MAY 2017

Ark, my vet will give me prescriptions to order my special food and meds on line, its cheaper, like trudy said, and same stuff.

I so agree about the dogs TRUDY. Heavens. I am happy your tea party was fun. We have one each summer in the mtns...............none of us have fine china up there but the food and hats are the same.

On to the Preakness now. I wonder how many will enter. I enjoyed seeing Todd Fletcher with tears of joy in the winners' circle. Dreams is sure a beautiful horse.

CB, hope your ankle is fine or at least better. You will adapt without horses and you'll get to be around them all the time as your kids have them. I know it's not easy or I would have already done it. My day will come. My friend wants to know about Trulicity......... is it working for you? Do you feel good on it? I would think it will be good for traveling if it works for you.

ARK, is Thunderpuff doing well?

We had rain here last night and the morning is clear and nice. The horses are sure missing their pasture time as they can't be out there for at least another month or so. They get out in the arena or their paddock. It's actually not a fancy paddock, just a big safe fenced area off the pasture. They cab get into the stall if they want to. They go in free will each night during mosquito season. I keep the fans running so they get away from the bugs.

ELBOWS is doing very well. Common Sense is back to his routine helping at his church.
Her L arm is gaining strength and mobility each day. She is dying to drive, but surely not yet.
She gets out each day with one of the gang.......I will pick her up tomorrow. Not sure yet what's up.

Everyone have a great day.................God bless.

WOW, CB.........no dog regulations? Holy cow. Sorry you can't call animal control. I don't even understand those kind of people. Sad for the dog.

CB:
 Wow.  Some folks just want to be trouble.  I can't believe they are letting their other pitbull run loose after the first attacked children.  If I were the campground, those folks would be gone.  
 Thanks for the prescription diet idea! I will ask my vet.  We just paid $60 for a bag of catfood.   It's a fair sized bag, but Donnie found it online for $40.   Mostly, they suggested we feed ThunderPuff wet food, and said any of the major brands is probably okay.  The bag should last a long time with the wet food to supplement it.  

GRAYMARE:
 ThunderPuff is still in discomfort, but is passing urine.  We are watching him closely.  Unfortunately, he tends to 'go' fairly close to wherever he happens to be, despite having 3 litterboxes to choose from.     We will be doing some major cleaning soon....  But, he is still going and that is the good news.
 He stuck his head into the cold woodstove on Monday.  He now has a grey head.  That looks nice....


We are hauling Ivan with Daisy this afternoon to Va Tech.  This is the week for vet bills.  Hopefully he won't have anything too major going on, but we need to know.  Areion is not going to be happy when we haul both her friends off at the same time.  I don't think she has had that happen to her before.  We always had Kazi as a backup friend for her.  Today she will have to hang out with the ponies and donkey.  They will have a fence wall between them, Areion will probably be a bit too rambunctious to leave her with them in the same area.   Ivan loves Daisy, so will probably be happy to travel with her....even though it was probably Daisy who has caused his leg problem.  

Two more days until Donnie graduates!!  He seems to be looking forward to it.  I took a photo  of him yesterday in his regalia to send to family members and had it made into a 4X8 inch postcard.  I will post the pic here.  I have been practicing with his overly complicated camera to take pix at the graduation on Thursday, too.  I sincerely hope I don't mess those up....

Ark, we r in a private 4 spot campground, each spit is fully fenced with a gate. We r in town limits og grape creek, no convenants, no dog laws, no noise laws,....it looks a bit junky, some places, but others are really nice. Small tiwn, high school, grade, firestation, 2 gas stations, general dollar store...and houses, trailer courts, apartments, campgrounds. Its unique. But seems to be nice place to live other than the dogs.  We like our neighbors. We bike ride thru the streets, pretty quiet, folks wave. 
I cant believe their other dog is running, course they probably havnt gotten the bills yet, that may hit them where it hurts.
Doing last minute shopping, laundry...its raining today here.
Ark, i found over the years, the cheapest oiliest cat foods are best for keeping those crystals and stones from forming. If he still isnt using litter, hes still having pain would be my guess. Maybe a mild pain med?

