gottawonder

Today I am grateful for:

Good sleep. A little TOO much, as my Sweetie fed the cats and no one woke me up.

We planned to go to the dump, which we did. That got rid of more of the scrap material from the deck mostly, and I managed to remember to get the recycling in the truck too.

What's frustrating, is that in many instances, not just today, my husband NEVER ACTUALLY KNOWS WHEN SOMETHING CLOSES. He THINKS he knows, and doesn't bother to actually find out. At times we've headed to town, with only the most vague idea of when stores close. Does he plan out the day and find out? No, he just tells me what we're doing, then I go "hey, wait a minute", and I look everything up and find out when things close, and we end up doing that "by the hair of our teeth" thing all day long.

Today was no exception. The dump has had the same schedule for YEARS. I have it written on a sheet of paper on our fridge for F's sake, in big, black letters. Does he check it? No.

So today he does NOTHING all day before I wake up. He then says we need to get to the dump now (I thought he would go before I woke up; apparently not). I thought he was going to go to the dump before I got up so that we would do something fun together in the evening.

Nope. He did nothing all morning, and then in the afternoon when it's nearly closing time for the dump, he says we need to load the truck first. He thinks the dump is closed at 4:30 pm, but right there on the paper on the fridge it says 4 pm. He is surprised by this. It has not occurred to him to CHECK, in fact, he questions whether or not that is correct information. He also does that; thinks that what I have written on the fridge is incorrect or misleading. It is not.

Sigh.

So we load the truck and rush to the dump before it closes. This means we are NOT doing anything fun today. Nope. Just going to the dump today for our "date night".

Less and less he tries to do something for Saturday. Only if I plan something and work really hard to make it happen. He does very little for our date night.

So we went to the dump and got rid of some stuff. Then he talks to the woman at the dump to let her know about our wooden deck, because he is determined to give it to someone to be used, rather than cut it up and haul it away.

He is SORT OF right, I'd hate to just throw it away too....BUT, here we are in October with this giant deck just sitting on our lawn, and threatening to be there in the spring because "it can't be moved this winter". Then in the spring will he just throw it out, or still be determined for someone else to use it?

We also have the concrete slab sitting in front of the garage. The giant chunk he dragged away from the house because it had broken and tilted away from the rest of the concrete, and had to be removed to repair that slab by the house (which is now a uniform, level deck again).

That slab was supposed to go to a neighbor with cattle, as it can be used in front of a waterer or something similar. Yet, it's been two months, and our neighbor has been too busy or something to come get it.

I think my husband has overstated our neighbor's actual interest in getting it. I don't think our neighbor wants it very badly. I think he "kind of" wanted it, until the reality of how hard it's going to be to move it set in.

My husband also has said that Dan was going to get a concrete saw from his work place to come cut it up so we could move it, but that's not happening either.

We have a slab of concrete that likely weighs more than my car just sitting in the yard now. Right in front of the garage.

So that's how I'm feeling today. No fun date night. Still crap all over our yard, and winter is closing in, and my husband just says "yeah, but it's not going to be easy to get those things moved".

Not impossible, and he knows what it's going to take to move them, but hard enough that they can likely sit there until I am angry all the time and I make his life a burning hell.

So we visited our friends again on the way home from the dump, and their kitten still has the shits all the time. I'm like....I don't know...MAYBE TAKE HIM TO SEE THE VET!!!!!

The did get it some shots and so on, so why not find out why it has the shits so bad that they don't even want it in the house? It's living in their garage, and apparently crapping all over the floor in there, which must be very pleasant for everyone.

L says she has a mysterious pain in her abdomen now, and she's made another appointment to see the doctor, but of course that can't happen for a couple of weeks. She's pretty worried because she just finished having a fairly major surgery for diverticulitis that she's still recovering from.

Once again, we tried to have a nice visit with them, which resulted in us sitting around the table with some tea, which was nice, while the husband and wife both talked as loudly as they could over one another, her trying to talk to me and him trying to talk to my husband, instead of taking turns so we could hear them both. It was awful.

