Pippi and Nikki on a Trail Ride

After many miles of gamboling about on a long, hot trail ride - uphill and downhill, through thick brush and lush forest, Pippi was bagged. Fortunately, we've been working on teaching Ringo to accept having small, squirmy puppies in the saddle and I was able to toss her on board, climb up after her and give her a ride back to the parking lot. Did Ringo turn a hair? Nope. Would I have believed that this would ever be possible on a horse that used to panic at the thought of being tied up/brushed/bridled/looked-at-funny? Never in a million years would it have entered my head that my skittish maniac of a horse would become the best little trail horse west of the Rockies. Jeez... I'm feeling some cowboy poetry coming on!

Yogi on Horseback

Now here's something you don't see every day... advanced yoga on horseback!

This is what happens when Jane invites her friend Peter out on a casual trail ride. Both Jane and Peter are Bikram Yoga fanatics and much of the chit chat while we were out on the ride involved yoga in one way or another.

I shouldn't have been surprised when, back at the parking lot after a long, lovely ride somehow the topic of yoga on horseback came up. Jane said how cool it would be if someone could do that foot behind the head move on horseback (yeah, yeah - I know the posture has some special name). And then, before I could suggest that this could be the last yoga move Peter ever did anywhere, he started contorting himself into pretzel formation and, yes, his foot wound up wrapped around the back of his neck!! On horseback! Gads! Good thing Dinny is a) dead quiet generally and b) was totally worn out after a long, hot ride.

Kids - don't try this at home!

Meet the Milk-Stealing Goat

So it turns out that self-sucking goats are not so uncommon. While a self-milking caprine might save us some work, she also robs us of our daily harvest! Poppy seems to have this annoying and persistent habit and we've been having quite the battle to try to prevent her from guzzling away between milkings.

The gizmo in this photo was design-modification #4 of what started out as one of those Elizabethan collars for dogs that are used post-surgery to stop premature plucking out of stitches and licking of wounds. In its original fanned-out configuration, this didn't slow Poppy down at all. Goats, apparently, have much longer necks than dogs. She just reached around and slurped away.

Scissors and duct tape to the rescue!! In the course of making the cone ever more restrictive, we wound up with something that looked like... well, like nothing I've ever seen strapped to animal's head. The new design worked for about 24 hours and then Poppy figured out how to rotate the headgear, and reach around it for another drink. Then she figured out how to rotate it and get her nose stuck in the pointy bit - which, yes, did stop her from milking herself, but also stopped her from eating or drinking.

Back to the drawing board....

Poppy Goes to Seed

This spent poppy flower looks more like some kind of sea creature than a land-based lifeform. From the blazing, fire engine red of their blooms to their propensity to self-sow and show up like clockwork each spring, what's there NOT to love about poppies?

Watch Your Back!

Not the greatest photo, but look closely and you'll see that Dinny is giving free riding lessons to the neighbourhood birds! We're delighted to have Dinny back for the summer and by the way he cheerfully heads out to the field each day, I think he's happy to be be home.

Why, oh Why Can't I Chase Those Ducklings?

For a dog that is half sight-hound and still an impulsive puppy, Pippi shows remarkable restraint when it comes to NOT chasing the ducks. Her whole body quivers with anticipation and she lives in eternal hope that I'll give her the nod, but amazingly, even when the whole flock waddles past her, she stays put.

Miracle of Growth

The creation of a thousand forests is in one acorn.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

No matter how matter-of-fact I try to be about this whole gardening thing, I cannot help but be amazed by the way things grow! A prime example is this bed of purple sprouting broccoli which, if you recall, started out looking like this (those microscopic green flecks in the foreground):

And now, mere weeks later, a thick forest of green! I was getting a tad worried that there was still no sign of sprouting shoots to pluck, but after looking up the variety I was reminded that it will take 200 days, or so for the plants to start producing the mini-heads that characterize sprouting broccoli. Typical - on the one hand, I'm astonished by the spectacular rapid growth and other other hand, terribly impatient to start harvesting!

