Archive for August 2014
Fly Masks
Sometimes I think the flies on our horses bother me more than they do the horses. Legacy approached me while I was raking up manure in the paddock yesterday, and my intuition told me it was about the flies. Lately I have been noticing increasing numbers of flies congregating around the eyes of our horses, so I went into the barn to get fly masks.
Even though Cyndie tried these last fall with limited success, I figured it was worth another attempt. I may be anthropomorphizing their behavior, but the way the mares willingly accepted the protection while the guys rebuffed my offer like I was offending their egos, seemed to match a common human gender tendency.
It took a lot of patience on my part to outlast Legacy’s hesitation about wearing one. Hunter never did give in, but of the 4 of them, he seemed to have the least problem with flies, so I let him be. I’m curious to find out if the masks will all still be in place this morning.
At one point while they were grazing in the arena space, I tried one last time to get Hunter into a mask. I had tucked a ziplock bag with carrots into my pocket to offer a treat as incentive and walked toward a position to address Hunter.
Legacy seemed to immediately read what was going on and approached me, cutting off Hunter from my attention. I walked around to rearrange my position, but it was obvious that Legacy was not going to give me any space. I walked away from him and he followed, closely. I decided to walk the entire perimeter to see how long he would keep this up.
I was surprised to see him put in so much effort while out in the hot sun, but he stayed right in step on my heels. I made a couple of diagonals across the arena space and he was still with me. As far as I was concerned, he had just earned himself a carrot snack. I wouldn’t try again with Hunter, unless he chose to come to me.
Later in the afternoon, I was sitting on the ground at the fence line of the grazing pasture, covering damaged insulation on an electric wire that had become tangled with my trimmer. While I was engrossed in my task, Legacy wandered up behind me. He nosed around some of my gear and then started eating grass right next to me. RIGHT next to me. He snorted his runny nose all over my arm. Next thing I know, I am being harassed by a cloud of flies. Legacy was sharing his flies with me!
If I still had the mask with me that I was trying to get Hunter to wear, I would have tried it on my own head at that point.
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Killer Instinct
Here is a picture of the fully functioning wheelbarrow with both tires holding air. It is an essential component of our manure management process. Next to it is my primary assistant/troublemaker. Delilah politely listens to me yammer away, occasionally looking right at me as if she is actually listening to the nonstop nonsense that is beginning to flow out of my mouth in the absence of anyone else to talk with around here during the week.
I haven’t quite mastered the non-verbal communication with her, yet. Unfortunately, the longer I work silently, the more likely she is to wander away from me when I allow her off-leash. That leads to her getting into a tangle of burrs, or wandering off property, or more likely, both.
Speaking of no one to talk to, I’d love it if a contractor or two would show up in response to the multitude of solicitations I have put out in the last few weeks. I was lucky enough to actually speak on the phone with one excavator to whom I had made a follow-up call to yesterday. I was so excited when he said he would stop out to look at what I needed done that I neglected to ask him when that might be.
I kept one eye out for him all day yesterday, while doing some heavy trimming on the far side of our property from the driveway. I guess he didn’t mean he would stop out that very day.
I had put Delilah in her kennel while I was working the trimmer and wearing ear muffs. After I finished, I drove the Grizzly ATV up to let her out and she looked at me quizzically, wondering what this meant for her. I hollered at her to come with me as I rolled away down the hill, and the game was on. She loves a good chase, and of course has an insatiable need to be out front.
Her killing instinct is still as strong as ever. I told Cyndie that I don’t think we will be able to have chickens with Delilah running loose. The other morning, I let her out first thing to accompany me in feeding the horses. She raced on ahead and dashed around the pine trees. I noticed a bunch of birds take to the air. When I caught up to her, it was obvious she had a prize. Delilah was in possession of an unfortunate winged creature that failed to evade capture.
Of benefit to me is the fact that she won’t wander away when she has a fresh kill. I didn’t need to worry while I fed the horses and cleaned the paddocks that morning. When I had finished and was ready to head back to the house, I found her in the same spot where I had left her, still treasuring her new obsession.
I sure wish she would show that kind of prowess with the moles and pocket gophers around here.
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Cloud Views
We enjoyed another beautiful sky in the early evening yesterday, as storms were forming to our south and east. This time I had my rugged camera with me, and I tried some shots, even though they don’t come close to capturing the grandeur of what the naked eye was able to perceive.
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Thunder Barking
After a delightful afternoon of hosting visits from family and friends yesterday, we were finally blessed with a mild-mannered summer thunderstorm. It has been so long since we experienced thunder, Delilah seemed to have forgotten what it was. She was in a tizzy of nervously running at the door and barking major alarms. We went for the Thundershirt, but it wasn’t enough. Cyndie provided a dose of Benadryl, but when that proved insufficient, she administered an anti-anxiety drug.
