Horse Filled Days

Hello....is anyone out there???

2011-07-19T06:56:00.000-05:00

I don't know if anyone is still even watching my blog, but I'll talk anyway, LOL.......It has been almost 5 months since I have posted. I am on vacation for a few days, so I finally have time to write!

Since starting my new job in February, I just simply haven't had time to post. Between working 40 hours a week, taking care of all the dogs, cats, horses, mules, plus the yardwork and housework, there just isn't enough time in the day, and I am sure most of you know what I am talking about!

All the critters are doing fine, not much new in that area of our lives. Our new grandbaby Brayden James was born on July 7! He is a doll baby, and HUGE.....he weighed in at 9 pounds 5 oz. at birth. His mama had a really hard time having him, but both of them are doing fine now, thank goodness......here is a sneak peak at the sweetie pie......

My son (Brady's dad) holding him in the hospital..........

We are so thankful he is here, and him and his mother are both fine, just so glad that he is happy and healthy!

And, we have more exciting news.....my daughter is expecting a baby in January, so I'm gonna be a Nanna again! We are hoping for a girl, but as long as the baby is heathy, that's all that matters!

I am gonna try to post more often, at least maybe once a week or so, my work should start slowing down here in a month or so, so I should have a little more time, LOL......

Hope everyone is having a great summer, and staying cool, I'll try to post some updated pictures of the horses and mules soon, bye everyone!

Update....

2011-02-20T17:11:00.000-06:00

Well, my new job is going pretty good, I am worn out, but slowly getting used to being on my feet all day again. I work from 7:30 till about 4:30 or 5:00, and have a 30 minute lunch, and about 20 minutes or so that I actually get to sit down besides that. This grooming shop is busy, busy, grooming about 35 to 40 dogs a day. And, with spring approaching, I am told it gets much, much busier! I have finally learned the computer, but am still struggling with the scheduling and what kind of haircuts go in which time slot, all the lingo concerning certain cuts, clipper blade sizes, etc. My boss has been great, she is patient with me, and assures me in a couple months, I will be doing great (I sure hope so.) One thing is for sure....the day flies by, and that is the good part. I am so worn out that I usually go to bed around 8:30 or 9:00, but I am hoping as I get more used to it, my body will adjust and I won't be so tired, LOL.

All the horses, mules, and dogs are doing great, we got all the horses up Friday and pulled shoes and trimmed feet. Soon, everyone will be shedding their winter coats, and slickin' up, can't wait.

My son and his girlfriend go to the doctor tomorrow to find out the gender of the baby, and I am looking forward to finding out so I will know what to buy at all the yard sales I plan on going to soon!

I have gotten to relax today, just puttering around, doing some laundry, and even made a lasagna and homemade Lemon Cream ice cream (which was REALLY good.) Tomorrow starts my workweek again, but I only have to work about 4 to 5 hours on Mondays which isn't bad. Hope everyone has a great week!

Well, it's time......

2011-02-10T17:35:00.000-06:00

Well, my life of leisure is officially over.....I started a new job this past Monday. I am training as a receptionist at a dog grooming shop. I will probably be posting less than I did before, so if it is a long time between postings, that is why......I just won't have time between working AND coming home and taking care of all the horses, mules, dogs, and cats.....sigh......

This job is perfect for me....it is about 1.4 miles from my house, only 2 minutes away, so I can come home on my lunch break,check on all the horses and let the dogs out so they don't have to go all day without a potty break. The hours are pretty good too...I only work about 3 to 4 hours on Monday to catch up on paperwork, and then from 7:30 till about 5 or so in the evening Tuesday through Friday, and I'm off on Saturday and Sunday which is great!

I am thankful that this job landed in my lap, as hard as jobs are to come by, and it couldn't be more perfect for me, so I am looking forward to it. I am learning the system and trying to take everything in, so it is a little stressfull right now, and will be until I am comfortable with what I am doing, but it is always like that when starting a new job.....

So until next time, hope everyone is doing good!

Deanna

Goodwill Goodies........

2011-02-03T15:28:00.000-06:00

I admit it.....I'm cheap! I love to get a good deal, whether it's using coupons to get cheap or free items, finding great deals at yard sales, the Thrift Store, or my favorite......hidden treasures at the Goodwill!

This last week I have found several really good deals. First off, I found this awesome little Villaware brand grill, which was brand new, it showed absolutely no signs of use at all!

It features the non-stick grill which removes for easy cleaning, and a pull out tray that catches all the fat and liquids, nice! I had a hunch this was an expensive little grill, so as usual, I went online when I got home to look it up. Sure enough.....the cheapest I could find it was on Amazon for around $60!!! I paid $3.99 at the Goodwill!!!! Not too shabby, and I have used it several times, and love it! I have grilled chicken, steaks, pork chops, and even used it as a Panini Press.

A couple days ago, I was browsing through the housewares section at the Goodwill, and came upon this little gem......

It is a Deni brand Ice Cream and Sorbet maker! It has been used, but is in excellent condition, with all the parts included, and even had the instruction book with it.....WOW! So, I got it home, cleaned it up, and am just waiting for warmer weather so I can make some delicious homemade ice cream.

So, I looked it up online ( I just love seeing how good of a deal I got), and this one retails for around $40.....and I paid $4.99 at the Goodwill!! So I paid around $10 for both these items that would have been at least $100 if bought new......and they both are in perfect working condition!

So, what good deals have you gotten at either a yard sale, Goodwill, or a Thrifty Store? I love to hear about everyone's great finds!

Totally unrelated, but I have been cleaning house and doing laundry all day today......... so I stripped my bed, took the sheets and blankets to the laundry room, and came back into the bedroom to this..........

Are you comfortable Greta?...... sure looks like it! That dog wears me out, but I love her!!

Have a great day everyone!!

Cream Cheese Coffee Cake

2011-01-15T13:59:00.001-06:00

For some reason, I have been in the mood to cook and bake a lot lately. I guess it's the cold weather.....there isn't really anything else to do but hibernate and eat! I got up this morning in the mood for something sweet to eat with my coffee, so I got out several of my cookbooks and found this recipe.

Speaking of Cookbooks, I think I sort of maybe have an addiction to them....I pick them up at yard sales, the flea market, the Goodwill....anywhere I can find them! I could spend hours looking at the pictures and reading the recipes. I was at a yard sale this past summer, and bought 5 really nice hardcover Cookbooks, one of which was Taste of Home 2006 America's Family Recipes. I paid $1 apiece for these cookbooks, and I have really gotten my money's worth. The recipes are all simple, and use ingredients that you are likely to already have on hand.

So I was browsing through the cookbook, and this coffee cake recipe sort of jumped out at me. It looked really decadent, but pretty simple to assemble, and it baked in 30 minutes.....perfect!

Cream Cheese Coffee Cake

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup sugar

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup (8 ounces) sour cream

FILLING:

8 ounces (1 block) cream cheese softened

3 Tablespoons Powdered sugar

2 Tablespoons Lemon Juice

CINNAMON-NUT TOPPING:

1/4 Cup Finely Chopped Pecans

2 Tablespoons Sugar

1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon

In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; add to creamed mixture alternately with sour cream. Set batter aside.

In a small mixing bowl, beat cream cheese, confectioner's sugar and lemon juice until smooth. Spoon half of the first batter into a greased and floured 10 inch tube or bundt pan. Top with the filling and then the remaining batter. Combine all the topping ingredients; sprinkle over batter.

Bake at 350* for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack.

This coffee cake turned out great! It was light and very moist and not overly sweet. I've had some coffee cakes that just had way too much sugar. This one is not like that, the cream cheese filling was actually a little tart which I really liked. If you wanted a sweeter filling, you could always add more sugar.

Oh......and I know I shouldn't, but I let Greta lick the bowl.....c'mon, I'm not the only one am I?

She agreed that it was pretty tasty, LOL........

Is her tongue really that long!?!?!......talk about snapping the picture at just the right second!!

Have a great Saturday!

Cows & Roasted Chickens!

2011-01-13T18:36:00.000-06:00

Good afternoon everyone, I am pleased to say that Snowflake continues to improve and get stronger every day.....aside from any unexpected complications, I feel like she will make a full recovery! I hope to get some new pictures tomorrow to post, but in the meantime, I am posting a roasted chicken recipe.

I sort of winged it on the spice rub recipe (pun intended, LOL).....I just made it up and tasted it as I went. This chicken turned out moist and full of flavor!

Oven Roasted BBQ Spiced Chicken

1- 4 to 5 pound roasting chicken

1/2 Stick Butter at room temperature

1/4 cup of paprika (sweet or smoked)

1 TBSP Brown Sugar

1 TBSP White Sugar

1 TBSP Kosher Salt

1 1/2 tsp Ground Black Pepper

1 tsp Cayenne Pepper (or more or less to taste)

1 tsp Dry Mustard Powder

1 tsp Garlic Powder

1 tsp Onion Powder

Grated Zest of 1 Whole Lemon

1 Onion, Peeled and Quartered, (Optional)

Olive Oil or Vegetable Oil

Preheat oven to 375*F

First, I discard any pieces in the cavity such as the giblets or neck, and then I wash and pat dry my chicken with paper towels, and place it on a lightly greased roasting pan...........

Mix all spices and Lemon Zest together until thoroughly mixed in small bowl, then mix about 1/3 of that mixture together with the butter in another small bowl........

Next, take your chicken with breast side up, and gently run your fingers under the skin to form a pocket between the flesh and skin, all the way to the legs and both sides of the breasts..................

Then, take the spiced butter and stuff in the pockets that you made and gently squeeze and distribute the seasoned butter all between the skin and the meat, and pull the skin back to it's original position...........

Then you take the remaining spice mixture and rub it all over the chicken, front and back......

I then take my quartered onion and stuff into the cavity of the chicken and drizzle the chicken all over with the olive oil.............

