Fall on an Eastern Washington farm.

The Mustangs love the sound that my cell phone makes when I press the keys. I was trying to take a quick picture of Echo but he wanted to press his nose up against my cell phone to hear the funny little sounds it makes.



Here's his cute little legs.



He's just a little sweetie. Although I can only touch his nose, he is so eager to come when I ask him to and step up right up to me. I've never been around many horses that eager. His hooves aren't strong like Wildairo's. They keep breaking off. When he arrived here I noticed his hooves had very big chunks missing from them and now I see why. I haven't met very many mustangs, but I have a feeling he might not be a typical Beaty's Butte Mustang because of his hooves, size and hotness. (I'm not just talking about those cute little legs either). lol

I noticed our cat, Andy follows the sun around the house. Here he is taking advantage of some east facing windows in the morning. Oh to be a cat!



Every year the Sugar Maple I planted turns beautiful colors. But not this year. It's a grayish color. Instead the English Oak I planted 12 years ago is looking very pretty. Usually the leaves turn brown and hang on most of the winter.



Not as pretty as some trees for autumn foliage but he's giving it a jolly good try this year.

We sold the calves on Sunday. The first time mother cows cried for a couple of days. The older cows were glad to see them gone because they know they always come back as newborns in the Spring.

Here they are doing some grazing to drown their sorrows.



The cow to the left is the one who was the most upset. They are looking pretty good because, except for Dandylyons (not in the picture) who turns 18 in March, the cows are pretty young. Our old skinny cows have all finally gone to the big open range in the sky. Primrose died last in March just as she turned 20 years old. She died like she lived, guarding her place at the feeder.

Davenport horse auction.

This morning I thought Wildairo was out. If I'd have got the binoculars I would have seen he was on his side of the fence. In my panic I grabbed a plastic bag and filled it with grain to lure him back in. He was where he should have been and I was so relieved because my legs had gone all wobblely because I thought he was on the loose.



The other part of his shelter is Brad's wood working shop. The panel is sturdier that it looks. Wildairo spotted the bag of grain and wanted it.



Wildairo had no problem walking into the shop for the first time. Nothing really bothers him, except strangers. I loved the clip clop sound his hooves made on the cement floor. It brought back memories of cobblestoned stable yards in England.

The BLM called yesterday and left a voice mail, wanting to know how the mustang I adopted was doing. I have two of the little darlings! I have a call in for Angela Link.

Saturday we went to Spokane and while driving past the livestock sale yards, I saw many horse trailers parked outside and had to go and see what was happening. They were having a horse auction. We stayed for a while and watched. A man was leading ponies and mini's in and a woman was buying them really cheap. They were going for $25 and $30. Some of the regular size horses were going for $800 or $900. I liked the way people would ride their horse in and show them off. The auctioneer would give them as much time as they needed to tell us what their horse could do. One guy was showing off how clever his horse was (or he was) with roping and he roped one of the auction workers head to prove it. A little girl was sitting on her horse backwards and the horse stood calmly. When she took his saddle off the auctioneer reminded her she should have undone the back cinch first. A lady was trying to sell her professional pack mule. Even though he had no steering she attempted to ride him. It was all pretty good fun.

I was concerned about some of the horses fates. There was a very good looking grey Morgan cross mare with a lovely conformation and very pretty head. She seemed very easy going and very well behaved while being ridden. She went very cheap, I think under $200.

One teenage girl tried to sell her unbroken 6 year old gelding. He was a tall palomino. Her mother yelled out she wasn't interested in him anymore and told her to pick up his feet. The girl would only pick up his front feet and I think she was scared of him. The top bid was very low, $150 I think, so they said 'no sale'. Thank goodness. I hope she pays someone to break him before she tries to sell him again.

I'm going to avoid these auctions because I can see myself buying something and I've decided from now on the only horses I'm going to acquire are going to be BLM mustangs because I just love them so much.

Cowslip was a good cow.

Cowslip, our elderly blind cow, has died. She was down about five days before she peacefully died.




Cowslips Story.

Many years ago when we were rebuilding our herd we used to exchange bull calves for heifer calves with our neighbor. The last time we did it we got three heifer calves whom I called Bluebell, Snowdrop and Cowslip.

Brad always had a strong dislike for Bluebell. I recall long ago he was riding Foxsun trying to chase the herd through a gate that they had never gone before, so they could go across the county road to our pastures along Crab Creek. They'd never been chased by a horse and had no idea the gate existed. They just kept stampeding by the opening in the barbed wire fence. Then Foxsun, who isn't one to over do anything, decided to call it a day and take a nap.

I found Brad shouting and swearing as he fired up his old motorcycle to chase the herd. Just before he took off in a cloud of black smoke I asked him where Foxsun was and he said something rather awful and unkind about Foxsun.

