Yesterday was quite a good day! I don’t think I have ranched so hard in a long time. So many things to do, and so many involving dirt and more dirt. It was great to have a non-rainy day.
To start the day, Sara and I played on the ground with Apache and the cute mare, Bonnie. Everyone got very clean, even Fiona, and we all had a nice time walking around. Apache still looks good (other than that abscess, his feet look like a textbook illustration of a fine horse foot), and Bonnie’s a nice girl. Since I don’t have more photos of that, enjoy Alfred drying off after a quick bath in the Little Pond. Gracie says, hmm.
After that, I “helped” with the horse fencing project by holding tape measures and other vitally helpful things. I even got to move something in the tractor to help the auger thing work right. So ranchy.
Next up will be putting poles in at all the marked spots, if it doesn’t rain.
But wait, there’s more! I hope to get some new pullets from Bird and Bee this week, so we worked to get a separate setup for them in the chicken run. As long as I keep giving the chickens tomatoes, they don’t care who moves in next door.
It came out pretty spiffy for something made out of stuff we had on hand! All my chicks escaped while I was out of town, but don’t worry, we will try hatching again, with a new, more secure area.
Later, it was time to move some cattle that recently arrived at the Hermits’ Rest, and I got to “help” wrangle an escapee, which turned into a fun time with lots of help from others and good conversation. I enjoyed watching the new cattle settle in and establish their “pecking order.”
I’ve been ordering some supplies for my tack room over here and for taking care of Apache and Fiona in our paddocks. I needed a few more chicken and horse things, so off we went to Tractor Supply, with me all covered in really disgusting mud (okay, not all covered, but you couldn’t miss it). I was told to wear my work cowboy hat, so I looked pretty legit. The best thing we got was a cool utility cart for hauling horse poop. It will be fun to use and looks to be quite sturdy.
Actually the most fun part of the trip was getting lost wandering around the area where the ranch is. There are some pretty homesteads and lots of nice land out here. But, I’m still a hermit, so don’t move here (or Austin, if you can afford the skyrocketing home prices).
Since I have no photo of getting lost, enjoy Spice and Lakota eating each other’s food, because they knew Sara was paying attention to Bonnie the new gal on the block.
On the other hand, the ranch seems to have opened up post COVID. Lee’s friend from high school, Matt (who reads the blog), was here for a couple of days, so that was our first overnight visitor. You can tell Matt was here, because the brother-in-law mowed around his car. And my son and partner are coming today!
I’d say the coolest visitor, though, was the guy who delivered all the bags of concrete for the poles.
He had a fun little forklift kind of vehicle that made the process seem easy! I really enjoyed watching him drive the concrete around, plus he seemed like a nice guy. You can’t beat that in a delivery, right?
And, it’s raining. Oh, weather, you annoy me. How’s it going with you?
The Hermits' Rest 