Pioneers O pioneers....

which one of these is not like the other?

Broccoli sprout..

ROMAINE!

romaine.

What the.....?

Lately we have had some sort of varmint attack our trash, granted its usually only when we have a stray bag sitting next to the big rubber maid outside on the deck but this trash can is by our sliding door with in sight of, ahem, ferocious huskies and rabid spaniels. So I'm thinking it has to be something with chutzpah like a raccoon. Well, one experience with clammy coffee grounds and congealed chicken fat and the new rule is that all stray bags get deposited in my truck bed for dumping the next day. This has worked fabulously until yesterday, when to my great irritation trash was scattered all over the truck bed letting me repeat my ritual of gagging while scraping soggy coffee grounds out of the crevices of my bed liner. Funny how coffee in a cup is Divine, and coffee grounds out of the trash are vile! Anyhow in the thanking god for small favors department, all trash was contained in my truck bed and not strewn about the yard. After much cussing and retching all trash was again contained, so I went inside to gather purse and keys for the dump run. I passed Ms. K lounging on our outdoor furniture. She was sporting a really funny "har do"(that's how we say hair do down south). It was a greasy looking Mohawk. Its been chilly here lately and I worry that Ms. Kitty will take to hiding in the engine compartments of our vehicles for warmth. So of course I had to identify the greasy look and what better way to do that than to smell of it! Hmmmm, definitely not engine grease, in fact it smelled just like chicken with a hint of coffee grounds! That's right folks, Ms Kitty, lapper of organic half and half. Connoisseur of canned cat food. Tuna taster extraordinaire, is a dumpster diver! Ungrateful feline. She at least will suffer the embarrassment of having her picture posted for all to point and giggle at. Cats! such posers.....

Horse Pants Blues

Well, folks I've suffered my last stare, my last stink eye, my last slack jawed scowl! I'm done I tell you, "Hallus"!( "enough", in Lebanese, don't ask me the true spelling... but when pronouncing it , start the "h" way back in your throat like your are gonna hoick a loogie!) Horse pants, otherwise known as breeches in the rest of the modern world, are not a well known article of clothing here on the coast. As the none to friendly stares from the natives have proven to me. The roughest spot so far has been the local gas station but hot on its heels is the Food Lion. I LIVE in horse pants and have happily for a decade. It makes me grumpy that it draws any sort of attention here, where racing home to change my pants before errands is a spleen bruising* waste of time.*See earlier posts on our road.

So, I first tried to remember to pack a pair of jeans with me to change into, this failed in many ways. Key word being the "remember" part. Then when I did manage to bring a pair, I had to parade myself past the very people I'm trying to "spare" the apparent horror that my spandex clad buttocks incites. I tried changing in my truck. I'm not sure, but i think this was even more scandalous. Maybe because a truck full of bubbas pulled up next to me at a crucial part in the concealment process. Anyhow I'm not one to bow to peer pressure, but its getting ridiculous. Down by the university, I blend right in with the yoga crowd. Especially if I change out of my smelly horse boots. But out in the country where 98 percent of my clientele reside? Not so much with the blending in.

The search is on for an acceptable pant that is comfy enough to sit in a truck and hop on a horse. I think I have found it in the Bettona pant from athleta. Get this, its a yoga JEAN! It comes in black and has jean-like stitching , faux zipper,rivets and pockets. I am hopeful. I'll give them the old test run when they arrive next week. Man, this small town living is not for the faint of heart! Who knew everyone has a reputation?

Talkin' Turkey with Tim

So Tim got a job...yep, we are thrilled! He's a salesman.....everyone pick your selves up off the floor and breathe deeply. He is a salesman and.....He loves it! I KNOW! right? Tim talking to strangers, selling to strangers?!...It may mean the end is near , I'm not sure. Anyway, our man Tim, had an interesting meeting this past week at a turkey processing plant. They gave him a tour to help him better understand their needs. Well, imagine, beheaded carcasses flying over head, on hooks. All kinds of chutes and pipes removing the, surplus/less savory parts of the bird, not to mention the "oh-dear" that might go along with all of this meat processing fun. Not something one sees everyday. Especially not something a city boy like Tim has ever seen let alone imagined. Poor man , wasn't sure where to look while trying to breathe unobtrusively through his mouth. He was a bit "off his feed" shall we say, when he left there. When he could finally bring himself to eat in an irony of all irony's he realized I had quite innocently packed him a turkey sandwich! giggle, I swear I didn't know! Well I think he went to Mc D's eventually, but now our thanksgiving is a in jeopardy. We may have to have ham! If there is a pig processing plant between now and what usually is "turkey day" I guess we'll be having the first ever Collins meatless thanksgiving. Tofurkey anyone?

