Sage Beasties

Sunrise--early Jan.

2012-01-20T13:12:00.000-08:00

Take winter, early morning clouds at sunrise and receive pure beauty.

Hummingbird Acrobatics

2012-01-13T13:39:00.000-08:00

I'm standing waiting for The Guy's big water trough to fill up. I see a hummingbird hovering about 15 feet up in the air, just hanging there. Then he suddenly zooms straight upwards until I can not see him, at least 40 feet up. Then just as fast, he swoops straight down to the ground & pulls out in a curve just above the ground to end up hovering in about the same place where I first saw him. He hovers & then sweeps upwards again, down again, curves again & back to hang place. He did this for nearly 15 minutes without doing anything else until he finally went & sat on a bush for a while.

So, what was *that* about?

Spring has Sprung

2012-01-03T13:41:00.000-08:00

And it has sprung in late Dec/early Jan, which is so wrong. We had a good rain in October and more rain in November & Dec. We had cold weather for late Nov & early Dec. Then the last part of Dec. was warm & dry. Apparently, various birds & plants decided that it was now spring. I have garden plants in full bloom. Various birds are doing spring songs of territory and mating, but not the quail. I guess they know it isn't really spring yet. And the gophers have sprung too. I have a new theory about gophers. They stay dormant in the soil like weed seed and when it is spring, they suddenly pop up all over the place. We trapped 8 of them last spring and had no further problem. This past week, I have fresh gopher mounds in 3 places. Two of the places are in the center of the property, 100's of feet from adjacent property where gophers stay year round. Yep, the gophers just appeared out of nowhere. Traps are going in this afternoon. The Great Horned Owls I have been hearing every morning shortly before sunrise for the past weeks, need to get with it and catch these gophers. One of the owl's favorite perches is the eucalyptus tree near the garden, where one gopher mound is. Maybe those owls are looking in the other direction? The roses are putting out new growth and we haven't pruned yet--yikes.

I am enjoying the warm weather, but it is just so wrong.

Total Eclispe of the Full Moon

2011-12-14T13:52:00.000-08:00

About 5:45am, last Saturday morn, I'm heading out to feed the horses, but the moon is looking really funny. It's not clouds in front of it. Oh my, it is an eclipse and it looks like it will be going total. Wow. What a gift. I had no idea there was one going to be happening.
While I fed, I kept watching the bright part of the moon getting smaller and smaller until by shortly after 6am, it was all gone. I was done feeding & got my camera and managed to get a photo.
Later on The Weather Channel, they said there will not be another total eclipse until April 2014. I am so glad I got to see this one.

It's Hard Being a Cat!--Yeah, right...

2011-11-12T11:16:00.000-08:00

With these two, it's kinda hard to tell where one ends & the other begins.

Working Cat

2011-11-09T11:34:00.000-08:00

Here is the Mighty Hunting Cat at work. The cat is having fun; the rodent--not so much.
The Mighty Hunting Cat's brother is pretending that he doesn't care that the other one is about to eat something.

Recent Telly Watching

2011-10-14T15:30:00.001-07:00

From Netflix, I got the documentary movie, Buck, about Buck Brannaman. It was interesting and worth watching. I do recommend it.
Then, I taped The Cowboy Project off RFD-TV, watched it a few days later and loved it. I was surprised at how interesting and fun it was. At this point in time, there are no plans to run it again on RFD and the event's creators have yet to make a DVD of it. But they will do something, for sure. For more info, check their Facebook & website.

Happiness is....

2011-09-28T13:42:00.001-07:00

A new, young, hard-working handyman!
And he is surely getting a lot done on the place. He has cleared the steep hill of dried weeds & carted them off and now is working on the desolate corner that we have been ignoring for years. Then he will clear behind the red barn & give the dried mustard to the horses to eat, saving himself toting it down the driveway to the pile. Then, there is more work, but I'll be out of money for awhile. But I'll have him up here a bunch when the weeds start growing again this winter. The plan is to keep things nice now after all his very hard work.
In the meantime, middle handyman is about done with the pepper trees that now look like trees again instead of large bushes. And senior handyman will be painting the red barn next month. I've been raking up pine needles & leaves from around the house, again. That tree sheds needles constantly. If I had been thinking when I planted that living Christmas tree back in 1985, I would never have put it where I did. Oh well, live & learn.

Dreamer--younger

2011-09-08T14:27:00.000-07:00

Here is Dreamer in 1995 with her filly, SSM Dream Singer. She doesn't look that much different today; her back has lost muscle tone & has swayed some and she has some white hairs. The filly was sold in 1999 to a family in the Owens Valley.
For the Morgan folks--Dreamer is SSM Dream Fire (Ember Ethan Dandy x Ember Serene), 7/8th Lippitt, foaled late April 1983.

Horsie Conspirarcy to make me Nuts

2011-08-31T14:29:00.000-07:00

Clarion's legs are both doing better. The swelling had gone down considerably in the probably snake bit leg and there has been no further tissue necrosis.
So, since that was doing so well, Dreamer got kicked in the front leg by Sedona. And the kick wound goes clear through the skin to underlying tissue which means I have to clean it twice a day & really watch it. I am hoping we can escape without antibiotic use, but that remains to be seen. At 24 hours this morning, it is looking good but it is too early to tell.
Sedona got moved this morning. Dreamer has been dominant over Sedona but Dreamer is getting old (28 years) & Sedona is pushing. Neither one can quite maintain dominance over the other & that makes problems. I am sure that what happened is that Dreamer went to move Sedona off some hay & that Sedona let go with a kick while moving away. It is a situation that won't get better by itself & could end up fatally for Dreamer. So Sedona got moved. She is not happy about it, but will get over it.
At least, the weather has dropped back to lower heat--mid 90's & into the low 60's at night. That makes a big difference for me when I am out there doctoring a horse!

The Late Summer, Too Hot Blahs

2011-08-25T11:04:00.000-07:00

I'm still around, just haven't had anything to say or photos to post. The weather is hot and I've had about enough of heat. I haven't been riding for a couple of weeks and won't start again for another 2 to 3 probably.
Both handymen are back in action. Senior Handyman is putting up screening in the big gap between the barn eaves & walls as wildfire protection. He found a good place to buy the screening that is used in the security screen doors & that is what is going up. This will stop flying embers & sparks from blowing into the barn & setting the hay on fire. This is something I have wanted to do for a while but never had the spare money. I decided I would never have the spare money so just get it done. The screening was reasonably priced; the labor is the expensive part. It is nearly done. Not-So-Senior Handyman is back in action now & is working hard trimming the snow damage from the pepper trees. Yes, snow damage, from way back in February. Other things have taken priority here. He is also cleaning up the chamisa, AKA greasewood, from around the pepper trees and the pump house. That really needed to be done for fire safety.

Horses doing good. Clarion has 3 troubles right now and 2 are mysteries. I am not sure if it is wishful thinking or not, but I think I see some improvement on one mystery. If the other mystery is indeed snake bite, well, that is just going to take a lot of time.

Ah, well, this too shall pass.

The '59 Caddy Septic System

2011-07-30T10:31:00.000-07:00

I was chatting with a friend the other day. He's a realtor & told me a story from the late '90's. He had sold a place and the buyer's bank required a septic system certification. After fruitlessly looking for the thing with shovels, a backhoe was hired in & started digging. He got a call to "come see this!" and saw the most amazing septic tank ever seen.
A previous owner of the place had dug a really large hole and pushed into it a 1959 Cadillac--tail fins and all! Then the waste material pipe from the house was run into the Caddy's trunk, the windows rolled down and the whole thing covered back over. The solids stayed in the car and the liquid flowed out the rolled down windows.
Ingenious, yes. Up to code?--not hardly!

Snubbers Lives On!

2011-07-19T13:55:00.000-07:00

This photo was taken Feb. 1987. Snubbers (Ryegate Nubbinette) is on the left. Her daughter, SSM Bessie Nekomia (by Quietude Westward) just had a filly! A full Lippitt filly to carry on the line. Bessie looks a lot like her dam; I haven't seen her in person since she left here back in '99 (or '98 I don't recall for sure), but I've seen photos and she still looks a lot like Snubbers. Snubbers looked a lot like her dam. Bessie's two colts have the look also. I'm sure that this newest filly will also have the look.

I am so very pleased.
I still miss Snubbers. She passed on Dec. 2009.

The Reindeer Dog

2011-06-22T11:46:00.000-07:00

So I'm opening my store yesterday morning and a very pretty and elegant little dog trots by, with no collar or leash, followed by her person, a guy in a motorized scooter chair thing. The dog was something I don't often see--a Basenji cross. I'll note here that my family got a Basenji back when I was in 4th grade, which was the early '60's, when these great dogs were still rare in this country.
This dog had the red Basenji color with Basenji white points, short Basenji hair, and Basenji look. She lacked the wrinkles in the forehead and her tail was not curled tightly over her back but was Basenji shape & length. She was shorter then a pure Basenji and not as deep. I figured her for a Basenji Chihuahua cross, which I have see often on Petfinder; someone in So. Calif. is breeding this cross.

