Needles, Poop and Dirty Laundry

Day One

It was a busy day yesterday, in a good way.

First of all, I had the vet out for the animals’ needles and Sully health and dental check. Everything checked out, and everyone got their rabies vacs. I asked the vet about Sully’s weight, as a few people have commented on his being ribby. She said that since he’s a draft cross and genetically prone to both obesity and founder, he’s absolutely perfect. So I can stop worrying! His teeth also checked out, so he won’t need floating until next spring, which cut the vet bill in half

While I waited on the vet to arrive, I started moving some manure around the pasture. In an effort to both nourish the grass and to change Sully’s grazing pattern so he’s not eating it bare in some spots, I’ve decided to take my wheelbarrow and pitchfork and redistribute poo. That sounds like a beaurocratic position, no? I picked up, broke up and spread about 5 wheelbarrow loads in just under 2 hours. It was hard work, but I didn’t mind it. It will be an ongoing project this summer, but really good exercise

Sprinkled between was some housework, yardwork, cow wrangling and, of course chickens. Today I am getting the tire garden cleaned out and washing horse blankets. Speaking of which, I’ve come up with a really good way to do the latter. I took my garden sprayer/feeder and washed it out, added a scoop of Oxy Clean and set it to the jet spray setting. I have gotten the rain sheet cleaned using this method, and it seems to be working really well, except that I ran the well dry! I have to wait for it to fill back up before I can do the heavyweight one. I’ll let you know if they look/smell clean when I’m done with them!

…and today.

 

This ‘n That

I realize that in all the chick fuss I’ve not mentioned anything else that’s going on around here. No, it’s not all chickens all the time! Close, but not quite.

Sully and I have gotten in a couple of really good rides this week. I’m loving my new bridle. Whereas I thought it would cause some resistance and rebellion out of him at first, due to his no longer being able to do what he wants with his head and mouth, it’s had the opposite effect. He has been not only really relaxed through our rides, but also extremely responsive and willing to at least try to do everything I ask. Someone put it in the context of the contact of an English bridle being the equivalent to holding a child’s hand; most horses find it reassuring to have that contact with the rider.

Who knew?

Sunday I rode him here with the intention of doing his annual clip and trim. However, I got him here and couldn’t get my clippers to work. So instead, I hobbled him in the yard and let him graze a couple of hours with the muzzle and a couple without. He kept us company while Steve and I and my folks grilled and ate hotdogs on the patio. It was pretty cool. Then we saddled up and mom and I walked/rode back to the barn. It was kind of like 2 rides in 1 day

On Monday, Steve was home from work with the leftover hangover of a bad headache he nursed all weekend. But Mom came over after lunch, and she and I finished the hard part of the coop. It took us a few hours, and a lot of effort, but we did finally get it done.

Saturday night, we biked to the barn. Our starting time for the year? 54:32. I biked again last night and improved on that time a bit. At the end of the season last year, I could make the round trip in 30 minutes. So we’re a little out of shape. But we’ll get there.

I cleaned the house yesterday, between a Sully ride and that bike ride. And today, I’ve been working on an outdoor “playpen” for the chicks, as well as getting the litter into the coop so it can dry out a bit, and cleaning up the yard.

Chicken points of note for today, they’re beginning to “dust” bathe, and a few of the Dark Cornish are getting shoulder feathers!

!@#$ the Groundhog Says

 

Shot near the Mississippi RiverReplaces :Image:Groundhog Standing1.jpg, which, although of a higher resolution, is at a much poorer angle. , in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Copyright © 2004 by April King

 

I finally got out for a ride today. First one since sometime in the middle of January, I think. I put on all my layers and it was 50 degrees and sunny when I left the house just after noon. By the time we got home, it had dropped to something lower than that, the wind was blowing and it was spitting rain. It’s supposed to be 15 degrees tomorrow night! No, that is NOT Centigrade (all our Canadian friends are probably praying for 15 degrees right about now…) Ha!

