dogs – Page 16 – The Hermits' Rest

Back to Life, with Dogs and Hotels

There was something like regular life last night and today. Work was normal. Animals were normal. Weather was spring-like.

Lee and I tried our darnedest to watch a Nature show about animals in the Rocky Mountains. However, Goldie decided to watch with us. Wolves and coyotes made her run out and bark away at the intruders. She liked the elk, but when they went into a city and caused traffic jams, the car horns made her run out to see who was visiting. This continued for most of the show.

(By the way, she also tried to ear Mr. Robotto again.)

Goldie had a love/hate relationship with this bear and her cubs.

Luckily she loved Grizzly 399, who had triplets. As the photo shows, she was fascinated. we were glad Penney ignored it and Carlton watched quietly.

Alfred has been having a hard time. A couple of days ago I noticed blood on the floor. No, Goldie wasn’t in heat. It was Alfred! He had a wound on his side. It hurt. I’ll spare you photos. So we sprayed Cut Heal on him, which pissed him off but stopped the bleeding.

We still don’t know what happened. We looked everywhere but found nothing suspicious. No one shot him, either. He’s been safely in our dog area. So, Lee gave him antibiotics and pain killers. He was sad for one day, but has perked up. Naturally, he rolled in dirt, which caked in the ointment. But hey, no blood.

There hasn’t been any other drama, just work, knitting, worrying about family, and looking for signs of spring. Here’s are some flying friends.

I drove to Austin today for a much-needed haircut. I finally got it short enough. On the way I saw some tornado damage that made me sad. On Chandler Road, the house with the dog training space looked awful and their neighbors had horse barn damage. I hope the horses were ok. I saw a couple that looked ok.

In my old neighborhood it looked much more spring-like than at the ranch. 80 miles south makes a difference! I love the redbud trees and Texas Mountain Laurel. Ahh.

My former neighbor’s yard was full of birds.

Another normal thing that happened was getting to go to book club. It was so great to see folks I really care about in person again. Plus I met Marsha, who bought the Bobcat Lair, which was a pleasure. And the discussion is always good. I get to host in the summer. I guess it will be at the pool.

And now I’m in that same weird hotel, but tonight in a quiet room. Ahh. I enjoyed trying out night mode on my phone camera.

Hail Drops Keep Falling on My Head

What a day! I’ve experienced laughter, surprise and true joy today. Where to start?

Let’s start with surprise, shall we? I got a voicemail from the local florist saying I had flowers and I’d better hurry over before they closed. I’d been in a long meeting, so we went over just in time to get the flowers, all the while wondering what the occasion was.

Well what a surprise to find out that these beautiful spring flowers were sent to me by the four horses I’ve been caring for since my niece has been dealing with health issues. I guess they really appreciate the magnesium supplements?

I’m just glad they are okay! It what a sweet surprise. I was really touched. Now let’s talk about laughter.

The dogs were going on and on this morning while I was trying to concentrate. There was also much mooing. It turns out that the young cattle next door wanted to play and were actually mooing to get the dogs’ attention.

Lee and I got a good chuckle watching the dogs and calves run and play with each other.

Speaking of laughing, I’m laughing because we actually managed to get most of the skunk smell out of the house! The stuff we used worked! Even Alfred is ok. Go Angry Orange stuff!

But what about the pure joy? It has to do with the hail drops in the title of this post. It was getting stormy tonight, so I enjoyed taking some cloud photos.

I ran out to put the chickens in and let the horses out after dinner as raindrops began to fall.

After dinner I took a few photos, because it was cool how it looked clear to the south and very stormy to the north.

By the time I could get out to the hot tub to try to soothe my back, drops of rain were falling. Poor Lee really needed the hot tub after falling yesterday. We both made it in as the rain started falling harder.

There was lightning and constant thunder, sounding like machinery. Now, I know you should get out of the water when lightning is happening. But I thought what the heck. I’ve achieved all my life goals. Let’s enjoy the show.

While I didn’t care about me, I didn’t want to damage my phone, so there are no photos of my joy. But wow, it was beautiful to sit in the hot water with cold rain falling and making beautiful patterns on the water.