Ready for the oven......see you after while gorgeous...... :-D

I roast my chicken on 375* for about 30 minutes, then lower the oven temp to about 300* and cook for approximately 2 to 2 and a half more hours. This time of course depends on the size of your chicken, and your oven, so you may need to adjust your cooking time accordingly.\

So....you end up with this.....so exciting.....

Ummmm.....Errrrr........I meant to just pick a little piece off the leg while I waited for the rest of supper to get done, but as you can see, I got a little carried away............

Have you ever seen such a beautiful hunk of meat in your life?!?!?

If you love chicken...you have to try this recipe......delicious!!!

Snowflake Update........

2011-01-12T10:51:00.000-06:00

Snowflake may have finally turned the corner....she nursed vigorously this morning! As of last night, we were thinking she wouldn't last another couple days.......although we had been tube feeding her, you can't do that forever. If you don't let them actually get hungry, they will never have the desire to nurse, so we decided just to let her be last night and see what would happen this morning. Also, we put molasses on the nipple, which may have just done the trick. She seemed actually interested about 6:30 this morning, and was actually bawling and latched on and took nearly a whole bottle by 9:30!

She is still weak and anything could happen, but it is very encouraging that she is actually wanting to nurse! Now, we are trying to decide whether or not to try her back on her mom, or just let her be a bottle baby......it would be best for her to go back on the cow, but she may not take her back since it has been 3 days. We may bring mom and put her and baby in a stall and see what happens. We would just have to watch closely and make sure the cow doesn't try to injure or kill the calf.....but it is a possibility.

I will update later, and hopefully have some new pictures......have a great day everyone!

She's Still With Us.......

2011-01-11T10:33:00.000-06:00

Snowflake is still alive, and doing somewhat better. I say that cautiously, because she is far from being out of the woods. She has some water in her lungs which is making her not want to nurse from the fluid and just plain ole feeling bad.....so we are tubing her with colostrum and milk. She is alert, and can stand, so that is good. Our veterinarian has put her on several meds, Baytril, Dex, Vitamin B, and Banamine for pain, she gets 3 shots a every morning. We also gave her Sub Q fluids, and that seemed to help her too. So, for now, it's just keep her comfortable, hydrated, and alert......I will update later.......

How is She Still Alive!?!?!?

2011-01-10T08:07:00.000-06:00

Things have been sort of hectic and exciting around here......yesterday morning Terry went to check the cows, and found a newborn calf in the pond!! Mom was just standing there watching, but of course there was nothing she could do. She had been born either late the night before, or early yesterday morning. Of course, it is very cold here, temps have been in the teens and we've had snow too. We're not sure if she walked out on the ice (there was just a very thin layer of ice on the pond), or if she was born at the edge, and just stumbled into the pond when she got up. Either way, it was a dire situation.....Terry called me immediately and told me to bring him a rope, so when I got there , he roped her and pulled her out. The pond is pretty shallow, and she could stand up, but only the top of her head and nose were above water.....and we have no idea how long she was in there!

So we got her out, and immediately stated drying her with towels, and put her in the floorboard of the truck, with the heat blowing on her on the ride back to the house. Made her a bed in the laundry room, and put a heater in front of her and warm blankets on her. She was shivering really bad, and cold as ice, her eyes were rolled back in her head, eyes closed........and basically non-responsive.....she was very bad off. I took her temperature, which didn't even register on my digital thermometer, which meant her temp was below 90* F. A normal temp for a calf should be around 101.6. Finally after about 45 minutes, it registered at 90.2, then slowly started coming up from there. Her nose finally got some pink to it, and she started opening her eyes and being more alert.....whew! We really didn't expect her to make it, and she is not out of the woods yet.....she still won't take a bottle or nurse at all......We think she has gotten some water in her lungs, which is not good at all. We gave her a shot of antibiotic, and now it is just a waiting game. She does stand and try to walk around, and is very alert this morning.....just no interest in the bottle.

She is a big, strong calf (she had to be to survive what she did).......she is black with a solid white face, eyeliner on one eye, white on her ears, and a black speckled nose.....just a doll! I was researching information on the Internet, and it said that usually when their temp falls below 94*F, their organs start shutting down, so I really can't believe she is still alive....her temp was in the 80's........

Ruby Jane loves her, as you will see in the pictures, Ruby would set by her a lot, lick her face and eyes, until she started coming around. It was really sweet, Ruby seemed to be worried about her......

Our hopes are to get her taking the bottle good, then, putting her in the large stall in the barn with mom for a few days. We are hoping that mom takes her back, she didn't seem too concerned that we left with her, she went right back to eating with the herd which is not good. Usually they will run around and call to the calf, but I'm sure she thinks the calf is dead, so we will just wait and see.

So, at this point, we really don't know if she is gonna pull through, they are so sensitive at this stage, and anything can happen, so we are doing all we can for her and hoping for the best!

So, in the meantime......I have a cow in the house!!!

Still not warmed up yet, pale nose, shivering and eyes shut.......

Barely with us................

Ruby Jane checking her out........

Greta and Ruby checking on her......

Checking again, LOL.........

Starting to come around..........

Ruby and Snowflake.........

Ruby just sat there....wouldn't leave her for the longest (she is such a sweet dog, loves everything and everyone)

Ruby looking worried.........

She's alert now.....and Ruby was kissy, kissy, kissy, which I think helped Snowflake to come around........

Resting.............

Yay.....finally standing up and alert....now to get her to nurse!!

Well, I better go check on her, and try to get her to take some milk......we are still cautiously optimistic, but it's too early to say she is gonna make it, I will post updates whenever I can..........

Happy New Year.......

2011-01-01T07:16:00.000-06:00

Happy New Year to all my blog people....I know there's not that many of you, but I appreciate your following of our lives through this blog. I hope the new year brings much joy and hapinesss to all!

2011 will bring many new firsts for me, I hope......I will be a grandma for the first time in June, and hopefully I will land that ever elusive job that I have been searching for, LOL........I have an interview Monday at our local spay and neuter clinic, and I am really hoping I get the job, I love working with animals! That would be a great start to my New Year for sure!!!

Hope everyone has a safe and prosperous 2011.....

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

Merry Christmas!!!

2010-12-24T07:52:00.000-06:00

I haven't posted in awhile, I guess I just figured what I have to say is boring and people don't want to hear it, LOL.......but I did want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas. Nothing new here on the farm, same old stuff happening.....

I did find out a couple weeks ago that I am gonna be a grandma (wow, still can't get used to the idea), sometime around the end of June. My son Cody and his girlfriend are expecting. They will be finding out the gender of the baby in about a month, so we are anxious to find out!

I will try to highlight some things that have happened around here in the last two months...

Terry accidentally ran over and killed my favorite cat, Rico Suave......he was up under the truck and jumped down when Terry was going down the driveway. He was killed instantly, so that was good.....he didn't suffer, but I did......I loved that cat.......RIP Rico Suave....

We got a new mule colt, a 5 month old Sorrell, named Joseph, he's very sweet......

We are actually going to have a white Christmas......it will start snowing tonight around midnight, and snow most of the day tomorrow, with accumilation of about 3-4 inches is what they are saying. We had about 6 inches 3 weeks ago.....more than we usually get all winter!

The dogs are all still doing good, mostly just laying around and snoozing when it's too cold to go outside.....and as you can tell by these pictures, Greta is getting pretty good at it, LOL........

They did go out and play for a few minutes when we had the last snow, but they were ready to come back in pretty quick.........

Woody up to his belly, he wasn't having too much fun.......

Greta running in the snow..........

Got new blankets for the horses......Gunner managed to rip the side out of his, and Sonny ripped a strip out of his! Don't ask me how they did it, I try to make sure there is nothing they can get caught on in the stalls or pastures, but they will always find a way, LOL!

Here is Mr. T trying his best to take a bite of Sonny's new blanket.........

Dior with his.............

Well, that's all for now, I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!!!!

Greta in her Santa Hat!!!!

National Mule Day....

2010-10-26T16:04:00.000-05:00

While surfing the net today, somehow I discovered today is national mule day...who knew?

Anyway, as a tribute to these amazing, wonderful, although sometimes quirky equines, I will post some pictures of our favorite mule moments....

HAPPY MULE DAY :-D

It's Been A Long Time......

2010-10-25T09:25:00.000-05:00

Hello all! I hope everyone is doing well. I haven't posted in a couple months, things have been super busy around here, and I just needed a break from blogging!

It has been extremely hot and dry here, but we finally got some much needed rain last night and more expected this week, thank goodness.

We have all our hay up and are ready for winter! We have been feeding hay already for the past month, usually the cattle and horses can get by on just pasture until about November, but with the terribly dry and hot weather, the grass is long gone.

All our animals are doing fine, we did sell 4 of our mules, the two black pair, John Boy, Billy, Thomas, and Tobe. We had too many and they went to homes where they will be used more than they were here, so it's all good, but I hated to see them go!

I will just post a bunch of pictures for the rest of the post, some random, some of the trail ride we went on yesterday, and some of the dogs, enjoy!

Ruby Jane, sittin' on the hay.......

Riding at our farm in the hayfield...........

Gunner was so funny....this was only his 2nd trail ride, so he kept looking behind him whenever we stopped to make sure Dior (the horse I was riding) was still behind him, LOL.....I was so proud of him though, he did great on this ride, he is gonna be an awesome trail mount!.....

Here, we are riding through the pine thicket.....my favorite place on the farm.......

The trails were beautiful yesterday..........

Ugggg....we went through a field of beggar lice, so the horses were covered in them. I had to comb them off when we got back to the trailer.....Gunner even had them all over his face, and in his nose and muzzle!........

Heading back down the hill to the trailer........

Stopping at the creek to get a drink.........

Dior resting at the trailer........

This is me, picking the beggar lice off of Gunner's nose and muzzle.......

Terry, standing at the creek, looking at the land......

