Thank you KIM!!!

This is Mocha, my new saddle mule. She is only six months old so it will be a while till she fulfills her destiny. Her momma is a nice racking mare and her daddy is a donkey. Thanks again Kim!!

Here are my 2007 babies...

Do you notice anything? The one on the right is a mule. They are hiding behind the chickens, can you see them?

good morning

This is of course Buttercup greeting the new day in her own special way.

chickens

Here are my chickens as of now. They were some of the prettiest chicks and are growing into some pretty chickens.

Here is one as a chick, so pretty!

Chickweed...Stellaria media

My chickens love this little plant that grows in my yard. They have about ate it all and this little plant was out in the dove field. I caged off a small place in the yard and plan to make a more permanant haven for the chickweed to thrive. I found this too...

This is delicious as Chickweed is the flavor of summer; it tastes the way freshly shucked corn smells--raw and haylike.
Pour 4 teaspoons fresh lemon juice into a large bowl. Gradually whisk in 4 teaspoons walnut oil. Season with salt and pepper. Add 6 cups chickweed leaves and tender stems (about 6 ounces), toss until evenly dressed and serve at once.

Chickweed water is also an old wives' remedy for obesity.

Run away mules

What do you do with a hard mouthed mule, or worse a team of hard mouthed mules? you call and ask the bit seller to send you a stronger bit right? WRONG this is what they were sent. I can handle them fine with their old bits but did get them some real nice ones.

On the road with the mule wagon

Here we are on our way home from our first trip on the paved road...something new for the girls. They are just getting better and better each time I play with them. For some reason this was the only photo taken today of us.

Clydesdales

This is Val, she was the Dam of Khitian (Kitten).

Here are some old photos of my girls. Khitian is to the left and Val is to the right in this photo.

Khitian and I. She was a little taller than Val.

Mule wagon

I forgot to get a photo while the girls were still hooked up, but this is the dog wagon. Today was our second time to have a go at it. Even with having the Clydes all those years I have never had a wagon before.

Plantation mules

Saturday I met with Earl, the retiring driver. We hooked the wagon and when my arms and hands were too sore I turned the lines over to him. They are tough old gals. Today when I took them out I noticed they showed it on the corners of their mouths. I show it tonight on my feet, mostly my big toes!

Here are Molly and Heartbreak. Molly is my near horse (mule) and my favorite. Not only is she the bigger of the two, she is the most sensitive. For some reason she is the one Earl yells at the most. Earl is the old driver. I rode with him once to see what these girls are used to. Boy do they need some work. Talk about hard mouthed!

Gray skirt by Marlene

This is one of the skirts Marlene and I have come up with. The next generation will bring improvement, and we are off to a great start!

Zane

This is Zane. He is a good old horse. He used to belong to my friend Richard but when I moved to Alabama we made a trade. I picked Zane out at the time Richard bought him and I think a lot of him still.

Breakfast

Just a nice shot this morning. This is the horses in their new pasture, otherwise known as the front yard.

Getting around

Hag and colt havin a little fun.

Welcome new colt

This is our family, Hag's colt is about 12 hours old here. Diamond Dust's filly is 16 days. I am working on getting some video of him up. Check back soon.

Life's a beach

Fred took me to the beach today at Gulf Shores, about 30 min from the house.

first try at blogging video

Blackriver Smokey

This is the colt from the wild mare. With the move to Alabama choices had to be made. Richard is now the proud owners of the wild mares and Fred is the new owner of Smokey. Isn't he a cutie. He is progressing nicely with his taming.

Sweet home Alabama

Here are the new digs. A little house and lots of grass is my idea of home. My goat likes it here too.

One week old

Here is our little express as a happy healthy one week old. I hope to post a short photo of her in action to show how nice she really is.

one down and one to go

Here is our little Alabama Express. She is finally stable-ish on her feet in this photo and ready for breakfast.

