We had a nice weekend. It was hot and soooo humid outside but it was a slow lazy weekend. On Saturday I got up at 4:00 to go and meet some of the Photo Club members on the east side of Bloomington. We drove to Muscatatuck National Wildlife Refuge, near Seymour Indiana. We spent a good part of the day photographing anything that moved! When it got so unbearably hot, all the wildlife hunted for cover and so did we.

When I arrived back home, E told me that the grandkids and their parents were on the way to spend the weekend!!! Yikes! I didn't know they were coming, so wasn't prepared! E and I did some quick picking up and had everything presentable when they got here.

The boys are going to be 3 and 6 years old in October. They had a ball, hot and sweaty but well, it IS summer, and boys don't seem to notice! Dad brought the 4 wheelers and they went way back in the woods. The six year old was just thrilled to have so much space to ride his. His daddy drove the big one and Eli had one his size. He looked cute in his helmut. We grilled burgers and hot dogs for lunch just before they left to go back home, which is an hour and a half north. It was real nice to see them here. Eli love to come visit Papaw Wolfe and collect the eggs in the chickens nests.

These are the latest visitors to our birdfeeder! Do you see the fuzzy thing in the leaves? They have chewed holes in the feeder!

Was it worth it?

Chiggers! or Redbugs, or jiggers, or whatever you want to call them! They can sure make your life miserable! I have been going to JW Jones place, (where I trailride my horse) to pick wild blackberries, a couple of days a week. They are abundant there and so were the 'itchies' that I brought back with me. Were the cobblers worth all the chigger bites and itching? You betcha!!!

I picked black raspberries a few weeks ago and made a cobbler with them. I tried a new recipe and it was so good. I was surprised, it couldn't have been more perfect, and now that the blackberries are ripe I have been picking those too, and turning them into a yummy cobbler and putting the extras in the freezer.

Have been picking and canning green beans also. We have managed to can 43 quarts so far. I spent two Saturdays 'doing beans', when I wanted to be out riding my mare. E set up the little gas stove that I cook maple syrup on. We did all the preparation in the kitchen, then E carried the canner out to the garage so we didn't have to heat up the kitchen with all that steam. This is usually enough for the two of us for the year. Ed loves them. I can take them or leave them. I like broccoli better, it has a lot more flavor.

We have seen a Whitetail doe with triplets in our front pasture. The fawns run and chase and jump, then run some more. It is fun to watch them play with each other. How common are triplets? Don't know, but usually a doe will have twins in the years after her first fawn. Haven't had the chance to get a photo yet.

I could not get these to post with my blog so here they are.

An Iffy Day!

Saturday was a busy day. While we waited for the dew to dry off of the hay, we ran a couple of old bales of hay through the baler to make sure it was working right. Adjusted the bale size and the string, and it was ready to go.
E raked the hay again as there were a few wet spots underneath. He baled about 2/3 of the small field by the road, then the baler broke down. It had been jamming some too. This was a major breakdown! The previous owner had jerry rigged one of the chains and when it broke it messed up the timing, which broke a couple of other parts.
E was not a happy man! The hay in our own fields was raked and ready to bale, but now what do we do????? We went ahead and loaded those bales on the wagon and took them up to the house.

E went to a neighbor to try to find someone that could round bale our hay for us. But he told us he had a square baler that we could use. Ed brought it home and we hooked it up and finished baling up by the road. Then he baled a few rounds of our back pasture just before dark. There was no time to get them up to the barn before dark. Hopefully, they wouldn't absorb too much moisture from the ground.

BUT......when we got up on Sunday morning, it was cloudy and humid. (The weather forecast said no rain on Sunday, but would rain on Monday). Well, it started to rain! And it rained gently for 30 minutes. I have never seen E so unhappy and depressed. In a while it stopped raining, and later the sun came out and it got HOT, and E raked it again, them a little later he started baling. It was dry and fluffy.
I drove the tractor, while E loaded and stacked the hay on the wagon. It was too much work for just us two. E was so tired he could hardly walk. We finally just quit, as we ran out of steam. We put nearly 200 bales in the shed and barn. Then we took the baler back to the neighbor. There were still hay windrows in the fields. Would have made about 70 more bales, but we were just too pooped! We would like to get a second cutting later this summer, but he said we will only do one field! Here are a couple of pictures. Too bad you can't see all the worry and sweat going on.

