Skywatch No. 42

American Redbud tree in full bloom. We planted this tree about 8 1/2 years ago and it was just a seedling, basically a stick. It's spectaculer in full bloom. The bright blue sky really set off the color of the flowers.

Check out skies from around the world at Skywatch Friday.

Patriotic

Opening Ceremony with the American Flag at Saturday's Buxmont Riding Club Gymkhana

Samantha Shelly on Renegade

Wordless Wednesday - New Shoots

My World Tuesday

The strangest thing happened this morning that has never happened in the 9 years that we have lived in this house. A small bird crashed into the glass storm door with an audible thud. Bandit thought someone was knocking on the door. I have a plaque hanging on my front door that my mother painted of 2 chickadees and a bird house. Not sure if this little guy thought it was an actual birdhouse or what. When I looked, the little bird was on his back on my stoop, visibly stunned and panting. I turned him over and Craig came out to check him out. No idea what kind of bird this is but he's pretty small (maybe some kind of swallow?).

He picked him up and checked for broken legs or wings. He seemed physically ok but obviously knocked for a loop. He seemed to recover a bit - less panting and he was holding on to Craig's finger with his feet.

Craig very carefully placed him in a safe place in my garden and hoped that he would survive. When we checked back about an hour later, the bird was gone.

And, that is My World Tuesday...

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A Bumble in My Garden

It's been very hot here the past few days - in the 90s which is way too hot for this time of the year (the norm is about 65). The flowers are blooming like crazy and the bumble bees are out in full force.

A fat bumblebee on the grape hyacinth in my garden

Saturday Night's Gymkhana

The much anticipated Buxmont Riding Club first gymkhana of the year was Saturday night. The age groups were broken up differently this year so T was in the 14 and under Youth group (total of 11 riders in that group). She did fantastic!!!! There were 7 classes and she placed in 6 of them:

• Big H - 1st place with a time of 23.321
• Keyhole - no time (knocked over a cone)
• Cat's Cradle - 1st place with a time of 17.984
• Pole Bending - 2nd place with a time of 28.665
• One Lap - 4th place with a time of 11.406
• Barrels - 3rd place with a time of 20.859
• Speed Barrels - 2nd place with a time of 11.163
  
  

She was reserve champion for high points for the night. She had a very good time and was very happy with her placings. She'll have a bunch of points towards year end. I'm so proud of her and of Jet!!!!

Warming up

Big H

Poles

For more pics and show information, please visit my Shutterfly site.

Sunday Stills Challenge - Barns

This week's Sunday Stills Challenge - Barns. How could I not love this challenge since we have an abundance of barns in the area?!? Most of the area barns are bank barns and usually have a stone foundation with wood above and painted red. It's a style very specific to Pennsylvania.

An old dairy barn on an abandoned farm.

This farm is subject to subdivision and won't be around much longer.

The ruined foundation of an old bank barn

The local hay farmer's barns. The red bank barn on the left houses his 2 prized Black Angus cows and the loft is full of hay. The red pole on the right is where he stores most of his equipment and hay wagons.

A typical Pennsylvania bank barn with an overhang above the stall doors.

The back of a bank barn, where the barn gets its name from.

Another barn on the same property as the previous photo, used for horses.

I also had a post earlier in the month with photos of an old abandoned barn that Craig explored. You can see the pics of that barn here.

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Getting ready for the gymkhana

This afternoon is the first gymkhana of the season at Buxmont Riding Club. T has been looking forward to this gymkhana since the banquet in February. Lots to do - Jet needs to be shedded out, scrubbed, whiskers and bridle path clipped. The barn will be a flurry of activity. I'll post pics and results as soon as I can.

Raindrops on Lilacs

This lilac bush grows right outside my front door and when it is in full bloom smells absolutely heavenly. Even Bandit stops to smell the flowers, silly dog.

Skywatch No. 41

The weather has been very erratic - 40 degrees and rainy one day, close to 80 and sunny the next. We had a warm weekend followed up with 2 days of rain and thunderstorms. This was sunrise on Wednesday, after an evening of storms.




This is late afternoon of the same day, as more storms rolled through. You can see the rain in the distance.

Check out skies from around the world at Skywatch Friday.

Conditioning

Since show season is starting, we are working with Jet and Montero more and more to get rid of the winter flab and get them back into condition.

T and I use hill work to help condition the horses. We have just started working with Montero to get him fit now that he has gained some weight.

This is from last Saturday when the weather was so beautiful.

Hill Work 4-19-2009 from CTG Ponies on Vimeo.

T got new reins for gaming and we finally got them adjusted to the right length on Tuesday so she just had to try them out.


Pattern Work with Jet 4-21-2009 from CTG Ponies on Vimeo.

Wordless Wednesday - Reflection

A Milestone for Montero!

As of today, Montero is now over 1,000 pounds! The weight tape reads 1,002 which is awesome considering that he was 916 pounds on March 21st when he came to the farm. He is now at the weight that he should be and is muscling up. We are so happy with his progress!

My World Tuesday - Tractor Show

One of the things that I love about living in a fairly rural area are the things that you just happen upon. Saturday afternoon we were running errands and traveling along Route 100 which is a highway that runs north to south. In the area where we live, it's a small highway - 2 lanes total, 1 for each direction - surrounded by small towns and farmland. There was a John Deere tractor show at one of the farms along the road. The farmer who owns the property gets his fields worked for free (how cool is that!) while all the tractors do their thing.

To visit other bloggers and experience a piece of their world, check out My World Tuesday.

Buxmont Riding Club Trail Riding Clinic

T and I participated in Buxmont's trail riding clinic yesterday. The clinic was geared towards green riders/green horses and was all about safety on the trail. We started off with some exercises in the ring and followed up with a short trail ride on the trail grounds and across the street to the club President's property. The ride was at a walk and very low key. Afterwards, T rode both Jet and Montero in the riding arena. We helped some people load some problem horses in the trailers and ended up spending most of the day there. The weather held and it was a really nice day.

Sunday Stills Challenge - Religion

This week's Sunday Stills Challenge - Religion.

Here's the description:
This has no particular faith involved in this one, it can be churches or icons. Mostly its for the arcitecture of churches, I’ve seen some beautiful old churches, stained glass,etc…. So let your mind wander and see what ya can come up with.

So, here goes.

This is Swamp Lutheran Church in Gilbertsville. I love the architecture of these old churches with the soaring steeple. The street is named after this church (Lutheran Drive).
We just happened to be driving past this church at dusk and it looked so serene. I didn't realize that there was a line of geese visible until I downloaded the picture.

This is the Bethany Evangelical church. I chose this one not because it has a soaring steeple but because they actually have a neon sign that says "Jesus Saves" and it's lit up every night.

And, last but not least, a beautiful old stained glass window of one of the many churches in Churchtown in Lancaster County.

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