It's been a while I know and sadly the excuse for the radio silence is not due to being rescued by aliens off of this planet We've have had rather a busy time and alot on our plate in the past couple of months since Beastie went home
I shall recap in short hand so not to make this into a Peter Jackson style epic I promise!
Oh where to start - chapters I feel maybe the best option and less confusing (for me) too!
JULY
HORSES
It was pamper time for the older two - well. dentist really - I had arranged for the vet to come out and float Dakota and Champ when he did their winter health check earlier in the year and he noticed that they both had points and it was time to start .
An interesting experience, Dakota was done first and luckily only needed one shot of sedation, Champ needed 2 as he worked himself up calling for Dakota , but so funny watching them all lala with their tongues out. Shawn was great and used electronic file luckily and was so quick with both and checked them both for cavities and jaw alignment
I had to find a new farrier, as my one of 10 years bailed on me the day before (by text!) and Dakota was in desperate need of trimming. So before I could do any training that was the first thing. Luckily I found Chris via the receptionist at the vets. He came out and trimmed all of them and he was great with Shoshoni too Now before Chris arrived that morning we had a bit of a rush around dilemma the night before
DOGS part 1
I had better get this bit done as it's been the most challenging - Barney
while doing the normal Tick checks, i thought I had found one on him, after I realized it was not coming off, it was pretty big, hairs growing thru it, no legs and more of a skin tag. Next morning before Chris was due to arrive I rushed and bought all the horses in to the corrals for Alan and then loaded up into the jeep and headed to the vets as they open 7.30am and hoped to back by the time Chris got there at 10!
Barney was seen by 9.30 and swab taken and looked at in house and it showed to be 'malignant' and possible mass cell tumor . so booked Barney in for the following tuesday morning to have it removed .. and we got back as Dakota (first of 4) was being trimmed.
After the surgery, the mass went off to the lab to be tested and it came back confirmed that it indeed was cancerous
So Oscar and Barney both with Cancer and Cookie with an Auto immune where her white blood cells destroy each other! ... dogs part two is lower down :(
I started back into training near on daily soon as Beastie went home, altho only for an hour a day as soon as I had finished by first coffee and sun had risen. It was hitting 85f by 8.30am and way too hot . First it was just Champ then Tinker. One morning I was bringing Tinker in and Shoshoni came in ahead of him and I thought, no way, ok, let's see. He is normally great with me working him on the ground, if he can see me he's totally calm and , looks at my body commands and remembers then does everything automatically its amazing but, if if I get out of his eye line, he freaks out and becomes insecure. So bought him into the round pen, tacked him up, did some ground work, perfect, lip smacking, faced and walked to me in the center, head down looking for acknowledgement for a good job and to carry on , he loved it.. then I took it a step further for the first time in 9 years as he has shown no sign of confidence of allowing me to do this , and that was to put my foot into the stirrup without him moving and freaking out
outcome was this ...
I did got on / off 4 times. We went forward 3 steps each time and he did not spook, he remained calm each time and lip smacked , head down to me looking for love knowing he did good but seeking reassurance from me that he was safe
Didn't think that would ever happen again. Especially since the Mountain Lion attack last year which really messed up his brain and his PTSD but he did so well
Sadly tho since that day we have not been able to carry on
why? well the friggin smoke from CA has enveloped the ranch ever since and I have been unable to get outside to ride any of them since!
HEALTH pt 1
The smoke as mentioned above, this has played havoc with my face pain and also with allergies of pollen / grass and ragweed aswell , it has been non stop 24-7 pain, antihistamine and painkillers . I swear I rattled whilst in lala land Even with windows closed, AC and purifiers on , it has been relentless , as more and more fires started in Utah, Idaho and Montana and a couple small ones in Colorado and all the smoke has surrounded Wyoming and it is so thick
(August - it has shown signs of backing off so there's hope for the weekend so fingers crossed . Need to get back in that saddle pronto!)
ALAN & WORK STUFFS
Alan is working a project locally at the moment - well locally as in Wyoming and about 4hrs away in Lander. He has bought Sammy up from Nicaragua to run the project , so in-between Alan is home at weekends and working on other projects aswell, so cooking bulk isn't as drastic as it normally is (mainly as the motel in Lander does not have freezing or cooking prep facilities) Sammy comes to Hotel home every now and again for a break aswell which is good as he gets a good feed (he is addicted to food we have noticed)
Other projects are quiet due to no decent drills being available in N.A for the busiest time for projects so he has been home alot these past couple of months
HAY AND RANCH
Hay - again let down by a 10 year relationship - actually longer as this contact 'was' a friend of Alan's from when he was working in Anchorage Alaska - his friend who lives in Sheridan . Where we got our small bales from. We had arranged , as always to get hay from him, normally half of his cut, but last year agreed to have all of it. Then a couple of weeks before Alan got (again bad news via text - why do people hide behind this method - cowards) that instead of 200 bales we would 60 as he had sold it to someone else .. What the.. after a few choice words between us we thought ok.. so as Alan in Lander and was a couple of hours away and he had taken our new goose-neck trailer up with him ( which we had bought specifically to get all of these bales in one trip) he asked if he could stay the night so he didn't have to load up , strap down and do a 6-hr drive home.. the answer was "no .. that'll mean my wife will have to change the sheets the next day as we have friends staying the following day" ... so that was it for us , especially for Alan. a long friendship - gone
It's definitely the year of family and friend's hurting / messing with us that's for sure - people have just stopped caring in general .. but less about those two topics the better ! oh what an interesting month for dealing with humanity - not!
