Livin' in the Country

Maggie, the mini horse, seems content to mull around and not have her baby. I think she's just dragging this out to irritate me. We are checking on her constantly, yet I know that this baby, like babies are wont to do, will come at 2 o'clock in the morning. The anxiety comes with the knowledge that minis have a more difficult time getting out of the birth sack, and can die if someone doesn't cut it open. I was once asked "but what do they do in the wild?" Well, last I checked, minis aren't in the wild. Of course, there used to be small, horse-like creatures that are now extinct. Ah, maybe there's the answer!

Speaking of Maggie, the chicken-killing neighbor's dog came over the other day, and his companion dog, which rarely comes over, did, too. This dog is a black lab that tries to bite you if you stick your hand through the fence though the neighbor swears he's nice once you get to know him. He's so big that when I saw him in the yard, I thought Maggie was out, for they are much the same size. The chicken-killer was eyeing Maggie through the fence, and I'm worried about whether the killing instinct will transfer over to newly born miniature foals.

So, I reluctantly called the neighbor again, and after he apologized for his dogs' foray into our territory, he asked if we were considering re-roofing our barn. Seems those 60 mph winds we had last week dumped a wheelbarrow full of shingles in his yard. His yard that is 10 feet from my barn. Whyever anyone would want to build their nice new home right behind my dilapidated, yet functional barn and my tidy, yet still, manure pile, is beyond me.

Not too long ago, dh and I discussed said barn, and concluded that while we don't want to be red-necked about it, it was better not to put much more money in that barn. It would be cheaper to tear it down and rebuild a better one. However, zoning laws are changing in our lovely (formerly agricultural, now bedroom community) county. My barn cannot be rebuilt in the same location because it is too close to the fence line and right under the electric line. I never dreamed I'd ever have a barn at all, and except for the leaky roof, it's quite nice inside and the horses are comfortable. I offered to neighbor that whenever it stormed, we'd come pick up the shingles, if he locked up his big dog.

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Commenting on Blogs
Several people new to blogging have asked me how to comment on a blog.

On homeschoolblogger.com, you have to first register a username (you do not have to have a blog, but you do have to have a name) to comment. Go to http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/signup.php
After you have a user name, you will then see a link that says Post A Comment. Unbeknownst to me (since I am always logged in, if you don't have a user name, you cannot see this link. So after you get this username, you can go to www.homeschoolblogger.com/junosmom , look at the bottom of the post, and you should see this link.

If you want to post anonymously, you could go to my other blog at http://lifetimelearning.blogspot.com/ (same content, different layout) without registering, but of course, I can't enter you in any contests I might have because I won't know who you are. Blogspot requires only that you type in a word verification to make sure you aren't just a spammer. (I've had trouble with that before.)

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