Argent Update!

Well, it was time to put Argent in his harness and see how we fared with that.  I had grand plans of going down the road....we made it to the end of the driveway.

He was great for the harnessing process.  My  little picture taker got every moment of it on film.  Don't worry, I won't be  posting every second of it here, as I'm pretty sure the server would crash.

My son proudly told me...I've taken 254 pictures already!  Oh for joy, that means I'll be wading through them for hours to choose the best ones....but at least we have pictures!

I'll let Argent tell the rest of the story:)

Argent here, the Great Dales Pony, visiting Windy Hill and the Woman.  She's okay, she brings me food, that part I like.  Let me tell you how it really went yesterday..

First of all, she came in my home dragging this big unwieldy bag, of course I had to investigate being the oh-so-curious horse that I am...

Whacha got there woman?

I immediately recognized the smell, it's the harness.  This is the crazy thing that humans put on me so I will pull the cart.  I look GREAT pulling a cart.  But what fun is it to just pull a cart without some trickery?  I love to play tricks on the humans.

Hemes first

The Hemes is the easy part, and since the woman has been working with me on putting my head down all the time, I went ahead and put my nose into it since I figured that is what she wanted, then I put my head down and it slid off. hahahaha.  Oddly, she behaved as if she didn't want that.  She put it back on me.

I better get carrots for this

I was kind enough to put my nose in it again, she was on to my trickery by this time, so she moved on to the next part of my fancy duds.  I stood very quietly while she did this, as it was blatantly obvious that she was confused; the poor thing.  

The next part is the bridle, the bridle is my least favorite part, but since the woman was moving slowly and being kind I was very nice about it.  All of my glorious hair gets in the way and she has to fuss with my ears a lot, I was very good about that.  I know she secretly wants to give me a bridle  path so that my bridles will fit properly in their place when she puts them on.  

I'll even keep my head down for this

The woman checked and double checked everything to see if it was on right and comfortable, I'm pretty sure I took a small nap while she fussed around with all of that.   Even the boy got tired at some point and sat down to take the photos.

checking and double checking

After all of that standing around, when it was time for me to actually walk, I wondered if she was serious or if she was just testing me.  She had to tell me 3 times to go ahead and walk.  I did and I was very lazy about it.  I think the woman liked that though because she said "Good boy " a lot.  

walking in the round pen.

Well, walking in the round pen is easy stuff, so the woman decided she wanted to take me out into the open. Snicker.  When we first went out there I pretended I was frightened of everything.  The blue flower that was blowing in the breeze, the long blade of grass, the dark colored dirt.  I even snorted once!  I also discovered that if I turn around really quick it confused the woman and was able to walk whatever direction I wanted to.  I walked back towards the round pen.  However, the woman did catch on to my little trick of turning fast ~ she was mumbling something about "quick Arabian turns" and "compensating" ...I don't know, but I couldn't do it anymore once she figured that game out.  She completely ignored me when I told her there were scary things ahead and pranced, she just kept on going along.  So, I had to stop that too.  Then I tried going in reverse!  Well, when she figured that one out, she just asked me to keep going in reverse.  That was no fun!  I tried it a few more times and then gave up on that one too.  I did try the quick turns a few more times, but she got really good at anticipating my next move, so I couldn't do that either.  I threw my head up in protest several times when I thought she was really using too much pressure on the bit to tell me when to stop.  I know she was trying to be gentle, but this is a big bit and a little goes a long way.  I did stop tossing my head when she was softer with her hands.  (sheesh)  The things I have to teach people.  When I had stopped using  all of my tricks in the yard, we went down the driveway.

in the yard.

Down the driveway and back up.

See how relaxed I am going down the driveway?  That took some time and I played a lot of tricks on the woman first, but if you look closely, you can see that she is driving me with her palms open, this means there is not a lot of pressure on my mouth and I like that.  I also liked that she was very confident about nothing trying to eat me.  Even though I was pretending that I was scared, she sensed that I needed a leader and thank goodness she chose to show me that she is going to be the leader when we are together. 