Rain, rain, rain ,rain, rain ( did i say rain?) rain!

Guess what? Its raining outside! Thanks to tropical depression Ida( that booch) Its been raining cats and dogs and gerbils for three days. Dirt roads are almost impassible and paved roads have several rivers crossing over them. Its gloomy, damp and pretty gross out! So Ive been stuck indoors and so have the ponies. The chickens on the other hand are either senseless from the water or are part duck as every time I check on them, they are dragging their sodden feathers around their run bitching loudly about the conditions. I can only hope that they are simply hardier then my old group of poultry who never ventured forth unless it was 70 and sunny out. They continue to produce small, white eggs daily so maybe they haven't gone totally batty.

My poor ponies have been standing out in the weather for several hours a day, butts to the worst of it with rain sheets billowing. Cuervo is not pleased, and yesterday after about 5 hours out in it I had to bring them in. Its not to much better inside. My silly barn floods! So, except for the fact that the wind is not blowing them around,rain is not pouring off their manes and down their snouts, its not much of an improvement to be cooped up on a small island of pelleted bedding. At its worst the water was ankle deep inside. I thank my lucky stars that I propped the pallets holding my hay up on cinder blocks. I got alot of grief about that too. "Ya know, snakes and critters will git up under thar and bite ye..." well that maybe, but I'll gladly brave a little venom/rabies to keep my hay dry. Well, unless we have a record flood! Anyway, all this fun has put me in the mind of planning how I would improve on things if I had a place of my own. First of all, I wonder about stalls, they are small, dark and cage like. Any stall! Why do we have them? Who was the one person who decided 12x12 was the magic number of feet to contain an average horse? I remember in Hungary the barns where open, and the whole herd would plunk in there and eat from huge feeders set along the walls. If there was any division, it was from a hanging log from the ceiling that segmented out a straight stall where the horse got a grain ration or waited for saddling. A simple butt chain kept it in there between the two hanging logs. So I'm thinking, well what if I had a huge barn-like run in, instead of four 12x12 stalls? I'm not to hip on a simple three sided run in as those are cold and I have always noticed at least one horse getting left out no matter how well they get along. In my imagination I think of a closed barn with a door at either end. And an over hang outside where they can stand next to the barn out of the weather if they choose. This of course would be right off their turn out and down stairs from my barn house apartment! What could be easier for pet sitters or husbands with no horse experience? grin. Down the stair case, out of the weather might I ad, hay over the half doors into the four stall sized open space, water check of inside buckets and back up to a nice toasty home. No fuss no muss! Horses can come in or out as they choose, eat in a wind proof,bedded, snug stable or hang out in the turn out but dry under the over hang. By George I think I've got it! Can you tell I've been doing some thinking lately stuck indoors? The next rational addition would be a cover all so i can still ride in said lousy weather, and a piece of property way above sea level. No worries right? Ha! we shall see. Clearly more research is needed.

Now I know!

I'm not a big TV watcher, but last evening for some unknown reason I had the thing on while making dinner. I put it on animal planet hoping for some kind of dog whisper show or something equally innocuous. I have an ear on that and my mind on dinner. My ears perked up when there was mention of Burgaw NC a little town not to far away inland that we have visited. So when the show returned I stopped what I was doing and hung out to see. Well, apparently the show was on animals in disasters or something because next thing I know I see streets that look like something out of Katrina and animals paddling through 10 ft high water...OMG. During hurricane Floyd water rose as much as 20 feet in Burgaw! Guys, this town is not coastal. This town is very much inland like 30 miles from us or more....These folks had put their cows and horse on the deck of their home when they where evacuated and came back 5 days later in a boat to check on them. The animals where up to their bellies in water on the deck, which basically was the second story of their home. They got them out by retrieving their dock from the river and loading the animals onto it. They then pushed the floating dock down the flooded highway with two fishing boats.....OK so I was thinking, "Hurricane? we just load up and head toward Raleigh." NOW, I'm thinking "Hurricane? no problem load up and head to TN in the mountains!!!!!"
This is why I don't watch TV. On the upside the animals lived. The old horse was even shown today at age 30 still looking spry. Now we don't live on a river but we are living in a swamp 8 miles from the coast. Aside from water wings I'm thinking we need to invest in a big old house boat with horse ramp and pens on the deck...the chicken house won't be to hard to put floaties on...hmmmm. The hay? well, it will be a total loss unless we store it on a dock in the barn that we can float out and tie behind the house boat! Nah..... TN seems way easier! Glad hurricane season is officially over for this year at least.

