THE WEEK AWAY

Janice and I along with our youngest son and his two kids got a week away from the homestead. This would not have been possible without our oldest son and two of his daughters. Natasha and Cassandra spent a couple of weeks here prior to our leaving learning how to care for the animals and getting to know them. As you can see below they got to be comfortable with the horses, very comfortable.

 Cassie and Tasha Rode the horses quite a bit while here.

 Bare back was more comfortable!

 Cassie

Tasha

DJ our oldest son and his youngest daughter came and stayed while we were gone. While here he did all kinds of things, keeping busy, that are much appreciated.

We first went down to Lodi California to visit Janice's parents. Janice's mom had a stroke a little over a year ago and we wanted to see them. Lodi is a pretty town although way too many people for me.

 This is the newer Lodi Arch.

 This is the older Lodi Arch, that's been around since before I can remember.

 The old Lodi Train Station is still in use.

This is new to the old station.

We left Lodi and drove to Christmas Valley Oregon in northern Lake county. We had purchased ten acres there a couple of years ago and wanted to get started with a development plan. While there we visited the "Crack in the Ground", which was not only interesting but a welcome relief from the heat which was in the ninety's but a dry heat so not terribly uncomfortable .

 This is where the trail starts into the Crack.

 Janice and Madison at the beginning of the Crack.

 Bobby and Madison down a little way.

 Madison getting deeper, and the temperature is cooling down.

 There were areas that closed in a little.

 Other areas were wide open and at points go seventy feet deep.

 This Crack was through an old Lava flow, so the rock formation was interesting in shape and design.

Our youngest son Jon, felt exceedingly strong that day.

We returned to the motel and went through some pretty country and capped the day with a beautiful sunset.

 The Juniper trees here are not tall but can be quite gnarled, this is a good representation of our property there. 

The trip was a very good one, oh but how nice to be home again!

OK, so I used a couple of old pictures.

SHUTTER BUGS IN THE MAKING

The visit with our grand daughters has been going well, lots of animal interaction, computer games and face book, gardening and oh yes both of the girls have discovered photography. They really like using my SLR and thus far have amassed over three hundred photo's in just three days.
Tasha spends a little more time on trying composition, Cassie will learn. This is not to say Cassie does badly, on the contrary, Cassie has a lot of natural talent as demonstrated below.

Tasha takes the experience much more seriously and really does look at composition with imagination and ingenuity.

I am really impressed, and of course I am not biased just because I'm their grand father.

TWO WEEKS WITH TWO OF THE GRAND DAUGHTERS

This week and next we have two of our Grand daughter's, Tasha and Cassie, here with us. They are learning to do the chores, so that the following week while their dad is here, they can do chores for us while we are gone. The second day they were here grandma and Tasha went on a ride to Frog Lake and on the way down flash stumbled and ran down the hill and then got spooked and started bucking and rearing up an Tasha fell off. Then flash took off up the hill and they both got scratches and bumps. But the good thing was neither were hurt and Tasha got right back on which was good for both her and the horse. The girls like spending time with the animals, mostly the horses.
Dancer was acting very good for Cassie.

 

 

 Natasha was lounging around on Flash.

 Everybody LOUNGING!

 The horses were ok with the girls riding bare back with only the halters on for several days.

 Flash is still a little sore from his mis-adventure a couple of days ago.

The girls also needed some pictures to post to face book.

Thus far the girls have practiced some Piano, and Violin, played a lot of computer games, as well as played with the animals and did the chores. Cassie has been getting a lot of driving practice, with myself and Janice, when we go to and from town. Janice and I love having the girls around.

Artichoke Update

 

I went outside today and took more pictures of the artichoke that I left to bloom. I found the center of the bloom raising above the outer edge.

 

From the top it appears that the individual stamens or pestles, which ever they are, are rotating around.

In this close up I noticed some white stuff I am thinking is pollen but not sure not knowing anything about artichoke flowers.

I think I will continue to take pictures as it develops just to see how it will end up looking.

Artichokes

                                 Have you ever seen an artichoke bloom?

I never have. I purchased this artichoke a while back because I liked the looks of the plant not because I like artichokes. So I let it grow and then harvested the fruit and gave it away to my neighbors who like them.

This year I was a little late in harvesting the artichokes and one of them was a bit past picking time. SO I decided to let it grow and bloom because I hadn't seem one bloom.

What a beautiful flower and I understand that the bees really like them too, although I have yet to see the bees on it. I think next year instead of harvesting any of the artichokes I will let them all bloom.

PLAY TIME

We let the little girls out to eat this evening since they seem to be adapting quite well to their new environment.

 

In this picture they had just finished eating there evening meal and were just milling around getting use to the surroundings.

Then Petunia decided it was time to jump and run. She ran and slid into the door a couple of times but was having great fun.

Then it was stand off time between Rosie and Petunia. Who is going to run and jump first?

Then Rosie decided to run, jump and play too. What fun. They got plenty of exercise this evening. Tomorrow we will try to take them outside in the pasture for a bit for more fresh air and exercise. Hopefully the sun will be shinning and warm again like today.

After playing a bit they decided to start checking out the hay that was laying around. They are to young to eat yet but they did taste a couple of bites.

TWO GONE AND TWO ARRIVED

We just took our two hogs in for butcher last week. We actually let them go a little long as the estimated live weight was 350 pounds each. They were milk, greens, and grain fed so should be good eating.

The above picture is of the two hogs about a month prior to butcher.

 

Today we went and retrieved a couple of Jersey calves. Nice little heifers, still need milk for a while and trained to halter and lead.

 

Today we picked up the fresh meat from the hogs, both weighed in the 250 pound range, hanging weight. We still need to pick up the cured meat in a couple of weeks.

 

 Both of the new girls are settling in today. They are licking their lips thinking it's dinner time.

The calf with the yellow chain is "Rosie", she was born June 30, 2013. The calf with the green chain is "Petunia", and was born July 2nd, 2013. 

Both of the little ones seem to like being loved on and petted.