Meanwhile, out in the orchard, birds are snacking on my not-quite-ripe cherries (carefully procured netting remains in its package, waiting for time enough to install...), a robin was seen rooting about in my strawberry patch (must net that, too!), and the grass in the orchard is madly spewing clouds of pollen because I haven't had time to build some new goat containment panels that will allow the goats to clean up without decimating the four new fruit trees in the upper part of the orchard! Ack. I feel like it's time to post a new, seasonal to-do list here, except the very thought of how long that list will be is just plain depressing!

Watch Those Ducklings Grow!

Remember a few short hours ago (or so it seems) when we could fit a dozen ducklings in the water dish? Not any more! We are enjoying the final few days of duckling fuzz before our babies fledge out and their true colours are revealed.

Giant red leaf mustard lettuce

For anyone who thinks lettuce is floppy and bland, try some of this! We scored some seeds labelled 'Giant Red Leaf Mustard Lettuce' at the Seedy Saturday seed exchange earlier this year and I threw some into the salad greens bed. Let me tell you, that was the best loonie I've ever spent! (at least, when it comes to salad greens!) The leaves are HUGE, a fabulous russet and deep, dark green - and the taste! Peppery, hot, tangy - they really spice up a plate of greens. We've had them in salads (they grow fast and were among the first we started harvesting), stir-fries, and sandwiches. This past week or so I've also been snipping off the tips of the flower buds before they have a chance to open and wow, do they add some serious zing to the salad! I must let a couple of plants go to seed so I can collect and save for next year.

Super Dani!

Here's Dani doing her superhero impression at the Canadian National Futures Vaulting Championships in Chilliwack, BC. Dani's competing in the Women's Canter D division and here, though it looks like she is floating along behind her horse, she is actually partway through her dismount.

This is actually a pretty big deal competition as Chilliwack is simultaneously hosting Canada's first CVI (there are big time international competitors here, too - from all over the USA, one competitor from Australia, and another competing for China - though the latter now lives in the US). Many of the CVI vaulters are vying for scores high enough to qualify for spots at this fall's World Equestrian Games being held in Kentucky.

Lots of fun (well, fun for me as I'm a casual spectator). And, fun for Pippi who is on her first road trip. Today she discovered the joys of zooming around abandoned racetracks. As a dog who is half whippet, this has, so far, been the highlight of her journey!

Iago Loves My Truck

... almost as much as I do! She knows the sound of the engine and appears from nowhere when we return with the horses (or after procuring a load of hay). She knows the engine will be warm and toasty and this fact makes her very, very happy. I've never seen a cat cuddle with a vehicle with quite the same degree of enthusiasm!

Electric Fencing is My Friend

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Fi-Shock. All opinions are 100% mine.
I don't know exactly how they first figure it out, but horses know when the fence is off! Within days of figuring out that something wasn't working quite right, the beasties were reaching through, under, and over the fence of their paddock. Wires snapped, insulators popped off posts, and I was getting seriously worried I was going to show up in the morning to find the whole herd gone! Work deadlines kept me from getting out there to do a bit of maintenance and wow, by the time Dad and I methodically made our way around the perimeter yesterday, it was astonishing what a good job they had done of weed-eating under the fence line!

Anyway, armed with our bucket of essential electric fencing supplies (new insulators, nails, hammer, fencing pliers, wire, zap-straps -- or whatever those handy-dandy plastic ties are called--, and a sharp pair of loppers) we followed the fence, searching for places where something might be shorting out, trimming back weeds and branches that might grow into the fence (as I say, the horses did a remarkable job of tidying up for us!)

