Daisy's Away Again

Merry Christmas!

In an effort to spread Christmas cheer to you all, I was taking pictures of many of the animals at our ranch. When told that the pictures taken of themselves could end up as the Christmas card on the blog, most of them hastily tried to get themselves looking pretty...some others were just gorgeous enough not to have to worry about that.

Below is the picked shot of my first target, Huey, a hamster currently residing in my bedroom due to his owner, a friend of mine, going off to other places for Christmas. He was sure that the camera was nothing to worry about (he was OBVIOUSLY lookin' good, why worry?), and that his problem at hand was really how to get out of the cage...anyhow, this is the shot I got of him. No go.

Then there was Gronemeyer...I was in a hurry, so (although he claimed he wasn't ready) I took this picture...I told him it was nice of him to consider hygiene at that moment, but that it wasn't gonna cut it on tape.

Then, of course, the ladies. Survivor ruined the moment by, just as I was clicking the button, leaning over to ask Bibbi if her feathers were on straight. *snort*. But then, of course, there was Bibbi with her head slightly turned...I pretty sure she was asking Survivor "Which is better? My right side or my left?"... Chickens these days... Figures, right?

Well...the next picture wasn't completely Abby's fault...I wanted to have her dress up in her nice fire engine scarf, and...well, it didn't really turn out. On a good note, she seemed to like it, and she didn't bother to try to take it off.

Then, of course, the spotlight was on Sasha. Abby would say that whenever Sasha's here, it's on her, but I'm not sure...Anyway, she's my neice...er...brother's dog. She was pretty tolerant of the antlers--as long as there was a treat to keep her eyes on. She almost made the card, but no go as well...

Now, Genevieve is the fairest little lady on the ranch. Such a sweety. She didn't bother getting ready--she's always clean. Anyway, I heard "Angels we have heard on high" singing in my head when I saw how the pic turned out...sooo yeah...she almost almost almost made the card...

WHO'S SURPRISED?!
I bet I know what you're thinking! How about:
Wait a minute.....somethings fishy...this blog is about Daisy...and Daisy made the card...this wasn't a fair card contest!

You're probably right.

In the end, all I wanted to say was...

Merry Christmas everyone! May you have a safe, happy holiday.

Just Another Taste of the Concert

An Excerpt from Last Night's Concert

Pictures of the Gatsby

Notice how dark her coat got?! It's crazy!

Thank you, Mom! She took these pictures of Daisy with her blanket this morning...I really really like the Gatsby blanket. It's not one of the more popular brands, but it's obviously a good blanket, and it's built well...some buckles that look like this are kind of annoying because on that first buckle (not the one with the hole that the other one goes in) has a rubber thing on it so that once it's latched, it doesn't come undone easily...this is good, except that it makes the buckles a little harder to close...but I guess it's important to have them, for safety...

Anyway, those are some pictures....

Over and up,

Blanketing Daisy

GUESS what my weather bug says right now for the outside temperature?!

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11 degrees Fahrenheit. Which that temperature is of the town we are in. But we are in the mountains. So you can subtract about 3-4 degrees off that. So it's about 8 or 7 degrees.

Ew, right?

So. Remember this blanket I got Daisy on sale this last summer? I'm glad I got it on sale. Anyway, today I put it to use.

Sorry I have no picture of Daisy with it on :-( but I seem to have misplaced my camera battery charger...but I guess it was time for a new one...it's 3 or 4 years old lol. Anyway, I put it on Daisy this morning. She was scared of it. Finally I just through it on her and let her calm down. She did that strong snorting/roaring thing over and over again, but eventually she calmed down. She didn't understand why this *thing* was hanging over her entire body.

I let her off the cross ties, and she stood there like she couldn't move. I called her over, and she started walking, and then starting trotting looking scared and confused. She spooked herself! She'd look behind herself and see nothing and then she was so confuzzled because of that blanket. It was quite funny to watch her try to run away from the *scary* thing behind her that just *never* showed itself! Lol

She got used to it, though. She's had a blanket before, but that was before I owned her, so...

She's sleeping with it right now. It feels good to know she's comfy. :)

Unfortunately, because of ice, I haven't been able to ride her. :'-( She's getting very bored, and extra excited all the time...poor girl. But it looks like I will start boarding her this month already, Christmas time I think...so then we can ride.

Daisy tends to not engage her hindquarters AT ALL when we ride. Horses are supposed to drive themselves foreword with their hinds, but instead, she kind of pulls herself along. I didn't notice until the show in September, when someone pointed it out to me. And I notice it more, now that I'm riding only bareback again. When she canters, it feels like she is falling foreword, because she's not using her back legs. That could also be why her front hooves bruised so bad last summer...she uses them so much more. Anyway, I'm taking lessons this winter and hopefully we'll jump at the fair next year, once we fix her hindquarter problem ;-).


