The Great Wall Of China

With the original wall being built over a time frame of 20 years, the Great Wall Of China is an incredible structure.

Built with mainly rock, earth, and wood, it is believed that some one million people died in the making of the massive wall.

It isn't just one big long wall though. With it's original purpose being to defend China from attack, it also has many forts, passes, and beacon towers built into it to house soldiers, store things, and to pass on information safely.

More facts about the Great Wall Of China

➳ The Great Wall Of China is the longest structure ever built by humans.
➳ Despite popular belief, it is not true that The Great Wall Of China can be seen with the naked eye from the moon.
➳ The highest part of the wall is about eight metres (26 ft)

Blue Mice

I told them it would happen. I told them she would be the last one left, the one to last the longest.
 Yes, we are now currently down to one mouse. We don't know exactly what's been happening, other then them getting near their 'expiry date', but one by one they all started being picked off. The most disturbing thing, though, is how Abbi found dear little Peaches Wednesday evening.

It was a pleasant mild evening when Raspberry pocked her nose out of a warm cosy nest, made of the finest materials the clan members could find in the vast expanses of their home. She had been asleep all day in that nest, snuggled up to share the warmth of her petite fuzzy body with the other mice that made up their small clan of four.
It was a strange smell that drifted lazily toward the small spotted mouse's nose as she scented the air carefully- much different to the usual musty scent of tiny biscuits and seeds that usually greeted them about this time of night. The scent intrigued her, and eventually lured her out of the warmth she had been enjoying so much in the nest. Raspberry followed her sensitive pink nose toward the source of the smell, and came to an abrupt halt when she saw what it was. There, sitting in the wood shavings, was a ginormouse (Excuse the pun) slab of meat with a whole lot of perfectly crumbly bread crumbs on top to finish it off.

In Fond Memory Of:

Peaches, the mouse who could never put on any weight

Berry, the mouse who could never take off any weight

Cocoa, the mouse who always put on a stunning public appearance

And Liquorice, the mouse who loved her toys.

Briar The Quarter Horse

Last week it was really sunny, so I got in quite a bit of riding. Here's some photos of me on Briar, our new Quarter Horse mare! I am currently trying to get her fit so we can start having a few jumping lessons, come summer :)

This past week...

Has been busy. Real busy. Busy as in waking up at about 7:00 in the morning, and walking groggily into the lounge only to have a gigantic puppy come tumbling straight at you, and most of the house awake and running around the hall way and kitchen shrieking (Yes, that's you Anika and Noah -.-).  It's been good though, for many reasons- some of which I shall state here.

First off, Willow had another litter, sired by Mr Chubby (AKA, Casa De Quimera Jasper). There were, and still are, three in this litter. One Blue Otter doe, a Blue Otter buck, and a Smoke Pearl Marten buck. I'm just hoping the Blue Otter buck will take after his sire, as I am looking for a replacement buck at the moment (Chubby has, uh, issues).

Secondly, it was my birthday on Saturday. 14 this year- so that makes three years of blog writing !

Thirdly, me and a friend (who is also horse mad and has her own pony :P) did lots of work with Briar and Peanut over the weekend. We gave Peanut a bath (soaked and trimmed his tail, soap and everything). Lets just say he was not very impressed by the time the hose came out to wash the soap of his horsey hair.Unfortunately we didn't get any pictures, but I can tell you he now has a proper pony tail that isn't full of yellow dreadlocks!

Me and Hannah (my friend) also did some in hand, and riding work with Briar. We lunged her and did some leading practise etc of the first day, then on the second day (Sunday), we tacked her up to do some riding. Now Briar hadn't been ridden for a good 2-3 weeks due to bad weather and everything, so I was very impressed with how good she was. We just rode her bare back for the first maybe 15 minutes, then put the saddle on. I am now happy to say that I have jumped Briar up to about 60 cm (I know I know, sounds tiny. It's allot bigger then that though, when you're on a horse that jumps really well), without any falls

Fourth, and very exciting is the fact that Otto has now started puppy training school! He went to his first session yesterday, and I must say he was definately top of the class when it came to all the obedience things we were doing. No surprise really though, seeing as the rest of the puppies there were a naughty Jack Russel, a timid LabxStaffy, and another chilled flop-on-the-ground type LabxStaffy. It was heaps of fun though, I can't wait 'till next week :)

We Got A New Puppy!!!

