Sunday Stills (Summer 7-18-10)

This week's Sunday Stills challenge is Summer.

Flowers in bloom, cactus,
and lizards
remind me of summer.

Summer is buying fresh hay for the horses,
playing in a river with your dog,
wading in the water to feed ducks,
sprinkler fun,

and wearing short sleeves and shorts in the hot sun and wind.

For more Sunday Stills, please visit Ed's website here.

Sunday - song: Sunday, artist: David Bowie, album: Heathen

She'll scratch

Last year, my friend gave me a foal-sized fly mask for Yalla! Unfortunately, it was way too big to use with her little Arabian head even though she was a foal. I tried it once and it fell right off. Here she is in her yearling-sized halter. I actually pulled in the throat latch two inches on the other side. I have a way of pulling some of the throat strap in through the ring and then running the excess strap through the formed loop since the buckle is on the last hole. As you can see, it swims on her. This year, I decided to try the foal-sized fly mask. At first, I was concerned about putting it on her so I put one on Scout while she watched. Then she went over and smelled him, touching his mask with her nose. Just look at his expression! Silly boy, Scout! Right after that she came up to me as if to say, I'm okay with it, if you want to put it on me, go right ahead. So I did. It's actually too small but it still works. I can just barely velcro it on but she seems okay wearing italthough it seems to cause her to scratch

She'll Scratch - song: Song for Bob Dylan, artist: David Bowie, album: Hunky Dory

Friday Foto

it's so slashed and torn

My daughter came over and made me dinner Wednesday night. How sweet is that? Afterwards, she and I went out to the big field to bring the horses in. They were standing just east of the gate and when they saw us, they neighed and came along the fence line towards us.

I picked out a couple of stickers from Yalla!'s lower leg again. I wish she would stay away from the cactus. The other evening, she had a cluster of cane cholla cactus thorns embedded in her upper lip. It must have been very painful. She didn't want to stay still for me to pull it out so I finally headlocked her and sort of pushed it out from behind. Ouch!!

As we were haltering the horses, I noticed the tip of one of Annie's ears appeared darker than the other. I looked closer and freaked! Somehow, she had spliced the tip of her left ear in two. The blood had already dried up and she didn't seem to be in any pain. We discussed calling the vet- it was after hours- and decided that it was too late to use glue or stitches on it anyway. I'm not financially in a position to spend a lot of money if they can't do anything, so we decided to let it heal on it's own and watch for infection. She just had her tetanus shot in May. I know, you're probably thinking- bad horse owner!

I was surprised at how very little blood there was on her. I'd always heard that ears bleed profusely but I didn't see any dried blood on Annie's legs or face or anywhere except a slight darkening at the very tip of her ear where the injury was.

I wonder how it happened. She has had runny eyes lately. (I actually cancelled a vet appointment for her eyes last week because they were looking better and I didn't want to deal with trailer loading issues.) I think she must have been rubbing her eye on her leg while standing too close to the fence and then she caught her ear on the barbed wire fencing as she came up.

Today, I climbed on the barn pipe rail fence and took this picture pointing downwards. It's the clearest view I've seen of it. It makes me ill to look at it (shivers). I feel so bad for her.

I called five tack shops looking for Scarlet Oil in the spray bottle. Three of them said that they usually carry it but were out. The others had the aerosol can but not the liquid. I didn't think I would be able to spray her with the aerosol can. Finally, on my way home tonight I stopped at one last tack shop that I couldn't remember the name of so I couldn't call it. I got there five minutes before they closed too. They had the liquid in stock so I bought it and poured it into a spray bottle. I haltered Annie up, carefully slipping the halter over her ears, and climbed up on the top rail of the fence, straddling it for balance. Then I coaxed her up to me. I very, very carefully sprayed her ear with the spray bottle. She doesn't like me doing it but she also knows I'm helping her so she was very, very good and I got the injured area pretty much covered with the Scarlet Oil. Now her ear tip is all red instead of black. I will put some more on in the morning. And I'm going to pray it heals well with no infection.

