Spring preparation!

Over this weekend, Todd and I spent a lot of time working on getting our place ready for spring. We weaned calves (their cows calve in the fall), put up a new fence to set up the lower pasture for our horses, staked out where the round pen and garden will go, started turning sod in a new flowerbed, and planted some seeds in pots to get the growing season started! It was a very therapeutic weekend. I also, of course, had time to love on every one of my horses. They are still shedding, so welcome the itching, brushing and scratching. Kachina follows me everywhere in the pasture. I'm not sure exactly what she wants because she doesn't always want me to brush on her (she'll sometimes move away after I've pet her head and then move to scratch her neck, other times she'll stand forever and let me scratch her). She just has so much spark in her. She's playful, inquisitive, flighty (sometimes), and definitely outgoing (with horses and with people). Griffin tagged along behind her a few times when she was following me, so I'd stop to scratch on him too. I think the scratching was definitely what he wanted. He's not so obvious about asking though...he'll just watch me scratch other horses wait while I approach to scratch on him too. He's a little more reserved with people, but still gets along with the horses well. Oh, and he really hates dogs and does try to stomp them whenever he can. The dogs know, and stay out of his way.

The following pictures were taken by my mom as she was walking down to visit Todd and I while we were fencing. I rarely take pictures that have me in them, so here ya go.

These first couple pictures are the horses in their pasture. They stood up on the hill and watched us across the field as we fenced. My mom calls the two dark ones (Cody and Chico) the twins, since they are always hanging out together and she can't tell them apart (she's not a very horsey person) :) Notice that Kachina and Griffin hang out together quite a bit too, but they are just very social and fit right in with the herd. Notice that Catlow is missing from the picture...



She is still a loner and has not really bonded with any other horse. I feel sort of sorry for her, but she seems perfectly happy that way. She's still in the mix with the others, but she prefers to be off on her own a lot, and had not really bonded strongly with any other, but still needs them to be in her herd.



Todd and I are measuring off our fence. We put a spacer fence alongside our neighbors so that our horses can't contact eachother and potentially get in trouble through the fence. Jasper, my dog, is always there to help me out.



And here I am measuring the auger to figure out how far down Todd needs to go to set the corner posts the correct depth. I look a little poochy in the belly here...it's mostly fluff from my vest, but I am definitely starting to show a little. I'm just over 3.5 months along now! At my next appointment, mid-April, we get to find out the baby's sex!