The Livery's Cinco de Mayo

We'll admit it. We went livery stalking last week. Yes, even Lily. What can I say? It's fun to look - you never know when you might stumble upon that special horse. Between the 4 of us, we noticed 5 hopeful horses that stood out from the crowd. 4 of the 5 were even mares!

Horse #1:

A +6/6, +73 pinto Curly mare! She was her former owner's first 6/6 capture - it said so in her description (after the odd... song lyrics? poem?). Wow! I can't imagine sticking any of my 6/6 captures in the livery, especially not my first! *Hugs Pal*

Horse #2

Another +6/6 mare, this time +64. I love the uneven poofs of white feathering on her legs. If we had unlimited horse slots, it would be fun to get 8 more Mulassiers and name them all after Santa's reindeer (since we already have a Vixen <3). Mulassiers are such pretty horses!

Horse #3:

This horse, the only stallion in the bunch, is a mere 3 points away from being +6/6, and he's +58. I thought he deserved mentioning because of his name, Telesto's Pepsi! Also interesting is that he was captured by one of our buddies and was later owned by one of our clubbies. It's a small world on HI2.

Horse #4:

This Solitaire look-alike is only 1 stat point away from being +6/6. (Her stat total is an underwhelming +47, though.) I love her awkward white stocking and her persona. =)

Horse #5:

Don't look, Lumos! This pretty little mare's stats are +5/6 and +78 just like yours! Of all 5 of the horses, I found her the most tempting. Not only because she has the highest stats, but because her shaggy, two-toned mane and tail are adorable!

As you probably figured out by now, we did not adopt any of the 5. None of them had stats that made it to +80, plus Lily's really pushing for us to make it through May without adding any more horses. (This way we can not feel guilty about keeping both Blush and Xyris.) So, we were all good and just looked, petted, and moved on. Yay us!

To follow up from last week's post, that final dress from Amazon did come in the mail this week! So, as promised, here we are modeling them!

Bethany in the blue star dress that came with a matching purse and slippers

Lily in the classy red and black velvet dress

Felicity in the denim ruffle dress
(and white vest, which she only wore long enough for this photo to be taken)

Me in the blue sequined dress
No camera tricks - it actually fits me decently as well as my sisters!

And a group shot. Thanks for asking for these, Mom!

Camping in Catmint

Another birthday has come and gone for Mom. Contrary to the forecast, Thursday, May 18 was mostly rain free here - even sunny most of the time. I say "mostly rain free" because a short-lived thunderstorm announced the day's arrival around 2 in the morning. (Thanks so much, weather.) May 18 turned out to be the last of the streak of unseasonably warm days for us, but the gusty wind made it seem less stifling than its predecessors. Now we're back to the typical low 60's. With on-and-off rain, naturally.

*Cues appropriate song* Feel free to listen while you read on.

We didn't have much time for HI2 on Mom's birthday because lots was going on, but here is our not-so-exciting flute:

It is cute that a horse appeared *in* the catmint rather than next to it for once. =)

She's a far cry from either of the main subjects of Mom's calendar page. (Isn't that foal awesome, though?) Not that it matters, since Mom's not part of our unofficial contest, but still... Hypothetically, would that chestnut neck and head count? How about the dark horse in the background? XD

Random fun fact: our flute from the 17th would have been a decent match for the mare, though I'm guessing the one in the photo is some sort of appaloosa that's grayed out, not a cremello. =)

Itch that tail, Umber!

As has usually been the case, we didn't get HI2's Happy Birthday message until we logged in the next day. I sure wonder what's with that? Does this happen to anyone else? Maybe we did screw up and chose the wrong day when we signed up. *Shrugs*

At any rate, here are Mom's on-time presents! 

To be clear, they include: jeans, a white watch, a Hagrid mug (Mom's youngest sister, whose birthday was last week, got a Draco Malfoy one. =)), the final stall Mom wanted for her model horse ranch set up in The Horse Room, a bonus horse that came with the stall, and 3 doll-sized dresses! A few more gifts are still on their way from Amazon, including a 4th dress. We will model them for you once the 4th has arrived!