 

February is hard because you can feel spring coming, but it never quite does. Though that little Philadelphia rodent predicted an early spring, which would put it in the next couple weeks; he may have lied… or been slightly hung over from all that hibernating. I know hibernation makes me leery of shadows, too.

 

It was a great ride, though. I expected to have WWIII on my hands with a fresh horse conveniently forgetting who rides whom coupled with the nice-ish weather and my own sore muscles from the fall I had working yesterday. But it was great. Sully was just glad to be out of the mud for awhile. We even passed a funeral, complete with weird covered chairs, flapping tent and coffin. How can a horse be afraid of a pig or a cow, but something that looks like a fancy coffee table standing in the middle of a yard and smelling of formaldehyde is business as usual?

 

We also rode by some resident groundhog holes, but no one seemed to be home. I guess they all know they only have two weeks before they have to wake up and do groundhog stuff.

 

After our ride, I took Mom home and Dad put mirrors on the truck for me. On my way back out we noticed the rear tire was soft. There was a piece of 12 gauge fence wire stuck in it. I managed to get it home, where now it is now resting on three tires and one rim.

 

 

 

 

 

Meteor trace (Photo credit: alexeya)

 

 

The asteroid did it. You know, the one that didn’t hit Earth today.

 

 

 

We have a nice evening planned. We had Chinese BBQ pork and rice for supper (homemade, of course) and we have a movie to watch while the snow flies. Yes. We’re going to be groundhogs this winter weekend!

 

A Winter Something-land

We did indeed get snow, though it was on the low side of predictions. I’d say we got 3 to 4 inches, and half that is still plastered to the sides of things, thanks to the moderate winds. For all its problems, though, the little Subaru didn’t let us down. We opted out of snow tires this year, for cost reasons — the price doesn’t seem worth the amount of use you get out of them in this area — but our all-weather radials barely even slipped on the icy roads yesterday morning. Sully’s breakfast was only slightly delayed; the reason for that was the rapid transition between pouring rain and snow meant all the doors on both vehicles were firmly frozen in place! It took us a good half hour just to gain entry to the car. Steve also made it to work with no problems.

We were sure we’d lose power, too; it blinked and flickered and threatened all Thursday evening, but stayed on. Mom and Dad, 3/4 of a mile up the road, however, were not so lucky. They are still without, and earliest predictions for restoration put them at the middle of next week. It is nice that we’re not both out; they can come here to eat and shower. That doesn’t help their pipes, though, that are likely to have frozen last night. It fell into the low 20′s.

It was a pretty snow, but I’m ready for it to be gone now. One day, that’s my limit! I had my fill of the messy, dirty stuff from 6 very long winters in Ontario! Honestly, I wouldn’t care if I never saw snow again! But the first day, while it’s still pristine, is nice. I’m wondering if I might get out for a ride this afternoon as it melts; I do love riding in the snow.

Sully was just happy yesterday to be dry. The week of cold rain really took its toll, I think. At dinner time last night he was galloping through the drifts and seemed to be trying to make the snow fly up around him, like a speedster on a dirt track. Pretty funny.

I made more bagels yesterday. I tried a recipe left by WhileHeWasOut in my comments a few days ago. They were much easier, and are delicious, though I do think the boiling  may be what gives them that certain texture. Maybe next time I’ll do the recipe but boil them, and see what happens. I made mini-bagels this go round; built-in portion control.

I’ll leave you with a photo I snapped yesterday from our front porch.

Dude, It’s the Weekend Again

I’m not sure how time gets away from me. My apologies for being AWOL all week.

Not that there is much to tell. I got in two decent rides with Sully, and he’s back to his old agreeable self. I think every spring and fall a horse has a Mid-year crisis, a seasonal meltdown. If addressed, it passes quickly. If ignored, well, it becomes a fact of life!

