Calling In Sick

Today I called in sick to work. I didn't want to but my shoulder has a huge knot in it and its killing me. I was supposed to go in for the Night Watch, midnight to 9am; 4 hours of watching the boats and 5 hours of selling.
These shifts KILL me and I'm ruined for the rest of the day.

Saturday of Memorial Day Weekend

Friday of Memorial Day Weekend

Sacking & Fires

When we first moved here 3 years ago the back pasture was all over grown with blackberries, weeds and alder trees. There were a couple big piles of tree stumps and junk left behind from the previous owner, some with metal mixed in.

 Lan moved them all down to the bottom of the front pasture and we added to them over the last few years, mostly not having time to burn stuff before the summer burn bans and then it was too wet after the removed it.

But its been mostly dry for a few weeks with a couple hot days and Lan started the burn yesterday.

The stuff behind my head was all dirt & wood mixed up, including bed springs & who knows what all else. 

We got a lot of branches off the upper pasture

This morning & today its still burning even though last night it rained pretty good

The dirt was all spread out & metal removed. I'm sure there is more out there but we will pick it up when we find it.

 While I was sacking out Gus, which he HATED, Shadow decided to go out & enjoy some grass.

2018 Mothers Day

Mothers Day weekend was a good time. Lan & I had both our parents, Brandan came and a few friends, we had a simple BBQ with just burgers & a couple salads. No big deal & I didn't stress out about having the house perfectly clean. The weather was mid 70's with a clear blue sky.

The BBQ was at noonish  so in the morning Lan & I went to a couple yard sales and Tractor Supply, where they were having a small aminal swap in the parking lot. That was cool because I picked up a dozen pheasant eggs for $10. I brought them home & put 6 under a hen and 6 in the incubator with 8 fresh chicken eggs. we'll see if ANY of the eggs hatch.

This morning Gus

let me walk right up to him in his stall with a rope and catch him, then while grooming he let me pick up both front hooves and tap on them, as if he were getting shoes nailed on. Gus will NEVER have shoes on but he needs to feel all sorts of different feelings and big horses get shoes nailed & hammered on. He is moving forward with leaps and bounds.

 Our front yard is absolutely BEAUTIFUL right now and smells wonderful.

Farrier

Gary came out today to trim & shoe horses

This is Mack's hoof

Joeys hoof 

Another of Joeys hooves 

And Gary met Gus for the first time; Gus was not impressed with Gary but handled this experience OK. His hooves have been trimmed before but it was by the veterinarian, he might have been on drugs. 

Gus is so little 

I'm sure Garys back got sore 

Gus pulled back a few times but once he got to the fence he had to stop. His head was under the shelf but he didn't bump it at all. 

Gary let Gus act up a bit but brought him back around each time 

It harder to do mini's than big horses 

And its super cute to watch 

Here is Gus's hoof inside Joey's shoe 

Carrots

Gus will now approach me in the arena and let me catch and pet him, for a carrot.

Shadow, on the other hand, is still avoiding me and will run at the slightest movement. 

I've separated them today and tonight they will have separate stalls. This will continue until I can catch both of them in the arena without ANY problems. 

My Son, the Rockstar

 My son and his band, DRUG OF CHOICE, opened for a semi good big time band that was heading up in the 90's, PUDDLE OF MUDD.

The venue was Funhouse and El Corazon

Doors opened at 7pm

I think the guys were a bit nervous

Sound check

We were in line just behind them

R2 hasn't seen us yet

But he saw us right after this.

ISN'T HE HANDSOME??

His friends are flirts!

This is Brice, so nice and fun

Friends watching them play

Handsome

Gus is beginning to enjoy being groomed, today he stood patiently while I brushed his body and then the whole time I combed out his mane. Its super thick, on both sides of his neck but surprisingly there were no dreadlocks. There is still a lot of hay in it but for now we'll let that go.

I also cut a bridle path through all that hair to make his halter fit a bit better.

His hooves were trimmed by the vet in Canada before they came here and they look ready for another trim now so I'll need to work on lifting feet more.

And the excess hair was placed outside on the fence for the birds to use as nesting materials.

Shadow is going to need more help than I can provide, he is not accepting grooming very well nor me being on his off side. I'm not a horse trainer so I am searching for someone else to assist with this.