Horse Hosin'

 

After remarking that I bath my horse Neko after riding her in hot weather, my sister Beatrice suggested as how this would be an interesting blog post. I realized that this was probably true as not many of my blog followers have horses or experience the pleasure of hosing down a large animal. I kept forgetting to bring my camera or phone along with me but finally, today, I was prepared.!

Following a vigorous episode of "torturing" my poor pony by demanding that she perform all kinds of arcane movements, like stopping and turning left or right, she can be sweaty. 

Typically this occurs under the girth and beneath the saddle pad. You can just spot wash it off but when it's really hot and humid- like today- they LOVE to get wet!

I always start by hosing the feet and legs first, as their hooves can be hot and need cooling first. I've been told this by several experienced horsey people so that's what I do! So after all four feet and legs have been wet down, the rest of the horse is fair game.

You will notice, Neko's eyes are actually closing; she's like, "Oh boy! This feels GOOD!". 

You will also take notice that I don't even have a halter on her as she enjoys this so much that she simply stands there. In fact, Maggie often crowds in, wanting to get hosed, too.

There's Maggie in the background, enjoying some of the over spray. I am only hosing Neko today; I don't use shampoo or soap often as that can dry their coats. Plain old water is better. It's like going swimming.

And here comes on of those funky details that you probably wouldn't have guessed at. A mare (a female horse) has her mammary glands (read: horse boobs) between her hind legs. They can get a nasty, waxy build up soooooooo we gently hose up there and then reach in and remove any crud.

You knew that was coming!! Yuck! Removing this must feel really nice as they often spread their legs a bit wider and accommodate my efforts. Oh, the pleasures of horse ownership! 

I then finish up by squeegeeing off excess water. Neko is looking at me as if to say, "What!? All done? Do it again!" And of course, a horse loves being squeaky clean and shiny and experiencing our standards of grooming and hygiene... WRONG!

The next thing that Neko does is lay down and roll, the better to adorn herself with dirt and dust:

You can only imagine the self-satisfied grunts that accompany this. Heaven.

And lastly, here's Neko, doing what Neko likes best- eating, delightfully encrusted in a patina of dirt, but cooled off!

Sundries, Heated to a Crisp

That's Bob standing next to a gigantic self-sown squash plant that is swallowing the compost pile. The leaves are like three feet across. We sure hope the squash itself is edible after all the energy expended in the prodigious growth!
I'm not going to post and re-post the pictures from the many days that the thermometer registered well over 90 degrees and frequently topping 100. The last two weeks... ay!!Suffice it to say that a day of mere mid-80 degree weather would feel cool and lovely. Don't expect any original thoughts until such time.

Another angle of that man-eating squash... Sus-Squash! It grows about four feet a day.
So I've been rendered stupid by the heat (and I know I have company!) and this blog posting will reflect that. I could continue to rebuke the current administration at every turn, (and they deserve active rebukes when you consider Federal troops being deployed the West Coast, the continuing surge of  COVID 19, rethuglican members of Congress refusing to extend increased unemployment compensation... the list goes on and on) but might sick up all over the keyboard. I will not even add more as steam will begin to billow from one ear and blood will trickle from the other one. (Although on a happier note, the ringing in my left ear that has persisted for a million years now is suddenly... GONE! Even if this is temporary and it returns, having a few days off is heaven!)
Oh and I bought a horse:

How's that for a non-sequitur?

My good friend Laurie (Hi Laurie!) bought me this inflatable horse last year for my birthday. I blew it up and installed it in my studio and promptly freaked Robin out; dogs can be very conservative! Bob observed that this particular horse is very well-behaved and low maintenance!
More on the actual horse in my next post! I am starting on that string of polo ponies I threatened to buy!

Behind the Green Door... Or is it Red?

After much hemming and hawing, it was decided by arbitrary subcommittee that the door of the barn would be green. It sounded just about right: not too bright and sort of nature inspired. But the reality was different. I was only a third of the way into painting before Bob and I agreed that the green just wasn't right. (Although it looks better in the picture here than it did in person!)
So we opted for... bright red!

Which looks just great! It's weird: the green paint made the chamaecyparis next to the door look all yellowish and kind of sickly. Maybe it was too close in tonality or something. On the other hand, the red made the chamaecyparis look dark and healthy. Also, strangely, the green read better from a distance than up close...
Maybe it was the 90+ degree heat, but I painted that blasted door twice in two days! And this is after 6 years of it being raw, totally unpainted fiber board- you know: that stuff that's like the head cheese of building materials. And this is after priming the door with a dark grey primer, which was better than that weird raw wood... Yup, the heat has definitely gotten to me. I'll probably paint the door again next week. This time it will be really dark green, that almost black. There's an idea...

Here I am staggering out to the barn. It really was/is hot. A nice lesson in not trying to do too much when it is this hot. I actually finished up planting a few things this morning- and worked quite efficiently in my studio- despite the weather. Now I'm waxing indecisive about the door. Here are two close ups; which one do YOU think looks better?

Or...

Firewood Unlimited

Bob and I have an additional chore, besides getting hay, making art, doing laundry, taking care of the garden, etc etc etc. We go to secure our heating supply for the winter, otherwise known as "doing firewood". That huge tree, above is the source of this winter's heat.
Our gracious friend Tina has offered us all the wood from trees that have fallen on her property in Bridgewater. The soil is stony and there is a lot of ledge, so trees tend to topple over and leave these weird root monsters:

That's the underside of the above tree. (See all the rocks to the left? Not much soil for those roots to grasp onto.) I walk around scouting and musing while Bob cuts up the branches. (And try not to worry as it's dangerous work. Those sideways limbs are way overhead and sometimes crack and split in unintended ways. I'm always relieved when the branches are felled and the wood is safely on the ground.)
That's also where I come in: I help Bob pick up the cut logs and load them onto the truck. This is probably why Bob and I are in pretty okay shape physically. We spend so much time hauling things like hay bales and wood and compost around. Who needs a gym?
Here's another uprooted tree. There are so many of them!

There is enough downed trees for several years worth of fire wood. And it's way less dangerous than felling an entire tree, so I'm glad of that. If you've never been in the are when a large tree hits the ground, you have no idea how traumatic it can be. They really fall hard. But even in a downed tree, there's spring and tension in the weight of the limbs and it's not easy work. Bob loves it and has been doing firewood since his teens but it still makes me a bit nervous... But it's good exercise and way cheaper than buying gas or oil from some corporation that exploits people for living in a cold environment! And besides, the field looks so much better cleaned up when these fallen trees are cleared.