More Q Time- Thanksgiving week.

Well here you go, Larry giving Dude a little attention. This is the first time Dude was saddled up. He really took to it very well. About a week ago we started putting a sweat bit in his mouth, to get him used to it. Another thing we did was let him wear my old bareback rigging all night, these seamed to send the message to him without disturbing him much. Matter of fact as you can see Dude is rather nonchalant about it all. I didn't have a chance to photograph it, without mounting Larry also stood in the stirrup on each side of him. After an hour or so of just fooling around, making sure Dude felt like he was the star of the show we led him past the arena so all the girls could check him out, what a good boy he is.

Naturally Easter was interested"right", he knows who the real star around here is. Trust me when I tell you, this boy will be my star for the duration.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone-------Mikey.

Quality Time

The weather out here was really nice for the start of Thanksgiving week.




Some of the things on the agenda were to re stack the Hay; put a very heavy lumber tarp over it; rotate the tires on the Accura; ride Easter and Jackie Jo; add a few trees to the ranch; get the International tractor started; and so on and so on.

Having hibernated all Summer I thought it would be a perfect opportunity for a ride on Easter, since he does have a new set of shoes. I have always cold saddled him just in case we ever needed to leave in a hurry for some reason. He has that program down really well, also he stands very still until I have my seat, and stirrups just the way I like them. A blessing of fore thought in early training. But just because he lets me get this far without a problem does not mean he isn't really excited deep down inside, and I Know soon we will have a little problem. Larry was not to sure about Jackie Jo either, he opted to lunge her for a while just to see what kind of mood she was in, not bad actually, such a good girl. Ready Murph? Sure thing Larry why don't we head out to the west towards the Wilderness area? Sounds Good. Easter! What the hell was that? Come on boy, that was a nice jump though. Here we go not two hundred yards from the place and Easter decides he wants to run away from some furry little barking mutts. Not good Easter, lets start doggies training right now! Well they didn't seem to bother you did they Jackie Jo? What's that Larry? Oh yeah he has some very agile moves doesn't he. Thank heaven that was it for the day, you know it is getting a lot better but I need to work him more often. That's why I wouldn't tell anyone he was broke,one quick move like that and most people would be getting up from the ground.

We spent the rest of the ride, about fifteen miles, just looking over the country side, had a couple of cold ones on the way home, talked about how the horses were working so well. I could get on either of them and head out with confidence, nice.

The next afternoon Larry decided to give Hey-Girl (haven't heard from the AQHA yet) a little quality time, early training saves time and effort later on.

See you soon-------------Mikey

Poor girl has a tummy ache.

Hello again, as I promised you I would send more current pictures unfortunately I am still little behind since there are two more days before my weekend. This a mid October mourning shot. Jackie Jo is in really good health overall, although this mourning we noticed Ginger was shading her for a nap not usually on her schedule. Another thing strange was the way she pawed at her stomach from time to time. This was observed by Larry not myself, he only mentioned it after I voiced concern about her unusual behavior this mourning, she also let Ginger get more breakfast than normal. That is a sure sign that Jackie Jo has some thing wrong, most likely what we refer to as an Indian Tear Drop. Nothing a little special fiber we keep here won't cure, for those of you who are getting the drift I'm hoping you feel better too, her problem is that she throws her feed on the ground in this sandy and dusty soil, there fore creating something smooth;green; and very hard to pass. Jackie Jo is young and healthy so after a few hours she felt like her usual self again and Ginger " her faithful companion" got less dinner than she had breakfast. Anyway this fire photo is more current.


Waiting to see you there sometime soon--------------Mikey.

Has anybody seen Jackie Jo?

I just wanted everyone to see her no special occasion. Naturally I have to keep from getting too attached (Difficult) since she is special. Jackie Jo is quite a bit more mature now, this shot was taken in April. The original title of this shot was to be "Has anybody seen anything to eat?". Be prepared for quite a show when she sees you coming out late to feed. Like I said she hasn't been getting the attention she deserves and this should help repair her ego. She is so much like Easter and Dude in disposition, personality,and intelligent. Here at the ranch we have to be really careful about how we school these horses because once they learn something they won't forget it. Best advice I got for them was you have to win them not battle with them. Believe me this is proving true everyday. I'll have to give Larry Miller a great deal of credit having been her trainer since she came back from boarding school where she got basic ground training. Jackie Jo will wear multiple styles of head gear and respond the same to all of them. Fringe benefit of spending the time. Speaking of time I have to go now, it's getting close to feeding time.

