My Backyard

 

 

I love my back yard.  When we moved into our house it was a blank slate... all dirt.  After the first winter I was in a hurry to get a yard in.  I was sick of dealing with the mud and dogs.  I enjoy doing yard work and got right to it.  I hired out the sprinklers, curbing and sod.  But other than that Rick and I have done everything ourselves. The landscapers thought we were crazy  not to put weed barrier and bark in all of the flower beds.  But I love that flowers spread and re-seed and get prettier every year.

Our house is currently for sale (hopefully sold)... and our backyard is one thing I'm definitely going to miss!  I enjoy the old trees that have been there longer than I have been alive.  I love that my chickens have some where to free range, I love the canal and hearing the sound of water running through our backyard.  The flowers are one of my favorite things, I love the colors and beauty they add.

 

 

 

 

 









Saddle

Finding a good used saddle has been my latest venture.  I found a few online and talked a lady in bring one to me so that I could check it out.  I looked at the saddle and thought... this looks like a nice saddle.  But since I don't know anything about saddles I decided I needed someone to help me.  The nice lady let me borrow the saddle and took it over to Uncle Gary's for inspection.  Not the reaction I was expecting but I got not only and NO but and heck NO.  He took one look at the saddle and told me it was no good.  I took it back to the lady and told her no thanks.  So on with the saddle hunt.  I went to Southern Utah for the weekend and found a man that had seven saddles for sale.  On my way home I stopped to check out his saddles.  Charlie was a super nice guy that is moving to South America and needs to get rid of his horses and their gear.  I told Charlie I didn't know anything about saddles and we took a look at all the saddles he had for sale.  I also got a tour of his property, horses, corrals and had a nice visit with him.  I ended up buying 2 saddles, 2 saddle blankets, 2 bridles and reins.  I think I did good.  Hopefully Shana approves when I show her tonight.  I will tell you tonight weather Charlie is really a nice guy or a guy who ripped me off because I don't know the first thing about saddles.

County Fair Horse Show

Shana keeps telling me she thinks I need to do horse shows.  To be completely honest, I have no idea what that entails.  I kept meaning to look it up on the internet but never did.  When she told me that I there was going to be a local one I decided to go check it out.

I recruited my Aunt Mary to go with me and off to the Western Park we went.  I was surprised not very many spectators there.  We watched Shana and Ally Beth compete.  Ally Beth takes lessons from Shana and this was her first show, she rode BJ.  Shana rode Tucker, Ally Beth's horse. 

I was intrigued and I decided I want to try this "Horse Show" thing out.

Ally Beth and Cute little Coleman on BJ

 

Shana

 

Shana

Shana did so good!  She took best of show (or something like that) on a horse that had never been in a horse show.  Pretty impressive if you ask me.  Ally Beth did really good too!  She got ribbons in almost every class.  And little Coleman even got a ribbon and candy for his class.  He was more excited about the candy than the ribbon though.

Now I'm going to start training for horse shows.  So excited!!

Irrigation

My parents have a few shares of water for all of there land and I talked them into/we decided to pursue irrigating the fields this year.  Only one problem, one of the neighbors built his house over the top of the ditches.  My Dad had talked to the neighbor which just happens to be the Chief of Police about the situation and  they we still needed to be able to get water to our fields.  After the conversation my Dad found the slope of the property and the only way it would work to get water to the culvert. 

A few nights later he took Rick over to show him where to put the ditch in order for the water to flow when neighbor comes out of his house roaring that we couldn't put a ditch back in.  Ohhhh bad idea.  With tempers flaring they fought it out.  I wish I would have been there to see this but it's probably a good thing I wasn't there or I would have been right in the middle.

After a few days, of what I'm assuming the neighbor researched his rights and our rights, we got the A-OK to go ahead and put a ditch in his yard.  Rick cleaned all the ditches out from the canal down to the fields and tested the water out to make sure it flowed correctly. 

We scheduled to have the water turned on a Thursday, I went up to my parents to make sure that everything worked like it was supposed to... I waited... and waited... and then Myrna from the water office called and informed me she forgot to put the order in.  We rescheduled for the next day and I met Jerry the ditch master at my parents house to go over the process.  We went up to the head gate and Jerry turned the water on at 1/2 foot for 6 hours.  Jerry is a sweet old man, he had a hard time getting down to the head gate.  He drove like a mad man on the dirt canal road. 

