Leave it to Alise to trump Christmas.  I always knew you were such a Drama Queen!  I’ll miss you big girl

Say hey to Aimee when you get there……

Yesterday I was looking through my clothes and realized that I desperately needed to do some washing.  So desperate in fact that I had no pants to wear…mind you, I’m not the clotheshorse that Jim is… he could very nearly wear something different every day of the year.  So my choices came down to shorts or a skirt.

Those who know me know that I rarely wear skirts.  Very rarely.  But the weather was a bit too cold for shorts and Jim and Xander kept suggesting the skirt, so I gave in.  I wore a skirt.

All day I had Xander and Beckett telling me that I was soooo beautiful, soooo lovely, sooooo pretty.  All because of a skirt.

Eye of the beholder I suppose, but a nice ego boost.

So this morning as I reached for a pair of jeans I paused and picked out a long pale lavender skirt instead.  When Xander saw me he said,

“Oh Mommy! You’re beautiful again today!”

How can I resist?

Jim and I had “grand” plans for tonight… that were dashed when M decided to go visit my brother.

The “grand” plans were simply spending a couple hours away from the farm and the kids.  Don’t get me wrong… I love my guys… but I’m with them 24/7 (literally) and this past week has been tough and I really just wanted to step away from it all for a moment and regroup.  But that’s not going to happen… so instead I’ve turned the TV to their shows, suggested a few activities for them, turned up the iPod to a slightly higher than acceptable level (since M’s not here) and while I contemplate what I’ll create for our anni-dinner, I thought I’d blog (I should mention that Jim is out feeding and checking animals).

Current song playing: Desire by U2

So… yeah… exciting.

On the farm front… it’s turned frigidly cold (so far as my toes and fingers are concerned).  I think it was 20 something last night.  At 1am I was out putting a blanket on Alise (which somehow didn’t get done earlier… and somehow I didn’t think to ask… until it was after midnight) where I lamented the decision to leave my gloves in the house.  All was well until I tried to hook the belly surcingles and couldn’t get it to snap.  The cold metal buckles sucked all the feeling out of my fingers and I ended up burrowing my hands up in Alise’s thick fur til I could at least feel them moving! 

Current song playing: Hit the Floor by Linkin Park (ahhh mad music… love it!)

So anyway.  The horses are all fuzzied up and look puffier than ever… especially Willow.  She’s beautiful though.

Speaking of the horses… I haven’t been riding which makes my heart feel super sad (are the kids watching Ni-Hao Kailan?).  I’m hoping that now that Jim is on break until January that I’ll be able to start riding more regularly again.  Lady makes me feel so bad when I go out to see her (I spoil her and Willow with treats) as she looks so sad… she’ll lay her head against my chest and will stand there as long as I’ll hug her big head.

Sigh.

Current song- Far and Away by Enya

I’ll be happy for better weather that will hopefully allow me to start working with Beau.  I still need to have Leo gelded which would make life so much easier.  Currently I have Beau and Leo in the small side paddock and they’ve pretty much churned it up into a mess!  Beau has some trust issues and the cool weather has put a damper on Leo although he and Jim are pretty much mortal enemies (long story). Leo’s coat has grown out longer than I ever remember seeing on any horse!  He’ll be the devil come springtime to shed out.

I found out that the little pony (Beau and Leo’s former pasturemate) has changed hands again.  I am a little sad about this as the people who had been gifted him had professed such love of the little guy but amazingly “rehomed” him shortly after finding out he was a registered mini.

Sigh.

This has disappointed me greatly and has weighed heavily on my heart partly from an ethical standpoint (free horse turned for a profit) and partly because I feel like I was manipulated (he was not my horse, but we had spoken to the original owner and had vouched for the people that he ultimately gave the pony to).  I know they have every right to do what they want to with the horse, but it still bothers me.

Sigh.

Current song: Switchblade 327 by Brian Setzer Orchastra

On a happier note… I’ve been a crafting fool this holiday season!  Dyeing wool, spinning, knitting, artsy crafting with wood, drawing, painting… busy time but lots of fun.  Right this moment M is in the Rock Hill SC Michaels buying more glitter.

Nothing says Christmas like GLITTER!!!!

Current song- Bugler’s Dream (Olympic Fanfare) by John Williams

And M’s been crocheting (something I just don’t have the knack for) like a fiend!  Anybody on Ravelry? (my rav id- Tapsalteerie)  I love it and all its patterns!  Some of them I’ve seen in other places but it’s nice to be able to browse through the ones listed.  I’m not much into the forums but I do browse around a bit.