We Got A New Puppy!!!

Yes, we got a puppy. Introducing... Otto! Creative name, huh? Ok, so I didn't just think it up on my own (I'm pretty awesome, but not that fantastical). But I was the one who found the 'most popular dog names' list :3 Aaaaany way... Meet Otto, our 13 week old Huntaway, Bearded Collie, 'Eye dog' cross- and all the way from Roxborough!

Me holding Otto on the way home. I got spewed on four times in total (thanks, Otto -.- )

Otto with his favourite teddy, a few days after we got him

This is Otto with his teddy now! He has grown so much

Wet Winter Days

Just a general update on what's been happening around the rabbitry and everything :)

Serenity Paws Bubblegum has got exactly 6 days until the nest box goes in for her, we are very excited for her first litter! I plan on keeping a doe kit from her as a brood doe, which will be very cool.

We are also getting another (Yes, ANOTHER) buck! He is such a looker, Blue Otter Senior Netherland Dwarf Buck. Plus he's a twice proven breeder, there is a picture of him at the bottom of this post. 

Willows last litter have all been sold and gone to their new homes, with the exception of the buckling Mia is keeping as a pet, and one doe kit that will be going to the pet shop this week. I think we will be giving Willow (Or, "Wally" as she is sometimes called :3) a well deserved break from breeding, until the end or Winter or so.

The hens now have a finished new house, thanks to Mums awesome building expertise :) Their old house had gaps in the roof where water dripped in on them, so hopefully this one will keep them nice and dry.

Ok, so the most exciting new I have saved for last. Guess what guess GUESS WHAT!?! We now have two ponies! Yesterday (21/ 6/ 14), we went to have a look at a pony that was for lease. We tacked her up, and did some riding in the arena. I went first, and did a few jumps after a bit. It was so much fun! After everyone had a go, we un tacked her, and gave her a good brush. Then her owner asked us if we wanted to take her home then! So we now have a grey cat B miniature gelding, Peanut, and a flaxen chestnut 14.3 hh Quarter Horse cross Welsh mare, named Briny. We are going to start riding her tomorrow, I can't wait :)

Another update on Peanut

We have now started breaking in Peanut! On Monday, we lunged him two times, gave him a thorough grooming, lunged him again, and Abbi rode him! He was such a good boy, no bucks or anything. We are going to do some more work with him today, so we will see how it goes!
Here's a picture of him- Abbis feet are only about 20 cm off the ground on either side

*Edit*

So yesterday the weather cleared up enough for Abbi to have another ride on Peanut. He's really good with her getting on now. Instead of leading Abbi on him, I put the lunge line on his halter and made him walk in a circle around me while I stood in the middle. He was really good- until I got him to trot anyway. He did a tiny bit of really good trotting at first, went back to a walk, I asked to trot again, and he got grumpy with me and did a little buck thing and kinda slid in the mud... so Abbi came off the side. That was Abbis second fall, she said it didn't hurt at all! :)

Another picture

Yep, I have started yet another painting. This one is of Doc though, and I can't wait to have it finished! I think I might try some acrylic paint with this one though... we will see :) I will post pics once I'm done.

Horses!

Here's a cute picture I took of Peanut the other day! Me and Abbi have been lunging him just about every day, it's funny to watch his short little legs go as he trots and canters :) We also had some one over to trim his hooves last week- Peanut hated it! The lady picked up his foot and he started dancing around rearing and everything. It was very interesting watching, he certainly picked the wrong person to mess with!

Our new projects

Recently we have been building more (Yes, MORE) animal enclosures, with the latest one to be just about completed, is a new quail and guinea pig run.
It isn't massive, but there's plenty of room for the two quail and four guinea pigs that now live in it.