Now down the driveway

turning around to go back down the driveway

Once the woman figured out that I would walk with my head down and my body relaxed if she would anticipate my every move before I did it, I went ahead and relaxed and let her do the steering.  I was sort of looking forward to going down the road too, because I thought I might be able to try some more games with her.  But evidently she decided that we had played enough games that day and when I was moving quietly and obediently she unharnessed me and put me in the larger corral with some grass in it as a reward.  I loved my reward as you can clearly see!

playing in the bigger field! 

I can't wait until we do this again, I  haven't decided if I want to play new games or if I should just let her be the leader.  I'm not entirely certain I trust her completely yet.  

Elsa's trip to the vet!

 Elsa, Queen of Windy Hill here:

You know, when the traveling box comes out, I know something I don't like is sure to follow...but humom knows that I can not resist the allure of the dark miniature cave... beckoning me inside.


  What if she has hidden noms in there?  What if it's a secret passageway to Catopia?  Well, either way...this is how my trip to the vet started!

Then there was the car ride.  To show my displeasure at humoms fraudulent behavior and trickery I hid under the towel she put in there.   I considered going potty too.  I didn't do that because I knew I'd have to sit there until she pulled over and fixed it.  That would be way to much effort on my part.  I did make a horrible wretching sound that I know makes humom very nervous when driving.  tee hee hee...but then everything makes humom nervous when driving.

dang it!  She did it again.

We went to a new vet this time, a vet that specializes in cats!  It's about time that humom recognized my Queenliness and took me to a place with no idiot dogs.
The vet was very nice to me and they even have a cat tree to climb up while you wait.  I left with a clean bill of health annnnnd, I am also pregnant.  I told you Divinci was nice to me:)  I guess all the warm milk and flowers from him paid off.

My Mom Moonie

My own mom Moonie (may she rest in peace) was very much the teenage mother....she carried all of my brothers and sisters to different corners of the house after she had us.   My humom found me beside the couch, my brother under the coffee table, my other sister beside the bedroom door...well it just goes on and on.  In the end humom had to put Moonie in a much smaller room and put her in a large cave with us to keep her from planting us around the house.  After a week of that, my Mom decided we were safe in the one spot.      Sometimes "Uncle" Mooshi would watch us too.  Anyways,  humom is slightly nervous that I may act the same way and has plans of putting me in a small room right from the start.

McKenna's fat tummy from the top

Elsa and her svelte figure

I for one, haven't decided how I feel about this.  I do know that I love all the extra food I am getting.  I look at McKenna though and her figure is just ruined!  I know, I know, she says she is just fluffy, but trust me, a lot of that is baby! I can't have my svelte figure ruined!  I will look  like a swallowed a basket ball!  When we got back home, I got more food ~ special extra yummy food that the nice vet lady gave to us.  Then I napped.  Today we are going back to the house with all the other cats and I'll have to reestablish my Queenship there, I suppose that Mooshi has taken over while I've been gone.

Some quick Gossip, I heard through the cat-vine that Mooshi hid under the boys bed before school and he was in there allll day long...if I know Mooshi he placed little "presents" all over the bed.  Humom will clean that up when we get home.  I bet she will sware about it too, and then she will have to put money in the sware jar.  When the sware jar is full, we get extra noms!  I like it when Mooshi  makes her sware.  giggle.  I never make her sware, even when I hop into the shower with her and knock all the shampoo bottles down.  Humom laughs at me then.  I think I will teach my babies to like water also....
I also heard through the cat-vine that McKenna will be having her babies anytime now.  The whole house is going to be full of babies all over the place!  McKenna will have little puff balls that look like her and Mooshi.  I wonder what mine will look like.  Humom wants a black kitten with a short tail and curled ears.  I told her I would see what I could do about that.

I think I hear the can opener gotta go!

The CAT ~ okay CATS of Windy Hill

Elsa Highlander Female

I'm Elsa, and I will tell you that I am the head Cat here at Windy Hill.  Mostly, no one argues with me about that.

