A Thrill of Hope

These lines from 'Oh Holy Night' often pop into my mind.
"A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn."
For me, the thrill of hope keeps me positive and continuing onward.  Even in the worst circumstances, you should fight to keep hope alive.
In an article (Seven Powerful Reasons to Keep Hope Alive) Chris Lawrence's 5th reason is Miracles happen every day.  

Miriam Webster says a miracle is an extraordinary event that includes divine intervention in human affairs.  And Chris Lawrence states this about miracles: "They happen every day and are far more common than you would think—something unexplainable and amazing and beautiful, which can change your situation quickly for good. Just because you can’t see a miracle proven empirically, or just because you have not experienced one personally doesn’t mean they don’t exist. Beyond physical healing, maybe your miracle might even be something like a reconciled relationship, which is amazing in itself. Never close the door on the possibility of a miracle. To do so would slam the door of hope."

Our world has been marked and marred by sin since man arrived on the scene.  People were (and still are) yearning (pining) for a change.  With the birth of Jesus, came “a new and glorious morn.”  Everyday I wake up and give thanks for another new and glorious morn.  I feel a thrill of hope when thinking of God and Jesus.  The Holy Spirit descends upon me, and fills me with hope; along with peace, love, and joy.

Saturday 1/17 - At our ranch meeting last week, we had decided to make it possible for our horses to get to the back pasture from our paddock, since that field is not being utilized to it's fullest potential.  A lot of good grass is going to waste with very little grazing occurring out there.  So Jean and I decided to put our herd and Cowboy out there together.  It was not easy getting them through the two gates (and past Maslo and Rio) but it was accomplished.  Then I walked Zorro around the perimeter of the field along the fence line.  Jean and I have ridden Amiga and Robbie around it a few times already.  And it was Cowboy's usual field for grazing.

Once the horses were settled in on the back pasture, Joe and I looked over some options for enabling our horses to get to and from the back pasture from their paddock while other horses could graze on the front pasture.  We ended up asking Jim if we could cut across his little corner of pasture (basically a 15 x 15 x 8 foot triangle) and were surprised he was very willing to let us do that.  But we got some bad news from him that weighs heavy on my heart even as I write this.  I hope for his wife, a miracle.

With a plan in place, Joe started work on burying electric fence wire so the back red gate can be opened, and I hit the road to go to town.  I needed to pick up a bag of supplement for Robbie that was on hold for me at Tractor Supply.  We are switching her to Enrich, a much lower calorie feed (that Amiga and Zorro get) because she has gained the weight she needed.  But Robbie also needs a gastric care product that was in her old feed.

Since I was going to town, I decided to skip the gym (again) and get my Christmas shopping done.  So in addition to Tractor Supply, I hit four thrift stores, Big Lots, Rural King, Lowe’s, and finally around 4:30 made it to Walmart.  While driving, I had my snack nuts that I keep on hand in my car, but I couldn’t resist buying a Reesie‘s peanut butter Christmas tree, even though it cost a penny per calorie.  It would’ve been cheaper to buy a package of six, but I probably wouldn’t have resisted eating more than one.  I figured 149 calories (you can do the math to figure how much I paid) was plenty for one splurge.
 

No sooner had I put a few things in my cart, I got a call from Jean.  Something was terribly wrong with Amiga.  When she described the symptoms, I was almost positive it was Choke.  But Jean's distress made me worried.  I had her call the vet and decided I should head home.  I grabbed just a few more things, but needed to put Christmas shopping on hold.  Besides, I was no longer in the mood.
At home eating my leftover Chinese food real fast while looking up choke and what can be done, I then headed out to the ranch.  By the time Jean and I checked on Amiga, she seemed to be over the choke.  Phew.  But, as instructed by Dr. Perry, we left her stalled overnight with no food and would see if she'd eat in the morning, an indication that the stuck food had passed.  I was most hopeful. 
 

Sunday 12/18 - I was at the ranch by 6:30 and Jean and I discussed our game plan and went out to check on Amiga.  I took her out to the grass and she immediately started eating like she was starving.  She appeared to be
swallowing the grass without any problems so we were sure we were out of the woods on that.  Thankfully the vet didn't have to come and tube her.  But because there is trauma to the esophagus where the bolus was stuck, Dr. Perry said to NOT give her any hay and to soak her pelleted food in water.  He also suggested adding senior feed to give her usual feed (Enrich) a little more texture.  At least Amiga was allowed to eat all the grass she wanted.

