ring around the loafing shed

The horses get pretty excited about rain storms

They usually go running around

Here they made a good game of charging around the loafing shed

Sprout was really full of herself

birthday time

The ranch boss insists on making her own birthday cake

Gardening

Well I guess taking the plants out to the garden late is better than never. Tomatoes, peppers, sunflowers, herbs, a pumpkin and watermelon plant have been waiting on the windowsill and finally went into the raised beds outside.

I don't know if we will get another hail storm. One tomato plant that was outside survived the hail, battered but growing new leaves. It is always a toss up whether tomatoes will survive the season anyhow. Eventually we will make a greenhouse or something to protect them.

I don't know if we will plant much else beyond the raised planter boxes, seems late to even start.

lightning strike

We were checking fence and found a section of 14 gauge hot wire missing. The ends of the wire looked like welding rods. 

Lightning struck the fence at that spot, burned up a few feet of the wire and melted some insulators. 

Here is a really great pdf article about lightning risk management in the backcountry:

Lightning Risk Management

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And then there were three

Here are the little bantam golden laced cochins

We went to town and that darned Feeder's Supply gets in so many interesting breeds of chicks that I had to get a Silver Spangled Hamburg. Hopefully she will lay white eggs for us along with the Campine and Lakenvelder.

She gets along just fine with the bantams

Summer Solstice

It is sunny and clear today so far but a bit breezy

Here are some recent pictures of the rest of the herd

Jippo is greying out

Too Tall

Farfalla is not as fat as she looks

Local Art

My sister Heather's art is up at the Fine Art and Frame Company Gallery in old town Fort Collins

http://www.thefineartandframecompany.com/

Heather is just leaving Paris for the States and we look forward to visiting with her soon

Happy Father's Day

I hope there was more sunshine than thunderstorms

Recent Collars

A couple of collars and an oversized brow band

Sawg Dawg is breaking in her new ID collar

Our little friend modeling an XS collar

An extra large blingy brow band 

(shown on a different colored headstall)

Stormy week

We has thunderstorms around and above us this week, here is a picture of one rolling in...

The clouds did make for a fabulous sunset tonight

Fire Station Cook Book

The Fire Station cook book is out and available for purchase for $8.00 each

I put together the cover with one of our local bull elk

The proceeds go to the LCFD #10 scholarship fund and the book is packed with great recipes from our community.

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This little mule

Well he isn't little at all 

He does have to choose the dirtiest spot to roll after a good brushing

Salsa is frustrated that his little pal CJ is locked up for a while

Hopefully they can romp around together again soon

Truck maintenance

Yesterday one of the brush trucks needed a valve replaced

It didn't take too long to have the spray bars up and running again

It looks complicated but wasn't too bad

Testing and adjusting...

All fixed and ready to go again

Stormy clouds

We didn't get a thunderstorm but the clouds were pretty today

I love all the colors and the way they change as they roll through

Somebody to the East had a decent storm

pullets and bluebirds

Here are the silver capine and golden lakenvelder pullets from the last bunch.

I'm not sure when they will start laying, both will lay white eggs

They are outside but not quite ready to go in with the big hens yet.

Last year we  had a few pairs of Rocky Mountain Bluebirds nesting around the ranch. One enterprising pair decided to nest in the nose of the 5th wheel  and they are back again. 

Chickees revisited

The last round of chicks are outside. They aren't quite ready to lay but they are all feathered out. The silver campine and golden lakenvelder are hens. The little araucana is a roo and going to live with a friend's flock. 

The jury is still out on the silver laced bantam cochin but we didn't want that one to be lonely so picked  a couple of golden laced bantam cochins. 

They are friendly and doing well, active little chickees. Hopefully they are pullets. 

Attacked by moths

I'm not just talking about what the horses look like when they shed their winter coats. 

I wrote about the cutworm moths the other day, they are here for a few weeks. The generator turned off early, leaving us in the dark in the middle of story time. 

I still needed to finish things up so I grabbed a headlamp to head outside, switched it on and I was swarmed by moths like a Hitchcock movie.