I'm a female Highlander cat.  I am pampered and babied and snuggled (when I feel like it) by my human mom ~ or my "Humom" as I like to call her. .   As you can clearly see, I am gorgeous.  I am a top mouse hunter and string attacker, and my favorite thing is to play in the water.  I am slender and sleek and I'm like a mongoose, quick and alert and ready for anything!

I have no idea why, but my humom doesn't appear to appreciate my love of water when she is taking a shower or brushing her teeth.  I mean, why turn it on if you don't want me to play in it? Duuuuh,

Being the head cat that I am, I get the run of the whole house, all the time.  Some of the other (read: lessor) cats only get certain levels of the house.  I even go on what the house slave terms the "tasting tour of the countries"  really, I am just making sure that the others don't have better nom noms than I do.  I won't tolerate that!

Divinci Highlander Male

Recently, I married Divinci, He's pretty handsome I must say.  But I'm just a shy little girl and I am not used to such advances.  Why, I even had to smack his face for getting fresh with me!  The nerve!  Divinci is the strong silent type towards my Humom.  He runs when she comes close and when he gets in a corner, she reaches down and pats him and he hisses.  He never bites or scratches though, it's just a bluff.  To tell the truth, he's really sweet to me, and the kittens around the house.  They climb all over him and he sits there quietly  ~ it's almost like he enjoys them! Whatever, kittens are fun to sniff, but they have no play value until they are bigger.  Then it's totally fun to race across the room and pounce on them and then we play chase all around the living room.  Shortly after that, they leave to go to their new human moms and dads.   I guess my Humom can't keep everyone, I'm glad she kept me.

Now that we have established that I am indeed the Queen of my Castle ~ and yeah, and the King Divinci (whatever, he is content to live my shadow) I'll introduce the others.

Lula Kinkalow Female

Lets see, there is Lulla, she is a Kinkalow, she has the same kind of awesome curled ears I do, but she also has a long tail and short legs ~ can you imagine?!  She doesn't even jump the counters or anything! She just lays around and purrs and loves and loves and purrs, and she adores everyones kittens.  They all call her "Aunt Lu"  Pfft, too much love for me.  When I first met Lulla I hissed at her, and she KISSED me right on the nose!  Kissing the Queen?!  I was so offended that I ran away from her growling the entire time...to think that she had the absolute nerve to put her short little self right in my bubble and then KISS me?!  BLECK ~ I'm still getting the hair off of my nose. Oh ~ ah yeah, anyway, Lulla is visiting another family right now.  A family with children.  Lulla loves children ~ she loves everything ....I think she is a hippie cat.  I wonder if they should have named her rainbow or river ...oh wait, her registered name has Cupcake in it...well there you have it...That explains it.  Right, back to what I was saying.  Lulla is something humom calls "Fixed" ~ it really means that Lulla can't have babies anymore.  Lulla used to have babies around here, but when her husband died she was too sad to be remarried so she was fixed.  That just made her fatter.

Akina Napoleon Female

Next there is Akina: Akina  is a Napoleon, she also has short legs ~ humom has a thing for "unique" Akina is a little precious princess baby and she stares at me with these soul searching eyes and it gives me the creeps. It's like she can read my mind...or she is trying to control my mind.  Either way, it's creepy.  Akina is so soft and plush that she feels like some kind of stuffed animal, and to be honest, she looks like one too.   When humom isn't looking I try to put Akina in a purse ~ I think Akina should be a purse cat.  She is too short and fluffy to be much else.  Her kittens look like Pillows with eyes ~ ridiculous!   Humom seems to like her though.  Akina ia married to Mooshi.

