"The cold season lasts for 3.0 months, from November 30 to February 27, with an average daily high temperature below 53°F. The coldest month of the year in Crossville is January, with an average low of 29°F and high of 45°F."
So, as Weather Spark tells it, winters aren't that bad here in Tennessee. It's just that as we hit the middle of February, the reality is that we still have a few weeks to go. At this point, I am done with winter. I have had enough!
Entering into the cold months, we had the holidays to look forward to, the annual trip to Florida, the anticipation of a beautiful snow fall, and Dan and Vale's wedding. But by now, my winter wish is for it to be over.
Saturday 2/12 - Polly sent these photos of the morning sunrise as she was going to the ranch to do the morning chores for the boarded horses.
Mountain View Ranch in one of its many beautiful moments. It never ceases to deliver amazing views.
We had been enjoying the few days of warmer weather, but rain and the cold air was returning so I decided to skip the gym and work in the yard. (I got more of a workout than planned.) Maggie, my project manager, oversees things here and at the ranch.
Joe had planned to take the riding mower and trailer back to the ranch, so he was out (by 9am) even before me, mulching and sucking up leaves with the mower. His hip was really bothering him and he had some things to do at the ranch, so left after a lunch break.
So during a break from raking leaves, I got the garden rake and pulled mud back into the big holes and ruts. I was worried about a deer getting hurt in this mess. Here is a before and after shot.
My project supervisor got distracted by a chipmunk that scurried into a hole in this tree. And she would not leave it alone.
Because the temperature was dropping and I wanted to give the chipmunk a chance to escape, I put Maggie in the house.
I found I was taking more frequent (and longer) breaks and that my age just doesn't permit me to go all day like I used to. The loads of leaves were getting heavier it seemed, and I even had to empty some out when I couldn't get the load up on my back and shoulders.
Although unable to finish, I had made a good dent in the leaf mess in the back and side yard. Most of my flower beds still needed cleaning out.
By the time I quit (4pm) I was aching in too many body parts (wrist, right rotator cuff, neck, back, legs and hips). At least my right knee (my most recent complaint) seemed unaffected.
Jean sent this afternoon photo. Our horses were enjoying their new bale of hay that she and Joe had set up for them. It looked like it could rain most of the day, but we only got a light sprinkle for maybe a few minutes, around noon. Patty also sent this (video) from the day before, of silly Wanda walking under Zorro. She had better be careful.
I was exhausted and really hurting, so took a pain sleep aid and had the lights out by 8:30.
Sunday 2/13 - I got another ten hours of mostly uninterrupted sleep and woke feeling quite well. The temperature had dropped and we even got a very light dusting of snow overnight. Jean sent this photo of the horses chill-axing in the warmth of the sun. I really love getting her regular up-dates and photos from the ranch.
I spent much of the morning here at my computer, starting this week's blog, catching up with my Facebook world of friends, and playing some games. I was in no hurry to do anything, waiting for the world beyond the walls of my house to warm up.
Monita tries to get my undivided attention if I sit here too long. As usual, she was opening my little chest of drawers beside my desk and pulling things out of them, and then she was up on my computer keyboard or biting my hand. She is a devil in cat disguise.
I forgot to post these photos Vale put on Facebook yesterday. It was Ava's ten month birthday. She is beautiful like her Mama and a ham like her Dada.
Look at those gorgeous big brown eyes.
And not only has she stolen the heart of her Dada, she has captured all of our hearts.
After a relaxing morning here, I joined Jean for lunch at the ranch. I did some chores and then gave Amiga a Previcox because she was quite lame (sore) on her back right leg still. We had only skipped yesterday's dose and she was already swollen in her pastern again. UGH!
Jean and I took Zorro for a two mile walk. Amiga had to stay back by herself because she was too lame. We went out the back gate, and all the way around to Lake Kirkstone. And then we came back the trail to Eli Ford.
Jean and Zorro checked the mail, but he was more interested in getting back to his ½ sister Amiga.
We came up our drive to the ranch, and before we even got through the front gate, Zorro and Amiga started calling to each other.
Zorro had done a great job on his walk, even though he was out of his comfort zone much of the time. But once we turned around to head back, he started rushing.
And the closer we got, the more he wanted to hurry. These photos were taken from this (video). Zorro was needing several corrections by this point. I should have video taped him when he was doing so well.
I fed our horses and Jean took Parm for a walk. Before heading in to warm up, she showed him the cat door to the garden shed / soon to be chicken coop.
We enjoyed reclining in the sunroom while partaking of a snack and adult beverage before I headed home for the evening.
Joe was watching the Super Bowl which was already in the second quarter when I got home. After my shower I watched the half time performance, which I failed to enjoy musically, but was entertaining in it's own way.
The ducks raided the deer corn before the four legged creatures came around.
