This past month has kept me busy; it actually started with my 73rd birthday celebration with my family and friends. We went out the Friday night before my birthday for steaks at my favorite place to eat, Matt’s Steakhouse, near Rolla. It was a fun evening of visiting, but we were missing Camri and Ali, and Cori’s boyfriend, Davey. The girls had other plans for that night, so Camri, Ali, Cori and I enjoyed lunch together the next day. The following day was Easter, Cori and the girls joined me for Sunrise Church Services, followed by breakfast fixed and served by the men in the church. It was a beautiful day. Jo Ann Edwards and I went out for a late lunch. By Sunday evening I felt like I had eaten my way through this birthday.

This past weekend I took in the clinic Loren was giving at T Cross Farm, near here on Saturday. I learned so much; I just wish I had had the opportunity to attend a clinic of this kind 30 plus years ago when I bought my first mule. There were several people attending I already knew, and new people to get acquainted with during breaks and at meal time. Danny Coleman did an excellent job keeping this group fed; he is an awesome cook! It was another beautiful day.

On Sunday Camri had acro competition, so the day was spent indoors waiting and watching. She placed first with her pair partner, and another first with her trio. We are so proud of her; she works very hard at practice, and it shows when she competes.

This weekend we will be celebrating Camri’s eighth birthday party with relatives and Camri’s friends. She will be having a Monster High theme; hopefully it will be a nice day so the kids can enjoy the trampoline and outdoor games.

I have made plans for the following three day weekend to join friends for a bus trip to the Azalea Festival in Charleston, Mo.

Believe it or not, I do find time to make my morning run to the coffee shop and get in a few hours in the office each day.

I notice Star is spending more time picking the new green grass, and also when I feed her each morning I always talk to her a little and rub her forehead and ears. She is really shedding, so I guess spring has officially arrived. Maybe tomorrow I’ll tie her to the hitch rack and give her a good brushing.

The turkeys are also gobbling, that is another good sign of spring.

This issue of Mules and More has the calendar of events packed with great mule and donkey things to do all across the country. Also, this is a beautiful time to get out and enjoy trail riding with your favorite mount.

CAMRI with the two first place medals she won at her first acro meet of the season • ALISON on Valentine’s Day • CAMRI and her class valentines. I “mint” to tell you, you’re the best!”

I’ve spent the morning proof reading copy for the April issue; Cori just asked if I was going to have a column. I hadn’t really thought about it. I haven’t been anywhere, or done anything, since the Boone County Sale.

Maybe I have done something, for the last several weeks we have watched it sleet and snow, not a lot of snow, but flurries every day. And the cold winds and cloudy days didn’t give me much incentive to get outdoors. I have changed Star’s feeding schedule to twice daily, instead of just mornings as I head out to the coffee shop. There were several days when the pasture was entirely covered with sleet, which made it impossible for her to get out and pick grass, so I felt she needed the extra Equine Senior.

And then there are the birds, wow I can’t believe how much sunflower seed they can eat in one day. Of course, feeding seven grey squirrels at the bird feeders takes a lot of the feed. I also feed stale doughnuts (like there are a lot of those in my house), bread and suet cakes. I also have a heated bird bath, so had to make sure it was filled daily in order for the birds/squirrels to have drinking water.

There is also Suey, my 11 plus year old Catahoula. She has required a lot of extra attention this winter. In order to help keep her warm I have been heating beef broth (you can buy boxes of this at a discount store at a reasonable price) and I pour this over her dry dog food.  During the really cold, dreary days she likes to curl up on her pillow in the garage, so there is the routine of letting her in and out; she barks loudly to let me know when she wants in, and it’s up to me to remember to turn her out a couple times during the day and before we settle down for the night.

One night this week I walked by Suey’s self feeder that is located on the deck, to find a big coon eating out of the feeder…and of course Suey was all snuggled down in the garage. No wonder I had to fill the feeder so often.

So, I guess I haven’t been completely idle, I just didn’t realize how much time my animals and the outdoor critters were keeping me busy. I also have Spencer, my 8-year-old lhasa apso that demands a certain amount of time during the day be spent playing ball with him, especially when I am on the phone. Spencer has a toy monkey that makes loud “monkey noises” and he really likes to set them off when I spend too much time on the phone (now you know what those backgrounds sounds you hear are when you call the Mules and More office).

Looking back over this I guess I have been busy traveling to the feed stores and taking care of God’s creatures. I do enjoy watching and interacting with them all. Yesterday it was nice when Camri was here and pointed out that there were two different woodpeckers at the feeder, I’m glad she is sharing my interest in feeding birds.

Cori is about to finish up this month’s special Trail Ride issue, the stories are interesting, and the trail photos are beautiful. So get out your calendar and set up schedules now to spend some time out on the trails with your mules and donkeys.

I just returned home from the Boone County Mule Sale in Columbia, Mo. What a great two days! There were mule people in attendance from all across the country, and if you know me at all you know I love to visit, so this was my kind of sale. I had a booth next to the arena, and the only drawback was there was a speaker right behind me, which at times would drown out our conversations. But, I did enjoy seeing so many subscribers and friends. Several of those attending I hadn’t visited with in years, but unfortunately I didn’t get to talk with them as long as I would have liked. I do appreciate all the conversation and hugs.

