It's Hot!

Driving on I-20 in Weatherford, Texas, yesterday evening....too hot!!!

Happy Trails...

Berte

Bales of Gold

Fortunately, God has been very gracious providing us with rain this past spring and first of the summer.  The hay cuttings have been much better this year than last with the drought.  I do believe hay was higher priced than pure gold...IF you could find it.  With four horses now (and still a Longhorn), we'll be a bit more prepared.  This is load #1...and the great thing about it...I didn't load or unload one bale...Buddy kept telling me "Mama, you don't need to be doing that".  Okay, so I did get to drive the truck and trailer.
Happy Trails...
Berte

Update on Horse Question

I've got an answer (from a vet) on my horse question posted here. It's an allergice reaction to flies and gnats and she's itching (which I already knew) and scratching herself raw.  So, she got Dexomethasone, a corticosteriod hormone, to relieve her itching.  I'll continue with the soothing shampoos and fly spray.  I just hate putting so much fly spray on her in this heat.  It's like it's cooking on their skin.  Even though I sprayed more on her tonight, the flies were all over her legs.  It's awful.
We never really had a winter here so the bugs are in full force.  Flies, crickets, gnats... I wish I could swish my pony tail like my horse does!
Thanks for the help and the comments.
Happy Trails...
Berte

Gotta Horse Question

Jess gets this fungus on her every summer but she's never had it this bad and I need to know if anyone out there uses something that works on there horse that might have the same thing.  She's got it on both neck/shoulders, halfway on her mane and her tail.  She's itching like crazy.  Not worms because she's been wormed.

 I've even thought it could be flies but I use fly spray and I've never seen flies cause this so fast and create such itching.

I've used M-T-G but it does nothing but stink.  She is miserable. Tonight I used this MicroTek shampoo, Betadine scrub and then sprayed a fungicide.  I'm hoping this combination works.

I would love any suggestions.  Thanks.
Happy Trails...
Berte

A Saturday at Home

Buddy's off at a Pastor Retreat so me and Jacob are just hanging out here today.  A quick trip to town to look for a birthday present...okay, no luck in this small town..gotta order online.  The sheetrock men couldn't work in the back room because of light fixtures and ceiling fans so I guess that'll be on the to-do list before Monday.

Our back pasture is so dry and no grass so I'll be nice and let the horses in the yard ....and Button, the longhorn.  I usually don't let her in because she destroys everything around the house.  If you don't know, we made the mistake of raising her with the dogs so she thinks she has every right to anything and everything connected or close to the house.  I swear she would come in if we let her and those horns fit thru the door!

Aha... she's already at it...and even left me a prize... can ya see it in the foreground?..lovely..

Come out, come out, wherever you are...

If you think for one minute, I don't see you..you're sadly mistaken...

Goofy cow...we don't get along when she's in the yard..otherwise, I can usually tolerate her...

  oooohhhhh...got an itch...this tree feels good...

   Aaaahhhh, now I'll try this side and this branch is sure gettin' that spot on my back...

Oh.. this is my Saturday.  Hope everyone is having a great weekend!
Happy Trails...
Berte

Spring Fever in Summer?

It is disgustingly hot here but not near as bad as last summer so I shouldn't complain.  It's only been in the upper 90's this week and not 110.  But after sitting out at my friend's house yesterday and taking in all her beautiful surroundings, I'm encouraged to come home and work on my porch garden and build some flower beds.  If ya'll saw the pictures from yesterday, go view my post here .  Now, keep in mind she has a full time yard man and also someone that cleans her house....oh, yeah, dream on....
Anyway, at one time my porch garden was looking pretty good but after the drought and antique picket fence being blown away by a storm, I was disheartened and didn't want to bother.  Now I'm ready...so it's probably gonna be a trip to the nursery to get some plants.  Hopefully, they will survive this heat and dogs digging to China. 
We're also constantly dealing with fallen tree limbs...

Either the tree limbs are falling because they are brittle and too dry or, as this year, they are brittle and so full of pecans.  Ever hear the term "hold your horses"?  Well, around here, we use it often because if we're out riding or just messin' with the horses and you hear a "snap, crackle, pop", it's not a bowl of Rice Krispies....it's a tree limb gonna fall in a milisecond and you don't have a clue where! 

Happy Trails...

