Good Fences

Actually, I'm not sure how "good" the fences on this property are.  Or, maybe it was a careless somebody who forgot to tighten down the gates... or maybe these guys are houdini horses...don't know for sure...but these two got out of jail the day before.  They took off up the road in search of greener pastures... as if... and, it became a pretty big deal as trucks barrel down the road at high speed.  Telephone calls from neighbours and friends of animals ....    all before 6:00 am.... yawn....nnnnn...... but, they are back in jail now thanks to some skillful herding by several folks.
   

Two lovely miniature horses.  I tossed a handful of wound up grass to the smaller of the two when he came to check me out.  He carefully unwound it and nibbled at it daintily.

                                                                         











But, then...over came greedy guts.. with the much bigger belly, and pushed the other guy out of the way ... so he could eat the grass.  Hmmm...

I guess there is a reason he has a big gut.

Although ..... he is a sort of rakishly handsome fella don'tcha think?  But, he does need a good comb and brush...look at all the bits and stuff in his mane...

This is, of course, more about what is behind the fence than the actual fence.  That's me.  I do love what is behind, or in front of, or entwined about, any fences....

Go have a look at some other fences and the stories and things surrounding them at the Run-a-Round Ranch.

Good Fences

As usual, I'm shocked that it is already another Thursday.  This merry-go-round keeps spinning at dizzying speed!  Time for more Good Fences.


Mickey...

Oh, brother...there she is again with the confounded camera!  Yeh.. must be Thursday and, she's looking for blog fodder.  Why me?

Can't a guy just get a bite to eat in peace?

Maybe if she can't get anything except broadside, she'll give up.

That's the answer!  ...     I won't look at her.  She'll find it pretty dull business and get lost.

What the...??....  Why are you still here woman?!

Oh, alright.... snap away if you must .....   I'm busy......

...  and, now...I'm gone!!!  Outta here cuz somebody left the gate open...hahahhahahahha...........

It's still Thursday...

... and, so.....I give you Good Fences.  And, good boy Mickey!  I love to see things behind and in front of fences to make them more interesting.

Your nose is almost the size of Africa... I only say that because of the map on the end of it... looks like Africa...

Awwwww .... he wanted to have a reeeeellly close look at the lens...

And, look...   he is a normal horse.  Beautiful really.  And, a nice rail fence behind this time...

I was visiting my sister on her little farm.... and she moved the big guy around to mow the grass here and there over the week... but, he is pretty good at mowing and had to be moved back before too long or he got too much of the "good stuff"....

He's like a very big vacuum cleaner.

Why not have a look at the Good Fences on the Run *A* Round Ranch blog... how 'bout adding one of your own sometime? ..

Lipstick and White Linen

This afternoon I actually put on lipstick and some lovely White Linen body cream after my bath.  Got to try to make myself feel much better than I do.  Been having uncontrollable coughing fits that got to be a bit scary.  And, of course, they finally took their toll.  Ribs or tissue is now painful...but, today finally I am saying I've rounded a huge corner.  No coughing fits today.  Thank goodness..

Word from the doctor is .... bronchitis and severe sinus infection.  Gee... already knew that.... especially from the gunk I am blowing out...oh, sorry who wants to hear about that .. if you were drinking tea or having a nibble...sorry.

This is ridiculous. The cold didn't actually go away.  It just got progressively worse after the one day I almost fooled myself into thinking I was feeling a bit better.  Silly me.  I probably should have just succumbed. Or at least one of us should have. Gone to bed and moaned our way through a few days and told the others to go on without us  But, no....not any of us ..... Nope.  Instead, like somebody on holiday and be damned if a cold was gonna keep us down....onward we went.  I kept thinking and saying 'intrepid'; mostly to myself, but was really and truly thinking the other "i" word.  You know the one.  Idiot.

First to Porto, where we made things worse I'm sure and by then one or two of the others had a cough too. Walked by the river Douro after dark ...yeh..really good for us all.....like I said...we were nuts.  It was pretty though....I don't remember much...but, I've got photos to prove it....thank goodness.

We even walked across that lower footbridge to the other side and up and down hill and dale over there in the neighbouring town called Vila Nova de Gaia.  More on all of that for another post.
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For now... it is Thursday.  And that means there is Equine Therapy happening at the centre.  My friend Maria volunteers here..... I thought it would be just a little place known to locals and I tagged along on one of her days.  WOW!  It is a world class training centre!   Who knew?  It has it's own site where you can view the beautiful horses trained and raised on the quinta.  What an amazing day it was.  I hope I was not so very contagious that I passed on my illness to any of the little guys and gals having fun at the riding ring. I did not stand beside them too long and was out and about taking photos and looking at the other horses and land and stalls and exercising areas etc...and getting a slight shock before I realized the rope I was holding was a lightly electrified enclosure.... sigh....   Good luck everybody on not getting my plague.  Please all be healthy.