I approached the guy and commented on how pretty his dog is. He beamed. I then asked what sort of dog is it? He proudly replied "She is a reindeer dog."
Pause, while my brain attempted to comprehend this fact.
I guess I looked puzzled because he then added "Think of the color of a doe in the forest. She is the same color."
My brain still could not grasp this. So I said "I asked because she looks like a Basenji cross to me."
He got huffy and said "She is a Reindeer Dog!"
I decided that this conversation had run its course and told him again how pretty she is and how she so obviously enjoys going out with him. He beamed again and said what a great dog she is.
As I walked back into my store, I said to myself, "Reindeer dog, my foot. I still say she is Basenji/Chihuahua cross."

Crackers

2011-05-24T10:28:00.000-07:00

Crackers, my Amazon parrot, died Sunday morning. In typical bird manner, he showed no sign of illness until he was extremely sick, and then died shortly after.
I've had him 18 years and do not know his age. He was given to me by someone to whom he was given because they did not want him anymore. He came with no information.
It wasn't supposed to end this way. He was supposed to live a long time yet. I'll miss his raucous ways: the way he would make the dogs howl by squaking in just the right tempo & pitch; the way he always was happy to talk with me; the way he muttered "ruck you ruck you ruck you" under his breath (he came with that); the loud cries at both ends of the day; the way he imitated the ravens; and all his other things.
Fly free, my friend and enjoy being with other parrots, eating your favorite foods, making dogs howl, and talking with humans when the mood hits you.

Happiness is

2011-05-06T13:58:00.000-07:00

having both my handymen running the Swisher string mowers in the weeds. They got a lot done & now I can actually see my property, instead of 3-4' high mustard.

Domenigoni Trail Ride

2011-05-03T12:02:00.000-07:00

The weather was perfect for this ride, which raises money for Diabetes research & children's camp. There were about 150 riders, sent out in 3 groups, although the first two groups merged together at the lunch stop. The ride is 10 miles with 3 rest stops, and wanders through the Domenigoni Family land and some MWD land also. All this land is normally closed.
The following photos are a selection of the 55 or so I took. I took lots of pictures of individual horses that caught my eye but am not posting those here. The photos are in order from the start of the ride to near the end.

Domenigoni Charity Ride, Pt. 1

2011-05-03T11:58:00.000-07:00

The west dam of Diamond Valley Lake.

One of the stock ponds hidden in the hills.

Domenigoni Charity Ride, Pt. 2

2011-05-03T11:53:00.000-07:00

Three of the Mounted Sheriffs that rode.

Domenigoni Charity Ride, Pt. 3

2011-05-03T11:49:00.000-07:00

Yes, that horse is standing all by himself, completely unattended. He did that at the two rest stops our groups overlapped. Very well trained to stand tied without being actually tied.

My Eyes are Filled with Wildflowers, Part 1

2011-04-26T11:40:00.001-07:00

These were taken near a friend's place in an area that burned last summer.

My Eyes are Filled with Wildflowers, Part 2

2011-04-26T11:35:00.000-07:00

Wild Water Tastes Better

2011-03-25T14:14:00.001-07:00

Here is Autumn Wind preferring snowy, icy wild water to his clean tub water in the barn.
I like this photo for the tongue & the drips.

Circles of water---

Icy and good.

Drips from the lips

In the barn, during the snow

2011-03-04T13:05:00.000-08:00

SSM Spirit Seeker, mournfully saying "I'm wet." To which I replied "You have a nice selcection of stalls here (the 3 geldings have two stalls & the alcove which opens to the arena which they can roam) so it's your own fault you got wet."

Dreamer (SSM Dream Fire) and Beans (SSM Cloud Fire), being older, get the run of the asile way and a stall. The stall opens to a small pen they use as their bathroom. Dreamer will be 28 in late April.

Lil' Red, close up.

The TWH mare, Sedona, in her stall.

More Snow!

2011-03-02T11:55:00.001-08:00

Woke up Saturday, Feb. 25 to snow. There was about 2 inches on the ground. During the day, it snowed off and on. These photos were from the heaviest snowfall, which happened in the afternoon. Because it kept melting back some, we never did gain more then about 2" accumulation; but a whole lot more kept coming out of the clouds.

SNOW!!

2011-02-23T11:25:00.000-08:00

I went outside Sunday morning to see this--4" wet, heavy snow that had fallen overnight. At an elevation of 3000', we do get at least some snow most years. But this was the best snow in several years.

And here is Lil' Red watching me take photos.

Spring is Coming

2011-02-22T11:34:00.000-08:00

1987--Lippitts in the Snow

2011-01-21T10:45:00.000-08:00

This was our big Feb. 1987 snow. On the left is Snubbers (Ryegate Nubinette) and on the left is Robbie (Heathermoor Rob Rita). Snubbers was 3 at the time and Robbie was 4.
I like the snow on Snubber's ears!

A Sunny Day--finally--but not warm

2011-01-12T11:52:00.000-08:00

It wasn't warm, but the sun was out. So I invited the cats out into the yard (I open the door, call "Cats Outside!" and get out of the way.). This is Summer Clouds, aka Mr. Dominant, also aka The Big Guy.

Notice the collection of stuff starting to accumulate on him as he rolls.

And more stuff. A lot of the leaf debris did make it into the house.

Rain & Snow

2011-01-04T14:35:00.000-08:00

The storm this past Sunday night into Monday gave us the closest snow we have had this season. There was snow on Cauhilla Mtn (5500') but none on Little Cauhilla Mtn. (5000'). Close, but so far. But the snow was heavy on Mt. San Jacinto, San Gorgorino, the San Bernardino Mtns & the San Gabriels. Lots & lots of beautiful snow.
As to rain, yeah we got some. This is a La Nina year, where So. Calif. has colder then usual temps (yep, that has happened) and less rain (nope, that has not happened yet). So far in Oct. Nov. & Dec. I've measured about 14.5 inches. We had a freak heavy rain in mid October to start the season. Then unusual rains in November, then December really cut loose. During the "Pineapple Express" sequence of rain, we got 8.5 inches in 6 days. This was not a record, but close. Back during an El Nino year in the 90's we got 9 inches in 4 days. However, we did get a new record for 24 hours--4 inches from noon Tuesday to noon Wed. beating out the old record of 2.5 inches in 24 hours.
Yeah, lots of wonderful rain to soak the ground and recharge the wells.
Now, if only we can get some snow at my place!

Driving to Hemet, Pt. 3

2010-12-14T13:51:00.000-08:00

This is at the south end of State St. San Jacinto Mtns. to right.

This area used to be all farms. Here is what is left now.

Almost in Hemet now.

In Hemet, driving east on Stetson Ave, looking at Mt. San Jacinto

Driving to Hemet, pt. 2

2010-12-10T10:50:00.000-08:00

On Sage Rd., looking north.

Still on Sage Rd., still heading north.

Yep, Sage Rd. north again.

Out of St. John's Grade, on the lower part of Sage Rd. This is where I get my hay & feed. Now called Diamond Valley Market, it is better known to us old-timers by its original name, Big Pete's.

Driving to Hemet, pt. 1

2010-12-08T13:57:00.000-08:00

I took these this morning, driving down to Hemet from home. This top photo was taken on Red Mtn. Rd. looking west. The flat mesa, below the skyline mesa is where the Nature Conservancy has a preserve. Lake Skinner is to the right. The road on the right hand side is more of Red Mtn. Rd.

This one was taken a bit further down Red Mtn Rd. The mountain way off to the west is part of the Santa Ana Mountains, know as Saddleback. I grew up in Orange County, on the other side of those mountains.
Another view from Red Mtn. Rd, looking north west.

Now on Sage Rd, a view north to the San Gorgonio Mtns., nearly 12,000 feet tall and snow capped.

Bald Eagle & Bobcat

2010-11-30T11:09:00.000-08:00

Last week, I saw a Bald Eagle while driving into Hemet. It was sitting on a utility pole near the lake. Rarely, are these big birds seen here.

And over the weekend, I got to see my resident bobcat strolling out of the barn with a rabbit in its mouth. That's one less rodent to be a nuisance.

November 1996

2010-11-03T14:34:00.000-07:00

Hard to believe these photos are 14 years old; but the horse pictured, SSM Autumn Wind, is still with me and I know he is 14! These were from his weanling age, taken after a good rain. The arena has become a lake and he is having fun with it.

Clouds & Rain

2010-10-29T14:11:00.000-07:00

A mid-August thunderstorm with rain.

Rainbow

2010-10-16T11:17:00.001-07:00

Swainson's Hawks

2010-10-13T14:05:00.001-07:00

I left early this morning to go by the bank on the way to my store. Coming down off the hill, I looked over some fields and saw 4 groups of about 20 birds each, circling around. They were fairly high up but I could see they were not ravens or anything else I recognized. I pulled over to look better. There were different color variations--some were very white on the underside, some were dark on the underside, and others were various in betweens. All had a dark band at the end of the tail. I kept thinking they sure looked like hawks, but hawks are solitary.
Finally, a memory surfaced--in Borrego desert each spring, volunteers sit out and count the Swainson's Hawks as they migrate. Well, what migrates north in the spring has to go south in the autumn. These were Swainson's Hawks! WOW--I've been here 27 years and have never seen them. I was just in awe to be able to have seen them, all heading towards Borrego. If I had been 5 minutes different down the hill, I would have missed them. Wow.
I checked a bird book at my store and sure enough, they were Swainson's. The color differences are typical of this hawk.
Wow...

