A good crop

Yesterday they kept predicting a little snow on the ground by this morning. This is a picture out of the window on my front porch. NO SNOW.
Last summer when our grandson Lane was visiting there some old withered up potatoes in a basket on the back porch. He asked me what I was going to do with them and I told him feed them to the chickens. Lane asked if he could plant them and I said yes "knowing" that they would never grow. Well, Grandma did not always know right because later in the summer there were some very productive looking potato plants.

Today Bob and I got around to digging them thinking there would not be much there. SURPRISE

Here is Lanes crop of potatoes. Isn't that awesome.

Sage went quite well today on our trek to the barn for her grain. She was going to be stubborn but I picked up the rope Bob used to help me yesterday. She was very funny. She looked at me, looked at that rope and came right along. Bless her heart. She is learning to really like those oats.

Cameron came and worked with Liberty today and with just a minimum of assistance he and she made progress. He has never been around horses too much but is willing to learn and does what I ask. That makes it easy to teach someone who is teachable.

Tomorrow I am off to Ellensburg until Sunday. It is always fun and a requirement for me to hold my Horse Show Stewards card.

My hat is off to all the vets who have served our country.

Bless you all.

No Picture

Sorry there is no picture today but we did accomplish quite a bit. After a battle with Sage. She was pushing my buttons today but I got her into the stall and a can of oats. Don't know what got into her. Bob was afraid she was going to hurt me but I never was. This rearing up is a little (well a lot actually) frightening. Usually though when she has a tantrum like that and I win, the next time is not a problem. We will see tomorrow. I know one thing, we need to work more on manners.

And today for real we got a halter on Emma. Have not said much about her. The last time we had one on her she got it right off. She went down to Shannon's for a couple of weeks but she had little more success than we did. We put her next door and he has an 8' tall chute. This morning she walked in the chute and Bob rubbed her and talked to her and just put it on. All this fussing with her and that was so easy. She leads well. Bob will bring her home tomorrow. We enlarged her pen a little.

Haugen and Cash are in their new pens too. Did not hear from Angela today if the guy over there wants Cash or not nor did we hear from the people who thought they wanted Haugen. All the BLM is charging is a 25.00 replacement fee.

And Cameron came out after work and worked with Liberty for a while. He wants her and she really loves him. Just need to work together. She and Sage ate the same silly sauce this morning.

I have to leave on Thursday to the Washington State Horsemen Convention in Ellensburg. I was pretty well packed so neatly and had to dig in it to look for something I thought I had packed so now I get to start all over. Bob will be home here. Then I think our traveling is over for the winter. I always enjoy the convention.

We are refinancing and they are coming to do another appraisal. I hate having them traipsing all over. Its a good thing for us to do though. Bob has to go renew his drivers license tomorrow too. He is going to go to Davenport to do it. No lines there. Its only open one day a week for a few hours. Its worth it to wait though.

So, that was my day - BLESSINGS

Sigh

Not a good picture but.......it is Sage in a stall. I was taking her for a walk and just thought, Lets see if she will go into the barn, she did so I thought, how about a stall and she did. It scared her but I gave her some hay and a can of oats and she decided it wasn't such a bad place after all. I did not know if she would eat the oats or not because I have been pouring it over her grain and I didn't do that, just poured it into the grain feeder. She ate it all for the first time. I left her in the stall a couple of hours and went to get her out. She gave me some trouble getting her halter back on and then did not want to come out nor did she want to get back into her pen. I may start putting her in at night when the weather gets worse. Bob will laugh but I don't care, she and Ditto will go in at night and maybe Amelia. That will be when it gets way below freezing and snow. I was excited that Sage did something for me that she really didn't want to but I asked. Progress for us both.

Just two of our barn kitties. We have five females left is all. Four are young and Fancy the white one.

We will know tomorrow if the black horse has a home or not and have two people interested in the brown one. We got them separated today so the brown one can get some extra feed and not have to argue about it.

