Struggling

If I have been quiet recently, forgive me.  It’s been a tough time with my typical anti-holidays sentiments, my family visiting from out of state, work around here trying to get all set up for ponies home, etc, etc, etc.

However, I’m struggling most with knowing I’ll be saying goodbye to a dear, dear friend of mine sooner rather than later.  She has been diagnosed with a terminal illness.  At best, I will be saying goodbye for the last time about five years from now.  At worst, it could be tomorrow.  She will leave behind two severely special needs children, who she will never see grow up to become adults, and who will always, always need their mama.

My heart is breaking for her children, for her family, for myself, but mostly for her, as God has tested her more than Jobe her whole life.

Life is never fair.  But sometimes, life really deals a rough hand to wonderful people.

 

*There’s a point at which I don’t know what to say to my beautiful friend.  I mourn the loss of my friend, am in shock at the impending loss, but yet she is not gone.  I want to mourn for ME, for MY LOSS, but yet she is here still and faces Death with such a positive attitude and outlook.  No self-pity, no fear…  Just a beautiful, serene, loving outlook on life and an ability to treasure every moment, every breath she has left.  I cry for the shadow looming over her life, yet here she is, celebrating what she has, and what she has been given.  She is one of the bravest and strongest women I know, an inspiration and example to so many people for how to live.  Yet, I wallow in my own selfishness and cry for my impending loss…

Read Full Post »

And…

Good things just keep on happening!

Remember how a couple weeks ago Sugar wouldn’t load for me?  Or, if you don’t, the short story is Molly and Casey are away on pasture at a friend’s place because my neighbor had a fit that we have horses, even though I’ve lived here 18 months.  This of course prompted the house search and led to us buying the house we’re moving to Thanksgiving weekend.

So, anyways, Ms. Sugar Britches wouldn’t load.  She had A FIT.  She broke a halter, hit her head and created drama all around.  Well, she doesn’t have a single issue loading into a stock trailer.  Said stock trailer is parked in the pasture and she eats in there just fine, even going so far as to stomp her feet at me and look expectantly, as though she’s ready to go.

My landlord will bring her out to our new place for us.  However, he had a price.  But, so did everyone else I talked to about moving Sug.  The price was that we’d buy his TB mare for $500 and he’d move Sugar for free.  Bad Pants accepted the deal immediately.  Know what?  Moving Sugar was going to cost us $400 anyways.  So, BP just bought me ANOTHER MARE for $100.

Wanna know who she is?  Look here.  She actually has 6 decent wins to her name.  Not sure why they didn’t campaign her harder as she did beat out a couple Derby winners for the years she raced.  Well, it doesn’t matter much anyways.  We’re quite happy with her.

I don’t have any pics with moving upon us.  She was being retrained Western at the time.  Since this video was taken a few years ago, Flirt (her barn name) has been used as a trail horse, a company horse, a husband horse, and a kids horse.  She also jumps and has been shown huntseat.

I can barely say it.  I own FIVE horses now.  FIVE.  And 4 of them are mares (and a filly)!  From a self-professed gelding person, I certainly gained a lot of mares in a big hurry!

Read Full Post »

Announcement

While some of you, my friends, are participating in NaNoMo this month, I will be much too busy to join you.  Why is that?  Well, let me give you a hint:

5 bed, 3 bath, 4000sf

12 acres total, about 5 newly cleared

and when I’m all done moving into all that, you will be able to find me here, with a glass of wine:

We move in the weekend before Thanksgiving.  I’ve got a lot to pack!

Read Full Post »

Sugar: Day 29

Did they leave anything behind for me?

As you can see, there’s clearly nothing wrong with Sugar that simple FEEDING could have prevented.  She’s really starting to feel good now too.  Good enough that she’s starting to be a little pushy when it comes to love, feeding and going for a walk somewhere.

I’m going to de-worm her one more time as I’m still grossed out by the heavy load she was carrying.  I want to make sure they’re all cleared out and she’s absorbing the most nutrients possible.

