June 2023

Hiya all. All the riding lately has caused my hip joint problem to flare up again, and now my lower back is screaming, too. It's always something. I may try a back brace to help, but I have no idea what to do about the hip joint. I did PT for months after it first started several years ago, and it didn't help a bit. Not riding seems to be the only cure, and that's not going to happen.

Areion and I are now at 51 miles in the Virtual Tevis Cup ride. We are slow. I was going to take her to Pandapas yesterday, but my friend asked me to bring Ivan since another friend said she was bringing her new mare. The first friend is prejudiced against mares, she has never had one. Then the second friend brought her gelding, too, so we had no mares on the ride at all. I am not sure I am quite ready to do a trail ride on Areion, although she did them when she was being trained and has been to Pandapas a few times several years ago. She would probably be fine.
Ivan did really well yesterday at Pandapas even though we hadn't had a ride in about a month.

I don't think Donnie and I are caught up from our hay making efforts. We seem to live in perpetual semi-tiredness all the time.

We discovered a new restaurant in Christiansburg the other day, it's a BBQ place called Mission BBQ. Its theme is about military, police, etc. The BBQ was wonderful! It was so nice to go inside a new restaurant with wonderful food. I had a turkey BBQ sandwich and potato salad that were really tasty. Then a browny......

Dorian GrayCat seems okay after his rather expensive trip to the vet. Our blue truck is still in the shop, tomorrow is 3 weeks. That's getting old.

Ark, I can recommend the results of a hip replacement.  My hips are great now, like new.  You will be a little uncomfortable for the first couple of weeks, but it rapidly gets better.  By 6 months, you'll feel great.  Yes, it will take some time off from riding and barn cleaning, but the result is so worth it.  Get it done going into the winter and you'll be ready to go by spring.

Three weeks is a long time for repair service. It better work really well when they get it done.

Good to hear that Dorian Gray Cat is doing better.

The troops have come and gone. Matt and Angie and the boys came up today to kill water weeds, move the jet ski lift a little bit, help me start to thin out needless stuff from the garage, and take a pontoon ride while the boys rode the jet ski. It's been a good day. I like having them come.

Good job ELLEN................I'm glad you had fun...........

Any news on Pat's puppy?

ELLEN:
I don't think I'm quite far enough along for hip joint replacements yet. I know I have some arthritis in that joint and it probably is getting worse. I'll have it checked out next time I go to the doctor. All the riding has sure given it reasons to hurt.

Areion and I are up to 57 miles now. Today we hand walked 2.4 miles in the arena while Donnie trimmed Trinket's feet. Areion had an abrasion behind her right front fetlock that I didn't notice until today. Yesterday she seemed to drag along a bit, it may have had something to do with that. So I'll let it heal a bit more before adding my weight to her feet.

We bought Areion a set of Scoot Boots a few years ago, ordered to her measurements after a trim. Then I didn't work with her right after that to need to put them on her, so today we tried them on. Her feet are larger than they were 3 years ago....the Scoot Boots don't fit. The good news is, they fit Ivan just fine. They used to have the same size feet. So Ivan gets the Scoot Boots and we'll have to figure out what to get Areion before she can go on a rocky trail. Ivan has been wearing Easy Boot Gloves for several years and they are looking a bit ratty. He needed new hoof boots anyway.

Lovely day here today.

Pat's puppy is officially a year old now. He'll be taking him to class in a few days. I hope they both do well. He's a very smart little dog and I hope they will find out what he can do.

With the new TV, I've been checking out some different programming. On YouTube I've found some really funny stuff that is better than regular TV.
Check out this guy. He's a ventriloquist but he is the best I've ever seen. He does things that I've never seen in an act like that before.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uF8ZVyFxb1o

Hi All,

It's been a really busy couple of weeks for me and I haven't been able to keep up.

Congratulations on your miles with Aerion. So how many laps around the arena does it take to walk 2.4 miles and how long does it take you to walk that far?

