Happy Independence Day!  I am sneaking and writing this post on July 4 as we designated this a “project completion” day.  Mike is in the shop making toe molding for the guest house bedroom.  Just a few hours ago, I painted the baseboard in that bedroom, and I’m doing some additional taping in the dining room getting ready for him to paint and trim out all of my painting mistakes.   Hopefully, we’ll get the dining room done tonight.  Then…it’s on to the kitchen!

We’re as busy as beavers! 

As part of my weight loss plan, I’m walking three miles most every day.  Doing this and partially following a Weight Watchers program has resulted in my losing 9 pounds.  21 more to go to reach my goal. Yea!

Last week, I headed down river on Swinging Bridge Road.  Wow…here’s some traffic..two bikes!!!   It was rush hour on Swinging Bridge Road.

Whew!   With all the traffic, it’s time to get off the road.   We’ll visit Hoss’s Farm to check out the barnyard.

There are a lot of animals.  Here’s a photograph of the two rescue horses that arrived eight or nine weeks ago.    Their names are Carter (two years old) and Maggie (12 years old).   Since arriving, they have gained over 75 pounds.    As their ribs are disappearing, their trust is increasing.  Anyone who rescues an animal has a star in their crown and a place in my heart. 

Here’s Farm Girl Danielle.  Farm Girls come in all ages, and while much younger than me, we get along.   Love of animals and rural living supersedes age.   Her family moved to Mendota just 12 months ago, and they took to rural life immediately.  Danielle spends a lot of time in the barnyard.   She’d been busy with Maggie earlier.  Check out Maggie’s tail…

I love Maggie’s color, and the braid is just so fashionable.  All the horses in Mendota are wanting to braid their tails.   I had brought a treat for Maggie….some apple slices in a plastic bag.  Maggie likes loves ADORES apples.  Horses have very keen noses and she picked up on the apples immediately, even though they were in plastic.  She gave me a solid head butt to let me know she was interested.  Since Danielle knows I’m a little afraid of horses, she took the apples and asked Maggie if she’d like a taste.

Danielle:   Does Maggie want an apple?

Maggie:   Are you crazy???    Darn right Maggie wants an apple.  Maggie likes loves ADORES apples…Gimme those apples!!!

We fed Maggie some apple slices, and I slipped the bag in my back pocket as I went to say  hello to a pretty rooster named Pecker.  It’s an appropriate name, and he wears it well.  Very cocky.   See all of the chicken wire in the barn?  There are yards and yards of wire lining the chicken coop in this big barn to keep raccoons out.  There was a terrible attack last month resulting in the loss of 13 frizzle tails that belonged to Danielle’s mom, Lisa. 

I looked around and the plastic bag was missing.  Someone had taken it. 

Sneaky horse!  This was funny but it was serious!   We were afraid she’d eat the plastic bag and it could harm her.   However, Danielle got it back.  Here it is…

Ugh.  Want an apple slice?

Carter was standing by during all this.  We’ll talk to Carter on another time, but just so he won’t feel left out, here’s a picture of him smooching Danielle.

Hope you enjoyed visiting Hoss’s Farm with me.   We’ll go back in a few days and see Mason and Dixon, the two fainting goats.

Maybe I’ll have a post on the completed dining room soon!