Making Hay While The Sun Shines!

Today after work, E went out and raked the front and back hayfields, and a smaller one up by the highway. This hay was cut Wednesday evening. Tomorrow we bale hay. Anyone want to come and help???
I have been watching these beautiful birds. They are Goldfinches. This feeder is designed just for them, as they can feed upside down. There were a pair of House Finches sitting on top of it, trying to figure out how to get to the seed, but they gave up after while and left.

 

An Early Morning

It looks like we will be baling hay on Saturday or Sunday. It was cut on Wednesday afternoon. It was supposed to be cut nearly 4 weeks ago, so it will not be very good hay. But as E. says, the horses can pick through it and eat what is edible. At least it is free hay, except for the labor involved. Ours, no less!

I went to JW Jones yesterday and picked black raspberries again. They aren't as plentiful as the blackberries. Can't wait until the blackberries are ripe, there are millions of them over there! They need at least another week before they are ready.

Cucumbers anyone? I have already picked 5 or 6 and there are many more. They are just now starting to really produce and are seeming to be ready all at once. I planted Bush Cucumbers, and they are sooooo prolific! What I like about them is the plants are a managable size. They don't overun my very small garden. But there are more than I can eat! Help!! 

Cruel People!

Friday on my way home from work, I thought I would try driving down a different road or two, looking for black raspberries. I felt an urging to 'turn here'. So I did!
I didn't find any raspberries, but I did find a little black puppy standing on the edge of the blacktop, when I topped a hill. I had to go and turn around and come back, and when I did, and got out of my truck, what did I see but six MORE puppies! OH NO, what do I do now? I CAN'T leave them here to be squashed, or to starve!! So I piled them into my truck and drove them home with me. I put them into one of the chicken yards, (after shooing the lone chicken outside to eat grass). They were only about 5 or 6 weeks old. Just starting to eat solid food.
I called the local Humane Society and they said that I could bring them in On Saturday morning. She said they have no trouble placing puppies.

Saturday morning early, I went to JW Jones (where I take my horse to go trail riding) and picked black raspberries for a couple of hours. Then, after I got back, E and I gave Penny (our chow,) a bath. She hates to be bathed so we drive two metal fence posts about 3 feet apart and then tie her to each one. She is forced to stand between them. She can't escape us or her bath that way. When she knows she is REALLY tied, she just takes it. Later in the afternoon after she was dry, we brushed and combed and picked her coat. It looks a lot better, but still not good. It is dull and dry looking. She is itchy and her hair is thin. We didn't see any fleas either. We use Frontline Plus on them. E is going to change dog foods when our current bag runs out.

When the evening feeding was done, we drove into town to the Dairy Queen for an ice cream cone. Yum!

Today, after work, I went back to JW Jones and picked more raspberries. It was 93 degrees so I didn't stay but an hour. I spotted a Whitetail Doe in the underbrush, waiting for evening when she will come out to feed. I backed away quietly, and she didn't get up and run.

I made a Raspberry Cobbler for supper tonight. It was a new recipe, and I thought it was superb! The topping was light and the berries were delicious! I am going to make that one again real soon.

I want my camera!!!! So there! I never knew how much I used it, until I didn't have it handy.

Good news! E. got hired at the business in Bloomington, a couple of weeks ago! He is having to learn a new computer system, and to learn about new merchandise. It is still the same type of work that he did before, just a different company, with different brands of the same products. He is doing inside sales, (customers coming into the store), a few job quotes, and pulling orders for contractors, etc. Now he drives 14 miles to work, instead of 61 miles. He was putting 30 dollars in his gas tank every 3 days, and now only once a week or less. He works 8:00 to 5:00 and is home by 5:25, and before when he drove to his previous job, he left at 6:00 and got home about 6:40. He is a happy man!!!