And here is Greta...in the driver's seat as usual, LOL.....I swear, if they ever make it legal for dogs to get their driver's license, Greta would be the first in line!!........

Ralphie, nappin' in the birdbath underneath the window........

And, last but not least, a close up of Greta's funky face.....I love that dog!.......

Hittin' the Spice Jackpot at Dollar General.....

2010-08-21T12:06:00.000-05:00

I ran to town this morning to run a few errands, and needed to stop at the Dollar General and pick up some potatoes and mushrooms. A few days ago while watching Semi Homemade with Sandra Lee, she made a recipe for Crockpot Meatloaf that looked absolutely wonderul. All I needed to make it was potatoes and mushrooms. Well, first off when I walked into the produce section, I knew I had lucked up! They had beautiful snow white button mushrooms on sale for $1 for an 8 ounce carton....good deal. Then I went to get my potatoes, and they had an even better sale on them! The Dole 5 pound bags of Russett potatoes were also just $1 a bag...wow!! I put two of each in my cart and then decided I would browse around and see what deals I could find .........

........then my luck got even better. They had a section that said clearance last chance where they had several baking items and spices marked down. They had 12 ounce bottles of Sunflower oil marked down to .25 cents, McCormick lemon extract, almond extract, whole peppercorns, and large bottles of parsley flakes....all marked down to .25 cents!!!!

I got 4 each of the extracts, 5 bottles of oil, the last 2 peppercorns, and 2 parsley flakes.

So, in the end, I got everything in both pictures for $8.25 before tax, I though that was pretty darn good! I am all set for holiday baking with all the oil and extracts I got, and I am really proud that I got all of it without using a single coupon! Who would've thought it?

Have a great weekend everyone, and look for those deals in the clearance aisle when you go shopping.....you never know what great deals you will find!!

Mornin' Run!

2010-08-17T09:32:00.000-05:00

There's almost nothing that makes me happier and soothes my soul more than watching my horses run, buck, and enjoy life!

I brought Dior and Gunner in from the big pasture, and let Sonny and Mr. T go out to graze this morning, so Dior and Gunner thought they would put on a show for me!

They ran around the round pen and paddock and bucked, kicked, and had a ball!

Gunner had to stop for a minute and say hello to Jack who was watching all the commotion from the lower pasture........

Dior flyin' by me...........

It's been so hot here for the last month, that we put one of those big industrial size fans in the aisleway of the barn to help keep the guys cool in this relentless heat. Sonny and Mr T love it and had gotten used to it, but Gunner and Dior just met it's acquaitance this morning, and Gunner kept his distance, he was having second thoughts about walking past it.......you've never heard such snorting, blowing, and carrying on !

He finally figured out it wasn't gonna eat him, and it's all good now. They actually stand right in front of it and sleep with it blowing on them, LOL.....

Have a great Tuesday everyone!!!

Good Deals at Kroger....

2010-08-13T14:35:00.001-05:00

I just had to post my great deal I got at Kroger this morning! I got everything you see in the picture for $4.22, and $2.05 of that was tax!

8 bottles of Sobe (used 4 BOGOF coupons, plus additional $4 off at register for buying 8)

Kroger Tortilla chips (1.00 no coupon)

Kroger real Butter 1 pound (1.65 no coupon, but still good deal)

1 Box of Kroger Fettuccini (.99 no coupon)

Schick Hydro 3 Razor (5.99, used 5.00 off paper coupon plus 4.00 off Kroger Ecoupon, so 3.01 OVERAGE, register took full amount off of both coupons)

Digiorno Pan Pizza (had coupon for a free pizza)

Tampax Pearl Tampons (4.19, used 2.00 coupon and 2.00 Kroger Ecoupon)

Loaf of Kroger bread (1.00 no coupons)

Healthy Life Hamburger buns (1.29, used .25 coupon which doubled)

Total before all Paper coupons, Kroger discounts and E-Coupons was 31.68, and I paid $4.22! That ends up being only .26 cents per item....can't beat that! I love this hobby.....it really pays to use coupons!

Beatin' The Heat.....

2010-08-08T15:25:00.000-05:00

It is still miserable hot here in middle Tennessee! We have had record high temps for the last month with no relief in sight. The horses are faring well.....they have plenty of shade, we have a fan going in their run in stall, and I am spraying them down occasionally with the water hose. I even set up a sprinkler the other day for them, and they were in heaven!

Playin' in the Sprinkler.........

Gettin' a drink............

Sonny straddles the sprinkler to let it spray

his belly and "nether regions", LOL.......

Havin' a ball..........

Ummmm....no, he's not dead.....

Sonny loves to take a good roll after gettin' wet.......

Mr. T likes to drink from the sprinkler.......

Ahhhh....makes me want to go get under

the sprinkler now, I think I might!

Allergic to Tomatoes?? Poor Greta.......

2010-07-30T13:53:00.000-05:00

A few days ago, I was busy outside feeding, mowing, cleaning up around the barn, and just doing outside chores. I always let the dogs out to run around and play whenever I am outside working. After a couple hours, I let them back in the house to cool off, and get a drink and rest. I came back in later, and was getting ready to get in the shower, when Greta followed me into the bathroom and looked up at me, and this is what she looked like.....

So, needless to say, I dropped everything, took her temp and checked her breathing, which all were fine. Her ears were very swollen, along with her muzzle, and I assumed that she had been stung by a bee. Well, I examined her and could not find evidence of a bee sting, and I think I figured out what happened.

She LOVES tomatoes and will pick and eat them out of the garden if I don't watch her closely. While she was out, I seen her over by the garden a few times, but I was busy and didn't pay very close attention. I have been researching and while it seems that tomatoes are not poisonous to dogs, they can have an allergic reaction if they eat too many. I'm pretty sure this is what happened, so I will have to really watch her from now on. She felt a little "off" for a few days, didn't have much energy or much of an appetite, but otherwise she was OK. I gave her Benedryl, and she is fine now, although it took several days for the swelling to completely go away from her ears and muzzle. Have any of you ever know a dog to have an allergic reaction to tomatoes?

County Fair Pictures.......

2010-07-26T08:46:00.000-05:00

Good Monday morning all! It has been a hectic week here on the farm, our county fair was last week, and we were super busy getting some of our mules and horses ready to show. Our week was full of practices, working, bathing, feeding, watering, etc...and we had record high temps which didn't help, but we manged to get through it. We just kept hydrated, and made sure the horses had plenty of water, shade and rest at the fairgrounds!

I didn't ride in the fair this year, but I did show one of our horses in halter, and Terry showed a couple of his mules. Terry's nephew Cannon did ride our oldest quarter horse Dior in the fair, and they did excellent. They got the blue ribbon and a trophy in every pleasure class they entered.....I was so proud of them both.........

Here they are coming out of the gate ....

Showing off the ribbon and trophy.....

Here they are going into the halter class, where they placed second, which was pretty good considering Dior turned 19 this year! He is still looking great for his age........

Snapshots before the show started......

Eternal Lee Dior, age 19.......

I am running a little short on time, so the rest of this post will just be pictures from the week's events, enjoy! Have a great Monday everyone!

Here, Terry wins the blue in the Best Horse Mule over 5 yrs old with Jack.......

Traditional Terms a.k.a. Mr T before his halter class (we placed 3rd in the class).......

Mr T Close-up..........

Well, thats all for today, I need to go out and feed, then run some errands, till next time........

Havin' Fun!

2010-07-16T11:00:00.000-05:00

Just some snapshots of the horses today, I'm pretty busy getting ready for the fair which starts tonight......

Hope everyone has a great weekend!!

Sonny's Bath & Baby Barn Swallows.........

2010-06-13T12:04:00.003-05:00

Well, I gave Sonny his first bath of the season this morning. It is very hot here today with highs expected in the upper 90's and a heat index of 103!!! Sonny loved his bath, he stood like a statue for it, and I must say, as hot as it was, I enjoyed it too!

All wet..................

Gettin' his butt sprayed, I think he loved it, LOL.........

For the past few months Sonny has been having watery stools, not diarrhea, or loose, he has the regular formed "meadow muffins", but just a lot of water with his bowel movements. We think it is from the green grass, but anyway, we have started him on a pro-biotic, so hopefully it will help. But, he had a lot of caked manure on his tail....it took me about 30 minutes just to wash and comb, and get all that out of his tail. I conditioned it 2 times and let it soak and viola....no more nasty manure caked tail.....yay!!!!......

He has such a pretty, dark auburn red colored tail...it touches the ground, so I was nervous about working on it without pulling a lot of his hair out....but I didn't have to pull as much of it out as I thought I would have to (thanks to Cowboy Magic....best stuff EVER!!!) So, it feels so good to have all that crap (pardon the pun) out of his tail!........

So, I got that done.....1 down, and 3 more to go, LOL.....I think Gunner will be next, I am gonna try and bathe him tomorrow. We are taking them all to get shod Tuesday, and I want them lookin' spiffy!

While I was working at the barn this morning, I heard the awfulest chirping and carrying on you have ever heard!! So I went around to our big stall around back where John Boy and Billy were at to check it out. Laying on the ground on the empty side of the stall was this tiny baby barn swallow.......

Turns out, his mama had built her nest on top of the light fixture in the barn stall! I got to looking around, and there are 4 nest total on every light fixture in the barn! I don't know if it is a shock hazard or not with them being up there, but what are ya gonna do....if we tear the nests down, I'm sure they will just build them back......anyway...... I needed to turn John Boy and Billy out, so I went and got my ladder and climbed up and took some pictures of the nest, and I put the baby back in........

John Boy and Billy waiting for me to turn them out......if I hadn't seen the baby, they would have stepped right on it walking out of the barn!......

