Horse Tale - Spotted horse

So Bey got in the chicken feed. Ate about 17 pounds. Called the vet, the vet said "pump his stomach" for a clean $400 bucks. HA. I looked it up on the internet. Unfortunately found a website where a woman lost two horses in 24 hours who had eaten old chicken feed. That did not help. Called horse friend. Horse friend called her vet. Her vet said something different. Decided to get his stomach pumped. ($$$$$!!!!!!) Called my vet back who told me it would now be $450 since it was later and there was a surcharge. Decided Rose and I could deal with this ourselves. There is a limit to what I am willing to pay for something that my vet was very unknowledgeable about (couldn't tell me what doseage was lethal for the horse, couldn't tell me what the things were in the chicken feed that were dangerous)
Went and bought pepto bismol and mineral oil. Was to get 10-20 tablets down him (no problem, he ate them like candy) the mineral oil ended up down my leg and in my shoe. Was to check his feet (for heat... very bad) and his stomach for regular rumbling (very good). Every hour. Overnight. 14 year old Rose sat up with him until 3:10 AM. Checked him every hour, walked him, checked his feet and belly. Then she woke me up. I had a hard time waking up at that hour! But stayed up with him and checked him.
He was fine in the morning. Vet called to check in, and I picked up $70 worth of medications that help with this sort of stuff. Way way cheaper than $450.00. Horses are expensive. But, ours are very well loved. And even Mr. Pill (as Bey is called since he is a horse with an attitude) is well loved and gentle with the kids.

Report on Dog and Day

Amanda is fine! She seems to be none the worse for her horse adventure of being slightly kicked. She can wag her tail again.
Strider the horse has some sort of itchy eczema thing going on his mane.
It is finally raining. It always rains AFTER I water everything in the yard.
We had heat lightening this morning at 3:30. Strange phenomena.
Someone (canine) threw up this morning. There are days that I think it would be really really fine not to have animals in my house. But then Amanda brings me her ball or her sock or her bone or Wilder's sock and I think that she is durn cute and such a great dog.
There are ants crawling up my drain pipe. Hmmmm. Where are they going? What are they doing? Why don't they crawl up the barn drain pipe instead? These are all questions that I know they will not answer. I tried to outsmart them by putting tape sticky side out on the drain pipe. It did not deter them one iota. Ants are more determined than I. There is a bit of news for you.

Blogging instead of Talking - Gushy Post on Friendship

I think there is no small coincidence that I started blogging when I moved out and away from my friends in the "big city." Even though we all promised that we would keep in touch, it is not the easiest since I am an hour and a $30 ferry ride away. It is basically a day trip to come visit, as opposed to "come over and help me finish this cold coffee...." or "come over and try these cookies...." or "let's go on a walk and I can tell you..."
I did know this would change when I moved. And honestly, the calmness of my son, the horses in the back field, the birds out my window, the humor of my daughter, or the ants crawling up my house (oh wait, that is not one of the good things) balance it out. But still I miss them. One comes over and helps me garden, two I schedule a bit-o-time in her busy schedule for a check-in and get together, three has had my son over the 4th of July weekend and our children and similar stories blend us together. It is not always easy to have friends-- boy, they take time! But always good to have people behind you that will step in at a moments notice, listen to all the crap and allow you to bounce crazy ideas off of without actually coming out and telling you that you are crazy.

Tuesday - One Day at Blue Shoe Farm

Photo: The spotted rump one is the smarty, see the pushed and loose board? The brown horse is innocent.


