Heat Wave

It was record breaking heat today so I thought I'd cool off with a photographic trip through colder weather ..... Enjoy!!

Shadow.

There is something about a black horse in the snow that just takes my breath away.

Shadow and Nicker.

"over the river and through the woods ....."

 Mama

Mama, Shadow and Nicker

Shadow

Snowy weather activity - Mac taking a test nap on my afghan.

Now that is a winter coat - Fuzzy Elliott 

 Snow storm in black and white

Elliott and of course, Grace - taking a 'back to back' survey of their kingdom

LB commandeered Grace's bed.

I can guarantee there is a fire burning in the wood stove .....

I'm not sure if Nicker is trying to catch snow flakes on her tongue or just flat tired of winter.

Hank testing out his brace on a frosty winter morning

Frosty winter morning INDOOR activity for Hank - eating apples

Hank (I just like this picture of him)

Fuzzy Hank

Nicker - you'd think she'd never seen water coming out of a garden hose before ....

Mama

Week 2 in his brace. Hank he is out and about in the snow and can bend his knee a bit.

 Mama on a mission

  Hiya Shadow! It's me - Grace!

 You still smell the same Shadow - do I smell like me?

 Mama, Nicker - I brought my ball ..... wanna play?

 Say, I wonder what is under the snow?

Whattayaknow - snow!!

 It seems that when the snow starts to melt it leaves behind some real good back scratching grass.

At least according to Nicker

and Grace

Nothing like a good traffic jam .....

We live 3 miles down a dirt road that connects two county roads and has exactly four driveways.
The nearest "corner store" is 5 miles away, the nearest feed store and grocery store (not the same store) are 30 minutes away.

If we get more than three cars in 5 minutes going past our place, it is either 4th of July, Spring (or Fall) Auction weekend or the Elbert County Fair .... you get the idea, we just don't get that much traffic on our road.

Which isn't to say we are the only house "way out"here, there are a couple of subdivisions within crow flying distance and a private road or two with some houses - bottom line, not a lot of traffic.

So when I crested the last hill heading into town and saw a guy standing next to a truck with a horse trailer attached - I immediately thought he'd broken down and slowed to see if I could help. 

Turns out he wasn't broken down, he was slowing traffic and alerting drivers to the traffic up ahead.
This kind of traffic - this I can handle ....!!!!

Heading down County Road 29

  

I couldn't believe that car didn't stop and just let the cattle pass - oh no, driver kept on going. Really?? Did you think you were going to make time driving against the current in the middle of a cattle drive - seriously?!!

Heading down the road ...

Grace Goes on a Picnic

Sunday afternoon, the sun is shining - I'm thinking picnic!! 

Come on Gracie, we're going on a picnic .....

Once that thought took hold there was no changing our minds - so, Grace and I packed up a blanket, some drinks, some snacks and headed out. Since it isn't a picnic without picnic food, I brought some snausages for Grace, made a fried egg with ham and cheese sandwich for us to share, added an apple and a bottle of water - we were all set to picnic!! As far as I know, Grace's first picnic.

As it turns out Grace is quite good at picnicking ......

 ..... laying in the sun

Checking the perimeter for intruders .... or, she could be looking for snacks left by previous picnics.  She was having fun - I didn't tell her we were the first to picnic in that particular spot ....

...... hanging out

.... more sun bathing

 ...... cleaning up crumbs

.... enjoying scratches and pets

.... on guard against and possible picnic intruders

I know I had fun, I think Grace did too!!

.... making a Grace happy picnic face

Video - Grace, Nicker and Shadow (12/22/2012)

Video taken yesterday of Grace, Nicker and Shadow ..... Enjoy!

Catching up - Jonas and Glenna bring their Dad to the ranch .....

It was late December, after Christmas and before the New Year, my friends Glenna and Jonas brought their dad to the ranch.  Mom (Carolyn) had a day out, so it seemed perfect timing for Dad (David) and the Rapp kids to have a day at the ranch.

Aside from the fact the Rapps are very cool and very nice - they arrived with delicious homemade cinnamon rolls!  Yum!!  Truth be told, those cinnamon roll never saw sundown - as scrumptious as they were and homemade to boot - oh yeah, they were gone before the sun set and were goooood!!

Back to the Rapps at the ranch.  Grace had a great time with her new friends.

You can just see Grace running in towards the ball.

Grace says "Jonas, I don't know exactly what you are doing - keep it up, I'm having fun!"

Grace and Jonas in motion ..... Glenna standing strong in the middle.

New recruit to the game - Dad Rapp joins the fun

The mysterious and incredible magician,  the "Amazing Jonas" and his beautiful assistant "Incomparable Glenna" ..... watch as they effortlessly levitate a dog (that would be Grace).  Amazing Jonas raises his arm, Incomparable Glenn recites the magic words and presto change-o.... poof!  Grace is levitated - All four paws off the ground!  Cool huh?!!

Or if you don't know the magic words, you can throw the ball for her .....

So they did some Gracie playing and .......

Went for a ride in "the machine" down to the owl tree ... saw the owl in flight. 

And, with seat belts buckled, did more than a couple of 'doughnuts'!  Doughnuts in the machine - Guess that is a fair trade for home made cinnamon rolls.

And they helped Andrew run the log splitter

They are both really good at running the wood splitter! 

I think they had fun, they wouldn't let Dad have a turn.

Saw oriole nests.

And went climbing on log bridges across the creek ....

This is like one of those hidden object pictures ....You can barely see them through the tangle of branches - if you find Glenna's bright green jacket, just to the right you can see Jonas' blue jacket with red letters.

Jonas emerges from the tangle of branches, almost all the way across the bridge.

And he makes it to the other side .... well done!!

 Glenna heads for uncharted territory and a log bridge that has not yet been crossed.

Glenna and Dad crossing the log bridge

Stopped up at the house to meet LB.  Had hot chocolate and hot apple cider and played with LB (LB is one of the house cats, LB stands for Little Bit, which by the way he isn't so much a "little bit" of a cat any more) till they flat wore LB and LB's toy out.

and HORSES!!

They met the horses.

 Glenna and her new friend Nicker.

and they met HANK!!

 Glenna getting up close to make sure Hank can get to the treat she has for him.

 Jonas joining in the fun.

Hank and his new friends, Glenna and Jonas.

Hope the Rapp family had a good time - I know Grace and Hank and Nicker and LB and I did ..... !!!