Even though I know it wouldn't last long, I put the baby back. It is time for them to leave the nest, they have outgrown it, so they are falling out. Mama was torn all to pieces with me being around her nest....she dive bombed me a couple times, so I snapped the pics and hurried down! I did manage to get a few pictures of two of the mama birds flying around and sitting on top of the door waiting for me to leave, LOL,.......

See mama, right in the middle, flying? She kept circling and warning me to leave, so I got outta there as soon as I put jr. back in the nest.......

Here is the little guy in my hand.....they have all their feathers in, so they should be flying away soon. The mamas are chirping and calling to them I guess to get them to fly. It's a good thing I found him before my cats did!

Well, I better get off here, Terry will be here in a few hours with a load of hay, and I get the privilege of helping him unload it on a 100 degree day...Yay!! I still have a few things to do outside and around the barn before he gets here, have a great Sunday everyone!!

~DEANNA~

Yum......Rustic Peach Tart........

2010-06-12T15:16:00.000-05:00

I got some of the sweetest, juiciest peaches at Kroger, so I decided to make a peach tart with some of them. It is a free form rustic tart, and it turned out soooooooo good! You can make your own dough or use a store bought pie crust. I made my own, and it was worth the extra work!

INGREDIENTS

Crust (or you can use store-bought premade pastry, enough for a double crust)

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

1 egg yolk

1/4 cup granulated sugar

4-5 tablespoons ice water

1. Make a mound of flour on a work surface, then make a well in the center of the mound and put the butter, egg yolk, sugar, and 3 tablespoons of the cold water into it.

2. Mix the ingredients in the well with your fingertips, then begin incorporating the flour in until the mixture has the consistency of coarse meal. Add 1 tablespoon water and continue to blend, adding water 1/2 tablespoon at a time as needed to form a workable dough, gathering it into a ball.

3. Add a little flour to the work surface and knead the dough two or three times with the heels of your hands. Take care not to over knead. Cover dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or up to 2 hours.

Filling

4 ripe peaches, pitted, halved, and cut into thick slices (I don’t peel them, but you can if you like)

3 tablespoons apricot preserves

2 tablespoons brown sugar

2 tablespoons cream

2 tablespoons coarse sugar

1. Preheat oven to 400F. Roll out chilled dough to make a circle about 12 inches in diameter. Place on a baking sheet and coat evenly with preserves to about 1 inch from the edge. Mound peach slices on dough, leaving that 1-inch border of dough around the peaches, then sprinkle peaches with brown sugar.

2. Fold up the dough and crimp the edges together to cup the peaches in a nest. There will still be a lot of peach showing in the center.

3. Brush the exposed crust with cream and sprinkle with coarse sugar. Bake 30 minutes in preheated oven, then allow to cool at least 10 minutes before serving.

Here is when I had the peaches on, and started rolling up the edges.....

Here she is.....all tucked in and ready to go in the oven......

And here is the finished tart, all golden brown right out of the oven.....hope you get to make it, enjoy!!!

On a side note.....the only thing I would do different is maybe not use really ripe peaches. Mine were getting a little soft, which caused some extra juice in the tart. Next time I will use ripe but still firm peaches. Still, it turned out very good!

My First Garlic Crop!!!

2010-06-07T12:44:00.000-05:00

You guys probably think this is silly....but I am so excited, I just harvested my first garlic crop this morning! It isn't much, I think I only planted 10 cloves last fall because I was skeptical about whether or not I could grow it, so it's a very small crop, but I am very pleased (and suprised, LOL!) I am gonna plant about 3 or 4 times as much this fall. The bulbs are not huge, but they look and smell very healthy! I braided them the best I could ( I know, not the greatest job), and hung them up on the shed door in the shade to cure for a couple days before I bring them into the cool house to store them.

These were just from the regular garlic you buy at the store, but I think I will order this fall's planting from a grower..... from what I've read online, I will get bigger, better bulbs that way. Do any of you guys grow your own garlic, and if so, do you have any tips? We absolutely love it, I cook with it several times a week, so I can't wait to try it out!

All the critters are doing fine, I gave all 3 dogs a bath this morning....what a job! I ended up completely soaked, but I had been putting it off for a week! I had to get it done so I could put their Frontline on! The horses and mules are all fat and happy, loving the green grass and fresh cut hay! I got Sonny and Mr T up this morning, fed them breakfast and sprayed them down with fly spray. When I turned them out, they didn't want to hang around, they headed straight for the pasture to pick and get a drink, but I did manage to snap a picture of Mr T as he was walking off, LOL.....

That's all for now, maybe I can get around to posting about something interesting in a few days, have a great day everyone!

~DEANNA~

I'm Still Alive!!

2010-06-04T18:40:00.000-05:00

Hey all, I'm still alive, just been super busy the last month. This time of year is so hectic, I probably won't be able to post very often. Between taking care and working the mules and horses, taking care of the yardwork, selling on ebay, and now since it's hay time, I don't have time for anything else! But, just wanted to drop in and say I'm still around, and I will try to post some updated pics of everyone soon. Hope everyone is having a great summer!

"Walter".....Breaking Bad......and living up to his name, LOL!!

2010-04-27T07:59:00.001-05:00

The bottle baby has officially been named Walter (I named him after Brian Cranston's character from the show Breaking Bad.) Turns out, I couldn't have named him more appropriately.... he is living up to his name, that's for sure! He is very fiesty....he has already gotten out of his paddock once, and had the horses after him, then got back out into the yard and headed for the road, but we got him back in.

I wish I had my camera when we were catching him.....Terry had to tackle him to keep him from running down the driveway into the road....it was a sight to see! It was raining and storming (of course), and Terry ended up covered in mud, but we got him back up. Earlier that morning, we had let him out to graze and explore the yard a little, so I snapped some pictures....

Checking out the bushes and plants in the yard.......with Gunner and Dior watching through the fence......

Here, he stopped to grab a bite of my monkey grass and watch the cats playing......

Terry brushing and trimming one of the mules' mane..........

Whatcha got there?

While I had the camera, I snapped a couple pictures of my Clematis that is climbing up my front porch rail. It is so pretty this year, it finally took off and started growing..........

A wider view..........

Have a great Tuesday everyone!

~DEANNA~

Silly Dog........

2010-04-23T13:06:00.001-05:00

While cleaning out my truck, I ran inside for a moment, and came back out to this....

She loves to go for a ride....I guess she wanted to drive this time, LOL.....she cracks me up sometimes!

So, while I had the camera, I took some more pics of the critters

I found Ralphie in the tree........

Greta spotted him too, and started barking at him. He protested, and told her to get lost......

Since I have posted pictures of Sonny and Mr T lately, I thought it was only fair to snap some of our other two guys, Dior and Gunner......

I cleaned out their water tank and refilled it, so they let me get some pics...

Dior, restin', waiting for the water to fill..........

A close up.......notice the flies, they are here already.....time to get out the fly masks.......

Gunner, waiting on the water........

Gunner loves to play with the water hose.........

And splash in the water, LOL............

Licking the salt block..............

Dior is almost shed out, but Gunner is just now letting go of all his hair........

He is covered from head to toe in this.........

......and you can't touch him without getting covered in hair!

I can't wait till it's all gone, and he is slicked out :-)

Have a great day everyone!

Deanna

Babies, and More Babies....

2010-04-22T14:21:00.001-05:00

Well, two more of our cows have calved, so I thought I'd post some pictures of the new arrivals.

This one was born Monday......

He didn't like me taking his picture, so he ran back to mama........

And yesterday, our red cow delivered a HUGE chocolate colored bull calf. He is a doll, and he let me walk right up to him and touch him and take his picture. But he'll get over that in a day or two, then he'll run and keep up with mom....... you can see her in the background, she didn't want to hang around when I got close, so she backed up, LOL......

He is as big as a couple of our calves that are 2-3 weeks old!..........

What a face!!.............

More pictures of Sonny and Mr. T at suppertime yesterday.........

Can we eat now??

Sonny.....giving me the "whatcha doing....are you trying to catch me?" look......

Well, that's all for now, I am tired and dirty, I have worked in the garden and yard all morning, so I'm gonna take a shower and rest before time to start supper and go out and feed.

Have a great afternoon everyone!

Just Pictures of dogs and horses...........

2010-04-18T21:29:00.001-05:00

Not really much to write about, so I'm just posting

some recent pictures of the gang........

Ruby Jane in her new UT jersey..........

GO VOLS!

Greta hoggin' the recliner..........

Woody peekin' out from under the covers.....he's always cold, LOL.......

I snapped a couple pics of the horses yesterday when I went out to clean water tanks

They finally look like horses again, LOL, they have almost completely shed their winter coat,

and look so much better!

This is Sans Sunday Smoke.....a.k.a. "Sonny"

Here is Traditional Terms a.k.a. "Mr. T".....he always stands right by the water trough

the whole time it is filling up. Even though it had water in it,

he always waits for that fresh, cold water, LOL..........

Well, I'm off to bed, got a busy day tomorrow, hope everyone has a great week!

~DEANNA~

We have a new baby........

2010-04-17T12:53:00.000-05:00

Is this not the cutest face you have ever seen?

We have been expecting this little girl for over a week, and she finally decided to come into this world yesterday. This was her mom's first time calving so we were keeping a close eye on her...and it's a good thing we did! Being a first time mom, she didn't know what to do, she kept trying to pin the baby down and flip her over, so we put her up and worked with her until she accepted the baby. We were really afriaid she would hurt her badly or kill her, so we stayed close for about 3 hours, until she finally figured out what was going on.

She also wouldn't let the heifer nurse, so here we put her in gates and made her stand still to let the baby nurse.........

The baby is really strong and a good size for a first calf, she has a good strong suckle reflex!........

Here she is just born about 5 minutes old...........

Another shot with mom after she finally got to her feet........

Here she fell back down to rest before trying to get up and nurse......

I love it when they have these unusual face markings....it makes it so much easier to glance into the herd and see which calf goes with which cow. When they are all solid black or look the same it makes it much harder to tell them apart, LOL......

