OCTOBER 2021

I mostly grocery shop at Krogers with a little done at WalMart. The biggest worry I have had over stock shortages has been wet cat and dog food. You can barely find the kind my cats or dog like. I ended up buying a few cases of catfood on Amazon at a good price, then noticed the prices going up rather drastically a few days later. I can eat beans and survive, but my cats need decent catfood. The dog could probably eat just dry food, but after ThunderPuff had a urinary track problem a few years ago, he has to eat wet food and special urinary track dryfood. Since he is a food vacuum, I have to feed the other cats the same thing or he would eat their food and possibly get another infection. So the shortage problem has affected us. If they would eat eggs, I would be all set. Our chickens are laying maniacs.


Ivan and I went on a trail ride at Pandapas Pond Park today. Butter wouldn't melt in his mouth! The horse was so incredibly mellow. We rode with just one other horse. Ivan seems happier with just one horse rather than a crowd. My friend asked me if I had given Ivan Valium, he was so mellow. nooooo..... We rode for two hours. I am going to feel that tomorrow.


Donnie was with our truck reading a book while we were out riding. He watched some guy hop out of his car and start jogging away towards a trail. The guy forgot to put his car in park and the car started rolling backward toward a drop off into the woods. Donnie yelled to the guy who saw the problem, ran back and just barely got the car stopped in time. A very grateful guy...

I noticed wet cat food at a premium the other day.  My son called and said he couldn't find any cat food so off to Tractor Supply I went. They only had 4 small bags of Meow Mix (that's all my feral cats eat), so I bought them all, went to Walmart and they had a few big bags (got one 30 pound) but the wet cat food was scarce.  My cats love scrambled eggs too, in fact they eat about any human food item I take out to them.

Our big Halloween party is today.  So excited...a couple of the ladies said they don't have costumes so I dug out some cat ears and red, white and blue head bands, funny glasses for them and they are going to wear them if I have to tie them down and put them on ...my bestest crazy friend is sick with a viral infection (not Covid) but can't come.  Darn it.  She was coming as Mary Poppins..

The weather here has been crazy HOT, 80 yesterday.  Loving it...it can stay warm until next spring for me.  Got a price on a Generac generator yesterday.  Going to get it put in soon as they can get one.  Supplies are low everyone seems to be trying to get one.  We have a gas one now so we can wait.  Not as expensive as we thought it was going to be.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Trudy, tell us about your party.

Sitting in a parking lot can offer some good entertainment now and then. My cousin and her friend were watching people load and unload boats. One guy had loaded his boat, got out of his truck to check it out, only to watch the truck and trailer roll backward into the water. Only the top of the truck was above the water. Some other guy with a truck said he thought he could pull it out. So, they managed to dive and get the wet truck hooked up, and the nice guy pulled it right out. The owner of the wet truck was a little/lot nervous about telling his wife what happened. LOL
Another time, a very long time ago, I was in the boat waiting for my dad to back the trailer down the ramp to load it up. There was some guy who obviously had never backed a trailer in his life. The ramp was designed to be wide enough for 3 cars/trailers to work at the same time. This guy managed to block all three lanes. He was almost sideways. He FINALLY managed to get the trailer close enough to the water to load the boat. While he was still maneuvering, my dad backed down the ramp, I ran the boat up on it, and we were off and going in about a minute.

I've often thought about putting in a generator, but they are still more expensive than I want to put into one. My gas fireplace does a pretty good job of heating the house if there is no power for the furnace. If it's really cold, I can move the food from the refrigerator outside.
While it is not my idea of a good time, I could get water from the lake for flushing. Sometimes when it looks like a bad storm might be on the way, I fill the bathtub with water for flushing. So far, I haven't needed to do that.
When I first moved up here, we would occasionally lose power for several hours to most of a day. I think the power company must have upgraded some of their equipment because we haven't been out of power for more than a couple of hours for several years now. Thank goodness.

The Halloween tea party was a blast, us crazy girls have such fun together.  I made Lynn, Catie & Rose wear head bands or funny glasses.  Everyone had to wear something.  They were afraid I was going to tie them up so they all picked something.  LOL  It's fun not scary.  Some people have issues to celebrating Halloween cause it's a Pagan holiday.  Come on girls...it's just FUN..

When Bev got in the van she said "where is your horse?"  I said "oh Maxx is in the trunk."  when I got him out she was like "OMG you did have a horse back there I thought you were kidding."  How could I be a cowgirl without a horse.  I was riding him around and she said "Trudy...you have a stick up your butt girlfriend."  HAHAHAHAHA  We had good food and lots of sweet yummy snacks.  A couple of the girls had to cancel due things that came up unexpectedly, darn it.  It was a great time with great freinds.

