Guess who gets to ride Holly for 20 minutes tomorrow? ME!

I know, I know…I haven’t posted in ages! I wish I had a good excuse! I think after Holly was sick I just didn’t feel like writing about it since I had to think about it all day. She has a check-up tomorrow and I hope to hear good news.

I did take some pictures, which I will post soon!

I think the hardest part about Holly needing surgery is how much I worry about her now. I don’t know what her chances of survival are, long-term…but I think the first year it’s 50%. Every morning I go and hold my breath until I see her. A horse having their intenstine opened up and surviving it…just send her your good thoughts (at least for the next 11 months…then her chances of survival increase!)

I went to watch a show this weekend and ran into my old trainer. He offered to breed Holly for next to nothing so I would be able to have a future cutter…and a piece of Holly in the future. But I don’t know what the chances are of her survival through a pregnancy now either. Of course I do know of a mare who had colic surgery while pregnant who delivered her foal 3 months later and everyone was very healthy. But there are huge “what if’s” when it comes to thinking about any of this!

I also was given the opportunity to ride several different horses at the winter shows (where earning don’t count, but it is just a fun “get together” with the possibility of earning buckles and such…The idea excites me, but scares me, too. Sometimes people offer you there horses, but if you do well they take them back to show them, or worse, they blame you for there horse not doing well. I guess I have to weigh the options.

So, I will be visiting blogs again, catching up on everyone’s happenings. I hope I find everyone healthy and happy and ready for a beautiful autumn!

Holly seems well on the mend. When I go to clean her “recovery room” she tries to push me out of the way so she can go through the gate. That isn’t really her nature to be so rude, and since she has about 2 feet of stitches in her gut I figure I will let it slide…for now!  She knows it, too, and does little things (like walks into me) because I swear she senses I won’t do anything.  She also tries to rip the hay right out of my hands, poops and pees about 14 thousand times a day, but I have never been so happy to look through manure before. It seems to be gravel free the last few days. (The vet said about 5 pounds would still pass…).

Her routine is very simple. I feed her 3 times a day now…the vet said up to 20 pounds of hay divided, but I’ll admit we are staying with 15 pounds because I swear that is all she needs and she looks really good. Plus she gets walked twice a day for 20 minutes with half of that grazing time.  I clean every time I go out to care for her, and she gets brushed, but I can tell she is still bored. She has taken to flinging her 100 gallon galvinized feed tub around the pen.

The walking in the morning is wonderful. The air is still cool, and the sight and sounds of her happily ripping grass makes me happy. But in the afternoon, when the temperature is 100+, well, that is not so wonderful. I can’t really vary her routine too much, even with the heat, because then I would be feeding her really, really late, and I like to be able to make sure she is eating well. I am just glad we don’t have a lot of asphalt around. Unfortunately we don’t have any trees planted, either.

Poor Cozee is in a little pen with no shade. She seems depressed about her situation, so today she will get her turn to graze. I have kept her in because she loves to race around like a nut, and I don’t want Holly to get excited. I think I will take her out to graze in the pasture so Holly can see her and doesn’t get worked up.

As an aside…My vet said when they do the surgery, they take out the 90-some feet of intestine, do the work they need to (in this case they made an incision in the gut, stuck a hose in to push water through her and another to draw the sand out, like mining) then they shove it all back in and let the gut work it’s way back into place. How amazing is that? I wish my vet could be MY doctor. Not that I plan on eating sand. Although I have been known to eat things from my parents garden without washing them off. Hmmmm. Probably should rethink that habit!

I feel terrible I haven’t been blogging lately, but I swear I have the BEST excuses EVER!

1. I got married! Yay! It was a wonderful time! The cedars were beautiful, my family (old and new) enjoyed themselves and finally understood why we chose that spot, and to the site and back couldn’t have gone better. Of course, the days leading up to the event were very busy, even though we had a small ceremony, and left little time to write about anything. Other than the lists I kept making and misplacing…

2. The reception went really well. I didn’t mingle like I thought I would, but hopefully people will forgive me. The roast pig was so delicious! Everything else was homemade, and there was tons of food. People left saying it was the best wedding food they had ever had, which made me feel really good!  The cake was yummy, carrot cake for one layer (MSO’s favorite) and white cake with raspberry filling and  butter cream frosting for the other layers. We didn’t have anything left but the top layer!  We had our toast to beer in wine glasses…we laughed and had a wonderful time!.

