Lost In Chaos

Things always get busy during the Christmas season with decorating, shopping, wrapping, baking, Christmas card writing, going to programs and concerts, etc.  I always hope to get the decorating and gifts done early so I can slow down and appreciate the peace and joy of the season.  But it never seems to happen, and this year was no different.  Even though it was an early Thanksgiving (when I usually start Christmas stuff) we were out of town, so I didn't even begin decorating until December.




But, the chaos of Christmas (and my life) is negligible compared to what is going on around me in America and the world today.  We live in chaotic times.  America and the rest of the world are in turmoil.  Not only is there civil, (religious, political, racial, environmental, etc.) unrest here in the U.S. and all around the globe, but the crazy weather patterns are also creating havoc.  This chaos leaves few images of peace and good will.  But it can still be found, and each of us can contribute to it.

We had actually lost power for a few hours during the high winds Monday night, but only got a total of 3/4 inch of rain, which didn't even come close to making a difference in the pond water level.  I was praying Gatlinburg got as much or more rain, to help squelch their wildfires.














The rain did wonders for the rye grass, which has really grown over the past several days.  It is the bluer looking grass in the right photo.


With the high winds and rain, a ton of leaves ended up in my drainage ditch, the creek, and in the pond.  










My morning was spent blogging about last week's happenings, all the while wishing I could get started on Christmas decorating.


The yard looked to be in chaos with the leaves blown this way and that, spread all over the place.  I worked with Joe on leaf clean up, mostly raking them out of the ditch and creek, but quit early to get to the barn by 12:30.

I met up with Jan and Jim, enjoying their company and the beautiful weather.  Riding is always a great escape from reality and the chaos.















  

I ended up riding Amiga for 2 1/2 hours.  She started favoring her front right leg the last third of our ride.  When I checked her, once back to the barn, I discovered that it was actually her back left leg she was having troubles with.  She tends to get stiff after she stands awhile, and sore after being out on the trail.  This seems to have become somewhat of a chronic problem and I am not really sure what to do for her.





Then, I discovered that Zorro had gotten badly injured.  He could barely walk on his back right leg.  It had a big scab on it that was oozing blood a little bit and was quite swollen.  It was reported that he was fine when he came in for grain and was turned back out Monday night.  I guessed it must have occurred over night, out in the pasture.

I used warm water to clean the wound, and once the scabbing came off, saw that it was quite deep (right photo).  I called Jan and then the vet.  After talking to Dr. Perry over the phone, I decided he should come look at and treat the wound.  I had given Zorro a Bute (for pain and inflammation) and Dr. Perry sedated him for the examination.  Jan had come to help me and it took us both to keep Zorro on his feet.  He is a light weight when it comes to sedation.

The injury was, in fact, quite a deep puncture wound, entering from the back and going up and forward.  Dr. Perry put his whole finger in the hole going all the way to Zorro's bone.  Thankfully, there was nothing broken off in his leg and the bone was not damaged.  Dr. Perry proceeded to flush the wound with saline and then penicillin.  The wound will need daily care (cleaning, cold water rinse for swelling, massaging, and packing it with a healing cream) for the next two weeks.  I am praying there is no infection or complications.  Zorro will also get Bute as needed and an antibiotic each day till it runs out.  He is to be encouraged to walk around, because that will help with blood circulation and healing.  So, thankfully he isn't on stall rest.


It took a long time for Zorro to 'wake up', but once he could stand without support, I tied him to the cross ties and gave him a good brushing.  This is when I discovered another injury.  A scab on the inside of his front left leg.  After getting it cleaned I treated it with the wound cream (seen right).  Luckily, it isn't as deep.

I can't help but wonder what he hurt himself on.  Jan, Jim, and Courtney, all expressed this same concern.  Dr. Perry said it wasn't a gun shot injury, which was my first guess.  At any rate, I knew I needed to look over the pasture to try to find the spot where he got hurt and remove all danger for him and the other horses.

It was almost 6 pm by the time I got home.  Joe had dinner ready, which was nice, but I ended up feeling grouchy and depressed.  Life can sure get me down and mad sometimes.  So much for an afternoon and evening of Christmas decorating... traded for the chaos with Zorro.  I ended up watching another Mars series with Joe, as a thunderstorm rolled in, and it was really raining hard when I went to bed.

