(no subject)
An update from my weekend adventures! Sorry, but this update is HUGE! so you can find it all behind
-- A TAIL OF FOUR KITIES --
I posted a while back about the coyote problem we have been having here at the farm. We only had two cats survive it, Havoc and AC. Havoc is doing great and has no problem letting everyone know that he *loves* being an only child. AC was showing possible signs of being pregnant so I brought her inside to live with me but would leave the window open during the day so she could come and go. Friday at about 2 p.m. I went upstairs to find one of my pillows (Pandy's pillow to be exact) covered in blood. Then the itty bitty "mews" chimed in. One by one they all popped out coming to a total of 4. AC did very well and didn't seem to have any problems. I then went downstairs to throw some clothes in the wash then came back up. I opened the door to find a rather gruesome trail of blood leading from my room towards the litter box. Then I saw AC walking from it with a good 3 1/2 inches of what I refer to simply as "her insides" hanging behind her. When feeling of the mass, it didn't contain any kitty parts nor did it look like a kitten/underdeveloped fetus so it had to be a prolapsed uterus. Great. I didn't really want to dump several hundred into a barn cat but I didn't have much of a choice seeing as how I have a huge mushy heart when it comes to animals. So! Kitty ER then explained that she could be saved and that she actually had a vaginal prolapse. $400 later she was looking pretty ragged but was all back up and running. Hurray! The kittens are doing great and are quite fat and healthy.
-- ALL QUIET ON THE WESTIE FRONT --
We have started a new revamped living space for the westies. hurray. The pics of the area don't do it justice so here are two that were taken of more appealing subjects while we were working on their new home.
Pandy receives a mouth bath from Tika.
Tika taunts her stalker with a wag of the tail.
I almost forgot, we gave Kibbles a haircut! I decided a lion tail and a mohawk would be the best look for her. Mom got the clippers and we went to work. She looks most laughably lovely now! Oddly enough, she LOVES her new cut. Checkit out:
-- THE GREAT ATLAS --
A while back I went to a horse auction. I absolutely *LOVE* horse auctions. Tho they can be heart breaking at times (I won't even get into that), they are quite fun and are a great way to spend an evening. I'm trying to think of how to explain it but. I can't. Instead, if you live near me and ever want to attend one, let me know and I would be more than happy to take you along. Anyways! They are great to watch tho they can be quite difficult at times. To see a perfectly good horse, sound with a good disposition go through the ring and bring $150 bucks is pretty much torture. The horse market is down, for those who don't know, and probably won't be coming back up. Good for the buyers, bad for the sellers. The cost of hay is up due to the drought over the last few years which in turn makes horse upkeep high (if you lack pasture). So raising a colt (assuming you don't have to pay a stud fee), along with grain and hay and the current market of horses as is.. it isn't worth it to even produce babies. So perfectly good horses with good bloodlines, decent looks etc are selling for next to nothing. Even worse, when they don't sell for next to nothing and they sell for slaughter. (Also referred to as "killer") So, it is tough to see so many great horses sell so cheap and even more difficult to see horses go to killer. Hard to control a debit card and a mushy heart at places like that. Anywho, from my many many years of going to sales I have learned to talk myself down. If I didn't, I would buy every killer horse that crossed my path. I am not stupid tho. I know that even with a purchase price at cents per pound it costs a fortune to bring them back up.
But! Back to my point. I went to a horse auction a while back and unfortunately, there wasn't a big turn out. We walked into the auction barn and saw the usual.. bleachers, auctioneer stand, arena etc. The arena itself was full of tack (they auction tack before horses at most sales) along with two horses. One of them actually made me point him out because he was exactly what I love in a horse. He was sorrel with a blaze face, big head, wide jaws, soft eyes, muscles, big feet .. an overall stocky built, massive powerful animal. We looked around the barns for a while then headed back to the arena before show time. The tack blew through and one by one each horse was brought through the arena. Horses, Ponies, Minis galore. Then he came through. The big gelding I saw when we first arrived. I then found out that the guy that owns the auction barn/runs the auction owned him. Not a good sign. He went on about the horse's bloodlines which were quite nice (including Skipper W which is a line that I hold as a personal fav tho I wont get into that now). I knew he wasn't cheap so my heart sagged. I was right. He started the bidding at $1,000 even. No one bid. He PO'd him (pulled him from the sale) despite several offers for less than a grand. He turned them all down stating that the horse was worth every penny and even that was asking very little for him. He was right, sadly enough, but the market just wasnt there. One by one the rest of the horses went through and by 2 a.m. we were back in memphis.
