Madison..

.. riding Ollie!... and trust me - Ollie is not an easy horse to ride.  He hates to flat walk.  She did a fabulous job with him!

Bad News..

..from the neighborhood association meeting.

A very long story short.. although we live on a farm (we have 26 acres) we do live on a developed subdivision of sorts where the smallest amount of property you can have is 15 acres. Anyway - one of the developers has not released the deed to the common areas. Common areas are the lake and the roads. The association will not have to retain a lawyer to move forward. One of those common areas runs down the boarder of our land. It should be at least graveled..if not paved. Without something down on the ground, building on the site where we plan to put our home would be difficult - if not impossible. The least amount of ground that needs to be worked on would be roughly 750 linear feet.

To sum it up, the association does not want to invest any money into any area that is considered a common area until the issue of title is resolved. While I understand that... it sure puts a huge damper on our house plans. We can assume the cost obviously... but to get something put it that is at least 'presentable' will cost THOUSANDS...


sigh...

I think this is one of those things that the Lord is going to have to work out for us.

Fall or Winter?

For the last several months we have been renovating our horse fencing...ALMOST ALL OF IT!

Some is wood ..

..and some is a new product called black line fencing. It is a modified and much improved PVC type product. While I was taking these pictures though, I noticed something.

I am sure you all heard or saw news coverage about the terrible fires and historic drought we suffered through here in Texas this last summer. Well, look at the lovely display the trees are giving us this year.

Normally in Texas the trees go from lush green to brown.. even Red Oaks, which is what these trees are.I have always wanted to go to Vermont in the Fall just to see the leaves... well, even though the timing is a bit late, this is every bit as beautiful as what Vermont has to offer. I sure am glad we chose to plant more Shumard Red Oak trees down the new fence line!!

Expansion and Improvments!

Over the last several weeks, we have been tearing out old rickety and broken wood fencing and replacing it with beautiful new Blackline fencing.

..to say that the new fencing adds beauty to the scenery is an understatement.

Along with the replaced fencing, we added a new paddock..

..and to replace just some of the trees we lost in the drought this summer, we planted 12 Shummard Red Oak trees down the fence line.

..and although it does not look like it... here is one of the more 'extravagant' (code for expensive!) things we did... we had electricity run from one side of the farm to the other.Call me naive.. but I thought doing this would be cheap seeing how in doing it, we would incur a new lifelong electric bill..... WRONG! It was jaw dropping expensive... I mean a descent used car amount of money expensive!

Humph... can you tell I am still a bit miffed about it? Well - only because it robbed a chunk of money out of our future 'real home' savings account!

THE FENCE IS COMING .. THE FENCE IS COMING!

After 8 LONG weeks of waiting, we finally got the call that the fencing is here!!! The order is so large that it filled an entire crate.. you know one of those things you see on the back of 18 wheeler trucks!It looks like the installation will begin on Thursday, the 10th of November. If you think I am excited... Poor Don had to fix the old fence this morning where the evil horses had AGAIN broken out... and it was raining!

Soooo Slowwww..But Progress!

ELECTRIC

.. that is the best way I can describe the progress of everything at the farm. For weeks we have been working with the electric company to get poles set and electricity to the back of the farm... long story short - they staked it out in one place where we discovered that several of our beautiful tree would not just have to be trimmed... but more like massacred! So we went before the neighborhood board to see if we could get the lines put in on the right-of-way instead. They agreed!!! Then I had to have the guy come back out to re-stake the property and now we finally have a start date. They will set6 the poles on Thursday the 6th of October - Woo Hoo!!! Oh yeah - BTW .. it is not costing us $8,000... but closer to $9500.00 Oh my - getting dizzy .. need to sit down!

DON'S TREATMENT
Don's first month of medicine is going to be here on Monday the 3rd of October. He is going to take his first dose on Saturday, the 8th. The cost of the medicine if we did not have insurance.... over $23,000.00 A MONTH! Will cost us $55.00 co-pay and the pharmacy is working on getting approval to have 2 of the 3 co-pay's eliminated so the final cost will only be $5.00 a month. Every little bit helps since Don may not be able to work while he is on these meds.

