From More Matthew_1

I had forgotten how much Monty loves the pool.

From Monty in the Pool

As long as the kids are in the pool that’s where he wants to be.   I’ll walk around the outside edge and hop on to a body board and float around.  When we had more than one he’d hop back and forth between them.   He’s playing life guard and will start barking if anyone goes under…

A couple of days ago we saw one out by the Horses near the burn pile.  We watched it for a while until it finally meandered into the woods.

This morning it was back.

It certainly wasn’t very big. 

Claudine wondered how close she could get.  So with camera in hand she set out towards it.  Using her Monty Roberts “Horse Whisperer” techniques, she slowly approached and retreated.   It didn’t take long and the little deer was watching her and curious.  It was clear she wasn’t a threat and it eventually walked up to her.  It was alone, and probably looking for someone to hang with.

Eventually she got to pet it (more like rub up against it).

There are more photos in the Deer Gallery.  It was one of those once in a lifetime things.

We kind of hope it sticks around, at least until the garden is planted, then it’s game on if it starts eating the garden.

Haze our trusty barn cat is MIA

He hasn’t been seen since last weekend. He’s our out door hanging around cat that’s very social.

He doesn’t have a collar and usually doesn’t wander too far, but… He and Jake don’t like each other much so he may have moved on.

UPDATE

Haze is back , what happened was this…  His safety net, the table on the back porch which was out of the reach of the dogs, and where his food was normally kept, was dismantled and taken down.  That left him feeling like we were feeding him to the dogs or something.   We replaced that table with another and he’s happily napping in his box on the table again.

Jake is an 8 month old Parson’s Jack Russell, he’s easily 2 times the size of Monty. I personally preferred the short legged Jack Russell’s, but then Jake is a pretty cool dog.

So far these two seem to get along, at least until there’s something they disagree on like a bone.

We’ve had him for 4 days and so far he’s doing great. He was a rescue from a family that had to get rid of him because they weren’t supposed to have a dog in their apartment in the first place.

I think he’s a keeper.

He’s basically a walking tumor. He’s old, especially for a Golden his size. He used to weigh 95lbs on an average day.

Comet’s heath hasn’t been the greatest over the past few years. In fact he out lived Katie the Border Collie/Lab Mix. The reason we have Monty the Jack Russell is because we thought we were going to have to put Comet down 3 years ago.

We rescued Comet 12 years ago through the local Golden Rescue. He had been left outside during a blizzard and chained to a tree during some pretty harsh conditions.

He has been an excellent dog, great with all of our kids.

He will be missed.

We started 5 Kittens, one died for no apparent reason, one got stepped on by a horse, another passed perhaps because Haze play’s kind of hard, and two decided to try and swim in the horse’s watering trough.

In any event, they were barn cats, and as Dave at work says, barn cats have a life expectancy of next to nothing, especially when they are kittens.

Haze is still hanging around though.

Cat and Kittens Gallery on Google.

The New Horse “Blaze”

Sep 28, 2006 – 89 Photos

Photos are located above in the Google/Picasa Photo Album

We picked up Blaze who’s name will change though, today in Indiana. He’s a 15ish year old Missouri Fox Trotter just like Cisco.

He’s sound and healthy. We brought him home and turned him loose. Cisco was very happy to have a pal to share his new digs with. They did what horses do and felt each other out. It looks like Cisco will remain the top dog or horse for now but Blaze is a very nosey, curious horse.

We had to make a few modifications to the barn. we put up additional railing and a 6 foot gate so that both can come and go as they please in and out of the their stalls and into the dry lot.

Day one went very well. He seems eager to learn and already got a little upset when I took Cisco away from him for a short ride when Claudine was working with him.

Things will be a little more exciting with him around.

Well, of course, why not? Why not just dump a load of kittens in the pool house.

5, count them FIVE, little kittens, all cute and cuddly, now needing a home. Though I think we’ll keep one of the calico looking variety as yet another barn cat.

The mother has since taken off as they are of age that they no longer need her. Good for her as she was a pain in the rear and not very social. The kittens however have been handled since day one and are very plump and healthy.

If you’re in the market for a kitten, let us know. FREE to a good home.

Claudine was supposed to take Cisco to the dentist. Yeah, that’s right, horse to the dentist. Sure your vet can float your horse’s teeth, but we use a guy who does it a little differently. The natural way, without sedation.

Well that was the plan yesterday, but on the way one of the tires on the trailer decided it didn’t want to go. Luckily Claudine wasn’t too far from home and I was able to break from work and go change it for her. We mounted the spare which was in pretty bad shape itself and got everyone back home.

We’re getting two new tires now, and hopefully Cisco will get to see the dentist before he leaves town.

(It’s always something)

There are lots of ‘cheap’ horses out there and lots of bad ones too.  There are lots of bad expensive horses out there as well.  It aint easy.

For crying out loud we went and looked at one Walker that looked like it was beaten all to hell.  Was missing a shoe and they still wanted $2500 for him.  He almost looked malnourished on top of that.  They thought nothing of having of saddle him up and taking him for a ride to feel his gates even though he was missing a shoe.  (What in the world?)  Of course we declined.  

Of course we’re not looking for just any old horse.  It can’t be too dominant (for Cisco’s sake), and it has to be a gated horse.  We’d prefer another Missouri Fox Trotter, but there are other breeds we’d consider as well.  We’ve looked at a couple Walkers, a Paso Fino, and even a Walkaloosa.  But still no luck in finding the right one.

So if you happen to know of a likely candidate, or a horse that’s gated, of good stocky build, 15 hands or taller, that is sound, and needs a good home let us know.

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