After three years of drought...

 

 

After three years of drought the monsoons have finally returned. Yes I’m back or at least I hope I am. I usually write at night, but I have been so tired, that I’ve just been falling asleep on my chair. Well I’m going to try again to be faithful about writing. That means that for tonight at least I have a little energy left. Now the last time I tried to write a post was the end of February. That’s what I’m posting tonight, and then I’m going to try to remember all that has happened since then (like I can remember what I did yesterday). It’s a matter of discipline, a trait that I seem to be sorely lacking. I did pretty well for a while, we’ll see if I can get back into the habit. Enjoy…

 

 

It’s my own fault…

 

 

I should know better, if you don’t want to jinx something keep your mouth shut! I’m talking about my water situation. The underground river feeding my well is dry again or at least nearly so. I only had about a week hiatus then it was back to hauling water again. That was the beginning of another two weeks of frustration.

 

Now I’m not sure I have the correct chronological order of everything, but it really doesn’t matter all that much. I’ll start with my father’s jeep. Now it has been making a clunking noise for I don’t know how long.  I hadn’t been driving it, and father assumed the noise was just his license plate holder. I looked underneath, and sure enough I found a broken bracket. I ordered a new one, and of course when I replaced the broken part, the clunk was still there. We took the jeep in, and somehow father managed to crack the cross member in the rear. Now the Compas may be more of a street car, but it’s still a jeep, and according to the salesman quite capable of traversing a rough dirt road. The mechanic insisted that father either had an accident or drove into a ditch. Father’s memory may not be the best, but he would remember driving into a ditch, besides I would have had to rescue him. The long, and short of it was we had to put in a claim to the insurance company. It’s fixed now, and father is happy to have his independence back. That’s what matters most.

 

In the midst of all this the truck started giving me trouble. Now remember I have to haul water daily or run out. I got stuck in Capitan while getting water. George came over and tried to figure out what the problem was. He was certain it was the solenoid, so we changed that to no avail. I was certain it was the starter, and after a few tests we decided that it was the starter after all. We left it there overnight, and the next morning replaced the starter. It started the first time. I’m getting pretty good at this mechanic business. I thought I was home free, but no the truck started acting up again. Once I was on 48, George pushed me to Laughing Horse. The next morning I went over to the truck, and it started right up. This went on for a couple of days. I replaced the airflow valve to no avail, and then I decided it must be the thermostat. I replaced that, and everything was fine for a couple of days. The housing on the thermostat was pretty messed up, messed up enough to blow the gasket. I think I’ve replaced like five gaskets, and ordered a new housing. I’ve also gone through enough antifreeze to float a boat. The last time I changed the gasket I bought four gaskets, and some black gasket goop. That finally did the trick, and I haven’t blown a gasket since. Even though I got the thermostat housing so it doesn’t leak, I’m still loosing antifreeze. I need a new overflow tank. That will have to wait till I can find one. Meanwhile I continued to use a lot of antifreeze always keeping a gallon in the truck. Finally I found just the right level that won’t bounce out of the tank, and will still keep the trucks engine cool. I can make about three trips back, and forth to Capitan for water before I have to add a little more. Don’t you just love it?

 

Since we had no vehicle that was running (father’s jeep was in the shop remember) I had Rudy run through what needed to be done to fix the Z. Actually it was his idea. I replaced the fuel pressure regulator, and did an oil, and oil filter change then when I went to start the car, nothing happened. Well not exactly nothing, once the fuel pump stopped I could hear a click. The battery cables are the same ones that were there when Rudy bought the Z. He was restoring it, but our lives got all messed up, and it’s been sitting there, just like my Fiero, and the Jeep. The Fiero needs a starter, and a new battery, the jeep a new head, and valve job. Back to the Z, the battery cables were such a mess I couldn’t see how it ever ran. I went, and bought new cables installed them, and still nothing but a click. We have no Jeep, no car, and no truck, isn’t life wonderful. The Z is really easy to work on, and Rudy said to look for the wire that connects the Solenoid to the starter. The next day I look, and find a loose wire that clips onto something. I finally figure out where, and vavoom the Z roars into life, and purrs like a kitten. Finally we have a vehicle that works. I even cleaned it all out. I filled the antifreeze tank, and went to fill the tires only I couldn’t get the caps off the stems. Why Lord? I have the truck fixed, I have water (George got my pump working so I was able to almost fill our tank) I have propane (after going a week with no water, I ran out of propane wouldn’t you know), and I have a working car that I can’t use because I can’t get the stem caps off to fill the stupid tires. Next day I try using a socket wrench, and I soak the stems with Liquid Wrench. Finally I get the caps off, and fill the tires. Yea for me, I’m not doing too bad as a mechanic. The Z now has insurance again, and is registered. All I have left to do is to get new mirrors. I start to go to town to get the mirrors, and I think about the gas cap, which is a locking one. Naturally I don’t have a key. I go back home all deflated. I talk to Rudy later, and Rudy never locked it.  He doesn’t even think he has a key. I’ve tried everything, and no go. I can’t get the cap off. It will just have to wait.

 

Now I have my truck, and Father has his jeep. Next George (April’s step-dad) manages to get my water pump started. At first I still couldn’t start it w/o April’s help. With my smaller tank I can now stand on the bed of the truck, and get it started. It may take a while, but hey at least I can start it. It only takes about 15 minutes to empty the water tank so I have been able to actually get the storage tank full (or at least close to it) in a couple of days. Now everything would be good if the village hadn’t decided to fix Dana’s office, and put her desk etc. in the hallway. It’s been two weeks now that she has had to give me water out of the village’s account, and manually track, my water usage. It wouldn’t be a big deal except that they are only there Mon – Thurs. Thursday I get hay, so I have to make sure that I have enough water to get through the weekend, and do all my shopping, then get hay. It’s all good at least I have water, and I can do three loads in one day if need be. It may only take 15 minutes to unload the water tank, but it still takes about an hour to get the water, and bring it back. I’m not complaining. Father has his car, I have my truck, I have water, and all is right with my world for the present (sort of at least).

