YIKES!!!

Shot this off of my computer screen...see that lovely Temp for Wednesday?  Gross, I tell you...just gross!!  When I went out at 5 a.m. to move the girls from the barn to the pasture, the thermometer said our lowest temperature point was -12.  That's not funny!!  On our drive into work this morning at 6 (we got a late start today) it was -8.  I know I live in N. Idaho...but I really hate the negative temperatures.  They are just not fun.  For anyone.  Lucky for me I have the ability to heat my horses water and have some to die for Alfalfa/Grass hay.  My hay burners have their fires roaring and are cozy as can be!  Me, not so much when I go out there!!  ( :  I have a friend checking on them while we are gone for Turkey Day.  We will return on Friday...so it will be a short and sweet trip to the coast!  Can't wait to see Wyatt!!  ( : 

Abbi and Seven playing...it was 12-15 yesterday before it got cold!

Kage looking for snow bugs...you know they exist!!  ( :

Seven realizing just how cold it was outside and just how little hair she has!!

FYI

I'VE TRIED TO UPLOAD MANY PICTURES FROM MANY DIFFERENT FILES AND THE DAMN SERVER WON'T LET ME TONIGHT....I GUESS ITS BECAUSE IT'S JUST TOO COLD TO WORK....  CHAD GOT HOME @ 8 PM AND IT WAS....ARE YOU READY?!  -11.  THATS RIGHT... NEGATIVE.  ELEVEN. 

YUCK!!!

OFF TO SEE MY SISTER AND CHADS PARENTS TOMORROW!!  YIPPEEE!!!

Bye Bye Attenai!

Although this truck rack looks like its for hauling some kids 4-H lamb or calf, its really not for such a project!  Chad's friend, who is an engineer at a well known place I cannot name, ( 'cause the hubby said so) built it to haul the antenna that came with our new home away.  To his house.  So he can set it.  And run wild on the Hamm Radio airwaves!!  ( :

Chads has been friends with John since he was 15 years old.  And after trying to sell and or trade the thing away locally, Chad dropped John a line and asked if he would be interested in it.  Chad said, "You come and help dismantle it and haul it away...its yours no charge!"  John said, "perfect!!"  He had actually gotten out of the Hamm Radio thing for a few years and moved into a place with FAA regulations on building heights...  So this small antenna was just the right size to do the job and follow the rules!

And he was just getting ready to get his radio license going again so the timing was perfect!  John showed up on a Saturday afternoon and went right to taking down the tower.  Chad's pup got into the "helping" mode while they worked on getting the 8 ft. grounding rod out of the ground. 

We also had to use a wrench and the tractor to set the thing on the ground.  But all in all it went pretty smoothly and just after dark the tower was sitting on its rack on the back of John's truck!

Just before John headed out on Sunday morning the guys went out and tied down the tower.  Didn't want it coming off as he went over Snoqualmie or anything crazy like that!!  Of course it was pouring down rain...but we blame John for bringing it over with him from the coast!!  ( :

Chad, being lots of great help, got out the tape we used to mark our property lines and tied it to the back of the tower.  Wouldn't want anyone hitting the thing OR John getting a ticket for not having it flagged.  John is a boat guy...now I know that he earned a real title, and am not so sure he isn't a captain with some sort of tonnage rating...if he were my semi-childhood friend, I'd know.  But he is Chads and I don't.  Except that this guy is into a lot of different activities and is pretty nice to hang out with. 

The girls were less than impressed with John's knot tieing abilities.  I however stood out in the rain and watched him tie a few different ones.  He explained what they were and what they were commonly used for.  Pretty interesting.... A handy skill that's for sure!  Next time John's around, maybe I will learn one or two different knot!  ( :

After all the excitement, Seven had to get into bed and take a nap.  Too bad its not her own bed she seems to want to be in!

As a side note, John was one of the Hamm Radio Operators who stayed home after the big earthquake in San Fransisco in the 90's and relayed messages to and from the family members of those stranded in SF and surrounding areas and those elsewhere.  He stayed home for 2 days and did his civic duty so to speak.

P.S. This happened on Halloween weekend!  ( :  Just a little behind on the "news"!  ( :

Bummer!!

