It’s the Bees Knees, Honey

I just found this! {Don’t ask me why I didn’t read it before- I must have somehow thought it wasn’t complete!}

Anyhow. Since I wrote this a year ago, the ideas of bees have continued to buzz around in my head. I’ve updated this post, so bear in mind that most of it was written before we moved and were still living in town.

What I need to check into now, though, is if I can get a hive to survive guineas. The guineas are a must, since ticks are such a huge problem out here.

If you’ve got guineas and bees, please share your experience with me!

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Call me strange, but on my list of creatures I’d love to have around are honey bees.

Yep. Bees.

No, not the Africanized bees that will swarm and kill you; little ‘ole honey bees- by the hive.

Obviously, I can’t get away with that here. (Please, neighbors, I haven’t totally lost my mind ) But that doesn’t make them any less appealing to dream about.

Most of us go through life not thinking about where our food comes from or what it takes to grow that food.  I will say that getting sick snapped me completely out of slipping into this mindset.

When I got sick, everything became suspect. It’s amazing what rabbit trails you’re willing to follow when you think you could really be dying, and you are just looking for some kind of straw to grasp at.

It was during this time that I started hearing about the world-wide bee population being in decline. I know for many, if not most, this revelation brings a sigh of relief, but I, personally, find it terrifying.

Why?

“The fact is that of the 100 crop species that provide 90 per cent of the world’s food, over 70 are pollinated by bees. 

Human beings have fabricated the illusion that in the 21st century they have the technological prowess to be independent of nature.

Bees underline the reality that we are more, not less, dependent on nature’s services in a world of close to seven billion people.”

If you are anything like me, you’ll no doubt find this information startling.  And then, you might get to thinking, which might will mean you’ll end up scared. And if you’re not- you should be.

Think about that for a minute. 70% of the worldwide crops that feed 90% of the planet’s human population are pollinated by bees- bees which are in steep decline worldwide.

Let that sink in for a minute.

Here’s an article to get you started: Bee Colony Collapse Disorder

Is it a leap to think that GMO crops are killing off bees? My personal opinion is, no, it’s not. In fact, I think it’s likely. I don’t know about you, but it seems like common sense to think that insecticide-enhanced crops can kill bees. That just seems like a no-brainer to me, personally.

Think I’m joking? Start at the Center for Food Safety and get up-to-date information. Studies show that the majority of foods in the US have genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

We know right now, for example, that “The World Health Organization estimates that one-third of the world is well-fed, one-third is under-fed one-third is starving- Since you’ve entered this site at least 200 people have died of starvation. Over 4 million will die this year.”

I’m not going to go into specifics of the whys on hunger statistics, but I will say this: The world is struggling to feed its population right now; today. We may think modern science and technology can compensate for the loss of bees world-wide, but the fact is, they can’t.

The planet loses substantial amounts of people every day to starvation, and an essential component in global food growth is in serious decline?

GMOs are not mandated to be listed on food packaging in the US, and as a result, studies show that 58% of people in the US don’t know about this issue; and yet, they are in 75% of our processed foods.

Do you see the connection? Let me spell it out: Bees are critically needed worldwide to grow food. GMO crops have pesticide/insecticide in them. They’ve been killing bees. The decline in bees is critically affecting the world-wide food growth which is resulting in greater incidences of starvation.

Think I’m blowing smoke and/or being an alarmist wacko? Read Death of the Bees. Genetically Modified Crops and the Decline of Bee Colonies in North America. If that doesn’t convince you, I’m pretty sure nothing will. 

While this topic might be overwhelming and make your eyes glaze over, there are a few things we individuals can do, past signing petitions and taking it to Washington, that likely won’t listen anyhow. There’s too much power and money wrapped up in this issues, with power players in key positions in the current administration {which, I am inclined to add, is nothing new- this power players from specific industries have played key roles in most presidential administrations……..}.

What we CAN do, as individuals, is support the local bee industry. Go to your local farmer’s markets and buy local honey.

If you have the availability of land, learn what you can about bee keeping. I’m a few years away from it myself, but that doesn’t mean I can’t start learning now.

I could tout the benefits of locally “grown” honey, but I’m pretty sure most everyone has a good idea of the benefits, particularly if you have allergies. I’d always been a fan of real honey, but honestly, I never gave any of it a whole lot of thought. Unbeknownst to many, however, is that the stuff you buy in the store isn’t often real honey, even if it’s labeled as such.

“More than three-fourths of the honey sold in U.S. grocery stores isn’t exactly what the bees produce, according to testing done exclusively for Food Safety News.

The results show that the pollen frequently has been filtered out of products labeled “honey.”

The removal of these microscopic particles from deep within a flower would make the nectar flunk the quality standards set by most of the world’s food safety agencies.”

More information here:

Fake Honey In Stores – Learn How To Identify The Real Thing

Honey Laundering

Study: Most Honey Is Just Fake, Pollenless Goo

Have honey in your cupboard? Take a minute and go get it. Turn it around and read the label. Then leave me a comment and let me know what you’ve found.  Please. {The only honey I have in mine is local, organic honey, so I’m no help!}

Ok, I confess that I don’t have a label that has non-honey stuffs in it. The benefit of real honey is something I’ve known about since I was a kid, actually, and have always only bought honey from my local health food store or from local honey folks. I never really thought to look in the grocery store until recently, when I wondered why my honey was more expensive and wanted to compare cost.

This gets back to things like truth in advertising, and all that jazz. My point is- beware. Read your labels. When I went looking at my local grocery store, most of the honey products contained other stuff.

You may even remember the fake honey from China scam a while back.

But back to the bees!

We’ve probably all heard about large bee hives being found inside walls of houses or under the eaves, etc.  And, we’re probably all been relieved to hear about the extermination of those hives. Anymore, it just makes me cringe.

