Triple Delight

A couple of weeks ago a thoroughbred breeder in Florida gave me a call. He said he had found the website and wanted to know if we'd take his horse, Joma. Joma is seven and the trainer doesn't want to race him anymore because he came up sore after his last race. Rather than ship him off to the nearest auction, the trainer convinced the breeder to try to find a rescue home for the gelding. After talking to me for a few minutes he gave me the name of his trainer at Mountaineer race track where Joma was being raced. Mountaineer is only about 100 miles from here, not far from Pittsburgh.


If I was a TB race horse, I'd want this woman as my trainer! Unlike most race horse trainers, she allows the horses turn out time and doesn't keep them locked in stalls 24/7. She also keeps them at her own farm where they have their very own pool for exercise and therapy. She doesn't pump them full of steroids. And she doesn't race them when they aren't physically capable of racing. Through another trainer at Mountaineer I hear that "P" is one trainer that definitely takes care of her horses.

I'm thinking that this is one trainer that I wouldn't mind getting a TB from. I gave her a call and we talked for awhile about Joma. Then she brought up Imperial, which is her personal horse that she no longer races. Imperial had a joint infection awhile back, and although it's healed and he's sound, his one knee is still large and "ugly". Sure, bring them both.

The next week P calls back to make final arrangements for bringing down the horses and mentions a three year old black gelding that's also looking for a home. He's not built for racing, he's too over at the knee and came up sore after the last race. He's only raced five times. Can I take him too?


First let me say that I have wanted a black horse ever since I could say the word "horse". Isn't that what every little girl wants once she's read The Black Stallion or Black Beauty?

Three horses showed up at the end of my driveway today. Three BEAUTIFUL thoroughbred geldings. I put them in the back pasture with Maverick and Stride so they wouldn't have to fight the herd for social position and worry about being in a new place at the same time. I was worried at first that they would be aggressive and domineering TBs, with a side of totally wacko thrown in for good measure and that they'd beat up on poor old Stride. This is what I'm used to in a TB fresh off the track. What I ended up with was three very gentle geldings who spent the first few minutes trotting around the pasture, and the rest of the time playing bite-face with Maverick or grazing quietly next to Stride.


How about I just shut up now and introduce you to the new men in my life?

This was P's personal horse that had to be retired from racing because of the "ugly" knee. Judging by the way he was trotting around the pasture today, the knee doesn't bother him at all. Imperial Alydeed is seven years old.





Romantic Quest is the black three year old who's just not comformationally built to withstand the rigors of racing. He's gorgeous and has claimed Stride as his new best friend. Glenn has decided that Tabby is no longer the horse for him and I'm allowed to adopt her out now. Quest is now his new horse, whether I like it or not. Glenn is still at the "it's pretty so it must be a nice horse" stage of his equine education. I suppose we'll find out if the two will make a good pair once I get Quest under saddle for evaluation.




Joma is one of those hunks that you see on the beach who fills out a speedo in all the right places and is reading Atlas Shrugged while sun bathing. I fell in love with him instantly. He's built like a tank and has the greatest personality that makes me want to just cuddle up with him.





Apparently, Maverick feels the same way.









The two of them were inseparable and thoroughly enjoy playing bite-face. Let's just hope they don't wrestle, I think Joma would have a distinct weight advantage.






David and three Goliaths. But Maverick is just another man that doesn't think size matters.





By the way, I'm not the only one that fell in love with Joma. Once I've ridden him and deemed him sane he goes home to Anastasia to be her new trail horse. What a lucky guy!

No Vacancy

Can you tell I'm on-call for work again this weekend? I'm covering April's weekend so that she could go home to Wyoming and ride. Man, I'm just the coolest. No wonder she sends me chocolate and horse treats. :)

After the last two depressing posts I thought I'd discuss something on the boring but cheery side. Since I was on-call yesterday I did a bunch of canning in an attempt to avoid house cleaning. But you knew that already, didn't you? My little pantry is now filled to the brim with jars, all except the bottom shelf which I have to save for the canners, jar lifters, funnels, screw lids, etc.

Here's a pic of the first two shelves.





The top shelf was practically empty on Friday. I filled it up yesterday with pears and tomato soup.



Everything in that pantry came out of my garden, with the exception of the mushrooms, apples, and pears. The apples and pears came from Anastasia's trees, which I know to be grown organically. The one quart of ketchup was a gift from another friend who also grows organically. Unfortunately, there is no more room in the pantry, but I've got 30 spinach plants and 15 collard seedlings ready to go into the garden. Also beets growing like crazy from seed sown about 10 days ago. And just last night I told Glenn that next year things will be more organized, the garden will be bigger, and I'll have a lot more things that I'll want to can. So I'll need more pantry space and at least twice as many jars. We only have 6 pint jars left now. And the last time we went to buy more jars we had to stop at 8 different places because everyone was out. I guess a lot of people are disgusted with grocery store food and rising prices these days!

For my reference next year I wanted to put the current inventory up here. Go ahead and stop reading now if you'd like, you won't hurt my feelings. But please don't ask why we needed so many pickles. I really have no clue.

15 pints Cherry Tomato & Ginger Marinade
7 pints Applesauce
4 quarts Applesauce with Pineapple Tomatillos
3 pints sliced Beets
10 pints Green Beans
12 half pints + 1 pint sliced Jalapenos
6 pints Dill Pickle Slices
5 half pints Pineapple Tomatillo juice/marinade/failed jelly attempt?
18 quarts Bread & Butter pickles
33 1/2 quarts Methodist Pickles (why why why???)
3 pints Fried Apples
6 pints Peaches in light syrup
4 1/2 quarts Chard
22 quarts Pasta Sauce with meat
1 quart Ketchup (gift)
14 quarts whole tomatoes
9 pints Marinated Mushrooms
16 quarts Tomato Soup
7 quarts + 21 pints Pears in light syrup
1 pint dried Hot Pepper Flakes


In the freezer:
8 packages corn on the cob (4 ears per package)
2 loaves Banana Bread
14 packages Stuffed Tomatoes (2-3 per package)
2 gallon size bags Strawberries
6 packages Green Beans
1 gallon size bag Basil Pesto cubes
6 gallon bags frozen whole tomatoes

Oh, and for those of you still reading, I have a bit of a horsey surprise coming in the next few days. But I'm trying to keep it hush hush until it actually happens.

