A Beautiful Weekend Outside at the House in Hooterville

This past weekend was one of the nicest we have had here in this part of Florida for what seems like forever.  By Florida standards, it’s been an unusually long, cold winter so it was  wonderful to have sunshine and warmer temps again!  It gives me hope that spring  and consistently beautiful weather really is just around the corner.

With the nicer weather, lots of people must have been out working in their yards and gardens this weekend because we had about 3 or 4 people come to the farm to fill up their trucks with horse manure…something we have in abundance!

Hubby’s sister and her husband live just a few houses away from our  current house…the original My Cottage of Bliss.    They drove their big motor home over to the house in Hooterville and stayed Friday night so they could help around the farm on Saturday.  With all of the work to be done, volunteers are always welcome!

After they arrived, we roasted hotdogs and marshmallows over a bonfire in the backyard Friday night.  I also made macaroni salad, broccoli salad (recipe HERE) and baked beans.  It was fun eating  around the fire but I  decided reconfirmed I’m not a “roughing it” kind of girl because I was too impatient (and hungry) to wait for my hot dog to get hot all the way through. 

Most of the fencing around the parameter of the property  is in pretty bad shape but we have been trying to postpone replacing it for a few more months.  Thanks to a few  rambunctious young horses, the time to replace it on the north border of the property line came sooner, rather than later. 

On Saturday, just as the fence installer was preparing to set the posts for the new fence (indicated by the red line in the photo below), the neighbor who owns the property that butts up to that fence line came out and asked hubby if he would be willing to sell him part of our property.  We estimated the area the neighbor wanted was  about 1/3 of an acre (the area shaded in solid  yellow at the top of the photo below).

 

We needed to make a decision right then and there because the fence installer was waiting on instructions about where to erect the new fence… either at the original property line, or what would be the new property line if we agreed to sell.  Since the area the neighbor wanted was only a small percentage of our 30.5 acres, and he was willing to pay a “premium” price, it was an offer we felt we really couldn’t refuse.

He gave us a good faith deposit check,  and he and hubby sealed the deal for now with a “gentleman’s handshake.” The official legal paperwork will be drawn up as soon as possible. 

The time for Jolie, the PMU rescue horse,  to have her foal is drawing closer.  It is supposedly due “around May.”  That could mean late April or early June…we’re not sure…but every time I go over to the house in Hooterville, I can see her belly is getting bigger.  I hope I’m there when the foal is born but it seems horses often have their foals in the quiet of the night, when no one is around.

My daughter still continues to work with Jolie multiple times a day in an effort to tame her.  Daughter can now lead Jolie around her enclosure by the lead rope and she has allowed Daughter to briefly stroke her neck, so progress is being made!

The horse in the photo below  is Tucker.  He belongs to one of our boarders.  He’s a real ham and  seems to like having his picture taken.  Whenever there is a camera around, he’s right there, front and center,  doing something to show off.

All within a span of a couple minutes,  he came right up to me, presented his “best” side and stood completely still while I snapped away…

he engaged in friendly horseplay by nipping at another horse…

 

and he dropped down in the dirt in front of me and started rolling around in it.

Stand back and be careful of those wildly thrashing legs!

This is our old girl, Jasmin.  She’s almost 13, which is pretty old for a German Shepherd, but thanks to routine acupuncture treatments, she’s getting around quite well for her age.  She’s always been an inside dog but she absolutely loves being outside at the house in Hooterville, particularly down at the barns where all the activity is.  She found  a comfortable spot and was thoroughly enjoying the nice weather this weekend too.

I hope you are starting to see and feel signs of spring where you live.