3. Then we left on our honeymoon to a tent and breakfast. It was SO PERFECT! The first night we ate leftover wedding food my mother in law (MIL) packed, and the next morning we had the best homemade breakfast on the porch of the proprietor’s home. That day it rained for 30 hours straight without letting up, but we spent the morning with our hosts visiting, and then built a fire in the woodstove in our Wall tent, and napped the rest of the day, played cards, relaxed, and were well…um, newlyweds…

4. During this time, my BIL called to report Holly wasn’t feeling well. Let me give you some back story here. She had a mild colic episode the week before the wedding. I thought it was from feeding her too much hay the night of the 4th of July because the friggin fireworks were getting the horses and sheep running.

I walked her while MSO ran to the vet to get banamine. The vet said to restrict her food, and before MSO even returned with the banamine she was fine.  So I restricted her diet for a few days, and kept an eye on her. She seemed fine for the rest of the week.

So fast forward to the end of the first day of our honeymoon. BIL calls, and I tell him to call the vet, give her banamine and walk her for an hour. The vet (not my regular) tells BIL he wants to wait until morning to see if she is better (what a friggin jerk…) That night and the next morning she seems fine, then begins to colic again. Keep in mind my BIL is an inexperienced horseman, but after what happens while we are gone I proudly refer to him as horseman!

So, my regular vet comes out and tubes Holly. She is again restricted in her diet. My BIL calls to report she seems fine. I talk to him during the day wherever we find phone service. He assures me to have fun on our honeymoon and my vet said Holly will be fine. We go about the day, visiting another awesome cedar grove and a waterfall where the water is so blue-green it takes the breath away…

The next morning we sit down to another fabulous breakfast when the office phone rings. It’s my BIL. All he says is, “I’m taking her to the vet” in a strained, yet calm, voice. Apparently, she had a good night, but as soon as he fed her she began spinning and trying to roll. He loaded her (he has never loaded a horse) and flew to the vet (my hero)! We drove to a place where we could get better phone reception and I spoke with the vet. He felt Holly had twisted her gut due to slow motility in her intestine. Her chance of survival was 25%. With surgery 80%. A $3600 surgery, the vet tells me, and says I have a few hours to think about it. Here I am, stuck in the middle of no where…and my horse is dying.

MSO said, “Do it. It’s her only chance.” I say, “But it’s $3600.00 (minimum), we don’t have it”…MSO says, “We just bought a 4 wheeler for more than that, just do it”. I ask the vet if he will take payments. He says “Yes, I’ll take payments”. I tell him to do the surgery, and we speed back to the tent, throw all of our things in our bags, and speed off back home.  (The tent and breakfast said we are welcome to come back when there is an opening for our days we gave up…how cool are they?)

We pull into town about 3 and a half hours later. I think I cried for about half of that…Holly is standing, delirious, in a stall, hooked to tubes and with packing in her belly. My vet walks over and says, “So, are you going to stop feeding your horses gravel?”

She had sand colic! They had to make an incision in the intestine and flushed out 75 POUNDS of gravel. I saw the piles of it. I still could not believe it. I told him she is out on pasture. He told me pasture doesn’t matter. Our area is river bottom (I don’t live by the river, but that is what the soil is I guess) and it took years to build up. So the gravel built up to a point that the weight of it twisted her gut!

I visited Holly every day, sometimes twice, to walk her, and to just stand and stare at her. The third day was the worst, where I thought she seemed like she was not doing well. She just picked at her food, and her eyes looked tired.  But I was told she had a wonderful recovery.  She even passed more gravel(yes, gravel) and sand. I brought her home where she now resides in her shelter with a tiny run. She gets three small meals per day that I weigh out. She gets walked twice a day for 20 minutes, with half of that as grazing time. The vet said she will have to be on a psyllium regimine the rest of her life (as will Cozee).

