Back From England Again!

Stephen and I went back to England for a visit for two weeks and we just arrived back home this past Monday. I have tons of pictures again, however, since this is a horse blog, I thought I'd start it off with some new friends I made while I was there.


It was getting toward the end of our visit and we hadn't gotten to the New Forrest again this time and I hadn't gotten my fix of horsey lovin' yet, so Stephen indulged me on our way back from the Marwell Zoo and we took a few country roads near Wickham and here are a few of my new friends.

I made poor Stephen pull over on this narrow road, relatively busy with traffic so that I could jump out and take some photos. What surprised me is that they came trotting up to me as I jumped out of the car. And so the photo shoot began.

All beautiful horses and of course one of my dream horses..........A Gypsy

Found this Humorous & Mostly True.........

What they say v.s. What they mean
Started -- Rode Once
Green Broke -- Rode Twice
Ready to Show -- Green Broke
10+ Loper -- Can't Jog
10+ Jogger -- Can't Lope
Good Mover -- Stumbbles Occasionally
Barrel Racing Prospect -- Just Off the Track
Hunt Seat Prospect -- Should Be On the Track
Western Pleasure Prospect -- Too Slow for Barrel Racing
Cutting Horse Prospect -- Turns & Runs when frightened
Reining Horse Prospect -- Spins & Runs when frightened
15.2 hh -- 14.2 hh
16.3 hh -- 15.3 hh
Attractive --- Bay
Flashy -- Piebald
Good for Beginning Rider -- Lame in both front legs
Anyone Can Ride -- Lame in all four legs
Bombproof -- Lame in all four legs, Deaf, & Blind
Needs Intermediate Rider -- Runaway
Needs Experienced Rider -- Potentially Lethal
To Loving Home Only -- Expensive
To Show Home Only -- Very Expensive
Can be registered -- I think I know which stud got to the mare
Pony Type -- Small and Hairy
Warm Blood Type -- Big and Hairy
Draft Type -- Extremely Big and Hairy
TB Type -- Big Motor
Endurance Type -- Extremely Big Motor
Must Sell -- Insurance company threatened to drop me
Sacrifice Sell -- Family won't come back till he's gone
Clips, Hauls, & Loads -- Clippity clippity is the sound his hooves make as he hauls butt across the parking lot when you try to load him
Should mature 15.2hh -- Currently 14 hands, dam is 14.2, sire is 14.3, every horse in pedigree back 18 generations is under 14 hands, but this horse will defy his DNA and grow

Just one I have to add: Easy Keeper---Prone to founder


This was sent to me in an e-mail, Thought it was hilarious!

Sometimes Ya Just Have To Laugh.........

Can you read my horses? Misty calmly waiting for dinner............Kola mounting frustration.............. Misty now irritated with Kola..........thinks if you just stand quietly, it will come......because it always does. Not fast enough, says Kola............ I'll chase you down lady! And get that darned dog out of here!

Oh, what great entertainment............The horse does not lack for food.........Neither of them do, but it was 4:00 PM and that means dinner, not a photo shoot!

A Quest For More Self Sufficiency

Over the years We do the same thing each year
Go to Garden Center at spring time and buy plants to put in our pots and some hanging baskets, Plus few tomato plants and that has been it ( plus Callies Roses etc. )

Loved the idea of a salad garden and a vegetable garden because I love fresh vegetables straight from the garden but hated the thought of weeding, weeding and more weeding because the chances I would not know the difference between a vegetable plant and a weed.

Plus has anyone else noticed when you bring veg home from the shops they seem to last a much shorter time than they used to.

This year during the winter I looked into something called above ground gardening and eventually settled on a highly recommended book called "Square Foot Gardening" By Mel Bartholomew, The joy of this for me are multiple fold, so I bought the book costs from $11.00 on Amazon BTW


1. NO WEEDS
2. Grow much more in smaller space
3. Easier to tend to and easier to water
4. Simple and quick ( How I want to Garden )


To go alongside my new found enthusiasm for gardening, I thought I would try and grow my veggys and flowers from seed.

Now luckily for me the Zoe Mo is home ( the perfectionist and does everything by the book ) so off we go to buy our seeds and something to grow them in.

Now I had tried few times before to grow from seed and was highly unsuccessful so thought I would try something different and bought 2 Burpee Seed Starting Growing Systems ( Veggy One for 72 seeds, Flower one for 36 seeds )basically a seed tray with fancy growing compost, cover and tray underneath with water and fancy cloth that delivers the water to the seeds. So now we are 6 days in and seeds sprouting up as per the packet info ( Highly unusual for me so could well be Zoe's Green Fingers I suspect because when she put 2 seeds in a container 2 plants have come up ).

Next weeks project is to buy some wood to make our above ground garden, some weed stopper mat, Vermiculite, Peat and Compost and mix it all up before filling up our wooden containers.

So I will try and keep you posted through out the year and let you know whether the book theory and actual results sort of tally

Steve

PS Callie is highly skeptical of this venture because of the number of times I have failed miserably over the years.