Katrina

Here at the Tumbleweed Crossing our thoughts, sympathy and good wishes for a safe recovery go out to all those affected by the hurricane Katrina. We will help as much as we can, although I am not sure what we can do at this time.

Wild Sunflower

Sunflowers help brighten up my day.

Rats, Oh, Rats

Matmouse, and Mickey Mouse, Miney Mouse, Jerry Mouse, and even Pixie and Dixie Mouses are all good mice. Especially Mighty Mouse. But then there are the real mice. The little tiny creatures that invade your hay barn, and my junk shed. They are so tame they sit there and stare at you with those beady little eyes, just daring you to invade "Their domain" . And I do. But it doesn't make them leave. They just dive into those tiny little hiding places they have discovered, and wait for me to leave. As they are sure that I will.

Well, here is fair warning to all you mices.

I am declaring WAR.

So for the count is mice - 7. Me -2. And my cats - 4.
Sigh - seems the mice are winning.
I have been setting mouse traps but have only caught 2. I have 5 cats but they haven't bought me but 4 mice. Hopefully they are catching others that I am not aware of. Oh, and Codee, my German Shepherd dog was chasing one out through the tumbleweed this morning. But she let it get away.

More on the WAR of the MICE later.

(I hate those mices to pieces.)

Flowers

It may be hot here at the Tumbleweed Crossing but the summer wild flowers are doing fine. Blooming their little hearts out. The wild sunflowers are huge. Some as tall as 6 foot and as much as 12 foot in diameter, with hundreds of small sunflowers covering the bushes. Blossoms are usually only about 4 inches across which is very small compared to their hy-bred cousins. But I think they are much more cheerful to look at. And the small birds love the seeds.
My wild four-o-clock is even bigger this year than last. It is trying to choke out a lilac bush and some iris that were growing near it. It is covered with small fushia blossoms every evening just as the sun goes down. About a 20 x 20 mass of green leaves and blossoms. Surprisingly there is a clump of comas near by that are the same fushia color. Who says mother nature can't think about how to plant her flowers for color combinations.
I, also, now have morning glories blooming as well as marigolds, and a few struggling roses. I love the big yellow/orange blossoms of the pumpkins and guards, and squarsh. I have more zucchini squarsh than I can eat. Wish I knew some one who liked it as much as I do to give some to.

Writers Block

Heres hoping those little emails complimenting me on my entry to the romance writers contest will help bannish the writers block I have been experencing over the past few months. It seems like either I don't have time to sit down and write or if I try to I can't seem to write. Even my blog has been suffering. I won't promise to write more 'cause it won't happen, but I will think about it.
Shame on me! Write! Write! and Write! Even if it don't make since or no one ever reads it.

Self Esteem

A little bit of praise can go a long way in upping my self esteem. I was so thrilled when I received so many emails from the readers of the contest junkies site. I couldn't beleive it. I appoligize to for not getting back to all the readers yet. Now I can't wait to see who wins the contest. More on it when the winners are announced sometime in Oct.

Contest

Don't forget to go to www.contestjunkies.com and vote for this weeks stories. There are some really good ones.

Long Time No See

Sorry I haven't had a chance to post anything for a while. Hope I haven't been completely diserted by my faithfull readers, but work and life caught up with me. Work is driving me crazy but I'm sure you are all saying yours does to.
My walk in closet is full of little, tiny, very hungry moths, or millers, or some sort of flying bug. They don't do any thing but eat. I am dismantling everything in the closet and cleaning throughly. Then while outside putting a rough, sort of deck/porch/walkway around the hayshed and tackroom this little whirlwind came by and took the roof off of one of the horse shelters/shed. So we're in the process of putting it back on.
If life settles down again I will try to write more.

MattMice

I found out what a matmice or rather who a matmice is. A stuffed mouse named Matt. You can see him at www.emilyboyd.com/whois mat/
He reminds me of a stuffed bear named Cindy that my niece used to take with her everywhere. Oh, do I remember the days of looking for a lost CindyBear. And my son, Dustin, had to stuffed animals. A seal, and a rabbit. Although his infatuation with Sealy and Rabbit didn't last as long as Cindy's did with CindyBear. (Yeah, you got it right. She named her bear after herself. At about the age of one year. And yes she is still that vain.)

Sean's Site

Josie from Josie's Journel has helped her son Sean set up a website. It is really a good site. www.matmice.com/home/king_ghidorah
Even if I don't know what a matmice is. Where we live we have field mice that like to try to get into the barn. My black cat Murphy is proving to be a really good mouser.

other blogs

Don't forget to keep trying other blogs. Here are some I really like.

Josie's Journal at http://menfreya.tblog.com

Hold Yer Horses at http://holdyerhorses.blogspot.com

http://www.instapundit.com

Rain

We had rain yesterday. Blessed rain. Rain gage had about a half inch in it. And it cooled things off here today. Even if it was humid, it was so good to have rain. Parts of New Mexico got even more and there was flash flood warning out. Can't beleive anyone is stupid enought to drive into a creek, or arroyo, or even down some of our city streets when we get this much rain. Here's hoping the firefighters get some to help with all the fires.

writing contest

One of the readers sent in a site that is a romance writers contest site. I think I managed to get in under the dead line and entered one of my stories. If you are interested you can go to the site and read the first chapter and vote on the ones you like. Or don't like. At least it is fun to see what other people are writing. I'm not supposed to let you know which one is mine, and the reader didn't let me know which one is hers - so it would be fair.

http://www.contestjunkies.com/

Fire Danger

Hope no one is to close to all those horrible fires that are going on in so many of our states. I here on the news that they are really bad in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Arizona, and Colorado. I watched at least a dozen slurry planes take off from the Albuquerque airport, circle to the west, come over my place, and then circle to head north. Not sure where they were going but I hope they help with what ever fire they were headed for. At this time I haven't heard of any here in New Mexico but with the lightning we are having today it is only a matter of time.

Please everyone be as careful with any kind of fire as you can be, burning weeds or trash, firecrackers, matches, or campers. We can't do much about lightning but we can watch what we do. Our forests, homes, and country are to precious to put in danger.

BlackJack

BlackJack is the second horse that I bought. I have had him for almost three years. He is a twelve year old Morgan gelding, and as you may have guessed he is black. Or almost black. Some might call him a very dark bay, as he does have some brown on his muzzle and flanks but he is black everywhere else. Except for the star on his forehead. I seem to have a thing for solid horses with stars. I didn't purposely chose these colors, it just happened. But I do like them.
Jack has had some really good training in the past, I think, but he has also had several owners who were not as smart as he is, and he has learned to think of what he can do to get out of doing what his owner/rider wants him to do. After I bought him, I was told that he had laid down and rolled with his owner and saddle on him. The owner wasn't quick enough to stop him, or didn't know how, and just jumped off in time to keep from getting rolled on. The saddle did get rolled on. So I was prepared for him to try this with me, but it was several weeks before he did. I had riden him for about an hour, and he was getting a bit tired and sweaty. I rode out into the center of the field and felt him start to drop to his knees. I kicked him hard in the flanks. Boy did he seem surprised, and took off at a trot instead of trying to roll. He never has tried it again with me.
But the past few days he has decided he wouldn't come to me, nor let me walk up to him, when he is in the field. Instead he takes off at a trot or a canter. Today I had had enough. I spent a good hour letting him, even incourging him, to walk, trot, canter and even gallap around and around. Ever so often I would let him stop, and try to get him to come to me. Nothing doing. I though he would never give up and let me put the halter on him. It took a long time. He tried to stop and roll as he was getting sweaty. He tried to stop and get a drink, but I wouldn't let him do that either. He never did come to me, but finally he stood still and let me walk up and put the halter on.
I wonder if that will be the end or if I will have to spend more time getting him to come to me as he used to do. I know it is just another of the games he dreams up to play with me. Games that he likes and I don't. Games I have to learn how to not play with him.

