Fun with Fjords

New Band Video

2010-01-01T12:49:00.000-08:00

Now that our country/bluegrass band is finished recording a new CD, I decided to put together a slideshow video of pictures to the title song from our album, Bluegrass State of Mind. Annie is the leader of our group and she wrote all the songs for the new CD. Please enjoy the song and video and have a Happy New Year!

You can see more about our band at our website and even order a copy at Annie Rhodes Band

Halloween Time

2009-11-07T10:44:00.000-08:00

Since we moved to the country 5 years ago, our kids have really missed being in town at Halloween and dressing up and handing out candy. They used to dress up scary and stand in the yard and pretend to be statues and scare the big kids as they came up to the door. Sometimes they would stand very still and as kids go by they would try to figure out if our kids were real or fake. This year we went to a friends house near our old neighborhood and our kids got to dress up and have some fun. Molly was a rock star.
Jeff was Indiana Jones. Karla was Strawberry Shortcake.Lana made a monster cake for Jeffy to take to his school party. It is actually a bunch of cupcakes put together and then she frosted them to look like the green monster and all the kids loved it.

Here we have Strawberry Shortcake and Ace Frehley, what a combination!

Memory Lane

2009-10-12T21:06:00.000-07:00

Was just looking through some pictures of our horses and happened upon a few I took this summer. I'm a little sad to see these pics because we needed the money and had to sell two of our most valuable horses. One was our Norwegian Fjord Elisie and the other was our paint mare Lacey. We sold them for good money since they were very valuable but I wish we still had them. Here are some of my favorite photos of these two wonderful horses.

Big Rig

2009-10-10T09:14:00.000-07:00

This week at my work, we finished up an unusual job for Slayden construction, a business we do work for. We are a fabrication/machine shop but our customer asked us to help with fixing and painting their log unloader they bought for a new job. They are building a fish bypass tunnel at a dam and will be using this big loader rig to move and handle large pipes that are 9 ft in diameter and 60 ft long. We finished up and shipped it out on two trucks.

When our customer is finished with work on the job the pipe tunnel will be two miles long so they will be moving a lot of these large pipes. Each pipe will have to be shipped to the job site one piece at a time.

Interesting Point to Ponder

2009-08-29T15:13:00.000-07:00

Perception ..something to think about...

Washington, DC Metro Station on a cold January morning in 2007. The man with a violin played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time approx. 2 thousand people went through the station, most of them on their way to work. After 3 minutes a middle aged man noticed there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried to meet his schedule.
4 minutes later:
the violinist received his first dollar: a woman threw the money in the hat and, without stopping, continued to walk..
6 minutes:
A young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and started to walk again.
10 minutes:
A 3-year old boy stopped but his mother tugged him along hurriedly. The kid stopped to look at the violinist again, but the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk, turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. Every parent, without exception, forced their children to move on quickly.
45 minutes:
The musician played continuously. Only 6 people stopped and listened for a short while. About 20 gave money but continued to walk at their normal pace. The man collected a total of $32.
1 hour:
He finished playing and silence took over. No one noticed. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.

No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the greatest musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, with a violin worth $3.5 million dollars. Two days before Joshua Bell sold out a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100.

This is a true story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and people's priorities. The questions raised: in a common place environment at an inappropriate hour, do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context?

One possible conclusion reached from this experiment could be this: If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world, playing some of the finest music ever written, with one of the most beautiful instruments ever made.... How many other things are we missing

Soap Box Derby

2009-08-23T20:37:00.000-07:00

This weekend was the local fair in our town. Our son Jeff wanted to race a soap box derby car last year but we didn't know about the event until after it was too late to make a car . This year he was excited to build a car and join in the fun of racing. The kids are guided through a process of choosing a style and a paint job and the men that run the soap box derby do all the cutting and painting for the young kids. After their car is built then they get to register and choose a number and then the car is weighed in and the next day all the kids come back for the big race event.
We had never watched a derby before and it was fun to see all kids get excited and have fun with their derby race cars. There were a total of about 90 cars entered in the race and Jeffy was #86. Jeff was also excited to be a part of the action and when he finally got to do his first race he was all smiles. His race car was FAST! After the first heat of racing Jeff was in second place!
All the cars got to race four times and then at the end they took each cars average and then the fastest four cars were the winners. Jeff was second place in the first, second and third heat but had a slower final race and still managed to hold on to fourth place overall. Way to go Jeff!
After they were finished, the top four kids each received a trophy and had their pictures taken.

