Hay Day

The 80 bales of hay are gone already. At 10 bales a day it doesn't take long. Jim and Brian get the truck and trailer ready to go get another load.

Yesterday about a gazillion ladybugs hatched and half of them landed in the goats' water. Every time I tried to get a picture of them a goat stuck its head in the bucket to see what I was looking at. One of the volunteers asked if we were feeding the ladybugs to the goats for protein.

We drove to North Chico where Lyle had our hay ready. We ate a picnic lunch on some hay bales and then the loading began. The squeeze makes loading easy.
Lyle carefully balances the load to make towing safer. Can you believe we will be back in 8 days to get more?

On the way home the almond trees showed off their new growth. It's a beautiful drive.

The fields are starting to get golden now. Even with all the rain the grains are changing colors.

There is a cute little house we pass whenever we go to Chico. Sometimes it sits empty for years and we feel that it looks lonesome. This Spring , however, someone has been fixing things and adding plants and the little house seems to be happy.

We live in the foothills near the Chico monoclime. There are hills and domes like this all over. It is a wonderful place to live with so much natural beauty. I guess we are truly country folks at heart. Open fields, trees, animals, and gardens are what we like to see.
It was a quiet day with only 3 friends coming to dinner tonight. How blessed we are to have loving friends (human, equine, canine, etc) and family (human, equine, canine, etc).

A special thank you to all the servicemen, women and animals who have given so much for all of us.

A Very Busy Sunday

There were over 30 friends, volunteers and visitors at Home At Last on Sunday. When the last one left at 9:30 PM I was just too tired to post a blog last night. There were many activities that did not get pictures because as usual I was out and about without the camera. Thank you Helen for working with Tess and Amira. Wish I had a picture of you encouraging Banjoe to move. Sorry, Joanna, I did not get a picture of you making Amira so beautiful.
Rico had an abcess. We had moved him in with Banjoe and Julian so we could medicate him until Aaron could come and evaluate him. Aaron tested all parts of his hoof.Aha! There it is.

Aaron opened the abcess and let it drain. Then we medicated it.

He trimmed where it was necessary.

Jim and Aaron discuss what further treatment is needed.

Rico is a good boy. He is well loved and was placed at Home At Last with great care.

Aaron checks and trims all his feet. Rico was happy to be back with his herd when it was all over. Chance and Pedro greeted him with nickers and snuzzles.

Three new volunteers came today- Leah, Carly and their mom Tina. It took three adults and two children to finally catch Grace. She is a fast and wily rascal.

When the girls finished with her she was beautiful.

Tina, who is new to the horse world, found Bobbie to be a willing teacher.


Amy, Aaron's wife, was busy putting fly masks on horses. Pico is checking things out. We are still short about 20 medium size masks, if any of you have some to spare.

Yep. It's love. Hey, says Tory, what about me? I'm lovable, too. Come on out and give him a hug. Then Quest came in to show off his mask.

The Youth Group from Trinity Presbyterian Church in Oroville with Pastor Stan arrived. Boy, did we have a lot of work for them to do.

First, they had to put panels up by the goats and Charles and Belle, so they could move Tory, Tawny, Braveheart and Bobbie up there. The guineas are making sure everything is done correctly.

Then they dismantled the turnouts by the lower barn. This would have taken Jim and me days to get it done. Thank you, everyone, for doing this.

Sugar is overseeing this part of the job. The panels had to be moved so Larry from Wilson's worms can get in and get the manure for his worm ranch.

They just kept working til it was finished.

Meanwhile Carly and Grace walked around the ranch. Leah, Carly and Grace became good friends. We all decided that Grace should be the one to go to Patrick Ranch's Threshing Bee June 12 and 13.

The hard working crew took a well deserved break, then toured the whole ranch, even down to the lower well. They have so much energy. Thank you so much for all you did.

Then friends and their friends brought dinner. Thank you Steve, Linda, Greg, Mark and Twyla. The Chinese food was the perfect end to a busy day.

Linda and Twyla took a short trip around the place, while Brian , Nancy and I just crashed.

Zoe is always ready for a hug and a snack.

Thank you, everyone for a great day.

Short Little Blog

The birds are building nests in the barn. The frogs are croaking. Mac is asleep beside me. Rico has an abcess. And when I put fly masks on four of the horses in the big turnout, the rest of the horses had to carefully examine each of the four. Never had that happen before. All of them had masks last year, but I guess this year is different.

Big day tomorrow. More later.

Thank you Cathy for your generous donation.

Silly Thoughts

Objects may be larger than they appear.

Eye see you.

Cock of the walk.

Having a blond moment.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Hey!! Hay!!!

When the going gets tough, the tough get going.

You think of one for this one. The term jackass may be applied.

My trough runneth over, almost.

Thank you Brian and Carolene for your donations.

The horses are enjoying their treats. Thank you , Gabby.

Reds, Blacks, Yellows

Tonight's reds are not chestnuts nor sorrels, but red roans.
Jake is a Premarin rescue horse from Canada. His mother was stalled for eleven months with a catheter inserted to catch her urine for the hormone- premarin. Premarin stands for pregnant mare urine and is given to women during menopause. The mare is not allowed to lie down, turn around nor exercise. She just stands for the length of her pregnancy. Water is withheld so her urine and the hormones will be stronger. In May all the mares are turned loose to give birth, then rebred for another long term in a stall. Fillies are kept and colts are often sold to European or Asian countries for food. Others are sent to slaughter.
Jake is very red in the winter and almost white in the winter. He is a big love and the first horse who really "talked" to me from a distance. That story is for another day. He thinks of himself as a very little boy.

Dunny is our other red roan. His mother foundered when she was carrying him resulting in him having juvenile cataracts. He has been moved to a turnout with Dancer and Star and is very happy with his new friends. They groom each other and play daily.
Home At Last has many black critters. Mac has beautiful tan markings and is our senior citizen. When Beth was tiny she used to push him from behind saying, "go, dog, go." Mac is a great watch dog and finds tires the most dangerous thing on the ranch.

Zoe is black and white. She is so friendly and welcomes everyone. Jim says she is a 5 pound sausage stuffed in a three pound skin. Love lives up to her name, unless you are a cat, chicken or mouse. Lexi is a gorgeous black mare whose family loves her so much. They are responsible owners who took time to find her a good forever home. We are glad they chose us. She shares her turnout with Ruby, Molly mule, Chance, Rico , Pedro, and Navajo.

Most of our Banties are black. Keep those eggs coming, girls. Star is a Tennessee Walking Horse with the equine equivalent of MS. Some days his legs work well enough for him to run, buck and kick. Other days they are weak and wobbly. He came over a year ago and we thought he only had a couple of months to live. Maybe all the hill climbing and exercise of being in the herd has extended his life.

Keecha is our "blond" dog. Her main joy in life is to chase shadows. Occasionally, she catches a butterfly and is so surprised. She doesn't like stray cats nor chickens. She is truly a joyful dog.

Lacey is a Haflinger with a spinal injury. Obviously, it hasn't hurt her appetite. She's a pal to Babe and Quincy.

Jesse is our Anglo-Arab palomino. He is beautiful.Thank you, Gabby, for the bags of treats. The horses will really enjoy them.

Tonight is Beth's last night with us. She's off to new adventures. We've had a great year with her and appreciate the time we've had together.