Today was almost perfect. The weather cooperated for a change; it was around 60 in the morning and 70 in the afternoon, overcast, a breeze, comfortable.I had nothing I HAD to do. I woke up naturally and was greeted by my dogs as if I were the queen. I had eggs and toast and tea for breakfast, my standard fare, and fed all the cats and dogs. I watched a little TV, to get my news and to see the funny video of the day.
My plans for the day were to walk the dogs, ride a horse and call the vet. All plans went according to schedule. Before I walked the dogs, I cleaned the house (mostly just vacuumed and washed the floors), did a couple loads of laundry, ran the dishwasher and generally picked up stuff that was left here and there.
I was happy getting that done! Then I walked the dogs around the property line where we usually walked. Its about 3/4 of a mile and takes me 25 - 30 minutes. It was nice and quiet, tractors in the background while the farmers are getting all their crops in before it rains. The freshly turned soil always smells so good, so earthy, so full of life. When I walk I say The Lord's Prayer and then I either ask blessings for family and friends, or give thanks for all God has provided. It is a habit I miss when I can't go. I stop and pet the dogs every now and then, especially Joe and Repo. Sometimes they just want me to touch them and off they go smelling all kinds of wonderful things I can't even imagine. All six dogs stay relatively close to me; they have to see me or they come looking. Jumper always follows me within a few feet, quiet and loyal and just there. It is comforting to see her following.
On my way back I pick a huge handful of clover for the horses. Not much to them, but they like it.
Back at the house, the dogs go into respective pens: the boys outside in a large run, the girls in the house in the utility room. The vet arrives and we go look at the horses. I have to get Coggins tests on two of them, the two I am trying to sell. I have mixed feelings about that. I have had these sisters since they were babies and they are like overgrown dogs to me. However, my physical being is not allowing me to do what I used to do and I haven't had time to give them proper riding time. Big Red Sky was being ridden by a trainer a few years back and we even went to an event to raise money for breast cancer. But Sky and I don't see eye to eye. I basically avoid riding her. I do ride her sister, Shawnee, but Shawnee has a tendency to go lame because she paws the ground and she is laid up a lot so her training has not progressed the way I wanted it to. Last year I was so tired I decided I should find homes for them and give them something productive to do. In order to sell them they must have this Coggins test, which requires drawing blood. I really don't want to sell them, but I feel I need to. I don't think I will ever get them into the condition they aught to be. I put all my energy into Sunshine, that is what energy I can muster.
Sunshine is covered with hives right now.I have no idea why and that's another reason I had the vet out. He thinks its some kind of bug, but she is covered and it must be horrible! I was not worrying too much until someone said she could go into anaphilactic (I can't spell it) shock and die. I couldn't take losing another one so soon to unexplained death, so I called the vet. Well, he doesn't really know either what is causing this so he gave her Cortizone and antihistimine shots and I'm supposed to get more if she doesn't improve.
I started writing about the perfect day and this certainly is not perfect; but the horses behaved for the vet and the bill was actually less than I thought it would be, so those are good things. AND it was NOT raining.
After the vet left I had a tuna sandwich (my favorite), let the horses out on pasture for a while and planted some flower seeds and plants. I enjoy gardening also. My son came to throw hay down for us and do a few odd jobs that Bill is not supposed to do since his heart attack. I got on a horse and worked in the pen for about an hour.
Today I rode Shawnee and she was quite stubborn. I rode her yesterday, the first time this year and she was pretty stubborn, but really rather good considering it had been 6 months since I was on her! She is 10 and stocky and a brown, white and black paint mare. She is wide and comfortable, but her gates are choppy, I'm sure just from the way she is built. She is kinda funny! She frequently decides she is done and won't go forward......................she backs up when she wants to quit. Well, I don't let her get away with this
behavior, but she tries anyway. These two days she is getting used to a new bridle and she is not happy about it. I am because I feel it gives me a little more control. She stops a lot better now, but she refuses to turn sometimes. We are working on this, but she has a stubborn streak a mile wide. She just doesn't realize that I do too! It was good ride in general and we will just keep having to work on this stubborn stuff. Anytime I don't get hurt or scared or intimidated is a good ride.
After an hour I got off and fed the horses, put ointment in the kitten's eyes. The kittens are in the back barn and mama cat won't let us touch her. One of the kittens fell out of the hay mow so we moved the other one down also. Mama is leaving them there while we tame them and put eye ointment in their yucky eyes, something all our kittens get. Then I headed into the house for shower and dinner. While in the shower I played John Denver. One of my favorite songs of his is Annie's Song and I sang my heart out! Feeling fresh and clean out of the shower, I made a sirloin burger and had a nice dinner. I had put pork chops in the crock pot for Bill this morning and he was quite happy with his dinner too. He had fresh asparagus out of the garden! While eating we watched Magnum PI. I love that show and Tom Selleck.
So I am feeling relaxed, satisfied, productive, and fairly complete today. A few things came up: the vet, the sick horse, pain from my plantar fasciitis in my left foot, but in general it was a good day and I had energy to do all the things I wanted to do. No telling what tomorrow will bring so I appreciate days like this and thank God for giving them to me.
So now I am going to relax in front of the TV and ice my foot so it won't hurt so much tomorrow. I will go to bed when I want and wake up when my body is ready to. I will read some and just enjoy myself and my dogs for the rest of the evening. The end of an almost perfect day.
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