We have been trying to get our hay cut and baled, but depending on others to do it just doesn't work. We don't have a mower, so have contracted out to get that done, then we planned to rake and bale it ourselves. But...this person...has not even cut it yet! It was ready several weeks ago. It is yellow and wayyyyy overripe now. Ed has threatened to just mow it off with the bush hog. Everyone around us has had their hay in the barn already. Says he had an equipment breakdown, then the weather didn't co operate. Well, maybe, where is he right now? We have several days of nice weather starting today! Hmphhhh!!! We do know he did a field of hay for a neighbor, since he said he would do ours. Maybe it wasn't meant to be, huh??

The flowers that I planted in the porch boxes are beautiful! Sorry, can't take a photo of them for you!! (I want my camera!!!!!) can you tell I miss my camera??? My garden is growing, there are 2 inch long cucumbers on the vines already. Have a couple of tennis ball sized tomatoes. These are volunteer tomato plants that came up uninvited, from last years garden. So we don't know what they will be like. The ones I bought and planted are just starting to bloom.

E. has gone to his sister and BIL's home to get a load of fire wood. A storm blew down a large tree in their yard and they said he could have it if he wanted to come and get it. It is a two hour drive, pulling the trailerup there. They live just west of Indianapolis.

Nothing much going on around here. Gotta go and mow the grass today. It is neary long enough to make hay out of it too!! Going to go and make myself a cup of hot tea first, 'talk at ya later'.

Oh how I miss my camera! I accidently left it at M's and D's last weekend! and I need it. Now that it isn't here, I see all kinds of things I want to photograph! I would have taken it with me and took some pictures of our trail ride this morning. A friend had planned to go to JW Jones and ride this morning, and I was going to meet them there with Katie and ride also. But...it was supposed to rain this morning. I didn't want to haul my horse over there and get soaked and cold. (A good excuse not to have to haul her?) She called and said they were going to go anyway as it wasn't raining, and would throw a horse in the trailer for me if I wanted to ride. So that is what we did. I drove over and took my saddle and rode Belle, a TW/Quarter horse cross. She was a good horse.
We rode for 3 hours! Oh my tender anatomy!! It isn't used to this kind of muscle work!
It rained last night, with thunder and lightening. The trails were very muddy, and in the lowest places it was deep and sticky. It didn't rain on us, (there were three of us) and it was a lot of fun. Maybe next time I will take Katie and ride my own horse. She has every other weekend off and wants to ride often.
Today it was 57 degrees and very overcast. A bit chilly for me, but good for the horses.

What an absolutely glorious weekend! The weather couldn't have been more perfect!

On Saturday, Ed lifted the tarp on the hay baler to replace a couple of small parts, and what did he see?? A SNAKE! It was just laying there, not moving. Ed poked at it, but it didn't move. I picked up a 2 foot long stick and was going to lift it off the hay, but it MOVED!!! It was alive! Turned out to be a 4 foot long black snake. (not poisonous). But...it was a snake and I dislike any snake. Well, it slithered into the baler, and he went ahead and replaced his parts. Said it wasn't bothering him, so he didn't see any problem with it being in there! Yikes!!

As he called me to come see the snake, I walked past a post that we have a bluebird house attached to. There was a lot of fluttering and banging coming from it, so I lifted the front (it opens to clean it out between nesting seasons) and there was a fledgling bluebird inside, trying to get out. When I opened the box, he sort of just dropped like a rock onto the ground. Then I could see why he couldn't get out himself. His feet were so caked with dried bird droppings that they looked like he had boxing gloves on his feet! I picked him up and it was as dry and as hard as concrete. The weight of it had kept him from getting out on his own. The parent birds were still feeding him, and were dive bombing my head as I held him. The week before, Ed had mentioned that there were babies fluttering in that box, but I didn't look into it then. Just figured they were ready to leave the nest and were moving around. But now I think it was this same one, just couldn't get out on his own.
I took him to the hydrant and tried to wash it off of his feet, but it was just too hard. So I donned some rubber gloves, and took him into the house where I could use some warm water from the fawcet and went to work. It took me 15 minutes to work all that stuff off of his feet. Then I took him back out to the box area and set him on a fence post to dry. But he just fluttered into the tall grass at the bottom of the post. About an hour later, I went to check on him and found him in the same place but he was dry. I caught him and held him in my hand a minute, and when I opened my hand he flew toward a maple tree, and both parent birds were about 10 feet above him, calling and squawking. So he was being looked after. I was glad I could help, I hope he made it on his own out in the big world.

