my sisters dog died

She called me last night. He got run over. I had sent some Eq. Recovery in capsules for him because she had mentioned several days earlier he had been sore for a while after crawling under a fence. Instead of being a good deed that turned out to be a painful reminder to her that he was gone. Run Free now Dakota. Cody is the black lab to her right in this picture.

pics of the new shed

The back side faces the house and driveway to block winds for the north and west.



My camera battery was sputtering, so I didn't get the 2nd closer picture I tried to take as I was riding Shade towards home on sunday, but this shows most of the place as well as front side of shed.

I feel so virtuous and Sadie story.

Yesterday I took the tractor into the pen adjacent to Sadie and Cindy's to do some cleaning and Sadie acted like she was going to come over the gate. I have no idea why she thought she needed to get in the same pen as the tractor, crazy kid, she saw my guys polishing off the hay crumbs from the loader as I hauled some hay over on my way but there was still stray hay in her pen. Anyhow I think she has her sire's curious, bold personality.

My own horses are still kind of neglected so not virtuous there - I cleaned around the feeders where they had some manure building up and got the big shed (Shade, Grey and RazzMos) cleaned up. Didn't get to Cindy and Sadie's pen but it is not too bad yet. Thankfully we are sand hill and its been even extra dry so the manure just drys up and doesn't turn into a soupy thrush inviting mess. After I did quick cleaning on my pen I took the tractor out so mom and dad could haul manure. Dad did a bunch of tractor maintainence first. I borrowed V's cart and tackled AJ's and Dukes pens and hauled my 2nd rubber mat I wasn't using in Sadies pen over next to V's pen. I still have to decide whether to put it in there or not. When mom was finally ready to go and I needed to move Shade, Razz and Grey, I put Razz and Grey in with Cindy and Sadie and tied Shade to my trailer with a bit of hay and then I took a leisurely ride and gave her a bit more hay when I got back.

Today I got AJ's pen clean except a couple frozen patties. Dukes pen still needs some work but I got about 1/2 of it. I haven't even decided just how to charge mom. I guess I've covered 2 months on AJ's and 1 month on Duke for now. Now she needs to get somebody to keep at least one of those pens clean and I can probably get the other one and some on CJ's for a month or so until I really want to be riding more. Then I put 2 strands of twisted wire on the back of the big pen. I want to put 2 more strands there which I'll probably just use my electric poly rope since its so much easier to work with and get it electrified with electric on the long north stretch to back up the existing barb wire fince so I could put Sadie in that pen but I could lock the old horses out of the pasture now. I left the gate open but I will shut them out next time it snows if not before.

almost over the hump

Wednesday being hump day. I feel like a cold is trying to get started. Guess I'll take the hot stuff tonight, already started some zinc lozenges. Robyn trimmed my horses feet. She is so efficient she was done by quarter to nine, but I got so chilled even though I had bundled up pretty good that I took over an hour warming up before I got out and finished the final morning chores. Sadie got mash today (wet beet pulp with her ration balancer pellets and some aloe juice in there) She slurped it up well. I took spoiled Mia to the 3/4 mile approach and she ran/trotted back home. On'ry Ole didn't come home. When I left for work he came running from the neighbors and I called mom on the cell ph to call him to the house after I closed the farmyard gate with him inside. One side benefit of fencing the paddock for Sadie is it seems to keep the dogs in. I guess my bottom wire was at least hot for a while and got them trained. Heh heh heh. My throat felt off most of the day from hollering trying to call Ole earlier and I finally decided there is a virus trying to take hold too and not just yelling in cold air.

Mia thought it was a good morning.

