Archive for the ‘Wintervale Ranch’ Category
Planting Seeds
I put in an extra-long day yesterday, planting grass in addition to the normal daily chores of caring for our animals. Getting grass seed planted in the new drainage swale took almost the entire day. It was a day when I really wished I wasn’t working alone. Back and forth I walked, so many times, to get hoses strung together to reach the full length of the swale and then to turn the water on and off. The distance I seeded is almost 2 football fields long.
Just getting the full length watered down took over an hour. I did have a little “help” with getting it wet before seeding. I let Delilah chase the spray and run around in the dirt to stir it up a bit. From now on, I will need to restrain her somewhere when I want to water. With the seed down, I don’t want her tearing it all up when she chases after that irresistible spray.
I purchases a seed mixture from our local feed mill that has oats in it and is supposed to germinate within three days. That’s about all the growing time we have left this year. This is one occasion when I will be fine with a warm week or two in October.
The concern is, if I don’t get something to take root and help hold the soil in place, the water that will flow down this path in the spring could create a huge washout. I’ll deal with that if I have to. It’s just nice to have this improved definition for drainage finally in place.
upstream
downstream
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
One Year
A year ago today, our horses arrived at Wintervale. It feels like an awful lot has happened in the year since that day. 
One of my favorite memories is of the day Hunter laid down to chill next to me while I raked the paddock. They have done a great job of helping me to feel comfortable navigating in their space.
That thought takes me back to the previous May, when I traveled to Arizona to attend Cyndie’s final session of Eponaquest training, where I met Dunia and had my first lessons on interacting with horses.
That weekend gave me confidence that allowed me to quickly adjust to becoming a caretaker of our herd of four. I recall that on the first day we opened the big hay-field to the horses, I walked up to the top of the hill to check on them, and their reaction to my sudden appearance was to immediately gallop in my direction.
It surprised me, and I suddenly became aware of being in a precarious situation. Instead of succumbing to panic, I relied on the knowledge gained during that weekend session in Arizona. With my energy and the wave of my arm, I projected my barrier distance, which they instantly respected. I was not trampled by the stampeding herd, despite the possibility.
Even though I have grown a lot in the year we’ve had them, I feel as though I barely have started to learn about horses. I am lucky that they are so patient with me. I think they understand that I mean well, despite my sometimes fumbling methods.
Another shot from the previous year… Couldn’t help but chuckle when I spotted this as I scanned through the image archives. Poor things. This was not one of their prouder moments.
It is our hope to accomplish a variety of improvements this fall, intended to alleviate the muddiness they were forced to deal with in the spring.
We prefer to see them basking in the comfort of a dry surface. In that regard, a little sunshine goes a long way…
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Perfectly Annoying
Suffering under my tendency towards perfectionism, I am experiencing some frustration with a few features of the swale that the excavator created. I am able to see some undulations that I anticipate could interfere with optimal flow, and his final path has a bend to it. I was hoping for a straight shot.
The guy who did the work on Monday was back again yesterday, bringing more loads of lime screenings for our paddocks. Lime screenings are similar to, if not exactly the same as, what is used for the infield of a baseball diamond.
I asked him if it was possible to eliminate the undulations in the swale by grading it more, or if trying to do so would actually make them worse. He indicated the latter. He assured me the slope is good and that, over time, the flow of water will smooth it out.
Too bad I couldn’t help finding out for myself. Late yesterday, I tried dragging our rake attachment behind the ATV, and then went and got the diesel tractor with the front loader to see if I could reduce the curve he had created. Daylight faded before I could make it too much worse than when I started. We’ll see what this morning’s light reveals. The low light from the east in the early morning does wonders to reveal high spots.
Meanwhile, I am very pleased with the new footing for the horses. I think they like it, too. Dezirea wasted no time in laying down and rolling in it. I hope they get plenty of time to pack it down before the next significant rainfall. It should make a solid base to keep them up out of the mud.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
In classic project form, halfway through spreading the piles, an oil leak was discovered in their skid loader tractor. Progress came to a halt while they tore it apart to deduce the cause. Of course, the replacement part was not available and would need to be shipped overnight. They were able to limp the loader back onto a trailer and take it back to their shop for repairs. Better the oil leaks at their place than into our paddock dirt. As it was, they needed to dig out a small section of oily top soil and put it in a pail for proper disposal.
