Safe Haven said he was a trouper in the way he lived through what he had lived through. You see they got a call from a place that wanted them to come put the horse down for them because he was in pretty bad shape. They told the people they would come take a look. They got out there and the horse was in very poor shape indeed. His right front hoof had dang near been completely cut off. Nearly whole of it was gone from front to back and he was real real skinny. But they told the owners NO. No we will not put this horse down. We will take him and we will do what we can to make him better.

To Be Continued………..

What a week!

It has been a busy week around the farm. My tractor left and came back more than once without anything for me. He was going across the road and getting hay for the neighbor's because there was supposed to be an ice storm or sleet or snow or something happening today. I like it when my tractor leaves the property and then comes back because usually he has something for me. I get real happy when I see him coming down the road and I run like the wind with my tail up to greet him. I think that is fun because he doesn't know I have very good brakes plus he doesn't know why I am running at him so he gets a very funny look on his face. LOL!!! So everyone on the road has been getting ready for the big winter storm all week and all that happened was some very cold rain that froze some, melted some and froze some more before melting again. I suppose it will refreeze tonight but I'm not going out there to see if it does. Me and my horse have pretty much stayed inside my barn all day today. First light came and no feed so we did venture out about seven to see if we could see anyone moving at the house. Wasn't much after that the human girl came out telling us all about the weather. What did she think? Did she think we couldn't see what was happening? Silly girl. If she had come out to the barn earlier we could have told HER all about the weather that she was probably sleeping through. So any way she gave us our feed and then started giving us hay. We got a lot of hay in a lot of places. She put hay in four places in the barn plus in the my feeder barrel. Then she put six flakes of hay out around in my pasture. And then she put an armload of loose hay on the ground beside where I was eating my breakfast. She said 'Here you will need this to keep you warm'. It worked I was warm all day. My horse even let me come all the way into my barn and eat my hay out of my very own feeder by about noon. It was nice of him to share. Tomorrow will be a better day. Tomorrow it is not going to be wet and the temperature is supposed to be up to 70 degrees the house mouse told me the human girl told her that. Good thing it is going to be nice because we have us some very nice hay out there in piles around the pasture that don't need to be left there to go to waste.

The Fog

The fog is so thick I can’t see my barn! I am a big girl and not afraid of anything. My human girl calls me ‘fearless’ I am so brave. But when that big glob of hay came walking out of the fog this morning I jumped about two feet straight up in the air! Wildest thing I had seen in quite a while that walking hay. Hay isn’t supposed to walk. We walk to the hay not the other way around. But sure enough here it came and it was coming right at me. Now don’t get me wrong I have seen hay move before. But there is usually a tractor hooked to it when that happens. And there was no tractor this morning. That hay was WALKING and that is just wrong. So I jumped straight up in the air and landed solid on all four legs incase I needed to take more action. I drew myself up very tall and spread my chest out I was not afraid………….not anymore anyway. I was ready to take on that walking hay. I pawed the ground. And that’s when it happened. That hay had a voice! Yes it did I tell you it did and I’ll tell you what it said too. It said ‘Stop that.’ Well now if that’s just not something to write home about I don’t know what is. Walking hay that knows I’m not supposed to be pawing the ground on account of that is not good for my hooves and it’s a bad habit to get into and well it’s just not allowed. That walking hay got cleared of the fog finally and I could see it had arms and legs so then I figured out that if I hadn’t still been just a little scared I might have noticed that the voice belonged to my human girl. Mercy me what was I thinking, walking hay, well everyone knows there’s no such thing as walking hay. Silly me. Walking hay.

Rainy day

Raining all day so far. I heard that the weatherman said light showers that would not even reach the ground till late this afternoon when it is going to rain and possibly thunder. I think he must have been in a very low place.

Rain has stopped for now. Just wet and chilly out here. Eating a lot of hay to keep warm. That's what hay does makes my body warm me being a horse you know. Some old country folks out here call it 'fodder'. "You need to make sure that livestock has some fodder there is cold weather coming!" also I have heard one old cowboy say 'Feed in the morning, hay at night'. Me and my horse are glad our human girl doesn't hold to that too much. She gives us a big can of feed in the mornings but then twice more we get a couple of cups. One time we get a couple of cups is between 2 and 3 in the afternoon and then a couple of more cups about 5 in the evening before the sun starts going down.

