Good Friday morning y’all! I cannot believe we are into the double digits dates of August! Soon school will be starting around here and traffic will be bad and the weather will start cooling off and all that comes with the change of seasons.

I’m trying to let myself enjoy the cooler temps we are having right now, but I’m having a hard time not being bitter about the lack of rain. We have been surrounded by rain clouds for a couple days and seen a lot of lightening and even some rainbows. But no rain.

When it gets warm, Tuffy gets in the water trough to cool off. This always cracks me up and it makes him SO happy!

Quila is a saint about letting the puppies climb on her. Some of the tan ones look a lot like her, so she’s extra cute with her doppelgangers!

This is Jackie, she is our newest foster. She had been in the Joshua shelter since about April. They had gotten to the point that where going to have to euthanize dogs to make room for all the new ones coming in the door, so we offered to foster her. She is a DELIGHTFUL little dog! Only about 27lb with lots of love and energy. We are smitten.

PLAY PLAY PLAY PLAY PLAY PLAY PLAY PLAY PLAY PLAY PLAY ……………………………….. pass out. That is the theme of Dickens. He adores playing with Jackie!

Simon is lame right now with an apparent stifle injury (WTF, Simon!) and since Sterling is gone Coco is getting ALL the love! And it appears to make her very sleepy.

And speaking of Sterling, things seem to be going OK with his kid. Do you see his happy eyes? I think he REALLY loves his kid! I’m the proudest horse Mom this side of the Mississippi!

I’ll be spending the weekend wishing, hoping, praying, begging, and doing whatever else I can try to encourage the rain to fall!

Happy Friday the 13th y’all! Boot City has a “13” tattoo and Coco has a “13” brand, so the number 13 is near and dear to us. It has been cooler and stormy this week in North Texas, which has been AMAZING, but sadly we haven’t gotten very much of the rain. Only .15″, but as long as the hay fields got it I’m happy.

The goats like to clean up the hay that the horses spill in the trailer. They are so helpful!

Introducing Nellie and her babies! The puppies were born on June 30. She had 8, but we sadly lost the runt at day 11. The rest appear to be doing fantastically!

Samson is the hungriest pony you’ve ever met. He is always trying to steal food at every opportunity. It helps that he’s so cute.

This puppy has the cutest nose spots. I’m hoping to have a name theme for them by the end of this weekend. I’m taking suggestions (but Game of Thrones is not an option. That has been suggested to me a lot and I don’t watch the show!).

Have a fantastic weekend!

I can’t believe July is nearly here! This summer is brutal so far with high temps and little or no rain. I REALLY hope we get some rain sooner rather than later.

Enjoy some funny farm pet pics!

I could start a series consisting entirely of Betty’s funny sleeping positions. This is the most relaxed Beagle in the world! We just love her! If you’d like to adopt Betty click here.

Sleepy Betty

Murtagh always waits for me to fill the hay soaker, then he jumps on the bucket or the dry part of the hay to drink the hay water. He’s a weird kitty!

Hot summer days make for a thirsty kitty.

If you follow my social media you’ve seen posts of our new foster dog, Nellie. She is about to pop with puppies! She visited the vet on Tuesday and they estimated she would deliver in 24 to 48 hours. We are now on day 4……… I suspect they will arrive this weekend. We appreciate prayers for an easy and safe delivery of healthy puppies!

Nellie!

These two are obsessed with Edith, our cockatiel. I think their faces are so cute how intently they are staring at Edith.

Cockatiel hunters.

Happy weekend! Coco is going to yet another little horse show this weekend. Hopefully she behaves better! What are you getting up to this weekend?

Today’s post is a shameless plug for you to adopt Patches! Patches is a less-than-year old chihuahua that I am fostering through the rescue group Urgent Animals of Fort Worth. Patches was not obtained through the Fort Worth shelter where Urgent gets most of their foster dogs, but from a hoarding situation. Last I heard there were THIRTY-SEVEN chihuahuas at this home and at least three of the females that Urgent rescued have had puppies!

Patches is the sweetest chihuahua in the world. Our previous chihuahua foster was the most fun chihuahua in the world. Patches would prefer to snuggle than to play, but she does like to play with her puppy friends.

Seriously. Her snuggling skills are epic. The tan dog in the above pic is our other previous chihuahua foster, Lily. Lily has already been adopted.

