And So Begins This Week..................

Mina lounging behind me as usual....................



My goofy Stephen came out with me this morning, wearing my winter hat backwards............Is there any other way ? Actually I asked Steve to help me this morning so that I could recheck Kola's hoof this morning because....................



This is what pulled from her rear right hoof last night. And Zoe claims to not like the horses ( I think sh'e fooling me) because she noticed Kola standing oddly. So at evening's feed, I decided to pick feet out while they were eating. I think we got lucky, because & naturally, it was the last hoof I picked, she must have just picked it up..........the rounded end in the crevace next to the frog and the hook just up against the fleshy part of her heel. I was hesitant at first, but completely packed in mud, I went for it. Glad I did as I believe we have no damage. It came out easily & I cold hosed it afterward to get a closer look and I couldn't see any punctures or bleeding or damage & it didn't seem tender........



None too worse for the wear and of course Misty bit me reaching for hay, she's been a little naughty these days.............Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

And yes, my foot after I wiped most of it out as I rechecked Kola's hoof this morning, my boot got stuck in the mud, I nearly toppled over and landed bear footed in the bloody darned mud.......Uck!

An Update...........For A Change

I know I've been absent from this blog for some time, but it's time to update. Let's see, where to begin. Stephen and I are just fine. Zoe has been home with us now since her University graduation in Dec. 2010. She is working for Stephen, which is helping him tremendously, gives that extra time...........And doing a good job. Able to pay us a little rent, pay for her own car, and budget herself, so much better than I ever was able to. The kids in the UK seem to be doing well, although our little Joseph still in and out of the hospital. Sometimes, it seems too much for our Becs, but she is strong and such the good Mum, and we are proud of her. Tom has gotten himself a house & boat, even with a new baby.........Seems they are doing well. We are very proud of them all. Our plan is to go back to the UK in October to visit...........Looking very forward to it. Miss all over there & Zoe will be making the trek with us this time.

I have begun Weight Watchers this past September and have lost 21 pounds so far. Working my usual schedule and feeling great about the weight loss, still have more to go, but I think my horses will appreciate the lighter me on them this spring.

I put the pics up, showing that what used to be a mound of brush and trees have now been removed at no expense to us, so to speak, from the power company, although the tree removal people left piles of damned logs all over and if you notice my shade tree for the girls in their paddock had to go. Not sure what my solution to that will be. And Steve & I had to put some fence up quickly so that the Tree people could access it without us having to move horses around. It seems to have worked out quite fine for the moment. We have gone virtually all winter without snow & of course this past Friday, I had the pleasure of driving to work in the Winter Storm warning. We got blasted, and by the end of the week , it will be all mud as it's supposed to warm into the 50's by mid week. I hesitated to remove the girls' blankets until as our temp have up and down.

Kola has been started on her spring regime of Palatech ( levothyroxime) and I will need to work her a lot before riding as she needs to muscle up some. I have the girls on a combo of MSM and Glucosamine now since Autumn and I think it makes a huge difference. Kola used to click a lot when she moved and no longer does. Also began them on U-Guard, which I believe helps to alleviate some stressy belly pain during their spring heat cycles as they tend to get irritated with other. Putting up the fence proved to be a challenge as they both decided it would be some fun to stand on once we rolled it out and made it difficult for us to lift, LOL< they are forever still the dorks they have always been.

We found out this Autumn that the bear, Kota, our Aussie Shepherd more than likely has Cancer as he managed to get Kennel Cough after a new groomer visit and it was extremely highlighted, a trip to the Vet for such horrible stridor..........We decided that if we got him through the kennel cough with the aid of doggy NSAIDS and antibiotics that we would not put him through all the tests and chemo, since he an older man now, we would just keep him comfy at home with us where he wants to be and play it by ear. He quickly came back to his base line. Stephen was absolutely heartbroken at the news, but I feel confident that we'll still have a few years with him. The other two dog dorks as just as they are. Spot, the Border Collie has gotten even more neurotic has he is now afraid of the dark outside...........Good Grief!

We have basically just been waiting for spring to arrive. Zoe and Steve will start even more box gardens this year, they had such success last..........And I have a lot of pasture to get through. I'll have to cut to the ground the remainder of suckers that are like horse injuring spikes the removal service left up, reseed the pasture and weed and feed. The pasture weed and feed worked so well last year. It took out all the broad leaf and I had no cases of slobbers as a result. And I still have to come up with an inexpensive shade solution for the lack of that one tree.

Sometimes I feel we all hibernate during the winter so it will be a very busy spring. I did have a bit of good fortune when renewing the Equine wellness program for the girls, to find I had almost a $300 dollar credit toward it and that allowed me to get the supplements for the girls. Misty looks great, Kola needs a work out. But all and all they've been good. The goats are doing fine and our recent Jenny goat, old as she is seems to be quite happy here with us.

Work has been a challenge for me as Leadership really bombed us older most experienced Nurses with some rotten evals, not deserved, this past Autumn. I felt as if I was forced to step down as a Relief Charge Nurse, because I feel they put me in a position of failure, but I refuse to change my personality for anyone and I will continue to work the best as possible, joke as I have always done, swear when I feel it's necessary and voice my strong opinion. That is just me and I am too old to change now.

