The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread! - Thread EIGHT

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[HairOfTheDog]

Yes, we could ride the logging roads... and many of them are gated in winter so we wouldn't even have to worry about fast oncoming jeeps :~D

Trouble is, in winter, I just don't feel like going :~\

Come March, when we start getting some of the bright sunny early spring days, I'm sure we'll start getting the bug.

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

I just leave them. I don't know where they go, but in the summer most will disappear. I guess they just blow away. Last Fri. When JP was here I raked big piles up in the front yard, then pushed him thru them on his tractor:)

One corner of our property is very very wooded the leaves out there don't get blown away. There is inches deep of old leaves from past years. I've tried burning them because nothing will grow with them that thick. But they are so thick that under the top layer it stays damp year round. I've just never been able to burn them off enough to get to the ground. I don't want to thin the trees out, pulls up too many rocks, or causes saplings to grow.

Becky

[FrogInABlender]

I like your feeders. The view out your new door is really nice. It would be nice sitting there in the sun on a winter day. I'll bet the cat will like it too. As for putting corn out for the deer, I'll get the squirrels would get it before the deer even knew it was there. They're crafty little buggers.

[HairOfTheDog]

Have you tried to just throw grass seed on it as is? Only thing I could think is maybe put down a couple inches of topsoil on top and seed it.

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

The squirrels around here are either very stupid or suicidal. With all the trees around it always amazes me how often he catches them. I've watched him before when I'm out trail riding, and he'll chase them into the woods where the trees are just thick, and he'll come back with it. I figure they want to be caught:) Josey, the blue heeler we had that got killed use to catch them occasionally, but Grizzly gets one almost every ride.

Becky

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

Thanks.

That's pretty much what I thought. Squirrels can really eat alot:) That's another reason the squirrel feeder may come down. Depends on how expensive this gets:) I didn't feed birds last winter, but the couple of years before that that I did it, I was really spending alot on feed. But I really like watching the birds. I just put them up this morning, and I've already got a few chickadees coming:)

Becky

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

No, I've never thrown grass seed out there. Do you think it would grow? It would have to be a type that would grow in the shade.

Becky

[HairOfTheDog]

Seed might germinate and thrive out there. If it stays damp and is full of lots of good decomposing leaves, it ought to do great. Heck.... grass will grow in a crack in the driveway... we ought to be able to grow it out there. :~D

Course, if you got good grass established you'd want to rake the leaves off it in later years, because it'll just smother it.

[FrogInABlender]

Aw, you've really got to try it. Once you get used to getting up and going I'll bet you'd really enjoy it. Especially now that you have a full time riding buddy. You could pack a lunch and stop somewhere and build a little fire. We do that all the time. We'll take weenies and marshmellows and roast 'em and sit and warm our toes. It's really nice! I know it's way to easy to become a couch potato in the winter time, but going for a good ride really seems to improve my mood.

Plus, I get most of my best pictures in the winter when the leaves are off. This one was taken January 15th. We never even knew this waterfall was there before this picture was taken. It was within sight of the trail that we ride all the time, but it's dry in the summer so you couldn't hear it and the leaves kept it covered so you couldn't see it...

The same with these big rock shelters. You can't even get to them in the summer for all the undergrowth, much less see them...

And you don't have to worry about SNAKES! I know you don't have them, but we sure as heck do.

[HairOfTheDog]

Your enormous rocks are just really super cool. I'd like to go ride down there sometime.

[FrogInABlender]

...There is inches deep of old leaves from past years. I've tried burning them because nothing will grow with them that thick...

Hey, that's a good thing! Undergrowth doesn't get a chance to get a foothold either and choke up all your woods. Honeysuckle and Privet hedge have just about taken over all the woods around here. You can hardly walk through them.

[FrogInABlender]

Nah, grass won't grow in shade that deep, plus with all that oak leaf mulch, the soil will be so acidic that you'd have to spread a ton of lime to get anything other than moss to grow. We've been there and tried all that with my Mom's yard and it never worked. If I could figure out how to kill ALL the grass and just have the moss I'd do it coz the moss is so deep and thick that it's really pretty, plus she wouldn't have to mow it.

[FrogInABlender]

Hey, come on down sometimes and we'll take you out. We'd set you up with a nice SMOOTH riding horse too. Who knows, you might even get spoiled and want one yourself. Stranger things have happened. ;o)

[HairOfTheDog]

Someday maybe, if I can ever travel again :~D

[FrogInABlender]

Hey, I was over on the "Pat a Dog" thread and read the story that lady told about the old man in the nursing home wanting to see his dog one last time and it about broke me up. It was so sweet but so sad at the same time that it was almost unbearable. I had to leave my desk and go get a tissue. I guess because that's where I see myself in about 40 years if I live that long. I think it's really nice that you took the time to take your pets to visit at nursing homes. I think they should allow the residents to have pets if they want to, as long as they're not too big and are well trained.

[Beaker]

http://www.yankeeflipper.com/droll/index.cfm. THe video is pretty pixelated, but I think you'lll get the drift. Just click on the format that you want.

[HairOfTheDog]

One of the nursing homes, a woman had her white cat with her... the cat followed her, right under her feet, everywhere she went... I was afraid she was going to trip the lady :~D

And many of the nursing homes have their own resident pets.

But I can see how too many would be pandemonium, with people only at varying degrees of being able to take care of them.

But visiting the nursing homes was really rewarding. I think the other poster and I will be doing that again come spring... she lives in the same town I do.

[HairOfTheDog]

Note, I had to delete the period at the end for your link to work.

I wouldn't want to foil squirrels, I like them more than the birds :~D

[CindyDawg]

Is that you standing there? I didn't notice at first and thought I was looking for a snake under some rocks:') Cool pictures. I like waterfalls.

[CindyDawg]

I'll see you at the shower. I have to find the invitation now. I know a lot of people are ok with it and that's fine but I really don't like gift registries.

I'm leaving right after though caz I want to get back and try to ride Sunday.