Summer! Don't go!

Ok...so I've been in a bit of a mood this week. I work for the school district, and I love my job! However, school starts this week, and that means summer, basically, is over. No more lazy days at home...no more going out on a whim and doing something fun, no more late nights enjoying the nighttime sounds...reality has hit. Anyone who knows me knows I am NOT a fan of winter. In fact, the complete opposite. I despise winter! I've spent all summer watching things grow, mowing my lawn (which I love to do)...to eventually watch it die and be covered in this white stuff. Ugh. Eventually we will be bracing ourselves for another long, cold winter, filled with tank heaters, horse blankets and high heating costs....

But, before winter hits, we do have one of the prettiest times of year, I do love fall for its colors. I have a hard time enjoying fall because of what comes after it, but I love the changing leaves, and especially the smell of fall. And, I am a big fan of Halloween! I have a lot of fond Halloween memories....one in particular involved a friend of mine and I, being asked to "spook" a neighbor's daughter who was having a Halloween sleepover in their old barn. So, at midnight, with us dressed up in ghoulish costumes, we mounted our horses and set off across the fields in the dark to try to scare the wits out of these girls who were telling ghost stories in this old barn. It worked! Now, nearly every year, Halloween is limited to taking my son trick-or-treating...but I've learned to make more fun out of it, both for me and for all the neighborhood kids who see us, and I take Magic, our little black miniature horse. The first year he pulled his cart. He wore a cape and devil horns for the occasion....and did the following year as well. Last year, we went all out, and he wore his little saddle, and carried The Headless Horseman. It was AWESOME! So much so, that we're doing it again this year. It needs some modifications, some of the frame for the horseman came apart under the movement of the horse, so we'll beef it up this year. This headless horseman was complete, carrying a lit up pumpkin! We even used one of my son's little squishy balls where the neck was, that flashed red....it was perfect! I have photos...I'll share here. So, watch out for Magic as "Gunpowder," the Headless Horseman's horse, again for Halloween this year! It will keep me sane the next couple of months.....but after Halloween, I will be sulking until April! =)

Head in the clouds...

And another hobby....staring through the telescope. Last night, from midnight till 1am, I was outside with the telescope, looking at Jupiter. Of course, it looks MUCH better through the telescope than it does in this pic...since this pic consisted of me taking my regular camera, pointing it through the eyepiece of the telescope, and taking a photo. You can still tell what you're looking at, but through the telescope, the stripes on the planet were so perfect, so vivid, nothing like the blurred view in this pic! Ok....just a glimpse into my world. Back to the farm blog! I am just enjoying some late nights while I can...it has been a nice, relaxing summer. But next week, we go back to school and work. Summer is coming to an end for us... :(

Going BANANAS!

Ok, so I thought I'd introduce you to another hobby of mine...not related to the critters at all... my heart is in the tropics. I am obsessed with palm trees and such....I love tropical plants! I actually looked up trying to grow palms here, which of course isn't typically done in our zone 5 climate, some do, but it takes a lot of prepping for winter, something I'm just not ready for yet. So, I started looking around at different plants I thought I'd like, and of course, every one I liked was not suitable for our zone. Again, I have a tropical heart. Well, I found a way around it! I found something that looks tropical, like the palm trees, but is easier for me to care for in the wintertime, yes, they need care...but not as much as the palm trees in WI would...banana trees! I bought me a couple of small, fast growing banana trees...and after an acclimation process, they've really taken off! I do have to water them daily, and fertilize them weekly, but it's paying off....my musa basjoos are producing pups (baby banana trees, suckers, if you will). My larger, fuller of the two has four pups (as of today, one just popped up today!), and the other one has one. I'm going to leave them on the mother corm till spring....my plan is, since the mother plants themselves are young yet, to dig them up and bring them inside for this winter... but after this winter, they'll winter outside with some care. I plan to plant them around my deck next year...if separation of the pups goes ok. I have an ensete maurelii out there now, my third banana purchase this year. Ensete maurelii is thicker, beefier than the basjoo, the leaves stay more upright typically, and the leaves are red, with some dark green in there. It's a beautiful tree...mine's quite young yet, so not AS red as it will be, but it's certainly red enough to be pretty, but it's quite small yet. So...I've got a taste for things that aren't supposed to grow here....I have cannas (digging them up and bringing the tubers inside for winter), coleus, persian shield and my bananas for now.....I think I've shared some pics on here...I may have. Anyway.....I'll get a pic of one of the basjoos here to post. The maurelii is pretty small right now, about two feet tall, but it's spitting out new leaves constantly, as you can see in the pic, there's one ready to unroll.

