APRIL 2022

This month's theme for photos seems to be little kids and big draft horses.

I do like the smile on the upper photo's horse....

Happy April everyone...............spring is here.

Hooray March is out like a lion and gone. Happy April..

My friend Ashley is still with us but her time is drawing closer and closer. I'm going over this morning to say goodbye. So very sad for her and her family.

I have to share this Angel story. As I got on the elevator there was a young man (by young I mean in his late 40's) in his hand was a Bible. He was the only person on the elevator (now this is the busiest hospital in the area), I was crying and he said to me "that was a rough visit wasn't it?" He said his name was Peter and asked my name. He put his hand on my shoulder and walked me to the parking lot, asking questions about my friend as we walked. When we got to the door for the parking lot he asked if he could pray for her and for me, so he put his arm around me, he prayed as I cried. Thank you Jesus I needed that Angel. Sooooo at church on Sunday Pastor Mike started talking about people we meet on elevators. WHAT???? That got my attention...when I got home I got my Bible and started reading 1 & 2 Peter. As I got to 1 Peter 5:7 I found that I had highlighted that verse (don't remember when or why) as I read it the verse said "cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you."

Angels are all around us...

Lovely Angel story ManyGates. God shows us his greatness in many ways. Like this morning. I got up, got dressed to go out to feed the horses, walked through the dark house and looked out the sliding glass door to see SNOW reflecting off the ground! Well played April Fool's day prank God. Well played.

Trudy, I love it that you shared that angel story with us. It is such a good reminder that God does care for us.
I feel that way about my neighbor who has been such a huge help to me over the last 3 weeks. She and I have known each other casually for 40 years. But we have become friends.

Yeah. I woke up this morning and couldn't believe I was seeing snow AGAIN! It probably won't last too long, but I am ready to not see snow again this winter season.

Today was beautiful but boring except for Nell E Belle. What a hellion but SO cute she makes
me laugh so. She was chasing birds again today and barks and barks. Then she ran
and tripped and fell and rolled. Alsolutely hysterical. That made her so mad she stomped
back to the house. She really is good entertainment.

Trudy, I'm still praying for Ashley. I'm praying for you & George also. Hard times to go
through for sure.

Ellen, hope things are going well for you. Is your weather good at least?

Everyone have a great evening and pray for Ukraine.

The weather here is slightly warmer, but that brought rain. We are supposed to have rain for most of this next week.
I am definitely making progress, slow though it is.

TRUDY:
That is quite a nice story about Peter. Thanks for telling us about it.

ELLEN:
Is your hip feeling less painful? I am glad you have a good neighbor to help!

GRAYMARE:
Your puppy is so darn cute! It is great you got her.

INDYAPP:
Well that wasn't a very nice April Fool's joke on you! It has been so windy and chilly here for days. Today, Friday, was the first time we haven't had blow-your-hair-off wind in some time. We celebrated by getting our taxes filed... Tomorrow I am going to try out the western saddle my pony/donkey farrier lent me. It will be strange.

It is gradually warming up a little. Finally.

Ark, I am gradually "warming up" too. LOL. I'm still using some feel good pills, but only about once a day, compared with several a day three weeks ago.
My neighbors keep bringing me yummy desserts and cookies. I am grateful, but that's going to have to stop.

ELLEN:
You are doing pretty good if you are down to one pill a day! That's great! And very sweet of your neighbors to keep you in goodies. I want your neighbors....


The wind was back again today. Not as cold, but the wind just doesn't stop long. Donnie is gathering materials to build the hay building's doors, so that occupied our weekend. That and he mowed the upper field to scatter horsey-doo around. We are working on a "Paradise Pasture" system for the horses to graze this summer, so have been clearing briars and low hanging branches away from the fence lines where the horses will be. Our forsythias are in full bloom, despite the wind, and other briars and bushes are starting to leaf out a little. It looks like spring despite the coolness lately.

Donnie is looking into getting a bike so he gets more exercise, and Ivan and I get a riding partner on the New River Trail. Anyone have an electric bike? He is looking into them, too. Hopefully his knee won't give him trouble with a bike. Last time he got on Daisy, his knees tortured him for weeks. This was before his surgery on one knee. The twisting really hurt him. Bikes shouldn't do that.

ARK I can't help with info on the bike other than the last time I rode mine my knees were not happy. An electric bike would be cool. Or, I've seen one around here, is something that looks like an eliptical (sp?) on wheels. Works both the legs and the upper body. Would be low impact on the knees.

I spent close to 4 hours on the tractor yesterday using a rake landscaping attachment to rake horse poop and pine needles into piles and then the front loader to make one big pile. I got about an acre done. It's going to rain for the next week so I'm done with that project for a while.

Ark, our good neighborhood started several yeas ago shortly after I moved here. One of the neighbors was walking up the street handing out invitations to a Saturday afternoon party at their house. Everybody attended. We all sort of knew one another, but not well. As we visited and ate we got to know each other much better. I will be forever grateful that Pirkko had that party.
As the neighborhood has changed with new people coming, we have continued to have "welcome to the neighborhood" parties. We all get together once or twice a summer.
In today's world people are often nervous about inviting people they don't know well to get-togethers. They are missing out on a lot.
In my current situation, I don't know what I would have done the first two weeks without Neighbor Karen. She and I had known each other for 40 years, but not well. We have become friends, and another neighbor that I value.

