If you didn’t need sleep, what would you do with all the extra time?
Let’s all remember that resting is good for us, and sleep is important for a healthy brain. But, if I didn’t have to sleep I’d spend more time with the horses. I could ride the rideable ones and work with the others much more often.
Just chilling
I would be able to tell my equine friends how much I value them, just as they are. They don’t have to perform to be valued. I’d tell Drew that a lot. I don’t think he likes the stuff we ask him to do anymore.
I like eating and walking around with Suna.
Of course some of the time I’d spend with birds and other woodland folk. I could watch flowers grow or help restore native habitat.
If I could do birds AND horses it would be ideal. This photo at Tarrin’s also contains Robins and I think a Killdeer.
I would spend the dark hours knitting or crocheting, reading, and writing. Hanging out with Lee would get a chunk of time, too. Hey that’s not much different from today. I’d meditate a lot, too.
Perhaps I could work on something other than this project.
And maybe with more awake hours I could do better at keeping up with beloved friends and family. That’s important.
The horses and dogs also count as beloved friends
So, no, I would not save the world, but I’d relish my world and try to make my community a happier place
I’d watch cranes when they’re going south or north!
As we know, Apache is not fond of his medicine for PPID (some metabolic malady). He also has been refusing to eat his delicious soaked alfalfa pellets with his expensive supplements. It’s hard to help an animal who doesn’t care for the assistance.
He thinks he’s winning the food war.
To try to help, I ordered a different version of the medicine, compounded into a powder (which has pros and cons, of which I am aware). He ate it in treat food once, but wouldn’t touch it yesterday. I was too sick to argue with him.
Ha ha. I win.
Today he got it in applesauce via syringe, which worked ok, so that’s taken care of. He can’t spit out the medicine if it’s all mixed in. And he takes it politely.
Today I prepared him a gourmet tasting platter with all the components separated out, in case maybe he’d eat one pile or two. Nope. He acted hungry, but sniffed disdainfully at the food and just stood there. Fine.
I’ll deign to eat your hay (obviously not a current photo, since his mane looks so nice)
I stood there, too, and removed some burs from his encrusted mane while I thought. After the other horses had eaten a couple of minutes, I opened Apache’s gate and let him out, sitting his food bucket in the same area where Mabel and Fiona were eating.
Mabel and Dusty, just minding their business.
Sure enough, Apache marched over to Mabel’s food, sent her away and started munching away. Mabel went over and ate Apache’s food. I watched as he ate and ate the food, which was the same as his, only with the oil supplements I thought he hated. Nope, he ate it like a champ.
The award for best consumer of supplements and medicine goes to…Apache!
As long as he THOUGHT it wasn’t the food I gave him with meds, he’d eat it. Fine. From now on I’m making two of the same exact mixes and letting him ignore one in his pen, then chase Mabel off, so he can eat “her” food. Horse psychology! I win! I think!
Wait until tomorrow. Who knows what I’ll do!
Everyone eats. That’s what counts.
(PS: I’m feeling better mentally and physically today, finally, and the owl said HOOT at both me and Lee.)
To me it was exciting, anyway. I finally heard, saw, and sorta photographed a Red-headed Woodpecker in Texas. I knew they were here, but they’d been eluding me all this time.
There, in the tree! A round head!
Yeah, only I could know that’s what’s in the photo. But Merlin identified it, and we all saw it flying between a live and dead tree. Tarrin sees them often. Now I have!
The dead tree, with a moody Black Vulture.
And as if that wasn’t enough, we saw Sandhill Cranes flying over on our way home. They must have been looking for a pond to land on. They are always a seasonal highlight.
The sunset heading home.
Another bird highlight for me was getting to watch our local Belted Kingfisher do a big dive. It then politely sat on a limb in the back pond so I could practice using my new binoculars. Dang, they are good, even though smaller and lighter than my other ones.
At least you can tell this one is a Kingfisher.
Besides all the birding, it was a busy, busy work day followed by a busy horse lesson, where Apache made some progress. I was pretty tired from chasing my horses around, because though I’d successfully moved them from the front pasture but neglected to check if the gate behind the pens was closed. That was not fun, especially when Mabel tried to get in the trailer with Aragorn. I didn’t see that coming.
No photos of that action, so enjoy this morning’s sunrise. Huh. I took photos of both sunrise and sunset today!