Today I :
-took Wilder to spend a gift certificate he got for his birthday.
-repaired the fence the horses keep (well, the smarter horse) keeps climbing through without getting stuck to travel to my neighbors lovely clover and green green grass yard.
-repaired the stall wall that the same above wily horse has somehow pulled down.
-cleaned out half of the truck.
-and then spilled a milkshake all over and down the heater vent.
-read a work email that pissed me off and I started reactive typing... but then deleted that puppy and decided the insane people of the world that use email to get their indirect passive aggressive wee tendencies out I would not participate with. They can just wait a couple days.
-gave my daughter lots of fluids. She has a cold.
-scooped horse manure.
-mixed chicken feed.
-planted squash and watered strawberries.
-picked up aluminum chicken coop roofing. (free!!)
-looked at new stoves (or, dreamed about a new stove by looking at them in the big box stores)
-did not clean my house.
-but I did unload the dishwasher and do two loads of laundry.
-paid bills.
-went to the bank.
-went to the library.
-added way too many friends to facebook that are from my childhood. Who says you can't go back? Scary. I try to stay off of facebook, don't need another thing keeping me on my butt in front of this little screen.
-Had a farm injury--when I let the horses into the bigger field, they ran around. Fluffy dog amanda ran with and somewhat under one of the horses. It's hoof hit her back (I imagined a flat dog for a second) and then she ran crying her head off to me. She has not been able to carry her tail up easily, and seems very sore. I gave her a gin and aspirin and sent her to bed. We will see how she wags in the morning after a good night sleep.
Is all this why I wake up sore in the morning? My doctor just keeps telling me I am perimenopausal. I think she is using that term too frequently. I bet if I go in for a sunburn and a runny nose she will tell me I am perimenopausal. I bet the root canal I had last week was due to this, also. I will ask her.


Late note: my daughter just informed me she would not date someone that wears a speedo bathing suit. I have no idea where that came from, especially since I keep telling her she is not dating until age 25. Sometimes the looks she gives me are so worth a gazillion words.


Photo: Amanda dog and Bella cat on the porch. Note Bella talking in Muffler Dog's ear.

Kids - Lego

And this is for my son. Who took about 343 photos of every angle of his lego battle scenes. Including close-ups of all the characters, which I inadvertently downloaded from my camera and said... "huh?"

Kids

This one is for my lovely daughter, who seems to have a whoppin' cold right at the moment.

House - Heat and Electrical work

1. Victory on the heating front. Got my 500 lb dang oil furnace (I mean durn) dragged unceremoniously down the basement stairs and it is being installed! $1000 bucks. And I bought the "new" one off of craigslist. Can't have propane because it is in the basement, can't have gas because there is no service out here.
But the original 1200 lb. wood/oil furnace was OLD and mightily cracked. See there are huge bonuses to living in an old house. They are not so hermetically sealed that you get carbon monoxide poisoning if your furnace firebox has a 6 inch crack in the side. (in my mind, I am trying to be generous, but only come up with "snaky snaky sellers", hiding behind christianity to soothe your lyin' soul) Whoa, did I say that? I have never learned that forgiveness part of humanity. I will work on it before I die, but probably not with them. Did I mention the boys found more in the wetlands when camping? They pulled out a camper stair set and a computer monitor. Who the %*# puts a computer monitor, gas can, oil can, 20 foot rug, gas grill, motorcycle, truck and car parts "in the bushes" when the garbage truck takes pretty much anything you put out there away for free. Aaah. I think I figured it out. They buried or burned their garbage, not gonna give it to the man when God so graciously gave them these mini three acres to hide it all on! When our well water goes oily, I will know why.
Sorry. Big rant action there.
2. Hmmm on the electrical front. The first quote to do my electrical is $2500. And that is only for a new box, and to update the kitchen. That is it. No living room, dining room, bathrooms, laundry room or any of the bedrooms. So that may mean that this will be a kaboodle of bucks job to finish it all? And I just spent $123 which I felt was a luxury... on base molding for downstairs. Yes, I need it. No, heat is not more important. Why yes, I am lousy at setting priorities, why do you ask?
3. I have been subtley forced into thinking of my plywood painted floors (pics to come!!) and deciding I don't like them and want the wood underneath exposed and refinished. What are the chances that is less than $1K? Yeah, thought so.

Commuting - Ferry

Sunset reflection, bainbridge ferry.

Another lucky day commutin' on the ferry.

Family - Feathers or Fur

Tired old cat.

Demanding, yet gentle, hen.

Love-button of a horse.

Usually mud-brown mini farm dog.

Ferry Travel

To get this view, get on the ferry out of Seattle. Doesn't matter which one.

Seattle, 6/15/09

Hello I have a little problem

Hi. It's been awhile. It's me, Rose here to comment, yet again on something that my mom has done. Durn. She said durn. Actually she wrote it. And it was on purpose. It wasn't one of those accidently trying to write darn and ends up writing durn kind of things. She may think she hasn't gone country but oh, she could never be more wrong. Durn does not only sound "country" but it's also not even a word AND for some reason it just really bugs me so that's even more a reason for her not to say it. I mean the durn... it just gives me little shivers down my spine, kind of like nails on a chalk board. Veeeeeerrry bad. Ok, im done now.

