Me, Stormy, Traveler, and Lee

Sweet Ponies

Ok, don't make fun of me for calling my new ponies 'sweet', but they are. So far they are doing really good and are cute as well as sweet. Now they are looking for us to pet them and give them treats and are leaning to leed really good. They are excepting fly spay even if they don't like it, and are sort of learning to pick up their hooves to be cleaned. Traveler seems to learn things really fast. More photos to come.

Ponies

New Ponies

Ok, OK, Ok, I know. It's been a long time since I have posted. What can I say, except I have been busy. We have 2 new ponies. Yes, these two are really ponies. One is a 2 year old Mini/Shetland cross named Stormy, and the other is a yearling that is Tennessee Walker and Shetland, named Traveler. At least those are their names for the time being. They had those names when I got them. I don't know if I will change them or not. Both are actually half brothers on the mom's side and she is the Shetland Pony. But they both look really different taking after their sires. Stormy is solid black and Traveler is a tri-color pinto. Neither of them had been handled much when I got them so we are starting at the most basic of basic training. At this point they are finally letting us pet them and taking treats from our hands. They will sort-of lead after we get halters on them. Sometimes that is no problem, other times it involves all kinds of ways, mostly treats, to catch them and get the halters on. But it is fun. I think they will make really good pets in the future, and possibly Traveler will be big enough to ride. I think it would be loads of fun to get a cart and teach them to drive. I have never driven so it will be a learning prossess for me, too. Of course I can't afford a cart, so may see if we can build a very simple one. I hope to post lots of photos of them.

Weather

Weather in the land of enchantment is always changing. We have had several days of horrible winds, but today the wind was followed by a nice, cooling drizzle.

Cars

I see all those horrible photos on the news channel that are taken of the car wrecks, and I am thankfull that so far I have never been in a bad one. Then I watch the car races on TV. They have wrecks just has bad and very seldom does a driver get injured, let alone killed. If the race cars can be made that safe why can't the average cars we are expected to drive be made safer? I know a lot of it has to do with the seat and harness and what the driver wears, but I would think that just the addition of a good roll bar would save many lives.

Dirty Dog

I finally convinced myself that I had to buy a carpet shampoo machine and clean the carpet. So I did. Well it came out better than I expected. It had been several years since it had been done and I was pleased with the results even if the cleaner did make he have a few extra algeries for a few hours. But - Tuffee dog, my Border Collie must have been displeased with the clean carpet. She went out found a nice fresh pile of horse poop to roll in and then came back in the house. Needless to say Tuffee got a bath.

Drink?

Cool Pets

I figure Memorial Weekend is a good time to remind everyone that Summer is here, and our dogs, cats, horses, and other pets may be feeling the heat as much as their humans are. I know I am. The heat and hot sun of summer bothers some people more than others so we need to remember that it could and does affect our pets. Please make sure that all pets have plenty of water both inside and outside. Inside pets are used to inside heaters and air conditioners. So outside water and shade is very important when they are enjoying summer. Remember that all animals drink more when it is hot, just as you do. Use big containers for water appropriate for you cat or dogs size. I don't care for the small dishes sold in stores for water. Try a new, very clean bucket, or bowl that is short enough for the pet to get it's head into but that will hold at least a gallon of water. And dogs frequently slurp lots of water with a good amount going onto the floor or ground. The extra amount is needed for them to get enough liquid. If putting out water for kittens or small puppies a large but shallow dish is best. Made sure it isn't deep, and that they can get out if they fall in. We don't want them drowning.

As for horses and other live stock. Again they need lots more water in summer. Horses need at least 20 gallons of clean, fresh water a day. They can get sick it the water is contimated with dirt, or hay.

Please take care of your pets. They are important to all of us.

Rude People

It amazes me how many rude people there are in the world. Yet I see and hear them everytime I go anywhere. At the grocery store they like to stand in the isle so that no one can get by them while they take their good old time about selecting what they want off the shelves. Or worse they stand there and gossip with a friend, or worse talk on their cell phone. Why can't they at least move to one side to let other shoppers shop. And when you ask them to move they scream and yell that they were there first. At the checkout isn't any better. They all seem to want to push into line in front of the other people who have already been standing there for ages.

I see the same displays of rudness at all stores, at gas stations, while driving, at schools, and even where I work. I was not raised to be this rude. What has happened to the human race that now we consider the streets, job, schools, stores, and anywhere the place to test our ability to

"HUNT" for our food or necessities in life, or our ability to "FIGHT" for our place in the world.

What is this teaching our children. It almost seems as if we are at war with everyone we encounter, regardless of who they are.

