Before New Years

Hello Everyone-
Back at work today. had yesterday off- my farrier came. He could only do 9 of my horses. Out of 14. For the most part, they were good for him. They can get so impatient! But Dewey is fast and i like that. The last farrier I had was a wonderful guy and did well doing the hooves, but he took very long. He is only in his upper 20's and has some health/back issues. Took him 6 hours to do the horses, while Dewey took only about 2 hours. I just cant stand with naughty horses for 6 hours anymore. Was getting to be the worst part of having horses! If the farrier goes fast, then the horses are much better for standing away from their buddies for 10 or so minutes. The new boy, Antar did very well for him. He had to have his front shoes off. I dont do shoes unless I have to. And Antar is not being ridden, so he really doesnt need them. Antar is a great boy. Wish i could find him a person to love. Wish i could find more homes for most of my horses! But it is not the case at least for now. I have been in a 'funk' for the last couple of months. Trying to decide if i should continue this program. Most days, its wonderful and i have great fun with the horses. Then I find myself getting depressed about the calls and emails of all of the horses that i cannot help. I try to give owners options, but sometimes they dont work. Sometimes they do. I try to concentrate on that. I sometimes wake up during the night and my thoughts go towards my horses. Are they ok? Are they warm? did someone go through a fence? 99% of the time, when i do get up in the morning, they are just staring at me waiting for me to feed them. I guess winters are really a source of my thoughts. Its cold, its windy, its raining like it did on Xmas day! Then it gets cold. I know horses can take this. they have shelter and most times, they are out in the elements. They are not stupid, but they sometimes look miserable! But i told my farrier yesterday, its the humans who are more concerned then they are. They know how to keep warm and to survive. They have for hundreds of years. Harley, still plugging along with his big blanket. Eating more and more hay which is good. He gets mad when i adjust his blanket and try to feel his ribs to make sure he is still ok and either sustaining his weight or anything different. Cheyenne gets upset when I feed grain to Kobb in the mornings and she doesnt get any. Missy now needing a blanket in the winter after I saw her shivering one morning. Wondering how long that i can keep my rescue and horses. Wondering if the economy will get better and i can find homes. Planning on the big fund raiser for June. Lookign for another roommate. Well I can at least say that part of my life is certainly not boring. Thinking to myself, well its Saturday, i can sleep in! For about 1/2 hour because i know my horses are looking at their clocks wondering where mom is. A couple of days it will be 2010. Another year. Wondering where my new love is?! Going to lose some of my weight, get healthy to keep going and delving into the horses that bring me so much joy. What would i do without them? Complain more?? Oh yes, then you would be so sick of me! Have a great and safe New Years eve!

Who made the pasta???

Hello Everyone-
Well Monday again- the weekends just go to dang fast! On Friday, I had a so-so day at work, feeling alittle bummed out to go home. My roommate told me last week that she was going to move to Madison. Moving out. She was my best roommate. She really is a great lady. She helped me out with fences, my dogs, my wheelbarrow (this morning), cleaning, multiple things. She is really totally cool. A very good friend.
Anyhow, i come home on Friday feeling bummed. I get home and there is a card on the kitchen counter. Wasnt from the mail. but it was a great note thanking me for my work with the rescue and to thank me they left me a HUGE pasta dish! how awesome was that? But the thing that kind of concerns me? they didnt put their name on it! I would like to thank them, so i am doing that on my blog. Thank you so much!! Put me in so much better of a mood. It was such a kind, generous and wonderful surprise. And besides, it was awesome to eat. i have like 8 meals out of it! Had some on Friday night, Sunday night and now am eating more for lunch today at work! thank you again, my mystery pasta fairy! So many times, i come home and eat a grilled cheese sandwich or just some cereal. So this was fantastic!
So- only 4 more days until Christmas! Are you all ready? Just hoping that the weather stays good enough to drive to. Thank goodness I dont have all that far to go, but snow makes me a big old baby driving. So lets all pray that the weather holds for all of us to get to our family/friends in one piece!

Winter can be challenging!

