More equine young'uns!

New dunolino filly

New grulla filly

Since I haven't posted anything in almost a year, why not a couple posts on the first day back?

The pictures above are of the two newest additions to the farm, both fillies, and born just two days apart on April 23 and April 25. We're determined that our stallion is definitely a red dun paint, because the two babies he threw both show dun factor...the light colored filly is a dunolino and the darker black and white-looking filly is actually grulla and white. Both are now growing fast and will be for sale at the end of the summer. The paint filly, which the kids call "Baxter" because of the mustache-shaped black splotch on her lip, is developing into a tank, just like her mother

We were briefly down to five horses on the farm, having donated three to the Baptist camp down the road a couple weeks earlier. The plan is to be down to five again as we head into winter - three mares, our APHA stallion and our ancient buckskin mustang gelding, Tanner.

Happy Mother's Day (belated)!

"Tigger"

The above is the present Doc-wife got for Mother's Day this year...a 1977 Corvette in "Corvette Orange" with a 4-speed transmission. My daughter (hereinafter known as "Bloody Ninny") and I drove with my father to Akron to pick up the work of pure automotive excess.

Hrrrunnnn! Hrrruuunnnn!

Suspect mufflers gave the 'Vette an even more menacing roar. Out of the driveway of the seller and onto the road we went...then things started to go wrong. First, it started raining cats and dogs...then the windshield wipers on my father's minivan decided to weave themselves together in some kind of weird macrame. Okay...a quick trip to Walmart was in order. We finally got to Walmart, parked the 'Vette, got him new wipers and went out to start the orange bomb again...nothing...nada....not even a click.

Whoops.

Hmmm...must be a bad battery...open the hood...hey, who the heck stole the battery? Checked throughout the engine compartment and front grill (never having owned a 'Vette before) and found zilch. We were rewarded about 20 minutes later when we finally turned up the wayward power source in a hatched compartment behind the seat. Okay...quick jump from Dad's van and we were on our way. Bloody Ninny and I made a quick stop at Auto Zone when we got home and had them change out the battery.

The conversation:
Me: "We need a battery. You put them in free, right?"
They: "Sure do...what kind of car do you have?"
Me: "It's a 1977 Corvette...and the battery's in the back seat."
They: (groan) "Yeah, I know...hey, where's Frank? He's the only one small enough to fit back there. You sure you don't want to do it yourself?"

So, battery in, we drove it to a local winery to park it as an after-dinner surprise. We got to the winery, found there was a 90-minute wait for dinner and decided to spring the surprise early. We gave her the keys and she knew which car we were talking about - she had seen the car when we walked by it on the way into the restaurant, stepping in a puddle because she was so mesmerized by it.

The rest is history. The 'Vette is known as "Tigger" now, and is the favored form of transportation. Replacing the aged exhaust and the worn-out shifting assembly are high on the list of repairs, though the car is still a dream to drive as is.

Nothing like purchasing a good old-fashioned American gas guzzler to herald the arrival of $4-a-gallon gas, eh?