Saturday 5/25 - Watering grass seed occurred before I left for work at 8:45. It was hot and we had a good crowd (49 customers) during my shift. Once Mike came to take over, I headed right to the barn. (Joe had gotten knocked out of the tournament the night before, had come home and walked the dog and then was off to golf.)
Cheryl and I rode out to the power lines and back. We both did a little gaiting. Amiga 'stayed with me,' listening and slowing when asked not to rush. Once back to the barn, I put her in her stall, got my costume skirt on, and then rode the parade route. There were two (new) rows of chairs set up that concerned her momentarily, but she continued to do very well with staying in gait for me.
I slipped out to water again, and at dark we had cake and chocolate wine. I also learned that 'the kids' from Nashville would be coming in the morning. So as I drifted off to sleep, I was going through a list in my head, of all the things I needed to do.
This sweet photo was taken by Mary Ann Gilfillan, and posted on the Facebook page, Watchable Wildlife in Fairfield Glade. I have not seen any newborn fawns in our backyard yet, but hope to soon.
I turned the AC on upstairs and after a shortened breakfast and computer time, went up to clean and make beds. I was just getting started in the kitchen with food prep, when the 'kids' rolled in.
We had an early lunch, hung out, and then Courtney, Dan, Val, and Joe headed to the pool. While working on the head-piece for my costume, I suffered from FOMS (Fear Of Missing Something). I really wanted to be at the pool.
After an hour of home alone time, Jan picked me up and we went out to the barn. We were plenty early for the 'big event,' Parade of Breeds Horse Show and Party for the Standing Tall fund raiser. But we kept busy the whole time. Seen right, Donna and DJ were getting their equipment set up.
To help warm up and actually settle our horses, Karen, Patty, Cheryl, and I, took them on a little trail ride. It was quite warm, but luckily the breeze helped us to stay cool and kept the flies off.
It was a great day for a trail ride and I would have loved to go farther, but there was no time.
Once back to the barn, we each did what was needed to get us and our horses ready for the show. I again struggled with my hair piece. Valencia helped me to re-do it and get it to stay.
Amiga was being such a good sport, holding nice and still.
I did not take many photos, and got most of these from Courtney and Valencia. I have included primarily ones of people I tend to hang out with and have mentioned in previous blog posts.
The front of the barn was the 'staging area' where we lined up and waited for the show to begin.
Shirley had Gov all decked out in his patriotic colors.
Once the Parade began, Jan kicked it off, presenting Cash and carrying the flag. After the National Anthem was sung, and she did her routine, I was up next. Amiga did quite well, listening to my cues and staying calm, collected, and under control. Courtney caught this shot of Amiga and I in action. I just love this photo, even with the top of my head missing. My smile tells it all. I absolutely love my horse and riding her. Everyday I am thankful for this blessing!
This year, a theme song was played while each horse came out along the fence line. It really added to each of our presentations. Can you hear my song, (video) Dancing Queen. Ha ha ha.
You can see on the video and on the ground to the far left of this photo, my hair piece came out just after I turned the corner. Amiga had broken gait and wanted to canter. The extra bounces might have been what caused it to come loose.
We each did some maneuvers of some sort, on the lawn, while the description of our horse and the breed in general was read. Amiga continued to do well, staying in gait (dancing), but I felt like I should quit while I was ahead, so we did our exit a little early.
I was so glad I got to go second in line, because after putting Amiga back in her stall, I was able to go out and sit with my clan and watch all the other horse and riders.
Patty on Zorro:
They both did a fabulous job too. In fact, every horse and presenter did fantastic.
Christie showed Twister, in hand with groundwork. He is a three year old, half Percheron / half Quarter Horse, who was orphaned by a tornado at five days old.
Karen rode out on Levi - a quarter horse owned by Wildwood Stables.
And Cheryl rode her Missouri Fox Trotter - Velvet.
After Polly rode out on Rio, the young quarter horse she owns, she did a few rope tricks.
There were a total of 18 horses.
Christie came back out near the end of the show, riding Wings, a 14 year old Friesian.
The parade ended with a few students from the Standing Tall program being lead out by one of the volunteers. Nathan, seen here on Cloudy, was the first graduate from the program.
The day's event ended up making over a thousand dollars in donations, that will go towards Standing Tall. Darla, one of the volunteers, took photos for this (video) recap of the parade.
After the parade was over, many riders came back out to the front lawn for the meet and greet. Amiga did great with this also. Below, Christie with her two horses at her trailer.
Memorial Day Monday 5/27 - We were up early and out on a pontoon by 8am. The Nashville 'kids' were too tired to get up in time to join us.
It was a gorgeous morning, already up to 75 degrees and getting hotter by the minute. The lake was beautiful as was the wildlife and houses along its edge.
Joe had even decided to get in to cool off.
The kids were just getting up when we got home two hours later. Courtney was still feeling pretty bad. Unfortunately the cyst was causing quite a bit of pain, and she had overdone it the day before, so that aggravated things.
We watched another good movie (The Mule) with Clint Eastwood. Courtney was feeling nauseous and feverish, so we took her temperature, which showed normal. But they decided to head back to Nashville rather than go to the pool again. I felt bad that Courtney's health issues had once more deterred her from having a better time.
I needed a nap, because I had been up several hours during the night looking for Monita (inside and out) and worrying about her. She finally woke me, showing up on our bed at 4:05am. I have no idea where she had been. I decided watering took precedence over resting, so started a load of laundry and went out and watered transplants and grass seed. Then a shower revived me.
