Taking a break (for a few hours at least)!

Lake Michigan

Garden Update

The squash vine borers have taken out three of my plants, and one more fell yesterday. I do think that I got my money's worth out of the plants with the veggies they produced, but it's a real shame that they're shriveling. My melons continue to do well, and my tomatoes are finally starting to turn red! I feel like there's a BLT in my future :-)! Unless the hornworms eat them first...

This squash has seen better days...

Watermelon 

Red tomatoes!

Bell pepper

Sage

Marigold

One big bug!

The Round Pen

Tiffany and I spent last Saturday morning in the round pen. The goal was to get her to "join up" with me-- basically recognize that I was in charge and the leader. To get a horse to join up, you basically drive them in circles (controlling their feet). Once the horse shows signs of submission such as lowering their head, chewing, licking their lips-- you allow the horse to stop and see if she comes to you and then follows you around. 

One thing I underestimated in our previous sessions was how long it could take, and I also didn't realize she was suppose to follow wherever I went (my mentor was pretty consistent about reminding me of the signs). At any rate, it took at least 30 minutes of driving Tiffany around to get her to realize it was a good idea to follow. We took some breaks, and she slowly started to understand. The first couple times she came up to me after stopping she didn't follow, so off she went again. There were a few things that set us up for success. First, she was tired from being driven around the night before. Second, I didn't have a time constraint. No watch; we were up there as long as we needed to be. 

It was a pretty cool feeling when we finally "joined up." Hopefully this will give us a solid basis for continued training. 

All A Buzz...

First Drive

Tiffany got hitched up for her first drive at our place on Friday evening. Our neighbors and friends Kevin and Wendell came out to help as they have much more driving experience than me. Wendell took the reins first (which turned out to be a good idea).

Things got off to a rough start when Tiffany was a little balky going out of the barn, then someone knocked over some lattice, and just as she was about to step outside, Will walked by carrying a salt block (scary scary scary). This is partly my fault-I have never taken her into that part of the barn, and she hasn't been into the barn that often. Once she was out in the open, Tiff decided she didn't want to go anywhere. No way, no how. At this point she wasn't scared, she was just being a major brat (the four-letter b-word would be more accurate, but let's keep this blog clean :-) ).

Kevin ended up leading Tiff through the empty paddock to the back fields. Wendell drove her for a little bit and she got balky again. Kevin had to lead her, again. We finally got her in the arena, and she proceeded to trot around, settle in, and then decided to throw a hissy fit, again. When she finally got settled, I hopped in the cart, and then--- you guessed it! Another hissy fit! I got out, she started working well, so I finally got to get back in and drive her around. She was great to drive, had a great mouth-just a light touch on the reins and she would turn. I drove her for a few minutes before we headed back to the barn, with Wendell driving, and there was no drama. At least we ended on a good note after Tiff decided to be a total brat to start out. Wendell, who raised and trained Tiffany, was shocked at how she behaved. I was shocked, too -every time I drove her before I brought her home, she was perfect-- she just plodded along as calm as could be.

This is definitely something that Tiff is going to need some work with, but for the next few drives we'll have supervision. I'd be lying if I didn't say I wasn't feeling a bit apprehensive about driving her by myself by the way she acted Friday. But, Tiff's just going to have to get over being a b!@#$, and I'm going to have to get over being intimidated. I know how to drive, I know I can handle her (at least on the lead line and in the round pen), so there's no reason we an't hitch up and have a nice drive.

We had a good round pen session on Saturday morning, and I'll write a post about that later this week.

Garden Update

Here are some photos from the garden. The rain was wonderful because no watering was required for the last couple of days. Things are growing well, my pepper plants are still stunted but are producing, there's lots of tomatoes (no red ones yet), and the squash bugs and squash vine borers are wreaking havoc and I lost one zucchini plant as a result. However, I have a new tactic against the squash bugs: water and dish soap (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7oYXIeTlC0). It seems to work-I caught a few of the bugs this morning.

The yellow squash seem to be faring better, but I'm afraid two more of zucchini are destined for plant heaven. According to my research (http://www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/horticulture/M1209.html), there's not much one can do once the vine borers are on the scene, but we'll see what happens...

This basil was destined for a chicken basil stir fry.

Our biggest sugar baby watermelon-we built a sling for it since it was growing outside of the bed.

Golf-ball sized melon

Itty-bitty melon

The nasturtium (which haven't been very effective against the squash bugs) are finally blooming...