Blessings

Home Again

The early morning sky last Friday. I am not usually awake at sunrise but when I woke up and saw this I was in awe.
It is about a 3 1/2 hour drive to Grangeville, Idaho. Bob lay down on the bed and promptly fell asleep after we got checked in. The flash woke him and we had a good laugh.

The only horse that we had anything to do with all weekend. He is modeling a week spraying device.

Our table centerpiece. A man made them a few years ago and he passed away this past summer. We used them again in memory.

This is a view outside of Craigmont, Idaho. There are a series of wooden trestles along this area but this is the highest. It was built in 1908. It looks just a might blurry and that is because it was pouring down rain. It is Lawyer Creek Canyon. Lawyer was a Nez Pierce Indian.

We had a good weekend and some very good things were accomplished. The banquet dinner was just awesome and I think we all ate too much. After dinner a band came in and played for us to listen or dance too. It was fun. Friday evening when we got down there and settled in we went with a group of friends to a Methodist Church where they were having a salmon dinner. It was so very good.

A report on the horses. I will find out more about them tomorrow but I believe the black one is going to Wenatchee and the brown one has two people that want him. The remaining two appy's the man had were rehomed yesterday. The outpouring from the people who I have told has been heart warming. You are all wonderful. Tony and his wife are being blessed.

Tomorrow is the only day this week without rain (or snow) and I must go spend some time with Sage. I kick myself all over for not being riding her by now. She stands down there and looks at the house and I feel guilty.

Blessings.

A sad story

The black horse is Haugen and the sorrell is Johnny Cash AKA Cash

This morning right after we had breakfast and were talking about what we were going to do today and the telephone rang. It was Angie Link of the BLM. She told me a tale about two mustangs that were in the need of picking up from where they were. We called the lady who had called her and this is the story she told us.

These horses were adopted 4 years ago as weanlings or not quite year olds. In fact, Bob delivered them. The people who adopted them did everything right except, they did not title them. I don't know why. They sent them to a trainer and they had about $10,000 worth of training over 8 months as 2 year olds. The man worked with them alot up to a year ago when disaster fell on them.

The man had an anyrism rupture in his brain and then they discovered a brain tumor. He can not walk without a crutch and still falls regularly. His wife has some kind of terminal cancer. She was having radiation today. Their water has been turned off for a month but over the weekend sold their horse trailer so it was turned back on earlier this week. They lost their business because he could not take care of it, their house is in forclosure and they had no hay. There were four horses, the two mustangs and two big appys. The appy's are well broke big horses and will be easier to place than mustangs. A neighbor has been buying hay a bale at a time for them. They can't continue to do that.

The black is in good condition and the sorrell needs some weight. They are in our round pen. We did purchase the mans panels and bow gates. Won't be able to get them until Monday. We needed more so its a good thing for us. Bob went to the guy we get hay from to get the appy's a ton of hay until they can find homes and Bob the hay man gave it to Bob to give to them. Bless you Bob. So that is kind of where we are right now. Angie may have found a home for the black one and we will look for one for the other if that is the case.

Bob and I have been whining around- the clutch went out of the truck and cost $1000.00 to fix and something on our well broke and that cost 500.00 to fix, I was sick for about 24 hours, and on and on but we are just thanking the Lord today that we have decent health and many things. We are so blessed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We are leaving tomorrow for the Back Country Horsemen convention in Grangeville, Idaho. We will be back Sunday. Hope your weekend is terrific.

Blessings

How We Got Started

About 15 years ago Bob and I took a vacation and went down the Oregon Coast. We love the Oregon Coast. But that is not what this story is about. We decided that on our way home we would to to the Hermiston, Oregon Horse auction. We were just putzing down the highway. We thought, we would have lunch in Burns. Off to the north side of Highway 395 there was a sign - "Wild Horse Corrals". The tires went uuuuuuuuuuuuuurrrrrrrrrrrrch and the car made a U turn.