Mooshi Persian Male

Mooshi is a typical Persian cat, a giant ball of fluff with eyeballs, sometimes you can even see his ears.  He is the goofball of our cat family.  He thinks the Wolf Hybrid dog is his Mommy.  I'm not kidding about this, whenever Bishop (Wolf Hybrid dog) comes inside the house, Mooshi will not leave him alone.  Mooshi rubs underneath Bishops chin, he walks over his paws he rubs his face on Bishops furr...and to top it off, Mooshi is a flopper.  A flopper is a cat that will wonder onto a humans lap and then FLOP down and roll on his back, put all four feet in the air and purr like a fool.  I would never be so undignified.  I'll get a photo of Mooshi in a Flop and post here if you like:)

Now ~ get this....I'm pretty sure it's illegal in several states...but Mooshi...he has ANOTHER wife!  I'm not kidding, he's also married to McKenna, she's another Persian.  She is pregnant by him right now!  When Humom brought McKenna home Mooshi ignored her completely.  She had to make them live together for a long time by themselves or he would just leave McKenna sitting around wondering what she had done wrong while Mooshi would go and have picnics with Akina.  Well, after McKenna and Mooshi lived together..alone...for a long time, McKenna walked out with a wedding bath and a smile.  Akina and McKenna get along okay, they both flick their tails up in the air and twitch the ends of them when they sniff noses, but that's the extent of it.  McKenna has long puffy fur, and you can tell that she is very dignified.  She would never EVER flop.  She does sit on the arm of the couch and watch t.v. with humom though.

McKenna Female Persian

We also have Creamy, Creamy is also a female Highlander, and she was married to Divinci before I grew up enough to be married.  Hmm, what to say about Creamy...well she and I are friends you know.  We will eat together, and sit together.  But she is very quiet and self contained, she meows a lot too..I think she is neurotic.  She is a very good Mommy though, she just had some of Divinci's babies about 4 weeks ago.  She lets me play Aunt to them since Lula is visiting a family right.  I don't play Aunt very often....like I said Kittens that age are for sniffing.

Creamy Highlander Female

As an honorable mention, I have to introduce Poka ~ Poka is the house slaves Poka dot cat.  He got her from a tree Fairy and he claims Poka brings good luck.  I say she brings poopie to the hallway carpet and makes Humom complain about shamooing and stuff.  She is also VERY brave.  Akina hates Poka, Poka doesn't back down from Akina.  I laugh at them and then Poka gets mad at me and chases me and then we play fight in a big ball on the floor and make a bunch of noise and race around in circle and then Poka runs up the curtains.  I've tried to run up the curtains too, but I can't quite do it, I stretch way way up there and pretend I'm climbing though.  Poka sits up on top and laughs at me.  Poka and Mooshi are good friends, it didn't start out that way.  It started out with Poka chasing the Poof on Mooshis tail: he gets shaved sometimes and Humom leave a poof at the end of his tail so he will feel like a Lion.

Poka the Poka Dot Cat

 Mooshi says it makes him feel like a cheerleader instead.  He's very in touch with his feminine side.   uhhh, anyways, Poka plays with Mooshi's poof and Mooshi being the true Persian that he is turns around and give her a slow motion swat.  Mooshi is very chill.  Poka would crack up laughing, leap in the air and pounce on Mooshis head, this gave way to more tail swishing...much to Poka's delight.  Poka would pounce again, fed up, Mooshi would leave...Poka would follow swatting all the while.  Mooshi gave up and now he just lets her play with  his tail.  In return he gets a massage from her once a week.  It's a nice friendship.


At some point I 'll introduce the idiots (read:dogs) and Mooshi's mom ~ you will have to see it to believe it.

The living Arrangements

As I said in the beginning, I get the run of the whole house, because I am that cool.  McKenna and Mooshi get the middle floor.

Akina has her own room downstairs and she also gets to run around in the "open area" if she gets too bored in the room.  Personally, I think this is stupid because it's just more rooms down stairs...what is the difference?  Either way,  Akina seems to think that is cool.   When humom thinks that Mooshi and Akina need to spend quality time together, she puts Mooshi in the downstairs room with Akina. 

