What a wonderful day on the farm!

After work this morning I went out to see Moo and, since we've been letting the goats back out, she was laying on her side getting groomed by Buck's horns. As soon as he saw me he took off so she let me pet her for a while and we talked a little. I went on to the back so I could look over the horses since they weren't in the barn for breakfast and Moo stood up watching me intently the whole half hour I was out there. I'm not sure if she was thinking I was a fool for going in the middle of those crazy prancing horses or thinking she'd come rescue me if they ran over me. Of course, since she was hiding behind a tree with her head poking out I'd say the latter. I didn't have the heart to tell her that the tree didn't have leaves and I could see her big butt sticking out behind it.

I then went out to check on our three horses in the front pasture and they ran to welcome me, Smoke leading the way and nudging me to see if I had treats. I noticed that Midnight seemed more insistent that the other two allow him in the circle for a few strokes so I took his lead and had Vincent bring me a lead rope. As I walked away from the circle he followed me and after standing next to him for several minutes he nudged me! I attached the lead and we started work. After a short walk he stood still for a full five minutes with his ears right on me. Then I rubbed and scratched him all over his body including his butt and leggs. He never flinched. Then I sacked him out with the rope and after one quick start he stood stock still the rest of the time. We did a few turns in both directions and I then went in for some nuzzling before removing the lead. I was very impressed!

The best news of all is that I made contact with someone I used to work with at Walmart who is currently in training to be a Parelli instruction and she's also a certified farrier. I scheduled a two hour training session in a couple weeks for Fizzle's owner and myself. We are both very excited to get some one on one personal time with her! And it will be great to have her as a recommended farrier to our boarders.

Hey, you really can learn something about horses from books!

As I walked into the front pasture with our three horses a while ago I saw the hot wire (it's not hooked up) laying in the field and started pulling it up, hoping one of the horses hadn't gotten tied up. As I started rolling it I noticed it lead me right to Smoke - of all the three, thank goodness it was her. So there I stood, very little training and knowing she refuses to stand tied for me yet but urgency setting in that this must be dealt with a quickly. I headed for a bucket of grain and went back out. They all came running and patiently (believe it or not) awaited their turn with the bucket. Following what I've read about natural horsemanship, I've never "caught" them with grain. I allow them to come to me and enjoy it but I simply stroke and scratch them while they're eating. When they're finished and still hanging around I will calmly step away and they follow - at that point I'll attach a lead as they stretch their neck out to me. I even relished the breakthroug with Midnight - I was able to scratch his ears, neck, and withers while he was having his turn and then I make a point of touching the halter and jiggling it just a little next to the bucket -- but pointedly letting go. He never flinched.

But back to Smoke. After the bucket was empty she followed me to the gate and I tied her up. I walked away and stood quietly for several minutes while she expressed her distress. Then I went to get the wire cutters. After she'd calmed down I let her sniff them and tried to figure out how I was going to communicate that I needed to get this wire off but not tell her "she must" -- I wanted her to know I'd like to do something around her hoof and hoped she would cooperate. I was fully prepared for this to take some time and even ready to move her into a stall until Ed got home if I needed to.

The instant I touched the wire she reached back and nipped me. While it smarted quite a bit, I simply walked away and stood with my back to her for several minutes. I kept my irritation in check because frankly I'd be upset if someone was messing with my leg while it hurt too so I certainly understood her telling me to back off. But this had to be done. After some time I went back and made sure she saw the cutters then I rubbed them over her neck and body. This time when I bent down she didn't flinch. After cutting away the long pieces she was dragging and getting them out of the way, I let her rest a minute because I knew the next part would be tricky - it was tightly wrapped about eight times around her ankle and I wasn't sure if I would be better off cutting it or unwinding it. I waited a few steps away until she nudged me letting me know it was ok to start again. Turned out to be very loose so a couple of snips right at her bone and it was free - she never moved or even flinched as the wire was being cut off and untwisted from her leg. It wasn't on nearly as tight as I thought so there wasn't even an indention or any marks on her.

