C'est la vie Sunday

Oh what a nice day today, a little sun, no rain, so much warmer.....I have spring in my bones again. I got up early, went to the barn, fed everyone, fixed the retaining wall railroad ties (again)...people keep running into them!...then put up some solar lights, let Dolly out into the big paddock. Dolly's leg is healed and there is no reason to restrict her in a small turnout any longer. She was so happy to get out and move around....and roll in the dirt and sniff noses with Church.

I went to clean Beaver's stall and he pushed past me as only the naughtiest of ponies will do....whereby he LEPT onto the hay bales that were stacked on the other side of his gate... and then he jumps up on the hay and quickly makes his way onto the second layer.......giving me much anxiety about how he was going to get down. He did this same thing yesterday but only climbed onto the first layer....so ummm.....here he is on the second layer, with hay bales moving.......I am worried about a leg going in between bales.........yesterday I smacked him....today, well, I don't want a castrophe on my hands, so I talk sweetly to him and offer him some grain........whereby he JUMPS off the stack...runs the length of the barn and busts out the door........LOOSE. Oh, but then he stops to eat the bowl of chicken scratch........I grab a halter and go to him as he is inhaling the last of the scratch.....he backs away, ears forward, body upright........he is ready to jet away from me. I need better bribery.....I go back and get grain.....shake it in the bucket......he reaches for it, I nab him.....and he tries to make a break for it, so I lean all my weight backwards..........and he leans his backwards too......I slide across the entry mat like a water skier. There is NO stopping a pony who has his mind made up. I run when I hit the dirt....and then YANK his head toward me....okay, I have him under control for the moment and I open the barn door and lead him back......he runs for the hay again.......I divert him and get him into his stall, slam the gate.....and then I call him a little bastard pony. I tell him that Sarah took the wrong pony....he should be working his fat little butt off instead of Wally..I tell him that no one will ever adopt him. He rolls his upper lip back and bares his teeth at me. I bare my teeth at him.......then he puts his little ears forward and reaches my arm and licks it. ...it works.....I take back everything I said.

I slipped chicks under my hen early last week and took her eggs from her. She couldn't quite get the hang of setting on the eggs....she would routinely take two hours off, the eggs got cold and then she would go back and sit on them for 22 hours...no good. Anyway, the chick thing works well and she is being an excellent mother, she hasn't left them once......coos to them, sits on them to keep them warm......they love her and listen to her. It is so cute to see them peeking out of her wings and breast feathers. Today she showed them the finer aspects of the manure pile, she scratched and then called them to see the delicate grubs she found.......seven chicks of her own....all purebred, and even a couple just like her.

Saturday, Ryan and I got the wiring down to the new shed, a light with a photo cell installed, then patched holes in the metal roof (we used previously used metal roofing)...we are so green, aren't we?! Part of the wiring involved digging a long trench, laying conduit and rewiring existing receptacles......the new light is great!.......Next, we have to side the shed, put a gravel base down, and then mat it.
Rebecca cleaned and kept the rooster at bay...I am teaching her to pick him up, so he can be put away when he becomes annoying. He hates most volunteers......I have offered to put him in the stew pot.....but my mother won't hear of it.

Lizzie is coming home Tuesday and I guess she will live in the new shed until I can make some sort of plan on who really goes where. Sarah has offered to go and get Lizzie for us........thank you so much.....you have no idea how much time this saves me! You are a blessing....do you want Beaver????

Hay delivered today.....it was supposed to come Tuesday, but it is here early...he must have called me twenty times and finally got me,,,,,,,,then he came and put the hay into the loft. Nice fresh smelling hay...I hope they love it. I fed it to them for dinner so I guess we will see in the morning.

Anyway, more chores to do tonight....
Enjoy your week

Pony UP fortune for tomorrow.

Nagging doesn't help.