MiHijo Relaxing

I've been sitting in the back yard enjoying the day now that it's warmed up a bit. Usually when I'm out there, MiHijo comes up, so I let him into the yard with me. He's so funny! He likes to get as close to me as he can, then he puts his head in my lap, and just relaxes. It is so cute. If you've never been around donkeys, I am sure they are part dog, horse, and teddy bear!

Pine Tree Crosses

Story of the Pine Tree Cross
When we were outside at Mawmaw and Pawpaw's house, they started talking about the little crosses at the tops of the pine trees surrounding their house. Once they pointed them out, I begain looking, and I saw hundreds of little crosses scattered among the trees. I was very curious to learn about the little crosses, so when we got home I started searching. I found out that Pine Trees start their new growth in the weeks before Easter - in the form of yellow shoots. As the days get closer to Easter Sunday, the tallest shoot branches off to form a cross. By the time Easter Sunday comes around, most Pine trees have small yellow crosses on all of the tallest shoots. What an amazing Easter gift to look at the crosses at the tops of the Pines, pointing to heaven, reminding everyone of the amazing sacrifice of Jesus Christ! The picture shows one that I got for a keepsake.

If you would like to see a picture you can click on the following webaddress.
http://www.clfbest.org/Pine%20Tree%20Crosses.html

The Prodigy

Ryanna is only 4 months old, and she can already show us how much she loves her Mimi! ;^)

Other Pictures From Our Trip

Over the River and Through the Woods

Pictures from Grandma (and Grandpa and Mawmaw and Pawpaw's)house. They are: 2 Men and a Baby. 2 Bell(e)s. 4 Generations of Belle's and (Pa)Tricia's. 5/8th's of Us. Heaven!

Ryanna

Ryanna is changing so fast!!! In the picture of me holding her, she is holding my hair in her fist. She doesn't know it yet, but she holds a lot more than that in her tiny hand. Namely my heart!!

Ty and Cody

I took some pictures today when we were playing with Cody in the round pen,and taking a short walk. Ty said that he wants his horse to be: calm, obedient, smart, strong, and brave. Judging from what Cody did today, I think Ty got what he wanted! I thought Ty was really cute, he went and put on his medicine bag just before we wwnt to work with Cody!

Cody - Ty's Mustang

We are very excited to finally find a horse especially for Ty. Cody, his new little Mustang, will be 2 in April. A Parelli trainer named Rico has been working with Cody for the past 1 1/2, and Cody is very friendly and has great manners! Rico and his wife Ann, are Native Americans, and they had a little ceremony for Ty. It was a beautiful day and a fun afternoon! In the pictures you can see: Rico singing an original song about Mustangs, and Ann doing a purification ceremony and giving Ty a Medicine Bag. Rico also gave a demonstration of some of the Parelli games he's been using to train Cody. The last picture is of Ty petting his new companion before the trip home.

The Boys

We took a quick trip to see the boys this weekend! They had to work during the day, so we decided to go on a day trip to the State Fair! The trip was great - and the boys are doing awesome!

Mujeres del Tamales

That means Tamale Women! Today that's what we were! Michelle and her two little girls, and Emma and I made tamales. Some were meat tamales, others were dessert tamales made with raisins and peanuts! There can't be any better way to learn Spanish than to work (or cook)together! Emma es la mejor Professora de Espanole y Cocinar en todo la mundo! (That's supposed to mean Emma is the best teacher of Spanish and Cooking in the entire world - but I'm pretty sure it's not entirely right!) Anyway - it was fun and the tamales are great!

Indulge Me Please!

Donkeys can live to be 40 years old. Since MiHijo is the last equine I will ever need, I am being thorough in his upbringing! I decided that when I'm 90, I may not feel like bending over to pick things up, so I taught MiHijo to "give it to me please!" I am asking for the can in the first picture. He is handing it to me in the 2nd! The 3rd picture doesn't need explanation - the gloat says it all!!

Yeah Clay!!!!!

I have a new hero! It's Clint Haverty - Clay's boss! He encouraged Clay to go back to college, and even offered to let him go during the day without penalty to wages! Clay took him up on the offer, and is now enrolled as a full time student, taking Business classes at Texas Women's University!! I've been giving Clay all sorts of grief about going to a womens college! He says the 82% female poplulation has nothing to do with his decision - but I'm not buying it! What do you think?

Bacon - Not

Teryn and Ty have been trapping coyotes with snares. They've caught 12 coyotes in 4 weeks. Sometimes they catch javelinas in the snares, and the other day they caught this big hog. Don't worry - it looks like Bacon - but it's not! Bacon is still hanging out at the house with us!