Blue heron

Every year we have a nesting pair of blue herons that spend their summers here. It's quite a treat. Why they choose our pond, I don't know, but I'm thankful, and every year, I watch for their return. Just last weekend, a friend of mine, who had spent the night here so we could catch up on our lives, and I were sitting out on the deck with coffee on Sunday morning and watched them flying around, they flew up to the closest tall tree to us, and one of them perched up there, as if to let us see the beauty of that beautiful large bird. He only stayed a moment, but long enough for us to catch a glimse before he was gone. They are very shy birds. I can only get a photo from inside the house. Whenever I try to get a closer look outside, they fly away. But I have seen a young heron flying about, so I know they have their babies here. Anyway, I snapped a picture of one yesterday, and thought I'd share it here. While I was looking through my photos, I thought I'd put a picture on here of a huge flock of canadian geese that walked purposely through the yard this summer too. I'm glad I happened to look out when I did...I have no idea where they came from or what they were doing, they were walking with a purpose, and I counted, there were 24 of them. Adults, and young ones of various ages. Some obviously not old enough to fly, which is why they were all walking I'm sure. Amazing to see TWENTY FOUR of these birds all walking together, in the same direction, in a line like they were!

Natage

Well, Natage is coming back. He is a super sweet, 27 year old Arab gelding. His farm is for sale, and he's going to need to find a place to live. He's owned by a friend of mine, he's a pasture pet only, she doesn't ride, but pampered, and one of the sweetest gentlemen I know. He came here last year, but because of the owner's constrictions, and Natage's eye surgery, it was late, and winter came in like a bear during that time. I tried him with Blue, but it simply didn't work out. I was skeptical, with his age, the fact that he's been alone so long, and having only very recently lost an eye last year before he came here, I was afraid he'd feel too vulnerable being with a younger, bigger horse, in new surroundings, etc, and coming into winter. It was right after his eye removal, and coming into winter, and the timing was bad, but it ended the way I kind of figured it would.

(even though their ages match up, putting him in with Kissy is NOT an option, she is terrified of every horse her size....she's breakable and she knows it!)

Blue wasn't mean to Natage, however she did let him know she wanted to be on top in the herd. He wouldn't go into the shelter...he was feeling "whooped."

So...now that he's gone a year with one eye, and it's a little earlier than last year, we're going to try it again. Hoping this time will work. If the old boy doesn't make it here, I believe he will be put down. He's in amazing shape yet....unlike my girl, who at a year younger, is barely able to walk comfortably some days. If the time comes I have to say goodbye to my Kissy, Natage would be a perfect companion for Blue, as she will notice Kissy's absence, and she turns her nose up at the minis....she wouldn't find them suitable as companions for someone like herself.

As far as Kissy goes....she has her good days and not-so-good, but we had a good day last week, and she and I went for a nice walk together. She about ripped my arm off, so I knew she was feeling well! She enjoys getting out...and it's her version of "trail riding," although she certainly can't be ridden anymore. I still like to get her out when her arthritis will allow her to. I took some nice photos of her, and we enjoyed the time together. But, today, she's hobbling around...and my last straw are those steriod shots....I'd like to try it before winter hits...if she gets no relief from that, or not enough, anyway, I think it would be inhumane of me, as her caretaker, to make her hobble around through winter...knowing the cold weather is even harder on her. So.... we shall see. I've included a photo I took of her on our walk last week!

Special helper!

We had a special visitor yesterday, Elise, a family member from Milwaukee who is working to earn a new Girl Scout patch by helping out on a farm. She could have gone to a farm closer to home, but she wanted to come help out on ours. She learned how to give Kissy a bath, fed the chickens for me, and did some feeding of treats for the minis, and fed Kissy after we put her away too. She seemed to have a good time, and I know Kissy enjoyed her pampering as well. Today's been busy getting our air conditoner fixed, which thank goodness it is...it's working on getting the house cooled down, the heat index outside is 100, so I'm thankful we got it in just in time! The past few days were bad enough! Anyway, I thought I'd share some photos of our farm helper for the day!

