and then I was back on my native soil.

Soon as the pilot parked our plane into its parking spot everybody leaped up to grab their stuff out of the overheads.  I had been worried about if I could walk through Heathrow's terminal 5.  It's a big airport and sometimes I have trouble getting about. I had requested mobility assistance before flying, just in case.  Soon as I tried to stand up I noticed I felt stiff and sore, so I decided to opt for the assistance.  BIG MISTAKE.  I could have done fine because I was only sore from sitting so long...but I never know these days.


There was about ten or more of us in our gang of Crips and only two wheel chairs!   A little scuffle broke out.  The British Airways wranglers started to sort us.  I was herded with about five others through the posh part of the plane, where I noted the seats were comfy like the cheap seats were in the olden days of flying.  Then we were made to go out the door where the food is loaded and into some sort of contraption.  I thought about bolting back to follow the healthy passengers, but it was too late...I had been culled.

I won't go in to too many details here but there was a lot of shouting between some eastern Europeans and a British Indian.  I took the Brit's side because he was so little and had a cute scowl - sort of like an angry kitten, and besides the eastern Europeans couldn't speak a word of English, so I didn't know what they were on about.  It later occurred to me that they didn't need mobility assistance and were only trying to make their connecting flight to Budapest, (they kept showing me some tickets and their passports) and were instead being forced into wheelchairs.   We had to wait in this building and be hauled off one at a time because they only had one wheelchair.  I told the wheelchair man, (who happened to be an American from Baltimore) when he came to get someone else, that I was going to do a runner and he told me it was a long way to go so I'd better stay put.  It was a bit of a humiliating blur, but do remember being wheeled through immigration waving my passport in the air and shouting "I'm British" when I thought they were making me go through the part for foreigners.  In the excitement of being hauled around heathrow and then ending up with a mad bugger who drove us all to baggage claims shouting "Keep calm" every time someone asked him something and yelling at people to get out of the way as he almost ran them down, I lost track of how much time had passed.  I thought I was there ahead of the other passengers from Seattle but in fact they were long gone and so was my suitcase.

After I found someone who spoke English (London has really changed) I went to the BA desk and told them I was sans suitcase.  To my joy the lads there were all English and one ran off to get my bag, which I told him was easy to spot because it was flying our farm's colours...baling twine.

Nobody at all manning customs...typical when your not being a drug mule.  Out in the public area I started to wander around and then I heard, "Mum Mum"!  I started to looked about and then remembered I wasn't the only mum in England and then I heard it again, "Mum Mum".  There was my oldest son Keegan up in the sky walk with the small British Airways posse he'd put together.  Poor lad had been hours waiting for me and couldn't understand what happened to me because the plane landed right on time.

I thought it was funny that he picked me up in London in the same car that he picked me up in Oklahoma City a few years ago!  He took me to Suffolk where I stayed for a few days.  On Saturday, when my granddaughter Amelia was out of school, Keegan took Amelia and me to the place where I was going to spend the next six weeks...my mum and dads house!

Almost as soon as we got there Amelia, Keegan, my mum and me hiked to the woods.  It wasn't till afterwards I realized that was four generations of us on that walk and we didn't take a picture!  When I was very little, about four years old, I would go on walks to the same woods with my (maternal) grandpa and his dog Rover.  I loved it.  When Keegan was four years old, my (maternal) Nana walked to the woods with us.  So I guess it's a tradition now.  I showed Amelia how to pick blackberries from the hedgerow.  She loved them and would have ate them all if we had let her.

These are some blackberries from the bottom of my mum and dad's garden.


While I was taking pictures of blackberries, a butterfly wanted to be in the shot.


Below is a British Robin, the original Robin Red Breast.  This little guy lived in the garden and would sing outside my window every morning.  I chased off a hawk who was after him one day.  When I was gardening, he would follow me around and was pretty fearless.  No zoom was used in this picture, although I did crop it.


