a weekend of horses!!!!

It's late, and I haven't been home very long..... but I know that some of my loyal readers will be looking for a new blog... so, I am taking the time to get it posted. What a wonderful weekend!!! and there is so much to tell, that I know I won't get half of it printed in the blog... but, at least I can give you a report.

I spent the weekend at the farm of our friends, Becky and Butch. They were the hosts to a training seminar with Patrick Benson (www.patrickbenson.com) . As most seminars go, you come home happy, excited, tired and overwhelmed with information, but all in all, great fun!!! Tonka was a great boy and not because he is my horse, but he turned out to be quite the favorite with the other riders and with Patrick himself. Tonka doesn't look like your typical dressage horse, but he has talent, and it didn't take too long for him to show that off. Course, he and I have been working on it for the past few years, so he does know his work... but being a "draft type", you don't know it when you look at him.

Patrick rode him a few times over the weekend, and Tonka proved to him how athletic he really is. He has a nice bend to him, and can be very light on his feet. It was fun to "show off " with him.

Beside the fact that I had 11 hours of riding this weekend (and NO I am not sore in case you are wondering!!!) the whole idea of traveling with your horse, being away from "home" for the entire weekend (sleep overs with your friends).... proved to be a wonderful experience.( and certainly way different from travleing with your dog over a weekend of dog shows!!!!) We also learned some new riding moves and made some new friends!!!

This is my friend Becky on her horse, Major....

It was a small clinic in that there were only five riders, but that was nice in a way, because we got a lot of personal attention. The arena was very nice, but smaller that some, but, for the five of us, there was just enough room. That was also another good experience for Tonka... to ride in an arena with other horses. I have done it in the past with another horse, but not with him. It's a different experience in riding, when you need to keep an eye open for someone else, pay attention to where you are going, and be polite to the other riders in the ring. Our group got along quite well, and we really had a good time riding together.


Course, a visit to Becky's and Butch's is always the best when you get a chance to be behind the Belgians. On Saturday, when we were done riding, Butch hitched the team and took us for a ride thru the woods. It was just a perfect way to end a day of riding and training work!!!! We pretty much crashed after that.

Today was more riding, answering questions, and just tweaking our new work.... then it was packing up and heading home once again. I know that my own bed will look really good tonite, and Tonka seemed pretty happy to see his own stall again. I'll give him the day off tomorrow, but we'll be "back at work" before the end of the week, working on some new things Patrick taught us, and then going to see Laura for our weekly lesson.......

I hope this blog makes sense... I am quite tired and probably will read it tomorrow and think.."why did I say that?" so.. it's off to bed.... and I may change this blog around tomorrow......

it's Thursday already???

Goodness, I have no idea where this week has gone!!! It's been a bit of an "odd" week, with the holidays and other "happenings".. it just seems to be "one of those weeks". But, tomorrow is Friday and I have been looking forward to that all week. I will be packing up Tonka, and with my dear friend Betty, we will drive to Becky and Butch's for a weekend of riding!!! Betty and I will be attending a seminar that is being put on by Patrick Benson... I have no idea what to expect...never been to a clinic before with a horse, but I am looking forward to a weekend away and a weekend of horses... should be great fun, and I will take lots of pics for the blog!!!!

Ken and Buzz are back again finishing up some little things...mainly stairs.

This set of stairs in the the garage and will lead down to the cellar. If things work out according to plan... this will be the entrance to our "doggie daycare" and boarding kennel. It will be nice, because clients won't have to walk thru the house to get to the cellar area, and by coming thru the garage, they can be "safe" from any kind of bad weather.

This is all I got for house photos today... just the rough in of the steps. After that, Ed and I were on the road with a "million" things to do... so, I didn't get back to see the finished product. Guess I'll have to get those shots tomorrow.

Monday (Memorial Day) was great fun. The weather was beautiful and Ed, Sadie, and I got up bright and early and headed back to our "old town" to see the parade. Ed and Nate decided to dawn their uniforms and march in the parade as well. We brought the dogs will with us .. and certainly weren't the only folks with dogs!!! It was a great place to do some socializing and meet some new friends. Here Banjo and Tatter say hello to a pug puppy.

The start of the parade. It was fairly large and there was an excellent turn out of town folk. It really pleases me to see so many that wish to pay their respect to the ones who gave so much for our country!!!

Got to love a man in a uniform!!! Here is my Ed (fire department) son-in-law Nate (Marines) and my Dad... (also fire department).... nice looking group of men!!!!!

