A Love Like Ours | Book Review

Lyndie and Jake were inseparable friends as children.  But when Lyndie's family moves away, it will be years before they meet again.  Twenty, to be exact. Now adults, they've become very different people.  But there's one thing they still have in common - horses.  After being injured while serving his country in Iraq with the Marines, Jake struggles with PTSD.  Now working as a Thoroughbred trainer, he spends most of his time alone and avoids relationships.  But with Lyndie back in his life and exercising the horses he trains, how long will that last?  

An excellent spring/summer read, I read this book in one day.  There was no way I could put it aside for later once I'd begun.  Truthfully, I think the cover is quite sappy (although the colors are lovely), but the plot and sub-plots more then compensated for that.  Jake reminded me very much of the tall, dark, and brooding characters from Jane Austen's books (Mr. Darcy, anyone?).  I'm sure that was intentional.  Lyndie was sweet.  Sweet, caring, and thoughtful.  And she loves horses, so how could I not like her?  I especially enjoyed the interaction between Lyndie's family.  Her only sister is confined to a wheelchair because of health problems, and over the years she has helped to grow their faith.  Yes, I loved their family.  And unlike much of Christian Fiction, the faith they showed was not wishy-washy.  This was a great book and I will be seeking out other titles by Becky Wade.

: : I received this book for free from Bethany House Publishers in exchange for my honest review. : :

Photo a Day // June // Week One

O N E | Whovians, you know. 

T W O | Getting the house ready for my Grandma Barb and Aunt Liz to visit!  I can't wait!! *big grin*

T H R E E | Sorting through drawers and finding a bunch of my 4-H dog and horse show ribbons.  I was hoping to clear some of them out, but I don't really want to throw any of them away.  Any creative upcycle ideas for award ribbons out there?

F O U R | Sheep shearing with Hank.  Incidentally, the ram he's shearing here is the daddy of my lambs.

F I V E | A neat Chevy truck at one of the places Hank sheared.

S I X | I cleaned up Dewey and took some pictures.  Hopefully we'll have him sold and at a good home soon.

S E V E N | Hank and his nieces. *smile*

letting go

Letting go is hard...really, really hard.  A few weeks ago, I made one of the most difficult decisions I've ever had to make.  I decided it was time to find a new home for my wonderful Prince Charming horse, Bob.  No, it wasn't easy.  I thought, prayed, and cried for several days.  Several long days.  I felt like my heart was breaking.  But in the end, I knew what I needed to do.  The Lord brought Bob to me, and I've been blessed with him for ten wonderful years.  I want Bob to be used, and I want some little 4-H kid to experience the joy I had riding him for so many years.  It's time for me to pass on the blessing to someone else.  So, I called my 4-H leader, Marian.

And here's where it gets good.  Not only did she want to buy Bob from me, but I can come over whenever I want (even if she's not home) and ride my boy.  She has an arena...with jumps.  *eyes glaze over*  How awesome is that?!

We decided a trial period would be wise before she actually buys him.  He's an amazing horse (yes, I am biased, but it's completely true), but he's never been used as a lesson horse.  So, he's at Marian's place being ridden by some of her current 4-H kids...and he's loving it!

This Wednesday, I played with him for a while, then went inside and we signed the bill of sale.  He's not legally my horse anymore, but at the same time Bob will always be my horse.

my senior photo from 2007

I am so peaceful about this, knowing Bob is being used and that he's enjoying it.  Although I had a moment on the way home where I wanted to turn back, give Marian back her money, tear up the bill of sale, and say, "No, he's mine.  You can't have him!"  But...I didn't.
And that "ride him whenever you want to" thing?  I plan on taking full advantage of that.  I'm reminded over and over again what an exceptional horse Bob is.  He's such a spunky boy, but so gentle.  There's not a mean bone in his body.  And feeling all of that controlled power under me?  It's incredible.