She is also skilled at assisting with the pre-wash cycle for the dishwasher. She is known to get IN the dishwasher to lick dirty plates. Don’t worry, we run the sanitation cycle.

She definitely gets along well with others. Even if they don’t like her.

Annie hates snuggling with Patches the most, so of course that is the dog Patches most wants to snuggle with.

I think you are getting the picture that Patches really likes to snuggle. Keep in mind that these photos are of her snuggling with dogs, because you cannot take photos of her snuggling with humans since she is usually under your chin making selfies nearly impossible.

She also gets along with cats. She loves all humans (although I don’t think she’s been around kids much, I don’t see this being an issue for her!). She is mostly potty trained. She got spayed recently. And she enjoys sunning. See below.

If you or someone you know has been dreaming of adopting a chihuahua, Patches is your girl! Fill out the adoption application at this link. Happy adopting!

What a week! Lots of emotions and stress! Sterling seems to be improving, thankfully. Coco is having some issues that appear to be related to either ulcers or ovaries. Hopefully we will know more when the vet comes (again) next week.

On a happier note here are some fun photos from the farm this week.

This photo is terrible and ridiculous, but SO funny. Boot City put the baking sheet on the open dishwasher door and Chivas CAMPED out and licked that thing for at least 30 minutes. She growled and snarled at any dog that got close to her! She’s pretty funny in her old age!

Meet Maggie, our newest foster dog! Maggie is from the Fort Worth shelter and is a 4yo Beagle. She has heartworms and is pleasantly plump so will be undergoing treatment and a diet. She will be available to adopt in about 60 days!

Murtagh lives in my tack room, but gets be out when we are at home (we worry about him getting eaten by predators with all that white fur) and boy does he LOVE his barn cat besties!

Lily, our foster chihuahua, was adopted last Sunday (YAY) so Patches likes to bother Annie now. Annie growls at her a lot, but it doesn’t dissuade Patches from laying on her and trying to lick Annie’s ears.

I’ll be spending my weekend cold hosing, sweating and cleaning Sterling’s leg and hopefully riding Simon since he’s the only rideable horse I have right now! How about you?

This week FLEW by! Boot City and my 13th Anniversary was on Monday. We celebrated with an AMAZING dinner at B&B Butchers. I cannot recommend this restaurant enough! I was initially skeptical of yet another steak place in Fort Worth, but this one is it’s very own. The food and the service were second-to-none! As per usual we didn’t take any pics, but it was lovely.

We also got some more rain.

Muddy horse exhibit #1: Coco Chanel

Muddy horse exhibit #2: Simon

Muddy horse exhibit #3: Sterling

Clearly the horses are enjoying the mud. Good grief.

Patches got spayed on Monday. She was a great patient and enjoyed her trip home, basking in the sunlight.

Because you can never have too many pony pics.

Jaguar’s hay gets soaked for multiple reasons and Murtagh LOVES to sit on the hay as the tank fills with water and drink it when it gets high enough in the tank. He is so weird.

Lily has a meet and greet and will potentially be adopted this weekend. She has been a joy to have, but I’m very excited for her potential new family!

The upcoming weekend is the annual Hunt Ball! Boot City and I get to get all dressed up with our horsey friends and have a nice dinner with our favorite people. I also have a super fun delivery this afternoon that I am excited to share next week!

What are you getting up to this weekend?

Welcome to the very last Farm Friday for 2017! I’m going to leave off the year with a bunch of photos of animals being tortured by being forced to don holiday attire. Enjoy!

Annie the reindog

Lily the reluctant Chihuahua Christmas jester (she was trying to chew on the bells)

Sterling looking stoic as usual in his Christmas jingle collar

Quila looking longingly out the window. Wondering why her parents make her wear humiliating holiday jingle collars.

Sterling actually not looking pissed that he’s wearing a Santa hat!

And one final, random cake picture. This is a Grapefruit Cake made famous by the Hollywood Brown Derby restaurant. Read the story in the link, it’s great. I got the recipe from American Cake. My horsey bestie made it for a foxhunt brunch last year and I was extremely skeptical of a grapefruit cake. I mean, I love grapefruit, but in a cake? People. It is TO. DIE. FOR. It is SO good. I made one on Christmas and it is as heavenly as I remember. So go get you that cook book, because it is super fun to read and cook from, and make this cake. Right now.

The most amazing cake ever invented.