The water wasn't flowing correctly so I decided to get the tractor and see if I could fix the ditches.  I got the water to spread out a little more but I made a huge mess of the ditches.  Driving the tractor was so much fun I lost track of time and before you know it everyone was waiting for me to go out of town on a road trip to Colorado.

I left and went out of town.  When I got home I decided to go check on ditches and see how much I messed them up.  To my surprise the water was still running.  6 hours, 3 days... same difference, right?  I tried to turn the head gate off but it didn't work.  I called Rick and he came over and worked on the ditches while the water was running.  I'm jealous of his tractor skills.  He made it look so easy moving dirt and fixing the ditches.  We went up to the head gate and well silly me, I turned the head gate the wrong way.  No wonder it didn't turn off. 

A few days later Jerry called me to see how long we let the water run for.  I told him I waited for him to come turn it off because that's how I thought it worked.  So future reference we are in charge of turning the water off.  Good to know.

Junior Rodeo



 

Sunset at the Junior Rodeo in Randelett.  Had a nice time watching Boston, my riding partner at lessons, compete.  She did awesome!  All the little kids at this rodeo could teach me a thing or two about riding horses! 

New chicks and old hens

I have upset the balance of my chicken coop.  This year I have added new hens to the coop.  I bought 6 chicks at one time, 2 another time, 3 another time and picked up 3 older hens.  The balance is off.  The old hens, Margo, Melva, Thelma and Sally do not like the new chicks.  I kept them all separate but close to each other until they were big enough to "defend" themselves.  I lost one Wyandotte when she was a chick, she got out of her cage and the older hens picked her to death.  I lost 2 Silkies within a week of when I brought them home. 

Now I have 15 chickens that want to kill each other on a daily basis.  4 separate flocks and 1 loner. Hope, a rather sweet chicken, has decided she wants nothing to do with the other chickens and now lives in my backyard away from the chicken jungle. 

Betty White has a battle wound the size of Texas but has a fit every time I isolate her from the other chickens. 

Margo is still naked.



Even my cute little Dolly gets in on the picking!

 

My 3 newest, littlest chicks, Roxie, Rosie and Olga stick to there own.  Rosie the cute little blue cochin protects Roxie the Silkie.

Its pure chaos in the chicken jungle and I really just wish they would all get along... I'm hoping in time they will all get along.  As for Hope, I think she is going to get her own little chicken coop, come winter she will hate living on the porch with no shelter.

Rebel

This week Shana is out of town, she told me to spend as much time with Sunny as I liked and to work on the things that we had already been working on.  Well on the first night I went up there I had the brilliant idea to put a saddle on Sunny.  I got Sunny out of the corrals and took her down by the arena.  I just thought to myself I will practice putting a saddle on Sunny.  So I helped myself to Shana's saddle and tack.  I put the saddle on, which takes me forever because I'm super slow.  Sunny didn't seem to mind.  I put her bridle and bit on and once again Sunny didn't seem to mind.

I decided to take Sunny in the arena.  No problems.  I then decided that I should get on Sunny.  Now keep in mind I've never rode without Shana being there and I've never rode Sunny other than when we laid her down and I got on her bare back.  So I just thought to myself, I will get on Sunny and then get back off.  So I went to get on her and off she went.  I lost the reins and she took off like a mad lady.  Running around like crazy and all I could do was watch. 

She eventually stopped, which I knew she would.  But she broke Shana's reins and even worse she scraped her leg up when she ran in to the fencing.  Crap-ola! I was busted.  I now have to fess up to Shana that A. I decided to try and ride Sunny when she wasn't here and B. I broke her reins (well Sunny did but its still my fault).  I feel like I'm ten again and have to tell on myself.

Darrell

Rick finally found a gelding that he had to have.  We are the proud new care takers of a beautiful gelding that Rick named Darrell.  Darrell's previous name was Rock Star Jo.  We found him in a town 30 minutes from us and went over to check him out.  I called the number on the listing and long story short I actually knew the guy.  I have been on a few Harley Rides with him and he is a really nice guy.  