We took Delilah out for a walk as the back side of the storm sprinkled down a last few leftover drops. An opening in the clouds allowed a splash from the setting sun to illuminate a spectacular full rainbow which doubled on one end. We have a wonderful vantage point for sunset-timed rainbows. I need to remember the value of getting outside to survey for these marvelous sights whenever the conditions offer the potential.
I took a shaky cell phone photo after we put some hay out for the horses and closed them into the paddocks for the night. They seemed to be enjoying the shower. It was enough to get them wet, but not enough to create too much mud.
After darkness settled in and most of the thunder had moved on, I was just about to comment to Cyndie about how pleasant it was that Delilah had finally settled down and we were enjoying a peaceful… Oops, one more thunder, Delilah up and barking. Oh well.
Later, as we were wrapping up our evening activity, I walked toward the kitchen, where Cyndie was involved in some creative endeavor, and I spotted our lovely canine sprawled on the floor in a slumber that presented every indication of the drugs having finally kicked in. Success, at last.
Weather predictions are for more thunderstorms today, so either I proactively serve up some calming drugs in her breakfast, or I hang my hopes on her having quickly grown used to the booming after surviving last night’s reintroduction to thunder. The scenario is made a bit more complicated by the fact I need to be away from home for a few hours at the dentist today. Hopefully the weather will hold until I return.
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For those of you following closely enough to care… the wheelbarrow tire is holding air adequately after just the two patches! YES! <pumping fist>
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Oh Brother
It has been six weeks that I have worked full-time at home in my new role as ranch manager. For me, that is a lot of work days with no one to talk to other than our animals. Yesterday, I got a break from the solitude when my brother, Elliott, showed up with all his tree climbing rigging gear, offering me a day of his services. Not only did I have someone to talk with, but it was family!
Not only was he offering his assistance, he was providing a priceless service of trimming tree branches that were well out of my reach. In particular, one “widow-maker” that had fractured long ago, but still clung to the base of its branch and swung near the location of the wood shed. That one has been bothering me for a long time.
I had originally tried my own crude methods to toss a line into that branch in hopes of snagging it so I could pull it down. I couldn’t get it to let go, so the branch continued to menacingly dangle there.
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It was an incredible treat to watch my brother work. I had no idea it was possible to toss a line as high into a tree as he did, and successfully drop it down on the other side of a limb. Seeing him pull himself up made my arms tired just watching. Actually, after a while my neck muscles were complaining about how much time I spent with my head tipped back, looking straight up.
When he made it high up into the tree, he rigged two more points of security and then pulled out his saw to begin the cutting. From his new vantage point, he was able to spot dead branches to cut that I hadn’t even noticed from the ground. As he worked, we moved ever closer to the roof of the wood shed that is laying on the ground beneath this tree. To protect it, Elliott tied a rope to the branches about to be cut so they could be lowered in a controlled fashion.
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It is quite a process, and I was very intrigued by it, if not feeling a bit addicted. For the rest of the day after he left, I kept wanting to go back out and do more of that work. While helping to put away his gear, I asked Elliott to teach me how to “braid” the long ropes for storage the way he does. It’s slick because they easily come undone when you are ready to use them.
Being able to do these climbing and rigging skills would be a very handy thing for me, with the number of trees we have. It would require that I do a lot of learning to master tying the knots I need. I have difficulty remembering how to tie a knot soon after I learn it.
I don’t know that I would have the arm strength to do this, though. I have a permanently separated shoulder that means I have no skeletal strut supporting my collar-bone, and that leaves me significantly weaker on my left side.
I’ll just have to rely on the graciousness of my brother to make the trip out with all his gear again someday, to bring down more of the dangling dead branches that loom.
Elliott, I hope I didn’t drive you nuts with my excitement about having someone to pal around with yesterday. I can’t thank you enough for the “workout” you put in here. I am exceedingly grateful to have these branches down! Hope your arms aren’t too stiff today…
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Overwhelming Bliss
Early in the day yesterday, after scrubbing out the automatic waterer for our horses and scooping up manure from the paddocks, I paused for a moment and felt deeply moved by the overwhelming bliss of our place.
Delilah had been a particularly attentive companion during my chores, and afterward, wandered over to rest in the shade. The horses seemed thoroughly content; Legacy and Hunter up under the overhang of the barn, and Cayenne and Dezirea outside the paddock, grazing on the tiny strip I had opened up for them.
It was quiet, except for a few friendly bird calls, and the weather conditions were idyllic. It brought tears to my eyes. This is the environment we have endeavored to create. When it isn’t a muddy mess out here, we have pretty much achieved what we dreamed of accomplishing.