(Wouldn't be surprised if I look in on him tonight and find him sleeping with his trophy)

Night Ranger Concert

2009-07-26T12:07:00.000-07:00

My daughter Molly who just graduated from high school has been hoping to see the 80's band Night Ranger this summer when they played in Albany,OR. We decided not to disappoint her and go see them. It was a great day and it was a small crowd of a few hundred people and we really enjoyed the concert. I was a big 80's rock fan before I learned to like country, so I was looking forward to hearing them also. Molly has started listening to a lot of 70's and 80's music and the Albany fair concert cost only admission to the fair of $7 each and the concert was free, so we didn't have to pay a fortune to hear a quality rock band. This was Molly's first music concert and Night Ranger was a fantastic group to hear live for her experience. They can still "Rock in a America"!
The other cool thing about Night Ranger is the drummer is a local boy from the Eugene area so his family were able to be their to hear them.

Our Beautiful Fjord Elisie

2009-07-12T20:06:00.000-07:00

Last weekend our daughter Karla threw a halter and lead rope for reigns on Elisie and rode around the house and yard. Elisie is such a wonderful Fjord horse and I had to take lots of pictures to show her off. Unfortunately we are having a hard time with paying the bills and so we have her up for sale. I hate to sell her, but she is worth a lot of money and we have no choice but to try and let some horses go to get through tough times. Secretly I hope nobody buys her but if it happens it will be a good thing too. We still have our two young Fjords that in time will be good for riding, but Elisie is one of a kind and I will miss her. Its not many horses that you can let your kid ride with just a halter and lead rope and bareback.

Here is Karla down at our driveway entrance under the Arch. (My favorite picture of our Ranch)
Karla riding into the front yard of our house.
Another close up of Elisie with young Fjord Tallak in the background.
Finally a shot of our son Jeff posing with our little pooch Emily.

The Band at Saginaw Vineyard

2009-07-04T13:16:00.000-07:00

July 3rd was our band's big show at the Saginaw Vineyard. We started playing at 6:00pm and kept it going till 9:00pm. We had a great time and everything went quite well for us. The Saginaw Vineyard is a great place to sit and relax and every friday this summer they will be having live music for free for the public to enjoy. Our band is Annie Rhodes Band and we are looking forward to going back to the vineyard on August 21st and play again. Somewhere between work at the machine shop and working at home taking care of the horses, I have been staying busy performing with the band. It is great fun and its funny that my kids think I'm a famous rock star in our small little town here in Oregon. It least I can say I'm known round the world since I have a blog to post on.

Father's Day Weekend

2009-06-23T22:22:00.000-07:00

Father's Day weekend was a busy and fun weekend for me. Saturday started off normal and then I heard a honk from a small truck in our driveway and when I went to see who it was, it was an old friend from high school. We have been re-connected through Facebook and he lives in Alaska. Eddie and his family own a cabin and 5 acres here in Oregon close to me and they had a family reunion there, so before going back to Alaska he made a surprise stop to say hello. We had a fantastic visit and realized that it had been 28 years since the last time we had seen each other. It was such a great surprise to have a dear old friend stop in like that and hope to see him again before another long time goes by.

Next came Sunday and the band I perform with played for nearly 3 hours at a Father's day brunch at a local business, and even though we had a little rain, everyone had a good time. Our band leader Annie has wrote some songs and recorded two that are playing in her home town area of North Carolina. We actually found out that a couple from North Carolina were here in Oregon visiting and were excited to see us perform live because they have heard Annie's songs back in N.C. Very Cool!
To see more of our band visit us at http://annierhodesband.blogspot.com

The last thing I did on father's day was to take my son out to play paintball. He has caught the bug for paintball so he has a lot of fun going and I help out and be a referee. It is a great father and son activity and we have a great time doing this now.
So that was my father's day weekend and was one of the best every.