Happily, those with bee infestations can sometimes find bee removal professionals.  There’s even a bee removal network! I don’t know about you, but this makes my heart happy, knowing honey bees will be relocated instead of exterminated.

I think there are all kinds of benefits to bee keeping. While I’m all for doing what you can in your backyard, I am not entirely sure I could get away with bees…………. {now that I’ve moved, though, I’m back in the game of exploring my options!}

Here are some links for your perusal:

• Bee Source
• Backyard Hive
• John’s Backyard Beekeeping
• Go Beekeeping
• American Beekeeping Federation
• The BackYard Beekeeper
• Backwards Beekeepers, LA (as in, California)

Blogs I read that now have bees in addition to chickens : :

• Red Gate Farm: Spring Bees
• Better Hens and Gardens: Beginning Bee Keeping- Important Questions

*sigh*  I really need to get to the country so I can work on getting more chickens. And Nigerian Dwarf goats. And bees.

I’m beginning to think I’m a lost cause……………   But if anyone asks, I’m going to tell them I’m the bees knees, honey. 

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Not What I Had In Mind………

Most days start the same {we wake up}. Most days end the same {we go to bed}.

It’s the stuff in between that can take your day from a well-planned, uneventful day, to  total chaos a day filled with unplanned learning opportunities.

Yep.

You know where I’m going with this, don’t you? But, at this point, you are going down the checklist of possibilities; trying to figure out which is most likely.

Kids.

Kittens.

Puppy.

Dogs.

Horses.

Chicks.

What’s your guess?

If you took “Horses for $100, Alex,” you’d be right.

Blech.

So, I was folding my laundry in my room, and getting my day all lined out, all nice and quiet like, and then I heard the herd of elephants stampede.

Those of you who think only cattle can stampede haven’t had more than a single horse…………. 

One thing to know about horses is that they get wound up when the barometric pressure changes.

Want to know if a storm is coming in? Check your arthritis or find some horses. Either of those will tell you.

We knew there was a storm blowing in, so we weren’t really surprised to find that everyone was sure feeling their oats this morning. {No, don’t worry, we don’t actually feed them that…}

It was cold, and the wind had started to pick up a bit.

Breakfast was, overall, uneventful. Once they eat, we turn them out into the big pasture. Normally, this is a relatively calm event…………..

So, anyhow, I’m upstairs, folding my laundry, mapping out my day. I needed to take Cookie Monster doggy to the vet to get her stitches from her spay taken out. After that, I needed to get back to the painting.

And then Magic went flying by, and I heard the stampede. I couldn’t see anyone but Magic, but I figured they were getting it out of their systems before the precipitation came.

And then I heard the door slam shut and the pounding of feet up the stairs.

The report, as it were, was that Boi had fallen and Angel had run into something. They thought there might be injuries.

“Well, go and check and then let me know,” I said, as I continued folding my laundry. “I am making good time this morning,” I thought, “I’ll be able to get to the vet and back by lunch.”

The door slammed again and an even faster pounding of feet came up the stairs.

“Angel hit her face and is bleeding all over!”

With instructions to go catch her, I flew around, changing my sweats into jeans and grabbing my hoodie. I texted Hunny on the way down, so he would have a head’s up.

WARNING! GRAPHIC PICTURES WITH BLOOD!

I didn’t want you to be caught off-guard.

Where was I?

Oh yes. I was headed into the pasture.

When I got there, this is what I saw:

You have probably figured out by now that I don’t really panic. I am pretty good at assessing the situation and determining what needs to happen.

As a rule, my kids freak out and think that everything is way worse than what it is.

This, however, falls into the category of “Absolutely Needs To Have Sutures.”

I don’t suture.

Nope, that is one of those things I feel the need to leave to the professionals because, well, they have the right drugs to go along with the experience.

I was in the pasture and called the vet’s office, once I realized I didn’t have her cell phone number. Somehow, that number didn’t make it into my phone, and I couldn’t send her a picture to her pager.

The vet’s office texted me her number, and I texted her the picture.

Yepper, she’d be out today. She was currently in a barn full of horses, getting ready for the showing season. She would call me within the hour to let me know what time she’d be able to get here this afternoon, after she had finished with the others.

I should have time to head to the doggie vet while she was figuring it out.

I dashed into the house and got the puppy ready to go. Little dog is a riot, and every time we go, she wants to go, too, even to the vet.  It just means more barking when we get there, but she loves to ride in the car, unlike Cookie Monster who is always seriously soaked from her drool in the car.

So. Middle daughter J stayed outside with her horse to help keep her calm. Oldest daughter J went with me to the vet.

On the way home, the vet, K, called to let us know she was on her way. Daughter J texted Hunny, who was going to head home and meet us.

As it turns out, when she got the picture, the owner of the other horses saw it, too, and took pity on us. They had 2 horses sedated already, so they told K that as soon as she got done with them, they could finish the other horses another day, and please, could she go put our horse’s face back together sooner?

Isn’t that awesome?! The horse community is astonishingly welcoming and giving; at least the folks we’ve met.

We love our vets! This is the same vet that came and gelded Boi in the side pasture, so we were familiar with her style under {our} stress.

After some evaluation, she agreed that while Angel needed to be stitched back together, her eye was probably ok. She’d know more once she got to cleaning and working on fixing her back up.

The first step was to sedate Angel. Then she got to work shaving the area.

After she cleaned, it was time to prepare and numb the area so she could get to suturing it back together.

Did you do a double-take on this picture? Are you now thinking we’re being barbaric with our cruel and unusual punishment of this poor horse?

Actually, there is a method to the madness……… this handle thingy is called a twitch. It’s wrapped up in her upper lip because there is a pressure point that will stimulate the release of endorphins, which helps the horse with pain. You gently rock the twitch, which releases the endorphins so that the stick of the needle won’t hurt as much.

