Sunday, January 27, 2013

Insomnia

I've been having a bad case of insomnia the last few days.  Nothing is as boring as listening to someone about sleep, so that's all I will say.  Just so you know this post is from a deranged brain.

The weather out here is frightful, with very low temps and snow.  Both the kids made it home Friday with minimal complications, and we all stayed in for Saturday.  Today, Sunday, it is supposed to get up to 60 degrees with rain, go figure.

I tried to lunge* Willie a few days ago, with mixed results.  I wanted a calm walk, maybe a little slow jog, and instead got rodeo 101.  I had to give up, this old nag is too old for the athletic stuff.  And it seems, so am I.

*Lunge is standing in the center of a circle with a long line while the beast runs around you with a little urging of a snapping whip ( not to touch the horse, just to make a snap in the air).  The speed is controlled by clucking at the horse.  That's the theory.

If you have ever considered getting a horse of your own, my advice is -- Don't.  Do.  It.  You think it is hard to get a house sitter, imagine the difficulty finding a horse sitter.  To come twice a day, feed and water and/or turn out or keep in their stalls.  The problems increase the more horses you have.  The last time we all went somewhere I paid $300 for 10 days and felt lucky to get off so cheaply.  The dogs had to be boarded and the cats had their own sitter.  I felt like I was planning a foreign invasion.  Our horses were born here and have never been off the place except to be broken to ride ( most of the breaking is the rider's bones) years and years ago.  We rode in the 'hood, lots of wandering dirt roads, tho all have been paved now.  Then there is the shoer (every 8 weeks) and the vet (AT LEAST ONCE A YEAR,HAH!).  Grain, pine shavings, wormer, vaccinations, winter blankets, the list goes on and on.

That's all the scoop for now.  I rate this as a 3 for boring.

Bumper sticker for the day:  "Famous last words:  What happens if you touch these two wires tog--"







Sunday, January 20, 2013

Is it January already?

December is over and I, for one, will not miss it.  It wasn't the holidays, but I just didn't feel well for most of the time.  So far this month I am doing better.  Fingers crossed.

I haven't posted here in quite a while.  Events have come and gone, and I have been dealing.  But I wanted to post here the photo of my birthday present, an electric fireplace.  We have an actual fireplace, wood burning, but it needs some vital repairs on it, so it doesn't kill us some dark night.  So, this sits right in front of the wood burner, and I will not miss the ashes/smoke/wood carrying that it entails.

Here is the photo:



I am 62.

I don't think of myself as being in my 60s.  I feel the same as I did when I was, say, 30, just a little creakier, a little more unsteady on my pins.  Mentally I am seeing a few little slips, names I can't remember (I've never been good with names), a few gaps in my memory, feeling a little confused about simple things like needing directions to familiar places when I have been there dozens of times.  I blame the chemotherapy, partly, for blasting my brain as well as any tumor, but it is a small price to pay for a renewed lease on life.  If I lived alone it would be different, but I have 3 adults in the house, and they are pretty patient with me, and help me too.




Bumper sticker for the day:  "Drink coffee - Do stupid things faster with more energy."