We are expecting 3 more any day now, I will try to get pictures to post of each one if possible. Everyone have a great weekend!

It's Finally Done!

2010-04-16T11:35:00.001-05:00

After spending all week working on the fence, I finally finished it this morning. I pressure washed it Monday and Tuesday, and finished the painting this morning. Whew...what a job! I put two coats of paint on it, so hopefully it will last for a few years, LOL.... You can tell by the picture of the header of this blog how badly it needed painting. What little paint was left on it was chipping off, and it had lots of green algea and slimy stuff from years of "neglect". It is made from pressure treated lumber, so thankfully, it is still in excellent condition to be 10 years old.

This is after the washing and after I had prepped the corners getting ready to paint the boards and posts. Underneath all the crud, the boards looked like brand new....amazing how well pressure treated lumber holds up over time, LOL......

Here is the finished product, it looks sooooo much better............

Another shot of the front pasture.............

And here's a picture of miss Greta with her favorite frisbee sitting in front of the corner posts and gate.........

And last but not least, while I was taking pictures, Gunner had to come up and check out what I was doing, LOL....he was my painting buddy, he would follow me around while I painted, then sniff the paint, and take off running and bucking, silly boy!..........

Whew.....it's amazing how much better you feel to complete a project that you have been putting off for awhile, LOL.....But, now I need to do the same thing to the fence around our side pasture. It needs to have a few boards replaced first, then I can get started on it, there's always something to do around here!

Well, I'm gonna go out now and mow a little, it is absolutley gorgeous here today, hope everyone has a great Friday and weekend!

I'm Back....and so is the baby!

2010-04-13T19:05:00.000-05:00

I am finally finding time to post, it has been a very busy couple of weeks! This time of year, I am always trying to get some outside spring cleaning done. I have been very busy doing yardwork, and am currently working on painting the board fence that goes around our yard and paddock. I worked all day yesterday and a couple hours today pressure washing it to clean it and strip what little paint was left on it off. Tomorrow I will start painting, and I figure it will take me until the weekend to get it fiinished. But it needs it terribly bad, LOL.....it has been about 8 years since it was painted, so I am looking forward to seeing it when it is finished!

Well, the twin bull calf is back with us.....we had put him back on his mama, and although she was letting him nurse some, we were still having to supplement him with a bottle. Sometimes she would let him nurse and sometimes she would kick him away. His twin sister is literally almost twice his size, so we made the decision to bring him back to the house and keep him in a paddock so I can up his milk, and get him started on feed. He is healthy and strong, but pretty small and is gonna need some TLC. I don't mind, he is so much fun!

Here he is this morning waiting on his bottle.....

Here's his favorite thing to do, LOL..........

John Boy and Billy are in the adjoining paddock, and they watch every move the calf makes, here is Billy looking over the gate watching him nurse..........

John Boy Posin' for the camera...........

John Boy and Billy trying to stick their noses through the gate to get a better look.......

And this is John Boy's favorite.....every morning he comes up to get his big ole head scratched (and I do mean big, LOL)....Billy is a little skittish and doesn't like to be petted alot, so he took off when I got the camera out.......

Well, I have tons of things to do, but I am gonna try to post more often, hope everyone is having a great spring, I know we are. It is hectic around here, but I wouldn't have it any other way!

This is What I'm Doing Today.........

2010-03-27T10:56:00.000-05:00

I am babysitting my daughter's dogs today....her Dachshund Merlin and her Jack Russel mix Aadi. Along with my 3, we definatley have a housefull today. But, the weather is nice, so they will get to go out and play after while. Right now everyone is napping so I had a chance to post, and it will probably be the only chance I will get today, LOL!

Here is a picture of everyone when they first got here....

I can't believe I got everyone in the shot, they were so excited and running around

I finally had to shout, "Hey everybody look" to get them to stop and look at the camera! The two in the front are Merlin and Aadi

Ruby Jane (my Jack Russell) doesn't know what to think of baby Merlin

here she is giving him the "what in the world is that" look, LOL......

Aadi is still looking out the window for her mommy and daddy, but she got over them leaving pretty quick...

Here is a close up of Merlin

He is adorable and so sweet....

We are gonna have fun today!!

Update on the Twin Calves...

2010-03-16T12:01:00.000-05:00

A week or so ago, I told about how I had a bottle baby,we had a cow that had twins. Well, we kept him up and bottle fed him for about 4 days, and then thought we would try to get the mama cow to take him back. Thankfully, it worked! She accepted him right back when we put them up in the barn, and I guess she figured she couldn't get away from him, so she let him start nursing. We are going to keep them up for awhile to ensure that she won't run off and leave him when we turn them back out, or to at least make sure he is strong enough to keep up with her if she does! I went to the barn this morning to feed them and took some pictures. We are still supplementing the bull calf with a bottle, but he is doing great. The heifer calf won't get near us, but the little bull, runs right up looking for that bottle....here he is trying to nurse on my fingers........

He figured out real quick that wasn't what he was looking for and ran back to mama and sis......the mama cow was busy eating, but she stopped occaisionally to look and swing her head at me, she wasn't too thrilled that I was there, LOL..............

Before I left, I snapped some pictures of the rest of our herd...............

One of our newest calves very curious about what I was doing......

A couple more of the girls.......

Some of the younger cows checking me out........

On my way back home, I encountered a flock of Guineas crossing the road. By the time of got my camera, they had already crossed and were moving quick, but I manged to snap a picture............several had turned to look at me I guess they were thinking about what I was gonna do next, LOL....

Hope everyone has a great day!

~DEANNA~

Chance to Win a Temporal Thermometer...

2010-03-12T22:11:00.000-06:00

Carrie, over at Farming on Faith is having a giveaway where you can win a Temporal Thermometer. You can head on over there for a chance to win. She has a wonderful blog, chock full of recipes, homemaking tips, frugal living, and much more. You can find her here:

http://farmingonfaith.blogspot.com/

Or I have a link to the blog over in my links column. Good luck everyone, and thanks Carrie, for the chance to win this great product!

Fugly Horse of The Day, Where Art Thou?

2010-03-10T12:25:00.000-06:00

I went to check my favorite blog, Fugly Horse of the Day, and I get the message that the account has been suspended!!! What is going on?? Fugly Horse of the Day is a very informative website for all horse owners and enthusiasts. The woman that operates it has been known to step on a few toes, but 99% of the time, those toes needed stepping on! She speaks out against irresponsible breeding, horse slaughter, bad training, and anything else of importance that is going on in the horse world. She has been an advocate for horses, by outing abusers, and uncovering neglect and bad situations for horses. She's not afraid to name names, and I really admire her courage and fearlessness for speaking up for those that can't speak for themselves...... I really hope she can get the problem straightened out, I'm not sure what's going on with the website, but if it has to do with the topic yesterday and the blasting of the Parellis, she was right on.... come back soon Cathy!

My Latest Haul from CVS.......

2010-03-09T13:29:00.000-06:00

I went to CVS this morning looking for the perfume sets that were supposedly marked 90% off, but my CVS didn't have any of them clearanced... boo.. :-( But, all was not lost, they had several other items marked down including Gillette deodorant, and paired with coupons, I made out very good if I must say so myself.....Here is the picture of everything I got.......

Here is a breakdown of what I got with the prices, then I will list the coupons I used with final totals...

(2) 1 Gallon jugs Arizona diet green tea marked down to .75 cents each ( no coupon but still a great deal)

3 pack of CVS paper towels marked down to 1.99

12 pack Diet Coke with Lime 4.29

Almond Joy Pieces 3.59

(4) cans Ocean Spray Cranberry sauce marked down to .40 cents each (no coupon but still a good deal)

(2) Sure for Men Deodorant clearanced to 1.50 each

(4) Gillette for Men Deodorants marked down to 2.25 each

(1) Gillette for Men Body Wash 4.99

OK, here are the coupons I used:

1.00 off CVS paper towels from in store scanner

FREE 12 pack Coke coupon from saving Coke codes

FREE coupon for Almond Joy Pieces for sending in a Reeses wrapper

(2) 1.50 off any men's Sure Deodorant

(2) 4.00 off any 2 Gillette deodorant coupons

1 coupon for Buy any Gillette deodorant get Gillette body wash FREE

I also used a $2 Extra Care Buck from previous CVS purchase

So, the total for all this was only $5.60, with $2.52 of this being tax...( I know, for all of you who are gasping, our sales tax is 9.75% here in Tennessee) And, I got back another $2 Extra Care Buck for buying
the Gillette deodorant, so the final cost for all this was only around $3.60!! Don't ya just love it?? It really pays to use those coupons!!

A Nice Sunday Afternoon......

2010-03-07T16:41:00.000-06:00

It is a beautiful day here, with lots of sunshine and warm temps in the 60's!! My daughter Olivia and her boyfriend came over for lunch, and afterwards she and I gave Greta a much needed spring haircut. Later we went for a wagon ride, and I got lots of pictures. So, I thought I would share a few with everyone..... if you don't want to see a lot of pictures, you may want to skip today's post, LOL.......

This is Greta before..........

She is now 4, and I have kept her shaved nearly her whole life, but we let her grow out this winter just to see what her coat looked like.....I loved her long dark red tinged dark hair, but with the weather warming up, she was getting hot and panting alot. And , it is soooo much easier to keep her clean with short hair, not to mention the shedding, so I decided it was time for her hair to go.

Here she is today showing off her new haircut....she was ready for it, she jumped right up on that grooming table and loved it!!...........It's a little short right now, but in a couple weeks it will look great and she will have a jet black, shiny coat! Then in about 8 weeks or so, we will do it all over again............

Olivia and JC brought their two dogs with them today, Audi, a Jack Russell Terrier / Beagle mix, and their new Dachshund puppy, Merlin.........

Here's Audi on the wagon ride, she was a little nervous, but she did great!........

