Off Kilter

This summer I have been struggling with a number of things, but it basically comes down to not being able to get everything done that I want (or need) to do.  I thought when I finished elbow therapy, that would free up my schedule, but about the same time, one of our pool employees needed some time off to care for her husband.  So I filled in a few times.  But then she needed to take a leave of absence for the month of July, so there was more jockeying of the schedule. 

Now she needs to be gone the rest of the summer.  And then a second employee gave her two week notice and her last day was 7/25.  There is more uncertainty with the pool schedule and the need for us three remaining employees to fill in, has led us to 'put our foot down' and tell our boss we would not take on any additional shifts. 

In addition to the pool schedule changing, our chore schedule at the ranch has been in the process of being re-worked.  And on top of that, my schedule this week has been knocked off kilter by other things (caring for Tango, Joe wanting to use my car, and needing to meet with various people about various things).  Meanwhile, I am trying to get to the gym three days a week, ride as often as possible, and keep my cats and dog on a regular feeding schedule.

All this pushing or pulling on me, one way or the other has made me feel off kilter.  I often remark, 'I need to find balance' and then I saw this photo on Facebook.  So, I guess I need to make balance happen, not just look or wait for it to occur.   

All of the uncertainty of my life is preventing me from falling back to sleep when I wake in the middle of the night.  And the lack of sleep really makes me feel off kilter. 
 

Saturday 7/22 - I often wake up and take my thyroid pill between 2 and 3am, and usually go back to sleep fairly quickly.  With Tango waking me up about this time each night, pacing, I take him out to relieve himself.  A walk in the cool night air must wake me up too much to be able to fall back to sleep.  So I was here at my computer for three hours before falling back to sleep.  And then it was 7am before I got back up. 

I woke feeling off kilter and that the day was getting away from me.  I needed caffeine and my usual morning routine to try and clear my head.  Then I had to hustle to get to the gym and I felt puny during my workout, which I cut short so I could get out to the ranch in time to discuss the old donkey shed with Kevin (seen in first photo with our project supervisor keeping an eye on him).  Part of the problem with the sheet metal blowing loose is that the roof was not carefully built and the sheet metal was not well anchored, so the wind is able to wobble them and pull them loose.  Also some of the boards are rotten and no longer hold the screws that fasten the metal to them.  There is so much about this structure that is off kilter, but it is not worth rebuilding properly.  So Kevin did what he could with what he had to work with. 


Joe was 'test driving' Tango in my car to see how he would do riding in it to Nashville.  (His two door truck has no cab space.)  So I had brought Maggie out driving the truck.  All three dogs had a grand time playing in the yard.  Joe mowed while waiting on Kevin.

Karen, Jack, Mary and I went for our ride as planned, although we hit the trail a little later than hoped for.  This is the only photo I took.  Amiga and I were actually in the back during most of the ride.  She really had to move out (gaiting a fair amount) to keep up with these three big horses who have long strides. 
 

 
Joe took Tango back to our Flossmoor house before we got back from our ride. 

Once untacked, I did a little mucking, and then headed home with Maggie.  Tango had worn himself out.  I too was beat, and took a nap, sleeping hard and then struggling to wake back up.  

At bed time, I was not sleepy, so took a sleep aid, which did the trick a little later. 
 

Sunday 7/23 - It was Britney's 35th Birthday.  Wow, how time flies.  She remains happy and healthy working as an educator and missionary in Costa Rica. 

I think Tango was ready to return to his home in Murfreesboro.  And I was ready to be able to sleep through the night without worrying about him needing to relieve himself. 

I met Shirley, Mary, and Jack for church and enjoyed another pretty morning and outdoor service.

After a much needed nap because I was short on sleep, I had lunch and then went to the ranch.  Joe and I moved some gravel to repair the spillway at our pond which was really washed out because of the five inches of rain we had gotten last Thursday. 








We used larger gravel this time, so we will see how it holds up.  I raked it all smooth and also moved bigger rocks and concrete pieces that had washed down the spillway beyond the fence, leaving holes and mounds in various spots.  It had looked very off kilter. 









Next we added more gravel in front of our little parking pad down by the barn because it just wasn’t long enough to give the bigger vehicles ample room to park. 


Joe left to go get Tango to drive him back to Murfreesboro in my car and I continued raking and then driving over this new gravel with the tractor, to compress or hard pack it. 








I tried organizing the hay that was a mess because three bales got 'broken' open when Joe was bringing more (which we really didn't need) down to the barn. 