Over and up,

Bibbi & Survivor

Hello again!
Sorry it's been so long.

Last week I asked if you guys though Survivor would be lonely without friends.
And we felt, as you said, that she would be lonely.

So we went to the family's house who has our chickens presently.

And we got Bibbi back.
We are insane, I know--give 'em away, get one back.
But I'd like to say that, though they will be slaughtered, our chickens seem very very happy at their new home. They now have (*gasp*) their own rooster! A VERY pretty, golden rooster, which loves our chickens. We spoke with the wife of the man who picked up the birds, and she seemed very nice--they have 25 of their own (VERY beautiful) birds and she was kind and I believe our chickens won't suffer when they're killed, so I'm happy, I guess.
Anyway.
Bibbi was quiet on the ride home. She sat in a cat cage. We brought her up to the coop with Survivor in it, and I opened the "human" door of the coop, and then opened Bibbi's cage. She didn't come out at first, and then suddenly she came running out and she seemed to recognize the coop, and she jumped in and started eating food. Survivor looked like she was in shock, she was so surprised, but she was clucking, and she came off the roost and went and looked at Bibbi. Then she drank water. RIGHT away, she drank. Which makes us think that maybe she was too afraid to come off the roost to drink and eat before.

She and Bibbi seem very happy now. Bibbi used to be one of the quietest hens in the coop, but she's now the "leader" of her and Survivor--she comes right to the door and she's always just -there-....

She's also laying eggs! Only one every other day, but it's still nice! :)

So our two chickies are happy.

The ladies. lol

Over and up,

Happy Thanksgiving!

And Now There Are Six

I'm going to tell you a story.

Picture a girl going out for a trail ride, bareback. She heads out onto the trail and doesn't get more then 15 paces before she hears shrieking. She thinks instantly that it sounds like a chicken. A familiar chicken. But surely it can't be a chicken of hers, seeing as how her chickens have been gone now for one full week. She decides it must be a turkey in distress. She urges her horse forward at a trot and peers through the trees, trying to see. Suddenly, movement catches her eye, and the girl spots a very frightened chicken running through the snow covered wood, followed by a very mischievous young cat named Gronemeyer. The girl screams like she's going to die, yelling like crazy to stop the stupid cat from killing the one chicken that made it away from the slaughter man's hands the week before. She hops off her horse, and without really thinking, she snaps her horse's reins to a very small tree branch and races through the woods. The cat is now sitting, content to watch the show, under a tree, while the chicken runs around, bewildered. The girl follows the chicken through the woods. The chicken ambles along, just out of reach of the girl, until the chicken goes just behind the trunk of a tree. The girl stands on the other side of the trunk and peeks around the left side of the trunk. There is the chicken, peeking back at her. The chicken moves to the right side of the trunk and peeks around. So does the girl. This process continues itself as the girl contemplates how to snatch the bird. She decides she has no other choice, and as the bird peeks around the right side of the trunk another time, the girl grabs the bird's tail feathers. The bird cries out, but the girl grabs her and hugs her to her chest. Survivor has been found.

Yes. This is a true story. ;-)

That is exactly what happened to me today. Last week, when the one single bird got away, I honestly didn't think about it. I considered it dead, probably hunted by another animal, and after one day, I forgot about it. I really didn't think I'd see that bird, but to see it running through the woods...well, what a miracle.

Now dubbed "Survivor" for obvious reasons, the Ameraucana hen sits in her chicken coop.

She was so exhausted when she got it, but she ran through the coop like she remembered it. She has lettuce to eat, and scratch, and water, and hay to bed in.

And for a chicken that can survive in the woods, in the snow, when it's 20 degrees at night, for one week, and not die, there is no end in sight. We will keep Survivor.

We're hoping she won't be too lonely. What do you all think? Is it bad to have one lone chicken?

She was actually one of the only two chickens who DIDN'T have a name before.

She does now.

Happy ending?

BTW, I want to give Daisy some credit:

For being tied to a little tiny tree, and her reins literally clipped there, and so close to home, and not even being told to "Whoa, stand" she was great. She stood really patient, and walked along nice while I held the chicken in my arms.
This is good, considering how she was on Saturday.

Now there are six pets.

A Day In The Life...

Of Me:

5:42 AM-

BEEEEEEEEP!!!!!!!!!!

