Wednesday, November 2
Nov. 2nd, 2022 10:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gottawonderToday I am grateful for:
Being reasonably strong and healthy, so that I can do what must be done.
I didn't get great sleep, though I was properly in bed and all. I DID sleep, I just woke up still feeling tired.
The contractor mostly worked in the basement today, and only came upstairs after I got up, in order to spray foam around the windows some more.
The contractor said it smelled like septic gas in the basement when he came in today, and found a pipe that was not capped off as it should have been, when the other contractor came to work on the bathroom. So, I guess he did it. Sigh.
It was snowing like mad all day long, and we have quite an accumulation now. It is also quite a lot colder than it was just a few days ago.
So, winter protocols kick in.
I did have blankets on the mares last night, but today I needed to change them around and added a liner and a hood to Hollywood. The outer blankets got so icy that today they are almost like solid shells. They are warm and dry underneath, though.
I found the drop-in heater for the goat/pony water and hooked that up.
I dug out a better blanket to take for River tonight. He only had a very light sheet on.
I rounded up everything (hopefully) that I will need for paint night.
I got out one of the winter tires (I have all seasons on, but I usually put proper winter ones on), and took that with me to our mechanic's shop to see if it had enough tread to put on the car. He said it looked okay, so soon I will take in the car and the tires and get that done.
The roads were not TOO horrible, but patchy with blowing snow. I drove pretty carefully.
I went to the barn to see River.
My friend who was hoping to ride with me was there with very sad news. One of her two Icelandic horses had colicked very badly, and had to be put down. It was pretty shocking news, and I felt so awful for her. Colic (either a twist in the intestines, or an impaction) is one of those things that can happen to horses in spite of good care. There is so little anyone can say to make something like this feel better.
I kind of suppressed those feelings so that I could be with River while R was working with him. This is that extra training we have been planning.
I feel a lot better after seeing how things went tonight. She mainly worked on familiar exercises, so that she could build her relationship with him a bit more (she doesn't work with him directly very much), and none of it got dramatic.
What she wanted to do, was to work with him more on accepting oral medication, and she wanted to do this at Liberty in the arena, rather than have him confined or restrained. It does a lot to build a horse's trust and confidence to have agency.
River ended up doing well, and did not leave after a few approaches with the syringe (no meds were given). He was still a little worried about it, but did not walk away, and eventually did lower his head.
It was a good effort on both sides to not make this dramatic, and I am SO relieved. There will be more training sessions, but this is a good start.
After the lesson, R and I went upstairs (she has a very nice finished room above the barn that we are using for the paint night event). She had tables and chairs set up, and I laid out the canvasses and tools and such.
I brought some things to sell (I haven't decided yet if part, or all of the sales will also be donated) and we laid those out.
It looks about as ready as we can be.
Then I drove carefully home. Some of the roads had been cleared.
I checked on the animals again, as I worry a lot the first while after it gets colder.
Today I learned that Charles Lindbergh, who was a famous PILOT, worked with Dr. Alexis Carrel to develop the perfusion pump, which is how they keep organs alive when doing transplants.
"Carrel co-authored a book with pilot Charles A. Lindbergh, The Culture of Organs, and worked with Lindbergh in the mid-1930s to create the "perfusion pump," which allowed living organs to exist outside the body during surgery. The advance is said to have been a crucial step in the development of open-heart surgery and organ transplants, and to have laid the groundwork for the artificial heart, which became a reality decades later.[15] Some critics of Lindbergh claimed that Carrel overstated Lindbergh's role to gain media attention,[16] but other sources say Lindbergh played an important role in developing the device.[17][18] Both Lindbergh and Carrel appeared on the cover of Time magazine on 13 June 1938."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexis_Carrel
One marvels to think of the process of a PILOT working on such a project, but I guess the pump required the skills of a mechanical mind.
Being reasonably strong and healthy, so that I can do what must be done.
I didn't get great sleep, though I was properly in bed and all. I DID sleep, I just woke up still feeling tired.
The contractor mostly worked in the basement today, and only came upstairs after I got up, in order to spray foam around the windows some more.
The contractor said it smelled like septic gas in the basement when he came in today, and found a pipe that was not capped off as it should have been, when the other contractor came to work on the bathroom. So, I guess he did it. Sigh.
It was snowing like mad all day long, and we have quite an accumulation now. It is also quite a lot colder than it was just a few days ago.
So, winter protocols kick in.
I did have blankets on the mares last night, but today I needed to change them around and added a liner and a hood to Hollywood. The outer blankets got so icy that today they are almost like solid shells. They are warm and dry underneath, though.
