FireFly quote about horses: "They look inside you... The horses know... Whether you believe it or not... They do"
Throughout our shared history, horses have captured the human heart and imagination. They can teach us so much, we just need to open ourselves; our hearts, minds, and soul. 
My week started with the ETS (Equine Trail Sports) event at Celtic Rose. ETS gives riders a reason to ride in partnership with their equines, as they “Ride for fun and Ride to learn.” ETS offers a fun, safe format for the everyday rider and competitor to enjoy judged obstacles on the trail. Events are open to all breeds of horses, donkeys and mules. Equine and rider can be of any age and skill level.
Saturday 5/20 - I was at the ranch and left with Patty (who spent the night there) before 7:30. Once at Celtic Rose we did what we could to help Michelle with the day's event. After the judges meeting and the riders meeting, I rode in the 4-wheeler with Patty and Jim (Michelle's husband) as he took her out on the trail to the obstacle she would be judging.
Rain was expected, and it did hit, heavier than predicted, but without the thunder and lightening. The Tube Man obstacle had to be moved into the indoor arena because of the electricity, not safe out in the rain.
Originally four groups of five went out, but two from the first group were extremely slow (these are not timed events) and another participant had dropped out midway, afraid it would storm. In the above photo, a group of three get instructions from the judge, while another group of four waited.
The last three photos of today's post were of horses doing the 'Tube Man' obstacle.
I helped in this area, directing riders where to go, to ride back around the barn and then I opened and closed the gate for them to enter the arena.
It was fun to watch the riders navigate their horse past this scary thing. Each obstacle has three levels that the rider can choose from. The three pipes on the ground on this one, gave them the choice of how close they wanted to pass by Tube Man.
Once all riders were in from the competition, lunch was served. Michelle had smoked a pork roast that was delicious, along with all the salads and beans she had made.
It was nice to take a hot shower and put on dry clothes. I tried to start this blog but was just too tired and hit the hay at 8pm.
Sunday 5/21 - I woke at 3am, which seemed way too early, although I had gotten nearly seven hours of sleep. I got this blog started, and was thinking I had time to go with Patty for the second day of the ETS event at Celtic Rose. But then sleep hit me as if the Sandman had struck and I took a nap on the couch.
I woke with too little time to get ready to go with Patty, so lay there trying to get motivated to get up. Maggie and Mama Styx were trying to help get me going.
I continued blogging, did three loads of laundry, and I have no idea what else I spent the time on. Susan sent these two photos and a horse status/up date.
Our horses were back in the paddock for the day, happily eating hay in the shade of the shed.
I had arranged for my friend Alice to clean the ranch house, so went out early afternoon to meet her.
I was just finishing up replacing burnt out light bulbs above the food bar when Alice arrived. 
After talking over the house cleaning plan, I headed down to muck the paddock and let Alice work her magic.
When I brought Amiga in to soak her two front feet, I noticed an owie on her back right leg. The same one she had the stifle and fetlock problems with. Will her 'issues' never end?
I cared for Amiga, fed all the horses, and did a little of this and that. Once Alice was finished, having cleaned for nearly three hours, I gave her a little tour of the ranch in the gator. 
I finished up at the barn, collected trash and recycle at the house, and did a quick 'walk through' to check Alice's work. Everything was so clean and smelled so good. And look how she folded this old, temporary hand towel. It will be replaced by the nice guest towel just before Mary and Jack arrive.
Home at 6pm, I then got to work with household/pet chores here.
Monday 5/22 - Before opening the gate to the front pasture after finishing morning chores, I caught Amiga in the pond having a grand time.
She is a silly girl, but a wise horse. After getting all wet, she rolled in the dust and made herself a natural sun screen / fly deterrent.
I hurried home, changed, and went to my elbow therapy. We discussed stopping therapy but because I am still making progress, I will continue working with Elishia for three more weeks. Today he increased my weight to two pounds and added some additional exercises.
