This picture is straight out of the camera I did not even crop it! I absolutely love the deep blue of the sky and all the contrast of the flower and the wispy clouds almost wrapping around the flower. What a wonderful sign of spring! Happy sky watch fridays everyone and be sure to click on the title to this post to see other great sky pictures!
No we aren't raising arabians she just wishes she was one
On one hand you have the horseman, ranchers, livestock owners, breed associations, especially horse traders, horseshoer and many others who make a living from buying/ selling training and breeding horses. These individuals have seen a plummet in the living they were once making. They have watched there business's go under. They have horses standing in there pastures that no one wants and if they are able to sell these horses it is for a fraction of the cost they put into them. I know this sounds like it is all about money for these groups of horse people and to some extent it is, but like I said before they have a love for the horse just like anyone else they just have a more grounded view about their livestock. Yes I said livestock the horseman/ rancher etc.. they see the horse as livestock like a cow, pig or cat or dog depending on what country you are from. I know I am sounding cruel, but I'm not, I am looking open minded at both sides. Being as the horse has been a faithful companion to the people they do respect it and most treat the horse better than say a dog would be treated in china. They all have that favorite horse the one who will die on there property but they have also dealt with that rank, nasty, rearing, mean nag who instead of shooting why not send it to kill make a little money and not waste the remains. Logical thinking yes but alot of people don't agree. 
The other side of this group PETA, animal rescue groups, holly wood, horse lovers and others all shutter at the thought of their companion animal being treated like livestock. Horses to them are like dogs and cats in America and a few other country's. Americans don't eat there companion animals ( at least not publicly) they do good by them (most do, but there are alot of idiots out there). The animal lovers believe that the methods the horses are slaughtered are inhumane and cruel and granted there are probably some severe cases of animal cruelty in processing plants for any type of livestock. It saddens alot of them to see any animal killed in a way they deem as cruel. They are fighting this with good intentions but actually have made the situation worse for man and beast. For man the horse market is horrible everyone has horses and they aren't worth anything and part of that is due to over breeding but I will get into that later. For the horse the main problem is the traders are now shipping horses to Mexico where regulations are nonexistent. If they want to talk about abuse they need to be worried about the animals being shipped to Mexico. 
I think that we as nation should come together, yes I said TOGETHER and make this situation better for all. We need to all decide what is best for the horse we do owe it to them they have been our legs for thousands of years they have ran for miles until they died to get a man away from an enemy they delivered our first forms of mail, they have touched us in more ways than most any other animal. God put animals on the earth for us to use NOT ABUSE. We as humans do tend to abuse our privileges. This is coming from both the hippy in me and the cowgirl. My feeble brain has many ideas on how to solve this situation. I think sending our American horses to a foreign country for food is not necessary and that is just my opinion. but if WE use the horse say for dog food and glue for us AMERICANS than yes we need to have a kill plant open that can provide to us what WE need. The kill plants need to have strict regulations on what they will process, old, rank, crippled and regulations on the animals being humanely killed someone needs to be at these plants that is not a snake and say NO not that horse. But wait you say that won't solve much there will still be to many horses and the horse market will still be bad. That's were we need to stop all the "back yard" breeding I am sorry if you are a back yard breeder, but there are so many people out there breeding a horse just because it has balls it is absurd. Everything bred needs to be registered and the breed associations need to come together and have committees and people who decide what horse should be a stallion and how many mares he should breed. So, sounds too crazy and a little like it is infringing on a persons rights as a livestock owner, but just remember I would like to see a situation that makes everyone happy (somewhat) . I think it could be done if everyone would just look at the other side of the situation. All the large breeders who breed and breed and breed till they find that one "perfect" horse that is not necessary anymore with this plan either because the breeds will improve on there own. With a committee of many people who know horses from each breed deciding what stallion should be bred to what mare the breed will improve, the horse population will go down and the price of horses will come up. The animal lovers will have a strict humane way to euthanize the horses that are slaughtered and used for us and everyone will live happily ever after AMEN 
Today I woke up to a beautiful, crisp morning. The fog in our valley with the sun shining through it was spectacular. The cows waiting for the morning feeding, standing majestically in the bright morning.
All my weed's closed up hoping to survive a late spring frost.
Our garden waiting patiently for a plant to grow was happy to feed this bug with the large amount of manure and compost placed in it.
This is our garden spot Patrick won the battle I wanted a big garden he wanted a small raised bed flower garden.