More Fun with Snakes

2010-09-15T13:08:00.000-07:00

Sedona is doing quite well. She acts as if nothing happened at all. The swelling had gone down a bit but remains rock hard. The wound is not currently enlarging.
The following story happened about a month ago. It was a hot day and I was in the house watching a DVD from Netflix. I finished and when I turned off the television, I heard a noise. It was a noise I did not recognize. I followed it to the front of the house and realized it was coming from the cat patio. About the time I looked out the window I knew what it was--a rattlesnake--and a very large one and very annoyed from the sound of it. The cats were circling in a semi-circle around a corner under the steps. I was able to safely open the door and snatch up each cat and toss them inside. I got a look at the snake under the steps. Oh my--all coiled up and rattling loudly and just huge. It was as big around as my upper arm, probably a 6 footer.
Now what?! The only way I could shoot him would be to lie down on the concrete and aim under the steps. I was not about to lie down anywhere in the vicinity of that snake. By the time I finished dithering around and looked again, the snake was gone. I suspect that as soon as I removed the cats, the snake got out of there fast. My theory is that while the cats were asleep on the table, the snake came onto the patio to be on the cooler concrete. When the cats woke up and jumped on the steps, it awoke and annoyed the snake who then started rattling which made the cats curious, albeit cautious, and the circling predators annoyed the snake further. The snake was in a corner with on where to go and the cats were not going to leave. I broke the stalemate.

My question--Sedona does not know about snakes. Many dogs have to have snake training to beware snakes. So, how did the cats know? They are house cats and have been so all their lives. Do other cats know? Or was I just lucky with my cats? When I ask them, they just give me a look!
I have more snake stories but I also have customers in my store who require my attention so I'll get back to this Friday.

Snake Bit--Again

2010-09-10T13:59:00.000-07:00

So, yesterday around 10 am, the fog had broken up & the sun was shining and the flies were waking up and it was time to get the horses dressed w/their fly masks. All the horses were just fine. Around 2 pm, I went out to clean & refill a water tub. Sedona, the TWH mare, parked herself behind me and demanded attention. I turned around and did a double take; I knew what I was seeing but just could not believe it. Immediately behind the corner of her mouth was a big, rubbed raw wound with swelling. The swelling was hard as a rock. The wound had two points of origin. I was looking at a rattlesnake bite.
The wacked part of it? This same horse got bit in the same place 2 years ago.
I looked at her; "Geez mare, didn't you learn from the first snake encounter?!" "You have now proven that my cats are smarter then you." (cat vs. snake is a story for another time)
I trekked down to the tack room and got Betadine solution, gauze, providine ointment and horse cookies. Don't need a halter; as long as I have cookies or carrot slices, she stands for all necessary treatment just fine. Back up the hill to sort her out from the other 2 horses so they don't chase her off for the cookies. Yep, there are indeed 2 points of main damage, one of them a nice deep pit of already dead flesh. As I am cleaning off the smeared blood, I note that it looks like she has another set of fang marks on her chin. I call over Senior Handyman and he makes the same observation.
I put in an emergency call to my vet who returns my call promptly and we discuss what to do. Turns out he is getting ready to leave on vacation and he took my call because he recognized my phone number. The word is to start her on Bute or Banamine (I chose bute because it is cheaper) and antibiotics. He knows I already know about cleaning it for as long as it takes to heal and what to watch for that may need a vet visit.
When I go to give her the bute, the swelling has increased but continues to be very localized around the corner of her mouth. Same as last time, her head does not swell up. The vet said two years ago that some horses seem to contain the venom near the injection site while others spread it and have more problems.
Three hours later, the swelling has either stopped or gotten so slow that I can't see the increase and she has stopped rubbing it. I will attribute those to the bute but have no proof of it being so. She is happy to eat dinner and her soaked hay pellets with oats and SMZ.
This morning the swelling has stabilized and she has refrained from further rubbing. She enjoys the cleaning w/betadine, with cookies. She enjoys getting the SMZ, with soaked feed. But she hates the syringe of bute. Oh well, 2 out of 3 ain't bad!
If this is like before, we are in for a lot of tissue sloughing as the venom kills flesh further from the injection site which means lots of cleaning to keep the necrotic tissue from causing infection and to keep the fly eggs out. The location prohibits any true cleanliness and of course wrapping/covering. The best I can do is to cannibalize a piece of mesh off an old fly mask and use a diaper pin to pin it to her mask to hang down over the side of her mouth. It does keep off a surprising number of flies. Last time, which had less swelling and a smaller initial wound, it took a month of daily cleaning and another month of sporadic cleaning to fully heal.
Really, mare, AGAIN?!

More Sunset

2010-09-03T13:40:00.000-07:00

Sunset

2010-08-28T10:51:00.000-07:00

I stepped out my door one evening to see this...

A Man with a Machine

2010-08-25T10:52:00.000-07:00

Here is my senior handyman with my brand new Swisher String Mower. They are having a fine time taking down the weeds.
Senior handyman got his own Swisher several years ago and it has been a hard-working, dependable, easy to maintain machine. Seeing what an excellent piece of equipment the Swisher is, I finally went to Lowe's and got one of my own.
Should have done it years ago...

Saddle Fire

2010-07-20T11:31:00.000-07:00

This started Thursday July 15 with a lightning strike in the middle of a non-inhabited area of about 20 acres of brush. Then it jumped the paved road & burned a bunch more. This was right near where my dirt roads meet the paved road. It is 2 miles by road and about 1 1/2 mile away straight line. The road there is Empty Saddle Trail, so the firefighters named this fire, Saddle Fire. One neighbor was right up near there on his cell phone because the entire area was down due to a major equipment failure of Verizon's. He didn't see the strike but sure heard the thunder right behind him.

Here the fire is finishing up on my side but has hit a thick patch of brush on the other side of Red Mtn Rd. on the right where the huge upwelling of dark smoke is.

And here it is running out of stuff to burn. Shortly after this photo, I joined a bunch of neighbors out on the road to watch the mop-up and share information, since none of us had working phones. (Now it is Tuesday, and we still have no phones)

Saddle Fire, con't

2010-07-20T11:26:00.000-07:00

A bit out of focus, but showing the flames & some of the fire trucks.

Cactus Fire

2010-07-20T11:20:00.000-07:00

The brown smoke on the left is coming from the saddle fire on the other side of Red Mtn. Rd. The big upwelling of white smoke on the right is from the Cactus Fire which is about 3 to 4 miles away in a straight line. At this point, the wind was out of the SW which was pushing the fire away from us, mostly. That one burned hundreds of acres before it was over.

Saddle Fire--the next day

2010-07-20T11:04:00.000-07:00

The fire ended up at about 80 acres with most of it on the other side of Red Mountain Rd. This is the 20 acres or so on my side.

Here is some of the orange fire-retardant chemical the plane dropped.

And here is how the fire crew stays hydrated! They must buy it by the pallet. I hope they recycle all those bottles.

The Mighty Hunting Cat Does It Again

2010-06-16T10:57:00.000-07:00

Choice of Photo Captions--
The Mighty Hunting Cat resting up from the hunt.
OR
The Last Thing the Prey Sees

So, this morning, I walk into the living room to find my Mighty Hunting Cat crouched by his kill. A Rabbitt!? What?!
The only outdoor access the cats have is the fully enclosed cat patio. The lower part is fenced with standard V-mesh wire fencing and I know the rabbits can get through that when they are young and not fully grown. I've been putting chicken wire on the V-mesh of the garden area to keep the darn things out. Why did a rabbit go onto the cat patio? Perhaps it was in the garden (I've not finished the chicken wire project yet) and decided to leave via the cat patio--where the Mighty Hunting Cat was waiting. I found a small amount of fresh blood on the patio floor but the rabbit looked unmarked.
Sadly, I had to take the rabbit away as I really did not need rabbit guts and hair all over the house.
I really wish I had seen that catch.

