Drew’s my Valentine! And Lee. And the relatives. And the dogs. But Drew. I didn’t know they made horses as nice as him.
Who me? I’m in love with salt. Mmm. Salt.
I built a new playground setup near the new round pen with jumps, circles, brush, and the obstacle he doesn’t like for circling.
I can’t wait! Hey, T, wanna jump?
All the horses were so sweet to me and the offspring-in-love after they dropped by for a few minutes.
We had on Valentines outfits, too.
Drew, Fiona, and the Buckskin Buddies just stood around saying hi and asking for pets. It’s hard not to smile with them around.
Buckskin love.
Once again, Drew followed me to the gate, then walked back with me, perfectly matching my steps. I think I can easily get him to do like Apache at liberty and more. It’s just so awesome.
T expreses her opinion.
Later, after feeding time, I went to let him out (I’m keeping him in to try to get him to eat more), and instead of rushing out to freedom, he hung around and sniffed me to figure out what I’d been cooking. Then he “asked” me to scratch his neck a while, gently “kissed” me, then left. Yep. He’s a good Valentine.
Three very loving guys.
Did I give my humans love? Sure! The kids got hot tub time. And I made dinner for the men. I’ll share the recipe in another post.
Eye of Remington, full of love for all humans and horses.
He’s a loving guy, but he has some issues, so we decided to send Apache off to hang out at the trainer’s for some tuning up. He needs to have his issues with straightness addressed, for sure.
Moody shot of Apache learning.
But there’s more that I had known in the back of my mind, but never given the prominence I should have. You see, ever since I started riding him, we always rode with a buddy. He rode some alone with Sara, but not much.
I’m a social animal.
I was not confident enough to ride alone, so we always had Spice and Sarah with us. He was fine. I know he had trouble last year. That’s why we are taking lessons. But wow, his stress when he is leaving other horses is big.
I just can’t keep my neck straight.
He was so nerved out after trying to get down to the gate that he was covered in sweat. I did pretty well not getting nervous in dealing with him, though. It was an excellent learning experience for me. Tarrin does a great job helping me get skills and I did a great job staying focused.
You’re leaving?
I hope hope hope he can get the help he needs to gain confidence and trust us people. Sigh.
In the meantime, Drew and I are doing pretty well. We learned how to do our pattern for our show that’s coming up. We do well after a few tweaks.
Practicing being a good walker.
I’m able to do the whole pattern with the trotting and I don’t get too tired. It is fun. I’m getting all ready for looking presentable. I shined up the black halter we got with the trailer. It’s pretty! And it will help with Drew’s pushiness a bit, I’m told.
Much brass polish was used. Isn’t the stitching beautiful?
After Drew and I got home, the whole family got into horse environment improvement. I did more poop scooping and did a number on my back. But the pens look good.
We went outside. outlaws.
In a truly exciting move, the guys rebuilt my round pen with all the panels. It’s so much bigger!
Ready to set up my playground again.
I’m so excited and grateful. I can do so much more in this bigger space. I can even do small figure 8s. And there may be room for a dressage setup now that they also moved some equipment around.
Shredder and little truck got moved.
But the real movement and what’s got me full of anticipation is that the red shipping container got moved. They turned it 90 degrees so it can be our future hay barn. I’m thrilled.
Ooh. I made a wide photo.
The big move scared a good number of mice and bunnies. No problem. They still have the other container. And this one is getting leveled, giving them and the other critters options.
What happened?
Now we have the space to move the portable building in to the the tack room. And the horses had fun running free during all this. They all came right back for dinner. And by the way, Apache had his dinner as well. Thanks, Tarrin!
The weather turned very cold and windy. Sara and I canceled horse fun, so I told my son we could go get some stuff in Temple. First, I took the chance to play with the new phone camera and take artsy dog photos.
Diva Goldie
After that, we went off to the Western-wear store and I got belts to wear for horse shows. I think I’m supposed to wear a belt. It was hard to find ones that weren’t all sparkly. I found a nice brown one with tooled flowers and a black one with a sort of snakeskin background. It will go great with my snakeskin boots and Drew’s coloring.
Less bling more flowers.
I got the kids some ranch-appropriate shoes, too, and ones that will be good for my son to wear working on renovation projects (yes, we still do that, I just don’t write too much about it).
Current project: Anita’s new floors and old cabinets that will be recycled.
The weather improved, and we had lots of fun trying to buy groceries on one of the worst days of the year. The day before the Super Bowl is not a good one, crowd wise. There are no Fritos to be had. This is a tragedy for the menfolk at the ranch, who worship the Texas classic, Frito Pie. I’m a Dorito fan myself. Those were all gone, too. Oh well.
I’ll just watch the Olympics
Well, with a couple of household items obtained and a space heater borrowed, I think the cabin residents are in good shape. Yep. There are also no space heaters to be had anymore, thanks to the last cold snap. This was not a good week for their heater to die!