Speaking of that sun going down......The other morning when the sun was coming up there was a cold front pushing through that met up with some Gulf of Mexico moisture but when I saw it they were still two separate pieces of cloud. Looked up and there you go a white stripe across the sky. That was because the sun was already up behind those dark clouds and then that break in the clouds then another bunch of dark clouds. That human girl saw it too. She went back in the big house and got her camera but I don't think she got a picture of it because she just kept shaking her head and then she went back inside. It was right interesting to see that and I'm sorry you missed it....if you did.....miss it that is.

That palomino pony is over there at the fence with one of her cows, those two llamas animals and the two donkeys. Pretty sure they are jealous of the attention my house mouse gives me and my horse.

My Turn to Talk

House Mouse here. Precious ran in here to tell me I can just make something up today because she is too busy bothering her horse to talk to me. I believe that. I saw them out there earlier today playing like crazy. I say crazy because she was the only one doing any playing. Her horse was mainly trying to duck in time. When he gets tired of her acting crazy all around him he just turns his backend to her. He never lashes out but this does tell her that he is all done playing. I saw them out by a Cedar tree playing some sort of Indian game. I think it is called ‘See who can bite first’ but I’m not sure of that. They were standing head to head having a stare down contest that kept ending with one of them blinking. LOL!! They looked real funny trying not to let the other one know when the blink was coming. With those big horse heads that’s a tall order for sure. Sometimes the one that was going to get first bite would end up on the other end of the bite which did not set as well with the bitee as it the biter.

Looks like a mix of rain, sleet and snow falling out there outside this barn so I am going to go snug myself down in my warm little corner for the night. It’s been fun talking to you myself maybe she will let me do it again sometime.

Dream Sweet.

I love my barn

I like the old barn just fine but I love my red barn. And I am very happy that the human girl put me some hay up here in my barn yesterday. It has gotten cold out here! I'm glad that it didn't come thru yesterday when it was wet all day. At least today it's dry and there are no clouds. Just a cold wind a blowin' which is why I am happy to have hay in my own barn. It's a nice place to be when the wind is coming out of the north because that wind can't get to us.

Very interesting turn of events indeed. Four sleeps ago Spring had Sprung and just now the human girl came out to put more hay in MY barn because she said 'It is going to be snowing in the morning'. Oh NO! SNOW! I do not know how my new horse handles snow. And if it is ice and snow I am even more concerned since he has that one foot that is not completely well yet. Human girl says that is not a problem that he has a shoe on that foot just for that reason. She tells him no pawing the ground but other than that he is not going to hurt that foot doing anything we do around here no matter what the weather brings. Now we might step on a rock or walk in some deep sucky mud or even step into a gopher hole after a big flooding rain but none of that will hurt his foot as long as he has that shoe on and we never worry over any of that kind of stuff. I just hope he can keep his head on and act right if it does snow or ice over. Don't want him getting all crazy on ice and sliding into a fence you know that would have to hurt. The human girl patted on both us and told it was going to be fine. That it would even be fun. She says that she will come out and play with us if it snows. Says she just doesn't know when it will happen. The weatherman told her 'in the morning'.

'In the morning'.........That comes at different times for everyone I think. For me 'morning' happens when the sun starts coming up. For my horse 'morning' happens when gets hungry. For the human man 'morning' happens when it is still dark outside and the human girl you just never know when she is going to be moving around. The house mouse is always awake, just takes 'cat' naps...sometimes it just takes awhile to find her.

Spent a little time this evening playing with the Palomino horse in the next pasture. We are going to need to talk about her tomorrow. I'm thinking she needs a serious lecture on how to behave.