As the herd raced away from the feeder and the mad man on the motorcycle, Foxsun, fully tacked, was left behind with his head hanging down looking really done in. I got on him thinking I was going to have some cow chasing fun but realized why Brad was mad at him. Foxsun was on strike.

I managed to lead him back to the corrals where I let him recharge his battery for awhile. When I started riding out to catch up with the excitement to my delight I saw a 12 year old girl on her pony Peanuts, coming to help. She lived on a ranch two miles from here. In the twenty years I've had Foxsun, I've only rode with another horse and rider four times, so I was in heaven. We talked about ponies and stuff and casually caught up with the chase. Just as we got within sight of Brad who was in hot pursuit of Bluebell, Snowdrop and Cowslip, I saw Bluebell haul off and kick Brad clean off that stinking motorcycle. I put Foxsun in top gear, (mach 5 for Foxsun, slow canter for all other horses), to where Brad was. We didn't even get close before Brad was up and on the motorcycle again chasing the three young cows. Brad ended up with a huge bruise on his shin and Bluebell ended up going to the sale at Davenport.

Several years later Snowdrop suddenly died. Cowslip stood next to Snowdrop's dead body refusing to leave until Snowdrop was buried. It was after Snowdrop died that we realized there was something very wrong with Cowslip. Our neighbor took one look at her and said she was blind. Then it all made sense. Snowdrop had been her eyes and without her old friend she was lost and afraid of the other cows and new places. Judging by Cowslips pale brown eyes, I'd say she been born blind.

Over the years we had to help Cowslip out of many bad situations. Once, while in a new pasture she was left behind. Lost and alone she gave up. We found her sitting on the side of a hill very thirsty and lost. She had no idea where to go for water. Brad led her to the creek with a handful of hay. She came to trust us to help her. She didn't know her place in the herd so was afraid of all the cows and even the calves. Besides us and her own calves, she trusted only Foxsun not to hurt her. In the winter at feeding time she would leave the herd and walk through two corrals and wait for us in her secret place. We kept her hay there for her. She wouldn't go to any place where she hadn't been years ago when Bluebell and Snowdrop led her. When the cattle went on the bluff she stayed behind. In her younger years if the cattle escaped and went anyplace unfamiliar to her, she'd return home to the corrals. She alerted us a few times to their unofficial adventures.

She used her ears and nose to get around, but many times I saw her walk into a fence post or other objects. She would walk into us if we didn't make a noise or push her away.

A few years ago I was taking a walk with Bobby. I was surprised to come across Foxsun and Cowslip about a mile from home, happily eating grass. There had been an electric fence but it had been long ago knocked down by deer. Both of them knew there should have been an electric fence there so they still respected it and stayed on their side of the invisible wire where they belonged. I stood there and looked at them in amazement. They had the freedom to go anywhere in the this county, or the next, and they were standing next to a 130 acre circle of alfalfa, yet I knew they'd never walk over to it because one was an unadventurous horse the other a blind cow who only went where she'd been before.

A few years ago when everybody predicted Cowslip would die during the winter, she made it to March, staggered off by herself, lay down and had twins in an icy puddle because she couldn't never see where she was giving birth. We had to get the calves in the house because they were near death with cold. Brad had to go out and milk her for the colostrum so we could stomach tube the calves to save their lives. Milking a blind range cow is dangerous to say the least, but Brad did it. All the memories of our years with Cowslip all come back to me. Her life was intertwined with ours for about 17 years.

Of those three heifers, it was the blind one who lived a long and productive life. On a warm October afternoon she finally lay her beautiful head down and went to sleep forever. I hope she's with her old friends Bluebell and Snowdrop again. I'll miss her, she was a good cow.

Lovely warm October days.

On these lovely warm October days I like to put the horse grain rations, carrots and apples in my back pack and go for a nice walk to see everyone.

Foxsun is looking better after having Pigeon fever.



His top line is still boney and his muscles are sparse, but he's on the mend. He wanted me to go with him to his little house so he could get his grain. Foxsun's forelock and mane stopped growing when he was two, so he looks like a bit of a dork because it's so short and stunted.



I had a nice visit with Dandylyons. She misses her horse husband. We did some girl stuff. She quickly learned that if she moved her head too much my BLM cap would fall off it. So she followed me around keeping her big old head very still.






I opened the little door so the chicks could venture outside for the first time. It took a couple of hours but one finally came out as the others looked on in horror.




After awhile 7 managed to be brave enough to come out and they were scratching around in the dirt like grown up hens, then a Red Tail Hawk flew over and screeched. The chicks bolted back into the hen house leaving just a little cloud of dust behind. I told them they were just a bunch of chickens.