Truck Adventures

2010-06-09T13:33:00.000-07:00

Another blog got me thinking about my adventures with trucks. I never had a problem while towing horses, thankfully. But we had our interesting moments.
I have had two full size trucks. The first was a 1972 Ford 3/4 ton that I got in 1983. It now lives with one of my handymen. That truck hauled a lot of hay when I was buying hay from a farmer. 23 bales would be loaded up and up the hill we would go. Every once in a while, I would get careless and go too fast on my dirt roads & have a top bale come rolling over the cab onto the hood & to the ground. One time, it stayed on the hood so I just left it there & drove home. Then there was the time I heard a loud "whump" and looked back to see my spare tire in the road. The tire holder had died of old age & rust. So now I had a big heavy tire & a fully loaded truck. I dropped the tail gate, got the tire up on the gate & used my handy pocket knife to cut off some bailing strings & tie the tire in place.
My other truck was a 1980 Chevy 3/4 ton that I got from my parents in 1995. That truck had pulled their 5th wheel RV across the country and back and all over the west. That truck was made to tow. It got 10 mpg hauling a big load or cruising empty and was happiest doing work. Big Blue pulled my heavy big stock trailer easily as well as pallet loads of bagged concrete, gravel, concrete block and what ever we threw at her.
Like The Ford, Big Blue was made to do a job, not be a decorative truck, and had a solid truck bed that could take a beating. The huge engine needed a big battery to crank over and ate a few hang-on parts but that engine just kept going. While my dad had her, she developed an exhaust system leak that no one could ever fix--not the dealer nor any of the mechanics who tried. All agreed it was the exhaust manifold and it gave a her a deep, sexy rumble. You could hear that truck coming up the road for some distance. My other handyman now has her and she still has that sexy rumble.
The Chevys of that time did have one flaw and it was the electrical system. My parents found out the hard way that the "Black Box", the module mounted on the inside wall of the distributor would just die at 20,000 miles. The first time it happened, they were in the mountains and suddenly had no engine, no brakes, no power steering, no anything electrical, and barely any shoulder to pull off onto. No one ever figured out why that happened, but it was easy to prevent. One of the times Big Blue had to be towed was when she would not start at a gas station. I called for a tow and sat there and waited, receiving angry glares from others who were mad that I was blocking a pump. I did make the offer to one young man that he could try pushing my truck out of the way; he declined. Once the tow truck finally showed up, he declared it was a dead battery and would jump it for me, despite my assurances it was something else. But he knew more them me! He hooked up the cables & told me to turn the key. I did & flames shot out from the back of the engine compartment. Yep, that was a dead battery problem, alright. Without a word, he hooked us up to tow. On another occasion, another electrical problem stopped us at another gas station. And the third tow was yet another electrical problem, which happened at home so a tow truck had to come in and out the 2 miles of dirt roads.
Big Blue had to be moved by a tractor once, but that was my fault. I was at a horse clinic and it had snowed the night before. I got there in the morning & parked my truck to the side of their driveway. Later that day, I wanted to leave. I had parked on a slight slope and the snow had melted, creating a slushy slippery layer on top of non-slushy not as wet ground. Big Blue did not actually slip on the mud but moved the entire top layer around and never could find purchase to get going. It was a good thing the clinic sponsor's husband had tractors.
My trucks were old, somewhat beat-up and obviously working trucks, but I got a lot of offers to buy them where ever I went. Those old trucks were hard working and tough and the engines went forever. And they both are still out there working for my handymen.

Hestia Twilight--a time too short

2010-05-18T10:28:00.000-07:00

I got her from a county shelter the end of October 2008. We had a little over a year together which was very good. She was a loving and happy cat, sleeping on me at night and in my lap during the day.
Then problems started. By April, she was responding very well to the Gargline insulin. But there were still other problems. For some, we found partial solutions. For others, not so much. And finally late Sunday she developed something major and I had to take her to the vet to be put down Monday morning.
Was the final thing fixable? I don't know. But I had reached the end of what I could do, both emotionally and financially. I feel very bad that I put her down mostly for my own mental health but in retrospect, I don't think she was all that happy. Before, she loved to be on top of me, in my lap or on my chest when I laid down. But for the last months, she became hypersensitive, wanting to be on me, but unable to bear it for more then a brief time. On my lap, she had to lie mostly on the chair with only a small part of herself actually on me. In bed, she could only lie near me and could not be touched. She became needy instead of loving. About two weeks ago, her voice changed, becoming deeper and louder. Something was not right.
As I was cleaning up the house late yesterday, removing tarps from the beds, finding and cleaning up more dried urine puddles under the bed, removing the baby gate from the other bedroom, opening the walk-in closet door, one of the other cats jumped up on the now un-tarped bed & I raced to remove him in case he was going to pee on the bed. That's when I it hit me how much strain I had been living with and how my trust was shattered. The other cats were happily using their litter boxes, all the messing had been her. This morning I found myself checking the house for poop or pee in the wrong places; a little PTSD, much?
I think she had been telling me, in one of the few ways available to her, that she needed to leave. And I think I knew that, at that deep unconscious level, but I was holding on and she was still somewhat undecided too. Until she knew for sure and told me for sure. But it still hurts, a lot.
I have to picture her with her own angel, with no other cats in the house, having a lap all day and a bed all night, snuggling and being loved and healthy.
She deserves no less.

Early Morn in April

2010-05-05T13:33:00.000-07:00

This is the view from the vantage point where the dirt roads meet the paved road where I was waiting for the electrician to arrive. This is looking east.
From the same vantage point, looking southwest.

And this is the dirt road heading out, dipping down to Willow Culvert.

The electrician arrived right on time. The fix was simple, merely replacing the big circuit breaker in the main box that led to the house's circuit box. It had gotten wet and burned out.

Now that I have full electricity at home, the store has no water (see the curtsbookshemet.blogspot.com blog).

One of Those "Interesting" Days

2010-04-22T12:04:00.000-07:00

All started out very nicely this morning. Not only did we get about 3/4 inch of rain, but we got an inch of snow. The weather geeks were wrong again--the snow level was about 1000' lower then predicted.
After feeding the horses, I came in to feed the cats and myself. My oatmeal was cooking in the microwave and the furnace was on, and then, the microwave and the furnace disappeared. This was not a good thing.
I checked the circuit breaker box on the house but all circuits were on. I flipped them all off while I went down to the workshop to drag out the other microwave & carry it back up the hill and flip the circuits back on. I had my suspicions about the old microwave. It is about 20 years old and I think I heard it make a funny noise yesterday. I found a plug that was on, figuring out that over half the house was without electric now. My oatmeal finished cooking on the bedroom floor.
I played w/the circuit breaker some more but to no avail. At 8 o'clock, I called the person I know at the outfit that services my heater/AC & he agreed that since the furnace is on its own dedicated circuit and that since other circuits were down, the problem was in the circuit breaker. The breaker is as old as the house, age 27 years, so no surprise that it finally died when something went wrong w/an appliance. Or it just finally decided to die. He did recommend an electrician whom I promptly called. He will be out tomorrow morning.
The outlet for the refrigerator was dead, so I got a short extension cord and ran it from an outlet that was working. I also have kitchen lights and all the electric in the west two rooms as well as the stove in the kitchen.
I am probably a bit paranoid or obsessive or something, but I did not want electric in the house while I am gone today. If part of the circuit board is bad, I do not trust the rest and with the cats in the house I decided to take no chances. So I flipped the master switch on the main circuit board that comes off the electric line. It has two big breakers, one for the house & one for the workshop/tack room and water well down below.
With no furnace, my house was a cozy 55 degrees when I left this morning. Since I usually run the house 60-62 in winter, it wasn't really that bad.
When I get home, I'll flip the master breaker, plug the refrigerator back in, and get on with the usual. Tomorrow I'll wait for the electrician to call, drive out to the pavement & bring him in, and then spend the big bucks getting a new house circuit breaker board.
It's always something...

A Sunny So. Calif. Spring--not

2010-04-21T13:41:00.000-07:00

This photo was taken in Feb. after a storm put some snow on the Palomar Mtns. It may soon be looking like that again as a late spring cold storm is coming through. We got about 1/3 inch of rain last night with more in the forecast for tonight & tomorrow. Snow levels are to be down to 4,000 feet which will just miss us at 3,000 feet. It is cold--40 when I left home this morning at 9:30--and very windy. The horses, who are all shedding, are wondering what happened to the nice warm weather. I'm glad I have this nice barn to stash them in for the night so they can get out of the wind and wet. They'll be going in tonight. We do need the rain and it is very good to get such late rain.

2010-03-12T11:22:00.000-08:00

With the frequent rains this year, the moss and lichen is very happy. These are my Western Redbuds and their moss collection. The brown things in the tree are the dried seed pods. Pretty soon these trees will be bursting into bloom--covered with magenta flowers.

Cat in His Proper Place

2010-03-03T14:28:00.000-08:00

The cats own the house and can go where ever they please. He likes the kitchen table.
And those two brown books on the bottom of the stack are two old AMHA Registry Volumes to help w/my Old Morgans blog.

2010-03-03T14:23:00.000-08:00

Cloud Reflections--in my arena

2010-02-24T12:09:00.000-08:00

This was my arena after the last big rain. And probably what it will look like again after the storm coming in this Friday/Saturday.
Very pretty. Very useless as an arena!
I've also had ducks swimming in it.

TB Friends

2010-02-19T10:21:00.000-08:00

If you do not already read Joe's Morning Journal, read today's.
tbfriends.com
Heartbreaking, but uplifting.
He does rescue right.

Riding with a Coyote

2010-02-15T08:28:00.000-08:00

Recalling the dogs and the horse I was riding, this must have taken place in ’92 or ’93. It was a beautiful late spring morning and Fancy Lady and I went out for a ride. The dogs, of course, came along also and traveled at least twice the distance Fancy & I did as they cast about here and there and everywhere.

We were about 2 miles from home and heading back. The two “black and whites”, Nova and Maggie Mae Smith, were in the lead, dog trotting along with ears bobbing up and down. The two half-sisters, Diana and Chocolate, were in the rear, also dogtrotting with tongues lolling. I heard a rustle in the brush to the side of the road and out came a coyote. The coyote settled in about 12 feet to the side of Fancy, level with her shoulder. The dogs in front whirled around for a look and the two in back feinted at the coyote but stopped in bewilderment when the coyote ignored them. The coyote kept time with Fancy and the dogs gave way and fell in behind.

So we traveled down the road—horse with human aboard, 4 surprised and puzzled dogs, and one coyote.

The coyote was in good health with good weight with a slick and shiny coat. Her gaily raised and waving tail allowed me to determine that this was a female. She hardly gave me a look, and Fancy, after the initial look at the new canine joining us, ignored her as she did the dogs.

