Maybe it's the heat...

but I've got all these crazy and entertaining thoughts rambling around in my head!  They just gotta get out.  So, I'm going to put them into words here, and just let it all hang out.  :)

Firstly, summer is throwing her best heatwave at us right now.  We've been in the 90's the past two days and today, we're already at 97 at lunch time on my deck, in the shade!!  Hot diggidy!!  I went home at noon to bring the horses inside the barn where it's cooler.  They have privacy, their own space, shade, a beautiful breezeway, relief from the flies (nasty buggars), and a spot of lunch.  This means they're happy campers.  And that makes me happy.

The other day Harley ran into our pump house.  Poor building will never be the same.  Rocked off its' foundation, it was.  And poor, poor Harley horse.  :(  He apparently hit the building with his head, I'm guessing, apparent from the gash above his eye, the abrasion on his eyelid, a myriad of small cuts and scurfs on his neck and down his body, and the worse of it seems to be a rather nasty gash on his left front leg, just above the fetlock joint.  He may even have pulled a tendon in the back of his pastern because there's an awful lot of swelling and heat to be just from the cut.  *sigh*  But thank you Father, it certainly could have been worse...so, I cold-hosed last evening, wrapped his leg in an ice pack afterwards and then put neosporin on his cut and bandaged his leg (again, nasty flies).  I also gave him a gram or so of bute because I'm pretty sure he had a headache.  That left eye and surrounding area had a fair amount of swelling too.

Photo of Harley from last November, before his shrinking left eyeball

I pray for guidance because I just don't know what else to do to keep him safe.  He would not be happy separated from his herd-mates.  I cannot have cross-fencing because we've been there, done that and it wasn't pretty.  I will not have a horse who lives in a box.  Other than being blind, he is perfect.  Healthy, happy, content, easy-to-please, playful, and a joy to have around.  He's very loving, very laid-back and appreciates any and all attention he gets.  I do not want to send him to an early grave because we've run out of options.  That would seriously suck.  I suppose there's some lesson here, in all of this; but for the life of me, I cannot figure it out.  So, I'm thinking we have have to invest in some sturdy, strong, thick boards and strong posts for a short fence to enclose a small winter pasture.  Every day we could rotate a pasture buddy.  Except for Sugar.  Harley's afraid of her.  And maybe not Ladde either.  Maybe it's the fact that they've been raised together, and Harley's kind of like a younger brother to Ladde, but the big guy doesn't have much patience with Sir Harles...aka the "fly in the ointment".  That's what we used to call him anyway.  Our little pot stirrer.  Always trying to get something going, liven up the party and all that.  Used to be.  Not anymore.  That's a sad thing, because he has such a playful nature, buddy to everyone and always kind.  Now he has to hang with the old gal and Shad.  They are his lifelines.  When they're gone, then our options really will be limited.  But for now, we'll do what we can do, to create a safe zone where he can move around freely and be a horse.  Even if his space has to be limited.  Life isn't perfect for any of us, right?

Lilly

In other ramblings, the word inspiration has been in the forefront of my mind lately.  Don't ask me what that means, because I just don't know.  But it's a beautiful word, in and of itself.  Really.  Think about it for a minute.  Inspiration is something that gives life interest.  It's the color in an otherwise drab day, it's the rainbow after the storm that causes us to reach for our camera.  The joy on a child's face when they meet a furry puppy for the first time.

I felt inspiration while viewing all the beautiful and colorful canned fruits and vegetables that I saw at the fair.  Such beauty from nature.  I wanted to rush home and see what I could do.  I'm inspired when I visit the ocean.  I'm inspired when I gaze upon all the glorious colors everywhere around me in nature.  I'm inspired and so thankful that God is a lover of all things beautiful.  And that he recognizes that we have that need of beauty as well.  And for me, inspiration leads to emotion.

I'm not sure why I'm such an emotional person.  Sometimes I laughingly blame it on hormones, and attribute it to my age and where I'm at in my circle of life.  But, then I look back over my life and remember....I think I've always been an emotional being.  Tears have always come so easily for me.  And for so many reasons.  Not just in sadness, but in happiness, in joy, in experiencing beauty, the miracle of birth, seeing my horses happily grazing in the pasture, a baby bird's mouth flying open when its' mother approaches with some food.  So many things inspire emotion in me.

There have been times that I've cursed at God for making me this way.  It's not easy feeling so much.  I've been angry and blamed God for so many things that have caused me pain, for so many of the injustices that I see in this world.  I wonder why He lets them happen and rage at His allowing them to happen.  I want justice in the world.  I want the wrongs righted.  I want people punished for the evil and the suffering that they cause.  And then I'm thankful that I know of only a tiny slice of the pain and suffering that He alone sees, and I realize how much pain and suffering that this world causes for Him.  How does He do it?  Have you ever wondered?

In His time.  Not mine.  His will.  Not mine.

I've never been much on patience either.  *sigh*

So, another day in the life...

this beautiful journey.

Growing, evolving, refining.  It's an awesome thing, isn't it?

There.  I feel better.

When in doubt, say a little prayer for me   :)