And I just had to get this picture of Nate with his dog!!!!

By the way, last night Banjo passed the AKC Canine Good Citizen class and test!!! He officially holds the title of CGC!!!

Congratulations to Kas and Nate for a fine job of training this beautiful dog!!!!

On one last note, Ed's brother Bill is in the hospital tonite... he has some health issues that he has been dealing with for sometime now, but, last night was not feeling well at all. We paid him a visit this afternoon and he is looking much brighter, though "they" are keeping him for a while to do a long list of tests. I feel a little guilty for leaving this weekend, but really there isn't much I can do, so I will still continue with the weekend plans. Say a little prayer for Bill........

feeling like a holiday...

Today began with going to church. Dare I say that we haven't been in almost a month!!!! with dog shows, Mother's Day, open house.... it seems as though every Sunday has had "something" going on.... so, today, I was anxious to get back to church. It was a nice service in honor of Memorial Day, and after church, there was a little town memorial service that Ed and I stayed to watch. I was so wishing I had my camera with me.... the little girl scouts with a veteran raised the flag and did a wreath placing ceremony. We sang some songs, and listened to a couple of wonderful speeches.... just the perfect "small town" sort of thing.

Then in the afternoon we had a small cookout with friends. We have been trying to get together with Kelli and Rick for quite sometime, and I was so happy when they were able to come. And then we got a phone call for another couple of good friends, Cindy and George. They had invited us to their camp, but with plans already made with Kelli and Rick.... I invited them to our camp instead.

It was such a nice afternoon, we ate out on the deck and enjoyed the lake, the good weather and the excellent company. Things like this are things that I plan to do a lot more of this summer!!!! There is just never enough time to spend in the company of good people!!!!!

The "lake" has been busy this weekend. Just about every camp on the road has people this weekend. Cookouts are happening all over the place, and you can hear happy voices everywhere. It would appear that our "renters" are having a great weekend... the weather has been a bit "off and on" with showers here and there, but when the sun pops out, it's almost hot. Tomorrow we head back to our "old hometown" to celebrate Memorial Day there and see the parade and all. We have to be on the road early, as the parade is at 9:00 am.... so that will make for a busy morning.

Sadie and I took some time yesterday and finished planting the garden. We have all sorts of "yummy things" planted...so I guess we'll see how it all comes out in the end. I saved a patch to plant tomato plants and a few other things, that I was going to pick up sometime next week. But, when Kelli and Rick came this afternoon... they brought me some goodies for the garden... several different tomato plants, pepper plants, summer squash and watermelon to name a few.




When Ed and I went down this evening to feed and bring the horses in, we got a new plants in the dirt and gave them a good drink. We will need to get the fence up around the garden this week... we already know we have some bunnies around, and we don't want them helping themselves to our goodies.

I know that I already posted the video of Duke in his cart yesterday, but here are some "stills" to go along with it. I started the "lesson" out with some ground driving. It's good for the both of us, he is still getting used to my driving "skills" and I am still getting used to working with him. He has some "flaws" that need work... one being simply standing still.... he likes to move, and getting in and out of a cart, you need a horse to stand well. I know what to "do" to fix it... just a matter of "doing it".....

Because the ground driving went so well, I got "brave" and pulled out the fore cart. At first I worked with it and didn't have the seat in place. I also asked Ed just to monitor us and be that "extra pair of hands" in case things went amuck.... but they didn't....

and then we put the seat on the cart, and away we went. I know it's just a matter of practice and work and we will be doing this on our own. I get better each time I do this, and I can see my own improvements. Come fall, we should be able to drive all over the place!!!!!

ps... Silver is just fine after his night of "partying in the alleyway".... whew.....

biker chick.....

Ed took his bike out this afternoon, and almost immediately had a fan....

Or maybe it was this "fan" discovered something else....

like.... "what a handsome guy I am!!!!"

what we did today......

the video says it all........ :-) by the way, this is Duke!!!!

and me without a camera...

Just came in from the barn...... what a MESS!!!!! "somebody" didn't latch Silver's door last night, and he had a grand time in the alley way!!!! Nearly ate an entire bale of hay!!! pooped everywhere, knocked things over and I can only imagine the way he got everyone else up set....... I will have some chores to do a little later!!!! WHY do they do things like this on a holiday weekend??? If he has tummy troubles, finding a vet won't be an easy task....... will keep you posted!!!!


(took this photo last weekend... not bad looking for a horse that is 31/32 years old!!!!)

too busy to blog.....

