Photo Friday Fun

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It’s been a long, hard couple of weeks. Thank you for your prayers for my sister and her family. Since I’m having trouble keeping things organized, I just threw together a random Photo Friday for today. It’s from the homeschool convention from the beginning of June, pictures of our Shasta look-a-like, and a couple of videos of horses, butterflies, and the new ducklings. Enjoy!

Dakota gets darker by the day (and scruffier)

Is there anything uglier than a colt shedding out his baby fur? We call him the Ugly Duckling. But of course we all know what happened to that little ducking. He became a beautiful swan. Dakota will be a beautiful “Shasta” chocolate palomino all too soon. When he does, I’ll exchange all of the pictures I have for Shasta to Dakota. If Kristel would only give him a bath, his tail would be snow white!

There were so many swallowtail butterflies on our lilac bushes that I was able to video one especially active one. I was truly this close to the butterfly. They didn’t care. They were too busy swooping and twirling and enjoying the nectar.

I missed the ducklings hatching! As usual, the mamas just do their thing. If you get too close to their nest, they hiss and bite you (hens don’t really care. They peck a little bit if you bother them, but nesting ducks are very scary!). And all the mamas watch out for all the ducklings. The poor things don’t know who their mama really is. It’s so fun! I love baby ducks!

I can’t believe that Andi’s Taffy ever looked this scruffy! Just like in Thick as Thieves, our modern “Andi” (Susie) is insisting her 2 and a 1/2 month old filly behaves for the farrier! Taffy is being a bit of a pill. Here’s the video. Note the flip flops. The Painted Acres ranch children are not very consistent about wearing their riding boots to protect their feet and toes. That is how Kristi nearly got bit by a rattlesnake a couple of years ago. You would think they would learn! After the video, check out the excerpt from Thick as Thieves, where Andi is training Shasta in the same way.

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Andi drew alongside Shasta. “I’m going to pick up your foot, so stand still,” she warned her colt. Sliding her hand firmly along Shasta’s front leg, she gave him the signal to lift his foot.

“He obeys well,” Melinda said. “You’ve been working hard on his training.”

“Nothing annoys Jake more than a skittish horse during shoeing,” Andi replied, scraping the pick along the colt’s hoof. “I heard him scorch Hector last week when he had to replace a shoe.” She cringed at the memory. Hector’s horse had danced all over the place, just missing the ranch’s farrier with a swift kick. “My colts are never going to give Jake trouble.”

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Idaho Homeschool Convention

I grabbed a quick photo of my 3-booth space at the Idaho convention at Treasure Valley Baptist Church in Meridian, Idaho, the first weekend of June. And a grand time was had by all and we even made some money.