Horse Slaughter

In the comments from the previous post Warren had asked how I felt about the new anti slaughter laws. I admittedly don't watch TV so am not as up to date on current events as most. However, I do know about H.R. 6598 which is the most recent horse anti slaughter bill to be introduced. This question kept me up last night. Thanks Warren. :)

So this morning I had to do a little research and find out if the bill had passed or not. From what I can find, it hasn't. It was up for debate on the 23rd of this month, but according to Govtrack the bill has not been voted on yet. Please tell me if I'm wrong as of my post this morning!

For those who aren't aware of this bill, here's the gist of it:

Except as provided in subsection (b), whoever knowingly--

‘(1) possesses, ships, transports, purchases, sells, delivers, or receives, in or affecting interstate commerce or foreign commerce, any horse with the intent that it is to be slaughtered for human consumption; or


‘(2) possesses, ships, transports, purchases, sells, delivers, or receives, in or affecting interstate commerce or foreign commerce, any horse flesh or carcass or part of a carcass, with the intent that it is to be used for human consumption;


shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years or both.


One would think that this is a no brainer, right? Especially after watching this undercover video of horses headed to Mexico for slaughter. Watch to the end if you can. And don't for one moment think that the Canadian slaughter houses are much better. The only difference is that Canada uses a different method for killing the horse. It's barely more humane than what the Mexico plants use.

But the other side of the anti slaughter bill is what to do with all of the unwanted horses if they can't be sent to slaughter? There simply aren't enough good homes for all of the horses being bred by both big breeders and back yard breeders these days. Last year almost 60,000 U.S. horses were sent over the borders for slaughter. Same with the year before. Are there 60,000 homes out there willing to take on someone else's unwanted horse year after year? Probably not. Some people have decided to let the horse lose to fend for itself in national parks or range land, rather than take it to the local livestock auction. For horses that have been born and raised in captivity, this is usually a death sentence.

I have heard that in Australia they have local slaughter houses where you can make an appointment and take your beloved pet yourself. You can be with the horse throughout the whole process if you choose and the horse is put down humanely without the pain, suffering, and terror that they experience here. If you don't have the means to get the vet out, or bury or haul the carcass away afterwards, this would be the ideal to me. It's a shame the U.S. can't learn from Australia.

What's my stand?

I can sometimes be an optimist. And even though my view may be seen as totally unrealistic, I think it could happen. Maybe. One of these years. I say reopen the U.S. plants. Save the horses the long painful trip into Canada or Mexico. Enforce the double decker trailer law more. These are still seen loaded with horses. Also, the plants would be much easier to govern and control if they were in the U.S. Use only humane methods and do not start processing the horse until it's dead. Offer the same type of service as the slaughter plants in Australia for those who care about how their pets die. Make all horse breeders that breed at least X number of horses per year for sale register as a breeder and tax them for the purpose of using that tax to support 501(c) equine rescues.

In my opinion, a clean painless death is far better than slowly starving to death in the wild. Of course, the ideal situation would be to stop breeding horses for awhile. But since we can't make people stop breeding comformationally challenged, dangerous, or unrideable horses, there has to be another way.

Just One

"When you go to Sugarcreek to rescue, I want to go with you."

I've heard this half a dozen times since I started this rescue with the intention of rescuing slaughter-bound horses from the Sugarcreek livestock auction in Ohio. Mostly from new friends that I have made since taking in those first six horses from the other rescue facility. Women like me who have huge hearts and a tremendous amount of compassion for horses who deserve better than the hand they've been dealt.

I wasn't planning my first trip to Sugarcreek until Spring or Summer next year. I wanted to get some of these horses placed in new homes before adding to the herd. I wanted to replace all this barbed wire fencing and put up new barns and run-ins. I wanted a riding ring and round pen. But this isn't about me.

One friend in particular wants another horse to replace the draft mare that she just sold. Her draft gelding needs another gelding for company. She has the room. She has the knowledge. She has the means to save a thrown away horse destined for slaughter. So the other day she sent me an email: I'm ready. How about next Friday?

CALLING ALL HANDS!!

I sent out an email to everyone letting them know that the time had come and received responses from everyone within hours. Everyone but Anastasia replied with an excited and enthusiastic "YES"!!! Anastasia is worried that she won't be able to handle it emotionally and she's right to worry. There will be horses injured, weak from starvation, blind, unable to stand. They will be beaten into the ring, pushed, shoved, cursed. Tears will be shed. We can't save them all. We will have to leave all but one behind.

But it's saving that one life that we have to focus on. The goal is to make sure one horse gets on our trailer instead of the meat buyer's trailer. One horse out of 100 or more.

Just one.

I think I'm the only one out of the group that has been to this type of auction before. When I was younger and volunteered at the American Horse Protection Association, located in Lucketts at the time, we went to a livestock auction just to check it out and see what kind of horses were going through. Let me tell you about a mare we christened Bitsy. The plain bay 4yo TB mare with curled up hooves that weighed about half what she should have. The mare that couldn't stand up on her deformed feet. The mare with the biggest brown eyes and the softest gaze that just begged you to help. Begged for relief from the pain and hunger. I stayed with her until it was her time to be sold. Rough men came into the pen and drug her by the halter, whipping her until she got up. I was 16. I screamed at the men to stop. Stop hurting her. Please. Please just stop.

I might have well been screaming at a wall. They continued to whip her down the alley way. Poor Bitsy was in agony, stepping as gently as she could on her overgrown hooves. Once in the ring there was one bid. A kill buyer bought poor Bitsy for seven dollars. She was then beaten onto an illegal doubledecker trailer for the long haul to Canada.