Then, ooh, little sharp pains hit my face and ears. Hail was falling! There were tiny ice cubes all over the patio. It was so much fun to sit there and experience Nature in her fury.

Horses on their way to hide. I knew all was well when they came back out of their shelter!

Soon the storm passed. I was so full of joy. I was also lucky. Apparently the storm picked up strength and is bringing bad hail to the east of us. I’m glad giant ice rocks didn’t fall on my head!

Skunk-tastic Day of Chores

Honest, I was so proud of myself for all the chores I’d accomplished today. House, tack room, trailer, and garage floor, all clean. Horses all fed. I sad down to eat some cereal in mid afternoon. The dogs went nuts. And one of them foolishly went after a skunk.

I started the day enjoying my horses’ love of hay. Don’t these guys look happy?

I had on gloves so I could lift the hay bales after Sara brought them to me when she returned the trailer. Then, when the hay was out and everyone was chomping, I patted Apache. I guess I’ll be grooming away later.

This will be fun to clean. Maybe I’ll just soak it in skunk juice.

Lee and I went to Tractor Supply to get Apache food and more food for the other four, who are really looking better after I started giving them senior food and a magnesium supplement. I got a shovel for horse poop in the trailer and wanted a little wagon but couldn’t find one.

Then I cleaned. The trailer looks good now, even after Drew’s copious output yesterday. Then off I went to load up that food and clean the current tack room. I’d been waiting to clean it until the new one was ready, but I couldn’t take it anymore. At least most of the remnants of the rat invasion are gone and some debris is out.

Isn’t the garbage can Kathleen’s friend painted for her cute? It’s full of senior feed!

The room needs lots more work. Someone just tossed some boxes in there and now they are a mess. I think some may be my knitting stuff. That room would make a cool craft room, after it’s next use.

Meanwhile, Lee moved the new tack room closer to its final destination. Part is even on a block. That is probably what caused the skunk issue.

The occupant of the shipping container was not amused.

I got finished and just sat down to eat some weird healthy cereal when the dogs went nuts. Lee went out to check, and the two big dogs were running around foaming at the mouth. One or both had gone after a skunk in the side yard. Oh great.

We think it was the one who lived over by the horse pens. It’s smelled skunky there for months, and we’d each seen one. I’d hoped to live peacefully, but once it came into the yard during the day, its hours were numbered.

It’s been disposed of. That was also stinky. I’ve sprayed the dogs with Angry Orange stuff and Febreeze. It’s still bad. We sealed off the bedroom and my office.

What a day. We will wash the washable dogs with Dawn dishwashing detergent. That works better for us than tomato products. Thanks in advance for not telling us what to do. We are handling it!

Lucky for me, I unpacked more wine from the Austin house. When I looked at my Cabernet Sauvignon section, I saw I have three of one of my favorites! This is so good. I now have two, and also a 2016 and 2018. I think I drank 2019 already, but it may still be in stores.

And I’d thought today would be lonely and boring! Ha!

It’s All Good Until You Start Feeding Dog Treats

What a beautiful day it was. I think we needed a reminder that Mother Nature is still doling out the beauty to at least briefly distract us from the things humans do to each other.

As a reward for doing my least favorite thing about work (Agile stuff, not vital to this story), I tidied up the pool area and gave my back some more hot water love. I heart the hot tub.

Later, after feeding the precious horses, we checked out the trailer lights. Ooh. There’s even an interior light for night loading and unloading!

I’m pretty excited to use the trailer. I was glad they checked out the lights and other safety features. So shiny.

It was a good evening to rest on our laurels and tell each other we appreciate our efforts. I think Lee even set up the auto-fill system on the pool! We’re really enjoying it. What else do we enjoy? Sunsets, of course. Tonight’s was cherry red at times. Thanks, Mother Nature.

All was well until I opened the monthly Bark Box. I handed out really cute chew toys, then opened a box of dog treats. I handed them out to each dog, which got them all excited. I realized Alfred hadn’t gotten one, so I reached over to give him one and Harvey jumped up to steal it. Unfortunately, he also got my thumb. Ow. It was an accident.

May the sun warm all our brothers and sisters who are afraid, worried, or suffering.

Chilly Day Opportunity

The weather turned very cold and windy. Sara and I canceled horse fun, so I told my son we could go get some stuff in Temple. First, I took the chance to play with the new phone camera and take artsy dog photos.

