January 2020

Hello everyone.  Life has settled down to a mild roar here in PA.  All the surgeries and sick family members are on the mend.  The weather has been great up until today, snow arriving today and tomorrow.  Temps in the single digits.  YUCK...Life has gone back to a nice boring January.    Thank God...I couldn't stand another month like December.

PA has really been hit hard with the flu this year.  Meadowbrook school is closed today so they can disinfect the building.

Last Saturday I went a 50th wedding anniversary party.  Hard to believe I have friends who have been married 50 years.  Guess I am older than I thought.  LOL

I had planned on attending a movie at church tomorrow but with the bad weather arriving I think I'll stay home and bundle up and read a book.

I put the blind kitty in the basement so she doesn't freeze, she doesn't click with the feral barn cats, they don't allow her in their space.  Poor kitty...who throws away a blind kitty?  It's not her fault, she was someone's house cat I can tell by how she acts. She is starting to trust me a little.

Stay well everyone.  Love & prayers...

NANCY LEE:
Wow, I could get into some nice beach time! I hope you are having lots of fun!! Post and tell us what you are doing....:-) I live vicariously....

TRUDY:
Well thank goodness. I am so glad life has settled back to a dull roar for you. What a month you had! Maybe your new blind kitten can be your new house kitty? It is very nice of you to take it in before the bad weather hits. Poor little thing. Only monsters toss out helpless animals. Good luck with your weather, it is going to be much worse for you than us.

ELLEN:
Perma-gloom is a good weather term. Very descriptive. We had sunshine this morning, but it has clouded up now and 'they' say we are going to have lots of interesting precipitation tonight and tomorrow, ice covering everything. Yuck. I don't dare complain, though, be cause we have had really nice weather all month while north of us has had terrible stuff.

GRAYMARE:
How is Terry doing? I hope he is out of rehab and the shingles are gone. Donnie's surgery is on the 28th, which is sneaking up fast. He has never spent a night in a hospital, much less had surgery. I hope he is a good patient.


My neighbor has left her house with her dogs and is on her way to Colorado this morning. She gave me some shelving units for my barn, which will be helpful. Her house will be auctioned off on Feb. 1. I really hope we get good neighbors!!

For those of you east of Indiana, get ready to pull out your long johns.  It's gonna be COLD.  Today, we've had snow, freezing rain, rain, 40°, and now going down to 8°, WINDY, and occasional snow.  I don't plan to go anyplace for the next couple of days.  I COULD.  Don't want to.  

Ark, I don't think you'll miss that neighbor very much.  I hope you get a good new one.  Pirkko will sell her house in the spring, and we are sincerely hoping for a very good new neighbor there.


Sunday morning:  5°


And now, Sunday evening:  14° and snowing.  
Don't you wish you were here?  


Monday: The wind dropped and the lake froze over completely. This morning, there was a pair of foxes playing out on the ice. It was frozen for such a short time, I'm a little surprised that it was thick enough to hold them.

ELLEN:
I hate your current weather! It is sneaking down here, although not quite as bad as yours. It was 14 degrees this morning, but the 'high' will be around 35. ewwww.....

Donnie and I went to Roanoke yesterday for his allergy testing before his knee surgery. They slapped on some stickers with different allergens on them and we have to go back Wednesday and Thursday to be checked. His surgery is a week from today. yikes....


Stay warm everyone!

Raining here in AZ........ snow up north...........no flooding here, though...........the neighbor kids still
rode their bikes to school...........no sissies allowed. It's 50 degrees.................38 last night.

Horses out and eating.........music to my ears.

Rehab is now going well for T...........still weak but improved...........prayers still needed..........

It isn't quite as cold today, but it certainly isn't warm either.  

Graymare, I continue to pray for TL and that he will soon be strong and well again.