Miss Kitty and balls of steel

If you build it,they will come! Sure enough, not long after the mountain of hay was installed felines started to wander in. The first was a tattered old gal we named Nana. She has since wandered on as we would not let her in the house. Next was fleeting glimpses of a big long haired white and black male. He left his scent everywhere but that was about it( the rascal) Now we appear to have a keeper. She is a minuscule little girl we named Miss Kitty and she has made herself quite at home. Not only that she is quite the connoisseur of kitty food, only eating the actual tuna fish in sauce looking ones that cost a buck or more a piece. No ground 39 cent a can for her thank you very much! She is very affectionate and apparently fearless. She rubs up on everyone and everything. That means Cuervo and Boo and the dogs much to their dismay. Yesterday in the field while I was hanging with Cuervo she saunters out meowing(she is very talky) and proceeds to rub herself all over Cuervos lowered head. I stood amazed at his gentleness as my old horse Zee was a notorious cat stomper. Anyhow there was all kinds of mutual love going on when I caught a vibe from Cuervo that he might just sample her tail that was presently sticking half way up his nostril. Ms.K must have caught the same vibe and gave him a good whack on the snout, but then instead of running off she went right back to rubbing herself across his mouth. That is when he put his very surprised face back down in range. Whew, this kitty has cahones man! Either that or she has some sort of cat disability that suppresses common cat sense. In any case she is now queen of Toad Bubble Flats. If I see processions of kitties in waiting, and hear heralding trumpets, she and I will have to have a little talk. But for now, its great to have a feline again. Even one with champagne tastes.

Solo to Scotland!

Yesterday I went to Scotland! Scotland county that is. To a place named Aberdeen in fact. I went to go check out a rental that was an honest to goodness barn home. Haven't I always said "I wish I could live in a barn?" Well this was a dream come true. Four very nice stalls, wash rack, tack room, turn outs and upstairs a great little apartment with two bedrooms two baths! Its close to where Tim's new job is and surrounded by forests. In fact there was 88 acres of forest to ride through right out the back door. Unfortunately, Tim's job will only be in that area for the remainder of his training, then it shifts back down here for his sales area. It was quite the drive, around 350 miles worth of cotton fields, sod farms and cute towns.

I printed directions off of google packed a snack and felt pretty good about myself since this was my first solo outing into the weeds since we've moved here. Exploring here is a bit different than exploring in San Diego. Finding gas stations can be a real challenge. And the sheer number of back roads would make your head spin... All of them shooting off in opposite directions at every stop sign. There was a minimum of 5 street markers per stop sign. Route numbers, road names and which town you might eventually get to. Crazy!!!! Anyhow, my favorite part of the drive was on North Elwell Ferry road. It was very scenic. Fall colors popping off the trees, gently rolling terrain and quaint farms houses in the distance. Then all of a sudden there was a stop sign in the middle of street. Beyond it was a river. Across the river was a Ferry. A one car ferry, making its way to the shore I was on along a rope. I'm not making this up. There was a "wheel house" with a wooden stool, something that looked like a lawn mower engine and a "ferryman"( quit snickering he was not that kind of fairy) It putts across and lets a mini van off and motions me to pull up. I'm not gonna lie, I had a little trepidation about pulling my truck onto a souped up flat bottom boat, off of a back country road with out my bathing suit.
I guess all this showed on my face because the nice Ferryman says "Bet you hadn't counted on this huh?" I said honestly to him while looking at my google map "No, I counted on a road!" He laughed and off we went out onto the river. He smirked even more when he saw me clicking away with my camera. But hey, how often do you get to ride a boat with your car? I wasn't sure I should tip the guy or not so I just waved and thought I might try my second option from google on the way home. It was fun and all but.....grin. Anyhoo, the next bit of fun came a bit further on. Along the side of the road where a bunch of men in orange hats with big rifles slung over their shoulders. They are all hanging out in the back of their pick ups and waving a radio antennae in the air. Ok..well they are obviously hunters, but what on earth are they hunting from their pick ups with radio frequency? My question was answered not a mile farther when a deer shot out in front of me followed closely by three hounds, two that looked like fox hounds and one " yalla" one( that yellow in North Carolinese) I was flabbergasted, My farrier confirmed it though, they use dogs to hunt deer here! I'm guessing that meat is vile after all the adrenalin has shot through it...OMG. It made me drive very slowly the rest of the way to Aberdeen. I had visions of deer across my hood and hounds under my wheels. UGH.