After it was finished I left her tied for just a while longer and then walked with her to a very nice green patch of grass outside the pasture to give her a few minutes of grazing - the grass is always greener ..... you know the rest. When I lead her back into the pasture she followed me for several minutes before I snuggled with her and then walked away.

Now, this may not seem like much to those who've been around horses but to me it was huge! I could have tied her and insisted she stand while I messed with a her leg and I could have expressed anger or even violence at her biting me. But I didn't. Instead I gained her trust and understood her situation - I didn't tell her "she must" at all and I allowed her to be irritated, only to calm down and let me help her.

What a productive weekend here on the farm!

Ed managed to rig up a bar/chain combination to hold the motor on my van in the air while I helped him drop the transmission out of the van. Poor van - all it's insides are spread willy nilly throughout the garage. Our other boarding family came by early evening and got to spend some time with their horses before they were called home. The best thing is that Ed and I thoroughly went through our priorities in order of job and expense so we're both on the same page for spring activities.

Since we've decided to sell our rental house in Newton Ed's taking vacation next week to fix the few siding boards that need repaired. Before he does that, however, we will run the back fence because our farmer could show up any day now to plant and we need to be prepared so we don't end up with 4 horses and an angry cow locked together in a small pen for several days while we run the fence.

The next expense after that is a good used saddle. Kim and Brian feel that Fizzle should be ridden more and I offered to help them out a few times a week but then realized that the saddle in our barn need a considerable amount of repair. Smoke and Fire have both walked with a saddle on so I'd like to not let too much time go by before working with them in saddle again. I've been doing some calling and found three shops in Wichita that offer used saddles but I really don't feel like taking the mower on a 100 mile trip so I'll wait for the weekend when I will either have the van or use the Honda.

After we get the saddle we need to finish off a pasture/pen that really just needs about 50' of fence - won't take much at all. This would give us a small pen, med. feeding pen, 1/3 acre pen, 1 acre pasture, and 4-5 acre pasture -- plenty of rotation and space for moving everyone to keep them all happy. The last two fences will separate the remaining acres giving us four large pastures, the 1 acre, and then about 8 remaining for a riding pasture -- this is where we'll put the outdoor arena and round pen. Ahhh, the round pen. I really REALLY want to get the round pen after the small pasture fence is up but I can't believe how expensive it is, even used. Amazingly used corral panels around here go for about $1.50 less than new at auction - isn't that crazy?! I've even taken to looking for used ones in the Kansas City area thinking that eventually, someday, my van will be fixed and I could borrow the boarder's trailer to go get them. At $50 each and needing 13-14, this expense is high on the "need" list but low on the "chore" list due to it's cost. If anyone hears of any good bargains for panels, let me know.

Yesterday was just a rocking good time at the Crazy Cow Country Farm! Within minutes of finishing my shift at work our boarders, Kim and Brian, arrived to look over Fizzle's hooves - Brian was going to show Kim how to clean them out. Under the pretense of "helping" I hung around for a few minutes to see an expert in action. Holy moly he was fast! In the time it would take for me to get a good grip and begin work he had the entire thing cleaned out - and they were quite packed. When I commented about his skill I mentioned my struggles with Smoke the other day and he kindly offered to clean our three as well. Watching him confidently deal with Smoke was inspiring and hopefully one day I'll be able to do that. He was as kind and gentle as he was confident and swift - simply wonderful to watch. One thing though. She nailed him a few times. Not bad at all but he was on the receiving end of a few strong kicks and had to step away a few times. At that point I know I would have walked away but he went right back in and finished the job. See, I want to be the one person who works with and rides horses that can say they've never been kicked or fallen off the saddle. Yes, I do live in this fantasy world but indulge me and don't burst my bubble just yet please. The only one he didn't get to was Fire as he wanted no part of any human messing with his feet.

After that I knew they had errands to run as they were on a hunt for a lawnmower and I certainly was anxious to get in the car and get my errands finished but we ended up talking in the driveway for nearly an hour - they are just the nicest people. I had no idea that Brian is quite the expert in horsemanship and believes in natural training as well. It was a wonderful way to spend some time - errands be damned!

