Rescue Anyone?

I have rescued a few horses here and there. This is something that I've always enjoyed doing but it does come with a price. There have been times that we have had to sneak in the middle of the night and "steal" the horse. There have been times when I've had to pretend to be "friends" with the person and play nice just to get the horse out of there and at the same time John has had to hold me back so I don't physically assault the person. I've been known to cry over starving, skin and bones horses while I make every effort I can to make them comfortable in their new environment. There was also that one time that I was rewarded with a healthy newborn foal from a mare that I rescued that was not supposed to live because she was in such bad shape. Rescuing horses is physically, mentally and financially exhausting but when it all comes together and works out it can be very rewarding.

Why did I use this as my subject for today? Because today, I visited with a couple that spent thousands of dollars, several 24 hour round trips to Idaho and sacrificed their pastures to rescue 48 starving appaloosa horses from an evil, selfish woman who didn't seem to mind seeing her horses literally starve and freeze to death while she sat in her nice warm house and fed her FAT FACE.

We were planning on taking one of the rescued horses home with use but decided not to because his poor legs were more crooked then a politician. We did leave them with 2 ton of hay as a donation to help them in their efforts with these horses. I admire these people, what they did was truly amazing.

However.....On our way home we stopped in on some people who had offered their horse to us for free just because they didn't want him anymore. He was well taken care of and we could tell that the people were doing everything they could to make sure that he had all of his shots and farrier work he needed. He had good food and shelter and two goats for companionship. But, this horse is FULL of himself. He was scared to death in his own environment and I didn't know what would happen when we got him home. I can't say I rescued this HORSE, but I can probably say that I rescued the people from the horse. HA!

So, here's a picture of the new guy on the block at the Cheslock Ranch.

There is Hair in the Air

Today’s photo is of Cajun showing off his dental work while being on the receiving end of some good scratching and rubbing.

The days are getting longer and it is triggering the horses to shed their heavy winter coats. Yesterday I spent a good long time and one shedding stone on the ponies and managed to get quite a load of hair off of them. They always enjoy their grooming sessions and show their appreciation with funny faces and lip movements.

The humming birds are starting to get very aggressive around the feeder so it's an excellent time to get some photos of them. Unfortunately, the lighting hasn't been quite right for high speed photography and those birds are so tiny and fast it's difficult to get a good shot of them. It's definitely a challenge and I am up to the task, it'll just take me awhile.

Happy Easter

Today's Photo is Mt. Jefferson with a sunset. I've got plenty of photos of Mt. Jefferson with sunrises but this is a first for me with a sunset. It's not an incredible sunset but it was all Mother Nature had to offer at the time.

In honor of the Easter holiday I will share my Easter poem with you.

Red Neck Easter

You walk into the cabin with your drawers a saggin’
Your old hound looks up at you, his tail is waggin.
You hang up your coat, throw your hat in the chair,
Stretch out your back and pull in a long breath of air.

“What’s that smell?” You wrinkle your nose,
“Smells like your frying up a piece of garden hose!”
My hackles raise up and I stand with dismay,
“How dare you walk in here and talk to me that way!”

“For all I care, you can go sleep in the barn,
But I can see in your face, you don’t give a darn.”
Lookie here what I fixed for you honey,
A nice stew pot full of Eater bunny.

He was a hoppin around those old beer kegs,
Carrying this here basket full of Easter eggs.
Ad lookie here honey, isn’t his handy?
Under all them eggs was this Easter candy!

It took me awhile to get a clear shot,
So I could throw him into this old stew pot.
It wasn’t easy getting this here meat,
I wrestled the hound off and be bit me in the seat!

I stood up, howled and pointed the gun at the dog
And that stupid bunny ran into the pen with the hog!
The pursuit was on right through that slop,
He eluded me with a quick easy hop!

I chased him round the corner, and felt like a dork
‘Cuss that darn bunny knocked of the pitch fork!
I stepped on the tines, the handle knocked me in the head,
I fell to the floor thinking “That bunny’s dead!”

