Tuesday's Tails - 02/25/2014

Hmmmm...I guess we know how Missy Mare feels about getting her picture taken! ;)

Tuesday's Tails - 02/11/2014

Sunday, we tore down the old pieced together with chicken wire, T-posts, pallets and cattle panels chicken run and put up this new one. When I removed the wire holding the old gate to the T-post, it actually fell over because the termites had eaten the bottom! Jerry likes this MUCH better, the old one was a real eyesore. Here is a picture from 2011, the coop is out of the picture to the left. Quite an improvement I'd say!

The new run is a 10 x 10 x 6-foot chain link dog kennel that we purchased from Tractor Supply. We also purchased two extra 10 x 6-foot chain link panels to make it 10 x 20 x 6-foot and purchased the shade/roof kit. We covered the open top area with 2 x 4-inch wire. The chickens wouldn't come out of their coop when we opened their little door so Jerry went in and chased them out. Once they got out, they seemed to really like it. They have extra room too as the old run was only 8 x 16. What Jerry and I really like though is the 6-foot height, the old height was only 4 1/2 feet. I still catch myself stooping over when I go in to give them feed and water. ;)

By the way, I LOVE Tractor Supply and am really glad they finally made it to Arizona and to our little town!

Tuesday's Tails - 11/12/2013

I just loved this little brindle calf used in the cattle handling demonstration at the Empire Ranch Roundup and Open House recently. :)

Joining Madge for the Rurality Blog Hop.

Tuesday's Tails - 11/05/2013

Bert taking a nap up in the rafters of the carport. :)

Tuesday's Tails - 10/29/2013

Well, Red Dog is a Kelpie after all and they were bred to be sheep dogs but I don't know why he had to steal my Serta Counting Sheep from off the bed!

He seems to be a bit of a klepto. So far, he pilfered my sheep, he came home with somedog's bone, he procured a little stuffed animal dog somewhere and brought it home ("But, Mom, he followed me home, can't I keep him? Please, please!"), and last night, he wanted to bring in a dead bird that more than likely belonged to the barn kitties...I drew the line at that one!! ;)

Tuesday's Tails - 09/17/2013

I love watching the hawks soaring overhead. :)
I believe this is a Swainson's Hawk, also called a Locust Hawk or Grasshopper Hawk. This morning, one was swooping down to the ground behind the house, probably after the hordes of grasshoppers we have this year. Unfortunately, I couldn't get to the camera quick enough for a close-up picture.

I took these yesterday as the hawk was riding the thermals. We used to see mostly Red-Tailed Hawks around here but the Swainson's Hawks seem to be taking over. What types of hawks do you have where you live?

Tuesday's Tails - 09/10/2013

Well, we got a couple of new barn cats after losing Barn Kitty awhile back. We have had them for about a month and a half now. We got them from one of our friends at the Farmer's Market, two little males. This is Ernie, he has already survived a rattlesnake bite since coming to live here.

This is Bert, he is hunting a grasshopper. They are a couple of little characters (as are most kittens), very friendly and always wanting to be petted.

For the first month, they stayed at the barn, like good barn cats, and hung out in the hay. They have since decided it's LOTS more fun to hang out up here at the house. When we go down to the barn to feed, we have quite the parade...Jerry, me, Buddy, Red Dog, Bert and Ernie. Yep, they follow us!

Bert got that grasshopper, yum! ;)

Tuesday's Tails - 08/20/2013

We picked up Red from the Animal Shelter this afternoon. He seems to be none the worse for wear from his surgery yesterday. Well, except for the nasty doggie farts in the car on the way home! (Gag!)

The introductions to Buddy, the barn kittens, the horses, the chickens and the goats went well for the first time. The kittens just hissed at him and hid under the hay and the goats were 'on point' the whole time they could see him, which is to be expected when introducing a new "Wolf" to the barnyard. Red and Buddy will get along just fine.