Time to get up and go out to the barn to feed Daisy.
Grabbing a bottle of hot water at the same time to give the cats, because by now, there is snow on the ground and their water is frozen.

Later in the winter I will also bring a hot bean bag with me for their comfort.

Scoop Daisy's grain. 3/4 quart sweet feed, 1 1/4 tablespoon of Sho-Glo vitamins, 1 tablespoon of Vita-Calm.
1 flake of hay

5:52 AM-

Head back into the house, after laying out hay for Daisy to eat during the day, which my loving mother gives her throughout the day.

Daisy is spoiled.

5:54-6:30 AM-
Eat breakfast and get ready for school

6:40 AM-
Sit in the car at the bottom of the driveway and wait for the bus.
Board the bus.

6:40AM-7:14 AM-
Ride the bus through the country and to school, watching the sunrise on good mornings....it's very pretty.

7:35 AM-2:15 PM:

School.

Favorite classes: Orchestra and Math. I really like Math this year. I'm taking an algebra class, and the teacher is really nice. I've been playing violin for 5 years and I love it, hence I love orchestra.

Least favorite subject:
French/Earth Science: French used to be my most favorite class, and I was good at it, but this year we have a new (BORING) teacher, so it's not as fun :-/....Earth Science is just stressful and challenging, and I never much liked science anyway....

Subjects in between:
English:...alright...nothing special....English isn't hard for me, but it is for others, so she works making us do stuff that some kids struggle with, and others (like me) already know and get bored with...but it's a decent class, I suppose.

Social Studies:...not as good as all the other years. It used to be my favorite subject, besides Orchestra and French (which I liked before)....social studies is just all about wars lately, and it's not as interesting....

Rotating Classes (switch every 6 weeks):
Computer: Done. Fun class, I have a wpm ave. of I think 85 or 90....I did the final and got a high school credit...It was a class that is better then others.
Health:...Done as of yesterday
This speaks for itself.
Technology:
My next class. Starts Monday. We'll see.

PE:
What can I say? It's a class where you are forced to get all sweaty and then go back to regular classes. "yey".

It's not too bad. I'm learning to enjoy it more.

Home & Careers:

We are learning about the "careers" portion. It's ok....kinda boring, though.

Lunch:
Best class of all.
Cafeteria food as greatly improved this year.

2:15 PM:

My darling mother normally picks me up, or I take the bus.
One day a week at this time I have an extra choir rehearsal afterschool, which takes me up to 3 PM

I go home and ride Daisy, then I clean her stall, bring in more hay to the barn to feed her, and I close her and the cats up for the night. Then I go in, do homework, practice violin, eat dinner, and blog....not necessarily in that order.

Another afternoon a week I have Bible study, too......

So that is my day.

For lack of something more interesting to write.

I just went riding, and when I rode Daisy up the driveway, she was very piggy and stubborn--she wanted to hurry home, and I mean hurry. So I forced her to walk first 10 steps, t then back up 5, then do that over again....then I progressed to 15 steps, 5 back up, then 20, then 25...it took a longggg time to get up the driveway that way, lol, but it calmed her down and she was better behaved.

That is my day.


Sooooo.....yeahh.....

Jax's Attempt at Abducting Daisy

The Mini Threesome

Before I had my own horse, I worked to find as many places as I could that had horses that I could go visit, or ride. When we moved to the road we live on now, I was really excited to see horses stabled behind one of the houses. I introduced myself to the owners, and found out they had three little minis! One is a mare named Jewel, who is chubby and absolutely sweet. Everyone loves her. Then there is Reba, her "sister"...Reba is fun, and has quite a personality. Ladies do, of course, need a little stud to keep them busy, so Jewel and Reba's little man is named Jax...they've never been bred to him, though, but anyway. I took care of the minis, bringing them into their stalls at nights when their owner worked late. Through "working" at that stable, I learned a lot more about the daily care of a horse, and I earned part of the money I ended up using to buy Daisy.

When I got Daisy and moved her to our house, I started visiting the minis. They are Daisy's "bestest friends". She acts like she couldn't care less once she is at the fence, visiting with them, but if we try to pass them without visiting, she 90% of the time puts up a "fight".

Jewel always snorts like a pig (LITERALLY) when Daisy comes, and tries to act "tough"...unfortunately, she is the alpha-mare, and she rarely lets Reba visit with Daisy, even though they don't mind each other.

These are pictures of the minis. Reba is the one with some red coat and a white stripe down her face, Jewel is all black. Jax is in the last pictures.

Video of Jax coming up in the next post. :)

Goodbye, Birdie

Since about September our chickens have been laying less and less eggs, until since October we've gotten only 1 egg a day, one weak shelled egg, if at all.

