As you know, we have moved across town, hence bringing many changes for us, the property, animals, and the WEATHER! I do love our new location, especially the beautiful view we have of the mountain, being on the other side of the highway- closer to town, etc. My two LARGEST dislikes here, however, are the relentless mud and the weather change from across town to here.
Because our property used to be a pear orchard and the soil was never “worked” other than growing pears, its surprisingly high in nitrogen which is awesome for growing plants/hay/etc. On the other hand, the soil here is like clay. When it’s dry its as hard as rock, when its wet it slippery, and sticks to you and EVERYTHING it comes into contact with. We’ve slowly been conquering it by putting down rock base, wood chips, etc. It’s slowly yet thankfully progressing. Next will be my attack on the gophers. If anyone has any recommendations for those little buggers, let me know please. I’d rather not have to put in a raised garden to avoid them, but at this point that seems to be my only option.
On to the weather! It’s interesting how much the climate can change within the 2 miles we’ve moved from across town. On Kelsey Creek Dr. the weather was much drier/sunnier and not as windy. I LOVED the trees as well. I enjoy being down in the valley now, opposed to being on a hill, but the fog seems to enjoy it as well. I can’t tell you how many times I have left our new place which regularly swims in very dence fog to find just a mile into town it’s sunny and warm! The temperatures here also seem to stay colder for a longer duration through the day. We FINALLY saw the sun yesterday after about 3pm. Boy did all the animals love it. The 3pm breeze here is a blessing on the hottest days and wretched when its raining. It has taken a little getting used to but the animals and I have been adjusting. The wiener dogs have taken up a permanent residence in front of the fire place and the heater.
With the cold weather this year came stiff joints for Shane’s cattle dog (McNab/Kelpie cross), Buck. One of the horses broke his leg 6 years ago as a puppy and he now has 3 plates holding his right rear leg together. Not only does it prevent him from keeping as warm as everyone else, but it seems to have a huge effect on his joints. A couple weeks ago, I thought his time here on earth was up. He was having an awful time getting around, couldn’t stand, couldn’t relieve himself, was non-compliant, and wasn’t getting any better when he was brought in the warm house. While Shane was a work, I doubled his joint supplement to 1000mg/day. OH WHAT A DIFFERENT DOG! He is now chasing Tuff (our rescue dog who adopted us), barking in Tuff’s face and holding his own. Oh and he is once again stocking the cats who seem to laugh and wave their tails in his face. Must be feeling better.
I am also stoked to share that we have just been approved through the Nor Cal Equine Rescue to adopt our new driving pony prospect! She’s a very cute 13.3H POA mare. She’ll be 4 years old this coming spring. I don’t remember how I came across an ad for her, but I was browsing general ads in the Sacramento Valley a couple weeks ago for anything of interest since I was going to be driving to Roseville to go bridesmaid dress shopping for Jill’s wedding anyway. After shopping, a girlfriend and I drove out to take a look at her and I fell in love! She isn’t quite what we were “looking” for (truth be told, we weren’t really looking) since we were planning on purchasing a Haflinger mare this coming spring, but I don’t think I’ve ever been so excited about bringing a new horse home. I now pray that our horse selling days are over and we’ll have Scooter and this new one (Shane and I have to name her) until they die. Going from 22 horses and a full horse eventing schedule down to 2 horses (or I should say 1 and a half) is quite a change but much less stressful. We’re enjoying our new facility (which is still in the works), the barn, the oversized roundpen, stalls, etc. I’ll be even more excited when our fencing is finished this coming year and we can throw the horses out in the back pasture.
On another note- Our goats are getting very close to kidding! Less than 20 days to go! We gave CDT shots, trimmed hooves, udders, etc a week or so ago and go the inside stalls prepped, the new kid pen and kid house finished, etc. Now we’re just waiting to see how many does we’ll be gifted with this year. We decided to kid a bit earlier then we did last year so we can end our 305 day DHIA milk test earlier as well as being able to get kids off to their new homes earlier in the year. Two years ago we kidded all through summer and fall which I will NEVER do again. The bottle feeding never ends! We’re going to be doing Linnear Appraisal with all of our does who are registered with ADGA in September and we’re most likely only going to make it to three or four show this year since we have quite a bit going on here. Our annual show is also on its way. All of the judges have been booked and the entry forms are finished.
Our hay crop seems to be taking off. The front two acres was planted considerably later than the rest of the field so it’s taking a bit longer to get doing, not to mention the menace black birds have gobbled up the majority of the seed. I love the variety of birds around here but the black birds are awful. They get in the barn in search for grain, pick through the horses hay, eat the hay seed, leave bird droppings and dust all over the barn and nothing seems to get rid of them or scare them off. I had hoped the cold weather would hinder them somewhat but to no avail, they’re circling the barn this morning.
Well, I’m off to feed, finish morning chores and take the horses out. It’s still somewhat early but pretty gloomy outside. Not sure if the sun will make it out today. I’ve included a picture of our new pony. Will post more when she arrives.
