This and That

Good grief...

This smoke is CRAZY.
(And finally clearing up now that we've gotten some rain and colder weather!!)

I am thankful that we aren't "on fire", and this smoke is from somewhere else, but good grief is it gross here. 

Our air quality has been anywhere from poor to hazardous.  We have had several days when the air quality was worse than it was the day Mt. St. Helen's blew.  And that's kind of hard to wrap my mind around...but at the same time, my irritated mucus membranes agree!

 

My home town was threatened by fire this last week and some of the neighboring communities took a lot of fire damage.  Unfortunately some of those fires are still burning and the winds' now kicked up.  Hoping and praying for minimal losses and some rain!

This summer has been miserable when it comes to the weather and all weather related things!!

Mindy and Wyatt have made three trips to Deer Park for barrel races this summer, and Kase I have drove over to visit.  It's an hour one way, so that's not bad considering she lives about 7 hours away!
For some reason, we missed ALL of her barrel runs, in part because she kept drawing early in races that start at 9am or 10am....
And Kase likes to sleep in in the mornings!  (0:
Then there was the oddball stuff like, I'm outta gas...
I needed to grab her some adult beverages and I didn't allot time for lines, slow people, and traffic back ups on country roads...
That part of summer was awesome.
The boys play really well together and Kase learns something new every time he is with Wyatt!!

 Chix in Wyatt's hat, Kid's hoping he doesn't have to wear it too!
 

Kase finally killed my old computer and now I HAVE to use this new one.  It feels nice to type on, but I can't stand the way the pictures are on it and I cannot search them easily nor can I crop them. 

Looks like I'm going to have to try and find some software or something to make it more user friendly.  It's really set up for web surfing and social media.

It's got a touch screen option and I've had it almost a year and just haven't been able to get "comfortable" with it, I guess you'd say.  Chad says it's because it's a Window's based operating system, rather than a Dell based system...
Shoulda kept to what I was comfortable with!!
Live and learn...again...

 

Fiona looks great!

Mindy and I got a menu plan together for her and so far so good.

1 lbs alfalfa pellets

1 lbs Renew Gold

20z Cool Calories

2 tbs Magnesium

1 Probiotic

 

Everyone is getting alfalfa hay in the evenings...

Mostly because Fiona won't eat her hay if she is separated from the others.

Well, she will eat it, but it takes forever and she walks around in circles, watches to see what everyone else is doing, nickers, and just messes around.  And if the others do dare to leave, she paces and calls until they come back.

So EVERYONE gets alfalfa.

Chix sniffing Wyatt's head, one of her favorite smells!!
 

I ordered my alfalfa/grass small squares the first of July.

It's now the beginning of the first full week of September and I still haven't gotten it.

I called Glenn the first of August and he said he hadn't forgotten me or my hay.  I was on the list.

So I'll call him either this week or next and check in again.

He hauls it from South Idaho, and it's really nice...but waiting is starting to get ridiculous and not all the reasonably priced hay is gone locally...  And one of the reason's I use Glenn is because his price includes delivery and stacking.

Ugh.  

Kase and Gracie enjoying the sunshine!
 

Stresses me out, and causes me to get hay from the feed store, or the hay broker down the road...

Feed stores bales run about $13 per bale at around 80-100lbs per bale. 

Gets expensive fast... Glenn's $10 a bale in my barn for nearly the same weight range.

So I'll wait, and hope I don't have to wait too much longer.

I've got five bales of unopened hay and then I've gotta decide where to go to get some more hold over hay.

 

Beep-Beep, aka Little Nikki, aka Nik-Nik is warming back up to Kase again.

But she still hasn't forgotten that he squirted her between the eyes with a spray bottle.

He really does love her and has set on her a few times.

She's not broke and really doesn't know what to think of him being up there when we want her to walk...

Maybe he's gonna be a vet!!   

 

So I've got some work to do with her.  Which will be interesting.  I did a little work with her and the fly spray and realized that her feet are "stuck".  She'd rather rear, which she isn't good at, then move away from her rear.  She doesn't really understand my using pressure to get her to move.

So I've gotta find a spot and build us a small round pen to work her in.

The nice thing is that she doesn't need a lot of room to work in.

I have also come to realize while I mess around with her, that I make a lot of eye contact with Horse Girl and Fiona and trying to do it with her, is hard.  Awkward actually.

I thought about it earlier and thought, well what did I do when working with the Hee-Haws?

Then I realized that I haven't done doodly squat with them since I've owned them...

(I've had them 8 years!!)

We halter broke them.

Kinda taught them to lead.

Petted them.

Fed them.

Brushed them.

Wormed them.

Vaccinated them.

And have taught them NOTHING.

Hard to believe...

 

So I haven't a single test subject. 

Dang it!!

Hope this plays... His butt itches ALL the time...  LOL!!