For Dani

I'm told that my blogs could be more exciting if I included pictures of my many topics of conversation. I dedicate this blog and it's accompanying pictures to Danielle.

I've often spoke of my beautiful Bourbon turkeys. Jefferson was named after the best Bourbon I ever drank and was spoiled rotten when she (yes, SHE) got sick and had to be nursed back to health. She's still my favorite turkey and here is her picture:


Rosie, also named after another fine
Bourbon, is our Tom. He's seen in the next
picture with his little buddy Tattoo, a
White Midget turkey and an anonymous
Buff goose:
All of these birds are about four months old.
Speaking of birds....I have chicken pics too! Woot! The next pics are of my favorite Easter Egger chickens and they're roo. Keep a careful eye out though as there are some Buff Orps and Rhode Island Reds scattered about these pics.














That brings us to the always popular pictures of baby horses. The pics of Scarlett just refuse to come out with any clarity so I can't show the wonderful roaning (is that a word?) that is happening to her coat. She was born a beautiful sorrel blanket appy but when I saw the gray hairs I assumed that she was going to go for a strawberry roan. Now I see the undercoat getting suspiciously dark and I'm beginning to wonder about blue roan with blanket.....Hmmmmm....the genetics behind this horse and her color are mind boggling. Of course the light of my heart is Juno (or Ava if her would-be new owners change her name) so I have a couple of pics of her. You'll note her size in the pic with Rissa. Rissa is not known for being terribly tall but still, this is one big filly at less than three months of age. Her nose is extended in orgasmic ecstasy at having her butt scratched.



















Other news: Those of you who know me, have noticed that I'm usually studying some darn thing or another. There's a cool book about the theory of another civilization that gave rise to the Egyptian culture. The beginning of the book was a little boring. Geological evidence is beyond boring and I was familiar with the suppositions behind the architectural similarities. The climactic changes were interesting but not terribly exciting or conclusive in my mind but now the book reveals more anthropological clues and religious questions that actually make me wonder. We KNOW that neolithic peoples did not have the technology to build the Sphinx but we also once KNEW that the world was flat. Fun stuff. I love this kind of mind stretching exercise.
And so darling daughter, I hope you are happy or at least happier with this post. The pics were a pain in the ass, so I probably won't be doing that again unless it's just one picture to draw the eye or clarify an observation.

Random stuff

Annie tells me that trees are so "cutiful" and then goes on to explain to me that trees are alive and that they can talk to each other about people and if you listen really close they can talk to you too. She told me that when she told the trees how "cutiful" they were they smiled at her. Yep, my six-year old daughter is an ancient druid at heart. I love it that she's so keenly aware of nature everywhere she goes. She reminds me of the connections we all have to the Earth and that helps to keep me grounded.
Today I checked on the tomatoes. It seems that we have a bumper crop of tomatoes in the making. I'm worried that I'll be called into surgery just about the time that I need to be here processing all these beautiful fruits but we'll just have to play it by ear. There's no law that says I can't dictate the date of the surgery just a little bit.
The rest of the garden? (sigh) It's a jungle out there. The daily rainstorms have kept everything so wet that weeding is almost impossible but so necessary. I'll still get some crops out of the garden but it could have been much better....and yet, I guess it could have been much worse. I'll be happy with whatever we get.
A woman wrote to me asking about Scarlett. I'd gotten to the point where I almost forgot she was for sale. When we got the offer for Juno I accepted that she was no longer my horse and started to distance myself even though it's difficult to distance yourself from a horse that wants to be petted all the time. Scarlett, with no offer and no interest, became my focus. Her movements, her change of color, her personality are all very special now so this possible interest in purchasing her saddens me. I'm sure it's for the best but I'd even entertained thoughts of keeping her for a year or so and working with her but I know she's destined for things far beyond what I have to offer.
No new problems with the kids. DJ is on a higher dose of ADHD meds and it seems to make him a little morose. I'm hoping this is a temporary side effect and that it will diminish over time. Seems like he did this when we first switched to this drug and the reverted to his normal happy-go-lucky self eventually.
Annie had her mysterious seizure and subsequent hyper-sensitivity to insulin and is now back to "normal". I believe she'll be fine but I get nervous whenever she's out of sight. My fear that she'll have a seizure while she's riding a bike or doing some activity that will hurt her seems to always be in the back of my mind.
I had a nice little getaway on Saturday. Just picked up DJ's meds and did a little shopping at the much hated Wal-Mart for some cereal and kids' underwear. It was pleasant to get out of the house and have my thoughts to myself for a while and everyone was happy to see my purchases when I returned. I was nearly killed on the way home though. I was following behind a man who was pulling a trailer filled with loose dirt. Suddenly, the trailer was at a 90 degree angle to the truck it was supposed to be following and nearly wiped out an oncoming car. Then it was 90 degrees on the other side and perilously close to the ditch. The trailer kept swiping back and forth like an angry snake or something and the dirt was flying everywhere so I pulled off the road and waited to see what happened next. I guess the guy finally figured out that if he was going to regain control he needed to slow down a little so he got the trailer straightened and resumed his journey with half of his load scattered the four winds....and all over the front of my car of course.
Well, I've played with tomatoes, played with the baby horses and played on the computer. It's time to do some of those Mommy chores I guess.