Western Style Decor

2009-06-11T22:07:00.000-07:00

Western home decor has become extremely popular in recent years. Horse and ranch owners are not the only people noticing the country home appeal of western style furnishings and accessories. America's fascination with the old west, and a time of great adventure, has made western furnishings a popular style in home decor. Every homeowner should have a "Happy Place" that brings them warmth and a down home country feel.You do not need to live in the western part of North America to decorate your home with western style decor. Whether you have a few items here and there, or decorate the entire house in a western theme, you’ll be adding a feeling of adventure and old west charm to your home. Western style furnishings are unique, with a casual charm and feel all their own.
At www.buckcreekhorseranch.com our family friendly website is the perfect place to browse and find ideas for your ranch home.

High School Graduation Day

2009-06-07T17:30:00.000-07:00

Saturday was graduation day for our second daughter Molly. We had a celebration party at our place afterwords and had a great time. Luckily the weather was beautiful and no thunderstorms blew threw as did the previous 3 days. The day before, there was a major storm that had 60 mph winds, and rained so hard that 4 inches of water blew up against the doors of the school and started running in through the doors and flooding inside.
We are very proud of Molly as she graduated with over 3.5 grade point average and even received a small scholarship to help with college. After the ceremony a proud Grandma(my Mom) was there to have her picture taken with Molly and our oldest daughter Karla.

Feed the Fjords!

2009-05-25T20:44:00.000-07:00

Today we let our horse herd go down to an area that is over grown with grass and blackberry bushes. They were in hog heaven. Had to take lots of pictures and show off some of the best ones.

Lana and her friend Amy took two fjords and went for a ride some place an hour north and as they were going up the freeway, Amy saw another Fjord owner/breeder going by and it was Catherine from http://www.hesthehaven.com/. Amy called her on the cell phone so they stopped and visited and found out that Catherine was on her way to Portland to take some puppies to a dog evaluation.

It was quite a surprise for them to just happen to be on the freeway at the same time and see each other like that. Small world!

Wedding Cake Decorating

2009-05-17T11:22:00.000-07:00

My wife Lana is a cake decorator, and this weekend she was busy with a wedding cake. I have to show off her work because she is very good. Lana was a decorator at the local grocery store but with the slow business they had to close the store and now she is not working. So now she is doing cakes from home and lots of people have been calling for cakes. Wedding season is just around the corner so she is getting quite a few orders, along with birthday cakes too.

Lana has a new website pitcherperfectcakes.com

Lana's maiden name was Pitcher, so everyone that knows her in town, knows her family name.

Here is a picture of Lana in action.

And here is the finished cake set-up a the reception;

Here is another cake Lana made a couple years ago;

Anniversary Arch

2009-05-03T16:46:00.000-07:00

A few years ago when we bought our small ranch, my wife Lana said that she always wanted a driveway arch. So evenings and weekends at my work, I secretly started building one. I work at a steel fabrication shop, so I gathered all my parts from scrap left over from projects that were headed for the scrap bin. Every piece for my arch was recycled. The best part of the plan was to use existing posts that were already in the ground on each side of our driveway entrance. This made my job much easier because it gave me a base to start building the arch. The other best part of my project was that we would be celebrating our 20 yr. wedding anniversary that summer and I wanted to make it for Lana as a surprise present for her. Of course in time it was hard to keep making excuses for why I was at work more than normal so I had to give in and tell her what I was up to.

I took many measurements and drew up a sketch and then started putting together parts on the floor to come up with a design, and found everything I needed to make the arch. Then I had to build it in pieces small enough to lift and handle because I did not have a crane to lift the parts. It ended up being 3 separate parts that I brought home and with my pick-up truck, a ladder, my brother, and my two daughters , we put it together and no one got hurt in the process.(warning don't try this at home)LOL.