A soaker hose has been laid out in one of the beds, which will hopefully make watering a little easier. If this works out, I'll buy another for the second raised bed.

Wondering if these onions will ever reach regular onion size...

These are the two yellow squash plants that are doing okay. The pepper plants are still way too short, and the tomatoes are bearing a lot of green fruit.

The first peppers-- they're black so I think they got sunburned during the heat wave.

Another pictur of the onion and soaker hose.

Tomatoes....

...tomatoes...

...and more tomatoes...

Small squash

This squash should be ready to pick in a day or too.

This zucchini was having a rough time with the borers and squash bugs, but it seems to be growing new leaves-- keep your fingers crossed that it's recovering!

Feeling neglected?

Poor Kobe hasn't gotten a mention on the blog in awhile due to all the garden and horse updates-- he does look a little disappointed by that, doesn't he?

No blog recognition and the heat wave make this pup pout!

I feel bad for the guy-- it's been so hot we've kept him cooped up inside. Just a five minute walk outdoors makes his fur hot to the touch. 

In other puppy news, he had a yucky sebaceous cyst removed from his back on Tuesday. Fortunately, we caught it before it became infected. Will reported that Kobe was very good for the vet, and he has been great about taking his medication (we just put a little peanut butter on each pill and he gobbles it down).

Jubilee

Jubilee hasn't gotten as much attention on this blog as she deserves, so here's a photo of her basking the sunrays on an early morning. She's playing second fiddle to Tiffany, which suprises everyone who knows Jubilee-- she was apparently quite feisty in her heyday.

Jubilee checking out Tiffany after Tiff's round pen workout. I'm not sure, but she may be smirking a bit since she doesn't have to work ;-)!

Rain!

After at least three weeks without rain, we finally got some precipitation last night and this morning. I happily rummaged through my closet to find my rain coat at 6 a.m. this morning to feed the cats and water the horses. It was really peaceful waiting for the water trough to fill up and listen to rain, feel the pitter-patter of the rain drops on my shoulders, and watch the lightning flash across the sky. (Don't worry, I wasn't standing out in the middle of the field during a lightning storm-I kept close to the barn. The horses, on the other hand, are much braver than I).

The rain could not have come any sooner as things here were dry dry dry with the 90+ degree days we've been having. The grass in the yard was dying, the coneflowers in front of the house were wilting, the east field where the horses were first kept became a dust bowl, I lost two petunia plants, and my violets finally conked out on Monday. The corn in the neighboring fields isn't nearly as tall as it should be, and some of the stalks were turning brown. The rain will be good for the hay fields, and after today's showers I'll get to take a break from watering the vegetables.

Good morning

Who doesn't love the smell of horse breath in the morning?

Garden Update

The garden is alive-when I walk out in the morning it's all abuzz with the sounds of bees in the summer squash flowers and marigolds. It's home to spiders, grand daddy long legs, and (unfortunately) squash bugs, which are wreaking havoc on my squash and zucchini plants. My peppers are still less than a foot tall, but have blossomed. My lettuce was looking a little wilted yesterday, but after a spray with the hose, they seemed to recover.

Here are some photos from the past week:

The summer squash is still producing in spite of the squash bugs, and the plants are buzzing with bees in the morning.

Green tomatoes-can't wait for these to ripen so I can have a BLT!

One of our melons decided to grow outside of its bed (and since the bed is crowded with so many other plants), Will fashioned a little hammock for it out of electric tape, an old plastic fence post, and pantyhose. 

At the last count, we have about eight Sugar Baby watermelons growing on our four melon plants.

Tiffany and Ephiphanies...

Week two of horse ownership has been one of "Aha" moments for Tiffany and myself. Having your own horse at home and being responsible for her behavior is really a lot different than showing up at a barn once a week to ride someone else's horses, and being on your own when they aren't on their best behavior can be a challenge.

Tiffany decided last weekend that she did not want to walk on the lead rope. At the suggestion of her former owner, I put the lead rope through the noseband of her halter. And it worked-- for about 5 steps. Ms. Tiff had decided she WAS NOT going to lead. The problem for my four-legged friend is that she does not get to make such decisions- if we weren't going to walk forward, we were going to turn in circles until she decided to follow. After about 10 minutes of me turning her in circles, urging her on with the light taps of the whip (which I used as an AID, not as a punishment), her trying to get away, and then throwing a couple of kicks at the whip, she stopped. And refused to move again. I gave her a lead a couple of sharp tugs up and down, left and right, and a light bulb went off in her head-this human means business. She has been following me when she's on the lead every since.