I moved Amiga down to the corral and Susan and Bonnie (who’s horse they sponsor at Manna's Hana Riding Center had choked a few weeks earlier) had lots of very helpful advice and offered to let us use some of their finely shredded hay we could soak in water to give Amiga the forage she needed.  I made her a small batch (like this photo) to see if she would go for it, which she did.  It is okay for Amiga to eat small quantities of wet hay, or nibble at the tops of dried grass in our pasture because she is not getting a large quantity all at once and is more likely to chew it better, wetting it with her saliva and making it less abrasive to her esophagus.  We don't want dry roughage to irritate (and can cause scarring which down the road later in life might present a problem) the spot that may be inflamed in Amiga's esophagus. 



I did muck chores in our side pasture, checked on Amiga who looked content, and was then off to town to buy some senior feed.  I decided to finish the Christmas shopping I didn't get done the day before.  I ended up buying a bunch of dumb, pre-packaged Christmas gift stuff, but hopefully it's fun, useful, and/or tasty to the recipients. 

The day before I had seen this cat collage decoration at a thrift store which gave me an idea of how to put together these ornaments (below photo) I had made years ago. 




They have been sitting on our dinner table in this arrangement (with a spool of fishing line to attach them) for over a week now.  I used to hang them on the tree, but want them all together because on the back is a picture taken each Christmas (next photo), which shows a little history of years past.  From 1986 on shows our kids arriving on the scene and growing over the ten years. 





I dropped by our house on the way home from town (about 3:00) and picked up some things to take to the ranch.  Patty arrived shortly after I did and I filled her in on what was going on with Amiga.  She and Jean both helped me with feeding chores and we concurred on and better spelled out our game plan.

The weekend ended up being very different than planned, with two long days away from home for me.  So I was glad to get home at 5:00, have a relaxed dinner (lunch had again been my nut mix in the car) and then because I was too exhausted to do any household chores, Joe and I watched the last (three hour) episode of Survivor. 

Monday 12/19 - 'For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.'  Britney sent this photo at 6am, taken from her house in Costa Rica.  Her sunrise is earlier than ours. 

Then a little later, Jean sent the next photo of her sunrise.  Both are beautiful.

I was behind on blogging, so sat here getting this one started.  Then I typed in my recollection of the events of the past weekend.  I was also two days behind on my advent jigsaw puzzle, the Jacquie Lawson Advent Calendar, and on Wordle.  I had trash to collect and get to the curb, dishes to do, plants to water, sheets and towels to wash, etc.  








I added 'my day is dawning' photo to the mix, but it is not near as impressive because the woodland blocks the horizon.  I do like the Christmas tree reflected in the window with the star seen as little lights in the sky. 

I was at my computer quite awhile, blogging and catching up.  Eventually I decided to skip the gym (yet again) and just stay in my jammie loungers all day.  Joe headed to the ranch to continue work without me, but would report back as he progressed. 

When I did my advent jigsaw puzzle, I put both days together so I had 84 pieces to work with, making it a little more challenging.  Sneaky Monita did not help matters any.

Joe reported in on his fence/gate work, sent a photo, and had a few questions.  I continued with household tasks and organizing all my purchases into gift piles. 

Next Joe had dug a hole and got a new gate post put in, even cementing it in.

This is how Jim's electric fence comes into our corner post (where our solar charger is) and the spot that will become an Electro-braid stretch gate we can open to give our horses access to the back pasture when we also open the red gate. 









Joe temporarily strung Electro-braid across the opening, so if horses are on the back pasture, they won't go into Jim's field.  Great progress for today.

I did not take any more photos today, there was nothing noteworthy I did, just worked at getting Christmas gifts ready to wrap.

Jean sent these photos to up-date me.  First, Amiga doing well in the alley way.  Not worried about being left out of the herd and still with plenty of grass. 

Second, she had no problems getting Cowboy back through the gate to his dry lot with Rio and Maslo. 

And third, while feeding our three up at our dry lot, Zorro moved his hay tub and was standing in it. 

Patty responded with this sweet photo/quote which I really love.  I think all us horse people, and even folks with other livestock, find tranquility in the barn when all are bedded down and fed for the night. 

Poker Joe was gone all afternoon and into the evening.  I enjoyed Christmas music as I picked out paper, ribbon, bows and package labels and got most of my gifts wrapped.  Joe arrived home as I was finishing up about 10:15.  Once in bed, I could not get to sleep.  I missed my window of opportunity when I got sleepy at 9:00.  I still had my second wind keeping me awake, and lots on my mind.  Like an excited kid at Christmas.

