Tractors!

I love tractors.  They make farmlife easy(er).  So of course I'm happy when my mother and a neighbour (who is a Tolkien lover and our farm manager) decided that the medium sized tractor we have now is getting old and it's about time to replace it.

Well, before I get into all that, I'll tell you about the tractors we currently have.

For a large tractor, we have a Case that is big (obvously) and red (another given) and has a closed cab.  It also has air conditioning (hooray!!) and a tape player and radio.  Actually, the tape player may be in the combine.  I'm not sure.

And we also have a thirty year old John Deere that's still going well (Nothing runs like a Deere!), but we're replacing that one because it may not run so well in a few years.  It has no cab and no musical players.

And then we have a small Case tractor that we use for plowing snow and mowing the lawn.  Yes, I'm spoiled with my mowing tools. 

Right now we have three tractors on the farm that we are testing.  We need to know which one is easiest to operate for both my little brother and our manager as well as which one is best suited to clearing out the barns after a cycle.  Handily, we're shipping the chickens out tonight and will be able to try them tomorrow.

The first tractor that I shall mention is another Case and is thus red (with a little black).  Michael seems to like it.  I think it's his second choice.

Then we have another John Deere which is green and yellow.  Michael doesn't like the way the controls are and it is his least favourite of the tractors.

And then we have a Kubota of the typical orange colour.  Michael likes this one the best of all.  For him the controls are right where he likes them and he thinks it'll be easy to use.

Of course, all these opinians Michael has will be tested tomorrow when he (hopefully) gets to drive all of them.  He's tried the Case very briefly and is excited for the rest.  I'm not sure how much our manager has driven the tractors, but he's certainly used them more than Michael!

Now, in other news Rosie the Horse is getting rather porky!  I found a chart on how to try body scoring on your horse and what sort of things to look for.  Fat deposits on shoulders: check.  Fat deposits on rump: check.  A bit of a pot belly: getting there.  Fat deposits on neck: not nearly as much as this time last year.  And another test you do is to pet your horse with a bit of pressure (much like you would pet your kitty or doggie) and see if you can feel the horse's ribs and almost count them.  You should not be able to see them, though they will be more visible in breed like Thoroughbreds.  But Rosie is not a TB.  She is a Morgan/Quarter Horse cross.  And I had to use massage strength pressure before I was able to feel my dear Rosie's ribs.  Terrific.  I'm going to have a job getting her back in shape in spring. 

I don't ride her in winter muh because it gets so darn icey around here.  All the fields are in a slight dip and catch all melting snow.  When it freezes the ice is treacherous.  So I prefer that neither Rosie or I break any bones and stay home, limiting her feed to an amount that hopefully keeps her from becoming way too fat.

I would ride her more in the winter if I had a covered or indoor arena, but there's like, only three of those things within a ten km radius from our house and I don't know any of the people who have them.

And so that is what is going on!  We are getting a tractor and Rosie is getting fat!

See y'all next time!

A Pleasent Suprise

Well I logged on today and noticed I have a new follower!  Thank you Jenna for coming to my rather mundane little blog.
And Nina also followed a while ago, but I forgot to metion her in the busyness of school.

Would you believe I've done schoolwork every day for seven consecutive days?  Yeesh!  I don't like that, but it's my own fault, really.  I should actually follow the schedule my mother writes out for me instead of procrastinating until I'm a week away from exams!  Really, I should.


My news for the past while.

I have been teaching my horse manners!  (Yay for manners!)  She used to be a grump if you tried to pet her while she was eating.  She'd pin her ears back and swings her head at you, looking as if she were going to bite.  She'd also swish her tail sharply, possibly lashing you with the course hairs.  She only ever threatened to kick the cows or dogs, though.  Never threatened to kick me or another person. 

But anyways, I've been correcting her manners in an extreamly simple way.  Step one, stand beside her and touch her shoulder, and keep touching it until her ears unpin.  If she gave me the "Ima gonna bite you" look, I'd just say "Ay" (Like 'hay', but without the 'h'.  This also works on little cousins.  It's all in the tome of voice)  or I'd snap my fingers.  It's so funny.  She's almost afraid of me snapping my fingers.  I discovered this little trick when I was at the gate to the pasture and she reached over to bite me (not something she does often.  I think she was having a mare day).  The first thing that came to mind was to snap my fingers to warn her off.  So I did, moving my hand forward with a flourish.  To my great suprise, her head jerked up and she took a step back.  I've used that ever since.

The next step I did involved petting her shoulder more, then walking around her to pet her other side.  Because of the setup of my feeder for her (a bathtub with a grate made of rebar and hinges of pipe.  Yep.  Homemade.  Gotta love it.  This contraption is set on bricks and any rain drains out the bathtub drains.  Ingenious, no?)  and its positioning at the barn wall, I began Rosie's manner training on her right side, then added the left later.  It's a good exercise for her mind.

After that I brought my spare lead rope into the hay barn, pulling it out when Rosie came when I fed her.  I would pet her with the rope.  Hopefully she'll be ewasier to catch due to this.

Just recently I've added picking up her front hooves to the routine.  Soon I'll add the back hooves. 

