June updates

Just some family updates for June so far:

Jim has been busy in his "bike shop" (otherwise known as the shed) fixing up one bike using spare part from all his other "part bikes." He has even traded Andrew some parts and they are hoping to have this one put together and running HOT when the Baurers come up in two weeks. He seems pretty happy being able to do this.

Andrew and Hannah are busy preparing for exam week, which starts this coming Thurs. They are really looking forward to school being over SOON!

Daniel has started his summer job of mowing for the neighbor. He (the neighbor) finally got his mower fixed, so Daniel can finish the whole lawn with out the belt coming off ONE time! Daniel is glad for the extra income and it keeps him out of his sisters' hair. He is a hard worker when he gets down to business.

Leah and I are in the middle of a John Lyons natural horsemanship clinic this weekend. Leah is using Blaze and I am riding Dixie. I am learning LOTS (probably more than the horse) and hope to be able to retain it all for the future. One of the things I like about his training methods is that they are simple, but very effective. Dixie has really made a lot of progress in only one day.

Julia is keeping busy with pony club, bike riding, and school. She is also involved in Girl's club, which holds meetings every 2 weeks. She is growing up sooooo fast and is always wanting to be involved in more activities. Sounds like little Laura!

Ellie May

Poor Ellie. She has had a lonely go since Odie went to his new home. We decided to bring up the barn kittens go give her some company. This morning, we could not find her when we went out to feed her. Later, we got a call that she was down at the neighbor's house. When we picked her up, we noticed her back leg was injured. She would not put any weight on it and whimpered when you moved it. We took her to the vet and she said Ellie pulled ligaments in her knee. ANOTHER knee injured in the family! So, the good news is, she gets to be in the house for a few days (or maybe for good????) to recover.

Projects to do. . .

1. FLOWER BEDS. I have the flowers, I just need to clean them out (weeds) and turn the soil. No time because of the following. . .
2. TACK ROOM. I have been wanting to make a room/wall in the barn ever since last spring when we did the renovation. I found several tools (some power ones, whooo hooo) really cheap at a recent garage sale, so now I have the tools to do what I want. A friend came out to help me get started with the framing.
3. BEACH VOLLEYBALL. In the sand arena. We were given a nice volleyball net and poles from a neighbor who moved almost 2 years ago. It is about time we got the thing up! I was able to get two tires with rims from a friend and cemented the post holders into them this past weekend. Now I need to shorten the poles to regulation height. Then, we will have our own beach volleyball court right in our back yard (don't forget to scoop the horse poop, though!)
4. FENCE FIXING. This seems to be a never ending project. There is always more fence areas to fix. We have been replacing sections at a time, but someday, we will need to redo the whole back pasture fence. We are currently taking donations!
5. GATES. See above. We did find some nice gates on Kijiji recently and now have a gate in our arena. This is good. Now, when Leah is working Blaze, he can't try to run out of the arena.
6. LAWN WEEDING. Those pesky thistles seem to come back with a vengence every spring. I would like them to just disappear without having to touch them. No matter what gloves I wear, I seem to always get pricked!

Farewell to Odie

After deciding we were going to give up raising Mini Dachshunds, we needed to find Odie a new home. On Mon, he was sold to his new owner. They are a young couple and the wife has always wanted a mini dachshund, because she had one as a kid. He is doing very well and sounds like he is even living with 2 cats! He will be in his glory--to be able to chase the cats without a cage in between! Anyway, we are happy to hear he is getting the royal treatment and finally gets to live in the house with his owners (something Jim would not consent to here!)

Project # 2

Here are a couple of pictures of Teddy, Leah's second project. She sold Dakota (to Julia) and decided to purchase another one. Teddy is a green broke, registered TB/Sport Horse. He is 4 and has been ridden some. He seems to be really sweet so far and is a lovely looking horse.

Spring!!!

Yeah!!! Spring is here! I got to mow the lawn for the first time yesterday (I am sure this will get old after a few times) and am debating whether to plant my annuals this week. We have been having some very nice warm, sunny days and it is soooooo nice to go outside with capris and flip-flops.

The kids have been busy in school and Leah and Julia are at Pony club meetings just about every week now. Andrew is having fun at gymnastics every Thurs. evening where he meets some friends at the local club for open gym night. Daniel is gearing up to mow the neighbor's lawn this summer and has rode his bike to school this week. Hannah is planning on going away for the long weekend with a friend's church youth group.

I am working on building a tack room in the barn. A friend came out last Sat. and showed me how to frame it. He helped me get started with the scrap lumber we have been hoarding in the barn. I am glad to organize some of our tack AND use up some of that lumber laying around.

Jim has been slower at work, but has spent a good amount of time taking parts off his "part" bike and putting them on his good bike. He did ride it on Sat. for the first time this season. He wants to get it in top shape for when the Baurer boys come up!

Pony Club Lessons

Julia enjoyed her first official lesson on Dakota. He did fairly well. She did have to eventually get a crop to keep him in a trot as he is a bit stubborn. She has decided that Dakota is going to be her next pony.