From the Barnyard
Friday Friday
Happy Friday everyone! I have had a fun day playing with horses and puppies. Does life get any better than that?! I just need to have a little Friday Friday ride and everything would be right with the world!
Puppies got their first meal! They thought it was pretty yummy!
SOMEONE dug up my succulents! Grr!
And dad has grapes for sale. These are Valiants. They are great for juice and jelly. And some people make wine from them. $1/lb.
Give him a call at 307-388-0708
We made it through the first whole week of school! Phew! And now it Labor day Weekend and the Rodeo! See you there!
Can't keep trouble from visiting
It is that time of year again: back-to-school, cooler nights, shorter days and the Meeteetse Labor Day Rodeo!
The 101st annual - that is 101 years of rodeo in the beautiful town of Meeteetse, Wy! And after that many years, this place knows how to put on a rodeo!
If you haven't made it to all of our rodeos this year in the Big Horn Basin, make sure not to miss this one! the weather forecast is calling for a lovely 84 degrees and partly cloudy! Perfect rodeo weather! And on top of that there are going to be some rough stock riders!
This is the biggest rough stock event for us all year! 9 bare backs, 9 saddle broncs and 18 bull riders! This is going to be a fun rodeo to watch!
Plus West Agency is sponsoring their 80-point challenge. The first bareback or bronc rider to score 80 points or better on one of Dick Gifford's horses takes home a check for $500! This makes it even more interesting!
So come Meeteetse this Monday and take in the event! We'll see you there!
For more information shoot me an email by clicking here!
Thanks for joining us here at the barnyard!
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the famers market
My dad has a huge garden and vinyard in Worland.
I mean huge! Here are some grapes.
I love this photo of the garlic!
His new toy. I think it needs a name! What should we call it?
Peaches and Cream with Sugar on Top!
Little garden helper.
Love the blackberries!
Pretty huh?
mmm! The cantalope is nearly ready!
The onions are beautiful and taste as good as they look!
Have you ever tried Patty Pan squash? I love it!
Love baby reds! Stop by and check out my dad's web page at www.StiversGarden.com
Farmer's Market Schedule
Wednesday - 4:30-6:30 at True Value, Worland
Thursday - 4:30 - 6:30 at the Marathon Building, Cody
Saturday - 8:30-11:30 Pioneer Square, Worland
Or call him at 307-388-0708.
Thanks for joining us here at the barnyard!
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Horse Turds for Meatballs - another oldie
(From March 15, 2012)
It was a lovely Wednesday evening. It is always a lovely Wednesday evening when Billie, Richellena and Freedom come for a visit. It is a lovely anyday evening when Billie, Richellena and Freedom come to visit.
Billie, Richellena and Freedom, The Girls, are our extended family. They live a mile or so down the highway and ride their horses over to our place. We always have so much fun! We play with ponies, we play with puppies, we make rice crispy treats (from Scratch, they didn’t even know you could do that! But everyone agrees it is the ONLY way to go!) It doesn’t matter that we have to do chores, or that there is often times bedroom cleaning involved, when we get together with The Girls we always have so much fun!
Yesterday was especially fun! The weather is just warming enough to make the evenings comfortable and everyone wanted to be outside!
The kids caught both little ponies.
Oh yeah, did I tell you we bought another little pony for the little cowgirl to train? His name is Froggy and we paid waaaaaaaay too much for him.
And he has been worth every dime!
Anyway the kids had the ponies out, and then there are like what, 11 dogs on the ranch right now. So 5 kids + 11 dogs + 2 mini ponies equals great joy!
The first time I looked The Boy had S’mores and he was trying to climb on her back. Poor Boy has not got the greatest coordination right now. And how could he? He grows 2 inches every-other-week and that is just the size of his feet! Anyhow – The Boy had S’mores and he was trying to mount up. To complicate his life he had a rifle (toy) in one hand and refused to put it down for his horse back adventure. He gave a great leap and went up -
And Over –
And back down.
S’mores just stood there while he giggled laying under her big pony belly.