Rick instantly wanted Darrell.  He is an 18 year old palomino paint.  Very calm and easy going.  We went back over the next day to get Darrell and take him for a Vet check.  He loaded right up in are tiny 2 horse trailer and off to the vet we went.  The vet gave him a good look over and OK'd him for purchase with a few things he warned us about.  Darrell needed his teeth floated, shoed and has a little arthritis.

Next stop we took him to Greg and Shana's to get there opinion.  Shana made him work and wasn't impressed by his age or bad manners.  Greg took him for a ride and said for what we are going to do with him he would work great.  Rick was so in love with him I don't think he could be swayed. 

So we took Darrell home.  I was worried for him for a few days... he was nervous and paced the fence line non stop.  He eventually stopped pacing.  Darrell seems to be happy in his new home.

A mouse problem and a solution

The chicken coop has brought a mouse problem on in our yard.  I scream and run like a girl every time I see a mouse.  This past winter seemed to bring an even bigger problem and we had a whole mouse family living in the coop.  I tried to figure out how to get rid of the mice without getting the chickens.  No decon, don't want to poison the chickens.  Classic traps, afraid of the chickens getting caught.  We opted to try glue traps where the chickens couldn't get to them.  I was a nervous wreck that the chickens were going to get stuck in them.  It seemed to work but I'm just not a very good mouse catcher, hence the running and screaming part so catching them only seems to work when Rick is home and not out of town working. 

After I saw three mice in my window wells in one day we decided to get a cat.  Rick went and adopted a kitty.  Now I'm not so much a cat person or at least I didn't think I was. But, don't tell anyone, I love Miss Cleo.  She is adorable.  We put her in with the new chicks and ducks and watched to see how they would all react.  They seemed to like each other.  I went to check on them in the night and found all of them cuddled together.  So cute!

Miss Cleo, our newest addition



Miss Cleo roaming the yard



How could anyone not like this cute little face!



 

Road trip in the Farm Truck

We decided to take a road trip in the ol' Ford.  My brother and his fiancé joined us in there 1965 Ford.  The guys planned it all out, booked rooms and picked the days.  Friday after work, we left town and headed for Grand Junction, Colorado.

Colorado bound





The drive to Junction was nice, warm but nice.  We got there ate dinner, had a few drinks and hit the sack.  The next morning we got up early and got on the road.  Eager to go see the sights.  We headed to Gateway, Colorado.  If you haven't been there its worth the drive to check out.  It's a beautiful drive down through farm land surrounded by mountains. The owner of Discovery Chanel put a car museum in Gateway and it is worth checking out.



Gateway Canyon, Highway 141

Gateway Auto Museum

The Gateway Auto Museum has a nice collection of cars through out time.  They are always adding new cars to the collection and have some awesome vintage signs and displays.

After the stop at the car museum we continued on our way... reaching our destination of Ouray, Colorado in the late afternoon.  I love Ouray.  We go there once or twice a year.  It's a beautiful town and we always seem to enjoy ourselves.  We stayed at the Black Bear Manor, a quaint little bed and breakfast.  We went shopping on Main Street (I bought my first cowgirl hat), had a few shots at the local pub (where no cell phones are allowed) and dinner at the Mexican restaurant, Buen Tiempo.  We had the waitress stick a dollar bill on the ceiling so that Haley could see it done. 

We decided to continue our drinking at the Black Bear and played have you ever.  Gees that was good entertainment!  Learned a few new things about my husband, brother and Haley.  On Sunday morning we ate yummy breakfast and went over to Silverton.  The Million Dollar Highway is stunning.  I love that drive!  

 

After all the sight seeing we decided it was time to head home.  On our way home... the heater in the ol' Ford decided to kick on and stay on.  I thought we were going to roast!  It was 100 degrees outside and the heater was stuck on. 

All in all it was a really good trip!  The ol' Fords did well (except for the heater).  Can't wait to go back to Ouray!

At war with my Chickens

I adore my chickens, but they are eating my flowers up like crazy.  I've been at war with my chickens all spring/summer.  I sit outside and spray them with the hose when they get close to my flowers.  They especially like my Hosta plants for some reason. 



I've had enough of them eating my flowers and decided that I needed a fence.  This way they can stay in the "jungle" and free range all they want with out eating my flowers.  I've thought of a fence since I first got my chickens 2 years ago but I decided that it was go time.  