Anyway… no pics of the crafting until after Christmas!  I’m so proud of some of them as they are just so cool and turned out just exactly as I’d hoped.  I hope that the recipients at least like them

Current song- The Black Pearl from Pirates of the Caribbean (Xander’s favorite I might add… also wouldn’t it make a cool musical dressage bit? maybe that’s just me).

We’re pretty much going homemade for Christmas this year.  There are some “outsourced” items but those are mostly clothes.  Sophie wanted a purple musketeer outfit, but we all know they don’t make those in her size.  So instead I found this and this (both in purple) which will make a super cute “real” outfit… personally I think the boots will be the biggest hit!  I’m also making her a mask and purple dance ribbons to go with it and maybe a cloak….

Xander wants a bird.  A white one with furry feet. And it can’t have a beak, it has to have a “mouth like mine” which has me completely confused.  Oh and it has to be real.  At first we figured he was talking about an owl (think Hedwig) but the no-beak thing is weird.  So anyway… maybe a white parakeet?  The white part seems to be most important to him.   I found a pattern in a Harry Potter knitting book that has a knitted owl… thought I might make that for him as well.

Beckett wants a “race car that Poppy makes” which has left us a little confused to.  I thought he meant something like a soapbox derby car… but Jim thinks he means a model car.  Beckett has the focus and tenacity to sit through the making of a model car so maybe that’s what he meant… but I think he’d like a clunky big race car too.

Current song- The Only One by Evanescence

Well, the kids are no longer amused by the TV and are demanding food.  Jim has suggested that I make the first meal I ever made for him which was a fairly involved salad with blackened chicken.  Sounds good… but I’m not much one for a salad tonight.  Tonight should’ve been sushi, but short of having shrimp I have no seafood in the house…

Anyway… off to create!

Current song- The Wedding by Runrig (not my favorite Runrig song but somewhat appropriate at least title-wise).

3 different people (two of them relatives) have given me grief (lovingly, I hope) about my lack of blogging, here’s a new entry.

Did that come across snarky?  I think it might.  It could have something to do with the headache that’s flirting around the perimeter of my awareness… popping up periodically in my ears to make me hear great yawning throbs of nothingness.

Sigh.

Last night wasn’t a good night.

But the day was good.  It started off rather early with me taking Jim to school and then dashing up the mountain to drop off the boys’ postplacement pics.  That was a good outing… so nice to see June and Esther and to meet…. ummm… the new girl (whose name I’ve obviously misplaced… blame it on the headache).  And then dashing back down the mountain so that M could finally go to sleep.  Then feeding, dressing and preparing the kids for an outing/adventure that has been long overdue for them. 

We had an interesting game of “is that Poppy” as we waited for his class to finish.  Xander was determined that Poppy had had a makeover in class and was now a petite long-haired brunette in heels.  That garnered barrels of laughs from Sophie and Beckett.  Me too.  So funny.

But eventually the correct Poppy joined us and we headed off immediately for Mellow Mushroom.  Of course it was dead as it was between lunch and dinner, but it was pleasant.  The kids thought they were big stuff indeed when the hostess seated us at one of the big tall tables.  Anyway… all was well until I happened to glance into the kitchen where I saw one of the cooks pulling out a bag of pre-shredded cheese.  My alarm bells clanged… but I decided to ignore it… since I couldn’t remember if they’d always used pre-shredded cheese or not… and then I forgot about it.  When the pizza came out it was way more gooey than I remembered it being so I made a mental note that the cheese must be different, but it was good and other than Sophie uncharacteristically not finishing her food… all was well.  At one point Sophie needed to go to visit the “flush-rooms” and as we passed by a guy at the bar (Harley shirt, I think a braided pony tail, definitely Harley biker vibe going on) Sophie reached out and tapped him on the shoulder.  When he turned around she very sweetly smiled at him and said “Bon Soir!” and then continued on her merry way.  I overheard the man telling his date that he “reckoned she was French” which amused me more because Sophie had copped the most Southern accent I’ve ever heard so that her Bon soir sounded much more like “Bone-Sware” than anything remotely French.  While in the bathroom we worked on pronunciation to the amusement of the nice older lady that was waiting for us to finish.