This huge Stallion... called Pino... was pounding his front hooves on his stall door..trying to get some attention... then grabbing his blanket from way outside his stall door...and trying to unlatch the upper lock...they have one placed on the lower part of his door just because he can..... and in general being waaaay too frisky for my liking.  I have been bitten twice before by horses...(I still love them but I am a bit wary nowadays) and know what it feels like so I wasn't going to even try pet him when we walked one of the handicapped kids up to his stall.  Maria was too brave for my liking and it made me nervous. ...she petted his nose and he did try to nip on her....he bared his teeth and nipped at her plenty of times and in general made a nuisance of himself...and was doing a lot of very frisky hopping (hopping as in how very BIG guys do if ya know what I mean)  around in there .... and then.....


suddenly..........this....

 

Little Joao stood close to the stall door and just raised his hand ....no words at all...just raised up his little hand........

That big horse just became a gentle giant.

This my favourite photo of them... I love it.

The kids were having their ride around on a very gentle much smaller horse in the arena...but, Celine, the trainer and manager of the quinta was training one of the big horses while they were doing so.  I am betting that if that horse gets to the top rings nothing will startle him in his beautiful routines.  The kids were busy doing what kids do and of course, it included a bit of squeaking and giggling and nonsense.... especially since somebody new was there.  Me.  Even Celine had to ask for a bit of respect for her horse finally...and then all went back to more or less normal humdrumming .....

Here she is on one of the horses in training...

Meanwhile on the outside of the ring...the kids were having their fun...... and standing very close to that very low barrier you see in the background...under two feet high I would guess..we stepped easily over it... .... and the horses are encouraged to use the whole arena... sometimes actually brushing you with their tails if you stand too close.

Kids riding around the outside ...Celine in the centre again.....

I think this one tells it all.  Celine. Slim and wiry as a whip.....master horse trainer.... looks like she means business doesn't she? ...

..oh, boy......now......where was I?.....

Oh, yeh...... I remember.  I was right in the middle of holidaying in Portugal.  Well, not literally...we were home, but, I was reliving it through my photos..... for me and for you..... but real life got in the way.  I wrecked myself.  Injured my ribs leaning into a woodbox and that was it.  That will be 4 weeks ago on Saturday.  Lost a month of summer already and we only have 5 months of summer around here.  Haven't been able to do much .... and time just slid past.

Finally, yesterday, it didn't hurt anymore to sneeze and cough.... woohooo ...so.... things are looking up.  Meanwhile, no golf of course, and my summer is dwindling already, so I'm still a bit grumpy.  Hope poor Mister BV doesn't think I'm a "lot" grumpy... which I probably am.  Okay.  I am.

We drove to the Okanagan over the weekend...which was not all that comfortable in a small sporty car.  I was wishing I had a corset or at the very least a towel to wrap and tie around me. But... we got there and I enjoyed petting horses and cats...and spent time outside at least.  The weather was great....

My sister and I always joke about it being "Vikki's Fat Farm" ... We don't diet, but we usually work hard enough that we can lose a few pounds.  Not this time...she is still recuperating from a broken wrist...and my ribs are wrecked...so we didn't do as much physical stuff.... (well, she did... she always does and is pretty darn tough in spite of a poorly healing wrist.)

It was still busy enough with a lot of non farm related stuff... almost too busy.  But... I did manage to get in my fun times with the furry guys.

oh..hahha..... sorry...couldn't resist.  This definitely lets you know farm cats live around here.  Didn't see many with hats on this visit though....

Mr. Thompson says hi... howarya? c'mon in....my food dish is right over here.

Okay..if you're not gonna find those scrumblies for me ...then I'll just have a little lie down while I wait...

Aaaaa, yes... a chance to rest my weary toesies..... seeing as I am a pretty big dude...and they get tired and the pebbles hurt them when I walk on the driveway....

Oh, boy....says Cleo........ guys.  Come in and pet me instead...  I can wait for my grub til later....

I better stay out here says Kira.....I'm not allowed in the house because I do the same thing to the furniture..... scraaaaatch!  But... come back outside as soon as you drop your suitcase and visit me too.....

