Chickens, Mules, Donkeys, Ponies, Bulls, Carts and Wagons…Oh My!

 

My daughter and I had a great time recently with some friends of ours during a ‘Show and Tell’ type of event at our local Tractor Supply Store.

Several groups and individuals showed up to share some of their interests and amazing animals.

But first my daughter and I stopped off at our local feed store for a Poultry Swap, where we had hoped to sell (or, heck! Even give-away!) our sneaky attack rooster, Paul Revere. There were lots of people there selling chicks, pullets, hens and roosters. There were also farm dogs and puppies, kittens, rabbits and ducks and geese, along with locally produced food and products, too. We set up our rooster with a sign that said “1 1/2 year old Blue Wyandotte Rooster ~ Make an Offer”.

We had lots of folks walk by and admire Paul, and one lady wanted to do a swap for a hen. But a man showed up within the first half hour and offered me $5……SOLD!

I almost bought a couple Japanese Silkie pullets, because I love them so much, and our Mrs. Cotton is already 4 years old and I would like to get some more Silkies to take her place when she goes up to the great coop in the sky.

Anyway, I stayed strong and didn’t come home with anymore birds, but after we left the Poultry Swap, we swung by Sonic to have some lunch and we waited in the drive-thru behind a cow.

My daughter loved this and wanted to know what his owners were going to be ordering for her to eat. We were pretty sure it was not a hamburger!

We left Sonic and stopped by our local Tractor Supply to visit with some of friends in the Rio Grande Mule and Donkey Association, The New Mexico Ladies Aside, and The Enchantment Driving Association.

My friend Linda was there on her mule, riding aside.

She and her group, New Mexico Ladies Aside, won a blue ribbon in the New Mexico State Fair Parade this year, for the best parade group!

My friend Kelli is also a member of New Mexico Ladies Aside.

Kelli was there with one of her donkeys and was happy to let Jen give him a hug.

Or two……..(Awwww!)

And then Kelli and Linda invited Jen to try out the Western Side-Saddle.

And I even took a turn, too!

 

I’d just like to say that that saddle was very comfy. I sat in it a long time…until my daughter asked me to dismount so she could have another turn. *grin*

My friend Diana was there, too.

I’ve now ridden in her cart pulled by Miss Dixie and ridden with her and her mare Glory. She’s a nice gal, and she brought along her daughter and daughter’s friend that day.

 

And Diana was giving cart rides to the public, too.

 

Jen was thrilled to be pulled around Tractor Supply by Miss Dixie, in Diana’s cart.

 

There was also a guy there selling locally produced honey.

And you can bet I came home with some! I love supporting local folks. Papa Bear lives less than 5 miles from my house and it’s not too far-fetched that his bees could have visited my peach and apple trees this Spring!

There were also a couple of 13 and 14 year old bull riders there, too.

Hunter Salter and Justin Neil had racked up quite a few buckles since they first began doing rodeos when they were basically babies.

They brought a Buckin’ Barrel for folks to try out (And no, I didn’t try it!)

I was impressed with how very polite they were, too. True cowboys, those two!

 

And they even brought along their favorite bulls.

And invited Jen to feed them some cookies.

Nothing like a kiss from a little bull!

 

Before long, several of my friends were getting hungry and thirsty, so they asked if I’d mind taking one of them to Sonic, just a mile down the road, to pick up some food and drinks and bring them back.

My friend Allen stopped by before we left and tried out the Western Side-Saddle. Kelli thought it was hilarious!

My friend Allen, is a well-known mule owner/driver/rider in our area. He and his two sons brought a team of mules to share with our community.

His 16 year old son, Cody is a highly skilled mule driver, too.

Allen teased me that he could probably get to Sonic faster than we could in my van, and that we should ride with him. I thought he was joking……but he wasn’t!

And he really did drive to Sonic, and would have pulled into Sonic when we did, if he didn’t get stuck behind the red light!

Yep, he drove his wagon and mules right through town and into the Sonic Drive-Thru!

And they stopped to place their order.

And of course, I had to hop out for a photo or two! *grin*

Is this cool, or what?? Allen was thrilled to have these photos, because he drives his mules all over town including Walmart and Sonic, but had no photos to prove it. Now he does! *grin*

Those mules were fast! They followed us right through the intersection in town!

And then got a little slow on the way back to Tractor Supply (Allen said that was because he and his son were occupied with their Sonic shakes).

Yep, his two sons drive the wagon, too. They’ve been driving mules since they were 5 years old!

Allen and his older son, Cody invited Jen and I to go for a wagon ride around Tractor Supply and down the road. Cody, who is only 16 yrs old, drove the mules!

I love living here in our rural mountains. I love the great folks in our tight-knit community and I especially enjoy having such wonderful agricultural opportunities right in my backyard. And Tractor Supply Store was generously supportive to everyone by providing awnings, corrals, shavings, buckets and water for humans and animals.