The puppy is a royal pain in the butt, but so cute you can't resist her. Today she ran
around the side of the house and hid, waiting for me to find her. I just left her there
and soon she started whining. I called her and she bolted to me. It made me feel
so good. LOL.

Boy, I sure want Putin out of Ukraine.......I'm sure I'm not the only one but it's so
evil. Now we have many pouring in at our southern border. The poverty in the
world is breaking my heart.

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

It seems that every few years a mad man gets in power and destroys sooo many lives.  I hope he winds up the same as many other evil dictators.  And soon.
The people of Ukraine have certainly done their best to defend their country.  I pray they succeed.

Tuesday morning:
The second follow up with the ortho was this morning.  I can drive now, and ditch the walker in favor of my walking stick.  Progress is happening.  

Wednesday morning:
It's raining. It's pouring. The weather is boring.....

A little of that special ingredient that Putin adds to his victims' tea would be a good thing to serve him.  Soon.


Congrats, ELLEN, on your new hip's progression!   Can you dance yet?  


Happy (belated) Birthday,  BEECH!!!  I meant to post that yesterday, hope your day was fun and sun filled!


GRAYMARE:
 Puppies are cute, but sure a lot of work to raise into adult dogs.  Our collie, Shadow, is the first dog we ever adopted that was already grown up.   He's such a good dog, I am sorry we missed his earlier years.  


I rode Ivan in a borrowed western saddle yesterday in the arena.  Wow.  What a difference from my English saddles.  I felt like I was hovering an inch or two above Ivan's back.  I now know why some English saddles are called "close contact".  It would take me, and Ivan, a while to get very comfortable with it.  And while the horn is very convenient to hang onto, and hang things from,  I don't really like it.  I can see getting punched in the stomach with it.  So I guess I will just hang onto my English saddle.   Ivan was actually very tolerant of the experiment, but didn't seem to feel my signals to him very well.  

It was 71 degrees yesterday, and fabulous!  Rain overnight, of course.  Back to mud this morning.  It was Areion's 13th birthday yesterday.  Where did the time go?



We walked around before I got on Ivan to make sure the saddle didn't spook him. It didn't.

Friend came over on her Harley and I had a nice spin around the neighborhood.....I wasn't driving, just
cruising..........I sure had fun though. It was hot this afternoon at 88 degrees. Puppy did not get a
ride............LOL

I agree ARK. A good dose of tea would be good..........

Belated HAPPY BIRTHDAY Beech........sure hope it was a good one with friends and goodies.

Pray for Ukraine................

Crap! SNOW!

Oh brother, ELLEN.................I hope you're going out to the hotel for dinner
with your neighbors............

Hot here today at 90........cooler now............Pizza night.

Nell E belle is fine........tired tonight as she ran all morning.

Continue praying for Ukraine.

I was just irritated that we were having snow at all. It didn't amount to anything.
It's going to start getting better early this next week.

Nope. Stayed in for dinner. I had a French bread pizza. Love those things.

What channel are the horse races pre the Wood memorial?  I can find the Wood Memorial but not the races earlier in
the morning.  I'll check under Aqueduct and see if it's there.


Addendum: I found F2 but not the Wood Memorial pre races. I only found what you did ELLEN.

The Wood will be shown on NBC at 4:30-6:00 EST.
FS2 will have racing from 1:00 to 7:00. I don't know if they will have the Wood or not.

ELLEN:
We are having snow after midnight tonight, but not much. Maybe an inch at most. 70s one day, snow a day or two later, back to mid 70s next week. Our apple tree hasn't bloomed yet, I hope it holds off for awhile. Except for the weird snow, this really is my favorite time of year. Flowers starting to bloom, pink and purple trees flowering, and lots of green coming out.

Did I tell you all of Donnie's bluebird? He has an eastern bluebird who seems to follow him around. He saved a bluebird a year or so ago when it got into our chimney, then fell into the woodstove. It wasn't being used. He got it out of the woodstove and let it go. Since then, he sees this bluebird everywhere on our property, seeming to follow him around. It sits on the power lines near where he is, on fences, and in the trees closest to where Donnie is working on something. He has a running conversation with this little bird.


I have joined another virtual ride competition. This one is the Virtual Tevis Ride, a fundraiser for the real Tevis ride. I have to do 100 miles in 100 days on Ivan, starting on April 6th. The prize is a t-shirt and sticker. Anything for a t-shirt! Donnie is looking into getting a bike and will ride with me sometimes if he finds one he likes and it doesn't kill his knee.

ARK, two of my friends are in that program also. Hey, you go Girlfriend...............They are 20 years younger than
I am and on TN walkers.

I believe that about Donnie's bluebird............I have some guard birds on the property and I know they're for real.

Hello everyone.  The weather is crappy here also.  Just heard the dreaded word SNOW mentioned on TV.  Thunder, hail, rain and maybe snow.  Enough already...

Happy belated birthday Beech.  Hope it was a fun day.

ELLEN:  Congrats on ditching the walker and healing quickly.

ARK:  I'm sure the western saddle was a foreign object to you and Ivan.  It is a world of difference between English & Western riding.

GRAYMARE:  Enjoy that wild little puppy dog.  

George decided we are taking down the fence around the garden.  Hoorrayyy no garden this year.  Giving the fence to our neighbor and she said she will keep us in fresh veggies all summer.  That's a great trade off.

My friend Ashley is still with us, barely hanging on.  Staring into pneumonia, she is on the Palliative Care Floor and they don't treat pneumonia, so her days are numbered or so they tell us.  

Have a blessed weekend.