I know there hasn't been a blog all week, but honestly, dear readers, we have just been too busy!!! OR, by the time I do have time to sit and write, I am simply too sleepy and doubt the blog would have made much sense. So, here's a new one for you!!!

With the open house behind us and Memorial Day weekend ..well... almost here!!! It was time for Ed and I to focus our energies on the camps. So, we (wisely) took a week off from house work, and moved into yard work!!! The mess caused by the winter storms was "amazing", and we spent three full days of raking, picking up sticks, trimming back broken trees and mowing. I am glad we gave ourselves amble time, we worked at a pretty steady pace without "killing ourselves". Both the "gator" and tractor were put to good use, and what a blessing that turned out to be!!!!

But, when you wake up in the morning, and the lake view is this... who has the right to "complain" about work!!!

I have had a couple of emails and the like with questions about the "camps"... because it is sort of confusing as to who and what that's all about. So, for those of you who might be interested, the story goes like this. Ed's (and Bill's) parents bought a small fishing camp on the lake back in the 1950's. They used it as an escape from work and home, and moved into it during the summers while they rented out their home on the ocean. (this helped them pay taxes and such) For the better part of growing up, Ed lived at the lake in the summer time. Naturally he has many fond memories of that, escept for Labor Day weekend, when it meant moving "back home and going back to school". When we started dating and all, Ed and I spent many weekends at the camp, and then the girls came along, we were there often.

In the '80s, Ed parents decided to take the fishing camp down and build a house that would be more suitable as a "retirement house", that way they could spend more of the year on the lake... the little fishing camp was really not suited for cold weather!!! Sadly, Ed's Dad passed before he had much time to spend in the new (big) camp... but Ed's Mom was able to spend a number of summers there.

In the early 90's, the camp beside "Kay's" and another camp "behind "came up for sale.(both camps were being sold together as a package) Since we were spending so much time at the lake, Ed and I decided to buy those camp and have one of our own and one to rent out. Like Kay's old camp, the one we bought on the lakeside, was in bad need, and we decided to take it down, and build a new one for ourselves... the "little" camp, as we call it. As you can see, these two camps are very close (as are all the camps on the lake), so it's important that you like your neighbor!!!

As life made it's way along, and Ed and I began to talk about "what we would do when the girls were grown"..and it turned out that we would like to have a farm. I have dreamed of living on a farm since I was a little girl, anyone who knows me, knows that animals have been a HUGE part of my life!!!! Because we had the camp, and knew that we would need to "tend a farm and still be able to have time at camp"... it only made sense that we try and find our farm near the camp. After a couple of years of searching, we found the land that we have now.... and slowly began to make plans to change our lives over and move. (And, if you have been a blog follower, you know that the move happened last summer.)



We moved here last summer, even though our farm house isn't done, for a couple of reasons - one being, we wanted to be "around" with the house going up... and driving back and forth (an hour each way) wasn't practical. And two, with Kas and Nate getting ready to start their lives outside of the military, they needed a home to live in, our old house seemed like the perfect answer. The fact, too, that our barn up was, also meant that we could bring the horses with us, and save quite a bit in boarding fees as well. So, it made good sense to make our move.



All winter, we have lived in the "big" camp, which actually is a nice sized cape and is just two miles from our farm. It has worked well, with 6 dogs, 3 cats, guinea pigs and Titus. But, in about three weeks, we need to move from the big camp and back into our little camp. After Ed's Mom passed a few summers ago, we began to rent out the big camp, and we have it rented pretty much the entire summer this year. I am a little "worried" about living in the little camp.... it's really little, and we already know that Titus can't be with us (there is NO room for his tank) and the "piggies" can't be with us either, so we are looking at places in the barn or even the house for them to live. And with ANY luck, we will be in our new house before the fall.......so, that is pretty much the "story" in a nutshell.... and what we call "the big camp" (Kay's), the "little camp" (ours) and the "back camp" (the rental)......





For the holiday weekend, I was able to rent both the "back" camp and our "little" camp, thus the reason that we needed to "get it together" and have things picked up, opened up and ready to go.

Last night, Dave, Nate and Sean came to help Ed get the docks back in!!!(thanks guys, we couldn't do it without you!!!!) It's so very nice to see them in the water once again!!!!

And "this" will be "home" for the summer... certainly not a bad spot to be in!!!!!

And here is the "back" camp, .. it's isn't on the water side, but we have pretty good luck renting it out. The people who do rent it, just have a short walk to the lake, and a grand view from their "perch" on the hill..... the lawns look so much better now!!! (wished I had take a before picture)

Goodness, you'd think they had done all the work!!!!!!

