Days Away on A Mini Vacation

 I have a lesson on learning to drive Amble tomorrow morning and I'd like to do it as early as possible, as its supposed to get up to 91* over there. We have decided to go camping tonight so we won't be driving for 3.5 hours at 0'dark:30 in the morning to get there.

I've checked out a bunch of the camping areas around Yakima and a few of them are on the Canyon Road between Ellensburg and Yakima, I don't know if I'd want to camp at any of them. The day use is OK; camping is only $5-$15 but the people are sketchy. They'd probably end up partying all night & we'd get no sleep.  There is the Sunnyside RV Park and it's still reasonable at $37 per night with electric and a pool but we'll be there too late to swim and leave too early to swim.  I did leave a reservation request with them so if the guy calls back, I'll ask about late arrivals, since we wouldn't get there before 10pm.

I'm excited yet nervous to drive Amble and to ride her. I'm not nearly as good a rider as I used to be and I've never driven besides one single time. This is why I need to go over, to learn to drive.

Thinking Of Moving

We've thinking of moving so spent a few days in Idaho looking at properties, saw about 15 of them.

Someone else bought this PERFECT FARM before we had a chance to see it.

But there is always this one

with this amazing barn that's got living quarters

This is the inside of the living part

The ladders both fold up

Through those red X doors is an amazing interior

Open them up and from the other side you see...

This. A French door

Which opens into this interior that's 

PERFECT 

for a wedding venue

just imagine little twinkle lights up there

In the living part there is this awesome farmhouse sink

And then there is the log house at the other end of the property

This is from the ground looking up at 2 of the 4 balconies

The living area

Up these stairs

Around the corner is the kitchen or bathroom area

This is the basement. Its tall and made of concrete so if the river floods 

it doesn't take out the entire house

from above, barn in the background

The Weiser River

More inside

Lan & my dad are going to go back over and do an in depth inspection, looking for rot and bugs. I saw signs of it/them.

What I like: 

Its along the Weiser River Trail

https://visitidaho.org/travel-tips/riding-weiser-river-trail/

where I could ride my bikes, ride a horse or drive a pony & cart, walk my dogs or run a ways.

Its 15 acres.

The barn is beautiful and dry, even though they are just getting ride of 4 feet of snow.

The house has potential.

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What I don't like:

I'd have to quit my job.

Its very wet but it is right after 4 feet of snow.

Its going to need $50-$80k to get the house livable.

I'd have to quit my job.

Fences are all barbed wire, some parts falling down.

Barn really isn't suited for horses.

I'd have to quit my job.

Barn is a long way away from the house.

No garage for the Mustangs.

I'd have to quit my job.

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I will definitely take Joey, Wifi & Gussy but don't know if I'd take Mack. If I do, he would be mine & I'd have to pay for all his veterinary, all his shoes, all his feed, all his ripped up blankets, all his hay. I'm thinking about calling Julie and asking for Sunshower back & taking her.

He Could Be Mine

Mack

He has been offered to me

He is one amazing animal

A Few New Things

The front fence is new because the assholes took to wandering in the frikkin road. They've been contained in the back pasture this last month while this was put up.

Notice the fake gate at the far end? There is an old easement there that we want to maintain so even though there isn't really a gate, it looks like there is.

This is what this section of fence looked like, it had old rotten posts, barbed wire, field fence, hog panels and rotten boards, all being held up by the plethora of weeds & bushes.

Today we gave these boards to a guy who is going to put them up on his fireplace wall. 

This is NOT the section the horses went through, that was the field fence 

between us & the neighbors.

What it looks like without any fence.

What else is new? Hoka One One has brought back the original Clifton 1 running shoe & these are the ones that made running fun & not a chore. I'm going to have to go buy a pair & if I still love them I'll get a few more, before they decide to upgrade them again.

And this is new. I won a contest & this is my prize.

I Rode

I rode, but only for a few minutes, on Mack. 

Then 3 days ago I got an injection in my foot, into the Plantar Fibroma.

In the 1st photo the bright white dot is the middle of it, all the darkness is the lump.

I was given a lidocaine shot to numb my foot, that went into the back of my ankle and it took about 4 minutes of him poking the needle around into the proper spots.

 I spent 12 minutes massaging the medicine into the area.

Here is a raw shot of the needle inside my foot. It began at a size 6.2mm in size, the previous biggest it got was 4.9mm. 