Around 2 am, Joe and I were both woken by the safety alert on our phones for a tornado warning.  The high winds and pelting rain had me half awake anyway.  But I just rolled over, put my pillow over my head and tried to block out the chaos of the storm.  I was glad Zorro was safe and warm inside his stall, as was Amiga.

Wednesday morning, once I could see out back, I was amazed to find that the pond was full of water (and many leaves).  We got nearly three inches of rain from the storm system over night (plus two more fell during the day).

I got to the barn at 8 am and was glad to see that Zorro was in good spirits.  I gave him a Bute and then took him out of his stall.  He was walking much better and the swelling in his back leg had gone down some.  I walked him around the inside of the barn for 15 minutes, as the rain continued to fall.  I let him get a bite of hay each time we went past the pile.  Seen left, Georgia and Boz not so sure they wanted Zorro eating their bed.

After cleaning the wound on Zorro's back thigh, here is what it looked like.  The front wound looked good also.  Zorro was eating well, pooping normally, and perkier.  He also snarfed his grain even with the antibiotic powder mixed in with it.  I felt much better about his well being.

I drove home with the windshield wipers flapping and then took Maggie for her third quick little walk in the rain.  Jerry, from the fireplace store came at 10:00 and did a ton of measuring, while reading the manual for the new insert we wanted to get.  He verified that it would be a tight squeeze, but that they could get it in.  Well, this was good news.

It rained all day and the pond reached flood level.
Here are some comparison photos:

                                            

 Severe Drought Conditions

In Process Of Filling Back Up

Flood Stage

Normal Water Level

I tried working on last week's Blog, but was distracted by various things, and got lost in the chaos.  For awhile, I went down to the pond and raked tons of leaves out of the creek bed, which was flooded (seen left).  









Seen right, is about the same spot as above, only a day later, once the water level had gone down.



The outside wall of this curve (seen left) partly gave way and this log (buried in the wall to help hold it) was mostly washed into the creek.








I pulled it out and put it along the bank, past the rye (seen right).  Under flood conditions (above), my creek excavation was still not wide enough to accommodate all of the water.  Normal water level seen right.

The two above photos were taken during one of my walks with Maggie, going around to the other side of the pond to look at the flooding.

Joe left mid afternoon to work out, shop, and then go to his weekly card game.  I had a 3:00 lunch, a big bowl of soup and took this sunset photo about 4:00.





I made another trip to the barn from 5-6 to treat Zorro's wounds.  I was going to give him another Bute, but decided he didn't need it.


Amiga was in her stall sleeping and Georgia had made another bed in the hay.  I like the quiet of a barn at night, stillness from chaos.

Once home, I had no energy or desire to start in on Christmas decorating, and I couldn't even keep with the blogging.  I was distracted by the chaos of Facebook posts and e-mails and then went to bed at 8:30.

Thursday morning, the first of December, I was at the barn by 8 am.  I forced Zorro to eat a Bute.  He was starting to catch on to my methods and spit it out twice.  I treated both wounds and gave him his antibiotic with his morning feed.  Then I headed out to walk the entire pasture, looking for anything that might have caused his injuries.  I checked everywhere, even around the electrical transmission towers.  Seen below, the power lines and mountains in the back ground.

I never found anything obvious that could have hurt Zorro.  The only thing we can think of, is there are these weed stems sticking up.  They were mowed down about a foot off the ground.  With the drought, they had become hard as a stick, sticking straight up, and were very difficult to bend over.  We think maybe Zorro laid down and hit one just right, causing it to go into his leg.  There had also been very high winds Monday night (when he got hurt) so could it possibly have been caused by a blowing branch that hit him?  It will forever remain a mystery.  If only our animals could talk.

The herd came out while I was way in the back part of the pasture.  Zorro was moving along quite well with all of the others, and didn't seem at all bothered by his injuries (video).  Seen right, he tends to stay near Amiga.

Once home, after 10 am, I had more tea to warm up with, and continued work on last week's blog.






Finally at noon, I gave up on getting the blog posted (there were just too many photos to go through and choose from, I got lost in the chaos of it all).  So what did I do?  I started new chaos...  Christmas decorating.  First I had to put away all the Halloween & Thanksgiving stuff.




Seen right, my helper Stevie with green ribbon in her mouth, enjoys checking out all the new (toys) decorations.  Cats vs Christmas video. 

I didn't accomplish much before it was time to get ready to go to town.  I met Judy at the Depot and we watched the lighting of the tree ceremony,  including Shirley  clogging with her Sweet T's group.



