Country Animals

Longhorn in Kansas

There are so many wonderful animals here in Kansas land. From the small herd of longhorn down our country road to the horses in our own "back yard", they provide more photo opps than my camera is ready for!

Paint horse sassing Murphy

It's always fun when Tom goes out to pasture to get one of the horses ... you just never know what a horse's mood is going to be on any given day. One day they are willing to be captured, the next they are all three running to the farthest corner of the pasture!

Roundup

Roundup continued...

Then there's the dogs and cats that live on the property. My two girls, Trixie and Tori, live in the house (of course!!) Ringo is the ranch dog; he protects us all by barking at any intrusion and then running as far away as possible. He may not be much of a protector, but at least he gives us a warning! He loves going with Tom to the pond to fish and look for frogs. Boogie is the mom cat, Fluff is one of her kittens. Fluff recently had a kitten of her own, but it has been elusive for photographs. Fluff and her kitty will soon be going to the vet to ensure no more kitties are born in the future!

Trixie

Tori

Going fishing!

Ringo watching for frogs

Boogie

Fluff

Oh, and I almost forgot.... there's my cat that I brought from Ohio, Baybee. She was an outside cat that I rescued, so she would spend most of her time outdoors and come inside only at night. Now she is an indoor cat; I'm afraid she would try to find her way back to Ohio if I put her outside, plus Tom's cats may not like her! Then there are the outside dangers, such as coyotes, of which Baybee would be unaware.

Baybee

Finally, even though this post is about the animals, I can't resist putting up another photo of an unusual cloud formation. There are so many days where the clouds, the sunrise and the sunset are beautiful beyond words. The cloud formations can be seen for miles and miles. I have always loved the American west for its wide and open spaces.

Unusual cloud formation

Update On Paint Horse

We took paint horse to the vet again last Thursday, and this time the vet decided that hunk of flesh had to come off; it wasn't reconnecting to paint's foot. So he had to dope him up but good as this was a small amputation of sorts. I am chagrined to say that at one point I did get nauseous and couldn't watch. I was holding paint's head while Tom helped the vet wrap it but when I got a glance of all the blood on the floor, I thought I was going to throw up.

We created a new pen/pasture area for paint horse on Saturday, so he's got a huge new area of fresh grass. I think we may have almost named him as he decided to dance around when Tom was trying to change his dressing. So Tom started calling him Dancer. We'll see if it sticks. :)

Today was an extremely cloudy and chilly day, as the remnants of Gustav rained down upon us. Our temperature high was only 60 degrees, unheard of in Kansas in early September! Tomorrow we'll get back to normal, around 84 degrees and sunny. Since it sounds like it will be a beautiful day, I'll get a new pic of paint posted.

Paint horse in happier times with Mike & Murphy

Sometimes the daily mail DOES bring Good News!

"Emerson"

The Cowley County Humane Society sent me a thank you card for my donation and gave me an update on "Emerson" (above).... he left for rescue on Friday and is now a Colorado dog!

Background story for those who don't know:
This golden retriever mix showed up on our property at the beginning of August. Tom's dog, Ringo, seemed quite proud that he found him and brought him home. No doubt he told him "this is a great place to live." All that being said, we could not keep another mouth to feed, plus "yellow dog" kept the two cats up in the trees at all times.

Tom was annoyed and was ready to load him in the pickup and take him a few miles away. My gut feeling said that's what someone else had already done -- dumped this poor dog out in the country. He was obviously very young, maybe not even a year old, and his general personality and demeanor were awesome.

After 4 days, I took him to the Cowley County Humane Society with tears in my eyes. I truly felt that "yellow dog" had huge potential to be the most awesome pet for someone out there. I told the girl who took him how great I thought he was and how sad I was that we could not keep him.

So they must have also decided he had potential. I'll just bet he cleaned up beautifully -- he had quite a few burrs stuck on his back end. I'm excited and happy that he's heading to a new life, and I hope he works out well in his new job.