Should I roll here?

Ahh! That's the spot!

Up I go!

That felt good!

Not only can Sugar get up and down on her own, as you can see from the photos, but she’s quite happy to trot around a bit when on turn out.

My farrier checked her out and thought she might be a little Morgan, given her bone structure.   Thinking about it a little, I think I agree.  Whatever she is, she’s a cutie!

Additionally, as of this past weekend, Sugar officially became ours.  Bad Pants made it official, she’s going to stay with us and no one else will have any say over her again.  I won’t have to stress about what sort of home she may end up in, as she’s here to stay!

 

*I should also say that Sugar has no back teeth on her right side.  No idea why, they’re just not there.

Read Full Post »

It’s Been A While

For those of you who haven’t befriended me on Facebook, I’ve been quite busy with a new project.   I’ve been so busy, in fact, that I have put the Bake-Off on hold for a bit.

So, without further ado, let me show you what’s been going on.

**WARNING: Graphic photos** 

While I admit that the photos I will be sharing below are not that bad, IMO, I do realize they could upset some readers.  So, if you’re one of those, please feel free to skip this post entirely and know I took in a skinny, starving mare near death and I’m working on making her better.

*

*

*

*

*

Meet Sugar, a 14hh, upper-teens, stock horse type mare.

Just 12 days ago, I helped rescue an abandoned horse at the end of our road.  Her owners didn’t want her any more and turned her loose, just like that.  She’d been fending for herself for some time in a swampy area.  But, in case you haven’t heard, Georgia is in the midst of a drought.  Our ponds are mostly dried up and the grass had been dormant for most of the summer.  So , the swamp was dry, with no water and no nutrition in the grasses she was eating.

Mind you, this is the second horse I’ve found since moving to Georgia.  You can read about the first one here.

I told my husband I was going to go take a look at her.  He told me we just couldn’t take on another horse.  We’re already full up here.  AND he’d just purchased another for me a few days previously as a surprise.  (I knew about it.  Oddly, he bought her that SUNDAY night.  It’ll be some time before I bring her to Georgia though, as she’s a baby and in Oregon).

So, he protested mildly.

After seeing the plight of this little mare, at how painfully thin she was (and still is), and seeing her old injuries that weren’t cared for, my heart broke.  I spent the next half hour trying to get the owner to relinquish her to my custody (and he was a scary, strung out, tweaker dude!), followed by 90 minutes of slow walking to move her the two miles it was to my house.  I could not leave her there.  I simply couldn’t.  A couple more weeks on her own and this mare would have died, if she hadn’t wandered out into the road and been hit by a car first, causing a terrible accident and loss of lives.

During that walk, I prayed that we’d make it home safely.  That Sugar wouldn’t go down, and would have the strength to make it to my house.  I sweet talked that little mare the whole way home too, calling her “Sugar HoneyBaby” and begging her to not go down on me, all the while pleading with God to keep vehicles from flying up the road at us, causing an accident, or spook, or worse.

We made it home.  Sugar was in pitiful condition.  I gave thanks for our safe journey.  I gave thanks that my husband’s soft heart caved when he saw her.  And since then, I’ve worked hard to put weight on Sugar and to make her comfortable.  She’s gaining steadily (52 lbs the first week), but she’s not out of the woods yet.

It’s also been financially tight for us to take Sugar on right now.  Not only did we just pay a substantial amount of money for my new filly, but my husband’s company announced they were changing our pay cycle and we’d be going an extra week before being paid again, all on a payday that is already reserved for rent and bill and whatnot.  But some how, so far, the Universe has provided, not just for us, but for Sugar too.  (Because, rehabbing a horse is VERY expensive.  In 11 days she’s cost roughly what I spend on my two horses here at home for a three week period).

