The Three F's

The Three F's" is a phrase that can refer to different sets of principles or advice; most commonly it's those for living life.  "The Three F's of Life" can specify several separate concepts or plans for living.  Each day I'll give you a 3-F idea or blueprint.

Saturday 11/8 - The 3 F's for horses are Friends, Forage, and Freedom; a principle of equine welfare that emphasizes a horse's core needs for a healthy and happy life.  Friends refers to social interaction with other horses,  Forage is the need for a continuous supply of appropriate food, and Freedom refers to the ability to move freely.  

It has been eight days since Cash arrived at the ranch, and he  is finally fairly adjusted and settled in.  He is doing well, especially since he has the 3 F's, probably to a greater degree (more friends, more forage, and more freedom) than he had at his former barn. 


I spent 2½ hours at the gym, followed by a quick, early lunch, and got to the ranch just before 11:30.  

Jan, Karen, Joanne and I did a little trail ride together.  In these photos, we are headed down Hathaway.  






As you can see, it was another gorgeous fall day.  The sun was warm and bright with temperatures in the mid 60s.








Karen and Joanne riding off under the sun's rays.

Our horses all did well together and were cooperative, responsive and level headed.  





Jan (who'd already been riding before we others saddled up) and I (on Amiga who shouldn't go too far) turned for home, while Karen and Joanne (seen in the background of this photo) continued down the trail (Marmaduke).  
  
  

As always, Rico enjoyed a good roll after he was unsaddled and back out in the paddock. 
I did some winterizing, mostly with hoses and hydrants before heading home.  

I continued with hose and outdoor faucet winter care, transplanted a tiny holly and juniper, and cleaned up some stick and leaves from our flower beds.

Rose in the garage, waiting to be fed.

Sunday 11/9 - The 3 F's for Christians are Faith, Family, and Friends; a blueprint for a happy and fulfilling life, with your family and friends providing a support system and faith offering guidance and hope.  


Below was my 6:50am view out my window.  

With the sun lower in the sky, it is not hitting our backyard until much later in the morning.  However, today that streak of yellow on the golf course was the last sighting of sunlight for the day.  
At 7am we reached today’s high of 53°.  The temperature continued to drop all day, and would keep decreasing tonight and tomorrow.  Today's low of 31°, (just before midnight) was predicted to be the high (just after midnight) for tomorrow.  The new 3 F's I decided were - Freeze, Frigid, Frozen.

Shirley and I enjoyed church together.  Our assistant minister gave the sermon because our pastor was stuck in Texas due to a cancelled air flight.   

Once home I lost all motivation because of the gloom and cold.  Rose decided to 'camp-out' in the garage all day.  Here she is seen sleeping at the bottom of the steps just outside the laundry room door.  





After wasting away much of the day, I made myself go out for over a two mile long walk with Maggie.
The light at the end of the hollow tree.  






To show how big the hole in the trunk was, I asked Maggie to hop up into it.  


We had taken the Library Trail and then the cart path along the new Druid club house construction.  





They just about have all the flooring done and the brick structure you see, is the elevator shaft.

We continued our walk around the construction fence and I combined these two photos to show the backside of the structure.  Golf carts will be parked under it, but I'm not sure where the loading dock or parking will be.  

Maggie and I walked down the paved path and then followed it around the backside of the art building and Druid pool.  We took the cart path of #18 home.  









The remainder of the afternoon, well even of the day (or of daylight) was spent lounging.  I read by the fire, under a blanket, with hot tea, while the dog and various cats drifted around me and the fire, choosing various lounging spots. 

I am not doing well with the time change.  I was too sleepy by 8pm to stay up any longer.

Monday 11/10 -The "3 F's for healthy living are Food, Fluid, and Fitness: For body wellness and re-composition (losing weight/building muscle/cleaning out toxins) the strategy involves adjusting food intake, hydration, and physical activity; to meet health and fitness goals.

