I Did NOT Fall

I initially thought was that this would be a short update. But there has been so much going on it may take some time. Plus, I can’t remember what I told to who since becoming so popular. 

This was my view from Monday evening until late Tuesday night. 

Then they moved me out of the trauma ward to a room and this became my view.

Ah, something different to look at.  I can’t decide between a cockroach or a cricket. Let’s hope for the cricket. I was scheduled to have surgery sometime between 1-4 on Wednesday unless a life or limb threatening case arrived.  I prayed for everyone in the area to stay safe.  It worked!  But they came in at 11:00 am instead and rushed me to the OR. I said it was the most excitement I had had since being here.  The nurses were talking to each and said “he is  already mad”,  I said I hoped it wasn’t the surgeon. Apparently it was because they said uh oh and stopped talking. But we were already there in record time.  

They said surgery went great. But he was only able to get two of the screws in on the right side instead of 4 so he is supplementing the stability with a back brace.  This was my view post op.  I was actually able to have the bed raised up and look around normally. Surgery was about 3 hours and I was back in my room around 4. I will just say it was a rough night.

The next morning I broke my 32 hour fast with some chicken broth. At 10 occupational and physical therapy teamed up to get me out of bed. 

This is the pain chart in my room.  See those involuntary tears on #10. That is what I rated the pain on getting to a sitting position on the edge of the bed.  They said that would be the worst and it was.  Things eased up some and I was able to stand with help and use a walker to go brush my teeth. Then they let me walk a short way down the hall and back.  I sat up for the recommended 2 hours then in back to bed.  They wanted me up to do that 3 times but I only managed two. 

Part of the rough night after surgery was that so hot from the leg circulation devices and the plastic tarp they had me on to help roll me from side to side.  They said I could have a fan.  I said I did not need one since they took off the leg things and got me off the plastic.  A box arrived today and the nurse opened it and said “your fan is here.”  I said I didn’t need it but she said it was now mine and I could take it home. (Wonder how much that will cost) This nurse also suggested that I could take it to my next horse show to cool off the stall.

Can you tell she is a horse person?  Most everyone would say “so you fell off a horse?”  I would strongly correct them and say “NO, I did not fall, I was thrown off.”  Anyone that rides will tell you that.  This nurse was there when I said that to someone and she took off talking about all of her horse experiences.  She has broken 43 colts, re homed off the track race horses by retaining them to be hunter/jumpers. Trained an Icelandic pony the list goes on and on.  Apparently, at 9 years old when she wanted a horse, her parents got he an untouched 10 year old horse and said deal with it if you want a horse hoping she would quit.  She didn’t and she sounds tough as nails. She even started pulling up pictures of some of the successful race horses she has worked with.  Horse people love to talk about their own horses.

One big surprise was when I got to the OR, a good horse friend of mine that had done an endurance ride with us years ago was the nurse checking me in. You can check out that exciting ride HERE.  She greeted me with “Kay! Which horse threw you!?”  Horse people know. 

 

Sadie’s First Show

First, happy 3251 blog post, another prime number.

Today was a beautiful day for a horse show.  Unfortunately, I did not have a chauffeur.  But I decided to take Sadie to watch so she could see what a show was all about.  She has been lining up her play horses and saying they were at a show. 

This show lineup was very kid friendly. The first class was stick horse.  The daughter of a girl at work was there.  Sadie had met her before at the clinic Christmas party.  Isabella has been to a lot of shows.  I told Sadie to just follow her.

They made a very cute pair.  

And even though we didn’t take a horse, Sadie was still able to go in lead line.  Another girl that I knew said her nephew was supposed to ride in lead line but didn’t come, so Sadie was welcome to ride Joey instead.  I actually met Sarah, Joey’s owner, several years ago when I found her blog.  I recognized the arena in her pictures and found out she was a local.  Funny how things work out.

Joey was a dream and Sadie acted like she knew exactly what to do.

But we might have to step up our show attire to keep up with Isabella.  She was so adorable with her mini and she even did the costume and driving classes.

Sadie will be talking about Joey for a long time.

She got two ribbons and two $2 bills!  

She wanted to wear her ribbons, so I pinned them onto her jacket.  We ate lunch from the food truck in the back of the car.  We stayed for a few more classes.

And I left before Sadie got too worn out with the show.  Then, back home, she wanted to ride Otoelene.

This time I let her hold the reins and start to learn how to steer. 

Next time she wants to take her own horse to the show.

Emily’s Home

Emily came home today with her friend Keiran for the weekend. 

Keiran has made a bow out of hickory.  He did some target practicing and showed Joe a little bit about it.

Joe got the hang of it and hit the target several times.  Keiran was more of a pro.  I managed to eventually hit the bank somewhere near the target.  But I gave up before I hurt myself or anyone else.

We all enjoyed the fire pit this evening and everyone except Joe enjoyed some s’mores.  
 

Very Busy Day

It started with an early trip to town to pick up Walker.  He has been wanting to come over and help with the animals.  We ended up having him help work the 60 head of fall calves that we had recently weaned.  He was very good help but I forgot to bring my phone to the barn to take pictures.  Despite the heat, he still wanted to go riding afterwards. 

Joe brought Sadie to the barn and helped Walker get Hank saddled up.  Walker said he has grown 8 inches in the last year so he used Joe’s saddle and we didn’t even have to adjust the stirrups.

Joe thought Sadie might want to take a little spin on Hank. 

But he was wrong.  

She is not ready to go solo yet.  She much preferred riding Otoelene with me.

