Monday, March 5, 2012

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.

5 comments:

cheyenne jones said...

Hi !!!! Welcome back, good to see your words on the ethernet! Obviously been busy, its been a crappy winter here too!
Wet Wet Wet!

Grey Horse Matters said...

Nice to see you again Callie. I've missed you. Congratulations on the weight loss, I know how hard that is. Been on WW myself since Nov. and only lost 15 but it's an ongoing struggle. Glad everyone is okay, hope the baby is doing well. My one grandson has terrible asthma and allergies so he's always on treatments.

This year in our paddocks without trees I've decided to put Weeping Willows. They grow really fast with a lot of watering and I think they make good shade trees and the horses can go under their branches to sort of scrape the flies off. Might not work well where you are, I don't know.

Be well, hope to see more of you.

Wolfie said...

Welcome back! You have been busy. Glad to hear that you and your family are doing well. Sorry to hear about Kota, but I hope you have a few more years with him.

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