Tuesday 12/20 - I had given up on sleep and got back out of bed and played on my computer from midnight to 2am.  I was finally sleepy and got some shut eye until 6am.  Four hours of sleep was going to make my day tough though.








Joe spent quite a bit of time out at the ranch, but got all of the fencing and gate re-arrangement finished.  These two photos show both the red gate and the stretch gate in the open position.

I don't know what I did all morning, I was in a daze I think.  I did make it to the gym, and through my whole workout, but it was tough because I was dragging and so tired. 

The weather channels and news have really been hyping up about the coming winter storm they were calling an “arctic bomb cyclone” and causing travelers and us with loved ones that are traveling to start to stress some.  We should be okay here in TN, but it is the flights coming from the North/East that will be getting screwed up.
 

After hot soup for a late lunch, I went to the ranch to do chores.  Walking Amiga to and from her shelter, where she is confined each night, is an extra step as is wetting her food to mush, and not letting her have dry rough hay.  Amiga is doing fine with all of it.  I took this photo of the chickens before shutting their coop door for the night. 




Jean pointed out this fence board that needs re-attachment, so I sent a photo to Joe. 





Too tired to be productive, I watched TV with Joe.  More of the season two episodes of Dead To Me.  I was in bed with lights out a few minutes after 8:00.

Wednesday 12/21 - Happy Winter Solstice!  I woke after eight hours of sleep.  I was hoping to feel more refreshed, but had a dull headache and scratchy throat.  I could not do any of the advent calendar word challenges or memory games because my brain was so fogged over.  After a few hours of computerizing, I was feeling like I needed a nap, but there was not time.

This is not a Christmas gift bag, but one I pulled out to put all my wrapped gifts in that are going to Nashville on Christmas eve.  Cats love boxes and bags.  Babe got Maggie's curiosity up when she was playing around in the bag. 






I went to the ranch to help Joe with a few projects.  Zorro was enjoying some rest time out in the front pasture.  You can see that the grass is mostly dormant, but there is some green stuff down lower. 




Amiga was happily grazing nearby.  I'm not sure where Robbie and Cowboy were.  Jean was busy doing 'weekly' chores a little early, getting ready for the winter blast we were predicted to get Thursday night.  I caught this photo of her hauling hay with the gator. 

The big project I had for Joe, was to help me with adding boards to the back of the 'bus stop' shed in the corral.  I wanted it completely finished to the top for the coming bad weather and rest of the winter.  Amiga would be spending the night out here. 

I wanted one large board so it would be easier to put it up and take it down, but we didn't have one long enough and fitting two would require sawing.  So we went with these five boards, scavenged from Karen's old deck.  They fit almost perfectly. 

Joe hauled manure (which was much quicker and easier by going through the new back gate opening) and I finished up a couple of little tasks and then started topping off water tanks.  Jean came out to help.  We raked what was left of the manure pile flat and will start piling it near by but out of the way of this gate.  

I had taken my jacket off at one point, because I was too hot with the sun shining and from exerting myself.  But then it clouded up and started cooling off some, so the jacket went back on.  Our three horses and Cowboy were happily grazing when I left. 







Once home, I decided to rake up leaves that had blown into the yard because not only was the winter storm bringing very cold air and making outside work a no can do... there were to be high winds and I didn't want all the leaves in the yard to end up in my flower beds and along our foundation.

Yard work is never done, but I got to a good stopping point by 5pm, when it was almost too dark to see.  When the Christmas lights came on at 4:30, I knew I needed to hustle to finish. 

Poker Joe was gone for the evening, so I had the Christmas music turned up and finished up all my gift wrapping.  I decided another sleep aid was necessary, otherwise I would be worrying about Britney, who was flying out of San Jose Costa Rica at 2am.  

Thursday 12/22 - Later in the day I got an Ava up-date from Yaneth who was Face-timing with her.  Britney also landed in Ft. Lauderdale at 6am.  Yippee ki yay!

Flights to and from Ft. Lauderdale were getting cancelled, which had us worried, but because the weather here in TN was not bad, our hope was alive and well.

I went to the eye doctor and got my reading glasses fixed again and they also adjusted my bi-vocals which has really helped seeing distance easier.  Next I was off to Food City, after I had carefully written a grocery list for Christmas dinner and house guests over the holidays.