CB
 I think his bladder is very irritated and his urethra had a little damage from the catheter, so he does have a bit of pain, I am sure.  He is getting a pain pill every evening, but I suspect it isn't very strong.  The good news is, he is still going and not blocked.  I just got the bill....whew....  


Ivan news:
 We took Ivan to Virginia Tech vet school today.  His vet, the same one that kept Kazi alive for so many years, did x-rays and lots of examinations to figure out what was going on.  Of course, Ivan didn't limp as badly as he did at home, but he was excited because he was away from Daisy who was getting her feet trimmed.  The vet could see the limp anyway.

 The lump on Ivan's leg is at the top of his splint bone on the cannon bone.  It has damage, probably from the kick he got from Daisy a few weeks ago.  It is healing and is better than it was,  the x-rays show the bone reforming at the site.  We just need to avoid more damage to it.

Bottom line:  Ivan has to be kept fairly confined so he won't run and bounce on it for a couple of months.  No riding for at least that long, maybe more.  We will take him back in 7 weeks when Daisy goes back and have him re-checked.  I have put Ivan in Kazi's former stall for the night and  will keep him confined to the front barn lot area during the day.  We will set up an electrical pen for him to eat grass that is pretty small.  No running and bucking if we can avoid it, no exercise in the arena.  He is basically on stall rest.

That pretty well screws up my plans for Ivan for the summer.  He should recover, thankfully, and at least didn't break the cannon bone.  He may end up with that lump staying there, but that isn't so bad.  I am to put DMSO on every day, ice or cold water bath every day.  By the end of two months, Ivan will be explosive....  Should be a fun two months.

So I guess I will have to learn to ride Areion or I won't get to ride at all.  That is where our focus will have to be for a few months, which I needed to do anyway.  

Glad it wasnt any worse news on Ivan. You will get thru it...not liking the situation....but will get thru. Kind of like my grandson, he hates kuwait with a passion...but we all have been telling him, he will get thru it....afterall the base has a dang starbucks, pizza hut and other fast food places, but he says they dont get much down time to enjoy it.
When i was forced to ride a different horse due to surgery, and my horse being rambunctious, i really liked the change, and didnt want to give her up, but jessi had 3 girls who needed her....took me a long time to find something as good...and i loved cinnamon, but she would lame up easily...tank use to jump to the side with me and i knew i wasnt going to catch myself when he did it, so i never felt safe on him. Took new mare to trainer, she just never got into a safe groove...red my lil rescue gelding maybe would have been fine, but my body is saying time to quit...dwat the golden years. Shoot...i feel old.

Glad it wasnt any worse news on Ivan. You will get thru it...not liking the situation....but will get thru. Kind of like my grandson, he hates kuwait with a passion...but we all have been telling him, he will get thru it....afterall the base has a dang starbucks, pizza hut and other fast food places, but he says they dont get much down time to enjoy it.
When i was forced to ride a different horse due to surgery, and my horse being rambunctious, i really liked the change, and didnt want to give her up, but jessi had 3 girls who needed her....took me a long time to find something as good...and i loved cinnamon, but she would lame up easily...tank use to jump to the side with me and i knew i wasnt going to catch myself when he did it, so i never felt safe on him. Took new mare to trainer, she just never got into a safe groove...red my lil rescue gelding maybe would have been fine, but my body is saying time to quit...dwat the golden years. Shoot...i feel old.

CB, not OLD, simply older.........and just remember all the good rides you had............
and the good times coming for you.  

Well, ARK.  Glad Ivan will be OK...............sorry for the wait.  Now you'll be able to give us Aerion adventures.

Walked outside to the trash......stepped right on a scorpion.  I was in my sox.............
OOOOOOWWWWWWWIE.  Oh well, I'll be fine..........I live in AZ..........
my first bite................so, I limp for now.  My friends gave no sympathy......they laughed when they knew I'm fine..............sore, for sure, but fine.  It'll be a lot better tomorrow........the burning will be gone.