Later in the afternoon, the driver came back with a different tractor and was able to finish spreading the second pile.
After he was gone, I felt free to start messing with the swale to enact my attempts at tweaking it toward perfect. I already know this much: He made it look a lot easier than it truly is.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Great Starts
Our fall colors are off to a brilliant start. It was a little foggy when I woke up, and became thicker as time passed. It made me wonder what the dew point temperature was. In checking, I discovered it was 44°(F), which is what the air temperature had reached, so we were at 100% humidity.
I could see the sun rise over our horizon, and instead of burning off the fog, it became more obscured as it climbed. When it finally burned through the milky soup, the changing leaves began to radiate color at maximum glow.
My week got off to a magnificent start of its own yesterday, because the excavator finally showed up to create a better defined drainage swale across our pasture! Of all days for my cell service to go wonky, I didn’t receive the call that he was on his way. I was working down in the woods, clearing trail. I dragged a few branches out into the open to toss on the brush pile, and immediately caught sight of him up on our driveway. It was a very happy moment.
We briefly discussed a plan, which started with me moving the horses out of the way, into the pasture to the north of the driveway. Of course, I was wanting to do this quickly and placed the halter over the first horse that allowed. That happened to be Hunter. He did fine, until we reached the pasture gate. Then he became hesitant. I succeeded in getting him inside and headed back to get Legacy. Next, came Dezirea who was showing a little extra nervousness. The sound of the excavator’s skid-loader may have contributed.
When we arrived at the pasture gate, the rambunctious boys were crowding our path. I grabbed the handle of the web-line that creates our “gate,” and opened it to guide Dezirea in. As I did that, Hunter took advantage of me and hopped over the web as it sagged, getting himself loose outside the pasture.
In that second, he gained all my attention, but I had the gate handle in one hand and Dezirea’s lead line in the other. Luckily, he simply started grazing in the grass out there, giving me a chance to release Dezi from the halter and secure the gate before going after him. It was the classic opportunity for me to be in a hurry and him to not want to be caught. I know how that exercise plays out, but I felt pressured to get the last horse out of the paddock and open gates for the excavator. After a couple tries to entice him into the halter again, which he rebuffed instantly each time, I resorted to just getting the lead line over his neck.
It is not very secure, but he begrudgingly allowed me to force his return using that method, getting him back through the gate again and inside the pasture. It took some effort to relax my energy by the time I made it back to the paddock for Cayenne. She was her usual angelic self, and with the horses all together in the north pasture, I could focus on facilitating the excavating.
It was a joy watching the skill of the operator, Andrew, as he worked to create the gently sloping channel across the width of the south grazing pasture.
Now I have a time-sensitive need to get some grass seed planted. It’s so close to too late in the season that I had given up thinking about that part of the project. However, the weather prediction indicates there could still be enough time to get some growth.
Anything that starts growing now will be helpful come spring, when the flowing water could cause significant erosion if we don’t do anything.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
New Tricks
Just like when I was a little boy, I have once again been inspired by my big brother, Elliott. He taught me new skills in tree trimming while he was here to rope climb into our trees and cut hanging dead limbs. Ever since that day, I have wanted to emulate the techniques he demonstrated for tossing a line over a high limb, and for handling ropes.
On a (now-regular) shopping errand to Fleet Farm for equipment and supplies, I picked up a weight from the fishing department and several hundred feet of small gauge woven line as my new method for getting a rope over a tree branch. I can now look back and laugh at the time I tied a heavy pad lock on the large rope we had, and repeatedly threw it aloft in attempt to snag a hanging branch. It was laborious and inefficient, although ultimately exhaustively successful. My new skill has made that exercise ancient history.
I was able to use the new weighted line, and technique learned from Elliott, to get a rope around the huge limb that came down in recent winds. The heavy end of that limb made it to the ground, but it was so big that most of it remained hung up in the branches of the neighboring trees. As I cut the lower portion with the chain saw, we wanted to pull the top over, getting it out of the branches in which it was held, hopefully without causing any additional damage. It worked like a charm.