I really wanted the old style chain link fence.  Which has a few names that it goes by, ornamental wire fencing, scalloped fencing, double looped fencing... But it is hard to find.  I scoured the internet looking for a good deal on some.  I finally found some through Hutchinson and even though its expensive I decided that I had to have it.  I opted for the easiest way possible to put it up, fence posts.  I spray painted the fence posts white and Rick put the fence up.

I found the gate while I was on a bicycle ride along the canal.  It was buried in a trash pile and barely sticking out.  But I knew I had to have it.  The next day I went and got the Rhino and my Dad and went and picked it up.  I was glad my Dad went with me because it was heavier than I was expecting.  I love the fence.  I love the gate.  I love that it doesn't block the view but keeps the chickens out of my flowers.  I absolutely love it!  It turned out perfect!

My hosta's and flowers love it too!

 

Laying Sunny Down

I showed up for lessons without knowing what was on the agenda.  Shana was with another student so I went in the corrals and got Sunny.  This part is getting easy.  Sunny comes to me with eagerness and loves to be loved on.  I took her down to the arena where I was met by 3 young kids and I was surprised to see that Shana's student was about 5.  Haha!  Gee's I felt old. 

Anyhow... I worked with Sunny while Shana finished up.  She did everything as I asked.  I knew it was going to be a good night.  Shana informed me we were going to work on laying Sunny down with the help of her husband Greg.  I watched as Greg and Shana tied Sunny up.  Her front left foot was tied up into her body while they tied another rope around her front right foot and up and around her body. 



Poor Sunny!  She didn't know what to think.  Trying to get out of the situation she kicked and reared up.  But she finally gave in and to my surprise after a bit of work she laid down.  Greg laid on top of her and she slowly began to relax.  Eventually letting out a big sigh... and then another.  Then they untied her legs and let her get up on her own time.

Then it was my turn to join in all the fun.  Shana tied and I held the lead rope.  As Shana was tying Sunny was already trying to kneel down, making it that much harder to get the rope around her feet.   She eventually went down and we loved on her and I laid on her.  When it was time for her to get up she didn't move.  She just laid there relaxed.  We had to put the pressure on her to get up.  We do everything in threes... which meant she needed to do it one more time.  The third time I had to do it by myself (with Shana's guidance and help of course), Sunny went down pretty easy and I loved on her some more. 

When it was time for her to get up, she went half way, I got on Sunny's back and she stood the rest of the way up.  It was awesome!  I didn't even fall off!  Tonight's lesson was amazing. 

My Babies (dogs)

Yep, I'm one of those people that consider their dogs their kids.  I love my dogs. 

I got Gracie when I was 19.  She's my baby.  I lived by myself and decided I wanted a dog to keep my company.  My parents had 2 shelties so I decided that is what I wanted too.  She was an adorable little fluff ball when I picked her out from the crazy German lady. I loved her instantly, but I'm not going to lie it was hard to get used to having a puppy.  She does what she wants and has since day one.  She is my traveling partner, my room mate and my friend.  She's quirky and she doesn't like anyone.  She hides from little kids and she only eats when I'm home.  Strangely enough she is becoming friendlier in her "old age" and now likes a select few people, including Rick. 

Gracie

Rick wanted a big dog.  We adopted Lucy from the Humane Society in Casper, Wyoming.  We went to the pound and looked around.  It was so sad.  There were so many dogs there I almost cried.  Rick and Uncle Bob picked Lucy out.  She was one of the only dogs that didn't bark when you walked by.  We had a little bit of a rough start with Lucy.  She jumped out of the car window on the way home from Casper.  Her and Gracie did not get along one bit.  In fact Lucy bit Gracie the first week we had her.  I wanted to give her away. No on hurts Gracie and gets away with it.  Needless to say we had a rough start with Lucy.

Lucy

After quite some time Gracie and Lucy started to get a long and I fell in love with Lucy.  She is a good dog.  Everyone loves her, including Gracie.  They complete each other.  Lucy listens, Gracie does what she wants.  Gracie likes to play fetch, Lucy likes to steal the toys.  Gracie likes to ride in the back of the truck, Lucy likes to ride up front.  One thing they both have in common is they both love attention!