Again, the next weekend we went to another sale. This one was a pony sale up by the kentucky line. The reason we were going to sales in the first place was to find a good pony so we packed up and headed north. We arrived around 5 (sale was to start at 7) and were disappointed to find out that there weren't many ponies at the sale at all. We walked the barns and it looked like mostly grade horses, killer horses, mules and a handful of ponies at best. A man walked up to us while we were looking over a to-die-for Haflinger and informed us that it was not for sale. He introduced himself (he was the man running the sale that night) and asked where were from. Or rather, asked my breasts where they were from seeing as how he only made eye contact with my mother when she spoke. Anywho, Two hours passed and I noticed that some of the Amish had arrived. This excited me a great deal because 1)whatever they have is guaranteed broke and 2) they tend to have drafts. Drafts, BTW have been a lifelong love of mine. Drafts are the bigger horses like the Budweiser clydesdales, for example. Here is a pic just to throw in the awe factor. So anyways, I spoke with them but found out that they had only brought one pony as they had mainly come for tack and a few mules. They took my info tho in case they came across a draft they could send my way. The sale started and one by one, as usual, the horses were brought through the arena. From what I had seen in the barns there wasn't much worth looking at save for a miniature horse I thought was cute. He had an addiction to licking people and would stick his little nose through the hole in his wooden gate and lick unsuspecting passersby. This amused me a great deal but that amusement did not equal the $600 she PO'd him at. I would have bought him for $200 or so. So with that, the one horse I had been looking forward to had ended. The only other one I was interested in seeing was a sorrel mare that had nearly been starved to death and was so far along in her pregnancy, it looked as tho she could have it at any moment. This one I wanted to see because I secretly planned to bid on her if she started to go for killer, tho I insisted otherwise when discussing it with myself. Anyways, horse after horse went through. I got some fries, they were delish. Watched more horses go through. Some foolish kid with oversized spurs almost got thrown. I wish he had. I went back to the barn and saw that the mare had been put in a large lot with several other starved horses were packed in like sardines. This broke my heart. She was in the killer lot. I went back in and still I waited. They finished with a little dun filly and opened the door for the next horse to come in and my heart leapt. The gelding from the last sale was there. I was ready, debit card in hand. So excited, here we go. WIth all the ones I had turned down, this was the one I wanted and this was the one I would buy. Bidding started at $1200. I put my card away and watched him get PO'd again. /cry. A few more horses went through and then the mare was pushed through the door. I don't know how she could stand. She sold for $175 to one of the amish men. HURRAY! She didn't go killer. She was actually in foal to a mule hence the amish interest.
Show was over, time to pack up and head home. The man who was running the sale came over and thanked my breasts for coming. I saw my opportunity and decided to take a leap. I asked him if he knew the owner of the gelding. He said yes. I asked if he would move on the price at all. He said no. I thanked him and started to walk away when he caught me by the shoulder and asked me what I was willing to pay for the horse. I told him and he said he would see what he could do for me, all the while trying very hard to look through my clothes. *shiver* We ( me, the owner, and the auction guy) discussed, and tho he couldn't meet my price, he could come off the 1200 a bit. We talked a bit more and he came down a smidge more. He then explained that he would sell me the horse but I should be warned that he was what he would consider "dangerous". He advised me not to ride him because if ever a horse would hurt me, it would be this one. I didn't care, I still wanted him. He said he would let me take him as long as I understood that he told me not to ride this horse and to not be with it alone. I agreed and explained that I knew a thing or two about horses but he quickly informed me that it was not enough and that that horse was going to hurt me if I messed with it. This whole bit of information I chose to not tell my mother, by the way. I paid my bill and the guy went to go load him up for him. When he walked in the stall the horse popped out a back foot at him. The man jumped out of the way and it missed him. They got him loaded and we headed home. When we were almost home I told mom about what the man said about my new purchase. She didn't seem pleased with me and was not very happy that I chose to go through with the purchase anyways. I honestly felt like I could change him. You know, like a man wants to change a lesbian kind of thing. We unloaded him and he was scared, nervous and flighty. I hayed and watered him and let him be. I spent time with him each day until he had settled in and I could try to ride him. When I finally got to get on him he was nervous and unsure but was open to me. He would flinch from my heels, expecting spurs and would jump clear across the arena when I raised the end of the reins. He had been cowboy'd :(. (The best definition I can find for that is here: "a reckless or irresponsible person, esp. a show-off or one who undertakes a dangerous or sensitive task heedlessly.") So I worked with him and he worked with me and all in all he is wonderful. A giant teddy bear. He loves attention and adores getting groomed. He enjoys people and has yet to even hint at any sort of malicious act. He hesitant and almost scared at first but now he isn't. I have a few pics but I'm not sure any of them really capture the greatness of this animal. People see him and just say "Wow." Oh, and BTW his name was Sweet Cactus Star which was entirely silly so we just call him "Atlas." It fits. :) Here he is!