None the less, we all seem to be relatively healthy (knock on wood) quadrupeds as well as bipeds so I feel blessed. Sorry it's been a long time since I actually blogged. Just a fair amount of BS this past fall and quite frankly I've been a lazy tart. Hope all is well with everyone out there in the blogosphere.

Getting Older Is a Pain in the Butt

From Teens to 50 everything is relatively easy ranging including

1. Writing your name in the snow ( Guy Thing )
2. Picking up 1 or even 2 50 LB bags of Horse Feed  or Wood Pellets and lugging them around and keen to move more
3. Reading small print for instructions etc.
4. Getting some new gadget gizmo and not only learning the basics but seeing what else it can do
5. Hearing everything the first time
6. Remembering the smallest details
7. Few bits of the body play up occasionally but in general does everything you ask of it
Everything is not only possible also a challenge to be enjoyed

50 to 60
The same things as before just takes a little more determination, concentration  and time

60 +
The crap sets in
1. Name in the snow is just a dot ( Guy Thing )
2. Picking up 50 LB bag seems like it weighs a ton and god help if you want to move 50 of the buggers
3. Small print takes longer to read and sometimes still cant read it even with the glasses
4. New technology ( Just want to make it do what you want dont worry about all the fancy crap you didnt want it for anyway
5. I refuse to accept I am going deaf even though I miss more than I catch
6. Forgetting stuff and needing to write lists more and more
7. More and more bits of your body let you know through aches and pains just how frail it can become

Getting older seems like a crock of S??? in so many ways but and here is the But that balances it out

Slowing down and taking more time to realize the beauty of life , relationships, love and the earth we are privileged to share with others , watching as those younger with the same ideas and dreams you had when young and making the same mistakes you did when you were younger, and being able to stand back and not only admire them but realizing without making those mistakes yourself you would not be the person you are today.

Thanking your lucky stars that a greater being has allowed you to spend another year on this earth to watch as those children you bought into this earth grow in mind, spirit, health and wisdom and bring another generation into this world to live, love and enjoy everything our world has to offer us


Steve
PS Callie is lucky as she is still in that first  lot and I thank god she still loves a crotchety old sod like me

Whats Changed ** Number 4 Pharmaceuticals **

I was originally going to make Number 4 "Healthcare" but quickly realized it would become to big and unwieldy to read or write about so decided to just pick on 1 healthcare specific for each post, this is the first.

As we become older we rely on more and more drugs to keep us healthy, some of the most common are those that regulate our blood pressure for example ( Atenolol ) and ( Lipitor ) to regulate our cholesterol, the list of others is endless so I will just say these are but the tip of the iceberg. 



Whats Changed


1. Increased use of drugs to prevent heart attacks etc.
2. The American Health care system pays more for Pharmaceuticals than just about any other country in the world
3. Pharmaceutical Companies are granted 10 years plus to recover R and D costs, but somehow manage to gain multiple years extra in the US to milk it for all it's worth.

Below is an example of how the previous standards have fallen apart due to pressure / corruption / lobbying call it what you like


A great example is Lipitor ( Atorvastatin ) which is marketed by Pfizer an American  Pharmaceutical corporation, as a standard Pharmaceutical Companies have up to  12 years of exclusive use to help pay back the huge costs involved in research and development before generics can be developed.


5 years ago Lipitor should have been allowed to be produced as a generic but for some unknown reason only in the United States Pfizer kept control and stopped Generic equivalents being produced, not only that they had the cheek and got away with increasing the cost by more than 30% in the US market during the last 5 years, ( What happened to the department put in place to protect the public from this type of thing ) .


In theory any society that was looking at saving healthcare costs Lipitor ( Atorvastatin ) should have been available in it's generic form on May 30th 2006 but it looks like deals within deals within deals means the public and the US heathcare industry will continue to pay close to the full price for another 6 months till the middle of next year  $350 per month about $35 in copay


In the UK, Canada, Australia Lipitor costs have been less than $100 per month with even larger discounts to National Health Services




So the only country that is stitched with high prices is the same country that payed out the  large tax incentives from the US tax payer they received while the drug was in development.


Lipitor is just one example where America pays more than any other country for the same drugs produced by the same companies because of

You tell me why that is ?

Whats Changed ** Number 3 Elections **

It would be easy when talking about the election process to consider  we have not seen changes ,
the same basic premise still applies that has for years, potential candidates are required to stand in a fair  and free election for the right to represent the people who elect them, this applies to all forms of Government.


Whats Changed


More than we realize

1. Most elections now require formal Proof of ID

2. Voting District Boundaries are changed and put in place by those currently in power hoping to give them an edge in the demographics for the next set of elections

3. The amount of money spent during elections has increased by higher and higher multiples each election cycle, these increases have happened in both direct by the party / Candidate and indirect via non disclosed groups of supporters

So how do these changes influence Election Results

1a. By requiring Formal Proof of ID it is likely to most effect the lowest earners in society who will be less likely to vote. ( Little real wide spread impact if the country wants major change )
My own view on this is formal proof of ID should have been written in from the very beginning to stop voter fraud so although this has had and will continue to have an effect, the gains I believe outweigh the losses.