After visiting the barn home, I poked around a bit to see the area and found a beautiful horse park with cross country jumps that would curl your hair.(and those where just the ones i could see from the road!) Apparently North Carolina has a shmancy horse park akin to the one in Leesburg Va. I could find no one around to ask about it though but it was nice to imagine riding out there on all that horse friendly land!
Having found my alternate route home I drove through Lumberton and couldn't pass up the fall pic of this church, one of 5 I spied going through town. It was a fun day albeit long. I guess I can say I've been to Scotland and back.

refried fries? or is country fried fries..no I know...

Today found me combing the countryside for horse feed...AGAIN. Its got to be the only place in the world where one buys ones feed at a hardware store. How this came about I'm not sure. Nails? check. fertilizer? check. gopher poison? check? horse feed?....well, you get the picture. Anyhow, I did locate a hardware store in Castle Hayne about 15 miles away that has almost all the items I need for the babies and the customer service there is great. The one tiny problem is that sometimes they are out of stuff. So after one frustrating trip up there this summer where they had NONE of the items I needed in stock..I learned to call first. I'm very proud of myself for this arrangement and followed through on my end this morning before leaving the house. When I got there I casually placed my order and to my surprise and dismay they where out of Enpower a very key ingredient in Cuervos bucket. After many apologies from the counter people and the warehouse people, they informed me there was sure to be some on Thursday...to late for me really so I took off up the road in search of more. Three hardware stores later somewhere around Rocky Point, I gave in. I was hungry and I figured on line was a way more effective way to shop for nutrena dealers. Anyhow at one pleasant little place where I bought a straw sun hat. I asked the clerks where to grab a bite to eat....I was steered to Paul's Place( that asshole!*)*Inside joke but it came about because a moniker was needed and not much rhymes with Paul who had just ended our relationship. Its funnier with the right people. wink wink! ANYHOW, Paul's Place turned out to be a very crowded hot dog stand. A hot dog restaurant if you will, with tables and such. I stood cheek to jowl with dozens of men in varying degrees of sweaty labor wear waiting to place my order. I know, I know, I don't eat this type of food, but I was really hungry and I was no where near anything any better. I figured fries and a water and I'm good till I get home. I had plenty of time to peruse the menu, which consisted of fries, hot dogs and sodas. You got four choices really, a hot dog with mustard, with chili, with relish or loaded which I guessed was mustard and chili and relish. From there your choices where two, three or four of those babies. Hot dogs are one of those foods, much like spam or sardines that don't really sound so bad until you bite into it then it all comes back to you how vile they really are! They even kind of smell good when they are grilled. My turn comes up and I try to order my fries and a drink and skedaddle but this was confusing to the help. They wanted to make sure I got the most for my money after all and a dog, fries and a drink where a better value. Okay, just give me my grease stained bag and I'm outta here would ya? sheesh! Well, call it hunger pangs, or simply the mind addling presence of so many unwashed testosterone ridden, zaftig men. I got in my car and tried that dog. Hmmm, well... Lets just say the chickens got a nice little snack when I got home and leave it at that shall we. I did however eat a few fries to tide me over and that's where my busy little brain gets me into trouble. Give it a good dose of salt, some grease and starch and the thing starts ruminating on all kinds of inane things. Which brings me to the title of this installment. How come fries here in the south, and I mean all restaurant fries seem batter fried? Truth! They are not smooth or baked like steak fries or Mcdonaldesque. They are like twice fried ,fries or something. They are really crunchy and seasoned and the insides are like mashed potatoes. That's it! they are like a fried mashed potato stick. It true, I'm not sure why unless one company has the monopoly here in Hampstead and beyond in french fry sales. But its the weirdest thing. I fondly remember the south being known for its home fries. Where are those tasty little morsels now?