I will leave the horses in for a few days so Annie can recover. The weather is cloudy and there is a possibility of rain- I hope- so the grass can grow. There isn't a lot of grass out there but daily grazing has really done a world of good to my horses' conditions. Scout is fat, Yalla! is growing, Nadia and Annie have put on some needed weight, and I haven't had to use my hay. And it's been bad for them too- cactus stickers and now Annie's ear! So, my dilemma is, once Annie's ear is healed, (Oh, why, why did this have to happen?) do I continue to graze them, knowing the risks, or do I keep them inside?

It's so slashed and torn - song: Under Pressure, artist: David Bowie and Freddie Mercury

Bowie video day - Heroes

This video is from the Live Aid concert in 1985. It happened 25 years ago yesterday.

He actually gave up one of his singing spots to show the film. It's very disturbing. Here is the link.


Heroes - David Bowie

We're walking down the street of chance

Don't ever wear white when you work with horses! All I did was walk them out to the field and look at my sleeves!

The horses are all very polite and stand quietly while I unhalter the four of them. Then they all walk off in search of some good grass. Usually, Nadia or Annie will stand and watch me leave, until I'm out of site, and then they put their heads down and eat.

If anyone is interested, this is the way I walk from the field back to the barn. Leaving the field, I head down the lane.It's just about 1/4 a mile on a little dirt road. Here the lane gets really narrow and turns rocky from old broken tiles thrown into the lane to make it less muddy in wetter times. Then I make a right turn at the open field between the arroyo and the trees.
In the next picture, you can see my big tan barn with the white roof.
We head towards the barn, watching out for stickery cactus and yucca plants. The other day, Yalla! walked into a tree stump. OOops!
It may seem like a simple enough walk but there's always something new and interesting for the horses to see along the way.
For some reason, Annie is scared of this trailer with the siding. In back, is my garden, an old fenced dog run. Fortunately, the plastic (bag) ribbons that flutter in the breeze to keep the birds away from the plants don't seem to bother the horses anymore. Well, for that matter, the ribbons don't seem to bother the birds either. ;)
Then we walk down into the arroyo (ditchbanks or dry riverbed) and back out, up the little hill, towards my barn gate at a narrow point between the trailer (above) and the gates. It doesn't look it but there is a steep embankment on either side of the arroyo and a large bush next to the fence that limits the width of the area we can walk through. Notice the really green grass? That's down in the arroyo. It's an interesting maneuver with the four horses. I always feel like a teamster guiding the horse team to back up, move over, and get in position. Then getting them through the gate is another challenge. I open the eight foot gate and then turn them loose one at a time as they go through the gate.

We're walking down the street of chance - song: Baby, artist: Iggy Pop and David Bowie, album:

Sunday Stills (7/11/10 Shadows)

This week's Sunday Stills challenge is shadows.

For more, please visit here.

Sunday - song: Sunday, artist: David Bowie, album: Heathen

You can't say no to the Beauty and the Beast

I love the story of Beauty and the Beast, don't you? When my daughter was small, we watched the movie together all the time. When I heard last summer that the Beauty and The Beast musical was coming to town this summer, I wanted to go. Really bad! But, I had no one to go with so I kept putting off buying tickets. Thursday night, I decided to go on line and check for tickets because the show was playing this weekend. Saturday and Sunday afternoon performances were both sold out. That left Friday, Saturday, and Sunday evenings. There was one seat available for Friday night's performance in the orchestra section, 6 rows back and off center. Choice! The other two nights had tickets in the very back of the balcony and off to the far back sides of the lower floor. I thought about buying the fantastic Friday night ticket. A lot. But I really didn't want to go to a late night performance by myself. Of course, sometimes going solo is the best way to get a great seat. Anyway, I slept on it and checked the status of the one ticket this morning. It was still available. I couldn't say no. So I bought it. And I went to the show tonight. By myself. It was so worth it!!!