What’s the biggest risk you’d like to take — but haven’t been able to?
I did take a risk today, but I’ll get to that later. One I wish I could take is to go live somewhere I’d feel more comfortable. Every time I think about it I come back around to the sad truth that there is no Sunaland. Anywhere.
The coast of Sunaland, a mythical location. Photo from Pexels.
We keep thinking of different parts of the US. Last night it was somewhere in Central Pennsylvania. Earlier it was Wisconsin. Or whatever. Always too expensive, too far from medical facilities, blah blah.
This part of Pennsylvania. Yes.
Other countries? Sure. Ireland, Wales, or Sweden! But would they want us? They mainly want very wealthy people. I’m not sure we’re that. I want to live somewhere pretty rugged and in a small community. I’m just not brave enough to leave this place. I guess I’m settled where I am, even if I sometimes feel out of place.
Ideal.
Anyway, I was brave and took the risk of moving the horses to the field in front of the house. It still has some reasonable grass, which I thought they’d like.
Hmm, they don’t look happy.
Well, they liked the water trough we put in a lot. I’ve already had to refill it, due to splashing and slurping. Mabel and Drew like to splash.
There are LOTS of giant cocklebur plants in that field, and lots of woodland creatures to spook them. I hope they find the trees to be a good place to sleep. If they seem upset, I’ll put them back after my lesson tomorrow and give them a round bale of hay to eat.
We’re hiding in the brush.
It may just take a while to settle in. Horses aren’t fond of change.
Dusty, however, is quite fond of his own reflection.
Everyone here is tired because we had a guest last night, then people came to fix the bedroom slide in Seneca the motorhome, then much horse drama.
Motorhome repair time.
After all that, Lee and I voted, picking the perfect time when it wasn’t too crowded. I’m glad we got that done. It was fun to just skip uncontested contests where I dislike the candidate. By 2:30 over 300 people had voted in our town!
My hair sure looks yellow.
Goldie is pooped and so are the others! I must admit that I’m tired and peopled out myself!
I’m proud of two things in my life right now. One is my son, D. He struggled for a while in his 20s but is now doing work that’s meaningful and is an outlet for his artistic and spatial awareness talents. He did the repairs on his cabin after the severe wind event almost all by himself and it’s so rustic and cute.
Custom vanityRepurposed door, very hard to install showerThis bathroom looks 1000% better.
And even though he’s my next-door neighbor now, he’s continuing his music career and learning so much about recording, too.
Old photo. He’s now drumming mostly. Public Instagram photo.
Hard work and determination got my boy to a good position in life! He even has a work truck and leads a crew.
Speaking of hard work and determination, the other thing I’m proud of is my relationship with Apache. The two of us have struggled and had so many ups and downs thanks to my insecurity, his nerves, and his health issues. But by gosh, we’ve gotten to where we’re reaching our potential.
We cleaned up well yesterday. I even had a waist.
I was feeling pretty down about horse stuff, mainly because Drew seems uncomfortable again and I just can’t get Apache to take his medication. But, I packed up and de-burred Apache, and off we went with Sara, Aragorn, and their New Zealand visitors.
Shiny, if a bit dusty, and smooth haired.
We ended up handling the show very well. In each of the three events, we did our best. Most important to me was that I wasn’t all nervous and remembered most of what I was supposed to do, even though I didn’t bend him well and there was some hind end issue I’ll have to ask Tarrin about.
He was happier than he looks.
After we finished the Trail portion of the show, where you go through obstacles, Tarrin left the judging booth and ran to me, yelling, “Sue Ann! Sue Ann!” I immediately thought I must have gotten disqualified or missed something. But no, she came to tell me I looked better than I ever had. That made me cry.
I nearly cried as I watched this woman and her horse competing in their Century: where the horse and riders’ ages combine to be 100. The beautiful mare is 23.
All in all it was a really pleasant and fun event. I don’t have any photos of me and Apache, but I can tell you he stepped up and did his best, even if he’s not been exercising much lately. I at least seem to have my stamina back, though I was totally zonked last night and went to bed at 9.
I got lots of pictures of Sara and Aragorn. He seemed out of sorts in Functionality but she kept her cool and managed him beautifully. By the last event, Aragorn was back! He had the fastest overall time! Look at him kicking up dust.
All the competitors and their beautiful horses did great work. Everyone is improving and so supportive of each other. I learn so much watching the better riders.
