September 2021

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

Whew!  I changed my password here, then forgot I did it and locked myself out.     I had to change a lot of passwords, apparently there was a security breech somewhere and my computer started shrieking at me.  

Our hay is done!   Donnie and I put it up ourselves with no help.  Luckily the weather was good and we spread it across two days.  Then we were slugs for a couple more days.  But we have some lovely hay!  

I rode Ivan this evening, the first time in a saddle and bridle since July.   I did get in a couple of  brief bareback/hackamore rides.   It was so hot this summer, and my riding friend's horse was lame, and then I had company, and then we put up two fields of hay, and then the dog got sick (he is better now).  It has been a treacherous summer.  I rarely look forward to fall, but the temps have been so great this past week, I am ready for fall.  

Ivan was a little touchy about turning one direction, something he hasn't done in a long time.  I guess we will be practicing that more for awhile.  Overall he did well and I had a nice time.  I suspect he would rather continue being a lazy guy like he has all summer, but that's over now!

It must feel really great to have all the hay in the barn.
How are you coming on your ride goal for the year?

Wow ARK..............what a beautiful photo.............you go girl............

They are still excavating next door.............it looks naked but nice.

I just heard a loud sound in the street........so, I went out and looked......it appeared to me a car hit
the trash truck. I couldn't really see that far away................more to follow.

Everyone have a great afternoon.

Thou shall not text while following a trash truck that stops at every house.

GRAYMARE:
Waiting to hear about the trash truck! Not a good thing to hit.... So someone bought a house to tear down? Land must be pretty high priced if that is economical. Hope you get a nice new neighbor!

ELLEN:
I am not doing well with my ride numbers this year. I have 26 rides in and need 74 more by the end of the year. Don't think that's going to happen now. But I will get in as many as possible. I can multiply it by riding different horses on the same day, and probably should do that with Areion.


It is soooo nice to have the hay done. We spend a week saying that every year, LOL. I actually don't mind working with Donnie alone doing the hay if we aren't chasing the weather. You can see real progress being made.

I'm not sure our new lady farrier is going to last very long. She keeps posting on Facebook about how terrible her body is feeling and says she needs some kind of surgery. Donnie may be taking the little guys and Ivan back on for trimming. We are her closest client to her house, so she may keep us longer than some. Guess we shall see....

Not much happening here in PA. Getting the place ready for the winter season. George is mowing mowing mowing. The grass is wild this year, oh well it keeps him busy and outta my hair. LOL

My nutty son wrecked on his dirt bike, broke his fibula, tore his ACL and Meniscus. Now he is in PT and will be having some kind of surgery. Some day he will grow up and turn into a adult, hope that happens before I die. LOL I had to drive him to the Ortho Doctor. He said to me "Mom your driving is terrible what happened to you?" My answer was "I'm going to be 73 that's what happened to me...you'll be there someday maybe if you don't kill yourself first on that stupid dirt bike."

Busy getting things ready for my little church group picnic on Thursday. It will be our first big event since the virus hit. Bible study starts this morning, we are studying Angels in the book of Revelation. It's a tough book to read & try to understand.

If homes are selling for anything in AZ like they are here in IN, I can see why someone would buy a house to tear it down. My nephew has been renting this little dump of a house for about 15 years and his landlord died. The son doesn't want to continue the rental business mom had so is going to sell the property. I started to do a little research on the cost of a modular home last night and about choked. A mid-range home runs about 90K. That's just the home, that's not site prep, or set up. I don't know how much it would cost to demolish a home, but my guess would be at least $150K not including what the property may cost. The son threw out a price of $80K. I think my nephew may just have to plan on moving. I cant's see having a cost of $230K for a modular on less than an acre of ground.

Congrats ARK on getting your hay all done. Hopefully you can get some more riding time in now. I know I haven't done much this year either.

MANYGATES, when I read the first line about your son, I thought, wait, didn't he do something like this a few years ago? Reading the second line makes me think my first thought was right. Hopefully he will heal quickly.

INDY APP: Oh yes, he broke his other ankle and his hip, back in 2008 on the dirt bike. His son Anthony about killed himself on his dirt bike too. He tried to jump a wall and hit it and the bike came down on his throat, he spend a month in the hospital. His voice box was permanently damaged. At least he did learn and never rode again, unlike my IDIOT son, who NEVER learns any of life's lessons. And he was riding on a pit bike over the weekend. You just can't fix STUPID...he is his father's child. Like father like son.

No wonder I have gray hairs. LOL I have earned them.

Rumor has it that trying to choose/look for a CD to put in your car while driving behind the trash truck
could be life threatening. LOL. No damage to the trash truck, a big dent in the car..........
Bet her parents are not impressed.

TRUDY, so sorry about your son........he will wake up one of these times.

Glad your hay is finished and in he barn, ARK. That feels SO good.............I hope your dog is OK........

It's been rolling along here...........

TRUDY:
 Wow.  Your son.......     That hug is for you!

