September 2021

Hopefully September will be a better month for everyone!


Hurricane Ida's center is 100 miles west of us as I type. We aren't getting wind, but lots of rain. Last night there was a tornado to touch down in Blacksburg, VA, about 15 miles east of us. We had two tornado warnings during the evening. I haven't heard if there was much damage yet, but don't think there was much.

We worked on the barn ditches yesterday and it didn't get flooded, thankfully. We are all alright and at least the temps are a nice 72 degrees this rainy morning.

September has to be a better month!

I can't believe it's 9-1-21...............

I sure hope you didn't have damage anywhere near your home ARK.............or anyone for that matter.
IDA has done enough.

It's still hot here but tolerable.............the afternoons are hot, mornings good.

Oh, we've had one death in the county from West Nile virus..............

No news here..............

We had rain rain and more rain yesterday. All seems quiet this morning. We survived without anything awful happening but lots of places in PA lost power and had flooding issues. It was a terrible storm but we have had much worse. The main part of Ida stayed a little south of us.

Praying for everyone that had to deal with the storm.

I hope all are well and safe tonight..................

We've been real fortunate and the weather has been wonderful this week. Spotty showers are forecasted for this weekend. My office is hosting a to do for clients at the local minor league baseball game on Saturday. Hopefully the weather will cooperate and the game won't be rained out. I'm not much of a baseball fan, but oh well.

Everyone enjoy the long weekend. Stay safe.

Well, that was interesting. About 2 weeks ago, I got a cold that became bronchitis - not unusual for me. Finally, this past Wednesday, I went to the doctor to get some meds for it. In the process, he found an irregular heartbeat and sent me to the local lab for an EKG. The next afternoon, I got a call from his office saying it was a-fib and that I was to go to the ER right now. Being obedient, I went. Yep. That's what I had. So, I sat and waited while all the appropriate people did what they do. It was decided that I should be a guest of the hospital for the night. More sitting and waiting, and waiting, and waiting. I think it was what was supposed to happen, but It wasn't very entertaining. Then, to top it all off, I could NOT get to sleep last night. I was awake the WHOLE NIGHT. Can you say 'tired'? After everything was done, they decided that I could go home today with some new meds.
I came in the house and went nonstop to the shower.
The whole staff was kind and caring and the food was great.
I'll bet I sure sleep tonight!

I'll bet you're exhausted, ELLEN...................get some good rest. What a surprise.

Everyone have a good evening...............God bless and keep each one of us safe & healthy.

ELLEN:
Well that was not a very nice surprise. Hopefully the meds will cure your problem. Your doctor was very observant!

I have aFib, too. I can feel it when it happens. My new cardiologist said to lie down and put my feet up when it happens and most times it will stop. It works for me! Having it happen while at the barn is a little itchy....


INDYAPP:
Have fun at the ballgame! Those minor league games are fun.

GRAYMARE:
Our weather is perfect now! Two days of 80 degrees, sunshine, and low humidity. Donnie mowed the lower hayfield today, we'll busy for the holiday.

TRUDY:
Wow, the storm really got bad in the northeast. We only got a couple of inches of rain and gentle wind. We did have a couple of tornadoes touch down not far from here, but other than a barn roof, there wasn't much damage. Strange storm. I am glad you all are safe!


Have a fun, calm, and safe holiday weekend!

ELLEN: What a experience you had. Glad you are home safely and know what to do next. Maybe the bronchitis was a blessing, they found something you didn't know you had. Praise God.

ARK: We were really lucky when Ida went thru here. It stayed out toward the coast and south of us. Lots of rain but no flooding locally.

INDY: Hope you enjoyed yourself at the ballgame.

GRAYMARE: Our weather has been perfect the last couple of days. Sunny days & nice cool nights. No A/C running non stop.

We had another fun experience with our security cat Oiley. This morning he was guarding the patio from 2 hen turkeys..He was staring them down until they went out of his yard and back across the road. The cat who is afraid to have a bug touch his nose takes on skunks and turkeys. He is a hoot.

Trudy, a little closer to Thanksgiving, maybe  you can help him out and remove one of those turkeys to put on your table.  
We have a lot of wild turkeys around here.  I saw a whole big flock of them yesterday.

1.
Maggie Wolfendale is an announcer with Fox Sports 2 horse racing. She is a VERY knowledgeable horse woman, married to a trainer, currently exercise gallops some horses, and has two little girls.
Firenze Fire is a racing stallion that tried to savage Yaupon at the end of a race last weekend. I mean... he really went after him. Ears pinned and trying to bite, several times. It took the jockey a few seconds to get control. This is an AGGRESSIVE horse.
Maggie was in the barns with her little daughter. She walked up to Firenze Fire extremely cautiously. He just accepted the baby girl and let her snuggle all over him.