The rest of the story will have to go untold,
I can’t quite recollect, but that hound got quite bold!
I got him fair and square and I aint lying,
Now tell me honey, why are the danged kids crying?

Take a whiff of this stew and tell me you old fart.
Is it true what the kids say, I have no heart?

By Jamie Ceslock

An Unannounced Guest for Dinner

I got home tonight to find a ring necked pheasent behind my gate. I've got one of those fancy schmancy automated gates so when I pushed the button to open it the stupid pheasent let that gate push him off my driveway. I figured if he was dumb enough to allow that he should be dumb enough to stand there and let me get a picture of him. Yeah right! As soon as I stepped out of my car the bastard flew off. Now a normal person who is just getting home from a long day at work would just get back in the car and give up but of course I've never been accused of being a normal person, I just HAD to chase that somebitch down and get a shot. Soo, look at what came for dinner (I wish)

Speaking of getting a shot. The bad barn cat that got into my house last week finally ran into one of John's bullets. Thank God!

Correcting a Mistake (everyone makes them)

In my entry titled "Spring Colors Are Here and Not Just in the Flowers" I mistakingly identified the birds in the photo as Yellow Finches and in fact that is not what they are. They are called Pine Siskins.

If you see any errors, please feel free to comment, I always like to keep my mind open, you never know what will fall in. You may also feel free to comment on anything else if you'd like.

I have recently joined a birding watching forum and have used it as an excellent opportunity to identify the birds in my yard and share birding stories with other bird crazy people.



Today's photo is in honor of our spring flowers and weather.

Today I didn't get much of anything done other than entertaining Riley. John and Luke made a lot of progress in the basement. It's really looking good down there.

Tomorrow is John's first day on his new job and my first day back after my vacation.

Today, we decided to go on a trip to Hawaii with John's brother and sister in lay Tom and Pam and his sister Teresa. Wahoo!

It's all in the lighting.

My photo for today is not a high quality one but it's the best I could get of this particular bird at this time. This is a Pine Grosbeak and the first one I've seen this year. Every time the bird showed up, the sun went behind a cloud. When the sun would pop back out, something would scare the bird away. It is definately another fitting tesimony of how frustrating photographing wild life can bee. (See post titlted "Those Pesky Elk" for another entertaining expose' on the joys and perils of outdoor photography.)



Okay, I can't stand it. I just can't do a post with a half assed photo, it's not in my blood. So, here is a nice shot of Riley and Grandpa finishing up the fertilizing for the year. Fertilizer is becomming so expensive that I think it is cheaper to not fertilize and take a cut in yeild.

No cats in the house!

Today's photo is Bitten the Tiny Kitten. Of course he's not a tiny kitten anymore but he used to be!

Bitten's story

Several years ago a skinny cat showed up in my old barn. That’s not an uncommon occurrence and normally I just shoot them because they usually are wild and sick and are capable of either making kittens or having them. Well for some reason I took a shine to this cat. I could tell by the size of his head that he was a very large kitty; he had no tail, the huge feet with extra toes and was friendly. I fed him and let him fatten up before making the “appointment” with the vet for brain surgery.

A few weeks later, John was gone on one of his long hunting trips and I was out in the barn cleaning stalls. It was dark out as daylight savings had kicked in and I was just enjoying some quiet time out there messing with the horses. Here I am thinking I’m all alone and safe when the barn door starts slowly sliding open and in walks the biggest, dirtiest, ugliest man I’ve seen in a coons age. I give him the farmers wife face off with my pitch fork not saying a word, just glaring at him. He stops and says, “I hear you got my cat.” I knew instantly what cat he had to be talking about so I told him yes, I had cats but I doubt any of them were his thinking I just get him to leave and keep my cat. Well, this teeny, cute little girl with big sad eyes steps out from behind the guy and my heart just melts. “Okay, okay”, I say “he’s out in the other barn, let’s go have a look and see if he’s yours.”

