A Lost Horse

Once upon a time, there was a horse named Buttercup. Her owner brought her home to a tiny pen even though there was plenty of room for her to roam. The problem was there was 16 acres of brushy land that was not fenced and she could wander to an open road or upon a wheat field newly planted. So here she stayed in a small pen all fenced in and bored.

Then one day, her owner decided he and his father could put up a fence! What a great idea!! They could put up a wire fence to keep her close so she couldn't wander off into the many dangers. They could hot wire it like most people do in these parts so it would keep her from breaking through the fence. The only problem was, there was no hot wire ready. Father would have to weld. Until he could, they decided to put up wire, along with some rope tied to keep the bored horse from breaking free.

The owner and the father spent many afternoons and weekends digging posts and installing a wire.

For a while it seemed to work. Plans were in the making to hot wire the fence and the horse seemed to enjoy being able to have more freedom, more grass and access to the bale of hay at any time she pleases.

Then one day when the family and the owner came home from town where they went to school and work, they come upon this:

The horse...was LOST!!! Where could she be? How did she get out? Was she near by? Did someone pick her up???? So many things could have happened!!! There was not even a broken line!!

After many minutes of following the very large "tracks" of the horse (that would be huge piles of horse poo) the father found the horse in the brush behind the dogs that follows along side the newly growing wheat. ( Yes that shadow is me)

The horse was so happy to be free!!! She ran, and jumped, and bucked and skipped. She thought it was a very fun game playing with these boys and the owner and the father!!! She especially liked the green wheat growing in the field. The only way the boys could think to catch her was to bribe her with feed. The owner's brother ran to get a bucket of pellets while the father tried to hide the harness from her for if she saw the harness coming, she would surely run and run with no chance of catching her!

The boys knew if she wanted to run, there would be no catching her. They were trying to be so sneaky...

Distraction and gentle words keep her from running. I can see there will be a patch of fully fertilized wheat next summer. And no we will not charge them for the fertilizer...

The horse was not especially happy about having to give up her freedom with the wheat field, grass, trees and no fence but the pellets tasted so good and the owner, boys and father were so nice and fun. They petted her, and loved her and sweet talked her...

Until....

Until...

Yay!!! They finally get her harness on and lead her towards the pen.

They have to shake that bucket of feed to lure her close. She stops a few times, stubbornly reminding them that she is the one in control here.

The horse named Buttercup thinks she likes it better out of the pen where the mountains frame the background, there is all the wheat you can eat and plenty of room to dance and play.

The horse named Buttercup suddenly realized she does not want to go back to that pen at all! But the boys and the owner and the father are so nice to her, she can hardly deny them.

Grudgingly she follows them back to the confines of her metal bars.

Back to where all good horses belong. (Can I just say here quickly that this will be the only time I know what I would look like with long legs....thank you)

Not in the open field of green, lush hay framed by the beautiful mountains with a setting sun.

But in the safety of her pen where there is food and water, shelter from the winds and protection from all things that can harm her.

And the horse named Buttercup ate her food and realized that home is the best place to be. The place where your owner and the boys and the father bring you food throughout the day and you have water whenever you may need. Where she can be brushed and groomed. Room to roam and explore but safe enough to feel secure. And as the sun sets, she realizes how much she is loved but she will never forget the day she tasted true freedom. She also knows she has taught her people a lesson.

The horse named Buttercup is not allowed to graze past the confines of the cold metal bars until that weekend when the owner's father hot wires the fence.

The End.

Catching Up

I know you were worried about me right? Figured something terrible happened since it has been so long since a post. I know how inconsiderate it seems knowing you are coming back every day, sometimes twice, to see if I've posted...right? Right? I know...I'm sorry.

In my defense, it was the Holiday Season. And there was so much to do, I didn't even come close to getting half way done. And we travelled. And we worked. And we survived. And here we are! So I apologize and for those few viewers that stuck with me...Thank You!!!

So here's a quick catch up that gets us at least through just after Thanksgiving. We had family come in. It was so exciting to have visitors out here in the middle of nowhere!!!

This is what we do when my In Laws come in. We play games...and more games...and more games!!! Sometimes it gets pretty brutal. But we all have a great time!!!

Board games, card games...you name it! The competition grows and tempers may flare. But we all get involved and we all leave loving each other rarely with any bloodshed.

We try to teach em young too. At all costs...YOU MUST WIN!!!! Naw....I'm only kidding.

So while it happened, a rare circumstance of all the grandchildren being together, my darling, talented niece took pictures of all the grand kids with The Grandmother. They turned out sooo cute!!! I'd show more but I didn't ask permission to post all her work. Guess I'll have to do that...

As you can see, the boys played some Football after pictures. Then we all went to the corral to help name the horse and let everyone say hi!

