Morning Bray Farm

Would you care to join us in doing the Happy Dance for Fergus? 

While we were browsing at the farm supply store on Sunday, Don mentioned something about trying our rope halter on Fergus because maybe it was the metal buckles on our other halters that were spooking him.

Sure enough, using the rope halter last night made a world of difference. Just like that, no spooking and no resistance. Fergus even thought it was okay to continue eating his dinner.

I am so happy. This means that most likely Fergus’s feet will get trimmed when the farrier comes later this month. Our amazing boy has done such a good job of letting us pick up and pick at his feet these last couple of weeks. Uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh. Happy Dance, Happy Dance, Happy Dance!

First, for Mel in N.Y., here’s Bernard modeling the chucker a la Morning Bray Farm. Thanks, Carson!

Now, on to Bernard’s exgooberance for the poor, poor Jolly Ball.

Don came home last week to find Bernard stepping on and shredding the Jolly Ball. 

Poor, sad Jolly Ball wasn’t jolly anymore. Of course Don immediately took it away from Bernard for fear that he would swallow a piece of it.

 A trip to the farm supply store yesterday morning brought us home with a shiny new Jolly Ball. Bernard was very skeptical.

Upon further examination…

Bernard determined that the new Jolly Ball was worthy of his attention. Hmm… same technique though. We’ll have to keep an eye on Bernard and his new Jolly Ball.

Meanwhile, we have some other extremely exciting news to share! Nigel let me touch him for the very first time yesterday morning. Back-to-back scritches on his forehead… we’re totally okay with baby steps buddy. Love you. ♥ 

On Thursday, after seeing the Hairy Hacienda madhouse, Carson asked if you all could see what happens when MeeMaw gets ambushed in the corral. I wouldn’t say my mom was ambushed, but Fergus and Ellsworth definitely vied for her attention, scritches and hugs.

This was the first time for my mom to meet Fergus and Nigel. Fergus instantly glommed on to my mom. Interesting.

Ellsworth knew from her visit in October that my mom was good for scritches.

As always, there were a few aww moments. Look at Ellsworth’s head on Fergus’s back. You can see Nigel dutifully standing behind Fergus.

And Ellsworth rubbing his face against my mom’s back…

Fergus willingly accepted a hug…

And so did Ellsworth.

If you happen to be wondering where Bernard was during all of this, he was busying himself with trying to eat the camera and wrapping his pretzel self around me. I think he might be turning into a momma’s boy. I find myself totally okay with that. ♥

A very special package was delivered here yesterday.

It was like Christmas on June 3rd.

Don did a wonderful job of working with a western metal artist in Chino Valley, Arizona to design our entrance sign.

It was right about now I decided to put the camera down to help Don. The sign weighs 56 pounds!

We got that sucker up there though. Of course I worried about Don being up so high on the ladder…

But all was well in the end. Naturally, we then started analyzing who we thought was who on the sign…

Nevertheless, life is good. ♥

Lord have mercy.

The girls love their MeeMaw.

On Tuesday afternoon, my mom arrived from Maryland for a visit. As always, a madhouse erupted when she walked into the Hairy Hacienda.

Why is the Baby snarling at Whisky?

Once Kassie was out of range, Whisky decided it was okay to join the welcome celebration.

Which naturally led to Whisky and Kike playing. Their idea of playing is Whisky pretending to chew on Kike’s snout.

Of course, everyone eventually calmed down and Enzi gave MeeMaw a hug.

And then Enzi and Kike gave MeeMaw a hug.

We love our madhouse.

Yesterday was my mom’s birthday. Happy Birthday Mommy!

I decided to take Bernard for a walk around the neighborhood over the weekend. I didn’t take my camera because I wanted to pay full-time and attention to Bernard. Normally Don or Ellsworth would have come along, but it was just Bernard and me this time.

As always, Bernard did great, but for Ellsworth, you would’ve thought the world was ending. The running, the pacing, the braying… oh my.

When I returned with Bernard, it was a beautiful thing. Yup, they’ll always be inseparable, those two.

 I think for Ellsworth, relief is spelled B-E-R-N-A-R-D. ♥