Creamy and Divinci live in an outdoor cattery.  That's because Divinci BEGGED to go outside, finally humom let him have his way, within reason.  She gave him an outdoor cattery and Creamy to hang out with.  When humom thinks that Creamy has had enough babies already, humom brings Creamy into the other downstairs room.   I suppose when I have babies I'll have the top floor.  

When Lulla is home she gets the run of the house as well, since she is fixed.  

Humom won't let me play with Mooshi anymore now that I'm all grown up and married to Divinci, not that it would matter, Mooshi has enough to deal with in his own two wives.  He barely acknowledges my existence

So there you have it, the cats of Windy Hill:)  Look for lots of Updates!  Meanwhile ~ I think I hear a faucet on and I have to go...   

  

The Least Weasel

Have I mentioned the Least Weasel yet?   According to Google, it's found where there a large rodent populations.

Least Weasel

This is what inspired me to call the Orkin Man.  Not the weasel, the large rodent population. The Least Weasel is in my house you see.  Not outside, but hanging out in the house!  I probably have Least Weasel babies running around right now.  He lives upstairs, you can hear him tromping around at night, to me he looks like a glorified Ferret.  In fact,  I thought it was someones pet Ferret left here to be honest.  Turns out they like rodents too.  

Here is what Wikipedia says about Least Weasels of Folklore

The Ancient Macedonians believed that to see a weasel was a good omen. In some districts of Macedon, women who suffered from headaches after having washed their heads in water drawn overnight would set the problem down to the fact that a weasel had previously used the water as a mirror, but they would refrain from mentioning the animal's name, for fear that it would destroy their clothes. Similarly, a popular superstition in southern Greece had it that the weasel had previously been a bride, who was transformed into a bitter animal which would destroy the wedding dresses of other brides out of jealousy.^[29] According to Pliny the Elder, the weasel is the only animal capable of killing the basilisk;

To this dreadful monster the effluvium of the weasel is fatal, a thing that has been tried with success, for kings have often desired to see its body when killed; so true is it that it has pleased Nature that there should be nothing without its antidote. The animal is thrown into the hole of the basilisk, which is easily known from the soil around it being infected. The weasel destroys the basilisk by its odour, but dies itself in this struggle of nature against its own self.^[30]

The Chippewa believed that the weasel could kill the dreaded wendigo giant by rushing up its anus.^[31] In Inuit mythology, the weasel is credited with both great wisdom and courage, and whenever a mythical Inuit hero wished to accomplish a valorous task, he would generally change himself into a weasel.^[32] According to Matthew Hopkins, a witch hunter general during theEnglish Civil War, weasels were the familiars of witches.^[33]

All very interesting right?  Well this did not prevent me from calling the Orkin man, especially after I saw this:

This verifies the fact that there must be a large rodent population in my house!  This stupid mouse family was living in my empty kitchen drawer.  She let me pull the drawer out and take a photo for pete sakes!  Are you kidding me?!  Well, what did I expect from a house that sat empty for 6 years?  There were also two birds nests in the living room, and the basement was 4 feet high with water...NOT making that up. ...and all the windows in the house were broken...what was I thinking?!

But I digress, the Orkin man arrived as specified.  I made certain that he knew I had pets and children and they they couldn't be harmed in the de-bugging, de-mousing of my house.  He assured me all was well.  He went around mysteriously placing objects around the house, and he sprayed stuff along the baseboards and outside.  Wow...bug free at Windy Hill can you imagine?  

Before he left I mentioned again the importance of nothing harmful to children or pets...say for instance if my cat eats a dead mouse will the cat die?

Orikin Man:  The cat could get very sick...

Me: Okay, well, I can' t have sick cats, can you do something about that?

Big sigh from the Orkin man...he goes back around the house...

Me: Are you going to get in the attic and the crawl space too?

Orkin man: no, no, I didn't come prepared for that, I only came to do a basic treatment.

Me: but I'm paying for a special treatment, they charged me extra...

Orkin man: I'll do it next time...

He explains how high tech all this is and how they come back for free if it doesn't work etc.  When he left, I totally checked out what he put down for the mice...

you wanna know what it was?!  STICKY PADS!! 

