Fiona was hanging around the front door steps this morning as Poppy was leaving for work. Didn't take long for her to learn where the food comes from. I keep saying "her" but I'm sure now it's a "he". When I called him Fiona, Poppy said, "that sounds like a girl's name...you need to change his name to Theodore". What do you think? He is such a sweet ducky. The way he's growing, he may soon get tired of old Mr. Duck running things and try to take over!! Mr. Duck has been here since 2003 though and has earned his right to be in charge!!
Fiona (Theodore)...
Can you believe how he has grown!! Must be the "Old Roy" dog food.
Poppy needed me to carry him to work this morning...his truck is is at Kevin's body shop getting "one more" special decorative touch added..."TOYOTA", in big letters across the tail gate. Anyway, what I saw coming home just made my day...and was so worth the trip to town...a new born colt, with wobbly legs, just trying to stand. I slowed down and got this picture...
The mother seemed to be trying to coax the baby away from the electric fence and the road. I didn't want to add to her worries so I didn't linger too long. Horses are such beautiful animals. Speaking of horses...
Somewhere on my blog, I've talked about how daddy bought a place in the country in...I believe, 1956 or 1957. Shelby, was a senior in high school, I was a freshman, and Jackie would have been in eighth grade. Daddy wanted us to live in the country. Work in the fields. Ride horses. Daddy had seven ponds build on the land, all stocked with different kinds of fish. He went to sales and bought horses. He bought a cow and an old sow that had baby pigs. We got chickens, and daddy brought home some white ducks to swim on the biggest pond. We had cats and dogs. There was a small white house on the property which daddy had remodeled into a large brick home. We had pastures for the horses, a garden spot, and a field for planting corn. Sounds perfect!! But truth is there were problems of every sort!!
None of us knew one thing about horseback riding! I was scared to death of a horse, mama was more afraid of horses than me. Shelby has never been afraid of anything. Jackie was a little afraid but hid his fear because of daddy. Daddy would insist that we all go horseback riding together on a dirt trail leading to "the old field's place", a few miles from our house. My horse "Paint" was pretty. She was a light tan and white spotted with blue Arabian eyes. I don't remember who saddled her up for me that one Sunday afternoon, but with help, I climbed up into the saddle and we all headed toward "the old field's place"! Mama stayed home! My horse did fine. She walked along with the other horses and I began to relax a little, even felt a little proud. However!!! When we turned around to head home, "Paint" refused to walk, she simply refused to move forward...the others were leaving me!!! I was hollering at daddy to "WAIT, PAINT WON'T GO"!!! but they kept going, daddy saying, "she'll walk, come on"!!! Well, she didn't walk, she stood there snorting and shuffling around...I was horrified. The others were out of sight when "Paint" bolted! She galloped, running at full speed, jumping the creek and passing the others like they were standing still and galloped all the way back to our house...I had turned loose of the reins at this point and was holding around her neck for dear life!!! When we reached home, she made an abrupt stop in the driveway and I jumped off and went in to see mama. I'm here to tell you, that was the end of my horseback riding!!! The entire family laughed about that episode for years, years mind you!! That is probably why I am so self-conscience today!! :)
Shelby was injured and spent a night in the hospital when she was thrown from her horse, "Honey". Honey fell on Shelby. She had a badly broken arm and was pretty scratched up, had some sand ground into her lower lip. I'm sure Jackie was thrown a time or two also. I remember Jackie climbing a pine tree once because of his horse...I don't remember the exact details. There are many stories from our days on the farm!! :)
The sad thing about moving to the farm was that the 1950's were coming to an end, and the 1960's brought too many changes.
Hard to believe that four days have passed since my last post. The days go by too fast. Thank you for visiting. :)
Love,
Henny Penny
Fiona (Theodore)...
Can you believe how he has grown!! Must be the "Old Roy" dog food.
Poppy needed me to carry him to work this morning...his truck is is at Kevin's body shop getting "one more" special decorative touch added..."TOYOTA", in big letters across the tail gate. Anyway, what I saw coming home just made my day...and was so worth the trip to town...a new born colt, with wobbly legs, just trying to stand. I slowed down and got this picture...
Somewhere on my blog, I've talked about how daddy bought a place in the country in...I believe, 1956 or 1957. Shelby, was a senior in high school, I was a freshman, and Jackie would have been in eighth grade. Daddy wanted us to live in the country. Work in the fields. Ride horses. Daddy had seven ponds build on the land, all stocked with different kinds of fish. He went to sales and bought horses. He bought a cow and an old sow that had baby pigs. We got chickens, and daddy brought home some white ducks to swim on the biggest pond. We had cats and dogs. There was a small white house on the property which daddy had remodeled into a large brick home. We had pastures for the horses, a garden spot, and a field for planting corn. Sounds perfect!! But truth is there were problems of every sort!!
