Happy Birthday to you!

Morrissey turned 15 on April 21st. Next year she'll be driving! (once I buy a buggy! haha) I haven't addressed this officially on the blog, but I'm really starting to change my mind about selling Morrissey. She's still on the market, but it would have to be quite an offer for me to accept. Check out the photo taken on her birthday by my Brother-in-law Richard.

Dupree, our most sinister yet lovable pug, turned 9 on April 22nd. She is quite heavy right now, so we're going to hold off on her birthday picture. It never fails with that girl. Her weight yo-yos every year. With the goats, maybe I'm just being a bad dog mom right now.

My two new doelings were born. I have photos of them over at gray stables.

Gorgeous!

Summer Morrissey is a gorgeous blonde bombshell. I love the shine and the dapples. What a beauty!

Farmish Musings

I often find myself driving home from the barn looking at my arms and wondering "is that a bruise or a dirt smudge?" There is really a 50% chance of either. 

My doelings from TLC Farms and Brushy Creek Farms have now been born. I'll post an update with pics soon!

The Ratapocolypse

This morning, I was doing my normal farmish thing, feeding baby goats from huge re-purposed beer bottles while wearing my very teachery work clothes. Suddenly, I heard a large animal scurrying across the metal roof of the barn. From the sound of it, I was pretty sure it was pug-sized. My 6 am brain wasn't sure what to do when I realized that it was headed down a pole and possibly into my goat's pen.

Luckily, it wasn't an evil raccoon, like I'd feared. It was just a rat. Yes, I've become farmish enough that rats being remotely near me isn't that big of deal. On 16 acres with that much pasture and a very open airy barn, rats are going to happen. I expected the rat to see me and make a quick exit. I couldn't have been more wrong. Instead, the rat decided to run closer to me under the parked barn truck parked near me and jump up into the truck's mechanical bits.

Just when I thought things couldn't get any stranger, a second rat followed the first rat's exact footsteps. It turns out the two rats weren't friends. For the next several moments, all I heard were rat screams, metal clunking and scratches. It was so loud, Leda and Valencia even stopped eating to stare.

So that is a new experience I can add to my growing list of things I never thought would happen to me.

Confession

I'll admit it, I've been avoiding my blog. Honestly, having Morrissey on the market doesn't put me in the blogging mood. Since the first prospective buyers, there hasn't been any interest. You'd think that this would be disheartening, but you'd be wrong. She is still on the market, but I'm really in no hurry to sell her. Selling a horse is just no fun. Even selling a mean horse who doesn't like people is hard. Morrissey is not mean and does like people, so it just makes it even harder.

For the first few days she was on the market, I kind of avoided working with her. I was trying to prepare myself emotionally, but it just made me feel worse. Instead, I decided to try ground driving with her. I've never even seen it done, but I decided it was worth a shot. I tied both ends of her lunge line to her halter and stood behind her. I don't know any driving cues, so I just said walk... and she did. I turned her and stopped her with my "reins" successfully. It was fun! She didn't like it when I flapped the reins gently against her. I think that may be punishment in driving language, or maybe she was just being her normal self.

I'd really love to try driving. I have a huge arena at my boarding stables, and another huge riding area that I could use as well. It seems like a lot of fun. My fear of riding is mostly about sitting on the horse, feeling the lurching movements and feeling like I'm out of control. Falling is also a huge aspect of my fear. It seems like those things wouldn't really be involved with driving.I'm not afraid of dealing with horses, in fact, I love being around them. I'm just not sure I can allow myself to make another huge investment just to find that my fear gets in the way again. I could take lessons, but again, that is a huge investment. So much to think about.

In goaty news, my doeling from TLC Farms was born. I'll post pictures and details as soon as I get them.