What the heck?

What the heck? This isn't Moondance! Wh...wh...where am I?

Misty Morn

We rarely have fog here.

This morning it draped the ranch

in sepia hues.

Dirty Horse Contest

Now, I know we can't compete with the mud puppies like Abbe, Cash, and Gen.  After all, we're as dry as dirt.

Boomer's hoof print in the pasture.

You can even see the nail prints from his shoe.

So let's see our contestants in the Dirty Horse Contest.

Oh, not bad, Paj.

You've gone from chestnut to dun.

Let's take a closer look -

It's deep-down ground-in dirt.

Oh great.

After I get you cleaned up, I'm putting a sheet on you.

What's that, Ben?

You want to compete too?

Let's see what you've got, buddy.

Nice.

What's that, Paj?

You have another entry?

Really?

I just finished cleaning you up.

And I put a nice clean sheet on you.

Oh Paj.

I think you win.

Things that go Bump in the Night

 See the little trench?

 See the black tube?

The black tube belongs in the little trench.

It carries gutter water away from the barn.

(It's very helpful when you have 3' of melting snow on your barn roof.)

How did the tube jump out of the trench?

 Let's take a closer look...

 

 Teeth marks!

 And holes!

It's elementary, Watson.

A hungry coyote was after a bunny.

I hope no bunnies were harmed in the making of this post.

It must have been a scary night.

Bird Watching

With the cold weather, goldfinches are mobbing our feeders.  I really enjoy watching them.  They're here all winter, cloaked in their winter plumage.  As soon as spring comes, they turn canary yellow, and off they go!  We only get to see the gold phase for a week, tops.

 Goldfinches with a few house finches

I'm not the only one watching...

Tishia is a bird watcher too.

So is this kestrel.

Yo-Yo Weather

One week we're up, one week we're down.  It was cold during the visit with my brother and sister-in-law.  As soon as they left, we warmed up with near-record highs.  And now we're headed to a bitterly cold spell.  With high wind.  Oh joy.

 here comes the front

(zoomed way in on the neighbors to the north)

Yo-yo weather makes extra work.  There's a lot of blanket and bucket changes.  Even though we are lucky enough to have automatic waterers in the stalls and pastures, we hang buckets in the runs.  The Princes prefer to stroll out of their stalls and into their runs for a drink, lol.  Here's the problem -

Water is precious here, so we carry frozen buckets out to our newest plantings. 

Tomorrow night we dip down to -2F(-18C).  By Wednesday, we'll be back in the high 40s.  I'm counting the days.

Visiting with Family in Colorado Springs

I drove down to Colorado Springs yesterday to visit with my brother Tom, sister-in-law Pat, and Pat's father Bob.  Bob lives at the base of Pike's Peak.  It's a wee bit larger than as seen from the ranch!

Pike's Peak

Bob lives within walking distance of Garden of the Gods

 Trail head to Garden of the Gods

 Pat and her father Bob

At 99 years old, Bob lives in his own home, hangs out at the Elk's lodge,  and drives his beloved Cadillac.  He invited me to his 100th birthday party, and I'm looking forward to it.

 My brother Tom

Did you notice the pin he's wearing?  Tom and Pat are jewelers, and Tom cast that pin from a blue jay's feather.  Pretty darn cool.

Tom and Pat flew home to North Carolina today.  I will miss them so much.

Ring out the Old, Ring in the New

The Old

De-decorating!

The New

I won a giveaway from Michelle at A Horse and a Half.  It is a 2013 calendar starring her horse, Mexican General.

Michelle rocks.  Gen is retired, but she loves him every bit as much as she did back in his glory days.  That's the way it should be.

Michelle and Gen

I'm proud to have Michelle for a blogger friend, and I'm proud to display Gen's calendar in my tack room.

I have a new camera, and it's more advanced than I am.  I haven't quite figured out the focus.  See how nice and sharp the coat rack is?  The rest of the picture, not so much.  Bear with me - it will get better.  It came with an instruction booklet.



From Mickey

What's that, Mickey?
You want to borrow my blog?
Well, okay.

Dear Gossy, Hannah, Lady and Laurel,

Thank you so much for the bones.

They are delicious!