The ranch is extremely dry - we're getting daily T-storms but zero rains. Last real decent storm we had was the day I took Beastie to the airport and the return home was a major hail storm destroying all the plants within an hour and puddles and streams down the track . we had an a couple of storms with about 5-10 mins of rain here and there and one storm last week with about 20 minutes of splats . okay-ish but not enough to really soak and make things green enough for the horses to eat. So they're back on hay again every few days to keep them going in-between grazing bits and pieces
We had to buy a new fridge freezer My jazzy 50's one for the kitchen STILL hasn't arrived as they are awaiting parts and wont be here till end of September now and our garage one decided to die dramatically on us! We called out a Maytag guy to come fix that with the washing machine and the dishwasher - 3 things in one week - yep i know! least 2 were fixable!
AUGUST
DOGS part 2
A week after the surgery , I found another lump on Barney - this one was different, felt more of a zit, so took him as he had to have his stitches/ scars looked at ..and i also mentioned a cough/breathing problem choking while sleeping - thru his nose , if that makes sense - gasping for breath thru his nose then hacking .. it is bizarre and his lungs were clear and swab was taken and in house showed it was inconclusive so i said to send it off as he was having a panic attack anyway and not putting him through another surgery and panic attack now he is going through this trauma for a zit ..
Also the labs had come back from the surgery and it was not a mass cell tumor - it was skin cancer!
The following week Barney's breathing while sleeping had gotten worse over 3-4 nights, and one night I had to wake him several times to get him to breathe , Alan was away , so loaded up all 3 and off we went early for 7.30 vet opening , I called ahead and they told me to stay in the Jeep and Shawn would come out - I thought because of Barney having another panic attack.. good idea I thought.. I was texting Alan in-between and he said he sounded like Bordetella - kennel cough - but they had all been vaccinated in February when we dropped them off when we did our Citizenship..
The Triage came out took his vitals, all good and lungs clear, odd , Sean arrived and came out and sat in the back with the the 3 dogs.. as he was checking out Barney - Oscar started to cough and his bark had changed recently from an Oscar bark to a rat dog Chihuahua yip thing - , even he hated it and kept looking around to see what had caused such a horrid noise!
Barney has a sever case of Bordetella - which has mutated to a micro bacterial upper respiratory infection, which he caught during his surgery and has become sever because of the smoke and Shawn has treated roughly 100 dogs a week for the past month - highly contagious - Oscar also had early signs of it too. All 3 dogs were out onto a strong Anti Biotic and Barney also had drugs for the cough / throat inflammation .. they have been on the drugs now for 9 days now
The 2nd labs came back too and came back inconclusive - Shawn felt the zit and thinks it feels more like a zit, cyst and as the last was skin cancer to watch out for another skin tag type but to keep doing regular body checks (he didnt do barney's last 2 checks sadly but his partner as Shawn was away - Shawn is my regular vet for all my 8 puppies)
So that's the Dogs up to date for now.. Barney is doing better - Oscar is stable, his bark is back to normal and Cookie never had any symptoms besides the pills making her very lethargic and groggy
HEALTH pt 2
Neuro - we had zoom visit with my Mayo Neurologist at the beginning of August, I have gone onto a different medication in July as the medication he gave me was not working at all. The pain levels were not decreasing at all , I was more active and doing more inside and out but still functioning on pain meds . So now on a different kind . I am still playing and adapting to doses on this one to find one that works but as there are so many variables with smoke and allergies at the moment it is really hard to stabilize it and work out what is face migraine and what is smoke or allergy and then there's the pressure changes.. so rather a mixed bag still but.. compared to pre Mayo I am improved.. we still don't think they are interested in WHAT causes this .. covid is taking over everything medically, especially neurologically , so i maybe like this for life, who knows.
I also got myself tested for Coeliac aswell, as I have found that I bloat alot after eating anything with flour / oats / wheat. and with weekly PT for my intestines / scar and IBS-C we wanted to see / rule out.. even tho it came back negative there is a possibility that I am intolerant . I have been gluten free for a month now and weight have gone back down again, I am going to the bathroom without laxatives and feeling alot better internally too
So I am carb free, lactose free, soluble fiber foods only (peel apples etc) and now gluten free
and my weight is pretty darn good for it too, even Claire is happy with the scales! (and that's really rare)
Hay part 2 - phew we got our big bales - 30 of them! and a big game of tetris!