Here is an 'enhancement' of the same photo.

It was mostly numbed but once in a while he would hit a nerve & it would feel like my foot had a hot poker on the heel.

This part of the procedure lasted about 8-10 minutes.

Afterward I put on my boot and came home. I had to borrow crutches from Mora and she also gave me a Lidocaine gel patch. I cut it down to three 2"x3" pieces and put 1 onto the bottom on my foot. They last 12 hours. The 3rd is on now and I'm sure it has helped a LOT.

I used the crutches for 2 days, today is the 3rd day & I'm able to walk without them but still in the boot. 

All this foot lump tumor BULLSHIT has a name, I'll go into more detail at a later date.

HORSEY NEWS:

I was too cheap to order harness pads for $10 online so I paid $30 and made my own.

At least I used a color I like.

I'll get photos of them actually ON Gus later.

Gary is coming out to trim horses tomorrow.

Hay Loft

If you walk in to our barn and look up, this is what you see.

If you walk to the other end, climb the ladder and look, this is what you see.

If you go into the arena and look up, this is the view. We have about 8 tons of hay in the barn, with another 1.5 coming later.

I love that I can literally feed all the hay to the horses that I want to feed them & have NO FEAR of running out and having to get more. There is enough hay to last until Mid May and that's if I feed an entire bale every day between now & then.

But the horses aren't eating that much.

Last night something got & killed 2 of the quail so I opened the door & released them today. Two left, 1 male & 1 female. The lame quail stayed behind with the lame chicken. I'll keep them safe.

Haaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

There is just such a satisfying feeling know you're going to have enough hay for the entire winter well before winter sets in. Our second load, alfalfa/grass mix, 

all from the same grower in Naches, Washington.

We pay $8.25 per bale plus $1 per bale for fuel. We leave home at 8am & get home at about 5pm. About 300 miles round trip.

There will be 1 final trip next weekend for a total of about 250 total bales.  I've already been feeding it, have no idea how many bales but if I have 220 left and feed 1 per day, I'll have enough hay to last until May 7 of next year. That's plenty of hay.

Finished Halters

I got the www.haltertags.com name plates in the mail, couldn't wait to get them onto the halters. 

Definitely need to oil the halters too.

Here is Gus with his new halter & doesn't he look SMASHING? 

Here is Joey

They spelled his name wrong, just like the guys in Kentucky did with his halter 20 years ago. 

I'm OK with it this time.

This halter was $5 at a barn sale & had RED on its old plate.

And Wifi.

She was more concerned about getting to her dinner than showing off her new halter plate.

I chose the Chicago Screws to attach them instead of rivets so that I can use them on other halters in the future. Wifi's halter is the crappy old one that wasn't stolen when my others were (and that's why I'm pretty fucking sure it was Sarah Goathouse who stole all my stuff).

I'd really like to get each of them new halters made of soft leather that's also strong, triple stitched, like the ones I had before. Maybe I need to make a trip to Kentucky to pick some up myself. I don't particularly care for the throatlatch snaps & all of these halters have them. They  more a grooming aid than anything else. I'd rather use the crownpiece to buckle it on and off than by slipping it over their ears and using the snap.

We've been putting Joey & Wifi in the stable comfort stalls every night and in the mornings both have looked like they aren't in pain. Wifi's shoulders/withers, where she took a tumble or something in spring 2017. Each horse also has their outside run available to them & sometimes they actually go out there to poop.

And this cart is for sale in Enumclaw, $250. Tuesday is my payday & I'm hoping the person who has it will sell it to me. I'm not even sure it will fit Gus but maybe, if it doesn't, it can be adjusted/altered.

In The Stalls

This hay elevator looks like a roller coaster

Also known as haylivator

This is inside Joeys stall this evening. He's got 2 buckets of fresh water, a big bag of hay and tomorrows hay hanging on his door. Lan said they will all eat through their doors but I don't think they will get much.

This is what it looks like outside his door. Wifi's hay is next door

And here is Gus's door with his grass hanging on it

A little electricity to lighten things up

Lan removed the heavy duty pallets, this is all the chafe from 4 years. There were 2 big dead rats and another live one. It was bright green alfalfa, not this nasty brown color.

Barn looks nice without the chicken coop in front

This was last week, I've put some of these items away and cleaned a few times since this was taken