I only managed basic feeding chores. Still way too cold to want to ride or anything anyway. Dad couldn't get his ancient Audi that he drives to the trucking terminal to start so he fired up their pickup and got the tow-strap connected etc while I finished my graining and then I pulled him to start it. Mia had hopped in the pickup so after dad had the audi running and the tow strap off and stowed back in the pickup I went ahead and drove about 3/4 mile to a nice oilfield approach, turned around, got Mia out --she thinks its a long steep way down from the p/u cab and drove very slowly home so she got her run. Ole ran out and back and didn't think he got as long a run as he needed but he'll live. I decided the feed I bought yesterday could ride to work and back today, I was feeling chilled and was getting a late late start anyway. I have a hard time leaving coffee and computer surfing to get anything done when its a cold morning. Grey's leg seemed fine to me today, I did give him his dandelion and nettle as well as the MSM and corta-flex that all my riding horses get routinely. Sadie cleaned up all her pellets today. She was dinking yesterday and hardly touched them till I put her back in the paddock and Cindy helped her polish them off but it must have been mostly the 1/2 cup of sand clear added in + she's been getting plenty of hay.

monday monday

I have the holiday but I decided to run in, taking care of several errands along the way. I must be going completely mad, I bought a feed size bag of whole flax. Its not bad enough we started 'baking dog cookies' with flax? Well since the dogs are eating them well (hey I even think they taste ok before they get hard) I figured its no sense buying little containers of cold-milled flax powder I'm sure it cost a bomb, + flax is good for horses --not that I think many of ours need it, but it won't hurt to give Duke some, of course I also had to buy a coffee grinder to grind the flax seed, got 3 bags of the mini-feed while I was at the feed store. Two thumbs up for Kaiser Permanente, I called to see if they could FIX my bifocals --a screw that holds the frame around the lens was getting loose/stripped and kept working loose faster and faster after I tightened it. While I was going in there I had them work on my old glasses --she fixed the earpiece screws so they aren't all wobbly and I had her work on my perscription sunglasses -lenses were popping out of the frame real easy. They don't even have a co-pay to have them work on glasses frames! I picked a slow day so I think the gal was happy to do all that. Might have been different with a line of folks behind me, but I am very pleased with the customer service.

The horses only got basic feed today. Too cold to mix Sadie a mash with aloe, it would have froze right away and my fingers were chilled so I just gave Grey, Shade and RazzMo all the standard stuff I give my workers- with MSM and corta-flex. No extra goop for Grey's tendon today. Its far enough out from the initial injury that it shouldn't matter, of course I looked today and it seemed extra swollen -frown. I hope he is not tearing around too much being with Shade and Razz. He should be ready for some pasture activity now. Hopefully it just looked bigger because he was standing funny with a bit of snow in his feet. They get trimmed wednesday so that should fix excess snowballing.

At least I got Dukes stall in shape yesterday. Got all the old wet hay up and put down a couple gallons of limestone powder and raked some fine sand over his pee spot he had build up. I also left a bit of loose hay outside the stall, maybe he'll take the hint and stop peeing inside. Dad didn't get to the tractor and my quick run to get a bit of rubber matting in the morning turned into a fairly big project. The guy had a 6-8 foot diameter roll of conveyer belting. I thought he had told me he only had a 6-8 foot length. Well we got about 30 foot unwound and he cut it into 10 ft lengths for me as we unwound it (I had told him I'd take 6 10 ft lengths --thinking I'd make it worth his while ) and then it was stuck and he was going to need his tractor again to get anymore off the roll. I told him I'd take what I had so far and see how it worked. Its kind of slick so I'm not sure about putting it in stalls but I like it for feeding mats but I am not sure about getting any more of it. I had a line on some outdoor carpet and that would probably be lighter to work with and maybe has some texture even if I use it upside down --or the mini's could keep busy working hay leaves out of the plastic grass I suppose. But I have to call and see if that guy still has some of his carpet left.

