Tick....Tick....Tick.....ZOOM!

July? JULY?!? What do you mean it's July? Where the heck did June go?? Oy. I think I have whiplash. *facepalm* I can't believe the summer is half over already! Well, at least for me it is. Seems the PTB's (Powers-That-Be) have once again changed our school calendar and we're back to work at the end of July. Probably wouldn't have been so bad had we not just finished up the school year in the first week of June. *sigh* I feel like I've spent the whole month running around like a lunatic and have precious little to show for it. Outside of wearing myself out, that is. My grand plan (and hahaha, right?) was to spend most of June outside playing *ahem* working with the horses and finishing up outdoor projects, then migrate indoors to work on our online stuff because it just gets so doggone hot outside in July. And what in the world was I thinking, making plans? Raspberries! As I mentioned in last week's post, the temperatures here have been bizarrely high and the heat indices were off the charts so I reluctantly flipped my summer around and started on the indoor stuff. Has it been crazy hot at your house? A week or two ago, I started working on our website (a behind the scenes total overhaul) and wouldn't you know it? Now that I'm hip deep in edits, the temperatures have dropped back into the normal ranges, so you know what that means. The website might have to wait a bit longer *rubbing hands together with glee* 'cause it's GAME ON. I'm coming to get you Maddeus Maximus! Mwah-ha-ha-ha...
[photo inset: A droopy little dragonfly who stopped to rest for a bit on a nearby post at feeding time when it was so heinously hot. I know just how you feel buddy ;o)

THIS is the gate for Max's stall; broken in several places and hanging drunkenly from its hinges. Isn't it lovely? (I'll interject an apology here for the obnoxious weeds in the background. We've had quite a bit of rain recently and they are currently thriving - it's on "The List" *sigh*) You'd think it was 500 years old as sad and broken down as it is, but it's not. No, this is a relatively new gate. Its two predecessors (which were constructed using 2x4's) met fairly quick and untimely deaths, so the third generation replacement (this one) was constructed using far sturdier 2x6's. Yes, well. Although it has lasted longer, this gate was also doomed from the start due to a certain BLOCKHEAD WHO WON'T STOP STANDING ON IT!!! *snarl* I am, of course, referring to Mad Max; our resident hoovenile delinquent. Sometimes that boy just makes my eye twitch. I think it's a safe bet to say that everyone within a 50 mile radius of the farm knows that there is a "mentally challenged" and mischievous nitwit named Max, who is in constant trouble, living somewhere in the vicinity. I say this because I bellow it with annoying regularity; generally along the lines of, "MAAAAAAX. ARRGH! What is WRONG with you? HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND?!?" If I weren't so all fired certain that there was an amazing equine buried under all that idiot I would have drop-shipped him to some remote village in the Tibeten Mountains by now (Timbuktu is passe and besides, just think of all the climbing he could do. OVER THERE ;o)

How to describe Max to the unitiated? Did you see that nice hole in the panel on the previous photo? That, was compliments of Shadow's hoof; Max aggravates him constantly. He has figured out how to "roll" his head sideways over the top of the panel and bite Shadow in the boo-tay. I yelled at Shadow for two straight weeks to quit kicking the panel before I finally caught that sneaky snothead in the act. UGH. Max would definitely qualify as the annoying "little brother" that Shadow never wanted (this post),  He is spatially challenged. He is the arch nemesis of Cinnamon and destructor of the divider/round pen panel (this post). He suffers from advanced stage BCSS (Bull-in-China-Shop Syndrome). He killed Larry, Moe and Curly... (this post). He talked Champ into staking midnight raids on Mr. T's vegetable garden at the top of the pasture. Little booger even found a way to sneak into the fenced off area where we store the new hay (caught on video here). I could go on all day, I think. I suppose if you wanted to get technical, we could call him a therapy horse. After all, he certainly does aggravate everyone to the point we need therapy. *grin*
[photo inset: Max, standing by the water trough outside his stall and pretending he can't see me. Not a remarkable photo, perhaps, except that I had just left that little miscreant locked inside his stall. MAAAAAAAX!]

DH has been stockpiling lumber for the boy's stalls; again. With all of my medical misadventures, we got a little financially sidetracked for awhile. Unfortunately, they will need to be completely redone. When we built them the first time, we had gotten a great deal on some culled pressure treated lumber, that was supposed to have been fine (outside of aesthetics). Do I even need to finish that thought for you? *sigh* It has NOT held up well at all; the walls are pretty much falling down around the horses as we speak. One of the things on the list for the boys's (or is it s'? I never remember that one) new-new stalls is a "climbing wall" for our perpetual problem child. I've already got the plans, and I'm hoping that will keep him from killing off any more gates, panels, and/or stall walls. I'm also going to introduce him to Bella's pedestals as soon as we get the riding area fixed. It didn't weather that horrible wind storm we had too well (this post) and part of the fence is down. Somehow, I have the feeling that Max will take to pedestals like a fish to water ;o) Speaking of pedestals, I really wish I'd had my camera with me the other day when our farrier was here. He had raised a brow at the condition of Max's gate (and stall) as he began filing his front hoof (for my non-horsey friends, the farrier put his foot on a metal tripod kind of like this one). No sooner had I finished my explanation of Max's annoying tendency to stand on everything around him, when Max suddenly lifted his other front foot from the ground and stood straight up on the farrier's stand. I could have sworn I heard him say "WHEEEE" before the stand tipped over and he was back on the ground all but shrugging and looking at us like What?!? As the farrier and his assistant stood there gaping (poor man had apparently only thought he'd seen it all), I simply hung my head. You know, as much as I love to talk sometimes there are just no words to be found.
[photo inset: The top of the gatepost by the girls's stalls - isn't that cool? I love wood!]

I'll sign off with a few photos I took at feeding time yesterday. DH found a squirrel sitting by the fence for me to photograph, but by the time I'd grabbed the camera the little gal (right?) was already on the run up a tree. I got what I could, which was basically: Going...

Going...

Gone! Well most of her anyway, eh? ;o)

Believe it or not I did manage to get one more shot - although the little hussy was all the way at the tippity top of a [very tall] tree keeping an eye on DH, who was tapping the trunk trying to get her to move so I could find her through the lens. I almost went over backwards getting the shot, as I had to lean back pretty darn far; and wouldn't that have been special? Not to mention totally me. *laugh*
AHA! Found her:

This week's random thought: If you're ever interested in learning to use essential oils, start with Lavender. Amazing stuff: great for bug bites, making insect repellent, soothing burns, treating poison ivy and rashes, softening your hair, strengthening eyelashes, ingrown toenails (stops the hurt), and preventing/treating muscle cramps. I mix a drop with my foot lotion and it has stopped the awful cramps I kept getting in the arch of my foot. The horses love it too; totally relaxes them. Weird, but true ;o)

Have a blessed and safe Fourth everyone - thank you so much for reading [this far] and I'll see you next week!