Throughout England and Wales, there are Bridlepaths (bridleways) and footpaths.  People have a legally protected right to travel on them over privately owned land.  Some of these paths are hundreds of years old.  The footpaths might have stiles going over fences and if there is a gate on a bridlepath, it will be convenient to open and close from the back of a horse.  My pony Brandy and I rode many miles and had many an adventure using these paths.


This is a bridlepath near mum and dad's house.  The hole is bigger than it looks in the picture.  Horse and rider can fit through.


Many a time I have ridden this path.  It is almost 50 years since the first time I rode a pony across here.  The little doggie is Katy, my parents dog.


One morning my mum took me on one of her longer daily walks.


Even though she's in her 80's now she can really cover some ground.  She even had a little run!


We went around the outside of this wheat stubble field.


There are paths around and through the middle of a golf course.  This looked to me like a pony race track.


Oh, it would have been tempting to race Brandy across the golf course!  I notice they have banned dogs from it, but ponies aren't mentioned.


When Brandy and I traveled these paths it was a lot different.  There was no golf course, public park, play ground or shopping center.  Things were a lot more natural.  They put a fence up around the woods in the late '70's and said NO HORSES ALLOWED but Brandy and I jumped over the brook and got in anyway.

The next four pictures I took standing in the same spot looking in four directions.

This now goes between the golf course.  I used to ride this way to the village of Ravensden.  There were fields of crops on the other-side of the hedges.


On the right is the woods and the brook where I'd catch sticklebacks and collect frogs eggs as a girl.


On the right is the bridlepath and then more golf course to the left.  The golf course used to produce wheat when I rode along here years ago.  One day Brandy and I were having a really good gallop along this bridlepath and suddenly a man appeared in front of us.  Brandy just spun out in another direction and I went flying into the wheat field.  I remember that tumble well because it knocked the wind out of me and that felt really weird.


In this direction, just down this path, is the way to a public park, a school, lots of houses and a small shopping center.  I never went down here because I like to remember it as it was years ago.  I remember the pretty hedgerows, county lane, the golden wheat fields, horse pastures and the old farmstead.  England's population is increasing at a rapid pace since it joined the European Union and a lot more of the English countryside is going to be developed for houses.  I'm not sure how the county plans to feed itself in the future.


Something really wonderful happened while I was in England, my sarcoidosis went into remission the whole time I was there.  I don't understand why and I can't help but wonder if I had stayed longer would my subcutaneous granulomas have started to get smaller.  More about my adventures with my family coming up.  Stayed tuned.

Mystery in the snow.

I haven't been able to write due to my aches and pains.  If I had been able to sit up long enough to write, I'm afraid it would have been nothing but complaining and every sentence ending in "ouch".  As soon as I think I know everything that sarcoidosis is going to throw at me, there is something new and worse.  The doctor told me that the sarcoidosis has caused a lot of inflammation in my body and nerves are being pinched.  

Sunday morning I woke up almost pain free and able to move.  This inflammation can almost disappear overnight, kind of like a switch is flipped.  I was thinking how to spend the day while watching William and Teddy go off to feed the cows and horses from the comfort of my comfy chair.  After about an hour they came back with Teddy looking so pretty and bounding through the snow ahead of William.  William walked into the living room and to my horror said, "There's a lot of blood outside and it wasn't there when I left".

First day back on the job of feeling normal and ...this.  Right away I looked at the cats - all sleeping in the living room and all accounted for.  I thought the victims must be the birds...Ducky Boy or Ducky Girl, our gallant brave Rooster Jet Lag or his girls.  We went outside and saw the blood in the snow.  I said it must be Jet Lag's because he is a fighter and wouldn't go down without a fight.  William took a look in the hen house and saw ALL the birds in there, including the traumatized looking ducks, who normally don't hang out in the hen house.

It seemed like we had a real mystery on our hands.  The snow fell during the night and so it was pretty pristine except for the crime scene.  The paw prints where the blood was were coyote's along with deer and several quail tracks.   I started putting the evidence together and I concluded it was a murder involving a deer, a quail and a coyote.  The deer might have just been a innocent bystander and I suspect the quail was the victim.  I also threw in a interesting twist; the deer could have been injured and the quail had nothing to do with it.  I doubt the coyote was the victim though.  