I de-wormed Sugar yesterday, as she was finally strong enough for a mild de-wormer (pyrantel, if you’re wondering).  Even then, I was deeply worried about a chance of colicking.  Oddly, colic and founder are my worst fears when it comes to my horses.  I’ve never really had to deal with either (except a little belly ache with Casey because he was cold last winter).  So, I checked on her hourly, until after midnight.  She’s fine today, a little quiet, but fine.

In the past 12 days, I’ve been able to piece together that Sugar was someone’s beloved, well-trained baby in the past.  She blankets like a pro, even lowers her head to put on and take off the blanket, de-worms without need of a halter and doesn’t fuss, and is about the easiest going mare I’ve ever known.  Of course, with some additional weight, some of that may change.

I don’t know much about her past and I can only guess at it from what I observe.  I do know she came with a calcified knee injury, but I don’t know how old it is.  She needs her teeth floated, but appears to be about 16-18.  She fly sprays like a champ.  She spooks sometimes, but she spooks in place.  She has an eye injury that has left her with some vision impairment.  And she spooks when strangers she doesn’t know approach her from the left, the eye with the vision impairment.  Once she knows and trusts you, she’ll follow you anywhere and actively seek out your company.

Sugar came with the name, “Cocoa”, but we changed it for obvious reasons.  I’m told that she is papered and that her previous, previous owners would just give me her papers.  But so far, that hasn’t happened.  At this point I haven’t been able to find out anything more about her.  Not her registered name or breed or date of birth.  But that’s ok.  I’m learning about Sugar all the time, just by what she shows me.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a broken down old mare to go love on and a stall to strip.  🙂

Read Full Post »

RIP George 3/15/11

George, the little cat whom we were told would only live a single month at most when we adopted him, gave us his heart for 19 months instead.  In the end, his little, tiny body began to fail him.

It’s amazing at how a tiny, sickly, old cat could steal so many hearts in such a short time.  From being locked in a car on a hot July day, saved by shaving, fluids and an ice bath to making a nearly 3000 mile journey cross-country, George has had a tremendous ending to his life, in which we spent spoiling him and filling with love every day.

I doubt I will ever eat turkey again without thinking of the little cat we bribed to make it to and through each holiday.

We returned him to the Universe today.  He will be sorely missed.  I hope Heaven has provided him with turkey and Grandmas laps.

Read Full Post »

Attack of the Pirates!

The pirates got my husband!

Last night, because temps were dropping fast, Bad Pants went out to blanket the horses with me in the dark.  He took Molly and left Casey for me to deal with.  (Casey can be a pill when it comes to blanketing).

First, those tricky pirates slicked up a spot in the middle of the pasture, near where I would usually walk to feed Molly.  (The hot wire runs across this spot to form their winter paddock).  Casey was acting a wee bit spooky and I should have known something was up.

So, Bad Pants slid around a bit, but then regained his footing.  Next, he began to crawl through the strands of hot wire.  Beings as it was dark, BP did not detect the trip wire those sneaky pirates had set up on the other side.  He rolled his ankle and went down, blinding Molly with the headlamp in the process.  So in turn, she stepped right on his ankle, then backed up and bumped his other shin trying to disentangle herself.

When Bad Pants went down, he let out a yell.  I dropped Casey’s blanket in a puddle.  (Fat lot of good a soaking wet blanket does!)  Casey took off at a trot, blowing and snorting.  There was no slogging through the muck to blanket him, especially not with a wet blanket!

Luckily, the area where the trip wire was hidden was dry.  Molly’s blanket survived it’s minimal time of the ground and we got her all snugged up for the night.

I helped Bad Pants limp back to the house, left him at the bottom of the stairs, and took the sopping blanket inside.  Before I could come out and assist BP in the house, he scooped up Mo and hobbled up the stairs.  After all, he didn’t want the cat getting frost bite!

I took Mo from BP, got BP inside and parked him on the couch with a bucket for *just in case*.  Then I slid his shoe off, iced his ankle and covered him with blankets since he was a little pale.

Luckily, nothing is broken.  His ankle was probably saved by the soft mud and bed of pine needles that make up our paddock.  I suspect he’ll be right as rain within a week.

