Yesterday

Yesterday was a big day!
First: the auto parts store for truck parts.
Then: the post office to pack and ship gifts. We packed it all in fixed rate boxes in the parking lot.
And then: Milpitas High School for the Junior Naval ROTC promotions.
Then......To Knightsen to receive Yndi!

Down

This is a down pillow. When I said "down," this isn't quite what I had in mind.

Whatever.

Wind

It did this at our house. Lydia saw the fence come down out the sliding door. The was pretty upset. "Yap yap yap yap!"

It broke a valve on the auto watering system. Lots of water, but Dave saw it fast and stopped the water.

My friends living up in the hills have worse problems.

Yesterday Was Bizarre

It Really was.

I woke up at 1:00am with a migraine beginning. I got up and took a pill and made coffee. Lydia got up too. I watched four episodes of Lie To Me and drank four big sups of coffee.

The headache didn't go away completely, I woke up too late for that, but it became manageable. Lydia really liked sleep-most-of-the-night-on-a-lap. She tolerated my trips back to the kitchen for more coffee.

I got the 3 minute video of Yndi on FaceBook, and, after watching it many times, called and made an offer. My offer was accepted and now we are doing details of Coggin's testing and Health Certificate and delivery.

The seller seemed pretty pleased with my offer, and I think I am getting a real good deal.

She will go to Roger's for a while first. She is not solid enough for me to drive solo. Could be rusty, could be that she had little experience years ago when she was driven.

She had never been trained under saddle.

Mostly, she has had foals.

So, last night, after the stress of horse buying, migraine, and up since 1:00am, I slept through most of an episode of Star Trek OS, I went to bed without any rabbit petting.

I am getting a new Pony Girl.

On My Mind

I have a lot on my mind......

Fire!

Dave bought a used fire hydrant on ebay.

He is cleaning the old yellow paint off. In the kitchen.
I did not complain. I cooked Thanksgiving dinner around it. He noticed.

Are You Scrooge?

Thanksgiving is almost here, kicking off the Holiday Shopping Season. Receiving gifts from Target and Wal*Mart thousands of miles away, exactly like the stuff you can get at Target and Wal*Mart in your town. You can save a few steps by picking up a Target Gift card while you are picking up your prescription for anxiety medication.

You can just go giftless. Be sure, in our culture, that you will cause yourself a lot of grief.


----OR-----

Buy One-of-a-Kind hand crafted in the USA art! Something they CAN'T just go get on the way to something else.

I have a website for Wearable Art Sweatshirts and Art Saddle Pads here DOUBLECATBATIK.COM

or
ebay
and some other things on ETSY

Etsy is a great place to find all kinds of unique gifts. You don't have to look for yourself, but I'm just sayin'......

Am I relieved?

Someone said how relieved I must be not to have to go to the barn every day and take care of something.

I didn't know what to say, so I just said "No. I'm not."

Squirrelinators

From Karen Hebert, who, maybe, got it from somebody else.

The Stable Scoop

The Stable Scoop is a podcast "radio talk show" that you can listen to on your computer or download to an MP3. I listen to it while I walk Lydia.

Click on the picture, it's a link. You can also hear or download lots of old episodes, and it's FREE! Free is good, it means you can spend more money on your horses.

Other Stuff: Someone is trying to scam me for my cart ad in BAEN, Bay Area Equestrian Network.

Carp.
I mean crap.

Also, the whole dang post is a link. I am not going to fix it. I wasted most of yesterday with a migraine. More carp.

Carriage House

Yesterday I worked on the cover for the carraige house. When I began this project, it was going to house Janow's cart. The last time I worked on it, it was going to house Maggie's cart. You can see the inexpensive cart I got to use while I was waiting for Maggie's custom Sprint cart to be completed. It is still not completed, but I have commitment to Todd Frey so I will honor it.

I don't know if working on this is part of moving on, or what. It feels weird. But....when I get it done, the Pfaff can be put to use on saddle pads.

This cart is for sale. I am emailing with someone who responded to my craigs list ad.
Yesterday was my most productive day in a long time.

On the lighter side, Paula waiting for bread, with Lydia waiting to steal Paula's bread.

Lots of Saddle pads listed on ebay this week.

Tomorrow Joseph has a day off school. I would take him somewhere fun, but at 15, "fun" and "mom" do not happen together.

She Was So Beautiful

Breathing In and Out

"Well, I'm gonna get out of bed every morning... breathe in and out all day long."
--Sam Baldwin, Sleepless in Seattle

That's pretty much how I feel. Things are not going according to plan. The support I have received would be heartening, but I feel like my heart is in a box somewhere, I forget where. I spent all day Tuesday in bed with a migraine that was so bad I didn't think I would live. I hoped I wouldn't.

I watched her through the day. By 2:00pm, I knew she was dying. The vet was coming, I would have her put down. She got worse, the vet was not here, she got worse, the vet was stuck in bay area traffic. She got worse. She started to stagger and get down, then up, then down. She was hunched in pain, up, down, up, down. She hurt. I said:
"Just stay down and stop breathing." Up, down, up down, staggering, falling, up, down, up, down.
"Maggie, please, just lay down and die." Up, down. Finally, she did.

