Goodbye to june

I try as much as possible to hold off the big pasture until the month of July..that way the horses have grazing all threw the summer and pretty much into late fall. It amazes me how much they chew down the grass...this picture shows the difference. But today the fence is coming down and the big pasture is open for business. I can't wait to see what the boys will think.

This is the winter pasture, usually the boys are so busy with the big pasture that they never go in here during the summer. But I've decided to block it off this year and allow it a good rest over the summer. I'm hoping this will give them some grazing in the late fall and possibly until snow...time will tell.

I'm so pleased at how these two get along. There's a real bond happening here. Tonka used to pick on duke a fair amount but he doesn't with Abe. Like us, I know that just because they're horses doesn't mean they immediately like any other horse and some are more friends than others..So I guess that's just the case here as well. Either way, it's nice to see..Tonka was so lonely without duke and Abe took some time to settle in..but its all good now.

Morning chores...

Annabelle...queen of the barn

Time to check it out....right away they notice it's different.

Then Tonka sees what it is..his steps quicken and so Abe follows...this is a first for him but he trust Tonka..









And then they find the good stuff.......I love seeing them out in the "front yard" once again... on completely quiet nights, we can even hear them chewing and happily blowing threw their noses... a true summer sound.




The guineas are doing well, and doing a great job at keeping the ticks down. I have heard so many complaints about the ticks this year, but have seen very few here on the farm. I check the cats almost daily and so far haven't found one on any of them. Sometimes I have come in from chores and found one or two on my clothes but overall I think we are ahead of the game. 













Abi was playing around the barn, and found these little egg shells... the barn swallow babies have hatched. I have noticed the parents are pretty busy these days, swooping in and out and bringing food to the babies. I'm beginning to hear them chirp when the parents arrive. I love having them in the barn... more "free" bug control....



And then I hear her say... "Baby.. look what else I found!!!"


















A sweet little toad has also taken up residence in the barn... goodness, with all this help, we shouldn't find a bug anywhere!!!








And the last of this blog's "good things"... Livy's therapy dog "advance" title has arrived in the mail, sporting her spiffy new patch. Advance means that we have done 100 or more visits.... I love doing this therapy dog work, and so does Livy.... we have met so many nice and interesting people and have heard some many stories. I plan on doing this work for a long time to come.... the next patch is for 200 visits.. so, there's a way to go.. but we'll just enjoy each visit as it comes....

Another month has sped by... the summer is here and there are so many wonderful plans in the works...... life is good.