Aaaah.....sun and scratching and petting ...nothing better is there?  Nope...not for me.  Not even food.  I'll just eat something later.   Oh, and ...say, come over here and see my horses.

Remember Mickey?   looks as good as ever doesn't he?  'Specially for a guy diagnosed with emphysema some years back and given no chance.  Vikki washes his hay so he gets no dust in his food.  He is pretty coddled.... and doing fine as are all her pets.  And.... that Suzi..... the cheeky little 34 year old Arab....just look at her!

Some neighbours up the road had goats.... they charged right over to the fence to see us.....not the neighbours...their goats.  I bet they thought we had some goodies for them too.  That fencing probably was not the best for goats.  They stuck theirs heads straight through the spaces....

Nubians

the green fairy......

Her little shoes are finally trimmed...but, not without mishap. Even though I glazed them with a protective lacquer.... the Scotch tape I held on the decor with while the glue set...peeled off some paint....sigh. Well, I say a mere sigh now...but, that isn't what I said at the time, believe me@! I've been mixing paint to try to get the exact match...and so far so good...but, need another coat on one spot.... then I paint a tougher glaze on top....















....a glass of Absinthe was in order.... hahhaha....

nawww....it's just my cute little liqueur glass of dipping water...but, it does look a bit like Absinthe, slightly louched....
on it's way to the "perfect opalescent milkiness".....


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Yes.... that is Mickey Maria! My sister's beautiful quarter horse. I hope to be petting him one day soon when I make my annual trip to her little farm in B.C. Click on each of the "Mickeys" to hear some of his story.... he is a great horse. A stoic as Vikki calls him.. and right now she is working overtime to help heal a deep gash that he got on one leg months ago... something scared or chased him and he injured his leg on something.... it is healing, but slowly... and she is playing vet as most folks do with animals. The vet comes a few times...shows her what to do and ...then, she just does it. At the moment, that includes cleaning and cutting away the remnants of unhealed flesh or crustiness... applying salves, dressings.... etc..... what a gal...and what a trooper Mickey is to let her do it.... it has been a long road on this one... and not his first leg/foot injury...















Mickey last year...

We bloggers are a crazy bunch...

This is our friend Mike with his 55 pound salmon caught this summer in B. C. What if nobody had had a camera handy? It's not often anybody gets a beautiful picture of the one that didn't get away, is it?!

Darly mentions on her blog that we are rarely without our cameras any more... it's true. However, she did forget to take it along on her fishing trip last weekend.... which was the perfect opportunity to display this shot. I didn't take it...but thank goodness somebody was there snapping away!

She had us laughing when she said hers was even in use whilst sitting on the toilet.... (she did mention that the lid was closed) but the reason for some of the laughter was the fact that I had done the same thing last week... getting pics to record progress of cabinet installation in the laundry room/bathroom downstairs......yes, it is still at the "in progress" stage because as usual, life interferes......













it had already been out in the sawdusty garage watching the building of said cabinets.

...documenting a special jig.... cheering when it worked like a charm!

It's at the dinner table .. stop! wait til I get a picture for my blog!










It even interrupts Mickey's dinner..... he kept walking right up to me wondering why I was crouched way down in the tall grass ..........














We take pictures of old pictures.....























.... we take pictures of weeds....... because they look "cute" .....










Sometimes it averts a temper tantrum if we see humour and a photo "op". in a frustrating situation ...... as in yesterday morning........

When this egg hit the floor, all plans for continuing with cinnamon buns was almost abandoned.... after all...it could have been a sign that the rest of the day might not go quite as swimmingly as planned .....











however, ...... perserverance paid off..... yummily so! I even got a few more pics of the buns for my other blog before most of them disappeared... .....

No cats live at my house....

All cats shown on my blog belong to my sister who is 600 km from here. I only see them on the rare occasion of my visits...but it is almost like they are my own. They are all really friendly, loving and we can tell they remember me. Each is special ... each is beautiful and has endearing little habits or traits. I used to have cats of my own years ago... as a matter of fact I used to raise Siamese cats. But... being single and busy for a few years after a major move...I just didn't get more right away...and all of a sudden years went by without any at my house. Then... I just got used to not having any around to wreck things...and now... well, Mr. BumbleVee doesn't really love cats and has terrible allergies..so.... nuff said....













This is Shadow... a little guy that adopted her after she finally coaxed him out of her shed after many weeks to months of trying... he was a tiny wild kitten at that time. The only one to survive of a litter of an unknown Mom.....

