Sorry Slowpokes!

Today, the UPS guy showed up at my house and delivered a box for me!  It has the LowePro camera bag in it ... courtesy of Pia Gronvaldt at Just Another Dog Blog.  Thank you so much, Pia!  This thing is awesome!

I can't wait to use it!  

Jodi

Nesting

Depression is a beast.  Yeah, I'm putting it out there.  Hell, I talk about every other thing in my life on the internet, might was well delve into this. 

Having a tough day (that's putting it lightly).  The loss of my brother is as raw as the day it happened.  The economy and being jobless is starting to weigh on me.  The stress of it all is flat wearing me out. 

I can't wait for spring to hit so I can get some warm sunshine on my face again.  The grass is staring to green.  And my house is a mess.  I figured I'd better start cleaning the inside of my house, so that when it starts getting really nice out, I won't feel guilty for spending all the time out there with the animals.  A room in my house I haven't done anything with since I moved in is my bedroom.  The amount of dog hair was starting to make me gag.  Damn dogs.  The piles of old paperwork that I am clutching to for no reason was starting to become a fire hazard.  Time to move forward.

Little by little.

So I threw out a bunch of shoes, got rid of a bunch of old clothes, threw out a ton of paperwork and left a pile to be organized, vacuumed up all the dust and dog hair, got the pictures out of my closet and actually cleaned them and hung them on the walls like I'd been meaning to for the last two years, and it feels better already in here. 

Heck, you've seen the rest of my house ... here's my boring bedroom.  Yes, like the rest of my life, my bedroom is black and white, by choice.  I love black curtains.  They keep the light out of the room so you can sleep during the day.  I still don't have closet doors or anything to cover the cubbies with.  Haven't figured out what I'm doing there yet, as the person who built this house made everything to custom size since he was a contractor, yet the people who lived in it after him completely trashed the place and, therefore, the closets have no doors, and to buy them would cost me a fortune.  I'll figure something out eventually.

To the left of the foot of the bed is the giant mound of family photos I've been going through and scanning, a little at a time.  The photo hanging on the wall on the left is my mother's wedding photo.  The next two photos are two pieces of artwork done by an American Indian friend of my mothers.  The larger wolf photo was given to me by my awesome sister.  And the Ansel Adams ... is just one of my favorites.  Peaceful.  Serene.

(Oh, and the layer of black ick on my bedspread ... that's Echo's spot ... and she's kindly blowing her coat for some reason right now.  I'm sick of wiping it off, so I left it there.)

And I love my little Reeses box on the nightstand.  That was given to me by my very cool neighbor!

I guess the nesting is my reaction to the depression, I don't know. 

Something needs to happen. 

Maybe I need to make something happen.

J

Tidbits

We got a little bit of snow last week.  Wish there were a couple more feet of it. 

And what is that on my deck?

Close up...

 

Oh, that's just Chuck the Shuck (sheep/duck).

That's the poor singleton duck that hangs out with my sheep because all his buddies flew off in the fall.  Sucks being an Indian Runner.

How many people can say they have seen duck prints in the snow on their deck?

The birds are loving the feeders.  I have tons of red winged black birds which are dominating the entire setup, but occasionally, I'll see a cool little colored finch or something.  There are also quite a few juncos hanging around, too. 

Here are some photos of my new trailer.  I don't remember if I've posted any on here before, so here they are.

As I was fartin' around with my camera, a visitor came a visitin' ... who is that???

And he was gonna run me over!

Ha!  It's good neighbor, Dean.  :-)  He can run me over any time he wants.

The sun keeps popping out today ... feels good.  I'm trying to keep myself busy ... just cleaned out the bottom part of my closet, and now have a mountain of old paperwork to go through.  Yippee.  Not!

"Is that good?"

Kahlua's pretty adorable.   We are working on reinforcing a trick she sort of came with.  This isn't her most enthusiastic example (she really gets going sometimes) ... but it's what I captured ... enjoy.

Word Verification for Comments

Thanks to Shirley for pointing out the stupid word verification setting that requires people to complete an extra step to post comments on my blog.  I had a hard time figuring out how to turn it off.  That's because the option is NOT available if you're using the new Blogger interface.  You need to revert to the old interface and then change the setting. 

Thanks Shirley!  And please don't stop posting on my blog.  I'd miss you!

Jodi

Alfalfa Prices ...

What are you paying for good quality horse hay? 

It's generally about $10 a bale here ... tons ranging anywhere from 22-28 bales in a ton, so anywhere from $220 to $280 a ton. 

And they're holding pretty steady.

And gas prices are going up ...

It's Official!

Gunner is a herding washout! 

He's awfully cute, and was having fun chasing the sheeps, but he just really wants to be someone's buddy.  He lays at my feet, he follows me around, he loves being pet and getting attention, loves to fetch and just hang out with his people.  It's not often that a dog this nice, calm, cool and collected, not to mention house trained and well-mannered comes through in a rescue situation.  Someone is going to end up with a really nice dog.

I'm going to be pretty picky about where he goes.  I'm not in any hurry to find him a home, as he's a very easy keeper.  I'd like to find someone who will love him for who he is, and not what they hope they can make him into.  He's a good guy and deserves the best home.

Gunner Clarification

I realized I talked about Gunner on Facebook, but didn't really "introduce" him here.

No, I do not have a new dog.

Gunner is a rescue.  His previous owner had to move into a smaller place that didn't allow dogs, so she had to find a home for him.  He's 2 years old, and has been tossed around a bit, it seems.  He's been fed whatever crap someone could afford, and has even ended up at the Humane Society a time or two.  The good news is ... he's a great dog, up to date on shots, is neutered, crate trained, house trained, likes other dogs, is calm in the house, loves to play fetch, loves playing with Reese, and loves loves loves people!  I haven't put him on stock yet, but I don't hold out a whole lot of hope.  Doesn't matter because he will make someone an awesome companion. 

I'll be holding on to him until I get can his coat and skin in good condition.  He's a bit itchy and his eyes didn't look right to me (they look a bit better now).  He's in the middle of a de-worming treatment and, if all goes well, he should be available for adoption in a few weeks.

I will try to post periodic updates on him.  In the meantime, if you know of anyone looking for a buddy, please have them contact me.

Thanks!
J

Critters

I needed to take some photos of Gunner so I can track his progress here.  When he got here, his coat was pretty dry and nasty, but it seems to be getting better.  I decided to take him out with the pack up on the irrigation canal and get some photos.  I happened to walk out as some clouds were passing over so the light/no light was causing my camera lots of grief.  Anyway, here are a few photos.

If I could be a dog, it would be Reese.  I have never seen anything happier to be alive in my life.  She makes me laugh.

And here is the Echo.   She wasn't real fond of Gunner at first, but it seems like she's going to let him hang out.

And maybe even flirt with him.

My handsome old man, Zip.

I couldn't kneel down for these shots.  I'd have a Gunner in my lap.

Gunner.  Look at that chest hair.  Yes, it's as dry as it looks.  Egad.  I hope that lays down better at some point.

The Monster.

He always looks so surprised!  But found out he is quite the fetcher!  Gives Zip a run for his money.

And the little Reese a Piece.  Have I told you lately how much I love this little dog?

Here is my new horse trailer.  My neighbor came over and drilled a hole in the handle so I could lock the tack room.  This will not be the final keeping spot of the trailer.  It's actually in the way here.

Walking around the driveway area a bit, I'd like to document what it looks like so I can look back at it after I fix this up.

This spot here is working for Dean and his 4-wheeler.  And this is where Kahlua and I walk up on to the irrigation canal.  So I will make this a nice clean path with a little bridge going over the can't-see-it-now irrigation ditch near the base of the rock.

Here's the remnants of the garden that I didn't clean up.  Now that my back is feeling better, the stuff I should have done in the fall is now waiting for me.

If you look beyond the little rock pile here ... this is the area I spent a couple of hours on yesterday cleaning up.  Got rid of some fencing materials, loose nails and staples, leaves, etc.  That rock pile can now be dragged toward the fence.  This will be the parking spot for the trailer, and a great place to bathe, groom, and tack Kahlua.

The start of the spring burn pile.  I have large branches all over the yard that need to be added to this pile.

Lots more raking to do on that canal bank.  My irrigation ditch is at the base of that little hill, and those leaves will be a pain in the ass when the water comes in if I don't clean them up.  Lots to do.

What a mess.

Here is evidence of some great progress.  Here's Kahlua standing out in the pasture.

She walked ...

... right to me as I snapped about 20 photos of her!

She got some good scratches once she got to me!  Yay!   There is a little bomb-proofing event at a local arena that I am going to take her to.  It will be a great way to find out what, if anything, spooks her.  I'm looking forward to it.

Oh the lambs.  Adorableness.  One of the two is more of a renegade.  She loves coming up to check Echo out, as if they are long lost friends or something.

Here's the family...

That's all for now....

J

22 & .22

Last Saturday, I spent the afternoon with my son, Justin.  He asked me if I would take him shooting.  I thought that was a great idea, so I printed out a few photos and taped them to boxes, gathered some cans and water bottles and off we went.

(For those of you that don't recognize him, this is what I was married to.)

Here's my 22 year-old with my .22.  I never thought I'd see the day.  I was scared to death of guns for a long time.  Despite it being Justin's first time with a gun, he did an excellent job of handling it.

Here are the targets. 

I forgot to take an "after" photo of this, but here is a "during."

I starting timing my camera shots to coordinate with Justin's rifle shots in hopes of catching something in mid air or whatever.  Here's what I caught!

And just some more playing with my camera.  Same shot, but different focal points.  Fun stuff.

It was really nice to spend some quality time with him.  Hopefully, we'll spend a lot more time together this summer.

J