Our Happy Little Family

Gelding

Now that we have a mare we decided that we need another horse.  My husband is dead set that he has to have a gelding that he can name Darrell.  Go figure.  Darrell of all names.  I have been looking and keeping my eye out for a large gelding that is broke and well behaved.  We went and looked at one here but Rick was not impressed.  I found one to go look at in Park City, he's tall, black and broke.  We were going to go out on a Saturday, I called to make sure he was still available but nope, he had sold him the night before.  So the hunt for a gelding continues.

We looked at this horse (Photo courtesy of Facebook)

Being new to horses, I had one question for Shana about geldings... Is it going to be bad to put a mare and gelding together?  She said they should get a long just fine... but that's not what I meant.  I was wondering if putting a female and male in the same field would mean we would have baby horses to deal with... she kept a straight face but I think she wanted to laugh at me.  Keep in mind I'm horse dumb.  This is a big learning process for me but she informed me that a gelding is a "fixed" horse and that he won't be making babies with Sunny. Phewwwww! Good to know. 

I've been having a hard time finding a gelding around here.  There seems to be a lot of mares for sale but not nearly as many geldings.  I have found a lot of them on the Wasatch Front, but we can only go on the weekends and it seems like they are all sold before we can get out there to look at them.  The other problem is it is going to be Ricks horse so I feel like he needs to pick it out and because of his work schedule / play schedule we have a hard time making time to go look for a horse.

Hopefully this weekend we will get a chance to go check a few of them out.

Training Sunny

I have been able to work with Sunny the last few lessons that I have had.  She is an amazing horse with a good temperament.  1st day of working with Sunny on the ground included a lot of loving on her.  Shana taught me how to get her to come to me and when Sunny did good she got loved on.  I found her sweet spot that makes her mouth go to town.  Sunny did really well and followed me around after a little work. 

On Saturday I decided to go see Sunny and work with her on my own.  Now that was a whole different story.  I couldn't get her to move.  It became frustrating for me and her.  I know she was trying to figure out what in the world I wanted but I was not doing a very good job telling her what I wanted.  I eventually gave up because I figured I was doing more harm than good and just loved on her. 

My next lesson, I got to work with her again.  I went and got her by myself, got a halter on her and walked with her.  I didn't realize I had an audience but as soon as I put the halter on her I heard Greg telling me how good I did with her. Yeah! I did something right on my own. 

Shana and I worked with her in the smaller corrals, making her turn and run circles.  Getting her to come to me and working on her right side.  Eventually we went into the arena and let her run in there.  It amazes me how graceful a horse is.  Sunny is quick and strong.  We worked on getting her to come to me from all the across the arena.  It took some work but she did really good when she figured out what we wanted from her. 

Baby Chicks

This spring we decided to get new baby chicks this year.  You can't just have one new one so we opted for 6 new chicks.  This would put our flock up to 10 chickens total.  Went to the farm store and picked out them out and gave them lady names 2 Americana's, June and Dorothy, 1 White Leg Horn, Betty White; 2 Black Wyandotte's, Ruby and Ethel; and 1 super cute bantam, Dolly.  Brought them home and let them live in the kitchen until they started stinking the place up.  Then they were officially kicked out to the chicken coop with a heat lamp. 

I absolutely love new chicks.  They are so adorable and entertaining trying to figure out everything.  We divided the chicken coop into 2 areas.  One for the full grown chickens and a section for the new baby chicks with their own outdoor area.  Watching them take a dirt bath for the first time was cracking me up.  It amazes me how they just know how to do it.  Helping each other get dirt on one another. 

The Chicks new home in the coop

The first night the chicks spent outside I was a nervous wreck.  I went out to check on them and noticed Dolly was all alone and not under the heat lamp.  When I picked her up she was cold so I decided to take her in the house and warm her up.  She wasn't making any noise and wouldn't move at all.  She is normally the noisy  one of the bunch, so I knew she was hurting.  I wrapped Dolly in a towel and let her sleep in my bed for half the night.  I think my husband thought I had lost my mind! But the next day she seemed to be so much better.  I let her stay in the house a few days longer before making her move out.  When she went outside for the second time it worked much better. 