Another summer season is just beginning.... I don't even want to think of how quickly it will go by!!!!!

only here....

Mocha made me a little nervous when I pulled up to the barn the other day...

Laying out in the sun, but so still, that for a moment I had to wonder if she was OK....

After checking to make sure she was breathing... and then taking a couple of photos... I called her name...

she seems a bit annoyed that I woke her up!!!!

And I still can't figure out if Charlie was visiting Titus... or if Titus was visiting with Charlie!!!!

leave it our animals!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"horsework"

Breakfast is over, the "childred" have now gone out to play.....

Dishes are done.........

Beds are made........

Sweeping completed.........

Everything in its proper place.......

And now it's time to do "housework"!!!!!!!!!

the open house

Today was such a fun day on the farm, being our open house and all. Well, actually it was "Timberpeg's Open house", but we took advantage of it and invited as many people as we could think of!!! The great thing, is, many of those people showed up!!! The "bad" thing is, it's very hard to visit with everyone, so we did our best to spend time with everyone (and if I missed out on you... I'm sorry and want you to come back again!!!)

We set the dinning room up with some snacks... the first of many meals to come in this room!!!!

And we tried to make sure that we had chairs for people to sit.... not too fancy, but they worked. We also had the woodstove chugging, because the day was cool, and several times I saw groups of friends hanging around our stove.... again the first of many I hope... there is nothing like seeing friends hanging around your woodstove!!!!!

Course, the "open house" turned more into an open farm, because some of our friends had not seen the barn in a long time.... so there were several "barn tours" as well. The horses thought this was pretty grand... they love company, and if they were outside, they would come running in to meet the next group of folks that were "touring" the barn.

I have "no problems" with dogs visiting our barn. I like it when my "students" bring their dogs!!! This is Kathleen and Bob, they are the folks that raise "service puppies" (ie:Posie) so today when they popped in, they brought Harvey with them. Harvey was very excited to meet the horses, he especially liked Mocha, and offered her a play bow.... I don't think he could understand why Mocha didn't come out and play with him!!!

And then another surprise guest..... this is Scott and Cooper!!!! If you read back about a year ago, Cooper was a foster dog we had, and Scott adopted him. Well, Scott actually grew up in our town (he lives far away now) but he was visiting with his family this weekend, saw the "open house" sign and thought he would pop in and pay us a call!!!! Cooper didn't remember me, but that's OK... he is just totally in love with Scott!!! (what do you think about that Aileen!!!)

Just as it should be.... friends in the dining room, enjoying good conversation and snacks!!!!

(the "gentleman" waving in the back ground is one of the "Ds!!!!!)

We posed for one family photo (minus Kas and Nate :-( to show off our "farm" shirts and mark this happy day!!!!

The first of many, many parties in this house... a great omen!!!!

spring things...

Thursday was a busy day about the farm. Ed was finishing up last minute projects so the cement can be done on Friday. I had an appointment in the morning, but hurried back to the farm as soon as I could.

Spring is in full force here and I am loving it. I still don't know what kind of bird this is... I am thinking it is a Blue Indigo and not a bluebird. But either way, it's very pretty and must have quite the nest of babies, because the noise they make when the parents are around is quite loud. The parents are always running to and fro, keeping this new family fed is a full time job for both of them.

Living in the "heart of apple country" and seeing all the orchards in full bloom is amazing. As far as you can see, are these beautiful white and pink blossoms. In a couple of weeks, the flowers will be gone, and all those pedals will blow in the wind.... a spring "snow fall"........

Our good friend Rick arrived, he has been wanting some manure for a new garden and asked if he could take some of our pile. I am thrilled to get rid of it. We are going to move the pile to a new spot (I hate where we have it.... it looks awful) and I had been looking for someone to take it away. But between Rick and a few others that have asked about it, I think we can find a new home for most of it.

while Ed was loading up Rick's truck... Rick brought his boxer puppy, Gus, out to meet the horses. Our horses are great with dogs, they are curious and very gentle. At first Gus didn't quite know what to make of these big guys, but it didn't take him to long to feel quite comfortable with them. I always think it's great for dogs to know horses... after all, there's a good chance you'll run into one or two of them while riding or driving, so the more horses know about dogs (and visa versa) the better.....

Another big day tomorrow with the cement scheduled to arrive, and then the open house over the weekend.... the days are going to fly........