Family - Mom story

As in my mom. Grandmother Heidi. She, for fun, cleaned out my car. It took her 3 and a half hours over two days. (Wait, should I be embarrassed to type that?) This is the minivan. The one that took me TWO TRIES to buy. As in, I went car shopping for a minivan ten years ago when I was pregnant with Wilder since I knew one kid was the load limit in my Nissan truck.... and ended up with a 4WD jeep. Black. Then, seven years ago I went out to buy that minivan to handle carpools yadee yada... and came home with an old Volvo wagon. I had major minivan issues. It would be the end of my free and independent way of life. My art degree would shirk in shame in the back of my closet (wait, where is my degree? did I even really ever get that?) People would roll their eyes and say that I have embraced the soccer mom way of life. I would need to vote differently in the presidential elections... and get really good at baking things for soccer parties. (never mind neither urchin played soccer at this point) I was seriously worried. Very much like when I was worried about leaving the husband because all of a sudden I would be living in said minivan in Walmart parking lots because for some reason I would be instantly destitute. I may be prone to over-exaggeration.
Anyway, the volvo could no longer carry our ever getting bigger kids, so then came the minivan. From day one, once I found it and bought the big white puppy, I was one happy camper. I cannot believe how much I love this car. Besides the fact that I go blazing by police at a higher rate of speed than posted (not much, not much) and never get tickets ("Oh, that mom in minivan must be thinking of her children... she is not paying attention, she is a good egg, not a safety hazard") when my pals in zippier, littler, sportier vehicles get pulled over for going speeds less than me. OR I can fit a full couch or 5 bales of hay or my recycle bin and garbage can or 6 kids plus two dogs or enough gear to last for a 5 week camping trip or 1 grumpy cat, a twin bed, and two dressers. I think you get the picture. This is the perfect family, farm, late-to-the-doctor, carpool and racecar for me.
The only downside is other cars hate being stuck behind me, so frequently whip by me, only to SLOW DOWN when they pull in front of me. Oh. Nothing gets my ire up as this drivin' behavior. Part of the American Driving Pysche of no-white-big-butted-minivan-is-getting-in-front-of-me.
Sorry. Now I will return to the original topic after that little wayward story. The clean car part. After we went out for dinner, the kids plopped back in my now clean car. Wilder pipes up from the back seat "why does the car smell?" I had to point out that it was clean... the layers of coffee, milk, 1.5 year old mint chocolate chip ice cream that my daughter assured me she had cleaned up which I assumed was done until her grandma cleaned it up....and that he was smelling fresh and windex and all things sparkly.
Wilder answered "It smells horrible." Rose and I cracked up. But I will try to start cleaning out my car more often. I think my son should not think clean cars smell horrible. Sigh.

Female Stuff - Fantasy Dream

To share how far gone I am in this whole house thing. I had the BEST dream last night. In it found a friend to help me re-do my bathroom. The dream consisted of me learning how to measure things, how to install the vanity, put up a level mirror, move the toilet and install and new one. Seriously. This was the BEST DREAM EVER. I woke up so happy. Did I tell you that he also owned a Re-Use store that had used old house parts in it? I distinctly remember oohing over the milled pillars to replace my front porch's unglamorous 4 x 4's with. The only down side was something about his family was wierd. (wait, aren't all dreams technically about a part of yourself?) But I didn't really have to deal with them. I could just shop for Old House Parts and then help my new friend install them. Boy, just writing about this is making me a wistful and happy. Sigh.

Kids - Middle School graduation

In the 1970's when we transitioned from middle school to high school, we just went to a new school. I guess things are a bit different in big ol' 2009. Last night Rose graduated middle school. Repeat: Middle School. There was pomp, there was Sister Sledge "We Are Family" there were circumstances. There was alot of money spent! Hopefully not mine, but I am sure it was. Student pictures, flashed on the stage screen, 14 year old girls teetering on dang high heels (really, really high), our daughter lookin' 20 years old walking to receive a diploma and flowers. The head of the school gave a little bio of every student, EVERY ONE and they were full of insight and humor. But it was a blast. In particular, loved the student speeches. The second was delivered by one of Rose's spunkiest friends (always takes my parenting decisions on as a point of argument) and among other things, she called out every girl clique at the school. There is nothing to disempower a group as to make it public and give it a name. Good job, Ms. CB. I remember cliques in school as silent and deadly.... like our old dog Sophie's rear end gaseous explosions. Parents didn't know, administrators and teachers could do nothing, students were ruled by their spoken or unspoken codes of conduct. But you take one strong gal with brave and clear words to speak up... and poof. They are all diminished.