With that task accomplished, I was able to practice the braiding technique Elliott showed me, gathering the rope in a method that allows it to quickly come undone next time it is needed. For some reason I haven’t figured out yet, I’m doing something that causes the ends to be uneven. Happily, it gives me an excuse to keep practicing. I’ve discovered I really enjoy handling rope.
Since my current tree branch trimming methods primarily involve keeping my feet firmly planted on the ground, my new rope skills caused me to reconsider the high-limb rope chain saw that I previously looked upon as having questionable viability. Comically, what I didn’t recall was that I already owned one.
While searching for a container to hold my throwing rope, I spotted a short bucket on the floor in my shop that was exactly what I wanted. Inside it were a pair of worn out gloves that deserved to be thrown out, several rags, an old ratcheting pruner that has been missing, and lo and behold, a rope chain saw I had never used and forgotten I had received as a stocking-stuffer gift (I think) some years ago.
Dispelling my previous doubts, I have discovered that it works GREAT! Thanks to the new tricks Elliott showed me, I was able to get that chain over a branch that was higher than I ever imagined I could reach from the ground and cut through it with relative ease.
Look out lofty dead tree branches… here I come.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Daily Companions
First things first: Dezirea is hanging in there. I don’t think she is quite herself yet, but at least she didn’t return to the condition in which we found her on Thursday morning. She’s on a restricted diet and seems to be satisfied with it. She tends to move off by herself, but before long, one of the herd will wander over to check on her. Sometimes she responds by coming back to the group, other times she stays put.
We want to have her drink as much water as possible, so I filled a bucket and brought it to her where she was standing. Soon, each of the other horses wanted to get their drinks from the bucket. I guess it was something novel. I wonder if the water tasted better.
I decided to intercede on Dezirea’s behalf and motioned a boundary to prevent the other horses from disturbing her. The boys quickly lost interest and returned to the hay feeder. Cayenne stayed nearby. Slowly but surely, almost politely, she navigated her way around behind Dezi, pausing several times, until she was eventually positioned within reach of the bucket of water. I didn’t have the heart to chase her away after that effort, and she got her turn to drink from the bucket.
Delilah continues to improve as a companion dog while I am tending to chores around the property. She will appear to be totally engrossed in hunting in our hay-field for anything that moves or that has a scent, but when I finish cleaning the paddocks and head toward the upper gate with a full wheelbarrow, she comes running.
Yesterday, after I dumped the wheelbarrow and began turning some of the composting piles, she gave me a good laugh. I turned around to find Delilah had taken a position in the shade, laying right in the middle of a knocked down pile of manure, looking all regal and poised. She looked to be the queen of her castle, oblivious that she wasn’t laying on a silk-covered bed.
The thing is, when she is dry, she can stand up out of that pile and look as composed as if we had just brushed her. She will smell as wonderfully dog-sweet as she always does, not taking on any aroma of the composting manure. Having her lay in the manure pile is preferable to collecting burrs in her fur from all over our property.
Those are my primary work-day companions lately, Delilah and the horses. I am a very lucky man to have them.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Special Day
September 19 is doubly special to Cyndie and me. Today is our 33rd anniversary, and it is also our son, Julian’s 26th birthday. Happy birthday, Julian. Happy anniversary dear.
We had a bit of a scare yesterday with the discovery that Dezirea was ill. Coincidentally, or if you believe in the power of energy connections, not a coincidence at all… Cyndie woke up with gastrointestinal upset that kept her home from work. That was a great relief for me, in that I wasn’t alone in trying to deal with the situation.
I sensed something was amiss after I served the horses their ration of feed first thing in the morning. Dezirea didn’t appear to have eaten, and was standing with her head down. It wasn’t a normal look for her. I felt that something was wrong.
Back at the house, I checked on Cyndie to see if she felt able to go down and assess Dezi. Luckily, that was within her ability. By the time she got there, Dezirea was down on the ground. Cyndie made a call to our veterinary office and waited for them to call back. When I made it back down, I was shocked to see Cyndie standing over Dezirea and Dezi flat on the ground with her head down and legs straight out.