 

 

 

Houston, we have water…

 

Finally the spring thaw has come, and our underground river has finally reached our pump again. Granted it’s a third of what our previous flow was, but hey I’ll take what I can get. Unfortunately since we didn’t get much snow this year I don’t know if it will last long, but for the time being I get a little break from hauling water. Right now the tank is about ¾ ‘s full, hopefully by tomorrow morning it will be all but full. That means I can actually finish my laundry, you know sheets, blankets, rugs, jackets all the things that don’t get washed on a regular basis, and most of which I can put away till next winter.

 

Today was a really nice day even though it started off kinda dreary, and cold. Ok downright dreary, and cold. I had to go to Capitan to get a bale of alfalfa, and by the time I came back it was still a little chilly, but the sun was out with only a gentle breeze. We decided to move horses today instead of tomorrow since the first wave of storms (meaning wind, and cold) is supposed to start tomorrow. First we put Sere into the pasture, and brought Penny out. I put her in Sere’s stall next to Marina. Next I put Sadie into the pasture, and April brought Star. Star was higher than a kite so she took a little longer to move. After we got them settled, we took LBM, and Lizzie out to the arena so they could play, and we could clean Lizzie’s stall. For the most part she is over her bout of Pigeon Fever (I swear she’s going to ooze forever). We took all the manure, and dumped it far, far away (like that would make a difference). I was actually very proud of LBM. I picked Lizzie because they’ve been stalled next to each other since he was weaned also she’s an old broodmare who has raised many a youngster. It’s been so long since he’s been able to run, and play in the arena he doesn’t quite know what to do. Lizzie got him running, and let him know when he was doing something wrong. He’s got to learn mare manners, and she’s just the one to teach him. She’s also too tall for him yet. I’m not stupid after all (at least most days). If I put him out with one of our smaller mares I would be taking a chance, this way there can be no surprises, and no hurt horses to doctor. I also want to put him out with Stormy, and maybe even Ibn. He gets along great with Ibn, but there is a fence between them. If I ever want to show him he needs to be able to get along with mares, geldings, and stallions too. This is a first step. He’s still young enough for the other horses to treat him like a baby so I’m not that concerned about safety. Once he understands herd behavior training him to play nice when I’m on his back, and there are other horses around won’t be as difficult, or so I keep telling myself.

 

April, and I had almost finished Lizzie’s stall when she left to go get Jetta, and Shazam (her mom & dad’s horses). They want to sell Jetta, but she’s only green broke, and she’s still too thin. Shazam is well trained so long as he’s in the round pen or the arena. He’s way too thin, and too spooky. It’s not that they don’t feed them enough it’s that all three of their horses are in pasture, and Shouda takes her share, and some of Shazam’s, and Jetta’s too. Shouda looks fantastic. She’s an old off the track TB who has had more than her share of health issues. Shazam’s a lowly gelding, and Jetta’s just young. Needless to say Shouda puts every one in their place, and they are stuck with leftovers. They’re also feeding them sweet feed to put weight on them. Naturally Shouda gets the best parts of everyone elses goodies as well as her own. What they manage to scarf down before Shouda barges in is too hot a feed especially for Shazam who’s a hot Arabian. I know I’m no expert so if I sound a little snooty forgive me (or not). I also know all the things I’ve done in the way of trying to keep our horses happy, and healthy. I do what works for us, and our horses.

 

It was getting late by now, but still a little too early to feed, so we took a little break before feeding everyone. For now Jetta, and Shazam are getting one flake of grass, one flake of alfalfa, and one pound of Safe Choice. It’s still 14% protein, but it’s a cool feed. Once I like their weight, I’ll start backing off on the Alfalfa, and then the Safe Choice.  They shouldn’t need the extra calories even when we start working them (at least not till next winter). They won’t be worked that hard. I’ll leave them alone for a week till they get settled, and (Shazam especially) settle down. Poor Shazam was a nervous wreck by the time he got here. Then on top of everything else there was this huge cave. He’s never been in a barn or a barn stall. Rather than stress him out even more I put him in his stall the back way through a gate. I also put his feed right at the door of the barn stall. April said he would nibble a piece of hay then run out side to eat it. I told her once we left he would settle down, and eat. I’ll slowly bring the hay further into the barn. Of course I put his goodies in the feeder so if he wants them he will just have to go into that scary cave. I’m such a mean person. He’ll be fine, he just needs time to learn that he won’t be attacked, and killed. He’s skittish with dogs too. It seems that he was once attacked by two Rotweilers, and you know Arabians they never forget. He’ll get over it. Our dogs are used to horses, and unless I’m chasing them they leave the horses pretty much alone. The only reason they have for even going into the stalls is for horse cookies, or maybe a little hoof leftovers.  We’ll see how everyone is tomorrow morning. What you wanna bet everyone survives just fine.

More Fun…

 

It took me over two weeks to get my last post posted. Why you ask, what can possibly happen in two weeks? My wonderful fantastic 2014 is off to a slow start, the wonderful part that is. Well my truck gave me a good two weeks before it started breaking down again. It was doing fine then all of a sudden it started to die on me. Do you have any idea how scary is to be carrying a load of water (275 - 330 gallons of it), and suddenly be dead in the water? It would be fine then start to loose power then stop. It took a while (once George rescued me, and pushed me from Capitan to our road), but I finally figured out it was the thermostat. Meanwhile I replaced the airflow bypass valve, and screwed up the timing that I just got fixed after Rudy replaced the distributor. Oh did I tell you about the episode with the distributor? I was bringing a load of water from Capitan, and the truck died on Hwy 48 in a very bad place. There was no room to pull completely off the road of course, and it just died. Luckily a sheriff’s car pulled up right after, and stayed behind me till AAA finally sent a tow truck. Why is it that when you tell people not to do something that’s the very thing they do? I told them I was carrying 300 gallons of water, I was in an unsafe place, and not to send the tow truck from Ruidoso, which of course is exactly what they did. When he finally got there he took one look at my truck with it’s load of water, and went right back to Ruidoso. The tow company in Capitan, which is 10 minutes away (as opposed to 45 minutes away), has a heavy duty truck with a flat bed. By this time the Sheriff was getting a bit peeved, but I finally got AAA to send the right tow, and he managed to get me, and my water safely up to the house (after three hours that is). Such fun. Anyway Rudy ended up spending our anniversary replacing the distributor. He was working on the timing when he had to leave. He called Andy’s the next morning, which was freezing cold, and snowing, and had him come up to the house to fix the timing. Needless to say when the truck started dying on me yet again I was very nervous about going to town to get water. It would work then not work, work then not work. We figured out it wasn’t the fuel pumps, and it wasn’t the fuel pressure regulator. Rudy was afraid it was one of the sensors, but said I could replace the thermostat with little trouble, and it would be a cheap fix if that was what was wrong with it. I replaced it, and the truck stopped dying, but he didn’t tell me to put gasket stuff on both sides of the gasket so I had to take it apart again, and the second time I put it back together one bolt didn’t go in right. I was going to Andy’s to find out about the check engine light, and of course it boiled over. I just can’t win for loosing some days. They re-taped the boltholes on the motor side, and fixed a vacuum line that had come loose, and I was good again. I still have to re-adjust the timing (George fixed it after I replaced the by-pass valve but timed it too slow), but the thermostat is working fine now that it is broken in.