Judy, seen right, was filming Shirley.  I was wishing I had all my decorations up, so I could just relax and enjoy them.






We had a nice dinner at Gondola, sitting by their tree, warming up with soup and salad bar.  It was a nice opportunity to catch up with each other as well.

I went to Wal-mart on the way home to pick up some much needed staples, such as dog food and cat litter.  Joe and I watched both Survivor shows once I got everything put away at home.

Friday morning we had duck visitors down in the pond.  I put out more corn for them and the deer, but as usual, mostly the squirrels and chipmunks got it all.

I was at the barn before 8 am.  The sun was warming things (including the cats) up.






Judy was working, and examined Zorro for me, reassuring me that his wound looked good.  She also gave him his Bute for me, because he wasn't on to her tricking him, like he was to me, sneaking the bitter tasting pill in to his mouth with a handful of feed.


Starting each day off at the barn hasn't been all bad, it gets me out of my PJ's and away from my computer, but it interferes with my tea drinking and morning blogging.









I finally finished and posted last week's blog and then continued with Christmas decorating, with Stevie over seeing everything.  I didn't get very far.


After a quick, early lunch, leaving Joe to rake leaves on his own, I went back to the barn, where I was meeting Cheryl to take her on the new trail into the Glade.  When I went out in the pasture to get Amiga, Zorro came up to me as usual.  When he started following me, I started jogging, and he trotted after me, appearing to be feeling pretty good (video).

Cheryl (on Velvet) did great on the new trail into the Glade, but described it as tricky or difficult.  We met up with Terry (on Smurf) and Jan (on Cash).  After riding around awhile, we then found ourselves near Terry's, so went into her back field (seen below - her in-laws house under construction).







Cheryl and I headed back on the new trail, having been out for 90 minutes.  We enjoyed the great weather, good friends, and a nice ride.  Amiga's back left leg seemed better today, but occasionally a little stiff.



When I got home, I did a little work down in the creek bed, removing some of the big clods of dirt that had washed into the water when the sides of the trench I dug gave way to the current.  I wondered how quickly my 'hole' was going to fill back in.  This photo on the right, along with three earlier posted 'normal water level' photos were taken once I was finished mucking around.

I came in at 5:00 dark, scrounged around for dinner (Joe was at another card game), did some computerizing, and then I tried to get some more decorating done.  I put Frosty by St. Francis on our front porch.  I didn't last very long, going to bed early.

Saturday morning there was the usual barn trip to care for Zorro.  Then I went into house cleaning (picking up and scrubbing) mode, along with Christmas decorating.

I took a break from housework to do my shopping and start cooking.  I put grape weenies and meat balls into two crock pots.

A quick shower and guests were soon arriving.  Gwen and Mike brought us this beautiful Christmas cactus.  Lisa and her friend gave us chocolate covered cranberries.  We all enjoyed cocktails and appetizers and then went to the play, A Sanders Family Christmas.  It was well done and enjoyable, but best of all was spending time with friends.

Sunday I was expecting Courtney, so had the stable workers put Zorro's antibiotics in his feed, allowing me to stay home all morning.  I discovered that Stevie had burnt her chin (on the crock pot I think) the night before.  It happened when she was smelling around up on the counter.  I knew something was wrong the way she flew off the counter and was the size of a bobcat, so I had checked all her paws thinking she had burnt them.  I didn't think to look under her chin.  The blister had popped when I was scratching her chin so I got it all cleaned up and applied an antibiotic.  Our pets, especially cats at Christmas time, can certainly cause a lot of chaos.

It was a rainy day, and would be all day.  I sat here, trying to get this blog post started while waiting to hear from Courtney, as to when she would arrive.  Eventually, after some texting, Courtney decided to stay home, since she wasn't feeling great and the weather was so crappy.  She had also lost some time, needing to help out with work.  Well, I ended up wasting much of the day.  I was bummed about Courtney not coming.  I ended up on my computer much of the day, trying to get work done on this blog.  I also worked on Christmas cards, and did a lot of snacking on party leftovers.  Joe had departed very early, for a poker tournament, so I also had dog duty, walking in the rain each time I took Maggie outside.

