Another Chance Ranch

Mama! Moo! Mama!

The baby calves are hitting the ground, maybe even as I type this. 

I love this time of year.

Mama cows are starting to bring their babies up when I feed, and yesterday I took advantage of it.  I toted my camera all over tarnation just to get a few pics. 

You see this is what happens, Mama goes into the lot to eat with all the other Mama cows and the babies are kind of just left to themselves.  And they are so fun to watch.

Most of the time this is how it plays out.

Everybody, meet Baby #2.  Baby #2, meet everybody. There, now that the introductions are out of the way I will show you what happens every day.

She nonchalantly moseys into the lot looking for her mama. 

Hmmm, she knows she's in here somewhere.  She says, "I'll just look over here."

"Maybe she's over here," she says.

Then it starts.

"Mama!"

"Moo!"

"Mama!"

Here comes Baby #54.  I'd introduce you, but he's kind of showing his butt. Get it?  Oh nevermind!

"Hey Baby #2!  Have you seen my mama?"

"Mama!"

"Moo!"

"Mama!"

"What about you?  Have you seen my mama?"

"Hey, don't you talk about my mama's udders like that!!" 

Sometimes I have to just drive away.

 

 

Gifts for Abby

On January 31, Abby turned a year old. 

It is unreal that she is already a year old.  She thinks she is a person most of the time.  She loves laying on the couch, with *her* pillow, and *her* blanket.  Her blanket happens to be any blanket that is on the couch. 

She received two gifts for her birthday.

A nice juicy treat.  Of course, there were two dogs at this party, Mia received one as well.  Consider them the cupcakes of the party.

And a football. 

That squeaks!

At first she was scared of it.  Now she loves it!!

But the cat voices his disgust every time Abby plays with it.  Seriously!

Since the following weekend was the Super Bowl, we felt a football was quite appropriate.

She can play many different positions.  She is a blocker (as pictured above), a running back, a tight-end, and even a quarterback. 

I might just be a proud momma, but she is talented!

Happy 1st Birthday Abby!

Today is Abby's first birthday!

It doesn't even seem possible for her to be a year old yet.  It seems like just yesterday we brought her home.

She was so tiny then.

She had such floppy ears.

She really, really wanted to big the BIG dog.  She wanted to be in charge. (Now she is both, the BIG dog and in charge.)

There are those floppy ears again.

This is what happened when we put her first collar on her.  She didn't like it.

She loves sleeping on our bed. 

We cropped her ears.

She falls asleep with her bone in her mouth just so Mia won't get it.

For some reason she likes to touch the tip of her ears together.  She was about 8 months old here.

She likes to snuggle with Mia on the couch.

Oh these were the days. :)  She still loves her treats!

Happy Birthday Abby! 

We will be celebrating her birthday a little later this evening when McD gets home.  Right now she is sacked out on the couch, enjoying the warmth of the fire and cutting her eyes at me when I mention that I am getting ready to go to the store.  She knows this means she has to go outside, and she knows it is cold out there.

 

The Hoodlum Horses

Horses!

Some horses really chap my hide. 

The other day I headed over to the barn to feed the horses, and the cattle.  Oh, and Houdini, we can't forget him.  As I walked up to the barn I saw Babe and Hickory in the area where we keep the cattle feed.  I asked them how they got in there.  Yes, I talk to them just like people.  As I made my way to the gate leading into this area I saw it, all of it all over the ground.  They figured out how to open the grain cart/feed storage thingamajig. 

I am so glad that we only had 400+ pounds of feed left. 

See the handle on that?  You have to pull the handle to let the feed come out. 

Some horse had to open it to let all of that feed come out. 

Some horse (Babe) had to have opened the gate that I just happened not to chain.

We rarely ever chain that gate.  Why?  Because it opens outward into the lot, not inward.  They would have to pull the gate open, not push it open.  Well, Babe is the only one tall enough to get her head over the gate and pull it open.  And I really don't put it past her.

So, after learning that those two had been gorging on the cattle feed for who knows how long, I went into panic mode.  You see, the horses and cattle have different kinds of feed for a reason.  Depending on how much they ate, they could die.  It affects their gut, if you want more details I can go into more details, but I am assuming you don't really want all that jargon.