Tarrin telling us how proud she is.
I just want to show you how great the competitors looked. I was especially thrilled to see two other Paint horses and my favorite cute Appaloosa, who showed in hand.
Angie and Newt the CuteHe did very well. Brenda and Shiloh, so elegant. Nancy and DulciInspirational pair. Jana and Gorgeous Georgia They were amazing. Troy and EisenSo much progress!Tracee and Cole, our Seasoned role models
I’m proud of all of us for trying to show. I’m so happy we found a supportive discipline with no negativity or mistreatment of horses.
I haven’t done a horse update in a while. That’s because not much has changed and I’ve been focusing on sick dogs. But today Jackie came to do bodywork for the first time in a while, so there’s a little more news.
I’m here, too. I enjoy taking food containers out in the pasture where Suna can’t find them. Fun!
All the horses have decorative cocklebur crowns these days. It only takes a few days to replace them, so I’ve given up on daily removal. It’s too hard on my hands and my gloves.
Why remove them? It’s a fashion statement.
Drew, as I’ve noted, is having some movement issues. Jackie determined that his back end is doing way better, so yay for that, but he’s still stiff, sore, and unhappy in his neck and shoulders, including the ribs. He let her know just how it feels, like he was doing with me earlier this year. She worked on him a lot and gave me suggestions for getting him to swing his front legs out and round his ribcage.
The look.
I’ll do that stuff and continue to work on extended walks on the ground and in the saddle. At least he still likes doing that, until he stomps his perfect little feet. By the way, I got his tail and back 3/4 of mane cleared up, but he was in no mood for forelock work after his adjustments.
Apache with invisible bur crown, last week.
I got no photos of Apache, because I was busy removing a bucket o’ burs this morning. He is the only horse that got completely bur free. I was happy with his body report. For a horse who eats no supplements and tries to spit out his daily medication, he’s doing well! His feet still look good, too. He’s been fun to work with and ride, as well. I think he will do ok at this weekend’s horse show. We need to get out there and just have fun doing our best.
That head. What a head.
Mabel is still great. She’s shiny, fit, and pretty darned sound. There’s only one crack in her white hoof! She let me get all the burs out of her tail, but only a few out of her mane. I’m just happy she’s happy and holding her own in the herd.
This is Mabel booking it to get away from my picking at her mane. At least she has one.
Dusty is still Dusty. So gentle, kind, and compliant. Well, unless you’re messing with his tail. His mane has no burs, but I only got a few out of his poor tail, which looks like it’s been braided with burs.
Mane, beforeTail, looking better than it does in person. Old Cow Horses like their burs.
Dusty has been getting extra grain most days, because he is looking thin. But he eats well and is cheerful most of the time. I know his back hurts, even with supplements. But he still loves to hug and craves attention.
Feed me.
Goldie is improving. She’s tapering off pain medication and is getting around better. She can pick up the pace when she wants to, and now easily climbs the steps on the patio. She even managed to tell me her water dish was empty this evening, got me to take her out to drink, then stared at the water dish spot until Lee remembered it was in the dishwasher. Clever.
Goldie and dead house plant. I travel too much.
No one read my post yesterday about moths. Oh well. What I find fascinating isn’t always what the audience finds fascinating!
What’s something you would attempt if you were guaranteed not to fail.
The first thing that popped into my head when I saw this prompt was that I’d love to canter on one of my horses, to see what it feels like and finally go sorta fast. That’s just a little thing, but I’ve not moved forward in my skills enough to do it on Drew and Apache hasn’t moved forward in his skills enough. The one time I tried I ended up on the ground. I’m trying not to let myself get discouraged and enjoy the journey. But I’m human.
And I’m just a horse who won’t take my meds.
Little things can be good, though. For example, at the end of the work day I’d gotten to a good stopping point, and was looking out over my laptop as I sat at my porch “desk.” Something moved suddenly.
Hi!
It was this absolutely adorable jumping spider, Phidippus arizonensis. I watched as it explored my laptop then jumped onto my mouse and checked out all my stuff. It waved its first legs around as it explored, and moved its mouthparts like it was tasting the air.
Okay, I think it’s a male. It has bulbous pedipalps. Those are the things that stick out in front.