Tis The Season

Here are a few pictures from Christmas. There are pictures from Ty's Christmas Concert, shepards in waiting for the Live Nativity, and Tricia trying on her new Roboso. We were incredibly happy to get a picture of Pop Pop and Ryanna because she has been in ICU much of the week with a wicked respiratory illness called RSV! She (and Mom and Dad) are finally home - and Ty finally got to open his presents. After looking at the picture, Teryn said that he thinks that Ryanna has his nose! The pictures I DIDN'T get were of Teryn Lee and Holly - what was I thinking - I guess they'll have to wait till next time! I also didn't get any of Clay - because he wasn
t able to come home. We're planning a trip up there soon, so stay posted!

Spittin' Image

Thought I'd post a couple of pictures of Belle! Those of you who knew us when Trish was a baby, will probably have to agree that Belle is the Spittin' image of her momma - and you might even recognize the little sweater Belle is wearing. My mother (G-Gmaw) crocheted that for Trish almost 30 years ago. 'Scuze me - Trish prefers me to be more exact when discussing her age - 28 years ago!

Review of '07

This Blog is taking the place of my annual Christmas Letter. Since I didn't start Blogging until May, I thought I'd add a paragraph to cover January through April.

I often feel that I'm living life in fast forward - and January '07 definately qualified as that kind of month! Teryn spent 3 weeks in South Texas with his parents and sister to help out with health concerns. That meant that I juggled work, and caring for the exotics and our animals. We had 3 snows during that time and of course the goats all had babies too. The combination of the freezing weather and really large babies caused many of them to have low blood sugar - which looks like dead babies and has to be dealt with quickly or they do die! Needless to say, I had a crash course in infant goat resusitation.
We had a wonderful surprise in February when Sierra had a baby donkey. MiHijo is my dog/horse, and I'm having great fun teaching him his manners, and tricks.
Teryn Lee experienced a major victory in March when he won a Cowboy Extreme Competition. It's a sort of Cowboy obstacle course. It was televised in September on RFDTV. He won a saddle and prize money, but most of all, it opened lots of doors in the horse industry.
I went on an Emmaus walk in April, and had a wonderful experience. I highly recommend Emmaus if you've never experienced it!
I guess that's about it for the first part of the year! No pictures - just a lot of old news! Please scroll through the blog for news from the rest of the year! The blog may make more sense if you look at it in reverse order - May is at the very bottom! I hope you enjoy!

Teryn and the Cow(d/h)ogs

Teryn was going to check a pasture! Lucky man, he always has plenty of help! Seriously, Lori and Jake do what Teryn asks them to do and take the place of a man. Bacon just does what she wants!

Nativity Donkey

The Live Nativity is coming soon. MiHijo is too young to carry Mary this year, but he's going to dress up and go - just to see what it's all about!

Cowhog

Teryn is taking the "Cowhog" concept to a new level! Maybe he's spending too much time alone on the ranch!

New Arrival Coming Soon

I hope I will be able to get a good picture of Tricia's belly before RyAnne decides to make her appearance. But until then, I thought I'd share a 'Tyism' with you. Ty told Tio TLee that if the baby isn't born before this Tuesday the Dr. would 'reduce' Trish! I'm not sure reduce isn't more accurate than induce! Stay tuned, I'm pretty sure there'll be lots of new baby pictures soon!

Ty's Surgery

Thought I'd add a picture of Ty in his splint and crutches. He had a condition called Osteo Chondroma, and they had to remove a growth on his femur. He is doing great, but his mom says he is a "demanding patient."

Clay at Work

One stop during our trip was to see Clay at his new job. He said that he really enjoys his work, and doesn't have any regrets about leaving school! He said that Mr. Haverty is great to work with! Also he does leather work, something that Clay has been interested in for a long time. Mr. Haverty helped Clay make some spur leathers for Teryn's birthday. In these pictures he is: riding, washing a horse down after it was worked, and putting cold splints on a horse.

National Finals Cowboy Extreme

Teryn Lee accepting the Champion ship buckle from Craig Cameron. The following are the media resources you can go to if you want to hear interviews, or see pictures and videos!
***The following site has professional photos of the Cowboy Extreme contest. Just click on the site below, If you want to see a picture close up, you can double click on it. http://merrickstudios.morephotos.com/mp_client/pictures.asp

***If you want to hear an interview you can go to http://www.betterhorsesradio.com/ Go to archives and find the interview for June 30 - July 1. Teryn Lee is on the last 10 minutes of the show.

***If you want to view the Cowboy Extreme race that was televised on RFDTV you can go to http://horsecity.com/videos/online_directory/index.shtml?bcpid=626986556&bclid=716123410&bctid=752475562

Teryn Lee and Holly Sue breathing a sigh of relief after the results were announced! Pictures of the part of the support crew!

Supreme Extreme Cowboy

HE WON!!! It was amazing! I'm posting a few pictures tonight, but still have tons to do before work in the morning. I'll post more this weekend! The pictures are: 1) the new buckle, 2) part of the 'support' crew - notice the blue shirts advertising Calvin - compliments of Triangle Quarter Horse, 3) TLee giving 'Mawmaw' a victory hug!