We reached the mile point and continued onwards. As we passed the half mile from home point, still in formation, I was wondering if she was going to come on home with us. Finally, at the bottom of the driveway, the coyote veered off, back into the brush as dogs, horse & I continued up the driveway. The dogs watched her leave, and they were still puzzled by this visitation of a coyote who did not run from them and who was not interested in them.

To this day, I cannot know what that coyote was thinking. But it remains a shining moment in my life.

Cupboard Cat

2010-02-10T08:37:00.000-08:00

This is Sky Dancer, who gets up onto the bathroom counter & then opens the cupboard and makes himself a nice cave. He sometimes stays in there all day long. I don't use the towels on this shelf as they are now his bed. MY towels are on the next shelf up.

The Symptoms of Feline Diabetes--and how I missed them all

2010-02-06T11:20:00.000-08:00

My little Calico cat, Hestia Twilight, has just been diagnosed with diabetes. My vet called early this morning with the results of the tests and we have an appointment scheduled for early Monday to get started on her lifelong insulin injections and monitoring. After doing some Google research this morning, I see how all her behaviour changes of the past few months were diabetes symptoms. If I had known then, what I know now, I could have caught this sooner and avoided my trip to the emergency vet the other night with what turned out to be a bladder infection (a result of the diabetes).
The first thing that changed for my extremely finicky eater was that her appetite increased and she was eating nearly double her usual amount. But instead of finally gaining weight, she started to drop weight, although it took me a while to notice the drop as she has always been a thin & bony cat ever since I got her 1 1/3 year ago. The next thing that happened was that she started to play in the water dish. She would scoop her paw into it and lap off her paw and then stand in the water while lapping directly from it. Was she drinking more? That was hard to say as she was making such a mess of it. She certainly was hanging out there more and that also is a symptom. Then, she started to pee in front of the litter boxes on a sporadic basis. I really could not tell if she was urinating more often, but she was making more clean-up for me. And finally, she stopped playing with her ribbon toy.
And all that list are symptoms of diabetes. Who knew?
What finally got us to the vet was her behaviour when I came home that night. She was pacing all over and stopping to squat every few feet but no pee was forthcoming. This is an absolute sign of lower urinary tract distress, usually an infection of the bladder. Since it was after hours, I had to take her to Temecula to the emergency vet clinic. She received an injection of a new antibiotic, Convenia, that lasts for nearly 2 weeks, thus eliminating the need for forcing a pill down a cat. She also had sub-q liquids as she was dehydrated and some electrolytes also. Their in-house blood work showed all was normal except for high blood sugar. The follow-up visit to my regular vet and further blood test and urine sample showed high blood sugar (although not horribly high) but very high sugar and ketones in the urine.
Now we will began the adventure of diabetes care.
Oh yeah, and the irony of it all? My two Maine Coon guys, who came from the shelter horribly overweight and still need constant diet monitoring, are diabetes free.

Ryegate Nubbinette, 1984-Dec. 21, 2009

2009-12-21T11:11:00.000-08:00

This morning, Dr. Dan Heistand & I had to help Snubbers over. She had been having troubles and finally, before things got real bad for her, I made that hard decision. Without a necropsy, our best guess was a lipoma starting to strangulate her intestine. She enjoyed about a half dozen carrots this morning and peacefully crossed over.
She was a special and unique horse. She happily went her own way all through her life and always had much enthusiasm. She never knew where she was going, but she got there with enthusiasm. When I would open the back gate to send the horses to the barn for rain or Santa Ana winds, all the horses turned left towards the barn--except Snubbers who took the scenic route to the right and got to the barn on her own good time. She was scritchy buddy with Beans, but most of the time didn't feel the need of a herd.
I have a multitude of Snubbers stories...
We were very very privileged to have had her in our lives. Now she romps the universe--with enthusiasm.
The following 3 posts celebrate her life in photos.

Snubbers, pt 1

2009-12-21T11:07:00.000-08:00

In Vermont, at Lester Welch's Ryegate Morgans, meeting Snubbers for the first time. She wants to take David for a walk.

Early summer, her yearling year.

2 years old and not wanting to stand still.

3 yrs old, at the opposite end of the acreage from the other horses.

1989, her first foal, SSM Nubbin's Aaron Moro.

Snubbers, pt 2

2009-12-21T10:59:00.000-08:00

photo by Carol Dzindzio, age 5

Taking David for a ride, with enthusiasm.

For a brief while, she lived with Mike & Darlene MacDonald, Ramona CA. She had a colt for them. Here she is w/David, doing her Medieval War Horse stance.

Taking David for a ride, again with enthusiasm.

Snubbers, pt 3

2009-12-21T10:54:00.000-08:00

Early Summer 1995, w/her filly SSM Bessie Nekomia

Summer 1997, photo by Julie Heise, Claire Wagner in photo.

Winter 2005, a year of El Nino rains and lots of good eating. This is very typical of Snubbers. The other horses are one place & she is off by herself. Yes, that is a burned-off hill on the other side of the road. We were in the middle of the 3,000+ acre Milton Fire, July 2004.

After the Rain, pt. 1

2009-12-15T13:35:00.000-08:00

Spirit Seeker and Lil' Red charge up the hill upon coming out of the barn after 4 days of on-and-off rain.

Lil' Red is nearly flying.

It Takes a Village to Tend a Sick Horse

2009-12-07T10:15:00.000-08:00

Snubbers, age 25, was not doing well Sunday morning and so I called my vet. After we discussed all the symptoms, he said it really sounds like she has sand in her intestines. It has been well over 10 years since I've had any sand problems with my horses because I continually improved thier feeding areas to prevent sand and I had not even considered sand as the source of her problem. A check of her manure showed no sand, but it is not a definitive test as the sand can be in there but not coming out in the manure. And her symptoms just did not fit anything else. In times past, back in the early to mid-90's, the vet would tube with about a pound of psyllium and mineral oil to move the sand. But that particular brand of psyllium is no longer being made and all other psyllium will simply clog the pump and tube. So the answer is to give her Banamine for comfort and feed oat hay and psyllium in the hopes that the sand will get moving. I had Banamine on hand and gave her a shot and she perked up a lot about 30 minutes later. She even ate some psyllium. But I had no oat hay and I no longer have a truck.
I called my feed store, which is open on Sunday, and they were willing to make a special trip out with some oat hay. While they were organizing that, I called my friend & handyman, Mike, and asked if perchance he could make a run to the feed store. He could! I called back the feed store & told them he was coming. I surely do appreciate that the owners of the feed store were willing to do extra for me--hats off to Big Pete's, aka Diamond Valley Market.
So Mike brought up 3 bales of Forage Hay--oat hay, barley hay & wheat hay. Snubbers chowed right into that and has been eating that happily.
But, I was down to only one more dose of Banamine. Over the years, my vet and I have had various "drive-by drug deals on corners" as we call them. One actually was on a corner, as I waited there for him so I could pick up some meds. Other times, I have chased him down to another ranch, and sometimes he brings meds to me at my book store. I called him and he dropped off more Banamine for me this morning at the cleaners next to my store as he was down there very early. Thank you Lewis Cleaners for my strange request that you hold a bottle of horse medicine for me.
It is now more then 24 hours since her last dose of Banamine and she is drinking water, eating her forage hay and has a good demeanor. We may be over the worst; I certainly hope so. I am truly grateful for the people who went the extra mile for Snubbers & I.

Thankful

2009-11-25T11:31:00.001-08:00

Clarion, age 29, and Autumn, age 13.
Lil' Red, age 7
On left, Sedona, age 13 TWH. Middle, Spirit Seeker, age 13. Background, Beans, 21 yr chestnut. Way in the back ground, Snubbers, age 25. Dreamer, age 26, did not make it into the photos that day.

The horses are thankful for sunny warm days.
(Photos taken mid November 2009)

I am thankful for my 3 cats who help me to smile every day.
I am thankful for the horses who continually challenge me and help me to grow and learn.
I am thankful for all those who are helping those who need help.
I am thankful for family and friends.

More Cats Enjoying an Excellent Mid-November Day

2009-11-21T11:21:00.000-08:00

Find the Cat

2009-11-17T15:06:00.001-08:00

Cat Found

2009-11-17T15:04:00.001-08:00

Happy Cat

2009-11-17T15:03:00.000-08:00

Autumn Wind--the next week

2009-11-12T10:36:00.001-08:00

Now Meg & son had their own corral and all was good. Until a week after his birth, that is. My vet was out for something I no longer recall and we were walking past Meg's corral. That corral sets lower then the driveway so we had a nice over view. The vet stopped and looked at Autumn Wind and then headed down the embankment towards the corral. I followed along with some puzzlement. Once inside, he pointed out to me that Autumn's legs had gone mildly knock-kneed. We both knew that he was not born that way and had not been that way on his first day, but some where in the following days, this had developed. The vet lifted each front leg to look at his feet, then checked out each leg. He told me to take the hoof rasp and with a few swipes trim down the outside of his feet. Foals tend to wear the insides lower as they spread their legs to reach the ground. He didn't want the feet lowered on the outside, just to keep his feet level in order to prevent the knees from further turning inward. I would need to be checking his feet every few days and probably rasping every 5 - 7 days. I also needed to keep his toes round--really round. Foals have pointy feet which normally is not a problem. But we needed his feet and legs to be able to break over squarely forward and for that we needed round toes. I had to round all 4 feet. That was the easy part.
The other part was that I had to restrict his running around which would put more pressure on his legs and would cause more deformity. I hate restricting foals to small areas but sometimes you have to do what you have to do. We figured out which panels to move where & I got the job done later that day.
So we rasped and we glared at the small pen. But it worked. By weaning time, he had wonderfully correct legs and today he wears his hooves (he is barefoot) in a lovely balanced manner without undue wear to one side or the other. My farrier loves his feet and legs.

