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.

Something is missing this year...

Spring! What happened to Spring?????

Here is what was going on last year on this day;

Here's the same tree today;

It's been so cold. We have had only a few days that were warmish.

Updates on the horses, ducks, chickens, dogs, cats, cows, garden and the occasional rant, starting again....YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.......and you thought it was safe to go on the internet again, lol.