Oldest wearing one of the bright new hunter vests.
We made a batch of these Christmas snacks this evening. I suppose you can make them for any occasion but the Christmas colours along with Christmas carols playing on the CD player helped me get into the holiday mood. All it is is pretzels, chocolate wafers and smarties. To make, simply put a wafer on the pretzel, drop in the oven or microwave very briefly just long enough to soften the wafer, then drop a smartie or m&M on top and let cool. Yummy. I am able to fulfill my chocolate and salt urge all in one. Add a warm mug of white hot cocoa (or even better, candy cane flavoured hot cocoa), then snuggle up in front of the television for your favourite Christmas show.
The other day the girls rode out toward the woods behind the farmer`s field on horseback and when they weren`t more than a yard away, a gunshot rang out loud and clear. Surprisingly the horse`s didn`t react. The girls however were startled and very frightened. They spotted the hunter crouched low near the wood's perimeter but wasn't able to made eye contact as he was so focused on his hunt. I've told them before that whenever they are near the woods they are to be loud and obnoxious in order to let the hunter aware of their presence and also to force him out of the area since no hunter wants to stick around where there is too much commotion to scare off any potential kill. They proceeded to do that and sure enough when they turned back he was gone. But it scared me enough that I went out and bought a bag of these hunter`s vests. Stealing a line from one of my favourite Christmas movies, "I don't want to spend the holidays dead". Thank you very much.
We woke up to white stuff on the ground. I guess it's official...autumn is over. This also means that the hoses out at the horse's bath area were frozen solid so Farm Girl had to bring Pixie up to the back porch to give her a bath. We had a gig today and we wanted her to look her prettiest (on a white horse simply being clean means pretty). She was being used for a little girl's princess party. Her mother requested a bigger pony for some of the bigger kids but seeing that I don't have a pony for older kids I offered to bring Chase instead. I could have slapped my mouth shut the moment I suggested it though because I only have access to a two-horse bumper pull and Chase has refused in the past to load onto anything smaller that a livestock trailer. I thought Chloe would be a better choice to take to the party as she is the quietest horse on the property and besides she takes to new surroundings very easily. Chase hasn't been off the farm in two years. But when we tried to load Chloe on the small two-horse trailer, she absolutely refused. Thinking I would have to disappoint the mother and only show up with Pixie, Farm Girl suggested we go ahead and try Chase. It took a couple of attempts, removal of the divider, tempted with sweets, and finally the old-fashion but highly dependable "haul" method. If you don't know what the haul method is (and I really don't know if that is a proper term but that's what I refer to is as) is when you hook a leadline, or my preference the lunge line, to one side of the trailer then run it along the back of the horse's behind and urge him into the trailer with slow amounts of pressure while someone inside the trailer hauls the defiant horse inside. Chase felt the slightest touch of the lunge line on his derriere and he instantly moved away from the pressure and followed the leadline which Farm Girl was at the other end of inside the trailer and stepped right into the trailer. Instead of breathing a great sigh of relief and hooking him up quickly, we actually backed him out and did it again and again until finally he went willingly into the trailer on his own. The idea is to show him that there is nothing to fear inside the trailer and to encourage him to go in on his own. Which he did by the time it was time to load up and go. We could have tried the haul method with Chloe but Chloe hasn`t been on our farm long and there is a certain amount of trust the horse must have for his owner before this can work. Besides, at this point Chase was making us very pleased and we decided to stick with him. The next challenge would be to see how he behaves off property. Farm Girl used to barrel race Chase and I can tell you that he wasn`t always the most relaxed horse at the shows. I realize now that was because of the lack of trust Chase had for his new young owner. Since then the two have bonded so well and really have learned to understand each other. Nevertheless, we were both nervous when we unloaded him. He called out initially looking for the rest of his herd, but eventually he realized Farm Girl was right there with him and was by far a better substitute. He totally relaxed and gave kids young and old a fun ride around the yard. Pixie of course delighted the very young and gave them rides and let them groom her. Have I mentioned how much I love my Pixie?? Anyway, Chase and Pixie did wonderful and were a big hit. This gig was the end of gigs this weekend and though I love what I do, this weekend was torture for me as I was suffering from a severe cold and flu and being out in the cold with laryngitis is not fun my friends. My bed and rest are calling. I'll end this post with one of my favourite photos taken this weekend. It has nothing to do with any event but rather home life. It's a photo I took of Oldest with our four goldens. Isn't Jewel getting big??
We had our first snowfall this morning. I didn't get a photo of it because I was far too busy worrying about the road conditions. Wind was pretty strong gusting eastward and I was headed to a gig westward. I hummed and hawed whether it was severe enough to cancel, but road conditions were reporting only bare and clear so I packed up the critters and headed out. Thankfully all was good both ways. I joke to client's that Mother Nature and I have an understanding. I expect nothing but good weather from her on day of events. So far she hasn't disappointed. Though the snow stopped and the sun even tried to come out, it was chilly. But that didn't stop folks from bundling up and coming out to meet the barn critters. Have I mentioned how much I love my job?
It's that time of year when the weather has turned chilly. Soon the snow will fall. Winter garments come out, summer sheets are exchanged for flannel sheets and furnaces get turned on. But not at our house. Yes, yes we get the old woollies out but it's the furnace that does not come on. Not yet. We hold off as long as we can until the cold eventually seeps into the cracks of the house and this monstrosity in my kitchen begins to loose the battle against it. It is the other woodstove in the house that helps to keep the house warm. It has a cook-top, oven and two propane burners. If I lived in the backwoods it would be perfect. But I don't, so it's excessive. But the woodstove does keep the kitchen and dining room warm. Our house is old so there is a door practically to every room so we are able to trap the heat and keep it contained. The room I mentioned here is off the kitchen so is also kept fairly warm as well. But this means that we need to stock up on wood. And unlike when we lived in town and had cords of wood ordered and delivered to us, out here we are more resourceful. Believe it or not, we do not chop any tree down. We only take what Mother Nature has already provided. These woods are what my hubby refers to as the mother load. There are so many downed trees in here. Some branches have been down far too long and have started decomposing, but there are many that are rightly aged. There are thick branches, skinny branches, short branches and long branches. So far we have not had to enter the interior of the woods as there is plenty around the perimeters, otherwise it could get tricky cause the fallen trees and branches have created a web-like pass through. Until us, the woods have lied untouched in this state as there is no road back here. We've barely touched a quarter of a hectare, but can be out there for half a day and come home with a truckload. One days haul equals one months worth of heat. Tomorrow will be a day of chopping and then we'll be back out there refueling for more cold months ahead.
I've seen on many blogs/websites where they have multiple blogs labeled with different subject matters all on one site! I loved the idea because I often have multiple things to talk about in my blog but always felt my posts should remain to one subject. And blogging twice in one day felt, I don't know, wrong. So I loved the idea of posting to separate blogs. And the hosting website I use allows me to do that which was perfect. I won't promise I will be updating all my blogs daily but I like the option that I can. So for my old readers, I hope you found yourself back to me alright and are able to navigate the new and improved site with it's multiple blogs without any problem. The Barnyard is home to my old blog and still carries all my old entries. As for my new readers, welcome to my site where I will post about my life living in the country on a small hobby farm. Hope you enjoy!
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