Catching Up to Her Sister

Her sister gets a little more riding time, but we try to carve out her opportunities too.

I love this shot.

Easter Weekend

Was trying to get a shot of the requisite egg dying project.

Someone photobombed it.

Who needs ham at Easter when you've got Miri?

Gramma and Grampa came for the weekend, and with Grampa's help (and a little pounding from Aleaha), our new chicken house is nearly done!

We had a lovely time at our former neighbors' house for the annual Mimosas & Egg Hunt event.

So many eggs, so many kids! 

Gramma & Grampa had a nice time too.

Fun to catch up with old friends.

And as if 300 plastic filled eggs was not enough, we had a repeat session back at our house with the boiled eggs.

It was short but zany.

A lovely time!

(didn't post pictures of the food, but we had fun with that too!)

Selfie Attempt

Wanted a shot of me and my red horse. He was complying just fine, but the camera operator was a dud.

Sillies

Miri poses with a scratching rake for the horses.

Aleaha made a new type of arrangement with purple blossoms tucked into a fern frond. (ahem, you with keen eyes will spy the stuff of a happy family....many cooking implements and a bottle of Pendleton....)

Down by the fruit trees.

Manure Management

With the first dry week of spring, It was high time to scrape the barnyard. Let me just warn you that this is a long post with many pictures, because this was a long project and it involved spending a lot of time with the animals.

Which means mommy was immensely happy.

Which means she took a lot of photos.

Which means she might not have really been helping all that much (except I was wranglin' animals in order to keep everyone safe, which is valuable assistance, right??)

So, let me tell the story about a barnyard full of poo.....

It was the first official release of the horses into the hillside pasture. How far did they get before they were heads-down? Not far at all!

This shot gives you an impression of what it was like. There was a pile of manure created in the wintertime that we had pushed off to one end of the paddock, and the first order of business was going to be to remove that and get it out of the way. The theory of operations was that one guy (Daddy) on the tractor would fill the bucket and dump into the special trailer, and the other guy (Kenny, to whom we are indebted!) would drive through and take the manure up the hill to be dumped in the woods.

But the plan was challenged. More on that in a bit. Because in the meantime, Mommy was spending quality time with critters...

There was the sweet little girl we call Teensie, who smiled for the camera.

There was Quigly, who looked so wonderful on the hilltop.

But once he saw me, he wanted to investigate more closely.

So he got closer.

And closer.

And then it was an up-the-horse-nose shot. We have a lot of those.

Wanted to get a shot with all 4 enjoying the grass.

It's been good for Jake to be closer to Shorty. The old-timers can relate to each other.

Oh, and the dog had a lovely time too.

The girls watched from their favorite spot on the hillside.

Meanwhile, back at the barn, there had been some issues. We thought we had waited for enough dry days that we could navigate the yard without an issue. But the pile-o-poo was so heavy that the trailer was sinking and getting to the slippery stuff underneath. So they tried a few things. They let air out of the tires to get more grip. They put rocks down for traction. They used the tractor to help the pickup pull the trailer. 

But it didn't work.

So they dumped the manure a few feet from where it was and.....

....came at the problem from the other direction. Why not let the forces of gravity assist?

And then they proceeded to really move some shit.

Meantime, things out in the grass are getting really good. They have romped and trotted and bucked and eaten. Now it was time for Jake to lay down for a quick nap, like a colt in the sunshine.

He was still for a very long time, and I was starting to get worried. So I made a loud noise to rouse him. Whew, he was fine. Just snoozing.

The ickiness was really deep. Not healthy, not good. Must go!

Tiddlywinks on the left and Little Pink Riding Hood on the right brought the guys some much needed refreshment!

After about 10 trailer loads, they were just about done.

Wow, what a difference!

Taking After Her Parents

While reviewing Aleaha's homework the other night, I came across this. In answer to the question of which do you like better, day or night, her answer was:

"Night becas you get a time too rest and it is peas ful time"

Oh, Amen to that!

Wow, that's telling

It was a very tiring work week with a lot of late night and early morning calls for work. I was getting pretty short and very ready for the weekend and some rest. Miri had to get up early all week too, so that I could get her to school when they opened.

As we were driving to school on Friday morning, I asked Miri if she knew what today was.

"Yes, Mommy, it's Friday."

That's right, I confirmed. And did she know what that means? (thinking she would joyfully acknowledge that she could sleep in)

"Yes, it means no phone meetings for a couple of days!!"

Isn't it obvious?

Miri was explaining to Mommy on the way home from school the other night that her friend Nicholas was not at school that day.

Miri:          Yeah, he wasn't dere. He went to Navania.
Mommy:    He went where, honey -- Pennsylvania?
Miri:          No, Navania.
Mommy:    Do you mean Nevada?
Miri:          No, I mean Navania, just like I said!
Mommy:    Honey, there is no such place as 'Navania.'
Miri:          How would you know -- you've never been there!