October 2023

Welcome to October....  





INDYAPP:
 So how did the farrier do?  It's always such a relief to get all the feet done.  Donnie is going to do Ivan's tomorrow, then our donkey/pony farrier will do Trinket and Cactus Jack on Tuesday.   Donnie's knee is glitchy and bending so low is a problem with doing the little guys' feet.

ELLEN:
 I am not sure if they remove docks around here or not in the winter.   I know they remove a lot of the boats, but never noticed if the docks are removed.  The lakes and rivers rarely freeze over here, although do on occasion.   My favorite vet, who retired a couple of years ago,  bought property on Smith Mountain Lake and has had a dock built.  He apparently is really enjoying his retirement.  I have really missed him.  All the  new vets are very young and don't have his experience.

Donnie finally got our lawn tractor going again.  He ran over some electric fence wire, the rope kind, and had it wound up in the mower.  I was grateful I wasn't the one who did that!  It usually is.   He had to take the mowing deck off the lawn tractor to get it completely unwound.   Such fun....

Nice day here,  75 degrees and very sunny.  It is the time of year when there isn't much shade for the horses here because of the sun's angle.   So they get to lounge around in the barn and I get to clean it up twice a day.  

Ark, all the boats have to come out for sure. The ice would crush some of them. And the motors would not like being that cold for that long. The remaining water inside would freeze and ruin them. Most people either store them in one of the many buildings around here that are built just for that, or they shrink wrap them. When snow accumulates on top of the regular covers, it usually causes a puddle to form and the weight will either rip the cover or cause it to let water get inside the boat. The shrink wrap is easy to install and is slick enough for snow to slide off. There are acres of blue shrink wrap around here every winter.
It's a kind of plastic that disintegrates within a fairly short time - 2 to 3 years.

All the horses have pretty feet now. I give Sophie an extra dose of bute to help her stand while she is being worked on and Jerry is super patient with her. Monster is getting arthritic knees so he gets a little bit of bute too. They are both 21 now. I put the horses in the barn with some hay and leave the gates to the back yard and the barn door open so he can drive right up to the doors. He does his thing and then closes the gate to the horse pen and puts Sophie back in the round pen and lets the others out of their stalls. When I get home I get to clean up the pile of hoof clippings he leaves swept in a pile and the stalls. Everyone is happy.

I went to Chicago yesterday to visit Dan for a bit. Coincidently I left to go home at the same time the Chicago Bears football game was over. That was an interesting driving down Lakeshore Drive. Note to self, check the football schedule in the future. The good news was most people seemed to want to drive South towards St. Louis not East towards Indiana. Once I got past the St. Louis exit it thinned out. I've yet to get on the expressway the same way twice.

Indy, how is Dan doing? Is there any idea of how long he will be there?

INDYAPP:
I can't imagine driving in Chigago with a football game in the works. I am impressed with your bravery and skill!! I hope Dan is feeling better and can come a little closer to home soon.
I don't even like driving around Blacksburg/Christiansburg when there is a football game at Virginia Tech. It is amazing how much traffic is generated by a ball game. The population probably doubles around here for the day....maybe triples.

Our pony/donkey farrier came and did Trinket and Cactus Jack this morning. She has been off and on with various conditions over the past year, but looked good today. She is coming back Thursday to do Ivan. I hope it works out for her to do Ivan, even though he is a horse and she usually does little equines. She lives about 6 miles from here. I am trying to arrange for the horses/donkey's feet to be done by someone other than Donnie. His knee is really bothering him lately. Ivan is easy to trim, luckily. His feet are in good shape and he behaves himself with the farrier. Daisy and Areion are going to Va Tech on Monday for their trims and then the whole crew will be done! for a few weeks...
If she likes doing Ivan, I may try her with Areion at some point. Va Tech is quite expensive and really only Daisy needs to go there. Areion goes to keep Daisy company.

My Virtual Tevis Cup awards came in! I need to clean Areion up and take a photo of the medal with her. She managed to roll in something rather nasty last night and looks more like a paint today. White horses are always so much fun to keep clean. Anyway, the award bling is quite nice!! A t-shirt, medal, and sticker with their logo on them.