We finished putting up the arch on a day when Lana was at work, so I was able to wait and see her come home and for the first time drive through her new Arch. She loved it and it was the best anniversary present I could have gave her. That summer we had a big family party to celebrate our anniversary and everyone loved the new addition to our ranch home.

Jeffy's Friend rides a Fjord

2009-04-25T12:45:00.000-07:00

Recently our son Jeff had friends over to play and we saddled up horses and let them have fun riding around. Our fjord Elisie is so good with the kids that all we did is put a halter on her and tied off the lead rope for reins and let them ride. Didn't even need a bridle. With inexperienced kids riding, it is easier on the horses mouth when they pull hard on the reins or try to turn so we just use the halter. The boys had a great time riding and Elisie was a perfect Fjord as usual.

Our oldest daughter Karla also rode our Missouri Fox trotter/Quaterhorse named Josie. That is my wife's favorite and Josie is the queen of the ranch. All the other horses know she is the boss. When ever there is any activity around the ranch Josie wants to be right there in the middle and see what is going on. She was the first horse we bought when we started our horse business and she will be the last to go. She is the surrogate mother of the Fjords and treats them like they were her own children. If anything around the property is going on she has to investigate to see if there is any danger close by just like a guard dog.

Now that summer is on its way, we hope to have more friends and family visit and have fun riding horses. When we want to go on long rides we load the horse trailer and head to the coast or other places that have horse trails. A close friend of ours has a ranch that he manages for his boss, and there is 900 acres to ride and we really enjoy going there.

Saturday Night Music

2009-04-21T21:33:00.000-07:00

Well our band played saturday night and it went pretty well. We had a good time and played from 8:30 till 11:15. Its always a good sign when people stay till you are done and most people stayed. We found out that later this summer a local vineyard wants us to perform two times at their wine tasting events. Along with other events going on we should be having a busy summer.With my work being slow I will be able to spend more time this summer with playing music and going on family outings with the horses.

Spring is in the air

2009-04-11T21:15:00.000-07:00

We have finally started getting spring weather here in Oregon. It has been so nice to be able to go outside in the late afternoon and evenings and be in a T-shirt and not be cold. The fjords are losing their winter coats and so are we. Took some pictures this last weekend and got a great shot I like to call two-headed fjord. LOL

The next photo is just a nice shot of our first baby Fjord, Tallak. He is one of our favorites. Tallak has such a wonderful personality and loving nature, more so than the others. He now 3 years old. For some reason he loves to rest his head on your shoulder when you are close to him. All the fjords love attention and sometimes it is hard to pet just one cause they all follow us around and have that puppy dog look in their eyes. Now that the weather is warmer and the ground is drying up we can start spending more time with them and start training the young fjords.

This next picture is our Momma Fjord, Elisie. She has been a great horse and gave us our two baby fjords, Tallak and Nina. She has been a great horse for our kids to ride. When we go out on trail rides our son Jeff who is 10, can ride her and we never have to worry.

Band Photos

2009-03-29T19:27:00.000-07:00

Today I went with the Band to have some pictures taken for advertising. We are going to be playing at the Axe & Fiddle Club in town on April 14, April 18 and then at the Cosmo Cafe on May 2. Hope we do good. If things go well we hope to get more exposure and have more gigs to play at as the summer gets closer. Will try to video from time to time and post them on You Tube so friends and family can see us.
Cast of players;
Brad Markham- Banjo
Kelly White- Rythym guitar & Bass
Herb Hill- Bass & Drums
Neil Fain- Lead guitar
Annie Mae- Lead vocals & mandolin

