The rest of our {Snow Day #2 2011!!}

 So as the day went on, we were very productive.  My husband and our son made it back from town with kerosene for our heaters. The girls and I kept ourselves busy in the kitchen baking and cooking up a real 'comfort' food meal and our littlest son helped out by collecting snow from outdoors. We made a bunch of homemade chocolaty-chip wheat cookies, several loaves of whole-wheat bread, and a hot meal of fried potatoes, bacon and turkey bacon, grits and homemade gravy. We skipped the fresh eggs because my little chickens are taking a break from laying their eggs.  It's just too cold for them to produce right now. 

  We're not 'ALL' work and no play!  While the cookies and bread were baking, some of the kids ran outside to check on the horses water and then I heard it.  'BANG!'  'BANG!' 'BANG!', sounded on the back door.  They were all smiles and laughter as I saw all these bursts of snow on the glass!  "Mom! Look now!"  'POW!' Right into the glass again and loud laughter. I love it!

 Shortly after my husband returned, we heard an engine sound coming up our long, icy driveway.  It was our neighbor, Mr. Alexander.  He and his wife live on their farm, a short distance from us and he came down to see if we needed any help with our driveway.  In the background you can see where there were 3 cars parked. My husband left our car parked, up at the front of the drive, near the road. Mr. Alexander offered to run his grader back and forth to clear the ice and snow from our drive.  He did and it's better now.  Mr. & Mrs. Alexander are what you'd call real, down-home neighbors and honestly they're one in a million!  We should all be more like that! (We HAD neighbors like that 7 years ago)

 I've had such great helpers today!  Our nine yr old loves to cook. Here he's cooking bacon and fried bologna. 

 Bread is very much a part of our daily menu.  We purchase, store, grind(mill), use and consume whole wheat in many of our dishes.  Whole wheat bread, biscuits, waffles, pancakes, cupcakes, cookies, cakes, gravies, potpies, all kinds of crusts, and anything else you could imagine that could have flour in the ingredient list. Here our 10 yr old daughter is making bread in our bread maker. We use the bread maker just to knead the dough and then after its kneaded the dough, we take it out, divide it, bake it and then savor the warm, buttery bread, covered with local honey. 

Somebody is getting into the cookie dough!  My little bacon helper.  Our oldest daughter baked a bunch of cookies with puffed,brown rice, fresh oats and chocolate chips.  They were yummie!   

  Checking the horses' water and getting them up and running to get'em warm! 

  Diego can't miss out on any fun. He's the most friendly horse I've ever seen. Any time he sees his family (that'd be us) outdoors, he runs over (and I mean run), and nudges us until we sit on his back.  I think we're going to seriously work with him this spring.  He's not even been broken yet. He's so smart and willing to please his family.  It's kinda neat.

 Last of the day: pizza, tater tots and fresh, homemade chocolate chip cookies.   

{Stay warm. More to come}

A lesson on shoeing a pony

Over the last 1 1/2 weeks we have noticed that our littlest equine creature has been walking slowly and acting a bit more cautious than usual.  We decided to bring him into the little area we have set aside for my chickens and keep him penned up until the farrier could arrive. Yesterday the farrier came and trimmed all the horses and took a look at 'Smokey', our little pony.  Even though the news was not good, it was expected.  We could tell by his symptoms that Smokey had probably foundered.

(Here's his little hoof all trimmed and ready to be sized for the shoe.)

Foundering is a condition that occurs to an animal when their diet is changed or other elements arise, such as a change in pasture, stress with in the herd or even drinking too much water.  "There could be 10 different ways an animal could founder," our veterinarian told us, "And ponies are prone to it."

After a thorough exam of Smokey's hooves, our vet determined that keeping him up was the best.  Placing shoes on Smokey will help to keep the 'frog' and 'coffin' of his hoof off the ground when he walks and also allow for it to heal over the next 8-9 weeks.  Yes, he's going to have to be stabled for at least 8 weeks. Thankfully he will recover, but it is going to be a slow and careful process.

(Here the blacksmith is preparing the shoe for Smokey. It must be a fitted shoe or the pressure could cause more damage to his little hoof.  The blacksmith remarked that Smokey was the easiest one he's ever shod.) 

We have been trying to figure out the cause of his foundering condition. When the new grass begins to grow in the spring, it comes in so quickly that the horses just eat and eat and eat. 

(A black paste is spread onto the underside of the hoof.  It will dry somewhat softer than the consistency of dried out playdo. This gives a 'cushion' for the iron shoe to 'sit' on. It also protects the underside of the hoof from infection.) 