And here's little Merlin....9 weeks old.....isn't he adorable.............

Here's the two Jacks together, (Audi, and my Ruby Jane), with Ralphie playing outside......

Audi and Ralphie wrestling, LOL....so cute......

Terry's sister and his nephew Cannon went on the wagon ride today. Terry let Cannon dive the mules, and then gave him a lesson in unhooking the mules from the wagon, and just the basics of handling them....Cannon did a great job.

Cannon driving the mules..................

Unhooking the boys...................

Terry "teaching" Cannon the basics, LOL............

Cannon leading the mules back to the barn..........

These are the latest mules that we bought, they are unbelievably well trained, calm, very easy going and laid back. They were the perfect pair for Cannon to learn with, they gave him no problems at all....

.....so we had a nice day today, hope everyone else had a great Sunday :-)

~~Deanna~~

Gunner's leg today....7 Weeks After Injury.......

2010-03-04T13:30:00.000-06:00

****WARNING ~~~ GRAPHIC PHOTO BELOW***** For those of you that are squeamish!

I finally got some pictures of Gunner's leg today. As many of you remember, 7 weeks ago he rolled over into the hay ring and somehow caught his leg and gashed it open in two places on the inside rougher part of the ring. Up until just the past week, we were worried about the lower cut on the cannon bone...it still had a huge, hard, hump on it, and despite rubbing it down alot, it still would not go down. Well, over the past several days, I have seen a HUGE improvement... the swelling and hardness has went down tremendously....YAY!! The incisions look great, the hair is growing back in, and best of all....no proud flesh! The upper cut still has some scabbing, but it has almost completely filled in and looks great. I don't care how much hay they waste, I am not using the hay rings again...it's not worth the risk. We are very lucky....it could have been much worse, he could have ended up permanantly lame, the cut on the hock was very close to involving the joint capsule....(then we would have had big problems) or he could have easily snapped his leg trying to get out of the hay ring. Anyway, this first picture is when I first found him, and as they go down, how they look today......

Notice all the mud.....yuck! We have not had hardly any rain for a few weeks, and it is still muddy, but nowhere near as bad as it was 3 weeks ago ~it's gonna take alot of sunny days for us to dry out! It is beautiful here today, the horses and mules are all laid out enjoying the sunshine, and I even cleaned my truck out....can you believe it? Have a great day everyone!!

Deanna

I've Got A New Baby......

2010-03-03T15:57:00.000-06:00

When Terry got back from checking the cattle last night, he brought me a suprise.... a new baby. Monday night when he checked the herd, one of our cows had just delivered a heifer calf, the baby was trying to stand, mama was cleaning her off, everything looked good, etc. He made his rounds, fed, then came back home just like usual. Well, when he went to check everybody last night, he saw this little bull calf, running around bellowing looking for anything to nurse on, LOL...Apparently the same cow delivered this little guy after the heifer, and as cattle sometimes do with twins, she only accepted the heifer and would not let the bull calf nurse. So now I have a bottle baby, and he is a cutie pie, he is a big, stout, strong guy, and takes his bottle right down without any problems. We had to give him a bottle of colostrum first thing, because we just don't know if she let him nurse to begin with, so to be on the safe side, he got the colostrum. I usually end up bottle feeding a couple every year, occasionally we will have a cow that won't have enough milk, or other problems that warrant bottle feeding. I really don't mind, I enjoy it, I love watching them run around bucking and playing. After we wean them and they are eating good, then we turn them back out with the herd. Here is the little guy, now I have to come up with a name.......

Here he is after his bottle...wanting more.......

Do You Think I Should Stop For Awhile???

2010-03-02T11:59:00.000-06:00

As many of you know, I am a coupon fanatic...I love a good deal, and I use coupons religiously. I can't pass up an item if I can get it for pennies, or best of all FREE!! Here are some pictures of my stockpile room....some people may think this is crazy...but I get A LOT of free items, and I pass them on to my son and daughter. It helps them out with their household expenses, and they really appreciate that I can give them items out of my stockpile (or at least I hope they do, it's alot of work....LOL.) This is not all of it....I have alot of smaller items such as toothpaste, deodorant, etc. in storage totes. And, if we were to be faced with a natural disaster, or some other crisis, and couldn't leave the house or buy items, we would be set for a loooong time! Believe it or not, this is nowhere near what I usually have, I have cut back A LOT on buying in the last 4 or 5 months........

This is my health and beauty shelf, shampoos, kleenex, razors, lotions, soap, body washes, etc......

This is my household items shelf, paper towels, toilet paper, cleaners, candles, air fresheners, etc....

And, this is my food shelf..............

Almost all these items were purchased either with coupons, or they were marked down on clearance, or I sent in and got a rebate on the item. Since I have such a good stockpile, it puts me into a position where i almost NEVER buy an item at regular price, especially with the health and beauty items and household items, they will keep almost indefinately. And, this hobby is very fun.....I love going shopping and seeing what all I can get for very little money! So, do you think I should stop........Naaaahhhhh....not a chance!!

Free At Last!!

2010-02-21T11:32:00.000-06:00

Well, it has been almost 6 weeks since Gunner cut his leg on the hay ring, and after treating the leg this morning, we made the descision to turn him back out on the big pasture with Dior, our 19 year old quarter horse gelding. The leg still has some healing to do, but we feel like it has been long enough for him to be confined to the small paddock. The best news is he is definately not lame on the leg, but we think he may have a hump on the leg for a long time if not forever, since the muscle was cut so severely. We are rubbing it down daily and applying linament, so only time will tell if the dent in the muscle will stay or gradually go away. My main concern is to be sure he is not in pain, and to make sure he will be comfortable under saddle....the scars or cosmetic issues do not bother me....he will be with us forever, I just want him to be sound and pain free. I will try to get close up pics of the leg in a few days.

Dior was Gunner's "mother" when we weaned him, and he is quite attached to Dior, so he was beside himself when we turned them back in together! We thought today would be perfect....the weather is so nice, it is sunny and warm....we are supposed to get up to 60 DEGREES today (and NO RAIN)!!! I got my camera ready, because we knew there would be alot of bucking, running, and farting when we turned these two back in together...and they did not disappoint!

Of course, the first thing Gunner did was find the dirtiest, muddiest spot in the pasture and roll, so he was covered in a layer of black mud/soil.......but he was so happy, he didn't care and neither did I.....

Then he realized, hey, I can run wide open now, so here he went........(by the way, I didn't know how hard it is to take a picture of a horse running and get their whole body in the picture, LOL).....

Here he has stopped to watch as Terry turned Dior in with him after he got some of the running out of his system............

Then we turned Dior in....and the real fun began....;')................

Dior will be 19 next month, although he doesn't look or act it....he still loves to buck, kick, and carry on, and most of the time he acts younger than Gunner who is just coming a 5 year old............

Here he finally stopped to rest and gave me that "what?" look, LOL...........

Well, I am off for now, I am going back out to enjoy this beautiful day, I think we may take the mules out for a ride in the wagon later......we may not have too many more nice days for a few weeks, hope everyone has a wonderful Sunday afternoon!

~~DEANNA~~

Do You See What I See?

2010-02-18T13:42:00.000-06:00

The sun! The sun! It has literally been a few weeks since we have seen the sun here....we have had above normal rain and snow and I have never been so glad to see the sun! It is still a muddy mess, especially around the barn and the turn out paddocks, and it will takes weeks to dry out, LOL. I snapped this picture of Woody laying by the window soaking it in this afternoon....