Now for some good news - at least to me. Last summer a younger cousin and his wife took custody of a newborn baby with the intent to make it a permanent and legal adoption. Today was the day. The baby is "ours" forever. It was a very happy occasion.
The birth mother is a 17 year old high school senior, good student, but not ready to be a mother.
This baby is a very lucky little guy. Cousin and his wife will give him the best of everything, just as they have with their 6 year old biological son. The baby is now just over 6 months old, weighs in at 21 pounds, and doing all the things a baby should be doing. He smiles and laughs and tries to talk.

Big congratulations ELLEN & family............good luck to all.

ELLEN:
Congrats to your cousins!! A happy day indeed!

GRAYMARE:
I am glad to hear that Terry's rehab is getting easier. It's been a rough time for him....


CB:
How is Harry doing after his knee surgery?


NANCY LEE:
We need warm vacation news!!


I had lunch with my riding friend today to celebrate her 71st birthday yesterday. It was nice to have a few hours away from carpenters and medical appointments. I got my favorite sandwich at Macados: Custer's Last Stand. It is a delicious chicken salad on a croissant. Yum!!

We are off to Roanoke tomorrow morning to check the allergy patches. I don't know about the allergens on his back, but the tape is driving him crazy! Yanking it off will be entertaining, I suspect....

Sad news about the blind kitty.  After she spent 4 days in the basement with me fooling around with her quite often, she allowed me to pick her up, so I called the vet to see if I could bring her over if I was able to get her into the crate, they said "yes, bring her anytime", caught her, took her to the vet, got a phone call from my vet saying "she has a tumor behind her eye and the best thing we can do for her is euthanize her.  So sad for little Miss Black, but I couldn't let her suffer, my vet rarely encourages to euthanize, so I knew the kitty had to be in dire straights.  Very sad.  But now she isn't in any more pain.

Ace is devastated, he has been searching for her, the next morning he went out on the porch and quietly woofed for her, he would do that and she would come to him.  When I was putting the crate away he saw the crate and got so excited, came running, tail wagging.  So very sad...After I opened the crate so he could see inside, I bet he was thinking "thank goodness I don't fit into that crate, anyone who gets in there goes away and never comes home."  Poor doggie. This morning he was standing at the cellar door, listening for her.

TRUDY:
Oh, no. I am so sorry about the blind kitty. You and Ace did a good job making her feel some love in her last days, but I wish she could have lived and become your new house kitten. Ace is a special dog loving a blind kitten.

Awww, Trudy. That is a sad story. I'm sorry that had to be the outcome.

Oh heavens TRUDY...............that's awful sad to me...............

Trudy...sorry about your kitty.

Ark...H is doing good but needs to walk more being lazy. He had staples out...knee is good.

Listed our house saturday morning at 8 am and had a full price offer by 1130 same morning. Had showings lined up for all day sat...only needed one.
So we will live in our rv like so many others...travel when we can...light and stay one rv park when we need to stay.
Done with trying to rent specially to family...but just dont want the hasdle anymore.
GM hope hubby can come home soon.
Rain...mud...mud...mud....weds morning my car was iced over....crazy weather.

BIG congratulations CB............now you & Harry will be free...............your turn! Great news.

Way to go, CB.  The house must look really great to sell so fast!  I don't think I've ever heard of one that has sold so quickly.


British Idiom was named the champion and Eclipse Award winner for her category yesterday. She was bred by the friends we went to visit in Lexington. They still own her dam, who just became a LOT more valuable, along with her foals. She is in foal to Speightster, and will be bred back to Tapit. I love it when good things happen for good people.

ELLEN, that is so nice for your friends..........wonderful news.

So, where are you & Harry headed CB?

ARK, how were Donnie's allergies............his knee surgery is coming fast.

I'm whooped..........

CB:
Congrats on selling your house! Wow. It took us 3 years to sell ours back in 2001. I am glad you didn't have to go thru that!

ELLEN:
Congrats to your friends!!! I think I would be putting bubble wrap around that mare and her foals... I bet they are happy, must be their dream to be right where they are now. Good for them!