Whew, long frickin update. Sorry for the excessive length :(
<3!
-- A TAIL OF FOUR KITIES --
I posted a while back about the coyote problem we have been having here at the farm. We only had two cats survive it, Havoc and AC. Havoc is doing great and has no problem letting everyone know that he *loves* being an only child. AC was showing possible signs of being pregnant so I brought her inside to live with me but would leave the window open during the day so she could come and go. Friday at about 2 p.m. I went upstairs to find one of my pillows (Pandy's pillow to be exact) covered in blood. Then the itty bitty "mews" chimed in. One by one they all popped out coming to a total of 4. AC did very well and didn't seem to have any problems. I then went downstairs to throw some clothes in the wash then came back up. I opened the door to find a rather gruesome trail of blood leading from my room towards the litter box. Then I saw AC walking from it with a good 3 1/2 inches of what I refer to simply as "her insides" hanging behind her. When feeling of the mass, it didn't contain any kitty parts nor did it look like a kitten/underdeveloped fetus so it had to be a prolapsed uterus. Great. I didn't really want to dump several hundred into a barn cat but I didn't have much of a choice seeing as how I have a huge mushy heart when it comes to animals. So! Kitty ER then explained that she could be saved and that she actually had a vaginal prolapse. $400 later she was looking pretty ragged but was all back up and running. Hurray! The kittens are doing great and are quite fat and healthy.
-- ALL QUIET ON THE WESTIE FRONT --
We have started a new revamped living space for the westies. hurray. The pics of the area don't do it justice so here are two that were taken of more appealing subjects while we were working on their new home.
Pandy receives a mouth bath from Tika.
Tika taunts her stalker with a wag of the tail.
I almost forgot, we gave Kibbles a haircut! I decided a lion tail and a mohawk would be the best look for her. Mom got the clippers and we went to work. She looks most laughably lovely now! Oddly enough, she LOVES her new cut. Checkit out:
-- THE GREAT ATLAS --
A while back I went to a horse auction. I absolutely *LOVE* horse auctions. Tho they can be heart breaking at times (I won't even get into that), they are quite fun and are a great way to spend an evening. I'm trying to think of how to explain it but. I can't. Instead, if you live near me and ever want to attend one, let me know and I would be more than happy to take you along. Anyways! They are great to watch tho they can be quite difficult at times. To see a perfectly good horse, sound with a good disposition go through the ring and bring $150 bucks is pretty much torture. The horse market is down, for those who don't know, and probably won't be coming back up. Good for the buyers, bad for the sellers. The cost of hay is up due to the drought over the last few years which in turn makes horse upkeep high (if you lack pasture). So raising a colt (assuming you don't have to pay a stud fee), along with grain and hay and the current market of horses as is.. it isn't worth it to even produce babies. So perfectly good horses with good bloodlines, decent looks etc are selling for next to nothing. Even worse, when they don't sell for next to nothing and they sell for slaughter. (Also referred to as "killer") So, it is tough to see so many great horses sell so cheap and even more difficult to see horses go to killer. Hard to control a debit card and a mushy heart at places like that. Anywho, from my many many years of going to sales I have learned to talk myself down. If I didn't, I would buy every killer horse that crossed my path. I am not stupid tho. I know that even with a purchase price at cents per pound it costs a fortune to bring them back up.
But! Back to my point. I went to a horse auction a while back and unfortunately, there wasn't a big turn out. We walked into the auction barn and saw the usual.. bleachers, auctioneer stand, arena etc. The arena itself was full of tack (they auction tack before horses at most sales) along with two horses. One of them actually made me point him out because he was exactly what I love in a horse. He was sorrel with a blaze face, big head, wide jaws, soft eyes, muscles, big feet .. an overall stocky built, massive powerful animal. We looked around the barns for a while then headed back to the arena before show time. The tack blew through and one by one each horse was brought through the arena. Horses, Ponies, Minis galore. Then he came through. The big gelding I saw when we first arrived. I then found out that the guy that owns the auction barn/runs the auction owned him. Not a good sign. He went on about the horse's bloodlines which were quite nice (including Skipper W which is a line that I hold as a personal fav tho I wont get into that now). I knew he wasn't cheap so my heart sagged. I was right. He started the bidding at $1,000 even. No one bid. He PO'd him (pulled him from the sale) despite several offers for less than a grand. He turned them all down stating that the horse was worth every penny and even that was asking very little for him. He was right, sadly enough, but the market just wasnt there. One by one the rest of the horses went through and by 2 a.m. we were back in memphis.