These last few days, I have read some blogs and these lucky people are STILL riding!!  (Insert pouty face here!)  In my neck of the woods, the weather has been rotten.  Its raining here so hard right now, I am considering building an ark.  Its awful....next is snow!!  So awful that my two hairless dogs protest going to the barn with me!!

I put a small space heater in the tack room with a wool blanket in front of it for Kage and Seven to warm up on...but only Kage uses it.  He bullies the pup pretty bad right now, so she won't be caught in a room with him without her mom or dad around...  And then there is the problem of the gremlin that lives in the heater.  She hates it...so if Kage isn't hogging the heat, the gremlin is causing her to go on a barking rampage.  Abbi is my only dog with the all weather friendliness needed here right now.  Guess its time to break out Kage's dog coat and maybe find the little dog one too!!

Oh, the little dog...  Chad's little princess...  Right now she loves to bundle up after feeding.  She is such a little doll and snuggler!!  I need to get some good confirmation pictures of her for her first mom and also so you can see how much she has changed since her arrival!  Its amazing!!  She still only comes to her name when it pleases her, but it pleases her more and more these days.  She is an expert at the word no, and she is quite comfortable with the "finger sweep" being preformed on her at any given time.  She is really a joy to watch!  Now if only we would stop having accidents on the floor...

I know I need to finish my Midori story...  Its hard to write long stuff when you are easily distracted by things like...  Mythbusters on Discovery and Finding Hulk Hogan on A&E that are on tonight...oh and after those, its Ghost Hunters...  Some days!!  Oh and lets not forget the shiny objects....

Also we have gotten company off and on lately.  Its pretty freaking nice to have a HOME to have visitors visit!!  Yipppeee!!  ( :  I have a post half done about one of our visitors...maybe I should finish that...  Oh, and we are heading to Sequim for Turkey Day to see the cutest little cowboy on the planet.  That's gotten my excited and distracted too.

Pull it together Nikki, pull it together!!!

A little off the topic, but...

Still on it.

I just wanted to briefly cover Midori's quirks.  They were easy to find and are all still with her today.  Although once you know her triggers, well they are easily avoided, and all in all they really aren't too terrible.
I also want to say that I believe that not all horses are rescue worthy.  Some are broken to the point that they can't have a normal happy life.  They are always "looking over their shoulders" worrying about what someones going to do to them next.  These horses need to be put out of their misery.  Midori isn't one of those horses.  She has a happy expression and gladly pleases the people around her.

When tied what she considers to be too short, she will test her line for give, and then set back if there is no give.  To keep this from happening, you just merely loop her rope around something several times.  Once she tests it once and gets some give.  She is good to go or stay as the case may be.  She can be tied by other horses, on her sighted side or her blind side.  This plays no role in her out bursts.

If she is loose with a halter and lead dragging behind and she steps on her lead, she blows up and back.  Two or three steps.  Then licks and chews.  Every time.  When hand grazing her, you have to pay attention.  That's all.

When in a confined space, like a horse trailer.  Don't put anyone behind her.  She will kick the ever living shit out of them.  Even if its her best friend and its only around the block.  She won't threaten a person, but a horse, watch out.

And finally, don't slap a fly on her when she's tied.  She immediately jumps back and pulls like her life depends on it.  When untied, you can slap bugs, bang drums, and fan her with a rain slicker.  Damn near bomb proof.  Just not when shes tied.

Oh, and she is alfa mare.  Alfa plus three maybe.  She walks into a herd and says I'm the boss and if you see things my way, your life will be fine.  If not I will hurt you.  She is a kicker...  No one eats until she gives the nod.  But once she has order, she is a kind and fair ruler.

This mare is kid safe with guidance.  Great for adult beginners too.  With guidance.  She is something special.  So says me!  ( :

Is There A Good Way To End A Care Lease? Part Two

This is Momma a.k.a. Midori and her 2006 colt, by Frenchman's Money.  A grandson of Frenchman's Guy and by Our Hush Money. ( He is now gelded)  I still haven't found the disk with my pictures of Midori that are decent...I'll keep looking!!  He is registered with the American Quarter Pony Association as Drinkin' Money.  We were calling him Bender when he was sold.