Al little back ground here - when Wild Horse Annie first began her campaign to stop the random murder of the wild horses, I was one of the many school children to write letters. In the 50's thousands of children wrote letters which helped stop the eradication of the mustangs. Bob and I were, are and will be horse nutty and we had been reading about the mustangs. We had talked about going to see them for some time.

So the car spun around and we pulled in to the corral parking lot which was the first of many times though the years. And we were in love. We met Lloyd and became friends with home. We walked and walked around the corrals and looked at all the beautiful horses. One big buttermilk buckskin caught Bob's eye. She was obviously pregnant. Lloyd said she would be going to an adoption in the next couple of weeks to western Oregon but if Bob wanted to fill out the paperwork, he would submit it to the BLM.

We went on to the Hermiston Auction, it was fun but our minds were on the buckskin mare in Burns. We got home, Bob prepared to have carpet tunnel surgery and the telephone rang. It was Lloyd calling to tell Bob he could adopt the mare but would have to be there on Tuesday, the day after his surgery. So, the day after his surgery he and our son in law headed for Burns and picked up Christmas Valley Sand AKA Sandy. She was from the Paisley HMA. She was beautiful but never really learned to trust us. Six weeks after she came to us she surprised us with a beautiful buckskin colt. We were surprised because she had not bagged up or any other of the signs we were accustomed to. The colt was sweet and grew up to be about 15h3 and weighs about 1200 pounds.

About 10 months later came Pepper. I will share his story another time. He is my fat boy plodder from Riddle Mountain HMA.

Anther time we went to a Kiger adoption. It was our anniversary weekend and I wanted a Kiger filly. I had picked out 5 or 6 but they all went for more than I wanted to pay. Bob bought the last filly to go through the auction. She was a five month old dun filly that I named Cricket. After the adoption auction we went out to the corrals and looked around. They had a buddy horse program - buy one and get another for 25.00. Bob looked and looked. He picked our a pure black filly we named Abby. So home came the two fillys. Abby was 2. She is from the Sheepshead HMA.

Cricket grew into a beautiful mare. I eventually gave her to my grandniece Caroline. She went to live in Massachusetts and when the family moved to Mississippi so did Cricket. We gave Abby to our wanna be granddaughter Katie. Abby still lives here.

We now also have Raven who came from Ravendale, CA HMA, Rusty from Beattys Butte, Liberty who belongs to a neighbor who moved to Wyoming and lift her. Also boarded here is Coyote Ice Cream AKA Cody from Coyote Lakes HMA, and Amelia that was abandoned up by USK, WA. my sisters husband has adopted her but she is living here. She is from the Ely, Nevada area.

We sold Sandy and still have Wrangler. Also since I wrote this I adopted a 15h1 black and white pinto mare from the Paisley HMA. She is Sage that I have written so much about.

We have been BLM volunteers since our first visit to the corrals. Mustangs are like potato chips, you can't just have one.

Blessings

A lazy Monday

Velcro - Chrissy's kitty. She was having so much fun in the sack and when I lay down on the floor she thought I was a little nutsy. She loves bags as does out house kitty Trouble.

We went in to visit with Chrissy and Wendy today. We had some things that her Uncle Lynn and Aunt Jackie had sent to her.
See you!
They just stood around eating until I got out of the car. Then they were off to other places.

My mother and dad and little sister Sharon. Love this picture. I wish I knew what color our dresses were.

Just a grey drizzly day. Bob finished up cutting up his deer and getting it into the freezer. Then we decided to go visit Chrissy to go to the used book store. I was getting close to running out of books, well sort of. I have a large bookshelf full in our bedroom and a cupboard full in the living room. I am trying to read and reread them too.

I really wanted to take Sage to work with the ball today but not in this constant drizzle. It is supposed to do it all night and dry out tomorrow so maybe.

Tomorrow I think I am going to write the story of how we met the mustangs. I don't think I have done it before. If I have Oh well, a few new people are reading.

Don't forget to vote tomorrow unless you already have. We did about two weeks ago and its driving me nuts with all the signs and commercials. Don't think I have ever heard such nasty attack ads. I want it over. Just vote -

Blessings