Hotel pizza with friends. Doesn't get any better than that.

Dan was transferred from Northwestern Memorial Hospital to Shirley Ryan Ability Lab rehabilitation hospital Tuesday night. (also in Chicago and about a block away from where he was so I don't have to learn a new route.) We have absolutely no idea how long he will be there. My guess is at least a couple of weeks at the minimum.

Ark I can relate to the white horse thing. I had leopard appaloosa show horses for years and they were very good at getting additional spots the night before a show no matter if I used a sheet or not. Lily is a mostly white paint. She does good about keeping herself clean, except for her lady parts. I don't know what she does to get so dirty there. She always carries her tail slightly raised so it can always been seen. ewww. She's very good about letting me clean her but then the very next day it's gross again.

Congrats again on the Virtual Tevis cup.

Indy, I wish the very best for your brother.  I hope he can get some relief and be more able to enjoy his life.

Ark, I really admire your perseverance to complete the Tevis Cup Challenge.  You deserve to feel very proud of yourself!  

Hello! Hello? Hello.....

I'm trying to live an interesting life vicariously through you all and you're all missing?!

I hope you are all doing fun fall stuff with family and friends. The first day of autumn was September 23rd and God flipped the switch around here and said "Yup, it's autumn." The weather is cool, the leaves are turning, and it's raining. Definitely October in Indiana.

Hi, Indy. I was thinking the same thing. Nobody home.

Yep. It's fall. Temperatures in the 50s. A neighbor guy who lives in Dallas but has a home here too has been around for the last couple of weeks. He's a really good guy who has been EVERYWHERE and done EVERYTHING. He knows how to do almost anything. But, he doesn't know how to sew. He was asking where he could get some pants shortened. I told him I could easily do it. He insisted that he was going to pay me for it. Nope. But, I have an idea. I needed a little flower bed turned over so I could plant some new tulip bulbs. That worked out perfectly. He dug up the dirt, I shortened the pants, and then dropped the bulbs in place.
We won't see the results of it until next spring. There are a lot of bulbs, so I should have lots of tulips.
A few weeks ago, I was watching a rerun of This Old House when they were talking about planting tulip bulbs. I thought they had to be planted just so. Nope. Depending on the look you want, just drop them in the ground and cover them up. If they land right side up, they will sprout the earliest. The ones that land on their sides will take a little longer so the blooming will be spread out over a longer period of time. I guess we'll see next March and April...

Two weeks ago, a neighbor went to Middlebury and brought back some cider made at an Amish place. It is the BEST cider. I'm just about out of my two gallons. Might have to make a little trip to get more.

Ooops, I meant to check in yesterday. We haven't been up to anything special, just chugging along and getting things s-l-o-w-l-y done. I haven't ridden all week. Last Friday's ride got cancelled because my friend's shoulder is still feeling bad. Then I was supposed to go tomorrow (Wednesday) to Pandapas with our lady farrier, but she had to cancel due to illness. Oh, well. I guess I will try to get in an arena ride instead. I have 5 more rides to do before the end of the year to get in my 100 rides for 2023. I can do them on either Areion or Ivan.

Donnie found a little bird living in the dome with our remaining two hens. It's a nondescript little brownish/grayish bird who might be a sparrow. It isn't flying, it is running around inside the dome eating chicken food. It may have an injured wing or something. We are going to try to catch it tomorrow and put it in a birdcage to see if we can keep it alive until it can fly. So far Dorian GrayCat hasn't discovered it and we've been keeping the dome locked up at night when the chickens are inside their house.

We took Areion and Daisy to Va Tech for trims yesterday. Both were so good about walking into the trailer both ways. The farrier dropped his tools on the concrete floor with a loud bang. I jumped out of my socks, Areion and Daisy startled, then went back to not caring what was going on. Good horses.

So all 5 equines have their feet newly trimmed within 24 hours. Not bad.

I let Tiberius out of the round pen yesterday and into the big pen with Monster and Lily and he immediately found what I hope is the only bramble bush. His tail was a mess! I spent 45 minutes with a comb and cowboy magic last night picking them all out. At one point I told him I missed Max and his six hair appaloosa tail. When I was done it was worth it. His full tail could compete with Fabio when he flipped it. I now have to find that bramble bush and get rid of it.

