"Noah's Ark" Farm

My husband's horse, Soldier

People are beginning to refer to our little place as a mini farm these days, but it's really more like Noah's ark with the pairs of animals that share our space. Each of these critters has his, or her own quirky peronality that brings a smile to our faces nearly every day. (Sometimes a bit of a frown on a few occasions, as well.) ;o) As you can see from the photos above, my husband's horse, Soldier, a quarter horse, is a bit of a "Mr. Ed". He's extremely curious about things, like drinking from a garden hose. He's known for his curiosity of vehicles as well. Everyone can attest to this merely by looking at my poor beaten truck:

But he's a really hard worker, willing to climb the steepest hills over the rockiest terrain, without complaint. Also, this winter we tied a sled to his saddle for the first time and made good use of the abundant snow that fell all winter long. He pulled each of the five of us all the way around the pasture!

Me on the horse, my hubby on the sled

And of course, I had to try skiing behind him, too! What a blast!

I guess we'll keep him around.

This my 16.2-hand Saddlebred. He's a pasture bully who's afraid of his own shadow sometimes. But I think he's beginning to trust me a little. I finally got him to cross the river (ONCE!) after three years of trying! But he's awfully handsome, and feels great under the saddle.

My horse, Aspen

Speaking of saddles, you'll notice how much his slides back, (note that my feet are more than midway toward his flank), so I had to purchase a breast collar to keep it foward. He's a beauty in this photo, but he's spectacular when he's running; tail extended and flying up high behind him as he gallops. He's quite a sight, but I haven't captured it with the camera yet. One day soon, I hope.

We gave our goats away to breed, as they were getting difficult to keep penned in the back couple of acres of our property, (and destroying a few trees from eating the bark off them through the winter!) But here's our little rembrance of Annie (Oakley), our first goat: (Our second goat, Belle Starr, was killed by a coyote, and I don't have any good pictures of our third, Star II.)

Miss Annie Oakley

Our bunnies:

Thumper on the left and her mama, Bonnie, the matriarch of all the bunnies on the right

Thumper was Bonnie's first baby, and is much bigger than her mama, now. She was merely a teenager here. LOL Thumper almost died twice, but I saved her little life both times!

Jet, short for Jet Black

Little Angel

Out of all these bunnies, only one survived a snake getting into the hutch. Little Angel ('cuz she must have had one watching over her for having survived such a horror!) is the tan and white bunny on the right. My favorite was that pretty tan and grey one in the middle left. But, alas, he also perished in the attack. As you can see, they were only tiny babies then. Angel is now about a year old.

Claudette

This one is the last of the brood. She was just a little tyke here, but she is now as big, or bigger than Miss Thumper. She's a really pretty light tan color with the tiniest tinge of gray, (which you can't really see in the picture). All of these bunnies are sisters, except Bonnie who bore them all, and more! (Sadly, all of the boys have died or disappeared, including the patriarch, Clyde.) Bonnie and Clyde were our first two Holland Lops bunnies.

Monte and Carlo

The twins (actual twin litter mates).

Mischa on top and Shep on the bottom

The Aussies! (Australian Shepherds) Mischa is a Blue Merle Aussie, and Shep is a Black-Tri Aussie. In this photo they are only a few months old. But they grew fast!:

Mischa, Shep (and Carlo)

Now they are almost 15 months old. Monte and Carlo love them. Mr. Monte, however, has been AWOL now for a few days. We're praying nothing has happened to him, and that he finds his way back to our front porch safe and sound.

So this is what's left of our brood. We're ready if ever there is a giant flood again on this earth! LOL Hope you enjoyed the photos!

Signing off.....