FENCING
Some new horse fencing and the replacement of a lot of old broken fencing will happen soon - I hope. The materials have been ordered - be we still do not have a start date for it all. Thanks to our very good friend Butch Smith for all the work he has done clearing away the old fence, and doing lots of tractor work to prep the areas! God has been with this man every moment - because I have never seen anyone work so hard.. in such heat and just keep on going!!! What a blessing.

Please Pray For Us!

This fire is located 6 miles South East of our farm .. but so much closer to some of our dear friends.

New numbers from fire burning in Montgomery, Waller, Grimes Counties in Texas: 21,619 acres burned, including 2,414 in Grimes County, 5,721 in Montgomery County, 13,484 acres in Waller County. 58 homes destroyed (not counting barns other structures), three of those homes burned last night.

I know personally of people who have had to let their livestock go just to have a chance to escape. It is heart wrenching.. The smoke is enough to choke a healthy person. My husband is fighting an illness and it is more dangerous for him.

Today is a bright sunny day with no clouds.. but this is what it looks like for us!


2 Chronicles 7:14
If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

Stakes...

Here is a picture of our barn and home above it.

As I have said, we hope to one day build a home further in the property, further away from the road. In order to do this, we have to do several things. We need more horse fencing, electricity brought to the back of the land and a water well needs to be dug.

This is a picture looking back towards the place that we want to build. Can you see how dry and brown everything is? I continue to pray for rain daily.

Further back, just behind this grove of trees..

..is a small clearing where we want to put the house. As you can see, we already placed a beautiful statue. Don gave that to me for our 10th wedding anniversary. One day I hope to have an English garden around it.

If you enlarged some of the pictures of the land, you will notice some flags. These mark where the electric poles will be ...

..and these are markers for the new fencing.

This is a picture taken from the area where we are going to build looking back towards the barn. As you can see, it is so far back that the barn is out of our site.

Killer Heat...

The heat wave and drought we are having is really starting to hurt us. Not only are many beautiful hard wood trees dying in the forests, but we have now lost 2 animals due to this heat! Last week, we found one of our hens dead in the chicken coop. We let them free range during the day, but the hens run back to the (hot) coop in the middle of the day to lay their eggs.

Saturday we lost a sheep. It is so dry that we had to water a spot on the ground for 6 hours in order to soften it up enough to dig a hole! Then, when we dug the hole, it was very difficult because the wet earth was extremely heavy. Today I am wearing a posture support garment because my back is so sore!

Thankfully we are on a well and an aqueduct runs under our property, so the water underground is available to us. We keep the hoses and sprinklers going on the things that need it most and we have been very blessed that none of our ancient trees (further back on the property) have perished.

PLEASE PRAY FOR RAIN!!!!

Peaches!!!

When we bought our farm and started to build and design the lay out of things, I had visions of a multitude of fruit trees. Every year I planted at least 2 fruit trees -and to date we now have 4 plum trees, 4 peach trees, 3 pear trees, 1 quince tree, 2 orange trees, 1 lemon tree, 2 apple trees, 1 mulberry tree and 2 blueberry bushes.

The oldest are the plum and peach trees. I was so discouraged last year, because after all the work..preparing the soil, planting, pruning, fertilizing etc. we were not getting any fruit... so I got serious! I waited until I had some time to myself(RARE!)..and I went outside and started to pray. I asked God to bless my work and well I actually quoted back to Him the promises He made to me about blessing the work of my hands. As I did this, I walked around and touched the trees...God honored His promise. This year, for the first time, our trees were not just 'fruitful'...but BENT DOWN TO THE GROUND because they were so full of fruit! I just love it that He cares for the little things in my life as well as the big!

Prosperity...