 

Lest you think that 2014 isn’t turning out to be so great, there have been some positives. Everyone is healthy again. Marina’s feet are doing fine, Lizzie got over her Pigeon Fever, and it only takes me less than an hour to feed again. Thank you Lord for that! April (God love her) got on the roof for me, and cleaned out the top of the chimney. We now have heat in the main part of the house again. I’ve split a little more than half of the wood I got from Sherry, and spring is definitely here. Patti, and George are going to give me their chickens I just have to fix the chicken run so no more little foxes can dine on their favorite treat. I fixed the barn water pipe (brass can only stand so much cold weather) so we now have water in all the right places. There have been no more run ins with porcupines (don’t know if I told you about that one), and the skunks haven’t started coming out yet. I haven’t taken down my Christmas stuff, but hopefully now that I’m not exhausted all the time, and I actually will have some free time (once I get caught up on laundry that is) I should be able to get that taken care of very soon. Best of all, I made a new friend today, a very good new friend. I was going to get water, and at the dumpster two friends were visiting. They saw me coming, and ended their chitchatting. As I pulled up the man going back home stopped me, and told me he had been trying to catch me (to talk of course). Anyway we talked a bit, and he offered to let me use his 400-gallon water tank. It’s one of the round ones that just slide in the bed of the truck shaped to fit over the wheel wells. Of course I said yes so up to his house we went. We sat, and talked for quite a while, and traded tanks. He only gets water for the horses leaving his well for household use. He said I could just keep it as long as I needed it, and if he needed to get water he would use my tank. He also offered to go with me using my tank, and that way we could fill both tanks, and get my storage tank full (God how I love small towns). His wife loves to ride, but he’s not always able to go. Besides a heart condition (not unlike Rudy’s) he’s been battling hernias, and tumors. He’s beat cancer so far, but he’s not as strong as he used to be. With all he’s been through it’s no wonder. Anyway we exchanged numbers, as he wants to bring his wife over to see our horses. The place is a mess since I haven’t had time to keep up the stalls, but all that will be changing with the fair weather. Who knows I might even get the rest of my house clean. Now that I have water again I can’t wait till I can wash the floors. Then too I need to groom the two little mops that run around the house. You have no idea how wonderful it is not to worry about having enough water.

 

Last but not least, I think the underground river that feeds our well has been growing with the warmer weather. We didn’t get a lot of snow, but we did get some in November, and December. I shouldn’t have as much water as I do considering there were two days this week I couldn’t get water so I’m hoping. It may not last that long, but even a little break from having to get water every day is greatly appreciated.

 

Thus ends my saga. I can’t wait to get things squared away again, and start doing the things I love to do like riding!

I know some people have boring lives…

I know some people have boring lives but I don’t think I’m one of them. The last time I started to write a post was 10-20-2013, it’s now the middle of February. At that time I was commenting on the fact that Joe had finally finished cleaning Lizzie’s stall. Eventually we got Espree, Star, and Lizzie’s stalls done a couple of times (thankfully before the weather got bad). Star contracted Pigeon Fever otherwise known as Dry Land Distemper or even River Rot. Evidently this year for some reason there  was a huge outbreak of it in our area. She had three breakouts all of which broke open, and closed up again even before I could flush out the abscesses, then Lizzie came down with it. She is almost over with it yes I know that was over three months ago. At one point she could barely walk but it just wouldn’t break open. I soaked her with hot Epson salt compresses twice a day till about a week or more ago, and I am on my fourth jar of Ichthammol. I had to trim the fur on her chest to get the Ichthammol down into her skin before the fur fell out. Finally it burst, and has been oozing ever since. Her fur is already growing back even though she still has a little oozing. At one point I had three sick horses in the worst weather. Jeri caught a terrible cold, which thankfully he got over without needing medication. The worst was

Marina. She stopped eating, and was down most of three days. Then she went lame on her back leg. With Sherry’s help we decided she had contracted hooves, so while I was soaking Lizzie’s chest, I was also soaking Marina’s feet in Epson salts. At first (not knowing what of a dozen things might be wrong) I was giving her 20 cc's of penicillin twice a day. Then when we decided is was contracted hooves she got 10 cc’s of Banamine once a day for over a week, and was very grateful once I stopped. She has very hard hooves to begin with, and with it being so dry it was just too much for her feet. She is now getting hoof treatments every few days to keep them from drying out again. This last little snowstorm has helped soften her feet so I could get most of her overgrown frog cut down. I’m sure that contributed to her problem.

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All this of course is only the tip of the iceberg. Getting water has been an ongoing problem, as our well is now completely dry. Once the cold weather hit the water tank I was using to haul water with kept cracking. It was covered with bondo, which eventually came off so I would have to do it all over again. Finally I got a new used tank (300 gal). The only problem was it was used to transport oil. Do you have any idea how hard it is to get oil out of that large a tank? Taint easy let me tell you. I finally took it to a car wash, filled the bottom with degreaser, and let it sit. Rudy took it back later, and washed it out as best he could. There’s a little crusty stuff on the bottom, but that is never going to come out. Ok now I have a new clean tank so the truck breaks down. After a week of replacing this, and that, taking it down to the mechanic to find out it was something in the carburetor. They of course wore down the battery by taking the key out. I tried charging it, and even used the battery from the Z to get it started to no avail. I replaced the coil, the spark plugs, spark plug wires, and the solenoid. I got a new battery, and it still wouldn’t start. Then Rudy suggested that I look for a short in the wire connecting the solenoid to the starter button he installed. Sure enough I find a burn mark. I cut, and splice the wire, and lo, and behold it starts. Thank you Lord! Between the truck, my tank issues, and busted pipes, we went over a month without running water. Talk about roughing it.

