JANUARY 2019

I'll take three boxes.  The check is in the mail, by way of Timbuktu.  
Or I can send you oatmeal/raisin cookies.  $11 per cookie.  But wait, there's more.  For only additional shipping and handling, I will include three cups of espresso.

Rick, I guess we were posting at the same time. At least you were able to fix the water heater without having to call a plumber. Does that mean you are beginning to feel better? I hope.

We have to do something in the world mess to keep up the positive humor.......

And, a MONSTER storm headed through midwest and east.....it looked awful on TV.....thank God your water heater
is repaired.

Every one grab a blankie and snuggle down..............

Waiting for the storm to arrive. The governor has declared a state of emergency this morning.
All is ready here, snow blower is fixed, generator is full of gas, we have the 3 essentials to surviving a storm. Bread, milk and toilet paper and of course dog and cat food.

GRAYMARE: I'll take 5 dozen of those cookies. The check is in mail. Oh wait there will be no mail today or forever or so the weatherman says because this storm is going to kill all of us. Guess I'll have to make my own.

Stay safe everyone.

Trudy, I think you and I are going to be fine. Most of the storm traveled to the north, hitting Michigan, northern Ohio, etc. At the moment, it's 9:00, and it's been snowing since about 4 AM. Very little accumulation. According to the radar map, the snow will stop in another couple of hours.

Looks ugly and gray and snowing on TV............you'll be fine, I'm sure, but I hope warm & cozy in your house,TRUDY & ELLEN.

I sent extra cookies for each of you with guaranteed delivery by sled dogs.........no charge.

Have a good day for sure

Those sled dogs better hurry. I need some cookies to give the guy who owns/runs the nearby marina. He just came by with his tractor and snow blade and dug out my driveway. He doesn't expect payment, but I like to let him know I appreciate what he does. Since it will probably take until March for the dog sled to get here, I guess I'd better get busy and make some cookies. I know he likes peanut butter cookies.

The back side of the storm is getting close and the snow will probably stop in the next two hours. We have about 3 inches, although some places are deeper because of drifting.
Travis and a couple of other guys have come by on their snowmobiles. As soon as there is enough snow to sort of cover the road, they are out and going.

Cookies......I remember cookies....


We aren't supposed to get any snow or ice, but it is raining and will rain all night. Then the big temperature drop will happen after the rain tomorrow morning with lots of wind to make the windchills that much more entertaining. So it is going to be a big rain/wind/cold event for us.

We got the barn cleaned up and horses stashed in it just as the rain started. Good timing. I put out enough hay to keep them happily eating and warm all night. I have been saving Donnie's hay for the middle of winter, so that is what they got this evening. They love it and don't waste a sprig of it. The hay we bought isn't as nice, so I have been using it up all fall.

Daisy is feeling better, if she was ever off to start with. She is back to eating her head off and acting normal. She has the luxury suite in the barn, so she should be happy.

We are off to have dinner with neighbors at a restaurant called 'The Palisades'. It's located in the middle of no where, but is quite nice. It stays busy despite its location. Maybe they will have cookies....

Snowmobile party at the camp!  Y'all come.  A church camp is no longer being used so it was sold.  The new owner said the local snowmobilers could use their trails and the fireplace in the pavilion.  Guess where Travis will be this evening.  

The snow has stopped, the wind has come up, and the temperature is dropping.

We have snow but not the life ending snow they were predicting. Maybe 6 inches but it is going to get down to 1 degree today. That is cold. It's raining now. They just like to scare people to death, our church even canceled services today, the first time in many many years. Our road is actually almost bare, the paper guy didn't have any trouble flying down the road this morning.

Since Graymares' cookies could not arrive here in time, so I made cupcakes instead. Archie & Rick stopped out to check on the snow blower & make sure it was working, so we had coffee and cupcakes instead of cookies. The guys didn't care any sweet is fine with them.

Stay safe and warm everyone. I think I'll warm up some milk for the barn kitties this morning. They will like that breakfast treat.

It seems that people living in this period of time aren't as tough as those in previous periods. The weather forecasters seem to usually predict a lot worse than actually happens.
This morning it's 5°.