I only do the hooves and rope in the morning because it's light out then and I can spot the icey areas.  I do not want to slip and startle her!  Though my little 11 year old cousin did so when I let her feed Rosie the one time.  Fortunantly, Rosie only sidestepped as Naomi fell against her.  Rosie also gave her an annoyed look, but seemed to understand that Naomi is young and can't quite keep her balence on the ice the same way I can.

And that is Rosie's manners training. She's so fuzzy for the winter right now.


The dogs are doing great as well.  They are both very near to their final height, which is probably about two feet tall.  I haven't really measured.  Cub has retained his fluffy coat, though it is now about four or five inches long (due to the Border Collie hair) and really really thick (due to the Black Lab hair).  It's also rather wavy, which could be a resuld of either breed, I think.  He is built like a Lab, looks like a Lab, acts like a Lab, and thinks like a Lab.  He enjoys tackle games the most.  He is still black, except for his front paws, the very tipmost tip of his tail, and a white stripe on his chest.
Sage is a couple inches shorter than Cub, and is much more Border Collie.  She is built like a BC, she looks like a BC, she acts like a BC with a tad of Lab, and she thinks like a BC.  She's very cute, with a bald face (using horse term here)  Her white face runs down her chest and neck.  Her belly is white and her front legs are mostly white.  The bottoms of her hinds legs are white as well.  The last four inches of her tail is white.  Her ears and the back of her head and neck are white.  She is built for speed and is one fast little blighter.  She chased a guy on a bike down our hill and kept up with him all the way.


Well, that's my news for now.  Mre later!

Enjoy your day, my friends!

Catching up

I think I should actualy post a few things once in a while, don't you?

Well, since my last post, several tings have happened.

My dad died.

I had my last drama performance with my drama club.  And my drama club closed.

My brother graduated.

My little brother's baseball is over (finally!).

My uncle M came for a visit with his kids.  Morgan went home after spending one night.  Steff went back to collage after spending a night.  Then the next day we found out that Morgan was in the hospital.  The cause? Attempted suicide.  Please pray for him.  My uncle thought my sense of humor was great.  He loved my one liners that I just shoot off.

My grandma M came for a visit as well.  As did my uncle J.  And my uncle L and aunt MS and their two boys.

My mom's friend K came for a visit as well.  We floated down a river on tubes for fun while she was here and also went riding tenasee walking horses.  Fun!  The river was freezing and my horse was short and just being trained.

I'm taking riding lessons again. (finally).  Rosie will now canter both leads pretty well on a circle that's about, oh, say, thirty feet diameter?  Good for her!  She'll also do turns on the forehand either way, we tried getting her to do the two-track but failed.  And now we're teaching her to do turns on the haunches.  She'll also run around on the lunge line both ways, even at a canter. 

Two lessons ago, I almost fainted.  I had a belly ache prior to the lesson and then it sort of went away, but so did my vision, hearing, and sense of direction.  Needless to say, that lesson was canceled.

I've been playing around with photoshop (I call it PS.  Do not mistake with PlayStaion).  I'm getting better each time and my most recent project is a pegesus.  He's supposed to be Artham P. Wingfeather from the Wingfeather Saga in horse form when I'm done.

I watched the Jurassic Park movies.

I wrote several poems that turned out decently, if I do say so myself.

I came up with most of the main plot line for a book.

I read about fifty books.

I still havn't finished science.

I took a Spanish course.  Learned a lot and can now sort of reconize several phrases when they're spoken to me.

The wheat fields are harvested. (yay!  Easier to ride Rosie in now)

I've quit feeding Rosie hay because she needs to slim down a bit and there is PLENTY of grass for her to eat since she is the only four legged beast in the pasture.

The pups have grown and are now nine months old and still very cute.

The lawn is turning brown since we can't really water it since we're on water restriction, just like any summer.  Other years have been worse.  Once we could only water between certain hours on certain days.  Otherwise people WAY down the pipeline will have nary a trickle of water.  The pipe system was not well thought out.

I've babysat a ton.  Six kids at once for several hours once.  Earned enough money to buy a Wacom Bamboo Fun tablet to aid me with my art.

I'm going to turn the things I do with PS into a class for school and get credits for it.  Same with having Rosie.  I'm taking Western Rider 1 this year and getting credits for that.

I feel a little spoiled since my mom bought me TWO pairs of LuluLemon pants.  So comfy!!

And I think that's it.  Expect most of my posts to be like this.  I kinda forget I have a blog sometimes. :p

Mucky and Muddy

Yesterday I played with my horse.  I also brushed her and cleaned out her feet... while the cow was making faces at her.  Now Rosie is the boss of the cow and she didn't like how he was making those faces at her.  So she craned her head around and made her own scary face at him.  She also jerked her right hind hoof out of my hands and threatened him with it.  After I finished playing with her again, I took her out of the pasture to graze on my lawn.  Then I left her back in the pasture, relativley clean.  Today I look out the kitchen window and the first thing that comes to mind is, "Of course it rained last night."  Rosie loves to roll in mud.  And she is a flea-bitten gray horse.  Look it up if you don't know what colour that is.  She is VERY messy mucky muddy right now!  I also took my puppies out this morning for their Three Ps. (Pee/Poo/Play).  They rolled around in the pasture and on the lawn and pretty much anywhere they could possibly get dirtier.  They all REALLY need baths now!