Chickens are very expensive to feed. And if they aren't giving eggs, it's even worse....(I can't think of a better way to phrase that...it's not meant to sound harsh)...plus, they have a depressing life in winter. They sit in their little house, in the cold, for practically months because of the extreme snow and ice at our house. And it's hard to take care of them as well.

All these factors caused us to make a decision. This may make some of you bloggers out there who absolutely love your chickens to hate us. But I'm being honest. We decided we had to have someone slaughter them. After contacting a person who ended up not taking them, we found a family a few towns away that has had chickens, and has slaughtered roosters and chickens before, and would be willing to do it for us.

So yesterday our chickens left. He seemed like a nice man, and he said he did the deed quickly.

We will not be eating them. We gave them to the man, and we expect to not ever see them again. I couldn't stand eating them.

One chicken actually escaped the box the chickens were being transported in. It got into the woods. Unfortunately, it did not return home. We do not know which one it was.

The chickens are staying with the man to be fattened up more, and then they will be slaughtered.

Today we are 10 animals less in our family. Only 5 now. We will miss our chickens, but this is life. We got eggs from them for a full year, and next spring we hope to get chicks again.

Hope you don't hate us.

The pictures were taken yesterday, as they enjoyed their last supper...although, that is technically their second last supper...the first last supper was red cabbage from the restaurant ;-).

Good bye, birdies.

I've Been Tagged (by Gudl)...

The rules…

Find the 6th folder in your pictures directory and post the 6th photo in it.

So here are the instructions:

* Go to your sixth picture folder then pick your sixth picture.
* Pray that you remember the details.
* Post it on your blog.
* Tag 5 others, leave a comment to let them know they’ve been tagged.

I was tagged by my mother, Gudl....

So. The above shot is my picture. Ironic that that was the one I happened to have as my sixth picture in my sixth folder. It was taken sometime in January 2008. It is of my former teddy bear hamster, April. I had her since August 2006, when my first gerbil named Snowball died.

I never really treasured her as much as I did my former gerbil. April slept too much.

Last July when Anika was visiting we went to visit my brother, Markus. When we got back, I found April had died while I was gone...the coincidental thing was, on the ride home, we discussed the death of my former gerbil. So yeah. Anyway, that's her. I have a very random video of her on youtube, I just never showed it on the blog. The video is here, in case you're interested.

Ok, so I did the tag! I really liked this one! I tag Lydia, Anika, Sarah, and Southern Commander. Have fun with it! Anyone else who wants to do it is welcome to consider themselves TAGGED! :D

Million Dollar Blog Award

Lisa, over at Laughing Orca Ranch (one of my favorite blogs (and bloggers)) gave me the Million Dollar Friend award! Thank you SOOO much!!!! And now, I get the honor of passing it on to people. So here we go.

First, I'm passing it on to Southern Commander, who's horse's name is Sonny. Unfortunately, she doesn't have Sonny with her right now :-( but hopefully she'll get him soon!

Annndddd I'm giving it to Sarah! She has a filly named Valley that she's training...

And Farmgirl....because she has a cool donkey...and I like donkeys. And she's nice.

And (I know, you are totally not going to believe this)...I'm going to pass the award on to....drumroll, please...MY MOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Except I think that passing it on to her makes it the "Million Dollar Mom" award, not friend....but that's ok.

Fall Virtual Trailride Video

New Boots Video

SMB3 Boots

Last summer at the county fair I borrowed some of Jean's boots and tried them on Daisy. I got slightly sidetracked, and after putting the boots on Daisy, I just hopped on her. WELL, she went bucking 4-5 times in the row, all the way to the ring. I was like "oops!"...she almost ran into a man. Luckily, I think he understood horses, he didn't seem angry (I apologized)...anyway, I got right off her and took the boots off. Since then, I've been meaning to get Daisy boots anyway for two reasons:

1. So that she is protected from hitting her hoof on her leg while galloping/turning and cutting her leg with her hoof accidentally (she tends to bonk her legs together)
2. and to provide support, as in, something to absorb the energy of her legs hitting pavement/grass/ground....

So. I have earned money and saved it and on Monday I ordered my Proffessionals Choice SMB3 boots..YEY! I got them in Navy Blue...Daisy's show color is baby blue, but I figured I'd just have to be happy with atleast a shade of blue ;-).