For a long time, I have felt Spiritually hungry. I have never been one to talk much about politics .. and other than my own Christian testimony which I freely share, I have not promoted any other teacher, until now..
Out of the blue, I ran into an old friend - a girl friend whom I had lost touch with years ago. We used to go to church together. Delighted to see her, we spent some time together reminiscing. What I missed most was the feeling of being spiritually 'fed'...that wonderful feeling of being spiritually prosperous...a feeling I had not felt for a very long time. She told me about a minister named Joseph Prince....a pastor whose sermons are televised. Now I have never been a fan of "TV preachers"..so I approached with caution...but I knew my friend and she was one who demanded Biblical correctness from any preacher ... so I set my recorder to tape this guy. A bit difficult to understand ..you see he has a bit of an accent. I almost had to lean my ear towards the TV to understand him. 30 minute programs that come on Monday through Friday..actually about 20 minutes of new teaching. It takes 3 programs to hear an entire sermon. I am loving it. I am starting to get hungry again...wanting to learn...wanting to know..wanting to understand...

If you are hungry...give this Bible based teacher a try.

...oh yeah - about the picture... that is one of my plum trees. The trees are 5-6 years old and have been up to this year barren of fruit. Last year I prayed over all my fruit trees while I walked around them touching their branches. This year, they all produced fruit... LOADS of fruit...so much so the branches are dragging on the ground from the weight of it all...

Thank you Lord..for hearing my prayers!!!

Our Sheep

Remember this little angel that we had to bottle feed? If not, his name is Roman and at a time when my husband was quite ill, Roman did wonders for his soul!

Well - Roman grew up..

..but he still thinks of himself as the family dog. Here is waiting to get fed! None of the other sheep stand on the fence and yell at us to bring the food!

This is our herd ram, Ramses.

Roman does not like Ramses and head butts him every chance he gets. Roman is not brave enough to do it from the front yet..so he waits for a chance to do it from behind!

There is a reason Cheviot sheep are called jumping sheep...

..as you can see in this picture as well.

Here is Roman trying to sneak a bite of food before it has been poured into the dishes.

Now they are happy...

Detox Day..

Out of the blue..I took the day off..

I stayed home all day but had a wonderful day.

I tilled my garden. I cleaned the barn. I pruned the fruit trees. I tried to fix the vacuum cleaner and a few other things......and I watched the sun set. I love my jobs..but I wish I had more days like today.

Sad Farm News...

Last night our dogs were barking quite a bit. Sometimes this can happen if there is a raccoon or opossum wandering by...but sadly last night that is not what was happening. Another one of our ewes gave birth and the lamb died. Don found it before he left for work. I am so angry with myself for not going outside to check on everything when the dogs awoke me...

Barn Lighting Renovations

These were our old barn lights. I HATED them! Sometimes they worked, sometimes not. They looked - well, just awful!

A long time ago I saw a picture of a barn up North. It was a very exquisite barn that was as elegant as it was functional and it had big iron light fixtures. Ever since then, I have wanted to do that in our barn.

...and today was the day. Here are our new barn lights!

Day or night, light or dark, every single time I go into the barn, I have to turn on the lights..just because I want to!..and for the horse savey - the barn ceiling is 12 feet tall. I only cross tie my horses either in their stall or in the wash stall. Both have rubber floor mats to prevent slipping.

A Mouse Story...

Living above a barn has it's appeal...and a few disadvantages as well. One of the downsides seems to be the constant fight to keep mice out of our home. Obviously the barn cats do a good job with population control, but they only patrol the outside area. Once a mouse finds his way into either the laundry room or the tack room, they eventually find a passage way upstairs....and the fight begins.

We do not use any kind of poison. With other small animals around, we were worried that if a dog or cat got ahold of a sick mouse, ate it, then we would then have a sick cat or dog on our hands! Other traps include old fashioned spring traps, new fashioned spring traps that cage the mouse, and sticky pads. We started with the spring traps. These are very dangerous to set as a good one will snap your fingers as you try to bait it no less than 3 times, sending your brain into warp panic and your eyes flooded with tears! Once set, you still have the task of placing it in the desired spot without tripping it too. These seems to work ....at first. Our first kill was disgusting - but quick and easy.... I threw the entire thing away..trying not to look at it.

