It's officially Fall in Nor-Cal

It's been a couple of weeks since we had any sunshine on a weekend day. Today, we got a little of both. This morning was filtered sun, followed by some lovely brilliant sun, with passing clouds, and now as the day draws to a close, the clouds are coming back in. I wonder what tomorrow will bring? I'd love to start the day with a bright, sunny day!

With the coming of Fall, I don't get to spend nearly as much time with my favorite girl. The days end a lot quicker, and daylight savings time is only a week away to compound that problem, and there are fewer ideal days to spend with Willow on the weekends. This is going to get a little difficult...I'm not sure how to work around it all...I think I'll be doing various horsey chores during my lunch break.
I caught Willow in the middle of making a turn here in case you think she looks all out of whack...she kind of should! I'm in the market for a new camera...she doesn't like the way this one sounds. Well...and after a few thousand miles, and being dropped I don't know how many times, it actually is beginning to need to be replaced. I don't know which Nikon the next one will be, but it will be a Nikon. I can attest to their ability to withstand (AB)use! Yes, I confess...my camera is abused...mostly because I'm a klutz.

Here's my other big news...
Yes, indeed! That's a full dozen eggs from the happy chickens here at Huevos Rancheria. Looking from left to right, you might notice that the eggs appear to be two different colors. I'm about to turn cart-wheels here... That's a sure sign at least one, if not both of the Silver Cuckoo Marans are laying again after quite the hiatus. Both of them got broody...it got really hot...this and that... For the longest time we've been getting a single egg, now and then. We're finally starting to get at least an egg a day again. For having 3 hens out there...at least an egg a day is the minimum I should be seeing! LOL! This is the first full dozen I've seen in months! I confess... I used 4 promptly...but it was worth it! Poached "store" eggs just aren't the same as poached "Girly" eggs! Now I'm going to switch over to the other blog and work on ravioli made with homemade pasta!

First Fall Storm

We had a pretty blustery Fall storm come in last night and throughout today. We didn't have any damage to speak of. Thankfully. Our friends at Horse Plus Humane Society weren't so lucky. They suffered some damage to their shelters, but all the animals were ok. Willow did ok too...she was skittish and really spooky, but that was to be expected. She's only experienced a few breezy days and a couple of light showers...NOTHING like gusty winds between 3o and 5o mph.

We kept a watchful eye on Willow all day. When I fed her this morning, she was interested, but jumpy. She was shivering, but didn't seem as cold as she was unnerved, and ready to run at a flicker of an eyelash. That's a mustang for you. Even though she knows me, she's very cautious in uncertain situations. When I talked to her and reached out to stroke her shoulder, she still bolted...not far, just out from beneath my hand. She'd leave her feed to be away from anything that frightened her, and she'd move out into the more open area of her pen where she could keep an eye on everything and scent the air better. That's life with a mustang.


By this evening, Willow was much more calm. She was mostly dry, not shivering, and able to be handled some. She still wasn't in the mood to be towel dried though. Willow was ready to be scratched in some of her more itchy spots though...and I accommodated her and got a mustang hug for my efforts. What a love! Tomorrow we'll be cleaning up some of the muckiness that soft clay dust turned into...but that's ok. It gave us a really good look at what winter will look like. Ish!

At least stormy days have one good thing going for them...beautiful sunsets!

Christmas Frog?

S-He's actually more red than the photo is showing. It likes to sit on my Debbie Mumm tea pot-cup set...that's where I find it coming from. I don't know if it has chameleonic qualities, or if this is its natural coloration. There is certainly one, very likely two, rather likely three different little frogs that either live in my kitchen, or visit me regularly. I finally figured out why I'm so popular, and then realized they're actually a big help to me while being very little trouble. Actually virtually no trouble. Aside from the occasional movement you might see out of the corner of your eye, but anyone who has lived in a 70+ year old house, out in the country in northern California for any length of time has given up being startled by things like that a long time ago. You just make a mental note to take care of the newest guests.

We've had a bumper crop of tomatoes coming in from the garden, so we've had very ripe fruit around the house all the time this summer. With very ripe fruit comes...FRUIT FLIES!!! Argh!! I didn't want to destroy the flavor of the tomatoes by refrigerating them, so they've been in the kitchen with the AC on power-saver. The little frogs have been hanging out in the bowls of tomatoes where there are plenty of tiny fruit flies for them to snack on. So a potentially icky situation has turned into a symbiotic relationship that benefits us both! Now...with Fall coming on...I'll be ushering them out to the garden so they can find their natural "over winter" habitat.

