Fur

In spite of hogging the bed, stealing the sheets and passing gas in my face, I do have best dogs in the world. 
Garrett and Cole saved up their Milkbones and bought me this for my birthday:

A custom made dog carrier. It even has a little tailgate!  Some assembly was required, alas, without opposable  thumbs, the dogs aren't able to work a wrench.  However, they do excel at providing moral support.

On Wednesday, they escorted me to the vet school.  It's always an epic battle to get the dairy cow in the trailer.  The dogs, realizing my fatigue, offered 3 extra sets of eyes for drive the hour drive to town.  Especially appreciated is their assistance when I check the location of my 38' trailer's butt and all I can see are dog heads blocking my view of the mirrors. Bless their hearts.
The equine residents at the farm are also very capable of contributing to my mental health.  Some provide you with a struggle at first...

... simply to make victory that much sweeter.

As the animals here can't unionize, we're aspiring to get them to do all the work, so we can lay around on the job.

For now though, they still excel at being support staff.

Pete shown here helping me square up my future horse shelter using the Pythagorean theorem.  
Cole and Garrett are much too daft to be trusted around tractors, so they guarded the fort while Pete and I dug our post hole.

New auger tip wasn't a match, requiring an hour of grinding and fabricating to make it work.  Then, the auger, which had been left partially disassembled, was reassembled, almost causing me to stroke out.  
Thanks to my canine companion, I kept my cool and we finished around 8 PM.
Wishing you the kind of unfatigable, unwavering camaraderie I get 24/7.

request

PLEASE GET JAMIE A COT, SHE TAKES UP TOO MUCH ROOM IN OUR BED.

THANK YOU, THE CANINE EMPERORS

Remains of September and Bits of October!

For one of my catering gigs, I used all recipes sent to me by my friend, Helene.  We share the same birthday, but are separated by 57 years.  Oh, stop trying to do the math in your head.  I'm 44, she's 101.

If it wasn't for Helene's care packages full of recipe, editorial, news and travel clippings, I'd be completely clueless to what's going on in the world outside my farm fence. 
Admittedly, trying out recipes for the first time, on clients, isn't recommended procedure.  Adds to the drama and stress level!

  Chicken breasts beaten flat and rolled around asparagus and provolone cheese, then coated in a pistachio crust.

Asian eggs.  The shell is cracked during boiling to allow anise and soy to penetrate the egg. Delicate and savory.

The best baby back ribs.  Starts the day before by milling the spice rub from fresh seeds, my coffee grinder will never be the same, but that's OK.
Thanks, Helene, it was a successful long weekend!

In other happenings on the farm, we've had to perform a tooth extraction on our eldest horse.  This friend of the farm is playing around now feeling the horse's molars, but she jumped in when needed and helped our vet by grasping the tongue and keeping it out of the way.

The herd increased by two in September.

I dragged our horse trainer, Tommy, on a 12 hour road trip to try out some new horses.  We intended on finding one, but a second prospect was too good to leave behind.  I rode Oreo bare back, without reins, while squealing, throwing my jacket over his head, pretended to fall off my draping myself over his neck, nothing made him lose his cool.  This is what is called a bomb proof horse and perhaps the new love of my life (don't tell Cole).

This is Tommy riding The Most Wonderful Horse in the world, OREO!

Speaking of Cole, he's had more issues with the blasted abscess. Going on two months now.

Captain Conehead had another procedure last week to reopen the wound, debride the tissue and hopefully, drain.  

His Grandma provided plenty of loving while she was here.
My stepdad and mom flew down from Canada.  As per tradition, Cole and I hike or run on our birthdays.  This year, we had a party!

Three dogs and three people, traversing all the northern trails.  Thanks, Mom and Chuck for the best birthday week.

Post written by my stepdad

On Monday afternoon we decided to walk one of the trails around the farm.

Here are the new riding horses just added to the farm.

Along the trail we came across a rattle snake.  Anyque has drawn her 38 Special

After killing the snake, we went to the barn to deliver some feed for the horses.

Home safe and sound.

We considered having him for supper, but Mom said, "no".

Today is Anyque's birthday, but she is off to work.

This is called work.

Remains of August

Each time I think I'm close to catching up around here, the gremlins work overtime to make me do the same.  We've recently acquired 2 new horses, both of whom decided to colic a few days apart.  A trip to the vet, some sleepless nights, extra vigilance, all burn up the majority of hours in a day. 9 horses to care for, plus my own menagerie -- this is the best job in the world.  So, when I don't have time to return calls or emails, know that I'm not eating bonbons on the couch, I'm out there doing what I love.
So let's catch up on August, shall we?

Construction on the ox barn began.

Continued.

Tommy approves.

Cole had all of his lipomas and skin tags surgically removed.

Frankenstein.

20 minutes to pull 33 stitches.  He was uber patient with me.

Stacked Tommy and Daphne's Winter hay.

Found an old pool cover in the woods and towed it to my horse pasture.

Voila, horses' square bales all covered up.

Cole's botched suicide attempt #43.  He swallowed a pork chop bone cast aside by the carpenters.  Emergency vet visit, again.

Cole's abscess never heals.

In retrospect, August wasn't the most fun after all.  But, wait until you hear about September!!!