I started a yoga routine, thanks to our Sony streaming box. Not only do we get a Tara Stiles channel with almost 100 yoga videos to pick from, but we are also able to stream YouTube. There are thousands of workout videos available on YouTube. It’s fantastic. So I finally found one by a guy who calls himself Mr. Fitness, and it’s the first routine I’ve tried that is both easy enough for me to complete the entire 30 minutes without skipping any poses, and strenuous enough that I can tell I did something different. So I’ve done it every morning this week, and I can already feel a difference in my balance and flexibility. I think this is going to be my fitness focus this winter.

Other than that, the house is pretty tip top; I tackled some small chores that have been hanging over me for awhile and got them out of the way. I put some more work into that art project. I have a self-imposed deadline of Thanksgiving. I’m really hoping it turns out close to the way I see it in my head. I gave myself a spanky manicure that I then destroyed when I fell up the stairs with an armful of recyclables. ‘Nuff said.

Looking forward to a mild weekend with lots of outdoor time. Winter returns on Monday. Ironic, no?

More Homelife

After Monday’s cleaning binge, on Tuesday I went on a cooking binge.

Steve informed me that he had been craving some good oatmeal cookies. So I picked out two recipes from my Big Red Cookbooks (I have a Betty Crocker one and a Better Homes and Gardens one), Peanut Butter Oatmeal rounds and plain old Oatmeal Cookies. I put plain M&Ms in the former, and dried cranberries in the latter. They turned out really well. I made them jumbo sized so they came out really chewy and nice.

After a couple of hours baking cookies, I got a loaf of French bread in the oven, and made a really good Chicken Lasagna for dinner. Both turned out fantastic.

We went riding yesterday, and Sully was excellent. He had more get up and go, thanks to the fact that I’m being consistent about not letting him walk as slowly as possible, ever. We maintained a forward walk or nice jog for the entire ride, and this over gravel.

I’ve taken the plunge on the Easyboots after finding a pair of Bares in their bargain bin. I got two boots for less than the normal price of just one. And the rep assured me that I’ll get better mileage out of them than I would out of the Trails with the amount and type of riding we do, as well as Sully’s overall size. I can’t wait to get them and try them out.

I’m also trying out two different operating systems, thanks to Dad. He upgraded my Ubuntu 10.04 to 12.0-something (4?), which utilizes what I think he called a Unity desktop, and also installed XUbuntu on the same machine. So far, I’m liking the XUbuntu with its leaner interface.

Not much on the roster for today, other than a bike ride or two. I did manage to pull a muscle in my neck yesterday while uncinching my saddle (this after a mile and a half ride during which I debated wearing my helmet and opted to leave it at home.) It’s pretty sore this morning.

A Weekend Update

It did rain, quite a bit, actually. In fact, the whole week was gray and overcast and much cooler, even when the rain wasn’t falling. It went through yesterday morning, but had started clearing out by the time Mom and I were halfway through our shopping trip.

We went to Galax and hit Food Lion, where there were some good prices on chicken, then Hershbergers where I was able to restock my canned soups and salad dressings. Then we found some good produce at the SW Va. Farmer’s Market, and finally ended up at our most favorite place, Walmart. The budget was strict this go round, but I got everything we needed and then some.

Including a new pair of nail clippers for Blue. I lost the pair I’ve been using on him since he was a puppy, and his nails were getting longer and longer while I waited for them to turn up. I really don’t know what happened to them. But Heeler nails grow incredibly fast, and thick. So I picked up a pair made by Oster, for large dogs. Blue’s very well trained to flop down next to me and stick his feet in the air when I bring the clippers out. Those clippers went through his nails like butter. They are fantastic! When I was done, he ran laps around the yard so fast it looked like he didn’t have legs

Though we didn’t get much riding in last week, we did manage to get out twice between rain showers. It is so nice to have The Hole fixed, and means I have a place to ride where it’s both easy to meet up with Mom, and I can leave Sully barefoot and not worry with his boots. Both rides features a good bit of trotting and some gallops. He seems to have settled back down to his old amenable self again, so riding is once more enjoyable. He’s putting on a little weight with the summer grazing, but between the lack of rain and the continued exercise, he’s holding his own pretty well. I’m also not even having to longe him before riding, just tack him up and go, and he’s responding well to that. We’re still working the poles, as well, and almost have them at 4 feet. Some days he’s perfect at them, and others, it seems to be his sole objective to step on/break every last one of them!

