The sad story of the egg in the horse shed

So this morning I awoke with a misson.
Two actually.
Three actually.
I needed to get Poco's hooves trimmed, clean pasture and scrub the horse tank and refill it.
So I started with the first thing on the list. Easy right? Well, only if your horse wants to be caught.
I chased that sucker around for five minutes before I got him into a pen that we could work in.
I don't like having to chase my horse down and corner him to get a halter on him, and he always comes up to me and practically ties the knot on the halter anyways. But today he was feeling his frisky side and decided to have some fun with me. I'm glad no one was watching because falling down and having the horse laugh at you is nothing to be proud of.
So he ran into a small enough pen that I could do some exercises with him(I love to teach whenever I can) to get his focus on me and not on running.
Finally, with a great sigh, Poco gave in and stood still as I tied him to a post and started working on his feet.
He was a perfect angel for that; picking up his feet and holding them patiently while I tried to figure out what in the world I was doing. He only flinched when I knocked him in the hock with the rasp. Ouch. Sorry, Poco.
But in the end he ended up forgiving me and we did a little bonding on the lungeline.
I then had to figure out if it was above freezing and if so was the hose going to work for me. It ended up cooperating, but it was so stiff and unruly I sprayed water all over the ducks and chickens before I got it under control.
But I scrubbed the Black Beauty clean and filled it up(nope, I didn't overflow it this time. Hoorah for me!).

After that I got out my wheelbarrow and scoops and headed toward the horse shed. I really only need to muck every couple of days because they don't make much of a mess in the shed there.
I walked in and what do you know? I saw this.

Some chicken laid this in the barn. Amongst the poop and the dust. And it's cracked!
Thank you dear hen.
This is what I imagine happened;
Peck peck. Bock bock bock. "Wait, somethings-" Squack! "No, wait! I have to get back to the hen house!"
Another hen: "No time, you're having it-BOCK-here!"
A flurry of wings and more squacking and she had it right there. Then she went on pecking and left it to freeze. And crack...

And that is the sad story of the egg in the horse shed.

Glory Be. THE COLD

Today it is 18 degrees with a wind chill of 6 degrees. I didn't want to go outside at all. But guess who waited til the coldest day of the week to do all of the outside work? ME!
That's right folks! I waited til today to trim Poco's hooves. And to scrub water tanks and heaters. But unfortunately(well, maybe not!) the hose is frozen solid. So I won't be doing any refilling of tanks until at least Thursday when it warms back up. Unless I wanted to cart water from inside. No.
I have to throw out some eggs that didn't get picked up yesterday because I'm sure they're frozen solid too.
Yesterday was an amazing day. It was warm with a sunny clear sky. The absolute perfect day to ride. So I adorned Poco in all things western and it was an amazing ride. He was being an angel!! Can you imagine that!
I have another blog(among many) that I use strictly for my training methods, so if you want to read more in depth about the ride, go there.

This morning I awoke at 7:30AM. Imagine that! There's actually a 7:30 AM. And got ready. Mr. L the hay guy had told me yesterday that he would be around at 8:00 to drop some hay and I would give him another payment.
At 8:24 he called me and said, "Tractor won't start. I just hooked it up and it should be another half hour or so,"
Why sure. No problem.
So as not to miss him driving past the house(where the hay feeder is is blocked from view if you are anywhere but outside and I was NOT going to wait in 18 degree weather for who knows how long.
So I twiddled my thumbs until 9:30 rolled around. About then I took off my coat and started reading a magazine. Another half hour rolled around and I heard a vroom vroom outside my window and my phone began to whinny(my ringtone, duh!).
I raced back to my room where the phone was plugged in, hopping along as I was pulling my coat on. It was quite the scene to behold.
Turns out it was only Mr. L calling to let me know he was outside. So I went outside and showed him where to drop it.
He got it into the green hay feeder first try. The horses raced towards it happily knickering as they went.
Oh boy oh boy! Hay!
I can see their excitement because this bale is absolute beautiful quality. So I cut the strings and they tore away at it.
I am hoping Sage will gain some weight on this one, especially because it's of good quality and she really needs the weight for all of this weather(right now shes safe and snug in her industrial strength Weatherbeeta).

I also have big plans and surprises to come in the near future, so stay tuned(these could mean the start of something new at HA).

So I will be curling up under coat after coat to do any work today. I probably won't get much done...
Oh well. 