Then, after some hard work, a girl's gotta have a bit of fun, don't you think?

Just stuff...

Say hi to Gracey! Well, it's looking like our central air system needs to be replaced....it's quite uncomfortable in the house, and I'm spending a lot of time in the basement, where it is a little bit cooler at least. But I spent some time outside last night just snapping some pics......I just don't have the room to share them all here, but those of you who know me well are friends of mine on Facebook, and see ALL of my photos on there....probably more than you care to see! I took pics of all of the minis, and I also took a pic of one of my basjoo bananas (I shared it here)....which are coming along nicely now that they're acclimated in their new spot in the ground. They got planted quite late this year because the weather just wasn't fit for them. Next winter the two basjoos will winter outside, however this winter my basement will be home to them, and my ensete maurelii banana, where hopefully they'll continue to grow a little bit for a head start for next year. They could get 8-10 feet tall eventually! The ensete will always have to come in for the winter. Will need to bring my cannas in too. My persian shield looks AWESOME, and I'm sad that I'll have to let some of it die before winter. I'm going to bring some of it in the house to save for next year, and a friend of mine would like some of it, but it has multiplied so big, so fast, I just am not going to have room to keep it all in a pot this winter. My son and his grandfather made me a beautiful planter bench, I think that's where the persian shield will go next year, maybe that on one side, and my caladium on the other side. I have a tropical heart! I might try elephant ears next year!

I'm sad to see that tomorrow is August already...one more month of summer break for me, but I will like getting back to work and getting a paycheck again too! I've missed seeing the kids and coworkers on a daily basis. It has been such a hot July, so I hope we're given a break for August...which is usually pretty hot around here. I think my critters are pretty tired of the heat, and I know I am too!

Knocking on wood is a necessity....

So....it's been a pretty uneventful week with my broken toe...but it is feeling well enough to walk on now, as long as it's well supported. Kissy, however, has begun limping again. She's had such a great 6 weeks or so....and now a few days of limping and soreness. So she's back to bute twice a day, and me wondering what the future will hold. This roller coaster is so tough. I believe I'll spend my free time the next few days researching those steroid shots, and if I need to try one earlier than winter, I will, just to see if it works for her. That way, if by chance I do need to say goodbye to her, I can do so before winter hits. I don't like to think that way...but I've BEEN thinking that way for the last 5 months or so, preparing myself, just in case.

I have also thought about Blue, our other "big" horse, who's very bonded with Kissy...and what she would do with Kissy gone. I know. She'd freak, for awhile. But, I have a friend's horse coming over in August...hoping he will get along with Blue (it's not Blue I'm worried about, it's his personality, really). If things eventually work out, and we need to let Kissy go, it will work out the best all around. She'll have a safe place to keep her horse, and Blue will have a buddy. She doesn't consider the minis her buddies. She turns her nose at them. Eventually I would like to buy another horse, not to replace Kissy, but a horse I've wanted for a few years now, but I'm not ready for that right now. And, I need to see Kissy off to her next good place first, whenever that happens. I included a pic of her bad knee, where you can see the lump on it, and one of her x-ray photos, where you can see the lump on the x-ray, and the degeneration of the joint inside.

Thinking about Kissy...

Well, considering I believe I broke my toe yesterday, and it has turned every shade of purple imagineable, I've had little to do today but sit around....and I've been thinking about my girl. We had a very bad spring. At that point, I didn't think she would make it till summer. I prayed that she could hold out till summer so I wouldn't have to put her down before I was off work for the summer, I couldn't fathom having to deal with that and working too. Not my partner of 25 years. Well, she improved, not by anything I gave her, I tried a number of things, both supplements and prescriptions, but eventually I think it was the weather that helped her improve. And for the most part, she's had a pretty good summer. I'm not sure if I'm completely at peace with this decision yet, circumstances unknown to us yet may lead me to change my mind down the road, however at this time I'm thinking my plan is to try steriod injections in her knee to help her through the winter...and see if that helps. That is one thing we have not yet tried, and I know little about them. The vet has told me if they help her, they probably won't help her for more than 2-4 months...so it may take a couple of shots to get her through the winter if it does help...but I am willing to try. It is hard for me to say goodbye, but I know in my heart I will do what's best for her if she is suffering endlessly.