I found the drop-in heater for the goat/pony water and hooked that up.
I dug out a better blanket to take for River tonight. He only had a very light sheet on.
I rounded up everything (hopefully) that I will need for paint night.
I got out one of the winter tires (I have all seasons on, but I usually put proper winter ones on), and took that with me to our mechanic's shop to see if it had enough tread to put on the car. He said it looked okay, so soon I will take in the car and the tires and get that done.
The roads were not TOO horrible, but patchy with blowing snow. I drove pretty carefully.
I went to the barn to see River.
My friend who was hoping to ride with me was there with very sad news. One of her two Icelandic horses had colicked very badly, and had to be put down. It was pretty shocking news, and I felt so awful for her. Colic (either a twist in the intestines, or an impaction) is one of those things that can happen to horses in spite of good care. There is so little anyone can say to make something like this feel better.
I kind of suppressed those feelings so that I could be with River while R was working with him. This is that extra training we have been planning.
I feel a lot better after seeing how things went tonight. She mainly worked on familiar exercises, so that she could build her relationship with him a bit more (she doesn't work with him directly very much), and none of it got dramatic.
What she wanted to do, was to work with him more on accepting oral medication, and she wanted to do this at Liberty in the arena, rather than have him confined or restrained. It does a lot to build a horse's trust and confidence to have agency.
River ended up doing well, and did not leave after a few approaches with the syringe (no meds were given). He was still a little worried about it, but did not walk away, and eventually did lower his head.
It was a good effort on both sides to not make this dramatic, and I am SO relieved. There will be more training sessions, but this is a good start.
After the lesson, R and I went upstairs (she has a very nice finished room above the barn that we are using for the paint night event). She had tables and chairs set up, and I laid out the canvasses and tools and such.
I brought some things to sell (I haven't decided yet if part, or all of the sales will also be donated) and we laid those out.
It looks about as ready as we can be.
Then I drove carefully home. Some of the roads had been cleared.
I checked on the animals again, as I worry a lot the first while after it gets colder.
Today I learned that Charles Lindbergh, who was a famous PILOT, worked with Dr. Alexis Carrel to develop the perfusion pump, which is how they keep organs alive when doing transplants.
"Carrel co-authored a book with pilot Charles A. Lindbergh, The Culture of Organs, and worked with Lindbergh in the mid-1930s to create the "perfusion pump," which allowed living organs to exist outside the body during surgery. The advance is said to have been a crucial step in the development of open-heart surgery and organ transplants, and to have laid the groundwork for the artificial heart, which became a reality decades later.[15] Some critics of Lindbergh claimed that Carrel overstated Lindbergh's role to gain media attention,[16] but other sources say Lindbergh played an important role in developing the device.[17][18] Both Lindbergh and Carrel appeared on the cover of Time magazine on 13 June 1938."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexis_Carrel
One marvels to think of the process of a PILOT working on such a project, but I guess the pump required the skills of a mechanical mind.
no subject
Date: 2022-11-03 10:07 pm (UTC)Yay for the extra blankets just in time! And so glad for less drama and good progress with River and R and all.
I'm sorry about the lady's horse. I can only imagine how that must have felt to hear about, with your love of animals and all you know. I'm glad you were there for her to talk to at least.
Snow??? Wow. We will get a dusting before the end of the year, but most of it is after Christmas unfortunately. Great job on being prepared and also being able to implement your plans.
Wishing you something cozy to drink and a better night's sleep! :)
no subject
Date: 2022-11-04 05:29 am (UTC)It's so scary to hear about such a sudden death because then you just feel a "coulda been me" sensation.
She is SUCH a nice person, and I know this hit her hard. Mocha was her gentle, go-to horse that she trusted and could put anyone on and know they would be safe.
As to the snow, it is not uncommon for us to have snow by now. Not usually a big dump all at once like we got this time, but not unusual. No one ever feels totally ready for it, but around here it seems like we are ALWAYS getting ready for winter. It is a pretty serious season here, and we do generally have snow from November right through until mid-April.
There are some years we don't get snow until Christmas, and other anomalies, but in general we have lots of snow.
no subject
Date: 2022-11-05 03:13 am (UTC)Do something comforting for you if you can, since I know this is such a shock to you too.
We have Indian Summer here with weather in the 70s F. So I am trying to enjoy the warmth of it before our winter sets in. They say we will finally have a true winter. I am completely fine with that, but people here are not. So things slow down, people don't go in to work, and if you depend on anyone, it's likely you're in a mess. But we'll see. Plenty of time for planning and hoping. Take care there!