GRAYMARE:
 Well,  I suspect someone got in a little trouble.  Glad no one was hurt.  Kind of hard to explain how you didn't see a garbage truck in front of you.  
 The dog is feeling better.  His ear is about healed up now and his rash is about gone.  The meds make him drink constantly, so he has to sleep outside at night right now, his bladder tends to win in the middle of the night.  Only a couple more days of meds and he should be back to normal.  

INDYAPP:
 Maybe the landlord will take the offer.  One can hope!  He may not want to go to all the hassle of selling it as it is.  Houses around here have gotten expensive fast.  My riding friend had a couple of condos near Va Tech that sold within hours of listing them, and she got more than she expected.  


Well, I can barely walk.  After a summer of almost no riding, I am very saddlesore from the half hour ride I had with Ivan a couple of days ago.  It will go away after tomorrow.  I need to ride more to keep that from happening!
Donnie has a new project for us (we always have more projects than time).  We are going to build the doors for the haybuilding.  We could get more hay inside if we could keep our long necked giraffes out of there, they reach thru the roundpen panels in front of the opening.  Donnie has a plan all drawn up and the hardware purchased.  A 10 foot door is in our future. There is a regular size door opening on the side that we will need to build soon, too. Such fun.....

Really going along nicely ARK.............Ivan is so pretty/handsome, nice photo.

Well, no work on the property next door today.............

We went to the doctor today..............no news there, just routine check.

We have PT tomorrow and OT on Friday............lucky but it's a good service from medicare.

I now have 4 very sick friends............one with a heart valve, two with cancer, one with heart failure..........
They are making end of life decisions..........I keep hoping there's a lot of life left. I'm not in a bubble..........
I surprise myself daily with my good friends and good fortune.

Everyone have a great evening.............

GRAYMARE:
 I am so sorry about your friends' health problems.  I hope they surprise themselves and recover fully.  

Thanks about Ivan!  I am very prejudiced and an Arabian lover, but I think when he is cleaned up he is  pretty, too.  Areion, who luckily likes a bath since she specializes in getting dirty,  is really pretty on her clean days.    She is as white as Kazi now where Ivan is now freckling so much that he looks like he is a darker gray than he was.  They are getting easier to tell apart from a distance now because their colors don't match anymore.

Daisy got a few scrapes on her front legs yesterday.  We think she may have been boxing with the next door mares thru the fence.  We aren't sure of that, but that is what the cuts look like.  We scrubbed, hosed and bandaged both front legs below the knees.  The cuts looked better today, but we re-bandaged them to keep them clean and fly free.  Daisy didn't seem to have any pain from them and they didn't swell overnight.   It's always something with her.....

Donnie helped the new neighbors pull up some fenceposts with the tractor today.  They are putting in an entrance to their property so that dump trucks can bring in gravel for a new arena they are making.  She is taking her young mare, Ritzy, to her first horse show tomorrow for walk/trot western classes.  I didn't realize that she had been riding Ritzy yet, but we can't see that side of their property where she has the barn and arena located. Their older mare, Possum, is the one Daisy has issues with.  Both want to be in charge of the horse world. Both of their mares are quarterhorses.


A memory on FaceBook popped up from 4 years ago: The article Donnie wrote for the local magazine, NRV Magazine, about making hay. Here is the link for the article if you'd like to see it:
http://nrvmagazine.com/over-the-hill-and-making-hay/?fbclid=IwAR36yvZOLOzNr1hltmLc3JX2DTWwzMWQ-Y33M3Hx8WKZhfI1oxcx5_Kng7g

What a perfectly gorgeous afternoon!
I spent the morning with 4 year old Nora - VERY CUTE!
The weather is a nice as it gets... 80°, 31% humidity, bright clear blue skies. I mowed the lower yard and then took a jet ski ride. There were a few pontoons out, but I could run wide open (about 60 mph) and not worry about running into anybody. It was GREAT!

So much for a quiet life in PA. Yesterday my 83 old neighbor fell in her bathroom, couldn't get up, her daughter from VA called me, I dashed up to her house (thank God they had given me a garage door opener when her husband passed) She was laying on the floor in a bad way. I called 911, not wanted to make things worse by moving her. Off to the ER she went. Daughter called and asked if I could pick her up from the hospital when they discharge her. or they were going to admit her... Sure...I can do that. funny but we thought she went to a certain hospital and when I went there...nope..she did not go there. Called her daughter and she found that Donna went to a different hospital. Soooo off I go to the second hospital..pick her up bring her home. Nothing broken Thank God, Got her into the house and babysat, fed her, just hung out until her daughter from Connecticut could get down here. Finally about 8:00 I got home. What a day...

She should not be living alone, with no close family members, she refuses the girls pleas for her to sell and move closer to them. I'm worried about her up there by herself.

I'm resting today..

Trudy, good neighbors like you are such a blessing!

Ellen, it was a good generation that raised good neighbors like us......Times have really changed in
certain areas. Our neighborhood has changed a lot.............the new people are all friendly but not
neighborly.............TRUDY, you were a true hero............I also realize the new age range in our
neighborhood is 40-50 and we're 80 which is a big gap. So we're not as active as we were. Fortunately,
we're blessed with friends.

Today is football day here..............snacks and good yummies.

Everyone have a great afternoon...........