I felt like no one cared about what we were up to, they both just talked, and no one asked how I was doing or anything.

I'm not sure why we visit them. I like them as people, but they are horrible conversationalists. At some point, I just look at my husband and make like there was some reason we had to leave, and we go.

So it wasn't the kind of day where I felt like anything fun or nice particularly was on the menu.

When we got home my Sweetie spent some time in the garage. We MUST get the goat pen set up, and he cleared stuff (shuffled things around some more), and I hope we can get the pen set up tomorrow.

I spent some time walking with Roxy in the horse pasture. I was finally able to bring Dandy over to be with Wonder for a while, and gave everyone some time in the bigger pastures, which I know they appreciated.

Then I went over the goat/pony pasture just to sit at the end of it to be with the goats. The goats otherwise don't explore the larger pasture, they would just stay close to the gate to their corral. If I go with them, they will go out to the far end with me and gnaw on saplings.

So that was nice.

I came in, my Sweetie cooked, and we watched "Lesbian Vampire Hunters" and of course it was awful. That was our "Halloween movie". Neither one of us is big into horror or slasher movies (thankfully), but if it's campy and horrible we sometimes watch that sort of thing.

Today I am grateful for:

Good sleep.

I didn't do much besides animal care before heading to the "other" town, almost entirely to get the mail.

I stuck my head into the little thrift store beside the post office, but didn't buy anything.

I stuck my head into the vintage clothing store half a block from the post office, and didn't buy anything.

Then I drove to the thrift store that I frequent, and I did buy a few things. A nice sweater that I will pull the sequins off of (since it's already missing some), some books.

Yet, a great deal of the clothing in the larger thrift store especially just felt like crimes against humanity. At least half of what I saw was just so atrociously ugly. UGLY. Not "not my style" but if you had a panel of 100 people, they would likely unanimously agree that it was ugly. Can a clothing company not afford to hire 100 random people off the street before mass marketing an idea?

Of the stuff that was better, a lot of it looked pretty tired, and even some of the "okay" stuff was ruined for me by having stupid sayings or cutesy puppies or something printed on it. I guess not many people enjoy a plain shirt or hoodie? The should just get "Sweet Jesus, this shirt is ugly!" printed across it.

Why do companies make ugly clothing? Why? We've had a lot of experience now making clothes, and they don't have to be super expensive to be at least tasteful and perhaps flattering. I mean, how does no one in that company see that a weird, pukey colored orange polyester isn't going to make anyone happy? Or that an ugly shirt is not less ugly for putting little metal shiny things on it?

Well, there's my rant.

One thing, if people insist on demanding ugly clothes, why not just buy those ugly clothes at the thrift store? Why do we have to have new ugly clothes?

It's not about cost. Plain, attractive clothes don't have to be that expensive. It's like companies are PUNISHING people with these clothes.

So that ended up being most of my day today.

I came home and my Sweetie was just finishing up baking his banana bread. He must have really just gotten right to it when he got home, as I wasn't home particularly late.

We ate more borscht and watched an episode of "The Sopranos".

Today I am grateful for:

Good sleep.

My back is a lot better, still some twinges if I sit for a while, but better.

Well, my hopes that the snow would hold off are over. It's snowing. Heavy, wet snow. We're supposed to get up to 15 cm.

It might melt, but probably not.

This kind of wet snow is hard on the animals, so the ponies got blankets until it stops (the goats are smart enough to stay in the shed).

Wonder already had a blanket on, and hers was wet but dry underneath, so she's okay.

I sorted through the blankets here at home to take some more things to the barn for River, like the neck coverings.

While at home I called the power company to update the information, since they seem to have a VERY wrong number attached to our account (they gave me the number, though they probably shouldn't have, since I was curious. It's not even a local number).

Then, I also contacted the service provider (our power has two tiers, our local power buying collective, and the company that provides the power) because it would be them who sent the guys to work on our pole yesterday.

They guys with all the stuff about the ex-wife/ex-girlfriend crap.

It did bother me yesterday, but it kept bothering me today. It was a stupid thing for them to say, was kind of meant to jab at me (He didn't come across as joking, but you know if I said anything he would fall back on "har har, it's a joke"), and I kept thinking that if he said something like that to a woman who maybe really did have problems with her husband cheating or having trouble with his ex, that comment might really hurt someone.

So I called customer service, and if nothing else I felt genuinely heard by the guy who picked up. I was telling him what happened, and when I got to the part about the service guy saying "it must be the ex-wife" he genuinely shifted to "oh no, that's not funny. It's awful".

So if nothing else, my feelings were validated and I feel like something will definitely be said to this guy, and hopefully he won't use that awful comment on anyone else.

Then I went to get fuel, and the roads were not great. I don't have my winter tires on yet, and it's also wet and slushy, and the gravel roads turn to mud.

Then I went to the barn. The heavy clouds and snow made it feel like it was already dark by the time I got there.

River had a light sheet on, and it was soaked through. He didn't seem overly cold, but it's good that I brought a change for him.

I spent some time attaching the necks to the blankets and organizing a bit while he ate his mash.

He did well with our work. Again, his breathing and energy are much better in the winter. It's such a shame that summer is so hard for him, and he gets so tired and out of breath. No one knows exactly what goes on with that. I've had him checked by vets a few times. He's never been the same after he got a respiratory infection at the other barn, just before I brought him to R's place. It was part of my decision to leave that barn, as I didn't like how the owner handled that situation (no where to isolate the horses that were ill, no support from her in giving medication which would have meant driving there twice a day for weeks, so I brought him home).

We did more work with going over poles, backing around a square, and trying to have good energy with those things.

I rode for a while, working again on staying forward, which was fairly easy for him today.

Again, he was likely pretty happy to warm up, and to loosen up his body with work. He got to go back outside with a heavier, dry blanket.

R is leaving in the morning for Kentucky, and I guess I'll try having a lesson with K tomorrow.

I came home and my Sweetie made supper and we watched an episode of "The Sopranos". It's a little nuts that we're still on Season One.

Today I am grateful for:

Some sleep. Not as much as I would have liked, but some sleep.

Time at home with my Sweetie before leaping into the day.

When we did leap, I did the usual changing/washing sheets, making of dense salads, and animal care.

My Sweetie went outside to try to mow the rest of the pasture, which we do in part to keep down the saplings, which grow back every year.

The grass didn't mow that well. It is still green at the bottom, and a bit wet from the recent snow, so it didn't snap off neatly like it did last year when it was so dry. Really, it's kind of mashed and mulched rather than mown, but it shorter and the saplings are cut.

So that was HIS day.

I did go see River, and it was brisk and cold, and a bit windy, so I chose to work in the indoor arena.

He had good energy and focus, and we did some different things that were kind of...intense backing exercises using a square made of poles.

I repeated the exercises mounted, as well as worked a bit on collection.

Throughout he maintained good focus and attention.

I did see K while he was doing chores. R and L are packing as they will be leaving for Kentucky Horse park with some others very soon.

I came home and my Sweetie had supper ready, and we ate and watched an episode of "Sopranos".

Today I am grateful for:

Good sleep.

Dear lord, there's snow again. Sigh. It will likely still melt in a day or so, but sigh.

I didn't do a lot of anything besides animal care before heading to the barn.

It was windy and only a hair above freezing, and not too pleasant.

I tried talking to my husband about addressing the huge slab of concrete that is supposed to be picked up by a neighbor, who has not done so in the last two months that it has been sitting there. We need to break it up and haul it away ourselves, I think.

We need to haul away the old deck that is too large for anyone to take as one piece. It needs to be cut up and hauled away.