Monster is currently wearing 1 Cavallo boot because he decided to take off one of his shoes sometime Sunday night. His shoes were fine Sunday evening when I fed and put hoof dressing on his feet, but Monday morning when he walked in for breakfast he made the distinctive clip, clop, clip, clink of a loose shoe. The farrier was already scheduled to come tomorrow.

Grass hay is going to be scarce around here this year. We just haven't had the rain we need. So far I have 100 bales in the barn and another 300 bales in my hay guy's barn just waiting to be brought down. I expect that to show up some evening in the very near future. Alfalfa will come back quickly when we get rain, but the grass hay not so much. My guys most definitely do not need alfalfa.

I had the opportunity to go to a conference in New York City last week. The hotel was about a block and a half from the 911 memorial. Very moving memorial. I highly recommend visiting if you get the chance.

INDYAPP:
It took over an hour to walk that far. We are slow. Yesterday we did a mile in 19 minutes handwalking, a new record, we were marching right along. We are up to 59.6 miles now and have until the end of July to get the last 40 miles. It's been drizzling so much and I don't want my new saddle to get wet, so we've been walking. I must say, my lack of stamina is definitely improving! Oh, and one lap around the arena is 0.07 miles. My watch and phone keep track for me.

I am so glad our first cutting is put up. We've had nothing but rain and drizzle all this week and there are several mown hayfields out there rotting. What do you do with 30 acres of molded hay on the ground?? We needed the rain, but have had more than our share for awhile. I am so sorry for others not getting the rain they need. I heard a lot of northern Europe is very dry this year, too. Hay is going to be expensive everywhere.

ELLEN:
You seem to like your new tv quite a bit!!

TRUDY:
I went to the dentist yesterday. I thought of you. So where are you? My two front teeth have had soft spots at the gum line for about 15 years. The new dentist was great, talked me through each step and it didn't hurt. I hope he sticks around for awhile. It's the first time I have had front teeth worked on and the last dentist said it would be very painful to numb them. Such a bedside manner.....


GRAYMARE:
Are there fires going on in AZ this year? I hope not.

Oops, posted twice somehow....

It is DRY here. This afternoon I saw what I thought could be a few tiny raindrops. It think it lasted 3.2 seconds.

I went to Ft. Wayne to Sam's Club to get a few things. Oddly, they didn't have the main things I wanted to get. Maybe I'll see what Costco has to offer next time.
They did, however, have the croissants that always seem to fall into my cart. I put them in the back of the car so the package wouldn't leak on the way home. It did leak once I got home. LOL

Oh yes, ARK..........we have 4 going, 3 big, 1 almost out..............We have much burnable open
land that lightening strikes and there it goes..........up flames. So far no buildings have gone
that I know of. We have thousands of acres of open land. Greer was threatened the other day
but saved right off. I'm too old for those threats. I'm glad to be right where I am.

For fun we filled another dumpster this morning..............

It's raining, it's pouring...... Thank goodness. We need the water.
Little Nora came over yesterday. She wants me to knit her a rainbow sweater and I had ordered yarn. She informed me that I had bought the right one. LOL She doesn't intend to be funny, but she really is.

You got to love those little ones. They have no filter.

I think Canada is trying to smoke us out. We are getting some of the smoke and smell from their fires.

ELLEN:
Nora sounds so cute! Be sure to take pix of the rainbow sweater. I'd love to see it!

GRAYMARE:
Sorry to hear about the fires in AZ. I hope you get rain to put them out.


I got two fillings last week for soft spots on my front teeth. The new dentist was very good! I hope he sticks around awhile. I think I am caught up on tooth problems for awhile.

I gave blood yesterday and have been dragging around since. It doesn't usually bother me, but did this time. I didn't work with Areion yesterday, but did today, despite dragging around. She pushed some limits. I think she could tell my energy wasn't up to par. I ended up getting off and walking her the rest of the mile. I had forgotten my air vest and didn't feel like crashing today. We are up to 65 miles. One month left to do 35 miles.....

