We Have Eggs!

Boy...do we have eggs and more eggs and....
First time we have had commercial breeds... think I have said that before.
However, it is still impressive to me, just how many eggs they give us.
Also have to admit, they are some of the best tasting eggs we have ever had...added plus the bright, almost orange yolks.
Can see the really dark wee "egg fart"... on top, that is what they called them back when...
So.. I just had to show you, one of the many pretty baskets of eggs we gather each day.

Trail ride to the Pond ~

Finally got around to taking some photos. Rode Dyfra down to the pond and about the property, this morning. Just about a 1/2 hour, but that is about all my body could take today. 

First three photos of are of the parts of the Path to the pond in back.

Here we are at the pond, can kind of see it in between the trees. Rather low right now.

The trail around the back of the horse pasture.

And from a little trail on another part of the property. Can just see the house and the hay shed.

Where the chickens roam~~

  
 Now that the hens lay in the hen house, on schedule, they are allowed out around the house to do the job they were bought for.

To eat bugs and snakes.

However, they are also good at edging around the house and making a "poop" deck.... rolling eyes.  Why they have to come up on the porch... I will never know....

They are also producing more eggs than we can use, so the neighbors are enjoying them too.  Kind'a like Zucchini of the animal world. LOL

Horse Fly trap and the Willow tree~

 No where have I lived, has there been, so many aggressive Horse Flies. 

Someone I know, calls the bigger ones," Mouse Flies" and I can see why. They are the size of a mouse! 

Poor horse's are bitten left and right, not even the most powerful fly spray or fly sheet, detour  these horrible bugs.
Dyfra is attacked more than the other horses, not sure why?

So I did some research online and found a couple of plans for Horse Fly Traps. DH, built this one. We plan on putting another up soon.

On a more happy un-bug related note... my young Weeping Willow tree, is now Weeping!

In time, it will be a nice shade tree for the sheep!

Trip to the little VA Air Museum

A couple of weekends ago, we took a break and went to the little Air Museum in Richmond.

Was very nice that the interactive devices worked!  
Above, DH is flying a small plane.

And DS tried out the much more complected F-18 simulator, he did quite well. 

Dyfra is shedding!

Wonderful DH helped me curry Dyfra out the other day, as she is shedding her summer coat.
In the photo below, if you look closely, you can see all the fur scattering in the wind. LOL

Am also trying to keep her mane braided, to help her keep cooler.

The new Ewe is settling in well ~~

The new ewe, one in the middle, is settling in well. 
I am slowing getting her hooves trimmed normally. Just do not understand why people get animals and do not take care of them properly. 
Since it is so dry here right now, I am having them mow the round pen during the day.

Pad for the Pressure Tank poured and our First eggs~

The pad for the Pressure Tank housing has been poured. Still waiting on it to be framed.
Can see Nari has already put her paw prints in it, and that green Dragon Fly, that has a beef with her, stops for a visit.

Our first two eggs,  pretty interesting because most of the breeds I have had in the past, take about 6 months before they lay. 
These are mostly production breeds and started laying at 3 1/2 months. Small eggs, but it is just the beginning.

A Silly Video of Dyfra and I~

This is how you get on your Icelandic. Lateral Flextions and then, you have to kick start just like an Motorcycle. LOL
Dyfra just loves to be itched and silly as she is, she really enjoys it. Is hard to see in the Video, just how much her nose is going.
Horse people will under stand what I mean. ;O)
Thank you DS for taking the Video short.

Dyfra and I, in July

Its little over 70* this morning and 100% drippy, but I wanted to sneak in a ride

while the bread was rising.

Have not had any photos of Dyfra and I  done, since we arrived in VA. So I had DS, take some photos of us.

This is not your perfect Icelandic Horse and rider photo. LOL.. The clothes of the day i,s a bareback pad, shorts and clogs.
Is funny how I feel like I am on a bigger horse when riding Dyfra, who is all of 12.3 hands tall,  compared to Stjarna who is 13.3 hands tall and feels like a smaller horse.

This photo was taken into the morning sun, so it did not come out as well.

Shinny Maggie ~~

Maggie was so shinny in the morning sun the other day, I had to take some photos.
Excuse the angle in the above shot, it really does make her backside look big! 

Close up of her face, can see she is getting so many white hairs in her age, she now has a little spot on her forehead. 

Just love the glint in her eye in this photo. She is such an adorable wee horse. 

Won a Kindle Fire~~

Can't believe it, someone pinch me... LOL
I won a Kindle Fire.
 First gadget I have owned and now trying to learn how to use it. ;O)

Lots of T&L Storms and then a big one last Friday...

 That was one really big, really impressive storm!

Ya, that was a lot of fun last Friday..... not!  No power for about 18
hours...glad I did not get the food shopping done like I was planning too.
But we are lucky, we know people that still do not have power in this
heat, no good that.
Had a Tornado try to form up by the road but luckily it did touch down.
Did sound like a freight train for awhile and weird how some stuff was
tossed around by the wind, while other stuff wasn't touched
News said there were more deaths and damage from this storm,
compared with the last official Hurricane.
Before this storm, we have had  T&L for a few days before and after
the big one...
One of them even nuked the microwave. Sigh ~~

Swear I am living on another planet.
No photos because most of the storm was a night.

Fly sheets, Fly masks and .......

The Flies are really bad here, so these fly masks keeps the flies out of their eyes and ears, and fly sheets, keeps the flies off the main part of their bodies.

