A Late August Walk with a Camera

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My pretty Chexy.

ClaireAnna and Bo, the gentlest dog ever.

These are ClaireAnna’s new ducks. The tall ones are Penciled Runners and the little ones are Australian Spotteds. She hopes to win Grand Champion Other Fowl at the County Fair with these guys.

This is Luna. Claire’s market hog.

Ally and her doeling, Bailey. These two are going to the fair This is Claire’s first year showing dairy goats.

Silly Bailey!

ClaireAnna and Dayna huggin’ on a dairy goat.

Dinner time in the goat pen.

Our buck, Romeo, always gets his share.

Mother, Frenchie, and daughter, Shiloh, finishing up the crumbs.

Cutie Pie with this year’s calf. This guy’s name is Alfredo.

This newborn calf doesn’t stand a change against all that milk. She tries, but never makes a dent in that bag! Isn’t this a pretty cow!

Lovey (because of the heart on her forehead)

That’s Peaches resting in the shade of a cedar tree.

Our pond and a pretty blue sky.

The girl’s spotted a snake. Dad’s checking it out. No, it’s not a Water Moccasin. Just an ordinary water snake.

This is the first time I’ve ever seen a bird like this at our pond. Isn’t it cute?!

The main horse pasture is crispy. No rain in several weeks. Tomorrow we will put out hay. There’s nothing left for them to eat.

Beautiful Cindy going for a walk. This pasture is still a bit green with plenty of grass yet.

Claire and Lucky, walking home.

Goodbye Pelican

We lost our good friend, Pelican, today. She was a lovely white Pekin duck. The oldest duck in the barnyard and the friendliest too. Pelican was ClaireAnna's favorite. The only duck of hers that would happily eat out of her hand. I guess she was stressed from the breeding season and never quite recovered. She developed an infection and though we treated her, she passed away today. We've had a lot of tears and sadness thinking about how much we loved that sweet, funny, little duck. ClaireAnna has drawn a picture of Pelican to help her remember. Pelican had a free, happy, duck life and we sure are going to miss her in the barnyard.

Pope County 4-H Wrangler’s Horse Club 06/18/2010 trip to Falling Waters Horse Camp

We had a fantastic trip to Falling Water’s Horse Camp with the Wrangler’s Horse Club.  Those who came along were, The Harmon family and Lily, Cody Chuculate and his grandparents, The Penka Family, Christina and Dayna Walker, Mike and Rachel Scott, the Danzy family and the Cochran family, 21 1/2 people in all!!  (Trevor, you were such a good baby!!!)

We had too much fun riding, swimming, chatting and eating around the campfire.  The weather was hot but otherwise ideal and the campsites were outstanding.  We camped right along the creek so the kids could play in the water while we all sat by the campfire and watched.  It was a GREAT Weekend and everybody had a wonderful time getting to know each other better.  4-H people are the BEST!!!  We all can’t wait to come back and hope the rest of our club can join us! 

The Whole crew, heading off on the last ride of our trip takes a break for a picture at the Falling Waters Horse Camp sign. 

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Mini-Mania!

We’ve got minis coming out of our ears! Here’s my cutie, Elvis. What a sweet little expression he has! Ted and Claire decided to give Elvis a bath today. He didn’t mind at all!

All clean!

Now it’s Jack’s turn. He’s not so happy about it. “Does she HAVE to wash my face?!” (Jack is a mini donkey so he does qualify to be in this post!)

Now, who’s this? Well, Ted was at the London Horse Auction last night, found this little guy and decided (without consulting me) that he would be a perfect friend for my Elvis!

Meet Johnny! I might have to admit that the mini Ted bought is even a tiny bit cuter then mine!

Elvis and Johnny are both yearling colts. They are the same age and about the same size and at maturity will be on the large side for minis which means they will be plenty big enough for small children to ride. ClaireAnna will be doing their training and she is so excited! She’s already working on teaching them to lunge and desensitizing them to things like fly spray and scary plastic bags! This will be GREAT training for her too! We are really excited to add these two adorable minis to our petting zoo. I’m sure they will bring happiness and fun to the many children who will visit Harmon PFarms for years to come!

Look Who’s Joined Our Family

I’ve been looking for just the right mini to add to the petting zoo for a couple of years now. Well, I’ve finally found him. Isn’t this little guy cute! We brought him home yesterday and already, ClaireAnna is in love with him. He is just a doll! (Pictured as a weanling. He’s a yearling now.) I don’t know a lot about minis, but I believe he’ll not get taller then 34”.

This colt has a perfect diamond in the middle of his back. Our thoughts went to cards, then gambling, then Las Vegas and finally to Elvis. So, “Elvis” is his new name! It was late when we got him home and today, it’s pouring down rain, so I haven’t gotten a chance to take some current pictures, but they are coming soon!
Elvis will join Jack Frost, Seymour and the goats in our petting zoo. He’ll certainly be a big hit with all the kids!

Me and My Honey on Glori and Woodrow

Ted and I went for a wonderful ride today on the gaited horses.  Glori was a bit “Lookie Loo” but I handled it.  Woodrow tripped all over the place! But all in all, we had a great time! This ridge is on our neighbor’s land.  We can ride up to the top from our bottom hay pasture.  It’s a BEAUTIFUL view!!!

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2010 Market Hog

We picked up Claire's fair hog a couple of weeks ago. Kate tagged along and jokingly asked the man if he had a runt to give away. Well, as a matter of fact, he did! So here they are. ClaireAnna's fair hog is the bigger one. She is pretty! The little one is Nugget. A runt from the same litter. We're going to butcher her at about 75lbs and have her smoked in quarters. The show hog will reach about 280lb and be butchered after the fair, hopefully after she wins Grand Champion Market Hog and fetches Claire a pretty penny at the charity auction! Today, Ted gave them a bath and let them run around in the barnyard. Look at this adorable video of Claireanna putting them away for the night! Eventually, they both did go in the gate.

THREE KNOB MOUNTAIN TRAIL RIDE

We had the most wonderful day today, riding with the Penkas on Three Knob Mountain! There is a nice logging road that runs back to a scenic view of the valley all the way to Mount Nebo. We rode about an hour or more and then rested at a beautiful pond where the horses got a refreshing drink and a cooling swim and the people enjoyed some cold water and an apple. So much fun! We can’t wait to go back!

Ted rode Woodrow (Formerly known as Cisco). This was his first trail ride off the farm since we bought him and Ted’s first trail ride off the farm ever! I was SO proud of both of them!!! Woodrow’s behavior was excellent!

ClaireAnna rode Missy, who was wonderful as usual.

From this point you can see the whole valley including Mt. Magazine and Mt. Nebo. I should have taken a picture from the middle looking out but I was thinking more of getting photos of the riders and not the view. Next time. :)

We just couldn’t keep ClaireAnna out of the water with Missy! She had so much fun!

Ted sure looks great on his great big, black and white, Missouri Fox Trotter! We LOVE this new horse!

We just tied the horses to some pine trees and took a rest.

Our riding companions were Justus and Olga Penka and their wonderful boys, Malcolm and Kurt. We are so grateful they decided to take us along today!

I rode Cindy, seen here tied to a pine tree taking a rest. She was very well behaved, but she had to trot so much to keep up with the gaited horses and her fast little trot is so bumpy that I felt like I was riding a pogo stick! Not so good!

Almost ready to head back. What a WONERFUL day!!!