Another change

 

Looking North to the big barn

I got a good nights rest last night!

Maybe the rest was due to having worked outside yesterday,

raking a lot of leaves and helping to clean out the little

garage that has been falling apart from years of neglect.

We're tearing it down to prepare way for a new garage that

our car and truck will fit into!  Now that I'm

not going to work anymore!

But I'll appreciate it never the less.

Pictures of our old little garage that must have

been built to house a Model T or A, as our cars never fit in it.

It became a storage pit for whatever things two families didn't know where to put

and after today it will be gone.  The tree on the north side will

also be cut down.  So our yard will look different again.

Views from this angle won't be seen again.

Wait til you see what I'll be doing with the two big garage doors.

How do you like this old lock?

I'll need man power tho to help with what needs to be done with these doors.

More babies!

Visited friends on Sunday that raise cattle, and here are a few pictures of new babies. 

I'm So cute!

Can you clean you nose out like this?

What beautiful markings!

Come on Momma and Baby!

We've had lots of company over to see baby pigs!

Moles, dogs and frisbees!

Hooch, our Parsons Jack Russel, and Odda, our Bernese Mt Dog, helped Steve clean up today.  Steve was removing staw bales that had been laid over our septic system so it wouldn't freeze up during last winter, and today was the day to move the straw bales to the burn pile.  Of course the dogs are right there, as moles had camped out all winter under and in the straw bales.  Odda caught and killed one, and Hooch got four or five.  Great hunters they are!!!!!!

They look like they've had a good winter.  Bigger than I thought they would be.  Yuk!

I hope they got all of those little critters.  Don't like them so close to the house.  I see when I mow in the summer that they will dig close to our foundation, but haven't had any in the house.  Late fall we'll get a few mice in the house, but catch them with traps, and then we're done with that.  Hazards of living in the country! 

Our frisbee dog, and his backup.  Odda just runs after Hooch to get her exercise in for the day.  She barks and enjoys the chase.

The Hooch teases her, wanting to play tug o war!  That goes on for awhile, until Hooch decides that he has had enough of Odda playing with him and his frisbee!

It's a cool day with the temperature at 52 degrees F today.  It is suppose to warm up the mid 60's on Monday and Tuesday.  Then we'll all really feel like getting yard work done!.  It was too windy to rake today, but I did rake up some in the front yard yesterday.  I'm dreading all the work that needs to be done in my flower garden area!

See the green grass starting to come?  Won't be long and we'll all be complaining about having to mow the yard so much!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Easter Time Table Topper

This is what I've worked on the last couple of days.  Nice and bright colors for Easter!.

 Today I need to go to town to get a few groceries and start some yard work.  Didn't get leaves raked up last fall, so there is a mess of leaves that need to be raked and there are bunches of branches all over and bunched up grass left after snow plowing.  So a few busy days.

Have a Great Day!

Ranch Rodeo Pics

Nicole and Stephani resting for a few minutes!

Indian Pony

These cowboys waiting their turn for the Ranch Rodeo -
teams of 3 and 4 for Rope n Drag Relay - Sort n Holding calves.

I noticed that Nicole and Steph had stopped to visit!

These pictures had been taken with my new camera.  Now I will be reading the book to learn how to use the camera better.

20th Annual SD Horse Fair

Stephani and Cullen did very well at the horse fair.  Her stud, Skippen Sir Johnny (goes back to the famous Skipper W) did great.  She also had one of her off spring there, a 4 year old filly, Belle that won the Versatility Contest.  Skip placed 4th.  This was the first year that off spring were added to the Stallion Versatility Contest.

Steph and Skip

Nicole and Steph in their booth that Cullen built.  Steph is a good mentor for Nicole.  Neighbor Cal, made the big horse shoe out of the shoes that Steph used last year.  It has two rows of barbed wire weaved through the shoes.  Cal also made her the picture frames.  He is so talented!

Skip and 4 year old daughter Belle.  Steph has been helping Nicole with her training and Nicole has been working with Belle for a year now. 

Cullen and Steve taking care of the booth!  There was a lot of people stopping to check on Skip, and Steph has some people real interested in getting their mares bred to Skip.   The smaller pictures around the out side of the horseshoe are pictures of some of Skips babies. 

Skips pedigree

The chair they won that was part of the Grand Champion prize.  Their name and horse name was added after the show.

Nicole also got money as part of the Grand Champion Prize and she bought herself a pair of buffalo hide chinks.  Chinks are the leather coverings that are shorter in length than chaps.  In the pictures above, Nicole has on Cullens chinks.

I stayed at the motel with the girls, and Steve and Cullen went home every night to do chores.  Long days at the barn, and I'm now glad to be home again.  It was hard to sit around all day.  My little camera bit the dust, so in between things that Steph was riding in, Cullen took me to Best Buy and I got a new camera.  Upgraded to a Canon PowerShot SX20IS.  So have some learning to do. My old camera just locked up!  Had to remove the battery to get it to shut off, and unlock from the program it was on.  Finally, that didn't even work!  Always happens when you want to use it for something important. 

To Steph's We Go!

We're on our way to Stephani and Cullen's.    It will be a busy weekend, as we will be in Sioux Falls all weekend at the horse expo. Steph is showing her stud "Skip" and has a booth.  Hopefully she will make many contacts for stud service for this spring and summer.
This is the first year for her and Cullen to market her stud at this expo, so we'll see how things go. 

Here Steve and Steph are visiting while I was taking pictures of her horses last fall.  I feel kind of bad, because it's been so long since we've been to her place.  Steph and Cullen were home for Christmas, when everyone was home, so this visit with them will be good.
I'm sure her yard is still muddy, as southern MN had more snow then we did this winter.  In fact, it is suppose to snow again tomorrow! 