Statistically, most horses will never encounter foundering because of their size in relation to how much they eat, but it is always a possibility.  Riding them regularly also helps them adjust to  the new grass.  Ponies on the other hand are, of course, smaller and their digestive system works differently.  They also eat with out taking a break as often. The new grass coming up in the pasture is probably what caused Smokey's condition. 

(The smaller shoe is fitted exactly to his hoof, then attached with small nail-like drivers that keep the shoe in place for about 4 weeks.)

(There will be 6 little 'nails' tapped into the end of his front hooves.  It lookes like it may hurt, but it's no different than putting a straight pin through the end of your fingernail.) 

(The few final taps and his shoes are set.)

(Now he just needs the nail tips to be trimmed off and then filed down.)

(The farrier and blacksmith took great care with our little guy, continuing to pet and stroke him to keep him calm.  He really did a great job standing.)

Thanks Tanner and Craig for taking such great care of our Smokey and for coming over so quickly. You are definitely #1 in our book! Well, I guess we better get started on that little corral we need to build, so Smokey can at least get out of the chicken run.  Since he's so small, we can keep him in there for a couple of days, until his corral is ready. 

Watch for updates on Smokey as he progresses. And please say a little prayer he heals speedily.

Thanks for visiting and have a great weekend.

If you give a kid some land...

If you give a kid some land he'll probably want to go outside to see it.But of course, he won't be happy just standing there looking at it. He'll want to run and play on it... And after he runs and plays on it, he will want to climb the trees on it,\When he has climbed the trees on it(and not fallen out), he will want to build something on it!Or rake leaves to jump into.

When he's done with that, he'll want to dig in the dirt that is on it.

After he digs awhile, he'll want to play in that dirt. And he'll go looking for the biggest dirt mound he can find.

And he'll run and play and jump and slide all up and down that dirt mound, until he absolutely has dirt from head to toe.

Then he'll wonder why his stomach is growling so loud. So he'll want you to build him a camp fire. After you build the camp fire, he'll probably want some marshmallows to roast. The marshmallow probably won't fill him up enough and he'll still be hungry. So, he'll ask you to get him some hot dogs too.

After you roast the hot dogs he'll probably be ready to go back out onto the land....the end

Out in the country!

Here are just a few pics of our new place out in the country. And the move didn't come too soon, with all the changes our little town is experiencing...moving out was a very welcome change for our family.

My back patio. (I think I want to set up my paints and easle out there) Directly in the center, you can see some of Alabama's famous chicken houses, some horses, cows and just plain 'ole land. The barn is to the left, 'down a ways' on past the patio. :) Here you can see the patio to the right. There's nothing much but pasture, cows and a few neighbors. I put out my favorite Adirondack chairs so I can sit out with the kids and watch them play. The other day, we went out and the kids were playing on that fort/tree stand thing (below) and Austin came running around the corner saying, "Mommy! Mommy! Look, there's a cow right in our yard!" I surely thought he must be teasing, but as I got up to check, sure enough, there was a huge black cow in our yard. The funny thing was, she was alot closer than this. By the time I got my camera and took this pic, she had walked away from the little stand they were playing on. You can imagine how we all stood gazing at this cow...just eating the grass. She actually came back for the next 5 days in a row. Right into the front yard. Finally, I guess the farmer started to miss her and came for her. That was a sight!! We named her Betsie. There are about 200 head of those Betsies across in the other pasture. I guess she just liked our grass. Hee-Hee! Since the temperatures were getting warmer, my husband had a day off and we were all feeling better we decided to spend the afternoon out of doors. You can see we actually made it into the 70's. Although school has not been high on the priority list here lately, we haven't been in want for keeping busy. There are so many new things to do. Since we have more land to take care of we must start with what is around the house first. Here we are getting limbs put into a pile to burn and trimming some trees so they'll grow nicely in the spring.

Here is the edge of the patio and the little barn. We are planning to clean up around it. I just love having a clothes line!! I really like to hang the laundry out on breezy days. I know that sounds funny, but I do. Everything is so fresh smelling. Way out behind the barn, we have huge burn pile. Gee-wiz! I remember my Dad keeping a burn pile, but I don't remember it being so much work. The kids don't seem to mind and always ask if they can take something down to the burn pile. I sure do hope they think it's this much fun when they've been doing it a while!! I think we're getting rid of it soon though. It's terribly ugly and the horses will be coming soon.