Those pirates!  They meant to get me!  My husband foiled their plot and took the hit for me instead.  I hope they won’t be back for more!

Read Full Post »

Mr Handy

A few weeks ago, Bad Pants made a simple change in the kitchen that has made our lives A LOT easier.

Our kitchen really hasn’t been updated since 1940.  And since this is a rental, things sometimes are in roughish shape.

In this instance, our pantry was missing a shelf.  Or should have had a shelf.  Or something like that.  You can see the shelf BP put in for me below:

Nice handiwork, huh?  Now, imagine instead of a shelf, there was just a gaping hole and the bottom was filled with clutter.  Yeah, I was trying to be organized and cook with that mess.

Now there is a shelf!  And cannisters to hold ingredients!  So much tidier and easier to find everything!

My husband, he’s a handy guy to have around!  Thanks Honey!

Read Full Post »

The End Of An Era

As I write this, in just a few moments, Bad Pants’ former pug, Winston, will be crossing the Rainbow Bridge.  Winston has lived with Disney Princess since their divorce and we have pug-sat off and on since our marriage.

Winston is the last of the truly old dogs in my circle.  He has meant as much to DP as Freya has to me, giving her the same strength, comfort and security that only one’s heart dog can.

Winston has spent the last couple years blind, deaf and without his sense of smell.  No matter how often I’ve railed at Disney Princess’s choice to continue his life, trapped in his own doggie world, my heart goes out to her today.

Winston has been with “Grandma” and Doodle while Disney Princess says goodbye and sees her Army Guy off to War.  DP will not be there to hold him one last time or say goodbye as the light dims in his clouded eyes.  In return, Winston will not be there to greet her after her long, cross country drive back to Oregon next week.  Nor will he be there to greet Doodle again after a long day at school.

This is the end of an era.  All the truly great, truly old dogs of my circle end today with Winston.  It has been a heart wrenching year.

So, if you could, if you would, please say a prayer, light a candle, or send positive thoughts for Winston, Bad Pants, Doodle and Disney Princess today.

Go in Peace, little pug.  Go with love.  You’re job is over.  It’s been a job well done.

Read Full Post »

Honey, Where Are The Rolls?

Today, I made dinner rolls from scratch.  Yummy, scrumptious, perfectly poofy and sweet rolls.  They were supposed to be part of our dinner and my main inspiration for making dinner.

Bad Pants pulled them out of the oven when he noticed that the timer on the stove said “End” and I clearly hadn’t heard it go off.  Lucky, I suppose, as he’s saved them from burning.

We each tried one, hot from the oven.  They were…  heavenly!  The best I’d ever made!  So, BP put them to cool on the counter, covered with a clean dish cloth.  He went back to his office to finish up some work and I, I went out to feed the horses and check Casey over since he seemed a wee bit lame.

Bad Pants came out to help me after about 15 minutes.  We spent another 10-15 minutes with the horses and came back in.  He asked, “Honey, where are the rolls?”

“On the counter where you left them.  Why?”

“Um, they’re not there now”.

Instantly I KNEW.  My good dog, this sweet face:

This wonderful dog who helps me day to day, this dog who got upset with her daddy when I was sobbing yesterday (over Freya- she blamed him for my upset), this same dog who put herself between him and I, crawling into my lap and warning him away from me.   This same dog who HAS NEVER counter-surfed ever before,

STOLE THEM!

Yes!  This dog, the one Aunt Krissy called a “marshmallow”.  The dog who cuddles with me every morning after Bad Pants gets out of bed.  The dog who has taken care of me when I’m an emotional wreck and who tells me when somebody is at the door, or when a “friend” shows up hopped up on something.

Roxie Lynn ate my dinner!  She almost became a new pair of shoes.

Could you stay mad at that face?  Me neither!

From now on, I’ll push the rolls back away from the edge of the counter.

No more rolls for you, Roxie Lynn!

Read Full Post »