No sooner were they petting the horses than a car pulled up with a woman and her daughter too look over the boer herd. Another hour spent visiting with such interesting ladies flew by and, after scheduling a pick up on Tuesday for the entire herd, I finally hit the road. As I was driving and reflecting on how lucky we are with the people entering our lives I promptly blew a tire. I mean it popped and had a huge hole in the side of it. Thankfully I was only four miles from home but it interupted Ed's work on the transmission and that's not good.

Since we just finished a bale we needed to move the remaining three around to start one and then clear the front part so the lady's truck can back right up to the stall gate. Those who've handled round bales are chuckling and understand full well how much fun the next half hour was. But after using several chains, a come-along, and even putting our little escort in there for some butting, the front is cleared for entry. Then I swept up all the fresh hay on the ground to use in the morning. By Tuesday morning the chickens will have pulled off enough hay to cover the entire floor and I'll only have to pull every other day. They're good girls!

After working today I began the spring barn cleaning, starting with the loafing shed in the front pasture. The chickens stood around clucking and squawking telling me to hurry up and get that mess picked up so they could get in for the worm treats and smooth it all back out. After I finished, within an hour it looked like freshly tilled soil. Naturally I developed a flat on the mower trailer and Ed had to come get me from the middle of the dumping pasture. If anyone has any vehicles you'd like to ruined, please let me know - I'm here to help and I'll do it cheap! After that was finished I started on the big white barn and made quite a dent - it'll take me several full weekends though as it's packed pretty well. The three teenage horses were very curious and none too pleased that I was messing in their barn but they avoided me every time I started up the mower. Moo wasn't scared a bit and took advantage of some quiet time in the barn by herself without the bothersome horses.

I just finished a huge bowl of freshly made salsa and should probably head back out to work with the horses because we're expecting our other boarding family any minute and, par for the course, they are wonderful people to visit with. I usually allow everyone to spend alone time with the horses after giving them a quick status report on anything we've been working on or noticing and then, if they have time, they'll stop for a while and visit which I'm always up for!

I did the coolest thing last night! Ed and I have been talking about how to divide our acreage up for pastures and include a riding pasture with arena and round pen. This is very difficult to do while standing on the ground walking around and it's hard to imagine where the fencelines should go. So I went to the terraserver site where the satellite took pics of every square inch of the US back in the mid-90's and found the arial shot of our farm. I download that and opened it in Paint then used the tools there to draw fencelines, a water source in one of the fields, and the current barn locations. It was really easy and shows exactly how everything will tie in together.

I had wanted to go to a private auction this morning over in Hillsboro but the winds are high and the air is so thick with coming storms that it just wouldn't be any fun. I've decided to stick it out until noon working on the phones and then use the afternoon to meet with a lady coming to look at the goats and using Ed's car to run my errands. Thank heavens I won't have to use the mower!

Sometimes it seems that I'm never happy and all I do is complain (I know my brother in law is nodding his head right now - knock it off Nathan) but this post is totally off the farm topic and will be my working complaint clearing it all out post. This post is about dealing with customer service and ordering infommercial products. It's probably not pertinent to any of my readers, but what the hell, I'm getting it off my chest.

Regarding dealing with agents when you order from infommercials:

