Sunday, May 9, 2010

New Projects


So, today I added to the managerie already living at the farm. I'd like to officially welcome Ed to the herd.
I woke up later (cut me some slack, I worked til 2am yesterday) then I had planned, took my mother to breakfast at Hard Times, then we went to EG's to pick up the cows. EG had called earlier to let me know that they were penned and ready for removal (not quite in those words), so I hooked up the trailer and went out to go collect the new herd. As it would turn out, cows can ruin even the best laid plans. Due to a party at EG's neighbors, the cow had jumped, yes jumped, out of the pen, leaving little Ed all by himself. When I got there, backed up the trailer and got ready, we then had to figure out how to get Ed out of the round pen into my trailer with myself, my mom and EG, who's 80-something. Not as easy as I would have hoped. After quietly chasing Ed around the pen a few times, at the walk, we resorted to Plan B (not the birth control). We brought in some chain link panels forming an L parrallel to the round pen, leading to the trailer. Ed was having none of that and promptly ran through it, knocking the light weight pannels to the ground. On to Plan C: food. Unfortunatly Ed also didnt know wha the rattling feed bucket means, so that was slow going, tossing out pllets making a little path back into our chute.
Fail Again.
So we gave it a rest, singe Ed was starting to get aggitated and think about charging. No one needs a 500# pissed off bull, even if he is young. EG called his neighbors to come help, and we changed out panel configuration. Noe the pannel led straight into the trailer, instead of forming an L. It took, not 5 min for Ed to pop up into the trailer and us get the doos closed. Go figure.
Now he is out and in our little horse pen, not running and lowing nervously, but alternatly eating and napping. Not a high stress cow... i mean, bull. Now all I hve to do is teach him what a feed pan means, and possibly teach him to lead... Good luck with that. The equine herd isnt quite sure that they know what to make of him yet... Give them time.

What blog named "Poodles and Ponies" can pass it's self off if it doesnt include the occasional picture of Tempi being a dork? Here she is, cooling off in rain water in a decorative pot on the proch after an hour of fetch. What a smart poodle....

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Settle Down...


Well, I have been graduated and moderatly employed for about four months now. And it's not quite as much fun being an adult as I thought it would be. Seriously. I spend alot of time tired. It doesn't help that the my commute is roughly 100 miles, round trip. It takes me about an hour to get to work. Two whole hours of my day. Wasted. Makes me sick... Well, in all reality, it makes me more tired then sick.
To be fair, I like my jobs. For the most part. The paperwork at the clinic sucks, but I'll get the hang of it eventually. And the engineering job is just a little nerve wracking because it's new. Give me a few months and it'll all be old hat, I hope. The huge plus side of my engineering job is that I have time to ride both before and after work. It's a helluva long commute, but I know my hours (and sometimes I get out early) where at the clinic my 8-5 hours are more realisticly 8-7. Blah. That doesnt leave a whole lot oftime or energy to ride.

Anyway, on my "I'm tired after a long day at the vet's" day ride, I took Delight for a field ride, with Mom and Sonnet for moral support. It was Deli's first trail ride in the big field and all the hay was laying down in the field. Scary stuff, but Deli was a pro, just striding along like a wonderpony.

So, all in all, how is life right now? In the words of Dierks Bentely "I could settle for a slow down". I'm exhausted.