I'll stop here because I'm crying just from the memory. But no matter how fresh that memory, I still went back to the auctions with the AHPA. And the next auction was to rescue four horses bound for slaughter. Two were a starved Arabian mare and her foal. It all balances out, the good and the bad. It has to, or else what is there to keep rescuers sane?

It's very possible that another Bitsy will be at Sugarcreek. It's possible we'll see a dozen plain bay mares with overgrown hooves who are slowly dying of starvation. But we can't save them all this time.

Just one.

Joe is my hero

In my little blog roll over there on the left I have TBFriends listed. This is not a typical blog, so it never gets moved to the top of the list when it's updated. But it's updated daily. That's right, seven days a week you can read how Joe and his wife Cathy are helping horses, and recently, helping kids. I don't know their story, I only started reading their web page late last year. They have been saving thoroughbreds otherwise headed to slaughter for many, many years out in CA. Times are tough for TB breeders right now. Tracks are closing, tracks are coming down hard on trainers and breeders sending their horses to slaughter, some just because they aren't winning any more. Perfectly sound and healthy TBs are being bought for pennies on the pound at auctions by meat buyers. Then they call Joe to make a profit from his big heart. Hey Joe, I got a healthy one here that I want to make a couple of hundred bucks off of rather than cart them up to Canada, you willing? Of course Joe says yes. He can't help it.

The demand for horse flesh is so high right now that Canadian slaughter houses are offering kill buyers dinner and motel coupons, as well as fuel vouchers. Buyers that used to go to Mexico, now go to Canada. Or they go to Joe. Who should have a No Vacancy sign at his ranch with over 100 head of horses right now. But the number of horses coming in seem to be matched by the number going out. Joe has approved adoptions flying out of his ears. Girls and families from all over CA come to him for a horse. People from all over send Joe money for to help save and feed horses. So Joe keeps saving them.

Joe is my hero.

And maybe I'm weepy for a female reason, but for the past two days Joe's posts have had me all teary eyed. Not only is he saving horses and making girls happy all over CA, but now he's helping a selfless little girl that takes her school shopping money and gives it to Joe for a horse called Cope.

I want to grow up to be just like Joe.

Joe's posts only last a day, there's no archive that I know of. So get over there and read it. You won't regret it.

Founder on the Agenda?

Saturday was full of fun and sun. I spent time in the garden, pulling out spent tomato plants and white bell peppers that just weren't producing, pulling a few weeds, and planting the garlic that finally showed up on Friday. I also spent time cleaning the house.

Ok, so not so much on the house cleaning part. But I did wash the dishes and clean the stove top and counters. I think that counts towards house cleaning and validates my statement above. Maybe. Since I then dirtied everything right back while canning.

I picked another large basket of tomatoes that I cored, cleaned and froze. I also picked up a ton of pineapple tomatillos, but did a little experiment with them this time. I pureed them for starters, then dumped them in a saucepan and simmered for a bit with a few cloves, almond extract, 1/2c honey, and 1/2c sugar. Then because it wasn't thickening up quick enough for me I added fruit pectin and let it simmer for another 45 min. What was I trying to accomplish you ask? I have no idea. Maybe a spreadable product of some sort for toast and biscuits? Maybe something to pour over vanilla ice cream? Beats the heck out of me. But I ended up with 6 half pints of this somewhat thickened but not quite spreadable yellow goo with a really strong flavor. Time will tell, but my guess is that 5 of those pints are still on the pantry shelves next April.

Then I had to get started on the humongous basket of pears that I harvested the night before off of a friend's tree. I ended up with 15 pints of pears in light syrup and the basket still looks full. If you've got any interesting canned pear recipes, please share! I don't want to freeze them because our freezers are just about full as it is. I'm contemplating pear butter, but really, how much pear butter can two people eat??

After all of the canning was done and I was sick of looking at the kitchen, it was time to feed dinner to the horses. As I moseyed up the hill of death I heard banging on the barn gates and thought they were just getting a little antsy since it was past their normal dinner time. NOPE. Someone, and I will not mention any names (WILLOW!), broke into the barn and found the feed that we had just moved up from the house on Thursday. By the time I got there, Junior, Kita, and Semi (the ring leaders) were standing over the cans of feed with very satisfied looks on their faces and bottom lips hanging low in contentment. Willow had been chased to the back of the barn and was standing belly-deep in loose hay that used to be in nice neat bales. The brat pack was standing at the entrance of the barn looking in with twinge of regret that they were not the ones in charge.

Loose hay was everywhere. A stack of 50 bales had been toppled and trampled. Grain was dribbled and spread all over the floor. The nice neat bucket of hay twine that we had behind the feed bins had been picked up and flung, leaving hay twine everywhere. About 300 lbs of grain was gone. The container of Mineral Ice that was on a shelf had been knocked down and stomped on, leaving globs of bright blue goop all over the floor. One of the feed bins and all of the feed buckets were strewed out in the pasture in front of the barn.

If you've got the mental image in your head now, then you can probably imagine how angry I was. I know I had chained the gate after breakfast that morning. I've been very careful about it since we moved the feed up there, and even before that after the hay had been put up. There's no way I left it unchained! So here's where Willow comes in. Willow is a crafty little hussy. And unfortunately, she's too smart for her own good. See, there's no way that someone else broke in the barn and wasn't immediately chased to the back by either the brat pack or the ring leaders. There's simply not enough room for the more aggressive horses to go through the one 10' gate with ears pinned and teeth bared and let the passive cat burglar escape. The evil gate opener would be chased to the back instead. And Willow was the only one trapped in the back of the barn. And she's, as much as I hate to admit it, the smartest horse in the herd. Not to mention her reputation as an escape artist.