Darn little critters grow on you after awhile....

Basket o' Kitties

Around here, we never know when a mom is going to bring in a surprise for us. This mama kitty had all of 1 kitten in her last litter. When she decided to deliver this litter in the deepest depths of the berry vines, we figured we might never see them. We haven't had many come in from the wild this year. We were mighty surprised to see this litter...and a litter of 5 no less come in from the wild! So far, everything we've done to try to help her out has been rejected. LOL! She wants it all her way. She hid them behind the dryer for a week... Then she moved them behind the washer. Now...they won't be hidden any longer! They're EVERYWHERE! We've started supplemental feedings to give Mom a break. They tend to rat-pack her from time to time, and she's starting to get grumpy about all those tiny teeth! Can't say that I blame her there...

Meanwhile, back in the house...


Tiki has a new buddy...Half Pint. We've had a lot of kittens lost this year. This is one of the laundry sink babies. One of the "wild" litters was dragged in very sick, and whatever they had spread like wildfire. It wiped out Half Pint's litter in 2 days. Those kittens were fat and healthy one day, and literally dead the next. I grabbed this one up hoping to save at least one...and it looks like we did. We believe the illness was passed by fleas, so that was our first chore - deflea the little fella.

We'll be keeping the 5 little ones above inside until they're old enough for their vaccines because I'm not sure what we're battling out there. I know most of the older kittens survived, but many didn't. None of the little kittens survived, except this one. We don't know how many were out in the brush that we never saw this year. We do know we no longer see several adult cats as well...and these are cats we've had several years. Since we're also on the coyote track and the bobcat track...those are possibilities as well. Sometimes Willow lets me know that there is something she doesn't like out in the brush... That's rural living for you! You always have to be wary of what might be out in the brush...

Our First Farrier Visit Together

Willow has definitely had her hooves trimmed before, but not the way our Farrier does them. Our Farrier is a Natural Hoof Care specialist, and does barefoot horse care. I adore him. I loved the way he took care of Willow during the procedure...his patience and understanding of Horsenalities! He taught me so much during the process, it was amazing! I feel like I know my way around a hoof much better now, and I'm not afraid I'm going to hurt her.

Phil uses an angle grinder on the horses' hooves to create a smooth surface that's less likely to chip and split. Willow's hooves have been left unattended for so long that she's way over grown. She'll need to be seen every 4 weeks for awhile, until her hoof is back to the proper size. I knew she needed attention. I just didn't realize it had been that long since she'd had attention.

Let that be a thought on your mind if you adopt a horse from a rescue... They do the best they can for horses, but they can't attend to every horse all the time. If there are a lot of horses, and not a lot of caregivers, then there's not a lot of one on one care being given to the horses. That doesn't make the rescue a bad place...it just means that they aren't a home...they're a way-station in between death and salvation of a new, loving home. Don't expect that you're adopting a 100% fully healthy horse that's up to date on all immunizations, worming and routine care such as hoof care. The worst are attended to, and those that can wait, will and do. Facts are facts. You invest your resources where they're needed most. There's no shame in that....you just want to be mindful of it.

Finally...a ride!

Well...Here it is. Our first official, fully saddled, and mounted ride! She's a perfect lady! Stood stock still while I mounted, and behaved absolutely beautifully...especially considering what she had to put up with! LOL!

It didn't take too long to find out that Willow has been trained more to the Eastern style than Western. She doesn't neck rein. She doesn't have the first clue about neck reining. She frankly, wonders what the heck I'm doing up there with the reins!
Yeah? Me too! I've never reined any other way, and she's never been reined any other way...so here we are! Quite the pair! It took a couple of minutes for me to catch on and try things her way... You have to admit...steering is an extremely important part of this equation! We got it together as the sun went down and achieved a nice little trot...

As the weather cools off, we'll have a really nice day when we can spend the whole day together and see if we can get out of the yard and go exploring some!

Country Living

My kitchen is currently being teased by frogs...little tree frogs... I usually find one little frog on top of the bottom of my commuter mug. This time I found a pair of them! We'll occasionally find a little frog scooting around the sink area... We found one in our barbecue sauce one night. I had to give him a bath before I turned him loose...and I had to toss the barbecue sauce...didn't want any "special" seasoning in there! We frequently find these little guys in the bathroom, but at this point, they're decorating the kitchen. I'm not sure how they're coming in, or what's enchanting them, but they're consistent visitors, and we do our best to work around them! Silly critters!