The smoke from the Canadian fires is terrible here too. In addition to the smoke from the fires, there was a "disruption" over the weekend at the Whiting (far northwest corner of Indiana) BP refinery that resulted in 'unplanned flaring of gases' mixed in making air quality really bad around here. Everyone has headaches.

Good for you ARK for donating blood. The last two times I have attempted to donate I didn't pass the initial iron screening. My iron levels were just under the allowable limits. I have my annual physical soon and had the blood work done yesterday. I'm pretty sure I have other numbers out of whack as I am always exhausted and at the same time don't sleep worth a darn. I'm guessing my thyroid numbers are really low and my meds need to be adjusted. I'll see soon.

Monster had to wear his boot for another week as my farrier had to cancel last week. Unfortunately his own personal horse had a stroke and he had to have him put down. I didn't even know horses had strokes.

Indy, try taking one Tylenol PM before bed. In the past, I slept with no problems at all. More recently I would go to sleep and stay that way for about 3 or 4 hours. Then I'd wake up to visit the "loo" and not be able to go back to sleep. I've started taking one PM and am sleeping sooooo much better. 6 or 6 1/2 hours straight through. That not sleeping thing seems to be another symptom of geezeritis.

The air quality here is pretty bad. There is a haze all the way to the ground. Now and then you can smell smoke.

Here's the latest on Pat's puppy. He has started the class and is doing very well. The instructor said he was very pleasantly surprised at how quickly he catches on to new things. (I kept telling Pat he was smart. LOL) He is walking him much better now, insisting that he walk alongside rather than ranging around at the end of the flex-leash.
The next day he took him to the groomer. She said she had never had a dog get out of the crate that she keeps them in while they wait to be groomed or wait to be picked up. It seems that Paolo managed to figure out how to open the crate and get out. Then, he ran from her on his hind legs.
It will take most of another year, but I think he is going to be a great little dog.

Oh wow a BUSY week here................

1.  Irrigation Tuesday evening............fell asleep after I turned it off.............

2,  Friend is at her home alone now and spent too much time gabbing with her..........she's doing
    very well so far............she just is getting two wall handles in her back bathroom.  She was
    hesitant to order them and I said "better to have them and never need them than to need them
    and not have them"..................she then said "you haven't changed in 75 years"............

3.  Miss Nell E Bell got her rabies shot today.  The vets' wife has stage 4 breast cancer.  I've gone to
    the same practice since the early 80's and remember when he was in high school.

4.  We got dinner out tonight.................my order was a marshmallow sundae............boy, it
     was good.  I'm now sick to my stomach.

5.   Tomorrow morning we fill the last dumpster................and, WE'RE DONE................wish I could
     jump and clap my hands but I'm too arthriticL. LOL.
                           

3 more fires in AZ.............one is almost out already............right in t he city. Our humidity is very low at 9%.
Very dangerous..........

We finally got some rain this morning that "washed" the air. It's clear now - at least for a while. I hope the rain makes it to Ontario to put out the fires.

Glad you got some rain, ELLEN!  Hope you do, too,  GRAYMARE!!

We need a nice long drizzly rain here.  We are more fortunate than a lot of folks with the rain this past month, but could use some to clear the air more, too.  

Good news on the cute pup!  He sounds very smart.


GRAYMARE:
 I have forgotten what you are loading up in the dumpster.  What are you getting rid of?   I need one of those here for our garage.

INDYAPP:
 Sorry about your sleep problems, that's no good.  You work too hard....


I have to admit,  I am tired of the Virtual Tevis Cup challenge.  It has taken over my life.  The good news is, it does force me to do things with Areion.  The bad news is,  she is tired of it, too.    One month left to do 29.7 miles.  And it's hot and muggy and I am feeling like reading a book.  I  am lazy today.

Happy July 1st, Canada people!!  
Happy July 4th,  American people!!

Time to change the calendar:

Go to: https://horsefriends.forumotion.com/t145-july-2023#15165