Nancy I'm
relievedto see your post! I've been wondering (worrying!) about you and yours with the wet year and then nonstop floods in Louisiana. So glad to hear your home has remained high and dry and the ponies have some through. Did Spurzie pass? I didn't see him mentioned.
I'm also delighted to see posts from everyone else again
Our year has been an odd one, mostly the ponies have been really good and have made do with minimal interaction from me as we refinanced our farm. It was like moving the mountain and then the previous owners were unclear of the concept and were trying to not sign the final paperwork
it took us getting a lawyer who promptly explained 'breach of contract' to them to get it to go through. We've been trying to destress ever since and at the same time, we've been trying to increase our mushroom business. It's been a lot of spiffing up the website, and learning about Facebook. Ironically I've gone kicking and screaming onto Facebook, but strictly for business. I still think it's horribly invasive and restrictive, but if that's where people are looking for advertising, so be. I felt much the same about computers in general when I first started using one
Pony wise, I still have BlossomChild. She's 11 now (so hard to believe!). We spent some time just this morning sorting out her mane and forelock yet again. She's shedding like the dickens just now. She loves her big stall in the barn with Dundee just down the way. And she and Dundee share a field. I used to leave them on the field overnight when we first moved here, but we have 2 bull elk who refuse to keep their butts out and the paddock has been slowly overtaken with lespedeza and clover
upshot is we mow it short, but for now she can only be on it for a few hours a day, not overnight if we can avoid.
As for the others, Dundee my Fox trotter is now 7 and is just as blonde and goofy as he was as a youngster. He's a lot like a Golden Retriever to be honest. An 1100lb Golden Retriever who loves to leap into my lap when he's scared, no matter if I'm standing up. And no matter the fact I seriously cannot hold an 1100lb horse no matter what he thinks!
I have 2 horses remaining from the original riding horses that came with our farm. The first year we were here, I actually rehomed quite a few of them. So I still have Rita, the lineback red dun and Reigny, the grulla dun who was kept out as a wrangler horse. Reigny and I get on very well indeed. She's another energy healing horse, and she's been a godsend to me for helping my kidneys and basically helping me out around the farm.
Rita was used as a novice horse, and is a stout girl who's typically 2 day's slow. She's very ponyish in behavior, which is why I got along with her from the start. Although she was used for the rides, the previous owner wasn't fond of her at all. I'd say he's never really been around ponies much as his response to her personality was 'She's different.'
Eldon's pretty much recovered from his surgery last year. I know time flies, but it's hard for me to believe it's been a full year. We're still paying hospital bills, but eternally grateful to the hospital and his good surgeon.
Last year we almost lost our coati Oogway. When he was a baby he had horrible seizures that he'd mostly outgrown. He's always been a fragile flower, though, and for most of his life, I did what I could to keep him calm and not overstimulate him. He loves to hyperventilate and will do so for days on end. Last year he had Grand Mal seizures, and I'll be very blunt, if it had been my choice completely, I would have taken him to the vet to have him put to sleep. Yes, they were that bad, and I knew they would continue for the days on end that they did.
Eldon however is of the opinion if he's alive we needed to give Oogway the chance to survive. I gave him one month. If Oogway didn't stabilize in that month, I would follow through. And so we did the best we could and began giving him mushroom complexes to rebuild the nerves and brain tissues as much as we could.
It wasn't a walk in the park. There were weeks when he couldn't remember either of us. When he couldn't even remember me, who'd been his mummy from 5 and a half weeks old. It was terrible that we frightened him so much, so we'd do the best we could and waited. Gradually the mushrooms began to work and he did become more stable. Sometimes he could walk, other times not really. After about a year, he's regained about 85% of his personality and seems to know who we and Mister are most of the time. So long as he's comfortable and still shows an interest in his surroundings, we do the best we can.
As for Mister, it's so hard to believe he's 11 this year too! He utterly adores his bedroom and the adjoining sunroom that he shares with Oogway. It gives him the Great Outdoors with the safety of being indoors, which is a great thing considering all the wildlife here that has 'cat' on the menu.
As for our wildlife, I have a very affectionate murder of crows, a delightful group of 'housemink' that come and go in our home and in the barns, the red tailed hawk, I've seen Gronk the Great Blue Heron a couple of times, but he's away for the summer months. As for the elk, the teen herd has now grown up and become our main herd. They never did understand they needed to disband and have the calves singly on the Headland, so the whole group stuck together and mostly they come through at least once a week with the bulls remaining in our fields over the summer.
Very sadly we lost our 3rd bull elk midway through the summer. I don't know what happened to him. He may have been hit by a car or ?? I only know he was there, and then a few evenings later, the two bulls hopped the fence and all of us stood looking back for the third and no matter how much we looked, he didn't show
the other two are nice enough, but it was the third who was our big clown and huge character. He's very sorely missed.
Oh I will say on a bright note, earlier this year we got to watch a whale with her calf feeding not too far out as we walked the beach! It was exciting to us because no matter how much we'd searched, this was the first whale we'd spotted since we'd returned to the Oregon coast
and one morning I was over to take a quick walk on the beach. There was a fisherman who was fishing in the surf. From how wet his trousers were, I'd guess he'd been at it for awhile. I watched him make a frumpy face, reel in the line and stomp off down the sand in front of me.
I walked along, then paused because it was such a gorgeous morning! The waves were beautiful and the air smelled so good
next thing I know, there comes an osprey flying in, snatched a big fish right from the waves in front of me, and not too far from where the fisherman had been. The osprey took a couple grasps, had breakfast firmly in talon and flew right back over the beach.
I'm not sure what shocked me more, the fact the whole thing had played out literally in front of me, or the fact not a single soul on the beach seemed to even see what had happened! I was stunned! I mean, how can you miss a giant bird snatching a fish from the waves and then flying right back over your heads with the fish flailing around?? Wow!
Thankfully the fisherman had walked off without a look back. Just as well he didn't see that.
Anyway, this year has been stressy, but Eldon and I still love where we live, and we still think it's been worth the fight. I'm just hoping in the months to come we can start enjoying the farm even more
Ridgelane Duke 
Country Rose
it took us getting a lawyer who promptly explained 'breach of contract' to them to get it to go through. We've been trying to destress ever since and at the same time, we've been trying to increase our mushroom business. It's been a lot of spiffing up the website, and learning about Facebook. Ironically I've gone kicking and screaming onto Facebook, but strictly for business. I still think it's horribly invasive and restrictive, but if that's where people are looking for advertising, so be. I felt much the same about computers in general when I first started using one 
the other two are nice enough, but it was the third who was our big clown and huge character. He's very sorely missed. 
