Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Hurrah for Summer!
The season of fall is upon us officially as of tomorrow. Over the last few weeks we've had some chilly nights here in Millbrook. Our barn has had to be closed up tightly a few times and the horses have started growing slightly thicker coats. I've been wearing jeans and layers of polar fleece. The good news is that summer returned today, like an old friend who went away for a couple of weeks, but returned with a broad, beaming smile and I welcomed it back with open (and bare) arms. Our vistas are peppered with vibrant autumnal colors and we certainly need some rain, but the lawns are still green, as are our paddocks. I wasn't ready to surrender to the chilly temps and wind. It's been a wonderful summer season, replete with day upon day of warm temperatures and bright sunshine. I know it sounds greedy of me to want this warm bliss to continue, but I do, really. So, I'm thankful that we've got a few days ahead of us to sweat profusely and wear shorts again. Maybe this is the swan song for summer, but at any rate, I'll take it. I wish I could bottle it for the horrible days of January and February, when I'll be clad in wool, shivery and craving cup after cup of strong tea. But we northeners know that we can handle the cold, rain, snow, sleet, etc. that winter brings us. We seem to thrive on enduring the super cold days. Folks in the grocery store will turn to one another and say, " Can you believe that it's going to be single digits tonight?" And we'll smile and laugh, our carts full of roasts, stew meat and potatoes. Comfort food to keep us going when the going is...freezing. For now, I'm happy to smell the charcoal smoke brimming off the grill, fresh veggies chopped and prepped for steaming and warm, delicious breezes blowing in all the open windows in my house. Stay as long as you want SUMMER! For when you decide to retreat and relinquish your glorious days, I will mourn you. Because before we know it, it will be Christmas! Yikes.
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Lots of action...
There has been a lapse in my blogging due to:
1. Jonathan skipped town to visit his parents.
2. My Mom came into town to help me with the barn, etc. while Jonathan was gone (p.s. invaluable help. She did stalls, water buckets, vacuumed my house, fed me delicious dinners)In short, she's amazing and we had a fabulous visit!!!
3. I had my left big toe mashed by my horse one night in a true lapse of judgement. I had flip flops on for night check, got a little too comfy snuggling, horse took a step, big toe was-mashed. Bled a ridiculous amount. Hurt. Alot. Now looks tye dyed and I've painted the other toes black, because they're in mourning for the lost Big Toe. It's all good. Live and learn people. Live and learn.
4. Selling horses. Two down and in the bank. This is what we do.
5. Horse shows. They take a lot of energy. Riding, coaching, etc. it all depletes the energy pool. Good news is that it's all gone well!!
6. I hurt my back. And recovered.
7. Jonathan hurt his back. And is recovering.
And so for today, I have this to report: Marbles brought me a very teensy, tiny baby field mouse and left him in my bathroom. He was small. His head was large. Who knew that fbaby field mice have silly large heads? Point being is that he was still alive. I scooped him up in a dust pan and brought him down to the barn to show our clients and hopefully pawn him off on them. No dice, but they gave me advice on how to keep him alive. What was I to do? I had to try to save his ass. I put him in the warmest room in the barn in a box with a towel. Then I warmed some Silk in the microwave(I'm a soy milk convert for my cereal) and got a 3 cc syringe. He was groggy. I was nervous. But the syringe of Silk made him open his eyes up and he went for it! WOW! I was feeding a baby mouse! Before I knew it, he was taking the syringe head in his feet (paws?) and going to town. 4 cc's later, he was satiated and taking a baby mouse nap. I had horses to ride, so off I went to do my "real" work. I checked on him twice in between rides and he was napping comfortably. By the time Jonathan made it to the barn (much later), I decided to show him my little mouse prodigy. The baby mouse was no longer mellow. He got frantic when I moved the towel. In fact, he got super spooked and started to look for a way to escape. EEEKKS. I let him escape, which means he jumped off the washing machine in our super warm room and hid behind a warm pipe on the floor. I took this as a hallelujah moment, because I was off the hook. Mr. Mousie was on his own. I poured some Silk into a water bottle cap and left it behind the washer machine. I truly hope he makes it. Really. But I did the best I could do. Thank you Marbles for giving me this opportunity to rehabilatate a teesny, tiney baby mouse. You are such a gem.
1. Jonathan skipped town to visit his parents.
2. My Mom came into town to help me with the barn, etc. while Jonathan was gone (p.s. invaluable help. She did stalls, water buckets, vacuumed my house, fed me delicious dinners)In short, she's amazing and we had a fabulous visit!!!
3. I had my left big toe mashed by my horse one night in a true lapse of judgement. I had flip flops on for night check, got a little too comfy snuggling, horse took a step, big toe was-mashed. Bled a ridiculous amount. Hurt. Alot. Now looks tye dyed and I've painted the other toes black, because they're in mourning for the lost Big Toe. It's all good. Live and learn people. Live and learn.
4. Selling horses. Two down and in the bank. This is what we do.
5. Horse shows. They take a lot of energy. Riding, coaching, etc. it all depletes the energy pool. Good news is that it's all gone well!!
6. I hurt my back. And recovered.
7. Jonathan hurt his back. And is recovering.
And so for today, I have this to report: Marbles brought me a very teensy, tiny baby field mouse and left him in my bathroom. He was small. His head was large. Who knew that fbaby field mice have silly large heads? Point being is that he was still alive. I scooped him up in a dust pan and brought him down to the barn to show our clients and hopefully pawn him off on them. No dice, but they gave me advice on how to keep him alive. What was I to do? I had to try to save his ass. I put him in the warmest room in the barn in a box with a towel. Then I warmed some Silk in the microwave(I'm a soy milk convert for my cereal) and got a 3 cc syringe. He was groggy. I was nervous. But the syringe of Silk made him open his eyes up and he went for it! WOW! I was feeding a baby mouse! Before I knew it, he was taking the syringe head in his feet (paws?) and going to town. 4 cc's later, he was satiated and taking a baby mouse nap. I had horses to ride, so off I went to do my "real" work. I checked on him twice in between rides and he was napping comfortably. By the time Jonathan made it to the barn (much later), I decided to show him my little mouse prodigy. The baby mouse was no longer mellow. He got frantic when I moved the towel. In fact, he got super spooked and started to look for a way to escape. EEEKKS. I let him escape, which means he jumped off the washing machine in our super warm room and hid behind a warm pipe on the floor. I took this as a hallelujah moment, because I was off the hook. Mr. Mousie was on his own. I poured some Silk into a water bottle cap and left it behind the washer machine. I truly hope he makes it. Really. But I did the best I could do. Thank you Marbles for giving me this opportunity to rehabilatate a teesny, tiney baby mouse. You are such a gem.
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