This was Styx and my 7:10am view out my window.  Many more leaves have fallen and we had gotten a dusting of snow.  What you can't see is that it was 23° outside.  


It was windy, cold and nasty out so I kept the garage side door closed.  Rose could no longer come and go as she wished, but seemed happy to stay put, and even slept in this little bed I made her.  I had a litter box available for her and offered to let her outside a few times.  She did follow Maggie out once and went over to the side of Brian's house to go potty.  







I was out the door by 9am; renewed my library book, got my flu shot, worked out for 2 hours, showered at the gym, got gas, and went to Food City (instead of all the way into town).  Joe was going into town anyway, so offered to pick up the five bags of different feed I needed.  Throughout the morning, we were getting snow showers that were causing 'white out' type conditions, and snow was starting to accumulate.  There were reports of accidents and schools were closing at noon.  






Once home at 1:30, I stayed put the remainder of the day and snow showers kept occurring.  After a big, late lunch, I read by the fire and sipped hot tea.  

Monita sitting beside me, plotting and scheming.  This photo kind of shows why we call her a toad. 

The next photo was taken just before sunset, as another dusting of snow was occurring.  We had just over an inch of snow already accumulated.
  

I heard from Karen and Jan that chores were a chore because of ice on water troughs, a frozen hose, and a low supply of hay and feed.  And thus begins the hassles of animal husbandry in the winter.  

Joe had gotten a call at dinner time, that a father & daughter traveling with two horses, from OK to MD, after a month of doing rodeo, had to change their route due to snow bound I-80.  So they were coming across on I-40 (which had it's share of accidents).  They'd stay in their live-in quarters trailer but needed stalls for their horses.  Joe left poker and met them at the ranch just before 11pm.  He's such a good and nice guy.

Tuesday 11/11 - The 3 F's for teaching or a business model are Firm, Fair, and Friendly - I try to keep this in mind when working with Rico and running our boarding business.  Joe and I also need foresight, fast action and a fixing attitude; to prevent problems or respond to needs.

Today's 3 F's should be Fought For Freedom, as a commemorative to our veterans. 

It was 21° when I got up at 3am.  I worked here and then napped for an hour before sunrise.  






This was my 6:40am view out the window.  The sun was going to be out all day and take us up to 43°.  

I did several house keeping things and then right after lunch, followed Joe out to the ranch.  

Joe had all the feed bags in his car, which we dispersed to the chicken coop, upper feed room and barn tack room.  We also moved eight bales of hay to their two, easy access storage areas.  Then we cleaned the chicken coop and the stalls where the over-night horses stayed.  

Jan arrived, and we started my feeding chores.  It went very smoothly with the three boys in the lower shed.  They finally know the routine and have settled into a reliable pattern, and Cash is finally eating well. 

Joe returned to the ranch at 5:30 to get another set of travelers situated.  The two guests stayed in the ranch house and their two show horses in the corral.

Wednesday 11/12 - The 3 F's of being scared are Fight, Flight, or Freeze - These are the three well known natural responses to stress or danger.  I had gotten this blog started Saturday and collected a list of 3 F's.  Then during Sunday morning's sermon; the Fight, Flight, or Freeze scenario was given along with a 4th choice - 'call for help'.  We can (and should) call upon God (pray) when troubled, scared, or in danger.  Usually God takes action using our family and/or friends to come to our rescue; so it is important to also call on them for help.

Maggie and Babe enjoying my office heater.
I slept through the night, the first time in well over a week, not waking up until 5am.  It was 39° when I let Maggie out the side door of the garage to do her business.  Rose was up and followed her out briefly, with them both returning after a few minutes.

I am wondering if this past brief cold spell has kind of been a foreshadow of what's to come this winter, which I am already dreading.  I just hope it's not too extreme, cold or long.  This is a time when flight makes the most sense to me = head south for the winter.  But that's not possible.  I just hope I don't freeze.  