I think that is awesome!

Just a wee little bit longer, and the anesthetized, clean wound was ready for the stitching.

Ta da! All done!

That last little bit needed a few staples, which we’ll have taken out in a few weeks unless they work themselves out in the meantime.

Whew. I love our vet(s), but I’d rather not have to see her like this.

I especially appreciate her willingness to explain absolutely everything she’s doing, including the anatomy and the whys of what she’s doing. She talks in terms that are clinical, yet are easy for us to understand. She has always answered the kids’ questions, and chuckles as they tell their stories.

She even took the time to show us the skull fracture; the bone bruise, and explain why we’re watching for what we’re watching for. She doesn’t think that there will be any problems with the healing, but if there are, we know where it will be.

Once she left, I stayed outside, wrapping the electrical lines connected to the poles in neon orange tape so they are more visible. We are going to cut up some pool noodles and give the lines some padding this weekend, but the tape should help in the meantime.

Now it’s evening, and the girls are out feeding. I need to go help with hay, and then I’m going to go put my feet up.

What did you do today?

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No Such Thing

Sorry, but I’m pretty sure there’s not. It’s probably a futile effort, but I’m going to try anyhow. You can thank me later.

“What’s this?” you might be wondering.

A summary, that’s what. I am pretty sure that I can’t summarize what all has happened since I last wrote, but I’ll try. You’ll most assuredly get the Cliff’s Notes version, full of stuff that I didn’t forget to include. Hopefully, you’ll enough of the gist to pass the test at the end.

When I last bored you with my drivel, we had just moved 7 horses in a single day.

Magic, Angel, Halo, Blondie and Doodlebug {formerly known as Elia} all went down the road to our friend’s house. As a trainer, her goals were to make sure we could ride both Angel and Magic. Halo needed to continue gaining weight, and Doodlebug needed to be weaned.

Score on all of the above points, more or less. I say more or less, because Magic and Angel both have attitudes, and there have been days where we couldn’t even ride because they were too squirrely. {And yes, I DO know it’s mostly us and not them ………….. } Combined with an uncontrolled full-out gallop back to the paddock resulting in throwing off my oldest daughter and having her arm stepped on, we can 100% say that a drug drop makes us really stressed out which in turn stresses out the horse and can be a less-than-ideal situation. Ya. Really.

Anyhow.

Horses have been trained, and we’re taking it one day at a time. I am not giving up.

I have, however, learned that show horses and rescue horse, like other rescue animals, come with their own sets of learned behaviors that may or may not be conducive to trail riding.  You might have figured out by now that we’re a particularly stubborn kind of folk, that, while listening to thoughts, opinions, and recommendations of others, may or may not take said advice. We’ll take it all under advisement, but at the end of the day, we’re going to do what we’re going to do.

Clearly, there is a learning curve, but if we’re in for a penny; we’re in for a pound. And there are *lots* of pennies involved here.

Since moving day, all the horses have had the farrier come and do their feet. Boi, for the first time, and Flicka in who knows how many years- both did well, all things being equal. And the day the farrier came, Boi had gotten gelded.

Yep. He did. Right out in the side pasture, our awesome vet laid him down, took off his parts, and off we went on our merry way. Because she didn’t suture, there was no concern about ripping his sutures open to lift his legs for the farrier. We also trotted him the following days as told, to keep him draining.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago, and all the girls came home. Boi was thrilled to see his love and mother of his children, Halo, and didn’t waste any time mounting her since she was in heat.

Much to his disappointment {after numerous times trying}, as you can imagine, he was unable to complete his business. He hasn’t tried again since that we’ve seen, but he’s been in a pretty foul mood until we separated him out from the girls and started spending a lot of time with him again.

Where do we go from here? I’m not sure.

We are planning on riding again today, since we haven’t put in a whole lot of time since the runaway episode over a week ago. We’re giving them time to adjust. I’m hoping getting back into riding consistently will get Angel to stop cribbing and air/wind sucking. Honestly, she is not bored and is not lonely and is not stabled; we’ll get it figured out.

Halo has taken to getting picky with what she eats. I guess since she’s not starving anymore, she figures she can let her particular palete run wild.

In the meantime, not a lot of painting has gotten done. We’ve had a visit from my parents who had to laugh at the chaos that is 5 horses, 3 dogs and 3 kittens and 4 children.

While the girls were being trained, not only were we heading over to feed twice a day, but most days we were there for training as well. Add to this that during this time, we still had heating contractors in and out on a weekly basis, it’s not an understatement to say it was chaotic.

I have to say, it was *awesome* having the ability to be present for 98% of the training and see what was happening. Depositing a horse off for training and then picking them up at the end of a month is not the kind of training that settles well with me. Clearly, I am too much of a control freak.

Those few weeks, we were feeding 15 horses twice a day. It was all-consuming. We were not home a whole lot. Since you already know that I’m a hermit an introvert, you can imagine what kind of state I ended up in. And I got sick, which is probably no surprise.

Out of everything, I have gotten to the point where I realize the deep-seated need for running and getting back into more of a normal routine. I probably won’t be doing my 8 miles a day for a while, because painting still looms, but I have to find the balance, because my body is revolting against me. My pain level has been consistently higher lately, which tells me I need to get off my rear and get back at it. No matter how much a person tries to not to think about it, chronic illness simply will not be ignored.

In the midst of this, Hunny has managed to get most of the office put together, which I’m hoping means a return to more active writing. Goodness knows, I’ve needed it.

The underlying, recurring theme as I bang my head with the horse stuff is this: “All I wanted were chickens…………..”

So. Let’s recap, shall we?

Horses got moved out. Boi got gelded. Girls got moved back home. Magic and Angel have been giving attitude. Painting has been slow going. Office has been mostly put back together. Unpacking still looms. Despite the horsey issues, no one has gotten seriously hurt {praise God!} and we continue on our merry way of sticking to our plan, which may be sheer folly.