I rode Katie back on the Conservancy property later in the afternoon. She has not been riden back there for over a year, and other than being in a hurry, (to come back to the other horses) she was a good girl.

Today, Sunday, E and I went down to English and picked up a load of hay from the barn on my parents farm. While we were doing that, I thought I heard a bleat, from a deer? But...then...a goat popped its head around the workshop door! A goat? Mom and Dad don't have a goat!! They don't have any animals at all!! Well, it turns out it has been there for several days and no one knows where it came from. The neighbors haven't lost any goats, didn't have any to start with. So it is just there. Running loose. Some one needs to put a 'found goat' ad in the local paper. Since it was wearing a new red collar, it surely belongs to someone!! I hope the rightful owner turns up.

I rode Katie again today, and I think I love her more every time I ride her. She is an absolute love! She is willing to try anything and is so trusting, and I just love riding her. Am supposed to go riding with friends at J W Jones this Saturday. After finally hauling her myself a couple of weeks ago, maybe it will be easier this weekend. We will see.

I did it!!! I took Katie and we went to JW Jones to ride! I wanted to so badly, for a long time, but hauling has been so nerve wracking for me that I have chicken out up to now. But...last night Ed hitched the truck up and he kept saying " you can do it"! Well, I used to 'do it', but that was 9 years ago! Anyway, this morning I was on the road by 7:20 and even with the white knuckles and the holding my breath and not driving over 35 mph, it was an uneventful trip. Woo-eee!!!

Katie was a good girl and after she settled down a bit, we had a nice ride. I rode an hour, and we were both hot and sweaty. It was soooo humid. I took her to the wash area and bathed her before we loaded up and headed home. This place is 18 miles, round trip, from our house. It has miles of trails, an indoor arena, camp sites, water and pit toilets. What more could you want? It is open to anyone to enjoy, just sign a waiver so they aren't responsible in case of an accident.
I just might go again soon and try different trails!

Not much of any signifigance to blog about. It seems that everything is pretty ordinary for the moment. So here is an 'ordinary' update:

KJ, our farrier, was here on Saturday. She came at 10:00 and trimmed all three horses. I love the way their feet are shaping up. It has been years since we could find anyone that really knew how to trim a barefoot horse. And their feet are looking good now.
We gave her a couple of dozen eggs. She is raising a 3 year old daughter, by herself. It must be hard, I know it is hard on the children to do that.

E went very early on Saturday morning to pick up a used hay rake that he had bought the week before. He bought a used hay baler about 3 weeks ago. We are going to try to make hay out of the front and back pastures this year, to help out with the hay bill. ( We have had to buy up to 600 bales for the winter). The horses have been on a dry lot for couple of years and we usually just bush hog it off, but will try to bale it this year.
We will have to find someone to cut it for us, then the rest is up to us. I don't relish the idea of hauling 100 bales of hay up that back pasture hill! EEEEK!!

I finally got a couple of plants planted in my garden today. Last fall I put about 18 inches of leaves on it that I had run through the leaf shredder attachement for the riding lawn mower. Well, don't ever do that!! It was waaaaaay too many and didn't have time to rot over the winter. So...my garden has been tooooooo wet to do anything with. I tried to use the roto tiller on it, but it just stirred up the top few inches! Guess I'll have to dig a hole in the leaves and plant in the holes. But the leaves are still about 6 inches deep in places. And it didn't make a whit of a difference in trying to kill the grass out either. The grass just come up through all those leaves! So I do a lot of hand digging. But it doesn't seem to help much.

I'm about to try a new recipe for supper. It is called Vidalia Casserole. Here it is if you want to try it:
2 vidalia onions, sliced 1/4 inch thick
1/4 cup butter
2 tablespoons sour cream
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
5 butter flavored crackers, crushed

Saute onions in butter until tender. Remove from heat and stir
in sour cream. Put in greased casserole, sprinkle with cheese
and then crushed crackers.