Looking in the horse’s eyes, I saw a total vacancy. There was no stress or anxiety, she just looked gone. It was a very stressful few minutes, contemplating the possibility that this was going to be her time to go.
Then suddenly she reappeared. While I was looking right at her, I saw life return to her eyes and she sat up again. I had to run to the house for something and when I returned, Dezirea was up and walking. Cyndie said Hunter came over and started biting her neck and pulling her mane. Legacy had been nudging her and gently mouthing her hind quarter, but Hunter’s actions were more insistent and that is what she responded to.
The vet arrived and provided something for pain (she required a second dose), an anti inflammatory, a sedative, and about a half-gallon of mineral oil to treat colic.
There are a variety of possible causes for colic, none of which are glaringly obvious probabilities for our situation. Maybe she wasn’t drinking enough water. Maybe she found a little too much clover in our pasture. It’s hard to say.
There is also the possibility that there is a twist in her intestine, which will seem more likely the cause of her problem if she doesn’t get better today.
I took this picture while the vet was asking if Legacy was her companion. Looking back into the paddock, Legacy was standing at the gate, closely watching us, while the two younger horses were ignoring our activity and giving each other back scratches.
After the vet left, I got a chair for Cyndie to sit in and Dezirea put her head down in Cyndie’s lap and took a little nap. Her snoring made me giggle. We were supposed to keep her from eating, but after the short duration meds wore off, she was behaving as if nothing had ever happened and she wanted to join the herd in the pasture and eat.
By evening last night, she was looking a little off her game again, but nowhere near the severity of earlier. We are hoping for the best when we get down there to check on her this morning.
The alternative is not something we want. Thank goodness I had Cyndie home to help yesterday. I tend to believe that wasn’t a mere coincidence.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Waiting Games
My patience has been tested the last few weeks, waiting for three different contractors to make appearances on our property. Unfortunately, nature isn’t going to delay the onset of winter just because my projects weren’t completed. Completed seems like a humorous concept, since I can’t even get people here to start. They all claim the reason they can’t make it is that they are too busy and behind schedule.
Yesterday, I received a token visit from landscapers who will put in drain tile to route water around the paddocks, in hopes of keeping them from becoming such mud pits. It was “landscapers” plural, because the first one was so over-busy through the end of the year he needed to contract it out to a friend. They took some final measurements and said work should be able to start next week. I can only hope.
It felt a bit like the experience I often have in a visit to the doctor. I check in to let them know I arrived at the time of my appointment, and take my place in the waiting area. After what seems like way too long to be waiting, I start getting agitated. When that feeling starts to morph into anger, a nurse pops out and calls my name.
That resets my angst, and I am happy my turn has finally arrived. Except, it hasn’t. I eventually discover that all they have done is move me from the outer waiting area to an exam room to continue waiting. It’s a great system, because I tolerate a lot more waiting when it is broken up by little moments of faux progress. It would have been an intolerable wait, had I spent the entire time in the outer chairs. Broken into two stages —the second one feeling like actual progress— helped me accept the overall total wait-time without making a fuss.
It feels like the landscape contractors finally made an appearance yesterday to reset my angst and make me feel good about them telling me the work should be able to start next week sometime.
Once again, it works wonders for me. My previous anxieties have been reset. I’m happy with their latest promise.
Here’s hoping they are able to live up to it.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Delilah Games
One night last week, when I was taking the memory card out of my camera to download the day’s photos to my computer, my finger slipped when I pushed on the card to eject it. The card popped all the way out and went sailing past me to the floor below. Delilah scooped it up the second it landed. I could hear the sound of the hard plastic clicking against her teeth as she checked it out.
In a panic, I scrambled from my stool and pushed my fingers around her jaw and into her mouth. I wiped off the saliva and inspected it for teeth marks. There were none. Disaster averted. Thank goodness for dogs ‘soft grip’ ability.
What a drama one slip of the finger can create.