I chatted with Mary and Jack about the CO-OP schedule, and some other difficulties we were trying to work through.  Then Brooke, who had worked at Wildwood, came out to look over our operation as she, and we, decide whether or not she would be a good fit for working for Mary and Jack when they are in Mexico for three months this winter. 






While doing late afternoon chores, I had just finished mucking in the shed and Zorro came in and left another pile of manure.  I swear he was looking back at me, feeling quite proud of himself. 

Once home, I got to work on my nightly and my Sunday weekly chores. 

Mama Styx lounging after her dinner, keeping an eye on me as I cleaned the litter box that is housed (hidden) under this cat tree. 

 

Monday 7/24 - Today's photos were all taken during my afternoon ride on Amiga.  I spent the bulk of the morning, way too much time actually, starting this new blog post.  There were some issues with the CO-OP and possible boarding changes that had developed the day before that I was also very busy trying to decide on, which involved information gathering.  It took a lot of time texting and talking on the phone with several different people about the many different things that needed to be considered in conjunction with our boarding business.  Spending all this time organizing, negotiating, and communicating is a necessity I would prefer not to do, but as a small business, we need to do all that we can to keep our customers satisfied.




I realized that getting two things done today (not counting blog and boarding business work) was not going to be possible.  So I gave up a trip to the gym and went to the ranch to ride.  I needed to get out on my horse and clear my mind. 

These two photos are of the tower we ride under, just past our back gate, to get out onto Hathaway. 






I enjoyed a wonderful little ride.  Maggie came with us and took off into the woods after deer, two different times, so that actually caused a little stress because she was gone for so long.  And then when she got back both times, she was nearly exhausted and overheated.  So I’d had to stop and make her lay down in the shade to recover.

Just look at that tongue as she was panting to cool off. 

Amiga got to stand in the shade and graze during these five minute rests, which was fine with her.  

We returned home down Eli Ford, coming in through the front gate (video).  It was a tad warm, but Amiga was only wet under her saddle pad. 

The 'boys' had been in the shed the whole time we were gone so I mucked it out and did a few other little tasks.  In this photo, Zorro is headed out to the front pasture, long after Amiga and Cowboy had already gone out there.  And yes, he had left me another poop in the shed. 





Mirror Lake Blast was a lot of fun.  The band wasn’t quite the dancing kind of music I really enjoy, but I just have a great time dancing and watching all the other people having a great time doing the same thing.  And man, are there a lot of styles of dancing. 

Tuesday 7/25 - Rose was watching me as I sat here at my computer, sipping tea and waking up.  I was feeling pressure from this sweet little face gazing at me for a considerable amount of time.  
So I got up and went out to feed her.  But it was affection she wanted, which I didn't have time for because I had to get to work. 





My shift at the pool was 90 minutes longer than usual because Diana (who's last day working at the pool was today) had a meeting with her full-time job, so she had to come in late.  The heat got to me today, plus I had to deal with another accident (someone fell) and then there was some confusion and discrepancy about reporting the incident.  Also Joe dropped by the pool to present an idea he had for boarding and the CO-OP, and that got my wheels spinning all over again. 

Below, the flower plantings at Stonehenge. 

I had to take the accident report to the conference center and then went to the gym next door to get a little exercise.  Actually just being in the air conditioning revived me some and I did a little mini work out.  Joe and I had plans to go out so I didn’t have time to do a full workout.

We enjoyed a pleasant, relaxing time on the patio at Stonehenge, discussing our ranch business and different ways we can go with it, to resolve some current problems and future complications.  Once our food came, we got quiet and enjoyed a good meal. 

Wednesday 7/26 - Joe had agreed to help with some projects out at the ranch so it was going to be a work day morning.  I was hoping to get out there early enough to ride Amiga before Joe would be ready to go.  But we ended up changing the schedule because it was getting pretty warm.  Anyway, we did get several little jobs completed.  

First, we finish the drainage ditch from the wash rack all the way to the woods.

The tractor was used to scoop up the sod which we moved to a low bare spot in the paddock.
 

We then had to use a shovel to complete the end of the ditch to the fence and take the ditch beyond it, into the woods.

More work still needs to be done in the woods because of the mound of very old manure/dirt that runs along the fence on the woodland side.  Digging through it was much tougher work than I had planned on.  Plus the briers were causing me pain, literally.  






Next we remove manure from the pile by the side of the donkey shed, and put three bucket loads of it in the middle of the dam area.  





These photos were taken later when Joe was trimming all the tree branches off from hitting the donkey shed roof.  It looks so much better and the roof will be much better off also. 

