A lovely day in the neighorhood

A bit frosty this morning and a wee bit cold, but the sun is shining brightly and it's nice now that the fog of the last couple of days has moved out of our valley.  The horses are really enjoying the absence of raindrops.  And so are we.  We have mud enough to last a lifetime.  Mud, mud everywhere.  

sappy mug

Speaking of the ponies...they had their pedis Tuesday evening.  I totally spaced that Troy was coming - whoops!  But thankfully I had enough forethought to schedule the appointment on a day hubs is usually home. Everyone except Kadie was trimmed.  She has the perfect foot and is able to skip a trim occasionally during the winter months.  I'm thankful for that, every penny saved is a good thing.  Little Miss took Jessie for a ride along with hubs on Ladde new years day.  A grand way to begin the year!  Jessie's mare was having major attitude and she just wanted to have a nice, relaxing ride and enjoy the scenery.  So, always willing and aiming to please, in steps my Missy.  Jessie had a blast riding her, and I'm not surprised.  She's such a good girl!!  However, being barefoot and out of condition, the ride was a little rough on her navicular fronts even though she had a gram of bute on board.  Now after her trim, she's sore.  I gave her a bit of pain meds and put her boots on and she was hot to trot this morning.  I'll probably remove the boots at night when she's stalled and put them back on for turn-out for several more days and see how she's doing.  

Jessie's mare Lakota, a little attitude adjusting

Lil Buck - Jessie raised this horse, and just recently got him back.

Lakota feeling much better about things

Momma's girl

Eagle was testing Troy during the front trims, pulling a foot occasionally and generally being a pill.  Troy was very patient with him, he was scolded several times and then received a much-deserved wallop with the flat of his hand on his belly.  To my great pleasure, Eags did not overreact at all!  He knew exactly what he was being disciplined for and merely got a little wide-eyed for a second or two and then resumed to his normal gentlemanly behavior...that's my boy!  This horse has a very strong sense of "fairness" and he knew he deserved that measure of correction.  He tested, was reproached, then resumed his demeanor accordingly.  A year or so ago, had that happened, he would have totally freaked out and remained scared for a long time.  He's come so very far and I think it's actually a good thing that he tests the waters occasionally.  What horse who's confident doesn't?  Makes me happy!!

My sweet hubby got the leak in the wall from our washing machine all fixed up, sheet rock replaced and is ready for fresh paint.  Today he is working on the last of the trim in the living room, applying the quarter round at the floor level.  Then the front door gets repainted and we're finished with that room! Hallelujah!!  

Then it's on to our bedroom...this is where the fun stuff begins.  I already have the shades for the windows, will finalize the paint choice and the trim remains the same throughout the house.  New curtains and choices made from my vast array of beach photos enlarged and framed, and that's it for my part. We'll move to the upstairs bedroom while the work is being done, and the new flooring has been sitting waiting patiently for about 9 months.  I'm so glad most of this stuff is already paid for!  After buying our camper, accruing a large dental bill and all those automotive repairs we had last year, we have significantly less money to spend this year.  But we'll get there.  

We're hoping to buy a new tv fairly soon.  The last two tvs we've had were given to us, and they're the old, thick and heavy types.  So, we'll be much more up to date with a flat screen that will be bigger.  We haven't decided for sure, but may dispose of our large, oak entertainment center for a lower, sleeker model, or possibly buy one of those large, electric fireplaces and just mount the tv on the wall above that...decisions, decisions.  I really miss having a mantle to decorate, especially at Christmas time.  We'll see, there's certainly no rush on that.

Annie is doing fairly well overall.  Yesterday she had a very rough day, and it was so heartbreaking to see her uncomfortable.  The growth of the tumor is substantial, and is pretty shocking to realize that less than a month ago, I wasn't even sure I saw a lump at all.  Now there's no question, it's becoming huge and she has difficulty raising her head and she chooses to lay on her left side, so the tumor is on top almost always.  I think her pain comes from her leg though.  Her limp is much more pronounced than ever before, and this stems from the tumor having spread to the bone and there is significant bone degeneration.  She can't go on walks at all anymore.  About all she can manage is out to the yard for potty, and of course trips to and from the car, because she absolutely HAS to go everywhere I go.  :)  She does enjoy her car rides, and no matter how cold, insists on her window being down to enjoy the "sniffs".  Whatever makes her happy...I've upped her pain meds and just keep close tabs on her comfort levels.  When that day comes, we'll just do what we need to do.  As I've said before, if it's within my power to prevent it, she will not suffer!  I just choose to not think about the inevitable outcome, but focus on living in the moment with her, and love her all the more.  She's my girl.  *sigh*

Camryn, Jessie's daughter...happiness

Missy brings out the joy in everybody!

A month or so ago, we noticed a growth on Ladde's lower left eyelid.  I was hopeful, but also fearful that it was cancer.  He's a pink-skinned boy and sunburns easily.  Within a week or so of it's discovery, it was a remarkably sudden onset, the darn thing had doubled in size.  My boss came out and took some scrapings of the cells to send to the lab.  Oh joy, we were so happy to learn it was not cancerous, although there were a few squamous cells.  Lab reports are so very difficult to understand with all that doctor talk, but the gist was good news.  Rather than remove it immediately, we opted for a less invasive treatment of applying triple antibiotic eye ointment with hydrocortisone in his eye twice a day.  At first it didn't seem like the treatment was going to work, I am very, very happy to report that after several weeks of (mostly) consistent applications, it's almost gone!!!  Thank God for blessings...

So, that's pretty much any news that is news around our place and in our lives to date.  Our new year is off to a good start, and I guess it's time I start to pondering what my new word for 2015 is going to be.  Last years' word was faith, and I'm still going to keep that one in my pocket...maybe for always! I do enjoy this process of selecting a "word" as inspiration though, so will settle on an appropriate new one sooner, rather than later.  

Our weather has been good.  December was very wet.  So, we can afford to enjoy cold, frigid temps and frozen mud when we get them, and like has been for several days now, warmer than normal temps with sunshine when we're blessed with that.  We've been in the lower 60's for a few days now, and I've got to say, it's pretty awesome!  If old man winter keeps things lively by throwing variety our way, color me happy!  

Blessings,
Lorie 

Taking life easier these days