When I got up the temp was 50, the sky was bluish with a few streaks from jets from Mt. Home AFB south east of us in Idaho, a couple of stars still visable, a tree along our driveway and some utility poles silouetted against the sky, and the earth still looking very black. Now the sky has lightened to a peachy pink. The foothills in the distance have pine tree silouettes against it. Mornings can be really beautiful.
Now, I'll warn you, this next part will make you sad. You could just skip it. I wish I could.
I've been on the phone with the vet's office and others. I woke up at something after 1am, and didn't sleep much after that. Thinking about Bullwinkle. He has an occasional better day but none of them good, and none of them will ever be much better. It is just the nature of Cushing's disease. He has spent more time off his feet in the past few days than he has since I brought him out of the pasture 3 or 4 months ago. Winter is coming, and we just can't go though it with him in failing health, snow, wind, below 0 temps, no stable, etc. So, the time has come to face the unpleasant event and get it done. When I fed him this morning, I told him he wouldn't have to hurt and stagger around fighting for his balance much longer. It took a long time to come to this decision, I do not give up easily. His appointment is next week.
Other factors come into making this decision. He is at least 20, maybe as old as 25. Horses don't have a normal life expectency much beyond that. His weight has dropped considerably in the past 4 months, although he eats more than the other 2 horses. It's harder for a thin horse to keep warm, so he would have to wear a blanket all winter because he only has a shed for shelter. He is loosing strength and coordination in his hindquarters. Keeping water thawed out for him would be a problem. If the snow is deep this winter, he would have a very hard time getting around. There would be no place without snow or frozen ground to lie down. It's best to end it now. I'll certainly miss him, I've had him for at least 10 years and he's a real sweetheart.
My neighbor came by to settle up our lease/work agreement. Grazing is figured by the head per day, then there is my lambing hours, other misc days like when we shear the sheep, minus the price of the hay we get from him. He owes us enough to pay for taking care of Bullwinkle.
Ok, now happier things again.
Today I have been doing a lot of weeding in the big flower bed. Weeding is good therapy, but now it is 90 degrees and too hot to be out there for very long. I'll work on it more after it cools off, and tomorrow before it gets hot again. The last forecast I read said hotter tomorrow than today. And we thought summer was over when we had several days when it only got into the middle 70's, and down to 38 one night. It will happen soon enough.
It is so sad when we lose our animal friends. There are lots of special ones in our lives that we can thank our good Lord for letting us have and enjoy for however many years they have to live on this earth. My prayers are with you at this sad time and I know that you know that what you are doing for your 4 legged buddy is the best thing for him. We can't do more than that no matter how badly we might want to. I am shedding tears of sorrow for Bullwinkle and for you.
Yesterday was a sad day here. We finally had Bullwinkle put to sleep. He had suffered far too long while I tried to fix him, and last week when he was barely able to walk on level ground, I decided we just had to do it. So, yesterday the vet came out at the same time a big truck with a box that has wheels on the rear and a hydraulic hoist on the front arrived. The box was pushed back so that it was only a few inches off the ground at the open end, I lead Bullwinkle in, we turned him around to face the door so he could not try to back out when he got the injection, and about a minute later he was gone and not hurting any more.
It was a hard thing to do, and I am still crying, but it was the right thing, just maybe not soon enough. I had planned to take him to the vet and have it done there, but was afraid he would fall in the trailer, and also was pretty sure he could not step down out of it. So, I had to have them come here, but the last thing he saw was home. He also got to eat green grass for about half an hour while we waited for the truck, and he got one last carrot, too.
He was such a good natured horse, and even though the months of painful feet, he was the same sweet guy whenever I went to doctor him, feed him, or brush him.
We picked the elderberries this morning, so now I'm making juice. I'll have about 6 quarts when I'm finished. It's going into glass gallon jars which I will freeze until this winter when a lot of it will become jelly to be given away to the neighbors for Christmas gifts instead of so many baked goodies. The house will smell wonderful again when the snow is flying past the windows!
Somebody on another forum said it is just 100 days until Christmas. That doesn't seem possible after 3 days of 90 degrees when I was weeding.
