An Excursion

Gabe and I went on a group ride this afternoon to one of the local watering holes.  Gabe did very well, it's nice that he will hop on and off any trailer I point him at and happily go travel to new places. 

He did prove himself to be the class clown.  While all six of the other horses with us stood quietly at the hitching rail, Gabe just couldn't contain himself.  If he wasn't begging to be allowed at the table...

or talking to the girls...

then he was trying to chew on his buddy's saddle or on his buddy or his lead rope or.....  He wasn't nervous or worried, he just wanted to be in everyone's lap...

and he really, really wanted to go in and play a game of pool. 

Sunday Stills - Vintage

This week's challenge was to compose a photo with whatever I considered vintage.  I am not much of a collector of stuff , but I do have a few things that are both old and have personal value to me.  One of the most useful antiques I own is a hand-made woodworking bench that came with an old house I used to own.  The top is a single board, 12 feet long 4 inches thick and 3 feet wide.  It even includes a hand-carved vise.  Driven into one end are the remains of rusty nail heads spelling out 1886...

Last year, an elderly woman I know gave me an old 1946 Willy's jeep.  She and her mother, Mildred, bought this jeep in 1952 and it remained on their farm until Mildred passed away last year at the age of 96.  It was kept under cover and meticulously maintained all of these years.  I spent all of one summer a few years ago helping her daughter, Norma, stack 35 face cords of firewood.  I had stopped in to talk with them about maybe keeping some bee hives on their farm and found poor Norma contemplating a solid mountain of firewood.  I asked her if someone was helping her and she said "oh, I'll manage somehow...".  I decided that she really needed some help and started stopping by every afternoon to move wood.  I think she was a bit suspicious at first, I guess not too many people take it on themselves to stack firewood, but over time she started looking for me and we got to be good friends. 

One of my fondest memories of Mildred and Norma, is of a time I stopped in to stack wood and found Norma laying under the jeep with an oil can and a grease gun.  Mildred stood at the fender leaning on her cane and shouting terse directions regarding the proper lubrication of the jeep's old joints.  I believe that Mildred was about 93 and Norma 72 at the time....

Stacking wood with Norma and my friend Elva who came to help a couple of times...

My most treasured antiques though, are 3 toy trucks that were part of a small collection that my mother had.  I don't know where they came from because they have always been in my life and I never thought to ask when I had the chance.  My mother died of cancer when I was 18 and she just 45.  These are some of the only things of hers that I have.  We moved around a great deal when I was younger and these trucks have been in more houses than I can remember.  These toys say "home" to me more than any house or place, even this house which I built with my own hands...

Spring Fever

Never let anyone ever tell you that gaited horses aren't surefooted enough for rough terrain....

Where's that BABY?

All of you folks out there are probably starting to think that Emma is never going to have a baby.  I know I thought I'd be posting baby pictures by now, but Emma is taking her own sweet time.  Her udder really filled up more than a week ago, but then stopped right where it is was.  She still has no milk.  The thing that has been keeping me up at nights is that the ligaments along her tail have turned into marshmallows left in the sun.  They are so squishy that I almost can't find them at all anymore.  This is usually an indication that birth is not far off, but....no baby. 

Given her age, (21 months) I shouldn't be surprised.  Young mares often show crazy signs before giving birth and the younger they are the crazier things get.  There is no way of knowing how Emma's own growth hormones are reacting with or effecting the pregnancy hormones and the baby hormones.  I like to think that Emma is just taking her time, making sure that this baby is fully "cooked" before letting him or her out into the world.   

I do hope for Emma's sake that this doesn't drag out too much longer though.  She is definitely at the uncomfortable and awkward stage.  A few days ago, I watched her stand up after laying down for a nap and just as she got up, the belly shifted and threw her off balance.  Poor Emma staggered sideways and nearly fell over.   Today, it got really warm and she was terribly hot and uncomfortable.  I hosed her down and sat in the shade with her for a while and that did cheer her up.  She was napping when I left.

The hardest part for me is trying to balance my work schedule and being there for Emma.  I think it is very important that I be home when she foals because she is at such a high risk of dystocia (problems giving birth) due to her age.  I can take time off when the baby comes, but I have to get the timing right.  That is making me crazy.   

What the udder has looked like for the last week... 

A Nice View

I had a wonderful trail ride on Gabe this afternoon.  We've managed to get out on the trails a few times since he came home from the trainer's (sort of, he is staying at a friend's place until the baby donkey FINALLY gets here).  He's been very good, but testing and questioning me a bit.  Today, it finally started to feel like we are speaking the same language and working as a team.

It always takes some time to adjust to a new horse and it takes more time for a young horse to get to used to a new rider.  I am sure that everything that I do is a bit different from how the trainer did things and the first few rides after Gabe came home were mostly about the two of us learning to communicate with each other.  Things started to click this afternoon and we both really had a nice ride.  Gabe enjoys going out, seeing new places and moving through the woods.  To me, this is very important.  I don't like riding horses who hate their jobs and aren't having any fun.  It takes the joy out of riding and without that, I may as well stay home.  Gabe is a smart, energetic and curious young horse who wants to get out and explore as much as I do.  We're going to have a lot of fun together. 

May Day

Is it any wonder that the beginning of May has always held a great deal of significance.  It is amazing what a difference a day can make.  I think this year it is especially obvious because we have been having abnormally cold temperatures recently.  Just a few nights ago we had a very hard freeze and there was ice on my pond.  Spring has been slow, the grass not growing.  But last night, just in time, came the warm, May rains and with it, Spring has sprung.  The difference between the woods yesterday and the woods this afternoon is blatant and palpable.  The salamanders especially, have ushered in the full force of Spring.   That big Spotted fellow on my door step last night was just the beginning.  Today, I found more than a dozen of these little Red Efts out in the woods....

I love these little guys, they are just so cute.  They never get much bigger then this....

They have interesting life cycles.  They are born in water and spend their first year there.  Then they crawl out of the ponds and become land creatures.  During this phase of their life cycle, they spend several years crawling around on the forest floor, eating microscopic bugs, hiding under the leaf mold...

And having important discussions...

And perhaps dreaming about the days when they will shed their bright colors and once again return to their aquatic beginnings to lay eggs and live out their days...

The woods are alive with new growth, these little flowers and many others are all over suddenly.  There wasn't one to be found yesterday....

The Trout Lillys are coming up...

The ferns are unfurling...

And the May Apple has popped up...

I told Emma this afternoon, that it would be a good time to have a baby.  It's warm, it's nice, the grass is growing, it's Spring!  She was busy working on her version of a garden and didn't want to hear about any baby nonsense.

The things you see...

when you are going out to check on the pregnant donkey at all hours of the night or when you generally get home from work at 2:30am....

I met one of these fellows trying to come into my house tonight, I nearly tripped over myself trying not to step on him....

These photos are of a specimen I met in the woods a couple of years ago, but my late night visitor looked just like him.  I don't know how big they can get, but this one and the one I nearly squished were both 8-10 inches long.  I politely directed my would-be squatter over to the firewood pile.  An accommodation that I think both of us will be happier with then if he were crawling around on my floors and hiding under the couch.   While I was rather notorious for bringing home odd creatures when I was a kid, I have found that I prefer my pets to be of the warm, fuzzy variety.  Fortunately, he (or she, I have no idea which) agreed and didn't require much persuasion to relocate.