Anyway.  From there we headed over to Earthfare for a bit of pre-Holiday shopping.  It was a fairly nice shopping outing minus a few odd people that set off my Bad-Vibe-O-Meter.   And then it was off to Petsmart for dog food and then thankfully we headed for home.

Somewhere near West Greenville I realized that the cheese was something I should’ve really investigated as Sophie was a weepy, over-emotional mess and Xander had gone guano-loco. 

Note to self: Mellow Mushroom is no longer a good choice for Sophie.

Once we were home Sophie flung herself into bed and within minutes Xander found an opportunity to smack Beckett with the sharp edge of a wooden ruler and found himself in his bed as well.

After much cajoling I finally got Sophie to at least quit crying go back downstairs where she did find happy (happiness thy name is sausage) but Xander… that was a different story altogether.

He screamed.

He yelled.

He called me stupid.

He kicked the wall.

He threw toys.

He threw toys down the stairs.

He yelled at Beckett.

He yelled at me.

He yelled at Jim.

It. Was. Not. Pretty.

And it went on for hours.

I tried talking, I tried taking away toys, taking away privileges.

Nothing helped at all.  Finally we just all went to bed and he quieted down and finally fell asleep.

I did not sleep well.  Sophie was still clingy and demanded to sleep with me, Beckett woke up sometime in the early morning and wanted to sleep with Poppy so I ended up pushed out of bed.  I ended up in Sophie’s bed and sometime afterwards Beckett migrated to join me…  which wasn’t great because Sophie’s bed is a single.

Sigh.

But this morning everybody is up and happy.  Xander brought up the whole fiasco last night and apologized.  He said he felt like his head was spinning out of control and that he was so sorry for all he had said and done.   I asked if he slept well and he said that he had slept just fine, and didn’t even have dreams.  His behavior this morning has been stellar and  he’s back to his sweet self.

So was it the cheese?  I don’t know and I’m not willing to test it out again!  And I can tell you that I have no desire to go out for pizza anytime soon!

Yesterday Julie and I took Maddy and Lady out for a ride.  It was my second time on Lady, the first was a few days after she squished my foot (which still hurts, but is healing) and I very nearly had an emotional breakdown just getting on her (long story).  Happily I was able to swing up into the saddle with only minimal hesitation. 

This second ride was decidedly more purposeful than our first.  That first ride was more about me being physically back on a horse after such a long hiatus that I wasn’t really worried about what the horse was doing.  Yesterday’s ride let me know a whole lot more about Lady.  First off, Lady is a very forward horse, until she decides that she’s had “enough” at which point she stops, parks, and politely asks that you get off.  Secondly, Lady isn’t particularly brave.  She’s quite willing and forward so long as she’s on familiar ground, but the second that she’s somewhere new, she becomes timid and hesitant… not spooky, but not brave either.  She’s quite willing to follow (and by follow I mean rest her head on the lead horse’s butt while pushing them ahead of her) and then take the lead on the return, but she’s definitely not a brave leader.  For the most part I found her to be solid, if a bit green, and very reliant on her companion horse.  If Maddy seemed spooky, then I felt Lady get lighter in her mouth and more tense.  If Maddy was calm, then Lady was fully relaxed.   We also discovered that Lady doesn’t like dogs (or cats or other small furry creatures).  She doesn’t spook, just tries to decapitate them with a deadly accurate kick.  The only thing that she did spook at during our ride was a razor scooter that one of my neighbor’s granddaughters was riding.  It probably wouldn’t have been a problem at all had the child not raced the thing up ridiculously close to Lady’s hindquarters.  She spooked up a few steps but settled quickly… so quickly that I hardly call it a spook at all.

Overall I think Lady is a bit lazy, probably due to sporadic riding at her previous home, but is showing incredible potential.  Her trot is big and forward.  I have not cantered her yet… partly because she’s out of condition but mostly because I am out of condition!!  She does have rhythm issues, but again I think consistent schooling will iron that problem out as well.  Currently I’m riding her without a whip or spurs (her previous owner relied on both) and in a Kimberwicke (I never tried the bit that came with her as it’s actually too small for her mouth).  I love Kimberwickes for draft horses as they seem much more responsive to that bit than any other I’ve tried (and I’ve tried loads!)  Lady’s previous owner had great difficulty with turning and relied heavily upon a German Martingale for “power steering”… I have not had this problem and have seen no need to tack her with the German martingale at all.  I am having a problem with “overflex” in her neck which is probably due to the martingale, but we’ll see how that progresses. 