So the recovery is going well. I was told I can even ride her in 4 more weeks. (That seems early to me, but that is what the vet said…) She is bored, even with repeated stall cleanings, walks, brushings, and feedings.

So my words of advice: You don’t know your horse has sand building up until it is too late. Pasture feeding can actually increase the amount of dirt, sand, and gravel your horse ingests and cannot pass. They pick hay off the ground even if you have a feeder. Talk to your vet and find out if you should be feeding Sand Clear or other psyllium product. It can save you a lot of $, heart-ache, and maybe even a honeymoon!

Pictures to follow…

The big day is fast approaching. We needed to get our marriage license in Idaho because that is where we are getting married. There is a beautiful cedar grove that we love, and we felt like it was a great spot. It’s not too far from home, and we could drive back for a reception in the afternoon. To get the license I called the county office in Idaho, and verified on three seperate occasions what we would need to do. I also talked to them twice at Vital Statistics (where they keep the records) to make sure we did everything legal since we live in a different state.

We figured the 180 miles (give or take a few) to Orofino would take about 3 and a half to 4 hours on the winding mountain highway. We were not so lucky. The round trip of 358 miles took us…wait for it….wait for it….over 11 hours! 

The Story of My Life...Good Name for a Blog, too!

No kidding we drove behind a semi for about a 1/2 an hour doing 35 mph (that was BEFORE we got to the construction…semi trucks either drive way to fast or way too slow, and there is nowhere to pass…). Then we got stuck waiting for them to clear off a motorcycle accident (he looked like he was still alive…that highway is really winding and motorcyclists love it, but they also have many accidents).

Then we got behind a guy from Virginia with big stickers on the back of his motorhome that spelled out “Pardon me for going slow, but you see I got no particular place to go”…in big stickers like you put on the side of your mailbox. He didn’t care if we had any place to go either. Eventually, he STOPPED in the middle of the highway to let us pass. Or to kill us, I am not sure which.

AND THEN the state of Idaho is doing some huge highway project. But they are doing it in the craziest way. First, we waited for a pilot car, then they dropped us off, then we traveled like normal people at normal speed, then a flagger stopped us and we waited for awhile, then the flagger sent us on our way without a pilot car, then we went to the next pilot car, then we waited at another flagger, then we drove for about 2 miles at highway speed to the next flagger…you get the idea. Our 3 or 4 hour trip took over 5! 

So we finally, or should I say barely, made it to the sleepy little town of Orofino, Idaho:

 

The Clearwater Courthouse

The woman at the courthouse were very nice. We filled out all the paperwork There are THREE forms you sign saying you aren’t marrying your brother or sister…and an AIDS pamphlet you have to sign…(what is GOING ON in IDAHO?)

So we happily went back to the truck…drove off down the road…and then I looked at the license carefully. (Pause for effect)…

My dear friend Kit got ordained so she can marry us. She lives in Montana. The license states something like “And the officiant who lives in the city of ____________, in the county of _________, in the STATE OF IDAHO! It’s like TWO weeks until my wedding…and I called stupid Idaho like 5 times to make certain my officiant could marry us. I begin crying. Hysterics almost. I have now spent almost 14 months making arrangements and now I don’t think our officiant can marry us!

So, MSO turns the truck around and back to Orofino we go. I march into the office and show them the certificate. They seem suddenly not so helpful. They look up the law, but then say they don’t really know. (it was 10 minutes to lunch so I guess the helpfulness was replaced by hunger and they just wanted to leave so they gave me a number for vital statistics and ushered me out the door)…Vital stats was at lunch…we drove down the road to Kamiah (pronounced Kam-ee-I for those who care). The very nice lady from Vital stats in Boise assured me all we have to do is cross out Idaho and put our state. So I guess we will be legally married, right? (Fingers crossed).

Back up the highway we go. We stopped in Kamiah for lunch. It was a cute little pizza place and we each had a calzone. I thought this was a cute sign on the motel:

Row, row, row your canoe, gently down the stream...

