The pictures I put with the last pist didn't show. Only a few. So going to try it here. Annoying phone app. Hahaha.
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What a gorgeous days we have . Warm and sunny and the snow is melting fast.
Saturday it was so nice outside, I decided to have a short ride on Flicka. She was good at the mounting block after 2 tries. We walked around for a while and she was great. The footing in the arena is bad though with icy slippery spots. But it was a great ride. After riding I did some target hand with cheek with both horses. So much fun! What a smart horses. Flicka does it on verbal cue now and Freya starts to lean towards my hand. Yesterday I went to the well. My driveway entrance is a big mud pool. Not so great. It needs good load of gravel. Paul came for supper and it was a very nice visit. Always happy to see him. :) He helped me to get the bottles in the cabin. Thanks Paul! You're awesome. The forecast for tonight up to Thursday doesn't look great. Lots of rain and snow coming. So today is a good day to get things ready for that. Yesterday I did laundry and today I got things done like splitting kindling, get hay ready on the tarp for the horses, have a tarp ready to cover the hay and more things around the yard. Of course I take time for breaks on the deck and enjoy the sunshine. Oh and I gave Flicka an empty cardboard box. She had so much fun with that. Not just cats like an empty box! Hahaha. Yesterday the snow plough came and removed all the wet heavy snow from yard and driveway. He seemed in a hurry, because I noticed later he damaged my shed that I am building. So I have to make a call because this is not right. I will have to redo the rafters now because a lot is snapped.
After the plough left and the sun hit the yard and driveway snow started to melt like crazy. It got warmer and warmer and by the end of the afternoon I had a lake view. Hahaha. Normally the big melt comes in April. But we are early this year. It was great to be outside doing chores and sit on the deck with a coffee in early morning. Now I see more and more geese flying over and really enjoy their sound. Sheri brought square bales I bought. She and Ben picked up a big load for the 3 of us. Thanks Sheri and Ben! The horses love the new hay. I took some to the far end of the pasture so they had to walk through deep snow to get it. Flicka went but then changed her mind and ran back. But later I saw them both eating from that bit of hay I put there. Good excersize for them to walk in that deep snow. They usually stay on their paths. The days ahead stay mild so snow can melt more. I wouldn't be surprised if there is still snow left end of May because the snow banks are huge and very compact. :) The app didn't work for the photos so going to try it in a new post. Yesterday was a great but busy day. I cleaned up the cabin, did some laundry, made a potato salad, split up some wood and worked on a Mandela. Its finished and it looks nice. I'm happy with it. :) After feeding the horses I did my meditation. This time I sat on the mounting block in the arena. The horses were eating their hay and so now and then looked at me but kept eating. It was snowing and everything was very quiet. I listened to the birds chirping, raven calling and the breeze through the tree tops. Very peaceful. When I fed the birds a chickadee and one of the Grosbeaks came very close and lots of Grosbeaks were waiting in the trees for their breakfast. As soon I filled up the feeder and did two steps back they came down to eat. So nice that they are not so shy anymore. :) A wonderful start of the day, like always. What a beautiful day again.
After giving the horses water and hay , I sat down for some meditation. Freya stayed at the fence while Flicka started to munch on the hay that I had put in the middle of the arena. Freya nuzzled me and then made funny faces. after a few minutes she relaxed and did lots of yawning. After a while Dizzy came to us and of course Freya had to nuzzle her too. Funny and so nice how the horses get along so well with the cats. During the meditation I heard geese in tbe distance. The first I heard this year. :) When I walked back to the cabin, I noticed wolf tracks coming from tbe winter pasture into the yard. Hm. Not so great. But can't do much about it. We share the same habitat. As long we can live in peace together, I am ok with it. It promised to be a beautiful and warm day so I went to the well early. When it gets warm, the grid roads change into a muddy slippery mess. It was quiet and the roads were not too bad. On my way I saw 3 geese flying over. I stopped to take a picture. My first geese this year! Back at the cabin I unloaded the bottles. Paul would help but he forgot he had football camp today instead of yesterday. I took my time getting the bottles on the deck. I worked with the horses today too. They both did so well. Both can target my hand with their cheek, and Flicka even does it on cue now. Smart girl. :) Opening mouth goes well too. Later in the afternoon Sheri picked me up and I charged my laptops and phone. While waiting for a video to upload to youtube I wrote an email to my penfriend Sheila from Kansas. We are the same age and lots in common. Always fun to write with her. When I got back home again, I fed the horses and then went for a evening walk. Scruffy was with me of course but this time all 3 cats joined us. Yes ,the warm weather gets them outside and its good for them to go for walks again. So muvh fun to see them running and jumping. So happy! The sunset was very beautiful. A perfect end of a perfect day. :) Even though it was very windy most of the day, the sunshine was lovely.