I had three tables of merchandise, and Mules and More caps was the product of the day, along with books, decals, calendars and various other “mulish” items.

I believe this was the largest number of mules and donkeys ever consigned to this sale, well over 200 head. Several consignors were there due to the shortage of hay and pasture because of the drought last summer. Because of where my booth was set up I wasn’t able to see any of the animals sell, so I really don’t know who had the high selling mule of the day. I do know there were several gaited mules consigned.

Mules and More has a commercial running on HRTV (Dish channel 404) for the National Championship Chuck Wagon Races. The commercial ran for the first time last night, and Cori said we have had a lot of response about the commercial on Facebook and our website. This is an exciting new promotional aspect for us. Of course our entire family enjoys attending the chuck wagon races, and especially watching Cole and his mule BB race. We are all already talking about the races this year, and thinking how far off August is, but that time will be here before we know it.

Camri and Ali are busy little girls with school, dance and acro practice. I don’t see them as much as I would like, and I look forward to my time with them every other weekend.

I have a “senior” bus trip planned to attend the Azalea Festival at Charleston, Mo. the last part of April, as well as a day trip or two coming up.

Check out this months’ calendar of event, mule and donkey shows and trail rides are starting to pop up all across the country; we hope to see you there.

Today is a very rainy morning, the kind that makes you want to curl up with a good book and ignore the outside world. But, instead I’m in the office, answering the phone (and I always tend to talk too long when someone wants to talk about mules), and proof reading the February Jack Issue. This issue needs to go to the printers today, and it’s not even the middle of January. I just got the last of the Christmas decorations back upstairs and tomorrow we’ll be working on the March issue.

Christmas was fun this year; two girls, Camri, 7, and Ali, 5, will make that happen. Of course Santa brought them lots and lots of toys, games and clothes. Grandmas love to buy clothes for little girls, especially when you can shop for purple and pink! We all gathered Christmas Eve for a late dinner and gift exchange at Larry and Becky’s. The meal was great and boots and other hunting and mulish items seemed to dominate the gift line (imagine that). A few games of pool finished off the evening. Larry built his own pool table for their great room out of old barn wood. It is a very unique piece and fits right in with their décor which consists of my dad’s saddle, a canoe, a cinnamon bear Larry killed while hunting in Wyoming with Tim Doud of Diamond Creek Mules, and various other items, antique and new. Becky has a great eye for decorating and Larry has a gift for making a piece a wood turn into unique items.

The girls enjoyed Christmas break, but it just didn’t last long enough to get everything done. I was hoping to see more of Camri in the office, but her schedule was busy, busy. They are back in school now and have dance and acro practice four nights a week. Acro competitions will start up soon and that will fill several weekends. This year Camri has been chosen to compete as a pair (with Kylie, her partner from last year), as well as competing as a trio, with two new partners. I always enjoy watching the acro students compete, and try not to miss a meet. I don’t have the schedule from Cori yet, but need to get it so I can mark the dates on my new mule calendar.

Star is doing well this winter. She looks good and cleans up her Equine Senior quickly each morning. She has hay in the manger, but prefers to wander around the pasture picking grass. One morning recently when she came in the barn she had the strong odor of skunk on her. I’m wondering if she picked a fight, which is common for mules when they feel they can intimidate smaller critters. I usually scratch her ears and give her a few pats on the head every day, but that morning she just got a few kind words and I headed out the door.

So far Missouri weather has been pretty kind to us, just a couple of snows and several warm sunny days.  The birds are feeding extremely heavy this morning, and the weatherman says there is rain and more snow on the way.

Cori is also starting to work on the April trail ride issue. So, if you have a special place you have ridden, or photos of some of your trail rides send them in to us by March 1 and we will consider using them in that issue.

January 2013 Over The Back Fence
by Sue Cole, Senior Editor of Mules and More

It is extremely hard to get in the Christmas shopping mood when the sun is shining and the temperatures here in Missouri range in the upper 70s.

Yesterday our church went caroling, and this brought back memories when my late husband, Gene would harness a team and take the group around town in a wagon built for the occasion. This wagon had seats down each side, and an easy step entrance from the rear.  I recall the good times we had driving around town, all bundled up for the cold, and stopping at individual homes to sing carols. We did this for several years, and some years a friend, Paul a fellow church member, hitched his team of mules, Jack and Kate and joined us. Gene usually always drove a team of blond sorrel mules, but never the same team two years in a row. Once the team was ‘broke to death’ and I felt comfortable riding in the wagon, they were usually sold and another young team purchased.

Star is enjoying picking the late fall grass in the pasture. It had been so dry all summer that there wasn’t much grass, but the fall rains have brought the pasture back to life. We could still use more rain, as the creeks and ponds are still pretty low.

I noticed as I made my morning trip to the coffee shop that my Bradford Pear tree is budding; another sign the temperatures are much too warm for December.

Camri and Alison are looking forward to Christmas and have their Christmas tree up already. I need to get them to come decorate my little tree. I finally have enough mule, donkey and western ornaments to make the tree presentable.

Kelly, our secretary, welcomed a baby daughter, Ella, November 14. Sheila Cross of TCross Farm, St. James is filling in for Kelly for a few weeks. Sheila enjoys riding and taking care of her mules, and recently moved to our area from Iowa.

We are looking forward to the Christmas season, and would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a Very Merry Christmas, and a Happy and Prosperous New Year.