Unfortunately, Steve awoke this morning with a summer cold. Hopefully this will be the bad day for him, as it’s the day with all the post nasal drip. I made him a can of chicken soup for lunch with fresh rosemary and parsley in it to spruce it up a bit. It actually smelled pretty good!

I spent part of my morning adjusting the brakes and seat on my bike. I need to oil the chain, too. I think I got it all the way I want it. We’ve gotten in some good bike rides, too, though the higher the humidity is, the more difficulty I have breathing. It is helping that I’m dropping weight again. Down 13 pounds so far. My goal is to get back into my skinny jeans by fall/winter

The gardens are thriving. The tire garden remains a riot of color, as every plant I’ve planted there has flourished and bloomed constantly. The tomatoes are laden with little green fruit. The German Queen plant is 5 feet tall, and attempting to over shadow the purple cabbage I planted in the adjoining row. I can’t wait till they start ripening, which usually happens for me around early to mid August. Though we had an early spring, I still did not plant my garden till the first week of June, so they are right on schedule.

Rain, Rain…

…Won’t you stay? And come again another day!

We need rain so badly, and it was looking as though we might get it today. When I got up just after six this morning, it was raining very gently, and I could practically hear the ground gulping!

Something about rainy days makes me want to clean house. It’s not rained much lately, therefore I have a really dirty house. So rain or no, cleaning is on today’s agenda! On the plus side, I might have a chance to work in a walk or a bike ride.

I have a few phone calls to make this morning; there is a coating peeling off the lenses of my glasses that makes it feel like I’m trying to look through fingerprints. And I realized this morning that I am completely out of checks! Oops. I don’t use very many checks; in fact, we’ve been with the same bank for about 4 years, and I just used the last of our one and only check order. Unfortunately, the rent is due in three days… Do you suppose the landlord would allow me to skip a month?? Haha, doubtful!

I would like to tell you about my breakfast for no reason other than it was really very good. I made a summery-tasting burrito out of a 10 inch tortilla, one scrambled egg, an ounce of smoked sausage (a little goes a long way), a wedge of Laughing Cow light sun-dried tomato and basil cheese and a couple of leaves of fresh basil from the garden. Boy, I would like to do that all over again! And for those on the go, I ate it out of my hand; no plate required! I figured I have enough to clean this morning.

A quick word, too, about Sevin’s Worry Free insecticide. That stuff is awesome. I dusted my cone flowers and hibiscus with it 2 weeks ago because the Japanese beetles were stripping the leaves off the plants and the petals off the flowers. I put too much time and money into that flower garden to hand it over to those iridescent little demons. Well, they are still leaving the flowers alone! Worry Free is derived from chrysanthemum flowers. Yes, I am aware that it has other stuff in there, too, but it was easier to use than the more toxic stuff, and is working much better than I expected.

Well, I don’t suppose that any of my work is getting done while I blog, so I shall check in later. Hopefully I’ll have some progress to report…

The Hole

I don’t believe that any inanimate object has directed and re-directed the course of my life more than has this Hole.

On March 24th, 2012, we had massive thunderstorms that brought large damaging hail and widespread flooding. These storms began the development of the Hole. It is located almost exactly half way between the Bairds’ and the Browns’. Since the Bairds and the Browns like one another and seem to get along pretty well, they like to spend time together. In addition, the Bairds’ horse is located at the Browns’ and requires the Bairds’ care once to twice daily.