I’m not a big advocate for riding with a multitude of artificial aids.  I do ride with a long dressage whip when we hack but that’s only partly for a riding aid… mostly it’s a defensive aid against spider webs (seriously) or flies. 

Anyway… I think we had a good outing yesterday and I’m already looking forward to our next ride… maybe this afternoon??

New Tamworths from Alabama, originally uploaded by Tapsalteerie Farm.

On Sunday we trucked over to Ranburne Alabama to pick up our purebred, but not registered, Tamworth breeders. The breeder, Greg Dennis, was able to hold Beulah from an earlier litter for me until Bruce was weaned so that we could pick them up at one time.

I have enjoyed my conversations with Greg over the summer. Periodically he would call me with updates about the wee pigs and so it was delightful to meet him and his wife and their pigs (and cows and sheep) in real life.

The drive was loooong. Made longer by hauling a horse trailer through downtown Atlanta (say it with me- CRAZY!) but it all went well! My nephew S went with us so it was a carful of crazy from time to time but we had fun.

On the drive back we decided to take a slight side trip to China Delight (the dim sum place I’ve raved about before) and even though it was after dim sum time, the food was delicious and the pigs seemed to appreciate having a hauling break.

The rest of the trip home was a bit torturous as we got caught in road construction that brought the entire Northbound lane of 85 to a standstill. We opted to exit at the first available road and ended up winding through Seneca and Clemson before finding 123 again. We did find it amusing that the GPS map app on my blackberry kept telling us to turn around and go back to the Interstate!

But by far the funniest thing that happened concerned the clock in the Rover. M and I hadn’t paid much attention to the clock prior to eating supper. However when we piled back in we noted that we had lost all daylight and the clock seemed to verify that the time was quite late. We hadn’t thought we had spent a whole 2 hours in the restaurant, but the clock did indicate that we had. So when we got caught in the road construction we bemoaned the fact that we wouldn’t be getting home before midnight.

I had decided to call Jim to reassure him that we were indeed coming home when I noticed the time on my phone was nowhere near the time on the car clock. I glanced at M’s phone and it too stated a different time. We thought maybe the phones had gotten confused going into and out of time zones (this should indicate how tired we were) and with some trepidation I called Jim to verify via a house clock the actual time. Turns out the phones were right! The car clock was off by about an hour and half, probably owing to the fact that we had shut the kids in the car while we loaded the pigs.

Anyway… the pigs have settled in nicely. I was afraid that they would get sick from being hauled such a long way on such a cool wet day but they have been just fine! I think the bulk of the snuffling we’ve been hearing out of them is due to their nose rings and not a respiratory problem. I did not plan to ring our guys but Greg does his as a matter of form to keep the pigs from destroying his pastures. I had planned to put Beulah and Bruce on our garden overwinter to help turn and root up… stuff… but now… not so sure how that’s going to work out. Greg assured me that the rings tend to fall out so… who knows!

I’m going to attempt to take more pics of them tomorrow, and will try to post a pic or too of the other pigs… it’s unbelievable how big they’ve gotten!!

Wednesday we trucked down to Alpharetta GA to pick up another new horse… this time a Percheron that we have named Lady Annaliese, or Lady for short.

She’s a big mare.  Big and very HEAVY!  But more on that later…

Here are her stats:

She’s approximately 11 years old
She is a dappled grey with a wide blaze very different in her coloring than Alise or Fantine… I’m not sure that she’ll fade to white as they have.
She’s about 16.2hh (I haven’t measured her, but this is what her previous owner told me).
She weighs about 2000lbs maybe a bit more.

On the negative side she has poor ground manners and is also a bit overweight. Ok… I shouldn’t say she has poor ground manners as she doesn’t bully or drag people along after her. She actually has a pretty “soft” head (meaning she doesn’t pull against the lead line or halter) but she doesn’t stand still very well.

On the plus side she is already rideable so while she’s definitely going to need some fine tuning she at least won’t be starting from the ground up.

Unfortunately her previous owner sprayed her with a particularly foul fly spray (I do not know the brand) that smelled like cheap cologne and immediately made me break out in great red patches everywhere the horse touched me. So yesterday M and I decided that there was no way around it… Lady was going to have to have a bath! So we brought her out and for the most part she did ok. Until we got to her mane. At some point in the not so far off past (I hope) the previous owner had dressed Lady up like a unicorn and had dyed her mane and tail pink. There was still remnants of the pink in her mane and in the hair under her mane. It seemed to be very irritated as Lady played up considerably during that part of the washing (seriously, it’s totally wrong to dye a horse’s mane/tail/coat… I know it seemed cute, but nonetheless, to me, it’s wrong).