Later gators................

Thats awful scary...i thought scorpion bites were poisonous....ouch....soak in epsoms salt may help. I would be in a panic dither.

Graymare, I'm sorry you got stung. I've heard those stings REALLY hurt.
I have a friend who lives in El Paso, where they also have scorpions. Her husband got too close to a scorpion, and the scorpion let him know it wasn't happy. She said he used words she didn't even know he knew, and said them very enthusiastically.

Yes, it HURT, really hurt.  There's nothing for them, really. I took a benedryl which made me sleep which removes the pain.  This morning the horrible burning is over......now just sore.  Black widows are worse as their venom is toxic...........that requires E R.


Obviously, if I had an allergic reaction, would have gone to E R.


We have many things that bite here in AZ, it's just part of living here.


Shoer was here at 6:30A............He laughed his head off.  He said he knew I was getting old because I was too lazy to put boots on.
He has some really funny side kicks so it was like comedy central
out there..........Then, I'm sure they headed to breakfast.


LOL, a good day so far................

Glad its feeling some better, GM. I would have just croaked....
We leave tomorrow, had to get a reservation at another horse.camp as i hear palo duro was filled thru the weekend....so we will go into n.m. and camp at oasis state oark, then to bluewater state park, then to moab utah, to logan ut and visit with moonlight kathy, then to ideeeho.  Thats the gameplan.

Stay safe, CB................really sorry you couldn't ride/stay Palo Duro.........when I hauled to Amarillo I drove out with some friends and rode it.......it's beautiful..............enjoy your travels............you're going through some gorgeous country. Keep in touch when you can.

My foot is fine now.........Ha, I never had the nerve to complain as ELBOWS would have gotten wind of it.

No other news................

Safe travels, CB.  Let us know when you can.

Graymare, I'm glad your foot is better now.

Ark, how is Ivan tolerating his confinement? Is Thunderpuff getting better?

It's going to be a good day to get some outdoor work done.  

Here is what Libby posted yesterday about Liz:
update Wednesday, down for a couple days this week so my brother and I met at the hospital today. Mom spent a couple of hours out of bed today and they are working on getting her legs moving and trying out walking with the walker. She is in better spirits and actually used her cell phone for the first time since being admitted. She had to call me to say that Michael from Australia called her this afternoon. She was over the moon!! She actually ate half a sandwich for lunch, she has been off eating for the past week, refusing everything, doesn't even want coffee, I know, go figure, the coffee queen. I will update tomorrow evening when I return from Newmarket.

We have launched....wish i could send a picture...lolthe smith hillbillies for sure...
Gettin lots of strange looks....

Thanks ELLEN for the update on LIZ..........each little bit of spunk helps for sure.

No news here.........just saying "hi".

God bless.

One of my cousin's had his 70th birthday on Wednesday. We are celebrating tomorrow.
Everybody have a great weekend.

Made it to first stop, eating dindin and going to bed.
Horses fed, exercised, dogs walked...main part of campground looks nice, horsey part nice sites, but weeds and smakes iff the gravel.....not my cup of tea.

GRAYMARE
 Stinkbugs freak me out.  I can't imagine stepping on a scorpion!!!!   I am very sorry about your sting, or bite.  I hope it is okay now.  

CB
 Travel safe!!  Try to have fun while you are at it.   I am sorry you are giving up your horses.....

ELLEN:
 ThunderPuff seems to be reacting to the antibiotics and painkillers by not eating and being very lethargic.  He really isn't as far along as I would think he should be after a week.  He is passing urine, but seemingly without much control now.  We have him confined to the bathroom, or a large cage when he isn't in the bathroom.  The meds are because he had higher white blood cells in his urine this week and he has had pain.  He hasn't eaten all day.  We may take him back to the vet tomorrow.  
 Ivan is going a little nuts with his confinement, but actually seems to be limping less.  He was doing laps around the pony lot this morning, so I let him out with Areion and Daisy.  He stopped running, then, and worked on eating grass.  Keeping an Arabian confined is not easy.  We are still applying ice, then DMSO later.  Seems to be helping.

