Happy Birthday, to My Middle Baby!

Today is B's birthday!!! He is the Big 7 today!!

Don't you love the candles? We were at my parents' house to celebrate B's birthday with my folks and Mom only had a few birthday candles. She looked around until she found these beauties! B thought it was great, but it was a little hard to blow all seven out at one time with them being different heights. I am sure his birthday wish will still come true.

Say "cheeeeese!"

Here is B with one of his amazing Lego creations. He makes the most incredible things! His birthday wish list mostly consisted of specific Lego kits that he picked off the Lego website...and a Wii.

Happy Birthday B!!! We love you and hope this is one of the best birthdays ever!

Family Photos

Not only did we visit Filly today, we spent a good portion of the day with my Dad before his big surgery tomorrow. Here are a couple of photos of my parents, my red headed brother (G), hubby and kids. (My oldest brother will arrive this coming Saturday - can't wait to see you GE!)

This will be a busy and stressful week, but we are looking forward to getting this surgery behind us tomorrow and onto the recovery! Dad has a lot of living left to do! (And a fence and barn to build!) :) WE LOVE YOU, DAD!!

A Visit with Filly

We were finally in town over the weekend, the first time in three weeks, so D and I went to see Filly. She resides at a close friend's farm in Shorter, about 20 minutes from Pike Road. Filly developed sweet itch last year and L was kind enough to let us move Filly to her place to see if it helped. Well, it certainly did!

We went from this last September (total self mutilation):

To this! (Photos from today)

We have a MANE!!!!!

And her tail is growing back in...

No more open wounds...

She is a little sun bleached and a bit fat, but happy, happy, happy.

I'll take that ANY day over the horrible sores and rubbing.

Here are D and Filly - Filly is sporting D's new saddle.

We just bathed and longed her today. It is too hot and humid for any real work. Poor D was too hot to even sit on her, so he just led her around for the photo shoot.

L has been so generous to let Filly live with her ponies. We moved Filly to Shorter in March hoping the bugs wouldn't be as bad. Apparently the culecoides gnat is really bad in Pike Road these days and horses can develop an allergic reaction to the gnat saliva. Boy, it sure is awful. My old girl Maggie suffers from it too, but not nearly as bad as Filly. If any of you have ever had problems with sweet itch, please share your stories and possible remedies. I want to bring Filly back to Pike Road, but I don't want her to begin rubbing again.

If the move had not helped, or if she begins to rub again, the next step will be allergy testing, then allergy shots. So far, the move has worked. Keeping my fingers crossed that if we ever get her to Prattville, she won't rub here either.

The Comfort of Horses

To me, my horses serve as a major comfort zone. I relax around them, in their quiet, gentle manner. They are my therapy.

(Maggie)

My Dad is to have open heart surgery on Monday. He had a heart cath. this past Wednesday and the blockages were too great to put stints in. He will have a triple or quadruple bypass, depending on whether the doctor is even able to do the fourth.

This is the time I wish I had my horses right out my back door as I did growing up so I could just go be with them, to free my mind. I don't feel stressed or anxious when I am near them; I feel at peace. Their quiet presence, gentle sighs, and liquid eyes are such an amazing comfort. They don't advise me on what I should do, they just listen patiently and maybe swap a resting hind foot as I unload all of my worries.

(D and Tonto)

Yesterday we spent some time with my Dad (in Pike Road, where two of my three horses reside - Maggie and Tonto). My oldest son D and I bathed the horses since it was too hot to ride, then we had a small photo shoot - my Dad, my kids and the horses. It was quite humorous as my three year old daughter refused to keep her shirt on because it was too, too hot....and it was a great distraction from the huge looming surgery that we are all feeling quite nervous about.

I know all will be well and go well with the surgery, but I can't help but feel anxious. We all love you so much, Dad, and we will all be waiting for you when you come out of surgery. I can't wait for six months from now - Dad should be feeling like a new man with all of those new pipes!

Ever Had One of These?

Meet "Bunnicula."

