We Have Horses! (now what do we do?)

     The horses arrived Tuesday, June 26th!  It was a bit of a surprise - we thought they would be coming the following Monday, but the vet visit went faster than expected.  So, Don (the horse whisperer) called and said he was bringing Coco and Frito out that very afternoon!  And then the fun commenced.................................

Day 1 - Even though the horses were coming from the same place, they had not been together at all until the trailer ride to our house.  That evening there were a few scirmishes - we're not entirely sure who came out on top but we think it's the little one, Coco.  Tuesday evening was beautiful weather and everyone in the neighborhood was out walking.  Frito and Coco aren't used to living in town - they stood at the fence on the street side and watched the "parade" of people with dogs and strollers.  They even liked to watch all the cars driving down the street.  Coco was very interested in Maggie - then he tried to stomp her.  When they weren't looking, Maggie ran to the middle of the field and "marked her territory". 

Day 2 - I woke up really early and walked out to check on the horses - Coco had a new "owie" on his back and Frito had a new scratch on his nose - not exactly sure what happened.  They seemed to get things figured out because the kicking each other has stopped.  Frito likes all sorts of treats:  carrots, apples, celery, most anything.  Coco doen't like treats at all so we didn't have anything we could hand feed him until.............we discovered sweet grain (grain with molassas).  We went to Charlie's Farm Supply and met Jennifer (the horse girl who introduced us to sweet grain) and bought some general supplies.  When we got home it was about 100 degrees out but we couldn't wait to try out the lunge line and see if they would listen to us.  They did pretty good then we gave them a couple of handfulls of the sweet grain as a treat - Coco eats it out of our hands now and Frito if trying to get in the barn to find it.  We think they might like us now.  Later that afternoon Karryn and Emily (girl next door) played "beauty shop" with them.  They opened the top half of the stall door and pulled a bail of straw over to stand on - the horses stuck there heads in there and the girls brushed and styled their manes.The horses were really enjoying it too!  That evening we decided to saddle up Coco for the first time - he was so good that Brennan even got to ride him.  Frito, on the other hand, was tied to a post (to keep him out of the way), got himself tangled up in the little bit of rope he had and fell to the ground - Jim was right there and pulled the rope free really quick and Frito got up just as fast.  Now he has a new "owie" on his back too (not as bad as Coco's though) and is only allowed about 18 inches of rope (he can be a little naughty when he's tied up).  When we were done we hosed them off - I'm not sure either one really enjoyed it but they stood there for us...................then they went and rolled around in the dirt like big dogs.

Day 3 - Cassidy, Karryn, Jim and I got up at 5:45 and went out to "play" with the horses.  Cas went to the fence and whistled - both came right up to her (looking for more sweet grain, no doubt).  We were all able to ride Coco.  Cas and I worked with Frito on the ground (we still don't have a 2nd saddle for him).   We were done by 8:00 - and gave them their treats in their own buckets.  It;s supposed to be pretty hot again today and we're going to Hannibal to see the Gertners this evening, so other than a brushing from Cas, the horses are probably done for the day.

The Animals of Wieda Farm

Maggie - Head Dog and Home Protector. 

• Keeps strangers at bay 
• Fearless while confronting the UPS man (especially from behind a closed door)
• Keeps Bella from wandering too far from the house 
• Sleeps on the couch when nobody is looking

Bella - Rodent Hunter Extraordinaire. 

• Angers birds
• Keeps mouse population down (we think)
• Sneaks in the house to sleep on Cassidy's bed (or Karryn's bed, or under the guest bed, or under the dining room table, or under my desk, or in my closet.......... she's pretty sneaky)

Snuffles and Captain Davy Jones - Chickens at Large.

• Squeak - cluck
• Eat and poop

Pirate Freckle Pants - new member (no title yet)

• Super cute
• Wiggles nose and hops

Tiggs (short for Tiger) - Mouse Hunter in Training and Barn Guard.

• Found his litter box already (YAY!)
• Your guess is as good as mine......



Coco - arriving TODAY!!!! (June 26).

• Rocky Mountain horse from East Kentucky.
• Still in training (more to come).

Brennan on our "Wild Horse" - he's a crazy man!

Frito - The tank on legs! 

Frito was kind of a surprise - When I called Don (the horse whisperer) to check on Coco's progress, he told me about Frito.  He's a Tri-colored Paint horse with a gentle spirit.  He's about 15 hands and built like a tank, but seems to be a gentle giant.  So we had to make a deal on both of them.  We feel sooo fortunate to have met Don and to learn from him.  He has such a way with the animals and is a great teacher.

Frito & Don

The Wild Animals

The Killdeer - made a nest out in the middle of the old burn pile.  If you look close you can see the speckled eggs under her - she was yelling at me for getting so close.  To protect her nest she would run a few steps away from the nest and pretend her wing was hurt.  It took 4 weeks for the eggs to hatch and when they did we happened to be near by.  As soon as the babies were hatched they jumped up and ran around in circles - then the parents moved them to a new location. 

The Love Doves - enough said.

One day this spring there was a parade of 4 pairs of geese parents with their babies walking across our field to the lake behind us (evidently it was time for a swimming lesson).

The animal population on "the farm" is growing and the kids are happy with the new pets.  I'm just hoping the excitement continues as they care for them!  (The wild ones are on their own)

Summer's Here!

Kids home from school, roses blooming, pool parties, weedy gardens, overgrown trees..... we love working on all the things outside, but it stops the progress of the interior. 

Our big project so far has been the deck.  Jim started by powerwashing the deck... which is how we discovered that we have a redwood deck.  The first rule in redwood decks (which we then learned) is "never powerwash a redwood deck".  Powerwashing raises the grain and then you have to sand it before you can stain.  First of all, we didn't know it was redwood and second, we didn't know rule number 1!  Our weekend project quickly turned into a week and a half project.  After sanding and re-securing the floor we stained the floor, painted all the railings, stripped the top board of the deck railing and stained it.

Jim had the great idea of "carving" a horse into the floor of the landing - so, Karryn and I got creative with the Dremmel.

We decided that a lonely umbrella in the middle of the table wouldn't be enough, so we found these three matching umbrellas.  They weren't tall enough to walk under so we built little bases and attached them to the railings with copper plumbing straps.  I'm not sure how affective they are in giving us shade, but they look nice.