I do hope this works out though. It is a stormy afternoon here in Beautiful Southeastern Arizona and Buddy is a big scardey-dog about thunder. His safe zone is under the front porch during storms and he AIN'T coming out for NOTHIN'. We did manage to keep Buddy in the pasture when we brought Red home and I went down to sit with the dogs in the barn to get them settled. Red left and ran up to the gate but came back when I called him, the first time anyway. The second time he ran to the gate, he just scooted his butt right under and headed towards the house. I think he was looking for Jerry, who seems to be his designated human. Since he was already out, I went ahead and let Buddy out so he could go under the porch and not be so neurotic. Red went in the shop with Jerry and promptly settled down under the work bench.

I don't know what is going to happen tonight. I think Red would climb the fence to get up to the house even if we blocked the space under the gate. I sure hope he is still here in the morning. At least he has a collar and tag on in case he wanders off. Wish us luck...

Tuesday's Tails - 05/21/2013

Our friends' mare foaled last week and I wanted to share some pictures of the cute little colt, Max.

Max's dad is a pure black, registered Percheron named Bismark, (I forgot to take pictures of him) and his mom is a registered Thoroughbred named Duchess.



Duchess

Our friends have had Bismark since he was a colt and he was a Dressage horse, he's retired now. They have used him as a stud several times over the years because of his sweet disposition. Bismark is now getting pretty old and they wanted to have one of his babies to carry on the line.

They bought Duchess off of Craigslist last year. She was in pretty poor shape when they picked her up but they got her back in good health and then bred her to Bismark. Duchess is approximately 17 hands tall and Bismark is 18 hands.

Mix is only 11 days old in these pictures, he's gonna be a big boy! He has been handled quite a bit in his young life and he kind of thinks he's a dog or maybe a people! I have seen a lot of foals that always stay on the far side of their mom and won't let anyone approach them. Not Max!! He wants to be in everybody's back pocket, even if he's never seen you before! :)

It was fun getting to go spend some time with the little guy and I look forward to future visits!
Sharing with the Rurality Blog Hop.

Tuesday's Tails - 05/14/2013

We just never know who we'll run into on our morning walks through the pasture! :)

Sharing with Tuesday Muse, Texture Tuesday and Rurality Blog Hop.

Converted to B&W with PSE11 Newspaper effect and edited with nc_Braveheart texture Multiply 75% and kk_Partings texture Multiply 75%.

Tuesday's Tails - 04/30/2013

This is most definitely NOT the kind of tail we like seeing here at the Lazy J Bar C!

This rattlesnake got himself tangled up in the bird netting covering the dwarf peach tree. Since there was NO WAY I was going to try and cut him free, Jerry sent him to snake heaven with the shotgun. Now, before you guys get to thinking we are snake haters, go here to see how we saved the gopher snake from the bird netting two years ago. This is actually only the second rattlesnake we have seen on our property in the eight years we have lived here.

Tuesday's Tails - 04/16/2013

I finally have proof that we have a barn cat! Meet Barn Kitty. He is usually VERY camera shy. We see him quite often but usually not close enough to get pictures. These pictures were taken through the kitchen window and the texture is courtesy of the window screen. LOL!!

Well, the other day, Jerry was working down at the barn so Barn Kitty decided he would come up by the house to get a drink of water. We keep his food and water (and Buddy's too) at the barn inside the fenced pasture so that there are no problems with coyotes or javelina stopping by for a snack.

We also have a water dish here at the house but hadn't been filling it up because Buddy and all the neighborhood dogs have been drinking out of the Cowboy Fish Pond. Since Barn Kitty is a little shorter than the dogs, we now keep it full! :)

Linking up with Nancy for Tuesday Muse.

Tuesday's Tails - 2/12/2013

We have a small herd of mule deer that wanders through quite often. I photographed this young buck out the kitchen window last week.

See ya' later little fella! :)

The Cats

Ruby is my very own "pillow pet!" She usually sleeps behind this pillow so I was happy to get this picture. :)

Her son, Bob, LOVES it when we have a fire, he has got to be the most cold blooded cat ever! See how his right ear is turned around listening to me? ;)

We also have a barn cat, I actually saw it for REAL the other afternoon lying on the pallets watching us while we were feeding. We aren't even sure if it is a male or a female but since it has been coming up on the front porch recently "talking" to Ruby and Bob (at 3 AM!!), I'm starting to think female...in heat! If so, we should be seeing more barn cats shortly! I keep hoping to get pictures of her, she's a pretty orange tabby.

