And Now Time for Something Completely Different

Washington Nationals Baseball! And a FREE CONCERT following the game!

Miami Marlins lost, 9 - 0 Zero

Sammy Hagar, known as the 'Red Rocker' performed right after the game.

Snakes Alive

Irene has killed another baby ring-neck snake and had corraled a live snake under the side table in the dining room. She was making a strange sound, alerting me to the snake coiled, hiding from her. I got it into a plastic container and escorted it out of the house, into the front side yard where it can maybe survive.

I placed a quarter next to the container to get a better perspectve on the size. These guys are tiny.

Riding Weekend

Finally! The weather straightened out, sleeping with the windows opened, low humidity, two days of no rain in the forecast. Wahoo!

On Saturday we parked at the LOMH in Marriottsville, arriving around 11:00 a.m. Surprised that more campers and trailers were not there. It had rained a smidge on Friday late afternoon, but cleared out and dried up. After that it would have been the perfect weekend to camp.

We headed out, visiting Henryton Hospital site along the way. It is in the ending stages of being demolished, swept up like rubish. The hospital has not been used in over thirty years and has had countless arsons and vandalism over the years. Rumored to be haunted, it was a creepy place, soon to be history.

We pushed on from there, passing families out fishing, it was a little cool for swimming. Hard to believe it is August! We should be sweltering, but we did that in July. Now it is mostly like September.

Now that we have the outdoor hot/cold faucet, our new routine is at least rinse them in warm water, but today we used ezAll and gave the boys a bubble bath. They really, really like this. After that we take them over to the open field, where we are patiently growing Orchard Grass, and let them dry and graze. They also really like this part of the new routine.

Sunday we got our act together earlier and rode the local park right where we live. Was surprsed to see a ranger do a drive-by then quickly leave. While tacking up a family on mules with two unleashed dogs came back to their trailer. The young boy said, " ... and we galloped all the way back." I've seen Mule Races, and can tell you they are one of the slowest races ever. The unleashed dogs are a no-no, the ranger was already gone.

The extremely wet June left the weeds and invasive plants like a jungle. The usual mud pits were in good shape, but the flora was out of control. There were lots of trailers parked in the 'cow pasture,' but saw no one out in the woods. We did see evidence of horse traffic, so the trail maintenance is being ignored, just plow through obstructions and over-growth.

He literally hacked his way into a couple go-arounds. We are slated to lead a ride for TROT/CPWHC the end of October and we have our trail maintenance requirements adding up. This is going to be hard work.

Brother Roger and Kathy Dimond came up when we were loading up on our way out.

Snake

This year we've had several sightings of the same black snake hanging out in the dying Maple, in the staging area for the next dump run, or generally around the shed.

I've been patiently waiting for the Ring-neck snake 'bloom,' considering the re-installation of the dry wall, baseboards, and moulding in the basement. He reported that he saw a larger ring-neck

snake outside, behind the shed. I was hoping we had dodged the baby snakes this year. It has been so wet this entire season, we are six inches over our normal, I did expect a delay.

I believe Irene captured this baby, and left it for us under the table.

It's Always About the Weather

Heat wave shows up, right when we were getting accustomed to sleeping with the window opened, IN AUGUST! Now we are back to the Dog Days, as we should be.

Sunday, Sunday

Rain was promised, mostly looked like rain, but never did. With Skip's sore practically disappeared we could have ridden, but we didn't. We went to Mt. Airy, with another coupon for $20 off, to get a bag of Orchard Grass Mix for the spots that were not seeded by the contractor, plus got some of the 'Honey-Do' list checked off.

We had a rainbow to finish the day and another beautiful sunset on Annpolis Rock.

The nearly full moon peeked out between the clouds.

Horsekeeping/Housekeeping

Skip has a couple sore spots, one in particular, that made riding not such a good idea. He has a sore on his top line that is having a difficult time healing. It is the size of a dime. The saddle nor pad even touch it, but it continues to harbor infection. Scabs over, starts to heal but still has a puss center.

Headed out to Marriottsville, but when we got them out of the trailer,

he determined that Skip should not be ridden. I had the bright idea to walk through the woods out the side of the club and head to the open meadow. It was a beautiful day, we had planned on going to the Woodstock Inn. We had trailered all the way out here, might as well enjoy the day with the boys. And it should be no secret that the horses are much better on a 'leash' than the dogs.

It wasn't far through the woods, but will admit I was wheezing going up some of the trail. I held on to KC's tail and let him pull me up the inclines. They were pleasantly surprised when we led them out into the open field and let them drop their heads, we searched for clover patches.

When we got home KC had a mishap coming off the trailer and hit his forehead on the door jamb. He really rang his bell; came to me and rested his head on my chest briefly, then shaking his head over and over. I knew it was 'bad' but didn't have the guts to look at it.

Soon after that we went to Todd's with the horse trailer and crammed 48 bales of hay in there. Before we could put the hay in the barn we both worked on emptying stall #5, spreading the old, moldy hay down on the right-of-way.

We then headed out to Mt Airy, with our $20 coupon at the Southern States Co-op. We needed this and that, but the most important product we picked up was 'Wonder Dust®.' No affiliation, but this is the best thing since sliced bread. Costs around $2.00. First thing: pick the scab on Skip's back and flush the wound with eZAll® and warm water. Blot dry, apply the 'Wonder Dust®." I also put some on KC's forehead, dusting the scrape (poor guy). He really skinned his head, from brow to brow. Ouch! His nose is sunburned, so I slathered on the Desitin® ointment.

By the time I fed, Skip's sore was dried up, the puss had disappeared. If you didn't know where it was, you'd have a hard time finding it. I as going to reapply, but no need. KC's forehead looked so much better and there were no flies buzzing near their wounds. I would highly recommend 'Wonder Dust®' for minor scrapes and dings. It will also stop active bleeding.