While hauling manure, I also had Joe move several loads of it from the east end of the dam.  Now there is more room for more manure here, so fellow 'muckers' can dump the wheelbarrow loads (more easily) in this area. 





This is what the middle of the dam looks like with all the additional manure here.  There is room for plenty more, and it can be pushed (with the tractor) over the back side where all the concrete chunks are.  It is just more difficult to dump the wheelbarrows in this spot because of the fence being more difficult to move out of the way.

Finally we were ready to call it quits, and it was already almost noon.  It wasn't horribly hot yet, so I got Amiga saddled up for a ride.  But first we had a little photo shoot with Laurie, Jack and Mary's sister in law. 

Amiga did great standing at the mounting block. 

Although once Laurie was in the saddle, Amiga thought it was time to move out.

Then when I got Amiga to stand still, she thought she ought to start grazing. 
Silly girl.






There we go, got the head up.  But now Amiga's ears weren't forward.  Oh well, sometimes you got to take what you can get.  





We had to end with a group shot of all us.


And Jack actually caught Amiga with her ears forward, a rare occurrence.





Soon I was in the saddle and headed out the front gate towards Lake Kirkstone.




I took Amiga down Marmaduke all the way to Christopher Lane and we rode part of the hiking trail and other roads back in the woods.  I kept the ride fairly slow because it was a little bit warm, and I had upped the distance. 

Once headed back, I took Amiga on the trail up to Jem's (not spelled Jim I discovered) back pasture gate.

Amiga did not show any favoring of either of her front legs so I was feeling very good about that. This time Maggie was not invited because we were going into a more residential area and I just didn’t want her running off or getting too hot.  

I saw this coyote scat on Hathaway, close to our back pasture.  Mary and Jack had seen a coyote crossing Jem's field a few days earlier. 

I cooled Amiga off (but she was only sweaty under her saddle pad) and gave her a little spa treatment. 

When I put Amiga out in the front pasture, she had a good roll, but I didn't quite capture it in this photo.  She was already getting up. 

I got all the trimmed branches picked up that we had left and then went to the pool to play and enjoy, not work.  Mary and Laurie joined me and we had some libations and popcorn.  We laid in the sun, floated in the pool and were quite happy campers.

I got home in time to feed my furry friends, both wild and housemates.  Poker Joe was gone but unfortunately ended his twelve game winning streak.  I spent what was left of the evening, relaxing.  My funk sway was back in kilter.
All seemed well with my little world. 

Thursday 7/27 - Monita sleeping near my computer while I was here during the predawn hours.  After my 9 - 2:00 shift at the pool, I came home and did some household duties while cooling off in the air conditioning.  Then I went to the gym for nearly three hours.  50 minutes on elliptical, 90 minutes weight lifting (even did two pull ups, first time I have tried any since starting elbow therapy April 14th, which was 15 weeks ago), 15 minutes of stretch and balance exercises, and ending with a 20 minutes shower. 
 

Friday 7/28 - I had morning chores and started with Mary and Jack's horses at 7:30.  Then on my way to the chicken coop (to get a hoe) I noticed Jem had put in the gate they had asked about doing.  Now it will be easier for neighborly visits, without going all the way around through the front gate.  

  




As I was entering the chicken yard, I noticed the two Rose of Sharon I had planted, were blooming. 

After finishing chores in our paddock, I worked with the hoe to clean out the ditch a little better.  My project supervisor thought the cool dirt was nice to lay on. 


Joe had come separately and did some mowing before we met with Mary and Jack at 9:30. 



Our meeting was productive, but we still had not decided anything definite.  But it was a good exchange of ideas. 

I had a little more time before our Saddle Sister luncheon, so went back down to the barn to change.  Well, Zorro came running in from the pasture when he saw me pull in (video).  So I brought him in, groomed and then fly sprayed him. 

Jan, Shirley, Mary, Jo, Karen (who took the photo) and I met at Dorchester club house.  We enjoyed an early lunch and catching up with each other.  I lingered longer with Mary and Shirley cause I didn't have to be at work until 1:30. 

It was a very hot shift at the pool (hottest day this summer) but for some reason, we weren't to terribly crowded. 






I took this photo at 5pm.  It had kind of cleared out, but also notice, everyone was in the water.  It was just too hot to sit out in the sun. 

I got home feeling exhausted.  After a shower and doing chores, I was here at my computer having popcorn for a late dinner.  And I was in bed with the lights out at 8pm.