I rode Sadie on Sunday.

Ole was feeling good and tagged along so I went only a 3 mile loop,  Sadie did an extra .5 to 1 mile because I made her double back to where Ole was several times to make sure he was still coming.

CJ the family pack horse is pretty sick.   He has not had normal appetite for 8 or 9 days now.   On the good side he has not completely refused to eat since the first night it started and isn't dropping weight rapidly but he can't go on for too long eating maybe up to one half of his normal intake. 

Since CJ was not really getting better we had Dr Mike out this morning now his Stock Show gig is finished.   He switched from oral doxycycline antibiotic to IM penicillin shots.  He thinks there are 3 possible causes for CJ's malaise.

1.  Colitis which the doxycycline would aggravate.

2.  Internal abscess which the penicillin will fight  same as the doxy would do.

3.  CJ has a tumor and will not get better.

I've had in the back of my mind the thought that CJ might have some chronic, still mild liver disease issue since he had the colic 27 months ago at hunting camp so I am not as grief stricken as I might be.  Also CJ is a good ole horse for the hunting trips but I'm not bonded with him like I am with my ayrabs.   

So we will do the penicillin shots and blood testing and see what is going on.  If its a tumor and he doesn't get his appetite back we'll have to put him down before he gets very far down the starving on his feet path.  We won't try heroic measures,  he is getting a fair amount of $$ of treatment just with giving him basic treatment in case he just has an issue that can be fixed with standard care.  

The weather has been beautiful these last 2 mornings but I've been distracted with CJ and work and have not taken advantage and gotten on Sadie or Tanza. 

I've been reading a biography of Count Belasarius.  It was written in 1938 so I think before the PC era.  Its an interesting peek into the influence the fading Roman empire had on the early church but not a whole lot of fun action of Belasarius as a military commander so far.  Its good for not being so interesting that I don't want to set the kindle down and go do stuff but readable and I feel like I'm learning a bit.

Oh and just today work and my credit union emailed links to get my W2 info and interest earnings.  I don't think I have the oil royalty statement yet.   So I am not going to get taxes done by Jan 31.  I don't think the royalty income is enough that I needed to send in any quarterly payments or incur a penalty --if I'm wrong then I'll be paying penalty for 4th quarter as well since not going to get taxes done by end of month.

I'm not biting my fingernails worrying about getting bills paid and have been feeling so generally blegh that I just do not care enough to try to shoehorn the taxes in in the next few days even if it might result in giving EarLeader and his IRS and EPA thugs a little extra money.