Because you got the edited version, the following test will completely consist of identifying each horse by name. {No cheating by looking at the caption! }

Boi

Flicka

Halo and Elia

Who’s first?

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Moving Day

It was not entirely unexpected, but it happened a bit fast. We knew this day was coming, but I’ll admit I was completely stressed out about it.

Tonight, I look out and see a lonely 2 horses left in our front pasture. However, we own at least 5. They just aren’t here.

2 days ago, our good friend D called to let me know about another horse opportunity. This was not another rescue; just an awesome opportunity. D and T were going to be in the general area anyhow, and they had 2 horses, 1 pony, and a puppy to go see. They took a saddle and promised to send pictures.

In the meantime, we made a mad dash to Tractor Supply to check on fencing.

The original pre- Thursday plan was to move all the horses. Gone. All 5 of them. Kapoof.

As seems to be par for the course, things changed moment by moment. We had hard decisions to make. And. It. Was. STRESSFUL.

Saddlebreds are a hot-blooded breed. Numerous people told us these two horses would never be good for riding; that we could never control them on the trail because of the breed. The mixes- Saddlebred/Quarter Horse were even worse.

And yet, we knew our two Saddlebreds. We knew how calm they could be; how gentle. We made HUGE leaps with both Flicka and Boi, and probably decisions that weren’t the smartest at the time, like saddling Boi just to see if we could do it. {He was completely calm, by the way, even when we tightened the cinch (or cinched the girth; whichever you prefer ); he did not even move- and really, we don’t need more of a lecture; we get it. }

The tipping point was when we decided to go for the new horse. Where were we going to put everyone?

Halo needs to be fattened up more; Elia {we’ve been calling him Jambalaya because he’s a jumbled mess } needs to be weaned. We’re undecided what to do with Blondie because we’re not sure she would ever be a good horse for trail riding, and she’s a ways off from being able to be ridden. So, we’re going to give it some time and see what we want to down the road.

Magic needs some attitude work, but she is still an awesome horse. Angel, however, is pretty near perfect. She needs some saddle hours and a thorough evaluation to make sure she is completely child-safe. She already parks out, which means shorty me can probably get on without a bench.

Magic and Angel got moved first, and that went very well. Then it was time to head home and move the others.

Halo went right in {incidentally, she went back to her first home and original trainer} and Elia followed right away. We had some shuffling around and baby came out and then we had a little bit of work to get him back in. Once they were secured, it was time to get Blondie loaded.

Have you ever tried to trailer a wild filly for the first time? No? Us either.

And let me tell you, that was a lot of work! Obviously, I didn’t get any pictures. It took us about an hour, but we got her.

In addition to moving our horses, D and S (the gal who drove the trailer to get Magic) were doing a horse swap over at his place. By the time he and S got back, Blondie was loaded and we were ready to go.

Horses got settled in and then we came back home for tack. At some point, he called and let us know the Saddlebred “people” were on their way. So home we went. This was going to be the make-or-break decision time. And we were dreading it…………….

At the end of the day, we’re trying to track down registration on Flicka to see what she’s been trained to do. As we thought, she had been broken and most likely shown and can even park out, although she basically needs to relearn everything.

Boi has bonded with our oldest daughter. He is a *completely* different horse when she handles him, and he does very well with Hunny and me, too.

They are both still here, and we’re going to get him gelded before sending them off to Saddlebred camp  training. We realize these two are our project horses, but we are cautiously optimistic.

I really believe God brought us *here*- to this house; to this property; with these horses. I think we were supposed to save them. We realize it may not work out the way we want it to, but we really feel like we owe them a chance. It’s not their fault they were abandoned and ignored. We’re willing to give them a chance and see where we land. And, of course, we are totally attached to them and we love them, so that helps.

We really just want everyone home, and we’re working towards that goal as quickly as we can. Within the next several weeks, we hope to have the horses home and also get our chicken arrangements underway. Even with all our horsey fun, I miss my girlies!

So. That’s what we did today. Have we’ve graduated from being chicken people to horse people to full-out farm folk? I think just maybe we’re getting there…………………………

And I wouldn’t have it any other way!

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Los Tres Amigos

This should probably go into the “Ooops, I did it again” invisible category. If you’ve been reading along, you’ll remember me mentioning the untimely demise of our beloved kitty that went missing and was finally discovered when her body started smelling.   

When Yin’s brother, Yang, passed, we got Little Dog. This time, we got our Oreo.

And still, my middle daughter kept going on and on and on about wanting barn kitties. We kept trying to explain that barn kitties are not going to be very loving. {To be fair, her experience with barn kitties was out at my dear friend B’s house, and all of her barn kitties were snuggly even though there were technically feral…………}

We thought the puppy would be a lovely distraction. And it was, for about 2 minutes.

{Yep. You know where I’m going with this…….}

Thus, the hunt was on. We had the chance to get some sweet little boys, but Hunny deemed them too old and in need of too much medical to be around the kids and the horses.

A few days before Christmas, we went looking. While I think it’s generally a very good idea to not have animals available for purchase/adoption around the holidays- because, yes, they really do make terrible long-term gifts for unsuspecting folks- we, on the other hand, were looking high and low for kittens for our own daughter, knowing full well that it’s Mama driving them to the vet and going and getting food, etc, and ultimately, being responsible for the health and well-being of said creatures.

We totally struck out. I did, however, get information from a pet store on a rescue group that has periodic adoption events, and had some kitten available.

I worked on this thing for two weeks! First, we thought about a single kitty. “But, but but,” I protested, “kitties are better in pairs!”