I stop by on my way home from church every Sunday to say "hi" to Bob.  As silly and sentimental as it sounds, I don't want him to forget me.  If he ever didn't perk his ears up and look around at me when I call his name or whistle, I think my heart really would break.  I love Bob so much.  But I'm happy with the decision I've made.

And I thank the Lord for finding a good home for my precious, special boy.  He truly cares about every little detail in my life, and He provides.  His timing is amazing.

My bro will also be finding a new home for his horse, Dewey (once his leg is all healed), but we're going to keep my mom's pony, Freckles.  He's somewhere in his thirties, and has completely earned the right to enjoy his last years taking it easy in the pasture.  And I'll still have a horse to take trail riding on the trails behind our house.  So, it's all good.  It really is.

: :

Letting go is an area I've been growing in a lot the past few months.  Sometimes, even if it's something that's good for me, I get such a strangle hold on something (whether it be a person, a thing, or an idea), that I actually hinder the Lord from working in my life.  He's been gently teaching me that many times for His will to be accomplished, I need to let go and step back.  Let Him.

Miscellany // Horse Aspirin

Mission accomplished! Just finished re-bandaging Dewey's leg and everything is looking good so far.  Oh yes, Friday night my bro's silly horse went and got a very bad cut on his right hind leg. Ahaha - "cut" doesn't even begin to accurately describe the extreme laceration. There was blood everywhere. I don't do blood. It took the vet 2 hours to patch him up, and since she wasn't able to get to our place until 10:00 PM, that was around midnight.  Alex entertained us with jokes....because, he's Alex. ;) I was very brave and watched some of the stitching. Yes, from between my fingers, but I did watch! As of tonight, the swelling has gone down a lot, the wound looks like it's going to heal well, and he's putting full weight on that leg.  Thank you Lord for giving me strength - wounds and first aid are not my forte whatsoever.  But, if I can handle what it looked like before the vet arrived, I can certainly handle changing a bandage.  And, I did.  Besides the bandage, Dewey is on antibiotics ("It's the only thing! The only thing that will save you!";) for the next few days and Bute (horse Aspirin) for the pain.  Playing vet is fun for a while, but I can't wait till Dewey is all better.

Oh, and my bro got a lot of footage of the vet fixing Dewey up, so if you're so inclined, you'll be able to watch that on his YouTube channel at some point.  I'm sure you're all as breathlessly awaiting the video as I am...not! ;)

In other news, I now have all of the hay I'll need for the sheep over the winter safely stored under shelter.  Last week I brought home the most beautiful 2nd cutting alfalfa hay you've ever seen!  It's so beautiful and smells so good, I could almost eat it myself.

I'm listening to the Elizabethtown soundtrack.  I love that movie so much...it's so wonderfully weird and awesome.

Saturday, we began fencing a new 1.2 acre pasture for the sheep.  My bro and our friend Christopher pounded t-posts (I think they did about 50) while my dad and I used the auger on the tractor to drill holes and install wooden gate posts and corner posts.  I had way to much fun operating the tractor - raising and lowering the auger, operating the clutch and PTO.  SO much fun!!  And it's going to be so nice having more space for my expanding flock!

Looking forward to helping with the Bible Bee at our church next week.  The lure of pizza and banana splits was too tempting. ;)  I get to operate a scanner.  Hooray!!  Not really sure what that entails, but I'm sure I'll get the hang of it.

Today, I applied to work at our local theme park, Silverwood.  It's literally only 3 1/2 miles from our house (which used to seem really weird, driving out in the country and suddenly "rollercoasters!"), and according my friend Laura who works there, are desperate for more employees right now.  They're only open for 3 more weeks (rollercoasters and cold weather aren't really compatible), so I thought "why not?"  So, I'll let you know how that turns out.

And right now, I'm going to go to bed.  More fencing tomorrow...en garde!

Happy Trails!!

On the Farm | Life Goes On

May has been the busiest month yet, even busier than lambing season in April...and that's saying a lot.  There are so many things that need doing during spring.