We're soft now compared the 50's, plus our weather patterns are different now. Even as a child my mom was
prepared.

In Colorado in the mtns during winter I was always prepared with powdered milk, powdered potatoes, canned stew,
and a freezer full of meat, homemade bread...........and the supplies to make more. And eggs.
That's when we were 45 mi from town..........and we had wood stove.............hot tea and Chile always on in daytime
in case anyone got stuck and needed a meal........or a visit. That was when we had the phone party line on the telephone pole.
Those were good times.

Now I'm in AZ with only flooding to worry about..............

We always really looked forward to snow days. Although, it had to be pretty deep snow before one of those was declared. Our little school had 5 small school buses that ran the routes, pretty much no matter what. I lived across the road from the school, so I was bundled up in snowsuits and sent off. That was back when girls had to wear dresses to school, so the snow pants had to come off when we got to school. We had to put them back on again for recess which was rarely indoor and back off again when recess was over. There were mittens and gloves and knit hats resting on all the radiators, hoping for them to dry between uses.
One year when I was about 8, we had an usually deep snow. After one day off, we were back at school with our sleds in tow. At recess, we would slide down a hill at the back of the school grounds. You had to be sure to duck and lay as close to the sled as you could because there was a fence at the bottom of the hill. The fence was old and was raised up about a foot or so off the ground so we slid under it. IF you had a good sled that would turn, and you were coordinated enough, you could turn the sled and avoid going under the fence.
The teachers never went outside with us, like they do today. They stayed inside and called us when it was time to go in. One teacher never had a whistle and never yelled. She would stand at the top of the stairs and simply raise her hand in the air. Somehow, we all managed to get in line fairly quickly.
Of course, once we were in began the stripping of hats, gloves, mittens, boots, wiping runny noses, and finally back into our seats to resume learning. Learning was not an option. You did it or else. Or else equaled being held back to repeat the lessons.
We all knew who was the first president, the Pledge of Allegiance, who fought in the Revolutionary War, and the Civil War. We did learn, and have some fun memories to go with it.

Hello, Everyone!  svet here.  I was puttering around online and ran across this board in my Favorites list.  How in the WORLD have I not stopped in for soooo long??  My apologies to you all!  I've missed you all horribly.  I guess I thought, "Wow, I need to stop and say hi," for so long and procrastinated on doing it, that the time has just kept slipping and slipping and slipping. sighhh....

Life is good in Minnesota.  Mark and I moved to northern Minnesota in summer of 2017.  I'm getting used to it, but I still get teary when I think of someone else in our old place.  This is a good place for us, though.  Only bad part is that it's 2.5 - 3 hours away from all of our friends and family.  Good thing I have a car that gets great mileage and that I love to drive.

Mark quit his job in 2017 to move us up here and get this house all torn apart and refurbished (took it right down to the 2x4s in most of the house).  We spent 2017 getting it livable; 2018 getting it set up the way we like, and now 2019 will see us getting back to a more normal life.  LOL  Mark just got hired as a maintenance guy for an elementary school in the next town over.  He'll be on second shift, 3:30 - midnight, which he likes.  I'm doing transcription work from home and hoping to set up my own business doing proofreading/editing for the court reporter field.

We still have our two horses, Fritz and Billy.  Fritz is 29, retired, and doing really well.  He had a hard time adjusting to the move after 20 years in the same place, but he's finally settled in.  Billy is 19, and I'm hoping to find him a new home.  He is bored SILLY here, and I'm just not riding anymore.  Life has changed, and that's how it goes.  Billy is healthy and raring to go, so I'm putting the word out to folks I know, hoping to use word of mouth to find him a decent home.  The very last thing I'd ever want is for him to start getting passed on and on and on.  

That's about it in a nutshell.  I hope you all are doing well.  I see some familiar names and faces next to the messages here.  I'm hoping, now that life has settled once more, to get online and get back in touch with everyone.
Hugs & blessings,
svet

Svet! It's so good to see you here! I hope you will post here often and let us know what is going on in the cold of northern Minnesota. That would be a brave thing to do, to leave all you have known and move to a place that had to be 'rebuilt'.