Trudy, that sounds like a lot of laughs. I'm so glad you had so much fun!

It's a beautiful fall day today. I'll probably give the lawn tractor some not-very-much needed exercise.

TRUDY:
 Who was that masked woman?  LOL....You all looked great!  I love costume parties.  Sounds like you had a wonderful time!


ELLEN:
 Wow, how embarrassing would that be,  drowning your truck like that!   Donnie's been reading online stories like that since he has become a boat fan.  Hopefully it will make him think before jumping out of his truck while putting a boat into water.    


We took Ivan to Pandapas Pond today.  Friday he was Mr. Mellow,  today he had reverted to his Nervous Nelly attitude.  It was chilly and windy, which can set him off anyway,  then we loaded a new horse into his trailer with him.  We took our lady farrier and her horse, Kid, to Pandapas, too.  Kid is a gray QH,  10 years old.  He hadn't been on a trail ride in a long time,  so his rider was a bit nervous.  Kid did great!  He spooked at the first mountain bike going by,  then didn't spook again later when we passed the guy again.  We ran into another friend who rode with us, so we were three.   We ended up having a very nice ride, especially after Ivan calmed down and became Mr. Mellow again.   We loaded Kid back onto the trailer, faster this time,  and hauled him home.  Hopefully he and Ivan will become friends.

We are supposed to go back on Thursday if everyone's plans don't change.  

I'm sure there are a lot of people who slide their vehicles into the water while launching or loading. Since I'm the one who usually drives the car and trailer, I am VERY careful to keep one foot on the brake all the time. Even when I know the car is going to go forward, I don't remove my foot from the brake until the car is actually moving forward. So far, I haven't lost one.
One little trick I used with the 4WD Envoy was to put it in 4WD to pull out. I made the car use all 4 wheels and pulled out very smoothly, so there was no danger of the boat sliding off the back. This car is all-wheel drive, so I have to hope that the car is smart enough to engage all the wheels when I need them.
Sometimes, the ramps are covered with slick moss so the rear wheels might spin a little before grabbing hold. That's where the 4WD really comes in handy. The front wheel drive works too.
As long as you are paying attention and being careful, there is little danger of losing control of it. It all works best with two people who can do the job, one driving the car, the other driving the boat. That makes it very easy and quick. Obviously, one person can do it alone, but it's a lot less convenient.

Hello all,

It looks as if a lot of laughs were had by all while I was gone. My brother and I flew out to California to visit my 90 year old Aunt. I was a nervous wreck the whole time. I was never so happy to be home. Between trying to keep my aunt from waiting on my brother hand and foot, (he's handicapped and needs help yes, but he can do some stuff for himself,) and him making 'jokes' that mortified me and his smoking like a chimney, I just wanted to crawl in a hole and hide. My aunt did convince him to look more closely at additional surgery that he had refused out of hand previously. He called his surgeon while we were out there. The surgeon called him back yesterday and I went with him to the consult this morning. He has some tough decisions to make. More surgery could leave him paralyzed from the chest down, or it could improve his current quality of life. His quality of life is not likely to improve any better than it is currently without it. And if he waits very long to do the surgery, the continued calcification of the bones could prevent him from being able to have the surgery. Next step is for a second opinion from a Dr. in Chicago that his surgeon wants him to see. Dan knew some of this already. I didn't. I guess I need to cut him some slack.

ARK, I envy your trail rides, even if Ivan was a bit energetic for a while. The more Ivan is around Kid, the more they will both settle in. I love riding in the fall.

INDYAPP:
Welcome home! I guess you can only roll your eyes and know your aunt doesn't blame you for his jokes or smoking. I am glad he is getting some consultations about his surgery! Hopefully it will work and his life will be easier. I think I missed what caused his paralysis, did he have an accident?
Wish you lived closer so you could go on rides with me! Finding agreeable riding friends is not easy, especially since I am right next door to being a hermit.

ELLEN:
I will definitely let Donnie do the backing of trailers into water. I am directionally dyslexic and would turn left instead of right.


We took Daisy and Areion to Va Tech for trims today. Both loaded nicely coming and going and behaved like sweet mares while there. Daisy saw another palomino coming into the building and had them all singing the song of their people....loudly. Daisy is a card, a very loud card. Both the girls' feet are doing great! It is worthwhile to haul them to Tech's master farrier, he does a great job. Our pony/donkey farrier does a very nice job on Trinket and Cactus, and Donnie usually trims Ivan and does a good job, too. No one is limping right now....knocking on wood.... Ivan was thrilled when his mares came back home.