I am sitting here with big tears flowing down my cheeks. You did the right thing and the only thing that a good pet owner could do. Our four legged friends don't live as long as we do and it is so difficult letting them go but such is life if we want to have the enjoyment of pets. Some of our pets turn out to be the ones we remember the best, just like people, and that is only natural. Bullwinkle will go down in your mind as one of the very special ones and so it should be. It is good that you can say of him that he was a wonderful horse and that you shared many great memories with him. I am praying for you and for the sorrow to ease up really soon and then there will just be good memories. Love and hugs to you my friend.
If you read my 2009 Endurance Ride entry, you know that I had a painful ride last Saturday. On Monday I went to see the chiropractor, and today had a follow up appointment. Not so many things were out of place today. I had been thinking about doing another ride since I am more comfortable again, but he says it would be the wrong thing to do before my muscles, ligaments, etc, get accustomed to my bones being where they belong again, and it would probably be a painful ride and would set me back to square one. Well, then, so much for that goofball idea!
The gardens will get a lot of attention again this fall, they certainly need it. I've been working on a 3 ft wide strip with a few rose bushes in it, and a lot of grass and weeds. The ground is so dry I have to water it, wait for it to soften, then pull or dig out the weeds. Slow going, but I did manage to fill the big wheelbarrow. Those poor rose bushes need more tlc to produce much. I always think I'll take better care of them next year. That is one bed where I should use that Preen with the herbacide in it next spring to prevent the weeds from sprouting. If I put annuals in, they will need to be decent sized plants. In the last few years we have just let the sunflowers from the birdseed sprout there. Under it all are roots from a big tree. The poor rosebushes hardly have a chance!
Today when we were in town I resisted the urge to buy any more mums. They look good for such a short time, they are not worth the money. Last fall I dug up and potted about a dozen of them to save them from winter kill. This spring only one sprouted any leaves, and it is wimpy, with only 2 stems and a handfull of flowers.
Yesterday, hubby and I built a cute little rail fence around a flower bed that is at the end of the greenhouse. It's not part of the yard, and is in a class by itself. Several years ago I planted lots of gailardia, Blue Queen Salvia, a large fall blooming sedum, some calendula and a whole corner has a variety of succulents. It's reached the stage where I only need to water it about every ten days, and it requires minimal maintenance. I've wanted to fence it for years. The fence is made of old fenceposts salvaged from the pasture fence that was torn down and replaced this summer, so the materials cost nothing. It looks cute. You'll eventually see pictures, just not today.
AWWWW! I want to see pictures. Yeah, I know. When you get the camera'computer glitches fixed you will post more pictures but can I stand the stress of waiting? Yeah, guess so but it won't be easy.
I am glad you are holding off on riding for now. You take such good care of the horses but you have to remember to take care of YOU also.
Brrrr! This morning our thermometer said 32 degrees. Snow or rain showers had been in the forecast, but it didn't happen here. We did see snow on the lower hills between us and the 7 to 9,000 ft mountains. It's definitely getting to be fall here, even though we had 3 days of 90 degrees and one 85 degree day last week.
We picked the grapes today, and got more than we ever have, by far. Usually from our 3 vines we get about 30-40 pounds. Today, we filled 5, 5 gallon buckets, weighed them and it added up to about 125#. We'll weigh the buckets when they're empty, probably about a pound each, and figure the difference. I have 14 quart jars getting a bath in the dishwasher, and will process juice tomorrow, and maybe the next day and the day after that...
The last of the green beans were picked this afternoon. Surprisingly, there was no frost damage that I could find in the garden, but tonight is supposed to be 4-5 degrees colder. I cooked ham hocks with green beans for our dinner, yummy good without much fat. I think I will cook the rest of them that way, then bag them up in zipper bags and freeze them. It's easier than canning and I have space in the freezer. Meanwhile, the beans will be happy enough in a big bowl in the downstairs fridge, until I get more ham hocks.
Tonight before it got dark we were watching it snow on the hills between us and the mountains to our northeast. The maple tree in our yard has brownish leaves, the lombardy poplars are turning gold, and leaves are dancing in the wind, both on the trees and on the ground. The Virginia Creeper vine on the rail fence is bright red with blue berries.