What an awesomely fun day!!

He Crows

 

The Summer Chicks are now 24 weeks old and some big changes have been taking place. Some of the pullets have graduated to hen status because they are now laying eggs for us. But one of our Blue Wyandotte chickens confirmed our suspicions last week and began crowing. Yes, we are now positive that he’s a roo.

But you really must listen to the horrible sounds that come out of his beak. It sounds like someone is getting violently murdered and is screaming for help.

I took this video at 6am. Think about that for a moment. Now listen.

 

See what I mean? Horrible wasn’t it?

And he really is quite a handsome rooster, too.

 

But sadly the town cryer has no name yet. I was thinking perhaps Paul Revere might be an appropriate name. What do you think? Anyone have any other name suggestions for our Blue Wyandotte rooster with the crazy crowing voice?

Ok, I’m weird…and that’s ok.

 

I’ve always known I’m different than most folks. I’m one of the ‘march by the beat of my own drum’ kind of people. When I’m in the right company (read: as wacky as me), I’ve been told that I’ve got a crazy wicked sense of humor. It’s definitely twisted, that’s for sure. A lot of folks just don’t get me and probably think I’m weird….and that’s just fine with me. Peer Pressure doesn’t matter to me anymore.

I’m free to be me.

 

Maybe that’s why I’ve always like camels and llamas. Everyone thinks they’re weird, and I think they’re more lovely than a plot covered in roses. Actually I think llama breath smells better than roses.

See? I’m weird.

Goats are weird, too. Lots of people like them, though. But you have to admit, goats do look sort of weird with their horizontal elliptical eyes.

I love my 3 goats and their funky eyes. They remind me of dogs and often want to climb up into my lap for a cuddle.

Luna, my angora doe was my first goat. I rescued her 2 years ago from a neglectful home, where she was kept in a 6 foot muddy pen with nothing but a few brown alfalfa crumbs thrown in for her to eat. She was supposed to eat weeds, but there weren’t many weeds on the overgrazed dry lot she was let out on a few times a week, tied to a horse as a sort of training for the horse. Ever heard of that before? Not me, until I adopted my Luna.

I almost didn’t take her home. She was so matted and had never been sheared in the two years her previous owner had her. She still had the green paint on her rump, that was used by the auction to mark all the animals being sold in her group.

I usually shear her twice a year, but missed her shearing last Fall because of the snow that came with our early winter. She was way overdue last week, but my shearer guy won’t come over to shear just one animal. And I sold my sheep and my llamas only require shearing every other year.

So I had to shear her myself, with my hand shears, or what some might call scissors. It took me almost 2 hours and I didn’t give her a close-cut because I wanted her to have all her skin intact.

It wasn’t pretty.

And I couldn’t keep any of her mohair fleece as it was so matted and full of VM. The birds love it, though, and I’ve seen them carrying it off to their nests. 

But I got ‘er done and Luna was perfectly patient for me the entire time. She even nuzzled and licked me whenever I got into her range while she was up on the stanchion table.

After I trimmed her hooves and put Luna back into her paddock, she began dancing around, head-butting and playing with her goat buddies, Mud Pie, the nigerian wether, and Latte, my mini-mancha doe. That was all the thanks I needed. Totally made my day.

        

But I’m still weird. I don’t care about keeping up with the Jones’s. It doesn’t matter what kind of car I drive. It only has to be useful and practical. That’s all I demand. I’m not into clothing style or brands. They only have to be comfie, fit well and not cost a lot.

And they should clean up well and be able to hold their own in the barn.

If you came into my house or my garage, you’d first notice that I don’t have a lot of stuff and don’t have collections. I despise dusting, so I don’t keep lots of dust collectors around. Any knick knacks I do have, must bring me huge joy every time I look at it, or it would have to go. I also don’t like clutter. It stresses me out. I will never be on that Hoarding TV show. Shopping doesn’t appeal to me at all. And I’m a firm believer that if something new comes in, then something old and unused must come out.

You could easily say that I’m not very sentimental about stuff either. I married my hubby 20 years ago, and even sold my wedding dress a year after my wedding, because I knew that if I had a daughter, she’d want to wear her own dress, and not my old fluffy, ruffled frock. I have tons of photos of my dress, and that’s enough for me.

 

I also wouldn’t want to hang onto to my wedding dress until I died and then my kidlets would be stuck with it, feeling guilty about getting rid of it.

See how practical I am?

I told you I was weird.

I also don’t intend to be buried. Besides being very expensive and a waste of space, how do I know anyone will visit me someday?

My Mother died when I was 8 years old. She was honored with a military service for her years in the Navy. And then she was buried in a cemetery in California, near LA.

I’ve only been to that cemetery one time in my 43 years of life. Crowds and driving in the city make me nervous, so I just don’t go.