 

December was a month to reckon with. Since 2013 was the worst year of our married life it decided to go out with a bang. There were freezing cold temps, and though we didn’t get a lot of snow ourselves, there was plenty on the mountain in fact we thought we just might work our way out of our three year drought until January came with no moisture at all. Mostly we had freezing temps. I had heat tape, blankets, and plenty of R19 down at the pump house, and I bought some wood to make a box lines with R19 around the bottom of the pump house. I haven’t built it yet, but I did buy the wood. Unfortunately I forgot to turn on the heat lamp. The result was three busted pipes. This happened about the time the truck broke down. I was hoping to fix it myself, but it was beyond me. Between doctoring horses, hauling water, breaking ice, and cutting wood (my wood pile was depleted by now), I had neither the strength nor the energy to attempt it. George (April’s step father) knew of someone who could fix it for me. I felt terrible because a simple job ended up taking most of his Sunday. We finally got it fixed, and the heat lamp has been on every since. The freezing temps also made for heavy ice, like 6 – 8” thick ice. LBM broke the float in his, and Lizzie’s tank so I had to fix that too. You know I used to love winter of course that was when I lived in the city, and in Tucson to boot. Now I can’t wait till spring.

 

A couple of weeks ago I had to clean out our chimney. What a mess that was. I was doing real good until the pipe dropped, and I had soot everywhere. The top portion of the pipe is pellet stove piping which is much narrower so I made a chimney brush out of a long broom handle, and a toilet bowel brush. Hey it worked except for the piping above the roof. My makeshift chimney brush wasn’t quite long enough for the pipe above the roof. I still have to go up on the roof to clean out the rest of it. Now I have no fear of heights, just of ladders. Many years ago I was cleaning my swamp cooler, and one time when I was going down the ladder slipped, and I ended up upside down on a chair that was thankfully under the ladder. If not for that chair I would have cracked my head open on the cement. Getting up on the roof is not going to be fun, but it has to be done. While up there I’m going to clean out the other chimney. Might as well, it hasn’t been cleaned for a number of years. It doesn’t get used that much, and is working just fine right now, but with my luck... One day when April is here (and we have the time), she can help with the ladder. Still I’m not looking forward to it.

 

I have lots of wood now thanks to Sherry. She had some Ponderosas that were dead, and I got two truckloads of wood. Unfortunately they weren’t dead long enough, and still have too much resin in them so I still have to go out get wood, and cut it. Please let Spring come soon.

 

I forgot we also have a new addition to the family. She’s been the bright spot in this otherwise lousy winter. Since April won’t let me have Dominica, I decided I needed to find my own littleler. I went to the Humane Society, and told them I wanted a Chihuahua or Chihuahua mix. They found me Jessie, Jessie James. They had her for 5 days, and managed to get her up to 7 lbs. At that she was skin, and bones. I’ve put 1.8 lbs on her since. They had her down as a Chihuahua/Terrier mix with a docked tail. She’s heavier boned than a purebred, and longer with shorter legs. Actually except for the docked tail she looks like a Chiweenie. She’s very spoiled, and I

have an idea that whoever had her before she got lost really spoiled her. She’s becoming quite the ranch doggie. She goes down to the barn to feed with me, and just about everywhere else. She’s a bit timid around people but I don’t think it was abuse, I think she simply never went anywhere to get exposed to new situations. Down at the barn she’s quite brave, too brave in fact. She goes off with the big dogs into the woods, goes down the road when I’m not looking, and has no fear of the horses. In fact once Marina was feeling better I put her, and Sadie into the arena, and chased them. When my back was turned there Jessie was in the arena running for her life when the horses came back around. I had to yell at her three times to stay out of the arena before she gave in, and stayed out. She’s completely house trained, about three years old, and sleeps under the covers with me at night. I said she was spoiled.

 

Anyway thus ends 2013, and here’s to a fantabulous 2014!

 

 

I know it’s been a while, but…

 

I know it’s been a while, but I have some very good reasons for my absence. In fact I have so many good reasons it’s hard to know where to begin. Lets start with the monsoon season. Now I have lived in the southwest most of my life, so I think I know how the monsoon season is supposed to work in a normal year (meaning no La Nina, and no El Nino). The mornings are beautiful, then is starts getting hot, and muggy. Thunderclouds form where there was only blue sky. There’s wind, lightning, and thunder, and by about 2:00 in the afternoon the temperatures plummet as huge raindrops, and maybe even hail pound the ground for ten minutes or maybe even half an hour. The air is sweet, and clean as the clouds, wind, and rain seem to magically disappear. The deluge is over for now, and the thirsty ground has absorbed the rainwater like a sponge. There is a beautiful sunset, and a star filled sky for a canopy at night. That’s the way it is supposed to work. You’re not supposed to have day after day of rain morning, noon, and night. Towns are not supposed to be underwater, that’s supposed to happen in the Midwest, not the Southwest. Yes we need the rain, but not all at once. You get a little rain, and then you get a little dry spell so the ground can absorb the moisture it so desperately needs. Like I said someone didn’t read the rulebook. The sad thing is with all that rain it still doesn’t make up for the three years of drought. Now we need a good snow season.

 

Of course in spite of the fact that it may be raining that doesn’t mean you stop doing the things that have to be done. Things like feeding, and clearing out stalls that now have pools of water in them. When you do these things of course you get wet (soaked is more like it) because when you started of course it was dry as a bone. Normally this is no big deal, but when two weeks before you were sick it can become a problem. Yes the chills, and fever return, only now you have a chest that hurts so bad you can hardly breathe. This makes doing anything extremely difficult. Two weeks go by, and you can breathe, but please don’t make me laugh. This starts a coughing fit that won’t quit.