 










He is all black ..with greenish eyes... hunts outside as much as all day if nobody calls him home... ...sometimes comes when called. He then hops up onto a small table in the kitchen and waits for his treat... lots of pets and a teensy lick of butter from a finger.... then off he goes to clean and tidy himself. He must remember me from last year because he does not come out for strangers.. AT all. Certainly does not let them pick him up. I didn't realize that and just went straight to him to pet him and he purred and said hi and tried to climb up on me...that was it...V. was very surprised and said "either he thinks you are me or he remembers you". He is a very clever little guy. And...puts himself to bed each night about 9:30 to 10:00..in his own little basket on a dresser.











This is BIG Mr. Thompson who came by way of a sister in law... not sure why. "Mister" weighs in at 22 lbs... in spite of all the dieting, playing and exercise she has put him through in order to encourage some weight loss. Mr. T seems able to hang on to those pounds in spite of her best efforts. Poor Vikki... she is somewhat embarrassed as she never has had a fat cat...and my own sweet Mister BumbleVee really had her going with this cat the first time we saw him. "Oh, my god...Vikki!! Look at this cat!" She ended up laughing so hard it was at the piddling pants stage.... before Greg finished with her and the cat. We all had a good laugh at poor Mr. T's expense. Honestly, it was too funny...but, of course, you would have had to be there to appreciate the humour of it. He just sauntered away when we had prodded and poked to ensure it was lots of fur and not all flab. Poor old guy. (Honestly, I really don't know if he is old...nobody does...but he is not young) All of her life, she has done all in her power to keep her animals healthy and happy and they all have lived to ripe old age... she knows what she is about when it comes to animals let me tell you. She has a horse that has been diagnosed with severe emphysema and the vet wanted to put him down much more than a year ago.. let me show you Mickey too..

























he is fine at the moment...enjoying his life at her house. He still bucks, snorts and "rodeos" when she opens the corral gate the first time in the spring. I almost fell off the fence cuz I was too close when it happened... missed the 10 seconds of wildness with my camera... dang it!! Of course, she does have to wash his purchased hay before she feeds him so that he doesn't cough... it is usually too dusty....and adds holistic things to his mash...and..well, treats him like a big pet dog. (and, I have to say he seems very happy and so does Mister Thompson..so ...there.... ) The big black and white cat has lost a few pounds since he came to stay at the "Fit Farm"... but the best thing is...he is much more relaxed and happy. His overall shape and musculature has definitely changed and he is now able to jump onto chairs and plays outside a lot. He didn't do that at all at first. He was not happy; seemed anxious and unsure of what was happening. Now.... his fur is so much more soft and shiny ... it was awful when I first saw him...stiff and dull. Now..it is glossy, soft and we brush and comb him to get out the old stuff. He loves it. He is like a big brother/mother/dad to little Shadow. Took him under his wing... or paw.. since the first day Vikki found the little kitten. Mr. T. roughhouses like a young cat with Shadow. Hard to believe I know..if you just see him wandering around the house...checking the dishes for a leftover scrumblie.....











Here he is. ... under coaching... trying to do a crunch from his fav position.... uuhhffff... come on Mister Thompson...you can do this !!!











Uhm.... no....I can't.... let me just rest a bit okay?......











Of course, this is Tiffany... hard to play favourites...but, I have to say... I think she is mine. I love that soft, gentle face. A little lady.

She remembers that I know her chimes trick...and that perhaps I can be cajoled into an extra teensy bit of cheese and for sure some extra pets and hugs....

 










Here is her sister, Cleo. Definitely more aloof, but also very soft and friendly. From the same litter of kittens... given to my sister by two young girls at a time in Vikki's life when she herself was having a very tough time. They thought she needed some cats to keep her company. Oh....but they were bad kittens...I remember they almost drove her to distraction..... now look at 'em.....











Oh....here is William..... checking out the steps we built. Yep...he says they will do nicely to aid in his ability to race up and down the side hill "shopping" for mice.
As well as her four "inside" cats.... (who are in and out all day)..... she also has two that live outside. In a huge garage/shed building. For outside cats...they are ultra clean... very friendly... follow us around like dogs... and actually come when they are called. How unlike cats! They are allowed to play outside if somebody is around home...but are kept inside at night and if we all leave the property. He is a lean, clean, mousing machine. His little sidekick Keera is all black and looks exactly like shadow with the exception that she has yellowish instead of greenish eyes..... can't believe I have no pic of her. Such a dainty little black lady. Talks to you all the time..... follows so close underfoot you have to be careful.... absolutely comes to see you right away if called. What a crew. And so much fun.!! ....