Besides I need to get the fire set up---------------Mikey

At least the trailer works!

Hello everyone.



My stories are beginning to settle down a little. Mostly mundane chores. Last week I told you about the chain saw lessons, as a result I needed a way to transport the fruits of our labor closer to the fireplace. My brother Pat made me a good deal on this trailer a while back. The Green and White buckets are full of Mulberry sawdust. Instant fire starter, I'm here to tell ya. As you can see at 4 o'clock the shadows are getting pretty long, that means the fire place will be going for the sunset show.

The photos will be getting more current. I am curing some of the remoteness problems. Next weeks article will be more current. Anyway we got quite a bit done this week, Dads rototiller worked up the Victory Garden (by the Fireplace), and the front garden. We are hoping to have several gardens this year, the weather has been so good lately we're afraid to water anything fearing a voluntary crop. Although the front had to be watered so the top soil would not blow away.

Hope to see you soon---------------Mikey.

PS:
I was going to send this little fellow out for everyone on Halloween. I still thought he is interesting. I am sort of a wildlife nut.

Warming leftovers

Nice huh? Not too cold and I'm hungry!


With the high cost of living these days being frugal doesn't have to be misery. I always enjoy the fire so why not take the opportunity to camp out a little. Tonight we're having Pizza & German Sausage with a cold one of course.


Names have been sent to the AQHA for registration on the weanling's, I'll post them ASAP. Hey-Girl was taking her mid mourning nap Monday when I decided to see how far she had settled down. I was amazed that she did not get up when I entered the pen. Matter of fact I actually touched her rump and back before lifting. Not wanting to annoy her to much I used the nonchalant approach for a while, which got her curious, and she approached me in a few minutes. This was rewarding because I only recently trusted enough to take the halter off. The halter remained on as long as she was fearful and shy which meant the only way to catch her up was with a rope. Her reward for this was a gentle curry job supplemented with a portion of sweet feed, and grass hay, nice. Boy all this work is making me hungry.

Better go in and see what's for lunch, leftovers look good, you'd think these guys would clean this stuff up better, guess my eyes are bigger than our appetites. Hi Brian, sure let's take that carburetor apart we can do it. Matter of fact over the next two and a half hours we did it three times. Testing indicates it is the fuel pump after all, DARN IT! Boy that makes me hungry,let's start the fire and have a cold one.


Kathleen will be excited to see that I have resumed posting photos without bothering her, I'm sure. The fire was taken with my Blackberry without the flash working, sorry.

See you there-----Mikey

That Darn Tractor

Let's see, where was I before I was so rudely interrupted two weeks ago?

Oh yeah that darn tractor. Better check it out. Having called a local mechanic or two and getting little interest in my plight, it seemed to me that I should be able to get this thing to run with a little TLC and common sense. As it happened one of the locals, Brian, came by for a social visit since the wind was making things too difficult for him as a tree trimmer. As he explained when you make a cut don't let the wind dictate where the fall is going. Seems I am getting quite an education on trees recently.

After a few minutes greetings and looking at the tractor we starting testing different components of the system, cleaning as much as we could, looking for spark,fuel things of that nature, we got the tractor running by priming it. This resulted in the conclusion that the carburetor would require more attention(at a later date) by a mechanic.

Brian spent most of his 50+ years logging and cutting firewood in Arizona. Much of the time we share stories about the places we each have visited in Arizona. Often times this goes to places where he cut wood and at sometime I was there following the rodeo. Brian did pretty well at some of the lumberjack rodeos down there for many years. He explained to me at one point he won Payson's log cutting competition which included a personal 16 hour class by factory engineers explaining the detailed workings of chain saws. I just happen to have some very hard chunks of tree right over here Brian, that are too hard for me. Yes sir this took some of the disappointment out of that tractor. The saw he had with him wasn't the perfect saw for the job, so he offered to come back the next day with his large saw.


Upon arrival with his new saw we started in on the chunks of wood, I was given step by step tutoring in chainsaw safety; design;speeds; and characteristics of many various trees. The stumps were Mulberry noted by the smell while cutting. I could tell this would supply some long winded conversations around the fire this season. Aromatic too! It's November now cool tempuratures, breezes, early sunsets seems like the perfect time to start a fire.


See you there------Mikey