We are running out of time. If we don't do these things NOW, it will snow, and my husband will shrug and say "we can't do it now", and that garbage will sit there until next summer, when I will have to resume yelling at him.

Dammit.

River was pretty cold and unhappy when I brought him into the barn. He was very pleased to warm up, get something to eat, and dry out.

He was actually being EXTRA GOOD in the arena, and affectionate. I think he was super happy to be warm again. Maybe these humans aren't all bad after all.

He had good breathing (as he does when it's cold and wet) and good energy.

Since our blankets finally got back from being cleaned (R took them to this person in MAY, and that person had an injury that somehow got in the way of washing them, I guess. I'm skeptical that that's why it took so long.) I put a light blanket on him, mainly to keep him dry.

R and L came out as I was wrapping things up to set up a Halloween themed obstacle course for the young woman's lesson, and it will be left up for awhile.

It's more or less the same obstacles she's used other years, so we're familiar with them. Still, it's fun, and it's something to do with H, since there's only so much you can do with her lessons.

It was still fun and social, and I chatted with R and L throughout, and we enjoyed H's costume (Woody from Toy Story) very much.

R and L won't be here for Halloween, they will be attending a Liberty event in Kentucky with some others in the barn. No one is taking horses, they are using horses provided by Patrick Sullivan, who created our Liberty organization (ELO).

I came home, and my Sweetie made supper. He was pretty gimped up from a fall at rock climbing.

He did not want to watch a show, and went to bed after we ate and chatted.

Today I am grateful for:

Good sleep.

Sigh, waking to Roxy apparently pooping all over the place out the side of her diaper.

My back started off a bit sore, but improved quite a bit once I got moving around, thankfully.

I emptied the bathroom trash can, and took it outside to be washed at a later time.

I did outdoor chores, and what a lovely day!

Roxy and I walked around the horse pasture.

Then I went to the garden and pulled the rest of the carrots and beets. The carrots are VERY nice looking this year. Not too many twisted ones, and none have the tops chewed by varmints. Some years we lose a lot of carrots by having the tops chewed by something. Same with the beets, which we did not have this year.

I managed to fill a five gallon pail right to the top with today's carrots, and we've already brought that amount in a couple of times. That is a LOT of carrots for a few rows.

Then I headed to the barn.

I had to find River back in the bush of their pasture today.

We had a lesson today, which oddly turned into us doing things that were recorded to be edited and used as a "profile" video that will be on our client page.

It kind of took over my lesson, doing things just to get footage, and I felt a little odd that I paid for that, when it's their initiative.

Sigh.

River did have a bit more pep today, and his shoulder was good. I'm grateful for that.

As much as I talk about the mechanics of working with River, it means a lot to me that our relationship has improved so much over the years. If I go out to the pasture now to catch him, he often comes over to me with a happy expression on his face. I don't even have to put a halter on him usually, he just comes with me. He leaves the food and his friends to walk with me to the gate.

He's more willing to try to do things that are confusing, and to work through the problem instead of shutting down, and I am better at trying to do the same.

He is overall much less worried about things, and more relaxed, and I am too.

Whether or not we win much, those things are important to me.

Talking with L (R's daughter who is...19 now I think? She's very sheltered. VERY SHELTERED.) is funny. I think she's just getting to a point where she's realized that people have whole histories that aren't necessarily what you see on the surface. I think she is under the impression that I have a wild past (everyone seems to think this of me, and I'm not sure why), and that I am full of surprises.

I guess she was surprised that I could make a hula hoop, and that I knew how to use it. That's a pretty vanilla thing to know/do.

I told her a bit about how I myself wasn't that "wild", but that I was often surrounded by people who were in recovery (and probably lots of active users) while we lived in Wyoming. That was a very rough town, full of young guys with money from the oil industry, and I didn't enjoy that aspect of living there. EVERYONE had some kind of drug problem, with the exception of maybe a few people we knew through the college.

