Ground Work

Sunshine all day long.  In the 80s.  When we moved to the farm in 1981 there were no pastures or stalls, and this area was all cement (decades ago they had cows).  Over the years enough dirt has built up to allow the grass to grow and this is the very best it has ever been.  When there were more horses here we would put the hay in this area so it was well seeded.

Another new blossom.

After chores I made a quick trip to Wegmans and they had a gazillion mum plants for sale.

I did not buy any.

When I got back to the farm I was feeling ambitious as the house was nice and cool, so I made a big batch of bean salad.

Then I picked some raspberries and wanted to make a pie.

There were not enough raspberries so I added blueberries.  That was still not enough as I was making a no bake pie and need to heat up some of the fruit and thicken it before adding more of the fresh ones.  So.....I had just thawed out a big jar of raspberry jam that I made last year (had cooked down the berries with very little sugar and some lemon juice to thicken them)...heated it up with some cornstarch and added a few of the fresh berries...then I let it cool.

Put it in the pie shell and then in the frig.  We tried a little slice with Janet before dinner.  Dessert first and it was delicious topped with whipped cream.

Prior to testing it, Janet and I decided to do a little ground work with Ronin and Rebel.

After grooming, we took them over to the indoor and Seamus decided he wanted to join us.  (He chose not to come into the grooming room while we were getting ready).

We had set up some ground poles and tried some in hand work.

Part of the time Seamus followed Rebel and part of the time he watched.

This was a fun exercise.  Getting them to keep their feet on either side of the pole.  Janet has done a lot of this, and I have never worked in hand with Rebel.  Today he was a pretty quick study.  I would love to do this again when it's not so hot....he is such a good boy.

Seamus went over poles on his own.

When finished, we turned them out for awhile and that's when we went in for pie.

Rebel and Ronin were in their stalls chowing and Seamus was still out in the pasture.  I love it when he canters in when I call him.

We had a simple dinner.

Night all.