Now's The Time

I often see time as the enemy, an opponent, or adversary I am up against.  If I just had a little more of it, then maybe I wouldn't run out of it.  We've all heard these sayings; "No time like the present," "Just do it" (now, not later), and "The clock is ticking."  I am trying not to put things off, especially what seems important to me, and take action immediately instead of waiting.  Sometimes, "time is of the essence," other times, "to every thing there is a season," and it is better to wait on some things.

Monday 3/25 - It was late to bed the night before (having arrived home from RTTH after 10 pm), so I was late to rise.  Jim Kellogg, who was visiting, was up shortly after I, so when he came down from the upstairs guest quarters, he got a big ssg from me.  It was so good to see him again after way too long!  I am so glad he decided to act on the invitation to visit, sooner than later.  Now was the time.

I had planned to work on my RTTH blog but visiting with Jim was a priority.  It was so good to catch up with him and hear about his family and life.

Rain was in the forecast, and a bit spotty, so when it had cleared off some, we walked the loop of the Seven Bridges trail.  Maggie absolutely loved Jim.

A load of laundry and dishes were tackled and then I went to the barn and wrangled Zorro and Amiga.  I love that he always comes when anyone calls.  I got them both cleaned up and then rode Amiga bareback out front until Jim and Joe arrived.  They saw our Paso Finos, toured the barn, and then left.  Amiga had been such a handful, I put a saddle on her and worked her a little more intentionally.  She felt great (balanced) with two shoes now on the front hooves.  We got sprinkled on once and then when the rain got heavier I rode back to the barn.







You can see the skies threatening to rain.









I spent two hours at the gym, getting in a good, although difficult, workout.


Photo of the boys at Red's earlier in the week.





Once home, I had little time to make a fruit salad, and head over to Brian's with the guys.  Brian and Jim sure enjoy their dark, craft beers.  I kept mine light.  Brian cooked us a great chicken and mashed potato dinner and even included a vegetable - green beans.  It was all very tasty.

Tuesday 3/26 - It was a gorgeous day.  Again I didn't have much time to blog because I was chatting with Joe and Jim.  Once they headed out to golf, I did another load of laundry, my Bible Study homework, and had lunch.  This herd of eight deer came through after the corn was long gone, but drank water from the pond and creek (video).






I went straight to the barn after Bible Study and concluded the afternoon with a wonderful ride.  Jan and I were together much of the time, but also went our separate ways.














Amiga walked calmly down the trail (video) as we rode away from Jan and Cash.






I took her to the Holly trail while Jan rode in the bean field.  Jan is the little dot you see that Amiga is looking at in this photo.  Once Amiga saw Cash, she got a little more revved up.  She wanted to gait down the Holly Trail (video) so I let her, until we got to the hill.



We walked down and across the creek before returning back to the barn where I worked her some more.

Again I had to rush to clean up and get ready to go out to eat.  Jim treated Joe and I to dinner at Dublin's Crossing.  I had a great Irish soup and side dish.  Jim keeps similar hours as me, early to bed and early to rise, so Joe has been following suit.

Wednesday 3/27 - Jim and his wife Laurie (who was back home in Illinois working) have decided to seriously pursue moving to Fairfield Glade, so he packed up and left fairly early to meet with a relator before hitting the road for home.  Joe headed out to golf and I did some blogging.






The Lenten Rose I planted out back a few years ago, remains untouched by the deer.  I need to remove leaves from flower beds, but it is futile because they keep blowing over from the golf course behind Brian's.  So when the golf course workers started blowing the leaves into a pile, I was quite happy.

Wednesday was now the time to do appointments that were way past due.  So I headed off to the hospital for my pre-colonoscopy apt. (last one 12 years ago), a mammogram (last one 4 years ago), and a bone density (done 3 years ago) to see if the pre-osteoporosis found back then was any better.

By the time I did a bunch of shopping, it was 6pm when I got home.  After I and the pets ate dinner, I took Maggie for a 40 minute walk.  I noticed that the golf course workers left the leaf piles.

Thursday 3/28, shortly after sun-up, the workers were back, raking and collecting leaves, and hauling them away.  Yay!

I went to the Ballet Barre class which gave me enough of a muscle workout I didn't feel the need to do weights.  Then I went to Zumba and got in a great cardio workout while enjoying moving to the Latino music.

Home for a big salad for lunch and I lounged in the sun with Joe.  I read and napped out there also.

Next on my agenda was riding with Jan.  Amiga was already in her stall for the night (before 4pm).  After she finished eating her grain I tacked her up.  When I got on, she immediately didn't feel right.  Sure enough, she was quite lame, this time on her back left leg.  I was so discouraged and frustrated.  I have been slowly working her back up from lameness due to the abscess in the front right hoof.  She had been doing so well and coming along nicely.  Polly and I felt and saw nothing wrong with her leg or hoof, but I gave her Prevocox and soaked her hoof and fetlock in Epson salt for 30 minutes, thinking maybe it was another abscess.



I needed to vent some negative mood, so after I fed Maggie, I took her for a nice long walk.  We started out in back for a look around.  Many more leaves have blown into and washed down the drainage ditch.  Hopefully, one more removal will do it for this season.

Then it was beer and popcorn for dinner while I watched Survivor with Joe.  They have added some interesting twists this year.  So new surprises keep occurring.

Friday 3/29 - I was back at the barn at 8am to check on Amiga's leg.  She did not show any lameness, so I put her out with the mares.  Judy and I chatted a moment and then as I was fixin' to leave, a couple from Colarado came to pick up Cookie to take her home with them.  As I left, Boz was staring in the direction of where he had last seen Cookie (they were good friends).  He didn't move as I drove off.  Chester on the other hand was relaxing in his hole by the rocks (see him?).  I am sure he will not miss her pestering him.


I got back to my second cup of tea and my computer when I got home.  I interspersed blogging with several phone calls, sending e-mails, baking beer bread and doing a load of laundry.

Mid afternoon I went back to the barn to check on Amiga.  Patty was there working with and loving on Zorro.  I brought Amiga in and noticed she was still kind of lame periodically on the back left leg.  I decided to ride at a slow walk, for just a little bit to see how she felt.  I was not happy with what I saw and could feel.  Amiga was lame off and on.  We think it is her stifle.  It was like her leg would get in a certain position and she couldn’t move it very well, and then it would go back and be okay.  I had heard a pop when I lifted her hoof to put it in the bucket to soak the night before, and Judy, Yvonne, and I heard it when I was walking and turned her.


I read that "injuries to the ligaments of the equine stifle generally result from a combination of speed and rotation, quick changes of direction and other missteps a horse may take when traveling at speed or when out of balance.  Not just athletic horses, but any “pasture potato” can incur a stifle injury from direct trauma, such as kicks, slips, falls or problems often associated with bad footing from wet, or muddy conditions.  Horses with weak stifles may stumble more frequently; they may fall out behind; and their stifle joints may even make popping or clicking noises."

Another article about locking stifle said: "Normally, the ligament slides out of the notch when the horse swings its leg forward as it begins to walk. If the ligament gets hung up and doesn’t slip into an unlocked position, the hind leg can’t be flexed forward and the horse has to drag the stiffened limb forward for a few steps before the ligament releases. This is commonly known as a locking or sticking stifle. While veterinarians term the condition “upward fixation of the patella,” old-time horsemen have a simpler descriptive phrase: “That horse is stifled.” They might add, “Back him up a few steps to get it to release,” and this trick often works."  I think it is going to take more than just a few tricks to fix Amiga.  She just seems to continually be afflicted with one issue or another.  I think she is too fragile for the kind of riding I want to do.  And as much as I love her, I am wondering if now's the time to replace her, in all fairness to both of us.

Feeling even more discouraged, I came home, had a light dinner, and walked Maggie before getting ready to go out.  There was a little incident with the new neighbor's dog, which prolonged my walk and shook Maggie up, but thankfully no harm done.  But then I had to really hustle to get to the Conference Center in time for the dance.

Sherri had invited me while at Ballet Barre and I sat with her, her parents and their neighbors.  It was an enjoyable evening, and there was plenty of dancing going on.  There was a table near us and the dance floor, with eight gals enjoying a ladies night out.  I recognized several of them, especially those who love to dance.

Saturday 3/30 - I forgot to mention that Joe left for Phoenix at 2am Friday morning, so dog walking was all my responsibility.  With another horse lameness issue, I was also mentally preoccupied and frustrated.  Still trying to get the RTTH blog finished, I was having difficulty.  Feeling somewhat defeated makes me want to shut down and just sit home.

I decided to give Amiga complete rest, so did not put her out with the mares but put her in the dry lot.  It is next to the gelding pasture, so Zorro and Cash came over to investigate and say hi.






I did get in a good weight workout, bought groceries, and neatened up around the house.  I went back out to the barn to give Zorro his shot that we had held off on.  Cheryl did it for me and then I lunged Zorro (video) to get his blood flowing and hopefully prevent any soreness from the shot.  Amiga was still acting sore, off and on while walking, and especially when turning her.  She also had troubles stepping back on her back left leg.


I had taken Maggie to the barn with me and we went on a 90 minute walk before returning home for dinner.









I was trying to blog before bed, but hit the hay early because I couldn't stay awake.  I had gotten up too early, unable to go back to sleep when I woke at 3am, because I was ruminating about Amiga.


Sunday 3/31 - It was very windy and rained during the night and again I woke up way too early.  At least I could turn lights on and not worry about making noise because Joe wasn't home.



I waited till 4:30 am to walk Maggie, and she had gotten all riled up along Lakeview.  It was dark, but I could see the shape of a large object in the road.  I moved the dog quickly away and home.  Then at our 7:30 walk, I saw a ginormous opossum trying to walk.  It was in the road going in circles.  I was just too spent emotionally (because of Amiga) to deal with this poor creature.  I was hoping it would survive.  I did not see it on my way driving to Church so was more hopeful.  But then on my way to the barn, I saw it in the yard not far from where it had gotten hit, making it's way towards this house.  I was still cheering for it to survive, but by later in the day, by the steps of the house is where it breathed it's last breath.

When I went to give Amiga her Prevocox, I first checked on Zorro.  Thankfully he did not have a reaction from the shot and I sent Courtney this selfie of me with him.  The situation with Amiga was worse.  She was much more lame.  Brooke had put her in the dry lot since it had worked well the day before.  Well, she said Amiga was running around like a crazy girl.  Scout was with her when I got there and she was quiet but really favoring her back right leg.  Pat looked at Amiga.  When she pressed on her hip muscle, Amiga really gave.  She also has a kind of fluid build up (pocket) there.  And then we all noticed the muscle at her stifle was spasming.

I was so discouraged when I got home, I started actively pursuing getting another horse.  Now's the time I thought.  But when I thought about getting rid of Amiga, I got all teary-eyed and had no idea what to do.

I really needed to make progress reading John for my Bible study, so laid on the floor in the sun to do so.  Monita came to nap by me, making it difficult.





Pretty soon Stevie joined Monita and I, and it wasn't long before I gave in to sleep and took a nap.






Now's the time I thought when I woke up, to get outside for some fresh air, sunshine, and exercise.  Maggie jumped into the back of my car and we drove up to Good Samaritan's and hiked a trail and a few neighborhoods.  We were gone nearly two hours.

I got news that Joe had placed 12th in the poker tournament, which will at least cover his entry fee and the cost of his trip to Phoenix and back.  (And here I was hoping he would stay in the 2nd place position he had started the day in, and bring home horse buying money.)
It was a late dinner but early to bed for me.