• Yes, believe it or not, there is VERY fine print on that there television screen as you watched the program and you DID, in fact, miss what I'm telling you.
• Yes, the shipping for most of these products is OUTRAGEOUS. Think about it. They are offering you a money back guarantee on "the purchase price" so if you return it, they are still going to cover their costs by charging you the extra for shipping.
• If you're getting a buy one get one free product - trust me, you aint gettin nuttin for free. You're paying for it somewhere, somehow and don't yell at me when you finally realize that. NOTHING IS FREE!
• I work for two companies who handle most of the infommercials out there and most (not all) of the clients have additional offers for related products and then some type of affinity program - magazines, or shopping programs, something like that. I do not, and it bears repeating, I DO NOT, determine what the other offers are nor do I determine what programs to offer you. I have no control over that. The client alone decides it.
• Yelling at the agent on the phone for company issues is not going to do you a bit of good. I don't know a single infommerical product out there where it's own company employees answer the calls. You are calling a sub-contracted phone center or at-home agent and we have NO power or authority with the client.
• When the agent tells you that you're under no obligation to purchase anything and continues on reading upsells, that's because...... it's THEIR JOB. Saying, "I don't want anything more" will NOT cause the agent to stop reading them. We only get paid if we read the script in front of us and we CANNOT not read it. So get mad all you want but it won't stop the agent from reading.
• If you truly don't want anything else simply say, "I know you're doing your job but I will cancel my order if you offer me anything else." That's the ONLY time we can skip the other crap. Would you believe that in the 9 months I've done this I can count on one hand the number of people who've said that?
• Asking me "is it safe to give you my credit card information?" really doesn't do you any good because I'm either working for legitimate companies that have done background checks on me and have all my personal information as well as a complete record of the call we're on or, now listen closely, you're calling a thief and ASKING if it's safe probably won't get him to tell you, "why no, it's not. I'm going to steal your information and run up a huge bill!"
• Yes, you're correct, you just listened to an infommercial and when you call to order you get ANOTHER infommercial! Someone paid a lot of money to determine that someone with cc in hand will buy other things a certain percentage of the time. Yelling at me, cussing at me, flushing your toilet in my ear, putting the phone down, repeating everything I say to someone else, or any such nonsense will not change the fact that I have to do my job or I don't get paid and frankly, your opinion doesn't matter at all to the client -- only your money. Like it or not, that's the nature of the beast.
• And last but not least, if we ask for your ZIP CODE please for the love of all that is holy, give me your ZIP CODE - not your address, phone number, credit card, or child's name. See, it's that whole listening thing - and you wonder why you didn't hear that it was an UPGRADE to express shipping that's free, NOT FREE SHIPPING.
• One final tip, for pity's sake, ask what your total is! As unbelievable as it sounds I'm rarely asked how much the cc will be charged today. Chances are, ALL of the shipping and taxes as well as the first payment are coming out today so it could be significantly higher than you expect. Even more unbelievable are the people who don't ask what shipping costs are and I work with several clients who charge more for the shipping than the actual product - it's how they make money!

Regarding dealing with the customer service agent for a company:

• Brace yourself because apparently this isn't common knowledge, most (and I really do mean MOST) of the customer service for cell phones, credit cards, floral numbers, home inspection or siding/contracting type work, insurance, information gathering (i.e. life insurance products), shopping networks, and even catalogs is performed by at-home agents. We log in to the client's actual system and can perform a limited number of services to your accounts.
• When the agent tells you, "I can't waive that fee for you" responding with, "Yes you can, you're just too much of a bitch to do it" will most certainly NOT get me to do it - even if I could. If the agent tells you they can't - they really can't. Because we are at-home agents we are monitored VERY closely for any credits or changes to customer's accounts and will lose our contract in a heartbeat if we do something like that.

I do want to be clear, some of my favorite household products were purchased from infommericals - I'm not down with infommericials or the companies or the products! I just think if you're going to spend money over the phone like that you need to do a little research or listen carefully to what your getting.

There. I feel better. Off to do afternoon chores.

Rain rain go away......

It stormed all morning yesterday so I wasn't able to get outside until the afternoon. I had a real breakthrough with the horses though -- Smoke came right up to me when I walked in the pasture and this time while I was scratching her all over, she turned her head to nudge at me. Taking her que that she was ready to join up I started a really hard massage all over her body. She LOVED it! She bounced her head, nuzzled my arms, swayed her whole body, and practically sighed with content. There was a definite difference in her behavior yesterday as opposed to before - she clearly enjoyed it and wanted me to connect with her. I walked the entire pasture fenceline checking the lines and she just walked along after me. After I groomed her I worked with Fire for just a little while - he's definitely warming up but still not as comfortable as Smoke. Midnight is now allowing me to pat his head just a little but I've been careful to make no movement towards his neck or halter and I make sure that I retreat from him rather than have him retreat from me.