GRAYMARE:
Donnie's surgery is Tuesday.. . I guess we are as ready for it as we can be. I am in for a lot of work for a few months, but it makes up for what Donnie had to do last year when I broke my leg. You would never guess what he is allergic to....gold. He definitely doesn't have to worry about being a King Midas. He has a gold cap in his mouth that we are going to have removed and replaced sometime or other. His other allergy was to some of the drugs in his ALLERGY MEDICATION!!! For goodness sake. He wasn't allergic to the other metals in the knee replacement device. He has been exposed to so many metals at work over the years, it was a concern.

We had a ton of rain all day yesterday. I managed to get the barn done between showers and never got wet.

Ark, late last fall, Brandi and Steven were offered a pretty good price for the mare, but she's young and they want to keep her.  Having British Idiom succeed does all kinds of good things for them.  It gives them notoriety for being good breeders; it increases the value of not only that mare's foals, but the others that they breed.  I haven't asked, but they probably have a yearling that will sell in the fall.  
They've been playing in the big money game for a few years and doing well.  Like I've said before, I really admire them because they've done it themselves; nobody gave it to them.  She foals ALL the mares herself, he trims the feet of all the babies every month - and there are usually about 30 of them.  He used to be an exercise rider, but doesn't do that much now.  They are both at the barns everyday, mowing, baling, whatever needs to be done.  

I'm not very well informed on allergies, but I don't think I've ever heard of somebody being allergic to gold.  Back when I used to wear earrings, I became sensitive to everything but gold earrings.  
I do hope everything goes well with Donnie's surgery and recovery, and with you trying to maintain everything while he can't help.  Maybe you can get the kid who helped before if you need him.  After it's all over, he'll probably wonder why he put it off so long.

SVET's mom is having hip surgery........send up some prayers..........

Tomorrow for DONNIE............

Ark, you should buy or rent Bill Engvall, "Just Sell Him for Parts". He talks about his knee replacement surgery. Very funny. Better for Donnie to watch it AFTER his surgery.

Prayers for Donnie. Let us know how it goes ARK..............

Donnie seems to be doing pretty well. I saw him right after he was put in his room, still groggy. He doesn't remember me being there. I went back at dinner time and he was alert and chowing down. That hospital food looked pretty good! I had crackers while he had a nice dinner. His boss visited him in between the times I was there. Since Donnie remembers it, I hope it means he was coherent again . He will either come home tomorrow or the next day, depending upon how his first PT goes. So far, so good!

I have been busy beyond belief all day.

ARK:  Prayers for Donnie and for you.  

GRAYMARE:  Prayer for TL & for you, rehab is hard work.

CB:  Congrats on selling the house so quickly, I know you guys will have fun traveling around in your RV.

ELLEN:  Congrats ti your freinds for breeding such great horses.

Prayers for Svet's mother too.

More bad news here, my son lost Gemma, Children and Youth gave her back to her heroin addicted mother cause she is cured.  HAHAHAHA There is no 6 month cure for heroin addiction.  The hearing was a joke and my son stood up and said "either Gemma stays at my house full time with restricted visitation or she goes to her mother, I will not stand on my head trying to do the insanity you are trying to impose on me and my family with hour visits and me driving 45 minute one way for a 2 hour visit 3 times a week, just how is my employer supposed to allow me to leave my job whenever you decide it's time for a visit?"  The caseworker had the nerve to say "I can't believe you are walking away, what if the mother relapses?  What will happen to Gemma then?"  He said "That's your problem you made this nightmare and ruined the life a little child."  Out of the court room he walked, we are devastated over how things turned out.

Ohhh Trudy. I'm sooo sorry for Gemma. I don't know where some of the CPS people get their education. It certainly is not in the school of common sense and decency. That little girl is in for a miserable life.

TRUDY, what a MESS............Courts have no sense in this century. Wow, I guess your son is devastated despite
being right. The case worker sounds way oss base. Prayers for your son and Gemma..........

How's it going, Ark?