This poor little squirrel was trying to get a drink out of the bird bath, which was full of leaves and mostly frozen.  









This morning I saw this posted on Facebook (for Veteran's Day).  It is amazing that the war horses would lay still during a battle... so against their natural instincts.  






I had an early lunch and left for the ranch at 11am.  The over-nighters were long gone so I let Amiga and Zorro out on the side pasture before doing things in and around the house and chicken coop.  An hour later when I was driving down to the barn, Amiga was resting while Zorro stood guard and grazed.
  

Rico, who has lots of broken off mane hairs, was working his way down the fence line, reaching through for the 'greener grass' and surely damaging more of his mane.  Ugh!

I met Patty to ride, and while getting our horses (Zorro and Rico) I heard the 'dinner bell' ringing.  










Silly boy Cash was messing with it, but of course stopped when I went to take this (video).

Patty and I went for a 3½ mile ride.  We came straight out from the barn onto Hathaway, and looped around on Seyton.  We had heard gun shots while tacking up, and came head-on, to a truck on Seyton.  We waved and said hi to the two burly looking hunters driving by, even though our thoughts were not near so friendly.  





Passing the new construction at the corner of Marmaduke and Beachwood, we noticed more progress.  Holes were dug for the footers, loads of gravel and dirt were newly added, as well as three large trees had been knocked over.  We rode Stratford Circle next.  










Heading back, we proceeded down Marmaduke where we paused to take photos.  As you can see, many more leaves have come down off the trees.

Coming back our trail through the woods, you can better see our back pasture now that most of the leaves are down.  And we saw Cowboy and Amiga standing near each other, on different sides of the fence, seeking safety while their buddies were gone.  







We'd had a good ride, a term we use when horses and riders get back in one piece.  Horses, being pray animals, are especially conditioned to the fight or flight response.  Equistrians just hope flight doesn't happen too severely when we are on their backs.  And better yet is the freeze response, so we can comfort and re-assure them in moments of their perception of danger. 

Jan was working with Cash in the round pen when we arrived back in the barn yard.  Bonnie had also shown up so we could all worm our horses at the same.  











It was Jan's night for chores, so she lead the task.  Bonnie and Patty had limited time so pitched in.  But there were kind of too many of us helping, rather getting in the way.  But we did get the three boys in the lower paddock wormed.
 

Patty and I went up to worm Amiga and Zorro after they ate.  We had seen these vultures circling, which they do as a signal to others when they have found food.  I had troubles getting a good photo (above), so this is just some of the many vultures we saw.  We figured there was surely deer entrails somewhere out in the woods.  Patty photographed these three vultures in the tree by the side pasture.  









After we wormed A&Z, they went away mad.  They were standing in the front field, not eating but looking pissed off, for quite awhile.  Patty took this photo of them, still standing there, as we left the ranch.

Joe and I watched Survivor.  It was fun tonight, as there was another twist to the game.
But I couldn't stay awake to see the Northern lights or meteor shower.
 

Thursday 11/13 - The 3 F's for an enjoyable life are Family, Food, and Festivities -  And I'd also add 'Friends.'  We would be dinning with friends tonight and seeing Ava and Layla, along with our 'kids' Saturday.

It's no wonder I can't stay awake at night, when I get up at 3am, which has been the norm since the time change. 

After half hour on the rowing machine and an hour on the elliptical, I took a quick shower at the gym and went straight to town.  I had planned to plant trees at the ranch, that Patty said had been marked down to half price, but when I got to Lowe's, they were all sold out.  

  

With a little extra time on my hands, I shopped at Walmart, got my haircut and then proceeded to the ranch.  I did buy a strong PVC pipe that I need for fixing the underground drainage at the gate where the horses come and go from the lower paddock.  I am sure that the lightweight corrugated pipe I had put in a few years ago has collapsed from their weight.  This other drain pipe also keeps getting knocked loose and needs to be 'tied down' better.  