In the morning I did chores and split all the logs. Got them all stacked on the deck. I noticed that the snow melted off the white shelter. Good because it's a lot of weight. It just slides off when it gets warm and at the sides there is a lot of snow now. The cats were out a lot. Taz climbed up to the roof of the truck, enjoying the sunshine. In the afternoon the temperature in the sun got to 21C. So nice! I worked with the horses again. I am teaching them both to open their mouth on cue. It will come in handy if they ever need a vet to check their mouth. They both are doing great for this. They curl up their lips but Flicka got to the next step already, which is open the mouth and upper and lower teeth not touching . I also worked with Flicka on stepping towards me sideways. When I started with that I stood in front of her and tbat didn't work. This time I stood on her left side and that worked much better. Within seconds she would lean towards my hand with her cheek to touch my hand tbst i help next to her cheek. Smart girl. I do some light meditation in the morning with the horses too. After feeding I just sit for a while. I don't ask them to join me at the fence but there's always one of them that stays with me. Yesterday Freya stayed. She soon was dozing off! Today Flicka stayed and gave me soft kisses with her nose. After a few minutes she just stood still, her head a little down. Totally relaxed. So nice to start the day with quiet and stillness with horses. Good for mind and body. :) The sunset was very beautiful and a joy to watch. I just love pre-spring! I'm not so happy with this weebly phone app. Everytime I put in new pictures, older ones show up too! Sorry about that. Not sure how to avoid that. This app has a mind of its own. Hahaha.
I got up around 6 am and enjoyed the bright sky with stars and a tiny moon. After I fed the horses I fed the wild birds. They were all waiting and chirping loud. They know the routine! Very cute.
When I was at the first feeder , one of the pine Grosbeaks came SO close. She was not too worried about me and when I held out my hand with some seeds , she almost landed on my hand. She changed her mind and then sat on a branch just one step away from me while chirping. Awesome! I filled the feeder and hardly stepped away to do the other feeders when a whole bunch of grosbeak and redpoll started to eat. Soon the woodpeckers, chickadees and the blue Jays were having breakfast too. It is a busy feeder. :) My neighbor Ben cut some more trees and got me a few more loads of fire wood. Thanks Ben! The snow plough came and I'm happy with a clean yard and driveway. The snow banks are pretty high! But they do make good bird feeders. I just climb up the snow bank and at the top I put seeds. Many feeders I used before I can't reach because of the snow banks but this works great too. :-) We had lots of snow and the second day after, the snow plough came to clear the driveway and yard.
In the back of the cabin there is deep snow and the weather was so nice that I decided to go snow shoeing. Well , not as easy dobe as said. Hahaha. I sunk in very deep and it was hard to do. But I walked for 10 minutes. Great excersize! With the cold gone I could work with the horses. That was fun as always. I learned I really have to have a good plan in my mind so I don't confuse my horse. I want Flicka to move towards me but she didn't get what I asked because I asked it too poorly. She offered several behaviors like side passing, disengage hind and fore quarters and of course she got a bit frustrated with me . I almost coukd hear her sigh and think: ok lady, I am trying but can't figure it out. Give me a break. Lol. So I did. Now I have a better plan in mind and will work with her today. This morning there was another load of snow so I will need to shovel. It's very mild outside so that will be fun. I had water and fed the horses and Freya stood by me at the fence . We had a quiet and peaceful time together, where she would nuzzle me and rest her head into my two hands with her nose against my coat. So beautiful. Here some pictures of one of my walks. Also the tracks of Scruffy in the snow. You can compare them with tbe wolve teacks. wolf tracks go straight while dog tracks wander and as you can see, Scruffy drags her back feet. :) |
LPine Meadow's Blog by SaskiaIn this blog I will share the process of building a small solar and wind powered cabin and the creating of bird, herb and vegetable and fruit gardens. Archives
September 2016
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