Well, since the water hose has thawed out from the last couple days, I'm off to clean and refill water troughs with fresh water for everyone.....hopefully, I'll be back in a few days with something to talk about other than the weather!

~~~~DEANNA~~~~

Yuck......Spring, hurry up!!!!

2010-02-03T09:55:00.000-06:00

I am so ready for spring and drier weather! We have had so much rain and snow this winter, and our paddocks and pastures are a yucky mess. The 5 inches of snow we had last weekend is really melting now, and this is what it leaves us with to wade through...lovely.....

That's mine and Gunner's feet when I went out to feed this morning.....I know he needs his feet done, but we have been waiting for his leg to heal more before putting the extra stress on him. His leg is healing very well, and he is not lame at all on it, so Terry is planning on pulling his shoes and trimming him this weekend.

Sonny and Mr.T eating breakfast this morning in their run in shelter....Sonny is the one looking over his shoulder. He decided he didn't like the camera flash at all, and he kept an eye on me while eating. So, I decided to take picture after picture until he settled down. I would take a picture and he would snort, turn and run out of the shelter, then walk back in and eat. We repeated this about 10 times until he finally didn't spook any more. He will be 16 this spring, and is a joy to ride. He is sometimes a little nervous around new things on the ground, but once you put that halter on him, he is a completely different horse. He is very willing, responsive, and you can take him anywhere and ride him with no problems. My daughter has shown him in 4-H, team penning, rode him in parades, you can rope off him, anything. He has never ever bucked, kicked, or been disrespectful in any way, but we just know his little quirks and how to handle him.

He had a sarcoid tumor the size of a golfball in his left eyelid two years ago, and we thought we may have to remove his eye, but thanks to the Veterinary team at UT Knoxville and our local vet, he completely recovered, the tumor is gone, and you can't even tell there was anything there by looking at his eye. Sonny will be with us forever....I would never trust anyone else with this horse....he could very easily be misunderstood, and therefore be mistreated, so he will die on our farm.......

Here he has turned sideways while eating to keep an eye on me since I had the camera, normally he could care less if I was literally hanging off of him while eating, but that's Sonny for ya, though........Notice Mr. T never even looked up the whole time....that's how he is, nothing bothers him...wonderful horse.. :^)

I also dumped everyone's water this morning, and cleaned the troughs out. It had been awhile and they were pretty yucky, so it took me a good 1 1/2 hours to dump, clean, and refill them all up. I snapped some pictures of the mules while I was waiting for their water to fill. This is Billy getting a drink, while John Boy watches the new mules who were turned out in the riding arena this morning.......

Here, he is seriously thinking about pulling the water hose out of the trough, so I have to watch and make sure he doesn't....there's nothing worse than thinking the water is full only to go back and see that they have pulled the hose out and it is all on the ground...ugh!

Here is a picture of my garlic poking up through the snow.....this is my first time growing garlic, so I hope it makes it through the winter, and I have nice, big bulbs of garlic about May or June.......

Have a great day everyone!

A Wagon Ride In The Snow....

2010-02-02T08:21:00.000-06:00

Terry decided to hook up the new mules today and take them for a spin to see how well trained they are, and they did not disappoint. He and his brother took them out, and they both agreed that they were very well trained to the wagon, and knew their stuff. I have never driven the mules before, but Terry said even I could drive these guys they are so easy, so I will have to try them out sometime (with Terry with me of course, LOL.) Here are a few pictures of the day......

Gettin' ready to go.........

Comin' back up to the barn............

Restin' for a minute........

Backing the wagon into the barn, with Jack and Dan lookin' on over the

fence, hoping they aren't next, LOL.............

Jack and Dan watching from the pasture........

Sunday Morning Sunrise....

2010-01-31T07:29:00.000-06:00

I was actually up this morning in time to catch the sun peeking through the trees. The light was a beautiful golden orange so I grabbed the camera real quick, I know it wouldn't last long. Of course Dior and Gunner had to stop and look to see what I was doing, LOL......

Hope everyone has a great Sunday Morning!

~DEANNA~

Snow, and a new pair of Mules.....

2010-01-30T12:22:00.000-06:00

Hi everyone, I've not posted in over a week, and the only thing new around here is the snow and we got a new pair of mules yesterday. We have about 4-5 inches of snow on the ground which is a lot for around here. I got out this morning and let Greta run and play ball in the snow...she loves it! We also snapped a couple pics of the new boys. I think we are gonna brave the roads and run to town to pick up a few things, and I'll probably take Greta out to play again when we get back.

Greta in the snow this morning........

The new "boys" settling in to their new home...................

John Boy stretchin' over the gate to get a better look at the new pair of mules.......

Dior after rolling in the snow all morning....he loves it, and he seems fine without a blanket, so we don't put one on him very often. He has snow and ice all over him, so he is keeping his body heat in good. We always make sure all our horses and mules have unlimited amounts of hay in the winter to keep their body temps up, it really is the best thing you can do to help them generate more body heat in the cold weather. I just watch them and make sure they don't start shivering or showing signs of being really cold............

Mr T. coming up to the gate to check out the new guys................

That's all for now, everyone have a great weekend, and stay warm!!!!!!

Nothin' new going on, just some pictures...

2010-01-20T20:06:00.000-06:00

Well, there's really nothing new and exciting to write about, so I just thought I would post some pics I took yesterday while outside doing the chores. The weather has been really warm, and the dogs have enjoyed getting outside more and playing (between the downpours).......

Greta doing her favorite thing...finding a stick to chew on.........

Ralphie on top of the barn looking down at me.........

Gunner in the paddock up by the barn recovering from his leg injury....notice the lovely muddy coat, we have had lots of rain the past few days.... : -(

Gunner getting up close and personal..................

And of course, it rained nearly all day here, so I caught Greta looking out the window watching it rain...she will do this for hours when it is raining........

And of course Ruby Jane...taking it nap, cause there was nothing else to do today.... ( I know, I know, she is a little chubby....we are working on that.......)

That's about it, I'll be back later with more of nothing to write about, LOL.......

All This for .81 cents!!!........

2010-01-19T09:33:00.000-06:00

Well, I've got the bug again, I have cleaned out my coupon binder, re-organized it, and I have been shopping and finding a lot of great deals lately. Here is my latest shopping trip....

At Food Lion they had the Lubriderm marked down from $3.79 to $1.89. I had $2 off coupons....so....I bought 6 of them, used six of the $2 coupons, and made a profit of .11 cents on each lotion! The register never beeped and it took all 6 at $2 off (sometimes the register won't take a coupon for over the amount of the item and the cashier has to manually enter the coupon, but in this case it took off the full $2.)

At Family Dollar, they had the Electrasol dishwasher tabs for $3, and I had $2.50 coupons, making them only .50 cents per pack, I got three.

Then on to Walgreens....They were running a promotion, when you buy any Theraflu product and a Lipton product you get back a $4 Register Reward to use on your next in store purchase. They also had the same promotion when you buy 2 Wet Ones you get back a $1 Register Reward. So, I had coupons that made the Theraflu free, and I had coupons on the Wet Ones. In the end, I spent only $4.97, but I got back $5 in Register Rewards, so I made a profit of .03 cents on the two boxes of Theraflu, the Lipton Tea, and the 2 Wet Ones. My total out of pocket on all the items you see pictured was only .81 cents plus tax! Regular price on these items would have been around $48......It takes a little work and time to figure out these deals, but I save so much money doing this.....it is well worth the effort!

Oh, and we had a nice visit last night from my daughter Olivia and her boyfriend, and Greta was very happy to see her to say the least (Olivia raised Greta from a newborn on a bottle!) She doesn't realize that she weighs 65 pounds, and is not a lap dog, LOL.........

That's all for now, I am off to clean and re-organize my spare room where I keep many of the extra items I get with coupons. I watched Hoarders last night, and it has motivated me to get more organized!! Have a great day everyone, and .....

....USE THOSE COUPONS............... DEANNA

Pedicures, Haircuts, and Updates.....

2010-01-17T16:17:00.000-06:00

It was a yucky, rainy day here, so we got all the horses up and trimmed their feet, de-wormed everyone, and gave haircuts. We decided to just pull everyone's shoes and give them a good trim this go round. We don't ride much in the winter and if we do it is very light riding, so we like to leave them shoeless for a few months about this time every year. They seem to be fine without them and it gives their feet a break from having shoes on all the time. We have been needing to do this for a couple weeks, and today was the day. We also cleaned Gunner's incisions up and doctored them, the leg is healing very well, I am so pleased with his progress...... Here are a few pictures of our day......

Terry pulling Dior's shoe.........

Dior getting a haircut, and Gunner watching from the stall..........

This is Mr. T....he was getting bored waiting for his turn and was doing a lot of yawning............

Mr T before his haircut.....his bridle path sticking straight up in a mowhawk (his name was appropriate today, LOL)....

Mr T relaxing and enjoying all the attention..............

Terry trimming Mr T's hoof.....

Sonny.....just waiting his turn...........

Mr T and Gunner saying hello.........................

And last but not least, here's an update on Gunner's leg .....it looks really good, there is only minimal swelling, not a lot of drainage, and no warmth or redness. Although he needs his feet trimmed too, we decided to wait. I didn't want to add more stress to him or his leg, and he is still a little sore. His feet are not bad, they can wait a week or two until his leg is healed more. Here is the "just injured" picture and a picture of how it looks today....pretty good for only 4 days healing time, huh.......

Well, that's all for today, I am gonna have a bowl of Taco soup that I made this morning, after a long day in the cold and rain, it's gonna be sooooooo good! Have a great evening everyone!

So Far So Good......

2010-01-15T12:42:00.000-06:00

Well, Gunner is doing very well today, he is walking almost normal, and taking it all in stride. Yesterday he was really sore and could barely walk, but he is much better today. There is a little swelling in the leg, but not nearly as much as we thought there would be. He stands great for his antibiotic and banamine injections, and cleaning of the sutures. We are hoping all continues to go well, and I should have some updated pictures in a day or two. Hope everyone has a great day!

Update on Gunner....

2010-01-13T17:19:00.000-06:00

While the injury was bad, we don't think it was as bad as it looked. We cleaned it up, and was able to suture most of it up, leaving on a few small areas open for drainage. Terry doesn't seem to think it will cause any permanent damage, but only time will tell. Our vet is aware of the injury and has prescribed antibiotics, a tetanus booster, and will be monitoring his progress. He will be on stall rest for a day or two, then he will stay in the small turnout area up by the barn so I can monitor and treat him daily.