The areas where they are not covered up, I am having to use a lot more fly spray than what I would like, but there is no other recourse right now.  They have to have some relief.

I also have three types of fly traps up and an automatic fly spray device in the shed, so they can have a break when eating.
Have also put out a triple dose of "Fly Predators" for the last three months.

Slowly starting to see results but there are still a lot more biting insects here, than we had in Oregon.

Poultry update~

One of the Golden Comet Hens.

A group of them together. The two lighter ones are Roosters.

This is Red, one of two serving Hens from that ill fated shipment.  She is super sweet, loves attention, sitting on you and being petted.
Which makes it nearly impossible to get a good shot of her.

One of the three roosters, of course I like his coloring the best. He also has nice muff's under his eyes and chin.  
Did not do anything with the photo, he really is that bright!

This rooster seems to be very sweet so far. Very gentle, loves attention and sitting on your arm. As long as he stays sweet, he can stay.


DS has spent a lot of time taming them down, to which I am grateful.  Gentle easy going chickens are just a lot easier to deal with.


They are nearly big enough, to be able to finally run around the house and eat bugs for us.
Granted, will have to deal with chicken manure in places but worth it to have less bugs.

Lamb's Pasture~

Caspian and Charming, spend the day time, in the new sheep pasture.  At night they are in with the horses and goats.
Their shelter is just there for some shade, simple, but it works.

Another part of the lamb's pasture.  Down towards the bottom area, where the ground stays fairly wet, I have planted a Willow tree. In time this will become big enough to offer more shade.

A new Water Tank and it's so hot out you can.....

Yup, today is hot, really hot. 100* and 100% humidity, which makes it feel even hotter.
Even the wee wild birds are  having issues. This is one of the Swallow's that is nesting over one of our light,s on the side of the house. He/She is panting to beat the band and has their wing and tail feather's fanned in hopes of cooling off.
I really need to buy a water bath for the birds.

We had the Hot water tank we bought a couple of days ago, put in yesterday. Didn't go as smoothly as I would of liked but it is done.
Will be nice to have 80 gallons of hot water when we need it!
The old tank, was starting to leak, as I thought. So while I hate spending money, this was a good thing to do and cheaper in the long run.

The family will be staying in the A/C, except, for feeding and caring for the animals.  It will be a longggg summer to be sure.

Dyfra's Flea Bites~

Every year Dyfra gets more flea bites. At the rate she is going, she will be chestnut again in a few years. LOL
Have always loved clean grey horses, however, mine likes dirt so much, she has to grow it.

Well,, Well... oh bother.....

At some point unknown to us, the Well pump decided to give up the ghost last weekend.
We had been running on what little water the tiny pressure tank and hot water tank had.
On the most hot day to date. Not good. 
DH crawled under the house to see if we had any leaking pipes, but everything was fine under there.
Put a call in to the contractor we have been using to fix the myriad of problems this place has.
We finally touched base last night and they came over to pull up the Pump.
Needless to say it was broken.  
So off DH and I went to two different stores to find a new Well Pump. 
They got it fixed up and running for us. 
What a relief if was to have running water again. 
Specially for the horses.
And me... I smiled like a loon, when I could flush the toilet. 


We have a couple of more problems... the Hot Water tank needs to be replaced, as it is only 50 gallons, and I see some issues with it.


Another big problem is, the pressure tank.
Have been told it is only about 25 gallons, and basically only good for a 1 bath house. 
This place has 3 1/2 baths and we use a lot of water.
With that small of a pressure tank.... it is going to make the Well pump work all the time, which will cause it to fail.
There is a bit of a logistical problem in getting a bigger pressure tank...
It is under the house, because of the addition the crawl space is more like a rat maze. The door to the crawl space is small.
Who thought ever it was a good idea to put a pressure tank under the house.. sure wasn't thinking.
DH will have to measure and see if we can get a bigger tank in...
Other wise... we will need to build a small bump out against the house, to house the pressure tank in. Which means more cost and time.


I have to say, I have never, ever been in a house with such poor construction......
By the time we are done, will just about have a new house.

Rainy day photos of Nari

Nari's bored... the rain the News said would arrive... finally arrived.  She is either yawning,  showing me her pretty fangs.... or saying... can you hear me now.. fix the (blank) weather already! LOL

Took a couple more photos to show you she is not all fangs. ;O)
Played with photoshop a little bit.... which one do you like?

Mia and the cube~~

Mia decided dissecting her cube would be a fun game today.  Above we have the sniff..

 Here we have the grab and chomp...

Making sure Sadie would not join in.....

Fruition.... a new peep hole.  That way she can Bop Sadie when she goes by.... LOL

Bird nests, Trees, Bugs and stuff...

I really need to take a close up of the leaves on this tree. They are huge, hand size and larger. Have no idea what species tree it is, will have to look it up some time. 
Is rather a pretty tree.

Swallow nest and just around the corner, there is a Purple finch nest on yet another light.  Looks like we will be baby bird central soon.

One of the many types of bug traps we have on the place. Amount of bugs here, is impressive.

The slow feeder hay bags I finally picked up.  Dyfra is a horse version of a vacuum cleaner.
She will eat her food and just about everyone else's, before anyone else has a chance to have their share. 
So where it would take her about a 1/2 hour to eat one meal, now it takes 4 hours and everyone else can get their fill too.