The last couple of days have been rainy…..we needed the rain badly as we have not had any significant rain in about sixty days.
Satueday and Sunday brought us about 1.7 inches total here in the aridzona Virginia.

so Friday was the last day I got anything meaningful done here on the farm and Apache and I have been neglectful about walking….

We did try to go on Sunday and decided to try Washington Lacy park because it has the shortest loops and we could only get caught in a downpour so far from the vehicle.
About half way to ashland we drove into rain….it was light rain but fairly steady….we stopped at a couple of places in Ashland but it continued to rain.
so we headed on back home without walking….about half way home we drove out of the rain. We could have walked around here but the only place to walk is the roads
and I am not brave enough to walk the roads here especially with my walking companion along.

The lay off has demonstrated to me that the walking has been the key to my maintaining my weight loss. I have gained three or four pounds over the three days I have not walked.

Anyhow Memorial day was forecast to be a nice day…I decided I was not going to waste a nice day and hooked the trailer up Sunday afternoon…

I love to ride…but lately it is easy for other things to get in the way….Part of it is old age….I know I am not the rider I once was…
Walking I have to be careful not to fall off of my feet…bifocals and a declining sense of balance contribute to that was well as previously torn up ankles
Many folks are suprised to see a senior citizen riding alone….but too many times it is ride alone or stay the hell home…I am tired of stayin home and I have
a great deal of Confidence in Dr. Condi. She is becoming an excellent trail horse…not a dead head by any means but a steady and reliable mount. She confidently moves out alone
and if she sees something unusual she just stops and looks at it. Today at one point, we both heard something crashing thru the fairly thick brush on a hill side above and in front of us.
Neither one of us saw it and it made too much noise to be a deer. I suspect it was a bear…but it went the other way…people ask me why Dr. Condi always wears a bell.
The reason is unlike most people, I do not want to see a bear on the trail….

the trails at Trevillians opened this weekend and we had not been there since the last fourth of july.
There were a couple of trails we did not ride there that day so we thought we would do some scouting.

The day downed pretty as forecast and even a little cool. Had breakfast and fed Dixie and gave a handout to the others and shut the gate to Condis stall.

Gathered all my parphenalia while Dixie was eating. Once she was finished I turned her out with Pete and Condi stePped up in the trailer and we were on the road to Trevillians
just a little before eight. When we got there there was one other trailer in the lot but those riders were already on the trail. We never saw them but we did
see there tracks just about every where we went.

Condi and I were on the trail about nine am. We had not been out since the last Poor Peoples ride which was several weeks ago.
Dr. Condi was in professional mode and was as calm as if we had ridden yesterday… pretty quickly she had the stress falling off of me in chunks. I wrapped the
reins around the saddle horn while I familarized myself with the trail map. Dr. Condi had engaged her auto pilot and handled the navigation while I studied the map.

I remebered that there was one trail that was sort of damp the last time we rode there and wanted to avoid that one knowing that it would be difficult today.
We were sucessful in that endeavor and avoided that trail.

Below is a screen shot from Google Earth of the route we rode today…Best I can make out we rode the Red Trail, The Purple Trail and the Green Trail

GOOGLE EARTH MAP

 

Trevillians has a nice blend of lovely wooded trails that should be cool enough to ride even on hot days

photo wooded trail

and some more open trails that are vehicle wide.
Many of the trails had been freshly bush hogged
The green loop is one of those wide trails.
apparently the hunters and their four wheel drives really tore up the green trail this past wet fall….I recognize it because the logging roads I used to ride around here
are just about impassable on horseback now from the steady stream of trucks in the winter. I got a horse stuck in mud once in my life…not something I want to ever do again.
One side of the green loop had been regraded with a bull dozer. with the rain It was fairly sticky but not too deep. I just Gave Dr. Condi her head and let her pick her way through it

 

we were following the tracks of whomever had ridden out before us

photo muddy tracks

We did have one little bit of excitement. We were near the end of the green loop when we came to a sort of Tee intersection and I missed seeing the trail marker.
I took a right when I should have taken a left….we had not gone too far when I realized we were approaching a home. I turned around to back track when a dog discovered us and
came running and barking. When he came into sight, I realized it was a pitt bull and He was not happy.
I let Dr. Condi into a slow gait to put some distance between us. Did not want to run and cause a chase reflex.
He did not back off. we turned to face him and I yelled and he did stop but he had his hackles up. and he bluff charged us a time or two.