Well I had a nice ride today

Which usually makes the whole day count as good and yeah its true today. Sadie had good timing to have a tummy ache yesterday. I left her in the stall/run overnight so her water tank was kept warmed. We have short on one of the outdoor circuit breakers and the tank in the normal Sadie paddock was frozen over, as was the tank in V's pen. Mom called dad and he thought that it might be wires on an unconnected yard pole light. So I hollered to mom that I'd need her to hold the ladder for me to check that out and went out and grained, got more brome hay off the one stack and moved that ladder over to the pole and waited and waited and finally shook myself out of it, decided to wait to move Sadie till I had that tank working, fed 2nd hay helpings to my horses that I split morning hay, got a longer extension cord and plugged my frozen tank into the outlet that Shades tank is on that was still working. Gave V's horses some water, cleaned Sadies run. Enjoyed my 6 mile ride on Shade. We didn't push on the pace since I didn't want her getting sweated and then chilled but it was fun. Mom was finally up and asked if I fixed the breaker. SHe was asleep when I hollered that I'd need her help. I put Grey in with Shade and RazzMo and had mom help me shift the mini's so I could move Sadie in peace and on the way I trailer loaded Sadie. She hopped right in but was a bit nervous in there and really got rushed leading her out, and kicked at the trailer door. Bugger. I put her out with Cindy and climbed the ladder to confirm what I had decided from the ground --if there's a bare spot shorting on that pole its where a wire rubbed off insulation and not anything obvious. The driveway lights are on that same circuit so dad can check them out tomorrow and see if that isn't the short. He gets home tonight. The tractor would not even try to start, grrrr. I cleaned 2/3 cart out of AJ's stall and 2.3 cart fulls out of Dukes stall --without getting Dukes stall to a clean state - Yuck I've been giving him plenty of hay and he's been leaving the stemmy stuff and I had not realized how gross the stall was getting under continueing excess hay he scatters around. Well the forecast has changed and its supposed to be above freezing again tomorrow. Maybe dad can get the tractor started --I don't even know how to get to the battery to try to jump it, and if it won't start I can work on Duke &/or AJ's stall and pens again with just the cart.

Poor princess Sadie

Had a tummy ache this morning. Puts a pit in my stomach seeing her laying around feeling puny. I was this close to calling my vet but I know he works the stock show which is going on and she got up and was interested in the pans after I fed Grey and Cindy so I only pulled her out to a stall/run and gave her 1/2 of her pellets and some beet pulp and hay chaff in a few quarts of warm water with a bit of aloe juice, probiotics and salt. She slurped on that was looking for food so I gave her a flake of hay and she dug right into that. That stall has 1/2 the tank the mini's drink out of so she'll have water access and I can monitor her output. She really seemed to be enjoying the attention from Red Chief and Black Diamond (coming 3 and 2 yr old mini colts) since they were outside the fence so I think she'll be fine for the day with her entourage.

I think she was a tiny bit impacted from the colder weather, tank being low though it still had a few inches of water, and didn't help that I grabbed the wrong hay last night --I saw I had taken the thin stemmed stuff that I've been giving Shade and RazzMo along with their straight alfalfa and I gave Sadie and the greys an extra flake of good brome split into 3 portions on top of it, but she still got some fine stemmed hay that she isn't used to -my bad. She pooped in the run and it was pretty dry poop so I really don't think she's ulcerish again. Hopefully she drinks real good and the hay gets her gut motility going again. If she isn't better tonight I think I'll be syringing some epsom salt solution into her to get water into the gut and may get a vet to tube her I don't think she'll eat anything with mineral oil in it and I won't try to tube her myself, wont risk getting stuff into the lungs instead of the stomach.

worlds most spoiled dog(s)

Mia has been treated to car rides to the corner and then walks the last 2 days. I'd been doing that to give Ole a longer run this summer but I got busy and hate to burn the extra gas so I had quit but Mia really acted expectant so I indulged her yesterday and today I really wasn't going to walk the dogs at all, but mom was worried about Peekaboo's spay incision. I thought it looked ok, pooches out when she contracts her tummy but its flat when she relaxes and I think one expects some stiffness right around the cut but its been a long time so maybe I'm off but at any rate she had a vet appt and Peekaboo zipped out the door when mom was puttering in and out of the house. So I grabbed a can of wet cat food, luckily we had samples from the dry food we buy to coax the cat and putting Mia in my car was the best way to keep her from chasing the cat off when I was trying to coax her to me. So after getting Peekaboo caught I 'had' to give Mia a ride and walk since I'd put her in the car, and of course I call Ole when I'm taking Mia. He has to run out to the corner while Mia rides. He needs to burn off as much energy as possible, bouncy thing that he is. I am LOVING having Sadie and my grey horses up by the house for running out for late feeding. Funny they are not that much closer but it just seems so organized having all the horses that I feed late grouped next to each other. I should suck it up and fence this weekend in the cold so I could put the 3 horses in the bigger paddock. The poop is accumulating quickly in their paddock, I'll have to clean it more often than I need to clean Shade and RazzMo's.