The photo below is rather horrible, but is the least gruesome.....

You can see it is a multi-species crime scene.  Those are my boots and the porch is to the right.
  

Brad and I followed the coyote tracks.  I had to keep telling Brad not to walk in the evidence.  I was so happy that I could walk about again and take part in an investigation.

We saw the deer ahead of us but we never spotted any coyotes, only coyote tracks crisscrossing the trail.  When we got home I had another look around and noticed more coyote tracks in front of the house and more blood.  It seems the quail flock were jumped and chased under our porch by more than one coyote!   All the time I was sitting in my comfy chair by the window.  All that action right under my nose and the porch and I missed it.   I think birds are easier for the coyotes to hunt in the snow.

That night the wind picked up and it was sleeting really heavy.  We lost power for four hours.  Now the higher temperature have melted all the snow.

I will post pictures of my English adventure next :)

Flying to London.

I haven't blogged for awhile because since my return I have had a big flare up of my sarcoidosis and the all inflammation it brings.   I have gotten pretty despondent not being able to do what I love to do on the farm.  I will wrap up my English adventure during the next week and then make a real effort to get current on farm happenings.

So there I was in Seattle, boarding the British Airlines 747 to London...  BA has retro fitted the seats on the plane it seems and stuffed in another three rows in at least.  Soon as I sat down, the lady in front of me put her seat back, thankfully the seats only go back a few inches now.  I had a claustrophobic attack and had to keep my eyes fixed on the happenings out on the tarmac.  I've grown accustomed to wide open spaces and being able to move my legs about.  I'm only 5'2"!   How on earth to tall people manage?   The flight to London is over 9 hours.  Once airborne we headed north following interstate highway 5 and then followed interstate 90 east across the floating bridge.  Why we were on such an easterly course, I don't know.  Normally it's more N.E.   We were flying into the night and so the last thing I could make out was the bridge across the Columbia at Vantage (confirmed by the man behind me who was giving his girlfriend a running commentary about everything).  Then it was dark.

Dinner was served.  I had a special meal...the vegetarian, so I got mine first.   I have weird reactions to food now.  I think it's to do with my over active immune system.  I have become allergic to many things as well over the last few years.  I shouldn't have eaten the cheesecake because some baked goods can make me very ill.   The lady next to me took what might have been a sleeping pill and tucked herself in for the night...and she nodded off.  I was squashed up the corner feeling very weird.  I hated to disturb her but I was having a very bad turn.  I almost passed out on my way to the loo - restroom.  Soon as I got the door closed I had a quick glimpse of my ghostly while face and soaking wet hair, then I blacked out.  I crashed down onto the toilet seat.   I tried to get my head as low as I could in that cramped space.  I threw up my dinner (sorry to be gross) and almost immediately started to revive.  I was pretty worried for awhile though.  I washed my face with cold water and then made myself look human again.  Instead of going back to my seat I sat in the jump seat at the back of the plane.  Most people were sleeping but there were a few little groups of people standing around outside the loos talking.  It was wonderful to be able to stretch out near the emergency exit with nice cool air blowing down on me.  I lifted the shade and watched the sun come up above the clouds.

The flight crew left me alone for about an hour, but then the head wrangler spotted me and herded me back to my seat.  I was very careful not to eat anything with flour in it for breakfast.  We made landfall over the Hebrides.  Scotland was hidden under clouds which didn't disappear until we were over Northern England.  London's Heathrow airport is a busy place and so we were put in a holding pattern over Watford waiting our turn to land.

If you ever fly into Heathrow, sit on the right hand side of the plane.  The plane banks with it's right wing pointed down, so you get nice views.  The flight path follows (without all the meandering) the Thames River through central London.  There below me was my old stomping ground.  I was born and raised 50 miles to the north.  It was a lovely clear day and the the Houses Of Parliament, Westminster Bridge, The Tower of London etc  looked so lovely.  I kept my eye out for my favorite statue at the end of Westminster Bridge, across from Big Ben...my hero, Queen Boudica driving her horses.  I could just make it out!

