The body is not happy

Never realized how much I have been depending on the mower lately to get chores done. I could work all morning, come in for lunch and be out for a few more hours and not be a bit tired. Well, alittle.
Today 2 trips of gravel in the wheelbarrel and I was done!!!!!!!!!!!!! My arms hurt, my legs hurt and my back hurts. That is not good. Tried to clean up and rake the pasture too with the garden rake and got absolutely ridiculous. Sigh Mow the grass with the pushmower? I would not last half an hour. Oh well, we'll see what we can find when Hubby gets back from his business trip. Considering the repair would have cost $1100 on a mower we bought new for $1500 it did not make sense to fix it. We can probably sell the parts off of it. Oh well, don't know what else to do right now.

It's dead now!

Well, I think the poor lawn tractor finally gave up the ghost. Sigh! I really hope it can be fixed for a reasonable price but I'm not going to hold my breath. I was mowing and it seized up so hubby and I pushed it up to the garage and he worked on it a bit. Then I went to finish mowing and after starting it up an awful crunching, grinding noise came from the motor and that was it. So hubby had to get out the old push mower and started cuuting away!

Sears will be here on Monday and I am keeping my fingers crossed. Poor thing/

A few days ago while it still ran I harrowed a bit of the area in front of the run-in and made it nice and smooth and soft. Those two silly clowns were over there before I even left the pasture and had themselves a good long roll. The black dirt is not so noticable on Meins being a dark bay, but Paha looked like a tri colored Paint when he got up. Then they did it again and again, nearly rolling on top one another. They are so funny!

They also tried to help me in my ongoing efforts to rid their pasture of rocks and stones. Actually I think they were trying to figure out a way to drive the tractor as Paha grabbed the steering wheel and Meins pulled on the seat. THIS is when I need to have the camera on me!

Today as I was bent over scrubbing the ickies from the water tank, Paha was right next to me trying to grab the scrub brush I was using. Talk about a huge hinderence. Thankfully he pretty much left the hose alone as the tank was being refilled. A few weeks ago, when the tank was nearly full, I stood waiting a few more minutes as Paha walked over, usually to get a quick scratch or rub from me, but NOOOOO, he had to grab that darn hose and of course, guess who got wet! I think he knew what he was doing standing there nodding his head up and down with the hose still in his mouth.

Oh I love these guys so much! What a pair.

Kickin' back

I am still wondering where the heat of Summer went? I can't seem to get myself in a rhythm this season. Cold, hot, rain, humid, dry...........I don't get it. Don't get me wrong, the cooler weather is more to my liking because more can be done outside without exhausting myself, too much. One afternoon we just kind of sat back and just enjoyed our critters and yard and sometimes that's what it's all about.

Happy boys!

Had the vet out to clean Meins' sheath and do a recheck on Paha's eyes.

I felt so bad that the vet found two nice-sized beans and he was quite dirty. Since I had never had a horse this long ,it took him nearly ruining his tail for me to realize he needed help. Now I know better and I hope Meins forgives me for that one.

The vet believes it is quite possible that Paha is missing some receptors in his eyes that would normally assist in going from dark to light, light to dark much more quickly. His pupils respond as they should and he sees no cloudiness or dullness to his eyes. Given his age (2) and the growth spurt he is experienceing he may well be just this side of clumsy and a sudden shift in light his eyes cannot adjust to quickly enough, could cause the tripping. I watch Pa and Meins nearly every day for an hour or so and they both seem so content and happy to be with one another. Lately Paha has been being a bit bossy and Meins has backed down. But I have not seen the all out and out pushing and bullying that Meins had done to him last year. Maybe Paha got a smidge of confidence this past Spring being out with other horses that were just as bossy and he learned to fight back, just a little.

Fun, family and FOOD!

Most of the July 4th holidays I remember were either sweltering hot or severe storms days. Yesterday proved that God decided we needed a bit of "Nice Day" and provided us with gentle breezes, sunshine and decent temperatures.

Hubby came home from Germany Friday afternoon, Paha came home yesterday afternoon. The kids came over for a cookout,which almost wasn't, I was dropping burgers on the ground and lost a couple hot dogs to the grill. Sammy entertained us by trying to climb a tree to get his ball. He is relentless about you throwing the ball, so being the mean, cruel person that I am, put it on top a nesting box on the tree. That was fun!!! My daughter's boyfriend enjoyed manning the fire pit and by evening had a beautiful fire going. My daughter ran back and forth to the house and us doing laundry. The dogs had just run through the muck and jumped all over her as she got out of the car. Hubby kept busy trying to catch up with 4weeks of trimming. I trimmed twice while he was gone and that is more than enough for me. Me, I mowed grass, harrowed pastures and went in the one pasture to rake and fill the dump cart with rocks.

By the time the kids arrived I had just plopped down on a lawn chair ready to take a snooze. I thought it was only 11:30. When the weather is nice I just keep going. When I found out it was actually 2:00 I ran in the house,washed up, put on my patriotic earrings and shirt, no time for a shower now, and went back outside. It was a looong good day and I enjoyed every minute of it.

We don't do fireworks. The critters get too scared. I no longer get any "spark" out of a quick flash and "BOOM".

I get a jolt just looking out the window and seeing those two Appy rumps and realizing they are mine.

Hope you had a great weekend too!

A nice, crappy day

Is there such a thing as a crappy nice day? I hope so. Today was a crappy looking day weather wise but other stuff I did today was nice.

My horse Meins still fascinates me. I believe all horses are beautiful and if this guy would have been an old broken down nag I still would have thought him beautiful. Why? Because he's mine! But when I look at some of the photos I or someone else has taken, well, he just takes my breath away. I still wonder why he got stuck with me. I'm no beauty queen, definately not thin and not the worlds most gifted rider but for some reason he has me! So today I took my camera and took some pics while we were out. Did not take too many because the main road was closed again and there were lots of cars and big trucks, you know, the kind of drivers who have no clue what to do going past horses, slow moving vehicles, bicycles, walkers, etc., etc.

When we were done I let him eat grass while I hosed him down and then turned him out so he could go to his special spot and roll.

So, yes, it was a nice day!