May-be May be not

Now it’s May. It’s warmed up, which I am grateful for. The apricot tree has bloomed and the peach tree is blooming now. Best peaches I have ever had in my life came off of this tree.

Pig can't come in the house because he isn't house broke and he's mean to me and the dogs. Pig can't be lose in the yard, because he's mean to the dogs and they bloodied each other, so pig was locked in the shed alone. I felt bad for him because I know they are social animals and he's lonely and isolated like me, so my heart really went out to him. I finally talked TheMan into making him a little yard of his own.

...with a ball and a wallow

 So  now he has his own little  yard ....

...and some pig legos.

I think pig is happy now

  Heath and I drove to California the end of last month to watch one of my granddaughters get baptized. It was a happy day. I watched another play softball and totally enjoyed it. I miss those little league and gymnastics days of my kid’s childhoods.
We went to visit Heath's bestie, his sheepherding trainer and Heath got to play. He had such a good time he wore himself out and fell asleep standing up in the car.

We put two small lambs in a kennel in the back of the Blue Roo and brought them home to raise. They currently live in the empty chicken pen with a tunnel to the over grown garden next to Pig’s play yard.
There is plenty there to graze off for now. I'll figure something else out for later. The Maremmas are certainly glad to see them

Before my trip down to Calif. TheMan helped me get a ton of stuff out of my old milkroom/tackroom. Huge hornet nests had to come down, garbage that was inexplicably stored in there thrown out, my large cow stanchion and the broken freezers, etc. It’s not finished but at least my tack is in there now. I still need to fix something to  hang up all my bits, hang the bridle racks and put a couple of panels up inside so Mister can access the shade and shelter of it without getting into my stuff, and a couple of panels outside so we can eliminate the gate which I cannot open or close, which keeps him trapped in the small corral and separated from the shelter. That way he will have plenty of room to fart around in, but will also have the option to go inside out of the sun or the weather if he wants to, and I can access him. As it is right now, I can't even get him to the tack room because the gate between them is so heavy.

Yesterday TheMan agreed to saddle him for me, as I have become extremely weak again. Just brushing him down, getting his boots on and applying fly protection completely wore me out. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to get my spurs on, but I did. I got him into the round pen, as he is one 25 year old gelding that actually needs to be worked down as he is too fresh to just get on and ride. He played for a good long while, bucking, bolting, farting and doing rollbacks, until he decided he was done and I climbed up on my mounting block and got onboard.

Heath had a fabulous time, although he ran ahead to every spot of shade he could find. His tongue looked a bit like a shovel, but as we were only going to walk aways, I didn’t worry too much. We only went as far as the first closed gate, which is all I can do anyway. It was about a mile plus down the road. Just the perfect distance for both Mister and Heath to learn to conserve their energy in the future.

My phone is broken so I couldn’t take any pictures of our ride, but it was beautiful, with the butterflies flitting around the tall green grass backed by the dark blue snowcapped Steens mountain. There is just something about being horseback that renews me.The connection to my mount, the awareness of his every movement, what interests him, his own satisfaction of being out in the world as well as the feeling of oneness it gives me. It passively works all my muscles and is the most effective and enjoyable way to rehabilitate me from the ravages of this disease. I can feel it in my back and shoulders and just barely in my legs. The more I ride, the stronger I will become. It will also help me deal with some of my balance issues and leaves me with the same uplifting “runner’s high” other athletes enjoy. I spent my entire life on horseback until we moved here and disease and injuries took their toll. I haven’t completely given up yet. The sun was shining and it reminded me to wear a hat and sunglasses next time, which I hope is very soon.

I have a wisdom tooth and another tooth requiring some surgery on my mouth (thanks to autoimmune and medications) so I might be laid up for a bit recovering. My short term goal is being able to lift my saddles again, like I was just beginning to be able to do after pushing so hard for 5 months in California last year. My long term goal is to gain enough leg strength to be able to mount and dismount again from the ground so I won’t be limited in where I go, by gates around the ranch. Meanwhile, Heath will finally be getting the exercise he has always needed as a young dog.



Bruno was a little stiff so I put him on turmeric which seems to help quite a lot. While I was gone, TheMan said he got real bad and he was out ofthe mix I make for him. When I got home he could hardly walk so I quickly made some more, but he wasn't any better the next day. Then I noticed a large red spot on his inner thigh he was licking so I figured he had a hot spot. I sprayed it as best I could but couldn't see much. Then it swelled up REALLY bad and he had an angry red patch the size of a dinner plate, without hair all of a sudden. I got an e collar on him and sprayed the area again. I went to touch it and it was very painful. Next morning, the swelling was down and he was much improved and it's looking more and more like he had been snake bit. He is recovering nicely from it now, whatever it was and Mr Potamus hasn't had any seizures since I put him on CBD so I am hoping that its what is making the difference as the seizures he had were both violent and becoming frequent.

So now I'll be waiting to heal from my dental work so Heath and I can go riding again. Til then, have a good May!

bedhead