Horse Expo

2009-03-24T21:48:00.000-07:00

This weekend was the annual Horse Expo in Albany, Oregon. We took our Norwegian Fjord, Elisie up for the three day event, and joined other Fjord owners to represent the breed. Each day of the expo the different breeds would have a one time show of their horses for the public to watch and learn. The rest of the time was spent hanging out in the main barn at the stalls, letting people walk through and see your horses up close and personal. We met lots of nice people and had fun visiting and showing off our Fjords. Many people loved to pet and talk to the horses and many commented on how gentle and cute our Fjords were. It is a perfect way for kids who do not normally get to see horses up close, be able to touch and learn about the different breeds of horses. Here below is a picture of Lana and Amy hanging out at our Fjord Booth.
A funny thing happened the first morning we were there, we could not get into the gate because we had not picked up our wrist bands to allow us to be let in the expo. So Lana called our friend Amy who was inside the gate, and told her that they would not let us in and we needed her to bring us our wrist bands. Only problem is Lana accidently called the wrong Amy from her cell phone and called our niece Amy who had no idea what in the world we were talking about. LOL Of course we did finally call the right Amy and she met us at the gate and we got in. We had a good weekend showing off our wonderful Fjord and met many new people and made some new friends.

New Banner

2009-02-18T23:13:00.000-08:00

One word Motto

2009-01-03T16:14:00.000-08:00

Find happiness and learn to live with others.

Many people in the world today try to find true happiness and sometimes this can be an uphill
battle in every day life. From my experience as a supervisor who deals with employees every day,
there is only one thing I need to remember to make life and work easier. There are so many
tips and tricks to guide you, that in time it is hard to focus when adversity comes your way.
In the hustle and bustle of life we can sometimes get caught up in day to day activity and
we lose track of what is really important to us and the life we lead.

One simple and always effective tool in interacting with those around you, is to Smile when ever
possible. It is a hard task to accomplish but can be the most rewarding with very little effort.
It is amazing how much a simple smile can change the attitude of you and co-workers. Even family members can benefit from the joy a smile brings. In this time of trouble and bad news from the media, we need to be more dependent on our family and friends to weather the storm. Find strength in the home and family.

Throughout world history the family unit has been the basic tool for survival and support.
Sometimes a family unit can be in the form of a small community or tribe. We can read the history books and see that a close association with a family group or community has been the foundation of a successful life. At home we have family members, and in business we have co-workers. Both go hand in hand to help us be happy in day to day life. We must remember to value and cherish these people around us and be a spark of light to help make our world a better place.

So what is the one thing that is the top of the my list for true happiness? I have found one word
that has been my goal to always strive to achieve and so far has helped me tremendously. That word is Respect. If everyone were to remember this one word and learn what is the true meaning, we would have a near perfect world. If you can discover the true meaning of respect, all other areas of interacting with others will fall into place. My favorite movie may sound corny but it has helped me understand what is most important in life. Pollyana is a simple movie but has a profound message that I have come to treasure. If you look for the bad in people you shall surely find it. Why not look for the good instead. Respect goes hand in hand with this ideal.

True respect is not a two way street. If you show and exhibit respect to those around you, will find that you will lose the feelings of despair or unhappiness. If you demonstrate respect to someone, you do so with the idea that you will receive nothing in return. I know this is a hard concept to grasp but it is the true meaning of respect. It is like giving a person a gift and then expecting them to give it back when they are done. Even if you find someone is treating you in a bad way or they are difficult to be around, find it in your actions and attitude to still show them your respect. You will find it hard to believe, but in time that person will become infected with your frame of mind and will learn to respect you as well. Sometimes they might not want you to be aware, but in the back of their mind it will become a seed.

Respect and love are actually very closely related. If you strive to show true respect to those around you with no strings or conditions, you will find it hard to harbor feelings against them. In a sense you will be showing signs of caring or love for those around you. This is a great tool to bring people closer together and you become a beacon of light shining to those who are near you. So always look for the good in people and soon you will find it hard to be unhappy, and life will be a better place. If you practice the thoughts and actions of exhibiting true respect, you will find that in time, you will not be as concerned about what is wrong with those around you, but have a happier outlook in life and make the world a better place. Sometimes it is a constant struggle to remember to live by this one word motto, but I have found great success and happiness by striving to live by this goal. Try for yourself and see what you can accomplish for your everyday work and life.