Autumn Wind--the second day

2009-10-31T10:26:00.000-07:00

Since the little colt had trouble with the heat on his first day, I decided to put him & Meg in the barn the next day. I fixed it up so they also had space in the aisle way and I put the two big box fans running in the stall and aisle. Autumn Wind had a good time exploring the new space and Meg settled in to eating her hay. All was well.
Until late afternoon when Meg started to colic. I had no reason to know for sure, but really believed that it was because she was in the barn. I gave her a banamine shot & moved them back outside that evening.
The next day, I finally had time to call her former owner and was telling her about Meg's colt and the ensuing troubles. The former owner said "Oh, we never could keep Meg in the barn as she would always colic. We had to keep her in the pasture all the time."
Well, gee. It sure would have been nice of her to tell me that so I could have saved Meg & myself a whole lot of stress.

Autumn Wind, the second day--Something About Meg

2009-10-23T14:25:00.000-07:00

Returning to 1996, before continuing the saga of Autumn Wind, newly born, we need to know something about Meg, his dam.
Meg was not exactly my most typey Morgan; but she did have good using horse conformation & a wonderful pedigree heavy in the old Brunk Morgans (registered name, Kennel's Amarillo Meg). I first knew of Meg many years before I ever had her. Some folks in Missouri found her at the Iowa home of her breeder, an elderly man who was not doing so well anymore. Meg had been born in a pasture, raised in the pasture & was bred & had her foals in the pasture and had little contact with humans. She went to Missouri with a colt at side and when the Missouri folks went to register the colt, found that he did not bloodtype (this was the days before DNA) to the supposed sire. Opps. It took time & money & work, but finally the colt's sire was found. He was now a gelding in another state.
The Missouri people had told me about finding Meg, sent me photos, and kept me updated on the sire search. There was something about Meg that spoke to me. But it was some years later before she came up for sale. I did not hesitate; I bought her.
I knew that she was untrained so had her shipped direct to my trainer. She arrived with a hoof abcess so spent some time standing in a bucket until that resolved. Jennie (shown mounted in the photos) got her going nicely under saddle.
However, the sellers left out a lot of information about her that I had to figure out as we went along. Meg never gave indication that she had ever been abused, but she surely did not really trust humans. It was obvious that she had been a pasture broodmare and rarely handled and saw no real need for humans. But her good nature allowed her to tolerate hoof care and training and handling with good grace.
She did have sporadic mystery colic. It would happen only at dinner feeding & would go away after a shot of banamine. She had no sand that we could detect in her fecal matter and we just could not put a reason to her colics.
And then came the day after foaling. [to be continued]

Hunting Cat Follies, Part 2

2009-10-04T10:57:00.000-07:00

Feathers Everywhere!

I arrive home from the store to find feathers all over the living room. Apparently one of the cats managed to catch a bird on the cat patio & of course brought it inside. Feathers were on the couch, under the couch, in the bookcases, under the computer table, in the photo album table, drifting into the kitchen and dining room and heading for the bedrooms. This is not the first time they have brought a caught bird into the house but it is a rare occurrence. A lot of vacuuming later, the feathers were cleaned up.
I really don't like it when they get a bird. But I figure that any bird that can be caught by front claws removed cats (done before I ever had them) deserves to be removed from the breeding population.
I would rather they catch rodents which are destructive and messy and noisy (Ever hear one chewing on your house? It gets very loud.) and dangerous (They will chew the insulation off electrical wires.). Oh well, the cats do have fun.

Hunting Cat Follies, Part 1

2009-10-01T15:33:00.000-07:00

Oh, Mighty Hunting Cat, it is 2-freaking-30 A. M.!

I was comfy in bed, in that state of not really awake, but neither asleep, when I heard "Sproing" from outside on the cat patio. It was the sound of a cat bouncing off the fence of the cat patio. I knew what was to come next, and, sure enough, next came "Thud. Crash. Flapppppp." This was the sound of a cat blasting into the house through the cat flap. Then came the "Yowwwl. YOWL!" as he called me to come and admire him and his catch. I got up, turned on a light, and admired him and his caught mouse. While I am always glad when he catches a rodent coming into or out of the house, I did wish it was not 2:30 in the morning. He then proceeded to play with it for nearly 1/2 hour.
A while back, I read in a book that domestic cats play with their catch because they are not hungry enough to eat it. They have the instinct to hunt, but not the hunger to turn off the hunt instinct and eat it. So they continue to hunt what they have already caught. And that is why they often do not eat it at all or eat only choice parts.
The Mighty Hunting Cat often does not eat his catch. And when he does eat all or part of it, he usually barfs it back up shortly afterwards.
I did get back to sleep, finally, with one less rodent living under the house.

Samantha

2009-09-19T13:03:00.000-07:00

After she was weaned, she continued to eat sand but I had enough of chasing her in the arena. I got Cloud Dancer, my main riding gelding, got her, and started to pony her. We all survived doing it in the arena so we headed out on the roads. I generally had the roads to myself whenever I rode, so I started to turn her loose once we were away from home. She loved it. She and the dogs were roam around, galloping here & there, while Cloudy & I walked along.
One lovely spring day, early in her yearling year, we headed out during a record migration of Painted Lady Butterflies. We got to the top of a hill, in a meadow setting, and the butterflies were so heavy in numbers that I saw her through a curtain of butterflies. It was one of those shining moments that shall live forever for me.
Sometime during the summer, she stopped eating sand and I was able to put her in the front lot with other horses. More time passed and after doing ground work with her at home, I sent her out for riding training. She arrived there, looked around, found the feed and chased off the other horses & settled right in. Her training went well and while there her person found her from my ads in California Horsetrader. She is still with that person, riding the trails and doing dressage.

The Vulture Convention

2009-09-11T10:48:00.000-07:00

When I was about 1 1/2 mi out my road the other day, I came across a vulture convention. There were four of them on two different electric poles and another 3 flying about. After a while, another landed on a pole, then they all flew off.
From a good authority (someone who used to work at a wild animal park), I have been told that they have soft "kissable" heads.

Samantha--Sandeater!

2009-09-04T12:43:00.000-07:00

Round about 2 months or so, I found that Samantha had become a Sandeater, and ever worse, a Dedicated Sandeater. She would stroll around the arena, taking in large mouthfuls of sand. I tried moving her to a less sandy pen but she just found the sand and continued to devour it. For the night, in desperation, I shut her & Rebecca into a stall that had stall mats. The next day, I had delivered a truck load of more stall mats. The stall had a 10' x 20' pen off of it and I was going to stall mat the entire thing. The barn supply truck stacked up the mats right near the pen's back gate & I went to work, dragging those 100 pound mats into place in the pen. Once done, I opened the stall door and let them out. Samantha promptly checked for a spot with sand but she could not find a weakness to exploit in her hunt.
Since young horses need space to run, I got her & Rebecca out into the arena twice a day, every day for a run. Rebecca had a good roll and Samantha would run--until she ran off some energy then started the search for sand. Then I got to run after her and get her moving again. I had also started spooning psyllium into her mouth to clean out what sand she had already gotten and what she was still managing to get. The results of the first day of that was dramatic. Her poop the next day was the unique charcoll gray color of heavy sand. She did not especially like eating the psyllium, but did not really fight it either and most of what I spooned into her mouth did go down into her.
So we all survived. She was weaned at about 5-6 months and then I had to figure out a new way to exercise her as I was now doing more running then her.

Samantha

2009-08-25T14:24:00.001-07:00

Samantha was the fourth, and the last, of the mating of Clarion and Rebecca. It was a good cross and we had planned to keep doing it, but such was not to be. As the foaling date got closer and Rebecca started to show signs, she was moved to the barn and given free run of the arena. Early one morning, just getting light enough to be able to see outside some, I saw that she had a foal just born. Within 20 minutes the filly was up and nursing heartily. Rebecca happily started eating and all looked well. Later that morning I left for work and asked a friend to keep an eye on the pair. I got home that afternoon to hear from my friend that she felt that something was wrong. There was nothing overt, but Rebecca just seemed a bit dull. The afterbirth had long passed that morning before I had left and she was not showing any actual signs of pain or distress. But something was off. I checked her vital signs and saw that her gums were a bit pale and her heart rate was a bit elevated. So I called my vet.
By the time he arrived, Rebecca was showing signs of pain. After an exam, the vet decided she had experienced an uterine hemmorage. This is usally fatal to the mare. However, he felt that hers had stabilized, likely forming a clot in the ligament and stopping the bleeding. He advised giving her Banamine and keeping her quiet in the stall for 5 days. Poor Samantha had to be locked up in the stall with her mom for her first five days of life.
Finally, on day six, we allowed them into the small pen attached to the stall, and then into the arena where Samantha promptly showed her love of running. Rebecca declined to run with her and was content to watch her from the hay pile. Rebecca went on to be just fine but I was unwilling to risk her life for another foal, so Samantha was the last. Rebecca became my riding horse for a while before moving on to another family to trail ride and ride in parades. Samantha went thru a sand eating stage, but that is another story.