After counting to 10 I shooed everyone out of the barn and took stock of the situation. The pellets were gone. There was maybe 10lbs of senior feed left. The rice bran was untouched. They hay... well, they hay is going to stay as it is. I'll just feed the loose stuff first, and hopefully by winter we'll just have stackable bales left. I was pretty sure that the more passive horses, like Manny, Radar, Jewel, and Meghan didn't get any of the food, but since they are usually right with Willow, I couldn't be positive. Since there was no way to tell who got how much, I didn't feel safe feeding that night (good thing we left the bulk of the grain at the house!). I did throw out some hay, and the only ones that ate were Dolly, Manny, Indy, and Radar. Everyone else just hung out napping. Except Megalia.

While I was cleaning up the mess, Meg decided to act colicky. She was pacing, pawing, sticking her upper lip in the air, and generally acting distressed. However, her gums were pink, there was gurgling going on in her stomach, and when I took her for a walk she passed two normal-sized piles. So there obviously wasn't a intestinal obstruction in there, but maybe some gas buildup or just a "mom, I ate too much" kind of tummy ache. When we returned from our walk she parked herself next to her sisters and took a nap with the rest. I spent the rest of the night and all day yesterday checking on everyone every couple of hours and making sure no one else was going to either colic or founder on me.

So far, so good.

He's Baaaaaaaaack!

Heidi and Brie came home last night reeking of skunk. Would someone tell me what the attraction is??? They've been sprayed so many times that you'd really think they would learn. Black critter with white stripe down it's back = stinky dog. Stinky dog = sleep outside for a week. This is a simple concept, but one that they either just don't get, or just don't care about. Thor was the only dog to sleep inside last night because he hadn't run off with the girls and still smelled lemony fresh from his bath the other night. Around midnight Thor dropped his big fat head on my stomach to let me know in no uncertain terms that he had to go. NOW. When I let him out he disappeared into the dark, so I didn't bother waiting for him to come back in. Back to bed I go. Around 3 AM we're both awakened by the incessant barking right outside our bedroom window. The moon was bright so I could easily see the big whomping appy butt right outside my window grazing happily, as Thor, Zeus, and Heidi bark at him for trespassing.

What good guard dogs we have. Sigh.

Knowing that Thor is the instigator (read: big mouth), I bring him in. Once out of the picture, Heidi and Zeus go back to sleep on the porch and leave us all with a peaceful state of quiet for the next few hours.

When I got up this morning I found a new pest in my garden.

All I had to do was walk out and open the small gate for him. He took off into the field looking for buddies. And, um, sorry for the rated X pic. I don't have Photoshop and I'm probably not capable of using it if I had it. So just don't blow that pic up, ok?

You can't see the herd in this pic, but they're only about 100 yards off to the right. Appybutt kept his distance until he was invited. The tractor fairy has yet to bushhog the fields. Those damned fairies are never there when you need them.

Jewel and Willow were first on the scene, followed closely by the king of the herd, Junior. Note the size difference here. Willow is 15.1h. I love my big horses. :)

"Mom, did you really have to let him back in?? Now I have to establish dominance once again and make sure everyone knows that the girls are MINE.."

Now that we've all sniffed noses and squealed, lets finish off with a nice short run.

Run, shmun. Appybutts must eat.

I guess I know what I'm doing today -- dragging appybutt home to Drunken Neighbor. But I doubt anyone will be home and what do I do with him then? Tie him up to her house, hoping she'll trip over the 1100lb horse on her way to the door? And what if she doesn't come back for days? It would be a waste of time to put him back in the pasture with the one strand of barbed wire that she worked all summer to "fix". Maybe I should load him up in the trailer and take him to live with that poor lonely Morgan mare...

As much as I love ol' Appybutt, he sure is becoming a pain in my butt.

Zombies

78%

Aren't I glad I couldn't sleep last night? Now I know exactly what my chances are when Shaun of the Dead becomes reality.

You can check out your zombie survival skills next time you can't sleep.

Isn't it good to know that I use my nocturnal time productively?

Feeding the crew

Ah, what I wouldn't give for a 16-stall barn! Right now we have a huge equipment shed that we've cleaned out so it acts as a large, segregated run-in shed for the horses. This works great for giving them shelter, but not so great when it comes time to feed. Last night I realized why it takes me an hour to feed 13 horses. First I have to worry about herd dynamics and make sure everyone gets fed in order descending pecking order. The pecking order is as follows:


1. Junior and Semi
2. Kita
3. Classy
4. Megalia and Tabby
5. Indy
6. Jewel, Willow, and Meghan
7. Stride and Dolly
8. Manny


The first thing I need to do is get the full feed buckets out of the back of the truck and into the barn behind closed gates without being mauled. Then I tie up Semi and Kita, and Junior usually just stands between his two women at his feed bucket waiting for the good stuff so I don't bother tying him. No one else tries to steal their food since they are the top rung of the ladder so I go ahead and feed them. While they're getting started I tie up Meg and Classy. I used to just spread out their buckets and let them sort it out, but Classy is a food face and has started to chase Tabby away from her grain. Because it's MINE. ALL MINE. Then I get Stride, Dolly, and Indy into a separate area of the barn. I don't bother tying any of them up because they respect each other's buckets and generally take the same time to eat anyway. By that time Meghan and Jewel are waiting at their gate. I let them in the same area as the hay since there's only two of them and it doesn't take them long to eat. Once everyone else is eating, I give Manny his bucket outside the barn, away from everyone else. He's the slowest eater, so I try to "hide" him where no one else will find him once their done stuffing their faces. Willow is the last to eat because fat girl only gets a handful and can sometimes charm her way into Semi's bucket if I don't tie her up. By the time Willow is fed, it's time to go back through with the alfalfa cubes and dole those out to my hard keepers who are mostly done with their grain at that point: Junior, Indy, Stride, and Dolly.

Alfalfa cubes disbursed, it's time to start throwing out square bales of hay and strategically spreading out the piles so that no one clique is too close to another. The brat pack is easy -- once I throw hay in front of their faces they don't move until it's gone. Everyone else is usually a challenge because they all want to play musical hay piles. Someone inevitably ends up on the wrong side of the pasture as the unoccupied hay piles and can't figure out how to get to it. Then I feel bad for them and throw out more hay.