Really. The only time we had a single kitty was when we went to animal control for a dog and I saw a cat that was an owner release and was slated for being put down the next day. She was fixed and declawed already………

We had her for several years as an indoor kitty, and she never did do well with kids. They really stressed her out. One day, she got out of the house somehow, and the mailman came to tell us she was laying in the road. BOOO!

{You already know this, but I’m going to tell you again anyhow- if you are in a populated area, the number one cause of death for cats is cars.}

It wasn’t too long after that we got Yin and Yang from the Human Society. Smart people, they are, to have the Humane Society right next to Animal Control…… there was a litter of kittens and a mama brought in; all of them sick. We waited a few weeks before they were both healthy enough to go home; Yang was touch-and-go several times in those two weeks. We loved him, and were really very upset when he got sick and succumbed to intestinal cancer 6 years later.

Yin was never really right after that, and she was pretty lonely for him once he had passed. Ironically, she loved living in the rv. She loved hopping from bunk to bunk, and there was always someone right there to walk on love her, even though we were always at home in the house. Go figure.

When she passed, we got Oreo, and were cat-free for the first time ever, really. There might have been a month or two 20 years ago when we didn’t have some kind of cat, but I can’t really remember actually not having a cat.

So, it was time. Even though we now had 3 dogs, 5 abandoned horses to feed and take care of, 1 rescued horse of our own, and chickens on the agenda, we thought, “What the heck. Why not?”   

Initially, we were going to get the 1, as I mentioned, but my gentle reminder put us into the “2″ category. We were looking for a gray kitty and an orange kitty; both boys. When I saw the pictures, the two gray kitties were boys and the orange kitty was a girl. Awwwwwwww…………………………  

If you’ve figured out the puzzle, yep, we’ve got 3 kitties. One orange, one gray, and one black. We got them during an adoption event at our local PetCo. These babies had been fostered, so we were able to meet their wonderful foster mama, who was very, very sad to see them leave.

Fostering is so, so important, as you can imagine. We can tell that they have been much loved, and have been completely socialized. They are a total riot!

I introduce to you The A Team- Apollo, Athena, and Ares.

At this point, the kids are not liking their names. I am, however, holding firm in my ode to Greek mythology. {We briefly thought about Edward, Jacob and Bella, but I thought we’d be better off to follow Yin and Yang with something more intellectually subtantial. } I am confident the nittens will grow into their names.

Because life is a soundtrack and I’ve had it stuck in my head {thanks to my kids singing it!} for the last two days, I bring you “Soft Kitty,” courtesy of The Big Bang Theory’s crew’s Sheldon and Penny.

Or, if you have nothing better to do and want something worse stuck in your head, here you go. You can thank me later.

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A Horsey Tale

Once upon a time, there was a lady who lived in the desert with her family and her chickens. She was not fond of the desert, and longed and longed for years and years to move somewhere green. One day, after 17 years, it looked like her wish might come true.

She prayed and prayed. And she tried to be patient, even though it was really hard.

After 4 months and lots and lots of patience {and prayers}, her wish came true. There was much packing, and with some tears of leaving good friends behind and having to rehome the 23 chickens, the family made their journey east. The plan was to live in the RV; all of them- 4 kids, 2 parents, 2 dogs and a cat- until their house sold.

The lady knew she needed to get a feel for the local real estate market, so she made a short list of houses to look at. Her number one requirement was that they be allowed to have chickens. Another deep desire was that it was close enough to work so her hunny could continue to come home for lunch. And, of course, it had to be the right space for their homeschooling family of three girls and a teenage boy.

With those things in mind, she made her short list of houses to look at, knowing it would be probably summer or early fall before they could get into a house.

Within 2 weeks, said lady was going out of her mind in that small, small, space, what with 4 kids, 2 parents, 2 dogs and a cat. She began to think that the housing market would have to wait, because she was going to have go back to the desert until the house was sold.

To get her out of the small, small space, she decided she would at least look at a few houses; one of which was a new listing and piqued her curiosity, because the pictures were confusing. That first day, she went to numerous houses, but the one ‘confusing’ listing stole her heart…………

{If you read back, you can see the drama of getting to closing……}

Within the first week of moving into the heart house, a few things happened. Most of the neighbors stopped by to say hello and to introduce themselves. This was very interesting, because in the heart house, there were no other houses that could even BE seen. So, to meet all the neighbor people in the unseen houses was a fantastic and unexpected joy.

The biggest thing that happened, though, was that they began to realize from talking to the new neighbors that the 5 horses in their front yard were abandoned. The neighbors had been sporadically feeding the poor horses.

Upon further inspection, the lady and her family realized that the mama horse with the new colt was actually starving to death, and was going to die in the next week or so, if something wasn’t done right away.

The tipping point came one day when the lady went out front to see the horses in the front yard and realized that not only were they not being fed, but they also had no water. None. Zip. Zilch. Nada.

The lady saw red.  After getting the horses water, she packed up her oldest daughter, and they drove 20 some miles one way to get the horses food. She explained the situation to the nice folks at Tractor Supply, and came home with lots of food for the horses.

Over the next month and a half, the lady and her family continued to feed the horses. They paid for food, for the vet, and for the farrier. They began working on a permanent solution for the horses

And that was the birth of a new horsey family………………………….

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I can’t begin to tell you how *furious* I was when I realized they had no water. And that the folks we had seen who seemed to be feeding them were another neighbor’s kids who came every now and then to see if they had hay.

I absolutely REFUSE to watch an animal starve to death, particularly one as intelligent as a horse, and in my front yard, no less. Not gonna happen.

So. Here’s what’s out front. There are two Saddllebreds; a mother and her son. Flicka is 16; Boi is about 5 or 6.

Flicka

Boi

She was pregnant when brought here, and we’ve heard her price tag was $10,000. As far as we know, she has never been ridden, but we think she’s had some work done prior to coming here. Boy has not had any work done.