Finally happened

Well it finally happened. My horse got on my last nerve. There that human girl was on the other side of the wood fence loading her truck with hay. And there we were on the other side of that fence watching her. I was there first. When I saw my horse coming over I moved so he could have the best view. He thought where I moved to must be the best place so I walked away. She finished loading her truck and went off towards the barn. I wanted to follow her up there. So did my horse. I wanted to go first because he is afraid things will run over him but he decided he wanted to go first. I told him it was my girl and my truck but he seemed to think I was supposed to let him have the lead. I can see where he might have gotten that idea because I have been being nice to him since he is injured but he's not that injured anymore so I'm done being second horse. Well we talked about how he wasn't nice at the fence and we talked about how he could just let me go on and go up to my barn but he wanted to discuss it some more and that's when it happened. He stepped right smooth on top of my very last nerve. I kicked at him a little with my front feet and he did the same at me. We both raised our voices too. At that particular point in time my human girl decided to put a stop to it and blew the truck horn. I told my horse 'That is my human girl at my barn blowing the horn on my truck!' and he bit me. I guess we both need to learn to share. We already know that human girl is going to have a talk with us when she us misbehaving or evidence of our misbehaving or even if we look like we might be thinking about misbehaving.
Like this morning when she thought we might be fixing to be trouble. She was walking in front, then my horse and then me. She stopped put her right hand up, yes I know the difference between right and left, and said Whoa! all at the same time. The first three times she did that we were slow at the Whoa'ing. The fourth time we did better and she told us so and walked on to the barn to get our feed. Then she made my horse back up about ten feet before he was allowed to have his feed. I thought that was pretty funny until she came to give me my portion and told me 'Wait'. Pretty sure all of that was to remind us who the 'Lead Horse' really is around here.

football playoff games

Football playoff games so no one out and about this afternoon except my human girl. There is a nice little female basset hound living up the road that started coming down here a few days ago. My human doesn't abide by stray dogs and I don't blame her. They usually don't have manners one. Well today there was a whole bunch of them circling the house like wild Indians and she came out to put a stop to it. She fired off her pellet pistol and they took off in three different directions. I don't know that for myself it was my horse that told me what happened. I don't much like the sharp noise that gun makes so turn my back. Anyway just a little while later she came out to give me and my horse some feed and one of those dogs was coming back towards MY barn. This is a new road dog. Black and white in color with one back leg that doesn't touch the ground. We get dogs like that out here, those three legged kind. Don't know why people don't just take care of their own animals. If something happens you just deal with it. That's all there is to it. You just deal with it. Oh....Ok so she came out to give me and my horse some feed and that little black and white dog was coming so she yelled at it. She said 'GET!' and it did. Last time we saw it it was heading back up the road with the basset hound. Good thing for that dog she didn't have her gun with her. She's a real good shot. If she aims at it she hits it. She never aims right at the stray dogs doesn't want to actually hit one but don't tell them that it would ruin it for her.
One time some folks were here on their horses and they had dogs with them and those dogs started chasing the cool goat that lived here and she said 'You get those dogs out of here right now BANG. oh. I'm sorry should I have given you time to Get?' LOL!!! That was funny.
Had us some rain today. Should be good for that sweet tender grass coming up out there. Hope we can get it all eaten before it snows Wednesday.

Ah! Spring has Sprung!!

Another beautiful spring day! Trees are budding, warm season grass is coming out. Yes the warm season grass. Not going to be a winter pasture I guess this year not with this weather. I heard those human talking yesterday and it hasn’t been this warm in January for 100 years. They said something about a 100 year cycle and a thousand year cycle. See these country folks aren’t buying into that global warming thing since they are living it they know what’s going on. They are doing a lot to get off the grid but not because some one some where said something silly that got blown all out of proportion.

My horse just got taken for a walk. I follow along behind and sometimes he stops to see if I am still back there. That stopping when he’s not supposed to is what has gotten him into trouble with that human girl. She is real nice but don’t you think she’s soft because she’s not. She is not going to put up with a horse not paying attention to what she is saying. We can do what we want to do when she isn’t out here wanting us to do stuff for her. He needs to learn that. First you do what she says then you can what you want.

Such a pretty pretty day! March winds are taking a break and the skies are pretty clear of clouds. I’m a happy camper for sure today!

The Wind

Oh come on now. I mean really is this necessary? I know that it is not the March winds blowing I don't have a calendar but I know how many times I have eaten since Rudolf and his buddies were by here towing Santa's sleigh and it has not been enough times for it to already be March. My main and tail are going to be so very tangled up I know it will take my human a very long time to get them straightened out and why do it anyway the wind is just going to keep blowing until it quits anyway. I have run out of air saying all those words at the same time without even stopping to breathe I am going to take a nap now.