We walked out to the old barn and as soon as that little girl (damm those cute kids!) spotted that cat she yelled out “Bobby” ran and picked him up. Crap. They guy was truly thankful to me for taking care of the cat and I told him that I really liked him. Well, they thanked me a whole bunch and left. End of story. Or, so I thought.

A few weeks later, here he comes down the driveway, walks right up to me, hands me this teeny tiny kitten and without a word turns around and leaves. This kitten looked just like mini version of the cat he had taken from my barn. He had to have been only a couple weeks old and couldn’t even poop by himself yet. He was so teeny we named him Bitty Little Kitty. I kept him in a bird cage and took him everywhere with me because he had to be hand fed and helped to poop.

Now I’m normally not one to get too attached to a cat, they are a renewable resource you know! But that cat, THAT CAT weaseled his way into my heart. He really is a cool cat.

NO CATS IN THE HOUSE!

So, last night I’m relaxing on the couch just enjoying the sound of John working in the basement, you know PROGRESS. All of a sudden, I hear this weird noise behind me, I ignore it. But it happens again and again. So, I get up and take a look and there is a CAT in my HOUSE throwing itself against my living room window tying to get out. I tried to shoo it out the door and it’s so frantic it keeps trying to leap out the window and with each failed leap it is landing right on my ancient jade plant and breaking it into pieces. At that point I have evil thoughts of opening the window and removing the screen. I say evil because it’s a second story window. HA! Anyway, I finally manage to shoo it into the kitchen and this is not before it has jumped up on every surface in my living room leaving a wake of broken memorabilia behind it. At this point I’m ready to chase it with a butcher knife. Anyway, I close all of the doors so it’s locked in the kitchen and oh so very nicely call to John that there is a CAT in my HOUSE and to come quick and get the dammed thing OUT before it causes any more damage than it already has. Of course he takes his time because he obviously assumes it’s no big deal and wasn’t he in for a surprise when he crests the stairs and sees the mayhem. I swear it might as well have been a dammed bobcat with how wild it was and the destruction it was causing. John opens the door to outside thinking the cat will just take the opportunity and LEAVE but NOOOO all of a sudden there are two dogs and one other cat at the door who decided they were going to help. At this point I have two cats and two dogs fighting under my kitchen table and I told John to get the gun and shoot the whole lot of them. With a lot of swats, kicks, thrown objects and a variety of swear words we were finally able to get them all outside and shut the door. After we were able to catch our breath and realize what had just happened we both walked around and took full stock of the damage. It wasn’t too bad considering what my house had just experienced. Of course it wasn’t until this morning that the bright idea came to me that we should have trapped the stupid cat in a box, took it outside and shot it because I’m SURE it is the one that is responsible for pissing in every barn, all over my front porch, on my tractor and in the dog room. I want that thing dead so badly I can taste it.

Another day in the beginning of spring.

Today's photo is Buster. I bought this horse a few years ago because he was by the same sire as my old show horse Blue. I was hoping at the time to get another nice horse to start training for the show circuit.

Buster had ended up at the local horse trader's place with his mother and another mare and colt because his owner had run into some financial difficulties. The trader knew that I like "ugly paints" and I had a yearning for another Telluride horse so he called me when these came in. I went out to take a look at what he had that same day. It was pouring down rain and pitch black dark when I got there. Buster was about 5 years old and had never been away from his mother nor had he ever been in a horse trailer other then to be hauled to the horse trader's place. I could barely see him but it looked like all of his legs were still connected and his dam looked to be pretty well built so I bought him on the spot for $600.00, loaded him into my trailer and took him home.

When I got him home he was so scared that he was shaking like a leaf. I put him in a stall with some hay and water and decided to just leave him alone and let him settle. There were several other horses in the barn to keep him company. By the next morning, he was all settled and looked pretty good.

After a couple weeks of just letting him hang out I had the vet out to do his teeth and within a couple days after that started riding him. He had never had anything done to him but led around with a halter so I took my time and he was really good. It wasn't but a few rides and I had him moving off my leg and going along the wall pretty good, then we moved out to the trails and he was AWSOME!