I have to admit I was really nervous working with her that day-what if I couldn't get her to lead? What if she got away from me? What if she ran over me? (A legitimate fear as she weighs 1700+ lbs.) When I was riding growing up, people would say "horses can smell fear" and "don't be scared, they'll sense it and take advantage." For a while I was so caught up in not trying not be scared. But now I think that the important thing is that even though I was shakin' in my boots, I didn't let her or my nerves get the best of me.

The Round Pen (which is in the middle of the overgrown arena).

Today I took her up to the round pen-the session went well. I entered the pen knowing that it was going to be a learning experience for me and Tiff. She needs to learn my signals, my body language, and I need to learn what she already knows and what we need to work on. We kept the session short, and I ended it by brushing her and letting her munch on the green grass behind the barn.

I plan to work with her in the round pen for the next couple of weeks. Our neighbor loaned me her draft-sized saddle, so I'm hoping to have the courage to get on her tomorrow or Sunday. She hasn't been ridden much, so we'll start in the round pen, move out to the arena (when it gets mowed), and then onto wide open spaces. I've only ridden once in the last 10 years, so I'm hoping it won't take too long for my riding legs to come back.

Tiffany enjoyed munching on the green grass after her workout this morning.

Once the arena is mowed, we'll also start ground driving, and then move on to hitching her to the cart we have on loan. Once we're comfortable in that, we'll give my wagonette a spin.

Fair Week

This week is Fair Week in our county. While I grew up in a rural area in Georgia, the fair was never this big-here everyone we know is involved somehow. While this is only our third summer here in Michigan, we already have a tradition of going to the fair on Wednesday night-we start out with dinner at the Rotary BBQ chicken booth, followed by ice cream from the 4-H booth, and end our evening at the harness race. Look for more photos later this week.

I've volunteered two of the last three years. The first year I was in the exhibition building with all the craft, plants, and food projects. This year I helped with the draft horse show on Sunday handing out ribbons, cleaning carts, and trying not to get run over by HUGE horses. Thank goodness the heat wave broke and highs were only in the 80s.

This is our neighbor's team of Belgian Drafts, which won its class at the fair.

There was time to walk around on Sunday to look at some of the farm animals. I was especially interested in the chickens as we will be getting a small flock next spring. I have very limited experience around chickens (brief encounters with them on the family farm out west as a child, and looking the birds as we drive past farms), so I was a little surprised by how big some of them are :-O.

What a pretty feather pattern!

Chickens don't really care to have their photos taken, but this guy perked right up when he saw me standing outside the barn with my camera phone:

These little piggies are headed for market...

Photos from the Garden

This year is my first attempt at planting a garden. While most of the flower beds are a work in-progress (or work-in planning), there are several containers and two raised beds. Honestly, I was scared to death I would kill any vegetables planted, but everything seems to be hanging in there, despite this heat wave.

I love looking out at the containers on the porch. But, I could do without watering them every day-where oh where is the rain?

Here are some photos from the first week in July.

Tiger Eye Rudbeckia-this one is planted in a container and there are two more in the bed in front of the house. So bright and cheerful!

Raised Bed # 1-includes tomatoes, peppers, melons, onion, summer squash, herbs, lettuce, marigolds, and nasturtium.

Raised Bed #2-pretty much the same plants as Bed #1 (you can see the Rudbeckia, coneflowers, and daylilies in the background)

Sugar Baby melon

Yellow squash

Nasturtiums

Carnival bell pepper plant--these were grown from seed, and currently are less than a foot tall. I'm not very optimistic, but at least one of the plants has flowers, so maybe there are peppers in the future.

This basil plant seemed to grow four inches overnight! At least something here likes the heat.

"Hot Papaya" coneflower-these were too fun not to pass up!

One of the flower pots-the marigolds and snapdragons were both grown from seed. The violets were a freebie on Mother's Day from a plant nursery near Sutton's Bay, Michigan. The snappies turned out to be a very tall variety...

I don't remember the name of this plant, but what a vibrant pink color!

Pink Lemonade petunias

Purple petunias-I love petunias because they attract hummingbirds.

Other plants not pictured include daylilies in the flower bed in front of the Hot Papaya Coneflowers, a big metal container planted with carrots, and a small pot of parsley.