Flowers for Leontien

Dear Leontien,
I took a walk to find wildflowers for you.
You have to look closely to see these tiny treasures.

Pussytoes

Kinnikinnick

Isn't that a fun name?

Today the bees were really working those tiny flowers.

For more Flowers for Leontien, please follow this link -

http://www.aruraljournal.com/p/flowers-for-leontien.html

Clarification

I may have created some confusion with my previous post, Mickey's Plan B.  Let me clear it up - we are not giving Mickey away!  No, no, never!  He's stuck with us for life!  Mickey is very fond of Diana, as are we all, but he's our boy.  I can't remember which blog it was that said their home was like the Hotel California, but it's the same here.  You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.

It's tough being a ranch dog

Mickey's Plan B

Mickey spent quite a bit of time at the Humane Society before we locked eyes and adopted each other.  He knows that life is uncertain, and it's good to have a Plan B.  I'm pretty sure that Mickey's Plan B is...

Diana!

Voting is still open for the helmet contest.  You can vote once a day until May 14.  To vote for David, click here. 

Vote for David!

Vote for David!  He doesn't know it, but I entered this photo in Dressage Today's "Show Us Your Helmet Contest"!

David and Boomer, Rocky Mountain Dressage Society show,

1st place and 2 scores in the 60s.

To vote for David, click here. 

You can vote once a day until May 14.

The winner gets...a helmet! 

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

Wow, what a lovely day!  No snow!  No wind!  Lots of sunshine!

Pike's Peak is looking pretty.

The daffodils are still blooming!

They started blooming before Easter, and have survived 2 snowstorms!

Love 'em.

My daylilly is alive!  It's not knee-high like Lori's, but it's alive!

Maybe it knows winter's not done with us just yet.

I had a nice ride on Paj today.

Neither one of us is in great shape after the long winter off,

so we're taking it easy. 

Walk

Trot

First strides of the stretchy-chewy circle.

I like how open he is through his shoulders here,

and how nicely he's stepping under himself.

I think we're starting a turn on the haunches here.

I just like how blue the sky is, lol!

Thank you, David, for the photos.

More Than Expected

We were expecting about an inch of slush.  Instead, we have about 4" of snow.

No riding today!

I always worry about the birds -

but the daffodils will be fine.

I hope.

Spring Clinic

Dr. Gary, tech Step and student Jen came today to give the boys their Spring shots, de-wormer, and health check.  Reggie and Boomer both needed their teeth floated.  Dr. Gary showed Jen how to check for points on Reggie's teeth.  He's a great teacher.

Boomer had some significant points.

Dr. Gary told us that Boomer's weight is ideal and Ben's is good.  Reggie has a tad too much belly and a tad too little topline (he'll be 20 in June), and Paj is...too fat!  We will be working on that.  We weigh hay every day, but on those extra cold days, we give extra hay.  Looks like Mr. Easy Keeper has been getting too much extra!  It's hard to get it right in the winter. 

In other health news, it's time to limit pasture turnout.  Colorado has a brief time slot where the grass is actually green, and the laminitis risk for our semi-desert horses runs high.  We had already started giving them a shorter time out, but Dr. Gary recommended a measly 2 hours a day until we're out of the danger period.  The boys will be so pissed off!

Lastly, we walked around the property and discussed our summer project.  We would like to fence in another pasture if the budget allows.  It probably seems odd to get your vet's input on this, but it's our roughest piece of land, and Dr. Gary is the one who has to put the pieces back together if there's a pasture accident.  He sees a lot of injuries and has a good feel for what's a real risk.  We looked at rocks, tree stumps, and gullies.  Dr. Gary felt that the proposed pasture is big enough that they are unlikely to get in trouble in the places we worried about.  That was good news. 

Product Review - Bootcut Breeches

David gave me a pair of Kerrit's bootcut breeches, and I love them!  I'm not comfortable doing more than trail riding in jeans, and I'm not comfortable stall cleaning in full seat breeches.  Now I'm comfortable doing both in the same pants!  I'm a happy camper.

Full seat breech from Equissentials website

Equissentials used to be my favorite.  If I was going to take a lesson, I'd still wear these.  But for all day barn comfort and multi-tasking?  Give me the bootcut breech any day of the week.  Biggest pluses - comfort and price (on sale at Murdoch's for $59.25).  Only minus - no pockets.  They come in both full seat and knee patch styles.  My rating?  9.99 out of 10 (pocket penalty).

Bootcut breech from Kerrit website

Happy Easter

Our daffodils are blooming on Easter.

They survived the latest snow storm in fine form.

The daffs got me checking for survivors from last season's plantings.

Chives - looking good!

Sage - hanging in there!

Garlic - a cheap thrill!

I had a couple of withered cloves last year, and instead of tossing them out, I stuck them in the ground.  They grew!  And survived winter!

Sweet Autumn Clematis - signs of life.

This area is too rough for the large flowered clematis,

but Sweet Autumn Clematis can grow here.

"May Night" salvia - alive!

Chokecherry - best surprise.

Chokecherries do well here, but mine looked pitiful all summer.

I really did not expect it to survive.

The jury's still out on -

Butterfly Bush.  They die to the ground in Colorado, so there's still hope.

It bloomed all summer, so at $5.97, we got our money's worth

even if it doesn't come back.

I'm pretty sure my little daylily test pilot is dead.

Did you really think you'd escape without having to hear about the horses?  No, no, no.  After checking out the plants, I had a really good ride on Paj.

Then our friends Diana and Bob came with their pretty girls,

Gossamer and Hannah.

Boomer enjoyed an Easter drive with his family.

It was a lovely Easter.

Spring Snow Storm

It's snowing pretty heavily.

There's quite a bit of ice.

It shouldn't stick around too long.

50 degrees tomorrow!

April Fools

I had an extremely nasty computer virus on April Fool's Day.  This popped up on my screen -

followed by a million little warning windows.  It is a trojan virus that masquerades as a hard drive defragmenter.  When you read the warning box that tells you your computer is dying, it says that for $$$$$ they will fix it for you.  It took me all day to get rid of the sucker and restore my files.  I have no idea where I picked this up.  Other than blogging and looking at dreamhorse, I don't do a lot of surfing.  I hope this doesn't happen to you, 'cause it's a major pain.

April 2 isn't looking much better.  We are under a Severe Weather Alert with high winds and 4-8" of snow expected.  Our daffodils have just started blooming.  I brought the full blooms inside and left the buds on the plants.

Whine, whine, whine.

April snow showers bring May flowers, right?