More winding roads, more stopping… I even tried to snap a picture of one of the road workers out of boredom, but he didn’t seem to like it. Later on there was a road worker who waved and waved to us, probably delirious from the fumes and the 120 degree heat from the asphalt, but I bet SHE would have let me get a picture!

This will be filed under “I have to wear a strapless dress in my wedding so I stay inside all day to not have a farmer’s tan and look like the redneck I am”…

I love to read. I don’t always have time to read, but I do try to squeeze in a book here and there, and I always try to make it a good one in case I don’t get a chance again anytime soon.  As a person who works with children, I often read children’s literature and novels in order to be able to recommend books. Adults may not realize this, but if YOU recommend a book to a child who looks up to you, then you can get kids who don’t normally read to read something. Kids are really fun to have book discussions with, especially when they first start understanding the craft of writing.

My child centered choices have been several series. I have read through book six in “The Series of Unfortunate Events” by Lemony Snicket. Great series, but I lost momentum after book six and haven’t gone back to complete the series. If you enjoy dark humor, then that series is great for adults, too.

The second series is my “go to” series for boys by Suzanne Collins called “The Underland Series” and it starts with ”Gregor the Overlander”. Of course, that is also how I hook girls. Girls don’t like to be told something is more interesting to boys because it is gross. In fact, many girls will read at least the first book. This series involves a boy, Gregor, who falls into “The Underworld” where he meets a different race of people, giant talking cockroaches and rats, and bonds with a bat. There is a war going on, and the underworld believes that Gregor is part of a prophecy predicted centuries earlier. It gets pretty violent and is really action packed. I was surprised at how excited I got each time the next book in the series was released.

Finally, I have read the Twilight books by Stephanie Meyers.  I had co-worker recommend the series when it first came out and I poo-pooed it.  “Not a big fan of that genre,” I told her. Then I read the Underlander series and remembered it was okay for an adult to read whatever she wanted, and it was not good to judge a book I had never read. I read Twilight in like, a day. When I bought the third book, MSO said ”How many more books are there?” and I told him “Eclipse” and “Breaking Dawn” . He laughed and said, “So, like, 3 or 4 days of reading?” 

I don’t know what it is about those books. They are not a challenging read. The writing is straightforward. I don’t know that the characters are even that fascinating. But the story of star-crossed lovers…ahhhhhh. Somehow I got suckered in, and now I will admit, I am a full-fledged Twilight fanatic. I cannot wait to find out if Bella becomes a vampire, or if she and Edward stay together, and what happens to Jacob. I won’t put any details in here, in case someone is reading it and doesn’t want any info… (Not seen the movie, not that interested, like to have the characters in my own mind).

I also enjoy reading books for adults. I just finished two books, Sundays at Tiffanys and Chocolat. Sundays at Tiffanys is about a child with an imaginary friend. When she grows up, she meets him again and they fall in love. I was skeptical about the idea, but the author made it work.

I loved Chocolat. Just finished it today. I know it has been around for awhile, but I never thought of reading it until I found it at the Goodwill. It is up there with another of my favorites, Practical Magic. That book is wonderful, but the movie sucked!

So, in keeping with staying inside to prevent a tan line, I plan on renting Memoirs of a Geisha and Chocolat. I hope they aren’t as disappointing as Practical Magic the movie…

If anyone has some good recommendations, let me know! (Oldies but goodies are also welcome!)

Okay, I am getting married in a month.

I really, really like blogging, but when I get overwhelmed, I tend to retreat into my own brain. I am not certain that is a good thing because if I wrote about what was bothering me I would probably have a better time dealing with whatever it is that is bothering me.

I really don’t think I am a bridezilla. I actually have been really able to focus on pacing myself. We have the cake ordered, the flowers mostly taken care of (we combined a friend raising some with an order from a flower shop), we have most of the food dealt with….We are getting married in a different state, and that was a bit of a challenge, but I have a friend who will marry us there.  

