MAY 2023

May 2023





Spring 2023 in Virginia

Welcome to May!  Feels more like March here today, chilly and rainy.  

Hi, I'm here.

Shoer came this morning..............feet and horses are fine.  Dogs munching on trimmings.........
Oh well.  They're happy.......makes me sick.............LOL

Everyone have a. good day..........

Indy, I had tubes put in my golf cart tires and the lawn tractor tires. They are supposed to be tubeless, but adding the tubes was cheap insurance. The golf cart tires would go flat every winter and it's a pain to have to take them off, get them reinflated, and back on again. The tube fixes that.

Love the spring in Virginia photo. It's beautiful.

Jamie had her surgery this morning.  She might have cancer in the skin of her breast.  They won't know until the pathology report comes back.  She will have radiation and they won't know about chemo for a couple of weeks.
Our prayers must continue.  PLEASE.

Later in the evening: The surgeon said that the spot under the skin just didn't "feel right". Since she is a well-experienced surgeon, best to listen to her. Depending on the test results, they might have to do a little skin graft later on.
She is home, relaxing in the recliner this evening.

Graymare's computer is down. Where are the rest of you?

Don't forget... horse racing from Churchill will start at noon EST and will last all day through the Derby. I'm hoping Angel of Empire can get to the wire first. He is the grandson of Classic Empire who was bred by my Lexington friend.

Oh, no!
I hope Graymare's computer gets fixed soon! I love my computer/phone/tv/etc until they break down. Then I hate them....


I have been busy, busy. Today we took Ivan to Pandapas Pond, rode 5 1/2 miles, brought him home and then turned right around and took Annie out to eat at Bojangles (her favorite). Then got home and semi-collapsed for an hour or so. I had to walk Areion in the arena for the Virtual Tevis Cup, so did that just as it was getting dark. I am soooo tired!

Ivan was incredible. My friend's horse, Remington, was screaming for his stable mate. He made quite a scene, and Ivan stood there looking at him like the horse had lost his mind. Remington settled down after we got on the trail and we had a very nice ride. Ivan was the steady Eddie during the entire ride.

Tomorrow Annie and I are getting up way before the birds to watch at least part of the coronation, take care of the barn, then drive Annie 3 1/2 hours up past Charleston, WV to meet our other sister. Our Annie month visit is over. It went very well! Annie seemed to have a good time.

Hi. I'm back online. I''m watching the races. Cody's Wish just won his race coming from
behind. That is such a sweet family story it makes me tearful.

Where the heck is everybody? I post about 3-4 X a week, or more if I do anything worth
putting up.

ARK, I'll bet you're exhausted.........You can rest next wee but only a ltttle. Ha, we live
through your activities.

I don't have a pick for the derby.....I just love to watch it.

Bye for now.

I've been camped in front of my TV all day, and I'm not sorry.
I just love the Cody's Wish story. My face was leaking when he won again.
They brought the horse to where Cody's family was standing by the rail before the race. They were keeping a pretty tight hold of him, but I think maybe the horse was trying to reach to the boy. Cody's little sister was emotional all the way through.
Just when we think all is bad, we are shown something positive to hang on to.

As for the Derby, I'm hoping for Angel of Empire to win. His sire, Classic Empire, was bred by my Lexington friends. That stallion has produced several good horses recently.

ELLEN, Angels Empire seems to be the favorite.................


GO EMPIRE.....................

Once again we get surprised by a relatively unknown horse.  We'll see if he goes on to the Preakness and Belmont.

I got so annoyed with a couple of the reporters.  They were just sure the show was about them and their interviews.  The trainer of the winner was almost held hostage by the stupid reporter when all he wanted to do was go to the winners' circle.


Graymare, I'm glad to see you have your computer back.

Oh, good! GRAYMARE's computer is fixed!! Glad to see that happen.

I missed the KY Derby, we didn't get home until after 7:30 pm. On the way up to WV to get Annie to my other sister, we spent an entire hour barely moving in Charleston, WV. We thought there had been an accident, but no, they were working on some lanes in the northbound side and had merged 6 lanes down to one. We moved 1 mile in an hour. On the way home we saw the same clog, still barely moving for miles. Luckily the southbound lanes were fine. I felt sorry for those folks, they probably didn't know they would be there so long. There were no signs saying that traffic would be delayed more than an hour, so there was no escaping it.

And our truck had some kind of problem that came and went, and basically scared us into thinking we'd be stuck in WV for days. It seems to be an electronic problem related to a sensor in the transmission. It never happened before today. We feel fortunate we got home, but it made for a very long day.

Annie and I did catch parts of the coronation. That was interesting, there were lots of horses...

ARK that was a very fast month. It seems like Annie just got there. I'm glad you all had such fun while she was there.

I too missed the Derby. I got in the house just in time to see the replay. I read in a couple of places that the over all coverage was more about celebrities that were there than about the horses.