The American man behind me was still giving his enthusiastic and somewhat inaccurate running commentary on the sights below to his girlfriend.

We flew up the Thames, getting lower and lower.  I had a lovely view of Kew Gardens.  With gear down and almost touching down, I saw the first living creatures since flying over England.....English horses, grazing on English grass!  They were totally unconcerned a jumbo jet was landing next to them.  I should have taken pictures.   

Part one - One small step..

I had been dreading going to England for months because of my big flare up of sarcoidosis.  With just over a week to go until I left I had become bed ridden with pain and now really worried about it all.  As I lay there, feeling sorry for myself, my oldest son, Keegan called from England and asked me if I wanted to visit the seaside town of Great Yarmouth when I got there...I told him I couldn't even walk let alone go sight seeing and all that.  I realized what I sounded like..a real misery guts.  It was then I decided to take daily doses of even more steroids until I could get back on my feet.

By launch date I was feeling physically much better, but now worried -  1).  I'd forget something.  2) I'd get on the wrong plane.  3).  Miss the flight.  4).  Keegan would go to meet me at Gatwick instead of Heathrow.  or 5).  I'd get ill on the plane.  

I asked Brad and William to drop me off at the Spokane airport three hours before my flight left for Seattle, just to make sure I had plenty of time to get checked in and all that.  They wanted to go somewhere for lunch....but I couldn't relax until I was the airport safe and sound.  After my bag was checked I asked them to leave me right there so I could mentally prepare to start going 5,000 - 6,000 miles by myself.

I sat near the T.S.A. (security) check point trying to have an out of body experience...didn't work..  So I took a deep breath, stood up and took that first step of my long journey home.  Five minutes later I was at the Alaska Airways gate very hungry and realizing I had three hours to kill.

For someone going on vacation I just couldn't get into it because I was thinking about the pets, the horses, my house and my garden.  Then it happened!  Out of the blue I started feeling excited.....for the first time in years I was going on a long journey..alone!  No kids, no pets..no compromising all the time about every little thing.  I was foot loose and fancy free...well sort of.  Then I realized I was channeling the wild eyed free spirit that used to be me!!

THIS GIRL!

That's me in London 1972 - 40 years ago.  That girl wouldn't even bat all her false eyelashes at the thought of zooming off into out of space even...which I actually think I was in this picture.  I was 18 and that year I flew off alone to meet some friends in Jersey, Channel Islands for a week of sun and fun.  The following year I flew to the U.S. (New York City & D.C.) twice..once by myself.  I was fearless.  Nothing worried me, be it flying off somewhere on a whim or riding my pony across every bridge in Bedfordshire.

By the time my flight took off I was the confident traveler of yesteryear.  I was going to take some pictures of the farm when we flew over it, but distracted by free airline snacks I missed it and took these pictures of the Columbia River instead.




At the Seattle airport 'free spirit girl' became 'competitive girl' and I was determined to win the race up various escalators and concourses with the group of people I was moving along with.  I was about to pass the leader, a man with a wheelie bag, when my joints reminded me I was in fact 'chronically ill woman'.  I came in second anyway.

I had a nice meal at SeaTac airport at a restaurant where it suited me...nobody else to compromise with...haha.

Brad asked me what kind of plane I was going on and I sent him a pic of the actual plane.  Here they are loading the food on.  Good.


In the next installment - one of my 5 fears comes true, plus another one I hadn't even thought of.

I'm back in the USA......but remembering English bridlepaths.

Well, I did it....I managed to get all the way to England and back and live to tell the tale.  You know there was a time, a long time ago, when I wouldn't think twice about taking off all alone for far away places I'd never even been before.  For many years I have been a happy hermit living on this eastern Washington farm/ranch, so going to England again was a really big adventure for me alright.  I will be giving a complete report of my six weeks in England in the coming weeks.