Dolly warming up



Cowgirl Boots

I found an awesome pair of cowgirl boots while I was in the city.  My first set of real cowgirl boots and they even fit my big calf's.  I was surprised how comfortable they are.  Thank to the sweet sales girl at AA Callisters for helping my find them!  So exciting!  I know longer have to wear my Dillard's boots.  Now I just need some Wranglers to go with the boots.  Then I will be almost all official.

Sunny

For those who know me, you already know I bought a beautiful horse.  About a month ago Shana had a horse that she thought she had sold but the lady backed out of buying her.  At my next lesson I got to meet Sunny.  She is a very beautiful horse, mild mannered and smart. 

Shana showed me what a good horse Sunny is.  She made Sunny walk over a noisy tarp and over metal grates.  Sunny didn't even blink an eye.  Next she tied the tarp to her tail and made her pull it around, still no reaction.  She then made her get caught in the tarp, Sonny did react to that, but not in a bad way.  She just wanted it off her feet.  No buck, no kick, she ran a bit, but that was it. 

Shana rode her bare back, which was a first for Sunny.  Shana stood on her and slid down the back of Sunny with out Sunny moving an inch.  I was very impressed and I decided to buy her.  She still needs a little training but Shana and I are going to do that together.  I'm looking forward to learning how to train her with Shana's help.  She is going to stay at Shana's until I have everything ready and can bring her home.

 





A New Farm Truck

Rick and I bought a new old 1972 ford F100.  I'm in love with it.  He had big plans of turning the truck into a rat rod.  But I have big plans of turning it into my cowgirl truck.  I have been trying to talk him into thinking my idea is better. 

The truck is in great condition.  Has 47,000 original miles, the dome light and the a.m. radio even work.  The beluga horn was the selling point for me though.  I've been honking at everyone.  I think my neighbors might be sick of hearing my horn... belllluggggaaaa!  I'm also very partial to the Mack Dog hood ornament.  For now it will stay as it is.  Someday it's going to get an update on the paint and white wall tires. 

 

A Hunt for a Horse

After my 3rd lesson I knew I wanted a horse of my very own.  I started looking all over the Internet and asking anybody that I knew that had horses if they had any for sale.  I found a beauty of a horse on Facebook, but she was way out of my price range and in Colorado. 



This cowgirl business is expensive!  I opted to go look at a cheaper, older gelding here in town.  He was a nice horse but I had no connection with him. On a Sunday we decided to take a little road trip with the dogs to go see the horse in Colorado.  I met See Me and instantly fell in love with her.  Her coloring was beautiful, she was big and had a sweet temperament.  Only one problem she had pink pigment around her eyes and of course the hefty price tag that went with her.  Roxie, her owner, was a very nice lady.  I instantly clicked with her and knew she absolutely loved her horses.  See Me performed well, turned on a dime and even showed me how she likes to scratch her butt on a well worn tree.  I left Roxie's place knowing that I wanted that horse.  I spent all week contemplating if I could afford her.  I talked to the vet and he said the pink pigment gets sunburned easily and Uncle Gary said they go "snow blind" in the winter.  After a lot of thought I decided to pass on See Me.  Not going to lie I still want to buy her.

Horse Trailer

I bought my first horse trailer.  She's a peach paid $500 for a 1978, 2 horse trailer.  I bought the trailer sight unseen (other than one picture from the online classifieds).  When we went to Salt Lake to pick up the trailer I was surprised that none of the lights work and the awesome blue paint job looks like it was painted with a roller brush, but hey what do you get for $500.  After my husband fixes it up it's going to be awesome, I just know it!

 

 

Since I now own a trailer I decided that I needed to learn how to back the trailer up.  My husband hooked the trailer up and off we went for my first driving a trailer lesson.  I have drove with a trailer before but only forward.  Never backwards.  First on the agenda, taking Rick through the drive through at Wendy's.  I was sweating bullets, this was way out of my comfort zone of going forward.  I tried to talk him into driving but he made me do it.  The line was long and I had plenty of time to think of how many things could go wrong.  I just imagined taking out the whole menu board.  I survived the drive through without doing any damage.  Next up, church parking lot.  My first attempt at backing up was comical.  I missed the lines by a mile.  Second attempt was almost perfect.  I got between the trailer between the lines but I didn't have the truck straight.  I'm still going to call it a success.