Well, it has been awhile since blogging! Winter can sure be a challenge. Last week we got 17 inches and then sub zero temps right after it. didnt go to work on the day it snowed alot and then when i did go to work, it would take 2 hours to get there and then home again!! That gets stressful and tiring. Going either at a crawl or 20 mph. I have a 27 mile trip one way from home to work. Normally it takes from 35-50 minutes depending on how much traffic. And then of course getting hay to barns. but I finally have a nice path! Then its back to normal once again.
Ok, call me stupid. I am getting in another horse tonight. Hard luck case and this horse is not a horse that should be put down. But I really, really promise that I will not take in another horse. I just cant! I owe everyone under the stars and would like to start getting up to date with them. I think i wrote earlier that I got a part time job at Walmart. Well i also got laid off from Walmart! First time in their history of hiring seasonal workers that they laid them off BEFORE Christmas! It figures! HA! Anyhow, only got in 52 hours in 3 weeks, so i did get some money. Then i had to wait for my checks. They sent me a thank you card saying they liked my work and thank you for working (only 3 weeks!). I guess that was nice, but man! If i knew that might happen i would have gotten a different job - now all of the bigger places have hired already for the Christmas season. But I did get another job. I will be working for the guy who supplies my hay! He has graciously let me know that I can work for him on the weekends. I said a big yes! I do appreciate that! he has a big farm and also has Morgans that he trains. So I will be doing the usual, like feeding, watering, turning out, mucking stalls, grooming the horses before they do their training. I love this work. Kind of sucks in the winter time, but as long as I keep active, the cold doesnt bother me too much. And the other plus besides the obvious one of paying off hay bills is that he only lives about 10 minutes from me! And i also would love to see how he trains the Morgans he has! So excited about that. Not excited about 6:30 am! I get up at 6am normally to do my horses to get to work by 8am. Weekends, i actually like to sleep until 6:30 to 7:15 am! Doesnt anyone ever sleep in on weekends??!! HA! Well it will not kill me for sure. And i so appreciate the job! I dont think it will be an all day job either and if I can, I will take at least one nap a weekend! HA! Anyhow, everyone is doing well, keeping warm, eating and being horses, like they should! and Harley eating more! yeah! he still hates me and hates when i adjust his blanket or feel under. He wants to be left alone and mom! I dont need any meds! I hate meds! per Harley. Sorry Harley-boy, you will still get your meds!
I should blog before Christmas! Happy Holidays!

End of the burdocks!

Well, it is Tuesday, its snowing. I am taking care of my neighbors cats, dog, horses and mini donkeys. It seems to always give us a huge storm during this week! But i do have help. My other neighbors, Dennis and Laura (Michael) are also helping out. Which is good. i dont mind doing it, but it takes a while. and of course the snow is crappy as well! But I would rather have the snow then a ton of rain! Its more peaceful and I still have footing! Just a few updates on Harley. He is moving around a bit slower and deliberate. Probably because of his arthritis and the snow. But he is eating alot more hay which i thoroughly love! I put it down in a couple of different places for him. I also finally got all of the burrs out of his mane. My neighbor has this awesome comb just for burrs! But Harley is back to being his usual handsome self and now that he is in his own paddock, he cant get into more burdocks.
Anyhow, a huge storm coming from the west. its snowing now, but not too bad. Tonight we could get up to a foot of snow and in that case I will NOT be coming in to work. I am such a baby when it comes to driving in the snow. Just hate it. Snow a bit this morning and we were at a crawl from Cross Plains into Madison. An hour late! Drives me insane. No accident, just people going very slow. there is slow and then there is ridiculously slow! Which was what it was this morning! Have a ton of work to do today in case I dont come in tomorrow. So please everyone be careful if you are driving tonight or tomorrow! Might have to get some chips and dip for some comfort food for tonight! HA! Also miss the pizza delivery- I only had pizza delivery once in the 17 years of being here. Then they went out of business. Bummer. Nothing like hot pizza already done with the specified toppings to come to your door! Yummy!