None of us knew one thing about horseback riding! I was scared to death of a horse, mama was more afraid of horses than me. Shelby has never been afraid of anything. Jackie was a little afraid but hid his fear because of daddy. Daddy would insist that we all go horseback riding together on a dirt trail leading to "the old field's place", a few miles from our house. My horse "Paint" was pretty. She was a light tan and white spotted with blue Arabian eyes. I don't remember who saddled her up for me that one Sunday afternoon, but with help, I climbed up into the saddle and we all headed toward "the old field's place"! Mama stayed home! My horse did fine. She walked along with the other horses and I began to relax a little, even felt a little proud. However!!! When we turned around to head home, "Paint" refused to walk, she simply refused to move forward...the others were leaving me!!! I was hollering at daddy to "WAIT, PAINT WON'T GO"!!! but they kept going, daddy saying, "she'll walk, come on"!!! Well, she didn't walk, she stood there snorting and shuffling around...I was horrified. The others were out of sight when "Paint" bolted! She galloped, running at full speed, jumping the creek and passing the others like they were standing still and galloped all the way back to our house...I had turned loose of the reins at this point and was holding around her neck for dear life!!! When we reached home, she made an abrupt stop in the driveway and I jumped off and went in to see mama. I'm here to tell you, that was the end of my horseback riding!!! The entire family laughed about that episode for years, years mind you!! That is probably why I am so self-conscience today!! :)
Shelby was injured and spent a night in the hospital when she was thrown from her horse, "Honey". Honey fell on Shelby. She had a badly broken arm and was pretty scratched up, had some sand ground into her lower lip. I'm sure Jackie was thrown a time or two also. I remember Jackie climbing a pine tree once because of his horse...I don't remember the exact details. There are many stories from our days on the farm!! :)
The sad thing about moving to the farm was that the 1950's were coming to an end, and the 1960's brought too many changes.
Hard to believe that four days have passed since my last post. The days go by too fast. Thank you for visiting. :)
Love,
Henny Penny
This was a great story!! That is a very pretty duck girl or boy. Is this the sow that you got your pet pig from? I used to love hearing daddy tell me about your pet pig that thought he was a dog. I would love to hear your story.
ReplyDeleteLove you,
Vicki
Hey Vicki, I believe that was the sow that my baby pig came from. The funny part of that story was Shelby going in and taking the little sick pig from it's mother. The mama pig almost got Shelby before she got over the fence!! I need to remember all the details and try to post that story. I love you!! I appreciate your nice compliments. Never would I have thought anybody would read something I wrote!!!
DeleteLove,
Aunt Henny Penny :)
Oh my goodness, Melba,
ReplyDeleteThe little duck is getting to be it's own major force in the world of Henny Penny Lane.
Your horse story certainly rang a chord with me. I had been on a horse a few times by the age of 14, but was by no means a rider. A friend with some horses had her Dad take us out to where they kept these mounts outside of Prescott, Az. And left us there for the afternoon. She had her own saddle, I had to use another that was pretty small. We rode out in the brush for awhile, and my horse kept trying to knock me off under every tree branch. Then we got to a pasture and she said "Let's race! NOOOO! But my horse went as fast as he could to catch her and I was not in control (you know the feeling). When we got to the end of the pasture, she turned her horse and mine was just catching up and shied to the left, and I fell of to the right, and her horses hooves went thundering over me in a cloud of dust. I was on my back and had the wind knocked out, but I was OK. First time for semi-hysterics. Laughed til I cried. And then I had to get back on the darned horse and ride back to the stable. There might be a good lesson here. What would you say it is??
Dear Pam,
DeleteAt least my horse slid to a stop back at home! You were brave to get back on your horse. I could not have done it! I've been racking my brain...what is that saying? About getting right back on the horse that throws you??? :) Anyway, did you get your blog set up? Hope so!
Love,
Melba
Hi Melba,
ReplyDeleteI was "drawntoit" for a moment trying to set up a blog, but went to wordpress.
Best,
Pam
Dear Henny,
ReplyDeleteTraditional wisdom states that if you ride horses, and haven't been thrown off at least once, surely you will be before you dismount the final time. It does cross my mind that if one must be thrown from a horse, the time to do it is in one's youth! ;) So glad you were able to hold on for dear life, and escaped the fall.
I can picture your tale very vividly, and can imagine you (think L.Taylor in 'International Velvet'!) playing the part of heroine upon her trusty steed, defying the odds and landing safely in her Mother's waiting arms.
Off to hit the hay.
Love,
Jen
Dear Jen,
DeleteI did hold on! But, now I am more afraid of horses than ever! Horses are beautiful and I would love to be brave and ride one!
love,
Henny
Good horse story, Henny Penn. Good luck with Fiona. Have a great day, Terry
ReplyDeleteThank you Terry. Hope you're having a great day too!!
DeleteLove,
Henny
How priveledged you were to see that new born colt - and how fortunate you took a photograph !
ReplyDeleteI have to admit, horses scare me a little, probably because they 'look down' on me, and the ones I have known have always been a bit 'skittish'.
Having said that my son and daughter in law have three !
I've had all sorts of other creatures in my animal sanctuary in the past, (and miss them all terribly) sheep, goats, chickens, ducks, rabbits, quail, in fact anything that needed a home, it found one with me !
Thank you for your kind comment on my blog by the way. It helped.
Hey Wean, Glad you're feeling better. It takes time...it's easy to see you love animals. I worry more about animals than I do people. Animals are so helpless.
ReplyDeleteLove,
Henny
Dear Mama, I love this post! I remember hearing those stories growing up. I am so fortunate to have you as my mama. I have been on a horse or two that bolted in my day. Remember Pam's horses? Dee Dee and Dandy? And Dandy took off running with me, though a bunch of trailors beyond Pam's yard!! Yikes. Your gur, Lynn
ReplyDelete