Berte

It's a Good Morning

I had several appointments starting early this morning so we made a quick run-through Whataburger to grab breakfast for Jacob.  For those of you outside of Texas and the "Whataburger area"....it's wonderful!  The best thing about driving out of the drive-thru was this...

I'm so glad to see places like Whataburger and Chick-fil-A taking a stand on their Christian beliefs.
I have to share with ya'll where I got to spend my morning talking to God..

I could see for miles and miles.  I was at total peace there. 

I sat and watched the birds and the butterflies and hummingbirds.  I soaked in all of God's beauty.

And, yep, I talked about a few of you...if you felt anything, it was me lifting you up in prayer.

Happy Trails...

Berte

And the Winner is...

The winner of the spatterware bread pan, the colorful napkin and the recipe keeper is....
Hookin It With Mr. Lick Lick.    Congratulations!!!!  Enjoy and prayers that everything that is baked up in your new pan will be full of blessings and that you be able to fill others with wonderful blessings!
Thanks to everyone that left such sweet comments on how they've been blessed.  So nice to hear!
Happy Trails...
Berte

Construction in Progress

Finally have someone to come out and start construction to finish out our back room.  It was initially our big back porch but our kids decided they had no place to stay when they come so we closed it in.  With the house being a metal barn, it's like an Easy Bake Oven out there with no insulation. 

The floor is painted concrete but when these guys finish their work, I'm going to paint the floor a different color..right now it's almost a minty green.  Not good... Once all the insulation is up, the sheetrockers come in.  Then the trim man will come back in and finish up.  I'll be doing the painting and staining.  I'm so ready for all this!

This end will be my sewing corner.  If you look closely, you can see the chicken house out the window and Prairie Barbie standing there (to the far right).  I can't wait to be able to sew while watching chickens and horses!
I'll keep ya updated on the progress.
Happy Trails...
Berte

GiveAway Ending Soon

If you haven't already put your name in the hat for the giveaway, read all about it here.

Time is running out...deadline is tomorrow night.
I'll be announcing the winner Thursday morning!

Happy Trails...

Berte

Church arena

This is Sarah Ray...if you remember, she's the dog we "inherited" last summer when Buddy's friend from church passed away.  No one can pet her...not even her previous owner.  But, lately, she can't seem to get close enough to me.  There are even times when she lets me reach down and pet her.  I was going to ask ya'll for suggestions on what to feed her but I found something this evening that she will eat.  She is rapidly losing weight.  I have no idea how old she is...we're guessing around 12.  I've been fixing her "people" food and she was turning up her nose at it.. fresh scrambled eggs with ham...nope!  So, I finally found something...moist and meaty with canned dog food...bacon flavored!  We knew she loved bacon and popcorn...oh, boy, does this dog love popcorn!!

As some of you already know, Buddy is the pastor of the cowboy church that we planted.  Our church is focused around bringing lost cowboys to Christ so to do that, we need an arena to put on horse events.  I went yesterday and bought a couple loads of cedar posts to support the arena panels..

Today was a work day at church to put up the arena..this is exciting!!!

The local sheriff was generous enough to bring out some trustees from the jail to help get the arena up.  I can't wait to show ya'll more pictures of it in progress and then some of events!!! I can't wait!
Happy Trails...
Berte

Horse and Chicken Update

Bye-bye, Daisy.  Theresa ended up selling her sweet little mare to a family south of Houston for their twin boys who are disabled.  She's the perfect fit for them.
In the meatime, we ended up buying this sweet boy...

He's an Appaloosa that comes compact.  He's a playday horse that will be great for beginner kids at church to ride....not to say that they've won but to say "I did it!"  Our last playday got rained out and rescheduled for the end of August so I'm very anxious to get him out there.  As a matter of fact, we've got a work day at church tomorrow to get the arena up.  We've been using the arena at the county fairgrounds.

Red is coming along well.  He's putting on some weight and looking a lot better. I have to admit, he is the sweetest horse I've ever owned.

I think we can definitely confirm that Lincoln is a tom...

and Lucille a hen...

my little Salmon Faverolle rooster is growing...can you see all those toes and feathered legs?

This is one of my black sex links...isn't she pretty with those gold feathers?

An Ameracauna hen....check out those precious feathery cheeks!  She's one of my favorites.