If you have any interest to see my happy place in the big world of life stop and visit www.buckcreekhorseranch.com

Buck Creek Horse Ranch slide show

2008-12-31T20:18:00.000-08:00

Here is a new slide show video I made with pics from our Buck Creek Horse Ranch.

Rainy day

2008-12-27T13:37:00.000-08:00

Well the snow is gone and the rain has taken it's place. Normal winter day in Oregon. Today is a good day to sit around the house and stay dry. The kids have had a great Christmas and now are settled in the living room playing video games. The hot new game they like is Guitar Hero World Tour. Now they all three can play like they are a Band. It is fun to watch and listen.

I have been sitting here looking at some video on the computer and thought I would share my favorite country poet Baxter Black. Hear is a good one and if you like you can find more at my youtube channel for Oregonduck81.

Kelly's Machine Shop

2008-12-21T21:53:00.000-08:00

Today is about done and time to go work again tomorrow. Only 3 days this week though because it's Christmas. Finally got the outside of our house decorated. The kids get all excited to see decorations up outside. I kind of got busy and my hip was injured so I didn't get done till almost too late.

Here to the right is the lathe I work on at the Machine shop. I am the supervisor there but I still run machines every chance I can and not many guys in the shop can run the big lathe.

From time to time I will post some famous quotes and words of wisdom for just the heck of it.

Here is my quote for the day.

I do not have superior intelligence or faultless looks. I do not captivate a room or run a mile under six minutes. I only succeeded because I was still working after everyone else went to sleep.

Greg Evans
Suspense Novelist

Don't forget to stop by and visit www.buckcreekhorseranch.com

First Snow Day

2008-12-15T12:12:00.000-08:00

Wow! We got our first big snow of the year. Most of the time the snow we get is wet and melts fast, but today it is really cold. Looks like it might stay awhile too. Thank goodness the Fjords have thick winter coats on already. They are built to be able to handle long cold winters. We have to put blankets on some of the other horses that are older and don't have thick natural coats.

Our red horse in the picture at right is a quarterhorse/missouri foxtrotter named Josie. She is the queen of the herd. So when anything goes on around the ranch she is right there to oversee things. She is like a protective guard dog and watches over all the other horses and they all respect her and acknowledge that she is Boss. Its interesting how horses will establish a leader among themselves. Josie has always been the leader no matter what horse we have at our place. She has even protected some of the weaker horses when being picked on by another one.

I see that I have a new follower of my Blog. Welcome Tillie! Thanks for being interested in my notes and pictures.( Say hello to Amy) The kids have been busy decorating the house for Christmas and it looks great. Even have the tree up and decorated too. With all the new snow we had last night, it really looks like christmas is soon to be here. They were really excited this morning when schools closed and they got to stay home.

Our Happy Place

2008-12-14T13:09:00.000-08:00

Buck CreeK Horse Ranch
Our Happy Place

A little place of escape from the big world of life. Sometimes the best things in life are the simple things. For us it has been family togetherness and living here at our Buck Creek Horse Ranch.

A few years ago we were living in the city limits and our kids were young and we had a small house. As they grew bigger we found that our little house in town was quickly becoming smaller. My wife(Lana) decided that it was her goal to someday have a horse to enjoy and give the kids something we could do together as a family. Of course living in town meant we would have to board our horse, and in time, we ended up having more horses.

This is when we decided that we needed to move to a new place where we could keep our horses with us in the country. For a while we thought that we might never find a place affordable, but finally a small property south of us became our best prospect. All of sudden things started happening fast and we made an offer on the property. At the same time, we made a deal with someone that wanted our house in town. So with two house deals being made and arrangements for moving, we found it was best to get out of town to allow the new owners to move into our old house. Only problem was that after we left our home in town, we found out the woman in our new place needed more time to move as her next home was not finished being built.

Oops! Now we were homeless! So with the help of Lana's sister from Noble Estate Vineyard, we moved into her motorhome and parked in the local RV campground and set-up to live for about 3 weeks. Now we learned what being a close family really was. There were five of us and a homeless teenager we had taken in during his time of need. Total count: two adults, four kids, three cats and a dog. Those three weeks dragged on and on, but finally the day came that were able to move into our new home in the country and it was all worth the wait.