I sent McD photos and explanations of what was going on, and he called right away.  I had to make sure they didn't get any water.  Oops, Babe already drank some water, now what?  I can't panic, I am the only one here, and I still have to scoop up all that feed and feed the cattle.  That was fun, let me tell ya!

I got the two hoodlum horses penned up, fed the cows, and basically just kept my eye on them for a little while.  When McD got home he gave them a shot to kind of relax their belly, and then started walking them.  This was on Wednesday, that is the night the snow was coming but first the sleet had to come. 

After walking the horses for about 30 minutes, McD came in ate supper relaxed for a few minutes.  By relax I mean, we sat there and tried to figure out how in the world they got in there, and how they got the feeder open.  Then it was back out in the cold.  The first time he walked the horses by himself.  He thought they would do just fine, and I think he really wanted to be away from me, the culprit that left the gate unchained.  So, the next time we both went.  I don't think the horses were as easy to handle with one walking them.  It was getting dark and they were getting spooked with all the wind, and strangeness of us coming out and walking them.  It was cold!  Real cold!

At 10 pm we went out again.  It was even colder.  Wet, windier, and colder. 

It is funny what you notice as you walk the horses in the dark with a storm coming in and the wind trying to blow you over.  We were walking without lights.  It would have been a beautiful moonlit walk minus the weather.

At midnight it was even colder, wetter, and windier.   At this point they had been pinned up almost 10 hours, walked 4 times (30 minutes each time), and without water.  We decided that we would go to bed, and check on them at 5 am.

Fast forward to 5 am.  Alarm clock goes off.  Mr. McD shuts alarm clock off, and wakes up at 6.  Oops!  But he ran out there to check on the horses, and they were fine.  We let them in the larger lot to get some water, and then later that afternoon we let them out.

Needless to say, every gate will be chained from now on.  We will even put the safety hatch down on the feeder door thingamajig just to be safe.  They scared me half-to-death!

Babe & Houdini

The other day I was messing around the house when I heard some braying outside.  My first thought was that Houdini was back. 

Houdini is the community burro.  He belongs to some neighbors down the road, but he likes to make his rounds.  He likes to visit all the little lady burros in our area.  Our little lady isn't very little, but he still likes to visit. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Babe is a Percheron draft horse.  She weighs close to 2000 pounds. 

Her male caller, Houdini, comes up to the bottom of her belly.  I just don't see how a romantic evening between the two would be possible. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Babe had just walked by, and Houdini just happened to notice.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He pretty much stayed like this for five whole minutes. 

I guess stranger things have happened, I just can't imagine a Percheron/Burro mix. 

 

Happy Together

I will not include the lyrics to the song Happy Together by the Turtles.  I won't.  It would just get stuck in your head, just like it is stuck in mine.

But that is the first thing that came to mind when I saw these photos of Abby and Mia.

This is usually what happens when I am in the kitchen.  They have to be as close to me as possible, especially in the kitchen.  They are afraid that if they are in the other room, they might just miss out on the taste testing.

They are not spoiled.  Really!

The other night we were all just kind of hanging out watching a little tv.  The next thing I knew, Abby and Mia were all cuddled up on the couch.  This was my view.  Since I was sitting on the couch with them I couldn't get up and take their picture because they would have moved.  It happens all the time!

McD was kind enough to get up, run and get the camera, and take photos as directed. :)  It really helps that we have a DVR.  The pausing of the football game made it possible for you to see the same sweetness that we saw.

They may bicker, bite, and growl at each other during the day but, at night they love to cuddle. 

 

Two Different Dogs

She doesn't even look like the same dog. 

The other day I found a bunch of photos of Abby with her floppy ears.  It is amazing to see how different she looks.

Her ears don't always meet in the middle like that, but once in a while they do. 

I should have made one of the Fun Monday's a share a photo of your pet day.  I wonder if anyone would care if I change one of the topics.  Hmmm.  What do you think?

Abby Update - Nov 2010

Our little girl is growing up. 

She is spoiled rotten!  Sometimes I think that is an understatement. 