The frustrating thing is we tried to stay small, but I have already offended some people. For example, not all of MSO aunts and uncles were invited. There is a long explanation of why, but now one of the aunts who was invited is offended that some relatives weren’t invited and so now she isn’t coming.  Actually, I’m glad she isn’t because they were on a fine line anyway. Just not nice people and I want the immediate family to feel comfortable and happy, not have to deal with whatever those others would try to start. But anyway, this negativity has made me a little sad.

Second, I had a “friend”, who is a bridal consultant, tell me she would help the day of my wedding (coordinate things, pick up things etc). I asked her what her fee was, and she said “It was her wedding present to me”. I sent off the invitations, and I got hers back that says she is NOT attending. A month before the wedding. Really, she couldn’t tell me in person? I WORK with her. Also, she told me she was having a shower LAST week, and then never mentioned it again. I was told she ended up getting involved in some retirement parties and so she cancelled it. Was anyone planning on telling ME? Anyway, some other friends have put something together, but still, WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE?

Every bridal magazine has said don’t rely on “friends” for wedding details and instead hire professionals. Now I see why because it really can cause hard feelings.

Third, I need to lose 5 pounds to fit in my dress. I actually put on weight (10 was what I wanted, but ended up 15) so it would fit me in the boobs without alterations. But I am having a hard time. We did some fencing, I have been babysitting for my sis in law, and I have a million wedding details I am finishing up so no time to really work out and I find myself eating lots of junk. Ugh. So maybe it is time to return to blogging world for some much needed fun reading and perhaps some inspiration!

I haven’t posted lately because well, a million reasons. I feel relatively certain a few people read my blog, and many don’t and so I finally feel comfortable revealing more and more. For example, I work in education (but please don’t read my blog with too critical an eye, I have to proofread things all day and have little brain juice left to do it for myself). I have the best and worst job in the world. I don’t think I am going to win any awards, but I do work hard.

WARNING…this is strictly venting because I am so angry and at a loss of what to do!

MSO works at the same place I do in a different capacity. He is a hard worker, kind, but doesn’t take any guff. He was hired and someone else already working there didn’t get the job. This person has sexually harassed me but my union told me don’t bother pursuing it because it was my word against his. My co-workers (who always say we are a “family”) wouldn’t get involved. Now I am marrying the “new guy” whom I met at this job.  We dated a year and no one knew. We began being more open once we were engaged.

So the person, let’s call him “Perv” has been doing various things to try to get MSO fired. For example, anything that doesn’t get done, he blames MSO, but anything positive he tries to take credit. I helped set up a whole assembly and I had two other people get credit, including him and he set up maybe 10 chairs while I put in 2 hours and MSO actually did all the other set up and most of the tear down. 

Perv also recruited a few of my co-workers to harrass me.  An example of this is one woman, let’s call her perv lover #1, who has announce MSO was “Lazy” in the hallway. I called her on it and she LIED and denied saying it. I told her I knew she was lying, and while she was entitled to her opinion, people do talk and so she should think what she is announcing in the hall.

 We didn’t speak for a long time, then she began approaching me and just giving little digs, like accusing MSO of not doing certain groundswork, or making comments about how much $ I spend on hay and the horses (just snarky stuff). The perv has announced to other co-worker that MSO “doesn’t do anything anyway”. Then the other day Perv Lover #1 left a note in our office to MSO about “Don’t you take any pride in your work?” because the lawn was brown in spots.

Another issue was a grievance filed, and I was on the committee. A person lost their job, and then co-workers (who openly worked to get this other woman fired, and so she was discharged her under budget cuts) and these same women raised money to get a friend of a friend hired. Then, when they realized they would have to hire back the original woman under our policy, they wouldn’t give the money to the program. Of course everyone involved denies this, but that is what they did, and they are the most unethical people I have EVER met.

So, for the past year, people have been real jackasses toward me because I was on this committee, AND because of there are people who like the perv. (The women who like him are usually unattractive in some way, and I think they like his attention.) They don’t seem to care that this middle aged perv approached children and said “You can’t leave until you give me a hug”, or that one family took there kid elsewhere because of something he did or said to their daughter. So most of the time I walk to whereever I am going and ignore people and just try to do my job and go home.

