Wagon Rides

One Sunday after church we hooked Ray up to the wagon.  We rode around the yard and the small pasture before driving him to and around the main farm.  Cecilia was in the house napping in her crib, so we kept driving by the house and checking on her.  Joel fell asleep on the floor in the back of the wagon.  Vincent was laying on the floor too, so I sat up front with Brad.  I even got to drive!  I am usually wrangling kids so I don't get to drive as much as I would like.

 

Vincent and Joel in the wagon.

A view from the driver's seat.

Children sleeping in the wagon.

Strange place for a nap...under the wagon benches.

Vincent got to drive as well.  He seemed to really enjoy it.  It is nice for us too because you are right in the seat with him giving directions and helping.  When they are riding a horse by themselves you are generally up there to help them and you can’t make sure the horse listens to them.  In the wagon Ray doesn’t know who is holding the lines as long as he hears Brad’s voice he thinks it is Brad.

Vincent was very excited to drive.

The only way to get pictures of us together is to take selfies.

Vince drove Ray around the driveway circle two times.

A Sad Horse and Pasture Fun

Brad, the kids and I took a walk in the pasture one Sunday to see the horses and do some final touches on the fence.  The original plan was to catch Ray and go for a wagon ride after we worked on the fence.  But when we found the horses they were all gathered and looking down a path where we had to bury a horse earlier this year.  When the other horses walked away Ray stood there, ears forward, head hung low and just staring down the path.  He ignored the kids hammering walnuts close to him, he ignored me walking up to take a picture and he looked like he was deep in thought.  Honestly it looked like he was mourning his good friend, Sam.  He was actually acting so out of character that I was worried he was sick and took his vitals, they were all normal.  Brad and I felt so bad for him  we decided we weren’t going to make him pull the wagon.

Cecilia running after her brothers who were running to catch Brad.

Joel climbing a tree for the first time.

Vincent in the apple tree for the first time.

Cecilia in the apple tree for the first time.

Joel wanted to climb the tallest tree in our pasture.

This is how we found Ray.

Looking sad

Saying good bye to his friend.

Brad trying to comfort him.  He really loves Brad.

He though he would small Cecilia's hair...she was telling him "No Ray!"

Then she decided she wanted to pet him.  Vincent is in the background playing with a hammer.

Instead the kids took a hammer to the black walnuts (so much fun and we have a ton of black walnuts in our pasture) and had a ton of fun.  Side note: I know black walnuts are bad for horses but I can not cut down every tree...even though Craig would be happy to do it.  We need some trees in the woods.  Joel wanted to climb a tree so we found a couple different trees for the kids to climb in.  Climbing trees is a new activity that the kids really seem to love.  I used to climb a tree at my grandparents house all the time.  Thinking back I can’t believe anyone let me climb as high as I did!  We will have to see how brave our kids get.  Vincent is not very brave about it, Cecilia just likes to sit in the trees and Joel seems to really enjoy climbing.  Along with climbing trees in the woods  and hiking around our pasture comes our new reality, that there are ticks in our woods, so we have to be sure to check everyone over after we have been playing outside near the woods (basically anywhere in the yard).  I hate ticks almost as much as I hate mice.

Brad, Cecilia, Joel and Vincent.

Brad and Bristol.  Maisy would rather starve than sit in a tree.

Joel decided to wrestle Bristol

He went for her leg.

She laid down.

And he thought he won.  She is a GREAT dog!

Mommy and the monkeys in the tree.

Cecilia, Joel and Vincent!

Adding the Final Touches to the Fence

We needed to finish up the fence for our big pasture so we could move all of our horses to our house instead of just 2 of them.  There was a lot of grass to be eaten and I was anxious to get the horses moved.  I am not sure how it happened but one afternoon when Brad was working on the fence Joel was the only one awake.  He was so excited to get to help daddy.  Joel insisted on wearing Brad’s gloves while he helped stretch fence.  It was a great idea and I was wishing I had a pair of gloves as well.  Joel did a great job, was pretty helpful and followed directions.

Joel and Brad hard at work.

Joel helping pull the cable.

Joel helping Brad.

Joel and the giant gloves.

Joel loved helping!

Someday those gloves will fit him.

Joel is happy to help!

When Joel and I were taking a break from helping Brad, Joel decided to rearrange the pumpkins near our front stairs.  One by one he moved the pumpkins off the stairs and onto the retaining wall.  He took his job very seriously.  I have no idea why he wanted them moved.  Sometimes it is better not to ask questions.

Pumpkins are not light.

Joel looks like he is figuring out a plan of attack.

Success!

Some of the fence in the large pasture is 3 rail fence, however a lot of it is just 1 heavy duty electric cable.  The horses have touched it and are afraid of it, but it is one cable and it made me a little nervous that they wouldn’t see it.  The cable runs between us and the golf course (there is also a short white fence the gold course has up) and between our property and my in-law’s property.  If they get out on my in-law’s side no big deal they are in the other horse pasture.  If they get out on the golf course side and we have big problems.
 

Cecilia''s baby had to come join us.

Brad using the weed eater.