Pedicure Day

We had company today. Randall came by to trim our hooves. My horse is doing so well Randal told the human girl that whatever she is doing she should keep doing it. My horse now has some real hoof on that outside part and it may not even come off. Maybe you don’t know this but he was hurt real bad before he came here to be my horse. He has his feet worked on first and that takes a long time but I was very patient. I was as patient as I could be that is. I looked at everything in the back of Randal's truck and had me a snack of some hay back there. Then I found the old cut off rusty horse shoe nails. Ah! Just what I was looking for. Randal doesn't let me eat them. Tells me 'No No You cannot eat those they are not for you to eat move you head go on now.' Finally my owner got a brush and started brushing me so I quit bother everyone else. My horse got all four of his feet trimmed and shoes put on his two front ones. Then it was my turn. There was a big to-do about that. Some of thought it was pretty funny. Had to stand still, had to put my head down and get a halter put on me and then a lead rope attached to that. HELLO?!! I have been standing right here in this very same spot for an hour and half do you really think I am going to just up and decide to walk away now? Humans are so funny sometimes. I got all four of my feet trimmed and filed real nice. Randal is a great guy. He works and works and then he will just sit down for a time and talk. He is always nice. He is very strong so if I try to do something wrong he will tell me straight up to stop that. When I do stop he will sit down a few minutes and let me think about my bad behavior. That is pretty interesting.

Bad behavior is not tolerated. I have to do what I am told to do and pretty much when I am told to do it. If I do not then I really really have to do whatever it is I was asked to do and then when I do do it they say Thank You then just walk away from me. It’s like they are saying that is just fine that you did what you were asked to do but it is not going to be rewarded because you did not do it when you were asked to do. I sometimes forget that I have to do what I’m being asked to do.

Especially if I am being asked to go forward by a rope being pulled. I do not respond well to that. I will walk along beside you or follow you but I do not like some human to be out in front of me pulling on a rope. Nope I do not like that.

My horse put on his brakes when she was walking him up to the truck. I do not know what he was thinking. All she did was say 'Ok' then walked him around in a circle then off they went. Do you think he didn't know they were going the same way she had wanted him to go but he wouldn't just because she walked him around in a circle? What a silly boy he is. He should do it like I do. Put on the brakes and make them come to you. Oh sure that's wrong but as long as it works I'm fine with it.

Randal said he had heard that my horse used to be a 'cutting' horse. I believe that to be true because even with his very hurt foot he can turn on a dime. You should see him spin around on his back legs. Sometimes it looks like he is just spinning on one hind leg he goes so fast. I hope he get's all better someday so he can walk nicely without it hurting him much.

My Barn

I was thinking about my barn this morning when I went in there to eat my breakfast. I don't usually eat inside but for some reason this morning my horse decided he wanted to eat out of my feed barrel. Since I'm not much for fighting I let him have it. That white barrel is mine. He has an orange barrel out here in the pasture and one in the barn on a feeder rack the human man built for us. He built it for me and my other horse, Mousey, who moved on to greener pastures last year. You might be thinking that it could be used by me and my new horse but you would be thinking wrong. He's an okay fella but he doesn't want me any where near him when he eats. Doesn't matter that there is a board up between the barrels so he can't see me he knows I'm there and that makes digesting proper pretty hard. So anyway I eat outside and he eats inside, in MY barn. My barn, my sanctuary, mine mine mine!

My barn is a special place. There is room for me and a friend or even two friends then there is a gate behind which is the hay we eat. Some times it is stacked nearly to the roof which is way higher than I look. My barn surrounds me. It blocks the wind and keeps the cold from freezing my tail. It keeps the rain from falling on me and storms at bay. My barn is a place of Peace. That is unless my horse is already in there then it's more like....The outside of my barn is a place of Peace....................