Female Stuff - Procrastination II

Good lord. Another day at work and another day I am sitting here procrastinating. OR, I could look at it that I am not procrastinating on typing on the blog. So technically I am doing what I should be doing.
There, all better. Talked myself right out of that little conundrum.
I look at this as one more sign that I am slipping sweetly into menopause. Did I tell you I am slowly going insane? Well, I am. I am sure there is a physiological reason for it (hormones, hormones) but right now we can just say I am going insane. (Wait, would that technically be "sweetly" if I am going insane?) Just ask the kids. One minute I am all irreverent and light, and the next minute I am swearing there will never NEVER NEVER be another lego brought in the house with my hard-earned dollars. Did I say I said that? Well, I more yelled it, with parental crazy anger behind it. This is tantamount to me saying we will never have milk and bread EVER again at home. Or I will never let my son breathe fresh air again. And the reason? Son chose to build legos rather than get dressed and ready for school. Can we say over-reaction?
(me, not him)
It shall be such a joy to be going through this as my daughter has just turned 14. Won't we be a splendid festival of hormonal atrocities waiting to happen? Do other women go insane? I don't remember my mom going insane, but maybe that was because I was a teenager and not paying attention to anything but myself. Hmmmmmmmm.

Oregon -

Oregon - somewhat bland photos

These are mostly memory triggers as opposed to loveliness in a two dimensional format. These are all white appaloosas with spots all over themselves. I noticed this breeder last time I was through here. Hey gal with the white spotted horse, this one is for you!

I truly love this place. Oh yes, looks very, shall we say, humble? It is the Skyhook Motel in Mitchell. Super extraordinary kind owners Becky and Dennis have had me as a guest for about 18 years now. I have watched the gradual 'remodeling' of the place, and stayed in every room at one time or another. They keep it super clean with homemade doilies and homey touches. The building is transplanted from a town that used to exist on the Columbia River and was flooded out-- Vanport, a hastily-built town located between the Portland city limits and the Columbia River, which was built to house shipyard workers during WWII. So I am combining a couple of my fave things : kind folks and history when I stay here.

Along the Columbia River are orchards upon orchards that supply cherries and apples. Here the old trees are gearing up for another season. I think I took this pic to show me how they pruned their trees, since I have old orchard trees on my property.

Oregon - ghost tales

Having uploaded all my pics finally from the trip, I will slather this blog liberally with them.

The first set is the ol' house the town of Mitchell hopes to (perhaps) turn into a museum. This house looks like it needs even more work than my house... and it is still for sale. If anyone buys it I will donate labor to help you fix it up!

The second is a pic I took on my evening walk of a building that is supposedly haunted. It is the thing way in the background. Not that I am believin' these stories but I was by myself, it was dark, and the building was off the main street, and Creeping Me Out. I had not heard these tales, but when I took the pic there was no cat near me (and it is front and center in the pic) We all know how terrifying cats can be.

Country - Kids

After spring rain. (image Blue Shoe Farm Blog)

My daughter has told her friends that her mother is "going country". The way she says it makes it seem like I am "going postal". I just happen to live on property with a horse or two and a chicken or two, but I still have the same amount of cowboy boots and country cd's as I did when I was a city girl. Which is more boots than cd's honestly....

Work - Procrastination Station - Right here

What I would rather be doing. Image Blue Shoe Farm Blog

Writing three blognotes in one day means I am procrastinating on other things. I have not written in a while on here due to the (still) active virus on my home computer, so I am never online at home. That means I get a lot of work done on the house, yard, etc, but not a lot of work done of PAID work . (I process dozens of work emails a day, call folks, yaddy-ya, etc) Due to this virus event, I have over 1700 emails waiting for processing in my inbox. I only have done 2 hours of computer time a week for the past month. That is not enough for me!
So I am behind on work, so am working on typing these little missives. Please give me the key to overcoming procrastination. I need to unlock a really really big door with it.
(Am leaving now to Go To Do Work)