The towels in the laundry weren't quite dry enough to fold before Shirley picked me up for Mirror Lake Blast.
The kickoff for this summer was the Alter Eagles, an excellent group out of Florida. They played all Eagles music, doing a fantastic job. It wasn't exactly dancing music, but many of us made a go of it. I heard there were over 3,000 people in attendance. A great way to get the summer fun started.
Tuesday 5/28 - I was actually more tired than the day before, for some reason, even though I had had a good night of sleep. I worked at this blog for quite awhile, so ran out of time to go to the gym, and I just didn't have the get-up-and-go. Monita wanting a belly rub, looks as if she is floating as she lies on my glass desk top.
Right after my relatively busy shift at the pool, I took Maggie for a long walk (7:40 - 8:10), with a fair amount of jogging thrown in for good measure. I showered, stretched, and then looked at my messages as I climbed into bed. Bad news, Courtney was on her way to the ER with increased pain and a fever. It was going to be a rough night.
As it turns out, she actually spent the night on a gurney in the hallway of the ER. Her vitals check, CT scan, and blood test showed she had a fever, high white cell count, elevated heart rate, and inflammation around the cyst. At some point she had been put on IV fluids, given antibiotics, and a dose of morphine. Mike, having been up all night, headed home at 5am. I was concerned about Courtney being there all alone, but she said she was fine and didn't know if she was going to be admitted or not.
Done with chores, I had my cup of tea, with Monita nearby, and worked on this blog. Although, I was mostly on Facebook messaging with Courtney and Britney.
As you might guess, there is never a dull moment in an ER. To top it off, last night when Mike took Courtney in, they had to wait in a long security check line. And then the security guys confiscated her children's scissors that she had in her knitting bag, so she couldn't even do that to relax. (I am guessing she didn't feel up to it anyway.)
Courtney also reported that the guy across the hall from her had been in a car accident, had a broken jaw and was missing a leg (turns out he had been missing the leg and it was not part of his current trauma). There were six cops there, bringing in a gunshot case. Two armed officers were then stationed outside the cubie of the gun shot guy all night. One of the officers even brought Courtney a warm blanket. I guess we didn't need to worry, Courtney's belongings were safe on the gurney with her, and as Britney pointed out, "rest assured no one has any scissors!"
As the morning hours past, the ER folk were trying to figure out where Courtney's infection was from. I was ready to go to Vanderbilt to be with her, but she said she didn't need me. So I was just waiting to see what developed. Nothing ever moves quickly in the ER either, unless you need life support. They did get Courtney moved to "the round wing" (actually the equipment alcove seen in photo) because they didn't have a room for her yet. They told her that 52 patients from the ER last night were being admitted so they were scrounging for space.
We hadn't heard from her for awhile, so I decided she was napping, and I should get on with my day, it was already after noon. I went out to work in the yard, first digging a hole to transplant a bush from out front to the corner below my sunroom. I also added a trench to fill with gravel, to catch the water that overflows from the gutter.
Then I went out front and dug up this Blue Juniper that is crowded there. Notice the golf ball I found at the base of its trunk. Somebody was really off course.
As I was transporting the bush in the wheelbarrow from out front to down back, I got the message that Courtney had been admitted, would be staying the night, and welcomed my presence. I quickly got the bush planted, well watered, and tools put away.
I hurried and showered and packed and was soon on the road to Vanderbilt in Nashville. Arriving two hours later, it was a relief to see Courtney looking well and in such good spirits.
Thankfully, Courtney did not have pancreatitis and they believed the fever and elevated white count may be due to the inflammation around the fluid collection.
Courtney was on a liquid diet until midnight and was told they were still working out the timing of when to drain the cyst. They wanted blood cultures to come back first to be sure there was no infection. Scheduling the surgery so close to the weekend can be tricky so it depended on what was open and how Courtney was doing. They were still concerned about the maturity of the pocket - didn't want it to pop when they put the stent in, and she was told it could be several days. But they were definitely looking into doing a stent procedure during this hospital stay.
We hung out, doing some little walks around the round wing, and she had seconds on chicken broth, juice, and popsicle. We started the DVD, watching Cinderella, but were too tired to finish.
I sat in the surgery waiting courtyard and waited for Mike to arrive so I could give him Courtney's glasses and phone before I left to get home for my 2:00 shift at the pool.
In 45 minutes, I heard my name called, and figured it was Mike looking for me. But it was to take me to Courtney who was in recovery. It was so good to see her, although the anesthesia had made her confused and a little sick feeling. Mike arrived five minutes later and I was quick to get going. Later I learned that the surgery was a success and that Dr. Yachimski had put in a plastic double-pigtail stent (seen above), which drains fluid from Courtney's 'busted' pancreas to her stomach. Also, it had relieved her of the pain.
I struggled with fatigue and did the best I could with the routine pool closing clean-up. I got home at 7:30 and was in bed an hour later.
Courtney still has some recovering and healing to do.
I intend to do the whole length of this bed when time permits.
Then I added larger rocks over the gravel. I also decided to extend the trench around the corner, so dug out more dirt, added more gravel, and put rocks there also. I ran out of time, story of my life, so had to quit before finishing with the larger rocks.
I was off to the pool to do a 2-7pm shift for Mike. I gave the bathrooms an extra good cleaning at the end of the night, since I had skimped on them the night before. Joe arrived home from Nashville before I got home and was then off to a poker game. I was in bed before 9pm, still too tired to do anything else. I hope the rest of this summer will be a happy, healthy one for everybody.