FALL!

So fall has arrived in all its glory on the coast. That means cold wind and grey skies. No leaves to speak of yet. 48 degrees this morning and it stayed that way all day..I looked like the Michelin man on my walk. Several layers of clothes ending in orange polar fleece. Deer hunting is in full force so I felt the Orange polar fleece was a safe bet to wear down the street on my walkie. What I find so funny is that this polar fleece I am wearing is a ensemble that I bought over ten years ago in New Zealand. Its a kids size 12 ( Ive never seen such tall people as I saw in NZ! ) It didn't get much use in Cali! grin! But here......well.....

I have put in a winter container garden. The prices of veggies here being what they are. I never understood the whining of the east coast folks on the gone raw website about the veggies here on the east coast, when I was doing the raw food diet. Cali had its bonuses as far as that went. I was spoiled by 25 avos for buck and lettuce for 89 cents, cauliflower for a 99 cents etc etc....Here? OMG cauliflower for 3.99? broccoli for 2.99? shit!! well anyhow, when the going gets tough the tough get going right? Finding myself with extra containers after the big unpacking, I planted them! It looks like the bok choy, the broccoli and the lettuces are doing great. It will probably be one big haul 'cause I didn't stagger the plantings but what ever.... at least we will go out with a bang right? I frankly was thinking it wouldn't take anyhow so one lettuce head would thrill me! If it works, look out next year! That reminds me, I was eavesdropping in the supper market the other day and these two gals where discussing zucchini...they had never had any! what? zucchini a garden staple? OK so i checked it out with ma....turns out, a southern garden basically consists of tomatoes, corn, beans, greens like kale, onions and the occasional potato. NO squash! man guess they forgot all Indians had to teach eh? In any case, I will be looking forward to feeding us on home grown eggs(note the chickens in Tarra! Like all building projects they had to move in before it was totally done!) and fresh winter veggies for a week or three. I feel like a pioneer! grin....

Artsy Fartsy: more pics from the smokeys...

meadow

stairs to the loft in historic cabin


fall colors begining

Our cabin in Sevierville

Mom's childhood home, now abandoned


Historic Cabin in the park.

Historic church yard in the park

Hearth at the cabin in the woods

Historic Baptist church

Hand made shingles

Sunrise porch

Sunrise!

The Great Smokey Mountains

"John's Ole bunch" and their bunches( my grannies name was Johnny!)

Cuz'n Joes Beautiful Ladies! Hannah bannana and Anne.

Moms sibs and cousins

Me, Tim, Cathy and Tone malone and his son Max(other son,Jack was off hunting arrow heads!)
Tony and His brother Joe were the closest thing I had to brothers.

Deer in the Smokey Mt National Forest.

Awesome historic cabin in the park, perfect size and came with its own set of bats which hung from the rafters.

The View!!!!

This past weekend was the Artis family reunion in Knoxville, TN. My Grannies people. Some of them I had never met and most of them I hadn't seen in over a decade. The stories where nonstop. Its amazing any of my moms siblings( mom included) survived to adulthood! The mountains where a week or so away from their true fall splendor, but it was gorgeous just the same. I was so surprised at how perspective plays such a role in memories. Grannies old home seemed so close to the road, Aunt Pearls house seemed so close to Grannies, the walk up Old Standard Holler was so much shorter! It was a grand old time. I think Tim was impressed. If not impressed scared into lying that he was after hearing all the crazy stories!

What do gay horses eat?

Its miller time!

yes, those are the rafters of my barn!

Me, Javier, Tim and the Semi, before it got hard!