This is me and my Mom In Law. I love her so much. She is an incredible woman!!! So many times I hear other woman say they can't stand their in laws but I honestly have to say all of my husband's family means so much to me. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful in law family!!

So the girls here usually stay pretty goofy. They are only 6 months apart and are cousins believe it or not. Sure can tell they are related huh? The cute little goobers...

These next photos pretty much sum up the relationships of these siblings/cousins.

Yep...

Sums it up quit well actually. No words are needed...

On a sad note: we have lost our Trixie girl. Her and Rex usually spend time outside and meet us at the door when we get home. Well, one day, Trixie never showed up. It's a mystery. Especially when you consider it was Rex whose Gimpy at the moment. He has a hurt hip and hobbles around while Trixie is shy and darts back and forth unless she feels like giving you the time of day. Not sure what happened to her but I tell myself she found a nice home that has nothing to do with the Coyotes out here. Dang cats!!!

Here are some pictures of Brandon's horse, Buttercup. She is adjusting quite well to her surroundings except for the day we came home and she was gone!!! But that is another story for another time. Don't worry...I'll get to it...eventually. I promise!!

In fact, while it was going down...all I could think about was running into the house to take pictures so we could share the experience. Blogging is like an addiction. It begins to affect the way you view things that happen in your life. You begin to ask yourself questions like "Is this really blog worthy?" or "Oh my gosh!!! This would be great in my blog". Except for the part where I don't blog for a whole month. But gosh!!! I sure was thinking about it!

Anyway, she's only just turning 2 here pretty soon so we are getting her used to being in a harness and soon we will try to get her used to having a saddle on her back. It will be awhile before we can ride her. Did I mention that I'm hugely afraid of horses? Yeah, I am....

We also missed my baby's birthday here. So now my baby is 13. I no longer have "babies". I have teenagers. It's just not the same I tell ya.

His birthday is just a few weeks before Christmas and he asked for baseball stuff for Christmas so that's what he got for his birthday. Then we were clueless about what to get him for Christmas. Yeah, times that by 13! I think he was happy though.

And not only do we celebrate a birthday (besides THE birthday of Jesus) we decided to get married only 2 weeks before Christmas! Wasn't that smart thinking??? Anyway...my husband and I celebrated 19 years of marriage. Yay!!! We have certainly made it interesting right hunny? Nobody ever accused us of doing it the easy way! And as much as he gets on my ever-lovin' nerves ( and in fairness, I, on occasion, may get on his) I love him and wouldn't want anyone else gettin' on my nerves. True love folks! True Love!

So with the promise of a post very soon, I have to explain that my computer is moving veeerrryyyy slow these days and I'm just not too sure how much longer she's going to be with us...sniff. So, in part, that is why I am so sporadic between posts. It just takes so dang long for my computer to upload pictures. I will, on my honor, to no one in particular, resolve this 2011, to post more regularly on my blog for the enjoyment of my 5 or 6 readers so you may get back to your life and not be distracted by checking every so often whether or not I've posted. That is all. Thanks for hanging in there!

B and B

Introducing....Buttercup! This is Brandon and Buttercup. This is the horse he worked so hard for all summer. We have cleared the corral (please note the term "we" is used very loosely here), we have set it up, we have brought the horse and now we feed her, spend time with her and brush her, we pick up her poo and love her...well...you get the idea!

Brandon said picking up her poo is the worst part of having a horse! Who'd a thunk? It's probably not for the reason you would think. He hates picking up her poo because the fork is tined and it catches on the roots of the grass preventing a clean pick up. It actually causes the poo the fall in clumps on ground making it harder to then scoop up again! Aren't you glad I've chosen horse poo to blog about???

Please don't quit reading! I know I hardly ever post anymore and when I do...it's about POO????

So I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! We had lots of family here and I'll be posting a few of the fun things we did soon. Also more on our new animal adventures!

Last Minute Details

So last weekend we got the call. The horse Brandon worked for all Summer was ready to come home. WHAT???? But we're not ready!!!!!! So guess what we did last weekend?

We worked in the Corral! Well...I didn't exactly work...unless you call taking backbreaking pictures work! Don't judge me!!!

So Ryan started on the water tank. It was nasty!!! I'm not even going to try to guess what all was in there. Blah!!! He sure worked hard though. And in no time...it went from this:

To this:

Right???? He's a hard worker!!!

Dennis and Brandon did a quick survey of all that had to be done.

Dennis started cutting branches out of the fence and out of the way of where the horse will be walking so they don't rub on her. Excuse me while I just sit on this for a bit....sigh!

Sorry....

You know I didn't even realize how dangerous this could have been because I was so focused on getting pictures until I was posting this. It's a wonder that branch didn't knock him clear on his behind!!

