Friday, February 12, 2010

The On Again, Off Again Lameness

Thought we had this thing in the books. One to write about and it would be done with. Guess not. I'm seeing a pattern, though. The more ice and frozen poop on the ground, the ouchier Tommy is. Joe will be here next week to do the horses feet. Think I'm going to try a pair of shoes on the front for him. When I put boots on him, he does fine, but it is slippery with the hard rubber and don't want to put him out with the ones with studs on.

The chicken girls are having a bit of an attitude. Guess they don't like their nests to lay eggs on - they have been hiding them in the plastic tarp that is covering part of their cage. I moved part of the tarp to find the plug in for the light and found some frozen eggs. Goodie. Moved things around so it was open in there now and could find them on the first try instead of having to dig for them. They must not like me taking their eggs every day.

The pony boys are doing great. They are getting plump and sassy. So, with Tommy being at a good weight and the ponies being easy as air ferns to keep weight on, I have started cutting back a little on their free choice hay during the day. They are not happy with that and are letting me know. I went to let them in last night and they were standing at the back door, thumping it with their feet, as if they were saying - let me in, i'm cold and i want to eat now!

I'm liking this no snow and easy temperatures. I can get the barn chores done and inside in less than an hour at night. That includes cleaning stalls and filling water buckets. The buckets aren't 20 gallon popsicles every night. That sure is nice. Even though Phil saw his shadow if the rest of winter goes like this I'm not going to complain.

E's last night for basketball. Then basketball season is over for us. Still have indoor soccer and maybe softball.

:)

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Another day, another cold day...

Wow. I guess I need to be more consistent with my updates. I have a had a couple of requests because I haven't updated too much.

The horses are fine. Smokey and Abner are doing well. Tommy didn't need a vet appointment as he trotted out of the barn the last couple of days with no signs of lameness at all. His hoof still looks the same, so don't know what is going on there.

The chickens are slacking off. We were getting between 5 and 6 eggs a day from 6 chickens, now we are only getting 4. We ordered 6 turkeys for this year. Hopefully we will be able to eat more than the fox did. We split the two last year.

Trying to support my horse habit with my new business. Well, the crocheting is not new - been doing that for a very long time. Selling the crocheting to feed my horses and animals is new. Check out my web site. www.TheHappyHookerVt.com I donate 15% of my sales to rescues. I have featured a couple of them on the blog in the past. You can specify or not. A donation is made anyways.

I have sold 4 scarves to date... have a few new afghans I'm posting later today. It is going to take a while to build. Right now I have more invested in yarn than I have sewn, so it's in it's baby steps. Please feel free to forward the information on to anyone you know might be interested.

Hope you all are staying warm. Can't wait for super bowl tonight. Don't care about the football. Just know that I'm going to have my busy husband home for a few hours to visit with while he watches the game and eats the goodies I'll make for him.

Yesterday we went on a date - just the two of us - to watch the women's hockey at Dartmouth. They won 4 to 2. It was their seniors game as their last 3 games are away... It was fun and we realized we had achieved another milestone. Emma is now 16 :( and is going to be driving herself as soon as she gets her 4 hours of driving time with her driver's ed teacher. We will be free - no pick ups from practice or going to the store or friends houses. Ashley is 20 and soon to be on her own. MJ is 18 and a senior and is moving forward in her life. We are almost at the empty nest stage and it's wonderful to know that Mike and I still like to spend time together and have fun doing things together.

Hope you all stay warm and those of you down south can dig out from the snow that I didn't miss for a second!