The sheepies have been enjoying the tender grass in the orchard and now the rich stuff in the lower pasture.  We've been blessed with the perfect amount of sunshine and rain, and the pastures are all doing so well.

As you may have noticed, they've all been sheared, too.

My sheep were very well behaved this year.  In fact, Hank says they were better than his own sheep.  Yes, this is me gloating...but just a bit. *grin*

I'll be sharing the sheep shearing video sometime soon-ish...I hope.

Miss Picabo the llama went to her new home and is doing very well there.

In the horse trailer - I love how easy llamas are to load.

Here she is with her new pasture mate Savannah...

Checking out her new home...

I'm so thankful to have found a good home for her where she will be well cared for.  And I'm very thankful to only have two llamas to feed of this coming winter.  That'll save me some hay!

Picabo's new home is also the farm where I bought my five extra meat lambs.  They're Katahdins, which is a hair breed instead of a wool breed like mine are.  Not what I'd want for breeding purposes, but they'll do for meat.  I think they're pretty cute, too. ;)

The horses have enjoyed being out on pasture, and I'm happy to be conserving the last of my grass hay.

If you follow me on Twitter, then you know that I had the opportunity to help shear alpacas at a friend's ranch last weekend.  Way too much fun!  I took a lot of pictures so I'll be sharing more about that in a separate post at some point.

I love riding with my dad to the dump and part of the charm is riding in our farm truck, the one I'm sitting on in my header picture.  I love old Ford trucks.  On our way back home my dad pulled of to the side, I slid over, he got back in on the passenger side, and explained to me how the clutch and the stick work.  Yep, my first time driving manual. 

*grin*

Going up our gravel driveway, dad had me step on the brake and the clutch, stopping the car.  Now I'm pretty sure he was setting me up, because we were going up a slight incline.  When I tried to get going again, the truck died.  I got it going again, hit the gas and popped the clutch.  Ooooh yeah!  Power!!

*bigger grin*

Once I'd parked the truck in our driveway, my dad says, "Okay, now go inside, get your camera, and go take a picture of what you did to the road.  You can put it on your blog."  Hehe...

Yep, he set me up.

This two inch deep rut?  It's mine.

I can't wait to drive the truck again - I think I'm going to really love driving manually.

I'm currently focusing my time on fence fixing, mainly tightening the fence so the animals won't push it over.

Also, I'm bringing home a new addition to my menagerie next Sunday!

Can you guess what "it" is?  Hint: I've never owned this kind of animal before.

That's all for now folks!

Harness Training // Day One

This is my friend Glenda and her horse Mariah...

My mom's pony Freckles is trained to pull a cart, and Glenda had the brilliant idea that we should teach Mariah how.  So, we are.  Isn't that an awesome summer project?!  Neither of us have ever trained a horse to pull a cart, so this is going to be a learning experience for all of us, that's for sure!

We took it easy our first day and just got Mariah comfortable with wearing the harness, then the headstall with the blinders.  She's used to be ridden with a hackamore (bit-less bridle), so we started with that.  Eventually we'll begin using a d-ring snaffle bit, but the hackamore is best for now.

It seemed wise to leave the halter on under the bridle for now, and we took turns with one of us holding the lead rope while the other walked behind holding the reins.  Since it was just the two of us, we couldn't really get any pictures of us doing that.  Next time, I'll bring my bro and he can take some pictures.

When it was Glenda's turn to walk behind with the reins, she practiced starting and stopping Mariah using voice commands and the reins.  Mariah is very well trained with voice commands, which made that step much easier.

Mariah took to it all very well!  I thought for sure we'd have a fight on our hands when we put the blinders on, but nope.  Nothing.  We gave her lots of treats and pats for being such a good little girl.

Of course, this is the easy part.  Just wait till we try adding a cart to the mix...;)

Happy Trails, y'all!