We used old railroad ties. We had two ties long by one tie wide. old railroad ties work wonderfully for a raised garden and often you can get them for free. When you use old railroad ties you are recycling, saving a tree and saving money it can't get any better than that.
What do you think the black dot could be? Sorry for the bad picture! I was searching through some pictures I took last week and stumbled across this. When I took the pic. I did not realize there was an unidentified flying object flying over the top of the hill across from our house. It looks to be way to big to be a bird compared to the trees under it. Way to low to be a plane and I would have heard and noticed a plane. I just don't know.
Sometimes when you try to look up in life you can feel trapped in a brier patch.
Don't look up, look down, way down, you will find a whole world of tiny flowers to brighten your day.
Even dandelions can brighten a gloomy day unless they are in your yard, then they may add to the gloominess. I really enjoy a dandelion bouquet given by a loving three year old though.
These flowers bear there faces towards the sun in hopes of some warmth and a jump start on spring.
So when life has you down and feeling trapped make sure to slow down, untangle, and stop and smell the flowers no matter how small.
Yesterday we had a bull sale at our place. The boys and I decided we would go and watch and take pictures. When I told Patrick I wanted to take pictures so I could put it on my blog he told me to wear a disguise so no one would recognize me and realize I was his wife. How nice, boy he sure is supportive of my hobby.
There were so many people there that to get this picture I had to raise my hand up with my camera. You see the guy in the middle he thought I was bidding on the bull in the ring and the bull was already at 6,000 dollars good way to embarrass my hubby who was busy at work in the back. I don't think a 6,000 dollar bull is in our budget.
They serve a pretty nice breakfast and dinner and keep the food up all through the sale. Cason did not like his and he was pretty mad that I would not get him something else. Dustin only ate a little bit and he was also mad because he did not get the drink he wanted. Fun day for me Not
They had red Angus and I thought this guy was very handsome. I did not get a good shot and now he is probably down in TX making baby's so I will not ever see his pretty face again. So sad
After a long day at the sale and having two CRABBY boys I decided it was time to go home we told Patrick by and have a good time loading out trailers but we be done. Especially mom.
Sometimes when working calves you have one go a little wild and that's when Doc the super horse gets to do what he loves best. Patrick will let Doc put that calves behind right between his front legs and Doc will push that calf where ever Patrick asks him to. Doc is very careful and does not step on the calves but for some reason this is his favorite part of the job.
Once the little calf is back with the herd everyone gets on with business as usual.
Posing for the camera
God's Glory
Traffic Jam
The Storm
Peace
Mellow Yellow
Yes, another H name to describe my many "personalities". Happy Hippy Heifer Hillbilly House how does that sound? Don't worry I am sure I will come up with another H name to describe the many other sides of ME. Everyone will know all about me or just be completely confused and biting your nails by the time I finish. I have come to realize that I am an odd duck. I guess I realized it unconsciously but now the realization is surfacing. I cant decide whether It scares me or I am glad to be unique. Believe m e I am the definition of unique, really I am I promise, I know it is hard to believe but I am.
Over the weekend the boys and I decided to go on an adventure exploring the pastures. We went wading in the creek, climbing trees, looking at piles of cow poop, playing with rotten leaves, throwing rocks into the pond and playing in the mud. Who needs a McDonald's play ground when you have 1,000's of acres of trees and creeks and ponds. Sometimes I wonder if my boys are deprived because they don't get to go play on the McDonald's playground like all the other normal kids. 
I really enjoy going out exploring in the pastures. We have so many interesting valleys and hiding spots. Places that make exploring for a kid a blast. When my boys get older I hope they will enjoy exploring these places on there own making forts and little villages down in the valleys, with rock people farming there land until a big black monster comes and tears down their village. Or a flood washes away there houses, I am sure hard on rock people, I guess
Oh what a beautiful sign of spring a fly!
He had a blast climbing this tree. I was so proud of him and being brave because sometimes he can be a bit of a woos, did I just say that about my son, no I didn't, SHHH don't tell.
He thinks he is a stud muffin, did I just call my son a stud muffin? what is my problem first he is a woos then a stud muffin.
He is a gangsta! Now I am referring to him as a gangster sometimes, no all the time I wonder about my self.
We had Robin red breasts all over the trees of course I only got two shots and one was blurry because I had three dogs and two boys running around scaring them.
He is getting to be such a big boy and he is not a woos this boy was soaked from head to toe and did not complain one bit. Dustin on the other hand had to jump the creeks and threw a fit when his boot fell off and got wet. Did I mention he is a woos. Oh I already did well I don't truly think he is a woos really I don't, I promise, I think.