Breezy is starting to grow a fuzzy looking coat, Patch still looks slick. The outside cats seem to be eating a bit more, they put on weight and grow nice thick coats for winter. Just before dark I saw the black limpy stray cat coming up the hill for his nightly raid of the catfood dish. When I went out to feed the horses, I saw a fox hunting in our neighbor's field. He saw me and froze, then lay flat on the ground like Border Collies do in the down position when I turned my head toward the horses. When I looked back, I had to hunt for him.
I went to the chiropractor for another adjustment this week. Not too much was out of place. He said come back in a couple of weeks for a tune up. Today I was very comfortable, and fairly active. I'll keep doing those stretching exercises every morning and night. He says I can ride the horse, only to limit my time to an hour, and come back soon if anything seems to be out of place. Progress!!
It seems that I have a pet ladybug. Yesterday when I was washing grapes to make juice, I saw a ladybug, so I rescued her and put her on a plant on my windowsill where I have seen mealybugs. She crawled up a leaf and found her lunch, then later I saw her in another place. This morning I saw her again. She seems quite content to crawl along on this one plant, eat a bug, take a nap, and do it all again.
So far, from 4 of the 5 buckets of grapes we harvested, I've got 35 quarts of juice, and still have another bucketfull to do tomorrow. I appreciate the bountiful harvest, but frankly have to admit, I am getting just a bit tired of grapes!
Today I unpacked 6 large boxes of freight at the coop. It was almost all bottles of vitamins. Every item needed to be checked against the invoice, then have a date label stuck on it before it can go out on the shelves. I never know what I will be doing when I go there. I just show up and ask the director what job is on the top of the priority list.
Love the ladybug story. You need a bunch of those in your greenhouse. Do you still have your bug eating frog? Our frog finally left our under the house plant area and came out by way of the door that we leave open in the hot summer time. He had completely gotten rid of all the basement crickets that had plagued us for years and he had kept all of my houseplants cleaned out from bugs and slugs also. We are getting a substitute for him soon. My granddaughter who is in elementry school has a frog that has been her school project for quite some time and she is bringing him to our very special frog paradise and he wouldn't even have to find a place to hibernate this winter.
Several frogs live in my greenhouse. When I see one elsewhere I move him. They are little guys, some almost an inch long, so it takes all I can find to do the bug patrol. We still see the lady bug every day, but now have to hunt for her because she is expanding her territory to other plants. I wish she had stayed where I put her because there are still mealy bugs on her original plant, and if she doesn't eat them I'll have to get out the Q-tips and the alcohol so they don't become a problem.
The total grape juice tally is 47 quarts, plus about a pint or more that we drank as soon as it cooled. I was very happy to put the last of the jars on the shelves in the basement, clean up the juicer and put it away. After our apples finish ripening I might be getting it out again, or I might make applesauce, but in the meantime, the flower beds are getting my attention. The tree that produces the most apples has a lot of fruit on it, small apples, not tasting good yet, but after a few frosts they will be better.
Frosts, oh yes, we have had 3 or 4 of them already. Early this morning the thermometer said 26, but one recent morning it said 24. The vegie garden is toast except for a few beets, some swiss chard and the potatoes, and some kohlrabi that might not have turned into purple rocks. A few of the deer got brave and came back, are now eating the leaves off the grape vines, and leaving me a bit of fertilizer. It's not a bad trade. They have also wandered through the yard and left a present there, although they don't appear to have nibbled anything. It isn't because they are hungry, it's just because they can.
The leaves from the maple tree in the yard turned yellow and fell in great profusion on the lawn when we had a couple of days of rain and wind. It still surprises me to see gold there instead of green, even after a couple of days. I don't rake them, they'll blow into flower beds and become insulation for winter, then mulch, then fertilizer. God's plan is a good one, and it saves me work, too.
Hubby got new hearing aids yesterday, and now tells me that the world is a noisy place. Running water makes noise, plastic bags make noise, I slam doors and stomp my feet, the cat meows, birds chirp, he talks on the phone with a normal voice, we can have a conversation in the car, and the best part of all, the TV volume is turned way down and not blasting ME out of the house. More than once I went to bed and put the pillow over my head just to be able to go to sleep while he watched the rest of a movie or a game. Life is good!
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