Remembering Our Fallen Soldiers

Memorial Day

Edgar Guest
The finest tribute we can pay

Unto our hero dead today,

Is not a rose wreath, white and red,

In memory of the blood they shed;

It is to stand beside each mound,

Each couch of consecrated ground,

And pledge ourselves as warriors true

Unto the work they died to do.
Into God's valleys where they lie

At rest, beneath the open sky,

Triumphant now o'er every foe,

As living tributes let us go.

No wreath of rose or immortelles

Or spoken word or tolling bells

Will do to-day,

unless we give Our pledge

that liberty shall live.
Our hearts must be the roses red

We place above our hero dead;

Today beside their graves

we must

Renew allegiance to their trust;

Must bare our heads and humbly say

We hold the Flag as dear as they,

And stand, as once they stood,

to die To keep the Stars and Stripes on high.
The finest tribute we can pay

Unto our hero dead today

Is not of speech or roses red,

But living, throbbing hearts instead,

That shall renew the pledge

they sealed

With death upon the battlefield:

That freedom's flag

shall bear no stain

And free men wear no tyrant's chain.

Our Thanks to all who paid the ultimate price for our Freedom today and loving prayers to the families that let them go.

We will never forget you.

The Horses

Dexter, Willow and Badger

Dexter and Robin

Badger and her big belly!

Dexter is so full of life and he is so much fun to watch him run around and play, he gets to running so fast that poor Willow has a tough time keeping up with him!

Willow is getting more comfortable now though and can actually graze a little more than the first couple of days that they were out in the pasture, She is learning that she can let Dexter run about and play and he will always come back to her! She still keeps a very close eye on him. Willow is being a great Mom!!!

Badger is showing a few signs that she will foal soon, her teats are full of milk, I was able to milk a little from her tonight for the first time... A clear sticky substance that is the colostrum I think. I saw movement in her belly today too, which is always a joy to see and feel!

Willow and Dexter

Willow and Dexter are doing great, Willow is a very good Mom, attentive and Loving to Dexter! She is very good about letting us around them and Dexter is very curious about who we are, he is getting more energy, moving around the stall and playing. He came up to me last night and kept stretching his neck towards my face like he was giving kisses!

Badger' Teats are still filling with milk, no waxing yet so I don't think it will be much longer until Badger has her foal, I hope it is soon though, She will not leave her stall, she wants to be by Willow and Dexter and she looks at Dexter like, "I want one of those"!

Its a Colt!!!

Introducing Dexter our new Arabian/ Thoroughbred Colt

Born May 13, 2009 at 11:25 PM

We were told by the vet that Willow should be due to have her foal sometime in March, We had no due date to go by because they were discovered to be pregnant when we bought them, so this lack of information and the vets guess as to when it "could" be lead to a lot of sleepless nights for us....since March 28th we either stayed awake watching Willow because she would show signs that it was very soon, only to stop her labor and then nothing.

When we didn't stay awake watching, We would take turns getting up every hour and looking at the monitor to see what she was doing.

It would figure that Willow would foal while we were not here, My car broke down Monday and Alan had to come pick me up from work, while on our way home Robin called to say she looked at the monitor and Willow had foaled!

So we missed the actual birth but we made it home in time to see Dexter get up for the first time and take his first steps, nuzzle with his Mom and nurse!
I checked the placenta and found it to be intact! Both Willow and Dexter seem to be very healthy and happy!

When we first pulled into the driveway, I ran into the house and changed out of my nurses uniform into jeans so fast that I think I may have broke some Guinness world record or something! I flew down the barn but then I took my time approaching Mom and baby because I was not sure how protective Willow might be and thought caution was needed! Willow was wonderful about us being there and let us touch and examine her new little one, we mucked out the stall around her and put down fresh straw bedding to remove the mess from the delivery, all the while Willow did not mind the interruption. Once Dexter got to his feet and started nursing, we felt comfortable leaving the barn to let Mom and baby have some quiet time and bond some more while we watched from the monitor at the house for a few more hours before going to bed.

It was a wonderful event that we waited what seemed like forever to happen and finally found ourselves with a sweet new horse!

Now we have to wait for Badger to have her baby. So I see more sleepless nights in our future but, it is such a great experience that we would not trade it for anything!!!

Ready to plant

These are our tomato and pepper plants, a few herbs and cucumber plants ready to go in the garden!

We have been busy preparing a new and larger garden for this year and this is the weekend to get everything in!!!

We already have our peas in the garden and they are almost big enough to trellis them, this weekend we want to plant all the plants in the picture above and start our seeds for everything else. My mouth is watering just thinking about all the good fresh veggies we will have in a few months!!!

New Babies and a little trouble

Wild Kitty had her babies Sunday night, 6 total! It is so exciting to see the new little ones, but the trouble here is that she decided to give birth in Badgers stall!

Alan tried to move them but.... wild kitty was so determined to have them stay in the horses stall that she tried three times to move them back in there, even as fast as Alan carried them to the nice bed of straw that he prepared for them she would carry them one at a time into the stall...I guess she really likes Badger but she has no idea how dangerous this is for her six little kittens. We ended up having to move her and her kittens to the empty brooder coop and close her in with them!

Other than wanting to share them with a 1200 lb horse, she is a good momma, very diligent with caring for her little ones!