Star

My First Horse

I wanted a horse ever since I could remember, but I was well into middle age before I got one. And of course I did exactly what all the horse books, trainers, and long time equine owners tell you not to do. They say don't start with a young, untrained horse, no matter how cute and inexpensive they are. It is much better to get one that is older, gentle, and above all, well trained. The additional expense is worth it. And I totally agree. But who is practical when buying their first horse. I fell in love with a yearling, sorrel filly with a star on her forehead that was being offered by a man who bought and sold horses. She was a lot smaller than the others he had but something about her caught my eye. Part of it might have been that she was a lot cheaper, but I think most of it was that I thought I saw something special in the gentle, brown eyes that gazed at me and pleaded that I take her home. It turned out that he had purchased the filly at an auction near the town of Gallup, NM. It was thought that she had come from one of the Indian reservations near there. The seller was quick to inform me that she had never been handled and didn't know how to even be lead. He emphasized that basically I would be buying a wild horse. Determined to do all the wrong things that so many first time horse buyers do I bought that wild, untamed, baby horse.
Actually everything went better than could have been expected. The seller helped my son and I get her into a trailer and to her new home where we already had Dusty’s yearling Quarter Horse, Goldy. Dusty had bought Goldy just a few months before. We were both doing the brand-new, first-horse ownership thing and were proud of it. Thrilled, delighted and ecstatic would describe it even better. It didn’t take Dusty and I long to teach her that good behavior resulted in food. In just a few days we were able to take her halter off and put it back on, lead her around, and brush her, except for her tail. It took me a long month to get all the burrs, brambles, snags, and snarls combed out of her ratty little tail. Being still a baby it really wasn’t much of a tail yet. She quickly learned her name – Star. I thought and though and tried dozens of names but kept coming back to Star even though it is such a common name for horses and it stuck.
I always want to name my animals something unusual and unique but invariably seem to finally settle on something common and simple.
It soon became apparent that Star wasn’t the gentle, easy-to-train horse that I would have preferred. She was to smart for that. She was quick to try her darn’est to get out of doing anything she didn’t want to do. That is typical horse mindset. But Star seemed better at it than the average horse. Maybe it had a lot to do with the fact that she was a wild horse, and had never been around humans for the first year of her life. She had apparently learned the wild horse way of life well from her mama. We have even suspected that she might have a lot of true mustang blood in her. And of course she was a lot better for Dusty - a big, strong, young man, who could man-handle her if need be, rather than me – a middle-aged, not-so-big and strong woman.
Time passed, and Star and I fell into a semblance of a way of life. She would lead really well most of the time but when she didn’t want to there was no way I could get her to go in the direction I wanted her to. She would plant her feet and not move or run off dragging me behind her. Of course food was usually the main objective. She was sure to stop at the first clump of grass or weeds that was with in her sight. Eventfully she was taught to wear a bridle, sort-of; and to carry a saddle, sort-of, and to let me ride her, sort-of. But I don’t ever expect her to be a really great riding horse.
For one thing Star never got very big. In fact she really isn’t a horse. She is what is considered a large pony. Equine critters are measured in what are called hands. Many, many, many moons ago, somewhere over in Europe, when not everyone carried a tape measure or ruler in their pocket, horses were measured by the width of a man’s hand. A hand is now considered equal to four inches. The different in a horse and a pony is height. A pony is an equine animal up to 14 and a half hands. A horse is an equine animal over 14 and a half hands. Star is only 13 and a half hands, which makes her officially a pony.
But then you have to consider the fact that I am bad, really bad about calling all my horses ponies. It is just a slang way I have of referring to my equines. And remember Equine is the Latin term for all single-hoofed animals – horses, ponies, zebras, donkeys, mules, ect.
Star is now about seven years old, and is no longer a filly but a mare. (I will add this information as I have so many people who ask. A baby horse is a foal, then called a weanling from about six months to a year old. At a year they become a yearling. Males are called colts (sometimes ‘colt’ can refer to either sex) and a female is called a filly. At about three years of age a filly becomes a mare, and a colt becomes either a stallion or a gelding. A gelding is a male horse that has been castrated.
Star is a stubborn, pony mare. But she is still much loved, petted, feed, pampered and spoiled. She is just one of three in my small stable. Join me for more about Star and her friends at this blog.

This is Nita, my Quarter Horse mare. The quality is not that great on these photos but at least I am getting them on the blog.

This is Star. She was my first horse. She is a Mustang/Appy cross. In the winter she is a sorrel. In the summer she gets a lot of little white spots all over her chest and neck. But very few on her butt where most appys have them.

http://ponytracks.myblogsite.com

http://www.horsecity.com

Readers

Gosh! Am I ever surprised and delighted at how many readers I getting to the Tumbleweed Crossing. It is just thrilling. I will try my best to keep finding interesting tidbits to let you know about. As you may have noticed I finally figured out how to get a photo on my site. Eventually I will figure out how to post links to some of the sites/blogs that I read.

Information on Mars

You can find a little more information on the Mars event this month at this website http://www.johnstonsarchive.net/astro/marsopposition.html

I haven't been able to spot it yet but our night skies have been full of clouds lately. (But no rain). Hope you have better luck where you are.

Thank You

My many thanks to all of you who leave your comments. It is so wonderful to know that someone, anyone, is reading what I write.

This is BlackJack, my Morgan gelding. He had just enjoyed a bath. For the next few minutes he will look very handsome, then he will be a mudball, as soon as he can roll in the dirt.