I spent Saturday working in the yard. The weatherman missed the forecast on Saturday big time. It was suppose to be pretty nice, but ended up gray and overcast. So instead of starting the big project that I needed good weather for I started my brush pile on fire. I figured if it really started to rain, the rain would put the fire out, but until then I'd try and reduce the pile. I ended up burning the entire pile and adding 3 big pine limbs that had fallen since last summer. I had to add the pine limbs a little at a time because the dry pine needles would really take off and I didn't want to catch anything else on fire. I took a break and then fed the horses their dinner and got my second wind and I started pulling grape vines off the 3 sided lean to. Unfortunately my second wind didn't last to getting all the vines on the burn pile.

I did seem like a fast month with Annie. It's so good that you can have her there sometimes.

Most of the docks are in place now, and the boats and pontoons are launched. My dock isn't in yet because Cousin-in-law hasn't been here to put it in. I hope they'll have time to get it done in the next couple of weeks.
It's still a bit too cool to want to rip around on the jet ski; the water temperature is around 40°.

Great day........I was talking just about all day.........LOL. 3 phone calls early in the AM, and then 1
later in the afternoon. Now that I'm restricted in my activity I LOVE talking on the phone............
Life is a trick, I used to hate it. I just blab away.............

I have one friend whose daughter had a clear scan after colin cancer. We carried on like
two fools. Her daughter is scheduled for the anastomosis next week. Yeeeeeeeehah.

INDY, oh gads, take a break. Do something fun with your niece and nephew. Hmmmmmmm.
Don't you have a pancake breakfast coming up soon?

ELLEN, hope your docks get in soon.........the water will warm up soon.

ARK, have you & DONNIE recovered yet?

Good evening to all...........

GRAYMARE:
I think we have mostly recovered today! Yesterday I was pretty much a zombie, but still got in 1.1 miles of walking Areion around the arena. We are up to 12 miles now. Today we did 1.2 miles...on my feet. Hopefully we'll get the new saddle working soon. I need a new girth for it and want to change out the stirrup leathers and stirrups. I haven't figured out how to get the stirrup leathers off of the saddle yet...

Hurray for your friend's daughter!!!

ELLEN:
Hope you get your dock soon, but wow, that water temperature sounds terribly cold! I wouldn't want to be splashed or dunked by that water.

INDYAPP:
You do work hard. I bet your place looks great! We are kind of weedy/brushy/not-exactly-neat here, sorry to say. About the time we get one area looking pretty good, it has grown back in another area. I have about 3 weeks left of decent hay, so hay season is upon us, too. Oh, joy....


Donnie has been researching our blue truck issues from Saturday and thinks he may have a few clues what is going on. He has ordered several filters and things (?) and hopefully will have it fixed soon. We are taking Ivan to Pandapas Pond on Wednesday, so are going to use BART, our old, reliable truck. It's not snazzy, but it works. Right now it is full of sawdust bedding, so tomorrow Donnie will be off loading that into the barn. We've had two different people ask us to sell BART to them. Nope. He's paid for, works, and not gorgeous, and he's going to stay here. He may get a new paint job this summer. We bought him in 2003 or 4, can't remember. BART stands for Big Ass Red Truck.

ARK, I adhere to the weedy, brushy, not exactly neat theme. I have great intentions but somehow I'm always playing catch up. I can totally relate to the get one project done only to find out mother nature has taken over in another location. I call it pick-a-project and do what I can.

On your saddle, check to see if your stirrup bar has a hinge. I had a saddle that the hinge was flipped up in the locked position and the stirrup leather wouldn't come off. I don't know how many years I fought with threading the stirrup leather up through the little hole before I discovered the hinge. The purpose of the hinge is when it is in the upright position the stirrup can't come off. When it is down, it will which is how it should be for safety purposes.

ELLEN, my co-workers haven't put in their dock yet either. They want the water to get warmer before they have to wade around in it.

Speaking of water. I had to clean out my water tank last night. I had to bail dirty water out enough to dump it over and that water was cold. One of my goofballs decided to poop in the tank yesterday. I don't think I have ever had a horse poop in the water trough.

Graymare, why do you have restricted activity?

About the poop in the water bucket.... Years ago, at a barn where I worked for a while, there was one horse that seemed to think the water bucket in his stall was just the right place to relieve himself. Daily. I hated having to clean that stall.

If I weren't waiting for my cousin-in-law to put in my dock, I could have one of the dock companies do it - for at least $200 for 15 minutes work. Literally. They wear drysuits when they work in the water.

My spine ELLEN................I get around just fine but restricted in my movement...............

Do be careful. Neighbor Karen who was so good to me a year ago tripped over shoes in the dark. She fell and broke two lumbar vertebrae. Two rods and four screws later, she is still recovering, while helping her daughter-in-law, Jamie.
Travis said that Jamie is starting feel better. She still has a long road ahead.

I guess you guys have forgotten........back in the midninesies I had laminectomy of my neck C 1-6 and
lumbar L 1-5.................BUT, I'm in good shape all around...........I'm still a young 80.

I do remember your back surgery. At our age it is good to feel as well as we do.

You're sure right on that one ELLEN. It's good to read Jamie is improving. I know she has a
long road ahead but if she can gain a bit of strength, that would be good.

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

Hey ELLEN, how is neighbor Pat's puppy doing in training school?