Can you find Kona’s dirty ball?

The new Six Meadow Farm is coming together!  All the fencing is done.  The arena is very rideable.  The house has most of my pictures that I have collected, saved and treasured up on the walls.  The rooms look pretty complete.

My contractor just texted me that he has corrected the electrical problem in the barn and he is has the fans working on each horse’s stall.  And not a minute too soon as temperatures are headed into the 90’s today.

We have put in numerous flowers, loads of mulch, pavers and rocks.  We have spread “guaranteed to grow anywhere” grass seed in the bare areas around the farm and dragged off broken limbs, construction debris and rocks from the grounds.

Occasionally, when we finally stop long enough to sit still, we cannot believe we are lucky enough to live here.  When Amber visited she kept asking me if I didn’t feel like I was on vacation and no, at that point I did not.  We had been working like manic fools to get everything ready.  No vacation there but last week, when I finally did slow down enough to have that vacation feeling, I was so gratified to just sit and watch the horses graze, the wind blow through my numerous wind chimes and dogs lay close by.

And speaking of the dogs, broken back dachshund Lula is doing very well.  She has responded great to medication, rest and therapy.  She thinks she is back to her old self and the hardest thing is keeping her from running, jumping or playing.  I thought I had lost her and am thrilled at this turn around.  Meanwhile, Kena, the Doberman with the lacerated paw, returned for her last visit to vet today (number four) to have the remaining staples removed from her foot.  The infection is gone and she is finally bearing weight on her leg.

Kona got his hair cut yesterday and was so happy to be home.  He wanted to play lots of ball as I tried to get the plants all watered.  His answer-as shown above-just drop his nasty ball directly into whatever plant I am trying to coax along.  Then I have to pick it up and throw it again.  Freaking smart dog for sure.  Annoying, too!

All the horses were in back under saddle this last weekend, even Snowboy whose feet have been in bad shape.  Arianna rode both Mickey and Snow and they did not disappoint us.

Arianna getting a little gallop out of the pony.

Mickey tucking his knees like champ.

Bruno has been going well for Amelia and they will have their first lesson with Dev on Saturday.  We have moved closer to civilization and are really enjoying all our friends.

With all the pastures, arena and barn work to do, it was finally time to invest in a small tractor.  In Wharton, where tractors seem more plentiful than people, it was never a problem to get someone (beg someone) to come drag our arena (thanks, Scot!) or shred our pastures (thanks, Richard!) but here we will learn to do it ourselves and hopefully save money over the long haul.  Lauren had resorted to dragging the arena with my VW Golf and I may never remove all the sand from in and on the car.

Neither Lauren or I had driven a tractor before or knew much about it but we got a great price and great instructions from Shoppas in East Bernard.

Learning the tractor.

I still haven’t driven a tractor and hope not to, but Lauren got right on her obsession of dragging the arena and it looks great.  She has yet to run into a fence or smash into the house.  I feel that is positive.

Of course, Kona had to get on the tractor, too.

My mom is doing better.  I think she believes the hard pink plaster has been on her arm all her life.  I do not think she understands why it is there but just accepts it now like it is just the way it is.  Another month and we will hope to get it off for good.

Thanks to all of you who have been riding along with us through all our journeys.