I can see why people have jumping spiders as pets, because this fellow was very entertaining and not at all concerned by my presence. I prefer them in the wild, but I do enjoy the bold jumping spider who lives in the mailbox.
One of many around here. Too bad you can’t see the cool green eyes.
I’d never seen an arizonensis before, so I looked it up. It’s definitely confined to this part of the world.
I had the best time watching this spider. That’s living for the moment. Mindfulness for the win.
I did not enjoy observing this one. A black horsefly.
Another little thing that made my day was just watching the dogs play. With all the medical issues in our canine community it’s easy to forget the happy, healthy ones. Carlton and Penney love it when I’m outside so they can run and play with an audience!
Dogfight, for fun.
Time to get some rest and talk to my high school friends in Florida who are going through the hurricane. I do keep up!
Carlton is ahead of me in the sleep department. He’s already dreaming.
In my frazzled state of late, I’m not only being clumsy and forgetful, I’m not noticing things. That’s not at all helpful. And my powers of investigation aren’t their strongest.
I’m invisible.
For example, this morning I got up and couldn’t find Goldie. Oh no! Something happened to her! Oh, maybe she’s outside. No. Not in my office. Hmm. It took me ten minutes to figure out that she was in the other bedroom. Duh.
Take a flower break. These Mexican petunias look like they should be a painting, not a plant living in the middle of the driveway!
I got through a hectic and confusing work day fairly well, though our team meeting was moved to the afternoon and ran long, making me unable to groom the horses. I rushed out and easily got Droodles.
I’m a good boy, but I don’t pay attention either. I sorta missed the goal of standing beside the mounting block and just plowed over it. I’m so cute.
Apache was another story. It’s as if he knew we were running late. He ran and ran, galloping hither and yon, but eventually went into a pen. That was very strange. I hurriedly put on his halter and marched him into the trailer. Drew followed nicely. He was an a good mood from eating good grass.
We got to Tarrin’s and quickly tied the horses to the trailer. I saddled Apache on his left side (this matters) then we walked to the lesson area. I began lunging him over the little hill. When I turned him to go the other way, Tarrin stopped me. Look at his eye!
Well shoot. Neither of us had looked closely at this right side. His eye was full of goop and all swollen. I could have paid a bit more attention when I was rushing to get to lessons. Tarrin hadn’t noticed when taking him out of the trailer for me either. We felt bad. But we are both barely coping. Give us a break!
Swollen eye after being cleaned.
So, Tarrin ran and got a wet cloth and a shot of Banamine to reduce the swelling. None of that went over very well with Apache, but it did give me time to remove his burs. Tarrin said I should ride him some to get the meds in his system. I said that was fine and put my helmet on.
I did not pay attention.
Sigh. I put it on backwards. That at least gave us a laugh and a funny photo. And Apache did very well. He even side passed vaguely correctly. Good boy. And me.
Believe it or not, this is a huge improvement.
Drew’s lesson was pretty good once he lined up right so I could mount him. I did a good job dealing with some reluctance on his part to hold himself straight, too. I was proud of us both.
Back at the trailer we decided Apache should wear a fly mask to go home, to protect his eye. This began an adventure as none of Tarrin’s spare ones fit Apache’s rather bulky head (hard to believe he’s part Arabian).
I liked this one best because it made him look like Batman’s horse.
We all laughed through this, especially at how curious Drew was about the mysterious headgear.
I’d like to chew that, please.
He kept breathing down Tarrin’s neck as she was trying to fit the masks. Once she left, Apache told him to get back.
This is embarrassing, Drew.
We did make it home safely. But I wasn’t finished being inattentive. You see it was dusk by the time I was heading to the house. I went over to shut the henhouse door. Then I looked in on the chickens. I saw this.
Oh look, Cindy and Cathy are roosting! They found the branch I put in there.
But, someone was missing. Where was Bianca?
Turn the light off! I’m trying to sleep!
Well look at that! She was in the coop! She does remember how to get in! See, I’d never checked them this late before. I feel a bit better about how they are settling in. I just needed to pay attention.
I paid attention to my birthday flowers and they’ve made it to October! It’s a first for me. This ranch is hard on decorative plants.
Tomorrow is another day. Hope Apache is better. Otherwise, off to the dang vet.
That’s today’s word: overwhelmed. That’s what happens when too many intense events happen at once. I think I was holding myself together to get through Goldie’s surgery, then it all got to me today. I felt all oogey in my brain.