Every time I order Ameracaunas from Ideal, I always get a white one.  This one is ALL white.  The others have had some brown in the feathering and my granddaughters always name them Snow White. I was asked by them again if I'm going to name her Snow White.  And...oddly enough, she doesn't have the typical feathered cheeks but I know she's an Ameracauna because her legs are dark green.  I heard the eggs they lay will be close in color to their legs.  I can't wait to see hers!!

By the way, I appreciate all the names suggested for The Bathroom Lady.  I think Prairie Barbie fits her.  A big thanks to TexWisGirl that always gives us some great pictures from The Run Around Ranch Report. I even had one of my friends suggest Stepford Barbie!  Yes, she is donning her white gloves.  The truth be known, those gloves are holding her fingers on!!  If ya'll only saw this girl naked you'd be coming up with a whole new set of names!  I wish I could have caught a picture of Lucille, the turkey, sitting on her shoulder earlier this evening..She had pulled off her hair and her hat... poor Prairie Barbie...I won't even go there...well, okay, she has a sizeable hole in the back of her head.  Duh...who would have thought Barbie had a hole in her head?!?!?

Don't forget about the GiveAway here.
Happy Trails...
Berte

The Bathroom Lady

Remember when we took our road trip last week and I told you we stopped at some antique stores along the way?  Well, there are always little goodies that I'm looking for when we stop in those places but this particular store in Meridian was the only one along the way that had tons of junk outside.  Buddy loves more old junk.. you can really find some treasures in there that people disregard.  Anyway, my immediate first stop at this store was the bathroom.  Of course, the owner said it was out of order but she keeps the sign up so no one will go in there.  Why do they always do that?  I thought stores had to have a bathroom for customers.  Needless to say, I was just thankful she gave me the "okay" to use her facilities.  I immediately found the light switch, yanked down my pants and, fortunately found the toilet just in time because, when I looked up, standing just behind the door was "The Bathroom Lady"....
Yes, I would stay that she scared the pee out of me but I was already well taking care of that!  I was just not prepared for someone standing there as I shut the door.  But after having a few minutes to give her a quick glance, I was thinking that she would make a dandy "scarecrow" for my chickens.  Years ago I had Eve...

She served her purpose keeping birds out of my garden.  It was really pretty funny because we would watch people as they drove by on the road running in front of our house and they would be waving at her, thinking she was real.  But time and the horses quickly took care of Eve.  She was stuffed with hay and the horses found her to be quite tasty.

So back to the antique store and The Bathroom Lady, I quickly called Buddy back to the bathroom to show her to him.  He agreed.  She's pretty cool. I asked the owner if she was for sale and after making a quick phone call, her price was named, we made a deal and we loaded The Bathroom Lady in the back seat of my truck with Jacob.  Our next stop was to eat lunch and we thought for sure someone was going to report us to the cops for leaving "this person" out in the truck in the heat!

The Bathroom Lady is now standing proudly out with the chickens in hopes that she will help keep the hawks from zooming in on the chickens.

I've had to wait for the rain to stop with the torrential downpours before I was ready to put her out.  I'm really glad to get her out of my house because she was sitting in a chair next to Buddy's recliner eyeballing him....gotta watch the Bathroom Lady.

The turkeys haven't quite figured her out....what?  No red toenail polish to peck at?  Hmmmm, I might have to give her some painted toenails...

What I do need to give her is a name.  I can't keep calling her The Bathroom Lady!  I thought of Corinda but it just hasn't clicked yet.  If any of you precious bloggers out there come up with a name, please share.  Surely there's got to be something better than The Bathroom Lady..

Don't forget about my GiveAway!

Happy Trails...

Berte

It's GiveAway Time!

It's that time! I have 100 followers plus right now....I'm so blessed!  Why in the world so many of you are in the least interested in my ramblings, I'll never know but I'm so thankful to have so many wonderful fellow bloggers out there.  Ya'll are amazing with all your sweet and caring comments.  I don't get every opportunity to sit and return comments but I pray that the ones I do will give a little bit of happiness  and/or entertainment. 

Psalms 23 tells us "You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you have anointed my head with oil; my cup overflows.  Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever."

I'm here to tell you that "my cup truly runs over with blessings!"  Through all the good times and the bad times, my Lord and Savior has been right there beside me to see me through.  Abundant blessings!  And what started as journaling for me has brought 100 and more followers.  Now how can I bless someone else? 

Acts 20:35  "It is more blessed to give than to receive."