HAAAAAAAY!(said in two octaves like a greeting) When I first heard this joke the person who told it to me said it would grow on me and it has! Who would have thunk it? grin. The whole reason hay is on my mind is the fact that yesterday Tim, Diana and I and 4 wonderful, hired hands. tackled a semi truck full of hay. That's 640 bales or 41,300 pounds of hay. Why you ask? Well you have all read my mumblings before on this blog about the state of hay here in NC....I still cant get my mind around it.....but leaving off that train of thought I decided to take the bull by the horns and stock our larders for winter. Nothings worse than frantically driving from feed store to feed store looking for reasonable hay for our precious ponies to tide them over until the "hay guy" shows up from parts north.....enough already! So as luck would have it I answered a small ad and made a brand new friend in our new hay broker. She has found a wonderful Ohio Amish connection and the hay is just fabulous! Hay is a challenging crop in the best of times, and this year has not been the best of times. There was all kinds of rain, which is good for growing, but bad for cutting and curing( that's when you leave you hay cut in the fields to dry out before baling) So under these conditions hay is either ruined because it gets rained on after its cut or more heart breaking after its baled, but before it can be safely stowed in a barn! The other option is to leave it growing to long awaiting a good day to cut and bale and stack. That makes the hay less palatable and less nutritious. So I feel for all those hay farmers out there, I really do. It just doesn't solve my hay dilemma and its all about me really! hahaha. So the ambitious project began of scheduling, unloading and stacking ridiculous amounts of the green stuff. The easiest part was to pay for it. Write a huge check and put it in an overnight envelope to wonderful hay broker, then it got a bit more challenging. Find help. I know! All you Cali friends are going "just down to the corner to hand pick the ones least likely to be murderers on the lamb"...right? Not so here in the south. I KNOW! right? Using deductive reasoning, I figure the feed stores should have leads for burly, non-felonesque help. After all, they unload tons of hay for sale at their stores. Er...not so much. It was all, bewildered looks and head scratching and phrases I hate to hear like " Well, I don't rightly know" OMG! Many phone calls later, we get two painters( Diego and Javier) and two yard guys ( Bill and Oiche) Mind you they are only able to help because they have been working at their other jobs since dawn and knock off at noon, the purported hay delivery time! Skip ahead to Friday( yesterday) and Bill and Oiche show up on time. At that moment our semi truck driver calls from over an hour away. Okay, so I got my round pen moved to a new location, but poor Diego and Javier are cooling their heels at our pick up spot, and do I have their phone number? eh nope. We hired them through an intermediary. In my endeavor to speed to their location in my truck, I get exactly 5 feet into the yard and presto.....MUD! 4 wheel drive defying mud. Picture Tims face about now... But wait it gets better, as we are laboring away to free my truck with planks and and old hay being liberally sprinkled about, it clouds up and starts to rain! Hay unloading in the rain is not kosher. I'm breathing, I'm breathing. Om mani padmeh om! 40 minutes later with my truck freed I go bumping down our road with Diana to pick up Javier and Diego hoping like heck they are still there! As I round the one bend in our road( THE bend as its known, when being used as a land mark for things such a pizza delivery...as in " are ya'll before or after THE bend?") I almost run smack into a giant semi taking up the entire two lanes! Well, the nerve! What fool driver is gonna take up two lanes....oh....Its our hay delivery. greeeeeaaaaaat! I shout encouragement to the guy driving (who looks like some ones pappaw) and continue on my way. Really really, hoping that the guys are still waiting for us! On the bright side , it has stopped raining! One missed turn later we arrive at the meeting spot and YES, we have helpers! The fun was just beginning. We began work like a well oiled machine.....OK, well not well oiled more like, a kinda hiccupy and screechy machine. In any case the job was certainly separating the men from the boys after the first two hours. Distinguished honors go to Tim, who has already informed me that hay unloading in any form is now no longer a service provided by Collins Specialty Contractors, and Javier, the Incan power ranger,who even though he was about an inch taller than me, patented the shoulder carry for these 60 pound bales of gorgeous teff hay. It has already been inducted into our family vernacular as the "Javier carry" and doing a "Javier" means you worked your butt off! He literally scampered( yes scampered!) up the growing pile of hay with bales over his shoulders like nothing. I think he is part ant.

After all the fun we could stand here at our house, bales to the rafters! We took the last third a semi of hay to Diana's. Using pick up trucks we shuttle the stuff from the road up her drive and into her barn,. The wash rack was stacked full so we can use that stack as stair case to the loft. Who builds a barn with no outside door to a loft? sigh...but it worked great. And by 6 pm all hay was stowed and 7 very tired, very dirty people where ready to call it a day. Last night before bed I was standing in my barn surveying the mountain of hay and breathing its sweet aroma. I turned off the lights very satisfied with myself for pulling it all off. Horses wont starve, and hay doesn't have to be purchased again until about march! Now that's a good days work.

