She's got spurs, they Jingle, Jangle, Jingle!

"I like the way they jingle when I walk", giggle giggle.

Darling discovered spurs today. I'd pulled out an old pair that's not been in service for years, thinking I'd stick them on the back of a boot and take a picture or two. That wasn't going to happen with my little Imelda around. The boots went onto her feet and the spurs onto the boots. And there they stayed throughout the day. She liked the way they jingled when she walked (giggle giggle.)

Darling and Rocket out in the rain...jingle jangle (giggle giggle.)

Did I mention it's been raining here a bit? You'd think we had a trout pond out in the driveway at the moment. Normally not a problem, this non-stop, round the clock winter of rain has the whole Pacific North WET under water. Thankfully, we're no where near as bad as other areas of the county. Still, a little reprieve would be nice.

Head of Homeland Security got a hair cut. He doesn't seem to mind being out in the rain without his coat. Just like a kid, eh? Darling also didn't mind being out in the rain today. Especially since she was jingling everywhere she went. One of our stops was at my trainer friend's, where I snapped this pic of the inside of that bull for you. If you missed that post, he drives the bull while his clients work their cutting horses. He can get this thing to whirling around pretty good, giving the horses a good workout (or easy one, if that's what they need.)

I slipped inside the tack room for a picture of the bridles hanging on the wall. I'm not totally thrilled with the photo, but it's late so I'm not going to fiddle with it right now. Each horse has his (or her) own bridle. If you take a close look, you'll see a whole slew of different bits (the mouth piece) in them. And way off to the left there is a hackamore, also called a bosal, that has no bit. Some horses work well with one kind of bit, others need something different. There's no one size fits all...kinda like shoes. We all need a different size or width, or feel comfortable with a different heel or sole.

Darling feels comfortable in spurs, evidently, attached to her boots. Here she is again, out playing in the rain with her new footwear. The spurs were still jingling, even when they got wet (giggle giggle.)

After driving down into the neighboring county, I didn't feel so bad about my driveway puddle. It could be worse. Look at this! A sure sign of spring is that yellow growing up in the swampy, roadside water. It's bright, yellow and visually attractive. That is, until you know what it is, or get close enough to smell it. The plant is known as skunk cabbage, and it smells like both!

You can actually see the white line of the road in this shot, and the water right up alongside it. There are several side roads underwater right now due to our heavy rains. I believe they've had some flooding up in Canada, eh, as well.

After leaving my friend's place, we headed to a shop where we picked up some pretty papers to make a scrap book. Yes, Darling jingled, jangled, jingled and giggle, giggled her way through the store. And despite her request, I managed to not bring the camera in and take pictures of the event. Although, I'm rather regretting that now...giggle, giggle!

A Day with Miss Banana Head

Happy Birthday, Banana!

Driving the kids crazy, ain't it grand? I've gone and purchased a couple of Dwight Yokum CD's and had to have Darling help me figure out how to get it to work in my computer. When she heard the honkey tonk coming from the speakers she nearly melted like the Wicked Witch when Dorothy tossed a bucket of water on her. I'll have to remember this technique whenever I need to clear a room!

Taffy and Bessie enjoy breakfast

I'm still waiting on Taffy to lamb. Anyone care to offer up a date? I think I'll send a couple bars of sheep milk soap, and perhaps a sheep milk cream, out to whom ever can pick the correct date for lambing. Are you up for the challenge? I'm guessing it's in March, but heck, who knows for sure? So offer up your guess in the comments!

Yesterday I brought my niece out with me on my travels. Banana's birthday was last week, she's 9 now; but it snowed so I didn't go to her party. She was horribly disappointed, but I suspect we made up for that yesterday. We went south to pick up Pokey, the ram, from his visit with the ladies. While there, Banana got to visit with Sugar, the donkey.

Banana and Pacman

Upon leaving the sheep, we headed up the road a couple miles to my friend Linda's where we were lucky enough to catch Curt and a few of his customers working cutting horses. Curt's the one in the bull (normally, he's just full of it, not filling it...rofl...I crack myself up...)

The bull is used for several reasons, among them that you can work a horse in it's weak areas and you never have to worry about sour cattle (they get bad attitudes after being chased around by a horse, go figure!)

I love this boot, don't you? I'll bet it's owner was wondering what the heck I was so interested in it for, but don't you just dig the color? Okay, I brightened it up a bit. Do you like? I think it needs a name, however. So look, here I've got two little contests going and it's not even Winsday! But yeah, offer up a name, and if I pick your's you'll be getting a set of lovely notecards in the mail, plus something else and I don't know what that is at the moment, but I'm certain you'll love it =)