Samantha Flying

2009-08-16T14:42:00.000-07:00

SSM C Samantha Ash, foaled 1990 (Clarion of Quietude x Rosemont Rebecca)
Photo taken when she was a late 3 yr old.

Cat Duplex

2009-08-09T16:05:00.000-07:00

I had put this bench on the bed so I could vacuum. Once I was done, the cats took over.

The Flicker Family

2009-07-25T11:30:00.000-07:00

There have always been red-headed flickers up here but last year and this year have seen a population explosion of them. Last year, I kept seeing 5 of them at a time, all grouped together, and this year, I have seen as many as 8 together in a group. I had a drippy faucet last year, and they would hang out around it to get drinks. One would sit on the faucet and bend over to catch drips. Another would be hanging onto the side of the riser, waiting his turn. The rest would be swooping from the nearby tree, trying to chivvy the ones on the faucet to hurry up. Sometimes, one of the tree birds would manage to drive off a faucet bird and then take his place. All this would be done with much screeching and raucous chittering. The faucet was replaced last winter so this year's family do not hang out there now. I see them a lot on the electric pole outside the back door. They will be clinging to the side of it, sitting on the cross beam up above the transformer, and flying about from here to there. Eight of them are a lot nosier then five of them. It is rather like a group of teen age boys, each showing off to the others. And shouting non-stop. If this group is like last year's, I'll be enjoying their antics well into the fall.

The Raven Family

2009-07-21T14:18:00.000-07:00

For the past weeks, I have had company every morning while I feed the horses. A raven family appears every day and hangs around while I toss hay. The two juveniles are only a bit smaller then the parents in height but more noticeably smaller in fullness and girth. However, it is their behavior that gives them away as being youngsters. They spend most of their time bothering their parents for food with their open mouths right in the parents' faces while they make raucous loud noises. The parents try to ignore them but always end up giving in and stuffing their caws with regurgitated, yummy food. Watching this daily morning performance, I have learned that the inside of young ravens' mouths is bright red, likely making it a better target for the parents. The youngsters are absolutely tireless, and never ever give up. They are capable of finding their own food and can do so, but prefer to badger the parents and get the partially digested food from them. Being ravens, they are smart and fearless. They know the horses are no threat and walk around them at will. They are slightly wary of me, having learned that I am no threat to them but since I am a strange being, they retain some wariness and will move if I get to about 3 feet away from them. One of them is starting to figure out that sitting real near a bucket of senior feed while a horse eats, just may garner a reward of spilled good stuff as the horse dribbles some feed about. This could prove to be an interesting development to watch.

They add enjoyment to my early mornings.

Fireworks

2009-07-05T16:16:00.001-07:00

I have a grand view of the professional firework display put on by the city of Temecula. From my place up in the hills, I can see it just fine. I have enjoyed the display for many years now. Last night, I got to see two displays. There is a new one east of the Temecula display. It was fun to see two going at once. The fireworks are so bright, that even at the distance of 15 miles or so, it is nearly too bright for my eyes. I could never be close and watch them. In a fine display of how sound travels slower then light, the boom of the fireworks arrived after the lights were visible. I could hear the fireworks from the north, over at the Soboba Indian casino, but the high ridge nearby blocked the view.
Without the hassle of being with a crowd or putting up with traffic, I was able to enjoy the displays.

How to Talk to your Animals by Jean George

2009-06-27T10:52:00.000-07:00

The book should be called "How to Listen to Your Animals" as it is really about that. It does a good job of explaining different domestic animals' face expressions, body language, use of ears and tails and what it all means. By paying attention to the different vocalizations of the animal, valuable feedback into the animal's state of mind can be gained. I found the book interesting and a fun read. However, I did find the chapter on horses to be her weakest one. She had some things right on and some things, not so much. The chapter on birds was interesting as those are the ones I know least about. I laughed a lot in the dog and cat chapters as she was so right about their "language". Yep, that's a cat, alright, I kept saying to myself.
All in all, this is a book worth reading.

Autumn Wind, the First Day--July 1996

2009-06-23T14:45:00.000-07:00

The mare, Meg, continued to have no signs of impending birth, so I left her out on the back hill lot with the other horses. She wasn't really due for a few days yet, so it was not a surprise that nothing was looking ready yet.
However, it was a surprise, to come out one hot July morning and see her standing by herself with an extra set of legs behind her. Oh, nuts.
I fed the other horses, gathered up a rope and a grain bucket with grain and headed out to her. I caught her and moved her and the colt into the birth pen. Oh well, better late then never. He looked healthy and fine and had been nursing. Meg was ready to eat and settled in with her feed. I went out for a look for the afterbirth and finally found it way over in the other corner of the 2 acre lot. While looking I also found little tiny hoofprints everywhere. It looked like Meg had taken him on a tour of the entire 2 acres, up and down the hills and ravines.
Later that afternoon, despite having shade, the little guy was not feeling so well and was actually panting. A call to my vet got me draping him in cold wet towels and moving him into the shade and keeping him there. He came out of it and his temperature dropped. My vet, who was in a series of emergency calls, decided that since he perked up so quickly, he could wait until the next morning's scheduled foal check appointment.
Once the sun went down, the colt was frisky and happy again. But I decided to move them into the barn the next day for better sun protection. What an epic that turned out to be.

to be continued

The Mighty Hunting Cat Scores Again

2009-06-15T15:51:00.000-07:00

So I'm sitting at the table yesterday when a movement on the kitchen counter, seen out of the corner of my eye, gets my attention. I look and see a really large mouse; except that around here something that looks like a really large mouse is not a mouse but a young rat--a teenager rat. Our rats look like huge overgrown mice more then the classic rat. The teenager rats are bold, audacious and lack good judgment. I just hate it when a teenager rat ends up inside the house as they are hard to catch and very persistent. And they will sit there and flip the finger at me. This one ran across the top of the stove-oven unit and down the vents in the back of the oven. Oh grand, a rat in the working parts of the oven. Within a few moments, it was back on the counter again. I made a run and nearly got it by the tail. I heard it coming back up again and this time went and got the Mighty Hunting Cat and put him on the counter. He heard the rat and waited. He watched and made his move but missed in the confusion of the stove top elements. The rat came back and this time headed towards the other direction and ended up on the floor behind the refrigerator. The Mighty Hunting Cat hunkered down in front of the fridge and waited. He took a dinner break and a potty break but returned to his vantage point. When I went to bed at 9 o'clock or so, he was still there waiting.
Shortly after midnight, I was awakened by cat yowling. It was Summer and he was heading towards the bedroom--"yowl. Yowl. YOWL!" I flipped on the light and in he marched with teenager rat in mouth. Another bad piece of judgment for a teenager rat. I did not know a cat could yowl while holding a rat in his mouth. I petted him and praised him and he went off to the living room to play with his prize. Not much later, he joined the rest of us in bed. The next morning I found the uneaten rat on the floor.
Good job, my Mighty Hunting Cat.
And he does this without the use of front claws as his previous owner had him declawed.
Teenager rats--zero; Mighty Hunting Cat--5 (all that have come into the house)

The Peppertree ate the Water Line

2009-06-08T16:18:00.000-07:00

Shortly after moving up here, a pepper tree planted itself and grew and grew. We just left it alone and let it grow. The only problem was that it was right near the water line from the pump house to most everywhere else.
Finally, last Thursday I came out of the tack room to see a pond of water with water bubbling up out of the ground near the tree's trunk. It had happened at last. The tree had busted the water line. I turned off the electric to the pump at the circuit breaker box (can be seen on post in the photos) and called Joe, my handyman. We decided it made no sense to just fix the busted part and it was much more sensible to move the water line. I sent him off with some cash and a list of PVC pipe and parts needed.
The next morning he went and rented a walk-behind trencher (Ditch Witch), which can be seen in the one photo along with its own little trailer, and visited Home Depot for the rest of the stuff. My other handyman, Mike, got up here and they went to work while I was at my store. I got home that afternoon to find a dejected Joe. While cutting trench with the Ditch Witch, he had cut the electric line to the well. It was not only in the same trench as the water line, which we both should have figured ahead of time would be the case, but it was right on top of the water line, which is not the optimal way to do things. The new water line was laid and ready but Joe needed some parts to fix the electrical line.
I was just glad, again, that I have a 4,000 gallon tank of back-up water. It is only gravity flow, but it does give bucket water for the house and my 100 foot hose reaches the horse's water troughs.
The next morning, Joe returned the Ditch Witch, which was well needed as the ground was really hard down there, and visited Home Depot again. By the time I was home Saturday afternoon, all was back in place and running. Mike came out this morning to backfill the trenches.
Just another day in the country!

The photos above show the water line eating pepper tree, the trenchs to move the water line around the tree, the pump house in the background, the ditch witch and the work in progress.

