Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Let's Buy a Horse!




My hubby grew up en "el rancho".....  
He rode horses, cultivated the land, farmed.  When he moved to the U.S. he lived in big cities.  Conneticut, New York, Atlanta.

Fast forward many years later and we are together and in love.  We decide to get married and buy a house.  Mission accomplished.

The house we bought is in a suburb.  Way away from the hustle and bustle of city life.  One day while going through our "closing papers" we found a paper that outlined our property lines.  We went outside and checked our yard.  It was marked off with little flags.  We were surprised at how far back our property went.

Armed with this new info, "The Mexican" started making plans.
"Let's plant a garden."  ........and  he has.  Almost every year we have had a garden full of tomatoes, jalepenos, green and red bell peppers, watermelons, cilantro, beans, corn.

"I'm going to clear out more of this land."   ............and he has.  He has really cleaned it out back there.  Chopped down trees that looked weak, gotten rid of a lot of the brush, etc...

"Let's build a huge compost container" ........ and he did.  He researched for months about compost and how to build a compost thingy.  Now when he needs dirt for the garden, he takes it from the compost bin.

Then one day he said,

"Let's buy a horse!"
  
Um, excuse me?  Let's buy a what?  Did you just say a horse?

Yes, mi mexicano wanted to buy a horse.  He was ready to build a stable and move a horse in!.

His boss at the time owned horses.  Sometimes he would ask my hubby to come to his ranch and break horses he was having a hard time with. (the mexican is extremely talented when it comes to horses) His boss wanted to give him a horse!

I did not like this idea.... AT ALL!
Imagine us coming home from work then having to  take our horse for a gallop around the neighborhood.

I argued and argued on why this was not a good decision.
#1- the upkeep
#2- we both work, who would have time to clean up after a horse
#3- although there is no "home owner's association" in our neighborhood, I'm sure our neighbors would have something to say about us keeping a horse in our back yard.
#4- it wouldn't be fair to the horse to not be with other horses or around people for a large part of the day.
#5- surely city hall requires you to have some type of permit to keep a horse on your property.

Finally, mi mexicano started admitting I had made some valid points.  Not wanting to completely give in (please refer to previous post Two Aries, Una Cama ) he asked me to call city hall and ask if we could indeed do this.


Me not wanting to look stupid, refused!  The Mexican, wanting me to look stupid, insisted!  Me wanting this whole little charade to be over, CALLED!

I'm sure I sounded like a complete idiot calling and asking if we were allowed to keep a horse on our property. I remember the lady asking if we were in "city limits,"  how big our property was, and if we lived in a residential area...
Long story short, the answer was no.  Even if it was yes, I would have told my hubby She said "NO!"

Fast forward a year or so....
I go into my healthy eating phase.
After our "raw food" adventure I switched over to un-processed, organic, whole foods.  I started buying cage-free eggs.  They are kinda pricey!

Recently I asked "The Mexican"....
"so, you think we can own chickens and keep them in our back yard?  It would be nice to have our own eggs."
My husband's eyes lit up!  "You should call and ask!"

I haven't worked up the nerve yet........

12 comments:

  1. lol omg ... this is funny... we have horses behind our house.. and a rooster that lives there too that wakes me up every morning lol if you are able to do this more power to ya-- i have yet to make it around to going organic

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  2. Haha, I want to own chickens in Mexico, but now that we have been placed in a privada, I think it is best that we leave the livestock on his farm. The neighbors will probably already look down on the chubby gringa and her construction worker husband, I can't imagine what would be said if we had a barnyard going on in the front yard.

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  3. My husband wants to buy a cow.... I can relate. Luckily we don't have any outside space to put a cow. Here in our neck of the woods it wouldn't be odd for us to have one. Not that we live on a farm or anything. We live on a street with lots of houses. But, anything goes here!

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  4. hahaha I love it! It would probably be cool to have some chickens running around, but count me out on the roosters. :-P

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  5. Cabrona,
    I seriously may call... not sure. It's crazy how much cage free eggs cost! Add organic to the picture and the eggs are even more expensive! We shall see. I try and buy organic when i can, but it's so expensive! It's crazy. We just do what we can.

    Greenga,
    Yeh, it's probably best to leave the livestock where it belongs. Who knows, maybe in the future you will have the chance to own chickens.

    Val,
    I'm sure the thought of a cow crossed my hubby's mind as well! He'd probably put a whole mini-farm in our backyard if it was allowed. Like you said, lucky for you not much outside space to put a cow works out! Can you imagine the work involved?

    Nikola,
    you and me both chica! don't want any roosters waking me up!!

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  6. Hahahaaaa...So Funny! Thanks for sharing! ;D

    Namaste!
    http://mamiholisticaygenial.blogspot.com/

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  7. *LMAO* Imagine coming home from work and ... you CRACK ME UP. Your marido sounds like someone who's used to getting his way. Somehow I think securing a permit for chickens would be a lot easier ; ) Jijiji ...

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  8. Too funny. My cousins in Prague (yes, the Czech Republic) have a chicken coop right smack dab in the center of the city. And so does just about everyone else. It wouldn't surprise me if te people living in the old Soviet high rise flats have chicken coops somewhere on the property.

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  9. Ezzy, I'm glad this made you laugh. =) Yes, he is use to getting his way...but not with out a fight... (from me) hahahaha!

    Rita, Very interesting info! I guess this is common in other countries. We will see, don't want to be the rebellious neighbors...LOL Thanks for commenting!

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  10. LOL! I would love to have a horse in my back yard but my husband would probably be the one talking some sense into me. Now the chickens ... I'm not so sure!

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  11. I love it! This reminds me of the day, a few years back, when my husband said joking, but a bit hopeful, "What if we put a chicken it out back?" (of a 3 family home in a very urban area where houses are attached). That was an easy no. But since you have room..a hen house would be great.

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  12. LMAO...you are too funny. Your husband sounds like my husband except I am the Mexican in my relationship. We just bought land and he already wants to stick animals out there. How much are eggs there? Here they are about 4.00 a dozen from our Farmer's Market. Still kinda pricey but I can't have a coop here. My neighbors will freak!

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