Bake at 350° for 20 minutes.

I'll let you know if we like it. I'm going to make Roasted Potatoes to go with it, and yesterdays grilled chicken.

Letter Meme:
I've been invited to play by a friend. I tried to post a link to her blog, but it didn't work and I am not computer literate enough to figure it out. If someone can get the links back onto my page, let me know what you need to do this. So...I'll just play: I was given the letter B. I have studied on this for a couple of days, and didn't think I could come up with anything that started with a B, but now I am on a roll, so look out!!

1. Backseat: I have been accused of being the worlds worst 'backseat driver'! I do attempt to bite my tongue on occasion.

2. Blessed: I am very blessed to have a wonderful man that loves me and he is a good friend too! What more could I ask for?

3. Broccoli: I love it any way you can think to fix it. Love it! Love it!

4. Buttermilk: I love buttermilk. Pour a tall glass of cold buttermilk, sprinkle it with black pepper, stir it in, and enjoy! Wonderful!

5. Bananas: Um, what can I say, I really don't care for anything that is flavored with bananas. I absolutely hate ripe bananas. I can eat them with a bit of green on the stem.

6. Bridle: A bridle is a major piece of my life. I love riding and training horses, and the bridle makes it all possible.

7. Blackberry: I love to pick blackberries and eat every third or fourth one! Is that why I never get my bucket full? Toooo yummmmy!

8. Babysitter: I am a good babysitter. I get down on the floor and play and interact with my babies and they love it.

9. Books: I love to read, have read many kinds of books. They have opened many places to me that I will never have the chance to visit or experience.

10. Bright: I love a bright room with many windows to let in the light. Paint it butter yellow as a bonus!!!

Well, my daily life has been very hum drum lately. Nothing to write about. My little boys are doing very well, now that things are more structured. I have one of them going to sleep by himself in the crib, and am still working on the other, and he is getting better.

But they are in for an upheaval next week. Their birth mother, (daddy has full custody) and her mother are getting them for a week and will be taking them to Missouri for the week. She hasn't seen them for 4 months! They don't even know her anymore! What can I do about it, you ask? Nothing! But I can tell you they won't be the same boys when they come back, so I will have to start all over again!!

Ok, enough of that subject. The vet came yesterday to give our three horses their spring shots along with a general exam. He found that Maddie had two 'wolf teeth' located in front of her upper molars and two lower molar caps ( baby teeth) that didn't fall out when they should. He removed the caps. But one of her wolf teeth, ( a useless very small tooth that has nothing to do with chewing) was under the gum and laying sideways. It was making a lump in her gum. He pulled the one that was visible, but had to go in and get the one under the gum. Talk about blood!!! Yuck! He told me before he did it that it would be bloody and that anything done in the mouth makes a lot of blood, and it did!! He said it would take her two weeks to heal up. She is having trouble eating her hay now. I guess her mouth is very sore. These wolf teeth interfer with a bit, and I want to start training her this summer, so getting them out was a good thing I guess, but it wasn't pretty! This is the first horse that I have ever had that had those teeth. Not every one of them does. Guess I got lucky this time, huh??

I got home a little early today, so I mowed some grass until the mower belt fell off. Then I pulled weeds and dug dandelion out of my flower garden, and planted a couple of pots with some flowers that I bought at Lowe's last Saturday.

For supper I made a Greek Bread Salad. I saw it on TV and it looked so good! And you know what, it tasted as good as it looked! I ate most of a whole bowl full! Shame on me!

Our next door neighbors asked if they could borrow our horse trailer because she bought two more horses and wants to pick them up tomorrow. So E. got it out of the shed and aired up the tires and hitched it up to her truck, so she is good to go tomorrow.
Ok, does that get me caught up with everyone?

Here are some photos of our weekend. Sister S. and I went to Lexington, Ky. on a field trip with the Bloomington Photo Club, of which I'm a member. We went with another girl, who is also a member. By splitting our motel room three ways, it was affordable for all of us. This was an overnight trip. We left on Friday and got back on Sunday afternoon. We had a lot of fun. There were about 30 of us on this trip.