High tech indeed.  This is what the Orkin man did, this is what I paid for.  Makes me really wonder what in the world he was spraying.  

I was hoping for the electronic mouse traps...

Way cooler.  I don't think I have to worry about the least weasel getting caught in the sticky traps.   I'm thinking of naming him Frank.  
No mice on the sticky pads yet either, but the Spider population is down to nill. 

Remind me to tell you about the Fertility Frog next time....

Fertility Frog

I Bet you didn't know we were running an animal Habitat around here did you? 

Random

I get up bright and early try to start my car...and...nothing...not a click not a whir.  Silence. 
I have to drive what is affectionately known as "The Rudder Truck"

My son actually laughed at me when I picked him up from school in this.   He thinks it's cool because it is loud and big and has it's own personal combination for running smoothly....we stop occasionally to give it a drink of water due to the radiator leak...we keep jugs in the back.  

Once again, Michael to the rescue...he put a new battery in my car and drove it to me and he drove the now running on gas fumes Rudder truck home.  Michael calls it "Old Reliable"  and tells me I am not allowed to change the names of things he has already named... he might have a point, I really don't want to offend the truck, I've used it many-a-time in dire situations such as the above. 

Before arriving Michael sent me this picture on his cell phone to show me what the cats were up to while I 

was away...

Private moment caught on camera!  Mooshi gets his daily Massage therapy!

Michael had a different caption that I am not putting in my family friendly blog:)

The tell-tale horse...

Argent informed that he he would like a real water trough, no more of these stupid buckets hooked up to the pen.  He did this by ceremoniously untying the buckets and proceeding to throw them about the pen.  Yes, they were full of water at the time.   What the fun in playing with an empty bucket I ask you?

I tied a better knot, and he just ripped them off and did it again.  In fact, to prove his point he even got one of them OUT of them pen completely to show his very firm displeasure with said buckets.

Okay FINE, fine, I'll get you a real water trough.  Luckily for me...I know right where one is!

On Saturday after work, I decided to get the water trough that was (oddly) in my attic and use it as it was meant to be used...as a trough....First thing that I noticed was the bar that ran across the middle of it...is that so that the animals don't fight over the water??  I do know that it makes for easier carrying down the steep attic steps.


When I finally got it outside I noticed the holes...holes on purpose, holes that looked like they  had a reason to be there and needed something connected to them...like a pipe...then I noticed the other holes, little tiny rust holes from sitting in the attic for too long.   Finally I noticed the writing on the side of the trough that says Okes mfg. co inc. Poultry and Hog Equipment.

I still can't figure out why it was in the attic...upon asking a knowledgeable friend, I found out that it is ~  yes ~ a water trough, (and no one knows why the bar is there ~ except for carrying it down the stairs)  however...it was used as a gravity flow tank way back in the day.  This is how they got water to the bathroom and kitchen!!  How cool is that?  It also explains the holes...

Nice find, but useless to me and Argent is seriously not happy about his bucket situation.  This means I have to find something...I go to dollar general and get an "all purpose bucket"  it looks suspiciously like a portable manure bucket.


Either way Argent was happy with it ~ for a time.  He has knocked it over twice and drug it to the middle of the pen ~ those convenient carrying handles ~  he can't resist them.  I really want to get a photo of him in the act, but I know he hears me coming and drops everything.

I sit down to get some paper work done (read as: "apply for jobs on line")
Argent is outside whinnying his fool head off!  Finally, I roll my eyes and head out there ~ what is his complaint now for heaven sakes?

Thanks for telling me Argent!

As soon as I get out there, I see the problem...Libby and Polo have decided to take a tour of their new neighborhood without him.  I had turned them out into the long lush grass that is our property...yummy right? Not good enough.  I can't even SEE them.  I go to the upstairs bedroom and look out the window (I can see for miles from there) ...Far Far away ~ I.E. ~ two roads over are Libby and Polo...with a black truck.