Here they are!:

Along with the boots, I decided to get Daisy her vitamins. I started feeding her Sho-Glow vitamins from MannaPro last spring/summer, but it was $12 a bag and only lasted a little over a month at a time, so my mom said (and I agreed) that I should just use it in the winter, when she's not getting as many vitamins as in the summer from grass. Online, I saw that it was only $9.99, AND if you bought two or more packages, it was $7.99!!! PLUS if you spent over $99 shipping was free! Well, I had already spent over $99 on the boots, so shipping was freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. I got a good deal. I bought two bags of the stuff to last me up until April....at least, it should last that long ;-).

SO this morning I groomed Daisy...

Then (after having Daisy give the boots each a once-over by way of nostrils,) (wow, what a dumb saying, lol, I'm silly...but anyway) I tried them on Daisy.

She just had to stick her muzzle in my face inbetween to inquire about the boots, and why in the world they had to be stuck to her legs.

After I got them on I walked her around a bit to get her used to them.

(hours after):

I rode Daisy. I took a video of me riding her. I will show you it later. You'll just have to wait in suspense to find out if she bucked again or not ;-).

It's taking awhile to upload to youtube, as always, so stay tuned. :)

Bird's Eye View

I went on a map site today and looked up our house! The first picture is what I got. The picture is at least 2 years old, because our garage isn't there yet, and neither is Daisy's barn. It's cool because you can actually follow our trail on the site, and look at our neighbor's houses (hehe...I'm not a spy, though) ;-). Anyway, I thought it was interesting.

P.S.
The white car is my mom's car!!!

Oh, and it shouldn't say "woodshed" it should say "hay shed"...oops!
It's the shed we store Daisy's hay in.

Autumn...

Photos by my mom yesterday...

Fall is here. Last week (Wednesday) it snowed and, though the "in town" there was NO snow on the ground, we had 2 inches EVERYWHERE. Luckily it melted that day and the next. Now it's just kinda mushy on the ground. On Thursday I didn't ride Daisy because it was raining, on Friday I didn't ride because the farrier came and pulled Daisy's shoes for the winter (and you know what she did? She REARED AGAIN! I coulda' killed her. (I don't actually mean that). Normally she only reared when he'd hammer in the shoes, but she reared just because he was taking them off! TWICE! Once on each front hoof. The little brat.), and on Saturday I didn't ride because...*scratching head*...maybe I did ride? Anyway, either Saturday or Sunday I went out for a ride and rode on a road we don't normally go on. Since Daisy hadn't been ridden in 2 days, she was really hyper. I told her I thought she was a quarter horse, not an Arabian! lol. We were cantering at one point, and she saw a puddle, and she lept in the air! Not reared, just bounced up. It was funny. So then I had to tell her all the scary things a puddle can do (Daisy-Mae, it can eat you up! Oh my goodness, look at you go by it! You're so brave! Oh my goodness, oh my goodness, I can't believe we survived passing it! It's a miracle!, etc, etc) and we got by. Then we visited a few horses that we've never met. I think they're retired, because they are old and skinny-ish, and I never see someone ride them. Then we went home...

So that's all.

I just had to include those last two pictures of my "little man". Forgive me. :)

Oh my goodness. I just realized the pictures posted in the opposite order that I wanted them to :-/....well...look at them backwards now. :D

Pictures from My Friend

So, as I told you in the post below, my friend ILJ came and took pictures of Daisy and I while she was here, and she took pictures of me on her horse (pictures below). Then she edited them on picnik.com for me...this is her work! I absolutely love some of these. Especially the first one. That's my favorite, as cheezy as it is ;-). Thanks soooo much, I Love Jesus!!!!! :) I also really like the last one, original and edited. The edited one looks like a painting! It's cool...so thanks again!!!!

A Summer Memory

I actually started this post yesterday, but didn't get around to finishing it until now (sorry!)

Last summer, in August, I went and visited a friend I made through my blog. "I Love Jesus" (ILJ) found my blog through someone else's blog, and after leaving comments for a few weeks, she got my email through other people, and we became "Penpals"...kinda...ILJ lives 50 minutes away from me, and she came and visited me one Friday in August. She took the galloping video and side passing video and stuff...anyway, I went and visited HER the following Monday! I got to meet her ducks, her chickens, her dog (Beau!!!!!!!! She's training him to be a guiding eyes dog) and her (sister's) horse, Domino. He's up there^^! Isn't he cute? He's in his 20's, but he was soooo fun to ride. If I remember correctly, he had THE COOLEST trot and canter. Thanks SOOO much for having me ILJ! I hope we can get together again! Anyway, ILJ edited the top picture of Domino and I. I like it. Good job! Sooo, that's my post. I'll try to post quick tomorrow--I've got pictures of this weekend to share. :)

PS--post coming right after this one. Check it!