We took many photos. The top picture is of a horse barn, on one of the Thoroughbred farms that are so common to the area. The next one is of a different farm, with one of our members taking a shot of it also. We ate breakfast at the Jockey's Cafeteria. Then we went out to the practice track, where these last two were taken. These were shot early in the morning on Sunday. It was a very busy place, with horses coming and going, constantly. Are we looking at the next Derby winner? Who knows!




 

Well, it seems I have been tagged. I have been out of town until sunday afternoon, and only just saw this. Six weird things about me?? Only six?

1. I cannot sleep when we are in the car, driving. Never could as a child either.
2. I don't like the bother of applying makup so I have only worn it about a dozen times in my whole life.
3. I don't like going barefoot.
4. I love cats!
5. I can't stand my hair hanging around my face so usually wear it in a ponytail.
6. I enjoy being out in the dark, just listening to the night.

My week has been pretty tame. The boys and I are doing ok. Some days they sleep 2 hours, and others like today it is 30 minutes. What is the reason? Wish I knew. Their lives aren't very structered, if that has anything to do with it. Some nights they both stay at the Grandparents house, other nights only one of them stays with the Grandparents and some nights they both stay at their daddy's house. (Where I sit with them during the day.)
We went for a long walk today, in the stroller. They live out in the country, so we have no sidewalks, only 4 wheeler trails in the woods to walk on. It is a bumpy ride, but they seem to enjoy it anyway. They usually fall asleep.

Last Friday was Chick Day at the local hardware store. I stopped after work to pick up Ed's chicks. No he didn't order any. When other people order their chicks, the company always adds an extra chick in an order of 25 in case one of them dies. (minimum order is 25). The store owner takes out the extra chicks and this year and last year he gave them to Ed. They are almost all pullets, and are of many different breeds. Last year we had 17 chicks, but this year we were given 31!!!! We will find new homes for most of them, once they are big enough that we can tell what breed they are. The store owner told me that out of 4000 chicks, they only lost three and one of those was a duck. Ours are all doing well, eating, pooping and growing. Here is a photo I took on their first day in our 'brooder house'. (our old little chicken house!)

On Sunday we went up to see the grandkids. They are 5 and 3. Eli is 5 and Evan is 3. It was supposed to be stormy all day, but it was a lovely day. We sat outside in their huge backyard and Ed helped the kids (he is Papaw to Evan but Eli calls him Grandpa) fly a kite. It was quite windy and the kite flew real well.

There has been nothing much out of the ordinary, just our little animal 'tales'.

Today was a good day. Both of my boys were in a good mood most of the day. They are very different in personality. It even shows in these photos that I took today. J is very intense and has a very quick temper. So far he is doing good to sleep for 30 minutes at a time, no matter how tired. He wants to be held to sleep, as that is the way people have been accomodating him. I want him to learn to put himself to sleep eventually. D is easy going and easy to distract with a toy or something and today he slept for 3 hours. That was a first!

Yesterday we went outside in the stroller for a long walk. And they both fell asleep. J weighs about 13 lbs and D comes in at 15. We are learning together, how to work things out on a daily basis.

Cute aren't they?

 

We had a doozy of a hail storm yesterday. I was in the barn and wow was it loud, hitting those metal sides and doors! Here is a couple of pictures of some of it. The larger pieces are bigger than a nickel. Our vehicles have little dents in them!

We had a good lunch today. I had a venison rump roast that I had thawed and didn't have time to put it in the crockpot. When E got back from town today, he said whats for lunch? I dug out my pressure cooker and cooked it with onions and...wa la....lunch! I fixed a pot of green beans, made mashed potatoes and gravy and a pan of corn bread. It was so good! and to think I used to be terrified of using a pressure cooker. What was I thinking anyway??

Both of the babies have bad colds and so....I have one too!!! I have not had more than a cold a year, so does this mean I will get sick everytime they do? I used to, when I was a nanny before. This part I can do without!

Thursday evening, the babies grandmother and I went to the Taste of Home Cooking School that was being held at the IU Auditorium. This one was a lot bigger that the one that we all went to a couple of years ago. It was fun. No, I didn't win any door prizes. Boo hoo! There were some very nice ones.