Halo is a 16-year-old champion barrel racer and is a Quarter Horse. She has a three-month old colt (he was just born when we saw the house for the first time) that is a Quarter Horse/Saddlebred cross.

Halo

Halo and Elia

Elia earlier on

Halo, Elia, and our neighbor, D

Blondie is also Halo and Boi’s offspring. We think she’s around 2 years old.

We’ve got Halo in the pen up front with Elia (the baby) and she’s a bit sad to be separated from the others. She’s getting a ton of food everyday, in accordance to what they vet has told us to do. We’ve got her blanket on her when it’s cool/cold because she has no body fat to keep her warm, and she needs all the calories she can get. We figure she’s gained about 200-250 lbs since we started feeding her, but she needs at least 300 more.

I am not joking when I say death was imminent.These pictures were taken when she had added maybe 100 lbs. Baby was awfully skinny, too, because she didn’t have much to give him while she was starving. Had we not intervened, they would both be dead by now.

Did I mention that none of these 5 horses are even ours?

It’s a complicated situation, but we are hoping to get custody of the horses and also the land that surrounds our property, so that we can add our own horses and not have to deal with a whole lot of fencing.

In a perfect world, we would get the land and end up with a working farm, that would allow us to be a rescue horse sanctuary, without going bankrupt. This is a work in progress, which we pray won’t take too much longer to settle. The horses need hay, but I am loathe to feed a lot of horses that could be sold out from under us. Either way, they need more hay soon, and we’ll keep feeding them and getting the ticks off.

Chickens are on the list, too, but we have a lot of work to do first.

In the process of taking care of the horses, we’ve completely fallen head over heels in love. We are in love with the land, with the house, with the area, and with the horses. We would not have made the leap into horses if it wasn’t for our awesome neighbors, D, and his daughter, S. The girls are exchanging work and feeding for riding lessons, and we all couldn’t be happier!

Stay tuned for Part 2 of the Horsey Tale, which will have more pictures documenting our adventure and our creatures……………………

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I’m a Slacker

Yep. I am. Now I’ve said it out loud and you know.

I really didn’t intend to end up like this. I’m hoping I don’t stay this way for long, either.

I have entirely too much do and I’m feeling overwhelmed.

I’m feeling overwhelmed by the amount of painting to be done. I’m overwhelmed by the amount of blood spatter in this house. Seriously. {Kids, this is a prime example of why not to do drugs- you’ll lose your house and the new owners will be totally grossed out when they clean and paint it to make it livable……..}

I haven’t really run since we left. I feel like it’s a guilty pleasure that I can’t allow myself to indulge in when I have so much other stuff that needs to get done.

Honestly, I’d be happy to stay curled up with a book and look out the windows……

I did, however, make my son some curtains. He was tired of having to change his clothes in the closet because he didn’t have curtains. At some point, I’ll take pictures of the whole room, once I get the last set of curtains made and he’s gotten it painted. In the meantime, here they are:

You may remember me complaining about the bird nesting happening when I was making my girls their sundresses last spring. I’m glad I didn’t pitch my machine. It worked just fine. Hmmph. I’ll have to diddle with it some more when I get back to the dresses.

Once we get things painted, I am not sure how much time I’ll have to be online. Life is changing, and in a really good way.

Have you ever been somewhere where you know that’s where you were meant to be? Like deep down in your soul you knew you were where God wanted you to be?

Ya. It’s like that here. If I have to be buried somewhere, I’m changing my mind. I’ll forgo Tin Cup, Co, for being buried on the farm here somewhere. {Which is legal here, too- one of these days, I’ll write about that, because it’s fascinating!}

Anyhow. What’s taking up my time? Life is taking up my time; mostly in the form of creatures.

We had been here for about a week before we realized that the 5 horses in our front yard were only being fed by neighbors, sporadically. And they had no water. 

You can see where I’m going with this…… not only are we feeding them, we’re rehabing the mama horse that was near death from starvation. Turns out, she’s a champion barrel horse. As in, big $$$$$. Out of the 5, she’s the only one saddle broke{n}, so we’re starting with her.

She’s an {American} Quarter Horse. There’s another out there that we know he paid $10,000 for and never broke. Ya. She’s an American Saddlebred- you know, the high-stepping show horses? Ya. Her son is a Saddlebred as well, and then the foal {colt} and the filly are both a Quarter Horse/Saddlebred mix. Boo.

One of these days, I’ll write the whole thing up, with pictures. Mama is now as happy as a clam out there, with her blanket on and in a separate pen so she can eat undisturbed. Baby is eating solids and is weaning, so that’s good.

Besides the painting (seriously, I have gotten two bathrooms finished, and that’s it- while 12 ft ceilings with crown molding is beautiful, it’s a pain to paint…..), we’ve got chickens to set up for, in addition to our own horses {yes, you’re reading that right} and still get things unpacked.

Kitchen appliances came. Turns out, the ovens are too tall, so the cabinet guy needs to come back out. I didn’t get any Christmas baking done. I’m hoping he can come and get that done so I can get some of my breads made soon.

There are SO many loose ends at this point. I lose an entire day going into town for shopping. So far, I haven’t been able to not make two trips in every week, because there is always something urgently needed. Yesterday, it was horse food. Today, it’s groceries, since the big winter storm blew through and it was pouring rain so I just got horse food and came back home before the worst of it hit.

There’s a schedule to keep to, too. Horses are fed at 8 am and 5pm; mama gets lunch as well until she’s gained the last 300 lbs; and most days, I take the girls to feed over at our “neighbors” house in exchange for their weekly riding lessons.

And then, there is the steady stream of visitors. I’ve decided that I’m going to give it another month, and then after that point, we’re going to start handing out paint rollers to visitors. We absolutely LOVE the company, but it’s not conducive to me getting the painting done.