Snow Carlton
Tomorrow should be more interesting. But I’ve enjoyed my restful day and a chance to spend quality time alone with my kid. I remember how much I loved to be alone with my dad and talk freely. I hope my son enjoys our times together, as much as we do like the rest of the family. It was a nice opportunity opened up by some cruddy weather.
My kid’s phone no longer held a charge, so I decided to give him my current iPhone X, which isn’t very old because I replaced it recently. I always dread going to the phone store, but to be honest, we have had good experiences at the AT&T store in Temple.
Obviously I have a new phone, because I took this weird picture.
We went in, I told the guy what I wanted, he tried to sell me one thing, then he got to work doing what we asked. He was pleasant and efficient. He fixed all glitches. The cloud sent all my info over, and BOOM, new iPhone 13 Pro. It’s a weird shade of blue.
First new phone photo was also blue. Mr. Robotto.
Then, we quickly switched out my old phone for my son’s dead one. He doesn’t do the Cloud, but that’s fine, it still went fast. Besides, the main issue was that my watch took forever to pair and set up. WHO’s have guessed that?
Extreme watch closeup.
As we were about to leave, I asked what to do with the old phone. Of course the young folks wanted to recycle it. The guy at the store said to wait, he was checking something. In a few minutes he announced we got a $300 or so credit for returning the phone in good condition. Who knew? I thought that was what new phones cost. Lee says they want to get the batteries back. Cool.
New camera does well in closeups!
When we were done, after two long hours, we all agreed that it had been the easiest and least stressful phone buying experience we ever had.
I took a brutal selfie.
Also, we had so much fun laughing and sharing stories on the way there and back, too. It’s so good to have a day when things work out, and the kids have sure needed one, too.
I’m looking forward to better nature photos soon. But look, flowers were blooming at Anita’s today!
Winter honeysuckle or sweet breath of spring. What a beautiful and appropriate name!
While MY day was full of meetings, driving, and barreling through whatever life threw at me, Drew’s was full of making new friends and going new places. Lucky little guy!
I like this human
My son is learning about horses, and so he groomed Drew for me so I could get straight to horse activities after work. He said, “I like this horse,” and Drew likes him, too. Drew likes everyone.
Mmm. Feels good.
After his beauty and bonding, I tried to show my son what Drew could do walking and trotting together but we got our feet tangled and I fell. Oops.
After work, Drew was a VERY brave boy and walked with me over to Sara’s house. He did perfect until he saw the young cattle dog. Not bad. Was great with the cattle!
I eat when I’m nervous
There, he was very patient as we tried to do the obstacles in the test he has to do. That was not great, but good for a boy who had no idea where he was.
Another new friend. Note the size difference. Aragorn was very nice.
We had fun, nonetheless. He’s at least tried the activities once. I’m sure he will do better tomorrow at the training arena. He was real good with the mailbox but I whacked him with the pole. I’m going to need help doing that from the ground!
I don’t t get it, Aragorn. What are we doing?
I’m proud of him. He did great walking back, but since a huge truck came down the driveway, Drew was glad to be home. He saw Apache and galloped FAST as soon as he was free. He made me eat his dust!
Little does he know he has more learning Saturday!
While I seem to have aggravated my weird shoulder blade issue and have to deal with sharp jabs, I’m doing just fine this evening. Mainly it’s because I got my scary hair taken care of.
It was too long and too grown out. But it looks spunky.
It was a bit challenging getting to Austin, though. My first delay was when a guy who lives down the road asked for a ride back from his broken motorcycle. He was nice. And they have cattle dogs, so of course he was. I’m glad I did that, because when I thought of texting the salon to say I might be late, I realized I didn’t have my phone. Sigh.
And of course, there were poky trucks and a construction delay to deal with. But, ha, I was only one minute late.
Blue hair and red face. It was hot under there.
I always enjoy talking to my stylist, Danny, who I have a lot in common with. He asks good questions, too. And I was excited to see they had a new bleach product that turned my hair quite blue. It was excellent and so relaxing to just sit there and process. Yesterday evening was hard. I needed to zone out.
So snowy and white.
When it was done and toned, it was eerily white. I think we have the ingredients for Ice Princess hair. I rewarded myself with a trip across the street to the Randall’s supermarket. I went there mostly to look at the flowers, which are always amazing for a small grocery. It didn’t disappoint. But I just got pineapple and some sandwich rolls.
And canned wine. Tastes okay and is pretty.
And now I’m cozy in the weird Doubletree hotel, listening to a strange noise that sounds like waves crashing on the shore. Austin Beach. That’s okay. I have wine, knitting, Olympics. Oh, and horse videos of the pattern I have to do with Drew.
What a nice afternoon I’ve had. I finished a big project, so I spent some time baking a fruit crisp with such nasty peaches that I threw in the frozen berries I found in the freezer to rescue it.
It looks good, anyway.
Then I got to spend some relaxing time with the horses. Apache is still doing well, and we even made it out to the field for a bit. I need just a bit more refinement and then maybe we can move forward.
I’m not Apache, but I’m also full of love.
Other exciting stuff for today was the unexpected arrival of the solar company, who told us our panels weren’t giving any power. We had no idea. But it’s fixed now!
