Meanwhile back at the ranch...

"Farm livin' is the life for me.
Land spreadin' out so far and wide
Keep Manhattan, just give me that countryside".

William is still exploring New York City.

Who needs 'Sex in the City' when you can have 'Sex in the middle of a farm Road'.

Brad took this photo of these two love birds. He thought they might have been cold and were cuddling, lol. To get away from the paparazzi, they scooted into Echo's pasture. Earlier that same day Brad remarked, upon seeing a hummingbird flying amongst the blooms, "It's small because it's probably a baby one". Who needs the bright lights of Broadway when your married to such a bright spark. Never a dull moment.

William might be outside the Today Show studios in the morning, waving like an idiot. lol.

William is in the Big Apple

His plane was seven hours late. He got to his hostel at 4am! I was about to come completely unglued with the thought of him on the New York subway at this hour.. when he came on line.. phew. Safe and sound.

His family had a large farm (for the time) on Manhattan in the 1630's. I wonder what those Dutchmen would think of the old place now.

I'm your Huckleberry!

I found our new dog! I have been calling people selling Australian Shepherds and a few have sent me pictures. Soon as I saw this pup below I knew she was our Huckleberry. She's not weaned yet, so we have to wait to get her a few more weeks. She lives in Idaho.

Meanwhile, William has just left London. His flight was delayed because he's flying to Iceland and the airport there was closed because one of the local volcanoes erupted. As you can see below, he's finally airborne.

	Natural Disaster Advisory Disruption at Keflavik due to Grimsvotn eruption
	Live Flight Information

·

Sched.	Flight no.	To	Status	Term.
13:50	AEU502X	REYKJAVIK	TAXIED 18:07	S

Live Flight Information

·

Sched.	Flight no.	To	Status	Term.
13:50	AEU502X	REYKJAVIK	AIRBORNE 18:13	S

UPDATE;
Despite the volcano blowing it's top, Williams plane arrived Iceland, albeit late.
Now he's off again;

23. May

5W413

New York Newark Liberty Intl

17:50

21:20

Departed 21:50

Next stop.. New York City.. ..well just across the river anyway.

I just discovered I can keep a really good eye on him here;

Airport:Keflavik (KEF)
Scheduled Time:5:50 PM, May 23
Takeoff Time:10:01 PM, May 23
Arrival Information
Airport:Newark, NJ (EWR)
Scheduled Time:7:55 PM, May 23
Estimated Time:2:03 AM, May 24
Time to Arrival:1 hr 47 min
Terminal-Gate:61
Flight Details
Aircraft:Boeing 757-200
Altitude:38,000 ft.
Ground Speed:460 mph

Today is Williams last full day in England.

Since graduating and after a short stay with his grandparents, William has been staying with his big brother. Saturday they all went to Great Yarmouth on England's east coast.

William in the North Sea.

Keegan said this is how William always carries Amelia.

Amelia gets rescued by her mother.

Keegan, King of the North Sea!

keegan being keegan and William with his darling niece, Amelia.

Amelia looks concerned but bravley hangs on as her dad starts to climb, lol.

Keegan, his wife Nicky and Amelia.

My two sons.

Monday William starts his journey West.

William's great adventure.

William has graduated from the University Of Huddersfield in Yorkshire, England, with honours (Brit spelling) in History. His landlords kindly gave him a ride to the train station and he headed south to Bedford to stay a few days with my parents and visit his Uncle Joe and Auntie Ray. His older brother, Keegan picked him up to stay with him and his wife Nicky and cute little Amelia for a few days and then William continued his adventures by flying to Edinburgh, Scotland.

He having a wonderful time sight seeing around in Edinburgh. He keeps me updated by calling me from his cell phone and I use Google Earth to see where he's at. It's a bit of a hoot.

He'll be back in England tomorrow to stay with Keegan, Nicky and Amelia, before heading off on his next adventure.

Here's William and his niece Amelia playing the other day.

Still reigning after all these years.

This is a lovely picture of our Queen riding her Fell pony with two of her grandchildren, in the bluebell woods. There is no place more lovely than England (and Wales) in the Spring.

The Queen is 85 now and as you can see, still enjoys horses and riding. I would love to ride a good British pony once again through an English wood and to still be able to do it when I am 85 would be a wonderful thing indeed. The Queen is with her grandchildren, Lady Louise Windsor and James, Viscount Severn, in Windsor Great Park during Easter.

