Paige’s Page

I have been working a lot of overtime lately, so tonight I grabbed a beer and my camera and went for a relaxing walk after doing chores.

This picture of my cuddly boys was actually from a few days ago, but it’s so cute I have to include it:

And here is my husband being gross with an onion skin:

Now for the pictures I took tonight.  First are some more of the flowers and plants that are coming up.  The previous owner planted them and I enjoy them throughout the spring and summer:

There are 5 or6 different kinds of daffodils out there, if you can believe it!

Hastas coming up:

Ornamental grass:

Can’t remember what these are called, but I love them:

I have no idea what this plant is, but it’s so cool looking:

A few tulips trying to bloom in this cool weather:

Grape hyacinths, I think?  Also very cool!  I have lots of these.

LOVE the smell of these–amazingly wonderful and strong.  I think they are hyacinths, but I could be mistaken.  I only have a few of them:

Lovely little heart flowers:

The creek is back down already, even after all the rain we had.  Thankfully it goes down quickly because we are near the beginning of it:

My poor maple tree has fallen victim to gnawing by a certain chestnut horse who shall remain unnamed.  I was thinking about cutting the lower branches off anyway, so she just helped me make up my mind.  Notice the lovely green cess-pool developing in the low point of the paddock.  Nice, huh?

The tree that we pulled out of the creek last summer after it reeked havoc down at my crossing.  They used to be piled up neatly, but the girls like to play with and chew on them.  I’ve left them out there because better they chew on this than the fence!

The big piece from the bottom makes a WONDERFUL mounting block:

The Avenue is not so pretty yet since there isn’t any green on the trees:

Nice, clear water.  The girls love drinking out of the creek:

Casualty of a run-in with a deer.  I only know this because there was snow on the ground and I could seee its tracks.  One of the many things on my to-do list!

Last year’s manure compost pile.  My brother in law is using it for his garden.  He hauls it away, and it’s a win-win situation.

The entrance to the pasture is a low spot and gets pretty muddy after a lot of rain (which we’ve had):

A close-up of the mud.  Isn’t it pretty?

The girls coming over to see what Mom’s up to:

Paige checking out my beer, the lush:

And now Cassie has to check it out, too:

Not much grass yet.  Hopefully the pasture will recover, since I don’t have the luxury of two pastures that I can rotate.  One of these days I intend to!

A self-portrait of me and Paige, as she’s patting me down for treats…or a sip of beer?

Some of several brush piles I need to clear out and burn this summer:

Squint–do you see them?  A herd of deer helping themselves to my neighbor’s hay field:

The remains of what used to be a hunting blind that the previous owner had out in the pasture.  No longer recognizable after the girls have had their way with it.  Also going to the burn pile as soon as it’s dry enough for me to run the four-wheeler out there without tearing up the pasture.

Some more shots of the girls:

A poor little sycamore tree that’s not surviving life with the horses:

Skinny Cassie.

Fat Paige.  They get fed separately now because I have to feed Cassie twice as much grain as Paige to keep them at the same weight.  Paige has turned out to be a veeerrrry easy keeper!

Heading back to the house:

And Paige has decided to come along:

Does anyone else have dogs who poop in the driveway??  An whole acre of yard to poop in and they have to go for the driveway, right next to my car.  Drives me nuts!

Last Monday when Cassie wasn’t showing much improvement, Doc had me separate Paige and Cassie.  Well, I wasn’t home during daylight hours until the next evening (a week ago Tuesday), and wouldn’t you know that when I went to separate them Cassie was hardly limping at all!  She still had quite a bit of swelling, so I went ahead with the plan.  Within a couple days the swelling had gone down, and now she seems to be completely back to normal. What a relief!

Day before yesterday I let them together again.  Keeping an eye on Cassie for any signs of relapse, but she’s doing really well so far.

Here they are this evening.  They just got groomed and are finishing up their dinner:

Making goofy faces:

We got a utility ATV about a week ago.  I’ve needed one for a long time, and boy am I glad to have it.  Makes life around here so much easier!  Probably not the best time for a major purchase with the economy in the pits, but we got such a great deal on a 2007 that they had left in their warehouse and were trying to clear out.  Here’s a shot of it sitting in the garage:

Also some glimpses of the plants coming back to life after the dormancy of winter:

And some cute pictures just for the heck of it: