Monday 12/17 - There was a mist rising from the pond, bright and early, on this new day dawning. It was beautiful and the sunshine was so welcoming. If you look carefully, you can see a duck at the pond's edge (lower right in photo).
I had to hustle to get my finished Christmas cards stamped and into the mailbox on my way to the gym. I stopped by Patty's on my way home, for one last cat care obligation.
Patty had gotten home by evening and sent this photo of her three kitties all on her lap, so glad she was home. I had not given them any cuddle time.
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| Monita's shadow and Stevie |
I grabbed a quick lunch, was tempted to linger in the sunshine with the cats, but was off to the barn.
My afternoon at the barn, resulted in me being frustrated on several accounts, something that doesn't usually happen. When I first unlocked and opened the door to the tack room, the two puppies came shooting past my feet and ran out of the barn. I had to coral them and lock them in their crate before I could get my tack out. Then I noticed that the two pups had pulled my two bridles, new rope and halter, and a few other things off of my saddle rack. Luckily they hadn't chewed any of them, just drug them around a bit.
This photo was posted on the Wildwood Facebook site. These two puppies are so sweet, cute, and absolutely love people.
But, puppies will be puppies.
After I straightened up my tac, I went out to get Amiga, and discovered that the top and bottom wires along a section of fence between mare and livery horse pastures was down.
And at a different area of the fence, between the mare and gelding pastures, the fence was no longer 'hot' and the new gelding was running the fence line and nearly going through the fence. He and the new mare, who have been together forever, were now separated into the two neighboring pastures. She stood right by the fence where he was running. This caused me to worry about bad fencing and all the horses' safety.
I had to walk way out to get Amiga, through the very wet and muddy field, but this is to be expected and not a reason for my frustration. We'd had three days of rain and absolutely no sunshine, so Amiga was a very dirty horse. I didn't get on, but walked her all the way back to the barn.
After a lot of brushing, Amiga still had dust imbedded deep in her hair, but I would settle for this as 'clean.'
Can you see all the dust on the floor that came off of her?
Jan, Deana, and I were soon saddled and ready to ride. We rode in the pasture and then down the trail to the old western ghost town, and then around the garden.
While out in the open field and at the garden, this is where yet another frustration cropped up. Although for the most part it was a good ride, Amiga still acted up several times. I am really having troubles stopping this relatively new, bad behavior. She jumps up and down (kind of prancing) turns in circles, and moves sideways. I have tried one rein stops, giving her more rein, stopping and backing, massaging the reins, and yet she remains very willful and not listening.
I quit riding before Jan because I finally got some semblance of cooperation from Amiga and wanted to stop on a good note and to reward her. Cheryl was just going out to get her horse and Jan offered her a 'taxi ride' so she wouldn't have to walk through the mud.
When I was done riding and went to put my tack away, my final frustration occurred. Courtney's two saddles, helmet, bridle and saddle pad were on the floor in the tack room and there was an English saddle on her rack. I was about at the end of my patience, but held my temper and talked with the stable girls. As it turned out, there had been an error in communication and the new boarder thought Courtney's saddle rack was the one she was supposed to use.
It was a quiet evening at home because poker Joe was doing a Monday night football viewing and card game. I couldn't stay awake past 8pm, even after getting up to walk the dog and a little later to brush my teeth. There was just no way I could keep my eyes open. The remaining Christmas cards and a few gifts to wrap, would have to wait.
I had gotten up way too early (2:30 am) taken an hour nap, and finished a third cup of tea before going to the barn at 8:30.
Steve was there, just finishing fixing the fence. Tom took care of Amiga's trim and shoeing needs and I was back home by 9:45.
I had a forth cup of tea and started this blog while morning turned to noon and it warmed up outside.
I spent the afternoon working in the yard, primarily with leaf removal. Maggie enjoyed sunshine, grass, sticks, and licking clean the empty jar of peanut butter. Doesn't she look a lot like the barn puppies?
I removed tons of wet leaves (seven 30 gal tubs full) from the drainage ditch in back, where they had washed towards the bottom of the hill.
I had also trimmed the ground cover in the front bed, and decided to spread it on the back side of this ditch wall and cover it with dirt (mud) I shoveled from the creek. It would be nice if it would grow and help hold the soil in place.
Joe and I decided to try a new series (Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan) and watched the first episode.
Wednesday 12/19 - Again awake at 2am, unable to go back to sleep, I could not get my mind to stop the hustle and bustle. I got up at 3:00 and after some computer time, got to work on my Christmas cards. Monita does not help, wanting to be in the center of things. With ten cards left to go, I got too sleepy to finish and took a pre-dawn nap.
I woke to sunlight and panicked that Joe and I would be late for his appointment, but it was only 7:20. He had a little cosmetic surgery on his ear, three stitches, and once awake enough to walk, I drove him home, where he then slept for almost three hours.
I didn't know if I was allowed to leave Joe home alone while he was so groggy, so I finished my cards, made a packing list, and played on the computer. Monita continued to interfere with my card writing. Finally, Joe woke and was coherent enough that I could establish he would be fine home alone. I was then off to the barn.
One of my green gloves (found later)was missing from my tack box. Those rotten, cute, sweet, ornery little puppies.
A selfie of horse and rider is no easy task.
I had a wonderful, just over two hour ride. Amiga did great. She is always so much better one on one, with no other riders, and when we are out on the trail. I took the Holly trail down across the creek. The hills were slippery, but not hazardous. Then I rode a large loop in the glade, on back roads where there are no houses. Chester was so excited to be with me. Amiga did try to break into a canter several times while gaiting down some of the dirt roads, but she responded each time with just one or two corrections.
At one point Chester flushed a flock of what seemed like 20 turkeys. Probably for over a minute, they were very noisy and awkward trying to take off from dense underbrush. Amiga was scared but didn't spook as each turkey eventually ran to a clearing and took flight. They were rising up from the woods in all directions.
I arrived back at the barn at 4:30 as darkness moved in.
A quick shower and Joe and I were off to Legends for the chicken pasta buffet. Patty met us and we enjoyed hearing about her trip back to Iowa and catching up on life there.
Once home, we watched the three hour ending of Survivor.
Thursday 12/20 - Five days until Christmas. It started raining during the night and continued throughout the day. I was hoping to catch some Christmas sales and needed to get more gifts, so off I went. Well, at one of the three thrift stores I frequent, they had all Christmas stuff at 75% off. For 50 cents I bought this little decoration that counts the days until Christmas. The other numbered 'blocks' are in Santa's sack and are easily swapped out.
I was 'shopping' for over five hours. Once home, I unloaded everything and changed clothes.
Wednesday 12/19 - Again awake at 2am, unable to go back to sleep, I could not get my mind to stop the hustle and bustle. I got up at 3:00 and after some computer time, got to work on my Christmas cards. Monita does not help, wanting to be in the center of things. With ten cards left to go, I got too sleepy to finish and took a pre-dawn nap.
I woke to sunlight and panicked that Joe and I would be late for his appointment, but it was only 7:20. He had a little cosmetic surgery on his ear, three stitches, and once awake enough to walk, I drove him home, where he then slept for almost three hours.
I didn't know if I was allowed to leave Joe home alone while he was so groggy, so I finished my cards, made a packing list, and played on the computer. Monita continued to interfere with my card writing. Finally, Joe woke and was coherent enough that I could establish he would be fine home alone. I was then off to the barn.
One of my green gloves (found later)was missing from my tack box. Those rotten, cute, sweet, ornery little puppies.
A selfie of horse and rider is no easy task.
I had a wonderful, just over two hour ride. Amiga did great. She is always so much better one on one, with no other riders, and when we are out on the trail. I took the Holly trail down across the creek. The hills were slippery, but not hazardous. Then I rode a large loop in the glade, on back roads where there are no houses. Chester was so excited to be with me. Amiga did try to break into a canter several times while gaiting down some of the dirt roads, but she responded each time with just one or two corrections.
At one point Chester flushed a flock of what seemed like 20 turkeys. Probably for over a minute, they were very noisy and awkward trying to take off from dense underbrush. Amiga was scared but didn't spook as each turkey eventually ran to a clearing and took flight. They were rising up from the woods in all directions.
I arrived back at the barn at 4:30 as darkness moved in.
A quick shower and Joe and I were off to Legends for the chicken pasta buffet. Patty met us and we enjoyed hearing about her trip back to Iowa and catching up on life there.
Once home, we watched the three hour ending of Survivor.
I also bought this stack of 120 cards for $1.50 total. What a deal. I spent a lot of time going through four shoe boxes full of cards (stacked on end) and picked out all the ones I liked. I already have a plan for who I want to send which different card to next year. Ha ha ha.
Joe and I made a trip to the gym together. Normally I go separate because I take twice as long to workout. But I did not have the time or energy to invest in much of a workout. I fixed soup for supper, and then we hitched a ride with Patty to look at a nearby light display, but it was turned off because of the rain. Joe and I continued with the Jack Ryan series on TV before I called it quits for the day.
Friday 12/21 - Happy Winter Solstice. I am so glad to know the days will now be getting longer. Yay! I couldn't stay awake while waiting for my first cup of tea to steep so took a nap on the couch. I guess I wasn't ready to get up yet. Then Joe was up early, at 5:30, causing me to re-awake. And he took Maggie for her first walk, in the rain. I am so tired of this wet weather.
Incidentally, it was just as well it rained all day because I was 'confined' to the house doing three loads of laundry, packing, wrapping gifts, and preparing to send Joe (with my luggage, gifts, games, etc.) on his way to Florida, where I would soon join him.
I was struggling to pack 'summer' clothes because it was so gloomy and cold, hard to imagine I would need shorts and t-shirts. But I remembered, last year I had way too many 'winter' clothes, so I tried to refrain from sweaters.
Friday 12/21 - Happy Winter Solstice. I am so glad to know the days will now be getting longer. Yay! I couldn't stay awake while waiting for my first cup of tea to steep so took a nap on the couch. I guess I wasn't ready to get up yet. Then Joe was up early, at 5:30, causing me to re-awake. And he took Maggie for her first walk, in the rain. I am so tired of this wet weather.
Incidentally, it was just as well it rained all day because I was 'confined' to the house doing three loads of laundry, packing, wrapping gifts, and preparing to send Joe (with my luggage, gifts, games, etc.) on his way to Florida, where I would soon join him.
Mid morning, we got a call from Britney. While she and Ben were in the city of San Jose, in route for KéköLdi, her wallet (containing $400.00 cash, cards, etc.) had been stolen. It was taken out of her backpack, during the hustle and bustle of walking from one bus stop to another.
I was struggling to pack 'summer' clothes because it was so gloomy and cold, hard to imagine I would need shorts and t-shirts. But I remembered, last year I had way too many 'winter' clothes, so I tried to refrain from sweaters.
When Joe went to town for a card game, I gave him the task of buying another mouse toy like this. I had bought one for Francis. But while Joe and I were at the gym the day before (gone less than an hour) one of the cats found it (among 8 shopping bags I had not unpacked yet), took it out of the bag, and pulled the little plastic ring that prevents the battery from working to make the mouse squeak. The battery was now activated and the mouse squeaked with the slightest movement, so the battery was going to get used up. I was hoping Joe could buy a new (untainted) mouse. It would be my last gift to wrap.
Saturday 12/22 - I was up at 3am and had the SUV loaded within the hour. The golf clubs presented a problem because they were too long to go straight in. Joe got up later and was on the road by 6:30.
Phew, I had really hustled to get all that done and see Joe off, but then needed a nap. I had started a load of laundry, was re-vamping my to do list, and watching life outside.
A nap did happen, but didn't last long because the sun was bright and beckoning me to go outside. I needed to finish laundry and then decided to go workout first, or it wouldn't happen because the gym closed at 4pm.
But by the time I got up to the house after putting the corn out, they were already feeding on it in the back. Third photo and (video).
While walking Maggie, the sun had set and the moon was on its way up.
We got to see the beautiful display, with the reflection off of Lake Pomeroy from one side. And on the other side the tribute to soldiers lost in combat.
I had made it through the day on under five hours of sleep, but the evening didn't last long. I went to bed at 7:30.
After a one hour aerobic workout at the gym, I went to Patty's to drop off all the dog stuff. She also printed a boarding pass for me. There was only a little time to sit by the fire and watch HGTV before bed.
Monday 12/24 - Happy Christmas Eve. I started the day at the dinning table because I wanted to see if I could move files to the small laptop so I could travel with it. I had piled everything that would go into my backpack on the table, and Monita was right in the pile.
She had a little troubles getting comfortable, but finally settled and took a nap. Lucky for her I wasn't ready to fire up the little laptop that she was partially resting on.
It would be a busy morning, I needed to hustle and bustle to prepare to leave for a few weeks.
I had to water house plants, clean litter box, shower (I needed to have another go at shaving my legs before exposing them to sun and eyes down in FL.), run to Shirley's to care for her cat, set thermostat and light timers, etc.
Phew, I had really hustled to get all that done and see Joe off, but then needed a nap. I had started a load of laundry, was re-vamping my to do list, and watching life outside.
A nap did happen, but didn't last long because the sun was bright and beckoning me to go outside. I needed to finish laundry and then decided to go workout first, or it wouldn't happen because the gym closed at 4pm.
Finally I got to the barn at 1pm. I immediately noticed that my tack box had been raided again. I was missing both gloves, my currier grooming brush, and a lunge line. Everything was eventually found, but before I left for the day, I tried putting this plastic bin around and in front of my stuff, as an anti-puppy device.
I felt bad about making a fuss about my tack because the Wildwood staff was dealing with a bigger problem. They had discovered that one of their horses (Lightening) had suffered a gunshot wound through the neck.
There was an entrance and exit hole and it appeared that the shot was caused by a high powered weapon. It had occurred in the field on the east side of Westchester Road, approximately two-three days ago. Luckily, the bullet did not hit any vital organs. Lightening was treated at the barn and is expect to fully recover. Authorities were contacted, and suspect illegal hunting was the cause of the shooting.
Judy was at the barn to help with Lightening, so I visited with her after organizing tack and hearing about the injured horse. Amiga was a mess and required a lot of brushing. Subsequently, it was almost 2:30 by the time I was tacked and ready to ride. It wasn't a long ride, but I was glad Amiga didn't give me any problems. And I let her graze quite a bit. Oh, I was happy to see that this white gelding was in the mare pasture so he could be with his best friend.
Realizing I wasn't going to have time for outdoor work at home, I took my time untacking and caring for Amiga.
It was 4:30 when I got home, almost dark. I noticed the deer on the hill across the pond and quick went to put food out. Initially, they bolted (second photo).
While walking Maggie, the sun had set and the moon was on its way up.
Patty came and picked me up, for another try at driving by the light show, a little over a mile from our house. According to the paper, the over one acre light display contains more than 96,000 lights.
We got to see the beautiful display, with the reflection off of Lake Pomeroy from one side. And on the other side the tribute to soldiers lost in combat.
I had made it through the day on under five hours of sleep, but the evening didn't last long. I went to bed at 7:30.
Sunday 12/23 - I got in one pre-dawn / pre-rain dog walk. The rest of the day it rained much of the time or was gloomy, drizzly, and damp.
I worked at finishing this blog, washed dog bedding and got Maggie's things packed up, finished making my list and checking it twice, ate leftovers or froze what I could, and cleaned house. I did go outside to fill bird feeders and ended up cleaning some leaves from a front bed.
You can see the gate I had to trim the right corner on to fit over the windowsill. It is doing a good job of keeping the cats from chewing on my houseplants.
After a one hour aerobic workout at the gym, I went to Patty's to drop off all the dog stuff. She also printed a boarding pass for me. There was only a little time to sit by the fire and watch HGTV before bed.
Monday 12/24 - Happy Christmas Eve. I started the day at the dinning table because I wanted to see if I could move files to the small laptop so I could travel with it. I had piled everything that would go into my backpack on the table, and Monita was right in the pile.
She had a little troubles getting comfortable, but finally settled and took a nap. Lucky for her I wasn't ready to fire up the little laptop that she was partially resting on.
It would be a busy morning, I needed to hustle and bustle to prepare to leave for a few weeks.
I had to water house plants, clean litter box, shower (I needed to have another go at shaving my legs before exposing them to sun and eyes down in FL.), run to Shirley's to care for her cat, set thermostat and light timers, etc.
Patty was due to pick me up at noon. I hoped to get the little laptop squared away so I could pack it instead of this big one I am currently typing on.
Hope you all can slow down and take time to relax and enjoy the holiday season with family and friends.
