Avalon1984-Chicken, horses, pigs, oh my!

[Avalon1984]

Beautiful...........and your stove top looks so clean I would have it smeared all over the stove top

Haha. I took the picture AFTER I cleaned it

 

[Avalon1984]

Looks good!

What kind of horses do you have? My biggest is just over 14 hands. We don't have a trailer anymore so once and a while we use stock racks on the pickup bed trailer. Ohh, the looks we get. Lol

We have Clydesdales. Most of them are around 16-17HH but two are closer to 19HH. We need at least a 7'6" trailer

 

[Avalon1984]

So I just received an email from the company I blindly applied to and interviewed for last week- wanting to meet with me today for some good news I am just soooo excited. After 3 years of working for a startup and never hearing a "Thank you" or anything like that, being used like a floormat, I can finally move on- to the company I really wanted to work for. I haven't seen the contract yet but even if the pay isn't the greatest at the beginning, at least it is a stable company with friendly people, a full time job, and it is right across the street from where I work right now.

 

[Dawn419]

Congrats!!!

 

[SSDreamin]

That's fantastic Jenn! Congratulations!!

 

[Denim Deb]

Wonderful!

 

[Avalon1984]

Happy Mothersday everybody!!!!

Whew, those last few weeks have been just crazy!!!! Yesterday we picked up our "new" bees for our beehive. It was a lot of fun getting them settled into their new home and start 'new'. Then, when I checked on my bait hives this morning I realized that I had actually managed to attract a bee colony into my bait hives!!! I cannot believe it actually worked. I am still...in awe to think that I was able to attract another colony. I checked on them throughout the day and they had to fight off other bees who were trying to rob what they had, so I need to maybe set out another bait hive to get some more. I also provided them with a bucket of sugar water and some pieces of branch to land on and eat so hopefully they will take advantage of it. What luck I had, from losing my only hive to having 2 brand new ones, it is quite overwhelming...

So tomorrow I will put in my 2 weeks notice. I don't understand why I am having such a hard time with this...I guess I don't like to 'give up' per se, but when all odds are stacked against you and you are lead to fail, I think it is the right time to call it quits. I have every piece of leverage on my side, if they act stupid, I can walk across the street and start Tuesday, if they act nice I will start after Memorial Day, yet, I try to remember the good days and somehow I feel bad...but at the same time, this company has tried to hard to cheat me out of my hard earned money, I guess it is time...too bad

The mares are doing ok also. Carmen was due to ovulate Wednesday and is still in heat, so she is a bit off. Avalon has been bred since Fri and Megan has been bred since today. Katie isn't quite in the mood yet. Each one of our breeders suggested we just keep the mares there until settled, and that sounds pretty nice considering the rigamaro trying to trailer them across the state and back. So I may have a barn with only 2 horses throughout the summer. Ransom finally "dropped" and is becoming a stallion. We put him in with the old mare and he became very "lovvy" and interested. We ended up having to separate them again. Not sure what our neighbors were thinking.

Oh well, after this long and hard working weekend, I enjoy listening to some music. Right now I am loving Jason Aldeans "Fly Over States". Almost as good as Amarillo Sky or Tim McGraws "Where the green grass grows". Just love it.

A couple of guys in first class on a flight
From New York to Los Angeles
Kinda making small talk killin' time
Flirting with the flight attendants
Thirty thousand feet above, could be Oklahoma

Just a bunch of square cornfields and wheat farms
Man, it all looks the same
Miles and miles of back roads and highways
Connecting little towns with funny names
Who'd want to live down there, in the middle of nowhere

They've never drove through Indiana
Met the man who plowed that earth
Planted that seed, busted his ass for you and me
Or caught a harvest moon in Kansas
They'd understand why God made
Those fly over states

I bet that mile long Santa Fe
Freight train engineer's seen it all
Just like that flatbed cowboy
Stacking US Steel on a three day haul
Roads and rails under their feet
Yeah, that sounds like a first class seat

On the plains of Oklahoma
With a windshield sunset in your eyes
Like a watercolored painted sky
You'll think heavens doors have opened
You'll understand why God made
Those fly over states

Take a ride across the badlands
Feel that freedom on your face
Breathe in all that open space
Meet a girl from Amarillo
You'll understand why God made
You might even wanna plant your stakes
In those fly over states

Have you ever been through Indiana
On the plains of Oklahoma
Take a ride

 

[Denim Deb]

I don't listen to much radio-except for the news-but I like that!

As for the horses, Stormy sometimes forgets he's a gelding-especially if I've had Misty out of the field for awhile, either because I'm working w/her or we're off on a ride. And, while he can do anything, he sure will try! Good thing we're NOT on a main road!

 

[hqueen13]

Congrats on the job!! Change is hard, don't feel bad about the way you feel. Just feel it, and then keep stepping forward. There are things I love and hate about my job, and I know it will be hard to leave, even though I know we'll also be moving on to our own amazing things someday.

The beeswax is beautiful! Is that considered refined? If so, I might be interested in buying some from you when you are ready. If you can work a good deal compared to what I am paying from a local farm, I'd be happy to support you instead!

 

[Avalon1984]

Hey yalls!

Hope you had a great start into the work week. I put my notice in on Monday, everybody was supportive in that It was probably the best seeing where the company is headed blah blah blah. I was able to put in 2 more paid vacation days Mon and Tues and work the rest of my days until next week and be done with it. The vacation policy at the new job isnt the best, but nonetheless, it is a full time, stable job, with 2 opportunities for a raise in 8 months (one 4 months after hire, and then they do their reviews every Feb) so hopefully that will allow me to save for a new 8 stall barn (might even do a 10 staller) and a new horse trailer. We also do need a tractor, but hubby thinks because of the round bales we need a BIG trailer. Oh well, one thing at a time.

My new bees are doing fantastic. I checked my purchased hive and they are eagerly eating their sugar water. My bait hive is loving their new location also, lots of activity. I have one more deep super that I may rig up as a bait hive and see if I can attract a 3rd colony. Now I am really getting crazy I think. But with this, we may be able to split each colony up in the fall, and go into winter with 6 hives. So the chance of one surviving the winter is much better when you have 6, versus 1. Hopefully this will also allow me to harvest some honey, but well see. My first new hive inspection is in another week, memorial day weekend, so I will check for burr comb (to make more wax ) and see how they are doing. I also need to order some more supers, I only had supplies for 1 full hive (2 deeps, 2 shallows) and 1 starter hive (1 deep), so I need more deeps, frame, shallows and other equipment. Still dreaming of the extractor but for now I will have to manually harvest honey as the occasion arises.

My mares are still at the breeders. They have all come into heat again with just a few days off from the last cycle (the regumate I gave them to synchronize their cycles did that) and all have been bred. Now we will see in another 2 weeks time whether they took, or if at least one or two took, thatd be nice. I mentally prepare myself to at least 4-5 breedings before they take, I think that is reasonable. It is also nice to see that Ransom, my yearling stud is figuring out his manhood. I will use him late next year to settled 3 out of my 4 brood mares for purebred black Clydesdales. He will go to stallion training next January and learn to be collected and controlled.

I cant believe it is almost time to put the garden in already. We had frost again the other day so I will wait until after Memorial Day to be safe. My rhubarb is ready for harvesting but I still have plenty in the freezer and cant seem to find anybody else to take it. We seriously have some of the best rhubarb in town, itd be a shame to let it go to waste. Rhubarb anyone?