 

While you’re still recuperating you have a very hectic week of taking your father to various doctors. This in turn elicits various tests one of which is at the hospital 70 miles away for four days. Your body of course vehemently objects as it refuses to allow you to drive such a distance for even one day. You also discover that you no longer have water. The well has suddenly gone dry again (thank you neighbor for that). Since you were caught unawares, and it had to be on a Friday (when the Village is closed, and you can’t buy water till Monday) you get very upset. Thankfully you have some water on your account. It’s not enough, but it lasts a little while, and you have two tanks of rainwater for the horses, at least they will have enough water to last till Monday. Then begins the daily routine of water runs. My tank is old, and brittle with numerous cracks I have fixed with bondo. It only lasts a little while then I have to remove the bondo, and re-do it. The cracks get larger of course, but it’s all I can do. George (April’s father) is looking for another tank for me, meanwhile I try to make at least two runs a day to keep pace with the demand of thirteen horses. Now if I could only get enough to do laundry that would be really nice!

 

You also have at least two horses that have to be moved since their feet are now mush from all the mud that wouldn’t dry out (we’ve covered that already, the monsoon season that didn’t behave properly). Ok if we move Marina, and Lizzy to the arena their feet will dry out. They have the two wettest stalls. Everyone else gets their feet cleaned, and that’s it. Boy are Marina, and Lizzy in seventh heaven. There is a lot of grass amongst those weeds. Lizzy’s feet are the worst. Not only are they soft, but also way too long, even her soles are overgrown. Things are starting to dry out, and now her feet are cracking etc. The arena is helping, but not enough. April shows up, and manages to get the worst of the overgrowth off Lizzy’s feet, and evens out Marina’s. I move Marina, and Lizzy to

the pasture, and Jazzy, and Penny to the arena. Finally Marina, and Lizzie’s feet start to wear down properly. Once Lizzy gets regular workouts she will do much better. In another week she’ll be ready to ride again. No one’s ridden her since she came here. Joe has a headstall that I think will fit her. What do you want she’s a TB, and all our other horses are Arabians? Her weight is good too. It’s amazing what Pergolid does, she was thin as a rail, and now she’s fit as a fiddle, well ok, maybe a cello.

 

There are three stalls that have to be cleaned asap. I usually get around to it at least twice a year, but things have been a bit difficult these past few years. It’s dry enough now to do some mowing, but when I said the mower didn’t feel right I was correct. The pulley went flying off before I had a chance to do much. I now need to get two spacers, a new pulley, and a new nut. At least I thought that was all I needed. It turns out the spindle that I got was the wrong spindle which is why the pulley was ruined. I finally have all the right parts, and April helps me torque down the nuts, and away I go. Finally after three months my mower is fixed. Of course one of the blades is only half there, and the other blade needs sharpening. The weeds are so dry now it doesn’t really matter so new blades will wait till next year. I start working on one stall in-between water runs (lets not forget that the well is now bone dry), when I notice that Star has some swelling on her belly. The next morning it’s bigger, and the fur is ruffled. I look more closely, and sure enough it’s pigeon fever. She has another pocket that is forming on the right side of her chest. Now I have to get at least one stall cleaned. I choose the one next to Espree since she had pigeon fever when we had an outbreak in CA. I get not quite a quarter of it done, but I move Star anyway. The next day April, and I work on the stall, and get almost half of it done. This is not going well. The pustule on Star’s tummy slowly seeped out (we got her out of the pasture just in time), and healed quickly. Meanwhile her chest pocket now encompasses her chest, and has traveled to her tummy just beyond her front legs. After a couple of days the chest hardens, and bursts. It takes a few days to drain, and she’s good as new.

 

Sunday Joe showed up, and helped us get the worst of Star’s stall done. The next day (while I was running around) April got up to the stall front, and all that’s left is the inside of the stall which might as well have a cement floor it’s packed so hard. We leave it for the time being, and the next two weeks Joe works on Lizzy’s stall. I get both floats on the pasture, and arena tanks replaced. I get all of Father’s doctor’s appointments changed so he can go to Tuba City, and then to his sisters for their annual Christmas party. Don’t ask it’s a long story. We buy him a Jeep since he can’t drive the Fiesta up our road in the snow. He can’t drive it anywhere in the snow, at least not around here. I still have to take him to Roswell shopping, and to various doctor’s to make sure he is ok to travel. There’s also a sleep study on the 23^rd I have to take him to. I have no clue what we’re going to do about his heart monitor. I’ll have to talk to the doctor’s about that.

 

So to sum up, the monsoons made a mess of everything including me (I was sick for three weeks). Marina, and Lizzy are in the arena, and loving it. Star is over her pigeon fever, and no one else came down with it. The mower is finally fixed, and all I have to do now is find the time to get the rest of the property around the barns etc. mowed down. I got the floats on the two big water tanks replaced. I have father’s doctor’s appointments set up so he can travel. Father now has a proper vehicle to tool around in here. My Jeep is finally on its last leg so it’s good that father bought a Jeep. Two stalls are almost cleaned (Star’s needs to be cleaned again but it’s only new stuff). I have to catch up on the other stalls, but hey they’ll be a piece of cake compared to the back stalls. I also have to continue to work on the stalls that Joe started. He can’t have all the fun you know. I have to make at least two water runs a day, three if I want to get my storage tank anywhere near full for I don’t know how long. I finally decided to fatten Sadie up, and put her in the pasture with Lizzy, and Marina. I’ll have to make a feeder stand for her, but it will be perfect since all three of them get supplements. Jazzy, and Penny will go back in the barn stalls. I’ll have to work Jazzy on a regular basis so her feet don’t get too long. I got the water heater blanket, but have yet to put it together. I brought in my plants for the winter, but my woodpile is still pitifully small. All in all things have been seriously hectic, and show no sign of letting up. Isn’t life wonderful?

I guess they’re right…

 

You know how they say after you get over the flu to take it easy because you can relapse? Guess what, they’re right! Not only that but they also say that the relapse is worse than the first time around. Wouldn’t you know, they’re right about that too. When my mower parts came in I had to test the mower after I put it all back together to make sure that it was working properly, and while I was out there it sorta started raining. It wasn’t raining hard, it was just sprinkling, and I got a little soaked. It wasn’t cold out so I didn’t think anything of it. Then later when I fed of course it did the same thing. At least I wore warmer clothing, only it didn’t seem to do any good. By the time I finished with everything got everyone fed etc. I was coughing up a storm. Needless to say I’ve been down all week. The worst part is I can’t seem to breath well. I’ve always been short winded (kept me out of sports as a kid, which I did not appreciate), but this is ridicules. I’d have to stop halfway through feeding to catch my breath.  Today I was able to unload, and stack hay, but after all I only had eight bales of alfalfa, and some feed bags so it was no big deal. Still, and all I was exhausted, but I got it done. After I did the hay Father wanted to go to town for lunch (he doesn’t appreciate my simple one person meals), after which I came home, and proceeded to fall asleep for a couple of hours. Hey that’s the most I’ve done all week.

