Cattle Drive!

We left the house at 6 a.m. Saturday morning, horses and saddles loaded, to help a friend drive his cattle off pasture. It was a fun day, for the humans and horses alike!

Beautiful country - I only wish I had gotten more photos!!

Yes, me on horseback behind the cattle, hence the blurry photo.

This is what many of my photos looked like...
camera + horse = lousy pictures!

Hubby returning from search for renegade cow and calf...
they made a clean escape!

My ride on the right, hubby's on the left.
Yep, they worked hard - enlarge to see their sweatiness.

Our host.

His house.

The front porch.

The front door - isn't it beautiful?

My photos don't do their house justice. I've always loved stone houses, and this one was stunningly gorgeous. To the right of this front door was a side porch with a grill and refrigerator built into the stonework... further to the right was a stone fireplace with a flagstone patio, wicker furniture and an arbor over it, and to the right of that, a built-in pool. Can you just imagine evenings around that fireplace with a glass of wine in hand. I wish I would have gotten a photo of it.

Oh yeah, I could definitely live in this house!!

Flagstone and lush plants. Gorgeous!

Part of the stone garage.

The well-decorated roof.

The barn - I love the old stonework.

Getting ready to sort some cattle.

Our host, doing more sorting...

...for vaccinations, and preg checks.

Pastureland in front of house by driveway.

A few photogenic kids...

... and of course, the necessary ranch dog.
This is Ruben, a 6 month old Aussie.

The only thing I regret about our day - no pictures of me on Murphy!!! Hubby agreed we need to be sure to get pics of me in the future.

This was my first ride away from home on Murphy - I mistakenly thought since he's an older horse (25) that it would be an easy ride. Wrong! Murphy, being the old cow horse he is, was hard to hold back. His ears were cocked and he was excited to be back at his old job. He wanted to herd those cattle and nip at them! Plus the terrain was very rugged and hilly. Lots of rock ledges and very rocky fields to navigate - quite a jolting ride for this novice. But all in all, I think Murphy and I did pretty good - I enjoyed the challenge. I definitely need more practice on him. I need to learn how to remind him that I'M the boss, not him! He fought me every step of the way yesterday.

By the time we got home at 4:00, I was a little bit sore. But not near as bad as I thought I'd be. I was more tired than anything, and I think I crashed out by 6:00.

Midlife can be hell sometimes.

And the Winner is....

Paint Girl!

Thank you to everyone who commented and I truly wish I could send a bag to every single one of you for your sweet pups!!!!

Trixie did not cooperate (as usual) so I had to enlist Tori to pull the winner's name out of my lil mexican bowl. Anyone who has seen my photos from past giveaways knows that Tori is a pro at picking a winner! Alas, no photos this time.... that's what happens when you're back to working 40 hours plus a week.

Paint Girl, do please send me your address via my email - suzgarten(at)yahoo(dot)com. I will be making a fresh batch this weekend so I will get your bag out to you on Monday.

Thanks again to everyone who commented...
you are all the best and your pups are too!!!

"Homemade with Love" Dog Treats Giveaway

UPDATE: Deadline to enter is extended to Midnight EST, tonight!

Enlarge to see detail.

Trixie Lou's Cheesers... we (me, Trixie, Tori and Ringo) have finally perfected this dog treat recipe so that they are yummy, crunchy and good-for-your-pooch! Made with organic oat flour and brown rice flour, they are free of the ingredients that typically cause problems for our pups - wheat, corn, soy and yeast. I've added co-jack and parmesan cheese to the dough, and sprinkled some co-jack on top for a crunchy finish that our dogs love. There are no preservatives, so you'll want to use them up within a week or keep them in the refrigerator.

So what are you waiting for? Leave a comment now for your chance to win a bag of these yummies for your pooch(es). The giveaway will close tomorrow night, Monday, at 6:00 p.m. EST and a winner will be selected by none other than Trixie. Maybe. If I can bribe her to pick a name! Winners are limited to U.S. ~sorry! I can't afford the overseas shipping costs.

I have also decided to sell my "homemade with love" dog treats for the next few months. Price is $6.50 + shipping, payable via Paypal (see button to right, in sidebar), or you can mail a check. Email me at suzgarten(at)yahoo(dot)com if you'd like more information.

I hope to add a beefy and chicken flavor biscuit soon, but for the moment just the Cheesers are available. There are approximately 2 dozen medium size bone-shaped treats in the bag, which weighs between 6 and 7 ozs.

I am trying to keep the cost of shipping reasonable, but the United States postal service makes this task difficult. As long as the total weight of the package is under 13 ozs, it goes first class, approximately $3.26. If you want 2 packages, the box weight tips the scales past 13 ozs, so we'll use Priority mail, the small box rate, which is $4.95. If you want more than two bags of treats, I'll work with you to keep the shipping costs down.

Treats will be baked on weekends and shipped on Mondays and Tuesdays only so that they don't get stuck at the post office over the weekend.

There is nothing better than to end a bad day covered in dog slobber!