She seemed to think that was a pretty wild experience, and I suppose it was. Yet, I think it was only obvious to me because so many people were in recovery, so they were pretty honest about their history of use. Since EVERYONE had a similar history, no one seemed to think it was very shocking.

In reality, she's probably been around people with problems, but they probably just weren't going to say anything about that to her.

She's going to university in January, and I think getting out into the world and away from the shelter of living in a utopian horse farm and working for her parent's friends might be quite a shock.

I mean, if she thinks I'M "interesting"....!

I came home and my Sweetie heated up the borscht for us again...Mmmmmm!

We watched another episode of "Sopranos". It really is a good series. I haven't watched it all, and I hear the ending is really amazing (no spoilers).

Today I am grateful for:

Good sleep.

Getting up with no need to rush before the vets got here.

It wasn't for an emergency, just a scheduled appointment. Though I don't know if that's what's going on, I wanted to have Wonder checked for Cushings, as it is common in older horses.

Wonder is pretty old now, and she's thin. I'm feeding her more than I used to (when she kept weight on easily), but the vet suggested feeding her a bit more, and maybe some high fat, low sugar feed.

That's the conundrum, is that she is thin, but I can't just feed her anything to put on weight, she has issues with sugar, so you have to be aware of what you're feeding her.

The vet did kind of give me the "she's just old" talk too.

Her teeth are fine, she's eating lots, she's just a little thin.

The vet and her assistant seemed nice. Once again, they're both new vets. I rarely see the same vet twice, and I wonder where they go, and why they don't stay on.

After that I headed to town.

I did get to pottery, with no drama today thank heavens. I didn't do a lot, but trimmed a bowl I made last week and spent some time carving a design into it. That was nice.

Then I went to get groceries, and had a funny interaction.

I was trying to get past a young fellow, and said in my chipper voice "just sneaking by!". He later came up to me, and I'm guessing he's a bit socially awkward, but trying to be better about interacting with people.

He said "I like to mess with people a bit when they say 'just sneaking by' by saying 'I heard you'".

Then he stood there smiling. So I said "I always think I'm just not being very sneaky if I announce that I'm being sneaky".

He replied "Wow, I hadn't thought of that". I replied "Well, I guess you caught me".

The conversation could not sustain itself after that. We both smiled. He went on his way. I wish him well and I hope there's someone out there taking care of him.

I am grateful to be able to get groceries. To have the means, the physical ability, and a car, etc.

I came home, and once again there was the most glorious sunset that lit up the sky, and only for a few minutes when the angle of the sun was just right.

My Sweetie was finishing up baking his banana bread, so I sort of made a very lazy supper, but it worked.

We watched an episode of "Sopranos".

Today I am grateful for:

Good sleep.

Some time with my Sweetie before rushing about.

It was very windy again, so work with Dan was cancelled.

I am glad that it meant my Sweetie got a true "rest day", instead of having to work. He's just getting run down from his job and all the work this summer.

We didn't have strong goals for the day, but wanted to have a day in the city. It's been a while again.

I suggested we go get him some new jeans for work. He typically has two or three "good" pair that he wears until they are really worn out, at which point I patch them and they become work jeans. He has recently worn out a couple of pair, so he needed new ones.

I know he likes Levis, so I cut to the chase and said we just needed to go straight to the outlet and be done with it.

He did get two pair, and I found a nice pair of khaki type pants on sale.

He expressed an interest in a jacket to wear at work that wasn't a fleece jacket or a heavy jacket, almost like a jean jacket...he wanted pockets...but a light jacket. Not synthetic, but I suspect that's an aesthetic choice rather than practical, because he has many fleece or nylon jackets that are light.

We looked in a couple of places, and Uniqlo had something he liked, but I thought it was pricey for what it was. We didn't get a chance to look in Mark's Work Wearhouse or something similar first, and if we don't find something there, we can always come back.

I also feel like he should take a serious look at the jackets he already owns. He probably has 15 jackets, and would SOMETHING from what he already owns work?