By the time an hour is up, everyone is fed and eating hay, the buckets are all rinsed out and back in the truck, the barn is closed back up, and it's time to go feed my baby boys in the back pasture. This is the easy part. I take two buckets of grain out behind the house, call in my boys, enjoy the view as they come running, and then they each help themselves to a bucket. No one chases anyone else away, there are no fights, dirty looks, or name-calling, and I get to stand there and scratch them as they eat.


Speaking of baby boys, Anastasia is doing a terrific job on Hunter! Go check out his training journal over on Training the Unwanted. And she tells me his butt is growing like crazy and is even higher than it was when I saw him over the weekend. Talk about your awkward teenager! Not only does he look silly, but he moves pretty darned funny as well. Let's hope the front end catches up soon.

Fun stuff

I'm sure you've noticed that new little widget over there on the left. The black box, as it's called, seems to be the new addictive fad in blogging. And I'll admit, I'm hooked! Already this morning I've found three new blogs that I've added to my favorites. Click on it, I dare you. It's kind of like potato chips (and cats), you can't click just once. So have "fun" at work on this Monday and meet some new bloggers that have more interesting things to say than I do.

I didn't grow up wanting to be an astronaut, but I was as much into Star Trek as the next sci-fi teenage geek. Except for the original. There was just that male chauvinist, egotistical, put the woman in her place (while wearing a very short skirt) attitude on that show that really turned me off. My step-father, the tried and true rebel without a cause redneck, loved that show. Now that I'm older, I understand why.

So it was much to my fascination that I discovered this NASA site by using the black box widget. Not only do I find space photographs intriguing, but now I can compare what I remember from Star Trek The Next Generation to the real photos from NASA. Somehow, I doubt the crystalline entity has been seen by NASA yet.

I must be getting old

Oy, I ache.

What happened to the days when I could ride all day long and not feel like I'd been hit by a Mack truck that night?? Am I really that old already?

Our ride today was FANTASTIC!!! And I'd have oodles and oodles of pictures to share if we hadn't ridden off and left the camera in the trailer. I know - it's a well documented fact that I SUCK.

We ended up being gone for five hours. We trotted a couple of times, cantered a couple of times, but most of the ride was spent walking and letting the horses rest every now and then. Neither mare is in the best of shape and it was hot and humid today. The trails we rode were extensive, and we haven't even begun to explore them yet. Most the trails we explored today stayed close to the large creek going through the area and we crossed over it multiple times. And yeah, we got lost. We went past our turn several times and Keisha the Couch kept trying to tell us where to turn, but we ignored her because it just didn't look familiar. Next time, we'll listen to Keisha (and take some pink ribbon to mark the trail)!

One one trail we found an electrified fence surrounding a lush pasture next to the creek. It had a run-in shed and one very sleek and healthy looking mare. What was odd, was that the pasture was in the middle of nowhere with no houses any where to be found. There was a small "shack" next to the pasture, but you could tell it was more of a weekend retreat than a full time abode. The poor mare was very lonely and wanted so badly to get through her fence and make friends with our girls. I only feel sorry for her because horses are herd animals and don't like to be alone. I'm sure the only other critters she sees are deer and possibly bear or mountain lion. At least we know where she is and can keep an eye on her whenever we go out riding.

We found several nice camping spots and now Glenn is determined to take the horses on an overnight camping trip before the weather gets too cold. Maybe I'll remember to bring the camera then? Maybe? If the stars are aligned properly and the moon is full?

We did get some Hunter pictures once we returned to the farm and got the horses hosed off. Anastasia wanted to show me how he's progressed, and man, has he! She was throwing the bareback pad around his head and onto his back, and throwing the come-along over him, around his head, around his legs. I've always known he was laid back, but he barely raised an eye, in fact, he seemed to doze off during the whole process. And check out that butt! It's several inches above his withers, which means he's going through a growth spurt and may not be destined to be a dwarf! There's hope!






Anastasia's husband, Scott, and Hunter having some male bonding time. Note the bright pink halter. Poor pony. I hope Kita doesn't tell the rest of the herd about that halter or Hunter will never be able to live it down when he comes home.

Yup -- the house is still a mess

And I can just picture YD tsk tsking me while shaking her head in disappointment. I'm sorry. I just couldn't be bothered with brooms and vacuums. It was much easier to bask in my self-pity over not sleeping and being stuck in the house on such a beautiful day. It really does take a lot less energy than cleaning the house.

But I canned another five quarts of chard in between working client calls that started coming in like crazy after my last post and kept me busy well into the night. Does that excuse my lack of a post all week? Um, no. I just haven't had a darned thing to say all week, except for some training posts over on Training the Unwanted. So I apologize profusely to all 12 of you that read my blog. There have been no monster maters, no missing dogs, no new adorable Thor pictures, and nothing new to share about the guineas. In a nutshell, my life is boring.

I did get spinach and collard seeds started on Sunday and they are already coming up and are almost ready to be transplanted to bigger pots. The beets that I sowed on Friday are up and growing fast. My tomatoes are still putting out like crazy and the bells peppers are finally starting to realize they are not meant to be green. The pineapple tomatillos are still doing way more than their share to supply me with fresh food and the Litchi tomatoes are really starting to produce in huge numbers. I think next year I'll plant a few more of those! I would like to try dehydrating them, but they never make it into the house. Kind of like the red raspberries -- victims of my impatience.

I see that I still have nothing to say. Sorry about that.

Tomorrow, Kita and I are headed over to Anastasia's for trail riding and picture taking (and I'm sure there will be more sorbet in there somewhere). I'll be taking a lot of pictures for Hunter's training blog, as well as pretending to be a giddy schoolgirl as part of his "kid" training. I anticipate much giggling and silliness tomorrow, but will NOT be taking pictures of that!