This we did last weekend (21st) Jay helped with this as this saved me putting 3 sick dogs in the jeep and following Alan for 3-4 hrs each time to Centennial to help do the straps. So Alan picked Jay up in Laramie on the way and dropped him off on the last collection - it took 2 trips and they managed get 15 bales on each load - each bale weighs about 1000lbs
We did get the JCB a gift of Forks a few weeks ago too - soon it will be the snow plow attachment
So now we have alot of hay in the barn! It was really close with the big bales too if it wasn't for that mega hail storm at the beginning of July apparently too which turn the crop around - good job we put in the order for double the amount this year too!
One stall full to the top of small bales that we found, surprisingly on Facebook Marketplace - a guy in Fort Collins selling at $6 per bale and then our mate Rich in Centennial
So screwed by our friend in Sheridan - replaced
screwed by our farrier friend in Laramie - replaced
Some things that made my heart smile this month
My best mate Monika went on her Anniversary trip to my birthplace for a week and had a few surprises on whatsapp with her. I kept bugging her with Ideas and locations of places to visit from my childhood and of meaning for me - mind you it has been 20-30+yrs or so since I have seen these places and have no clue what they look like now
She was staying in a place I had visited a few times but threw out my birthplace Plymouth and where my parents and Pa used to take me - the Barbican - I got photos and video of The Hoe (where Sir Francis Drake / Spanish Armada - it's a history thing Queen Elizabeth 1 era ! .. then ShaughBridge - this place is extremely special. This is where my Mum and dad went 'courting' and also where half of my mum's ashes are scattered (other half is over Craig's Hut in The Man from Snowy River She got permission before she died for this to happen .. I was on chat with her as she drove and I didn't think she was going to go there then all of a sudden I got a photographs sent through of the bridge , hand over mouth, welled up , so happy and she was in love with the place instantly and was happy I told her about it - so tranquil and beautiful there I also told her about Brixham - my only remaining maternal family lives there - my Mum's brother - my Uncle Chris lives there with his wife Carol - I think he has lived there since he got married when I was 3 years old. So her little vacation trip I helped a little with which made both of us very happy and memory lane revisited. I was wonderful to see and experience it with her
Then after 4 months - my birthday present from Alan via our wonderful daughter Ana arrived! due to UPS in Wales loosing this amazing art for months - declaring it lost and then nothing for months then one day it showed up! THEN they wanted to charge Ana extra for all of the artwork she had sent on the same day ( some pieces to Sergio aswell - she redid everything by the way ) .. Unbelievable right! ..but so happy this arrived
Most of you know the story of the Primrose and me (reca- quickly - Born April 19th - Primrose day - my favorite Aunt - Great Auntie Bunny wanted me to be called Primrose - every birthday I got a primrose in a birthday card - when she died, the primroses stopped - my mum sent pictures from Oz on my birthday to carry on tradition for Bunny , then for a few years the tradition stopped. Then Alan's mum took over tradition and I got primroses in some form - photos from her garden etc .. now Alan has taken over the tradition from Bunny . And this is now framed and not going on the wall as it will lost up there so it next to my Rega / Quick Silver and looking bloody amazing on its brass easel stand
Machinery & Gadgets
The Rega and QuickSilver are having its moments but no point going OTT with those in this but end results are 8 new tubes for the amp are coming, I do not need to replace the $800 cartridge for the Rega after wasting 3hrs in a store while a guy tried the cartridge on 4 other systems telling me there must be an internal problem with it (it's new) so on email then phone with Ortofon and end result - it was dirty diamond not a loose internal wire! So Alan can now do a very detailed cartridge change on the Rega with with angles, weights and science that I have NO CLUE with. very helpful company 100% amazing and really CARE
Then Quicksilver have been amazing with me with a certain noise with the amp and that has nearly been sorted out - hopefully once the new tubes go in and fingers crossed that stops.
The Espresso machine saga was a different story - 8 weeks of utter BS but def not going into that - but that has been dealt with an a new replacement machine is now in the kitchen and 3 weeks ago we had a farewell day lunch with our friend, espresso / vinyl guru and marmalade jam fiend Paddington. He is now in Fiji , he left this week :(
We're also 2 months into 'trying' to do a refi aswell.. oh my goodness - talk about dealing with morons and F'unts - I hate the C word with a passion so we mixed two words and this word has applied to countless close people this year that have hurt and upset us and now just point blank piss us off !
Couple of days ago also found out one of my nursery kids died - 2nd one in the past couple of months too. huge shock - she was one from of my early class too - she had just turned 30 aswell - had just received her BA in languages .. in June her family sent me a video of my final BBQ production of Lord of the Dance Michael Flatley that I did (where Luke their son was Michael) So I knew the family from the start to the end of my nursery career . She had too many daemons apparently :(
and a month Before Tasha was my second ever child to start at the nursery back in 1990 , she was a mother of two and was also a nursery teacher in the same neighborhood my nursery was in and she and I kept in touch through the years
A tough couple of months - sad, good and bad.. gadgets and machines are normal.. friends - easy come easy go and family are more well .. so-so .. least this happened
Haven't spoken or heard from Beastie since the airport, then this arrived in the mail last week with the best letter she has ever written .. the end of the letter ended with - "look at the back ..."
best ever .. made my face and heart smile - miss her so badly and could really do with a Beastie Squidge
Sooooooo much has been going on. I hope things slow down a bit and you and the pups improve!