 

Actually it’s been a good time to be sick (if there is such a thing). All it’s done for the past week is rain. Now we’ve been in a drought situation here in the southwest so naturally we’ve been praying for rain. In our church every Sunday one of the things we pray for specifically is rain, and I am assuming that the same sort of thing goes on in just about every church in NM. Well God took us at our word, and opened the floodgates. Geese Louise He could have let it rain a little bit at a time, but nooo… He lets loose the rain all at once. One Tropical storm is bad enough, but two during monsoon season is a bit much. This is why my husband, and I insist on never living near a river, and never, ever have a house on low ground. I had a friend whose house was a mile away from the Santa Cruz down in Tubac AZ. We had a monsoon season like this. It rained for three days straight, the river changed course, and she had three to four feet of water in her house. That was a bad year. We were stranded for three days while they decided who was going to pay for the road that washed out leaving us (Rio Rico community) isolated. All the roads leading in, and out of Rio Rico were washed away. The bridge going over the Santa Cruz was left standing, but there was no road. The raging water cut out the road behind the bridge, leaving a twenty foot drop about fifteen foot wide. It was really sort of cool watching the power of the river cut away at the road bit by bit. I’ll have to look in my files to see where the newspaper articles are. Anyway this has been that sort of rain here in NM, and CO. We have been inconvenienced, but there are plenty of people in both states that are going through a terrible time. The worst part is that in spite of the fact that the rivers are higher than they have been in a number of years it’s still not enough. The lakes have risen somewhat, but are still no where near what they should be. For the year we are getting closer to normal rainfall but not there yet. We may get there the next few days as it is supposed to rain some more, but that still won’t make up for the past three years. In addition to a good monsoon season we need a good wet winter with a slow snowmelt in the spring. No more flooding (just in case you’re listening Lord).

 

I may be frustrated because I can’t get done what I want to do, but I really feel for the horses. Ok so they are spoiled. Each has a dry spot to stand in so they don’t get soaked, but that’s besides the point. All the runs are sloppy, and some have standing water where there are low spots. I’m going up, and down the fence line trying to find a spot to leave hay for the pasture horses. When it’s raining I take the hay in, and feed them inside the shuffling barn. Everyone seems to have gotten a little thin with that Coastal hay, but Espree, and Sadie are the worst. If tomorrow is as nice as today I think I will put the two of them in the arena. I have water there, and I can feed them extras. I started Espree on Breeders Choice, but I ran out, and forgot that Harvey’s closes at noon on Sat. Then Rudy told me that they are also closed on Monday’s.  Hopefully, with the new store that won’t be the case. I really need that stuff for Jeri if no one else. Jeri has shown real improvement, and I don’t want to have him take a step back. I also need to get Espree, Sadie, and LBM up to weight. They are the worst. Some of the others are down a little in weight, some just need work, big bellies, and no muscle, and then there’s Sere. She looks fantastic.  If I can get the rest to look like her… You can’t sell a horse that looks like crap, so I’d best get to work, and get them in shape.  Of course in order to do that it has to stop raining long enough for me to cut all the weeds, and grass down. I did get the round pen mowed, but it’s so slick with all the rain that if I try to work any one it will be a slip, and slide affair, great for kids, not for horses. Today it only rained a little this morning, and if I’m lucky maybe tomorrow will be dry, then I can get some mowing done. Some is better than none. I also hope that Wal-Mart has gotten in some wood pellets. I need a ton of them, but even a few bags will be better than nothing. It’s a little early for wood pellets, but they have the cheapest in town. I’m not going to pay premium price for something that is going on the ground. It works just as well as dry stall, and is a whole lot cheaper.

 

I also found a cheaper fly spray. It took a while to come up with something that works here, but I think I’ve got it down. Most of it is just plain lemon Pinesol, and water (half, and half). That’s what the recipe called for (www.moniteausaddleclub.com/flyspray_recipes.htm). To that I added my alcohol, and clove mixture, just a little mind you, to convince the mosquitoes that they want to stay clear of the stuff (they don't like the smell of cloves). Add a little bit of eucalyptus oil, shake gently, and spray. It works as well as the fly spray you spend a fortune for that only lasts a day or so. It also makes the barn smell good. Today the flies were horrendous. All that moisture, and then just a little sun was all they needed to come out in force. I’ll make another batch tonight. I bought a big bottle of Pinesol for a whole $3. Much better that the $60 or so for the good stuff. It works, that’s all that matters to me. The horses are happy, so I’m happy, and that’s all that matters. Try it or try one of their other recipes, who knows you may find one you like better.

 

There has been one causality due to the weather. I found another hummingbird on her back this morning. I got some food in her, and I got her warmed up, but it wasn't enough. She had a heart attack and died after about half an hour. I'm sure the weather has caused other deaths in my hummingbird population, hopefully not too many. They are such brave little creatures they deserve a long life.

 

 

Finally…

 

Yes, you guessed it the mower parts finally came in, and they’re the right parts (yes!). After I feed tomorrow I’ll take off the other blades, sharpen them, put everything back together, and try to get some mowing done. I say try because that tropical storm that has been drowning Az is coming our way starting tomorrow. I swear we can’t get a break no matter what. Well that isn’t quite true. Something nice happened the other day. Sherry called about a sign she saw at the post office (the one in Alto) offering free cut wood. I called, and Sunday went over to Sonterra with the pickup. Larry (the owner) had already cut down about a hundred trees, and has about another hundred to go. Between the beetles, and the fire he’s going to be left with one Ponderosa pine, one Pinion, and some Juniper on his land. He is lucky though the fire stopped short of his house. Three other people down the road lost their house. He is a very nice man who moved to Alto with his wife once they retired. He helped my father, and I load the wood into the back of the pickup, and said I could come over any time to get more wood. He showed me how to get to his woodpile in back just in case I go over there, and they’re not home. Like I said he’s a very nice man. Now I have to get the shim for my sledgehammer so I can use it. I have a lot of wood to split. By the time I split the big logs I will have doubled my log pile with one truckload of wood. He has another five truckloads in back. It’s the one good thing that has happened this week. I got plenty of wood, and made a new friend, they even used to breed paints.

