Sicko Neko

 

My poor horse! Neko has been diagnosed with Lyme Disease- like every member of our household at one point or another. At least we know what has been plaguing her.

About a month ago now, out of the blue, Neko came up lame. I initially attributed it to our change of blacksmiths (*1) . Sometimes, a small difference in angle of foot or a tad too much taken one side of the hoof or the other results in foot soreness. But her soreness persisted. She was definitely off in her left hind when I tried riding her; then the "fun" (*2) began, attempting to pin point what exactly was up.

"My head! My stomach! My feet! My hips!", Neko seems to be saying. Oy! Anyway, several experts were invited over and weighed in. There was discussion of perhaps she had fallen in the field- Bob saw a major skid mark that could have caused a seriously wrenched hip or back. One of my riding instructors thought it might be her stifle (*3), my new barefoot trimmer thought it might be her hocks. We tried using hoof boots... she was still limping. In fact, she seemed to be limping all over. She was also looking glum, like that picture above. Not the usual animated, evil Neko who is full of (charming) attitude. It was suggested that I call a chiropractor.

But I had my intuitions. I was not entirely convinced that it was physical. If I called a horsey chiropractor (read "expensive") and had her manipulated, but it was systemic, I'd still be screwed- as well as poor Neko. I suspected Lyme and called the vet. I was right. Her numbers were seriously elevated, proof that she has Lyme.

So Neko is now three days into treatment and being a VERY good patient! She was a little hesitant when I delivered her first dose of apple-flavored doxycycline to her, smothered in grated carrots, grain, alfalfa pellets and molasses but I hand fed her and she seemed to think it must be safe if I was administering to her. Since that first batch, she's consumed all her food (hooray) (*4). Only 27 more days to go!!

(*1) Don't get me started on the perfidy of blacksmiths!! And rudeness! Good grief! We trust these individuals to care for horses, and do what's right by them. The last two have been doozies; yes, they came recommended, but one suggested I euthanize Maggie three years ago (and she's till going semi-strong, according to two veterinarians) and the other totally blew me off for over three weeks, resulting in over grown toes and ouchy feet!

(*2) Not fun! It's all a bit of a guessing game and they can't tell you what happened or why they hurt!

(*3) And I was assured you do NOT want it to be her stifle. The stifle is a mysterious joint sort of like our knee, on their hind legs, that gets messed up and hey presto! horse can become lame for life and career over. 

(*4) The alternative is to force feed it to her in a syringe, injecting this paste into her mouth twice a day for a full month. You can only imagine the "fun" (more fun!) trying to dose her thusly when they get smart to what's coming.

Kitchen Make Over!

 

Anyone who has visited us in the past few years will attest that something needed to be done. Yes, "we" (*1) replaced some cabinets and the sink but our walls and cabinets were getting heavily used and showing it. I have been threatening to repaint the kitchen for... oh, maybe a year or two now. And Bob has been complaining about the stupid drawer pulls for quite a while. (*2) 

Annoyingly, when you used said little round knobs, you couldn't help but wear the paint off underneath in a dirty circular pattern. Nothing cute about that!

                                      

So in what seemed a spontaneous mutual eruption of  "Hey! Let's paint the kitchen today!" was actually several years in the making. First, Bob drilled holes to fit the new handles. Simple, clean, modern-looking metal pulls that work easily (and will hopefully eliminate the weird wear pattern) that we had purchased a month or so ago for just such a day as this. Then we had to remove all the handles and Bob sanded down all the handle areas where something like three or four layers of paint had worn away. Then he washed the cabinets. I busied myself with cleaning the louvered door leading into the utility room. There was a prodigious amount of dust and aerial-borne dander adhered to each slat. Cleaning done, we moved onto painting.

Here are our new handles, patiently waiting being screwed back on, after the paint job is complete. I wish I had photographed the stupid, round knobs before Bob removed them! But there's always a scary place that you forgot about... how about the area above the refrigerator. Noooooooooooooooo!!!!

Yeech! Look at that grime! And the worst thing is I had to make Bob clean and paint that as even on the ladder, my arm wasn't long enough to get the back wall. Bob dropped something he was cleaning with down behind the refrigerator, but we won't mention that!