On top of all of this, we’ve got a new puppy. That means someone needs to supervise her until we can count on her to go to the door every time she needs out. I had no plans for more pets, of course, but when a friend posted a picture on FB of a purebred border collie pup who was being given away because as the runt, she was going to be too small to work with cattle, I couldn’t say no.

Big dog, you may recall, is a{blonde/red merle} border collie as well, so we are very familiar with the breed. Had this been any other breed, I would have passed, because we don’t have time right now to deal with stubborn doggies {like little dog, for example, who we LOVE to bits and pieces, but is really quite stubborn }.

But, having lost out kitty a month ago, and seeing her cuteness, I couldn’t resist. So, here is our little Oreo. 

When I can get out of my slacker mode and get more painting done, I’ll be back to write some more. In the meantime, don’t forget me!

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Don’t Judge Me

Praise God! Hallelujah! We have internet! {Don’t judge me!}

Back in the olden days, when we were in the campground, we had that crappy satellite internet- remember that? Because our house was just over 2 miles away, I was worried that we’d be relegated to using the same service, just to get any kind of internet.

We knew we couldn’t get a cable connection here like we had at the old house. And there was much weeping and gnashing of teeth.

The hunt was on. I’d get one answer from one part of a provider; then another from a local division of the provider. I was tearing my hair out. I really did not want either dial-up or satellite. DSL I could live with.

Once we moved in, we’ve had a steady stream of visitors. Even though I cannot see a single house from where we live, and neighbors are not in abundance, I am pretty sure we’ve met them all. And it is *awesome.*

One question I’d asked every single time was “What kind of internet can you get? Can you get DSL?” And I was distraught to hear that not a single person around us was able to get it- not the Century Link guy who lives around the corner and drives by twice a day; not the mailman who lives around the corner and down the street a ways; not the neighbors past the bridge; and not the other Century Link guy who lives next to the outpost with the switches in it.

Nonetheless, we were brave souls and had already paid for a year by that time. We even had the modem delivered already and had run out into the road to flag down the guy in the van.

At some point, I was resigned to thinking we were screwed stuck with whatever we could get as long as it wasn’t dial-up.

A different Century Link man came out (the one who lives around the corner and down the road next to the outpost) and gave us the scoop. Apparently, there were some DSL lines run out here just a year ago. We needed a set of available switches. If they had those, they would build the line. But, we needed to understand that because we were so far from the outpost, our communication rate wouldn’t be as fast as it could be had we been closer.

{Please, Mister Internet Man, just get us online with a decent speed!!}

Praise God! Hallelujah! {Don’t judge me!}

And then yesterday they called to let us know we would have it by 5 pm today. Praise God! Hallelujah! {Don’t judge me!}

My children’s teeth are visible for the first time in I don’t know how long, and I’m pretty sure the frown lines haven’t had time to really get set in. Praise God! Hallelujah! {Don’t judge me!}

At this point, it’s safe to say that the speed is just fine; blazing, in fact, in  comparison to the satellite connection we struggled with at the campground.

I think it’s also safe to say that my slave labor kids won’t be helping paint much this afternoon. I’ve warned them, though- they get to goof through lunch, and then we need to get back at it. {Seriously, it’s like there is blood spatter all over this house- including on the ceilings…..GROSS!!!!} At least now, maybe they will be in better moods, since I have something to threaten them with……..

So. Where were we?

Yes. We moved in. My son and I flew back to NM to meet the movers. What a crazy busy 4 days. That was a fiasco, to say the least. I may write about that, but I may just want to leave it where it is……

So far we’ve dealt with wasps swarming the house {a continuation of what we had before we closed- there are at least 5 different species fighting over territory}, a steady stream of neighbors, a locksmith who was unable to re-key the locks, 5 abandoned horses, including one severely emaciated nursing mama horse whose colt was about 2 months old when we moved in and very nearly going down because she needed at least 500 lbs and who we think is pregnant again already; a fence that wasn’t keeping them in last week {and those fences aren’t on our property!} which meant the one day they had gotten out literally at least 6 times; our kitty who disappeared and we didn’t find until we started to smell her deceased body; numerous contractors coming in and out to fix stuff, and and and and…..

The home inspection was fantastic, but didn’t let us know the upstairs tub sends water running down the ceiling fan in the kitchen when an actual shower is taken. I still have to get the propane people out to set the second tank; we haven’t gotten the trash to run yet despite leaving it out for 2 weeks and seeing the truck run by every few days; we still have to get the upstairs heating pumps replaced and part of the floor needs to be finished and a closet got missed and needs the carpet replaced. And I’m pretty sure there are other things I’m forgetting right now.

But- I’m not busy or anything. I’ll write about things in more detail as I get time. I just wanted to let y’all know I’m still alive and there’s no need to worry about me having fallen off the face of the earth.

In the meantime, I’m going to get back at the painting after I eat and hope I don’t have a layer of ‘skin’ to peel off in my paint pan………..

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Hang On

Hang on, help is on the way,

I’ll be there as fast as I can……

I keep singing this, hoping it will reset something in my head.

I’m not panicking, really. I’m not even so much feeling like the walls are closing in on me.

Nah, having tv has worked wonders on the kids’ attitudes. Now they can’t complain about being bored, which has helped me tremendously. Plus, they are getting into the schooling groove, so that end of things is settling down.

Nope, this mantra is all about the house. Apparently, the realtor tour went very, very well and everyone loved the house. So why am I worried and whiny in my head?

It hasn’t been shown. At. All.

For all the love, I have no idea why. My realtor was going to try to get to the bottom of it. She’s a top seller, and I trust her. This is fair week, so we recognize nothing will happen while that’s going on.

The last time we tried to sell, we were on the market for 9 months and the house was shown a whopping 5 times. I don’t know what it is. I think the location may be harder to find, even though it’s in a good neighborhood. There aren’t many different ways to get there, and if you’re not looking for the street, you will go right by it. While that appealed to us, apparently that means others can’t even find it.