One thing Kissy and I have going for us are the endless thoughts and prayers from many people in my life. I am blessed with some truly wonderful friends, they are here for both of us, through good times and bad, and will continue to be. And when that time comes where I have to say goodbye, any one of them will be by my side if I ask them to. Most of them are not horse people, but Kissy has touched their hearts, and they care for her nearly as much as I do. Perhaps now is a good time for me to say how truly honored I am to have these people in my life, to know I always have them to lean on, they always care and understand, on my good days and my bad. What's the saying? They know me, and they love me anyway! =) You folks know who you are. I even have one who lives across the country, but is just as close to me as if we lived across the street. So, YOU know who you are too, you'd better not feel left out! I'm truly blessed. And it's during up and down times like this....that one truly realizes. Losing a horse is hard. But I've had this girl over half of my life. I don't remember much of my life before she was in it.... 25 years...that's a long time. And when she's gone, it will take a long time to heal from that I'm sure. I've been preparing myself...or trying to...just in case. But, I'm hoping, if things continue to go as they are, that she'll be here with me next year...that she'll see another birthday....as we'll give these steroid shots a try. Just thought I'd update. I know some people have been asking about her. Well, I have a lot of people ask about her....I don't mind, it tells me you care. And I appreciate it very much.

Visitors!

We've had our share of visitors this summer, and our latest was Dawn and her family from Green Bay. Dawn was my sidekick when we were younger, middle school through highschool, and beyond that. We were inseparable, and both shared our love of horses and all animals, we both just had a lot in common. But, as childhood turns to adulthood, life gets in the way, and eventually her life had her moving away, and we don't get to see each other very often...but when we do, it's as if we were never apart!


Kissy has had some tough times this year, and Dawn wanted to come see her before she's no longer with us....whenever that will be, and she and her family showed up yesterday. I have pretty much known Dawn since Kissy entered my life 25 years ago! She now has three beautiful kids, who like Kissy too.... I'll share a couple photos...above, Kissy and Dawn's oldest, Brittany, and below, Dawn, and Kissy.

Hot!

Below, Kissy, during a hosing off, and Blue, feeling good right after!

Oh boy did we have a heat wave this week! Highs in the upper 90's with heat index up to 115 one day. It's cooler today, and the animals managed ok. I was out spraying with the hose, I even sprayed the chickens, who were panting, and would give them a little puddle in one of their favorite dusting spots in their outdoor pen, so they'd have some nice cold water to walk through. I opened up the stalls inside the barn so the big horses could actually come into the stalls from their lean to, and kept the walk door open, so there was a breeze in there. My older girl, Kissy, was the one I really kept an eye on, with her being older....and I noticed on the hottest day, she was quite uncomfortable and in pain, limping on her bad leg...I imagine the heat wasn't helping her arthritis. Anyway, I'll share some photos of some of our hooved creatures cooling off this past week!

Below, Magic getting a full-out bath...and enjoying an "I'll-show-her" moment AFTER the bath!

By the way...here's a picture of that deck we put up. We had company visit us the second weekend in July, and we vowed to have it done by then...and it was! All three of us put our blood, sweat and tears into it to get it done. It's not a huge deck, but it works for what we need it for...large enough for the table and chairs......and nice to take our big telescope out at night to do some snooping in the sky...

Summer!

It's already the middle of July....the time is flying, and I don't like it. I don't like winter, and it will be here again before we know it. Kissy is still holding her own, we spent the spring and first part of summer trying some things, medications and supplements, for her, but didn't seem to help. But she's not doing too badly right now, so I'm just taking things one day, one week at a time.