One Saturday morning the guys weren’t farming in the morning because of the homecoming parade.  Brad started running the weed eater (to make sure the electric fence was working properly), and the kids and I drove around tying rags (small pieces of a bed sheet…it was all we had that I could cut up) on the cable fence.  Vincent thought it was great and did a great job tying it on the fence.  Don’t worry the fence was off while we were working.  We drove around the pasture in the Ranger.  Joel was cold so he was snuggled up in a big blanket and Cecilia spent her time climbing all over the Ranger or following Vincent and I.  As we were finishing up we ran into Craig and Diane.  They helped me pick up some wire that was in the pasture area.  Vincent was working with Craig on something so Diane, Joel, Cecilia and I went to find Brad in the pasture and move the water trough around.  Vincent decided he wanted me so he left Grandpa, without telling him, and took off to find us.  He got a little nervous on his walk and I think Grandpa had to find him and help him find us.  It is a big pasture and with the trees it would be easy to get lost if you were 5 years old.

Vince tying a ribbon on the fence.

Joel staying warm in the Ranger.

We moved the water trough and then Brad had to leave to get back to farming.  At some point he ended up with a few extra minutes and helped me move Ray and Hank to their new pasture.  Brad walked Ray around the whole perimeter of the pasture and I walked Hank around the perimeter.  Brad may have tricked Ray into touching the fence twice, which scared Ray enough that I am confident he won’t try again.  Hank is scared of anything that could possibly be a fence so I wasn’t concerned.

One of my favorite trees.

Lots of grass to eat!

Our pasture and the golf  course.

After Brad left Diane came over so I could go catch Croc and Alasan.  It probably would have gone better if I walked to the farm and grabbed a lead rope, but all I had was a two pieces of a twine string.  The horses were in the back corner of Diane’s pasture.  They couldn’t have been farther away from the barn or me if they tried.  I caught Croc but Alasan wanted nothing to do with me or my twine string.  I gave up, walked Croc around the whole perimeter of the pasture and then walked back to the farm to get a lead rope and Alasan.  I then walked Alasan to and around the new pasture.  Let me tell you we have hills and I got a really great work out that afternoon.

Hank and Ray before they moved to the big pasture.

The East side of our driveway.

The horses are enjoying their new pasture and have learned to navigate all the hills quite well, even at speeds that surprise me!

Joel and Grandpa Craig.

The Horseback Riding Trip that Never Happened.

I love trail riding and I never get to go as much as I would like.  That being said I would love to be trail riding like 2 weekends a month at least and someday I will make that happen!  My mom invited the kids and I (Brad was busy farming) to join them in WI for Columbus Day weekend, which was really nice.  I had never pulled our horse trailer with our RV, our RV ended up being in the shop having some work done, and camping in a tent with the kids by myself didn’t sound like fun. 

Then my friend Marji invited me to join her and her family riding and camping.  Again the camping part wasn’t going to happen, but they were only 45 min from our house and it made for an easy day trip.  Marji has 3 girls and they were all willing to help me with the kids.  I packed the horse trailer the night before and had everything ready to go (diaper bag, lunch, snacks, drinks, toys, etc).  In the morning I loaded the kids in the car, drove to the farm, caught the horses and went to hook up the trailer.   It didn’t go well from the start!

I backed the car right up to the trailer and started to lower the trailer down, but I couldn’t get it to sit right on the ball.  Everyone was out of town and I had no one to help me.  So I put the jack back down and fiddled with a few things and tried again.  No luck.  So I put the jack down again but in the process it rolled backward and then jack wasn’t tall enough to get the trailer up on the hitch.  So I drove up to the shop, called Brad and asked where some blocks of wood were.  Brad pointed out that if I knew how to drive the forklift it would be easier.  He was right, but not helpful!  I got the trailer back up on the blocks, the car back up to the trailer again and tried to lower it down onto the ball.  It wouldn’t budge.  I was not happy.  I called Brad again and may have told him that I wanted our old truck and trailer back.  Completely irrational, but I had been working on hooking up the trailer for over an hour and frustrated beyond belief.  He told me that it was a silly request and that I should take a sledge hammer and hit the jack to straighten it out and that would possibly help.  I had my doubts but I walked back up to the shop and grabbed the sledgehammer.  Then I happily hit the trailer jack.  It didn’t help!

The trailer and the sledgehammer!!!!

So, our fun day was over.  I didn’t get to ride.  Riding by myself on trails or really anywhere with 3 kids is not a safe idea.  It started to rain and I made the kids go grocery shopping.  None of us were in a good mood!  But they did get to watch an entire movie while I was arguing with the trailer.  The most frustrating thing was that we had a brand new jack (we knew this jack was on its way out) sitting at Bob and Sarah’s.  Diane had it ordered and shipped to their house for us, but the kids and I have never installed a new jack before.

Brad looked at it later that week when they were rained out from farming.  He said the gears were stripped and nothing I could have done would have been helpful and I am lucky the jack did fall off!  I haven’t had a chance to use the new jack yet, but hopefully it goes a little better.  It couldn’t get much worse!