My current abode

 This is the house I live in now.  I've moved in with my parents.  3 bedroom, 3 baths.  My brother also lives there.  They wanted to keep an empty bedroom for guests - they have lots of guests.  And everyone uses the same bathroom....   Oy.  The things I would like to change here :)  That's why my bedroom is a living room.

We've had unusually warm weather for the upper Dakotas.  It was very windy the other day.  

Tipped over the pony shed....  only 58 mph gusts... LOL.   Usually winter doesn't have wind from the south.  That's why it's like this!  I tipped it back up today. 

 As of about 2 weeks ago, I am now down to having 4 pony girls.  My oldest, DeeDee told me last winter she didn't want to be that cold anymore.  So the decision was made, and this fall after a nice warm summer, I helped her leave her sisters Bug and Queenie, and nieces Buzz and Flutter, and move on to be with her mother, my childhood mare Power Girl.  Even tho the decision had been made long ago, it was still a very hard day and still I have moments of tears for my girl.  She was 26 this spring and all her life she took care of my daughter in and out of the show ring.  

I tried to get a picture of the girls.  Queenie and Buzz aren't very helpful. Silly girls.

Here is a picture of Bug, now the senior mare - she is 24.  I'm hoping this winter is good for her.  In the background you can see the bulls that are next door neighbors for the winter.

  We had a baby this morning! 

 Mama should have been in this pen with the other fall calving mamas.  My dad has just a small group that calve this time of year.  Most of his cows have their spring calves weaned and were moved to a neighbor to go on cornstalks and get wintered and calved by a younger man than my dad.  He's been doing it this way for a couple years.  I'm glad he realized he needed help.  In the spring after the calves are a few days old, we move them back to green grass at the ranch.  See those black spots in the background?

Turkeys!  There are so many around the last few years they are a nuisance.  They get in the feed bunks and eat the corn meant for the cattle.  The get into the barn and eat out of the feed storage bins.  And they roost on top of the house.

They are cool to look at, but they leave the ground messy wherever they go.  My little pup Cooper thinks its fun to make them scatter when they are on the walkout deck off my 'room'.

So on the medical front.  I'm currently going to the clinic 3 times a week to treat the open wound.  Silver nitrate is applied to the proud flesh (that's a horseman's term, I think they call it granulation tissue at the clinic)  It's unpleasant as it's a chemical burn during the application and is a bit uncomfortable for that day.  Daily bandage changes and some discomfort is getting OLD.

No creative pursuits as of yet, but I did last night find, in my unorganized mess,  some hand mending that had moved with me.  I sat and did that before I went to bed last night.  I have a few bags that could be finished, if I could only find my rug warp and tools I use for that!

All for now,

JULIE