>>You may find your trees have a sudden period of thriving... It's quite amazing how all the plants look!
Also, my husband is in the process of extending our grassy areas so that there's less dirt areas around the house. He put in a new section just a few days before leaving, and you know how you're supposed to keep the seed wet while it starts? We'd only watered it a few days, and then it went four days without water, but the grass is beautiful! Simply amazing! >>Please tell us how each horse did > throughout everything. Was it an adventure? Were > they stressed? Was > Charm upset or on an adventure.... I don't have much to report in that area. The evacuation trip was not good. It took a very long time, hours to drive 40 miles. The wind gusts were pushing the trailer all over the place. We arrived in the dark at the rodeo guy's place. He had cleared a corral for us, but I didn't know there were llamas there! The next day, when I saw them, I took a picture of Charm over by them, but yesterday I dropped my camera, and at this point can't retrieve any of the pictures. This was a very different experience for the horses, being stuck in a 12 x 12 corral for several days, not being able to wander around. Not to mention the heat of the desert, added to the heat of the Santa Ana winds. The rodeo guy had told me where I could put their grain and where to put their alfalfa when I feed them. I had to explain that they don't get either, and one of them is on special low carb food, so they'd both have to get the same feed. I was afraid that he might give them grain or alfalfa, thinking they were being deprived, but he was respectful of our feeding requirements. The first morning that I went to feed, they heard my voice when I called them, popping their heads up, then they went and stood in the far corner of the corral, turning their butts. They have never done anything like that before, so not sure why they did, unless it was their way of saying that they weren't happy with the situation being away from home. It was the only time that they did it; after that they called back to me when I called them. Charm, as previously mentioned, is a slow eater, so she probably was not happy having Cookie scoff down her own food then head for Charm's uneaten food. They didn't come out of the corral until we left this morning. I didn't have time to ride or do anything else with them. Charm did not want to get back into the trailer, so the rodeo guy and my husband stood behind her with a piece of pipe held against her butt, as a barrier (pipe doesn't "rope burn" the horse). All very calm and non-threatening; she loaded after a few minutes of coaxing. They are very glad to be home; you can just see it. That's about all I can tell you. Unless you want to hear some of the non-horse stories :-) of living with 11 / 12 kids. Judy