It was plenty cold out, so I just relaxed here in the sunroom with the space heater going. I played computer games after my usual computer 'work.' Joe had to help me with Wordle again (getting the game to show up on my computer). For some reason, my Firefox browser won't support it so I have to switch to Microsoft Bing. I also discovered that the same letter can be used more than once in a word. I hadn't realized that until today. This ups the challenge.
Later, Patty dropped by the house, just as I was waking from a nap, to go over some ranch business and other details. Jean sent this photo of her afternoon walk with Parm. He and Zorro are both getting braver about meeting each other.
Tuesday 2/15 - Poker Joe woke me before the midnight hour, and I was not able to get back to sleep. So I got up, took a sleep aid, and read from midnight to almost 2am. Waking at 6am, I quickly took my thyroid pill (a bit late) and then waited an hour before my first cup of tea and toast.
The deer came through from Allen's, and were miffed because the ducks had eaten the corn again.
John Fitzgerald posted this photo on FG Wildlife with the caption - Flipping me the tail. I see this all the time down back, but am rarely able to photograph it.
Joe lost his crown again so headed to the dentist for a re-glue. This got me up from my computer earlier than usual, to walk Maggie a second time.
I
went to the gym to do 75 minutes of aerobics, and just 5 minutes of
walking with the weighted vest. I left there feeling pretty good and
headed out to the ranch.
After a few little jobs, Patty, Joe and I hung out at the ranch house with Jean. She had invited us to dinner. We enjoyed libations and a very tasty meal.
Jean's silly cat Parm exhibits attitude that I can relate to. He puts up with the dog and all the company invading his space. He is a very sweet boy though.
Rain was predicted (with the coming 'storm') and it was already cloudy and dreary. The few days of warmer weather and sunshine had been so appreciated.
These cat photos and (video) were taken Tuesday but for some reason didn't get included in yesterday's writing. This is the typical shenanigans that goes on between any pair of my four cats. This is Babe and Monita, who both are usually the instigators.
I arrived at the ranch before 10am, and Jean and Joe were already hard at work. He had gotten a load of 'crush-run' and had filled some pot-holes in the drive from the street to our gate, and they were now shoveling the gravel onto the drive in this spot down by the shop (our new shorter and easier name for the machine shed) where the water collects and it gets quite muddy.
Jean is such a good, hard worker. We are so blessed to have her help.
With the coming rains, we'll see how this spot handles all of the water.
Joe helped me add some hardware to a few spots for hanging tools and here for tying horses. The cross beam of this hitching post is just too big to get a good tie around when 'parking' the horses here for grooming. So we put in screw eye hooks to tie to.
We had a nice chat with Jan while we ate our sack lunches. It was good to catch up and for Jan to meet Jean. They share a common desire to increase their knowledge of Natural Horseman training, so hit it off.
Arriving home, Amiga was laying by herself down by the paddock. Zorro was way up in the side pasture, so that seemed odd. Also Cowboy and Rio were standing near Amiga.
Leading her the 100+ yards to her loafing shed was painful for her. She did seem to put more weight (just on the toe) of her foot as she walked, but was breathing heavy, a sign of pain. The Previcox was not helping like it had days before.
We closed Amiga in the loafing shed so she could rest overnight and hoped Zorro would be okay without the shelter to go into. The wind had really picked up, but rain wasn't predicted until morning.
Cracked skin is another drawback of winter.
Having my hands in the Epson salt water might have helped my finger cracks, because they were looking better at bedtime. I still had lots on my mind and hoped it wouldn't interfere with sleep a second night.
Thursday 2/17 - Look at all the teeth little Miss Ava now has!
All in all, it was a good night of sleep for me. Better than Jean's, who was woken by the forceful wind and worried about Zorro. She said the wind was nerve racking and stressful. She checked on A&Z at 4am. Gave Amiga more water and almost put Zorro in with her, but was worried they would be spooky in there and hurt each other. When she did open the gate to the loafing shed at 6:30am, she said Amiga's back right foot was worse and Amiga did not want to move. Jean eventually got Amiga to move enough to get the gate latched open so Zorro could take shelter. Neither horse decided to stay in the shed because it was so noisy in there. It is possible that Amiga spooked and turned on her sore foot during the night. Ughhh. I called and made an appointment for the vet to come evaluate Amiga and hopefully figure out how to help her get better. However, he would not be able to make it until Friday afternoon.
The cats spend a lot of time gazing at Pilgrim's terrarium, especially right after I add crickets. This morning I noticed a dead cricket on the floor near by. Not sure what happened, but evidently it escaped and maybe a cat killed it. I was planning to smuggle Pilgrim on the plane Sunday when we fly to Florida (to get him back to his home state), but I was having second thoughts. It would be horrible if airport security found him and threw him into the trash after all my efforts to keep him alive. Yes, another thing keeping me awake at night.
