Fresh Figs in Pea Ridge

One of my favorite things is fresh figs -- Alice helps me pick figs every evening!



These are from the Brown Turkey tree -- we are waiting on the Celeste and the Italian Cream varieties to ripen!

Can You Spot The Coon?

BB and Beau have been really working the show ring lately, so we decided it was time for some R&R in Pea Ridge.

Whilst on a deer & bird & general wildlife feeding expedition, BB and Alice spotted a coon waiting for his supper! Can you spot the coon?

A new horse!

We got a new horse! Unfortunately we had to sell my first horse Whiskey River. But W.R is still at our stables and now belongs to the new barn manager! He is gonna be a roper. I'm so happy that he has such a great home, where I can still see him and ride him!

The new horse is names No Shadow of Doubt (registered) Beaujolais (barn name) Beau (for short). He is a fully trained western pleasure horse and he's ONLY FIVE! He is a beautiful full bred quarter horse. I am so happy to have him and now I can start to show competitively. He is so funny! He loves to play. I am so happy to have him. Sorry I didn't post this a while ago. I have had him for three months but have been down with him a lot and do a lot of 4H.

Even though I miss Whiskey I love Beau!

A Really Bad Game

One of Sammy' s favorite games used to be pushing a tennis ball under "the bridge" and digging it out. Those were the days.......

Here is the back of the bridge, and as you can see, it is accessible from both sides and it doesn't require outside help to get the ball out. In other words, Sammy can play this game by himself.


Last week, the yard men, not aware of the importance of this placement, moved "the bridge" to a more logical spot in the yard. Naturally, Sammy had to look for a new place to hide his ball. Now, the most exciting place to push a tennis ball is underneath the shed:

Unfortunately, this game requires outside assistance to retrieve the ball --

It turns out this wasn't the right ball, so we had to go digging some more:


Here we go -- right ball!

Rejects from under the shed:

Once we had the right ball, here comes Sammy to return it to its hidey-hole under the shed (Notice Alice by the fence -- Alice does not partake of this bad game):

No, no, no, must redirect. We move from the side yard to the back yard to throw the ball -- Sammy action shots!



And yes those are wood chips in the yard! Sammy's ball games have been a bit hard on the grass, so we spread mulch to deal with the mud problem. Now it looks like a dog park, which it pretty much is.
We moved "the bridge" back to its rightful place, but Sam still thinks hiding his balls under the shed is a superior game. We don't!

Happy Valentines Day!

This poem was written by Alexander Pope, a famous 18th century poet. Some of the people I study ran in the same circles as Pope, tho he was a bit older than most of my people. I love his depiction of the country squire's manners towards a lady! The poem is copied from Mark Girouard's Country House Companion.

To A Young Lady, On Her Leaving The Town After the Coronation (1714)

She went to plain work, and to purling brooks,
Old fashion'd halls, dull aunts, and croaking rooks:
She went from opera, park, assembly, play,
To morning walks, and prayers three times a day;
To part her time 'twixt reading and bohea,
To muse, and spill her solitary tea,
Or o'er cold coffee trifle with a spoon,
Count the slow clock, and dine exact at noon;
Divert her eyes with pictures in the fire,
Hum half a tune, tell stories to the squire;
Up to her godly garret after seven,
There starve and pray, for that's the way to heaven.
Some squire, perhaps, you take delight to rack,
Whose game is whisk, whose treat a toast in sack;
Who visits with a gun, presents you birds,
Then gives a smacking buss, no words;
Or with his hounds comes hallooing from the stable,
Makes love with nods, and knees beneath a table;
Whose laughs are hearty, though his jests are coarse,
And loves you best of all things --but his horse.

Notes: "Buss" means "kiss." Eating dinner at noon was unfashionable. "Bohea" refers to black tea from China.

Alice Wants You To Know; A Message to All Our Blog Friends

(Today's Post has been turned over to Alice, who insisted that I transcribe and relate her message to all our Blog Friends -- LB)

I have had it with things around here and I'm tired of my Mom's excuses for not blogging. You might think she has been busy, and I guess she has, but she has been doing such boring things such as house work, driving BB around -- carpool and so forth -- and she has been on this new and horrid organizing kick. She has spent all sorts of time filing and shredding papers! When she could be doing something fun with me and Sammy! When she does have a free moment, guess what she does? She reads! How boring can you get????

Well, I have put my paw down; I say Mom simply must keep up with our blog friends because it is something she enjoys and misses doing. She has been making noises lately about posting, but nothing has happened. So I have decided to catch everyone up.

We had a fun Christmas with our Nana and Daddy Bill here to visit. Here I am with BB on Christmas Day --


Mom sent out Happy New Year's cards featuring BB and Whiskey River. I'm such a nice girl that I get to go to the barn sometimes -- I know how to act around horses. Here is a picture from the series Mom took:


Sammy is still a dorky oaf:


We had snow recently -- one of the best snow storms we have ever had! Puffy, fluffy, light snow! Sammy acted totally silly, naturally. Here he is playing with his stupid frozen tennis ball. He likes to push it under a little dome of bricks we call the bridge, then dig it out.


Here I am, totally cute --


In Kitty News, GK mostly snoozes -- no news there -- and Tiger snoozes and conducts daily alley patrols. Someone has to keep the the local rabbits, possums, and squirrels on their toes! Sammy and I assist with Squirrel Patrol. Here are GK and Tiger loafing around:

After my stern talk with Mom, I think she will be posting more frequently.

Love, Alice

We are back!

I'm so happy to be blogging again! I've really missed it! So many things have been going on I just haven't had time! I've been very busy with my horse Whiskey River. I've been training for rodeos! But now that Whiskey and I are pretty well trained, I now have time to blog! I can't remember the last time that I blogged! Before I had my horse school work got in the way! But this year, the teachers don't give out as much homework. Thank goodness! Homework is sooooo hard! But not this year! So not only will I be posting on the Rose Jugglers, but will continue my blog the sniffy tails! So woofs, purrs, and neighs from Sammy, Alice, Gold Kitty, Tiger, and Whiskey River!