Graymare: I'm no hero...just a friend in a neighborhood of wonderful people who reach out in times of trouble. Our "neighborhood" is full of caring people, we have been here over 30 years and know that we can reach out and someone will stand up and lend a hand. It's a great place to live.

Donna's daughters are still here with her until she can get back on her feet. She refuses to move outta her house. She is so stubborn. I pray they can find her a care giver. It seems caregiver are in short supply, so many stories of people trying to locate one.

I'm off to Bible study this morning. We are studying angels in the book of Revelation. WHEW it's a deep book to try to understand.

Stay safe and healthy everyone.

TRUDY:
Wow. I am glad your neighbor could get to her phone to call her daughter. It's wonderful that she has you as a neighbor, too. It was lucky she didn't break anything.

GRAYMARE:
I guess people get so busy in their lives and jobs, it is hard to be good neighbors for some folks. It's too bad, they will miss out on an older generation. Time passes so fast.


ELLEN:
I bet the lake is great with the crowds gone, but the weather being so good! Our boat ride on Claytor Lake is scheduled for this coming Friday. We have a pontoon boat reserved for the day. I am not sure how long we'll actually use it, but it should be fun. Any ideas as to what we should take to make the day nicer?

INDYAPP:
Congrats on getting your barn full of hay! It's such a relief to have that done. We still have hay reserved from a guy we bought from a few times over the years, but he has been hard to connect with this fall. Apparently he is now president of a dairy company and we don't know who his hay partners may be. He makes good hay, I hope we catch up with him. My barn's hayloft is completely empty waiting on him. Our hay building is stuffed, so my horses won't go hungry.


Daisy seems to be in love with the mares next door. She must be in heat, she yelled to the neighbors all day yesterday. We went down to the barn at 11 pm to make sure she was okay. She was, just loud. She has Ivan standing beside her and yells for the neighbors' mares....

I got in a ride last night on Ivan. He was better this time with his turns. I think he realizes that work is back in his life.

Ark, you will enjoy the day on a pontoon. I don't know how big the lake is, but you can cruise all around it. As for what to take, a cooler is the top of the list. It can be filled with drinks and a picnic lunch. If it's really hot, some extra towels would be nice to prevent sunburn. If the water is warm, wear bathing suits so you can get in the water. Pontoons have a ladder built on that allows easy reboarding. Have a great time.

Good neighbors, good vets, good farriers, good hay guys and good friends are hard to come by. And all are getting harder and harder to replace. I just got an invite to breakfast on Saturday with friends from my much younger days. I haven't seen them in a few years. Really looking forward to meeting up with them. They're the kind of friends that no matter how long between visits when we get together it's like we've not been away.

Summer is gone. We had a full harvest moon last night that was a beautiful............

It seems everyone is hiring, nobody applying. McDonalds is putting "we're hiring" in
every bagged order.

Your boat ride should be fun ARK.......gently flowing along with the current and then using the motor
to go where you want to. That and eating treats, YUM, = fun.

Fall is a real spirit lifter after our Arizona heat....I have good memories of riding in the moonlight
just relaxing and smelling the cotton fields that surrounded our property before the population
explosion in AZ.

Everyone have a great evening..............God bless.

Yep. Summer is gone here too. The high today will be in the 50s with rain and wind most of the day. We are supposed to have some nice days next week. After one more ride, I'll probably ask Travis to help me winterize and pull out the jet ski. I always hate to do that since I won't have any way to get out on the water after that.
I haven't turned on the furnace yet. I like to see if I can make it to October 1st. Probably not.

Sorry for your cold wet weather, ELLEN...........

I witnessed the most interesting event.today.............I went to a friend's house to drop something off.
At the house two doors down was a blind girl sitting in front of her house with a cat just sitting with her
like her guard cat. When her school bus arrived, she picked up her walking stick and walked to the bus with the cat
right next to her. When she she stepped on the bus the cat returned to the front of the garage.
As she stepped on the bus she bent over an kissed the cat goodbye. It was SO precious. Sometimes, life
is just too good.....................She was totally independent and confident. She is 16, perfectly dressed,
hair combed/brushed, and a cell phone in her hand. I assumed it was a braille phone.

Just a good day............God bless.

Once again, we see evidence of the sensitivity of animals. That was very sweet to see, Graymare.

What a wonderful story GRAYMARE.

I don't know if you'll make it to October 1st without turning on your furnace ELLEN. It got pretty chilly last night. I discovered this morning when I got up that Bill had turned on the furnace at some point since yesterday morning.

It's raining and it rained most of the night. Not major storms, just rain. But sometime in the night a big tree limb came down at my brothers. I'll be buzzing it up with the chain saw this weekend. Unfortunately it came down on a section of the wood fence. So I need to figure out how to fix that. I don't know if you can just buy replacement boards, its the dog eared type of fence, or if I'll need to replace the whole panel. I need about 4 or 5 boards or 1 panel. Ironically, the city is picking up the tree limbs piled at the curb from the last storm this morning. I wanted to ask them to just reach over further with the arm they use to pick up limbs and grab this one. Unfortunately it needs to be cut into smaller pieces. It's probably 20 feet long and about 8 inches in diameter.