Today, perv supporter #1 started in with her “Have you seen MSO?” I have told her numerous times I am not his keeper and she needs to do a work order, or use the phone. So today I said, “Yes, I have” and kept going. So later that morning (after I saw her in with the boss lodging a complaint I am sure) she comes storming outside where I was talking to some children and she begins berating me infront of them! I told her I was not going to discuss this with her. She continued on, threatening me with “going to take it to the office” and so I said fine. One kid said “What was that all about, why did she come out here and ask you that”? Of course I had to give him some politically correct answer.

We had a meeting where she LIED LIED LIED (and of course had memory loss about anything she did or said)  and continued to make comments about MSO  “just sitting around” after we were supposed to have anything resolved. She had yelled across the playground at me, and then told everyone I was unprofessional. When I reminded her that she came out to me, that I tried to walk away, that she was yelling, SHE DENIED IT. She didn’t seem to remember ANYTHING she had done or said. Then she left telling us what a good person she is and how I was just sensitive…

So after she left, I told my boss that yes, I would try not to be so sarcastic. I reminded him I had gone to both bosses numerous times over the previous three years and nothing was ever done about the perv, and over the last year I had kept to myself while others made comments, glared at me, and then would suddenly be super fake friendly, and when I didn’t want to engage with them, then I was accused of unprofessionalism. These are the most unethical people ever! I dont’ know what to do. Jobs are scare here, but I know how these people operate, and I worry more about how MSO will be treated if I really pursue anything against these crazy people. I mean they lie like nothing, and then go on and on about how they are good Christians. Ugh.

After a noisy Saturday, MSO and I went for a 4-wheeler ride behind our place.  Okay, so it was noisy on the ride up, but we stopped frequently, and went for a short hike at the top. It was very cold, and I was glad I had my down jacket on!

I ride on the back on a special seat…actually it says “for resting when the vehicle isn’t in motion” but everyone I know rides on the back. We ordered my helmet (I love it, it’s so cute!), but it hasn’t arrived yet.

The way up...

 

These are everywhere...

 

It was up to my knees in places...It's funny to think it's almost June!

 

It's hard to run and pose in 10 seconds!

Moose poop. There was elk too, but not much after the wolves.

It's a long way doooooowwwwnnnnnn....

We never had 4-wheeler growing up. I was skeptical about driving them and riding on them but it is so much fun! I can see why people get up in arms about limiting access. Yes, there are people who drive all over everywhere, tear everything up and act like jerks, but we have a blast just going up the logging roads, then hiking into other areas.

Funny, first they shut out motor bikes and 4-wheelers, snowmobiles, and like I said, I understand why, but I also have a different perspective now that I have gone out and rode around and realized that it can be done ethically and it can be FUN. The motorized people were saying that it starts with denying them access, and then they start closing everything. I thought it was just propaganda…and then a few weeks ago there was an article in the paper about limiting access mountain BIKES. This pissed off other people wrote other letters complaining about the areas where there is heavy horse use (and even I have to admit, boy was the ground tore up). I suppose soon it will be horses and we will only be able to ride in arenas.

I will just keep trying to enjoy it in any way I can, whether 4 wheels or 4 hooves…or two feet and a walking stick!

This weekend we went to the AQHA show…more of that later…let’s just say, I don’t think it’s my “thing”. MSO even said  “Let’s go see horses who actually move”. Down the road from the show was the MOUNTED SHOOTING competition. Wow! It has been going on 10 years, and I never knew it!

There were qh, arabs, and appys, and riders from all over Canada, Sweden, Germany, and across the US. Some represented Wahl Clippers and they were AWESOME. I guess the daughter of the arena is a world class shooter. They ride, full gallop, shooting balloons in different courses with their special black powder revolvers. So they have to cock the gun between balloons, and even negotiate barrels.

Reviewing the course

 

Fancy holster

 

 

She was sponsored by Wahl...and WOW could she ride and shoot!

 

bye bye balloon!

 

We got to sit so close, sometimes we were hit by the black powder, ouch!