Actually, it was chickenpox

How can you get chickenpox twice? Seriously, that is NOT fair - I had it when I was little. Oh well, it explains my other symptoms, and I got a week's vacation (almost NO work! Yay!). My brother and sister also got it, but I definitely had it the worst. The good thing is that while I was so sick I could do nothing but lie in bed, I caught up on my reading - mostly. I think I read about 20 books, including a lot of my old favorites. I really needed that, as I don't feel like myself if I never get to read. On a different topic, I am never going to be grumpy about how oatmeal is boring again. It is boring, but it also seriously saved my sanity/life/skin/something! That stuff worked miracles.

I wish I could have gotten video of the horses' expressions, though. There were a few days when the kids had to do most of the feeding, and when I did stagger out there once a day or so, both horses were so quiet it was scary. They just looked at me (and sis swears they were watching me walk, like, "Is she lame? How do we call the vet?") and did not do their normal nickers and whinnies. I'm glad that they are back to normal now.

One very good thing that came out of this is that my boss and coworkers were all super nice about my being sick. The cool part is that I am a workaholic (I realize that about myself, even if I haven't figured out how to be more balanced) and I keep pushing myself to do more and feeling guilty when I don't do as much as I want to or feel that I should be able to do. Being sick was good for me - they got behind, yes, and missed me, yes, but they all said not to worry but just to get well. I really appreciated that.

I am going to try to do an update about the alfalfa project and bees soon. :-)


L

Wow, the truck strikes again.

Hi guys. You know how I've said this year has been a solid stream of "getting hit by a truck every 10 days?" It happened again. I got a fever, chills, aches, etc. last weekend and thought it would probably pass quickly. Then a rash started. By the time we figured out it was poison oak (NOT been in my range lately!) it was really bad. Lizard face me. I have bumps all over, and am feeling extremely whiny. Anyway, I'll post sometime when I'm feeling like a human again and can sit up for longer than 10 minutes. Hope everyone is having a good Monday.


L

Post # 202

The last few days have been pretty nice. It cooled down again from highs in the 110s, so that is a relief. Andolu is so weird. In the middle of the day he'll stand out in the sun like it is nighttime. He loves getting hosed off, but to keep him in the shade I have to feed him there. Oh well. I think I mentioned I have been working on training him to back up from a hand signal. He has always been really reluctant/grumpy/stiff when backing. Since I'm pretty sure he has stiffness somewhere in his back end, I never got on his case too much. But now, every time I feed him I ask him to back at least one step before he gets his food. Soon I am going to ask for two steps each time, and work up. Anyway, he is picking it up fast. One thing I do notice is that at first I had to stop using my voice to say "back" and just use body language. He picked up what I meant quicker that way. Eventually I hope he'll be able to respond to just the voice command, too. Now, when he's especially anxious for his food, he doesn't just dance around forward, he'll back up too as I'm coming over. His backup looks a lot smoother now with all the practice.

I was comparing pictures of Mira's coat last summer with this summer's, and I can really tell a difference in the quality. Last summer we had a great spring with tons of grass, and this year... not. It was depressingly obvious. I really hope this winter we get lots of rain! I hope I have time tonight to catch up on Olympic coverage. I've hardly seen any of the horse footage...


L

Laminitis Update: 7

Anatolian has been off the bute for three days now - the one month supply was used up in exactly one month - and I have been watching him carefully but cannot tell a single difference in his behavior and comfort level. He looks good to me. I plan to have the farrier out in a week or so to take his shoes off and retrim and put new shoes on. What I know from reading the barefoot websites is that laminitic horses need frequent trims, sometimes every two weeks, for proper healing and hoof regrowth. If I have to do shoes right now, I still don't want to let his feet get too long, which they almost are already.

Meanwhile, a few days ago the grandparents' well had some trouble. Since the horses get water from their well, I ended up hauling water across the road to them the last few days. Bah! SO not my favorite thing to haul five gallon buckets every couple hours all day long... Oh well. At least I can finally use the hose again. The horses liked it - I split their meals into even smaller portions and fed them almost every trip. They sure liked that! I remember in the jungle when we had "walking water," (i.e., walk to the river, fill buckets, cart up to the house, filter by hand) thinking it was fun whenever I was allowed to help carry a bucket. Nowadays though, running water and refrigeration rank side by side in my "favorite inventions."

I am loving the new hay stack. This hay is definitely better quality than the feed store stuff I was getting. Mira probably eats twice as much hay as she usually does, and Andolu is now holding his weight on the grass hay. And I just love seeing several tons of hay up there; it is like looking out at a dark rainy night while sitting in front of a fire drinking cocoa. :-D


L

Six horsey things I am proud of

A couple weeks ago I was tagged by Onthebit for this meme. It struck me as ironic, since this whole year has been very difficult for me and I have had such a hard time juggling all the different aspects of my life. I am an ISTJ through and through and to go for months feeling like I really cannot quite keep up with everything has been very hard for me. I have been at a really low ebb in my confidence. I know everyone has times where they feel like they just can’t get it together and, well, this has been one of those times for me. It goes against the grain and was a bit difficult for me to think of six horsey things I was proud of, but here goes.

Six horsey things I am proud of:

1. My horses both like and obey me. I am always so glad to see their happy faces when I’m around, and the way Mira follows me when I’m doing chores or whatever. I am also proud that I do always follow through to make sure they do what I ask.
2. I am proud that Mira has such great manners now. When I got her two years ago, she was antsy and tended to run into people leading her. She was well trained as a youngster, but had forgotten a lot of it. Now, she never lets the rope go taut, and you can even lead her without a halter, just holding her lower lip gently. She is a complete lady.
3. I am proud that Mira is healthy and a perfect weight and energetic at the age of 28, even despite most of her teeth being gone.
4. I am proud that Andolu is so much happier now than when I met him. He was a little depressed and a little uptight. Now he is just fractious and high-spirited!
5. I am proud that I have continued to remember my vow as a child to do my best to share the joy of horses with kids when I had my own horses. I do try to invite people over to play with them whenever possible.
6. I am proud that I learned how to install an electric fence system! Don’t laugh, I am not an engineer type person and though electric fences are simple, I was still surprised I could figure it all out without help!

This was a fun meme and lifted my mood. Hmm, now I think I'll tag risingrainbow! With all she's come through and accomplished, she might have trouble sticking to six! And anyone else can feel free to consider themselves tagged. :-)


L

Better Pictures

Here are some better pictures of The Spoiled One from after her bath. Now I am just trying to get some pictures of Andolu playing with his toys - he won't do it when I'm around because he's too busy asking for more food!

L

Some pics from the last week

Here are a couple pics of Mira shortly after I finished her once-yearly all-over bath with soap. I don't do her all over with soap very often as she hates it so much. So, she usually gets a whole body bath or two in the summer, usually around the "anniversary." Spot cleaning and spraying with just water work most of the time, but it is fun to see the sparkle when she is really clean! Unfortunately, the lighting was not as good as I thought when I got these photos right after she was dry, so in these ones she looks way more yellow than she is. I'll post more photos as I have the time to get them up.

L