Then Richellena and the little cowgirl fashioned a wagon out of the new sled the kids got for Christmas. (That we haven’t used because there hasn’t been any snow.) And baling twine (a favorite building material on most ranches) and two pillows.
I held my mommy tongue.
I didn’t fuss because the sled could get ruined on the dirt.
I didn’t fuss because the pillows belong in the house and they should at least have pillow cases on them.
And it was worth it. Nothing got ruined. Nothing got hurt and everyone had fun!
They had the ponies in the front yard. We just built the front yard fence and it was useless. The dogs didn't stay in. The chickens didn't stay out. Then the chickens would get in and couldn't get out, which allowed the dogs that didn't stay in, to come in and catch the chickens who should stay out, but come in and then can’t get out. And the kids can’t go in or out and I hate opening the gates as well…. So in short the front yard fence is coming down!
The kids did have fun in it last night.
They had both the ponies in there. I looked once to see The Boy on Froggy. The Boy's ankles were near Froggy’s ears, his knees on either side of Froggy’s neck and his giggling head was resting on Froggy’s back. All the while he was laughing and encouraging Froggy to move by giving him a tap in his butt with his toy riffle every time he stopped.
This was frequently.
Richellena had raked the yard to perfection.
And The Little Cowgirl and Freedom were “Cooking.”
Freedom said, “We are making pasta. We have straw for the spaghetti, oats for the sprinkles and we have horse turds for meat balls.”
It is a good thing they had not come up with any pasta sauce yet!
Come back again for more barnyard fun!
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Monkey the wonder mare
The person who said diamonds are a girl's best friend, never owned a horse.
Update - Monkey has found her home! She is going to be a pampered kid horse!
And if you want to talk about a horse that will be your best friend, you don't have to look any farther than Monkey. She meets you at the gate and just looks for someone to give her attention. She is full of love, has tons of heart and is kind and gentle.
When Dick first brought her home, I have to admit, I wasn't in love. But the little gal was always following me around and getting into things. "What are you doing you little monkey?" I would ask her. And in short order she became Monkey.
We bought her from some people that had saddled her and done some ground work but never had the guts to climb on up. So I did.
Boy did they miss out! She is a doll! Turns, stops, backs, lopes, every single thing I asked her to do, she did it on her first ride! Krysti was watching just assumed Monkey was a broke horse. No one would ever have known it was her first ride.
Krysti and I took her up for our Friday, Friday! ride a few weeks ago. Her first ride "out." Other than the scary lava monster that was the highway (which we quickly jumped into and learned it wasn't so bad) Monkey never took a bad step!
So today The Little Cowgirl rode Jet, out all by herself.
The Boy rode Jalopy, The Western Original rode Prince.
And I rode Monkey on her third ride! (Well, technically I rode her for 5 minutes early this spring for her second ride, which makes this her fourth ride, but I am choosing not to count that.)
We ponied horses, crossed raging rivers (ok maybe just a creek but still…) went up and down hills and rode through a loose herd of horses. She is amazing. I love her. She loves everyone. She'll be someone's best friend!
Thanks for joining us here at the barnyard come back soon!
Thanks for joining us here at the barnyard!
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Down at the Cove
The weather has been hot and muggy the last few days. At least pretty muggy for us! So I decided to load up the kids, a bunch of dogs and an inner tube and head down to the cove. There is a nice little spot in the creek where it bends back and has made a nice swimming hole that has sand at the bottom. A perfect little summer retreat only about a mile from the house.
Kelsey's pups are two weeks old, so I decided it was time for her to have her first "mommy break." She loves swimming! During the summer she nearly always has muddy feet from playing in the ditch so this trip was right up her alley!
I also took Sammy and Delilah and Lilly and Chief. I think this is the only pic I got of them all together. They had so much fun!
Lilly and Sammy checking out the water.
Lilly got too close! Poor baby! She went in head first!
She was really felling bad for herself.
And her poor ears were so full of mud!
I cleaned out her ears, and she got some cuddle time, dried out and was feeling much better shortly. If you want a little water buddy, give us a call.
My guy wanted one last trip on the tube!
Trouble is coming...
"Uh-Oh"
One last attempt...
Bottoms UP!