Lazy, crazy days of summer

Here we are-July. We've had a few rather warm days but for the most part it's been nice out here on the farm so far this season. Gotta love the evening showers that cool everything off so nicely for sleeping too.
We've had a couple of strange weeks here. First, Annie had a seizure that was probably one of the most frightening things I've been through in my 51 years. The boys said she was choking and had fallen so that got the ol' adrenaline running. I'm terrified of choking even though I know that I'm proficient at the Heimlich maneuver. When I saw her I knew it was a seizure so for me at least the fear factor went down several notches but I still thought I was dealing with a fall induced seizure. And why, when we studied about seizures in nursing school, did no one tell us that it takes hours to return to normal after a seizure? THAT was the scariest part for me. Watching her tic and drool in my arms and wondering if she'd fallen hard enough to cause permanent damage was one of the Mom moments I don't want to relive.
Then DJ coming into our room crying and declaring that he didn't want to die because he couldn't breathe. Another trip to the hospital which I thought was going to be one of those deals where the doctors pat you on the back and think you're one of "those" mothers who over-react to every little thing turned out to be a two day stay of worrying about why he wasn't responding to treatment. Some well-meaning doctor explained to me that this is how people die from asthma. The bronchi get so inflamed and swollen that not only will they not allow oxygen to come in but the medicine that will relieve the swelling can't get in either. Gee, thanks doc.
Now Grandma always said these things (meaning everything) comes in threes so I'm sort of waiting for the other shoe to drop. Perhaps the "third thing" will be my own surgery but in the meantime I'm being vigilant mom. Maybe the "third thing" was Target dog's surgery? Hmmmmmm, have to ask Gram about that......
As for the farm, the daily rainfall has been a blessing to my dry pasture and the horses are all fat and happy on the grass they graze daily. I've never seen so much green for so long in all the years I've lived in Colorado and I love it. I could like Colorado if we got this much rain all the time. On the other hand the mud has made it nearly impossible to get out into the garden and weed and those weeds are loving this rain too. Greg did a wonderful job of cleaning out the weeds in my tomato house but the garden itself is an almost impenetrable jungle. But my beloved tomatoes are flowering and setting fruit and are as happy as they can be.
The baby horses are growing and have become playful and entertaining. Little Scarlett is displaying her small amount of Friesian heritage with some fancy footwork even while she's racing around like the cow horse she resembles so strongly. Juno/Ava has a double personality in that she's so big and strong yet moves delicately like some lithe ballerina. She is by far the most beautiful filly I've ever seen and her slow canter is breathtaking.
I have been hatching turkeys this weekend. At this moment it looks like we've gotten four out of the 22 eggs that we set. One little blue Slate was hatched under a broody hen, two are undetermined as yet-they're dark with yellow masks so I don't know if that means they're Bronzes or Spanish blacks and we have one white Holland. Anyway, we have quite the motley crew of turks now with a breeding pair of Bourbons, one Midget, one Bronze/Slate mix, and these new four. I'll have to find at least a couple more Midgets and hopefully a Holland or two before I can really settle down to do some breeding.
And that's my life for the time being. I'm off to start some watering in the tomato house and may get captured by wildlife living in my garden so I wanted to put down my thoughts one last time before I disappear into the wilderness.