I continued with a lot of rail work and he did really well but I could tell he just wasn't show horse material. Much to John's delight, Buster became HIS horse. He really is an awsome horse, kind and gentle and easy to ride.

Now on to current events of the day.

I saw my first hummingbird today at my feeder. WAHOO! I love those things.

I also shaved GiGi's face today so she doesn't look like a bearded goat anymore. Who is GiGi you ask? My little mini mare that I got to keep Honey company.

Spring Colors Are Here and Not Just in the Flowers

Today's photo is of some American God Finches. As the days get longer the light reflects off the retna in their eyes and triggers the spring molting process. Their new feathers come in a bright yellow in preparation for mating season and the need to attract a female. If another male comes in to the feeder to eat, the ones already on the feeder spread their wings to say BACK OFF we were here first.

Copy and pasted from this website.
Goldfinches will nest in a wide variety of shrubs and small trees found in full sun. Their nest are usually found 8 or 10 feet above the ground. In August they frequently build in the crotches of tall sturdy weeds such as the bull thistle, Joe Pye Weed, wild lettuce and even golden rod. The female usually lays four, five or six bluish white eggs and, until they hatch, she is fed by the male. The nestlings are fed by both parents in the same manner, and it seems likely that the abundance of suitable seeds in July and August is responsible for the late nesting habit of this songster.


In another few weeks, the elk will be shedding their horns and I'll be running around their stomping grounds looking for the sheds.

Who Said Pit Bulls are Viscious Killers?

Today's photo is of my son's two dogs Brutus and Joey. Now, a normal person would assume that Brutus was the pit bull and Joey was the little dog but actually it's the other way around. I'm not a big fan of pit bulls, but Joey really is a nice dog. He is a playing machine and in fact plays so much he wears all of the other dogs out. For a little dog, Brutus is pretty cool too. I like him other than he farts to much and it's those silent ones that catch you off gaurd. You don't know you've been hit until it's too late and your sinuses are full of dog fart. Peee ewww!

We had a guy fly all the way out from Minnesota to look at our old truck that we have for sale and he bought it right on the spot. He's a really nice guy and I do believe John and I have made ourelves a new friend. Good, honest hard working people are few and far between in this day and age and we are firm believers that if you run across one, you need to embrace and treasure them. He is still here and he and John and going through all of the barns admiring all of Johns cars, trucks and junkers. John does love to show people his junk.

Work has been busy and kind of stressful this week. Partly because it's invoicing week and payroll and I'm going to be off next week. That is a lot to get done and wrapped up before leaving on vacation. I guess it's par for the course, the more work you are responsible for, the more stressful the job can be. I do enjoy my job though and I consider myself lucky to have such a great job and to be working for such great people. It sure makes the days go by a lot faster and no matter how much I like my job, I like being home with my husband and my animals even better so the sooner I can get home to them the better.

My new harness that I bought off Ebay came today and it is wonderful. The seller was one of those honest people and he didn't do the harness justice in his description of it. It is made of very high quality, heavy leather and fits my pony almost perfectly. I'm so excited to get her hooked up to the cart and go for some drives.

Parting With an Old Friend.

Today's photo is one my favorite trucks from our collection. I say ONE of my favorites because my all time favorite is the Model A of course. I choose this photo for today because John decided that he is going to sell this truck. I really don't want him to because I just love the paint job and all of the chrome on this one but it's his decision and I won't stand in his way.

Poor John is suffering from some kind of lower GI issue these past few days. I really think it's from stress with changing jobs and all but I made him promise that if he is not feeling better by tomorrow that he will go to the doctor.

We've made a lot of progress down in the basement. Riley's room and the hallway are about ready for paint and the main bedroom should be ready by the end of the day today. We still haven't figured out what colors to use but we do want them to be very bright so it is warm and welcoming down there.

For some reason I feel sad and depressed today. The sun is out, there is a clear blue sky, the horses are out on the grass and progress is being made downstairs but I just have this overwhelming sadness that I just can't shake. I think I'll go out for a walk and see if I can get over that.