I used this picture on my blog header last fall for awhile.  I was trying to find a picture of "Skip", but couldn't, so will have to take some on this trip.  I know I have a big picture that she had a photographer take, and she used it for some ads, but I can't find it!!!!  Skip is a quarterhorse, colored sorrel with flaxen mane and tail.  Really a beautiful animal.  He has sired some nice babies, and they are all so beautiful.

Leah and Amanda have a colt, "Smoke", sired by Skip.  He is a very light palamino, but most of Skips babies are sorrel with flaxen mane and tail like himself.  Leah is now riding Smoke, and now that spring is upon us, she'll be anxious to start riding him again.
We plan on leaving about 10 am, and it will take us about 5.5 hrs to get there - maybe 6 if we stop for lunch.   Steph is riding Skip about 6 pm, and has a program with Skip and some of his babies that she's sold.  She says they are riding to "Man From Snowy River" music.  That is our family favorite in both music and movie!    Steph will be singing the national anthem every day at noon.   I think this expo is probably  a "bigger" thing than I'm prepared for.  Steph and I will be staying at a motel in Sioux Falls, while the guys will be traveling the 40 miles ea way morning and night, (they get to do the chores at home!). 

Steph and Cullen don't have interenet connection/landline phone or cable tv, etc. at their farm, so she isn't aware of all this blogging that the rest of us are doing.  Actually, I'm not so sure she'd make time for it.  Both working and then all their chores, etc. etc.  I know that she and Cullen are bone tired at the end of each day.  Can't wait to see them tomorrow - and I'll get a full report to you all when I get home!  Have a great weekend!

MaMa!

MOVE OVER - IT'S MY TURN!

Goat Mama is also piggy mama!  She now has 3 little ones and has been bottle feeding them in her HOUSE!   Trish had the dark one for about 4 days, and then she got 2 more from us.   Yesterday the babies were moved to a nice pen in the barn where there is a heat lamp to keep them snuggly warm.  The babies have no names yet, and  are also drinking out of a dish, so no more bottles after this one!  They will soon be big, and  not so cute!  I'm sure Trish is glad to get a full night's sleep!  She was getting up with them every 2 hours!

This  little darker baby is jealous when the other two get close to Trish.  Just like children.

On Friday when we go to Sioux Falls, to daughter Stephani's, we are taking one of the light colored babies to her.  Steph has a Quarter Horse Stud Show this weekend that we are going to.  She will be riding on Friday, and have her horse Skip (Sir Johnny's Skip) there to show for stud service.

Daffodil Days

Thank you Leah for the nice gift of sunshine.   She purchased daffodil's from the American Cancer Society, and shared with me!

I'll be planting these outside when the frost is no longer a danger.  In memory of family members we've lost to cancer and to honor those fighting cancer.

Spring Mud!

Now that spring time has brought us MUD, we complain again!  Dah! Can't we ever be pleased with the weather?  We're all happy that it is starting to warm up and the snow is melting.

This is what we have left of snow.  Just remains of the hugh piles of snow.  Last night all the standing water finally soaked into the ground.  Here is what our yard looks like now where we drive in.   

I drove on the grassey area, and now I sure have made a mess!

This is usually where we park, and I had moved to the grassy area so I wouldn't have to step in mud!  The water soaked into the ground now, due the the rain helping to take the frost out of the ground.  Not all frost is gone, but the standing water sure left our yard. 

Now we need some sunshine to dry things up more, so we can level this area off and bring in more gravel!

Now to wash my car, and clean the inside.  The only trouble is, I'm sure we're not done with winter and snow yet.  March and April can still bring a lot of snow!

Have a great Sunday everyone!

Proof that Spring is Coming!

Babies everywhere!  Here are some pictures of our piggy babies!    The farrowing barn is heated, but the heat lamps help so the babies have a nice warm spot to lay and keep extra warm.   When the little ones are between 4 and 5 weeks old, they are weaned from the moms and put in different pens.  At that time, they'll be eating little pellets and drinking on their own.  The sows will then be moved to another barn.

These little piggies are two weeks old and are so soft and cute. 

This little piggy is about three weeks old.  A face any mother could love!

This group is a little younger.  Look at the ears on this little one!  Usually on the red hogs (the breed is Durocs), their ears fold down.  I'm sure his ears don't stick out now! 

We got two new kittys from the goat farm.  We need mousers in the barn, and they had way too many cats/kittens, so gave us two.  The day we got them, we put them in one of the barns together.  They must have been a little scared of the snorting of the pigs, and got out of the barn.  The little grey kitty came up by the house and the dark one, ran up into the hay mow to hide. 

Hooch is protecting kitty, now named Sophie, so that Odda doesn't hurt her.  Well, you can see the kitty isn't too happy, and just seconds after I got that picture, the kitty took off for that tree.

Poor Sophie was up there where we couldn't reach her, so Steve had to get out his extension ladder to get her down.

Now both kittens are in the barn again, and are staying there.  They are killing the mice and getting fed cat food too. 

Visited friends of ours that have sheep and lambing is done.  These little lambs are really cute.  I had forgotten that lambs are born with long tails.  At birth, a rubber band is put around the tail, and in about 2 weeks, the tail then falls off.  No bleeding, no hurt.

They also have donkeys!  When the sheep are put out in pasture land away from the farm buildings, the donkeys are out there with them, to protect the sheep from coyotes.  Guess they can kick up a coyote pretty good.  They got their donkeys from out west, when there was a round up of wild horses and donkeys.   We have other friends that have bought horses from those round ups.  They call it adopting, but you do pay something for them.

Oh maybe we need a couple of donkeys at our farm as well!  I'm getting terrible.  I like all farm animals!  Especially when they're babies!