Roping Fun

One of the things we did at horse camp was get another roping lesson.

I spent most of my time behind the camera as a good excuse to not make too big a fool of myself.  Ropers make it look so much easier than it is.  And, as you can see, our cows didn't move much!

Rolling up the lariat properly is not an easy task, either!

Eventually, I had to put the camera down and take a turn.  And here I am looking ridiculous in the one picture Nicole took of me throwing the rope.  Nice form!

More Volleyball

No rest for the wicked.  Or the teenagers.  Or their parents!

Nicole had an all-day volleyball tournament recently.  She's doing a volleyball camp this week, too.  Sometimes, she'd rather be riding her horse, I think, but it's all good.

I have taken so many volleyball pics of that girl, that I don't usually take hundreds of photos, but I like to snap a few.  I quit after this game, though, because she told me that the "click, click, click" of the continuous shutter on my camera distracted her.  When that particular game was over, she marched right over and informed me that my camera noises messed up her serve!

Al-right-y then, I better get a quieter camera, or quit taking pictures when she serves!!

Horse Camp, 2013

Sorry for the lack of posts lately.  I've been at our second annual "horse camp" with Nicole and our dear, horse-loving friend, Candi, all week.  It was a fabulous, fun time, except for the rain.  I know we needed the moisture, but it was a tad disappointing to have half of horse camp cancelled due to rain.  By Thursday morning, the arena had become a lake!

We had a great time with the portion of horse camp that wasn't dripping wet.  Team penning was everyone's favorite activity.  The goal is get three calves into a pen in one corner of the arena.  Sounds easy, but believe me, it isn't!  You may notice we only have two calves here.  Sometimes you're happy to get any calves in the pen!

Free Circus Tickets

Another trip to the circus in Lewiston this year.  The girls were listening to the radio and heard that they were giving away free tickets.  I managed to be caller number 3, and came away with two adult tickets and 4 kids tickets.  Woohoo!  Love it when I win stuff!

The especially dangerous events at the circus were disturbing to Nicole.

This guy was taking his life in his hands, and Nicole could barely watch!

Those circus people are crazy!

Trip to the Vet

We were taking care of the neighbors horses last week and sadly the baby had a little accident.  He and his mama somehow got out of their pen and the other horses must have chased the poor guy into the barbed wire fence.

It looks awful, but thankfully it was only the skin that got cut, not the muscle.

Nicole and I loaded him and mama up (thankfully he is halter broke already), and went to visit the vet.

Nicole was happy to hold the sleepy guy's head while he got stitched up.

Much better.  He should be all healed up in a couple weeks.

Happy Father's Day

 Happy Father's Day, Dad!

I've missed you every day over the past 18 years.  I love you!

Wheelbarrows

Morgan's Cub Scout Pack had an end-of-the-year barbecue last week.  After some yummy food, they played some games.  The girls decided to get in on the wheelbarrow races.

Glenn told everyone the trick of holding the legs closer to the knees to make it easier.  It still wasn't very easy!

And then, the kids talked their parents into giving it a try.

It was fun.

I't so much harder than it looks.

And the obstacles make it even harder!

Glenn and Ellea were pros!  They didn't cross the finish line first, but they crossed the finish line, which is more than Morgan and I can say!

Seed Tape

I finally got my vegetable garden in this week.  I know.  It seems ridiculously late.  I could've probably planted it a couple weeks ago.  But let's face it, I don't live in a banana belt, so I can't plant my garden as early as some!

I have always hated trying to plant carrots and then thin them later.  It goes against everything good and right to watch a seed grow and then rip it out of the ground before it has produced anything!  Not to mention I never seem to get around to actually doing the thinning.

I remembered seeing the idea on Pinterest to make my own seed tapes, so I gave it a try.  I cut strips of newspaper and used a flour/water mixture as the "glue."  I wasn't sure how I was going to put one of those teeny-tiny seeds on each glue spot, but a toothpick with a tiny bit of the glue on it worked wonderfully.

Fingers crossed that I have carrots in 50 days!  I'll keep you posted.

Spring Show

Last Saturday was the Spring Show when 4-H kids with steers, goats or lambs show their animals.  It's like a mini-fair.  The pigs aren't included because pigs are so prone to disease.  It's better not to expose them to lots of other pigs prior to the fair.  We never used to do the spring show back when our kids all took pigs.

But now we have a kid who's all about the lambs.  (Check out how much whiter his bath made him!)

She did great showing her lamb after only having him for one week.

She was in the top two from her class and came back for the final grand championship round in fitting and showing.  Good job, kiddo!

Lawn Boy

The lawn boy forgot his pants.

But he sure does get his back into his work.

And his belly!

Ellea and Her Boys

Ellea and I had the honor of hanging out with some of our Kaufman cousins this week.

Ben loves his Ellea.

Will's a fan, too.  The feeling is quite mutual.    

Horses

Nicole and I were thrilled that our dear friend, Candi, brought her horse to Keuterville to go for a ride with us last weekend.

Glenn was feeling very artistic and wanted to snap pictures from different angles.  It's nice that I'm not the only crazy photographer person in the family!

Field Day

We are officially done with school!!  The last day of school was last Friday and the elementary school had a Field Day to start the  morning with lots of fun outside games.

This game was called the Fireline.  There was a long line of kids and they poured water into the next person's cup and at the end of the line filled up a milk jug.

Morgan's poor partner got more water on him than in his cup, I think!

This game required you to put a balloon between your legs and hop or waddle down to this chair.  Then you were supposed to sit on the balloon and pop it.

Bouncing.  Waiting.  Is it gonna pop?

Yup.  There it goes!

Kids and Lambs and Pigs, Oh My!

Yesterday Nicole picked out her sheep.  This is not it.

After she picked this one, she found another one she also liked. They were both great, but the second one was already weaned, so she decided to go with him.

This is her lamb.  We're not planning on letting him out again to run wild like last year!

We've also have had pigs for a few weeks.  This will be Morgan's first year of taking a pig.

Ellea has named her piggy "Carly" and she's done a good job beginning to tame her.  She holds out her hands like she has food in it, and Carly comes to check it out!

Morgan's pig is a little more suspicious of us humans.  We've still got a couple months to get him and Morgan to bond.  And then he'll sell him and be sad to see him go.  Isn't 4-H fun?!