January 5, 2012 ???!!!???

What happened to days 1-4?!?

I guess there's just too much happening, and I can't keep up with it all.

Let's see...laying more laminate flooring, working at the Post Office, working on ag surveys, Colt was lame for a couple of days (don't know what the problem was), My Man and I are searching for a new vehicle on the internet (really mind boggling),  thinking of blogging my top ten something (never did get that done obviously)...blah, blah, blah...

So, I'll just take off from here!

My last photo of 2011 on Dec 30...a gorgeous sunrise.
So many pretty shades of blue and orange.

The past few days here in Harney County, we've had record high temperatures. The normal high is in the low to mid 30's. Yesterday was 54 degrees! Over in Central Oregon, it reached 66 degrees...pretty soon the trees are going to start turning green if it doesn't turn cold again.

We sure need moisture...snow pack on Steens Mountain was too high last year, but now there's none. Well, winter just got here, so we'll be praying for winter and moisture to come eventually.

Bella Jo and Red are getting along really well...as you can see by the photo below! These are from  my first photos of 2012. It was still early in the mornin' and the sun wasn't up yet, so the photos are grainy.

One of my goals for 2012 is to keep on improving my photography. Here I probably needed to change my ISO, but I never seem to think about that stuff when I whip out the camera for some action shots.

Bella Jo and Red are becoming BFF's.
They're good for each other, but it's hard keeping track of five dogs!

Bella Jo is really athletic. We knew that she was getting out of the yard by jumping on top of the dog houses and jumping onto and over the rail fence. So, we moved the dog houses away from the fence, and she was still getting out. She was leaping a 6 foot span from the dog house to the rail and on over...we moved the dog houses again...problem solved...finally!

I CAN'T have her teaching Red bad habits!!!

Eye in the Blur.

Resolutions or goals...whatever you want to call them...for me in 2012...

• Improve my photography
• Organize my photos
• Sell or give away stuff we don't need
• BE EFFECTIVE...get stuff done!!! (less or no Facebook...it's becoming really irritating to me anyhow)
• Finish projects that I've started (once I've done that, I can start new projects!!)
• Get organized, keep it simple...and get stuff done (did I say that already?)
• Oh yes...the all elusive buckle...I want to win a buckle on Colt!! (sixth year's a charm, right?)

OK, that's enough stuff for one year!!

I want to thank all my readers for coming along for the ride in 2011...and hope you'll keep on ridin' in 2012.

~Wishing everyone a very healthy, happy, and prosperous New Year~

Friday Fences ~ The Filly

This lil' weanling filly is here at my place for weaning from her mother and basic halter training. She's got a very pretty smokey buttermilk dun color and her leg markings are not really bars, they're more like honeycombs.

The mornin' shadows created an interesting photo. I'm naming it
Fenced In, Fenced On.

Because of the zoom, she looks all boxed in, but the panel on the right is actually parallel to the round rail fence...and the row of sagebrush is an eighth of a mile behind her! In actuality, there are three fences, one gate and a panel in this photo!

She's an active lil' girl...hard to get her to stand still for a decent photo!

Yes, that's a small scratch below her left eye...of course I can't figure out how she did it, but it was just the hair that got scraped off, it didn't puncture her skin.

This is the pattern on her legs. I think she's going to be a very
flashy girl when she grows up!

We just call her The Filly because I don't know if Ty gave her a name yet or not! She's been here since about December 14. Ty unloaded both the mare and filly into the run, and then we haltered the mare and loaded her back into the trailer and he left.

I had my Ol' Man Toby in the run next to her, but of course she cried for about a week. But, she's all over that now and is really coming along quickly. She learned how to lead the first day I worked with her (Dec 26...I had my hands full at the Post Office), but she had the "I don't want to" work ethic. She's getting over that very quickly since I am just staying soft and consistent with her.

When I'm finished with her training for the day, she follows me around like a puppy wanting more. She's fun to have around. I haven't halter trained a youngster for quite a few years. I enjoy shaping their minds so they can live a good life with respect for the human not fear and learn how to be a partner.

Check out the other participants on this week's Friday Fences over at Life According to Jan and Jer!

Wild Bunch Wednesday

We had just a skiff of snow yesterday morning...we need a LOT more. It's dry. The temps have been 0-10 degrees every morning for the past month or so, but no snow.

As I was feeding the horses behind the barn, I spotted the Wild Bunch up on the rim.

Psssst...look up here...

...yea...it's us!! (Catnip is using her ears as weather indicators)

I see you!

What's for breakfast?!?

We'll just wait right here 'til ya get it up to us Mom!
Me: NO, I'm not bringing your hay all the way up there! 

Awwww come on...how could you refuse our cute lil' faces?!?

As you can see, they aren't lacking any food! We've let them graze the hill, but we've been giving them two flakes of grass hay split between the three of them...they're on a diet!

This mornin' it's a balmy 40 degrees, raining and the wind is blowing; we'll take the moisture...but the dogs are going to be a muddy mess!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We got an unexpected FaceBook message from the family that took Bella Jo. I guess she killed one of their chickens on Christmas Eve, which they said wasn't a big deal. But when she dug under the chicken coop and killed the rest of them, that was the end. So, they took her into town and dropped her off with My Man yesterday and she's back home.

Five dogs is beyond our limit, so we'll be looking for the "right" home for Bella Jo...obviously one without chickens!! In the meantime, Red and Bella Jo became BFF's within 5 minutes...they'll be wearing each other out playing!