I CANNOT believe we are into the double digits in NOVEMBER! Where does the time go? Fall’ish weather seems to be sticking around North Texas now, although it is supposed to be 82 today. The most important part is that it is cooler for fox hunting! The days are shorter so I’m not getting to ride after work, hopefully soon Boot City will put up some arena lights. The to-do list on the farm is never-ending……

Little Chivas sunbathing. The poor girl has been extra itchy lately. She’s even had hives the past couple days. Hopefully the vet can figure out something to help her. We have been treating her for itchy skin for years.

This is my formal blog introduction to the latest farm family member;Samson! He’s a kill-pen rescue from a good friend. I’m hoping he knows or we cat teach him how to drive!

The outside of our house has finally finished its face lift! We had a contractor/handyman do some trim repairs and painting and then got ALL new windows. The change in window technology from 1964 to 2017 is pretty huge and fabulous.

Mickey is still ridiculous and adorable. He enjoyed the stacked furniture while the windows were being replaced. He’s had a few adoption applications recently so hopefully he gets his own family for Christmas!

One of the funniest photos from Opening Hunt. My horsey bestie is busy braiding her horses tail while the rest of us are drinking port and chatting. I’m holding her drink and mine, not two of my own drinks.

I’m thankful for all my friends and family and wish you the best Thanksgiving!

This past Saturday was a BIG day for the muppy family! Of the 11 puppies 5 will stay in Texas and 6 will go to New York to get adopted. The New York crew will stay in Texas until they are old enough to get spayed/neutered and finish all their puppy shots. The local puppies can be adopted earlier, with conditions requiring regular vet visits. Well, this past Saturday four of the muppies went to an adoption event and I’m so pleased to tell you that all four were adopted within a couple hours!

On their way to Dogtopia! This photo was before they ALL got carsick and threw up.

The rescue group had done a few posts advertising a puppy adoption event so people were able to submit adoption applications in advance and speed up the process on the day of the event.

Denise was the first muppy to be adopted. She will be an only dog and will have a new little girl to be her best friend.

Denise

Betty Lou was Boot City’s favorite muppy so it was hard for him to let her go, but she was adopted by a delightful older couple who already have one smaller dog.

Beautiful brindle Betty Lou

Rizzo was VERY popular with his adorably scruffy face and extra calm demeanor. He was adopted by a super fun family and will get to go on lots of adventures! His adoptors have already contacted me and requested baby pics.

Rizzo. Who could resist this face?!

Last, but certainly not least, to leave the building was Camilla. She went home with a young couple to be their first pet together.

Camilla and Pablo snuggles.

It is always a little big hard to let the foster dogs go, but it is so satisfying to know that we helped these puppies have the best start to life they could. Definitely much better than if they had been born on the side of a busy road, which would have been their fate had a good Samaritan not picked up Jessie and July. My hope is that their adoptors will keep in touch, but there is satisfaction in knowing they went to good homes.

Happy FriYAY all! Casey and I are headed west to a Stock Horse of Texas show. This will be my first horse show in western tack in about 15 years! Hopefully all goes well and we get some ribbons and some interest in buying Casey.

This week has been delightfully less eventful than weeks past. Still lots of prescription meds in the cabinets for various animals, but most seem to be on the mend.

Catfish and Mickey snuggles before Mickey had his surgery. Catfish is always sweet with the little dogs, even though he can’t see them.

We got nearly an inch of rain this week and the temps have been amazingly cool. The forecast for the next 10 days has the highs in the low 90s and high 80s, which is remarkable for Texas in August! I’ll take it! Sterling got the all clear last weekend for turnout (with a quiet buddy) and walk/trot rides. It has been nice to be back in the tack for some easy hill walking.

Sterling also enjoys the rain. Why is it that the horse that is closest to the color white is the one that most feels the need to roll in mud? None of the brown horses have this dirty habit.

The muppies are continuing to eat and grow,eat and grow, and eat and grow. The puppy timelines say their eyes should be open by now, but they are taking their time and appear to be enjoying their eat and grow schedule. Very few workouts for these muppies so far. I’ll probably be eating my words a week from now!

Muppy pile!

Harriet is almost done with her post-heartworm-treatment meds and is ready for YOU to adopt her! She is so wonderful and will be an amazing doggo for someone.

Harriet found/made her very own doggy canopy bed. This is her new favorite place to sleep.

Happy weekend y’all!