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!

Fruits and... More Fruits!

 

And this is only part of our peach harvest! Bob informed me today that he's picked 150 (!!!!!!) peaches from our tree. Thank you, my friend Laurie for having given us this tree when we moved in, knowing how much I love peaches. I know we're going to be busy eating peach pie and freezing a slew of them for enjoying mid winter.

And did someone say blueberries? We have so many blueberries... we've had blueberry pancakes, blueberry pie, blueberry upside down cake, blueberry muffins, not to mention simply cramming blueberries into our mouths, straight of the bush and...

even blueberry crisp. That was quite good! The freezer is packed with frozen blueberries. We certainly can't complain about a meager crop. These bushes are amazing; several "Jersey" bushes and three stellar "Elliots".

And fruits of another kind. Lots of tomatoes finally; they were a bit slow to ripen but are now going great guns. I'm looking forward to yet another Bacon, Lettuce and Tomato sandwich. My favorite! And look at those eggplants; they really like the hot weather. At least we won't go hungry. I am actually thinking the opposite is true: I think I'm putting on weight, trying to keep up with everything our garden is producing. Too bad the summer seems to be winding down!

Unexpected Things Underfoot

 

Hey! We've got "Lawn Vaginas"! Actually, I stand corrected. As a friend pointed out, technically this is a "Lawn Vulva". This must be a very female part of our property because we have at least three in this area!

Every time I mow the lawn, or stroll by, I think, "Wouldja look at that?' So today, I finally got the camera out and documented.

My feet are here shown to give a sense of scale. 

And here's another one:

I'll bet you'll never look at your lawn the same way... there's all kinds of things out there! (*1)

(*1) And I am smart enough to know NOT to put "labels" on this post as all kinds of weirdo grass fetishists will be driving by...

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

 

Let's start with a nice photo! Look at that butterfly (a swallow tail, I think?) He/she actually waited for me to run into the house and grab the camera... what were the chances? It looks so perfect, perched on the flower spire of our in-full-bloom Vitex Agnus-Castus. (A great shrub, by the way! Lovely blue-ish purple flower clusters, a bit like lilacs and nice clean green leaves that nothing touches. This year it looks particularly good.)

Here's another picture; I tried to get the butterfly to spread his/her wings wide but he/she was shy. This is the closest it came, but the sun was in a funny spot so it's sort of dark:

As is usual for this time of the year, despite the long days, we've been busy and I always feel I could have another couple of hours to do things. But I'm tired, too. Bob and I whaled away at my riding area again and boy does it look good.

I'm not sure how well this reads; this area was a mess of old stacked logs, roots, overgrown bittersweet and scrubby trees... a mess! Just what we did in the past several days expanded the width of my "arena" by a good eight to ten feet. That makes a whole lot of difference to Neko and me as we canter through.

This is the pile of stumps, sticks, twigs, bark and general debris that we hauled off. (We need to get the truck in here to cart it away.) It's been quite the project and the results are dramatic. I'm tired, although I confess that it was Bob who did the all he chainsawing and maddoxing and the majority of the digging out of serious roots. I chopped back smaller stuff and did most of the schlepping the leavings over to the brush pile. I also dug out some sizeable rocks. I'll be ready to train for the Olympics now in my improved Dressage Arena! (*1)

And did I mention that some of the vines and roots I removed were poison ivy? You knew this had to happen. I'm waiting for my arm to truly erupt later tonight!

 (*1) I trust we've all been watching horses "dance" in dressage? Impressive! Neko and I are lucky to stay upright, let alone perform a piaffe!