The only good thing about the rain this week is that Ed can start work on the van. It's hard to believe that I haven't had a working vehicle here for nearly 3 weeks! I'm reminded of that song She Forgot About My Old John Deere or whatever it was called -- I have visions of driving the mower into town for the shopping. Hopefully, he can get the seal replaced this week and then I think he's going to work on my BIL's truck over the weekend since we're expecting more rain. I think he said he'll take it into the shop to use the lift but that sucks because I'd love to have them up for the day -- well only if SIL came with him.

Work is going very well since the kids are back in school, Vincent and I are back to the daily routine of just the two of us and he's now helping me wash dishes. Holy cow, you don't want to know the state of my kitchen after he helps.

Oops! I noticed a couple weeks ago that I was getting a lot of spam/stock tip quotes in my comments so I "thought" I went into my template and added the feature where the commenter types in the word verification. Apparently I also enabled the "moderate comments" button and I had many comments awaiting moderation! Thankfully, my determined friend in Wichita figured out how to get my unlisted number and called to let me know that her comments weren't showing up. Sorry about that!

I think I have it corrected now. And my apologies to those who left comments and now it looks like I never allowed them or replied.

WARNING! The post below has a very graphic picture of Ed's psoriatic arthritis condition.

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This is what psoriatic arthritis looks like and keep in mind, this was AFTER Ed started taking the med that worked -- this, believe it or not, is in the healing stages. You can see that there are a few inches like a stripe down his leg that weren't covered with it, but for the most part, this covered every single part of his body - except his face.

Can you imagine the pain he was in? It still breaks my heart to think about and can you believe his entire body is now completely clear?

Naturally, because we started painted the house, the weatherman is predicting thunderstorms for the next seven days. You're all very welcome and we're so happy we could help.

I worked on the phones 6 hrs yesterday and then headed out to help Ed. The absolute worst part of the house - not a speck of paint, just bare boards - was the balcony outside my office. By evening we had the balcony painted and nearly all of the first floor which only leaves the second story. Ed thinks he can get it done in a week of evenings but with thunderstorms coming, obviously that won't be this week. Oh well, when the weather allows it, we'll git r done.

Fizzle's owner came to ride both days over the weekend and commented that she's let her riding sessions slack enough that Fizzle is acting up and no longer agreeing to commands. She asked if I'd ride her a couple times each week to keep her in good riding form and I agreed -- it'll be nice to ride again and I think I'll enjoy it.

I'm fresh out of interesting stories and exhausted from the weekend so it's just work, chores, and rest for me today. Oh, and laundry. Good gravy this family creates some serious dirty laundry on the weekends.

The best laid plans ........... you know the rest.

I always forget that I schedule work on eastern time and so I ended earlier in the day than planned. Unfortunately, even after feeding the kids and doing all the shopping as slow as possible (and talking with all my old friends at Walmart) I still returned home with 3 hours of daylight ahead of me. So I helped paint the house. It's coming along nicely - Ed finished one whole outside wall on the second story and I finished the covered porch area. It's amazing how much better it looks. One of the neighbors stopped by for eggs and said he remembered the last time the house was painted -- 1974! Ack!

Our south neighbor cut his calves yesterday and we saw him with his sons making several trips with the full trailer up and down the road delivering them. His poor heifers were making quite a rucus all night long and even this morning they are still hollering for their babies.

Well, one good thing, between painting this weekend and spring barn cleaning next weekend I should be getting into shape!

Note to self: three children + spring break + no working vehicle + spring chores list = one crazy week

We've survived spring break and with Ed home over the weekend, I'll take the car into town for shopping. My poor children were farmbound the entire week and had to make do with helping me on chores or driving the mower for entertainment. Vincent passed his right into boyhood by learning from his brothers how to drive the mower while mom stook on the patio wringing her hands and sobbing that he's growing up. They all laughed at me.

I'm learning more about horses each day and love every minute. Fizzle is older and I put her with the three teen boarders in the back pasture thinking she'd enjoy the older kids rather than our three babies. The proud cut gelding who still thinks he's a stallion quickly humbled her but Cinnamon instantly relinquished her head mare status to Fizzle and after much nipping, bucking, and talking they all ran off into the fields. It was really cool for this city girl to watch.