First Of The Month - September

I'm joining Jan for her First of the Month meme all this year. Here are the ground rules per her site: "The goal is to capture one thing repeatedly on the first of each month. It can be a landscape, a person, an animal, a project; whatever your focus is, is fine. It can even be a record of where you are each First of the Month."

I'm late with my First Of The Month post for September, mostly because I couldn't come up with anything new to say about my sweet little Daphne so I thought I would share a "portrait" of her. Doesn't she look like a perfect little angel? :)

BUT, just so ya'll don't get the wrong idea, this is why she had such an intent look on her face!

She sure did run when the window banged shut! LOL!!

Buddy's Ancestor?

Jerry enjoys reading True West Magazine. They always have interesting stories and really great pictures from the old west. I was looking through his latest copy yesterday and came across this picture in a story about Indian scouts in Arizona and New Mexico.

Our dog, Buddy, looks just like the dog on the left!! He would look even more like him if we hadn't been brushing him for the past two months trying to get all his extra winter coat off.

I thought that was pretty cool! :)

Tuesday's Tails - 06/12/2012

I thought I'd share some pictures I've taken recently of some of our native wildlife. First up, a family of Gambel's quail hangin' out underneath the dwarf peach tree. These pictures were taken through the kitchen window, I love watching all the goings on out back! :)

Next, I caught this lizard sunning himself on a rock in the back yard. Hmmm, his tail looks suspiciously short.

The turkey vultures were cruising around one morning looking for breakfast. Yeah, I see you lookin' at me!!

This next one is a little out of focus but I like it anyway.

Finally, I mentioned the javelina last fall and some of you had never seen. Well...guess who happened to stroll down the road early one morning recently? Best of all, my camera was within easy reach! :) This one was all alone which makes me think it was a male. He was pretty big too! To give you some perspective, the dark strand of barbed wire running across the top of his back is 27 inches high. I figure he was 30 inches at the highest point on his back. There are two fences in the picture, the lighter-colored straight wire (ahem, OUR fence) was about 6 feet in front of him.

Tuesday's Tails - June 05, 2012

For the past several days, every evening about dusk, the mule deer come wandering through the front yard. They are stopping to nibble on the fallen yucca flowers. Sorry about the quality of the pictures, I was shooting through the front window. :)

Uh oh! I've been spotted! The one on the left is a young buck, you can see his little antlers.

Off they go to see what they can find to eat at the neighbors' place! There are seven deer in this picture (two butts on the far left). There were at least five or six more in this particular group. I'm glad to see they are finding something to eat this year, as opposed to last year.

Tuesday's Tails - My What Big Ears You Have!

We have a LOT of jackrabbits and cottontails around here, mostly because the dog, Buddy, doesn't chase them! :) The rabbits are usually most active real early in the morning or late in the evening, not very conducive to picture taking. I got pictures of this guy enjoying a little nibble of grass through the kitchen window in the late afternoon recently.

It always amazes me how big these guys are. Here is a little fun info from National Geographic.

"Jackrabbits are actually hares, not rabbits. Hares are larger than rabbits, and they typically have taller hind legs and longer ears. Jackrabbits were named for their ears, which initially caused some people to refer to them as "jackass rabbits." The writer Mark Twain brought this name to fame by using it in his book of western adventure, Roughing It. The name was later shortened to jackrabbit." They can be up to 24 inches tall and weigh up to 9 pounds.

Tuesday's Tails - 5/15/2012

How about some pictures of our VERY spoiled cats for today's post?!? :)


1350 square feet and we ALL have to sit on the sofa after supper!




Bob wasn't very happy about getting his picture taken.




Ruby loves her humans and a good belly rub!




The cats have their own bedroom.




This picture was taken from outside and I thought it was cool that you could see
the Whetstone mountains reflected in the window.