We have 4 fabulous horses, in space that is serving them well, and they seem pretty happy with their situation. We’re pretty happy with it too, and right now I am blessed with being able to be home to care for it every day.
I was working hard to keep Delilah engaged with me while I was giving her some time off-leash. My chores led us down to the labyrinth where I was fixing the sagging wall around the stockpile of fertilizer.
Suddenly there was a great commotion and I spun to see a turkey shoot into the air and fly off over the trees into the woods. I don’t know if Delilah scared it up, or if it surprised her. It was quite a sight. After it was gone, Delilah carried on as if nothing had happened.
To keep her occupied and discourage her from wandering off, I tossed a hunk of a branch into the woods for her to chase. Later, she came to where I was working and almost stood too close. It struck me as odd. Then I stepped back from what I was doing and saw that hunk of wood laying on the ground behind where I was sitting. She had brought it back to me and dropped it. That’s why she was standing so close.
Since it worked the first time, I decided to do it again, later in the day. I tossed a stick into the woods. I figured she wouldn’t find it among all the other branches on the ground. Silly me, I should know better. I should also have had more sense than to send her bushwhacking through our woods.
By the end of the day, she had more burrs stuck all over her than I have yet seen. I spent a long time brushing them out before Cyndie got home, hoping all the while that Delilah hadn’t also been exploring through any poison ivy during the day’s escapades.
Rest assured, I scrubbed my arms thoroughly as soon as we came inside.
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Mostly Quiet
It’s feeling a little mixed up for us this week, because Cyndie stayed home from work yesterday to attend the funeral of our next door neighbor, Barbara Losgaard. The day felt like a Sunday all over again to us.
I wore a coat and tie to the service, and quickly became a bit self-conscious about being over-dressed. The only other person with a tie on was the man from the funeral home. There were men in jeans and even some wearing shorts. A polo shirt would have been more than adequate from the looks of the men in attendance.
With the service occurring in the middle of the afternoon, major projects were saved for another day. I was able to get out and auger in a few anchor posts that I hope will adequately hold down my second version of a wood shed. I spun them in as far as buried rocks allowed.
Other than that, things are rather quiet. The weather is gorgeous, with low dew points and cool nights creating quite a September vibe.
I tossed balls for Delilah to chase as Cyndie and I did some weeding of the landscaping around the back of the house.
Delilah is back to being on leash again, after disappearing and not responding to Cyndie’s calls as she walked our entire property in search of her. I spotted Cyndie coming down the driveway in her car, and hopped in when she said she wanted to drive around and see where Delilah went.
I figured it wasn’t going to work, because the dog was probably deep in the woods somewhere, but I was wrong. We drove up the hill, past the house where she has been seen on other occasions when she wandered. At the end of our street, I said we should just turn around and head back. The odds of seeing her from the next road weren’t worth it.
On the return approach to that neighbor’s house, Cyndie spotted Delilah searching around out in their tall grass field.
After dark last night, we took her with us for a final walk of the evening and headed down to shut the horses into the paddock. Our timing was perfect, as the glow of the rising moon was just appearing on the horizon. We decided to walk the length of the driveway so we could enjoy seeing it come up.
Just as it was about to break into view, we were presented with a spectacular streaking meteor directly above, right in the area of sky we were peering at. The Perseids meteor shower! I looked for others, but that was the only one we saw.
We needed to get in and start acting like it was a work night in the middle of the week.
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Sad Loss
I have long been a big fan of Robin Williams. Upon learning that his death yesterday was being judged a suicide and he suffered from severe depression, I felt the urge to write about that fact. I came upon an online article at usatoday.com by Karen Weintraub and Dennis Kelly and decided it has everything I would like to have written.
That a “universally beloved” entertainer like Robin Williams could commit suicide “speaks to the power of psychiatric illness,” mental health experts say.
Please follow the link and read the excellent article they have written…
Suicide a risk even for beloved characters like Williams.
Suicide is, and always will be, a permanent solution to a temporary urge. I plotted my own. By grace, I never reached the point of attempting. I sought treatment, learned about the illness, and daily ever since, execute a plan to manage my depression.
I am very sad to learn that Robin Williams was unable to dispatch the illness that led him to make this fatal decision. I am sad for every person who experiences depression and is unable to dispel the urge to commit suicide. Depression is a treatable illness.
Depression is a mental illness, and the mind is one of the mightiest tools for defeating depression. The solution begins with simply seeking professional mental health assessment. Do. Not. Delay. Untreated depression is a dangerous weapon of self-destruction that is not to be disregarded. The power to fix is in our minds and can be unleashed by simply making a decision to claim that power and seek help.
And don’t forget to read the article I have linked, if you haven’t already. Thanks.
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Relative Something 