Again ~ with the neighbors ~ now they are going to think I am the irresponsible horse owner that just lets them run wild over the roads and through the fields...etc. etc.

I get in my car and get to the horses.

I graciously thank the neighbor....he smiles and nods: you know, the way you do when you want someone to go away, but you don't want to be rude...yeah...that nod and smile.

I put my arm out the window and lead them home with a lead rope attached to Libby's Halter. ...I had to drive so slowly that it didn't register on the speedometer..it said "Zero "  I drove zero miles per hour home.   Polo followed Libby.  Thank goodness Libby is a good girl.  She led right along like this was normal.  Talk about your Kodak moments.

I put them back in the small pen.  Thank goodness for the "Argent Alarm"

Well, too late for paper work nooooow.  I  head back to the other house.

On Monday Argent  was doing it again....whinnying his fool head off! Oh great, there goes the Argent Alarm...

Hmmmm, both horses are in the small coral, Argent is in the round pen..Food? Check.  Water?  Check.
Oooh, he wants them in the pasture where they can chat.  NOPE! No pasture for them until I get a fence up.
Sorry Argent.

On Monday evening Michael comes with these little bitty sticks and tells me we are making a fence...cool!


Well, the fence making was all-in-all pretty easy.  My son helped too and it was done in a jiffy...in the pouring rain of-course.

Argent Alarm was silent the rest of Monday evening ~ all is well with the world.

Tiny specks in the middle are Polo and Libby.

Oh P.S. I decided to see how Argent would act with some crinkly, blowing, brown packing paper....

The first time ever, and this was his response!

Silly horse....

Argent ~ Let the Betting Begin!

Alright Cue Argent the Dales Pony here in training.  I spent 20 minutes yesterday trying to put a saddle on an already broke horse!  I mean it, he really IS broke, children have ridden him.  He's been doing this for a long time.

Before we put the saddle on, I wanted to make sure he would soften to the bit willingly.  Before those of you that know me send me nasty emails pertaining to practicing what I preach in regards to a full cheek snaffle bit etc. etc.  please note that this is the bridle he came with and we can work our way "up" to a nice soft snaffle bit.  Right now, we are working on a horses personality disorder...I mean a relationship with the horse.

Asking for a "give to the bit"

He gives I release immediately

Okay, so we got the bit/bridle thing worked out really quickly, in fact, he seemed to enjoy the ground work with the bridle on.  He was lovely, he was giving, he was responding, he was so soft eyed and willing....

So, next, I get out the saddle ~ an English saddle at that because my Western training saddle is in the back of my dead battery car (another blog people)

Putting on of the saddle

Argent was NOT at all happy about the saddle.  

WHAT?! Get that thing off of me now!

I'm serious!  I do not WANT!

Then he got over that, due to my gentle correction ~ disengage the hip, stop, back up...OR if you want to move your feet, lets move them the way I want you to.  This took all of...oh 5 minutes...

The second time I put on the saddle

Good Boy Argent!

Now THAT is what I like to see.   What a difference.  The REAL trick is...will he stand like the above pictures from the very start when I do the very same thing tomorrow or act like he's never seen a saddle before?  I think he stand quietly...

If anyone is starting a betting pool, let me know how you all do.  Ashley you best be betting on ME!

The next thing I did with Argent today was bring out the big, bad horse eating childs motorized tractor.  Confession time:  I did not get a photo of the *actual* tractor because my son is the photographer in all these  Argent photos, and when he was on the tractor he couldn't very well be taking pictures....and I couldn't take pictures because I was working with Argent.

SO...about Argent and the tractor...he is supposed to be terrified of said tractor, apparently this only occurs when he is not eating it or following it around.  My son drove that tractor around in the round pen with us being as obnoxious as he could possibly be (and he is VERY good at obnoxious)  the first 4 years of his life the only thing he heard when we were in the barn was "B----- Stop that! You are going to kill me!  I am on a horse."  Well, that and the sound of me hitting the dirt.  