 

I thought I possibly had Stormy sold, but after I sent her some conformation stills, she said that he wasn’t what she was looking for. It doesn’t help that he is the least photogenic horse that we have. Then too I can take action photos, but stills? Even just looking at him standing there he doesn’t look like much of anything. It isn’t until he starts moving that you can see what he’s all about. Once I get the place cleaned up, and everything mowed, I’m going to start working him, and Star. They both need to be worked to get them in shape so someone will want to buy them. Stormy will be a great endurance horse no matter that he doesn’t look like much. Oh well, things will work out somehow,

besides April wants to be the first one on his back. If I sold him now she would miss out on that, and so would he. I would also like to see just what he can do in these hills. He’s small, compact, and more than willing to please. Ibn loves going out into the forest, and I’m hoping that Stormy will too. Star is more of a little princess, and I think she would be perfect for a little girl. We’ll see, I’ll just have to trust that the right person will find us, and will give both of them a forever home. After all that’s the point in breeding isn’t it?

 

The hummingbirds are leaving, and the elk are coming. The bulk of my hummingbirds have begun their journey south. I still have a little over half a dozen left but that’s all. They will stay bulking up just a little longer for the journey then they will be gone too. The other night I thought I heard an elk call, and tonight I heard a young bull call out. It must be his first season, the cry was so thin it reminded of a teenage boy when his voice changes. The hummingbird’s leave, and the elk come back, that’s what September brings. Soon the elk will be thick, and if I’m lucky I might even get a picture or two. When I’ve seen them before I’ve never had a camera, or it was too difficult to get whoever I was riding still enough to bring out the camera get it open etc so I could take a picture. My little iphone should make it easier to take pictures on the trail. I’m bound, and determined to get back in the saddle. September’s a wonderful month for riding. It’s not too hot, and it’s not too cold. Hopefully it won’t be too wet this winter so I can ride more. Once Joe gets his mare here you watch April will be here more often, so the three of us can go riding in the hills. It’s been a long time since I’ve ridden with anyone. It will be fun, and it will force me to ride instead of working on the property. Luckily there generally isn’t as much to do come winter, I hope (are you listening Lord), especially if I can get enough wood stacked to last the whole winter. Great, the news just said we will have a flood watch come tomorrow with more rain expected than they first reported. Don’t they know I have a lot to do? I can’t mow if it’s raining cats, and dogs for the next three days. I just can’t seem to win for loosing these days. Oh well such is life, I will get done what I can, and figure the rest out later.

 

 

Tomorrow is the Day…

Tomorrow is the 6^th, that’s the day that my mower parts are supposed to arrive, now let’s see if they do. I have to go into town to get the hay I was supposed to get today, which I will do while Father is at the senior center for lunch. I was supposed to do all that today, but you know how it goes. We didn’t get back from Ruidoso until 4:00, not only was I too tired, but it was too late anyway. I did go to the Dollar store (after I fed), and got what I needed there. At least there will be one less stop tomorrow. If the parts come in I might even be able to get started mowing tomorrow, or at the least first thing Sat morning. It’s supposed to stay dry (with maybe only a few showers over the weekend) till mid week next week. Of course that’s what they said about Monday, and a downpour right at dusk, almost ended the life of a little hummingbird.

 

Amongst my hummingbirds, I have about half a dozen or so juveniles (I think). Just after sunset we had a huge downpour that lasted say fifteen minutes or so. I was on the phone and once it stopped I went outside to sit on the porch to watch my hummingbirds while I talked. For some strange reason I looked down, and there on the porch floor directly beneath the feeders, was a tiny little hummingbird all fluffed out, and hunkered down. Needless to say I got off the phone real fast, went over to her, and when I went to pick her up she barely moved. I cupped her in my hands, and tried to warm her up with my breath. She moved her wings a little, but was too cold to do much more than sit there. There was no way she could get warm enough to spend the night outside, as the rain dropped the temperature quite a bit. I do have some bird cages, but they are all down at the barn (of course), so I took a large wire waste paper basket, put a feeder inside on some pine shavings, and gently set her on the feeder edge. She was able to grab onto the feeder, but her wings were still spread out. Since the cats go everywhere I put her in the shower, and closed the door. When I went to check on her later in the night she had climbed up to the top of the basket, which had a lid on it (I do think once in a while). I figured she would be better off for a warm nights rest so I left her there till morning. When I woke up first off I checked in on her, took her outside, and removed the top. She climbed to the top, grabbed on to the edge, and off she flew to the safety of the trees. If I hadn’t seen her she would have stayed there on the porch, and gotten thoroughly soaked for another deluge followed the first about twenty minutes later, then too I would never have been able to hold such a tiny little creature.

 

I love my hummingbirds, they are truly amazing creatures.  They delight me with their antics chasing each other from their favorite feeder. The adults pretty much leave the youngsters alone knowing (I only guess) that they need to put on as much weight as possible for the long trek ahead of them. Other adults are fair game, but not the little ones. Then too there are groups that are quite willing to share a feeder, while others battle it out. It won’t be too long before they are gone, as the nights are becoming quite cool. They have a long journey before them, and are almost constantly eating. They have to double their weight before they trek across the gulf. It still amazes me that such a tiny little bird can make such a journey. We could learn a lot from hummingbirds.

