Another Crop Bites the Dust

Of course it's no secret that summer is my favorite season. Even with the heat and the bugs, there is something about warm air and blue skies that makes me feel more alive. And this summer we've hardly had any hot, muggy weather at all! Just perfect for afternoon horseback riding.

Summer always means that my brumby's tender white nose might get sunburned. Zinc oxide to the rescue!! Not that she appreciates me putting it on her...

Here is another excellent use for zinc oxide that Lilly and I take advantage of all the time: It is a very good remedy for Scratches! It is the one thing that can really help them clear up. Nevermind that it is often used on babies bottoms!

Some say that fall is the best time to to ride. Whatever! Here are Bill and me yesterday roaming around in the woods and then having a nice canter around a slightly twisty trail. Do you know what happens when you go trail riding with Bill? Instead of stopping at big logs in the trail, you keep cantering and go sailing over them. And if you are like me in this instance, you lose both your stirrups and your crop and almost sail right out of the saddle.

Never a dull moment!

All of these crops have gone missing. The woods are littered with a trail of my lost crops. Last Saturday I lost one cantering up the River Trail's steep end, and then yesterday while out with Bill I lost another. One of my theories is that I should buy myself a very expensive crop. Then I'd make sure not to lose it. Or would I lose it anyway and then be mad I lost a very expensive crop?

Earlier this month when Bill was in Maine, I got a call from him at 11:30 at night telling me that his neighbor just informed him Lilly had broken free from the pasture and was in the road! Brandon and I zoomed over to the farm in pitch blackness, but Jackie K already had everything under control.  She had fixed the fence and collected the wanderers (Lilly and Sophie). The next morning, we checked the entire perimeter again, just to make sure. This photo was taken of the horses eating breakfast in the beautiful morning light.

While out checking the perimeter by the manure heap, I happened upon these little guys that love to grow on horse poop.

Here is a mushroom that does not grow on horse poop that Brandon found this weekend: a black trumpet! Edible and delicious. Each black trumpet looks a little different because they grow in leaf litter and curl and grow around the leaves piles around them.


I am concluding today's post with something you can do with roadkill. It has nothing to do with horses, but it does have to do with appreciating and learning from nature!

In June we were in Maine and sadly came across a snapper that had been killed by a car in the road.

Brandon pulled over and collected him. Boy did he smell bad! Because snappers can get enormous, we knew he wasnt very old when he died. We decided to preserve him.

First you get some borax and a sturdy plastic bag.

Pour the borax into the bag, just like Brandon is doing here.

Put the dead creature inside.

Cover him up the rest of the way. Seal it up and then, depending how large it is, let it sit for weeks, maybe even months.

What you end up with is a very interesting, dehydrated addition for your personal Cabinet of Natural Curiosities!!!! I put him on the clothesline in the sun because months later, he was still very smelly when we took him out of the borax baggie.

That's it for now! Enjoy the final days of the best season of the year!