Warning: This is a Non-Eliza Post

So, we decided to bring in a "boarder" to keep Georgie Girl company. (Georgie Girl is in the blue blanket pictured above.) Her new companion's name is "Scotch". "He's" quite a handful and not very personable towards people. Georgie likes him okay, but he's much younger and keeps her on the move. Most days, she ends limping as she tries to keep up. It's pitiful; see the arthritis in her knees. You can see the pain and annoyance in her eyes. She's a grandma and was used to having old Clark to quietly graze with. This young fella gets "silly" over the brisk air or the blue herron that swoops down to our pond; pretty much finds any reason to start galloping through the pasture. Horses being horses, she HAS to keep up with him. So, limping away, the herd must stay together.

This picture is of Scotch checking in w/ Georgie after I put her blanket on. He was freaked out by the blanket. She, of course, is reassuring him. She's so sweet and always so good about standing still for blanketing. I'm hoping he'll learn trust from her. In his defense, he didn't have a very good start in life...read on.

He didn't have a nice big pasture to play in so he loves making his new owner chase him all over the place before he'll let her catch him; yesterday it took her 30 minutes. He didn't have a herd to hang out with and learn social skills so "space" is an issue for him (both you encroaching his and him encroaching yours or Georgie's). Once he was broke to saddle, his job was to be the designated driver for a drunk man. No kidding! He would hang out waiting to be saddled, ride to a bar, get tied up outside the bar and be on-call to drive the drunk man back to his house. Now, I have no clue where this all took place because it sounds like something out of the 1800's to me. While we do live on a farm, we're quite a suburban area and within the urban sprawl . But that's the story I was told though. It's colorful; it allows me to approach his issues with comedy rather than annoyance. His (new, non drinking) owners are nice; it's their daughter's horse and she's 16. I've enjoyed having horse-folks out here again and watching someone ride. According to his new owner, for the first few months, every time she'd swing her leg over the saddle, he'd buck her off. Can't you just picture him doing this to a drunk guy and how funny that would be to watch. Though the rest of the image isn't very good, he'd get clobbered by the drunk and is now very head shy. Amanda, the new owner, has worked so hard w/ him to gain trust and let her ride him. They do beautifully together now.

That said, the cold weather has finally moved in. We've had frost two nights in a row and it's been windy, windy, windy. Since Eliza's been in school, I haven't had the opportunity to take as many photos of her as I used to. So, I decided to snap some of what's been happening around the farm.

This is the huge, 2-story elementary school being built right behind us. The next picture is what our view used to be. What the picture doesn't show is how close the school is.

I hate our new view; I hate that we can't ride horses, the 4-wheeler, dirt bikes, etc. out there anymore. I hate that I can't take the dogs out for a run in the fields anymore. I hate the all our deer and other wildlife have been run off. I hate that there's construction crews out there and we've lost our privacy. I could go on and on. The funny thing is, right after I took this picture, about 20 guys showed up on top of that burm and started picking up all the trash that's been blowing over into my pasture. I think they thought I was taking pictures as evidence. Hmmm, not a bad idea.

Of course, here's Sadie and Hogan (on the right). Look how big Hogan has gotten. He's the most handsome golden retriever (male) ever. He's absolutely in love with me and won't let me out of his sight.

Other than that, the dossier is coming along. We've had some good progress; our first homestudy update meeting complete, physicals, Hague-required child abuse clearances ordered from all states we've lived in since 18, and completing some other documents so that we can submit our intent and request PA for a little girl.

Well, Scotch is on the move again, so Georgie's heading after him. Look how annoyed she looks in the picture below. Can you see the arthritis in her knees. Ouch. Ouch. Ouch. Well, that's my non-Eliza update! Enjoy.