We've decided to sell most of the goats. We had really planned to start a boer herd but that brings only a once/year income and horse boarding brings monthly income so we are changing our plans. We'll keep Spot and Leo - our two favorite boys - but the rest will go. Let me tell you, after seeing what Fifteen and Buck can do to a fence reinforced with rebar, all the stories you hear about goats and their destruction are well understood by us.

The weekend is supposed to be great weather and since the lady in KC changed her mind about getting the trailer, Ed will start the house painting. I plan to schedule lots of hours working because I totally suck at painting houses.

It's been busy around here. We went to the auction Sat. morning and purchased grain feeders for the animals then watched the rest. It's so odd to see huge plow attachments and hay trailers go for $150.00 but stall panels go for just dollars under the price of new. I had a blast and wanted to stay the entire time but it was a beautiful wind-less day so we headed home for chores. I worked with Smoke and Fire (the sorrel colt) more in the afternoon and Midnight finally allowed me to pet him. I was careful to just pet his nose and neck then retreat. Hopefully another week or so of this will gain his trust so I can attach a lead and get to know him.

Unfortunately the boarding horses do not care for the goats and evicted them from the barn. Feeling homeless, we noticed the goats entering the road and neighboring fields - something they have never done. At this point we're going to have to keep them locked in the pen and rotate them into the barn to allow the horses and Moo into the pen at night for shelter. Moving livestock around all day is not fun and I'll come up with a better system this week. Moo has warmed to the goats though and even lets Buck scratch her with his horns. I watched yesterday as she was sunning herself and he approached she just layed her head down and he gave her a masssage. Hopefully she won't begin to act like a goat, although I did watch her play "butt heads" with Leo, the pygmy buck.

Sunday was spent repairing the roof, cleaning gutters, washing the hourse, and tearing down an old fence. Then I learned to set T posts in the pen so we can separate the goats out from the horses. My wonderful husband showed me how to set them last week using his post hold driver - a weighted cylinder with handles that slides over the top of the post. As you raise and lower it the post is driven into the ground. Of course, Ed forgot to tell me that as you lower it loosen your grip! I was hanging on to the thing for dear life and using all my strength to get those suckers in the ground. After setting just five of them I stood back to admire my first attempt - not too bad! But then I took my gloves off and noticed my hands had a line of blood blisters and open cuts across the palm. Ouch. It's hard to imagine that a year ago I had a decent manicure and callus-less hands.

The boys and I started spring cleaning inside the house yesterday and even the hot water tank is shiny and dust free. Then we uncovered a brick patio that's been next to the concrete patio for probably 40 years or so and had about 2" of dirt covering it so that you couldn't even see where the edges were. We had moved the basketball goal over to the patio for the boys to get them away from our table and chairs but they were still playing on dirt. Using the power washer and rakes took me about 3 hrs to get it all cleaned off - but it sure was worth the effort.

Our spring outside work is nearing completion and once the garden is installed we can move on to the pasturing of the west field. I'm hoping we'll get it done before the farmer comes to plant soybeans because if he were to arrive today I'd have all 12 goats, 3 horses, and a crazy cow in a quarter acre pen - they were NOT be happy about that one bit.

I have instilled a strict training schedule for the new horses - immediately following the whenever-I-get-done-working afternoon feeding.

Smoke will now walk right to me and await my instruction, which is normally "come" and she then proceeds to walk up next to me for the lead rope. She will allow me to lead her around the entire fenceline and we "whoa" periodically which gets her a click (reward sound). She will also allow me to touch her entire body with the small whip and raise her head when I raise it - without startling. She can also circle around me with a shake of the whip. She will allow me to put the weight of my arms on her back and hug her stomach tightly (gets her used to a saddle cinch). The one area we're struggling with seems the simpliest - she refuses to stand still when tied. I've tried about three different methods and none worked so I'll look for a couple other solutions. Next week, if I can get her to stand still, we'll begin grooming and hoof cleaning. The "breaking" point was when I allowed her to bite my arm and then bit her back (sharp NO! and a very slight aggressive move towards her), she's been calm and pleasant to work with ever since. Although my arm hurts like hell.