But I digress, Argent was completely focused on me and what I was doing and did not pay any attention to the tractor at all.  We were doing simple ground work in the bridle, nothing too taxing, and he didn't even flick an ear in the direction of maniacal child and whirring, moving, wheel spinning tractor!

Afraid indeed.

***Side note*** has anyone else noticed that it is always overcast in all  of these photos?  Is it true that a rain cloud is sitting over my house at all times?  

You be the judge

Does any one else see the doggie? Hmmm, maybe I should have gone with the gothic style roof after all....

Why I need a Snoopy on my Roof!

This is a past adventure on Windy Hill ~ by ever-so-popular request...
Ahem...so my house (as you can see from the very first blog) actually used to have a flat roof.  One of it's former owners decided to put a skylight in the flat part ~ presumably to let much needed light into the no-electrical-having-large attic.  Rain poured in around that skylight terribly.   I'm told this is not a great thing.

No worries, the attic has plenty of light in it nooow...what with all the holes and all.  Meanwhile, I spoke to Michael about said leaking roof.  After much conversation, much wood purchasing and a whole lot of me praying that Michael was NOT blown off the roof by the gale force winds that are part of Windy Hill...the dog house was born...

Did I actually want a dog house on my roof?  Okay, well nooo, I WANTED one of those cool tee-pee looking things...you know...a "turret"

Michael said words about complicated, leaking, and caps and blah blah blah, so somehow a dog house was born.  Now, none of us actually knew it would be a dog house until we looked up and saw...the dog house.  Several people have mentioned it upon visiting...things like "Wow, who put the dog house up there?"  or "uhhh, is that for ventilation?"  Or my favorite  "Hey is that a Cupola?"  Most of them just call it the dog house and speculate as to it's reason for being there.  Well I happen to LIKE my dog house.  I've grown attached to it (could be due to the fact that it is the only portion of the roof that does NOT have a leak in it)  but who can say really.
 I could have gone for the gothic style roof with the raught iron fence around it too, that's always cool.

Except in black of course.   

What I have is my now infamous dog house...what I would like to do is put Snoopy up there to complete the picture...

Wouldn't that look awesome!?  I want a big giant cut out of snoopy and then...I want a Wood Stock weather vane next him.  After an exhaustive search, I have discovered that there are NO woodstock weather vanes out there.  WHAT?  Who doesn't want woodstock on top of their home?  He obviously belongs on a roof ~ is there an anti-Peanuts group out there banning all Woodstock weather vanes?!  There are ducks, and geese, and swans and guns and all manner of none roof dwelling items out there...but no woodstock.
I must also make honorable mention of the window I requested in my dog house (the doggie in the attic needs to see outside doesn't he?)

Window I wanted

I wanted this...turns out those are very expensive...and worse than that, very very heavy.  Heavy+Glass+Windy Hill+ Michael being a monkey on the roof = broken window, mad Michael and crying Melissa.  We can't have all of that now can we?

My next awesome idea was a large window created out of glass blocks ~ Michael made those for the bathroom, why not the attic dog house?

glass block window

They have one>>>of course...that house is reminiscent of the Amityville horror house.  But that is beside the point...Again Michael was with the words about several blocks, and morter, and time and setting up, falling off the roof, and something about quitting, and blah blah blah, and so my mini block window was born.

Isn't that so cool?!  Wanna know what makes it even MORE awesome?  Okay, Michael set it up so that the electrical (when we get some up there) can run to the dog house and I am putting a light bulb in there and I'm going to change it's color according to the season..you know Green For Christmas, a Black light on Halloween, Pastel for Easter...or you know...whatever they make that is Easter-y.

Michael the great Wizard of Windy Hill

 We tested it out...Michael hung a light bulb up there and did some magic something ~ I don't know what ~ to make it light when there is no electricity in the attic..











Michael wears a lot of hats around here, but that is for another day and another blog.
After Michael did the lighty thingy, we all went for a walk down the gravel road in the pitch dark so that we could ooh and aaah over my way cool attic light!

And THAT  is why I need Snoopy on my roof!

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