Sorry for venting yesterday. The surgery that he is considering is what may lead to paralysis. On top of having his leg amputated close to 2 years ago, last year he had to have surgery on his neck and since then he has had additional complications to his neck. These complications are what makes his current quality of life tough. It''s all very complicated and not anything I would wish on my worst enemy.

Ark I would love to go riding with you. I too am a hermit. On top of that where I live has become very developed over the years and there just isn't very many places to ride anymore. It never use to bother me to ride on the roadside, but drivers are so inconsiderate now. It just isn't safe. I need some horse therapy. Lately all I've had time to do is feed them and give them some scritches.

INDY, so sorry for your brother. I certainly pray this can be worked out. It's got to be very difficult on both of you.............((((((((((((((((()))))))))))))))))

I know what you all mean about building around locally. We have very limited riding
right here, however, we have wide open riding further out in the desert. You have to drive out
to access it, but it is gorgeous. I know there are trails that are being closed but I
don't know where tho...There are state arguments over it and I'm not up to speed due to
my age and no interest in riding long distance anymore.................2 hours is long enough.
The days of riding 8-10 hours are in my memory....I'm so glad for them.

Life changes amaze me............I'm still attitudinally great, bul lazier and content
to watch.................

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

I believe that our nice warm weather is done for this year. No more 80s, or 70s, or maybe 60s. We will be mostly in the 50s. Can't complain. It's been warmer much later into the fall this year. The leaves are just now starting to get some good color and the oak leaves are cluttering up my sidewalk.
My snowbird neighbors are leaving for Florida tomorrow. I'm sending some travel snack cookies with them... chocolate chip and oatmeal raisin. (I'm not sending all that I made. I'll enjoy some too. I really like my oatmeal/raisin cookies. )

Indy, I didn't see it as venting. You were just telling your friends about what is going on. We all need to express frustrations now and then. I hope your brother will make a decision that will help him to live more comfortably.

Here in Indiana, there are few places to ride in the open. Some of our state parks have nice trails and campgrounds. When I was a kid, I used to ride the roads, but I certainly wouldn't do that now.

ARK:  I love seeing the photos of your trail rides.  It takes me back to a happy part of my life, great horses and great times with my horse friends.  Funny how the horses bring people together that turn out to be lifelong friends.  Even though we don't have our horses any longer we are still good buds almost 40 years later.  

INDY:  There is nothing more frustrating that family members at times.  Your brother has some very difficult decisions to make.   That's what friends are for to share our good and bad times with.

ELLEN:  Yup the warm temps are on their way out.  Almost time to fire up the furnace.  Not looking forward to that or changing my summer clothes outta the closet and move in the winter stuff.  

GRAYMARE:  That's my attitude now also, sit back and relax.  I was just thinking about winter without Ace, no making potty paths during snow & ice storms, it's going to be a boring winter.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

INDYAPP:
 I didn't view it as venting either.  However, I think that is part of why we are all here.  We can't always 'vent' to those around us, but our internet friends always listen to us and are usually on our side.  That's nice!   Yep, you need some horsey therapy.   If it doesn't kill you, it makes life all better.     I can't ride on the roads here either.  We have a nice gravel road that runs behind our property for a couple of miles, but people come flying around the curves like maniacs.  I have only ridden on it once in 20 years, on an early Sunday morning.   People also let their dogs run free on that road.  So we haul to Pandapas Pond Park,  24 miles away, or the New River Trail, 15 miles away.  Bikes are a bit of a problem sometimes, the trails that do exist for horses include bikes on them.  Most bikers are considerate, but occasionally the biking idiot blows past a line of horses like he owns the path.  Luckily, Ivan isn't afraid of bikes, but being hit by one would change that.  

ELLEN:
Oatmeal cookies with raisins and walnuts, my favorite!  Yum!  It's been a nice 70 degrees here the last few days, but a front went thru last night and it's cooler today.   Our leaves are just now showing some colors, although some have turned brown and dropped off without a frost.  Being killed by a falling walnut is a major consideration this past week.  I have cleaned up hundreds of them in the arena and near the barn.   We are blessed with black walnut trees.  Too bad it is so hard to shell them. The squirrels can have them.

GRAYMARE:
 I don't think riding is the only reason to have a horse, so am glad you are still able to keep yours.  While I can, and have, lived without horses, it is much nicer to see and touch them.   In my case, they keep me from becoming a total couch potato.  I hate exercising for exercising's sake, but don't mind the exercise due to horses.    I have an Apple watch who is very proud of me this week!  It thinks I have been doing all those miles on my own...


