more photos around the farm

There seems to be so many things I want to blog about these days. Bright sunny autumn days are like that, I guess. I took a lot of photos while out doing chores this afternoon/evening, so bare with me while I share a few here and in my next post.

The Map Man and the boys explore inside the hay tent. It really IS a cozy spot -- it's just the sort of spot I would have hung out when I was a teenager, with a novel and all the time in the world for reading it.

Lacy, my Connemara mare. Sadly, it has been determined that Lacy is suffering from a disease know as DSLD (more recently renamed ESPA). It's a degenerative systemic disease affecting her connective tissue. We're pursuing an experimental treatment for her, and she has good days and bad days on it. Today was actually a bad day, although you'd never tell from that inquisitive look on her face. Overall she's doing much better on the treatment, but warm days like today still affect her and it's all she can do to keep from tripping over her own feet. Needless to say, it's not safe (or fair to her!) to ride her, so like Butterscotch, she's been relegated to Pasture Pet status. (But doesn't that cute snip of white on her nose make you want to give her a big kiss??) Hopefully we can keep her comfortable for years to come, and in the colder weather she may be able to carry the kids around for short periods of time. But I suppose we're officially in the market for another horse to ride. (Although, in all honestly, I feel like I've got my hands full as it is taking care of two sick ponies.)

And speaking of Butterscotch, here's the little man himself! He's about as cute as a Shetland Pony gets (and as sweet as one gets as well). He's doing much better now that we've got his Insulin Resistance under control. The founder has grown out of his feet and they look as good as new. He's definitely gotten a new lease on life, and he looks better than he ever has. I dare say he'll be ready to go back to "work" soon, although J has long since outgrown him, and Zoo Boy only wants to ride Lacy. I'm thinking about getting him a harness and teaching him to pull a cart. You know, in all my spare time....

Some of the sheep. And one chicken. The sheep are Katahdins. The chicken is a White Leghorn. I HIGHLY recommend Katahdins as general lawn mowers, good looking lawn ornaments, easy to care for pets, and all around great sheep. I HIGHLY recommend avoiding White Leghorn chickens at all cost. There are a lot of great breeds of chickens out there. This ain't one of them. We can't keep them out of the neighbors' yards, they roost in trees above my dogs' heads (which drives the dogs nuts, as you can imagine), and once in awhile one of them flies into a dog yard (with an obviously poor ending for the chicken, but an exciting game for the dog and elimination of our need to feed that dog dinner that night). They ARE very good layers of large white eggs. Unfortunately, they pretty much choose to lay anywhere BUT the hen house. They get two thumbs down from the poultry reviewers on this farm.

Sunset. Guess I don't need to say any more about that! Except that it keeps coming earlier and earlier, which is the bane of most farmers' existences, and we're no different. Wish there was a way we could keep the cooler temps and retain the longer days.