How to wrangle a bunny

When you are in need of some bunny-wrangling, call me.
I am superb at catching them. Say, your bunny has been chased around the house by the dog and dodges for cover beneath the bed...for instance...

• Step 1. Obtain carrot and a string of about three feet in length. Any color you choose.
• Step 2. Cut two small notches in sides of carrot, and tie string to sit in these notches(this is so it won't move)
• 3. Lower carrot/string combo behind the headboard.
• 4. Wait(This may take a while. Bunnies are notoriously patient.).
• 5. Lure the bunny towards the outer area of the bed by calmly calling, "Heere Bunny, niiice bunny".
• 6. When bunny gets to that edge, swiftly capture him.

Disclaimer: Bunny will undoubtably be very freaked. He will hold the carrot between his teeth for the next five minutes while you attempt to sooth him.

The Adventures Of Kate

So it has been below freezing all week. With a mixture of moisture means everything is either mushy mud, or frozen ice.
Today's high is 30 degrees. Yesterdays low was 14. So in other words, its cold.
Well, being the ever early-planner-of-things, I waited until the very last day of hay to decide, "Huh..I think I need hay.."
So I went to get the keys for my Ford Excursion--no keys to be found. So then I went outside to see if they were in the truck, and what do ya know? The door was stuck shut. Completely frozen shut.
Unsure of what to do, I asked my mother. Her response? "Take the Buick."
....
Let it be know this is a 1993 Buick LeSabre CAR.
So, the back windshield was frozen over, and the passenger side window was iced, so any time I needed to turn, I had to roll that window down to check. Did you know there are four turns between my place and the place where we store the hay?
So anyways, after slipping around on the road four miles over there, pull into The Hay Lady's drive and get out.

I popped the trunk to learn it was full of babe heads(these are the mannequin heads that hairdressers in training practice on. My sister just graduated cosmetology school.). So I can just imagine what she's seeing from inside her house. 

There's a kid here. She's getting out of this awful ugly car.

Hm..Whats that? ARE THOSE HUMAN HEADS?

She's holding them by the hair! And tossing them in the front seat. 

Okay okay, now she's going around back...And into the barn...

Now she's hefting a bale of hay. Hehe, she's not very strong.

Looks so silly..

Oh, what's she doing now? Is she putting hay...into her car trunk?

Sure 'nuff.

So then I slammed the trunk shut and got into the car(after capturing these pictures of course).
And slipped my way home.

So, let it be a lesson learned, when you need hay, never ever take your Buick, because neighbors will think you are crazy.

 

Sign Language and Other things

When you want to learn Sign Language, don't be fooled.
Its called sign LANGUAGE for a reason. It's not just something you pick up in a day or two-I've been learning it for months now and I still barely know enough to start a conversation. But something that has helped tremendously was Signing Savvy. It's been such a huge help. So if you are interested in learning ASL then you definitely need;

• ASL Pro
• Signing Savvy
• LifePrint

 And I suggest finding a tutor or friend willing to help you. I, on the other hand, love a challenge and didn't bother to find anyone. Which has been difficult and discouraging at times, but if you ever want to finish this and be fluent, you need to stick to it.

I plan to get very fluent in ASL and then begin witnessing to the Deaf. I have always loved being able to converse through emotions and using your hands is the perfect way to tell The Gospel.


I know that this is off subject from my usual HA postings, but the sky is crying profusely today and it's supposed to get worse tonight; the weatherman is saying up to 8" of snow. So I'm getting out my coveralls, mud boots and camera and going to go any play in the rain tomorrow.

I'll let you know later.

As Promised

As promised, a picture of Mish.

Some things...

As you have noticed, I have not posted.
Mainly because there has not been anything to post about.
Except at this moment I am eating a FlufferNutter. But that's a different story.
So, I will simply talk about my new fish.
Mishter Mish the Fish. He's the newest member at Highland. I will get some pictures on tomorrow.
He's a goldfish about the length of half my thumb. He's gold(DUH) with two itty-bitty black spots.

We went to two different pet stores today, looking at their chameleons and bearded dragons and all the things that make me go "OOH!" or "MOM!" whilst I point and hop up and down. (Note; snakes are not among these, but tortoises and turtles are).
We saw Dwarf hamsters and Guinea Pigs and Parrots and a Parakeet even whistled at me.
We saw a Shih-Tzu that was so bouncy and playful she about took my arm off. She was so adorable. I wanted to take her home.
Now I am thinking I want to work in a pet shop.


Oh well, I shall add it to the list of things I need to do!