As I left Mary's place I called Mindy to see what she thought of the whole idea...of course she was ALL for it.  I just had to wait and see what Mary and her partner wanted for the mare.  If they would even let me have their rescue mare.  She was cute and hey she needed a home.  Sort of, well close enough...she needed a home with me!  ( :

I lived in Lemon Valley with a roommate that ran a small boarding stable.  It was one acre and she was set up for 8 horses, which was the limit for the area I believe.  At any rate we had room at the place and she was spending a lot of time with her new boyfriend who's family had a pretty big spread about 2 hours from where we lived.  They raised cattle, hay, and horses.  Marilyn had no problem with me getting another horse.  I bought my own feed and then worked off the spaces that my horses were taking up at the time.  It worked out good for both of us!

The next week I went to my lesson with Mary and she told me she and her partner had decided that I could have the mare for $500.  That was without papers of course, but only because the man that had her and the colt had "lost" the papers.  He had assure them that if he ever "found" them, he would send them.  Now it didn't take a rocket scientist to know that if her papers were worth a hoot, he had sold them to someone for a decent amount of money.  At that time registration papers were anywhere from $1500-$3500.  ( Yes, I knew some people who were a bit shady...but I learned a lot from them...)

They wanted me to first ride her in the round pen.  Just to make sure that I knew what I was getting.  So Mary and I took Momma out of her stall and tied her to the horse trailer.  She stood tied fine for the spit shine we gave her and saddling.  She was easy to mount and walked out like a horse on a mission.  She was all of 14hh, but walked like she was 16hh.  She was definitely green or rusty, but willing and easy to communicate with.  It was as if she had both of her eyes.  You could turn her any direction at any gate and she responded the same.  Her left eye was a bit exaggerated in its expression and movement, but it was always soft and kind.  I loved her more and more.  We went over a few more quirks that she had and shook hands on the deal.  I had to work the next 4 days, but would come on my first day off with cash in hand and my horse trailer.

As soon as I got Momma home, I knew it was time to change her name.  Momma was what she was, but it was too plain.  Or something.  At the time, my drink of choice was a Midori Sour.  She was not even close to being sour, but Midori was cute.  And the more I said it, the more I liked it. 

I called Mindy told he I had bought the horse and we were now partners.  In what we really didn't know, but we had gotten our first rescue horse...a horse that needed us.  Or something close to that!  ( :

Midori settled in really quickly and everyone loved her.  Marilyn and her boyfriend Daniel really like her.  Daniel offered me $1500 for her the first time he saw her.  He thought she'd make a great kids horse.  I told him she had a few issues that may or may not make her a good kids horse.  Daniel was a bit of a horse trader, so I am guessing he probably had someone in mind for her...  But She wasn't for sale.  I was glad that he liked her though, he ran a really nice string of roping horses.  Both registered and unregistered.

About 6 months after I bought her Marilyn and Daniel decided to get married and sell Marilyn's house and move to Daniels family's place.  They wouldn't be moving until May and I was welcome to move out to the family farm or go my own way. 

I called Mindy and the move was on.  Before we could go, I needed to get health inspections and brand inspections for Midori, Quoata, and Quoata's colt.  So I called my vet.  Dr. Green came out and updated Midori on everything and the others on just what they needed.  He did a major float on Midori.  I gave him the rundown on what I knew about her and asked for his thoughts on her eye and how this injury could have happened.  Once he was done with her float he said, this mares jaw is offset by about 1/32 of an inch.  He said it was definitely a blunt force trauma injury, although he doubted that another horse would have kicked her and done that.  He said that he would guess it was something much bigger that hit her or something repetitive...  If he had to put money on it, he'd say it was abuse.  He also said that as far as the eye goes, she is used blinking it and having it move.  He said that sowing it shut would do no real good as far as he could tell, and if it were his horse.  He would leave it be.  All the tissue had healed and was healthy.  So we left it.

We got the brand inspector out and we were legal to travel.  We decided to move Midori first and me and the rest of my stuff a few months later.  I loaded up one ton of Alfalfa in my pickup along with Midori and met Mindy and a friend in Medford Ore.  It was half way for both of us.  We unloaded my truck, loaded Mindy's and we both went home.

On a side note, I miss my vet Scott.  He was great.  I would have moved him with me if I could have.  He loved the horses and would help them and you.  He used plain English and would actually talk to you on the phone and give you advice/instruction.  My vet now is good.  But I honestly think that Dr. Green is better.

Is There A Graceful Way To End A Care Lease? Part One....