Saturday, December 31, 2016

At the Speed of Ice

The glacial morning air was full of snowbows when we went for our run. (It's just coincidence that we "run" at the same rate that glaciers move.)





We bundled up in more layers than a wedding cake, so our jog was almost a resistance workout.






While we ran, Blueberry ate breakfast in her cozy new coat.




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"Cause me to hear your lovingkindness in the morning,
For in You I do trust;
Cause me to know the way in which I should walk,
For I lift up my soul to You."   
                                        ~~Psalm 143:8


Thursday, December 22, 2016

Traffic Report

My chair can be a busy place. Traffic is heaviest early in the morning and late in the evening. 




Bodie's couch is less congested because he doesn't like to share his furniture. In his younger, less mellow days, he was even known to growl at friends and extended family members who had the audacity to join him on his sofa.



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"I've seen a look in dogs' eyes, a quickly vanishing look of amazed contempt, and I am convinced that basically dogs think humans are nuts." ~John Steinbeck, Travels with Charley: In Search of America

Monday, December 19, 2016

December Faces

On one sweaty, sweltering summer day, I said to Hubby, "No matter how cold it gets this winter, I'm not going to complain." Therefore, I can only mention that lately our thermometer has become too familiar with the underside of 0° F. I can't whine about air that hurts faces, or frozen-stiff vehicles and hydraulics, or the myriad coats, gloves, and hats hung to dry near heater vents throughout the house.

But the animals made no such vow. Their faces speak volumes.






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"If the King was willing to enter the world of animals and shepherds and swaddling clothes, don't you think He's willing to enter yours?" ~Max Lucado, Because of Bethlehem

Friday, December 16, 2016

Circumference

Hubby's Tennessee Walking Horse, Solly, is wearing his 20 years well. One eye has a white spot from an injury, but he's as sound and spry as he was at age 5 (left photo). The years have added to Solly's wisdom as well as his midriff (if only I couldn't relate!).






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"I recently had my annual physical examination, which I get once every seven years, and when the nurse weighed me, I was shocked to discover how much stronger the Earth's gravitational pull has become since 1990." ~Dave Barry

Monday, December 12, 2016

Sports

The heffies (weanling heifers) invented a new sport. Whenever I'm cleaning the barn and horse corral, they line up at the fence, waiting for the fun to start. When I open their gate, they trot into the barn, nose around for a while, then buck their way out the door. 

A few of the heffies play Barn Rodeo over and over, until I shut them back in their pen. It doesn't help my barn cleaning efforts much, but I get a kick out of watching them play.



Lest you think that the heffies are wild and woolly:



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"If you watch a game, it's fun. If you play it, it's recreation. If you work at it, it's golf." ~Bob Hope


Tuesday, December 6, 2016

Three Degrees and a Breeze

Miss Lily is a quick study, and her cowdog lessons are going well. Well, one time she did get a bit confused, accidentally stampeding four cows the wrong way through the gate. Hubby was in the process of closing said gate and very nearly got knocked over. 

Lily has no extra fur or fat to insulate her from frigid temperatures, so I bundled her in her heaviest sweater this three-degree morning. Lily got several strange looks from the bovine populace, who've never seen a dog in people clothes before, but hypothermia would have been harder to bear.







"Be yourself; everyone else is already taken." ~Oscar Wilde

Monday, December 5, 2016

All Eyes

When Peaches appeared on the scene last year, we fell in love with that sweet little gal with those big, pretty eyes.





Eighteen months later, Peaches isn't the biggest heifer in the herd, but she's still got the biggest, prettiest eyes.




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"I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living." ~Psalm 27:13 NIV



Thursday, December 1, 2016

Disquiet


When we weaned the heifers, we left Helga-come-lately (she was a June baby) with her mama until she was older. Yesterday, Hubby decided that Helga was ready to be weaned. Helga was happy to be reunited with her big sisters--at first--until she missed her warm milk at bedtime.   




Helga has not ceased to protest. Loudly. As the cute little baby of the family, she's accustomed to over-indulgence, not boundaries.   




Helga's big sisters, especially Cinnamon, try to console her. (Do they empathize with her plight, or do they just want her to calm down and stop bawling?)  




Fortunately, Helga's distress hasn't affected her appetite.


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"But God, who comforts and encourages the depressed and the disquieted...." ~2 Corinthians 7:6 AMP