We finally made it! This is our Happy Place. Just enough land to keep our horses and enjoy living in the country.

Lana has always been a Quarter horse lover and we started our ranch with a mixture of breeds. But our latest venture is Norwegian Fjords. We did not know much about the Fjord horse, but Lana's close friend Amy convinced us to buy a Fjord mare that was soon to have a foal. Thank-you very much to Amy (and Catherine Lassesen of Hestehaven in Days Creek, Oregon) for helping us purchase such a wonderful breed of horse. So now we are home of the Buck Creek Fjords. We also are currently boarding Amy's Fjords and so we have many Fjords at our ranch.

So life here has been wonderful at our little ranch. This is our Happy Place in the big world, and no matter what, we have a safe place for our kids and horses to live and enjoy the quiet time away from the busy hustle and bustle of every day life of the working world. Our belief is that family togetherness is the best way to raise kids. The Norewgian Fjord is a perfect family horse and we love our Fjords as if they were our kids. They have a warm and friendly manner about them that grows on you and all they want in return is your attention.

Fuzzy Fjords

2008-12-08T21:35:00.000-08:00

The weather is definitely turning cold and our Fjords are getting their winter coats on. These pictures are of Elisie, mother of our two young Fjords. As you can see she has her long fur coat on. She looks pretty shaggy right now. Soon we will have to bring out the scissors and give her a haircut. We have other kinds of horses at our ranch (quarter horses) but they don't grow winter coats anywhere near as thick and long as the Norwegian Fjords. We got into Fjords through our close friend Amy, and she is a part time hairdresser/stylist and Fjord owner. We like to kid around and joke about how we are the only ranch family that both we, and our horses, have the same hair stylist. LOL!!

Thanksgiving is gone by and now its time for the countdown to Christmas. Time to start digging out the christmas decorations. Our son Jeffrey is getting excited about setting up the tree and putting up lights. Some day when our young Fjords get old enough, we are looking forward to training them to pull a hay wagon and then we can give people wagon rides at christmas time and other holidays.

Country music

2008-11-28T13:36:00.000-08:00

Here is a video of the band I perform with. Between working and feeding horses I enjoy playing music with the band. This is at the local country fair last summer and I am singing an old Garth Brooks favorite, Two of a Kind(working on a full house).

Happy Thanksgiving

2008-11-26T22:01:00.000-08:00

Here it is ,time for the holiday season.
Hope everyone can spend time with family for Thanksgiving. We will be hosting my family again this year and looking forward to seeing everyone.

I live close to to my family but because I work so much, I just don't see everyone like I should. In this crazy fast paced world it is good to stop and remember what is important in life.

The weather is starting to change around here lately and is getting colder now. Our Norwegian Fjords are growing their winter coats and boy are they fuzzy! They even start to grow beards. They have a thick winter coat that allows them to do well in the extreme cold weather. When I get home from work every day I go out to feed them and they love to visit and get your attention just like a dog. Most people have horses to ride, but the fjords are so friendly and mild mannered that they end up being a pet to go out and visit.

EVERY ONE HAVE A HAPPY THANSKGIVING and safe travels.

Hello from Buck Creek Horse Ranch

2008-11-20T21:52:00.000-08:00

Have you ever seen a Norwegian Fjord horse? We were lucky enough to puchase our first Fjord two years ago. I have been around horses all my life and now have become a huge fan of the Norwegian Fjord.

Our first Fjord (Elise) has been breed twice and now we have two more. One is a two year old colt and the other is a year old filly. They are more like family pets than just horses. Just like the family dog, they love attention and have a calm and peaceful manner about them. As you can see in the picture at right they love to help out around the house and offer a watchful eye whenever there is work to be done. Tallak is 2yrs and Nina is the one year old. Sometimes they act so much like pets, I think maybe if I threw a stick they might go fetch it.

My wife has always been a Quater horse lover, but even she admits that there is something about those Fjords that make you want to go give them a big hug.(Just like a Teddy Bear).