Good for you ARK getting your 100 rides in.

Somewhere in the neighborhood of 60 years ago, my aunt and uncle bought my little cousin a too-young long yearling filly.  When she arrived her mane was completely wound up with burrs.  The mane was just one lumpy mess.  I thought sure they would have to roach it.  They used some coal oil and had it all combed out in about 30 minutes.  I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it.  
In the intervening 60 years, other products have been invented that work well and don't smell as bad.

INDYAPP:
Yep, cockle-bur season is here. I have tried mineral oil soaked in the mane, but don't know if that would work for a major matting of mane and tail or not. Showsheen works pretty well if you can get the hair thoroughly wet and then soak with Showsheen and let it dry. I can understand why some people just roach the mane, but would never do it.

That's funny about the advantage of Max and his 6 hair tail, .

ELLEN:
I bet your tulips will look gorgeous! I wish our neighborhood had a handyman like that.

GRAYMARE:
Are you home yet??


Fall is here. We brought in our houseplants last week. We have a philodendron that I bought in 1978 in Lexington, KY for $2 as a little plant. The thing is huge now. We are terrible about neglecting it and it just keeps growing bigger. My kind of plant, a survivor plant. It may take over the world.

Ark, that is one OLD plant! Love that.
I have a FEW tulips that are the result of what my mother planted more than 50 years. I think the bulbs that are produced have gotten smaller over the years since the blooms are like miniature tulips.

This neighborhood frequently uses a barter system for getting things done.  I love it.  My sewing machine has saved me a few dollars.
We have a whole village of capable people.  Travis is a good mechanic. Travis' dad sells insurance.  Travis' mom is a nurse.  Across the street is an electrician.  Across the street and one house over is a retired Chicago police officer.  (I wish he was here more often.)  The guy who did my flower bed has bought, fixed up and rented a LOT of houses over the years and can do almost anything.  There are two social workers.  A tax expert.  A retired fireman and his wife is a nurse.  There is a sort of retired teacher.  Her husband is a retired fire chief.  And, there is a couple who could be considered travel experts - they've been EVERYWHERE.  So, we have almost everything we need right here within less than a quarter mile.
The best part is that we all like one another and are more than willing to share our talents.

Happy October everyone. Here it is the middle of October. Where on earth is the time going? Just shut your eyes and blink and a week has flown by. So much going I don't know where to start so I'll just give you a short update on life here in PA.

Crazy weather has everyone freaking out. 80 degrees one day and 40 the next. It has been wild. We finally gave in and turned on the furnace last week. Not ready for winter quite yet. And rain rain and more rain. If this is our weather pattern for winter we are going to be snowed in on the farm.

Our neighbor came over and took the JD tractor to his place and put snow chains on it, getting ready for the snow. He also took away the lawn roller, flat bed trailer & lawn sweeper. YAY... more stuff we never use gone..

I survived my 75th birthday. Guess I am truly a Senior Citizen now. My girlfriends took me out to lunch and son brought me a birthday cake.

We had a ADT Security System installed the beginning of the month, still working on getting things figured out. George only set off the alarm once so far. WOW was it loud. Scared the barn cats who were waiting on their breakfast. They flew away like they were shot out of a cannon. But nothing stops a cat from from getting breakfast, they were back at the door giving me dirty looks. LOL I almost set it off this morning by opening the door without disarming the system. OOPPSSSS Caught myself in the nick of time right before I touched the door.

Taking George to his doctor appointment today. His Echo showed NO increase in problems. Thanking God for that.

Have a great week or should I say month...Maybe I'll check in before November arrives..
Love & many prayers for everyone...

Good morning, Trudy. I've given brief thought to a security system, but considering where I live, I don't think it's necessary. Several of my neighbors have cameras. The main kind of crime around here is petty theft to supply the meth needs of a few druggies. That has happened a few times before. They aren't the brightest criminals around and they usually get caught and locked up for a while. There are also a few neighbors who don't take kindly to being robbed and would actively discourage touching their stuff.
As for the rain, we've had some but not enough. The water level is still way down.