This picture is of the stage before it started. It's a giant rose. I know it's a lousy photo- my cellphone- but you can see how close I am to the stage.
It was one of the best live performances I've ever seen! All the characters sounded perfect and could they sing! Belle and the Beast were fabulous but, I confess, I love Gaston! I think he stole the show. Every time he was on stage, my eyes were drawn to him. He seemed to tower over the other actors too. He had all the raised eyebrows and smirks going too. And where I sat, I could see everything so well!

It's funny, after I bought my ticket, I set out the binoculars so that I wouldn't forget them. And then tonight, as I prepared to leave, I thought, 'I'm in the sixth row, if I can't see them normally, I am hopeless! I really don't need to see the freckles under their make-up, do I?' I left the 'binocs' home.

I really like the shuttle buses they offer nowadays for big events. I drove to the parking lot, parked my car in the first row near where the buses were loading and walked over to the bus. We waited until the bus was full, a couple of minutes at most, and then drove over to the University campus where the performing arts center is located. After the performance, I walked out with the crowds, got on the shuttle right away, got whisked over to the parking lot, walked over to my car, and drove home. Nice and uneventful.

The only bad part about going to an event alone is that there is no one to discuss it with afterwards. So, I'll have to tell you. Chip was great! You could see a real little boy's head at the top of the serving cart, but like a magician's box, the cart looked empty, so the little boy looked bodyless. Lumiere's hands lit up with flames that moved around. There were wolves too. And at the end of the show, the Beast's body raises up just like in the movie and transforms in mid air into the Prince. Don't ask me how they did it; I don't know! There was only one down side for me. In the movie, I LOVE Phillippe, the horse. In the play, there is no Phillippe. They use the father's invention, a motorized wood cutter, to go through the woods. And Mrs. Potts is much younger than Angela Lansbury, but that makes sense, because she has a young son.

There were a lot of children in the audience tonight. A lot of the little girls were wearing yellow Belle dresses. They looked so pretty and so happy! There were vendors selling dolls and things during intermission. What a magical night! It brought back memories of when I went to my first play with my family as a little girl. I saw Brigadoon. I don't remember the story, but I remember how special the event was for me.

Watch this video for a little taste of the "tale as old as time" and share with me the magic of Beauty and the Beast.

Has anyone else seen it?

You can't say no to the Beauty and the Beast - Song: Beauty and the Beast, artist: David Bowie, album: Heroes

Friday Foto

Friday - song: Friday on my Mind, artist: David Bowie covering the EasyBeats, album: Pinups

Bowie video day - Stay

I used to post Bowie videos every so often and I haven't for a while, so here's one for ya. This is called Stay, from his Stationtostation album, and it's one of my favorites. He is performing it in 2000 at the BBC during his "hippie revisited" stage, hence the long hair. lol. I hope you enjoy it.

Stay - song: Stay, artist: David Bowie, album: Stationtostation

One more Sunday Stills

Or Happy Belated 4th of July!!!

Sunday Stills (Frame It 7-4-10)

This week's challenge for Sunday Stills is to frame the picture. Here are some of my favorites. Which one is yours?

Sunday - song: Sunday, artist: David Bowie, album: Heathen

Friday Foto

I went to the zoo a couple of weeks ago...

Friday - song: Friday on my Mind, artist: David Bowie covering the EasyBeats, album: Pinups

One inch thoughts

Today was a crazy day! It started out pretty good. My daughter made me a burrito for breakfast and even though I spilled some on me as I was eating while driving, it didn't stain. yay!

I got to work, turned on my computer, read my email, and guess what? I was awarded "Employee of the Month"! It's funny, I read the heading of the email Employee of the month and I thought, "wouldn't it be cool if it was me?" Then I thought, "no way! I haven't even been employed here that long. Why would I even think that?" And then I opened the email and there it was! My name! I felt very flattered and honored.

And then, I got a 'missed call' on my cell phone since I had it on silent. It was from my sister and her voicemail said to call her right away. So I did. Guess what? I am a great aunt again. My niece had her baby boy today at 12:03, Kameron Clark. Awesome!