Do I HAVE to clean the house?

If you're wondering about all the posts on a Saturday, let me explain. Typically my weekends are jam-packed and I don't often get a chance to blog. This weekend I'm on-call for work and am technically chained to the phone all weekend. About as far as I can go is the garden and even then I have to leave the phone on the porch and listen for it's siren song calling me to the computer.

The good news about being on-call is that we rarely get any calls. So this provides ample time for canning, freezing, dehydrating... and house cleaning. As I type I'm sitting on the porch staring at the tomato plants willing them to ripen a bushel or two so I have something more to can. Because I really really really don't want to clean the house. It's gotten to the point where it's just too depressing to even look at and the first question is where to begin. Now don't get me wrong, there are days when I hop out of bed with the need to clean and become a whirling dervish and the house is spotless in under four hours. This is not one of those days. Perhaps it's the fact that I'm still an allergy infested insomniac and also had several client calls that kept getting me out of bed last night. Not that I was asleep when the phone rang, but that didn't keep me from grumbling and cursing as I had to offload several cats before getting out of bed and then trip over three snoring dogs on my way to the living room each time.

Why not keep the computer in the bedroom? Because I'm a workaholic. If it was there on the nightstand and I couldn't sleep, I'd be working. 'Nuff said.

So now I need to figure out the next step. Find something else to do as a stall tactic before cleaning the house, or suck it up, crank up the stereo and just get to it?

Or go back to bed?







I think there's some chard out in the garden ready to be canned. :)

Recipe - Veggie Tomato Cups

I've been growing Yellow Stuffing tomatoes for years and absolutely adore them. They are a lot like bell peppers, pleated in shape and hollow with thick walls and a small seed cavity.




These are productive plants, but unlike other yellow maters they take longer to ripen. But once they start, you'd better be ready for them! I got my seeds back in 2003 from Marianna's . All of the 2003 seeds that I got from them germinated this year. That's darned good considering I'm not the best at storing seeds. Somehow they never make it back into their dry container and into the fridge when I'm done sowing. It's just one of those things that I fail miserably at. You can find other seeds at TomatoFest (my second favorite place for heirloom maters), but these look a lot more pleated than the ones I have and may be harder to stuff.

What I do is stuff 'em and freeze 'em. Of course they are awesome fresh, but what better way to enjoy the summer bounty in January than to just pop a couple of these out of the freezer and shove them in the oven? There are endless stuffing possibilities, but I like to keep it simple. Haven't I mentioned I'm fairly clueless in the kitchen?

The cast of characters today included: onion, purple basil, flat-leaf parsley, swiss chard, eggplant, very ripe Ancho peppers, sweet yellow banana peppers, garlic (camera shy) and canned mushrooms. I really would have preferred some fresh shitake, but the mushroom fairy didn't come by last night.




Please, while you're cutting and chopping make sure you only have about a foot and a half of counter space to work on. This will make me feel better.

A little olive oil and minced garlic in the pan to start out with, then I get to chopping. Onions and peppers go first, and go ahead and throw a little chopped chard stem in there when no one is looking. Add the eggplant once the onions, peppers, and chard start to soften up. Toss in the mushrooms and parsley, then add the chopped up chard leaves. Stir around until the chard leaves are wilted then remove from heat.




While the mixture is cooling go ahead and slice the tops off your tomatoes and take out the seed cavity.





Once your mix is cooled off a bit, stir in the chopped basil and start stuffing!




Put them on a baking or pizza pan and stick them in the freezer until frozen solid. Then you can toss them into freezer bags or vacuum seal, which is what I do.

Let them thaw completely before putting in the oven at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes, or until hot in the middle. With about five min left of cooking time top with cheese. I like to use fresh grated Parmesan, mozzarella, or pepper jack depending on my mood and the entree that they'll be served with.

I also freeze a lot of these empty. Clean, slice, and remove the seed cavity before freezing. Let thaw completely and fill with a cold salad, such as seafood or tuna. Go ahead, get creative. And if you have a recipe you want to share, please do! My one yellow stuffing mater plant is going ballistic and I'm running out of ideas!

Canning Recipe - Applesauce with Pineapple Tomatillos

Last weekend, Anastasia had sent us away with two bags full of green apples from her tree. All week they had been sitting on the table begging me to do something with them. I had never canned applesauce and had my eye on an applesauce recipe from one of my canning books, but just didn't find the time during the week. Last night I sat down with knife and peeler and went to work.


12 pounds cored, peeled, chopped apples
6 cups pineapple tomatillo puree
1 cup sugar
4 tbsp lemon juice


First thing you do is put a pot of 12 cups of water with 3/4 cup of lemon juice in front of you. As soon as you cut up each apple throw it in the pot. This reduces the browning of the apples. Once you have 12 pounds of apples cut up (I weighed before cutting, then threw in three more apples to make up for the core and skin). As you're cutting up the last apple you stop and hold still for just a minute because you think you heard something. You did! What you heard was that colander full of pineapple tomatillos calling your name. The ones you thought maybe you'd dehydrate, but were still undecided about. Hmmm... the recipe says to put a little bit of water in the bottom of the pot of apples so they don't burn when you put them on the stove. Water? Water is tasteless.



What about pineapple tomatillo puree instead?



So once the apples are all cut up, puree a bunch of pineapple tomatillos until you have about 6 cups. Drain the water and lemon juice from the apples and dump in the puree, then put on medium heat. Stir frequently so none of the apples burn. Depending on the type of apple and size of the chunks, it could take 5-20 minutes for the apple chunks to soften. When they're soft enough, pour them into food processor. Once you have them at the consistency that you like, dump them back into the pot and keep it on low to medium to keep everything hot while you jar it. It was awesome just like it was, but I added 1 cup of sugar and it went from awesome to incredible. The sugar really brought out the flavor of the tomatillos! You also need to add 4tbsp of lemon juice to help the apples keep their color and to add acidity for processing.


