Mid-Week Update - February

I am going to be running home again at lunchtime to let Maxx out. He has not had an accident in his crate and I don't want there to be, ever.

Irene is getting very bold with him - I think she's getting tired of being under siege. She slept in the closet again (in the bedroom) - last night Tom was at the computer, Max was sleeping at his feet and Irene had crept silently and now was under the desk - Tom was shocked at what he saw, said Irene's name, which woke Max up and Irene ran through the house before he could react.

I also mentioned that my mother's method always worked, harsh, yes, but definitively worked for the remainder of the cat's life. If all else fails we will set Max up for a staged match with Irene. Irene Scissorhands, the cat with the super powers, will prevail.

After sleeping through the night two nights in a row, he did not sleep through last night - had to go out at 3:30am - Tom took him out because I am not doing it, it was his idea to get a puppy when we have two minis that need starting and Irene still needs to be spayed - my oppositional behavior coming out. He can handle it, right?

I went to CVS in Damascus last night to get my Rx refilled - I didn't know how long I'd be gone because, well you know, so while I was gone Max was being territorial and confrontational with April and while he's said I am harsh with Max I am not going to let him get away with horrible manners at 12 weeks of age! I am not giving him a pass because he's a puppy, or he's had a hard start in life. Not going to do it.

Max was being horrid to April and Tom was using my harsh methods and he said the dog just went limp - he thought he was dead or knocked out! but in fact he was thinking about his actions and the reaction to his actions and he stopped doing it, and was pleasant the rest of the evening. Irene even came up from the basement and all was sweet and lovely. A major breakthrough. Tom got up to use the toilet and he just laid there, like a good dog! It was great!

We just can't have a 12 week-old puppy being top dog - not going to happen. Everybody needs to come first, which makes him last. It's the way of the pack and herd. Just the way it has got to be for having peace and harmony in the household. He's smart, he'll understand, and realize he will never be left out, he'll just be last, each and every time.

President's Day

No water while we wait for the well shock clock to turn at least 22 hours. After that the flushing, flushing and more flushing. Still smells like Chlorine, but it's all good. The water is clear and for now we'll say the well is cured.

We had to go to the BIGBOXPETSTORE for puppy stuff (toys, collars, food, a new cage) and of course we took Max and April with us. He got a ride in the cart, April stuck close to me. Lots of little hands wanted to pet the puppy, which is a good thing, but he got tired and slept in the bottom of the cart on his treats and toys.

Another beautiful day, the weatherman was so wrong, again! We took a walk around the perimeter of the property like the Rescue's hand-out says to do. I don't think they realized that is a tall order for a little puppy.

Max is pretty good on a leash and is confident. The boys came to the fence for a how-do-you-do, and followed us around for a while. We ended up picking up trash all the way around. The Utility had mowed their right-of-way and broke bottles in the emerging Skunk Cabbage bulbs. We also saw Winchester rifle cartridges on our property. We don't have a rifle.

Breaking News

We got a puppy! I'm excited but need this like a hole in the head. He's so cute!! What are we thinking! I guess we aren't, really. O boy.

The Well, Shocking!

Shocking the well is the project for today. We did not get the snow that was promised. We got a pretty decent day, mostly sunny.

He has maintained there is something wrong with the well water. When we first got this place the well house was full of leaves, trash, bottles and cans, a golf club, assorting pieces of clothing and general discarded junk. He cleaned it out but never really trusted the water quality. The interior door was broken, taken to the dump just last weekend, and replaced.

On the patio is the exterior of the well housing, he got a well pump on eBay to place over the hole, keeping rain water and debris from finding its way into the well house. Last weekend he replaced the interior well house door.

Over the months he tested the water for contaminants, but the tests were inconclusive. He also recently admitted he hadn't been feeling well for quite a while and blamed it on the water.

I started buying water by the gallon and bag ice. The dog and cat are also getting bottled water.

He's done exhaustive research on the method and procedure for 'shocking' the well. Today is the day of the 'shock.' No water for over 24 hours, chlorine/bleach bath. It smells like a municipal pool in the house. Buckets and jugs of water are everywhere, in the house and barn. It's like camping out!

Ivory Caps

From the beginning: As I've outlined in previous submissions, with pictures, the installation of the base for the barn and dry paddock is a Geo-textile material, also known as 'cattle carpet,' from the front edge of the fencing, completely under the barn and past the overhang's pillars and into the far side of the barn.

On top of the cattle carpet is several inches or feet of #2 stones to level, topped off with several more inches of stone dust or 'fines.' What wasn't covered in carpet and fines was left to go to dirt. We even pulled the weeds. This truly is a 'dry paddock,' devoid of any greenery.

Some months ago, along the barn doors facing the pasture gate, I found a strange looking stone, squarish, ivory-colored, with almost coral-looking indents. Because the dry paddock is so clean this object stood out like a bad tooth. I knew it was bone-like but had never seen anything like it. At the time I figured a Crow had dropped it there.