Echo and I are friends again. I realized why he was acting like a jerk on Wednesday, it was because I was gone all day Tuesday at the doctors in Spokane. So, Wednesday he was cold towards me. Thursday morning he was nicer and we made our peace. Thursday afternoon I was fully forgiven because he wanted to 'step up' and do his 'fully trained' horse routine. Yes, he's really got eating a pound of baby carrots down pat. One day I'll train him to take them out of my left hand not just my right. Ha ha everything scares him. I let the empty plastic bag fill up with air in the breeze and he stepped back and stared at it with very big eyes. That's not the funny part though. While he was staring with his big eyes, head up high and nostrils flared, he swooshed a fly with his tail and when his tail came up over his back he whirled around to see what was attacking him! Oh Echo!

So much for being wild vigilant horses though. I walked right up to Wildairo and Echo while they were asleep and they never even woke up. Wildairo was down on the ground looking like he was dead and Echo was fast asleep standing up with his bottom lip hanging down. I stood right there with them. When I turned on my camera, the loud noise made Wildairo wake up, but Echo snoozed on. I yelled his name and he woke up forgetting to reel in his dried out bottom lip. Very unattractive.

Here's a rare sight; The two old men cats cuddled up together on a love seat. Ha ha BUSTED.



Max is on the left. He's about 10 and a Manx. He never hunts but likes to sit on peoples laps all day. Andy is on the right. He's 13 and part Siamese. He also loves to sit on laps but loves to do a lot of killing. He drags home rabbits even.

Here's an old photo of Andy with our pet rabbit. Everyone loved Bunnie Boy, even the Airedales.

Random thoughts and pictures.

I finally got a diagnoses on what is wrong with me. Yesterday the doctor told me I had Sarcoidosis, causing arthritis and soft tissue swelling, he also called it Granulomatous Disease. I can't pronounce it, so I call it Sarcastic Granny Disease because I am sarcastic and a granny. My muscles are weak and painful. I also have horrible (painless) lumps all over. I can't walk very well or far because for some reason my legs don't seem to want to go along in a regular fashion. My calf muscle never did return to normal after my ankle replacement in March. I take prednisone and hydrocodone for pain. I will also be taking gabapentin for nerve pain. Instead of a disease that makes me all lumpy, I'd have preferred one where I was all slim and stuff. Just my luck.

Here's some pictures of my 18 month old granddaughter, Amelia. She's a very cheerful little girl, I really love her.









I kept 13 of our 25 chicks I bought. Brad gave the others away at work. They are about 5 weeks old now and so Sunday we put them outside in the little hen house. They had been living in my office. I was very worried about them getting cold during the night so I kept going out to check them. They are doing great. I haven't let them out of the hen house yet. Here they are today.



The mystery chicken is fatter than the rest. We'll have a lot of eggs the spring. Our 13 mallard ducks are locked up every night in the next pen.

Here is a picture of our blind cows calf having a snack on the lawn. He's the white thing in the background. He is allowed out to graze anywhere because his mother never had much milk. Poor Cowslip (his mother, named after an English wild flower) went down Sunday. Her legs gave out finally. She couldn't chew her cud anymore and is in terrible shape. She's very old. We take her food and water. I give her a nice rub down and tell her what a good cow she is. One day I'll tell her story.



I don't like Echo right now. I think he's become arrogant and disrespectful. It's a game for him to avoid getting touched because he started to back away and shake is head at me. He's taken advantage of me and he's a little creep for doing so. I gave Wildairo two apples, half a blueberry muffin and a kiss on the nose to make Echo jealous, like that 'good for nothing' cares. What Echo doesn't know is, there are other people in this world besides me who can straighten him out. I plan to have a pro to the job. I can't wait to see the surprised look on his face. For a wild mustang he's very hot blooded and high strung.

I put hay in Wildairo's bucket and then stood behind him and called him. It's funny to see him try to guard his hay in case another horse was to some how get into the corral and eat it for him. He turned around to come to me to eat the apple but kept looking back at the hay and putting his ears flat back in case some ghost horse was about to get into his hay bucket. He never saves any hay for later like Foxsun does. Foxsun's manger is full of hay most of the day because he likes to go for a walk about. Foxsun is putting on a little weight. His legs are fine and he's been seen cantering across his pasture. His coat is still dull and short. I wormed him again Sunday with the stuff that kills everything but the horse. The abscess's all drained out and have gone but I wouldn't be surprised if he gets another one.

Here's Phoenix, one of William's roommates. He thought he was going to have a lot of fun being a tomcat and living with three college students, but he got fixed instead. He looks like a different cat here. He was just a crazy orange blur the week before.