I just feel the clock ticking, as we approach the slow season there.

The real problem is, as I see it, is that the market hasn’t slowed here at all. In fact, compared to my old town’s real estate market, this place is blazing hot.

And THAT, my friends, is what’s got me so worried.

I’m worried that the house that’s pulling on my heart strings is going to be gone in the year {or whatever} it’s going to take to get my house sold. And, since I’ve been out there, I can say that I haven’t seen anything else that I like even remotely as well.

There are any number of reasons why I’m really worried about this whole scenario.

The dogs don’t have the room like they are used to, either.

Big dog is getting cranky, and she repeatedly attacked little dog last night; for no apparent reason. She also always under foot, which is making her cranky with the kids, and that is not good. I don’t blame her for not wanting her tail stepped on, but it’s all accidental; she could move somewhere else so she’s not literally at someone’s feet.

I don’t blame her for feeling cooped up and annoyed that her whole world has changed, because it has, and she is. Out of everyone, the cat has done the best adjusting, and seems to love jumping from bunk to bunk and having little cubbies to hide in. Plus, there’s usually one child or another IN the bunk to give her some love, so she’s happy.

None of us have been outside much lately since it’s been wet off and on and we lost the awning. You never know how much you use things like that until they’re gone. My task this morning is to call insurance and get that end of things sorted out.

I haven’t gotten a run in at all this week. It’s either been rainy, or like yesterday, I was on the phone and doing stuff online literally all day. I got a lot done; just not conducive to keeping my miles going. That’s the other thing on my list this morning.

None of this was in the plan, honestly. It’s not like we didn’t thoroughly think things through, either. I just didn’t expect to find a house I actually liked this soon. I didn’t expect the market to be moving this well during this time of the year. Even my realtor here is surprised.

You’d think that it would give me some hope, but given the location we came from, it is hard to feel really optimistic.

And still, I have to trust that this is all part of God’s plan; that things will work out the way they are supposed to. I just don’t know what path we’re supposed to take. I really could use a buyer *and* an epiphany right about now. I’d love to have the words of direction whispered in my ear……….

So. If y’all are inclined to pray, we could use them. I’m continuing to pray for a buyer; I’m continuing to pray for direction. And in my mind, I keep hearing, “Hang on, help is on the way, I’ll be there as fast as I can……………”

Because life is a soundtrack, I’ll leave you with the real thing, courtesy of the Little River Band:

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I’m A Lotta Things

I’m sore.

I’m tired.

I’m frenzied.

I’m sad.

I’m excited.

But I’m sad.

But I’m excited!

Nope, this isn’t hormones. This is a major, major life change. And by that, I mean it’s major. As in, pretty darn big. And then some.

What’s got me all in knots and has prevented me from writing as usual?

I’m packing. Well, we’re packing.

Which means I’m sore, mostly from sitting on the floor.

Because I’m sore (and a bit frenzied, to be honest), I’m not sleeping well, which means I’m tired.

I’m physically tired, but also mentally tired, sorting through the horrendously long list of things I need to keep in mind while the clock is madly ticking down.

In the last week, I have made a HUGE dent. And by that, I mean, huge. As in, very nearly epic.

I’ve made such a dent that in a short amount of time, I may actually be done sooner than I expect because there is nothing left for me to do that can be done now. It doesn’t quite feel like it right now, mostly because my house looks like a tornado went through it.

There are stacks of boxes in literally every singe room in the house.

While on the one hand, I’m so excited I’m very nearly super charged (less the bag of bones slowing me down) I am also really, really sad in a way. Well, the kids and I are sad in this department.

I expect that this time next week, all of my chickens will probably be on to their new home(s). {gasp}

Yes. Really.  

It’s certainly not by choice, but there really isn’t any other option, although I have researched and had a game plan in my own twisted mind. I was convinced I could do it, but the logistics are going to be preventative, and those logistics also create an issue for the plans we had for the cat.

What’s this major life event?

We’re moving.

And it’s not just a little one. After 17 years in this location, we are packing up and moving nearly 1,800 miles to the southern/central east coast.

It’s not just the location, either.

After 19 years with the same company, and third generation at that, we are changing companies for {literally} greener pastures. In some ways, that was not our first choice. But, as it turns out, it’s definitely the BEST choice, for any number of reasons.

The only single downside I can find is having to leave my chickens behind.

We’re going to be leaving in a week or two (Hunny’s last day is next Tuesday) and then we’ll travel, all of us, to the new location. We’re calling it “The Grand Adventure.”

While our house here is on the market, we’ll be living in the RV until it’s sold. We’ve got toes and fingers crossed that it’s going to sell quickly so we can move onto the next house. And get more chickens.

The kids are a bit sad to leave their friends, of course, but they are real troopers; looking forward to meeting new people and having a new, greener, less hot climate. With more chickens at some point.

The location is absolutely ideal- and hour to the mountains, and about that same time to get to the ocean. And there’s water- like, REAL water on the ground. In amounts big enough to swim or fish in. And do other stuff.

I’ve spent an entire day changing email address and accounts on everything I can think of. It’s also necessitated a new cell phone plan, which means ‘hello smart phone!’. (Really, don’t laugh- I just got text a year ago after having a cell phone for 3 years. I have to say, I’m totally loving it, though, and it’s going to be the primary tool while we’re in between houses, not to mention I’ll be glad to have map software while I follow behind Hunny with the big GPS in his truck…………. and running apps! Squee! ) 

Anyhow. For the two of you that have noticed I’ve been quite lately and more or less MIA, now you know why. This thing took what felt like *forever,* but now that it’s here and finalized, time is of the essence and I need to get cracking. My body is protesting, but I’ve done a decent job of ignoring it.

I’ll try to update as I get time. Did I mention I’m excited? 

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