I knew he was not going to bite my horse even if I had to kill him…but I could not figure out how I was going to kill him without turning her aloose. I did not want to turn her loose.
I had no idea how I would catch her if she were to be scared by a fight.

fortunately I managed to buffalo the dog several times until we had put some distance away from his home and he finally gave up the game. Dr. Condi handled it beautifully…
she put her trust in me that time…

When we were about a mile out from getting back to the parking lot we saw the first riders we saw all day….three folks heading out. another quarter of a mile and we met
three more outbound riders. When we got back to the parking lot there were three riders about to go out and there were seven trucks and trailers besides mine.

We did a total of 8.38 miles and had a wonderful time.

I had such an enjoyable day that after I did the chores and Apache and I were discussing supper…..I told him I was goiing to celebrate and go to El Azteca for a Texas Fajitao and a
frozen Margarita….I did and I really enjoyed it….nice ending to the best memorial day I have had in several years….

AS USUAL TO SEE ANY PHOTO LARGER CLICK ON THE PHOTO AND USE YOUR BROWSER BACK BUTTON TO RETURN TO THE BLOG

Yesterday there was a new development on the farm that I just had to document.

Ever since she arrived here Dr. Condi has been the boss hoss around here….Pete is a mild mannered gelding so no suprise that he yields to the queen at all times

A while back Condi became a goat buddy.   It is now not uncommon to find four goats lying about in Condi stall while she stands in the middle.

Pete will barely tolerate the goats, and they do not want to hang out with him….they are certainly not welcome anywhere near feeding time.  

Dixie has long been the queen of the goat and donkeys  entourage….they all hang out with her.

The youngest goat,  Calvin, has decided that Condi is his buddy and I posted a picture on Facebook a week or so ago of Condi an Calvin sharing a meal….they eat so closely together that I became worried that Calvin’s horns might accidentally injure Condis  eye….so now I have to feed him in a separate pan in Condi stall…but he still wants to eat with her….

Still working on a suitable solution

Anyhow,  after Apache and I got back from our 3.27 mile walk yesterday, I went down to clean out the fourth stall in the horse stalls.  When I got there I was met by a shocking site

Condi and Dixie were standing side by side in one of the stalls.

Condi has always claimed executive privilege as to her choice of stalls and her chosen stall might change frequently…..but her chosen stall was only big enough for her. 

Just a week or so ago Condi chased Dixie away from the stable because Dixie wanted to enter a stall before Condi picked her stall….and Condi gets first choice.

I was shocked to see them standing side by side.

Photographic proof

The two of them standing side by side, no more than a foot apart and chilling.

I even went in and got a closeup

Once I got over the shock I proceeded to fork out two tractor loader buckets of stuff from stall four and get it spread on the designated paddock. 

The stable is clean for awhile and the cow barn is next on tap

I use the bedded pack method and clean out the stable when the conditions are right.   The stalls are all run in and animals are only closed in while eating….there are enough stalls for all critters to get in to escape flies and weather

Jim Tate
Pipe Dream Farm
Beaverdam, Va

Today was the best day I have had since the surgery.
Apache and I started the day with a walk at Poor Farm Park.  We did the perimeter loop that is becoming our  regular trail because we can knock out at least three miles without having to backtrack….any backtracking or extra loops is just more mileage….today we did the loop counter clockwise and did a total of 3.50 miles….

We also did it at a good pace and at one point were travelling at 6 miles per hour.

The nice thing is, that I noticed that my endurance is improving….I can now power thru stuff that just a couple of weeks ago had me stopping to catch my breath.

And a couple of weeks ago when I stopped to catch my breath my Pulse was pounding in my ears……none of that this week

Above is a shot taken along the trail this is going counter clockwise on the perimeter loop

Apache was ready to go….one thing I have learned lately is that he loves the water.  Since it has gotten warm I let him go to the stream to get a drink.    He plunges right in and is happy to swim…I don’t dare let him off the rope though as he would be off on all sorts of adventures.

We got our walk in and we’re back home by 10 15

Next I fired up the tractor and cleaned the accumulated manure out of the third stall in the stable.  This stall had two full loader buckets.   One more stall in the stable and then I will start on the cow barn.