Yes, Bunnicula. That's the name you get when you let your 9 year old son name a white rabbit. "Bunnicula" after the main character of the Celery Stalks at Midnight books. And after 3 years with a "house rabbit" my husband wonders what he was smoking the day he agreed to let me (er...the kids....) buy a baby bunny at a local pet store. Bunnick started out as this adorable ball of fur...

and lived in a little cage like this:

until the bunny that was to be no bigger than 5 pounds grew like Clifford, The Big Red Dog....

and eventually needed a Great Dane dog crate to stay in comfortably when she wasn't lounging around the house.

Bunnicula was supposed to grow up and live outside in a hutch like all of the other bunnies in this world, but after reading a lot on the internet and enjoying watching her explore the house, I just couldn't kick her out.

For me, she is the closest to owning a horse indoors. If you think about it, she eats pellets and timothy hay and I bed her "box" (litter box) with Equine Pine bedding...yes, I have lost my mind. But I absolutely love Bunnick, and I guess she kind of likes me. I work from home, so I sit at the computer a lot. Bunnick lays at my feet and waits for a pet every now and again. She is a wonderful companion to our household. Sometimes she even comes when you call her name. (Unless she is lounging in front of the heater...in which case, she will not budge.)

This is my view as I sit at the computer, typing away...

Yep, she's getting a little pudgy around the middle...may be time to cut back a bit on the pellets...oh, and if you're wondering, she is supposed to be a cross between an Angora and Mini Rex.

Guess What?!?

There's grass on that there hill!!!

All of our hard work didn't wash away after all!!!! From what it looks like now, the damage may not be nearly as bad as I thought!

Here are some photos from today:

Watering it, since it doesn't look like we are getting rain soon....

The photo above shows where the major washing took place. There are a few spriggs of grass here and there. Not exactly sure what we will do with this area yet, but HCG1 and Sunny have given us some really great suggestions!

GRASS!!!

The photos below are of the bottom of the hill near the ditch. There are some really nice green spots down there! Maybe it will spread?

The photo below shows the major wash area again. There is even a little grass popping up here.

We planted bermuda grass this time around, bahia grass this past winter (as recommended by the man at the feed store.) He said both were tough and would spread. I looked at my parents' pasture yesterday and they have a lot of bermuda grass. It was gorgeous after all the rain it has gotten lately. So, maybe there is hope after all....

Friends

Friends can be quite amazing sometimes. And friends that you have had the privilege of knowing since you were 9 years old can be the most amazing people you've ever known.

My oldest son is beginning to ride fairly regularly, but none of my saddles are really child-size. He's had to ride in the saddles I've owned for many, many years, so they are large, hard, and not the most comfortable things to sit on.

Well, HCG1 was reading my blog recently and felt like it was time for D to have his own saddle. She searched online and found the PERFECT one. So, without hesitation, she bought it, shot me an e-mail, and shipped it to D. It arrived on Monday.

D had been out of town with my parents for the past week. He knew he had a big box coming, but had no idea what the contents were...

"Oh MAN!!"

"No WAY!!!"

"Mom, can I get Tonto out?!?"

A beautiful 15 3/4 inch Wintec 500 All Purpose, display model - had never been used, but HCG1 said she got a great deal on it. Since it has the CAIR panels, we can fit it to any of the horses D rides in the future. This is a dream come true for D (and me!).
Above, Tonto sports the new saddle.

Here D prepares to ride in the awesome new saddle...

D's position improved 100% with this saddle, but I needed to drop his stirrups a hole or two. He said it was soooooo comfortable. The seat has incredible padding!
He now sits balanced in the middle of the saddle and doesn't slide around. Since he won't have to worry about trying to stay in my big ole saddle, he can concentrate on his position. I look forward to watching D really learn to ride now.
This was a complete surprise and such a selfless, generous act of kindness on HCG1's part. Once D gets a little older, he'll have to go work for HCG1 to pay off this saddle. :)

Thank you HCG1, you are the greatest! We love you!