We are also going to make another run a bit bigger then the quail run, joined onto it for a rabbit to live in. I can't wait to have them finished... and another awesome thing is that we still have plenty of wire left over for making hutchs. I plan on building two more... so then we will be a 7 hole rabbitry!

I will post some pictures once the runs and cages are finished :)

Another litter!

One of our does, Bubblegum Bunnies Willow (A.K.A- Willow) has had her third litter! There are 6 in this litter, and they all look like black otters at the moment.
We are very excited about this litter, as the sire is our little Rosebank Fern- who is also a black otter and has lots of black in his lines, so I'm not to surprised about the colours of this litter.

Willow :) (That orange thing in the photo is a mineral holder thing by the way...)

Stuff and Things

Recently, we got given a horse! His name is Peanut, and he is a Miniature horse who I think is about 8.3 hh? He is so adorable, he has a little mo hawk hair do at the moment, because when the people who gave him to us first got him he was infested with lice. So he had to be clipped all over and have his mane hogged (cut off). I will put up a pic and maybe a video of him later.
It seems to be give-someone-a-horse month, 'cause my friend Hannah has also been given a free horse as well, only this one is 14.2 hh so she can ride him :) She hasn't actually got him yet, but I'm pretty sure she's getting him.

Willow has got 9 days until the nest box goes in for her. She was bred to Fern this time, so very excited :) Her last litter where all on hold by the second week of them being advertised! (All 7 of them!).
I am currently trying to persuade Mum and Dad that it would be a good idea to pick up a rabbit (or two) on the way through Christchurch when we go on holiday this year. We will see if that turns out well or not ):D

At the moment, we are also in the process of building a new 'quail run', for the quail and the guinea pigs to live in. This is what it looks like so far:

....Yea... not much progress. BUT, we have brought all of the stuff we need, and have an AWESOME plan for a two story quail/ guinea pig mansion house for them all to share. I'm afraid you will have to wait until we are finished to see that though :)

Oh, aaand, the other day I was cracking eggs for something... and there was a fertile egg!
I was extremely puzzled- we don't have a rooster! Or so I thought :I
It turns out that one of the two chickens originally to us as 'pullets', is a cockerel. Oh well, it's pretty cool actually. Because now we have a non crowing non attacking rooster, fertile eggs, and a hen that frequently goes broody. We might try put some fertile eggs under neath Gem (the broody one) next time she goes clucky, see if she can hatch some for us :)

That's all for now... feel free to comment! (Hint hint... ):D)

Recent Photos

These are some photos that we took recently! Enjoy :)

Anika and Dad, we where in Queens town yesterday for Anikas 7th birthday :)

A random one of Puffball talking

Noah riding Doc! Doesn't he look tiny?!

Mum took this not too long ago. I don't know if you can see, but there's a rainbow in the background

This was taken a few days ago, Abbi and Mia riding Doc double

Taken out the car window on the way to Queens town!

The stream at Arrow town

Painting of Peanut

Recently at the art class we go to (at our Grandmas house), I started a picture of the neighbors miniature pony, Peanut (see him here: http://docandpeanutblog1.blogspot.co.nz/). It was quite fun, I used water colours instead of just drawing like I usually do. It isn't finished yet, but I will add more pics once I do some more on it :)

Last Weekend's Camp

Last weekend, me, Abbi, Mia, Anika, and Mum all went on a girls camp called 'Know No Limits'. We left on Friday night, and got back on Sunday afternoon.
There where heaps of activities to do all Saturday- and one of them was horse riding!
Part of the horsey thing, was that if you had your own pony/horse, you could take it and go on a big trek on the farm that the camp was on. They where also giving small rides to other people who wanted to have a go, so we all had as many rides as we could. Just before they where about to leave on their trek, one of the people who owned the farm and a few of the ponies there, asked me and Hannah (my friend) if we wanted to go with them on their two spare ponies! So I got to ride a grey 14.2 hh pony called 'Puff', and Hannah got to ride a, maybe 13 hh, black pony, called 'Blackie' (I know, very creative name).
 It was so amazing, we where riding for about 3 hours straight, going up and down really steep hills and everything. Puff was really good, and my favourite pony there- while 'Blackie', was quite a green (young/ inexperienced) horse who shied at heaps of things, but Hannah did really well on her :)

Some of the other activities were: archery, 22 shooting, clay bird shooting, paddock racing, laser tag, dirt bikes, and there was a huge water slide at the end of the day.