The second trapping was a bit more adventurous. Promptly at 3:26AM I heard a loud SNAP. I immediately opened my eyes as my head flew up from the pillow. The following bangs and screams (from the mouse - not me) sent me flying down the hall and into the pantry. I found a screaming mouse jumping from one shelf to another and running in circles, dragging the trap behind him since his tail was the only part captured. I used what was readily handy....plastic Walmart bags (Many of them!) using them as a barrier and swooped the mouse up. I took a small screw driver with me and outside I went. Thankfully I was wearing a night gown, but it was very cold. No matter - all the way down the driveway I went, into the darkness of night to let my captor go. I dropped him out of the bunch of scrunched up bags and off he ran....with trap still in tow I went flying after him and stepped on the trap...more screaming (..this time by both of us) and with one flick of the screw driver - the mouse was free. Okay - 2 down..but I was pretty sure there was at least 1 more.


Rebaiting the old trap and going back to the store to buy a few more, I could only find a newer version of the spring trap. This newer one had a larger bright yellow platform to place the bait on. No matter - I bought it anyway. It was easier to set and bait without getting injured and that made me happy. What I had not realized - was that mouse #3 had been patiently waiting on the sidelines and taking notes! He was going to be more of a challenge...

Morning number 1, two traps still there, untripped..with the bait missing! "Wow - how did he do that?" I wondered. I reset them, this time really pressing the cheese onto the trap platform.

Morning number 2, two traps still there, untripped..with the bait MISSING! "I can't believe this! Maybe there is something wrong with the traps!"I went to the store and found a new kind of spring trap that actually locks the mouse inside! I baited them and placed them into the pantry.

Morning number 3, Two enclosed traps, untripped and untouched..

Morning number 4, two enclosed traps, untripped and untouched... Obviously - the mouse did not approve! Back to the store to buy 1 more package of the old fashioned traps. I reset them, THIS TIME I super glued the bait onto the trap!"That will get the little shit!" Grinch smile creeping over my face!

Morning number 5, two traps still there, UNTRIPPED AND EMPTY! "Can you believe this? "How could he have gotten the bait off of the platform when it was glued onto it??? That is it! We are going to use the big guns now!" I told Don to buy the sticky traps we had seen - but not wanted to resort to. He brought them home and Emily set them for me.

Morning number 6, 2 sticky traps ...one with a sticky mouse stuck to it...screaming! I did not discover it until I was about to leave for work, so Don was going to try to get him unstuck and let him go in the woods. 2 hours later I get a call from home. It was Don...with a screaming mouse in the background, poor Don was so stressed and unable to free the mouse. He himself was now stuck to the trap and trying to come up with more ideas. I could not come up with anything other than offering to sacrifice one of my spatulas....Don was not happy!

My Red Door ...and Some SNOW!

I have been wanting to paint my front door red for a very long time and I finally did it!

...and IT SNOWED!!!



..which is a big deal! The last time it snowed at our farm it was 2004!

Equestrian Style.

Okay - so other than the obvious fact that I live on a horse farm...our home has many Equestrian influences..from big to small. This is an ariel view of the East side of our farm. A guy flew his plane over our place and took it. How could we not want it when we saw it?

Here is a hand painted plate that I purchased at one of the Saddlebred horse shows I cover for Saddle and Bridle magazine.

This was hand stitched by my Grand Mother for my parents when they moved into their first home.

Even though this is more the Hunter style of riding - I love foxes! Maybe though it is because they look so much like Corgi dogs!

This is a Saddlebred painting that I could not take my eyes off of when I saw it. The artist even used short horse hair in the paint to give it more texture.

This little blue ribbon charm was given to me by my husband when I started to show. He told me that as long as I did not fall off the horse or throw up - I was a winner!

My Mother bought this silver ring for me on one of our trips to Mexico. She loved unique jewelry and knew this piece fit me to a tee!

This is a Swedish Horse that Mom used to use as a part of her Christmas decor. Sadly the basement of their building flooded and in that basement was all of their Christmas items in their storage unit. All of the original paint peeled off of this - so I decided to paint it black to match our interiors, added the Equus Villa logo and keep it displayed all year.

I found this at an antique store recently. It is a small fire poker...

..made of solid brass it has a wonderful horse head handle!

A friend from work went to an auction. She and her husband purchased a box of misc. stuff. One thing in the box was this letter opener. Look closely and you will see that the handle is the leg and hoof of a horse! Thank you again Tonja. I really do love it!