As for me, I intend to be cremated and my remains scattered over my beloved Sandia Mountains. Back to the earth. My children and grandchildren can gaze up to these mountains and feel close to me, or they can drive up, take the tram, or go hiking over these mountains, to feel even closer to me.

I’m nothing if not practical, eh?

Or maybe I just have an aversion to being filled with formaldehyde, having my face painted for people to walk by my casket, staring at my lifeless body, while saying, “Oh….she looks so good” (Hey! I’m dead! I’m not supposed to look good!)

And weird. Yeh, I know.

And I’m ok with that.

By the way, I still have Sid the rooster. Anyone want him? I’ve offered him up for free on every message board around town. No one even wants to eat him.

So he sits incarcerated until I can figure out what to do with the evil creep.

Sid Vicious looks weird, doesn’t he? Seems only fitting, don’t you think?

Ok…..I started writing this post with the intention of sharing a video that I stumbled upon. And then I got very side tracked. And talked way too much about myself. Ooops!

The video itself is totally weird because of the creepy performers, but it made me laugh. The guy at the end made me laugh right out loud. I don’t do that very often for stuff on TV and videos, so I thought I would share it would you.

Let me know what you think.

Goodbye Boys

 

My poor hens have been dealing with way too much attention from our two young roosters that were hatched out by Mrs. Cotton, our Japanese Silkie, 6 months ago. She also hatched out one little black hen, too. I felt bad for my girls, seeing how those two young bucks would ravage a hen, what seemed like every 15-20 minutes. The poor girls couldn’t even sleep or eat without looking over their shoulder. And sometimes the two of them would tag-team on a hen too.

In comparison, Sid Vicious and Mr. Cotton are almost 2 years old now and have matured enough to not have the same strong urges they had when they were younger. If they get a little hen-love a couple times a day, they are more than content.

In addition, these two young roosters were adding to the noise levels exponentially through their beginning efforts at cock-a-doodle- doo’ing.  

So, these two amorous young studs had to go. And I had to find them new homes.

 

I posted ads for free roosters on Freecycle and Craigs List and the next day a lady and her daughter came to pick up one rooster to watch over their flock because their previous rooster had died.

One gone, one to go.

But just 2 days later, a lady and her husband stopped by to pick up the last rooster. Their flock was without a rooster and they enjoy different breeds of chickens, so they were looking forward to having a flashy rooster to add to their flock.

So, now we are back to having just two roosters again and coop life is much calmer and things are back to normal…………….

    

and my girls can relax now. 

Happy Birthday to Me!

 

Today I am another year older. If I were a tree, you’d be able to count 43 rings (or wrinkles?) within my core.

It always surprises me to say my current age out loud because I still feel like I’m in my twenties, even though my body likes to rudely remind me that I’m not.

(Sid Vicious, our golden-laced, bearded Polish Roo)

 

I was feeling a little down today because my kidlets and I haven’t seen Ranchman John for two months. I drove him to the transportation depot in June and he was able to fly back once in early July.

But it will still be a few more weeks until we can see him again. Due to the lack of well-paying jobs with good benefits in our area, Ranchman John is on his way to being Truck Driver John. He already passed the tests to get his CDL License and completed the one month company truck training program up in Salt Lake City in July. And now he is currently driving an 18 wheeler cross-country, picking up and making deliveries with a company trainer, building up his hours and truck driving experiences. It really stinks not having him around, but you gotta do what you gotta do in this economy.

(Our first harvest of apples. They are so juicy and sweet)

 

So for my birthday, my kidlets accompanied me for some fun letterboxing in Placitas, Corrales, and Albuquerque. (Photos at a later date) We found five new letterboxes, including a bonus box, and were First Finders for three of them. Whoohooo! And I got to try out my new complimentary Leki Trekker Poles, that were recently sent to me for allowing an internet business (Sports Apparel) to advertise on my blog.

(I will post more about them soon, but for now, I must say they are a huge help for anyone suffering from knee or hip weakness or unbalance. They are awesome on steep, rocky trails, too)

  

We also went to one of our favorite places to visit: the zoo. What a great way to spend the day, and the animals there seemed quite happy to wish me a happy birthday.

They even dressed up for the occasion.

(I thought this was a black tie affair?)

(Zzzzzzzzzz)

(Uh. Could come back to me later, please?)

I was even serenaded.
Happy Birthday………………..

To You!

Happy Birthday……….

To you!

You Live in a Zoo!

You look like a Monkey!

 

And you smell………….

Like one, too! (har, har har. I crack myself up!)

 

(Let me know when the cake is served, please)

 

(Did someone say ‘Cake’?? Let me at it!)

 

(Ooops! I was just trying to help you open the package . You didn’t really want this present, did you?)

 

As you can see, my birthday celebration at the zoo was highly entertaining. But that’s not all. I saved the best performance for last!

From the Tower of,