 Donnie's graduation went really well yesterday.  He enjoyed his day!  

Ark, i swear by nutrical when a dog or cat wont eat..good stuff. Sorry he is still hurting. 
Glad ivan feel good, but wish he would sliw down and heal good, silly horse.
Ellen, yell ur cousin happy birthday, and thanx for keeping us updated on liz.
Trudy, how is your friend doing.

A friend on over 50 rver and trail riders posted tiday her husband wantz to go to black hills one last time, he is on hospice and they plan to go in two weeks....so sad....hope he can do it. Thats why we r traveling now...who knows what tomorrow will bring.
Sweet dreams.  The horses are being so quiet...

AAACCKKKK more rain today. We are so water logged this spring. Next week maybe some sunshine.

I'm still engaged in the battle with the stupid birds. I put my flower out for some fresh air and they were in it in a flash. Somehow they found a spot on the front porch to make a nest, we had to get the netting back out and cover that spot. They are persistent that's for sure but so am I. They might have won the battle, but I will win the war. LOL

CB: Ash is doing very poorly since the death of her little dog. Her dad got her a new pup (what was he thinking?), she can barely take care of herself let alone a pup. He is such a dad, trying to fix everything in a hurry, us mom's know she needs time to grieve. Stay safe in your travels. Praying for a safe and uneventful trip for you.

GRAMARE: OUCH and double OUCH. That has to really hurt. My Aunt lived in Tucson and when we went out to visit every summer she warned us about being extra careful around the scorpions. Just seeing them freaked us East coast kids out. LOL

ARK: The advice from the vets always makes me laugh. Try to keep a horse or a dog from running around when they are hurt. It's like asking the rain not to fall. Not going to happen. Poor little Thunderpuff. A BIG CONGRATS to Donnie on his achievement. Way to go Donnie.

ELLEN: Hope your little party was a success.

Prayers for Liz and her family.

Going out to dinner tomorrow with friends from church for Mother's Day.

Whewieeee, the wind! We decided to boondock tonight at flying c ranch 70 miles from albuequerque..horses out, lunged, tied to trailer to move around. Tonighy they will be in the trailer for safety, too close to interstate. In morning they will be lunged and loaded and off we will go trying for moab, ut. They are doing great.

Great news CB.............our wind here is wicked, also.............get some rest.

ARK.........hugs to DONNIE. He looks wonderful & happy.....he should be, a huge accomplishment
off his bucket list. Hoping Thunderpuff is improving.

Oh TRUDY........so sorry for Ashley. I hope she gets some peace. Oh boy, I had a bird fight for 5-6 yrs several years ago. I finally had to put rabbit wire up...........it finally made them move but it was a "no fun" project for sure.

Today I tried to water a small section of my pasture. I turned on the rain bird, it too ka couple of spins and the top blew off.............so that got delayed.............

We ate a huge lunch of Arby's the kids brought over so won't have much for dinner........maybe a salad later.................

Well, bye for now..........God bless. Praters for ALL.

Happy moms day to all moms of 2 and 4 legged varieties!
Hope you have a super day. Horses lunged, fed, always keep water in to them, dogs walked...having a cuppa. Dont ya just love it when u park in a huge parking lot and ine semi has to pull up next to you to run all night long....and only one other semi in this lot to boot. Could barely get my trailer escape door open hes so close...ugh...hate to say, i havnt been super quiet this morning...but he probably slept like a baby anyway....made me feel better tho.

Happy Mother's Day to everyone.

CB, I'm guessing the truck driver is simply uneducated, has no idea about traveling with horses..............and parked like a truck lot at Love's truck stop...........hoping you have moved on and half way to Moab...............