I have been quiet for a while, and that is partially because I was given new responsibilities at work that consume much of my time. After work, I’m just so tired. I’m making an effort to write regularly again, starting with an overview of the last few weeks. There’s the good, and the not so good, so I am purposely making this two separate posts because I don’t want to be burdened by the negative in a good post, and I know I’m going to sound like a Negative Nancy.

Sliding right into the good, Harris Teeter, which is only two blocks from my office, has been carrying my very favorite apple breed. Now I come into work totting a sack of apples. I distributed them one day, but turns out, most people aren’t really into Rome apples like I am. More for me then! It’s the simple things in life, like having a sack of apples under my desk, that make me happy.

Berry, who is finally abscess free (for now), did some jumps and was such a good girl. She actually picked up her little feet!

Olivia, the mare conquer (I know of two mares she gets along with but I’m sure there’s more), and also of hellomylivia, came over and rode Vintage, and as always, rode her beautifully.

Berry didn’t refuse or hesitate, and was even happy to follow Olivia and Berry over the jump with cardboard poles (above, but at a smaller height) at one point, just like in lessons as a kid (minus the cardboard). At least that happened in my lessons. But we also had a Christmas party of musical jumps, and when the music turned off, the last person who jumped a single jump in the middle was out. So everyone rushed the jump in the effort to not be last. At 11 years old, that was quite frightening, although now I’m wondering maybe I will feel confident enough to do it someday?

Overall, our tiny cross country course was fun! Berry gave a little buck after the cardboard jump, I think out of excitement, but was otherwise very well  behaved for jumping out in a field.

We attempted a trail ride, only to find the trails had been closed with a DANGER ribbon. The danger makes it all the more intriguing! I want to know what’s dangerous down there! The trail eventually leads to a real (but small) cross country course, so maybe they are preempting that by saying it would be dangerous if we found it?

Also in the good, I’ve been complaining about losing a lot of chickens. Since that post, I lost yet another one, a little jerk of a hen who picks on the babies.

At first I thought she got stuck in the garage again. If she’s loose, and the garage is open, she goes in there to hang out. I don’t understand the appeal. One time we shut the door without knowing she was in there, and she was in there for 32 hours or so before we realized it. This time though, a thorough search revealed nothing. She was gone.

That was about two weeks ago, and I had wrote her off as eaten by something. Imagine my surprise when I open the big door of the coop to clean it out, and there she is, sitting on about 5 eggs. She’d made a hidden nest, wedged between the chick brooder and the nesting boxes. She seemed to be healthy, so she had been getting food and water, I just hadn’t noticed her (which is not surprising, I don’t stare at the chickens 24/7). She was extremely angry to have been found, and expressed it by hissing and spitting at me. When I tried to remove her eggs, she snapped at me, like a tiny dinasour. I decided just to leave her be. Then, oddly enough, I had a dream last night that I had taken her eggs, and tossed them in the yard, and then a full sized Belvedere spilled out.

This would be physically impossible, as all the eggs she had were bantam eggs, and also chickens don’t emerge from eggs fully grown.

I don’t know how long she’s been sitting on them, so I suppose I will let her keep the eggs. I’d feel bad killing partially formed chicks, and it’s a gross image I don’t want in my head. I suppose I will have another batch of chicks soon. Hopefully they will all be hens, because I have 5 roosters now, although oddly enough, they seem to get along well. They have occasional scuffles, but the hens get into those too, so I can hardly blame the arguments on them being male, just on them being chickens that don’t always get along.

Going back to horses, after two weeks of no lessons due to other appointments, I finally managed to get another lesson scheduled. Since it’s going to be cooling down soon, I’ll be riding in the afternoons now instead of the mornings. Once Berry is getting ridden regularly again, I’ll start trailering her back over to keep learning how to be a respectable animal.

Hopefully, we will get back on track, and be able to do a show in September or October!