Memorial Day

Celebrate ~ Honor ~ Remember

We live in a land of freedom. Without those who fight for that freedom, we would be a much lesser country.

Thank you to those who are and have served to preserve our freedom, and I salute those who gave the ultimate gift to America in that great endeavor. God Bless~


GTYYUP~

Goodbye 2012 ~ Hello 2013

Another year gone...and quickly too!

When I looked back at the calendar, I realized that we had quite a few changes over the year; two healthy heifers were born and added to our lil' herd, we had to say goodbye to two cherished dogs (Abby and Cowboy), Bella Jo found her place in the world, Rastus came to us, and Pierce also found his way to us.

My Man and I were blessed with a very good year, and I thank everyone who stops by this blog and takes a glance at our life and lifestyle that we think is so special. Your comments, support, and friendship are greatly appreciated.

Cheers to you and yours in the coming New Year!

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See ya next year!

Happy Thanksgiving to You 'n Yours

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Colt's Cutting and a Couple of Gifts!

Last weekend flew by like a storm! Saturday the High Desert Cutters held their annual Scholarship Cutting. Colt and I competed and we did OK...scored a 69 and landed in the middle of the pack.

My Man was on camera duty and didn't get the video button pressed hard enough, but he did get a few still shots.

Competing in the Scholarship Cutting.

The club raised enough money to award at least three $500 scholarships that will go to college students from Harney County. This is the 3rd year we've done this event, and it's always been our biggest cutting of the year.

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This "Thank You" is long over due...I have a very bad habit of putting thank you's off...bad me.

See, this one's from back in March!!! March...wasn't it just March? Where has the time gone...anyhow.

But hey, see these totally cool horsehair key fobs?

I love the colors!

Susan writes a great blog over at Rocking Seven Mile Ranch and her husband, Tom, keeps himself busy with this wonderful art. It's so tiny and tedious that I always wonder how men do it with their big fingers and thumbs! But, they had a lil' heifer calf born and needed help naming it...so they had a contest...and I won with the suggested name of "Maybelline" because of her long, gorgeous eyelashes.

Actually, I want to use mine as a zipper pull, I just can't decide what to put it on!

So, I get my key ring in the mail and My Man immediately trys to take posession of it!! LOL...I bought another one. The second package came in the mail the other day and My Man said I had mail from Montana..."No honey, you have mail from Montana...you might as well open it." Needless to say, he's a very happy man!

Thanks Susan and Tom for doing such a fun give away and choosing Maybelline as the heifer's name!

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Then a few days ago we get a package in the mail from our dearest friends Ron & Carrie (they helped us paint our house last fall). We weren't expecting anything...but was a fun surprise!!!

It's a board game!!

Cowgirls Ride the Trail of Truth

And it came at a perfect time!! Tomorrow my good friends Kris and Debbie are meeting me up in the Ochoco National Forest for the annual wild horse inventory! Four nights and five days of camping and photographing wild horses! Not to mention LOTS of good food and beverages!

Life, Love, Passion, Friendship...a game for swapping tales, sharing friendships, exploring self.

This should be a blast and keep us well entertained in the evenings!


I hope to get lots of great wild horse shots as well as an array of wild flowers and hopefully a few shots of the local wildlife.

Hope everyone has a great week...and weekend...see y'all next week!

The Golden Pony is a Lucky Pony!!!

Isn't this lovely?!? I was the very lucky winner of Jane Augenstein's 200th post give-away...the prize was this gorgeous hand crafted folk art hooked rug, which of course Jane made with her own two hands. I mean, she even dye's the wool and designs the rugs she makes!

The colors are so rich, the feel is soft and warm, yet thick and strong...it is gorgeous, quality work.

Jane has a wonderful web page, Liberty Homestead Rugs, that has lots of information and photos of rugs that she's hooked. In fact, she will even design one especially for you of your pet!

This is the back side of the rug...personalized!

Every hook is smooth and the edging is as neat as a pin.

I ran around with the Golden Pony to all of the newly painted walls, holding it up, to see which color was best...it looked good against ALL of them! Then I saw The Perfect Place...in a different room...

Right next to the beautiful original watercolor that I won

in another blogger give away from Danielle Barlow

at Notes from the Rookery!

Needless to say, there are some tremendous

blogging artists out there!

So there stands the Golden Pony...in my office...

in the kitchen...above my desk...where I can

admire it on a daily basis; and of

course show it off to anyone who might stop by!

Thank you, thank you, thank you for being such a great blogging friend Jane and doing such a fantastic give-away! Rest assured that the Golden Pony is loved and will be cared for...for many years to come!