I'm going to mow one more time today. Then the mowing will be for leaf grinding, although there aren't many leaves down yet.

I finally found the capacity for my stand mixer. I quadrupled a cookie recipe and had flour and oats all over. But the cookies are good.

TRUDY:
Happy (belated) Birthday!
A few years ago a neighbor came to our door and said she saw a young man lurking around our detached garage. We don't have a security system (but probably should), and meth is the big crime issue around here,too. So we have a Star Trek toy that has a motion detection alarm on it. We stuck it in our window and sure enough the "EMERGENCY ALERT" blaring alarm sound went off in the night. Whoever it was left without any goodies. They must think we are really wired with a security system....
Our bigger theft problems came from carpenters that were part of the crew that expanded our former dairy parlor into a house. We had a lot of things stolen by them, but didn't discover it until they were gone. All my Star Trek Hallmark Christmas ornaments, my childhood Tressie doll, and a hand puppet I got when I was 6 years old were among the sadder things taken.


ELLEN:
I think we have one more mowing job to do, too. Leaves are starting to fall, so they will need mulching up, too. There are tons of walnuts hitting the ground. Locals say this means a bad winter coming. I guess we shall see.

Donnie repaired our old red truck, BART, this weekend. The alternator failed on the 20 year old workhorse. Since our newer blue truck is still limping, we were without a trusty vehicle for a couple of days. Donnie has the blue truck's issues figured out, it will have to go back into the shop for them to repair it, though.

I am usually a very peaceful sort of person. I get fired right up when somebody steals stuff. It's been a lot of years, but my cars were broken into several times. One time, they stole the radio out of my van. Another time they stole a radar detector. Once they stole a suitcase that had the only piece I had from my maternal grandmother - a moss agate ring. The last two times they stole another radar detector, and a GPS. Only one of those times happened after I moved here.
I would just love to wire my car so they would be still hanging there screaming the next time they touch it. I guess the law probably wouldn't like that too much.

ELLEN:
    Nice idea!  I bet Donnie could rig that up!


Got news.  Our neighbor in the brick house across the road sold his house.   (He was a good neighbor, never had any issues with him.)  How do I know his house sold??  There are two bay horses in the yard!  Our horses told us so this morning when we went down to the barn.  Their ears were about to pop off looking up the hill at the new guys on the block.  They have electrical tape up as fencing, I hope it holds.  There is a busy road between us.

If we pay attention to the animals, they will tell us what we need to know.
My neighbor who has the little poodle mix doesn't hear very well. He was walking down the road with the dog as I was coming up behind them. The dog immediately started looking around. I told neighbor to pay attention to him because he'll know things before neighbor does.
Paolo is still a young dog, just over a year, and still wants to run and chew. In another year, I think he will be a valuable asset to them.

Paolo sounds like a good dog. My poor pooch has gone deaf. Shadow used to tell us when a truck hauling a trailer crossed the bridge about 500 feet away. He'd run to meet it on his side of the fenceline, barking like mad. Now he can't hear us call him from across the room.


Ivan tells me when something or someone is coming up behind us on a trail ride. He starts looking back. It's usually a bike or jogger.

Good morning. We never thought we would need a security system either but now that Ace crossed the Rainbow Bridge our warning system is gone. Strange cars have been coming down our road and stopping and just sitting by the house. Ever since PP&L replace the electrical towers on our fields, things have been weird out here. Ours is an old farm road that connected the 4 farms to a main road there is no reason to be on this road unless you live here. We have lived here 30 years and pretty much know everyone's cars and trucks. George isn't as spry as he once was and he is worried if anything happens to him that I'm here all alone with no security. Sooooooo we are now ADT protected.

Stay safe and healthy as possible.

Love & prayers...

Nice Butts ARK. Looks like your guys are wearing their fuzzy pajamas too.

Bill and I haven't been able to spend much quality time together lately. Last night after work we went on a drive and admired the fall colors. We also realized how much we DON't get out because we kept seeing new (to us) buildings that had obviously been there for a while And while we were driving about I tracked down two of the facilities that have tentatively accepted Dan for continued rehab as he's getting kicked out of the Chicago rehab due to insurance. Don't ever get sick. It's all about the money.