Pics of the Horses

Today was a gorgeous 70 degree day, the sort of day my Mom really likes riding on.  Mom is pretty spoiled growing up in an area with perfect weather - conditions need to be just right for her to feel like riding :)  And today was about as perfect as it gets.  The horses were happy to have something to do, too! 

Look at her big yawn!

Mom working Quatahn

Playing in 'The Code Of The Strain Express'

Hi y'all!  I and Caleb were privileged enough to be able to play in our friend's movie!  It is called 'The Code Of The Strain Express' and of course it is a western.  It is a sequel to 'The Riders of The Strain Express' and was awesome fun to play in.  I didn't have any talking scenes - but I am a background person.  Since this is the first movie I have ever played in I didn't want to mess up a big part too bad - so I stuck with a smaller one. :)  I am a gentlewoman in a pink dress walking around in the town scenes.  Caleb has two up close scenes - he is a cowboy - and he did really good.

This is in one of the riding scenes

This is my friend Tikvah in her bad guy outfit and me in my dress  - doesn't Tikvah look great in her costume!

Tikvah

This is me with my dress on

Another riding scene

This next week sometime we are going to go watch the first showing at the Strain's house and then it will be up on youtube - I'll post the link when it gets there!

Hannah learning to roller-blade!

Hannah has started to learn how to roller-blade today!  She has already mastered biking and wants to move on.  She can't quite do it by herself yet and only ran over my toes a few times. :)

She had a little trouble getting them on at first

Goofy Girl!

Look - she has frog feet - she has graduated from being a tadpole! :)

Our Busy Saturday

We had a super busy day on Saturday (the 19th)!  We first moved a bunch of fencing around, rode the horses a little then moved them to their next paddock.  It was the first time in that new area so they had to run around and check it out.  I love watching them run and play - they are such amazing animals!  Their big 75gal stock tank had to be moved too since the ditch isn't running yet and so that meant untangling hoses unless we wanted to haul that much water by hand.

This is Quatahn (right) and Cheyenne (left)

After that we moved a flock of layers to their summer house and mucked out the one they had just left.  Dad took all the bedding and spread it out on the field for fertilizer.

Then we took all our freedom ranger chicks (that are about 2 1/2 weeks old) and put them outside in a hoop house.  We started with 102 chicks and lost 1 so we have about 100 left - chicken math!  Just kidding, we have 101 as far as I know. :)  We had to patch a bunch of holes in the hoop house because as soon as we put them in there they started popping out the sides!  Brutus almost got one too!

We had to go to town for some ingredients for Sunday's Easter dinner and since we were there we rented some movies!  So we finished up the busy day with Mission Impossible! :)  Have a great night everyone!

Funny Lines from ELF

You know on the movie Elf where he is in the mall and the boss is trying to get him to work and he asks him why he is smiling, Elf answers, "smiling's my favorite" and the boss says "make work your new favorite, work's your new favorite" - Well lately when we say to Mom, "you are being weird" she jumps up and down and claps her hands and says "Oh, being weird is my favorite"  This is Mom wearing a neck muff as a hat.   Mom says this is a charming element of humor we would not have without the benefit of our dear friends in AZ:) - that is all the weird lines from Elf.

By the way my mom has a new favorite line from Captain America which we just saw in the theater this week.  Will keep you posted when she finds a funny time to use it.

 

Land Managment, Part 3

Doesn't everyone love those heaves and hills that pocket gophers make in the land, making it virtually impossible to have any sort of manageable pasture?  Well they are cute and all, but taking dominion is serious business!  They gotta go!  So Caleb to the rescue...

Caleb's first Muskrat

Land Managment, Part 2

After our visit this week with a Pasture Management Specialist, we are implementing some great ideas.  We plan to do some rotational grazing with our animals, to tightly graze and naturally fertilize.  Today we are working on my Grand-dad's pasture again.  We got some dry grass land seed and seeded two of the pastures.  And now we get to pray for rain :)  We had a big manure pile that has been fermenting / composting over the winter under a tarp that we took out and spread over the field.  Ideas as old as time, just not as popular any more, but good things are coming back around.  Real fertilizer that came out the back of an animal.

Grandpa scooping the manure with his tractor

Daddy hooking up the manure spreader

Daddy letting it fly!

 

Update on Lambing

On the 8th my ewe Moki gave birth!  We thought she had a single birth but apparently she had twins!  We saw the new little girl lamb in the morning and they were doing just fine together - and then we were gone for most of the day.  Later I was doing chores and I heard a lamb crying in the loafing shed.  Moki had had twins and completely forgotten about the little boy!  He must have been hiding behind the feeder taking a nap when we came that morning because we thought she only had the one girl!  We tried to put them together and she was willing to take him in but he didn't want anything to do with her.  So, I have another bottle baby until someone buys him as a bum ram. :)

Moki and her ewe - Cari

 

My little bottle baby that Caleb named "Today"

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Also yesterday Poki had twin ewe lambs - we had just moved them to a different pasture and it was hard to get them back with the lambs not strong enough to travel.  But they are doing very well today and and already starting to socialize with the other lambs.

We have 3 more ewes that haven't lambed yet - one of them (Pixie) probably isn't pregnant, she is too fat to get bred. :)  So, we are expecting 2 more to have their lambs before the end of the month.

Chicks and Lambs!

This morning we got in a batch of Freedom Ranger chicks - 102 altogether.  We are raising them up for meat mostly for our family and extended family.  They are a fast growing bird - they finish out at about 5 to 7lbs. - but they don't get as big and gross as the standard broilers.  They live a pretty normal life and actually walk around and play in the grass and forage:)  Yummo - meat growing - it's like watching lettuce in the garden, well maybe a little more animated!

 

Right now they are cute but pretty soon they will start to get stinky. :)

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We also had another ewe give birth this morning!  Little Mamma had twins - a boy and a girl.  We were on our way to the far pasture to feed the horses when we saw them.

Little Mamma and her newborn ram

The little ewe