Quite a fun haul, I'd say! Mom was happy. While only the watch and the mug were technically surprises (the rest she'd picked out earlier in the year), I think we can all agree that it never gets old to tear into a stack of presents! She says no present will ever top the one she received around her 7th birthday, though, her no-contest best birthday present ever:

Pepsi! <3 We sure miss you, you big lug! (You too, Summer, even though you were not a birthday present and only have a partial tail and leg in this frame.)

Spring Has Sprung

Yay for May and for Always Dreaming, the handsome horse who won the Kentucky Derby yesterday! I was rooting for Gunnevera, who came in 7th. At least I didn't pick Thunder Snow. XD I love Always Dreaming's name, though, so I was still quite happy.

No new horses for us on HI2, Thoroughbred or otherwise. In the livery, we did spot a Florida Cracker mare in one of Bethany's two favorite FC mare coat colors, though.


Run-of-the-mill stats, unfortunately. Keep on dreaming, Bethany.

Cider and I found another 5/6 Orlov Trotter too. This time it was a brown-toned mare from Brown Isle rather than a crystal-toned stallion from Crystal Isle.



She's pretty as far as HI2's Orlovs go, and who wouldn't love that personality? If her stats had been higher, it would've been really hard to let her go!

As fun as it is to add new horses to the herd, I'm relieved we haven't had much luck lately with our flutes. Even though we haven't officially added either of the two horses below to the herd yet, my sisters have named them and put them in tack. I fear they're getting too attached to part with either one. Hence the last thing we should add to the equation is yet another tempting wild.

Here is the Kaimanawa that Felicity promised to put back in the livery if we caught a higher-stat horse in March. Two months and one higher-stat horse later (Caraway), we still have her. *Sighs* I should've known. She has been named "Blush" due to her pink skin and overall pinkish tinge.

And here is our first 6/6 catch of the year, that goofy Selle Francais stallion. We wanted to name him something that started with an X because of his X-shaped personality distribution. Xyris, a genus of yelloweyed grasses, seemed to fit him. He may not have yellow eyes, but he is golden-toned with golden dapples.

With HI2's latest update came several changes that my sisters and I heartily approve of. First of all, HI2's Irish Draughts have lost those less-charming reworked eyes. I can't speak for the formerly-blue-eyed IDs (since we don't have one), but I can tell you that Palladium and Galena's brown eyes have been restored to their former glory. Yay!

Reworked:

Now:

A new breed of horse has been introduced to the game with the update as well, the Iberian Warmblood. I do like them, though I think their necks look a tad stumpy, especially on the mares. What's cool is that they come in manchado, a rare pinto pattern, in addition to many solid colors. Here are two manchado examples from the BBB:

And finally, diamond and tardisian barns have been added to the game, both of which can hold 10 horses each. Up until now, the largest-capacity barns have been platinum barns, which can only hold 8 horses each. So, obviously, we will be gradually replacing our ranch's platinum barns with diamond or tardisian barns to gain a few more of those precious horse slots. =)

Diamond Barn

Tardisian Barn
(I don't know much about Dr. Who, but I still appreciate this.)

I will leave you with these shots of some Michigan wildlife that Mom spotted this week. <3

This family was grazing on the banks of a pond, and they didn't seem in any hurry to move when Mom pulled her car into a parking spot right by them. 8 goslings! 

They did eventually get back in the water and swim away. 

On the same pond was another geese family with 6 goslings (not pictured). The parents would not let them mingle, though. Major hissing went on when a few goslings tried. 

On Saturday morning, Mom glanced out her bedroom window and noticed this trio strolling through the front yard. By the time she got her camera out, they'd already progressed to the other side of the cul-de-sac. A mom and two big fawns, maybe?

Deer wandering around in broad daylight is nothing new around here. We've observed them in the backyard before - we've seen them easily clear the chain-link fence to get in and out. Mom occasionally sees them out and about while she's walking around the neighborhood in the afternoon too. Once this spring, a few of them went bounding within feet of her while fleeing from a brown dog. (The dog gave up the chase when it reached the boundary of its invisible fence.) Deer hooves make clip-clop noises on pavement like horses, in case you were wondering. =)