See all them branches? They are all cleared. And we don't have any kind of enclosed shelter to keep the horse out of the wind so we are keeping up those metal sheets for now. If it's one thing we have up here...it's wind!!!

More clearing. Doesn't Trey look eager and full of energy?

Brandon is getting pretty useful around here. When they get to this age, it's amazing to see how much and fast they change. He's so strong!!

Brandon also mowed as much as he could in here.

Trey got assigned to the wire. I don't really know why there was so much wire or what purpose it served but there was alot of it.

He stayed at it though and got every last bit.

That fence behind Brandon was also covered in wire. He's so excited to meet her.

After hours of work, we were tired. They cleared so much and I think we are about ready to bring home the horse.

See all that wire? They worked their booties off I tell ya! We still don't have the horse at the house yet. She was a bit younger than we thought so we are keeping her with the friend Brandon worked with until she gets used to us. One day at a time. He goes out there everyday after school and feeds, brushes, cleans up the poop, and walks her around so they can bond. It's a slow process but it's progressing nicely.

It was a good, hard working day full of accomplishment! I'll be posting the newest animal to our family soon.

Live and Learn

This may or may not be a picture of a mishap that happened to us this weekend.

"What is it?" you might ask. "What the heck happened?" you might wonder.

Well...without incriminating ourselves too terribly bad we may or may not have since learned that this may not fully be okay with the area we live. We may or may not have since learned that this may cause bad problems for us. We may or may not have since learned that when trying to get rid of packing materials from our move from the Big City to The Country, packing materials don't fit into our trash bin that repeatedly gets full every week with trash from a family of 5 that only gets picked up once a week and may or may not leave us desperate to get rid of the boxes and packing paper in any way, shape or form, even if it may or may not still be slightly damp from a rain days ago. We may or may not have learned that trying to burn damp packing material may not burn per say, but smolder. We may or may not have also learned that when adding gasoline to help further the burning of said packing materials, the smoldering turns into flames that may climb up the pouring gasoline and catch the gas can on fire!

We may or may not have learned that when a gas can is on fire, shaking it only ignites mini fires. We may or may not have also learned that when you throw a gas can on fire it may start a grass fire even if it's rained a few days before.

We may or may not have learned that when grass catches fire, it's very important to have a water source available to put out the fire. We may not have one readily available. We may or may not have learned that when stomping out a grass fire, it may come right back if it is not completely put out!

We may or may not have learned that team work comes in handy when filling containers with water and rushing to put out fires. We may or may not have learned that putting out fires is a very scary experience and that you get very shaky and tired when the fire is out especially when you then realize how close the fire has gotten to your home.

We may have since learned that there are better ways to get rid of packing materials.

We may have learned that ignorance may not be bliss.

We may or may not be looking forward to the beautiful grass that will be growing in our back yard next Spring.

Homecoming

As for homecoming, I've seen a few. Having been in the band as a teenager and experiencing it through my daughter's high school let's just say I've been around the block on this one. But nothing could have prepared me for a small town Homecoming!

Can we just back up a moment? When I went to High School, I was one of over 600 graduates and my daughter had more than that. There was as many kids in her one high school as there are in the current town we live in. So our homecoming experience in this small town was...well...was so cute!

It all starts the night before. There is a pep rally with a bonfire!


The Fire Department showed up to control the fire which was good because there was a bit of a wind and the fire does tend to spread.

The band was there to play the fight song of course!!! And to also play the music the cheerleaders danced to...on an 18 wheeler!!!! They had their own stage! There're my boys! They were happy...see Ryan grinning???

The heat from this bonfire quickly sent people back. The night was a bit cool as the sun set and as soon as the fire was up and going, it got hot! The Fire Department didn't have to tell people to get back that's for sure.

The next day, the town shut down about 2. I'm not kidding!!! Everyone gathered at the decorated town square for a parade and pep rally!

Here comes the band leading the way!

The football players drive this car they painted. It's a three-seater! The 18 wheeler followed with the rest of the team and the cheerleaders. The homecoming queen nominees followed riding atop a Camaro each!

I honestly have never seen anything like this before.

They pulled up in the middle of town square and while the band played music, they cheered, they danced, they yelled, they cried...well...maybe not cried but....they sure got emotional!!! I sorta felt sorry for the opposing team....we were going to crush 'em!! At least that's what the coaches said!

Here's the town gathering. Employees from the nearby Pizza Place and other businesses closed up shop to cheer on the team!!

That night was the game! The band finally felt comfortable enough to march the half-time show! The theme was James Bond and they figured 007 on the field! So entertaining!!! And the game??? Well, it was a great game! The opposite team kept the game close and in the last 4 seconds they were down by two and tried to win with a field go... AND LOST!!!!! The crowd went wild!!! It was an awesome night...and a great experience!