At first, the Hole wasn’t too bad. It consumed and swallowed one lane, but could still be bypassed on the other side, if not by car, then on foot, bicycle or on horseback. Time passed, and with each rainfall, heavy or otherwise, a little more asphalt became Hole fodder. A few weeks or so after the initial wash, someone (I’m assuming with the County, but that may be a faulty assumption) finally came and trenched out the entire road. It appeared that, even though at that point there was a gully beneath the full width of the road bridged only by about 12 inches of asphalt, some fools were still taking cars and tractors through the roadblocks and over the Hole.

Once trenched, passage by means other the motor vehicle became impossible, to most. Not to me and my intrepid Mother. We are nothing if not resourceful, and the fact that two trips a day to the Browns’ equals about 15 miles in a truck that gets about 6 miles to the gallon, something had to be done. So we continued our biking and walking, simply climbing down into the Hole and back out the other side. Yes, it is muddy and a little treacherous, but you do what you gotta do.

More rains came and turned our foot path through the Hole into a slip ‘n’ slide. Resourcefulness won again. I drove over in the truck with digging tools in tow and dug steps into the bank of the Hole. It was fantastic! Mom and I could walk or take our bikes across in seconds with little danger.

More rain, this time a gully washer. During my trip the morning following, I found half of our pathway washed away, and in its place a baby Hole that revealed the broken drain pipe and dropped five feet into running water. Ick.

That was the Hole that broke the Baird’s back. I got on the phone with VDOT to find out what was going on with this 3 month long pain in my rear end. I mean, they’d been out to put up barricades and signs, and trenched it out; we just assumed efforts were being made to fix it. That was also a faulty assumption. There was no work-order started for the Hole. There was no record at all of a giant gaping Hole present in Carroll County.

Don’t you love government?

The lady I spoke with was really nice and helpful, and she started a work order and gave me the number, and told me to call and check on the status as often as I liked, and to pass on the information to neighbors so they could also call on it as they felt so compelled.

This was around 9 am. Around 4 pm, I got a call from a local number. It was a VDOT supervisor, calling me from his truck. He was also very nice, and told me that he’d just gotten his water permit allowing him to fix the Hole, and he’d given the county their required two-weeks’ notice. He said they have Rome Drive on their docket for the first week in July. Second week at the latest, due to the holiday. And he told me that since I was the one to call, he wanted me to be the first to know, and for me to get busy spreading the word to the locals.

The Hole is still passable on foot, but requires two people to get a bike in and out of it. So Mom and I are still crossing it as we are able. At least for the moment, Sully only needs my attention once per day since he’s on pasture.

I will say that my bicycle has proven to be the best money I’ve spent this year. Without it, I think we’d have been put in the hole by the Hole, ironically enough.

Boneheaded Horses? Maybe not…

I’m always quick to blame Sully when we have a ride like this morning’s, a ride where I feel like I do more work than the horse, doing everything short of getting off his back, picking him up, and carrying HIM up the trail! Rides where his head isn’t in the game, and even walking a straight line seems to be a skill beyond his comprehension. Rides when the the spring grass popping along the road shoulders is far more demanding than the demands made by his rider. But truth be told, when I get home from those rides (and they are few and far between) I realize that Sully’s reactions were only a reflection of my own wandering mind. When I’m unfocused on the task at hand, what other choice does he have? I’m the leader. He’s only doing what I’ve taught him to do, and that is to follow where I lead.

So when I got home, completely exhausted from what felt like a low-key, 2 hour battle, and I reflected on the morning, I realized I had no more desire to ride than he did.

That’s not to say it wasn’t a good ride. We made it home, the weather was great, and Mom met us halfway on her bicycle, so we got in our daily activity together. My energy has flagged over the past few days, and when my energy is low, I don’t enjoy those activities as much. But we needed to get out. Sometimes you don’t do it for the pleasure of it, but for the discipline of it.

Today was one of those days.

Tomorrow, we’ll do it for the pleasure of it.