Life on an Arabian breeding farm in Capitan, NM.

Monday, April 15, 2013

Breezy my foot…


 
Well day before yesterday was supposed to be warm, and breezy. It was warmer (like in the 40’s) but you’d never know it. That wind (not breeze) is cold. I was going to try to at least get some work done with the horses, but forget that noise. We only have like three days before the winds kick up again, make that two.  If it warms up a little I will go out to work on my little inside gate for the dogs. I can work on it in the garage. I won’t be able to stain it for all the dust blowing around, but I can get it sanded, and put together. That will take a while anyway since I have to pull the pallet apart to get my 1” x 6” panels. Then I suppose I could do some housework. I really hate housework. I wait till it’s disgusting, then I get on a roll, and clean till I’m exhausted, usually all day, and night. On the other hand I love working outside.
 
I’m waiting, and waiting, pretty soon I’m just going to go ahead and start cleaning the little stall so I can put Sere in there. It’s already starting to cloud over. Sherry called, and now I’m supposed to go over there at 2:00 to get the horse tank. She also said there’s some wood for me to pick up. I always need wood.  I don’t know if I’ll have time to move Sere before the winds pick up or not. The weather report was ify about when the winds are going to start. I really want to get her in a stall before then. She had a horizontal crack that I was hoping would just grow out, but two days ago it fell off, and she has the tip of something sticking out. I don’t want her to further damage it especially since it’s the same hoof where her navicular bone cist is. She’s would have been such a great show mare if she had papers, and sound feet. Breeding her to our horses will solve the foot problem, but at the rate she’s going we won’t be able to get many babies out of her. With the market the way it is by the time we can breed her who knows what shape she will be in.
 
We are talking about breeding Jazzy, and Espree this year. I’m dying to have some babies, and if things continue to improve by next year the market should be better. I don’t know if Jeri is still fertile, but we can try. I want to breed him to Jazzy as his kids are calmer in disposition than Ibn’s. We want a boy out of each of the boys to continue our breeding program. If we can’t get two boys we will probably try to get one of Sandy’s boys to continue the Aulrab line in our horses. Of course if we get two boys we won’t have horses to sell. If we can just get a boy out of Jeri I’ll be happy. Ibn has a lot more years of breeding ahead of him, Jeri doesn’t.
 
Well I’m off to clean that stall so I’ll continue this later. Depending on how tired I get it may be a lot later.
 
Later:
 
I said it could be a lot later. As it turned out the day went just fine, not as expected, but that’s normal. Things got postponed again, which gave me time to finish Sere’s stall, move her, brush her, and all the kids in the barn stalls. LBM was a little turd so when I finished with him, I left him tied up while I went up to the house to get something to drink, and rest a bit. Of course that’s when Sherry called. She was about 15 minutes from her house so I’d best start out before anything else bad happened. I ran down to the barn (ok so I didn’t really run) let LBM free from his tether, went back to the house, and off I went. Naturally on my way out Sherry called again, and told me that the new neighbors were already at the house. She didn’t want to disturb them first shot out of the bag so she was going to wait till she saw them out, and about to ask about picking up the water tank. Since I was already on my way there was no sense in turning back so off I went. I picked up Sherry, and we went to see what kind of wood there was for me to pilfer. Driving over there also gave us time to catch up with each other. She has been terrible busy, and it had been a while since we chit chatted. When we got to the dumpsters on Fire Road (that’s where the fire station is) there were three neat piles of wood. I told her someone cleaned up their yard, and piled it there for the grapple truck to pick up. This is a rural mountain community. To keep things safe as possible from fires, people clean up the needles, broken branches etc. in the spring, and the city sends around a grapple truck to pick up all the debris. The less fuel there is to burn the better the chances of controlling a fire if it does break out. People are pretty good about keeping their areas clean out here. Of course if someone wants any of that debris (like me) they are free to pick it up. It makes less work for the city. Why pay for wood when there is so much around.
 
Not all the wood was what I wanted (like large pieces for a stove) so we left one pile, and part of another. I have enough kindling around here for a lifetime. I don’t need more. Still, and all by the time we were done I had a good truckload. Then when we got to Sherry’s house we piled on some branches she had left by the side of the road she had cut. They still had all the needles on them (for the most part), and they are the best fire starters. We went in, visited for a while, got some baling twine to tie down the loose branches, and off I went. She also looked at the photos I took of Sere’s hoof, and told me not to worry. What I saw sticking out is the laminas (at least I think that’s what she said), so while it looks bad she’ll be fine once it grows out. I was right to take her out of the pasture, and put her in a stall. She told me to keep it dry (not a problem with no rain in the forecast), and clean, and do nothing else to it. That’s a relief. I was afraid it might be something more serious. At least I did the right thing by moving her. My instincts may be good, but it’s a great relief to have someone like Sherry for a friend.
 
By the time I got home it was 5:00, and time to feed (naturally). I sat for a minute, caught a bit of the news, and off I went. I still haven’t unloaded the wood I’ll do that today. Give me a break, yesterday was Sunday, and I just didn’t feel like doing anything other than the normal stuff that is. Besides my head was killing me. All the dust, and pollen kicked up by these winds will be the death of me. I finally took an allergy pill, but by the time I felt like I could move it was to late to start a project. It’s not so bad today, just gusty breezes. If I can get the wood unloaded, cut, and piled it will be a good day’s work. Now if my accountant would call me, I’d feel a lot better. Taxes are supposed to be filed today, and I haven’t heard from him since I dropped them off. That’s why I never became a tax accountant. SEC filings are bad enough, taxes are the real stressors. I’ll take a normal accounting deadline any day over tax day. Of course being retired it the best still. No more deadlines. We may be poorer now, but I love being retired.
 
 
Oh I almost forgot the humming birds are back. I had to make a special trip to the grocery to stock up on sugar. I only have two feeders up for now. Give it a month, and I’ll be filling feeders daily watching my little friends fight over a porch full of them. I do love spring. Soon I’ll be going to town to pick up some pretties for my flower garden, and maybe some vegetables too. Rudy sent me a photo of some planters made of 2 x 4’s, and tin roofing. Looks like I have another project on my plate. Isn’t life fun in the spring?
 
 

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