Thanks for joining us at our summer escape! Come back soon!
Thanks for joining us here at the barnyard!
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Lilly
Update - Lilly found the perfect home! She went back to Rapid City, SD, just about 45 miles from where I was born! She has a beautiful family with three kids, and two wonderful parents! Thanks so much guys! Check out the Dals here.
Here is Lilly, she is the last remaining puppy of Delilah and Elvis that was born on father's day. She is a super sweet little girl. Very quiet and loving.
She got into a little wet paint before we left for the Farmers Market. But while we were there, she stayed by my feet the whole time and didn't get into any trouble. She played with the kids.
And when she got tired she crawled into the basket under the stroller.
When they walked down the road she road in the basket for a little while, then got moved to the seat with my nephew. She never bit him or even nibbled on his ears. A truly amazing accomplishment for a little teething, playful puppy.
What a good little puppy! She comes with a puppy contract/health guarantee. UTD on shots and ready to go! Come and meet Lilly for yourself and see what a little sweetheart she is! 307-254-3968.
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Squindians - an oldie but a goodie
A field trip to the theater to watch a play with a class full of second graders and my 8-year-old son, what could possibly go wrong?
First thing we arrive to eat our picnic lunch and have a frolic on the play ground. As Aiden was unpacking our lunch, I notice the fried chicken, the Main Event, was missing! Could it have been misplaced while Aiden was sorting through our lunch bag earlier in the morning? Possibly!
After a rather uneventful, well, lets just say it, a very boring production of the “Villager and the Magic Stone” we jumped onto the bus for the ride home, without so much as a bathroom break. All the soda I drank at lunch to make up for a lack of protein was beginning to catch up to me.
But we were on the way home and I was watching the mile markers fly by, when suddenly across the aisle from me, and pointed very much in my direction, the little boy with the stomach ache proved to all of us he was not imagining his symptoms.
I got puked on.
So after a hasty clean up, still not terribly close to home, I asked Aiden to tell me a a story about Indians to fill the time. I am not sure whether it was Aiden’s inability to hear me correctly, ever, the bus driving down the rumble strip, again, or the fact that I had my hand cupped over my nose and mouth to keep the smell of vomit from overtaking me that made Aiden think I said Squindians, but like a trooper he jumped in.
“Squindians,” he said, “are little men that eat raw fish.” For a bottomless pit, garbage disposal and growing boy, all of life seems to revolve around food. It is no wonder his story would start that way.
“Really, raw fish,” I said, “their breath must be terrible!” Worse than the smell on the bus? Doubtful.
Yes, raw fish and live squid!
Is that all?
No sometimes they nibble the fungus that grows between your toes!
Really, well that is handy.
Yes, especially if you are being attacked by squid.
Ah... yes.
What else do Squindians do?
Well, they chop firewood. Even though they are very small, they easily chop firewood. And if they chop off their heads, they just grow back!
This from the boy who not long ago nearly lost a toe in an adventure similar to this. Re-growing appendages must me a useful sounding phenomena to an accident prone 8-year-old boy.
And - when their heads grow back their faces are clean! They don’t even have to wash them!
Oh- autonomy is sounding handier yet!
What else
Sometimes you can keep them for a pet.
Do they make good pets?
Yes, except the red ones. They have outrageous attitudes!
Outrages attitudes! Where does he come up with this?
What do you do if you get one with an outrageous attitude? I ask.
Eat them, he says. Again with the food.
What do they taste like?
Like Jelly Beans.
Sure, why would something that eats raw fish, live squid and toe jam taste like anything other than Jelly Beans?
What flavor Jelly Beans? I ask.
Well the blue ones taste like raspberry and the red ones are red hot!
That’s sensible. How long do they usually live?
Well they live as long as you live. But if you die, they die ten minutes later because they miss you so bad.
This assuming you haven’t already eaten the loyal little critters
Aiden went on to describe some of the more complex, and comic-book-style features that Squindians possess. But civilization was looming, and my detention on the yellow flu asylum was coming to an end
Tomorrow maybe I can get him to draw us a picture, (in between meals.)
A little home grown fun.
Thanks for joining us here at the barnyard!
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