Well its supposed to be above freezing on saturday but I'll want to ride and catch up on some things like running the tractor and getting water tanks filled that are so much easier to do when its not freezing.

well I didn't ride this morning

It was breezy and overcast and I let myself be wimpy and lazy. I got my salt block and a feeder hauled over to the new paddock. Took the dogs for a walk. Mia didn't want to go very far today. I hope she is doing well and just feeling like she had to get back and guard things. Monkey cat followed a ways but he turned into the yard on his own so I don't think Mia was worrying about him. Bart used to follow me on walks too. Monkey has so many similarities with Bart, no wonder I had to have him (although I didn't know he would be so alike in mannerisms when I said I wanted him) , even all the way from Virginia.

Sadie has bigger digs now.

I don't like starting the week tired, but I'm excited to have my shed anchored and Sadie, Cindy and GreyMoun moved to that paddock. Its supposed to get nasty tomorrow night so they best get used to the shed and decide its a good place quickly. Thirsty Sadie found the water tank right away. I alternate between thinking she's going to be great for endurance with that always ready to drink attitude and wondering if she has a kidney condition she seems to drink so much. Which reminds me I still have to move the salt block over and I want to continue to borrow V's tire feeder for them so I need to move it too and make sure she is ok with that.

Apparently it is trailer selling season again. I was leaning towards just doing electric and getting an old old RV camping trailer for my property instead of upgrading trailers but I guess if someone posts a weekender version at a good price I'll have to check it out. I don't want to get one with dressing room only & have to deal with getting a conversion done and I'm not willing to be without a propane stove and hopefully furnace as well.

why is a pre-built shed so much work

Because I have a complicated mind. At least it is here, in the spot it will live and has one anchor done. Now dad came up with a simpler anchoring idea so things should flow tomorrow once he gets up. I think I'll take a morning ride before we get started though. I'm needing a ride.

Shed comes tomorrow

I'm not even sure how they'll invoice it. The guy who said he is delivering had a different first name. But he expects to be out around noon. Aack I've got jitters. I have to plug in the tractor so it will start up. Get the t-post up so I can open both gates for him to get in. Decide EXACTLY where the shed goes and get my anchors drilled. Yikes I didn't buy chain yet either. I better get going so I can stop at home depot on the way and get some. I want to anchor right away. Pretty much need to in this area.

Go Mia!

Mia wanted to walk west instead of our usual east direction today and we went 1/2 mile before turning around. She would have went farther I think. I'm so happy she is feeling better. Gosh I have gotten so used to the emoticons on the BB's I feel nekkid writing w/o them, I'd put a big grin in if I could.

Sven, our oldest kitten got up on the roof of the house today. He seemed to think I should help him get down, but its a full 2 story building so that was not happening. In the past I would have just went to work and hoped for the best but I've been dabbling some in animal communication. I have a MS in engineering but I worked on it for a few months and I was able to drop my doubts that I could do such a thing and have been doing some practice animal communication for several months. Usually I only try with remote animals via pictures. May seem strange but that is easier for me than face to face comms with our own animals; but today I talked Sven down from the roof. I told him he needed to go over to where the Russian Olive tree is over the roof which is probably how the cats get up there, and climb down the tree and he did it. He's too funny. He got himself down to the first main junction and looked at me like I could just take him at that point. "Uh no, sorry Sven, but you are still at least 15 feet up and you have to keep coming down the tree --at least you've gotten past the little thorny branches you had to go around and have grippy bark to work with now." I did walk around thru the Pfizer sp? bushes to 'catch' him on the last bit of trunk. He went in the house for a snack and a nap after all that drama. This is not a huge thing as the cats have always eventually figured out they have to come down the trees, but it was pretty cool that Sven came down as I was talking to him.

I've been a lazy slug in the mornings and did no horse stuff other than haying the 15, graining our 8 non-mini's and putting Sadie and the grays in the turnout for about 45 minutes. I really should move faster in the mornings and get a teeny ride in on Shade once or twice during the week. I'm not going to gain a whole lot of time when my shed gets here but hopefully I can shift my mindset from dinking so much over the feeding and carve out at least 30 minutes of riding time a couple times a week starting soon, plus start taking longer weekend rides.