Meanwhile, her husband, The Duke of Edinburgh (89), drives his team of Fell ponies.

The Duke competed with true passion. What a fun sport!

Home Thoughts, from Abroad

By Robert Browning

O, To be in England
Now that April 's there,
And whoever wakes in England
Sees, some morning, unaware,
That the lowest boughs and the brushwood sheaf
Round the elm-tree bole are in tiny leaf,
While the chaffinch sings on the orchard bough
In England—now!

Dandylyons gets a break.

We were greeted by an horrible sight yesterday when we went to have a walk around the cows.

It was Wildairo sleeping with his mouth open.

He is a very heavy sleeper and doesn't wake up easy.

Soon as he got up he herded Dandylyons away from everybody.

Dandylyons asked me to rescue her from him.

I told her to follow me....

....while Wildairo was looking at the Rock Chucks, (Yellow Bellied Marmots).

Dandylyons hid behind Brad.

Wildairo lurks around waiting for his chance to steal Dandylyons away. I tried to give him carrots, but he wouldn't let me near him. Brad was joking and told him he was going to end up in Canada.

She was happy to be with us.

Sparkle enjoyed her first mothers day.

Tinkerbell is a yearling now.

Stella looking hot.

Levin looking sexy....the bull arrives any day now.

Picture taking came to a sudden end when in my eagerness to get a photo of every cow/calf on the place, I stepped back into a cow pie.

We let Dandylyons graze around the farmyard where there was lovely tall grass for her to eat. I curry combed all the built up dirt off her back and she was in heaven. Wildairo stood by the gate watching her and so I took him a bag of carrots, he ate them and let me stoke his face. It'll take a bit of time and plenty of carrots, but he'll come round again.

Wild life watching with Echo.

It was a nice day and so I thought I'd go for a walk through Echo's pasture and take some pictures of his pasture pals.

Echo follows us everywhere now.

Echo stops for a quick nibble.....

but he soon catches up. He has some of his winter coat still and as you can see it's a reddish brown. He's turned out everyday in his break away halter, but he doesn't need to wear it.

There were lots of bunnies

but I missed all the good shots of them frolicking because it's hard to be stealthy and take good pictures when you have a horse breathing down your neck.

The last of the cottontails got tired of posing and left.

Blogger seems to have a glitch tonight. I cannot make these pictures come out the same size. It's very weird. :(

Still nippy.

Rain and hail today and still no blossoms on the trees. I notice the cooler temps haven't slowed down the lawn dandelions at all. Speaking of Dandelions, my dear cow Dandylyons turned 20 two months ago and she still looks fabulous. Her boss, Wildairo has gone almost feral again. He's nervous about coming to the fence to take a treat from me now. His mane had a big knot in it and he must have been having a scratch and pulled that part of his mane out and and down to almost the top of his leg .... giving him a real nice wild horse look. I'm dreading having to work him again. He's a big lad and is not afraid to fight.

I only had to clip one Airedale this Spring because old Montie died last month. She was 13. She had a heart attack and past away in a patch of sunshine in the kitchen a little while later. Not a bad way to go after one hell of a fun filled life. Montie was a prize from Brad for attending a dinner with Hillary Clinton in Seattle. Don't get me wrong, I think Hillary is great but I don't like going to events like that, so after the dinner we went to Tacoma and picked out Montie. She was with her seven brothers and sisters and both her parents in the breeders back yard, in the rain.... covered in mud. Ten excited Airedale's jumping around and me in my 'going to meet the first lady clothes' lol.

Bobby made a big fuss at Montie's funeral and will not be allowed to attend another one. Montie's hearse was a black wheelbarrow and Bobby guarded her body as she 'laid in state' from all things real or imagined, while Brad has his lunch. Remember she also stayed at Foxsun's side during his last days and came unglued when he went down and had to be shut in the basement. Letting her attend the actual burying part was a big mistake and she's lucky not to have ended up in the same grave with Montie. Bobby is very high strung, intelligent and when she's not driving me up the wall, she is also very amusing. She's really a wonderful doggie pal but she has joint problems now and has a hard time getting about sometimes.

Here she is guarding her old friend;

Henrietta, who's blind in one eye, likes to come in the kitchen for a peck about. I toss down bread for her. She wasn't keen on the lettuce...

...neither was Tommy Two Tone.