....and this concerns me how?

There is a bright orb in the sky that I understand from google is called the "sun".... apparently its a pretty big deal but since its so new to our neck of the woods, I'm treating it with the suspicion it deserves. In fact, I blame my moldy tack on it, I blame the mushroom blooms in my stalls on it and I certainly think its all because of this "sun" that the driving test booklet I have been reading all weekend is as "redonculus"( hip, high school term from the Vincent household, thanks A!) as it is. Can you say, written drivers test from hell coming up on Monday? I may be riding my horses everywhere, or walking on my stems for transport if i cant master this crapola! So far I've learned that passing a stopped school bus in the state of NC will cost you more points on your licence than a hit and run or reckless driving.......eh, okey dokey! Here's some more gems: If you are a mail carrier, or driving a tractor on the high way(wha?) or have a certified mental phobia you are exempt from wearing your seat belt...cause in a collision your body wont fly through the windshield like the rest of us mere mortals. If you have run out of room in the vehicle to restrain your child safely(all seats are taken) it doesn't need restraint either.....Am i missing something? Like the part that says, if there are no available seats leave your precious cargo at home, or make one of the free loaders taking up the spot for your kid, get the heck out and find a new ride? Ok, I'm procrastinating, and need to get back to this fascinating train wreck of a booklet....Fingers crossed for tomarrow.

Urp....

Today finds me laid up food poisoning. I haven't barfed that much since I broke my butt a year or so ago. So far Ive been able to eat a piece of toast and a cup of miso....there is some serious gurgling but its staying put. I have had lots of spaniel company and lots of sleep. Its an interesting way to spend a Sunday. Yesterday Tim worked all day on an electric fence install at Diana's, He did a fab job of course and has a little jingle in his pocket to pay for the massage he will need to fix his back! hahaha. In any case, the sweet man does like to feel useful. Diana is reseeding her fields in anticipation of Ollie coming to live all the way from Ca! Some of you knew Tim Hackbarts horse from our group trail rides, he's a sweet boy that will be perfect for Diana's hubby. We all look forward to fall trail rides, as long as all the bugs die before we hit the woods. Its now mosquito season again, or "the scourge two" as I like to call it. These are definitely different from the early mosquitoes we endured in the summer. These suckers( and i mean that literally... grin) are like darts! You can feel them hit you. Oh man! the welts, and the itching. What are geckos for I ask you? and all these frogs....Hello, would you anphibs please eat the mosquitoes? Actually the geckos are useful in stopping ones' heart momentarily. Tim has one living on his saw, and the thing has leaped on to him at more inopportune times than we care to remember. Although it is quite amusing to see the action from the window. Tim muttering and stalking around the pop up measuring wood to cut, then the saw gets cranked up and then Tim is hopping around the yard and cursing and you see a gecko leap off his neck into the grass! giggle, they are cold little boogers, very shocking on warm skin. Ah well, the adventure continues.

Rain and Rot

oops! pop up bites the dust....




What 10 inches of rain looks like...






I've gotten used to the smell of rotting. With the rain and all the ditches filled with water most of the time, there's alot of matter being broken down releasing their smells into the atmosphere. My barn has a certain "Oh-dear" that is not of the horsey variety. Its not all nice and saddle soapy or vetroliny or even horse hide smelly. Its, well...Moldy. In fact each day I go in there and with out even thinking I start breathing through my mouth. Its just more pleasant that way. That is until this weekend when I got my first load of hay from Maine. Its a very nice timothy and the twenty bales have completely changed my barn. I walked in there for morning feed and sneezed, forgot to breathe through my mouth and viola! My moldy cave had become a barn overnight. I could smell fly spray! I could smell hay! I could smell horses! OMG! Its fabulous....I wasn't sure I would ever get a nasal glimpse of the barn smells from my fondest memories again. Not bad for $200.

Tara has wheels and signs for thought

Proud papa! He is so cute!




Tara, the chicken tractor has wheels!

brilliant marketing or???? (read both signs....)

I've heard of BABcock but????

uhhuh! Need I say more?

WOW! we must have just missed him...

yeah, yeah 12 hail marys.... grin

so pretty.....