TRUDY:
 Donnie has used the woodstove a couple of mornings to burn paper and such, but we haven't had any heat on other than that either.  That's going to end soon.   I don't usually like autumn, but this year it has been pretty great.    Thanks about the pix.  Donnie took them.  He makes a great ground crew.

We went to Pandapas Pond Park again yesterday, the third time in a week.  I think that may be some kind of record for us.  The weather has just been so fabulous and it has been easier to find riding partners to enjoy it with.   Ivan was much better than he was on Monday, the wind wasn't howling and we didn't haul him with a stranger.  He was somewhat forward, but willing to stay with the other two horses.    We took turns being in the front, middle or end of the group.  Ivan likes to be in front, but he can outwalk the old TB gelding, so he didn't spend the whole ride in front.  Boaz, the TB gelding is 24 years old and the slowest horse I have ever met.  He's been that way since he arrived in this area at the age of 19.  He's just in no hurry, but Ivan likes him.  The other gelding we rode with is a 7 year old Icelandic who, if turned loose, could probably out walk Ivan and not breathe hard.  Balti, the Icelandic,  nipped Boaz on the butt and told him to hurry.  It embarrassed his rider to death, but Boaz didn't seem to mind, or go any faster.  Balti is so cute, he is a bay/paint Icelandic from Iceland, and about 13 hands tall.  Ivan feels so tall around him.     Ivan is 14 hh,  Boaz is 15.2 hh.  Anyway, it was a fun ride!  With rain coming in next week, I am not sure when we can get back there.

Standing in the creek while the horses gossiped.

Did you see the article about the guy who left his truck sitting for about a month while he was away from home. When he got back, noticed it wasn't running quite right and opened the hood to find 180 pounds of walnuts stashed all over, under, and in the engine. The squirrels were very busy while he was gone.

My dad had a system for cracking walnuts. He would put them in a burlap bag and beat on it with a hammer. It was enough to get the outer shells off without damaging the nut meats. He had friends in northern Michigan where they didn't have walnut trees, so he would gather a bunch, get them hulled, and send them to Herb and Cora. Cora was a GREAT cook and loved to get them.
Back in the 1940s, that family were some of the last pioneers to actually live off the land, hunting, fishing, trapping, and growing all the other food they needed. They built their own log cabin and raised 5 kids in that cabin. The two older boys slept in an army tent, even in the winter. They grew up to be Green Berets.
They didn't have electricity until sometime in the late 50s.
When I was about 5 or 6 years old, I loved going to see them.

ELLEN:
Did he beat on the walnuts while they still had green hulls, or did he wait until they dried up and turned brown? I have heard of people putting them in their driveway and running over them with their vehicles, but I am not sure that is kind to the tires, or the walnuts.

We have walnuts all over our yard, too. We have to be careful about throwing them with the lawnmower into the bay window.

Ark, he beat off the green outer hulls.  He shipped them with the brown inner hulls still on them.  Herb and Cora had to break them open when they got them.
There are quite a few walnut trees along the roads here, and cars run over them all the time.  The road is stained a pretty walnut color for several months in the fall.
We would eat some of the nuts, but it was not a favorite flavor for me.

It's raining and it looks like it's going to rain most of the week. Saturday was probably our last nice day for a while. I took my brother and the kiddos to the zoo in South Bend for Zoo Boo. Its a fund raiser for the zoo and it must have made them a boatload of money. It was packed. Madison was a scare crow and Chase was a Ninja. They had fun. I vowed I would never do it again. The first clue that it was going to be crazy is when there was a line on the main road just to turn into the zoo. Looked for a parking space and finally just let Dan and the kids out to get in line while I went and found a parking place. I finally found a spot I could squeeze in to about 2 blocks from the zoo. The lots were all full. Still had to stand in line about 15-20 minutes by the time I got back to them and found them in line. Once we were in the zoo, had to stand in line to go on the treat trail. It was hard to see what animals that were out because of the crowd. Most of the animals were either hiding or locked in their buildings. We stood in line some more to ride the carousel and then called it a day. It took us 3 hours. The kinds got their candy and Dan got out of the house for a while so it was a success, but not something I'm going to put on my list of things to do again.

Wow, Indy! That must have made them a LOT of money!

It's been raining here too for the last 24 hours, with more to come. The water level has come up about 6 inches. Last night, we had some major wind for about 5 minutes. It tore loose the stern rope on my neighbor's pontoon. Fortunately, the bow rope held and the pontoon only turned sideways. No damage. The electricity flickered off and on a couple of times, but did stay on.
I see somebody's wooden stool floating in the shallow water; no idea where that came from.
The cottonwood trees are bare now, and some of the other trees are shedding leaves, even though they are mostly still green.
I will be glad to see the sun again.

