In which a sort of average day is described in vivid detail

This is the first thing I see, most mornings. Puzzle is big on telepathy. He believes that he can force me to get up and feed him, purely by staring at me.


It works pretty well, actually. He is always the first family member to get some breakfast. Hmmmm.


The first person to leave the bed is *always* supplanted by a Sheltie. Usually Jim gets up earlier than me, but today he got to sleep in a little later. When it's me left behind in the bed, there are usually TWO Shelties there when I wake up...plus the cat, of course.


I grab a cup of tea on my way to the door, and head out to feed....

Chickens!

The Minerva Louises are always happy to see me.

First I refill the water tank, and then

move their tractor a few feet to the side. You can see the rectangle where the tractor was yesterday. In a day or two, the grass will spring back Very Greenly from all the nitrogen (aka chicken poop) that the hens have left on the ground.

Then, I dump food into the cage, and there are many clucks and feathers grabbing up every morsel of the corn scratch and kitchen scraps.



Next stop: horses.

There's no rushing around or whinnying as they urge me to hurry-the-heck-up and let them out into the field, but Hana does fling her head around to make me hurry. Hurry! HURRY!




And Fiddle always digs a little hole to make me hurry-hurry-hurry.

These strategies are EXACTLY as effective as pressing the elevator button repeatedly works to make the elevator move faster. But hey, it gives them something to do while they wait for me.


Finally, they are out in the pasture, and ready to settle in for some serious all-day eating.



It cracks me up to clean the two paddocks every morning, because for almost 12 years, I've been cleaning 12 or 13 stalls a few times a week, which could take 2-3 hours (not including the time spent driving to the barn and driving home) each time.



Here, I can usually feed all the animals AND clean the paddocks before my first cup of tea gets cold. >giggle< href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ukBN8B8Bmis/SjcfMVTyElI/AAAAAAAABPQ/X8wzBmSTSYI/s1600-h/100_5678.JPG">

After breakfast, Puzzle plays a game. His favorite is "red bug" with the laser pointer...





...but he also likes to practice WWF moves on Luna. These two will play together for hours.








Today we tried something new with the horses: a little bit of separation.


At their old barn, each horse was assigned a "day in", when they would be kept in the stall and not put out in the pasture. They'd be given an extra ration of hay, and just generally given a day of quietness. That made it really easy when a horse had to be kept in for the farrier, or a lesson...or if one was sick or injured and had to be kept off of the pasture. They get so they accept being left behind when everyone else went outside, clearly thinking "this must be my day in," so it was not a traumatic change of routine for them.




Jim and I have always liked this concept, so we decided to try it. Today was Hana's first "day in" at the new farm.


She doesn't have a stall here (yet), just a paddock, where she has a clear view of our pasture, and also most of the neighbor's pasture with her three horses.



We didn't count on Fiddle's brattiness!



Fiddle decided that it was wonderful fun to tease Hana by going into the woods. Then, when Hana was in full-voice (never truly panicked, but clearly angry with Fiddle for "disappearing") ...




...Fee would jump out of the woods to say, "here I am!

did you miss me?"




Sigh. Other girls have normal pets....





My task today was painting the bathroom.




You can see why: the before picture shows the ugly industrial-white paint and shabby patches in the drywall.


Fashion: clearly not a priority on painting days.


The after photo, showing the pretty walls and also some flower paintings done by my mom!

I just want to say that saddle racks work really nicely as towel racks. Just in case somebody ever asks.






Jim and Willy made ice cream.



I could only have a little bit (I have to avoid sugar) but I had a big bowl of strawberries so I didn't feel left out.



Willy got to lick the beaters. We didn't tell him for several minutes that he had a blop of ice cream on his nose. Hee hee.




In the evening, it's feeding time again.

The dogs must wait for the "release" word before they can have their food. They are eager to hear the word! Now? Please now?

Horses get a small bucket of beetpulp at night, mostly to wash down their vitamins. The grass in the pasture is so good that I don't dare feed them much right now--they'll explode from fatness! (They've both gained weight since they moved home, eek).




Chickens get another "tractor move" and another scoop of scratch. They are always happy to see me, because I feed them!





It's been unseasonably warm this year so far--so I water the garden almost every evening. Usually in June we Swamplanders are still wearing mud boots, or at least a jacket, but this year has been warm and dry! (I'm not complaining, either).


Last of all, we all take a walk with the dogs in the pasture.

Life is good.