It’s been forever...

Yes, I know that it’s been forever since I last posted anything, but at least I have a good excuse. I had my parents move from Tucson, to Roswell to be closer to us back in September. At the time mother was walking (with help from a walker), and talking with some signs of dementia. Things were going ok, but then Mother started getting weaker. Father finally got her to a doctor, then suddenly every week I went to see her she was worse. Finally Father said he could no longer take care of her. I moved them here, and at first Mother started getting better. I ran out of one of her meds, and the doctor refused to give her that medication insisting that her condition was skeletal, and not neurological or Fibro. Mother got worse, and was in terrible pain. I begged him to give her something only he ordered a narcotic (which she cannot tolerate), and to boot, one she was allergenic to. I blew my stack, and begged my doctor to take her as a patient. All this started the end of February. She can’t walk or even talk some days, and her dementia is markedly worse. Now my mother has a lot of problems (give me a break, she’s 83). She has had three brain surgeries, and numerous concussions along with Fibromyalgia, osteoporosis, emphysema and epilepsy (from scar tissue). I have an appointment for her with a neurologist, but that’s not until June. At this point she can’t even help me lift her to stand or anything. Thank God April was a nurse’s aid for 11 years. Without her I would be a total mess. God willing my doctor can help us get her back to where she was when she came here.  I hate seeing her in so much pain, unable to communicate, and unable to really think. Something is very wrong for her to deteriorate so rapidly.

Meanwhile I still haven’t started on our taxes. I feed the horses, and that’s about all the attention I can give them. I’m in constant pain, and totally exhausted. I can’t sell a horse to save my life, and I’m still not working. I owe so many people money I simply don’t answer the phone if I don’t know who it is.  See I told you I had a good excuse. Except for constantly worrying about my mother, I love having them here. Dad’s driving me crazy, but that’s why I refused to marry a man just like him. I love him dearly, but…

The horses are great. Star is now 14.2 hands, and has been relegated to the pasture, because she causes way too much trouble. I went to feed one morning, and I had three horses loose in the barn. I had watered the previous night so I thought well maybe I left the stall doors open. As crazy as everything is, I wouldn’t put it past me. Once maybe, but not twice, as two days later Star, and Ser-Haat were loose in the barn again. It seemed she decided that she needed company, and let the rest out for good measure. I put her between Regala, and Espree on the other side of the barn, only she helped Regala throw the barn door off its rails like daily. Lizzie needed to come out of pasture (she’s way too thin) so Star traded places with her. She’s doing great out there. Of course she did tear up the box I had covering the water spicket, but other than that, she’s been a good girl. Lizzie still hasn’t put on weight, and Regala is constantly trying to open the barn door, so I guess there are going to be some more moves.

Life continues to be crazy. Bear killed our little bull snake that has been living in the barn. I suppose it was bound to happen one day, but it was unexpected, and upset me a great deal. She’s been in the barn since she was a baby, and even though I didn’t see her very often, I stopped having problems with unwanted critters trying to get into the feed. I think her mother is the one that lives in the stallion yard between the kick panels, and the stall wall. Maybe some day there will be another little bull snake to take her place. One can always hope.

Sandy wants to take Angel to Ca for a number of years to use as a cross for her stallions. Angel has an unusual bloodline. She has all of Sandy’s foundation horses in her bloodlines. The one Sandy wants to add back in her breeding program is Ibn Awad. It seems Angel is the only one left that traces to him.  I don’t really want to loose Angel, but as things stand we can’t breed anytime soon, and it’s a shame to leave her open in her prime. Of course the same can be said of all our mares, but I can’t seem to either sell or lease anyone.

At first Sandy wanted Angel as soon as we could get her out there, but she has changed her mind, and wants to breed her next year instead of this year, so now she wants us to ship Angel in August. I told her that was the worst time to ship a horse through the desert in the southwest so we will have her till October hopefully. If I can manage to get some money I have another dream stallion (Warmblood) that I want to breed her to. Then when the foal is born I could breed Angel to Ibn, and Sandy could have the foal, and Angel. Ok so I’m dreaming, but it’s the dreams that keep us going. We’ll see what happens. My feed bill is going to increase again so that may be only a pipe dream, or not. I can always breed one of our other mares to Sagar. Of course first I have to pay our vet bill, come up with the money for the stud fees, and the insemination fees. Hey if you’re going to dream, you might as well dream big. If only we had a fairy godmother to help us along we’d be just fine. Anyone know of one we could borrow?

The latest exciting news is there seems to be a big cat roaming our neighborhood. Doc Sei’s mare jumped the fence, and ended up on Brewer’s land she was so scared. April has had signs of something scaring her horses, and twice our kids in the pasture were too frightened to come up for din din. I had to go get them, and bring them in. The ground is too hard, and dry to see any tracks, April, and I could barely make out the horses tracks. I think maybe it’s coming up for water. Our tank is right there for the horses, and there are plenty of trees for it to hide in. If I can ever find some tracks to follow I can call fish and game, and they will bring out their dogs, and track it down. If they can find it they can re-locate it. Unfortunately the dogs do need a scent to follow, and the way it is out here now, it will be difficult.

That sort of catches you up to date. I haven’t been able to take any new pics I’ve been run so ragged. The horses all need to be groomed, and the stalls grow higher every day with manure. One good thing, mother loves flowers, so I have been buying little plants for the porch. Of course right now she can’t go out on the porch to enjoy them, but hopefully soon she will be able to. The best plant of all is the mint I bought. I wanted some mint for around the porch to choke out the weeds, and grass. It’s hardy, and grows well up here. Good old Wal-Mart had all different varieties of mint including chocolate mint. It’s heavenly, and really tastes, and smells like chocolate mint. Of course the rest of my house is still a mess. Combining two households in an already full house is not the easiest thing to do. Oh well I never was a very good housekeeper so extra furniture here, and there is not too surprising. One of these days it will look like a normal house instead of a hoarder’s house. Hey at least you can walk through it. My barn’s clean if that counts. One of these days maybe I will get my house back till then, oh well such is life. There are more important things than an immaculate house!