You know, that gentle touch with her teeth reminds me of the amazing prowess that horses have with their lips. I was watching Legacy yesterday, while he rushed to graze some clover greens from which he seemed to anticipate I would pull him away. We were on our way over to the north pasture, but I was in no hurry, and actually was happy to have him trim the growth along the side of the gravel driveway loop. So, I let him have at it, and studied his technique.
There was a dead cottonwood leaf that seemed to be right in the way, and at the rate he was going, I expected it to get sucked right in with everything else. With an impressive combination of motion between his head and lips, that leaf was manipulated out of the way several times as he gobbled up all the greens on every side of it without ever slowing down. Talk about having touch.
Anyway, back to Delilah; Miss Quick. She’s a dog. She likes to chase and retrieve. She is also very fond of playing keep-away with us. She will keep bringing whatever the toy of the moment is for us to grab, so she can shake her head to pull it away. Even more, she loves to be chased and shows off her incredible athleticism with dodges and direction reversals rivaling an NFL running back.
The problem with this is that her game of keep-away wrecks the game of fetch. I throw something once, and she brings it back for an instant game of keep-away.
Having neglected to properly train her to drop things on command and play the game I want, when I want it, I instead devised a work-around. I bring two, or sometimes three objects for the game of fetch. Her compulsion to chase, overrides her desire to play keep-away. If I have another object to throw, she is more than willing to drop the one she has in her mouth.
Of course, that simply led to her upping her game a level so that she drops the first item farther and farther away from me, hoping to pick up the second thrown object and then beat me back to where the first lies. It was funny watching her struggle to fit two balls in her mouth at once, until she eventually perfected that skill (thus my solution of bringing a third…).
To mix things up, sometimes we throw discs for her to chase, instead. She loves leaping for them, when we get the throws right. She makes us laugh when she scrambles to try to pick up both discs at the same time. I expect she will hone that skill, too. I might as well start looking now for a third one of those, as well.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Almost Day
Some days just don’t flow the way we hope they will. Our Sunday turned into an “almost” day for me. I guess almost can be looked at as being better than not at all. I discovered that I almost read all of the text on the big green sticker on the box of the solar-powered fence charger I bought on Saturday. I saw the words, “mounts on t-post” and figured I was good to go.
If I had read the whole thing I would have realized it was a separate bracket to be purchased that allowed it to easily mount to a t-post. Instead of making another trip to the store, I took that time to rig my own solution.
It probably would have been quicker to make that trip and buy the dang bracket. I almost got the project completed by 2 o’clock in the afternoon. Unfortunately, I had planned to do other things, expecting this to be an hour-long task. I almost didn’t let it bother me that the day was over half gone at that point.
I almost sprained my ankle when I stepped in a divot in our lawn made by a mole. Adrenalin shot! Felt very lucky to have not been putting too much weight on that foot at the time. Pesky moles. I know that balance in nature is a good thing, but I sure wish we could do without the moles.
We almost put up the posts for the wood shed, version 2. Made some progress, then had to undo that and start again. After several attempts, I came to the conclusion that we shouldn’t try to robustly attach all the legs and expect the roof to align properly. We need to find a way to get the roof up resting on the back posts, and then place other posts beneath, line everything up, and fasten it all together.
Cyndie was a fantastic help all day, and kept me from giving up altogether. There was no “almost” in her day. Between coddling my fragile attitude and lending her assistance wherever she could, she did laundry, made meals, tended to the horses, and helped me scoop up manure. It was one of her weekend days off and I think she did more work than me.
Saturday she helped me with my lumberjacking and we cut up the huge downed limb and then more trees near the south border where new pasture fence will be installed. Over the weekend, she also finally put saddles on the 3 horses that will be ridden, and had them do some walking exercises to remind them what wearing a saddle is like. It gave her a chance to check out the equipment she purchased, and to give the horses some exercise with the saddles before adding the weight of a person to their load. It’s been over a year since they have been ridden, so they are a bit out of shape at this point.
Speaking of points, I almost had one when I started writing this ranting post. It is only fitting that now I don’t really have a conclusion to offer about my “almost” day.
If Cyndie were available, I bet she would take care of that for me, too.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Relative Something 