 I have a wonderful story of the kindness of strangers to share.

My friend Diana (who had her leg amputated a few months ago) received her prosthetic leg and is learning to walk with it, her neighbor took her to the grocery store.  She walked to the ride it carts got in and did her shopping.  When she got to the checkout, she realized that she had lost the $100 bill she had in her pocket along with her grocery list.  Her neighbor paid for her groceries and they left the store.  When she got home she decided to call the store, just in case someone had found the money and turned it in.  SOMEONE DID turn in the money...Praise God...for the kindness of strangers.  The store wouldn't tell her who, not even if it was a man or woman.

Trudy, it's really nice to know there are still good people in the world. Thank you for sharing that.

TRUDY:
Wow, that was a very nice person. How does Diana like her new leg? I hope it works out great for her.


INDYAPP:
You are a very nice aunt! That zoo trip sounded miserable, although I bet the kids loved it. Gold star for the day for you!!


ELLEN:
Thanks for the walnut info! I don't think we will do it this year since I have already thrown almost all of them over the fence. But maybe next year!
We got your rain overnight. And chilliness. We still haven't had a hard frost, but leaves are starting to turn on some of the trees. I think this is the latest frost date I can remember.


Tomorrow we are going to get our Moderna booster and the geezer flu shot. May as well get them over with all at once. We spent three days scouring this house for those darn vaccine certificates. Donnie had carefully filed them, then misplaced the file. He found it finally! No vaccine card, no booster. We tried to get them online, but the website didn't work for us. Anyway, we are all set now.

We were supposed to go to Pandapas tomorrow, but it is wet and muddy. My friend rides an antique TB who is lucky to walk upright in dry weather, so we don't want him slipping in the wet leaves. We'll plan for next week. I may try to get an arena ride in.

I've had my flu shot for quite awhile, but T got his today. We still have to schedule our booster Moderna shots............we will try to get them next week.

So, what's new with the rest of you?

Politics are as usual fighting arguing on all sides.............what in the world is
wrong with people?

So far, everything in the hood is OK.......the trees are starting to turn. We have irrigation
so horses are in the arena. Friend's husband that died about 6 most ago had her dog put
down yesterday. It was/is AWFUL. All I can do is listen as she lives in another town.
Pray for Wendy. She is wanting to talk to everyone so she calls about every three hours.
Her daughter will be there this evening and I think she is going to be moving.........
none of that is in stone yet but they will make plans I think.

That's the story here.

(((((Wendy))))) I hope Wendy's daughter can help her recover. Poor lady.....


We got our Moderna booster shot today and the geezer flu shot. We got them at a very interesting old pharmacy in Radford. It's been there awhile, there is still a soda fountain counter there, although is not used anymore, just on display. It's an independent pharmacy and I think we are going to get our prescriptions there from now on. Nice people. The shots didn't hurt, but my arm will probably get a little sore with two shots in my left arm. Donnie got his in both arms, but I decided I wanted one unpainful arm. So we are done with that....until the next booster....

Our ride was cancelled. The wind is still a bit much and it is 10 degrees chillier than predicted, 55 degrees. We'll go next week. At least we didn't get the storms they go north of us!

I was watching horse racing from Belmont.  A 10 pound apprentice was riding the favorite in a good field of horses.  He rode really well and won the race.  It was his first win.  One of the announcers, retired jockey Richard Migliori, was really excited for him.  He then started talking about what happens to young jockeys when they win their first race.  Lafitte Pincay, Jr. (son of the jockey) told the cameramen to follow him all the way to the jockey room.  
After he did the post-race interview, he went on to the jockey room to be greeted by a couple of buckets of water and talcum powder poured all over him.  Everybody was laughing and having a great time.
I'd never thought about there being an "initiation" for first time winning jockeys, but it was fun to see.  They were all being rowdy and happy.

Hi all,

So what's up?

I've been out and busy today without a lot of results.........LOL. I'm thinking about a new
refrigerator.......the waterline in my current one has broken twice now and not worth
the expense to continue to repair it. I can't remember when I purchased it, I would have
to look on the receipt, but I'm done with it.............So, the hunt is on. I think it's 15 or 16
yrs old.

What's everyone doing for halloween? We don't even have candy. We gave a bunch
to the church for trunk or treat. We don't have kids in the hood anymore as it's done through
the churches.........long gone are the days when kids mobbed the doors around here.

No news here.........everybody is fine for now.
Everyone have a great evening.