2a The Voting District Boundaries have been used for many years, the difference now is that due to increased computing power for analysis it is much more likely to be effective in it's goals. ( Little real wide spread impact if the country wants major change )

3a "Money has equaled Power"  and "Power has equaled Money" for as long as we have had politics, but Money used for mass advertising to the electorate can and does make a difference in results.

Just think of why companies advertise a brand of detergent because it works

With the large increases required to mount a political campaign it is now impossible to compete unless you have millions of dollars in both direct contributions or you know organisations will run adds that will help your campaign directly or indirectly, these type of $$$$$$ are impossible to get from the ordinary voter which leaves the potential candidate ( Whichever Party ) only one option to get it from Big Business  , Now the reality is Big Business are not charities so if they are donating hundreds of thousands of $$$$$ either directly or indirectly it is not because they are super caring but because they hope to get something back in return.

You may wonder sometimes why the media has not picked up on this and exposed the issues , pretty easy answer ( Media relies on Advertising for profits so highly unlikely they will highlight the problems ).

So who is mostly affected by this major change ( The General Voting Public ) because it is more likely the representative you elect will  support or not support bills, changes etc. that reflect his / her large donors  than the voters he represents ( If he or she doesn't support those donors) they will not get the funds required next time round to seek election.  

The other direct outcome of the current election funding and the increase in advertising is the growth of negative advertising of candidates rather than positive advertising.

So if those in power do or don't admit it, they are no longer "Of the people by the people for the people" but better described as "Of the people by the people for whoever paid the most money to secure their future"

The influx of money causes major wide spread impact if the country wanted major change, if you spend enough on negative campaigns about the opposition party pretty soon those who wanted change can be convinced the opposition is no better .

I would be interested to hear from those who agree or disagree with my views, I have tried to keep these non political i.e. party based because I do not think they are primarily party related.
 

  

 

Whats Changed ** Number 2 Student Protests **

I chose this subject next because we have seen what started as student protests and attracted the general population to support the protest have sometimes changed dictator based regimes .

Over the last 30 or so years we have seen how political protests often started by students for a cause that is just and correct has changed society

These range from the protests in South Africa against apartheid segregation that combined with political support from around the world with sanctions against South Africa to force change

To the latest where protests started in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya as part of the "Arab Spring" against dictator regimes drew support from the ordinary working man and woman  plus political, media and popular support from around the world leading to the overthrow of the corrupt regimes.

Some are still going on in
Syria is one example and currently those in power have used force using the Police, Army and who ever else to squash the protests.

Israel is a second example where hundreds of thousands have taken to the streets to protest Social Inequality, this is still ongoing

Some have failed a number of times for example in Burma where each time the protests have been squashed


We send our kids off to University to broaden their horizons, provide them with the knowledge to make informed decisions and hopefully and most important the higher education needed to find decent payed careers which will allow them to pay back high levels of student loans required to finish their degrees.

Whats Changed 

Occupy Wall Street / We are the 99% protests

For the first time since The Vietnam War students in the United States took to the streets in large numbers during the Occupy Wall Street and the We are the 99% protests, in general from everything I have seen and read they have protested peacefully.

Their  gripes ranged from large Student loans with poor job prospects to Wall Street Bailouts to the current inequality in our society between the 1% and the other 99% . What is interesting is the number of ordinary working men and women that were beginning to show support for the protests. It is scary in many ways that as soon as larger numbers of the  General Populace were seen to be showing support  the protests have been squashed using the Police.

Unlike media support for the Arab Spring Uprisings our media has done everything to discredit them

I did not see the media change the name of the Libya Arab Spring Uprising to LAS for example but the media has changed the name of these protests to OWS ( Occupy Wall Street ) .

It is also interesting that there is little media coverage in the United States of the social justice protests in Israel which included hundreds of thousands of protesters but wide coverage of Arab Spring protests.

The "Israeli Social Justice Protests" are essentially the same as the "We are the 99% protests" and "The Arab Spring Protests"  protesting about the inequality of wealth distribution between the haves and the have nots.

The big question on my mind is now that force and the law has been used to squash these protests in the United States is will they disappear as those in power are hoping or will they re-appear in a more violent form due to frustration. My personal hope is that frustration does not lead to a more violent style of demonstration as they will lose the increasing support of the general populace.

I feel for the students. it must be frustrating to do "the right thing" go off to college to enhance your career prospects and while studying build up student loans ranging from $10,000 to $75,000 only to find no decent paying jobs when you have finished and obtained your degree. College education fees ( and the loans required ) have increased exponentially over the last few years as state and Federal Funding has decreased in real terms. Colleges and Universities have also increased fees significantly more than inflation. Those that talk about kids working their  way through college have little idea of the challenges facing these kids.

One further comment over the last 30 years the parents of these kids have less disposable income available so are less able to help.


A Question for the readers

Should the students be allowed to protest peacefully against what they feel are injustices in our society ?