This isn't much but I want to say thanks to everyone for being a blessing in my life.  Each one of you mean so much to me to let me be part of your lives and open up your world to me.

John 6:35  "I am the bread of life; he who comes to me will not hunger, and he who believes in me will never thirst."

I would like to bless someone with one of my favorite spatterware bread pans.  This is why I did a road trip all the way to Lipan, TX, because I knew they had just what I wanted.  Included is a colorful napkin to cover your bread and a recipe keeper to save all those favorite recipes that are so generously shared through blogland.

GiveAway Rules:
1) This is open to all followers - Old ones and those that are still contemplating - so jump on the wagon and throw your name in the hat!

2) Your name goes in the hat when you leave me a comment telling how you've been blessed in your life.
BONUS:  Your name will get tossed in again when you add to your comment how you can turn around and bless someone else.  But follow through with that...it doesn't have to be big.  God knows what's in your heart.

3) Another way to add your name in the hat - blog about it on your blog - Share the Blessings!
    Be sure and tell me in your comment.

4) Deadline:  midnight, July 25th.

How uplifting is this gonna be when we can read about everyone's blessings!  We've all got our hard times but Jesus Christ is right there with us to see us through.  Accept His grace and His blessings.
Happy Trails...
Berte

GiveAway Coming Soon!

Sorry for the delay in posting my giveaway but it seems so much has been happening around here that keeps me from being able to sit at my computer for any length of time.  But I will definitely be posting (God willing) the giveaway later this evening so be sure to check back in.
Everyone has a blessed day!
Happy Trails...
Berte

Road Trip

Early Friday morning road trip on the backroads of Texas from Caldwell, through Rosebud, Moody, Crawford, Meridian, Glen Rose and ending with a purposeful destination in Lipan, TX.

I love taking pictures of water towers and old court houses.  Okay, a picture of some huge river rocks got thrown in there...

I had to throw this one in.  We were cracking up laughing...this guy was trying to pull off (or tow) a Dodge truck with a lawn tractor!  It took the muscle of a couple folks to push. 

This road trip was dual purpose.  We went to Lipan, TX, to pick up something I want to include in my GiveAway.  This store is also Home of the World's Largest Cedar Rocker standing at almost 26 ft.

The other reason we were on the road was to watch our daughter and granddaughters run barrels Friday night in Cleburne.

Here's Theresa and the youngest one warming up before the start. That's them on the big grey and the little pony.  Get this!  The Future Champions (for the younger ones) started at 8pm and Theresa drew #120 out of 195!  We crawled in bed at 3am!  Ugh!!  Saturday morning we loaded up again, took another road trip ending up back in Cleburne for the second night.  Even though she drew #69, it was delayed a couple hours due to rain.  She ran at 11pm.  But all was good and everyone had a great time.

I wish I could have captured a better shot of the courthouse in Hillsboro because it was beautiful.  The last of the long road trip.
Well, I can't wait to show you what I found at an antique store AND post my GiveAway. 
Happy Trails...
Berte

Upcoming GiveAway

I know now what I'm going to give away.  We're taking a little road trip today so I'm going to get part of my giveaway and be able to put it together soon.  It might be Sunday or Monday before I can post it.  So stay tuned...
Happy Trails...
Berte

It Happened!!

100 Followers!  So it's official.  I will be posting a GiveAway very soon!  I've got to come up with something...

Last Saturday we had our second playday in a series of four out at church.  Somehow I didnt' get any pictures of Jacob.  He did so much better than the week before...he just needs more time in the saddle.
My daughter, Theresa, and her three girls were there.  Here she is with the two older ones.

All these kids are trying for buckles.
It's funny. I was out taking pictures of a bunch of kids for our church website.  Just about every horse was falling asleep!!  I don't know who this kid is but she is adorable!

This morning we took Buddy's horse, Cinch, in to the vet to get shots and get his back checked.  Thought it was out of whack but I guess Cinch just had a case of the BRAT syndrome because he checked out okay.  He must have had a bad day....yeah, right...
Here he is in La-La Land at the vet holding up this pipe rack-

He still had a little of that BRAT syndrome left over this morning because every time the vet tried lifting his back legs, Cinch would kick at him...so Mr Cinch got sedated.  He has got all his weight leaned up against that rack.  So he got his shots and back home we came.

Well, stay tuned for the GiveAway...I'm thinking...
Happy Trails...
Berte