I had a lovely time in my home town with kith and kin and walking the familiar paths of my youth.  It brought back a lot of (equine) memories.

I have posted these pictures before...but....
Here I am in 1963 on my way to spend the day at the riding stables where I learned to ride.  I'd spend every Saturday there.  My lesson was only one hour long but I'd hang around grooming the ponies or cleaning tack in the hopes of leading a pony back to the pasture when the day was done.


Being home in England and seeing those familiar places reminded me of the equine who for me was 'the one'.  Brandy was my special horse (even though he was in fact a pony), we covered many miles of  Bedfordshire together and seemed to read each others mind.  Without a doubt some of the best times of my life were with that little fellow.  I've owned some very well trained horses in my life and one was in fact even a famous show horse who had been featured in glossy magazines and had been trained to perfection.... but it was Brandy with whom I had the most fun and enjoyment.

I bought him when I was 16 years old.  He was a very pretty dappled bay and some said he was a Exmoor pony, but he was too big to be one really.  Once I overheard two elderly farriers/blacksmiths talking about him as they leaned over a fence...they both agreed that he looked like one of those American horses ... a Morgan.  Funnily enough I went on to spend 30 years of my life owning at least one Morgan and my favorite horse colour is the one Brandy had.  They say you never forget your first love.  :)

In the picture below was taken in 1973 in Clapham, Brandy is tied to a fence, of sorts.  There was a gate here between the two fields and Brandy and I being too clever to mess about with gates, would jump the hedge/fence.  One day I was with a group of other people who pastured their horse/ponies with Brandy and I bragged how you didn't need to open the gate when you could just jump the fence....but Brandy wasn't so keen to jump the fence with his buddies standing behind him and refused at the last moment and I ended up riding his neck...oh what a strong neck he had!


Below I am posing with my best boy in 1970.  I was all about fun....but notice the protective head gear and proper foot wear.  I think the bay next to us might have been the mare I jumped for this fellow to see if she had potential.  He kept raising the bar and she was clearing well over 5' with no problem.  I was fearless back then and the same man who owned the potential jumper would have me ride green horses into the busy areas to get them used to things.  The horses would behave really well with me....I was all for going forward with no monkey business from young horses.


Here we are with me posing for the camera again in mid jump!  Look at Brandy's ears perked forward in eager anticipation of the next jump....don't notice the fact that we are jumping in the wrong direction...lol.


More posing....


Brandy was strong... here he is hauling my cousin and me.


and hauling me and my baby boy on his first ride in 1976.


Brandy and I would take off early in the mornings, just the two of us.  We'd start taking bridlepaths and footpaths to explore the Bedfordshire countryside and villages.  Brandy was a full partner in the expeditions and was allowed to pick routes a lot of the time.  He had a keen sense of adventure alright but would sometimes refuse to move on past when he saw a pub sign or a village shop.  Brandy knew those were the places that delicious treats were to be had for a hungry horse/pony.  He would scoff down a whole packet of crisps (potato chips) and a Mars Bar with no problem.  Oh and there was no need to tether him while I shopped for his snacks.

Another interesting feature about Brandy was he would return to me and wait for me to jump back on when we parted company .... he was a spooker but it seemed he only shied when we were going at a very fast clip.  Because we didn't spend much time going slow we frequently went very fast in different directions.  Walking and trotting he was okay....except for that bolting thing he did...till I changed his bit.  The best ones aren't necessarily the best behaved ones.

Below is a map of the area we covered in Bedfordshire.  I never could get him to go into a trailer/horse box and so we hoofed it everywhere.  We crossed the brick bridge over the Great Ouse River at Great Barford and forded that same river the over side of Bedford in Clapham.  We made it a point to cross as many bridges was we could in the town of Bedford, including the town bridge and the Suspension Bridge.  My farrier had a forge in the Black Tom area of Bedford and I rode Brandy there a few times to get him hot shod and had the pleasure of trotting Brandy up the Bedford High Street!  Oh...he understood traffic lights as well!