I have been trying for days....weeks....to sign in....finally.
Harry and i have had horriffic colds....almost have run its course. We have been shutins trying not to spread it to other campers.
Not much happening here. We had high winds last friday and forecasted again today...but it has warmed up here at night from the teens two weeks ago to 30s at night and 60s daytime. Ill take it! After seeing the snow...ice...and cold temps elsewhere.
Yoshi had his 1 month xray...its looking good but will be another month of slow walks to continue to let the titanium mesh with the bone growing around it. Another couple months of more slow walks but at least longer each month. He is limited to a half mile a day now which constitutes going to the dogpark to walk on leash 6 times a day. Its hard for him to just walk on leash...i know he thinks he is being punished...poor dog.

CB, good to see you finally got back in.
Does Yoshi walk with a limp, or is he feeling pretty good now?

He will probably always limp. Poor guy.

SVET:
Hey, you came back!! It's so good to see you! Nice to know your new house has progressed so well, Good job to you both! We are the slowest house builders in the country, we still have things to finish, but it is warm and we don't plan on going anywhere very soon. It is hard to think about our previous house, too, we put so much of ourselves into it. Oh, well.... Good luck with the new editing job you are lining up! Hope it works out great.


CB:
Well here you are . I have your password memorized. I don't usually remember passwords, I just assign new ones, but yours I definitely remember! I hope you and Harry get over your colds quickly. Yoshi's limping isn't bad, he is alive!

ELLEN:
I keep trying to remember that I live in the south. Windchills were 7 below zero this morning. It is getting harder to remember.....The wind is really terrible, but at least we didn't get any snow or ice this time. I had to go out early to take care of the horses because ,of course, today I was scheduled to give blood. They got my blood, but the barn is still needing a bit of work. They had cookies at the blood donation site...

TRUDY:
Sorry about your snow. Does Ace like snow these days? We brought in our outdoor cat, Dorian, so he wouldn't freeze last night. We put him in a big puppy cage because he beats up on our other cats. The ungrateful beast meowed all night. Donnie loves that cat.

GRAYMARE:
I used to think it never rained much in AZ, but it seems I see that it is raining there a lot this year. I bet you will have some great flowers in the desert this spring. We have actual sunshine here today, I can't think of the last day we had that in awhile. I only caught the first part of the lunar eclipse last night, I couldn't stay awake long enough to see totality....although Dorian tried his best to make sure I did see it.... Did you see it? How is your dog these days?

Sunny and windy here in AZ today.......temp 65. Yes, ARK, I saw the moon.....very exciting.By the time it eclipsed, it
got cloudy so only saw it as it was eclipsing, incomplete. But for the board, I'll say I saw it all.

SVET, glad to see you back here.for sure. Boy, sounds like you've been really busy. I'm too old to do a remodel
again. I am certainly glad your horses are well. Let us know as you progress. Great to hear from you.

It sure looks cold out there............

CB, glad your colds are over.......and good for your dog walks.

I mowed the pasture this morning. TIRED. LOL

Thank you much for the welcome backs, my friends! Today has kinda sucked, tho'. It's good to have friends to whom I can sound off. You ready??

Fritz, my little chow hound, refused his brekky this morning. Took one or two bites and then just stood there all listless. I scratched and talked to him a bit, offered him his favorite peppermints. Nope. Ate one, spat out the second. I decided to stay calm, turn him out, and try again later. A few hours later, I spotted him snuffled the trough under the hay rack, snacking on the alfalfa leaves that fall through. Went out to see him. Nope. Still didn't want brekky. Checked him throughout the day; same story.

Our weather went to hell with the wind picking up and snow starting. We're supposed to get anywhere from 4 - 8 inches of snow in the next 24 hours with 20-25 mph wind. So I did a quick prep of their stalls (which didn't get stripped over the weekend since the weather was in the -20s). BUT, they're out of the wind and have hay, and I did my best for the floors before my fingers started to freeze.