Winter and snow

Well yesterday we finally got our first real snow fall. I want to say by this time last year we had quite a bit. While I would rather snow than a ton of rain, I am still not ready for winter just yet! Not sure why! Probably the reason there are so few rescues up nort! Plain and simple, the winter sucks! I dont mind when we get 30's and above. Very ok in doing chores. When the wind blows and its colder, its horrible! Last night wasnt bad I guess. But it took me about 2 hours to get home. the first snow is always awful when it comes to driving and that is what happened last night. The traffic was crawling for about 10-12 miles before I came upon a HUGE SUV turned over to its side. And it was over to the side of the road. I hope no one was injured! But dang! Slow it down. Is it worth it to get home the same time vs. slowing it down and getting home 5-10 minutes later? Isnt it worth getting home safe to your family then to spend a few days in the hospital? I think it is. So taking 2 hours to get home last night didnt bother me much. I have to say it bothered my horses feeding them an our later! they all screamed at me to hurry my behind up to get them some hay!! Even Harley whinnying at me! So I got done by 8pm and went inside to get warm myself. But it wasnt too bad. When you are moving around in the cold its better. suggestion- wear layers! It does work! One thing i do hate though is- wearing gloves. I only wear them when it is very cold out. Just always hated wearing gloves! Cant really feel the feed and pails to the horses. oh well. Another 4 months of cold and snow! Snow is great when i am done with chores and inside watching TV and cuddling up! Driving pretty much is horrible in the snow. I have 4 wheel drive and still i am a big time baby when it comes to driving in the snow!
I think its about time to bring out the water tank heaters and put on Harley's blanket too! He didnt seem to cold. I think he is eating more too. But its hard to tell. He tosses his hay out of the bin to get to the good stuff on the bottom. And he didnt eat all of his grain yesterday either. But he was waiting for the fresh stuff last night! Poor Harley. I would love to come up with the solution on giving him some of my extra weight! i would be a billionaire and then i could really rescue some horses!! I dream about what I could do with my rescue if i were to win a bunch of money. Actually there is 4 of us girls at work who put in 2 bucks each week for powerball. We have been doing that for 2 1/2 years now. We are due!! Anyhow, back to the dream. I would first buy the land around my place. I would grow alfalfa and then i would put up a BIG indoor arena that is insulated! I would put in more stalls and have little paddocks for them to go out or stay in their stalls as they felt. I would also have a bigger paddock for the horse who like to graze and run around. With big lean-to's for them to go inside when the weather is bad. I would also love to have a store with different kinds of grains and equipment for people and their horses. Have people come and demonstrate different kinds of supplies and how to care for the horse. I could Rebecca for my trainer and she can help with doing stalls and most important, training the horses to ride!! yes, that is what i would do! Still working on the fund raiser, will be up until June 26, 2010. Hope you can join us! Have a good weekend everyone!

Holidays and such

Well, its been awhile since I have written in this blog, sorry about that! But anyhow, the life at the ranch is going pretty well. Knock on wood, the horses are doing pretty good. I have had to fix a few fences, but now the herds are where they should be. Harley, driving me crazy as he was just out on my lawn and seemed to always find my burdock bushes! Every night pulling out burrs out of his tail and mane. I think he does it on purpose!! Anyhow, now he is in the middle paddock by himself. i have to make sure he gets all of his grain and hay. He will eat some and then walk off, then come back and eat some more, go over to his hay bin and eat some of that, go and lay down. He makes me dizzy! But if he were with another horse, they would be a balloon and Harley would get skinnier. dont worry, Harley has access to both paddocks on either side of him. So he can kabitz anytime he wants! He has a stall and a nice big tree to lay under! He has been gaining a bit of weight, not much, but some. I am hoping he eats more as it gets colder. Still cant really put his jacket on yet because it isnt that cold yet. He is such a good boy. Cant wait to see some real weight on him!
Cheyenne and Raven are in with Kobb, Honey, Daevin and Breeze. They didnt take too long to get their hierarchy established! cheyenne is now the boss. And she isnt a good boss. I still want to put her in with the brutes and put her down a peg or two! But I need to wait until the ground is a bit more dry because of her foot. They will run her around a bit before settling. then Kobb can be boss again and get his grain in the morning and at night. He is really at a good weight now and a very nice coat and i would like to keep him that way! He will be 32 next year! Cant even tell! Love that boy! And he is a good boss too. Just like Papa jack is. right now, even with a short day (light), me having 2 jobs and everyone healthy (knock on wood) life is good. Christmas is coming, I am in a cookie exchange (yummy)I am wondering when i have time to do my shopping! And really looking forward to going to lunch with my good friend Cindy and Lynn!
Plans for the fund raiser going well. Getting our contribution letters going this week. Getting more prizes and also adding on a demo with Pam about hunt/jump! More to come later!