Red is progressing nicely with the lead rope but we're still working on desensitizing his ears with it - he's eaisly spooked. However, today we did a full fenceline lead walk and it's the first time his ears never went back once. Yay!

Progress with Midnight is slow. He'll eat out of my hand but I'm still working on approach/retreat with him because he just wants nothing to do with humans.

Moo is adjusting to the horses in her pasture and will now stand firm and growl (well, she does think she's a dog!) when they come near her grain bucket. She's not happy, make no mistake, but she's adjusting.

The new boarders are wonderful and love, love, love attention. Each afternoon about 4:00 we sit on the patio and watch their daily entertainment. In a flash they all begin running, galloping, prancing, and kicking in a sequence only they know the steps for and this wonderful show lasts about 20 minutes. It's breathtaking. Mayberry, the one the owner's told me wouldn't allow humans to touch her, is the most affectionate of them all and enjoys me rubbing her all over.

I think we're in for a wonderful weekend weather-wise and invited ourselves down to Ed's sister's for a visit tomorrow evening. I have to go into town to pick up Ed from work since he's taking the side job truck he worked on back to the owner. I think we'll work on the two guttering sections that need replaced and Ed's going to attempt to seal the old metal stocktank that had a small leak. And the big entire town event of the Goessel Auction is Saturday - we'll definitely be there for that.

Our black yearling colt who looks quite brown in this pic.

Cinnamon, 11 yr. old mare - boarder.


















Mayberry, 3 yr. old filly - boarder.













Choco, 3 yr. old gelding boarder.












Fizzle, boarder who's in the pasture with our three kids.














This is the 2 yr. old colt.












Smoke, a coming two filly - friendliest of the three.

I woke up to no electricity Thursday morning around 4:00am and after about 30 minutes of worrying that I would need to get out the gas stove perculator for coffee I got up around 4:30 only to see 2" of snow on the ground - and more coming down. So Vincent and I left around 5:00 and made pretty good time up there. I called the lady when I was about 20 minutes away only to find out that I should have checked my email because her boarding barn was flooded and she wouldn't be able to get back to her trailer. You think that stopped me? No, not a bit. After an hour or so of wrangling and trading vehicles, pushing, laying down boards, and catching the three kids in a knee deep pond that used to be a pasture, we headed down the road. An hour out, my transmission went out and I barely made it to the side of the road.

So Vincent, the three scared horses, and I were stuck on the access ramp for nearly three hours waiting on Ed to come get us with the shop's wrecker. He towed the van, with the trailer, and we reached a top speed of about 40 mph in most places. We arrived home very late and then I borrowed a friend's truck to go back to KC on Friday and return the trailer. When I arrived the lady told me that after she moved the remaining horses this week she was selling the trailer so I quickly sealed that deal because she was asking a great price for it.

Saturday I walked the bay filly, Smoke, and she did pretty well. Today I was able to get her to lift her feet and allow me to touch her whole body, including tail and legs. We also worked on me gently tossing the lead rope over her body, ears, and rump - and she never flinched! I was quite proud. We'll start on standing while tied soon and I think she'll progress nicely. The sorrel allowed me to lead him today but is still not happy about it so I didn't push anything with him. The black one allowed me to touch his cheek today but I never raised my hand farther because he's easily spooked. After the trauma of their trip, I wanted to spend time with them and just see what they were willing to do now before asking a lot of them.

Sunday was spent cutting up that cottonwood that fell and getting it burned. Then we walked the entire fenceline and repaired it since another three boarders were arriving later in the afternoon. We then ran a three wire electric fence across the short section that was open from the barn next to the pond and closed off the open front gate leading to the house area. Moo noticed this soon after and spent the rest of the day expressing her displeasure. Once she saw the electric wire she knew she was now trapped in the back pasture and pouted behind a tree for the remaining daylight. The boarders arrived about 4:00 and after walking the fenceline the owner's sat with us for a while to visit. Their horses are just beautiful and I am excited to have so many here now.

And the best news? Ed checked the van last night and the transmission isn't out, just the seal! He'll still have to drop the transmission to fix it, but it's the difference between $12 and $600. I'll take that any day. :)