Beautiful Maggie, with the golden nose and soft hair. Maggie, who whinnied at me to come out of the outhouse. Maggie, who would just come up to me in her paddock and lean her neck on my hip. Maggie, who would leave her food to knicker at me not to leave yet. Her illness and hospitalization bonded us so closely. She brought out the best in me.

Then the nightmares. Horses flipping over onto their heads and dying, huge bodies crashing to the ground, bones shattering. One horse, then two, then five. Dying in agony all around me. I was helpless, and then I woke up and could not catch my breath. I went back to sleep and dreamed it all again.

I went back to the ranch to clean up. So many cards, so many people came. One person had become hysterical on Tuesday and had to be driven home by another boarder. It was someone I don't even know very well.

When she was dying, I breathed in, trying to hold her scent forever. But I had to breathe out.

Maggie

Maggie colicked again on Sunday Night. She died on Monday night.

Recent Visit

Maggie is appears to be squinting. She's not. She blinks a lot. She is blinking in many of her photos. I think she is getting a new hat. Maybe that will help the blinking.

Not Happy with that!

You can't publish with the new Explorer, you must have Google Chrome. Does it make sense? Blogspot is Google. Ida no.

Very Little

I am having a difficult time posting this. I click PUBLISH POST and nothing happens. It's been days now. And there are some really cute Lydia photos.....

Still trying, might have to get Google Chrome. Stupid Explorer 9.

Not much. Not much of any importance anyway. Everything is going like it ought to be, or about as good as we could hope under the circumstances.


National Geographic has a good article on teenage brains.


Time has a good piece on parental favoritism.


I could say I have been busy, that Maggie is a lot of work, that the teen is a lot of work, that the house and winterizing are a lot of work. These things could be true, but not really explain.


The real explanation is stupid, but it's the real one. Playdom City of Wonder. I'm trying to cut down. It's not working. I might have to check in to a rehab facility, one with no wifi.

Ask Maggie

Dear Maggie,
My owner got me one of those new fangled Slow Feed hay bags. It makes it very difficult to eat my hay. I have to pull it out of the teeny holes one blade at a time. How can I convince her to get rid of the bag and just put my hay in a manger?
Thanks, Tubby

Dear Tubby,
Getting people to change their minds is a very difficult process, usually not worth the effort. You just need a good Work Around. Here is what you do with the hay bag: Thrust your muzzle deep into the mesh, chomp up and down rapidly with your incisors, like a rodent. This will break up the hay so that large amounts will simply fall out of the holes and into your mouth.
Maggie

IfThenNot

If your nose gets itchy,

don't rub it with your sleeve.

Not Invited

If you take photos of people while they are eating, they will stop inviting you to lunch.

Janow's Blankets

I sold some of Janow's blankets. I'm not sure how I feel about that.

I loved Janow, not his blankets.

I guess it makes Janow a more distant past than he was when I still had these blankets. So for that, I am sad. Very sad.


This is Jazzie. She will be wearing the blankets.

ROTC, Bannana Chips and Sharing

Milpitas High School Junior Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps has new uniforms this year, in a new color. This year brings Drill Team With Arms and Arms Master.

Silver had to share her banana chips with Lydia.

Lydia believes dogs need banana chips too.

Paula is glad nobody is making her eat banana chips. (Have you ever tried to make a chicken eat anything? I didn't think so!)

Uncle Jimmy's Hangin Ball

These come in many flavors, like apple and carrot, I ordered the reduced sugar one for Maggie, who is bored and hungry. She can't start work until November.

Camp was not Fishy Enough

The first day of school was last week. I am posting this picture a little bit late. The HS had a suicide. Nobody we knew. We don't know anybody who knew this person. We are still sad.


BS troop went to camp last weekend. Lots of fishing but failed to catch that last fish needed for the fishing merit badge. It was a great try, anyway.


Silver is relieved that she does not have to go to school or to camp or eat fish.

Maggie Improves--A Little Too Much

I took some pictures to show how Maggie's hair is growing back in all the spot where she was shaved for surgery. She is shedding her summer hair like crazy. Yesterday, it seemed like if I put her in the dryer, 20% of the pony would get stuck in the lint trap.


She's also gaining weight. She lost a lot during her hospitalization, but she lost muscle as well as fat. She is only getting the fat back. I can't start working her until November. I have had her hay reduced even more, and I have ordered a couple of those hay feeders with the little bitty holes, so it will take her longer to eat. I am thinking about getting an Uncle Jimmy's Hangin Ball, sugar free, to help distract her from the lack of food.

You can see how much muscle she has lost in her topline. It's kind of sad, but she lives!

I have ground driven her in harness a couple of times. She thinks that is much more interesting than just plain hand walking. I think she is really bored.

The infection in her incision finally cleared up.