Downward Dog

It's kind of hard to believe this guy was born and raised 50 miles above Mexico, in Arizona.

I don't think he minds the cold weather in Wisconsin....

Sweet and Sour

In addition to an amazing surprise birthday party for me, Mr. H got me a Meyer lemon tree for my birthday. I've always wanted to grow citrus, but only lived in a suitable climate for it in Arizona. And then, everyone else had a surplus of lemons and kumquats, so I just let them give me bag after bag. Delicious!

There are certain types of fruits that can be grown indoors, so that is how we came to settle on a dwarf Meyer. We named him Meyer Lemsky, loosely attributed to the mob accountant Meyer Lansky. (I don't know why).

Wulf keeping an eye on Meyer before he got transplanted.

Lap Dog

Can I please sit on your lap while you type? Loki does it.....

The Big 3-6!

Thank you so much to my wonderful husband who single handedly organized a huge surprise birthday party for me on Saturday. It was perfect. My mom flew in from Tucson as part of the surprise! Seneca and my mom drew straws as to who got to come up from Tucson (someone's got to stay and man the fort).

Farmer Ron not only led his traditional birthday rendition to me--while Bill had me blindfolded with a stocking cap-- my mom's voice then chimed in and I had no idea what was going on....Then, a lot of other voices started singing and I was really confused!

Farmer Ron also grilled burgers and dogs on our snowy deck in 20-degree weather (priceless) in short sleeves. All of my friends who were "horse people" went out with me to play in the barn and see Jelly, the wonder horse. Friends from all walks of my life were there and it was amazing. Mr. H even had friends from long ago and the present write short little vignettes of their memories of me. Hysterical and quite touching at the same time!

And to all of my friends who have been lying to me for the past few weeks: I love you.

Do the rest of you see an inordinate amount of squirrel cards as well?

That was Seneca's doing: the theme was "nuts." Hee hee

New Year's Baby

Well not actually a New Year's baby, but delivered to our house right about that time, Jellybean the Mini Horse has come to stay with us. She had been inhabiting Farmer Ron's pasture, but she needs a little rehab work on her hooves and such and I promised my dad I'd keep a close eye on her. He was happy to oblige, I think, and he also knows I have many contacts that will help with Jelly's physical and mental well being. (We met our new pet sitter today and she not only loves working with dogs, but she also has an affinity for horses. Of course, she's no Nunn Better pet sitter (my bff Seneca owns this company), but we are darned lucky to meet such a wonderful lady this far north of prime pet sitting area (Dane county).

Welcome home, Jellybean!

This little baby buffalo is due for a pedicure!

Mr. H laying down the ground rules with his new little girl--

you know, about parties and boys and such....

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Barn Beginnings

Except for the first week we lived here, in which we put Beatrice the Amish goat, Peaches and her pal Chewy (Chewcifer-Lucifer) in the barn due to lack of fencing out of doors, the barn hasn't been used too much. And I might add, it's a lot cleaner since those three goats are on winter vacation. The girls are at Farmer Ron's becoming pregnant does (the intact male goats--bucks--stink, so I'm happy to let them stay there for a while), and Chewy had to go along because Peaches is his best friend and they are each lost without the other.

I finally swept and moved the barn items from the garage to my little tack room, which is completely adorable, and now I have my own tiny room for barn animal stuff. I use the term "tack room" loosely, because it's not like we have a full horse operation in this joint. The big beautiful barn used to house gorgeous draft horses (Percherons, I think); now, it will have a couple of goats and a very fuzzy Miniature Horse that might actually be a tiny buffalo. I'll check and get back to you.

Inside the tack room

A real, live barn stall complete with hay and goat feeder

Aisle View



Thus concludes this tour of the barn...and if anyone knows how to work an outdoor automated waterer, you just feel free to call me up. The manual is around here somewhere.....

Gunnar's Afternoon

Let me illustrate his day with a pictorial:

"Mom--I like that stuff in the bowl..............."

"Mr. H--what do you have over there?"

"I feel like it's time for you to have another bowl of something...."

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