Sand Colic

2009-06-02T11:49:00.000-07:00

Posting on Fugly Horse of the Day blog comments got me to thinking about sand colic. Our ground is sand, de-composed granite and composed granite. Wonderful stuff, except for feeding horses. In the early years here, I fed psyllium but found that did not work. My vet and I worked out a proceedure for tubing psyllium to each horse about once a year. Then, finally, I was able to get stall mats from a local dealer.
These were 4 foot x 6 foot and weighed about 100 pounds. I could pick one up and drag it into place, but could only go a short distance. But drag them I did, one stall after another until all 8 stalls were done and also the "Alcove" which was the first 12 feet of the aisle that opened to the arena and was fenced off to make a stall. I had my handymen do the run-in shelters.
Once the horses were eating off the mats, we had no more sand colic. There was some maintence involved. The mats needed sweeping off periodically to remove the sand the horses tracked onto them. Rodents burrowed under them and so they needed to be pulled every few years and the floor re-leveled. And the ones in the larger run-in shelters would move and had to be reset as needed.
When I am doing some heavy duty maintence on the mats, I just console myself with remembering scary colics of the past.

Top of Sage Road

2009-06-01T17:34:00.000-07:00

Here is the view from the top of Sage Road, heading down to Hemet. The two mile grade is known as St. John's Grade and used to be marked as such on old marks, but not anymore. The origin of the name is unknown.

Calico Catatude

2009-05-22T13:04:00.000-07:00

My sister, the family cat expert, warned me. Other people warned me. But I went and got a calico cat anyways--and could not be more pleased!
She does indeed have attitude, as promised. She is loving and friendly until I do something she does not like and then she becomes a hissing, spitting, whirling devil who will bite if she feels I am not doing right by her. So far, only rear-end cleaning has caused that reaction; so it is a really good thing that she rarely has poop problems.
She surely has attitude towards the two Maine Coon guys. She does not like them. She does not like them in her house (even though they were here first). She does not like them near her. She will launch unprovoked attacks at them, spitting and hissing and batting them in the face. She will launch provoked attacks at them in the same manner. But we all co-exist anyways.
She can be demanding--"PLAY WITH ME NOW!" She is very fussy about food and will go hungry until something she likes is in her bow. She wants only canned food, chopped small with gravy or sauce, and only the right flavors.
I am sure glad I went and got her and added her to the household.

Oh-oh, one of the cats leaked out

2009-05-15T15:17:00.000-07:00

The cat patio is fully enclosed with v-mesh wire on the bottom and then chicken wire on top. The guys did a real good job and it is well-secured with no gaps at all. The bottom photo is of Hestia and the v-mesh wire. My bedroom is one wall of the cat patio and if the cats rub on the wire fence at all, it really reverberates in the room.
The other night, it sounded like the cats were having a major rub fest against the fence; and it went on, and on, and on, and still more. Finally, the noise stopped and I went back to sleep. In the morning, I got up and dressed and headed out to feed horses. I stepped outside the back door and there is a cat sitting in the weeds by Cracker's cage. I looked at Sky (top photo)--he looked at me. [[long pause]] He meowed and sauntered up to the door to go back inside. Of course he had gotten into the weed seeds--fillare, needle grass, fox tails and more were firmly wedged into his long hair all over his body.
After several grooming sessions with different tools and a final polish by hand, he was weed seed free.
And how did he get out of the cat patio? That remains a mystery. I cannot find any gaps in the fence anywhere or any of the v-mesh that has been pushed apart. Somehow, he just got through it.

Garden--coming along

2009-05-12T13:46:00.000-07:00

Instead of digging individual holes for each plant, Mike dug out the entire space. Then he lined it with plastic coated chicken wire to keep the gophers out. In this photo, I had done a lay-out of the plants. Then I took them out so Mike could put the dirt back in. My other handyman, Joe, looked at this and said it looked like a backhoe had done it all--yeah, Mike the human backhoe.

2nd step of the garden--Yikes!, Dikes

2009-05-09T10:35:00.000-07:00

All the time I've been up here, I have joked that we have no soil. Our ground consists of granite, decomposed granite and sand. The good part of this ground is that we never have mud. The downside is that it is impossible to dig when dry.
Mike, the handyman, spent the first hour scraping off about 1 inch of the top and making small dikes so we could soak the area. Once this stuff is wet, it digs easily. This photo was taken after the second day's work. There is some more digging to do, so more dikes. And, yes, that corner is higher. That was less decomposed over there and much more composed.

And so it begins... The New Garden

2009-05-08T11:22:00.000-07:00

Here is the before photo. This space is off one end of the house and was nothing but hard ground and weeds. A few weeks ago, I decided to make it into a flowering perennial garden.
The fence is used v-mesh wire and left-over t-posts and was put up back in 2006. The gate was a freebie from the person I got the used v-mesh. The old bar-b-que is heading for Salvation Army soon.
First step--have the idea.

Lil' Red part3, Today

2009-05-07T16:15:00.001-07:00

This photo was taken early this morning.

Lil' Red, Part 2--Reflections

2009-05-06T10:39:00.000-07:00

Lil' Red has had an interesting life. I got him late last November when he was 6 years. The young woman who had him had gotten him just about a year prior to that when he was 5 years. She had gotten him from a place about 30 miles from me; they had him for just a few months. Before that he was out in the west central Nevada desert at the ranch of a Morgan breeder who is, ahhhh, let's be polite and say, "interesting." She does feed her horses but they live in small pipe panel corrals and are rarely touched. Lil' Red did get gelded (so his contact with humans was having feed thrown over the fence, being weaned, and being gelded) but that was all. When the So. Calif. folks went to load him, they had to set up chutes and chase him into the trailer and do that in reverse once home.

They were busy building their place so did not do anything with him and finally the young woman I got him from found him. She wanted a project horse. She told me that when she went to get him, she spent about 30 minutes in his corral, doing Monte Roberts style "join-up" and then haltered him, taught him to lead & loaded him. Then they went down the freeways to Los Angeles, Burbank to be precise. So here was this little horse, used to quiet, now in a busy boarding stable whose back fence was the freeway fence. Quite a change in his world.

The next day, she took him to the round pen, which sounds simple until one learns that the round pen is across the Los Angeles River & must be crossed by a suspension bridge which, while solid, did move underfoot. She said he checked it out and followed her right across. The training went well and he truly bonded with her, becoming a good trail horse as she rode in Griffith Park and a good lesson horse as she gave lessons to horse loving girls.

Then, he came to me; back to a quiet and rural world. Of course he did not know me at all and I had to earn his trust and his respect. Right from the start, he challenged me on the ground and under saddle, living up to the part of his pedigree which contains opinionated and argumentive horses. I was pleased to see it as I am not only used to those horses but bred them and rode them for many years. He had a lot of "druthers", as in "I druther not do that!" and we worked thru each one. Under saddle, he was a bit hot which I finally figured out was due to the feed, and he had some worry which caused him to want to go fast. We had good rides, a few not so good rides, and mostly mixed rides.

Then in mid-January I hit a bad spell with the flu from hell and weather that discouraged riding, so he did not get ridden for about 3 months. During that time, I changed his living arrangements, moving him in with my stallion, Clarion, and then moving the both of them to a new paddock. Lil' Red started out very socially inept. He now is ok with Clarion, who bosses him around, but still inept with the other horses. He and Clarion have become great buddies and Clarion gives him the leadership he needs. One of the fascinating things about this horse is that when I am riding him or leading him, he is mostly brave. But loose in the paddock, he is very timid unless he can follow Clarion.

I started riding him again last week and I am very impressed. That lay-off did him a world of good. He has settled in to his new home and he now trusts me much more. While I was not riding him, I was doing some work with him in his paddock, working thru some issues of him thinking he had to protect his food from me and not wanting to be touched unless I had a halter. He is much happier now.

I really like this horse. He is a good trail horse who will just get better with the miles. He is a solid thinker, but can become upset with high adreniline in the wrong situation but the thinking part of his brain is still there. Two rides ago, he got real worked up about a large log at the side of the road. He wanted to flee. I got off, pulled down the lead to his halter & got his feet moving in half circles, backing up, and whatever, saying "if you want to move your feet fast, fine, but we'll do it my way." When he wanted to slow down, I took it. Then the thinking part of his brain was there. He was still scared of the log, but also very curious. It was a wonder to watch--first we approach the log, then have to back off, then approach, then arc out around it, finally to walk right up to it and try to eat it. Then I got back on and we had a grand ride, looking at the wild flowers. I like a thinking, curious horse, one who can with some help, think his way through a problem. As my farrier, told me, "you would be bored with a simple easy horse; you like those complex ones." And that is so true.
Part 3 to come

Lil Red--photos on his first day here in Nov.

2009-05-05T11:24:00.000-07:00

I took these photos on his first day here at the end of November. He was a bit thin and looked nothing like a Morgan.
Now, many pounds later, he still doesn't look like a Morgan, but at least his weight is good and he looks much better. I'll take current photos of him later this week now that he is nearly done shedding.
Back late December, the weather was warm and he was receiving some Senior feed to help him gain weight. He started to blow his coat! He had great chunks of hair coming off, leaving him nearly bald in spots. The hard feed also was making him hot to ride and after a really bad ride, I stopped the hard feed. He had not been getting much, but it was more then enough for him. His weight was nearly up to optimal, so I added in a bit more soaked beet pulp pellets instead of the Senior. His temperament cooled and he stopped blowing his coat.
I am just so delighted with this little horse.
Part 2 to come