My new home

I finally made it to Alabama. I still have to go back to MO and pick up the rest of my horses. I now have a good dsl connection so can upload photos. I hope to do a better job of staying current now. The trip was interesting. Life is an adventure. We drove all night and drove straight thru. I left in a flurry as Diamond Dust wasn't going to wait till her due date and I wanted the foal to be born here. She had it about 5 hours after we got here and settled in.

Missouri Miniature Donkey Breeders Association

I had such a good time with these people and their donkeys. I highly recommend everyone go see them at their shows and at their farms.

What do you think of this?

I recently was asked to judge the Miniature Donkey Breeders of Missouri www.mmdba.com fun show in Hartville MO. I have to admit it was harder than I thought it would be! Everyone deserved better than last place, but it had to go to someone each time. If you all get the chance to see them at the sate fair in August I recommend you do so. My favorite class had to be the coon jump. Talk about fun to watch. These little guys jump higher than their own backs from a stand still! This photo is from their website, used with permission.

Congratulations to the first collage grad in the family!

I am in CA for the big day and will soon return to MO for a short while. Charissa, my niece, has done the honors. This is a photo of myself, Chari, and my mother. Mom deserves her share of credit for this event. Way to go Char!!!

I am way behind. This is EZ, another AQHA horse. I call him that but he is a Brisco County horse. His momma was by Special Effort, making her a half sister to KC’s daddy, Flaunt Your Effort. If you don’t count the first day when he tore up my round pen, or the first time I tied him, he has earned the name. I think he will wear it well now that he has learned how to cooperate with a handler.

Bay-B has also come and gone but I failed to get photos as I couldn't post from the farm, I am at the airport now on my way to CA for a visit.

BAY...not his real name

This guy is a 4 year old AQHA colt. He came to be halter trained and I saw he also needed a bit of doctoring. I took this photo the day he got here. Besides the injury to his inner leg/chest there are several smaller leg abrasions.

potatoes

With all that is going on around here I am way behind on posting some of the photos I have of it all. Here is my potato box. 100 pounds of potatoes in 2 square feet is the plan. The wire is to keep the geese from nesting there. Silly goose.

Birthday machine

Here is my newest toy! I have much to learn but have already been practicing. Just think of all the neat things I can make now. Thank you Mom and Dad, I love you.

Mystic

Here is Mystic today. It is time for her to get some lessons on acting like a broke horse. She may only be a yearling but she will be two before I know it. I will post more photos of her on her page. I think she looks like Barbie's Dream Horse and is about the prettyest horse I have. Her dam is a looker so no suprise. Well, that and daddy isn't a slouch either. She got her stunning gold color from him as he is a more shiney gold than dapple-butt (Diamond Dust).

Happy Birthday

Fred made me a birthday cake, my favorite...Pineapple Upside down!

Missouri style rehab

Richard got himself a project yesterday. A new roping horse...with a problem. He seems to have kicked thru the fence and caught his leg taking the skin and meat off to the bone. I mean there is an inch wide and 8 to 10 inches long of bone showing. It is the worst injury I have had to deal with, ever. I am not sure I want to put up such graphic photos here, it is so bad. But here he is getting the first step in his new program. Oh, it was about three days old when we got him and we could smell it from 10 feet from the trailer. Seems to be a nice horse but has old scars and I think he is one of those hard luck horses that seem to always find a way to get hurt. Anyway, this is hydro therapy Ozark style.

What a pretty boy

Just another photo of Ramjam. He will be here next week to visit the black mares.

BUFORD'S WALKING TALL

This is Ranjam's sire. I took these photos at the horse sale in Arkansas.

My horse as a judges horse!

Who would have thought my Hag could behave well enough to be used to judge bird dogs? Lol, I have to admit she was the least favorite of the three as she"is too much horse", lol. A judges horse is all about letting the judge concentrate on the dogs and not the horse. Most handlers also want a horse who will stay out of the way, a few have found that a horse who does his job is even better. Anyone who knows me knows I want my horse to make things as easy on myself as he or she can.