2.
This is a true story that horse lovers will really LOVE. An autistic boy, non-verbal and in a wheelchair, was taken to Godolphin Farm as part of the Make A Wish foundation. They brought a mare with a foal up to see him. The foal was very young, so they were a little worried that the foal might be too rambunctious. But, the foal dropped his head and eased up to the boy very carefully. It made a big impact on the boy and his family, so the farm named the foal Cody's Wish. Two years later, this spring, the boy was showing depression from being isolated for so long from everybody. His parents asked if they could bring him back to see Cody's Wish, now an energetic and somewhat aggressive young stallion. Again, a lot of apprehension about how he would act with the boy.
Once again, he dropped his head down to the boy to nuzzle him and was soooo gentle.
Non-horse people would not believe the story. It's true.
Cody's Wish ran third at Saratoga today.

Never try to tell me that horses don't know what's going on around them.

We had a soiree today with 6 hometown friends. Gossip gossip gossip...............We visited for two hours
nonstop. It was fun to catch up. Two of the guys have been widowed and have done well. They did say how hard it was at first.
One gal is suffering from early dementia but seemed pretty good to me........she gets confused easily. She was saying that
and one other gal piped up "me too"...............

It was prompt as noone comes to Phoenix in the summer but they all had kids here. Just a quick celebration
of fun. One of the guys said we couldn't talk about health and we all agreed............it's different problems but
the same for each of us.

Interestingly we all had/have been together since kindergarten. So now, I'm reviewing it all in my mind.
Nice thoughts.

Everyone have a good evening.............

The ballgame was fun, if a little long.  I swear, they spent more time warming up at the start of each at bat then it took for either team to get their 3 outs.  Cubbies managed to win even though they tried to give it away to the opposing team at the opposing team's last at bat.  At one point they had bases loaded by walking 3 in a row with 1 out.  Thankfully the last guy at bat was victim to a double play.  I have now had my annual allotment of baseball.

I have a theory about trips to the ER.  It is impossible to get in and out of an ER in less than 3 hours.  I'm glad everything worked out for you ELLEN.  Afib seems to be pretty common.  Bill has it.

I found out that my neighbor keeps an eye on my place when I am gone. Actually I knew they did, but it was put to the test this morning. The farrier is coming today. He does my horses and my neighbor's 2 minis. I leave the horses in the barn with the gates to the back yard and the second set to the barn wide open so he can get to them with no trouble. (I never leave the gates open.) My brother happened to drive by on his way to his grandkids house and saw the gates open and wondered what was going on. So he stopped and called me to check and make sure everything was as it should be. My neighbor saw a strange truck at my house and went out to find out who was nosing around the back. So while I'm explaining to brother why the place is wide open, neighbor walks up to see who he is. Everyone got answers and all is good. But it's nice to know people have their eye on my place. Once the farrier is done with the horses he will close the gates and let the horses out into the field. I have a great farrier.

Indy, isn't it nice to know that there are people watching out for you. It's also nice to know that your farrier appreciated the reprieve from working in the heat and showed up on this nice cool morning.

Holy cow, is all of California on fire?

Afib is very common and they have good drugs to control it. They also can do an ablation to control it.
It just increases the need to pay attention...............and it makes one tired after an episode.

As I've told you all the house next door is sold. Today they tore it down in 4-5 hours. It's plumb gone
along with the trees.............so, the next chapter is about to begin. The new family has six kids.
It will be interesting to see what gets built.

Everybody have a great day.................

My cousin and a friend of hers just returned from a week at a dude ranch. They had a great time.
One little funny is that many of the dudes have difficulty mounting from the ground, so they have a good mounting block. The funny part is that the wranglers call it a "dude launcher".

Hot, sluggish day in AZ...............

Oh gosh...........now sports gambling is going to be easier to participate in. That's a good one for a bankrupt
nation..............

God protect and keep us safe...............

Gambling is already very easy to participate. Twin Spires, NYRA, and others offer special deals for signing up.
Knowing that the house will win about 99% of the time, I'm not interested.

It just passed in AZ..........

I know nothing about gambling. I think I take enough risks just getting through the day it seems. There is a radio ad advertising $200 free to your account to bet if you are a new customer and bet at least a dollar on any football game this weekend.

Last night was a lot of hard work but very satisfying. My barn is officially stuffed with hay for the winter. I'm at least a month ahead of schedule and probably 150 bales more than usual. I know a lot of places have not had a good hay year, but some how some way it's been good around here. My hay guy says he still has hay to cut and bale. We figured it out, I've been getting hay from this guy for 22 years now.

The same ad runs here in Az Indy.............There was a gal on TV that said she was so gled sh didn't have to go to Vegas now............Oh brother. I know nothing about gambling except for walking to the window of the track and placing
a bet on a horse to win with the profit of $10 or so..........LOL

As I watch horse racing, some of the announcers are professional gamblers. I hear them talking, but it's like listening to a foreign language. I don't understand any of it. Like Graymare, $2 to win is the extent of my gambling.
On the few occasions I've been to a track, I've won enough to buy dinner. In low level races, I can usually find a horse that I like better than the others. In high level races, I'm no good at all.

Always remember 9-11-01..............We were a different society
at that time.............for me, let me be worthy of the sacrifices made.

We have to remember and then tell the younger people who weren't born yet.