 

April is supposed to come over on Sat I’ll find out then what Joe thought of the Appy his brother wants to give him. I don’t know whatever happened to the TB mare he was looking at, but I suspect they decided to try racing her. I’ll find out when they get here. It should take about three days for me to get all the mowing done after which I can start working on the horses again. I need to groom, clean some feet, take a rasp to a few, and start working others. If April is here for a while maybe she can do feet. Sere has been on the OCD pellets for a week now, and I want to clean, and trim her feet (one front hoof is definitely shorter than the other again), and maybe put her in the round pen to see if there is any improvement at all. I know that a week isn’t a lot of time, but if I work her lightly once a week, I can better gauge her progress (or lack thereof). I think I want to move LBM, and Stormy as well. LBM needs to wear down his feet, and he needs more exercise. I need to work on Stormy, and LBM’s stall is closer to the round pen. Also I can give Stormy more attention. I need to desensitize him all over again with a spray bottle since he’s decided that this year he doesn’t want to get sprayed with fly spray. I think he, and Ser-Haat are conspiring against me. LBM will still be next to Ibn, and being next to Sere will let him know that all mares are to be treated with respect (not just Lizzie) if you plan to live long. I can’t quite put him in with a bunch of mares say in pasture (which would be more natural), but if I can expose him to more than just one mare, he should learn some horse etiquette. He’s still little (short too), but he is also a teen, and given the chance can produce. Ibn was about 18 months old when he got his pony babysitter pregnant LBM is three. Sere is tall, and a dominant mare so I don’t think he will try anything with her. He’s still very impressionable. I’ll try switching the two of them, and watch LBM like a hawk before I leave him alone next to Sere. I haven’t been watching her cycles (after all we’re not breeding) so I don’t know how often she is cycling just now. Even if he were to try, he’s just too short, and there will be a fence between them (I’m not totally daft).

 

That’s the plan, which is of course subject to change, at least four or five times. I don’t know why I even bother to plan things. Nothing ever happens the way I plan it, but I do try. I also need the energy to do all this. I have an idea that once I get all the mowing done, my body is going to say, “ok that’s it we’re done here”, and then I’ll probably sleep for three days. Right now I’ll settle for one night beginning now!

And they grow, and grow…

 

Monday morning I woke up about 1:00, 1:30 freezing cold, and in excruciating pain. I closed the window, upped the heat on my heating pads, took some Ibuprophen, and went back to bed. I woke up again around 5:00 feeling no better. I spent most of the day on the easy chair in a thermal shirt (not my normal cut up T-shirt) covered with a blankie, and the heating pad much higher than normal. I did call to find out about the parts for the mower. No parts. Finally about 3:00 in the afternoon when I realized that yes I had a fever, it finally dawned on me. April gave me the flu. I think dead meat best describes my feelings for her that afternoon. Three days I was totally miserable, three days. In spite of my fevered condition I continued to call about my mower parts. Ok maybe I wasn’t up to putting the mower back together, sharpening the blades, and doing the once around the property, but I could get the parts, if they would come in.

 

Well I survived, but the parts never came in. By Thursday I had become a wee bit impatient. I called Randy again, and asked if he could maybe find out where the package was by the tracking number. You can do that with UPS you know. He said he’d call me back. This time he actually did only to tell me that the parts were backordered, and they had no clue when they’d be able to ship them. Great! He said he had someone else he could call, and would call me back. Since he never called me back I stopped by on my way to Capitan. Yes he found the parts, and they told him they had them in stock. The kicker is they won’t get here until Sep 6^th. Another week, and it will be a jungle out there. Ok so maybe it’s already a jungle, but by then I’m sure that everything will be seeding which is what I was trying to avoid. It will also be a hassle even if I do sharpen the blades because the mower will bend everything down and it will be difficult for the blades to even get to the stems to cut them. This is all reminiscent of when we first moved in. What a mess it was trying to get this place cleaned up. Oh well, at least the parts are on their way, I should be grateful for that. I don’t think I will be ordering parts from Randy anytime soon. He’s local, and a good guy so I want to give him the business, but I don’t think my little bit of business is going hurt him any. If anything it will only hurt me since the other places to get parts are in Ruidoso. Just once Lord do you think things could get a little bit easier? Not!

 

That’s what’s up with the mower. As for the kids I haven’t been riding (can’t get to the round pen) so they are not getting the workouts they need, and neither am I. Jazzy is absolutely fat, and Star, and Sadie have nice big hay bellies. Most everyone else is picking up weight nicely. We have always done better with half, and half (except for Jazzy), and in spite of the expense of getting alfalfa I guess I’m going to have to keep with that program. The Breeder’s Choice I’m now giving Jeri has really helped him a lot. He is putting on some “serious weight” (April’s words). Actually everyone is looking real good. LBM is thin, but that’s just because he’s a teenager, and just like people teenage boys eat you out of house, and home, and never seem to gain a pound (how I wish it were the same for me). The OCD pellets I got for Sere came in (before the mower parts I might add) so I’m excited to see if they actually help her. I’m loath to start giving her pain medication for her navicular cist so I am praying big time that this does the trick. It would be so wonderful if I could let her out, and see her run, and play, and not go lame in five minutes time. She is so beautiful to watch. She’s big, elegant, and has exquisite movement. She’s broke to ride, and if I could get her to the point of riding her, what fun we’d have. We’ll just have to wait, and see.

 

On a side note I was talking to Sherry (Krisite’s owner) about my mower, and when I asked how things were going at her place she told me of her woe’s with one of wee little one’s. After being trimmed one of her mini’s came up lame. After a few days she was assured that it wasn’t founder (she’s foundered before), and she decided that it was in fact the trimming, and that our super hard ground was just too much for the poor little mini so she tried padding her two front feet. Well by the end of the day the pads were all compacted, and of no use at all. Next she decided she was going to try little booties. Well this was just too much for me not to see so I had her send me pics. She’s adorable in her little booties. Sherry

said she would put them on during the day, and then take them off at night so her little feet could properly dry out. No sense in letting her develop thrush or God only knows what. It does no good to cure one thing only the have the cure cause another problem. I haven’t heard back to see how she’s doing, but I’m sure that she’s doing fine.

 

Now I have to decide whether to go down to the barn for some grooming, and stall cleaning or stay up at the house, and tackle this computer room. I have three projects going, and quite frankly I can’t find my desk. The only reason I can type is the keyboard, and mouse are on a pull out tray. My desk is piled with music, pictures, negatives, mail, and misc. other stuff. Then there is this thick layer of dust everywhere. You know how it is you have so much to do that you don’t seem to get anything accomplished. Well that’s about the state of affairs here. Of course that’s always the state of affairs here so I have no idea what I’m talking about.  Isn’t life good!