By the time M (who was washing… I was holding) got to her back legs, Lady was pretty tired of the whole thing. So when Martha startled her it was really no surprise that she swung around a bit disconcerted to see someone walking up the driveway. Unfortunately when she swung around she stepped and twisted on M’s foot, knocking her down in the process. M’s sporting 2 possibly broken and badly skinned toes (yes she was wearing boots). So we finished up the bath and tied Lady out on a long rope to graze while she dried out.

And that’s when we discovered that Lady doesn’t tie out on a long rope well. She managed to wrap the rope around her hocks, ultimately cow-tying herself. By the time I got to her head she was sitting on her bottom with her head pulled to her flank. So I unhooked her halter and still she didn’t seem to be able to stand up so I gave her halter a tug and hopped out of the way. Unfortunately I didn’t hop quickly enough as her front hoof came slamming down on top of my foot as she stood up, knocking me down so that I was laying underneath her belly! By the way she has a GREAT “whoa” command! The whole time I was falling I was saying “whoa… whoa… whoa” over and over so when I stood up I just grabbed her halter and we walked off like nothing.

And initially I thought it was just nothing. Until I stopped moving long enough to actually get feeling back in my foot. Jim finally appeared and took Lady from me and I was able to take my boot off to assess the damage. She had stepped on the right middle part of my foot (she didn’t hit my toes at all) and it was swollen to tennis ball size. So I hobbled into the house and immediately put my foot up only to be informed that I was going to the ER to have it X-rayed so I hobbled off to the bathroom and peeled out of my very wet, very dirty, very horsey clothes and tried to look like I hadn’t been rolling in the dirt with a horse and off we went.

We were pretty much in and out in less than an hour and luckily nothing is broken. The doc told me to stay off of it for 24 hours which is laughable. Even the family thought so as they all went off to work leaving me to feed and maintain the kids… so yeah… no biggie.

So anyway, this morning I have a puffy purple foot and a strong desire to go out a mess with the horses, but I’m going to be good and stay inside and let my poor foot have until this afternoon to get better

But back to Lady… I have no ill-will towards the mare. If anything it was my own fault for putting her into a situation where she could get tangled and I simply got what I deserved. I’m hoping to be up to riding by tomorrow (or this afternoon if I push it) and will update more on Lady’s performance at that time.

So It’s been a day or two and Miss Willow is doing great! She’s so mellow and laid back that it’s just unreal! Nothing fazes her at all and while she doesn’t care for the cows, she’s maintained gracious manners while dealing with them. We’re still getting to know her which has been hampered greatly by all the rain!

Anyway! Here are her stats:
She’s approximately 8 years old
She’s a sabino bay roan (it means she has white splotches on her coat) with a wide blaze (nearly bald) and 4 full white stockings. She’s about 17.2hh
She weighs about 2100 lbs probably a little more but we’re working on thinning her down a bit.

On the negative side she still has a little bit of hoof fungus but it isn’t as bad as when we first saw her.
She also has a cracked hoof that’s going to need attention when Tim comes out. And she seems to be very head shy about her ears which I’m going to need to look into… Could be a teeth issue… Could be a haltering issue… Or something else altogether.

But anyway! She’s just an incredibly calm girl and I look forward to working with her soon!

The pic is of Jim (6ft tall) and Willow (5′6″ at the shoulder) right after we unloaded her.

The horse thing is killing me. I know I sat here and typed out the whole “giving up on this for now” post, but we all know that was laughable.

I’ve been out to see another horse.

Not going to buy it, but went to see it. Would’ve seriously considered buying it if not for the I’ve-never-seen-it-this-bad foot fungus problem… that and I suspect she might have a sore back issue as we bucked Jim off rather soundly.

And that’s when it hit me. I’ve moved into the desperate stage of my horse search. I was actually willing purchase an unsound horse if it got me that one step closer to riding again.

It was a big wake up moment.

So I had a firm talk with myself and promptly went here and fell in love with this and this and this.

Hey… at least they’re sound and ride-able and come from a reputable place.

Sigh.