And what’s this?
The above is the innards of our gate, which has also decided not to work. Maybe it, too, will get fixed. So yeah, it ain’t all bad. Nope.
I’m also cute.
You know what? It’s really good to have normal days out in the fresh air, enjoying the simple things like sunshine and animal buddies. It may not bring blog hits rolling in, but it feels good.
My heart is full. I was tired from work and hurting from lifting many heavy objects yesterday, so I went for a walk. I hadn’t planned to do much with the horses, because they did a lot yesterday, but I wanted to spend time with them. I spent some comforting time with Apache, then noticed Drew was looking at me from the other side of the gate.
Play with me!
I walked over and spent quite a while rubbing on his face and helping with his itches. He rubbed back, which is always so nice. He had such good breath. Then, I saw that the gate at the end of the little pasture appeared closed, so I went over to open it. I called to Drew, and both he and Vlassic accompanied me (Vlassic ALWAYS accompanies anyone who appears to be walking toward the cabin).
This horse is so cute that I will allow photos of my hair looking this bad to be published.
When we got there, and I realized the gate was actually slightly open, I figured Drew would go out. No. That little horse turned and matched my steps the whole way back. If I stopped, he stopped. If I sped up he sped up. Whoa, has he been watching Apache in the round pen? I was so happy that when we got to the end of the pen, he got lots of pets and loves.
Horse lips.
Yes, my little Droodles is GOOD at the canoodles. He must have spent ten minutes nuzzling me, checking out my ears, sniffing my head, and rubbing me gently. I just about burst into tears. I don’t think I’ve been shown so much physical affection by a horse, ever. Heck, he was more affectionate than most people are now that I’m old. I got some extra sweet selfies, and he tried to help by sticking his nose on the phone.
Canoodling
I do enjoy these guys. Fiona loves to cuddle while she’s eating dinner, and Apache is so good at making sure NO ONE gets into his pen at feeding time. Everyone else lines up like little soldiers, ready for dinner.
The sun is shining gloriously on my magnificent patchinessMine mine mineThank you, SunaVlassic helps the buckskin buddies with dinnerJust let me eat, says Mabel
You know it was a good day when the most stressful thing was trying to fix my Facebook avatar to look less like a hatchet. I think she’s a little better.
Most of the day was spent cleaning and organizing things. There was much heavy lifting, according to my back. I had help from my son some of the time. I’m teaching him ranch stuff.
Are you sure he wants to learn?
He washed a bunch of really grungy horse brushes, which I appreciated, and helped groom Apache. He lucked out and missed grooming Drew. He was encrusted with mud. I also hit a scab, which caused blood to spurt like crazy. Luckily I’d spotted bandages in the new trailer. He’s all fixed up.
My kid got a ground lesson on horse riding while I worked with Apache. I did darned well, if I say so, myself.
Then Sara came by and we looked at all the new stuff. She also says she thinks Peeper is a rooster. Damn. I didn’t see spurs…but that means I get more hens soon!
The only other news is this guy.
I found two of these poor young channel catfish in the middle of the pasture. They must have washed out of the pond at Sara’s. Poor guy or gal!
Let’s hope next week is better for all the residents here, fish, fowl, or fauna!
It’s a glorious day today, with bright sun that cuts through the cool air and makes it a real joy to be outdoors just messing around. All the remaining ice is melting. That’s fun for all.
The chicken coop’s north side had been a sheet of ice. I’m glad I got to see some of the ice sculptures and the chickens are glad the ice melted so they can eat the scratch that got buried under it. Also, Peeper is cute, so here are more photos of her.
ShinyWe’re all thawed out!Ready to layMy BABY
The horses are glad for the sunshine. They feel warm to the touch now. They are also glad their water troughs are thawing.
That’s a big ice cube.
It was sweet when they went to drink out of the trough. Apache figured out that if he nosed the ice, water would come up and he could drink. That was fun, apparently.
Just missed his big ole tongue here
Poor Fiona bopped her end of the trough, but it was thicker and she’s just a wee donkey. She was sad.
Boop, boop, damn.
Apache had her covered, though. He hit the ice extra hard and nudged some water over to Fiona. I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it! Those two are such good friends.
He’s nudging here.
Drew wanted to come play with me, so we did some walking exercises (too damp to go fast) and then he got to graze while I went through the stuff in the new trailer. He got a bit annoyed as I kept trying things in him, but was ok until I put a soft, thick rope halter on. He removed it!
Yes this pad is short enough. Now take it off.
Sadly, much of the tack we got was for giant horses. In the photo above, Drew is wearing a cute green rope halter that had well over a foot of extra rope, which I’ll hate to cut off, because it has a decorative end.
I even now have raincoats for saddles. And a LOT of green saddle pads and blankets. Someone must like green as much as me!
I’ll spare you endless photos of bridles, since only three or four of my friends would care and two live within walking distance. I plan to clean a bunch of stuff up this weekend and see if it can work. I sure hope this halter works. It’s so pretty.
The Hermits' Rest 