I decided all my worries weren't going to resolve themselves while I sat here and thought about them, so I continued with my routine (although later than usual) and went to the gym.
Jean had sent this first photo of Amiga resting back in the shed before she had left to take Parm to the vet.
While at the gym, I always leave my purse and phone in the car. Well when I came out 90 minutes later, I had a few messages and more photos from Jean. Amiga rested quite a long time in the shed, flat out, with her head down but sticking out the door. When it started raining, Zorro stood nearby out of the wind and much of the rain. This made me feel bad for both horses.
Jean and I had devised a game plan, to take both horses down to the barn for the night, so they could both have shelter, Amiga could rest, and Jean and I could sleep better knowing they were safe and comfy. But I wasn't sure we could get Amiga to walk that far.
A storm was blowing in, so I hustled out to the ranch after getting a quick bite to eat when I got home from the gym.
Amiga was lying in the loafing shed again, when I went out to get her. It wasn't until I put her halter on and asked, that she got up. The first few steps had me very worried, she could barely walk.
We took it slow and easy walking a direct route through the front pasture towards the barn. I let Amiga rest as often as she wanted. Jean went ahead of us to open one gate and the barn door. Zorro decided he wanted to join up with her, so he trotted ahead of us. At this point, Amiga rallied and went a long distance, at a faster walk, until we got into the coral.
Amiga got more rest time and then we slowly meandered towards the barn letting the two graze on the more lush barnyard grass. Then the rain hit. We were close to the barn at this point, and got in before getting too wet.
We put both horses in their stalls and got them set up with hay and water. Zorro was a little antsy, so Jean was calming him in these photos. The rain let up and we walked back up to the side pasture and got food, feed buckets, and other supplies. This time we drove down to the barn because it was raining really hard by now.
Jean had chores to do with the boarded horses and I soaked Amiga's leg in a warm Epson salt solution. Then we fed our two horses and tucked them in for the night.
A torrential rain pounded the windshield as I drove back up to the house. Jean and I ate dinner together while the wind whistled in the windows, rattled the vents overhead, and rain pelted the metal roof and windows of the house.
And then I headed out to the ranch to take care of A&Z. Jean had given them more hay and water at 7am, but also said Amiga's leg and foot were even more swollen. I put them both out in the round pen and they were delighted to have grass to nibble on and be out of their stall.
I mucked out both the stalls and then went back up to the house to warm up and wait for the vet. The hot tea and wall heater did the trick. But soon I was back out in the cold.
Not only does my blog function as a daily journal, allowing me to express my feelings, maybe vent a little, but it also doubles as a photo album. And today it served the purpose of allowing me to go back and look at the history of Amiga's lameness, when we medicated her, and how she reacted to that. I wrote this note sheet (starting 1/1 when she first came up lame) in preparation to give the vet the particulars. It was great help when he came to look at Amiga and get the past history of what we had seen and done.
Once we knew the vet was on his way, Jean and I went back down to the barn and started moving hay from the shop until he arrived. Seen here, I am holding Amiga while Dr. Perry examines her hoof.
I am very happy and much relieved to report, that Amiga's lameness was caused by an abscess. A rather large one. But much less serious than a bone, tendon, or ligament injury. 
In this photo, Dr. Perry had just opened a hole in her sole to relieve the pressure of the abscess. The dark streak is fluid draining out.
From my records, the vet said Amiga likely bruised her foot (New Years Eve) when she came up lame the following day, but the Previcox relieved her and she seemed to get better. However, bacteria was able to get in through a small crack in the sole and over time, cause the abscess.
Amiga was given time to rest her leg while Dr. Perry prepared a 'bandage' boot to hold a poultice pad in place, that will pull more of the infection out of her hoof.
Then he continued making a larger (deeper) hole that enabled even more drainage from under her sole (video).
Here is a look at her foot after it was all cleaned up and ready for the medicated bandage.
Jean assisted, watched, listened to instructions, and asked questions while I held Amiga. I am so thankful she will be caring for Amiga while Joe and I are in Florida.
We could tell Amiga was already in less pain, because she started putting more of her weight on her bandaged hoof. (note-duct tape is wonderful stuff.)
Jean and I decided to put A&Z back up in their
pasture because Zorro was showing signs of stress. (He is not a fan of being stalled.) We finished our hay
chores and then went in to warm up. I was freezing. Jean made me hot
soup and a grilled cheese sandwich which really hit the spot.
Zorro finally relaxed and laid down to rest, while I sat back and watched these two from the sunroom window. Amiga was catching up on lost eating time.
Jean joined me when I went out to feed A&Z. First we
had to haul things (feed and water buckets) up from the barn. We were
glad to see Zorro acting more like his usual self at feeding time.
Knowing Amiga is going to be okay is such a big relief. Now it is time to pack my bag and get ready to fly to Florida. If it is not time for winter to end here, I'll just go to a warmer climate to help me get through this cold weather.
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