Then I bush hogged paddock c4 and opened up the pine lot for the calves.

On the way back I happened to catch sight of one of my gamma grass plants.  So I snapped a picture of it.  Worthy of note is that last week Diva had grazed this plant down to about 12 inches in height…..now a week later it is about 30 inches tall again.

The beauty of these plants is that once they get established they are deep rooted, self sufficient and extremely productive.

They do take some time to get established…

I also have a small patch of big blue stem that is showing promise this year…..I am letting it compete with the weeds to see how it does.

Above is a shot of the gammagrass.   This is just one plant….
That is a standard Dare brand electric fence post near it for reference.

Jim Tate
Pipe Dream Farm
Beaverdam, Va

AS USUAL CLICK ON ANY PHOTO TO SE IT LARGER…..USE YOUR BROWSER BACK BUTTON TO RETURN TO THE BLOG

gonna go more old school this morning…..using the blog rather than the aggravating Facebook.

TOoK a few shots around the farm this morning before everything perishes due to the lack of rain

Facebook has been so easy to use and so fast that I have fallen into the habit of posting stuff on it….but I realized that a lot of folks who read some of my stuff do not do much with facebook and frankly it has begun to piss me off more than z little…..I will get the same post showing up repeatedly and then folks that I have seen posts from will just disappear

while it is more cumbersome to load photos I decided that today i would try the old blog again.

my recent habit of carrying the old flip phone does not make it any easier

The smart phone is very nice and will do more stuff…..but I find it impossible to carry around the farm….it was too expensive to break or to lose. if it is in a shirt pocket it dives to the ground every time I bend over for something….

In a jeans pocket it will meet a sure end being carried next to a wrench and a pair of pliers or a hand pruner all of which is normally in my pockets…..

I tried one of those belt carriers and after losing the phone for the third time I pitched the carrier into the burn barrel

I have some cargo pants that have pockets on the legs and they work good but they are not nearly heavy enough to last a day on the farm.

I found a little clip on belt carrier that is secure and fits my old flip phone….so I just carry the flip phone most of the time now…..the photos below are taken with the flip phone….problem is it will synch via bluetooth with my tablet but not with the computer…..so I have to bluetooth to the tablet and then download to the computer…..

but I will figure and easier way to get that done.

just a brief update for those I have not communicated with much lately.

I retired in January…..three weeks later I had a heart attack. guess i should have kept working….the stress of full time riding and farming was just too great or maybe it was getting too much sleep.

anyhow two heart catheterization procedures and three heart stents later….the cardiologist sent me to a vascular surgeon because my right Carotid artery was also blocked……so they cut my throat and cleaned that out too….that procedure pretty well kicked my ass….

It took me several weeks to begin to get my strength back.

good news is I have lost at least thirty lbs and am back down below my fighting weight of 220 lbs….I was 210.8 yesterday morning.

Part of that is the new regimen of walking…..trying to do at least three miles every other day….My dog Apache usually goes with me. Also riding as much as I can. Hoping to maybe get in a ride tomorrow. Had to have my trailer inspected this morning……then forked out 3 tractor loader buckets of manure from one of the stalls in the horse stable

As mentioned above it is hot and dry here…..very little rain in April and May which are typically good rain months….we were wet all winter and then the rain just cut off. Very dry here now….we had good spring grass as pictured below…..but it is fading fast

the ph0to below is my mule Dixie and Peter Pinto grazing in a paddock I opened yesterday…..this paddock was over seeded with cereal rye, crimson clover and hairy vetch in the fall and got good growth this spring. they get small paddocks and are moved frequently

above is a shot of my red hot pokers…I have two plants which i stuck in the ground six or eight years ago….they are beautiful for about two weeks …..but the true beauty is they are pretty much maintenance free….all they do is grow with no inputs

below are several shots of a wildflower garden I planted last spring. It was pretty all summer until we had a killing frost. This year it has come back very strong…..I am not good enough with flowers to name them but I have enjoyed watching them……reds and blues and yellows and whites and others that have not yet begun to bloom…..It is just a small strip maybe ten feet by thirty feet and it is sandwiched between to other strips of cover crops

I have seen precious few honey bees this year and the bee keepers I know all say they had great loses this year

as I get the photography figured out, it is my intent to do a better job of keeping up with the blog