I finally decided (at 1:00) to get off my duff and go work out.  I dropped in at the Conference Center to visit with my working friends and see the new decorations.  Once to the gym, my amount of weight and number of repetitions was not where it had been.  But at least I was doing something.  This was the first time in a long time.  I did the elliptical for only 30 minutes, but again, it was better than nothing.  And it was good to be out with people.

I went to the barn at 4 pm and kept Zorro's treatment quick, although his back leg muscle was somewhat swollen.  I massaged it some.  Shirley was cleaning Gov up, so it was nice to have company while I worked on Zorro.  Chester asleep in the hay.

With Joe gone, I just had left over appetizers for dinner.  Back at my computer, I was getting so sleepy, I actually took a ten minute nap on the bed with Stevie.  And then got up, brushed my teeth, and went to bed.

The rain had finally stopped by the time I left for the barn at 7:30 Monday morning.  I was meeting the farrier and wanted to have Amiga ready for him and also take care of Zorro.  Tom was early, so Amiga got trimmed and shoes put back on (just the front hooves).  The dogs were under foot, grabbing the hoof trimmings to chew on.







Seen right, Amiga scooted up Tom's jacket and gave him a little nibble on the back.  The things farriers have to put up with... like me taking the photo instead of stopping Amiga.  She didn't bite, just sniffed and licked him.  LOL  I cared for Zorro once we finished with Amiga.  I skipped his hoof trimming because he wasn't really in need and I didn't want to aggravate his healing wounds.

I alternated between blogging, decorating, doing three loads of laundry, and eating more leftovers from our party.  I also took Maggie (and myself) on a much needed long walk.  Joe got home a little before dinner time and we had leftover weenies and meat balls on pasta, along with the veggie and fruit trays.  We watched the movie "Christmas With Holly" but Joe bailed early... too cheesy for him.

There were heavy rains over night and as I sat here at my computer, pre-dawn Tuesday, I watched a thunderstorm roll in with lightening in the distant sky.



By the time it was light enough to see outside, I could tell the pond was more flooded than Wednesday.  I went out to get films and photos.  Above, the ditch was doing its job of holding the raging water in (video). 







The creek was out of its bank and flooding the new grass and lower valley area.  Leaves were washing everywhere.





I went down to the dam to see how much water was going over the spill-way and took this video.







I don't think I have seen the pond this full / flooded before.  Many leaves were being washed down stream, so at least they wouldn't all settle to the pond's bottom.

The heavy rains didn't stop until noon.  It was another morning at my computer, working on this blog but also reading and watching news of world and American political chaos.  I really should ban myself from Facebook, but I love the cute animal videos and news from my friends.  I took Maggie on walks in the rain, and drank too much tea while eating more cookies than necessary.  Getting tired of going to the barn early every morning, I had decided to do Zorro's wound treatment in the afternoons, after the horses were brought in.  This would help it stay cleaner, longer, while he was in his stall overnight.  Also, since I wouldn't be there in the morning to give him his antibiotic, I asked the stable girls to do this in the evening.  Well, I decided at 1:00 to go out to the barn to give Zorro his medicine, so it would only be five hours later than usual.  I also did his wound care.  It was still drizzling, but I put him back out in the pasture with all his friends.

Since I was in muck clothes when I got home, I went down back to get more photos, this time comparing high flood levels from the morning (left) to lower water level in the afternoon (right).  Below, on the right, you can see where the light sand settled and the leaves washed up on shore.

I spent two hours at the gym, getting in a good workout.  I pushed my muscles, even though they were still sore from Sunday.  I was also able to put in an hour on the elliptical while watching an entire episode of Fixer Upper.  With the locker room closed for re-modeling, I went next door for the hot tub and then shower.

In this photo, you can see where the light colored sand has washed and settled, verses the darker dirt and leaves.  The flooding has made total chaos of my nice, neat, dug out hole. LOL  I knew it would fill back in, just didn't think it would happen this quickly.

Chaos Theory deals with complicated, nonlinear, dynamic things that are effectively impossible to predict or control, like turbulence, weather, the stock market, our brain states, and so on.

We can get lost in the chaos of life.  This week's chaos included pond flooding, leaves everywhere, tornado warning, pet care problems, Christmas decorating, company coming, gas fireplace insert decisions, etc.  I tried to keep it all in perspective.  News of the Dakota Access Pipeline controversy and, closer to home, the Gatlinberg fire clean-up is both depressing and hopeful.  In spite of the chaos, people step forward to help.  There are good, loving, caring, giving people.