Walker on the other hand, was in heaven riding Hank.

We ended up taking an hour long walk through the woods, up on top of the hill then around the backside of the hill and on to the red barn and back. 

Hank had not been ridden since the last time Walker was here sometime last year.  But he went along like he has been ridden every day.  He is a very special horse. 
 Walker left at 12:30 and I then spent the rest of the day getting to visit with Virginia, hold Allie and play with Sadie while Mike helped Joe with some farm chores.  A very nice day.

Christmas Parties and Match Stick Chairs

I finally stopped decorating last week and took time to have 2 parties on the weekend. 

I have always loved this reindeer set from my aunts.  It just seems so retro. 

Baby S and her first Christmas with the R's

J's family came Saturday, a limited number because some are still fearful of covid and some had other engagements.

But we  had a nice visit with the ones that were able to come and thankful for another year together.

 We miss those that were not able to make it and are hopeful for a summer get together. 

I had J cut the tree entirely too early.  A cedar is just not meant to last a month.  I love the sand dollar ornament E made for me last year.  It's a very special reminder of her time on Cumberland Island and our visit with her there. 

And a new ornament for this year, Arches National Park.  Another reminder of a visit with E and a wonderful trip with 2 of my sisters.  

My second party was Sunday night with 4 other couples.  Another great meal and time to visit, until...

One of the chairs turned into firewood.  We had finished eating and the men stayed at the table to talk while the women moved to the living room.  After about an hour, crash!  Sam, who has had a double lung transplant, had a ear removed for cancer and skin graft from his leg to repair the defect and ended up with bell's palsy , got covid and was in organ failure and is now on dialysis 4 days a week,  was down.  He said he shifted his weight ever so slightly and the chair just collapsed.  Thankfully, he was ok.  He had a doctor appointment the next day anyway and I don't think had any issues from the fall.  This isn't the first time for one of these chairs either.  Sister C had a similar event a couple of years ago.  I see some new dining room chairs in my future. 
 

A Very Eventful Day

Walker's mom was nice enough to share him with us again Saturday.

This time we were working cattle.  Walker is wonderful help, very calm and easy with the livestock.  J and Walker sorted the cows out so we could work the calves first.

J told him before we started that whatever he said was to just help get the job done and to not take it personally.  If you have ever worked cattle you know what he is talking about.  Walker just said, "tell me what you want me to do." 

He did a great job with the head gate.  I drew up the vaccines for J to give and I did the ear tagging.  

After the calves were done, we just ran the cows into the chute 4 at a time.  Walker would catch the first one and J would crowd the rest in behind and I would walk down the line giving the vaccine.  We were done in no time.  

Then Walker helped J take up the temporary fence he had put up to make it easier to get the cows to the pens.  While they were at it they went on a little asparagus hunt.  Turns out Walker loves asparagus and they were able to find a nice bunch.  

 I didn't take any pictures, but Walker wanted to go into an old house on the property that is falling down.  He found lots of treasures to take home, and old radio, flash light, wrench, socket, nails.  I found a bucket so he could carry it all. 

Then it was on to the horses.  I took him on my advanced trail course this time.  It is very steep, 

lots of ups and downs.  But Hank and Walker negotiated it all, no problem.  

Then we rode around some more of the farm and came past the bottom.  Walker looked over and said, "that looks like a dog down there."  I said if it looks like a dog it's probably a coyote, and sure enough it was.  

And this is what he was after.  We had two nannies that hadn't kidded before we turned them out.  This one was off by herself  and when we got closer we could see she was fending off another coyote.  The goats were spread out all over the farm and there were no guard dogs close by.  She only had one kid with her and I didn't see the other one until later.  We ran off the coyote and I got off my horse and made sure the little one was ok.  As we were riding back to the house Walker spotted the other one about 100 yards away.  He held Otoelene for me while I rolled under the fence and dashed down to get it back with mom.  It was still wet.  Looked like she had just had it before the coyote arrived.  

Walker and I made a fast trip back to the house to get J.  First, him and Walker went back with the 4 Wheeler and gun.  They saw the coyote again but didn't get a shot at it.  Then they came back and we all went in the truck.  It may look like J caught the goat this way but no,

This is what really happened.   So he did catch her but she slipped out right at the end. 

Next, he tried stair stepping the twins, carry one a little way, set it down, have the nanny come to it, go back, get the other one, carry it a little further....it's a very long and tedious process and we were very far from the barn.   So J changed tactics again.  He got on the ground holding out a baby goat, army crawling closer and then....quick like a snake snatched her back leg.   

J held her in the back of the truck and Walker watched the babies.  They spent a safe, coyote free night in the barn.  
 I think Walker will have plenty to talk about for the next few days. 

Great Day With Walker

Ever since we worked the goats last year, Walker has been looking forward to coming and doing it again.

He was very excited when we asked him to come help us on Saturday.  First up, rounding up the goats.

It wasn't too difficult getting them headed to the barn.  

Getting them into the barn lot was a little harder. 

My barricades worked pretty well.

But I had neglected putting anything in front of the gate, and the baby goats poured out like water.  It took several efforts to finally get everything into the barn. 

Walker said this is where the fun starts.  He loves catching the kids.  

J worked the door and the bander while Walker and I caught the little ones and brought them to him.  Then we dewormed the nannies and turned everyone back out but this time onto a different field.  

Next up was horse back riding.  Hank managed to get into the yard while we were working the goats.  Walker got reacquainted with him and we were ready to go.

We had a very nice 1 1/2 hour ride around the farm.  I think Walker is ready to come back any time.