2015

Today is January 20, 2016 and I have not written in almost 2 years.  I sort of forgot that I had a blog.  Lots has happened to keep me busy.

I published my book, Medicine Hat Horse.  I am attempting to market it.
I got knocked down by a horse and have been dealing with ruptured discs and a pinched nerve for more than 1 1/2 years.  I had a few falls on the ice which didn't help the back.

Bill and I had a few vacations that were fun and way too short.  We went to Florida, Arizona, Texas, Vegas, North Carolina, and probably a few I forgot.  Many of those were an opportunity for Bill to drive a race car of one kind or another, combined with something I was interested in.
I went to Italy for 2 weeks without Bill, but with 3 other teachers, 2 retired as I am, and one not.  That trip was way too long.  A few things pop into mind:  first, I am so thankful for ice in my drinks, and second I am more thankful for toilet seats.  I have no desire to go back to Europe at all.  I will never travel with "friends" again.

Horses have been a priority in the last 2 years.  Sage died without warning and I have been desperately trying to get another horse that is as good as she was.  Of the 5 remaining horses, Sunshine comes the closest but has problems.  I am still mourning Sage 2 years later.  The pony, Snuggles, died a horrible death in early winter of 2015.  He had colic and we didn't find him until it was too late.  He suffered terribly and I feel so bad that we didn't know and couldn't do anything to help him.  It was a Sunday morning and our vet was on vacation and I called probably 7 more before I found one that was willing to come out for $150.00 cash.  But Snuggles died before he could get here.

I wrote about Sage's death in a poem I will add here. I still cry for her.

SAGE'S AURA
It was obvious to me that Sage's aura was gone when I found her.
Her life force was absent.
Her soul had fled her body.

Did her aura leave after death?
Did the disapprearance of her aura cause her death?
Where did it go?

ShyAnne nuzzled Sage's muzzle and then nuzzled my face.
Several times she went back and forth from Sage's prone body to me.
searching for her mother's breath, her aura,
sharing horse grief with human grief
communicating her loss to me,
absorbing my loss into her gentle touch.

Starbuck called all night in the light of the full moon,
soulful, sorrowful cries for his mother who lost her aura.
He did not understand where she had gone.

There is an aura around the moon tonight
Maybe that is where sage's has gone.
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Dogs have also been a priority this last year.  Molly was diagnosed with Blastomycosis, an often fatal fungal infection that effects the lungs.  She started with what we thought was bronchitis, then her right eye swelled to the size of a tennis ball.  Through the course of treatement we ended up going to an eye specialist who diagnosed her with Blasto and thousands of dollars later, she has tested negative.  She has been on lots of medication and has gone blind in the right eye and deaf in the right ear.  She is very crabby.

Before I knew what was happening with Molly,  I brought home a puppy, poodle mixed with Cavalier King Charles, who has been a delight and is very funny.  She has just started beginners obedience and so far is the best dog in the class.  She's (Sophie is her name) very smart, very joyful, very entertaining.  Just what we needed after a summer of NON-summer in which it rained until July and then the mosquitoes came out and made life outside impossible. That summer when we finally baled our hay in AUGUST, was followed by a couple weeks of delightful fall before we got 15 inches of snow in November.

 Then on Christmas day Snowbaby got kicked in the butt by a horse and was paralized.  Being Christmas day I didn't even call a vet and then ended up taking her to the emergency place in Crystal Lake.  They did tests and diagnosed her as "nothing else to do for her" without hundreds, no thousands of dollars or tests and surgery.  Snowbaby is 12 years old.  So we took her home to have her put down the next day by her own vet.  She surprised us by dragging herself to the bottom of the stairs to go outside and pee the next morning.  She didn't like those puppy pads and ended up peeing all over herself, but she was alive and wanted to stay that way.  She had been over medicated and could not get up if she had to.  Once I cut back on the meds, she started to come to life.  She only needed puppy pads one day and insisted on going outside after that.  Today, almost a month later, she is running and acting like her normal self.  She wobbles, but it takes time for the swelling to go down.  I called Eileen, my friend who is paralized, in Georgia.  Eileen has spent most of ther adult life working with other paralized people and told me about something called the cauda equina, which is a glob of nerves at the tailbone.  If that is what was kicked it would heal and Eileen gave me the first hope of any recovery for Snowbaby.  Eileen was right and Snowbaby is recovering and happy to be running around again.

2015 was an emotional roller coaster and I don't want another year like that any time soon.  I guess the only good thing was that I did a lot of writing, about horses, dogs, Italy.  I will include those some other day, when I also talk about what happened with my back problems............................