Well, here's one of those things that's going to be keeping us busy this summer. The barn is in need of some tlc. I guess we'll just start at the beginning. More on that later.

I am still unpacking and getting things organized. I sure do wish that I could get some ideas for organizing in a smaller space. I have 3 huge closets. In the whole house. I'm thankful for them, but boy is it tough to get all our stuff into 'em! :) I think the first step was to sort and divide. I did that and got rid of 1/2 of what we had. Even our clothes. So where do I go from there? If you have thoughts or ideas let me know.

We are moving out to the country!

We are preparing to move. We are believing for our house to sell quickly. Although, we are NOT moving quite yet, we have found a home out in the country and are beginning to paint it and get it ready for us to move into.

Last week, we went out and walked the land and had such a nice afternoon. Here are some photos:

This is what it looks like out the back door.

There is lots of room to run and play. The kids will have a place to hunt and fish. There is even a pond and we can move our horses there.My husband is so excited and is looking forward to having time with the boys to fish, hunt a little(I don't know what they'll hunt...rabbits? maybe! Ha!)and riding horses with them. I'll post some pics of the before and after of the inside of the house. That's something to see. I guess I always have some kind of project going. I hope that ends soon...much love, Kimi

saturday afternoon...

HOW DO YOU SPEND YOUR SATURDAY AFTERNOONS? Oh, we like to spend them together and doing fun stuff that keeps us feeling refreshed and young and full of life! Here's what we've been doing lately...

...we went out to ride a while....here's Garrett, Austin, Micaylah and Camille at the horses gate. the sun was setting and the sky was a gorgeous violet-blue. God really knows how to mix the color pallet! WOW! Here's 3 of our horsies. Black Beauty is rolling because she likes to itch after she has had a good brushing. Diego is the 'painted' one and a fly is biting his belly and Maria is our thoroughbred and largest of all the horses we have. (Macy is not in this pic, but look below). Here's Macy. She is my husbands' Walking Horse, but she doesn't like to walk very often...what she really likes is to RUN! Especially when my husband is riding her. He likes to run too. She is a very good horse and has a great disposition also. She will stand while you groom her and even lets the kids ride her. Next to Maria, we have had her the longest. This is Beauty. She is a jet black Tenn. Walking Horse with good papers. And she rides like a dream. You won't ever know if you hit a bump with her. She is great with the kids too.

They are grazers...the eat lots of grass, fresh hay and sweet feed. Sometimes we give them alfalfa feed and it makes them get real fiesty! That's a good time to go riding...they will get up and go! Looks who's getting into the snack tin...what's inside? Mmmm...fresh baked chocolate chip cookies! Missy is feeding Beauty some fresh grass while we brush out her long mane and tale. She really enjoys the tlc we give her. I think she's a bit spoiled :) Look who's getting on her horse! Don't fall Camille. Camille owns Maria. Maria is our biggest horse. She is 16.1 hands tall and has a nice lope. She can really stretch out when she is in a full run. Garrett thinks he can catch her if she were to fall off the other side. The weather has been so nice lately that we have wanted to go out more often and so we will pack a snack for us. I baked some chocolate cookies and carried them in a little antique tin and then brought a treat for them (the horses-they really like granola bars). We load up and take a little trip to the country. This is Diego. He is our baby. He is only 3 and is a tri-color paint horse. He is great with the kids and loves to put his head on your shoulder. I can't wait to ride him. We haven't even broke/gentled him yet. I think we are going to do that this fall. He shouldn't be any trouble since he has such a great disposition. I broke my first colt some years ago after we had gentled him for several years. When I got on him, he didn't even buck or anything. I think it's a trust factor. This particular afternoon the horses were over with the cows. So we tromped through the pasture and called out "Hhhaaaaw--ssseeeeeeeesssss" as loud as we could. This is the call that they answer to and then they come running. They don't even have to see us. They can just hear our voices and up they come over the hills and oh, they look so beautiful. I love to see them running across the hills like that. This is my horse. (Beauty) She is just wonderful! My husband got her for me 3 years ago after my other horse was struck by lightning 2 years prior. I wish I could ride more often. I love to go riding. Look at this boy! Isn't he so cute?? He loves to roll and itch his back. They say that a horse that can roll over is really smart and highly intelligent. Too bad we can't get good $$ for him.

Who's this going into the bushes?? And what are they doing? Hmmm..potty break! LOL!!!

For the last 6 Saturdays in a row, after working we have been taking some time to breath...ah..just a little time to refresh ourselves.

Ok, I am needing to get going for now. More soon!!