After that, we went off to the Western-wear store and I got belts to wear for horse shows. I think I’m supposed to wear a belt. It was hard to find ones that weren’t all sparkly. I found a nice brown one with tooled flowers and a black one with a sort of snakeskin background. It will go great with my snakeskin boots and Drew’s coloring.

I got the kids some ranch-appropriate shoes, too, and ones that will be good for my son to wear working on renovation projects (yes, we still do that, I just don’t write too much about it).

Current project: Anita’s new floors and old cabinets that will be recycled.

The weather improved, and we had lots of fun trying to buy groceries on one of the worst days of the year. The day before the Super Bowl is not a good one, crowd wise. There are no Fritos to be had. This is a tragedy for the menfolk at the ranch, who worship the Texas classic, Frito Pie. I’m a Dorito fan myself. Those were all gone, too. Oh well.

Well, with a couple of household items obtained and a space heater borrowed, I think the cabin residents are in good shape. Yep. There are also no space heaters to be had anymore, thanks to the last cold snap. This was not a good week for their heater to die!

Tomorrow should be more interesting. But I’ve enjoyed my restful day and a chance to spend quality time alone with my kid. I remember how much I loved to be alone with my dad and talk freely. I hope my son enjoys our times together, as much as we do like the rest of the family. It was a nice opportunity opened up by some cruddy weather.

Hug your loved ones.

Breathing Fresh Air

What a nice afternoon I’ve had. I finished a big project, so I spent some time baking a fruit crisp with such nasty peaches that I threw in the frozen berries I found in the freezer to rescue it.

Then I got to spend some relaxing time with the horses. Apache is still doing well, and we even made it out to the field for a bit. I need just a bit more refinement and then maybe we can move forward.

I’m not Apache, but I’m also full of love.

Other exciting stuff for today was the unexpected arrival of the solar company, who told us our panels weren’t giving any power. We had no idea. But it’s fixed now!

The above is the innards of our gate, which has also decided not to work. Maybe it, too, will get fixed. So yeah, it ain’t all bad. Nope.

You know what? It’s really good to have normal days out in the fresh air, enjoying the simple things like sunshine and animal buddies. It may not bring blog hits rolling in, but it feels good.

Survived the Week

That’s pretty much the highlight of the day, which had some challenges, but nothing insurmountable. Things started out cold, which made me move kind of slow.

The heater was having the same problem it had last year when it got really cold, not enough pressure to turn on. So it was a brisk 61 degrees as I tried to do my early meeting.

This is what it felt like. A giant ice cube.

The photo above is what was in each of the horses’ food buckets. We got 3” of rain over two days. It turned into sheets of ice. Brr.

Anyway, the menfolk got the heater going around noon, so I thawed out enough to record some voiceovers without vocal shivers. I’m relieved. Last year’s cold event was miserable with no heat.

I did my best to stop working around 2, since I worked such long hours this week, and I’m theoretically an hourly worker. But, of course I could not resist answering questions until we’ll after 5. It’s hard to not help!

Still, I got a bit of a nap in. When I awoke, Goldie was next to me, Harvey was draped over my lap, and Penney was on my chest and face. I must have been tired.

It’s going to be a quiet weekend. I’m sure something will happen worth blogging.

Oh! I did manage to brave the cold and see what was in the new trailer. It sure is shiny.

Fancy windows. Mysterious tubs of who knows what.

I was sorta glad to see that the trailer isn’t totally full. Maybe we will be able to fit it all in the new tack room.

Well. Let’s see what happens. I’ve got nothing to complain about other than a bit of chill. It’s worse elsewhere. Love to all you readers.

Rain, Rain, You Can Stay

I had it in my head that today I could mess with horses after work. Two things prevent that. One is that it’s rained all day. The other is that I’m feeling wiped out from the weekend. You wouldn’t think just watching a clinic would be so tiring!

It also thundered. Three dogs tried to get under my desk.

I think I breathed in a bit too much arena dust. I slept hard last night, except I kept dreaming of building project plans in the software I train. That’s exhausting, too. I did take a COVID test (thanks to the government) so Sara could be sure I hadn’t infected her yesterday. Nope. I’m just tired and a wee bit stressed out.

