Thistleblooms Rambles

[thistlebloom]

I remember my maternal GGma in nothing but dresses. They raised sheep and potatoes on their Idaho dry farm (no irrigation). But my maternal grandma, her daughter wore overalls in all the farm pictures I've seen. She wore dresses and pantsuits when I knew her in my growing up years. Her sister, a farm woman always wore dresses, bought heeled womens shoes then went home and knocked the heels off . I can't imagine how uncomfortable that must have been to walk and work in.
My favorite memories of my mom are in her blue jeans, sweatshirt and bright red Keds. Miss you mom.

 

[Baymule]

I can't imagine life without blue jeans.

 

[Baymule]

There is a T-shirt ad on the right. It says;
Don't piss old people off
Time is short and
life in prison isn't a deterrent

 

[thistlebloom]

A friend and I trailered 65 miles south last Saturday to ride on some different trails. This was the farthest I have hauled Syringa in the sardine can. My friend offered to haul her in her nice slant load, but the last time we loaded her in it she panicked and set back hard as soon as I had tied her. It was not a fun experience for her or I, and I blame myself for rushing her. There will be an opportunity in the future to take her over and take my time to load and unload and let her stand tied in my friends trailer, but I haven't done it yet and so we just hauled separately. But Syringa was a star. We had to go through town with about 12 traffic lights and busy streets, noisy motorcycles and some ridiculously loud diesel trucks idling next to us at the stops. She may have been anxious, but she didn't blow up or have a melt down. I didn't feel her shifting around at all. Yay Syringa.

The trails we rode were mostly single track switchbacks. It was steep heavily wooded country. We came up and out of the trees at a nice overlook where we took a break, loosened the cinches and took the horses bridles off.
In all we rode for 4 hours, and though it wasn't a lot of mileage, and the trails didn't allow for much more than a walk, except for a very few places we could get some trotting in, the horses were whupped by the time we got back to the trailers. All that steep up and down stuff uses a lot of muscle.

At our break stop. My lovely girl.

My good friend, neighbor, and riding buddy on her mustang Zoey.

Zoey broke into song - "The hills are aliiiive... ". Haha.

Syringa and Zoey are the same age, came from adjoining BLM Herd Management Areas ( that's Bureau of Land Management, to avoid confusion), and were captured in the same roundup and held at the same holding facility in NV. So it's possible they were acquainted before we each got them. The difference is, Z was picked by a mustang trainer and trained for 60 days when my friend adopted her. Syringa was on her last chance for adoption when I saw her and was totally untouched.

As well as being an awesome mountain pony she is turning into a pretty fair garden helper. I turned her out loose on the property to graze and she wandered into my new next years garden plot. She volunteered to prune the sunflowers. And she even did a little fertilizing.

 

[farmerjan]

Beautiful scenery where you were riding. Always nice to have someone to ride with and the similarities in the animals also makes for lots of interesting comparisons and conversations. Congrats on a nice day.

 

[Baymule]

I think you need to take her with you to work. She could really be a great help to you with all that trimming!

 

[thistlebloom]

I think you need to take her with you to work. She could really be a great help to you with all that trimming!

Right? Who knows, she could have a real flair for re-landscaping!

 

[Bruce]

I bet she'd be great at re-landscaping (though I suspect the property owners better not be real picky about their plantings).

Lovely ride, it would be interesting to know if the horses remembered each other.

 

[thistlebloom]

Lovely ride, it would be interesting to know if the horses remembered each other.

Yes it would. I have a lot of curiosity about their experiences at the holding pens, and trips to adoption events, her herd life before capture, what her dam and sire looked like, etc...


So today fall blew in at last! It started raining this morning and is supposed to continue into tomorrow, with at least Monday and Tuesday continuing with intermittent showers and thunder showers. The rain is much needed, we have been very dry. The trees seemed to color up very quickly last week, and with today's strong breezes they are already losing their leaves.

But we still haven't had a killing freeze. We had a little frost in September, which dismayed the tomatoes, but didn't kill them, and my peppers were in muck tubs which seemed to be enough protection that they didn't skip a beat. The prolonged summery weather was welcome, but I have found myself getting antsy for some winter.

I think we're ready. The woodshed is stacked with enough wood for 2 or 3 years, and there's enough left in the log deck to keep us in wood for a few years beyond that at least.
My hay is stacked in my new hay barn (I love saying that!) and I have enough to take me into next fall. Next year I would like to buy enough for two years (thank you @farmerjan for planting the idea). Then I will always have enough under shelter in the event of something unforeseen happening to get by for an extra year.

We have room this year for all the vehicles to be under cover, and that will be huge. All the animals have snug dry shelters, and best of all the dog run cover is the only thing I will have to be taking snow off daily this year.
I will probably wind up fat and lazy.

Yesterday I moved my few raspberry and blackberry plants into my new garden space. They got hammered by the chickens this year. Now they are in a fenced in area. I haven't been excited about my vegetable garden for several years, but I'm starting to get a better attitude and motivation for next years season. The new plot will take a few years of soil work to get going good, but with increased sun and no tree root competition it should be more productive.

Heard from Kid#1, he and his crew have been sent to Utah to fight fire. He was ready for a distant assignment. They were staying close to base fighting lightening fires for several weeks. This rain should be a big help to those lingering hot spots. His season will end with October, then he moves back up north here, and we'll get to see him more often.

Now that it's blowing hard, raining cats and dogs, and getting dark I guess I should go feed and tuck in the animals.

 

[Baymule]

Getting back into garden mode is always good. Nothing takes the place of fresh veggies from the garden. Moving the berries out of reach of the greedy chickens is a good move too. Before I got my chickens years ago, I thought they would be more civilized about eating goodies--NOPE! They tear through a garden like kids in a candy store. No saving some for later with chickens. It's all EAT IT NOW!

That's good news from Kid #1, just hearing from him is good news. Getting to see him more often will be welcomed, I know.