Better day.

I'm better today. Invited someone to meet for lunch sometime, now we just have to make plans work. Sadie was full of pep this morning in turnout. Best of all Mia wanted to go for a walk this morning. We went 1/4 mile and she wanted to keep going but I was cold. She wanted to go again when I left for work too. Knocking wood that the thyroid pills she's been getting for about 2 weeks now are kicking in and she is going to keep feeling good now. After losing Ludwig to lymphoma in summer 2006 it was really wrenching seeing Mia be so lethargic. Please let the thyroid be her main problem and she can maintain good health as long as we give her supplemental thyroid.

ramblings

Feeling rejected lately. Really irrational too, have found out lately that various members of a bb I frequent have been 'in my area' recently when they post after the fact about their trips. Well rationally I know that the 2 that I have met before had tight schedules, other folks they wanted to see, and have backgrounds where they probably wouldn't think someone would want to drive any distance to meet for a short time period. Not so many people grew up living 27 miles from the teeny town and 40 miles to the town with grocery stores. And the other 2 folks had not even met me before so they probably really had the mindset of 'OH couldn't ask someone to drive xx miles just to meet for lunch or coffee or something like that. But I'm having a hard time shaking it off. Its probably a sign that I need to quit investing so much of myself online. "HERES YOUR SIGN, GAL" . So why am I here right now. Good Q, but it seems easier to keep an online journal than to dig out paper and pen. Ah the critters at least were cute this morning. I love watching the herd of cats when they all want to go out in the morning or come in at night and my little filly is just too fun. I must call the portable shed folks tomorrow and confirm its coming soon.

weekend recap

Shade was a spazzy goofball when I rode saturday afternoon. I gave her some hay but she didn't want to get her feet wet in where water had puddled in the dip by the trailer, she walked through wet snowy puddles like a champ (she tends to hate getting her feet wet) but took off running when Ole was catching up like a wolf was chasing us, twice and was looking for another excuse to take off running. I scraped the old hay off the pallets, fired up the tractor and hauled 8 bales of hay over next to Shade and RazzMo's paddock, then I cleaned a few tractor scoop loads in their paddock and on my way out I got a scoop of sand and dumped part of it by the dip near the trailer and the rest in a dip where mom usually ties to tack up her horses. When I went to put Sadie and the greys away I tried to take just Sadie first & Grey Moun and Cindy crashed the gate on me and went tearing over to CJ's pen. Arabs don't mellow like a fine wine with age, they get more of vinegar tartness.

Today the weather was WEIRD. It was overcast when I fed hay, then sleeting when I grained, then 30 minutes after I finished up the sun came out so I put Sadie and greys out in their little pasture for their 2nd round of hay and got some corral poles wired on most of the driveway side of the paddock where I don't have electric wire. I'm happy to have that more secure but I need to finish it off better. Man I can't wait for my portable shed so I can just leave them out there. I'm paying mom's boarder to keep their smaller paddock clean and she is not keeping up, plus I feel bad on days I don't get them into the bigger area to stretch their legs. I cleaned some on their current pen on one of my days off in Dec and she did not reflect that in her cleaning bill. I knew I should have made a big deal out of it but I don't see how she could have failed to notice it. I scooped some on AJ's pen today. Mom's cleaner is not making it out very often. Perhaps mom's boarder can switch to cleaing one of her pens when I get my crew moved if she wants to maintain some of the income she's had from me.

testing images

sunny but cccold ride today

I had the day off today so after meeting the contractor and ordering a portable shed which should be done in less than 2 weeks YAY! this morning, I rode Shade this afternoon. It was soooo sunny and inviting but brrrrr I had tears running from the cold breeze and my fingers got chilled even in oversized thinsulate gloves. I ended up saying ptttbbbbbb to form and put my hands on Shades neck to warm my fingers some before I was done. We only went about 3 miles mainly walking. Shade did volunteer to trot some and we walked through a lot of snow, thats supposed to be the next best thing to sand for building up tendons, but mainly I got a sanity ride in. Its supposed to be warmer the next 3 days and hopefully that continues through the weekend.