Not enough nature watching right now.
Naturally, or coincidentally perhaps, more little things kept piling up. I couldn’t sit outside to work, because my laptop screen has stopped working. And changes, questions, and challenges started piling up so I was stuck at my desk, where my chair has decided it won’t stay up. Just little things. But, ugh.
Maybe I need new ones. Photo from Pexels.
I did get a few minutes to sit with Lee as we supervised Goldie laying in the sun. We managed to keep her from running anywhere. And later, when I finished all my tasks, including training in my new department, I got to just sit with Goldie and keep her calm and happy.
No Goldie photo, just a golden sunset.
Meanwhile, Harvey is having more trouble. His eye now looks like it’s messed up. I hope he hasn’t abraded his eye like Scrunchy the pug used to. And his balance is work. Two sickly dogs can be overwhelming, but I just loved on them a lot.
I’m still happy.
Plus I was concerned about Apache, who has stopped eating his dinner. He just stares at the wall. And I was worried about his feet, because he hasn’t been running like the others when they come up for food. (Mabel, on the other hand, now runs like the racehorse she may have once been.)
So. It wasn’t Tarrin’s best day either. She also has a dog who had cancerous growths removed, then surgery on her intestines that had gotten messed up by medication. Eek. We are monitoring Goldie for that.
Ekho is recovering well and enjoying her favorite rolling in the grass activity. She’s hiding her bandaged foot.
Then this morning, Tarrin found her beautiful stallion had died overnight with no signs of struggle. That was overwhelming. Just awful. Sudden losses are so unexpected; you sorta go into shock.
So, since we both felt like crap, I skipped my lessons. Horses can tell when you aren’t at your best. However, Lee was nice enough to bring Apache over to Tarrin’s so we could talk about his food, medication, and feet. Secretly I also went so I could support her like she’s been supporting me with all the dog stuff.
It was very helpful to have a friend to talk to about how I was feeling, and it also felt good to be an empathetic listener. No doubt we will both be fine later, but today we were both sad.
Apache was probably wondering why he wasn’t being saddled and ridden, but he didn’t complain about just getting a trim. His soles are shedding, so Tarrin trimmed them and put his boots on.
Wearing his boots and making his sleepy face.
She helped me come up with a feeding plan and decided we need to switch his medication. He has too many side effects still, after a year. He should not be ignoring food and standing like a zombie. The powder medicine should be more palatable and have fewer side effects. Plus it costs less!
His plan is to convince me to take him out for grass that needs trimming every day.
Now I just have to try to return the 6-month supply of Prascend that just arrived. I sure hope I can. It’s expensive. But I’m glad to have a plan for Apache! He’s doing so well in training that I want him as happy as possible.
Long story, sorry about that. But I feel better thanks to good friends (online and in person) who care. I even got surprise presents from Kathleen, who did a stealth visit, meal, and present drop-off all while we were off with Apache.
Bad photo of fun headband.
Better times are coming! Or, I’ll be back to coping well with challenging times!
We got our dog back and I survived the journey. Let’s just say it’s hard for stressed-out people to deal with how those close to them act when stressed out. But Goldie is home!
Driver, take me home.
She was glad to see us, and is walking well for her first tripod day. The poor girl will not pee or poop anywhere but here, so I was glad to hear that they expressed her bladder during surgery. 48 hours is a long time to hold it, even when your bladder is large.
She felt much lighter after she peed.
We have to keep her quiet for two weeks and not let her run and jump. That’s gonna be hard, but we brought her crate into the living room where she won’t be alone. You see, Harvey can’t come upstairs since his stroke, so he has to have someone down with him. So, the living room is now a bedroom. Yow.
It’s getting crowded.
We took the couch cushions off, too, so Goldie can sleep in her preferred spot without straining. No more straining now that the car ride is over. The exit was difficult.
This is good.
Yeah, it was an extra stressful day, not only from a dog standpoint but also a work standpoint. Things change a lot when you’re suddenly in change management. But hey, I got to see a hawk up close, not flapping around. That was good.
This is a good spot, says Mr. Red Shoulders.
I’m just tired. Too many early days and too much calendar chaos with meetings and events changing on me. Time to draw on my reserves, because guess what? It’s burr season again. The horses are covered. We didn’t get enough of them. Now I’m pre-exhausted.
The Hermits' Rest 