There was a Red Bud tree that was weak and snapped off about four feet up it's trunk in this wind we have been having. That's not a real bad thing just makes a popping noise when it snaps over but I'm not afraid of stuff so that didn't bother me. I went over and looked at it and it looks like it might have been dead awhile because it has a lot of little trees coming out of it already below the break. Red Bud trees are like that. They live like a tree for a long time then they snap off and become more like Red Bud Bush's. Me being a horse I'm not real sure there is such a thing as a Red Bud Bush but that's what it looks like to me when it happens the way it does on occasion. I don't eat Red Bud tree leaves but the flowers they have in the spring time sure do smell pretty. I sometimes taste of them but I much prefer the old Lantana on the side of the road in. My human girl doesn't like me eating her flowers. Says horse's are not supposed to eat flowers but how am supposed to stay so sweet if I don't?

Windy out here

It is very windy out here! And it is 80 degrees too!! January in East Texas gotta love it.

The human girl carried that big ole ladder down to the old barn twice to screw the tin back down on the roof. Heard her muttering to herself that she should just leave the ladder down there till the March winds in January quit blowing....but she didn't. I stood at the bottom of the ladder so my horse wouldn't knock it out from under her. I have to take care of her and watch out for her. I try to stay close to her when she is out here working on something in case she needs my help or like I said just to keep my horse from bothering her.

After she took that ladder back up to my barn again she got her truck and came down here. She is picking up all the hay that me and my horse pull out of that big round bale. She puts it in the back of the truck and takes it up to my barn. I guess she is saving it for later.............

free range hay

We can get to the big round bale of hay down at my old barn so if you don’t see us for awhile we are down there. You might want to come check on us though because we will be eating the middle out of that bale of hay and my horse may not be strong enough yet to pull himself out if it collapses on him. I will be trying to keep enough pulled out on the ground for him to eat without sticking his big head in there but I still think you should keep ear out for me looking for your help. Thank you for your cooperation. Love Precious.

My how time flies......

My how time flies when you are freezing your shoes off! Hard to believe it is a whole new year out here in the barn.........probably all over the world too but my world is my barn since that's where they keep the feed. I'll spend a little time today trying to catch you up.........


In case you don’t know my name is Precious, Skippers Precious ‘Dakota’ to be exact. I am a registered American Paint Horse. My horse, Pretty Boy Trouper, is a Red Roan Appaloosa horse. We live here with a couple of humans and a couple of dogs. My dog is called 'Mudfoot' because her feet are always muddy. My house mouse types my stories for me because hooves just don’t type well.

Today is the last day of the year 2007.

Windy and cool but not too bad for the time of year it is. We got two big round bales of hay yesterday but we don’t really care. As long as the human girl keeps bringing us flakes of hay we don’t need them. And anyway there is still some green out in the pastures for us to graze on. It has been a very mild winter so far. Tonight and for the next couple of nights though it is supposed to be about 20 degrees or so overnight so I hope the human girl remembers to give us some extra hay before the sun goes down. I bet my dog, Mudfoot, would like some fresh hay in her igloo house too for those kinds of temperatures. ‘Mudfoot’ is a red Lab dog. She is very sweet but very loud. She thinks she has to be to get the humans attention for us. We don’t tell her we can do it ourselves because it makes her think she is doing something important. Sometimes we go stand by her yard just so she will put up a fuss and get us some attention quickly without us getting in trouble for banging on stuff we aren’t supposed to bang on. I banged on a gate one time with my foot that it fell over. Boy was I surprised when that happened! I couldn’t do anything but stand there. I was trying to decide if I should just go ahead and go in now that I could but I was thinking that big noise was surely going to get some humans attention and I know how much she liked that gate and there it was just laying there on the ground….all my fault. Me and my big ole foot attached to my big ole leg. And sure enough I was right she was not happy. Said so right out loud. “Oh I can’t believe you did that Precious! I am not happy. Not happy at all. You go on now Precious. Oh my oh my. Let’s go girl we have to get you put in your pasture right now!!” And that’s what she did. She put me in my pasture and locked the gate and I didn’t see her again for hours she was so mad. The man human came home and he said he would fix things right up. No more gate. Just a fence. Now I can’t get in that side yard which means I can’t look in the windows of the house with my nose up against the glass to see what they are doing. I can still see in there but it's just not the same not being able to look close up. Wish that gate hadn’t fallen down, it’s the termites fault not mine. Yeah The Termites!