I don't want to stop him from buying something he wants, but he truly needs to examine what he already owns.

I went to Sephora, yay.

Then we ate at our usual vegetarian place, one of the few left. For the first time they were willing to substitute quinoa for the white rice in a dish, which is GREAT because nearly everything on their menu is oddly made with white rice or noodles, neither of which are good for my blood sugar.

Then we met up with someone from Marketplace on our way home. I bought some very nice Breyer horse models. I love them, though I generally refrain, as they could easily be an addiction for me.

These ones were some of the nicer models (yup, there's the run of the mill ones and nicer ones that are based on real horses that are especially realistic) and they were selling pretty cheap.

They are lovely.

I had been trying to meet up with the seller for a while now, and even meeting up today was a challenge (she sent her parents, who had a good laugh about meeting up in the dark in a parking lot do do a deal with us).

Then we came home and watched "Strange Wilderness" that is just a plain awful bad kind of low brow comedy that is still good. Kind of. But also very bad. You have to be in the right mood for it. Not every movie is going to be "Schindler's List".

Today I am grateful for;

Decent sleep.

Pretty much right after eating and indoor animal care, the new farrier arrived. On time, which is great.

Well, so far so good. She IS more expensive than B, who was our farrier for the last ten years.

What was nice, is that she was gentle and patient with everyone, and they seem to like her. Everyone behaved well for her, which is important to me.

She was pleasant enough to chat with, which matters too. It would have been fine if she were just on the quiet side or something, but if she were abrasive it's less appealing.

She's also young enough to maybe do this for a while. B, even from the beginning, didn't have a good back and being a farrier was hard for her. The last time B came out in August, every moment seemed to be hard for her, and she was only maybe forty-ish? This new person is pretty limber.

So, we'll see how it goes. I did set up another appointment in nine weeks.

My Sweetie was able to pick up more of the balancing mineral horse feed that I've been giving Wonder. It's available now at a horse place not too far out of his way home that I haven't been to yet. I used to get it when R bought hers through a service that brought it to the barn, but now R gets it from this place.

When my Sweetie came home, we went for a walk at the park, which was nice. It was pretty crisp, but nice.

There was a gorgeous sunset.

Roxy was very energetic on our walk today, maybe even more than usual, which is great to see.

Then we came home, I made supper, and my Sweetie opted to just head to bed early instead of watch something. He's been so run down lately.

He did have the doctor's appointment this last Tuesday, nothing back yet.

Today I am grateful for:

Good sleep.

My Sweetie got up earlier than I, and went to town. He had some appointments, got his hair cut, picked up the mail, etc.

I did some laundry, changed the sheets, washed dishes, made quinoa, and started the dense salads.

I was doing chores outside when he came home.

We chatted for a while, then I headed to the barn.

I brought a hula hoop I made several years ago. I made it from PEX tubing (stiff plastic hose meant for household plumbing) and wrapped it with decorative tape. I have some others, so I thought I would give this one to L to see if her pony Mr. Pickles would go through it. It is larger than most hula hoops.

Everyone was pretty excited about the hoop, which is great. I do think Mr. Pickles could use a larger one, so I talked to my husband. He says we have lots of PEX left, and could make a bigger one.

They could still use the one I gave them for dog agility, or for actual hula hooping if they want it for that.

It was a pretty nice day, clear and sunny, around 10 C, and the dust was cleared by the rain/snow we got over the weekend.

We were able to ride in the outdoor arena, and the footing in there felt really good today. I'm SO GLAD they added the extra sand.

River did okay. His breathing was good, but he still seemed kind of sleepy. We did our usual work on being as forward as I could get from him today, and some ridden work.

If nothing else, he needs to keep up his fitness to be able to get somewhere in the large arena, because we never work hard enough in the small indoor arena to do that, and half the year we are limited to the small indoor arena.

Then I came home and my Sweetie was making supper.

We had time to watch the silly movie I watched while he was away, which was "Cannibal! The Musical", which really is hilarious.