Ducks 4 in '24

[ducks4you]

I was reading about Reina, Baymule's horse. I didn't want to hijack her thread, so I posting here.
People should understand that the horse training NEVER stops. DD has been helping me with horse chores. She turned out Buster Brown yesterday and he pulled the squeel and rear and disobediance crap with her and scared her.
Not acceptable!
I pulled out the rather unused synthetic knotted roped halter and attached lead.
Looks like this:

The knots on the noseband give you more leverage. I had been letting him graze on the walk out to the gate, but that stopped today. We did some backing up and halting. He was listening Better. He knows the routine, I lead out, change sides so I am leading on his right side, ask him to walk around the gate and put his head Over the gate and wait for me to take his halter off AS HE FACES ME.
We made it to the gate and then he scooted away on my side of the gate, so I popped his butt. THEN, he behaved.
Funny, Cup and Cakes, all 16.3hh and ~1,350 pounds of him behaves PERFECTLY for DD. When we present his halter at his stall gate (stall made from 3 round pen panels and a round pen gate,) he puts his head over the gate and moves his head accordingly so that I/we can buckle the halter on, and I never completely buckle Any halter, btw. Then he backs up, waits for the stall gate to open, and sometimes he is walked out immediately, sometimes he has to back up and wait, walk forward, back again, whatever I decide is best. He will back up into a gate, a wall, the horse trailer outside, bc we have done this so often. He did NONE of this when I brought him home.
He does the same, walks around the 13 ft long gate, puts his head over the gate and waits to be dehaltered.
These simple disciplines have worked on EVERY HORSE that I have kept.
I read, back in 1985, don't Ever turn a horse out to a turnout area facing AWAY from you. The horse can become excited, agitated, anxious, take off and kick YOU. Facing me, the horse must turn before running off and acting stupid, which is what they all do. It takes a few moments to turn away and they will plant their back legs and won't kick.
I always make my horses face ME. If the horse is nervous, and they don't do it right, I have, on occasion, put the horse back in his stall to wait for tomorrow.
Ignoring a horse or dog who doesn't behave is a very safe way to make a point, and dogs understand being ignored, too.

They are smart enough to understand this.
I looked up a similar halter online. Here was one comment:
“This is a great training halter and the knots help the horses focus and pay attention to what you’re asking.”

 

[Marie2020]

Just picked these up from the post office, from Kohl's.
One of my winter boots is separated, and one might have a hole, sortof forgot. The others are waterproof, fit well, but it takes 10 minutes to put them on.
THESE were on clearance, And I had Kohl's Cash and another coupon, And free shipping, so the price was right!
I wear 8 1/2 wide, but they didn't have that, so I bought 1/2 a size up. I have done this before. This should see me through the rest of the winter.

​	​ ​ Columbia Ice Maiden II Women's Waterproof Snow Boots​ Color: Cordovan, Size: 9, Qty: 1​ SKU # 95238280​

I like those boots a lot

 

[ducks4you]

DD's unloaded all of the meat yesterday for us!!!
We had to laugh. DD's went to work out at the gym and then forGOT to put out a package of hamburger to defrost for dinner tonight. I always keep a package or two in my porch freezer, so I defrosted today.
They took home a full box of new hamburger, and everything fits in the 3 other freezers, my porch freezer unavailable, stuffed to the gills, as it is.
More playtime for kittens. Eldest DD is smitten! She REALLY missed Purrkins (RIP), and Digby now runs down the steps into the kitchen when she hears her open the door. Cats will be fast friends soon!
When you are only 8 weeks old ONE WEEK is a Loooonnnngggg time!

 

[ducks4you]

@Zeedman said, on the Weather thread:
"...the Arbor Day Foundation (and several others) had put out new climate maps claiming my winter hardiness zone had gotten warmer. The witch of winter does not suffer fools gladly."
Agreed. We, too, have the problem of fruit trees being fooled and losing blossoms in a false and early Spring.
I think there is no reason to change our zones. Dunno about You, but I look for perennials that can handle one zone north of me, just to be sure that the cold doesn't kill them.
Nobody talks about wind chill factors affecting our perennials, but I am sure that it does.
Among ALL of the things that need attending with my house and property is the back door. It was wooden when we moved here, 1999. That door started to fail and I bought a steel door, had a guy install it.
He did an okay job, but the frame has never fit. When I find somebody to build DD's porch, wood all stored in their 1 car garage and waiting, I will hire same person to reframe this door. It shouldn't have gaps, but it does. I had a friend put in a new threshold a couple of years ago, and that has helped, although there is still a gap there, too.
Shimming doesn't help since the gap on the side where it closes is 1/2 inch wide, then tapers.
I have bought a short term fix, Looks like this one:

I bought 2 of them and will be attaching them this weekend, when the high's will be in the low 50's. If the sticky doesn't hold, I will tape on with gorilla tape. If you read the instructions about winter and insulating materials, they often don't hold or work when it gets too cold.
This is related to wind chill factors, since the back door faces full west with nothing to stop the winds.
We have had two 50mph+ gusts, constant, this winter alone. Ponies have their door to the shelter recently barricaded with 1/2 plywood, and that, along with the two vinyl (which replaced two wooden 4 pane sliding windows) windows shut have totally blocked the west and SW winds this winter.
I asked the ponies comfortably in their stalls about one of these storms, and they all said, "What storm?!?"
The steel back door only has a regular lock on it and needs to be a deadbolt.
You Feel the wind coming through the cracks.
My current jerry rigged solution is very hillbilly--I keep an ancient 1" x 4" 5 ft long piece of wood which I push on the inside of the door under the handle and secure on the frame of the 2nd, an inside door, which is right above the 5 1/2 steps down into the basement.
It keeps my back door from blowing open in a bad wind AND it makes it very difficult for anybody to break the door in.
I have a draft stopper on the inside (wooden) door, the one that has the rounded synthetic pool noodles on both sides.
THAT door doesn't even HAVE a lock on it.
I want 2 new deadbolt locks on these doors. This year it is about TIME we did this!
I would like the deadbolts to have a thumb turn on the inside of each, so no key needed to exit.
I don't even want to admit how I keep the Inside door closed when it's windy.
Guess I'll post pictures when I get them fixed this year.

 

[ducks4you]

I'm game!

 

[ducks4you]

FINALLY, playing together!

 

[ducks4you]

I have started to read some of those gardening emails that I stored on my email folder. Here is one on transplants vs direct sowing.

 

[digitS']

I think that I have good reason to try Bluetooth syncing my new hearing aids with the iPad and not just the iPhone. Watching videos on the phone is not so great. And, not having closed captioning for videos is frustrating, at times.

Watched but I will come back later after some time to mess with the iPad. (And, hope that the audio is extra clear .) Looks like carrots, that he directly-sowed – that was about it? Me too.

Seedlings need attention and even more so if they are in containers. A person has to be checking those plants a couple of times each day and gently watering, when needed. Gently doing anything – including transplanting but, with that attention, one has an "instant garden" of properly spaced plants.

Direct-sowing requires attention, also. However, some things can be partly avoided. The gardener in the video appears to have avoided a fair amount of cultivation.

Steve

 

[ducks4you]

Gosh, @digitS' !
I am ALWAYS using CC bc I watch these videos on my laptop while I am listening to the radio, talk radio or streaming music.
You might check your settings.

 

[ducks4you]

I Finally found a video on fruit tree pruning where the pruner is doing exactly what I want to do to my overgrown and rotten peach tree!