I hit the gym for two hours after therapy. While working out, I started feeling really tired. I spent a lot of time stretching afterwards, because I have neglected this and been feeling extra stiff and sore lately. Home for a big protein (2:30) lunch, I then got comfy on the porch swing to read and nap. 
Stevie joined me while I read, but I had to kick her off to roll over so I could nap.
A phone call woke me up earlier than I was wanting (or ready to end my slumber), but it was already 4:30. Yikes. Unfortunately, I was feeling more tired, achy, and sore than when I had laid down. 
Patty sent some photos of this Killdeer and her nest she discovered while mowing. .png)
I knew there must be one in this area because two adult birds have been hanging out here the last several days. Patty marked the nest of three eggs with an orange flag. Now to keep Maggie, Wanda, and vehicles from destroying it (or the birds).
I never got re-energized and kind of muddled through my evening household chores. I couldn't even stay awake here at my computer, so it was lights out just after 8pm, kind of my new norm lately. Ugh, I don't like feeling my age.
Tuesday 5/23 - It was my first day back to work at the pool, but first I went to the ranch to do morning chores. I always give hay, muck, and then let the horses out. Cowboy followed me to the pasture gate and went right out. It took awhile for the two Pasos to decide to join him.
My 9 to 2:00 pool shift went well, with only a small crowd on a day with the water temperature the same as the 74° air.
I headed straight to the ranch from the pool and went down to check on the new gravel delivery. I had sent the left photo to Joe to show (with orange line) where I wanted the gravel.
The gravel was well placed, but as I had feared, the 1" size rock was way too large. Some pieces were as big as three inches. UGH! Too late now, and this was only half the load. Well shoot.
The rest was piled for later use near the shop, beside the pile of crush-run.
Joe and I got to work cleaning the garage. We moved all our miscellaneous stuff down to the shop, and Mary and Jack's kayaks up to the garage to be stored with their e-bikes and storage bins. Sweeping the garage out also helped it look so much better.
Rarely used items were stored on the top shelf in the shop, which is a two person job because it is about ten feet up from the floor.
However, this corner by the big shop door is looking rather cluttered with 'overflow' of things from the garden shed, garage, and house that we use regularly.
Joe had been at the ranch since 11:30, was too tired to
help with the next project, and needed to get home to the dog.
Patty
soon arrived and informed me that the porta-potty had been cleaned. The
lady doing the job said ours was the cleanest porta-potty she has ever
serviced, referring to every thing except the holding tank I think, which badly
needed pumping out.
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Wednesday 5/24 - I woke at 1:30, after only four hours of
sleep, but couldn't get back to sleep because I was fretting about the
gravel. It just isn't going to work where we need it around the shed
and wash rack. And now what were we going to do with all of it? My thoughts then festered on Amiga and her lameness (with the farrier
coming today and whether we should put shoes on or not). And then my fretting moved on to my elbows (chiefly the right). The left is so
much better and the right is improving, but it is still very sore to the
touch at one point on the medial epicondyle.
I got to the ranch at 8:30, as Bonnie was finishing up chores. Patty wasn't far behind me, and fairly soon the farrier pulled in. He remarked that Amiga is still a little sore, and soft on her front left hoof, but so much better than ten days ago. We decided to keep the shoes off so as not to block any drainage that needs to happen.
Joe had arrived while I was with the farrier, and he was 'chomping at the bit' to get going cause he only had an hour before needing to leave for golf.
I had him take the old kitchen cabinet (he had gotten off a trash pile and refurbished) up to the chicken coop. He also dropped this rock off at the yard gate that's near the log shed.
We proceeded to work together to move the cabinet into the garden shed side of the coop and get it 'set up' to be a potting table. 
The white shelving unit was put up as part of the wall, to keep chickens out of the garden side of the shed. I had moved the trash can to this corner so Gloria won't use it (from the windowsill) to get up on the door because she makes a mess pooping there all night.