The other night McD was in the livingroom watching some television, and I was in the kitchen piddling around.  When I made my way into the livingroom to take my place on the couch this is what I found.

Mia is in Abby's spot, and they barely left me any room at all. 

We never, never let any animals (except for Mordecai) on the couch.  Never!  Then we got this little puppy named Abby, right after we lost Hoss.  Abby does just about anything Abby wants to do, and she gets away with it.  Mia decided that if Abby could get on the couch, then she could to. 

Mia and Hoss always played with a rope.  They played tug of war with us for what seemed like hours.  They loved it.  Abby loved to take that rope and chew it into hundreds of tiny threads.  I kid you not.  I was so irritated that I forgot to take a photo.

We decided to get them something they can't tear up.  We got Nylabones.  They each have their own bone, but Abby thinks they are both hers.  Imagine that!?

Mia has become quite the sly dog.  If Abby is getting attention, and Mia wants attention, she will go get one of the bones and start chewing on it.  Abby realizes that Mia has her bone, and takes off to get "her" bone.  Mia then slinks over to whoever was giving Abby attention, and gets all the attention she wants.  It works every time.

Abby playing with her bone.

Here she is after she fell asleep playing with her bone.

She slept like this for almost an hour. 

 

A Sticky Situation - Abby

Yesterday, I went to town. 

I had lunch with Stefanie (Luvschrome), and did a little bit of grocery shopping.  I was gone for probably two and a half to three hours. 

This is what I saw when I drove into the driveway.

The poor little mischievious thing!

And these stickers weren't just stuck in her hair, they were really stuck deep. 

One good thing about Miss. Abby is that she will sit still, and let me do just about anything I want to her. 

Wonder what she will be into next?

McD & Julie Sitting in a Tree

We weren't exactly sitting in a tree, and we sure weren't k-i-s-s-i-n-g.  We were hunting, each with our weapon of choice.  I had my camera with zoom lense, and McD had his .22. 

We don't have a "tree stand," but we do have a "fort" that was built years ago.  It was built for kids to play on, but since our kids aren't here to play on it we have turned it into a makeshift tree stand.  It is up in the trees. 

It is within walking distance of our house, so we took off on foot.  At first we thought this might be a bad thing because this little lady was barking at us, and we were afraid she wouldn't stop.  This is what we saw as we walked away from the house.

Eventually, she went on with her business.  She chews on the outdoor rugs to pass the time.  She barked at the donkey, and she played with Mia.  She completely forgot we were there.

I was getting bored.  Don't tell McD!  I was cold, and I was bored.  That is just not a good combination.  I started clicking pictures of the leaves in the trees, and spiders weaving spiderwebs high in the tree tops.

See...

We sat there for about an hour, and the sun started to set.  So, we decided to pack it up, and head back to the house.  We were making quite a bit of noise as we folded our chairs, and started our climb down.  McD was already to the ground when we heard something rustling around in the leaves.

I went into statue mode.  Remember playing Freeze, well, I froze.  And I saw this little lady staring back at me.

If only that branch/vine thingamajig wasn't in the way, but it was.  It was a cute little doe.  She was spending Saturday evening alone.  Maybe she was getting ready for a hot date and we interrupted her. 

She didn't spend much time socializing with us.

She high-tailed it out of there.  Well, so her tail isn't high, but you know what I mean.  She got the heck out of Dodge.  Ran for the hills.  She split!

But she stopped once more, just to get one more look at us.  Can you see her?

She isn't in focus, but she is there peering at us through the branches.  Then she was gone. 

I slung my camera on my back, pretty proud of myself for getting the only shots of the night, and climbed down the ladder. 

I love seeing wildlife.  If I could I would hang out in that fort all day, and just wait for something to meander by so I could get a picture of it.  I have even thought of luring deer there with pears, just so I could get some good close-ups.  Who knows what else I would see.  Maybe I could hang bird feeders too, and get some good shots of the different birds that fly through our area.

As we walked back to the house I noticed the sunset, and I just had to snap one more shot. 

We had a great time sitting there, in silence, admiring God's handiwork.  I hope we get to spend some more quiet time together soon.