Food City was packed with last minute shoppers because of the coming holiday and winter storm.  An hour later I had found everything I needed, and then some, and was paying the cashier $218.00. 

No sooner had I gotten home, but it was brought to my attention that we needed American Cheese.  I over reacted, and then Joe did, and we were both mad at each other and upset.  Ugh.  Well later, my sweet husband got me these flowers (and the American cheese) on his way home from swimming.  The holidays can be a tense time.

Shirley dropped by with a gift and two heated water buckets she had used for her horse.  We girls all look forward to our cruise in February.
 

I had thought about going to the gym, but decided I didn't have time, and later I learned that it would be closed Friday due to the weather.  Oh well, I got a workout making beds and then raking up more leaves from around our house to get the front entrance looking good for coming guests. 

We got word that Britney landed and Courtney had picked her up and they were safely home at Courtney's.  Another Yippee ki yay! 



It was still over 40° outside, and hard to imagine how cold it would be in the morning.  Jean had prepared well for the coming cold, but keeping Amiga off hay was presenting added difficulties.  All three horses need access to shelter and water, but Zorro and Robbie also needed hay (well so did Amiga actually).  I made a game plan for Amiga and called to confer with Jean.  I decided keeping her warm (with hay) was more important than trying to prevent possible scaring of her esophagus from the obstruction when she'd choked.

All the reading I did on Choke said no dry grain or hay for 3 to 4 days.  Amiga's  impaction wasn't bad so I hoped five days off hay was enough.  Dr. Perry errors on the side of caution, which I understand and would do, if circumstances allowed.

All this extra mulling over of plans for holiday guests (food, beds, travel options, activities, etc.) and for the coming winter storm, had worn me out.  I only had enough energy to watch a few episodes of Dead To Me with Joe.  My lights were out just after 8pm.

Friday 12/23 - Two days until Christmas!  I woke at 4:00 to a winter wonder land, but oh, the weather outside was frightful!  I swept the dusting of snow off the side deck and sidewalk and was glad to see only the deck was slippery. 
 

But I was feeling bad for Jean and worried about her.  Not only was she out in the freezing cold to do morning chores, she was dealing with frozen gate latches, water tubs and buckets, and even ice balls on the underside of Robbie's feet (seen is this photo she sent).  When snow meets the warmer sole of the horse's hoof, the snow will melt, causing it to stick to the sole of the hoof.  This can build up and form ice balls making it very difficult and dangerous for them to walk. 



Jean did send this photo from the warmth of the ranch house.  It looks pretty and tranquil, but in reality was brutally cold and miserable outside.  The horses didn't even want to come out of their shelter.

It was 0° outside and our heat pump couldn't keep up.  The house remained in the low 60s the early part of the morning.  I turned on the gas fireplace and space heater in the sun room to help warm the place.


I also did some baking, which warmed the kitchen.  Jean reported frozen water down in the tack room, and then I got word from Courtney that her power went off.  Great, more stress added to the holidays. 





Britney was in shock, having come from warm Costa Rica.  They too got Courtney's gas fireplace going. 







There was a little sunshine which helped warm our big vaulted living room.  And another option to stay warm was to snuggle, like Babe and Maggie were doing. 

Joe and I headed to the ranch at noon to go help Jean out.  It was also my chore night.  This is steam coming off Lake Glastowbury, which was adding to the haze that was in the low lying areas. 





Work at the ranch was freezing, challenging, and miserable.  We couldn't get the tractor started, to move round bales of hay to each horse herd.  And later we couldn't get the gator restarted that had been parked in the alley way while moving square bales of hay.  Jean snapped this photo when Joe was jump-starting the gator.

We stopped for a break and to warm up with soup in the house.  Then I went out to feed and Joe to move more hay. 




Steam continued to rise off the lake as we headed home, back across the dam.

I still had lots of cleaning to do and a few projects, but the cold and worries had worn me out. 


 

So I gave in to fatigue and joined the gang in front of the fireplace, and Joe and I watched three episodes of Dead To Me, finishing season two. 

I was still in bed by 8:00, glad for the warm PJs, heavy blankets, roof overhead, and (fairly) warm house.
I fell asleep praying specifically for Brianna's flight here Saturday, but also for the warmth, safety, and travels of all family and friends over the holidays.  I prayed for World peace and also God's protection over creatures in the wild and our barn yard animals and house pets.