Went out after an hour or so. Horsey thermometer died, so I can't take his temp. Looks like he nibbled some hay and maybe nosed at his feed. I'll check him again and bring him warm water and a fresh dinner bucket to see if that tempts him. I kinda doubt it, but it's worth a try. I also have set an appointment with the vet for tomorrow/Tuesday morning. Maybe I should have had him out this afternoon, but Fritz has had so many feeding ups and downs the past 1-1/2 years that I didn't get too worried till this afternoon. (And if the vet had rushed over today, you know dang well that Fritz would have met him prancing at the gate.)

First thing vet asked was if his breath was stinky. Rotten tooth is what I image he's thinking. I don't that that would have come on overnight, though. But I get his drift, and I'll sniff at supper time.

Here's hoping it's not something serious and that he doesn't turn a nasty corner overnight. I don't know if my heart can handle this senior horse thing. He's just turning me inside out every time he's off color. I know he's 29. But geeeze. And this weather and barometer dance probably don't help at all. Just suck . . . . .
svet

p.s. Would someone please remind me how to reply/create a new post on this site?? I'm hitting Quote and then deleting the quote and typing in my stuff. Thx!

Never mind on my last p.s. I just spotted the danged Reply button at the top of the page. sheeesh . . . . (smacking forehead)

SVET, I sure hope it's just one of Fritz's "episodes" and nothing really wrong. Can you blanket him at night?
Have his teeth been floated? Is he pooping? Drinking water? Does he have gut sounds? You don't know his temp but another way to check is to feel his ears....is he shivering at all...........sweating at all..............is the hay moldy.........
I hope it's just a burst of old age and he's fine.

Boy, it's really windy here..........gusts of 40-50 mph.......it's beginning to settle I think.......


Keep us posted SVET.............

Keep us posted, Svet. I sure hope he's okay.

I'm hoping it's just Fritz being Fritz, too. But I don't know. The lethargy has me worried.

For your questions:
He wears a blanket when it gets down to 15F or lower or so. Teeth were done last ... May/June. He's pooped a little, but he hasn't pooped much at a time since he started senior feed a few years ago. It's not fully formed. More like it you wet down the senior feed and plopped it on the ground. It's been like that for a year or so. Sometimes plops, sometimes soft-formed balls (as the vets say). I found my stethoscope so will give a listen. No shivering. I'll take my mittens off and feel his ears. No sweating. Decent hay, tho' more stemmy than I like. Billy chows it down just fine. I tried to check his gums. The refill time is good, but they seem pale to me. tho' it doesn't help that I haven't looked at his gums much so don't have much to compare to. I'll try a peek at Billy's to compare.

He perked up when I brought in a half-scoop of fresh feed, sniffed, took a nibble, and then turned away. Even refused when I held some in my hand. He behaves like everything is just too dang much effort. I gave him some scritches and talked some. Promised I'd visit again before bedtime.

Oh, and his breath wasn't stinky. Not sweet like chewed hay or grass, but not foul.

Thanks for the ideas, Syd.

Svet...has he ever been scoped for ulcers? The poop gets like that.....try some corn oil or pancake syrup on some softened grain or make a warm mash. Is his water heated. He may not be eating as much cuz hes not drinking much? Take his pulse and respiration so you can let vet know. Good luck...keep us updated. We will all worry with you.

SVET:
I am very sorry to hear that Fritz isn't feeling his ol' Fritzy self. Changes in the weather can cause problems, and my horses always manage to get their sickest in the coldest of weather, or the most expensive holidays. Kazi colicked twice on consecutive Christmas Eves. She did recover from those, thankfully.

At least you are on top of his symptoms, that is good. You may head off a bigger problem that could develop. Oh, BTW, we used to get Shiloh's teeth floated every six months. He was very old and his teeth changed that fast. Fritz could just be having some teeth problems. Shiloh also had an abscessed tooth that had to be removed. He was fine after that for some time. Having had an abscessed tooth myself last summer, eating was not on my agenda....

Good luck tomorrow, I hope we hear it is something simple and easily cured!