Being in England again brought back so many wonderful memories of when I was still a Bedford girl traveling the highways and bridleways on my dear little Brandy.

Arlene's Big Adventure.

I'm off on a big adventure.

Rod the Mod gives a clue;



The Brummie boys give it away;



I'm going home!  I'll be back in six weeks.

Good luck to Uncle Joe with his operation and my thoughts are also going to be with a very special and much loved horse called Tonka, who is at the W.S.U. horse hospital right now.  Tonka if it wasn't for you and Andrea, I probably wouldn't have adopted my two mustangs.  GET BETTER you darling boy.

Off I go the land of Hope and Glory and the land of my birth....England.

Bits and bobs and a bit of a mystery.

Teddy and I are both on steroids.  Teddy went from 50lbs to 57 lbs and I'm the size of a small garden shed.  I think I have acted much more honorably than Ted.  She's really let the team down.  See steroids makes you really hungry and some of us have slightly more control than others.  Also, steroids can make you just put on weight even if your a delicate little eater like me, lol.  Anyway, Teddy has taken to stealing food.  She ate a whole bunt cake and about 10lbs of cat food, among other things.

Here's greedy pig dog shopping.


Look at her eyes light up when she spots the dog treats.  She was looking at me and looking at William with begging eyes.  If she wasn't in the cart she would have helped herself I'm sure.


A few days later in the Home Depot it's a different story.  There's just boring un-edible things.


Weak with hunger and bored stiff, she actually curled up and went to sleep.


Latest going on's around here:  I sanded the varnish from around some windows and a door and re-varnished them.  I had lots more to do, but I got too tired.  It took days as it was.  The reason I have to keep re-varnishing is because of the cats.  The damage they do to wood work is terrible.  They also have a go at the furniture.  They are not as bad now they are getting older and I will think twice about getting another kitten.

I was taking pictures of my handy work...trying to get the light right.  When I looked at the pictures I was surprised to see various pets showing up in all the pictures.  I didn't notice them when I was taking the pictures.  It's like the unnoticed world of animals.  In one of the shots, Blondie is showing Tommy Two Tone her teeth as T2T gets too close to her rawhide chew.  (The pic was too blurry).  Max sits and watches everything.  Teddy drifts in and out of the shots, sniffing the floor in hopes the food fairy dropped something somewhere.

Here's T2T suddenly showing up in the middle of things!  You can see Blondie guarding her stash under the table and the tips of Max's ears by the doors.  Notice the corner of the rug that Teddy chewed off last year when she was a pup.  Pets!  More like PESTS!


We drained my little pool.  It's just finished its 5th year here and was a real good buy I think.  I never thought it would last this long.


William and Brad put it in the root cellar along with a box of freshly picked onions.


You might be asking yourselves, "Why is she draining the pool before there's a film of ice on it"?  Well, tomorrow I'm going to do something very unusual for me (these days anyway).  I'm going on a bit of an adventure, alone and off the farm!  Now your wondering....Rehab?  The funny farm?  Jail?   

Stay tuned...................

Cow and Chicken or Echo and Dandylyons.

I ventured forth in search of Dandylyons and Echo....the team we call Cow and Chicken.   Dandylyons has been busy redecorating the little Horse House and successfully turned it into a darling little cow barn.....she pulled the entire look together with artistically placed piles of cow poop.

Here she is looking happy with her missing horn cover, completely toothless and with a large squadron of flies.


I got out the brushes to groom Echo and she was right there, squeezing in-between Echo trying to get me to curry comb her.  Her second favorite thing in the world is a sharp metal curry comb across her back.  She always has deep dirt on her back because she kicks it up over there with her front hooves.

She makes Echo mad with her pushing and shoving.  She wants to be brushed first and even though he bites her, she won't back off.  I had her follow me in to the barn to groom her and then to keep her away from Echo I gave her a most favorite thing in the world...food.

No cross ties for Echo.  He stands with his 'eyes front' to be groomed.  He even stands still for fly spray..unlike a cow I know!


He was on alert when I brushed his stringy little tail.