However, the shiny cloud over my head turned dark because when I got home it started pouring rain. I was going to have a horse trailer training lesson today. (now that's a mouthful!) The last time we had it planned, on Monday, it poured then too. Sigh! So much for my summer of trail rides. And Yalla! is missing out on her booster shots because I need to haul her to the vet's clinic.

The water pump in the barn broke a couple of nights ago. I'm wondering, are yearling horses like toddlers in their terrible twos? I swear, Yalla! has turned devilish lately.When I walk all the horses and Scout trails behind her, she'll kick him. Sometimes, she pins her ears and threatens to kick me when I am working behind her. Anyway, the other evening, she kicked out at me and I reflexed and jumped back from her and hit the water barrel and/or pipe rail with my leg. Check out the bruise! I wonder if I'd have been better off letting her get me. I must have grabbed the water pump or knocked it somehow (fell against it?) Anyway, even though the water was turned off, I heard the sound of running water. Not good. So I went to the house and tried to turn off the water- a little twisty knob down underground about a foot or so in this box. I wasn't strong enough to turn it. Fortunately, my daughter was out on a date and I called her and asked if her boyfriend could turn the handle for me when he dropped her off. When they came to the house around 10:30, we went out with flashlights and he turned it, so now the water to the barn is off indefinitely, until my son comes back from camp and can fix it. Boy, I hate to be so dependent on everybody!!!

Tonight, the horses were out of water because I left them inside all day, figuring it would rain. It didn't...until I came home, that is.

I had two options. I was going to have to haul water by bucket from the house or hook up some extra hoses and use those. I decided to haul out hoses. It's over a hundred and fifty feet from my house to the barn so I had to connect several hoses to make it reach. That meant walking back and forth, back and forth, until I got all the hoses and connections right. I even added a length of hose to the two I already had. When I turned the water on and tried to reach the water bucket, it still wasn't long enough. I thought, "but I just screwed on another hose!" I looked and discovered that I had fastened the third hose to itself, in a loop, and still had only the two hose length. ;P !!! Soooo, I had to go back, turn off the water, walk out to the barn and reattach the hoses, walk back to the house and turn the water on, fill the horses' water, go back to the house and turn off the water, go back to the barn and unscrew all the hoses, etc. etc. It took me an hour to water those horses, and all in the rain!

What a crazy day! But now, since it's midnight and I have to get up in the morning and do it all again, I'm going to say goodnight.

And, any suggestions on breaking Yalla! of kicking at her favorite people and horses would be very welcome. (Her mama was a kicker of other horses in her younger days and she finally outgrew it. Is it hereditary??) I yell at her and I've smacked her rump but then she threatens/kicks out harder. Oooops! that's like playing with a loaded gun.

One inch thoughts - song: Sons of the Silent Age, artist: David Bowie, album: Heroes

Worm, the pain and blade, part 2

Several weeks back I took a fecal sample of Yalla's to the veterinarian for an analysis on worm infestation. I haven't wormed her since last winter and I really didn't know which wormer to use.

I never really thought my horses had worms. I've never seen any evidence. I used to live in Illinois and the worm infestation there was terrible. After a worming you could see all the little critters in their manure. However, two doctors have told me that young horses are usually more infested than older horses, so I wanted to be sure. The count came back negative. BUT, she said there could still be an infestation and the cycle was at the wrong time for any to show up in the sample. She recommended having a second count to be sure. Yesterday, I took a second fecal sample of Yalla's in. I decided it was better to get a fecal count than to actually worm them like I'd been doing. I wonder about the other horses but I'm sure that if Yalla is most likely to have them and she doesn't, I can't imagine the other horses having any, right? Of course, the vets will probably recommend having the testing done on each one individually. lol. Anyway, that's a big relief to me. Now, when they scratch their butts, I'll know they're just scratching. ;)

On another note, last fall I gave Yalla her first shot but I forgot to give her the booster. Last month, I gave her the shot again, along with the strangles vaccine, but I haven't been able to get the booster for her. How many times do I need to go through this? How long can I go between booster shots to make it work?

Worm, the pain and blade - song; Voyeur of Utter destruction , artist: David Bowie, album: Outside