Terry and I walked the field, and he was able to see what I didn't....Gunner cut his leg on the hay ring around the round bale of hay. We have used round bales and the hay rings for years and have never had any problems. We even made sure they were the ones for horses and not cattle, made sure all the bolts, etc were tight and not loose to where they could get a foot caught between the sections. Terry found the small blood trail and the very tiny amount of hair and skin on the ring. Apparently, he had laid down by the round bale and probably rolled before getting up, and his back leg went through the top section and then up getting caught, and when he jerked free, it caught his leg and ripped open the two areas. So, I guess we will be taking the hay ring out before turning him back out to pasture.

Here is the picture when Terry was stitching up the top wound, there was quite a bit of bleeding, but he was able to get it stopped. Notice under Terry's hand, the lower wound and the flap of skin that is hanging down, and will have to be pulled back up and sutured. The bottom picture is after he is all done and partially cleaned up. Gunner did great, he hardly ever flinched the whole time, but the lidocaine helped with the pain. It looks sooooo much better......my camera batteries died on me after these two pictures, but I will post more in a day or two...

Very Bad News....

2010-01-13T13:50:00.000-06:00

I am shaking and so sad as I write this, but writing seems to help and pass the time for the next 45 min. If you are squeamish at all, do not scroll down and look at the following pics. I went out to water about an hour ago, and I found that Gunner, my paint horse had cut his leg pretty bad. It is his left rear leg, and there is a hunk of flesh cut out near the hock, and another more longer gash down on the cannon bone. I immediately called my husband, who is on his way home from work and should be here in about an hour (he works 2 hours from home). As soon as he gets here we will get Gunner from his stall, assess the injury and decide if it's something he can handle or if we should take him to the vet. Now I know, when you see the pictures, many of you are thinking ~She's an idiot, there's no way they can fix that themselves, those injuries are too bad. But, let me explain, my husband Terry, worked for a large animal vet for over 10 years. He knows how to sedate a horse, suture, pull teeth, deliver foals and calves, assist with c-sections, and just about anything else you can imagine he would have had to do working with a large animal vet. But he is not stupid either, he knows when it is something he cannot handle, and if that is the case with Gunner, we will have him at the vet's ASAP! We have all the medicines, and supplies, it's just a matter of what he thinks when he gets here.

Now, back to the injury, I have NO IDEA how he did this, we are super careful about safety, we don't have anything in our pastures that he could have cut his leg on, especially up that high~~I checked the fence line, the run in shelter, the hay ring and walked every inch of the gates that make up the riding arena, and I have not found a speck of blood, hair, NOTHING.....so I am very frustrated to say the least, since I don't know how he did this, I can't fix it....but I am gonna go look again and see if there is something I missed. In the meantime, I have wrapped the leg, to control the bleeding and to keep dirt out of it, although the bleeding has almost stopped now, and he is in his stall munching contently on his hay. I was very wary about how he would react to me wrapping his leg, he has never had an injury like this, but he stood like a statue, so that helped a lot. He is putting weight on it, so that's good.....I just hope and pray he will not have permanent damage....scars don't bother me, he will never be sold, he will be with us forever, but I have plans for him to be my next trail riding and cattle working partner.... I'm gonna go back out and check on him, and Terry should be here anytime....so here are the pictures, and I will post an update later.......

My latest great shopping deal.....

2010-01-13T09:43:00.000-06:00

Well, this is my first post about using coupons and shopping, mainly because I had slacked up around the holidays and wasn't clipping coupons and matching up sales like I should have been, but anyway...... As my family already knows, ( I get teased about it alot) I am very thrifty, and I use coupons religiously. I don't buy anything that is not on sale unless I absolutely have to have it, and I rarely pay full price for anything. I make my own laundry detergent, shampoo, liquid soap, and sometimes dishwasher detergent (but most of the time, I can use coupons and get it for free or almost free.)

So I was shopping at Food Lion, and stumbled upon this awesome deal. All Special K cereals were on sale 2 for $5. On some of the boxes, there were peelie coupons that stated "Buy this box of Special K cereal and recieve a free 4 pack of Special K protein shakes, protein bars, or protein water mix." Ok, so immediately the wheels started turning, and I was thinking, OK, this deal has the potential to be very huge, so I started searching through my coupon binder for additional coupons to use on top of the ones on the boxes of cereal. I knew I wanted the protein shakes, because they were very good, and the regular price was $5.99 for a 4 pack~~way too pricey for me to buy without coupons, LOL. I found a coupon in my binder Buy one box of Special K cereal , get one free...so this was going to make the deal even sweeter! So, I put the 2 boxes of cereal in my cart and went over to the other aisle to get the protein shakes. When I got there, my heart skipped a few beats, and I got lightheaded ( this is something that happens to "couponers" when they find a great deal) when I seen the sign that said......Buy any 5 Special K products and receive $5 off your shopping order! So I bought the snack bars and the protein water mix to make 5 items on each order.... AND ..... each one of those boxes had a $1 off peelie coupon too..... I was in coupon heaven by now!!!!!!!! I knew right then, I was gonna make out like a banshee on this deal!!

So, I did this order 4 seperate times, at 3 different Food Lion stores in my area....here is the breakdown:

8 boxes of cereal                      ($2.50 x 8 = $20)
8 four packs of protein shakes   ($5.99 x 8 = $47.92)
3 boxes of protein snack bars    ($3.29 x 3 = $9.87)
1 box of protein water mix                           ( $4.29)

Ok, so regular price on all these items without coupons would have been $82.08 plus tax.

After all my manufacturer coupons, coupons on the boxes of cereal for free shakes, the coupons on the boxes of bars and water mix, AND an additional $5 off each order from FoodLion, my grand total out of pocket for all these items was......drumroll please....... a whopping   $5.16 plus tax!!!!!!!!!

Here is a picture of everything, and I'm sure you already figured out I'm pretty excited about this.......

Have a great day everyone, and use those coupons! ...... Deanna

Beef & Broccoli Stir~Fry

2010-01-10T18:10:00.000-06:00

I made the best beef and broccoli stir fry for dinner tonight, if you like Chinese food, then you should really try this, it is great.

Beef & Broccoli Stir~Fry

8 oz lean steak trimmed

2 garlic cloves, crushed

dash of chili oil

1/2 inch piece of ginger, grated

1/2 tsp Chinese Curry powder *see note*

3 tbsp soy sauce, divided

2 tbsp vegetable oil

5 oz fresh broccoli florets

2/3 cup beef stock

2 tsp cornstarch

4 tsp water

Cooked rice

*NOTE* I didn't have Chinese curry powder, so I made my own

Mix together the following ingredients in a small bowl, use 1/2 tsp for recipe and save the rest for later:

1 tsp chinese five spice powder

1 tsp curry powder

1/4 tsp chili powder

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp ground cumin

1/4 tsp ground mustard

Cut the steak into thin strips and place in a shallow glass dish. Mix together the garlic, chili oil, ginger, Chinese curry powder, and 2 tbsp of soy sauce in a small dish. Pour over the beef, tossing to coat the strips. Leave to marinate in the refrigerator for 1-2 hours.

Heat 1 tbsp of vegetable oil in a wok or skillet, add the broccoli and stir fry over medium heat for 5 minutes. Remove from the wok and set aside. Heat the remaining vegetable oil in the wok and add the marinated steak along with all the juices. Stir fry for 2-3 minutes until the steak is browned. Return the broccoli to the wok and stir in 1 tbsp of soy sauce and the beef stock. Blend the cornstarch with the water to form a smooth paste, and stir it into the beef and vegetables. Bring to a boil, stirring until thickened. Cook for one minute, then serve over hot rice.

This was really good, so good in fact, that I burned my tongue and the roof of my mouth, REALLY. BAD. Because, of course, I couldn't wait for it to cool before I dug in....anyway, after I got over that mishap, and downed a half a glass of sweet tea, I really enjoyed it...... :^)

"Snow Filled Days", LOL.....

2010-01-08T10:54:00.000-06:00

Well, we have about a good 1-2 inches of snow here, but I actually think all the critters are enjoying it. It is still snowing, with highs around 20 today and lows in the single digits tonight! The horses and mules are doing very well, they are all eating and drinking good. Greta, as you can see below, is LOVING the snow....she would stay outside all day and play ball if I would let her, LOL! Here's a few pictures from this morning when I went out to feed and break ice......

Jack and Dan not wanting to get too close to the camera........

Dior thinking....why are you sneaking up behind me?

John Boy and Billy in the snow......

Greta wanting me to throw the ball for her......and her frozen snow beard, LOL.........

Gunner getting a drink after I broke the ice in the trough........

Old Man Winter is HERE!

2010-01-05T20:28:00.000-06:00

It is bitterly cold here in Tennessee, highs in the 20's with lows in the single digits and no warm up for the next week. Now don't get me wrong, we are used to cold winters, but, I must say, it usually doesn't stay this cold for this long at a time. I am having to break ice in the watering troughs twice a day now, the water faucet has frozen, and we have to keep a heat lamp on it so we can run water every couple days! We have even decided to blanket the horses, and we haven't had to do that in a few years, so it is COLD here! And, we are supposed to get 3~4 inches of snow Thursday.......Well, at least we are over being sick, so things could be worse. I am thinking nice sunny days, and green grass, so I decided to post a few "warm" pictures of the horses.......

Dior peeking through the Cherry blossoms......

Gunner enjoying a good roll.............

Sonny just being himself..........

Sick, very sick.......

2009-12-28T18:45:00.000-06:00

Uuugggg...me and Terry are both down with the crud, no fun, hoping to be feeling better soon....:-(

Wonderful Brunch Recipe....

2009-12-27T15:09:00.000-06:00

Today was a lazy kind of day around here, but I finally got up and fixed something to eat, and ended up making a delicious brunch. I made a Bacon and Cheddar Puff Pastry Quiche. It turned out great, and of course, I had to fix fried potatoes with onions and cheddar to go with it....Yum!

Bacon and Cheddar Puff Pastry Quiche

1 Sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed

6 eggs

6 slices bacon

1/4 cup chopped onions

2 cloves minced garlic (optional)

1/2 cup whipping cream OR 1/4 cup plain yogurt mixed with 1/4 cup milk

1 cup shredded cheddar

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 375*

Place the puff pastry sheet in an 8x8 inch baking pan, covering the bottom and sides. Cut the bacon into small pieces and fry to a crisp in a skillet, remove to paper towel to drain. Reserving some of the bacon grease, add onions to skillet and saute for about 8-10 minutes on med-low heat, or until very soft but not browned. Whisk together the eggs, cream or milk and yogurt, salt and pepper. Fold in the garlic, cheese, bacon, and onions. Pour into pastry crust and bake for 30 minutes or until eggs are set and edges of puff pastry is golden brown. Let rest for 5 minutes, cut and serve with fried potatoes on the side.

2009-12-25T06:47:00.000-06:00

I want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! I thank everyone for being a part of our life through this blog, and I hope everyone continues to visit throughout 2010 for lots more fun and adventures sure to come! Here is a picture of Ruby and Woody, they say Merry Christmas too!

A Nice Day To Work The Mules....

2009-12-24T16:04:00.000-06:00

The weather was really mild here today, in the mid to upper 50's, and since Terry is off work for a couple weeks, he took advantage of the warmer weather. He harnessed up John Boy and Billy, and worked them a little bit, before we had a Christmas Eve dinner with a couple of our good friends. Hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas Eve!

Greta says Merry Christmas!

2009-12-21T09:32:00.000-06:00