Bear In My Town

http://www.abqjournal.com/abqnews/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3605&Itemid=2
this is the link to the Albuquerque NM Journal story about the bear that terrorized Rio Rancho NM on Friday morning. Since they say it was seen at the Wal-Mart it was only about 4 miles from me and may have come in across the desert close to where I live. I thought it was a funny story but with a good ending as the bear wasn't killed. It was tranquiliezed then taken by Game and Fish to where it could be tagged, cared for and released in near by mountians where it could find a better home. The med center where it was tranquilized is one that I used to go to a few years ago, until my Dr moved. For those of you familiar with Rio Rancho it is near the Bank of the West or the Auto Zone or the Walgreens Pharmacy on the corner of Southern Blvd and Highway 528. It traveled about 5 miles to get from where it was first reported to be running through peoples yards to where it was finally caught.

Kind of makes you think what can walk right in through those automatic doors that are everywhere.

Fat Pony

Here is Jack and my mare, Nita having a confab about not getting enough attention. Yeah, I agree, BlackJack is over weight. All of my horses seemed to suddenly get over weight in the past month or so. No, I haven't been riding enough, or doing ground work with them. Either I don't feel like it, or it is raining, or muddy, muddy, or I am busy at my job, or cleaning pens, and making sure water buckets are clean and full. It seems there are never enough hours in the day.

This Morning

This morning I spent a pleasent hour riding my 14 year old Morgan gelding BlackJack. You can see his photo to the right. I have had Jack for about 4 years. He the perfect horse for me. At only about 14 and a half hands he is easy for old worn out me to get on. He is an easy going horse that isn't bothered by much except plastic shopping bags. He is the kind of horse you can get on after several weeks of not riding and he isn't going to try to buck you off. But he is always trying to figure out how to get me to let him do what he wants to do. Of course he wants you to get off and give him treats. He doesn't care for riding in our small turn out field and prefers to ride around the yard or out on the dirt road in front of the house.

May

So since it has been a while here is what I have been doing. Working! At home and at my job. The job is still just a job. At home things have really changed. Spring has sprung and there has been lots of rain, especially for here. Almost every day this past week we got a good shower in the evening. That is good but makes lots of mud that now needs to dry out a bit. Hubby retired. So he is home all the time. But he has been getting a few of the odd jobs done around here that needed doing. And we planted a garden. We always have a few tomatos but this year decided to go all the way with a garden. About 20 by 40 square foot area. I planted corn, beans, onions, carratts, watermellon, squarsh, cucumbers, and pumkins, as well as the tomatos. Most are up except the onions, and we need to get some sort of trellis or something for the beans and cucumbers to grow on. I just hope the harvest is good.

ages

Ok, I'm sorry. I know it has been ages and ages since I have posted. I keep saying it won't happen again and then it does. My blog just keeps getting put off as I have so much to do.

Shooting

I just saw the news on the TV about the shooting at the V. Tech campas. It is horrifing. And then I considered that our US goverment is more concerned about the problems of other countries than they are about what goes on in our own country. Granted we were attached. And But now it is time to let other counties take care of their own problems so that we have the money and manpower to take care of our selves.

Updates

Sorry to all who may have been looking for a new post here at the Tumbleweed Crossing but there has been to much going on. Had an eye infection from sand getting in my eye. We are having our typical never ending spring winds with the sand blowing in the wind. Then there was a lot of computer work at work and taxes to do and I just was trying to avoid looking at the computer for a while.

Callie, I am sorry to hear about your big storm. Not sure where you are but hope the one over the weekend wasn't as bad for you as for most of eastern states. We got about an inch of rain early on the morning of Friday the Thirteen. But no thunder. My rain gage said right at an inch. And then it froze that night. It took some of the tender new leaves on the trees but didn't seem to affect the cherries. I am still hopeful that we will get a few cherries off young trees.

Rain

We had about 3 days of a wonderful spring rain. Or at least wonderful for the land and the plants and trees. Not for the town of Clovis that had about 13 tornados go through on Friday that did lots of damage. Not fun at all. Here we had a heck of a thunder storm on Thursday night that caused our dogs to get really upset. Especially our German Shepherd Codee. She has always been afraid of fireworks but never the thunder until this storm. We didn't get her to calm down at all until it was over.
Strange thing was that on talking to several people the next day, they, too, said that their dogs were real upset by the storm. Dogs that didn't used to be bothered by storms. Weird

Another Border Collie

Thanks Callie for your comment. Always glad to hear about another Border Collie. We had a cat named Spot once. An old, common name but I like it. Tuffee went back to the vet this week so they could read her micro-chip and make sure it hadn't come out. Thankfully it hadn't. I figured it would be my luck to have a dog who would reject it and have to pay for another. So now she is officially micro-chipped. We thought of changing her name to Chip, or Micro or Mikey.

Tuffee

Tuffee is our Border Collie. She is a rescue dog and is now 3 years old. She loves to herd the horses, and Codee our German Shepherd and the cats. Today I took her in to get her yearly vacaniations and a micro chip. I keep hearing so much about them I decided to do it. It seems like such a good idea. Tuffee seems to be having a little reaction to either the chip or her shots. Not quite up to her usuall self this afternoon. Normally she is up and running full blast at the least hint that I might be going outside to do something with the horses or what ever else I have in mind. I have taught her to be a house dog, but she prefers to be outside where she can keep an eye on the horses, and all that is going on around her.