Last week my son and I took two of our critters into a local nursing home to visit the residents. Magic, a miniature horse, and Kochia, a miniature donkey. Despite the heat, they both did quite well, and the residents enjoyed their visit. I'd love to do it again sometime. My plan when I got Magic was to do something like this with him...he's the one we take Trick-or-Treating every year. Kochia is WONDERFUL! In fact, in April, on Palm Sunday, she was invited to a local church to lead the congregation to the church in their annual "Donkey Walk." She was wonderful, and the kids loved the opportunity to take turns leading her down the city street themselves. We've already been invited back for next year. If it wasn't tradition to take Magic trick or treating, I had thought it would be so fun, one year, to take Kochia, who can be "Donkey," with I or someone else in a Shrek costume. That would be great.... but, Magic has to go out again this year, as we have some modifications to his most awesome "headless horseman" costume from last year to do.
Working for the school district, I am off for the summer, first day of school is September 1st. We finished our deck recently, and I've been working this spring and summer on, well, gardening I guess you could say....I've got a bit of a planting bug, and have been adding to ALL of the stuff I planted last year. Only this year, I went with a bit more of a tropical flair, with two different kinds of banana trees, some persian shield, caladium, dracena, and cannas. I also planted another raspberry bush...still would love more, and some strawberries this year. And tomatoes for my son. Neither my husband or I like tomatoes...so they're all his! Spireas around the deck...some lilies, ice plants, clematis....but this year's list is much smaller than last year's!

Anyway, I will add photos to this post of our visit to the nursing home, as well as Kochia's Donkey walk once I get a chance. I really need to do a better job at updating this blog....should there be anything to update! Of course it's also haying season....our son has even been helping out!

I'll also throw in a pic of some turkeys who visited our back yard recently. We also had 24 Canadian Geese parade through our back yard, of various ages, that same week. It was amazing to see them all!

Spring, 2011

My favorite time of year! I am now enjoying the sound of the frogs over the pond, and now watching everything pop out of the ground that I worked so hard planting last year. I'm truly enjoying it! I've picked up some more, including a couple of special trees shipped to me from California, that I'm looking forward to getting in the ground soon, the weather just still gets a little temperamental at times...and I don't want to lose these two! I haven't talked much about them, I'm afraid I'll jinx my experiment...but they are pretty special to me! This week I intend to plant some canna bulbs along the house......trying something else new, and if all goes well, I'll dig up the rhizomes in the fall to save for next year. I'm trying caladiums this year too. Just planted some phlox within one of our rock walls...see how that takes off....

A woman I work with is the wife of a minister at a local church, and I was asked if I would bring in one of our donkeys for their annual "Donkey Walk" on Palm Sunday. Just leading the congregation through the city streets up to the church for their service. It was a great experience, and Kochia was wonderful! Some of the kids got to take turns leading her, and we've been asked to join them again next year. Kochia even sported a palm frond on the top of her head....it was quite cute.

Most of the animals are doing very well. The chickens provide us with eggs every day, and are happy in their environment, the minis are all doing well, as is Blue.... Kissy, my 26 year old Arabian mare, whom I got when she was a year old, is not having an easy time of things lately, but I'm trying to help her out. Her arthritis, at times, gets the best of her, and I'm afraid this may have been the last winter she'll see. Breaks my heart, after having her for two and a half decades, but I owe it to her not to make her suffer...and if there comes a time where that's all she does, I'll help her find her way. She has a very badly arthritic knee, among other legs of course, but the knee is the worst of it...and we have been working with our vet trying different things to help her out. We'll see what happens, but at this point, I am just taking things one day at a time. One day....and spending a lot of time with her.

We've had a TON of great wildlife sightings here this spring....lots of deer, some turtles, turkeys, and of course the woodchucks have already made us aware of their presence. I'll add a pic of a doe and her fawn, or the fawn at least, who came to visit us on a few occasions. I took many pics, completely undetected, from the house! We've also had a doe that continued to visit our back yard for awhile, RIGHT in the backyard, I could tell it was the same one as she had quite a large sore that was healing on her right leg...she was close enough I could see it clearly.

So spring brings the vaccinations for four horses and three donkeys, and next weekend will be our spring clean-up weekend, haul out the composted manure pile......etc etc. I'm happy to be back mowing the lawn again! I am looking forward to a summer full of beautiful plants, relaxing times with great friends and family, and if all goes well, finishing the deck we started!