Again, the next weekend we went to another sale. This one was a pony sale up by the kentucky line. The reason we were going to sales in the first place was to find a good pony so we packed up and headed north. We arrived around 5 (sale was to start at 7) and were disappointed to find out that there weren't many ponies at the sale at all. We walked the barns and it looked like mostly grade horses, killer horses, mules and a handful of ponies at best. A man walked up to us while we were looking over a to-die-for Haflinger and informed us that it was not for sale. He introduced himself (he was the man running the sale that night) and asked where were from. Or rather, asked my breasts where they were from seeing as how he only made eye contact with my mother when she spoke. Anywho, Two hours passed and I noticed that some of the Amish had arrived. This excited me a great deal because 1)whatever they have is guaranteed broke and 2) they tend to have drafts. Drafts, BTW have been a lifelong love of mine. Drafts are the bigger horses like the Budweiser clydesdales, for example. Here is a pic just to throw in the awe factor. So anyways, I spoke with them but found out that they had only brought one pony as they had mainly come for tack and a few mules. They took my info tho in case they came across a draft they could send my way. The sale started and one by one, as usual, the horses were brought through the arena. From what I had seen in the barns there wasn't much worth looking at save for a miniature horse I thought was cute. He had an addiction to licking people and would stick his little nose through the hole in his wooden gate and lick unsuspecting passersby. This amused me a great deal but that amusement did not equal the $600 she PO'd him at. I would have bought him for $200 or so. So with that, the one horse I had been looking forward to had ended. The only other one I was interested in seeing was a sorrel mare that had nearly been starved to death and was so far along in her pregnancy, it looked as tho she could have it at any moment. This one I wanted to see because I secretly planned to bid on her if she started to go for killer, tho I insisted otherwise when discussing it with myself. Anyways, horse after horse went through. I got some fries, they were delish. Watched more horses go through. Some foolish kid with oversized spurs almost got thrown. I wish he had. I went back to the barn and saw that the mare had been put in a large lot with several other starved horses were packed in like sardines. This broke my heart. She was in the killer lot. I went back in and still I waited. They finished with a little dun filly and opened the door for the next horse to come in and my heart leapt. The gelding from the last sale was there. I was ready, debit card in hand. So excited, here we go. WIth all the ones I had turned down, this was the one I wanted and this was the one I would buy. Bidding started at $1200. I put my card away and watched him get PO'd again. /cry. A few more horses went through and then the mare was pushed through the door. I don't know how she could stand. She sold for $175 to one of the amish men. HURRAY! She didn't go killer. She was actually in foal to a mule hence the amish interest.
Show was over, time to pack up and head home. The man who was running the sale came over and thanked my breasts for coming. I saw my opportunity and decided to take a leap. I asked him if he knew the owner of the gelding. He said yes. I asked if he would move on the price at all. He said no. I thanked him and started to walk away when he caught me by the shoulder and asked me what I was willing to pay for the horse. I told him and he said he would see what he could do for me, all the while trying very hard to look through my clothes. *shiver* We ( me, the owner, and the auction guy) discussed, and tho he couldn't meet my price, he could come off the 1200 a bit. We talked a bit more and he came down a smidge more. He then explained that he would sell me the horse but I should be warned that he was what he would consider "dangerous". He advised me not to ride him because if ever a horse would hurt me, it would be this one. I didn't care, I still wanted him. He said he would let me take him as long as I understood that he told me not to ride this horse and to not be with it alone. I agreed and explained that I knew a thing or two about horses but he quickly informed me that it was not enough and that that horse was going to hurt me if I messed with it. This whole bit of information I chose to not tell my mother, by the way. I paid my bill and the guy went to go load him up for him. When he walked in the stall the horse popped out a back foot at him. The man jumped out of the way and it missed him. They got him loaded and we headed home. When we were almost home I told mom about what the man said about my new purchase. She didn't seem pleased with me and was not very happy that I chose to go through with the purchase anyways. I honestly felt like I could change him. You know, like a man wants to change a lesbian kind of thing. We unloaded him and he was scared, nervous and flighty. I hayed and watered him and let him be. I spent time with him each day until he had settled in and I could try to ride him. When I finally got to get on him he was nervous and unsure but was open to me. He would flinch from my heels, expecting spurs and would jump clear across the arena when I raised the end of the reins. He had been cowboy'd :(. (The best definition I can find for that is here: "a reckless or irresponsible person, esp. a show-off or one who undertakes a dangerous or sensitive task heedlessly.") So I worked with him and he worked with me and all in all he is wonderful. A giant teddy bear. He loves attention and adores getting groomed. He enjoys people and has yet to even hint at any sort of malicious act. He hesitant and almost scared at first but now he isn't. I have a few pics but I'm not sure any of them really capture the greatness of this animal. People see him and just say "Wow." Oh, and BTW his name was Sweet Cactus Star which was entirely silly so we just call him "Atlas." It fits. :) Here he is!
Whew, long frickin update. Sorry for the excessive length :(
<3!