He ran off, high headed and snorting when I used the soft brush to brush his nose.  I laughed at him and he came back and stood still.  I had to kiss his nose a lot then brush his nose.  I can pick all his feet up but I can't hold them up.  He's got such a sweet disposition.

A few months ago I was cleaning the nasty gunk off the bottom of their water tub with a broom when Echo came around the corner.  As soon as he saw the broom he ran away.  I laughed at him (when you laugh at a horse it makes them realize how foolish they're being) and held my hand high up in the air and told him to "Step up".  He did and then I stood with my back to him and held the broom.  He felt safe with me between the broom and him.  I kept doing it until we came up with a bit of a party trick.  It goes like this; I stand with my back to him and he stands right behind me with his chin on top of my head.  Then we perform the 'battle routine'...well I do, he just stands with his chin on my head all bug eyed.  I shout out, "Fight Fight Fight"  then "Victory for horses"!  (I don't know why).  And I wave the broom high above our heads and he stands his ground.  When he used to attempt to bolt I'd hold his chin and tell him 'eyes front'.  A halter might make things easier, but this is more fun.

This routine might seem really mental, but it's getting him to trust me in different situations.  I envision a day when it's just me and him, high in the mountains and we meet a bear or a chewing gum wrapper and I shout out the encouraging words of "Fight fight fight"!   And then we stand our ground.  Maybe you're supposed to bolt from a bear...dunno...we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

Here I am trying to put some distance between me and Echo so I can take a picture.


The rabbit brush is starting to bloom.


Here he is!


He's been doing his own hooves as well.  His hooves are very thin and break easy.  When the BLM delivered him, he had big chunks missing from his hooves.  After he lived here awhile I understood why.

Wildairo - September 2012

I have been taking a higher dose of steroids for almost a week and I am starting to feel like I can get about better.

This morning I went looking for Wildairo.  I found him in the sagebrush looking a bit wild but very relaxed and content.


I tried to sneak up on him to get some good shots, but soon as he spotted me he made a beeline towards me.


And here he is....


Since he got into fisticuffs with the farrier three or four years ago, he has been put in charge of trimming his own feet....and a fine job he does....


He proudly displays his name, rank and serial number.


He has only bonded with me.  He doesn't like anyone else.  But he still won't let me groom him or put his halter on like I used to be able to.  I should never have turned him out, or let a farrier near him till he was more domesticated.  Oh well..he's happy.  He followed me back to the corrals for treats.  He's in a area of about 40 acres where he can visit with the cattle and Echo.

Hopefully soon I will be able to work him again.

Tomorrow your intrepid explorer goes in search of the team we call 'cow and chicken'...Dandylyons and Echo.

Arlene's Garden Tour 2012 - Last day.

The birds like to follow me around the garden, hoping I stir up some worms or bugs.  Here are my two ducks, Ducky Boy and Ducky Girl.


The chickens are great company, but make growing things difficult.  They redeem themselves though when it comes to snake and bug control.


Jet Lag, champion Rooster and fighter of coyotes, challenges me to a dual here.  William scoops him up for me and when the hens are not looking, Jet Lag enjoys a cuddle.


I planted some plants on and around this old spool.  Here's a bare spot and you can see put a big pot on the top.  It was the first time I've ever done it and next year I will plant it up earlier.


It brings the petunias into better sniffing distance.


I like nice fragrant plants near the doorways.


I seeded some ornamental grasses into pots earlier this year.  I need to think of a place to plant them before the Autumn.  In the background is the duck house.  The ducks go into their dog run and then duck house every evening and we just have to remember to lock them in.  They have a child's toy pool to play in...they are not called waterfowl for nothing..the pool has to cleaned out every few days. They are such fun pets to have and I love to see them fly.


William comes in for a break and makes me laugh about something....he has me chuckling all the time.


I put a big pot of cherry tomatoes growing right next to a comfy chair to encourage snacking...and it worked!



I think for next years tour I'm going to feature the front side of the garden and house, which gives me the challenge of tackling the rose garden.