Miscellany

Last week was crammed full of fun and business.  Kellie and I had a marvelous time at Pickin' on the Prairie.   As Kellie said everything I wanted to say in her post (and as I didn't take any pictures), you can read her post here.

David Tennant sings.  The end.

Also, I really, really, really want to see Catherine and David in Much Ado About Nothing.  They're so great together.

I went for a lovely little ride on my Bobby boy this morning.  Just hopped on him bareback and took off, with the Bonnie dog trailing along behind.  About 30 minutes later, I remembered why I don't usually ride him bareback without a bareback pad - he's got the most uncomfortable, bony back ever.  I think I'll be walking funny for a few days...but it was so worth it.

Dewey, my bro's horse, has been getting the royal treatment here lately.  He shed the frog (sole) of his hoof, and being the big, flat footed, tender foot that he is, he got sore feet.  (shedding the frog is normal, btw)  Tom, our farrier, recommended soaking his hooves twice a day for a while to prevent abscesses.  So, every morning and evening Dewey's had his front feet soaked.  15 min. per foot in warm water and epsom salts.  He's feeling very special and is definitely on the mend.

As much as I hate to admit it, it's definitely starting to feel and smell like Autumn here.  There's an unmistakable crispness in the morning and evening air.  *cringe*  Noooooo!!!  I love Autumn, it's my favorite season, but I'm not ready for summer to be over yet!  However, I am looking forward to pulling out my sweaters, scarves and hats again.  There's always a bright side:)

My brother was at the fair today selling and signing his books and playing with his Bluegrass band.  He and Christopher (one of my "extra" brothers) came home with pizza and donuts.  We ate them while watching Megamind.  The perfect way to wrap up our day.

Speaking of the fair, I'm looking forward to going this year.  I'd love to catch the rodeo, especially since I haven't gone for the past few years.  The jokes some of the clowns were telling were rather crude and vulgar last time I went, and I haven't been brave enough to go since.  But, I'm feeling brave this year.  I love a good rodeo:)

Happy Trails, y'all!

On the Farm | a bit of everything

Things have been hopping on our little 'farm' lately...

A friend gave me five of her older chickens who aren't laying anymore to use for bug control around our place.

They've been quite industrious, scratching about the yard.

I converted our old lamb tractor into a coop for them...

For those not in the know, a lamb tractor is a portable fenced structure either on wheels or runners which is used to move lambs around the yard for grazing purposes.  You can also use them for goats and there are chicken tractors as well.  We simply removed the wheels from ours so it would sit flush with the ground and viola!  A chicken coop.  Our old one is 1) falling apart and B)...no...2) farther from the house.  Keeping them closer to the house will hopefully eliminate the predator problems we were experiencing.

The Muffin kitty, taking a break from hunting mice, grasshoppers, rabbits and birds;)

It will be cherry picking time soon!

We've already been sampling the cherries.  Just can't wait until they're completely ripe:)

The orchard was here when we bought our property - some of the trees are around 50 years old!

Resting in the shade with the Bonnie dog.

The best thing about summer - bare feet!

The Syringa is our state flower...

I love our cedar trees.  They're so big and tall and smell so good.

Dewey and Freckles are an interesting pair.
They're grooming each other one minute, then biting each other and squealing the next.  Silly boys.  Bob, being an amazingly intelligent boy, stays out of it;)

Oceanspray...

My garden is doing quite well this year, although it desperately needs weeding.

I learned my lesson on over watering tomatoes last year and there's no blossom end rot to be seen!

The sheepies are enjoying their lush green pasture...

It's been unusually hot lately - in the 90s - so I've been watering a lot.
And eradicating thistles.  I couldn't find my heavy work gloves, so I settles for cutting the heads off and bagging them.  I may or may not have amused myself by muttering "Off with their heads!" while doing so...;)

The llamas have been in the brush-y unfinished upper pasture eating the brush.
They prefer brush to pasture anyway, so it works out well for everyone.

Happy Trails, y'all!