I did ground work with Rico, doing foot work and then some desensitizing to odd or loud noises because he spooks at gun fire coming from around the 'neighborhood' (video).  Desensitizing a horse involves gradually exposing it to potentially scary stimuli, like noises or objects, while remaining calm to build trust and confidence.  He did well.

The day ended with Family, Food, and Festivities; along with friends, fun, and future planning.  
Patty had Joe, Judy, Shirley and I for dinner.  She had made two great tasting pots of soup and the rest of us brought bread, veggies & dip, and desert.  After dinner we went through the Playhouse list of 2026 theater productions and chose six to attend together, including the dates we would go to each.  
Home at 8:15, in bed at 8:30, and lights out by 8:45.

Friday 11/14 - The 3 F's to live a life with purpose and peace, are Forgiveness, Freedom, and Fulfillment.  Forgiveness leads to freedom by releasing the grip of past hurt, which in turn creates space for fulfillment by allowing a person to live a life with purpose and peace.  This doesn't really tie into any part of my day, but is a helpful 3 F I found on line.    

I did an arm and ab workout at the gym.  

I arrived at the ranch before noon.  Jan and Joe were already there (down by the barn), as was the dump truck with crush&run gravel.  Joe directed the driver where to put the gravel.

  

The new cover I had Joe ordered for the ranch couch arrived so I tried it on to see how it fit... not bad.  Since our new renter (coming the first of December) has a support dog that she lets up on the furniture, I wanted the nicer fabric on this couch protected, and the cover will be easy to wash.

By the time I got down to the barn, the dump truck was gone and Joe was using the tractor and a rake to even out the gravel in a few spots.  Also, Joanne had arrived and Karen pulled in just after me. 

Karen and I led Zorro and Amiga down to the barn, as Joanne and Jan were working some obstacles in the round pen. 



Jan giving some pointers to Joanne who was working with Rico on yielding the hind quarters and turning on the forehand.  








Karen led Zorro into the round pen to mount up and I soon joined the three, with Amiga.

Once on the trail, we first headed to Stratford Circle so I didn't have to ride Amiga on steep hills.  Here is a photo of the construction corner.  The footers had now been poured.  








Riding down Marmaduke to cross Beachwood and then do the Stratford loop.  




Later in our ride we stopped for some photos.  What is Karen doing?  She cracks me up.  



I handed off my phone to Karen and she took these photos.  






A view of our horse's butts.




Just silly girls horsing around.  

 







And then a look at our butts.  😆





We continued down the trail and then once back to Hathaway, Jan went with me back to the barn and Joanne and Karen went farther down the road/trail.






After putting Amiga back out in the field, I took some barnyard photos.  We all had parked in the grass to be out of the way of the gravel project.

A look at the parking area re-freshed and ready for winter snow and spring mud.

The extra gravel was piled near the shop.  I would soon 'dip into' it for my drainage project and we will be using it for various other reasons down the road, or should I say 'on the drive.'   

It was Joanne's chore night so she was last to finish up at the barn, and took this photo of Rico getting a drink while Cash and Cowboy had already gone out to the back pasture.  









I had left while Joanne was working at the upper paddock.  She later sent these photos.  












Above, Amiga had finished dinner, but had dropped some hay in her feed bucket.  A&Z peacefully munching hay after dinner.  

I got these two photos off this (video) Joanne took. 

I've got a peaceful, easy feeling... the aura of calm and serenity at the ranch.

If I did a 3 F phrase for tomorrow (Sat 11/15) it would be Finance, Fun, and Family: This interpretation provides a framework for planning your life by focusing on financial well-being, enjoyment through "fun," and your personal family relationships.  Because of good financial planning, we are able to do many fun things with family and friends.  
I noticed that this week's three most often reoccurring F's were these concepts: family 3X, friends 3x, and Food 3X.  And isn't this the theme of November/Thanksgiving?