We got 4 1/2 quarts in this batch. Process the jars in a water bath canner for 20 minutes.


My applesauce turned out really chunky as you can see from the picture, but this is the way we like it. If you like runnier sauce you might want to add some apple juice or water. Just be sure to reheat to boiling before jarring.





Ladies and gentlemen, I think we have another "lucky" kitchen moment. OMG, this was the best applesauce I have ever had!! Glenn agreed and armed with two spoons we quickly polished off about a pint before even canning it.

I need more to do

Call me crazy, but ever since we bought this place I've wanted a couple of milking goats. I want to make my own cheese and yogurt. I want cute little furry critters baaaaing at me as I feed them. I want to cuddle a new born kid in the middle of a cold December night. I want to get up extra early in the morning in order to milk the does, then repeat 12 hours later. Every... single... day.

Yes, I'm mildly insane.

I need more chores around this place. Honestly. Between working 8 hour days at my job, feeding and caring for 16 horses, keeping the five dogs and one man in line, gardening and preserving, and making at least an attempt to keep the house clean, I'm bored.

Okay, so maybe "bored" is too strong of a word.

Maybe I just want an additional challenge. Maybe I never want to be able to take a vacation again. Ever. Perhaps the thought of increasing my feed bill appeals to me. Whatever the reason, I want goats next year.

What do I know about goats? They eat, poop, and breed. That about covers it on the goat knowledge. But that's where the internet comes in. And those things with paper pages... hang on... it's coming to me... ah yes, books! Everything I need to know about goats is available to me and if I can manage to put down the seed catalogs this winter I will immerse myself in goat knowledge and become one with the udder. In the meantime, I've been researching breeds.

http://www.thenibble.com/reviews/main/cheese/dairy-goat-breeds.asp

I think I want either Alpines, LaManchas, or Saanens. How cute are those LaManchas?? I think I can probably limit myself to two does and a buck. We can modify the small barn for goats and make two pastures to keep the buck (and maybe a wether for company?) separated from the does when not breeding.

What do you think? Crazy or just plain nuts?

Just a quickie

As you all know by now, we live out in the styx. And we're mostly rednecks. We don't have gun racks in the trucks, Glenn doesn't chew tobacco (anymore), and our wallets are not on chains. We don't have an old Chevy on cinder blocks in the front yard and we didn't meet at the family reunion. So maybe we're really not rednecks after all. Besides, we do have a modern day ADT system.





We need little stickers on all of our windows that say "This house protected by man-eating dogs." What we won't tell you, is that just like a Tootsie pop, it will take thousands of licks to kill you.


And a very new and efficient paper shredder from Best Buy:




That's part of today's mail, by the way. The mail which I had not had a chance to go through yet. Fortunately, he fell asleep before completely destroying it. After I made sure it was a bill, I gave it back to him.

I'm off to finally process those tomatoes from Saturday, as well as the three baskets that I've picked since then. Wish me luck.

Any South Carolina readers out there?

I know this is a long shot, but I'm doing what I can to find this horse a home. I do not know the owner of the horse personally. The horse is located near Dillon, SC. She's a 10yr Arabian, broke to ride and drive. The pictures came from a camera phone, so aren't the greatest. The story is that the owner is incredibly poor and can't afford to feed the horse. She's in a dry/mud lot with no shelter. The neighbors have been chipping in with feed and hay. Either she's your typical Arab air fern, or the neighbors are very generous because she's nowhere near being skinny! I have no idea how tall she is and the person that told me about her is a dog person, not a horse person.

The owner would like $600 for the horse because he needs the money so badly, however his priority is finding a good home for the mare. From what I've heard, I assume he may even give her away to the right home. He understands that he can't take care of her, but loves her dearly and just wants to make sure she's going some place where she'll be loved and cared for. Please contact me directly or leave a comment with your email if you're interested.

Recipe - Sorbet

I had to beg, plead, and promise more pineapple tomatillos before Anastasia finally gave me a few of the sorbet recipes. These are "rough" recipes since the ingredients don't need to be exact and, like me, she doesn't always write down what she's doing when experimenting. :)

My two favorite recipes are below with just the ingredients. The instructions for making the sorbets are the same:

Combine all ingredients and either use an ice cream maker or put in a shallow glass pan and stir frequently while it's freezing.


Elderberry and Honey Sorbet

2 cups unsweet iced tea
2 cups elderberry juice
3/4 cup raw honey
juice of one lemon


I'm guessing about amounts and instructions on this next one. Just play around with it and make it the way you like it. But at least these are the basics.

Lime Basil Sorbet

1 1/2 cup lightly packed macerated lime basil leaves
1 cup water
1 tbsp lime juice
1/2 cup sugar
1 can ginger ale

Combine the lime juice, sugar, water, and basil leaves and bring to boil for five minutes. Let cool, then combine with ginger ale and freeze.

The Best Laid Plans

Went very awry over the weekend. I had it all planned. Glenn had a side job this weekend so it was just going to be me, the garden and the horses. Saturday was going to be spent in the kitchen canning all the frozen tomatoes, more ginger and cherry tomato marinade, and drying pineapple tomatillos and herbs. Then out to the garden to prune the monster mater plants, pull a few weeds and yank out the spent corn stalks. Then I wanted to do some much needed weeding in the strawberry bed. Then I wanted to work Classy, Meg, and Jewel and take Kita for a short trail ride. Then off to town to get some groceries. On Sunday we were headed over to Anastasia's (previously known as Classy's potential adopter) with Classy and Kita for a trail ride on their incredible trails. Then a wonderful lamb dinner was in store for us once we returned from the ride. Monday was meant for more riding at our place, lawn mowing, weedeating, and flowerbed making.

Hardly any of that happened.

Saturday started out ok, except that as Glenn was leaving for the side job he noticed that one of the springs on the truck had busted and dented the bed of the truck. Great, worry about it later and take my motorcycle instead. We'll just have to skip taking the horses over to Anastasia's for trail riding on Sunday.