It was such a fun weekend, and I definitely want to go on it again next year :)

Here are some photos of the different activities we did:

Me on 'Puff', before the trek

Anika, on our home school friends horse, 'Timmy'

Abbi riding

Mia doing archery

Anika (in pink top) on dirt bike/motor bike

A and P shows for 2014

This year me and Abbi have been going to some more A and P shows with Poppy and Danny, our two goats.
 The first one we went to was the Winton A and P show. I was really cool and Danny and Poppy both got 'highly commended', while our friend Hannah got champion for the pet goats section. There was a fancy dress competition as well, so Poppy was dressed up as 'Goat Kid' and got first, Hannahs goat, Bb, was dressed up completely in pink with a little hat on and got second, and Danny was dressed up as 'Bat Goat' and came third.

The second one we went to was the Gore A and P show. It took around an hour to get there, but it was worth it. This one was much bigger then the Winton one, so there where two different age groups for the pet section. Abbi was in the 11 and unders, and me and Hannah where in the 12 and over. Danny came first for our age group pet competition, Hannah third, and Abbi got second for the younger group (which I thought was pretty good as there where way more entries in her age group then mine).
There was a fancy dress at the Gore one to, and the goats where all dressed up the same as the last A and P show. I think there where about 12 people with their pets in this one though, which is why I was really surprised when Danny got second!

On Saturday, we all went to the Southland A and P show at Donovan park. It was heaps of fun and at the end we got to go in the grand parade with the goats wearing their ribbons.
For the pet competition, their was just me, Abbi, and Hannah in the goat section. So Abbi got first, Hannah got second, and me and Danny got third. For the fancy dress Hannah took one of her other goats, Jubilee, and dressed her up as a horse. Abbi dressed Poppy up as Goat Kid (again), only this time she dressed up with her and whore a cap and a back pac, and I dressed Danny up as Bat Goat, this time with some little booties (or leg bands), and I dressed up with him too- wearing black and grey and a cape. Hannah came second, Abbi came third, and me and Danny didn't get placed at all :( There where about 12 people there though, and they only had up to sixth place- but they DID give everyone a $10 voucher for East Road Pets, so it's ok :)
Abbi also got 'Reserve Champion', as all the people who won a first place in their class (minus the lambs) when in another round to see who got champion. Abbi came second :)
So in the end we came home with: a third ribbon, a first ribbon, a reserve champion ribbon, and $60 worth of East Road Pets vouchers!
It was a good day out :)

These photos are of the Winton A and P show- I will try and get photos of the Southland and Gore A and P shows tonight. (They are on Dads phone)

Bunnies (again)

I thought I'd just share some photo's that I took of some off the kits last week. They are so big now, you wouldn't believe it if you just saw a few of them that there are 7 in the litter!
There are only two left to sell now, so if you want one you'll have to get in fast :) http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=695308408 Copy and paste to see their listing on Trade Me
Here they are:

From left to right: Sable buck (not sold), Siamese sable buck (sold), and Sable doe (not sold).

The siamese sable buck, nick named 'Marmite'.

Smoke pearl marten buck- one of the runts but catching up to the others fast :)

Bunnies

Willow has had her second litter! She had *7* popples and they are all still doing well :)
There are lots of my favourite colours in this litter, and I would be a bit tempted to keep a certain siamese sable buckling if the sire was Fern. They are two weeks old at the moment so they will be listed on Trade Me in about a week and a half.

Updated with a photo :)