I’m afraid I’ve been a bear to live with for the past few weeks.  I’ve cried over Aimee again and again and again.  The horses at VSH remind me of her, which reminds me that she’s gone, which reminds me that I don’t have a riding horse which makes me look at their horses and then I cry all over again.

Sigh, sniffle.

So… I’ve tried to focus on Beau and Leo. 

Beau is coming along nicely, still a bit jumpy and spooky, but coming along.  He’s getting easier about being casually handled and I lead him around the driveway without a single incident.  He was definitely uncertain and relying on me to clue him in to what was going on, but he listened well and didn’t play up at all.

Leo, on the other hand, has turned into a bit of a menace.  The weather here has taken a slight turn towards Autumn, the mornings are cool and the days aren’t quite as hot and I think the combination of weather and food has turned our once sweet boy into quite the devil.  He levelled a fine karate kick at me just the other morning (he missed and hit the water trough instead) which made me realize something.

The gonads have gotta go.

Seriously.  On our little quarter mile road there are 16 equine.  Of that 16, five are geldings, five are mares, four are jennys, one is a jack and the other is Leo the colt.  Two of the jennys are bred but that still leaves seven ladies to love and one gent to fight.  Zeke, our jack, is better mannered than Leo, but isn’t happy about the colt being here either.  So I’m waiting for the vet to let me know when he can come out to do shots and then we’ll schedule his procedure.

FYI- I don’t own all the horses on our road.  We have 7 horses and 5 donkeys.

Ok, after typing that I feel the need to explain.  Yes we own 7 (EEK!) horses.  Here’s the run down-

Alise- white Percheron mare, approx. 30 years old.  I retired her several years ago although the kids do sit up on her from time to time.  She’s the boss mare of the pasture and at about 17.2hh she’s got the size to keep that ranking.

Fantine- white PercheronX mare, approx. 10 years old.  She is a PMU mare and has absolutely no concept of horse behavior.  She is unpredictable at best and while I have high hopes for her, I’m realistic that she’s pretty much going to be a pasture ornament.  She’s about the same size as Alise.

Maddy- bay Appaloosa mare, approx. 14 years old.  She is the gigantic mare that Julie rides.  We got her the summer before Jim and I got married as a “if you buy this mare will throw the App in free” kinda thing.  The mare we originally bought, a OTT TB didn’t work for us so I gave her to a friend, but Maddy turned out to be a real gem.  Maddy grew from about 15hh to 17hh in the first year or so that we had her but we never thought about how big and well boned she was (particularly for an App) because we compared her to Aimee.  Next to Aimee everybody was small!

Belle- bay Mustang mare, 17 years old.  Ah Belle.  My first from the ground up training experience.  I should’ve picked a more sane horse as Belle has always been a bit on the screw-loose side.  Belle is maybe 14hh… although I would say she’s shorter.  I have ridden her and even did lessons on her for a while, but eventually she was retired because of her unpredictable nature.  We’ve toyed with gifting her to somebody that wants a companion horse, but we always come back to the fact that Belle eats very little and her actual maintenance is slight and she’s Maddy’s best pasture mate so Belle stays.

Skye- blue roan POA gelding, approx. 12 years old. Skye is very nearly as wide as he is tall.  He hasn’t been the best pony in the world, having a distrustful nature (yes, normal for a pony I know) but Xander loves that he’s blue and has spent quite a good bit of time lead-lining around on him.  He’s also a favorite of my nephew Spencer.  I think he’d make a fine cart pony, but I have neither the cart nor the harness to make that happen.

And of course there’s the boys-

Beau- bay Mustang gelding, approx. 7 years old.

Leo- Palomino TWH/QH colt, approx 18months old.

So while I have 7, some of them are special needs and some of them are retirees. Only Maddy is truly ride-able and that’s Julie’s go-to mount and since Julie is my go-to riding companion… well you see the predicament. 

Sigh.

Have I mentioned that I miss Aimee? Cause I really, really do.

I told the kids that today was going to be mostly TV and computer free. They were less than thrilled to say the least. So with much grousing and grumbling they all came out to play while I topped off waters and checked on the animals. When I asked them to help pull Dess’ pen into the grass they eagerly joined in and it rapidly morphed into an impromptu game of imagination. Sophie and Xander are some sort of adventurers and Dess is some sort of shark/bad guy. The object is to walk around the rails without Dess licking their toes. Sounds simple but there’s loads of hysterical shrieks of laughter coming from the calf pen. Too funny what kids come up with when they have to think up entertainment for themselves!