Now, I did say that the Golden Pony was a Lucky Pony...it has to be. I jokingly commented that I was going to go out and buy a lottery ticket when I found out I had won it...but something else arrived with the Golden Pony...

The Forest Service has decided (with a lot of convincing from the Central Oregon Wild Horse Coalition) to return Dreamsicle to his home! In fact, he along with his two mares, the other bay band stallion and two of his mares will be returned to the Big Summit HMA next week!

Dreamsicle here in the front will return with the

bay mare in the back, and the bay mare

in the center.

The bay stallion on the left, the bay mare, and the

bald faced mare with the four socks will be

returned to their home in the Ochoco National Forest.

Another positive is that two additional mares from another HMA will be going too! Yep, each stallion will get another mare for his band.

The Coalition has been working on getting genetic diversity in the HMA and the best way to do that is by introducing a couple of new mares. The FS finally agreed that this would be an opportune time to do just that. Yahoo!!!

They will release the stallions with his respective mares at separate locations so there won't be any confusion...it'll be confusing enough.

To help with the Coalition's ongoing genetic studies of the herds in the HMA, DNA samples will be pulled from all the Big Summit horses that are at the Corrals right now. This will give us a lot of valuable information. I'll be out at the Corrals sometime next week to help pull, bag and tag the hair samples.

I'm sure you're wondering...what about the other horses that were gathered? Well, three fillies will be put up for public adoption.

This filly is one that will be adopted out.

She came in with the bay stallion band and is

the filly of the bald faced mare.

She looks to be a yearling.

These are the other two fillies that will be available.

They were the fillies from Dreamsicle's mares, but

they are not sired by Dreamsicle. The two mares

are carrying Dreamsicle's first foal crop.

The photo is from last June, so these two are now yearlings.

That leaves another mare and a yearling...and a 2 year old horse colt. Sadly, the mare and yearling have a conformation fault commonly called roach-backed. It's where the spine curves upward (the opposite of a sway back). This mare's foal from 2009 had the same fault, so it's quite obvious that it's hereditary with this mare. It was agreed by everyone that she and her filly should be taken out of the breeding pool. They will probably go to long-term holding.

Then the 2 year old colt...well, if no one else is found quickly to adopt him, he will be coming to live at the Rough String! Not that I need another horse...but I named him way back when he was just a lil' foal...Slider. He was playing on a dirt mound right next to our camp; he'd run to the top and slide down the other side...hence the name Slider. So, My Man and I have an affection for the lil' guy.

So, I really believe that the lovely Golden Pony brought a very good piece of luck...thank you Golden Pony~~

A Day of Thanks

I've been absent for a week, and it's not even irrigating time! Last week, we started promoting a discount on the ads in Horsefly...it took off like a wild fire! I usually have 2-8 ads in an issue and I have 20 so far! So, needless to say, I've been planted at this computer designing ads for the past week.

As we come into the Christmas shopping season, I want to stress one thing...

BUY LOCAL

We live in a very small community where everyone is struggling just to stay afloat. Business owners take pride in providing goods and services to the community, but if we locals don't support them, how will they survive. I need them to survive so I can survive...it's all relative!

I myself have been guilty of shopping online for something I could probably have gotten locally. So, I challenge myself and you to SHOP LOCALLY. You and your community will be all the better for it.

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We were also gone last Friday - Sunday to Central Oregon for the Columbia River Circuit Finals. It was a great rodeo and we had a fantastic time with friends. None of my photos turned out...sorry to those who were hoping for some great action shots. If my Santa present comes through, next year will be different ;~)

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Today is Thanksgiving Day. The pie is done and the smoked Prime Rib is ready to go into the oven. It's just My Man and I since he has to work tomorrow.

There is so much to be thankful for...where do you begin?

My Man and I give thanks daily for our blessings...

Family~

More family~

And still more family~

They're not human, but they are family to us.

Each of them has an important part in our lives,

and we appreciate being their caretakers while

they live on this earth.

We love this land that our Lord has asked

us to caretake for him...and feel

so very blessed to be healthy and able to do so.

The land, the animals, and we humans are all connected.

We grow the hay on the land so the animals

(horses and cows) can gain nourishment from it.

In turn, we gain nourishment from the cows

and receive enjoyment and companionship from the horses.

It's rewarding to see them flourish in body and spirit

from the hay we grow.

What I am most thankful for...the man and partner in life that supports everything that I do.

Last but not least, I pray for blessings to all of you, family and friends, on this wonderful Thanksgiving Day. Bloggers are some the best folks I've ever met...even if we've never met face to face...yet!