Joe was dismissed and I continued cleaning in the coop. Because the cabinet has a drawer and cupboard, I stowed away some things in it.
The coop is now ready for Jack and Mary to take over the care of the chickens. 
I trimmed up the dogwood in the chicken yard a little more as I also got that area cleaned up before Mary and Jack take it on. Using the gator, I took the branches into the back woods.
When it was time for a lunch break, I heated up leftovers in the tack room microwave, so as not to dirty the ranch house kitchen.
I checked on the horses who were no longer on the front pasture, and they were all napping in the shed. They sure love it in there.
Next I got to work planting the three Green Giant Arborvitae. They were replacing two cypress that had died over the winter, from the flash freeze. They will add to our hedge, screening our view of the neighbor's house. ↓ before and after
I was quite tired by this point because the holes had lots of big gravel
rocks and made the digging difficult, and time consuming. Because I felt I
had to get the rock placed by the gate to be sure Tito (Mary and Jack's
dog) won't escape under it, I mustered up the energy to dig a spot and put it in.
Well the rock was a smidgeon too big to fit next to the existing rock, so I had to re-position the other rock as well. The finished 'step' looks good and will function well to keep a dog from slipping under the gate or trying to dig under it.
It was past Maggie's dinner time, but I still had to soak Amiga's foot. So down to the barn we went. Bonnie had left Amiga in her stall for me, after she did the feeding chores so that saved me time. I took this photo at the wash rack earlier, to show where the water tank skimmers had been hung. 
I had driven the gator down from the house to park it in the shop for the night. Walking back up to the house after soaking Amiga's foot and feeding Maggie her dinner, I noticed a forth egg in the Killdeer nest. Luckily Maggie did not even notice it or the bird.
The cats got fed and litter boxes cleaned, but after my shower, I did not have the energy (or time) to fix a salad for a 7:30 dinner. I made do with some chips and carrots and then went right to bed.
Thursday 5/25 - I had taken a pain/sleep aid and slept for an uninterrupted eight hours, but was quite stiff and sore when I rolled out of bed. I noticed the fuzzy little blanket on the cat tower had been drug partway up the ladder. My cats are always up to mischief and I wondered which silly one had done this, and why.
I worked my morning shift at the pool, with Patty being my first customer. Joe also showed up a little later.
All these signs at our front window set the mood for customers coming in, well except maybe the rules.
I had considered a trip into town to do much needed shopping, but one look at my messy house and I decided it should be the priority. Most of my cleaning was associated with the cats (tracked litter, hairball and food vomit, messy feeding areas, and scattered toys).
After folding laundry, Joe and I went to town with Patty (his truck only seats two). We met Carol and Karen for dinner and then went on to Shirley's band concert. It was 'dance' tunes, but the first three were very slow. I guess ballet was some of the dance theme. It did end on a much peppier cadence.
Therapy went well and I was back out at the ranch three hours later. I needed Joe's help lifting the bag of horse feed to fill the container. I stayed then, to greet Mary and Jack when they arrived and to do evening chores. Here is a (video) of Wanda playing with a mouse. The poor thing.
An unexpected thunderstorm blew in so I hunkered down in the shop and painted a little shelf to go in the tack room.
I dashed to the barn while the paint dried and made a cup of hot tea. And then Mary and Jack arrived with Chipolte and Billy. The first priority was to get the horses situated in their new paddock. Thankfully the rain was drizzling out to nothing so we didn't get wet.
After getting Mary and Jack situated, I did horse chores, threw another coat of paint on the shelf, and headed home, sipping my hot tea I hadn't had a chance to drink earlier. Seen behind my car as the front gate closes, is Mary and Jack's living quarters trailer as they were unpacking it.
It was 6:40 (late) when I got home. Poker Joe was gone, but the dog and cats were glad to see me.
Here is a little more horse wisdom for ya all.
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