Nowadays a slight sniffle makes you worry!

So, other than running out to feed chickens, I’ve been sedentary today. At least I lived through my first early meeting of the next three weeks of those! They should be interesting, though, so I have no complaints, especially since we will be helping folks out.

No swimming today. And yes, those jet covers will not stay on.

A day like this is good, though. I got to think a lot about what to do next month, made plans for more horse stuff, and figured out some mental health issues I’ve been dealing with, nagging rumblings and grumblings leftover from past struggles. I’ll have to deal with that soon. Until then, it’s time to snuggle with my canine buddies and enjoy the much-needed rainfall.

Take care, all. We all have burdens right now. Few of us are at our best.

And we all have fears. But they will pass like the thunder.

In Love with Mr. Robotto

One of the last Pool of Dreams things is to get the robot pool cleaner up and running. Thirty days have passed, so Austin the pool guy came by to hook it up.

Lee and I enjoyed watching the robot as it sucked up debris on the floor, then climbed up the walls , turning around when it got to the top. We love Mr. Robotto.

As we watched, so did Goldie. After it came up and made a noise, she decided it was her number one enemy.

So, while we were marveling at the amazing prowess of our new friend…

…Goldie was running around barking, staring, growling and pawing at this strange aquatic beast.

In good news, Austin was able to get the jet covers to stay in the spa. Now I’m really looking forward to some hot tubbing tonight after my evening training class!

A long day means I’ll really enjoy my spa. Time to put it on party colors!

Lee wanted me to share Mr. Robotto in action. Here he goes.

Poo on Pandemics

It’s been a rough week over at my house, with half the occupants down and out from the coronavirus, and the rest of us staying home, since we weren’t sure if we were asymptomatic but sick or not. It’s made me really glad we got some flowers last time I was at the grocery store, since I’ve needed the cheering up.

I’m glad there’s so much to see and do here, because it’s made things a little easier. We even have separate seating areas by the pool for the sick and the non sick. And to think I thought those areas were for basking in different angles of the sun.

I have some things I really want to do this weekend (outdoor things), so I went to get a COVID test yesterday at the Cameron Fire Station. So did most of the rest of the county. I’d say by the time I arrived, the line was half a mile long or more. It took about 2.75 hours to get through the line, which seems a lot longer when you have to pee, I assure you. Plus I got sunburn on my nose and arm! I had not planned ahead with sunscreen. If there is a next time, I will remember, but I hope my home tests arrive before the next time I need to test.

Lots of cars in front of me (and behind)

But, I did get in, finally, and endured the nasal swab thing. Ugh, now I see what people were talking about. That’s right, I hadn’t had a test before this, since I just stayed home the couple times I was exposed. The best news is that they called me less than 24 hours later to tell me I’m negative. Woo hoo. That probably explains why I feel fine. I guess we’ve done a good job separating ourselves, or my vaccinations worked. I’m relieved, in any case.

I am NOT the Germ Police in this neighborhood. Just the Coyote Patrol.

The book I’m reading, which is called Phosphorescence, talks about the importance of being in nature for your physical and mental health. I’m so glad to have so much woods and water to spend time in here at the ranch. (I was also lucky at my Austin house, since it was surrounded by greenbelts and had a view of the pool.)

Today the whole sitting around and looking at nature thing got a lot better, because we now have two lounge chairs with cushions on them, which makes sitting by the pool and blogging a heavenly experience. It helps that the temperature is perfect, in the low 70s. What could be better?

I’ll tell you what! It would be better if I had a hot tub to sit in (not while typing). And there’s good news on that front. I called the propane company myself and talked to the woman there (who was chatty and fun to talk to about heavy equipment we each own). That got us ON the schedule to get the hot tub all hooked up on MONDAY! It’s conceivable the pool will be completely finished by then.

Until then, I can just enjoy the animals. Vlassic and Gracie Lou look so cute together. Our small doggies deserve some time in the spotlight, or sunlight.

Lunch hour is over, so I have to drag myself back in and work on some training material. Then Drew gets to jump over jumps and have some fun. This is not a bad place to endure a pandemic at all, nope. Not at all.