So, that's all for now...I'll try to update a little more often, but you know how things go...and it won't be long at all and we'll be cutting and baling hay, planting pumpkins, etc etc. I did, very recently, update our website, http://www.glacierridge.com/

Summer 2010

Has been a very long time since I've updated my farm blog....life just got in the way, and now that school is out for the summer, I have been busy (and rather happily) working on landscaping projects around the house. A friend of mine from work has a beautiful home FULL of hostas and other things, her hostas are thick and full, and we've had a nice time dividing them, and I've brought a nice collection back here to plant, mostly in front of the house. I've also planted quite a large number of lilies of different types, ajuga, japanese painted ferns, regular ferns, creeping myrtle and some chinese lanterns, in a spot where they can spread at will. Things have taken quite a transformation around here! I got some new raspberry plants to add to my young existing ones, and we have several pumpkins, sunflowers, indian corn and swan gourds in the patch by the pasture fence. I bought a scarletta fetterbush shrub this spring, I just love it. I wanted a few more, but was only able to get my hands on one. I just love this little shrub!

We installed a larger clothesline this summer, have been working on our deck, I recently moved the firepit and would like to put some sort of patio around it, and am getting ready to get rid of my son's sandbox. He no longer uses it, and it's just become an eyesore, and something to have to mow around, and the weeds and tree seedlings are rather enjoying growing within the sand, so it's time to go.

All of the animals are doing well, the chickens are giving us eggs every day and are bright eyed and healthy, the horses and donkeys are doing well. Kissy, my old Arabian mare, again had eye issues this summer as she does every year at this time. I've finally gotten the flare up to stop.

Already a month away from school starting yet again....where has the summer gone?

Winter is coming!

As is always the case, my website and other things just aren't updated much when the weather is nice. But here we are...Thanksgiving is over, and December begins next week. Here is my first farm blog post in quite a long time! Thankfully it was quite an uneventful summer around here, we had no big issues to contend with, it was a relatively cool summer, we had quite a wet October, and now we just had our first ground-coating snowfall a couple nights ago. Of course, it was all melted off by morning. But, the tank heaters were dusted off and running for the first time in October! That is sad! Included here is a photo of the new hay feeder (thank you to Premier 1 Supplies for the idea and plans, it is sort of along the lines of a "slow feeder," using 3x3" squares towards the bottom so we'll see how much they pig out....we may have to go with smaller holes yet, it's a trial and error sort of thing. We want them to be able to "graze" all winter long, but not stuff their faces constantly. There is Magic, in front of the hay feeder. It is 8 feet long, and the same on both sides, and so far, both mini horses and the three mini donkeys have had no trouble eating from it. Magic is the one who sometimes will be a bugger...but he and Merlin will eat on one side, the three donkeys on the other!

The critters are all getting their winter woolies, the chicken coop is being winterized, and we just finished a new hay feeder for the minis, which was just introduced to them today, as a matter of fact. I will include a photo with this post. Magic and Merlin's tails are up for winter now, I have always put Magic's tail up for winter, it grows so nice when I do, but this is the first with my grullo, Merlin. He has a very long tail, but it's very thin. I don't know if protecting it will give us some thickness or not, but we shall find out! Kissy's weight is really good coming into winter, so hoping to keep it that way. I need to do some blanket shopping for Blue, as one side of hers looks like it took a tangle with some sort of mountain lion or something (which was Jag, the red dun gelding we sold in March).

We had an extra special visitor here in October, a beautiful Friesian mare, Katryne. She was here for some riding and pampering, which I really enjoyed her presence. Friesians have always been my dream horse, but their price is way out of reach for me, so it was fun to be able to just enjoy someone else's for awhile! But...she was missed at home, so of course eventually went back where she belonged, with her owner, and the other Friesians on the farm where she belongs.

I still feel an emptiness in my heart after finding a home for my two pygmy goats late last winter. I miss my goats. Someday, I'll have goats again. Either I will have dehorned goats, or a separate place to keep them. Our goats were occasionally using their horns (playfully) with the minis, and I was afraid someone was going to get hurt. So I decided I needed to do something....before an injury occurred. And I had nowhere to separate the minis from the goats...unless I put the goats in the barn, which was no life for them. Someday perhaps I can have a different setup, but until then, I will be goat-less.

So, I'm sure I'll have more updates now that the weather is gearing up for a Wisconsin winter. But for now, that is all!