At our old house we have a pond. Routinely I would find pork-chop bones in the pond, left by Raccoons or dropped by Crows. I showed it to him, he couldn't tell me what it was. Like everything else I find I kept it.

When feeding on Thursday night I discovered another of these 'stones' in Sprite's feed bowl. Eureka! It's a baby tooth. To prove it I had to Google the answer and sure enough, I WAS RIGHT!

These are called 'caps' and are dislodged by the permanent teeth pushing up. Sprite is exactly the right age to be losing her baby caps. Usually these are impossible to find because they are lost in the pastures, resemble stones and are easily overlooked. Because the dry paddock is a controlled environment and the minis are not allowed anywhere else I had the rare chance to find two of them. I'll keep them forever.

On Saturday the weather man promised another nice day, for mid-winter. The weather forecast is not always what actually happens, but Saturday did turn out to be a delightful day.

We met friends at the horsey club and took a much longer ride, the ride we should have taken a couple weeks ago but the weather turned for the worse and then hurried home in the rain.

I needed the coat and chaps I had on, but the sunny skies and light breeze made the day a true gift. Some areas did have frozen puddles, still frosty in the shade, but the trails were in fairly good shape.

We headed down to the river, past the archery club, meandering down the trail to the rail road tracks. As luck would have it a train was coming and we didn't have enough time for all of us to get across the rails. We 'parked' at the tree line, still in grass and let them put their heads down.

I waved at the Engineer, he did not sound the horn. At that time Blackie decided to take a leak. He got all stretched out to do just that, completely relaxed, peeing, while the train went by, and when the wheels screeched, Jake spooked and rear-ended Blackie, literally running him over.

I honestly don't know what happened in the next nano-second, but when I looked up Joan was coming off of Blackie, who was running after Jake, who was riderless at that point. Joan held on to Blackie long enough to break the reins, both horses running up the hill, through the woods.

I kept KC spinning circles. Tom wanted to go after the horses, but I thought it better to just wait; sure enough they circled back to us in the next minute.

Martin said one of his New Year's Resolutions was to create a saddle bag with emergency equipment. He was able to fix Joan's reins in less than a minute. Maybe I need to get one of those, too.

When we finally got to the Woodstock Inn the parking lot was pretty full, except there was not one single motorcycle, on this beautiful Saturday. The hitching post was parked in with cars again. We haven't made a sign that says 'horse parking.'

We got situated and walked into an empty restaurant. There were two guys at the bar and the usual barkeep, Cynthia. Boy, was she glad to see us! A train went by while we were eating and Martin flew out to the hitching post, but not a horse moved. I think they were sleeping.

By the time we got back to the trailers it was getting fairly close to twilight. This was a beautiful day and surprised to see so few out in the park on this delicious day in February.

The forecast for Sunday says 4 - 5 inches of snow. I'm not in the mood for that.

Mid-February Weekend Wrap-Up

Half way through February, and the incredible weather we were previously enjoying got evicted over the weekend. Arctic blast literally sent it packing and everything got frozen in place.

We made another dump run, finally getting rid of the broken doors from the basement, lumber from the basement demolition, assorted things from around the shed, trash, tile debris and lots of empty feed bags. We still need a bonfire and have plenty for that when the weather is cooperative.

We stopped by the BigOrangeBox, which is very close to the 'dump,' he got a new under-cabinet florescent light for the kitchen and brighter bulbs for 2 of the barn fixtures. I had gone to the grocer on Friday night but we had to stop by Trader Joe's and H-Mart anyway.

Immediately installed the new light under the cabinet left of the coffee machine. Makes a huge difference and now I want at least two more! The new bulbs on the barn are pretty darn great, too.

I cleaned up the barn, pony manure freezes in one little clump! The manure spreader now is full. I put new dust in Skip's stall, he immediately dropped and rolled. I'm guessing he likes this stuff.

Snow, Sort Of

Snowed overnight, didn't stick much to the parking lot, driveway or road. It was sliding off the insulated metal barn roof at daybreak. Wet, slushy snow. By Noon it was almost completely gone, with flurries and sunshine taking turns most all day. I don't think there is such thing as a Snowbow, right?

We went to Tractor Supply to get KC a new winter jacket. He had finally broken the second belly strap and Spring is not yet right around the corner, darn Groundhog!

Around 3:00 p.m. the black cloud off in the far distance traveled to the house in a loud gust of wind, snow hitting the front windows and door, white-out conditions. The accumulating flurries were getting swirled around in little tornadoes, the horses were spooking, flying around with the snow.

Truly sounded like a Freightliner heading across the corn field. The trees in the 'little woods' are thrashing. Within an hour the water buckets had ice and the mud was frozen in place, thermometer reading plummeting.

It continued to flurry through the night, with new snow accumulating, wind chill making temps in the single digit.