Summer

Summer has fully arrived. It is hot, and I mean hot. I can't seem to keep the horse buckets, dog buckets, or the bird trays full of water. Neither can I keep enough water on the trees and garden. I finally was able to pull a zucchini squarsh, and have another one coming on, but no tomatoes yet. I do have some very tiny green ones but nothing showing any sign of red. By this time last year we had more tomatoes than we knew what to do with. I was giving them away, and eating them at every meal. Still not sure I would want to eat fried green tomatoes yet after all we ate last year.
The flowers have finally started blooming a bit. Have a very nice hot pink zinna that is doing well especially since Tuffee, my border collie, broke it before it ever started blooming. Didn't figure it would survive the break, but guess it repaired itself, and has had three nice blossoms since. Actually the best zinna I have ever grown.

Morning glories are sort of blooming. And so are the roses. Have a couple of goards coming on. But my two small pumkins are already turning yellow. Very strange.

We have had hints of rain, and a lot of the rest of state has had some, but not here. Could really use it.

Corny Thoughts

One news channel gave a brief blurb about the fact that it is estimated that 30 percent of the US corn crop was already lost. Don't know if this is a fact yet or not but I can see the price of anything with corn in it rising as we speak. And have you ever considered how many products have corn in them?
Corn on the cob, corn in the can, and frozen corn in the bag.

Corn Flakes, (and all other cereals that have corn in them), corn tortillas, tamales, cornmeal, cornbread, corn fritters, corndogs-----and speaking of dogs, have you looked at the ingredient's in the dog and cat food lately? Corn is usually the number one item in that sack of food for your pet that you thought was mostly meat products. Then there is corn in the grain for your horse, cow, pig, sheep, and goat. And yes, that means the price of meat will take a jump as well.

Mars

My email pal sent me this information. Don't know how true it might be. I have been trying to find out more. If you know anything about it let me know. I know if it is true I want to see it. And hope it will be more specticular than Haley's Comet was.

Mars The Red Planet is about to be spectacular! This month and next, Earth is catching up with Mars in an encounter that will culminate in the closest approach between the two planets in recorded history. The next time Mars may come this close is in 2287. Due to the way Jupiter's gravity tugs on Mars and perturbs its orbit, astronomers can only be certain that Mars has not come this close to Earth in the Last 5,000 years, but it may be as long as 60,000 years before it happens again.The encounter will culminate on August 27th when Mars comes to within 34,649,589 miles of Earth and will be (next to the moon) the brightest object in the night sky. It will attain a magnitude of -2.9 and will appear 25.11 arc seconds wide. At a modest 75-power magnification. Mars will look as large as the full moon to the naked eye. Mars will be easy to spot. At the beginning of August it will rise in the east at 10p.m. and reach its azimuth at about 3 a.m.\ By the end of August when the two planets are closest, Mars will rise at nightfall and reach its highest point in the sky at 12:30a.m. That's pretty convenient to see something that no human being has seen in recorded history. So, mark your calendar at the beginning of August to see Mars grow progressively brighter and brighter throughout the month. Share this with your children and grandchildren. NO ONE ALIVE TODAY WILL EVER SEE THIS AGAIN
this is a once in a lifetime experience.

Good Advice

Old Farmer's Advice

*Your fences need to be horse-high, pig-tight, bull-strong.

* Keep skunks, bankers, and lawyers at a distance.

* Life is simpler when you plow around the stump.

* A bumblebee is considerably faster than a John Deere tractor.

* Words that soak into your ears are whispered...not yelled.

* Meanness don't jes' happen overnight.

*Forgive your enemies. It messes up their heads.

* Do not corner something you know is meaner than you

* It don't take a very big person to carry a grudge.

* You cannot unsay a cruel word.

* Every path has a few puddles.

* When you wallow with pigs, expect to get dirty.

*Most of the stuff people worry about ain’t never gonna happen anyway.

* Don't judge folks by their relatives.

* Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.

*Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and think back, you'll enjoy it a second time.

* Don't interfere with somethin' that ain’t botherin' you none.

* Timing has a lot to do with the outcome of a rain dance.

* If you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is stop diggin'.

* Sometimes you get, and sometimes you get got.

* The biggest troublemaker you'll probably ever have to deal with, watches you from the mirror every mornin'.

*Always drink upstream from the herd.

* Good judgment comes from experience, and a lotta that comes from bad judgment.

* Lettin' the cat outta the bag is a whole lot easier than puttin' it back in.

* If you get to thinkin' you're a person of some influence;

try orderin' somebody else's dog around.·

Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly.

Leave the rest to God...· Mother Nature......

and the Great Spirit.