I harvested a basket full of tomatoes, strawberries, tomatillos, peppers, and a few raspberries, then hauled everything into the kitchen where my frozen maters were in the sink thawing. I got the little stuff cleaned and frozen (except the raspberries, which ended up being eaten right away), then got to work on the maters. I put the fresh ones in boiling water for 30 seconds then plopped them into an ice water bath so I could peel the skins off. I dunked the frozen ones in warm water for the same reason. I ended up with about 5 gallons of tomatoes. I was just going to can them up whole, but decided on tomato sauce with meat instead. We eat a lot pasta in the winter and I recently found a recipe that we absolutely love, and we currently only have 9 quarts of it. Must make more!

Around noon I put the pot on the stove to start cooking down, but then the phone rang. It was Glenn telling me that his buddy Flipit (there's a story behind that nickname!) had seen Glenn driving through town, flagged him down, and told him to come on over and they'd fix his truck. Rather than ride the bike the 12 miles home, get the truck, then drive the 14 miles to Flipit's place, he wanted me to bring the truck to him, then ride the bike home. Before going further with this tale, let me tell you a little about Flipit. Flipit collects Fords. Going to his place is like going to a Ford dealership, but without having to wait for them to order the right parts and without the hassle of having to pay for any of the parts. Flipit just happened to have the undercarriage of an F350 one ton truck sitting back in the woods behind his house. Glenn's truck is an F250 3/4 ton, but what the heck? Let's beef up those springs!

{insert Tim Allen man grunt here}

But before we could get started, Flipit's son called and needed help putting a roof on his house. And since one good turn deserves another, we went along to help with the roof. And let me clarify that "we" part. Glenn was on the roof with the other men, I sat in the shade with the women shooting the breeze and occasionally tossing roofing nails up the the guys. This was my job and I performed it well. Not once did I hit any of them in the head with flying nails. Once the roof was done we were just about out of daylight to work on the truck any more that day. By the time we got home and fed everyone, it was lights out in hopes of a good night's sleep.

All day Sunday was spent fixing the truck. Glenn begged me to go with him and claimed my extraordinary mechanical skills would be useful. How right he was! When the men couldn't find where they'd laid down a specific tool, I was right there to find it amongst the mess and hand it to them. I was also the gopher, sent back and forth between shop and truck for more tools. What would they have done without me?? Once the truck was finally fixed we ran home for quick showers and barely made it to Anastasia's in time for dinner at 7pm.

And what a dinner it was!!! Lamb steak with this cabbage/apple/bacon dish that was just to die for! Then we had sorbet tasting which is much like wine tasting, but without the hangover. Anastasia tells me that I am her garden idol, but she's definitely my kitchen idol! She makes so many different types of sorbet: melon, peach, pineapple tomatillo, lime basil, apple, elderberry and honey... I'm sure I forgot one or two in there! The tomatillos and lime basil came from my garden last week. She also dried some of the tomatillos, which is where I got the idea from. The lime basil sorbet was the BEST! I love the elderberry and honey sorbet as well, and it just might be a toss up between the two. She shared the recipes with me, but I'll post those under a different post (this one has grown long enough!).

Monday morning Glenn and I loaded Kita and Classy into the trailer and headed over to Anastasia's for trail riding. Once we got there we tied Classy to the trailer and Kita to the truck for grooming and tacking. Kita was mostly interested in grass and barely noticed her surroundings or the big Percheron stallion in the pasture calling for her attention. Classy on the other hand, was a nervous wreck, dancing, pawing, and wide-eyed at everything around her. Not once was she dangerous, but it's hard to groom and saddle a moving target. I decided to let Glenn get in the practice and I just took care of Kita. It was for his own good, really. Once everyone was tacked up, Anastasia took Classy down the driveway a bit just for a little test drive before her husband got on her for the trail ride. She was a pretty good girl, she just didn't want to stand still. But she listened fairly well in the five minutes that Anastasia was on her.

Once Scott was on her, we were off to the trails! For the first 15 minutes, Classy was great. She was a nervous greenie, but that was to be expected. There was no bucking, rearing, or running off, just a "hey, what are we doing here, why is that stallion eyeying me, and would someone please get that deerfly off my butt?" Scott has a natural seat, but has never taken a lesson in his life and is greener than what I expected. The two of them didn't click very well, and the confusing ques from Scott and the inexperience of Classy didn't mesh. I ended up ponying Classy just so she'd walk down the trail instead of doing circles and falling further behind. Once she was next to Kita she relaxed, stop chewing nervously on the bit and Scott was able to enjoy the ride.

But only for another 15 minutes.

Classy is a drama queen. While still attached to Kita by a lead rope, Classy decided to take a break and lay down for a quick roll. With Scott and saddle still on her. Once she was down she waited for Scott to step off, then she proceeded to roll. At first we all panicked thinking it was heat stroke, or a seizure, or colicking, whatever. The worst scenarios went through everyone's mind. I hopped off Kita and tried to get the saddle off while she was down, just laying there.. not rolling at all... and scaring the living crap out of all of us. Then she hopped up like nothing happened and grazed. I took the saddle off anyway, checked her nice pink gums, felt her pulse which was normal, and watched her graze like she was perfectly fine. Which she was. We gave everyone a 20 min break just to be sure, then resaddled Classy. This time Anastasia got on Classy for the ride home. I didn't pony her and the whole time she was a head down, relaxed, perky-eared little mare.

In the end it was decided that the mare just had an itch. And it seems the world not only revolves around my friend April, but it also has the time to revolve around Classy.

Once we got home it was decided that Classy was not a good match for Scott yet and that Scott's dream horse is really a paint anyway. But I don't consider the trail ride a loss at all, as both Classy and Kita got some experience off the farm, Glenn had a good ride on a strange horse (Anastasia's couch, Kiesha), and I learned to love Kita just a little bit more because she was so incredibly good.

The only regret I have about Monday is the lack of my camera and the still unprocessed maters sitting in my fridge.