Brio the cheeky kept sneaking up on us, stealing tools, ruffling hair, blowing down Dad's unsuspecting neck (THAT made him jump!). When, at last, we were done, we switched the fence back on and watched. Sure enough, Brio investigated with what seemed to be a hair's breadth between her whiskers and the wire, but did not touch the fence with her muzzle. She turned away but misjudged the distance and brushed the now-hot wire with her shoulder. Zap! She did a dazzling sideways leap and the other horses sort of looked at her as if to say, "Dummy. What do you think they were doing to the fence all afternoon?"

Nobody else has come close to getting in trouble - except poor little Pipsters who, sadly, had to learn one of those awful lessons of puppyhood - that wet noses and hot wire do not good friends make...

Given that Dad and I had never installed an electric fence before we built the horse paddock, we are pretty happy with the way things have turned out. Horses are notoriously hard on fences of any kind and the electric really helps keep them from chewing, rubbing on, sitting upon, or blowing through. If we'd known about this company (Fi-Shock) and website before we started, we probably would have done a better job planning and installing the system in the first place. As it is, when we finally get around to building the new paddocks above the manure pile (as in, farther up the hill... not on top of the heap), I'll be checking in to see what info I can use and, maybe, invest in a solar-powered fence charger (I've always wanted one of those...)

Pippi the Pippet Puppy

... with her freshly killed stick. It has been many years since I have enjoyed the pleasures of a new puppy. Pippi is just about the most entertaining dog with the happiest disposition that I've ever met (okay, I may be a bit biased, but still...) This photo was snapped during a marathon 'kill the stick!' game - pretty well all the other photos show a fuzzy black blur as Pippi whirled, pounced, spun, leapt, tossed, raced away with, tried to bury, and worried this stick she found while I was doing some grass-pulling along the orchard fence. It was very, very hard to keep my mind on my task and not just stop and play.

Ducklings on the Move

At ten days old, the ducklings can't wait to get out and play in the field in the morning.

The mama ducks are never far away, escorting them from place to place and then standing guard when the little ones get tired and need a nap.

Escape Artists!

Apparently, very young ducklings can squeeze through the 2" mesh of the duck nursery! What they don't seem to understand is that on the outside lurk eagles, raccoons, exuberant puppies, fanged and clawed cats, ravens, and who knows what other threats to duckling lives... The duck pen has been reinforced and, so far, the bill count remains at fifteen little peeplets.

Ducklings Aren't the Only Cute Creatures Around Here

I know I've been flooding the blog recently with photos of the ducklings, but in fact there is lots of competition around here for cute animal moments. Here's Iago at work charming our pony, Ringo. Ringo is the one who adopted the wild rabbit in his paddock and taught it the pleasures of massage by horse lips. Iago has trained Ringo to perform this service on command. She shows up whenever we tie the horses to the trailer to get them ready to go riding. When she is in position at Ringo's muzzle he goes into a trance state, his eyes soft, and lips ever-so-gently rubbing Iago all over. Iago, meanwhile, dissolves into some kind of cat ecstasy. She purrs and kneads and contorts herself so Ringo can massage her head, shoulder, back, and tummy... One wonders what went wrong with this predator-prey relationship! I guess Iago doesn't look too much like a sabre tooth tiger and Ringo must be a size or two too big for her to consider him as a menu item.

Bathtime!

Fear not - the duckling photos will stop soon... but oh my, they are keeping me entertained! We seem to have fifteen in all...

Cutest Puppy in the World!

Is it possible to overdose on cuteness? Because it's getting pretty close to overload on the OMG, how adorable front around here! Between Pippi, the ultra-lovely-best-puppy-in-the-world, and the ducklings... I am in perpetual danger of hyperventilating due to the regular sharp intakes of breath and way too much sighing!

Awwww!

Let's just all say it together, shall we? Awwww....

Duckling Alert!

Is this not the cutest little face ever? This was the first duckling spotted yesterday... There are at least four nestled under the three nesting mothers (who are sharing nest space in a very civilized manner...) There are still quite a few eggs under there, too - and the moms are not leaving the nests for anything, so more siblings may yet emerge over the next day or two...

Stay tuned!