But look! All that hard work paid off as a day and a half later, we have clean, fresh, white cabinets with new modern-looking handles! That are easy to use! No more scraping the paint off every time you open a cupboard. Yay!

And even Robin the Good's food corner is nice and clean. This corner was particularly awful with baked-on dog slobber (sorry Robin!) and some odd semi-domesticated spiders and just plain old accumulated dirt. Now I have to make Robin a new place mat...

The window sill demanded special treatment in the form of some advanced spackling and sanding, which Bob heroically executed, and then he even took the Venetian blinds down and laundered them outside. Now they, too, look almost new. Well done!!

Hard to capture in these pictures but the kitchen is now a wonderful room that you want to spend time in. Or even eat in! I am glad we had visitors last night, and are expecting my family this weekend as someone has to witness the magnificence of our new kitchen! (*3)

(*1) "I" had nothing to do with the sink and cabinet replacement except clean up. Bob and our good friend Joe executed all the construction and installation. I'm giving credit where it's very much due!

(*2) Stupid drawer pulls in question were "cute" little white balls. They did look quirky but after 11 years of fingers slipping and trying to get a grip on them, they weren't so cute after all. 

(*3) But unfortunately, inevitably, all that new freshness only reflects how dirty the paint and walls are in all the other parts of the house...

Bedlam!

 

Here's a rare, intimate view of our bedroom. Looks perfectly nice and cozy, bed made... who would ever expect that this is the scene of of much bedding consternation.

Well, one issue was settled recently with the purchase and addition of a bed topper (100% organic latex with 100% cotton cover!) Bob had complained of aching hip and sore shoulder from sleeping on our rock-hard mattress. Solved! He's sleeping better these days. (*1)

But our latest dilemma is having aging sheets, all of our lower fitted sheets are disintegrating. Here's a shot of the pile of orphan sheets:

This is only part of the problem. There are a few more "singletons" in the laundry basket. I liked all of these when they were sets: a bottom fitted sheet, a flat top sheet and two lovely MATCHING pillow cases. Now, I struggle to make a sorta/kinda set out of one swirly blue pillow case with the top sheet of the striped set (missing a bottom and one pillow case) and then what? The blue bottom, fitted sheet (again) that now has a big rip where my feet go? (*2)

So my question is this: do I attempt to buy several bottom, fitted sheets to supplement my top sheet "collection"? Or do I spring for entire new sets of sheets? Several considerations avail themselves. One is that to purchase fitted sheets costs almost as much as getting a new complete set of sheets. The second is that I'll have to order on line as finding a fitted sheet by itself is impossible in local stores. And don't get me even going on how hard it is to find 100% cotton sheets in attractive colors or patterns! There sure are some plug-ugly bed sets out there! And they try to sneak polyester into the sets by calling them "comfort cotton" or "ez care"... all code words for sleazy sleep sets! 

I did break down and buy a couple of pillow cases last week. They're a kind of watery pale blue; not offensive but none too exciting, either. But this leaves me perplexed: why can I buy a package of two pillow cases, but not get a simple fitted sheet by itself? Who makes these executive decisions?!?! (*3)

But we do have a lovely throw pillow with a picture of a Robin on it! (Thanks to Bob's mother). Funny, it's the one spot in the house Robin isn't allowed (on the bed) so we have an avatar.

(*1) The jury is out on my side of the mattress. My lower back has been cranky and I don't know if it's coincidence or whether the mattress topper is too soft for me!

(*2) Bob said that when he was growing up, all the family sheets were flat; there was no such thing as a fitted sheet. I agree: fitted sheets came along many years after our childhoods. However, I have observed that "they" now manufacture flat sheets smaller so that you can't use them as bottom sheets. They never tuck in all around. A hideous plot!

(*3) I know, in light of all the truly awful problems in the world at present (COVID, Climate Change, Texas, the Taliban, Fox News etc etc) my having issues in the bedding department are not major issues. But I'm having enough trouble sleeping with out tossing and turning on ripped, mis
matched sheets!