Yay!!!! Thank You Dr. Winnacot

Okay, I got a second opinion. Arcy was pretty much on borrowed time when I got her down to Humboldt. Wasn't sure she was going to make it, with her frantic, manic episodes and panting attacks. Took her to see her old vet, Dr. Winnacot. He prescribed some non-steroidal anti-inflammatories, and some joint medicine.

After a week, she's a new dog. Well, she's still an old dog, but she's got a lot of new life in her. Much less stressed, much happier. Doesn't seem to be in any pain. She goes for long walks, and her feet don't puff up in the evening. Yes, she's still semi-senile, and has extremely vacant moments, but I feel really, really fortunate that I followed my gut, brought her down, and gave her a chance at a few more months (relatively pain free!) at least.

From Blogger Pictures

So, here Arcy goes, into her 17th year, still ticking. Pretty cool.

O Christmas Tree

Here's some pics of the Christmas Tree at HP's house.
Note: Be sure to find a Noble Fir next year. Much easier to drench in ornamentation!
In fact, we had about five garlands left over! Unheard of.

Too funny-- And I thought HP doing the lights in the past was excessive...I got to do the lights this year, and I had to run out and get five more strands! The tree just ate them up. lol.

I could not get my camera to do justice to the lights deep in the tree, and the brushy branches of the Douglas Fir hide lots of ornaments. Still a pretty tree, though, I think.

Been a busy, busy two weeks! Drove down Wednesday, Dec. 16th, in a 15.5 hour haul. I've had a blast, and can't believe I'm headed back to Idaho in a few short days. Perhaps one of the best outcomes of this trip was taking Arcy to her old vet, and getting her put on medication for pain from arthritis which was causing her anxiety and stress attacks (shivering, pacing, panicky eyes). After a week on the meds, she is much, much better. No puffy feet at night, no stress. Much, much better. Will be having a talk with the vet up in Idaho, for sure...
Been horsing around a lot, riding, cleaning, playing around with vaulting with some kid riders. Painting kitchen cupboards at my brother's house, taking Arcy for long walks, visiting former students and catching up with old friends. Went to my house and found the Christmas ornaments, and put a tree up. Need to remember to get a Noble Fir next year. Douglas Firs are quite difficult to ornament properly! Also trimmed the fruit trees at my house.
 Unfortunately, with the rain and the light-speed nature of my days, I haven't taken the kind of pictures I wanted. Ah well. It's all in my head, right? Would have been nice to have a picture of me pitching over the side of Belle when I was showing the girls a vaulting move...

Made It!

Here we are in California. Wow, the world is green! Everything is drenched in fog...

As for the trip, we left at 7:15 am, Boise Time. Arrived on the Pacific Coast 15.5 hours later. Trip was fairly uneventful...
West of Vale, Oregon, the road was snow pack, beginning to break-up and freeze. Was like driving on a washboard, and I don't think I cracked 35 mph more than a couple times over about 80 miles of road. Passed a semi rig that didn't navigate a curve too well. I don't think he had put his chains on. Sideways on the shoulder. When I got past Burns, Or, and the pavement was clear, it was like a whole new world. 55 (the posted speed) never felt so fast!

The only other bit of trouble came west of Willow Creek, when the fog hit. Had to slow waaaaay down a couple times, just to even see the white line. When I was driving down 101 to the house I'm staying at, the fog played major tricks with my tired, tired eyes. Oncoming traffic lights made shadows of the signs on the side of the road dance and jump around at the side of the road, looking like herds of little deer waiting to jump across. I nearly came to a stop. Then laughed and realized I really needed to get off the road!

I'm off to my day. Will post pictures later. It's so green!!!!

Outta Here!

Trinidad Head

So... I'm packing up and heading home Wednesday morning, as early as humanly possible. The trip back to Humboldt takes 12.5 hours, if I don't stop anywhere except for gas, in the summer time. I'm prepared to take two days, if need be, but I'm hoping for the best road and weather conditions. Car is winterized and ready, and I am, in the words of my youngest brother, an insanely cautious, careful driver. Ropes Course, June As I head off for this "vacation" that marks the end of a long, long year, I wanted to say thank you to my friends and colleagues at BSU. I've so enjoyed getting to know you all. Special appreciation goes out to Randy, Kathleen, Sherry, Phil, and Steve, for all the projects, papers, and powerpoints we've worked on together! Having you all to bounce ideas off of helped me make it through a difficult year. Not sure if I would have made it without our camaraderie. ( I hear Sherry's voice saying, "My Peeps!") Thank you, as well, to my professors who kept throwing reading, projects, and great paper/research ideas at me, to keep me busy and distracted! I'll be back January 1st, ready to hit it hard. That's fair warning, dear dissertation committee of mine. :) You know who you are. I hope! Far Pasture, December Winter has only just begun, and I'm convinced humans were not designed to live in this kind of climate! Yeesh. I have cold callouses on the tips of my fingers. Seriously! However, I do believe I've got systems worked out. The horses have a tank-de-icer that keeps their water just above freezing, which means they drink plenty of water. Colic can be a problem in cold weather, I've heard, if they aren't drinking water because it's so cold. They have plenty of hay, and beauteous inverted tire-feeders to keep the hay clean and fresh. I go out several times a day and rake the frozen manure in their stalls into piles so they aren't hurting themselves on the frozen golf-balls of manure. Giovanna is wearing her blanket, and Ber is wearing his thick hair. My only concern at this point is hooves. They build up these ice balls in their feet, which makes them walk around like they're on stilts or high heels. I know, horses in the wild were fine. But these aren't wild horses, they're domesticated. And Ber has very thin soles. So he's hurting. After searching all the remedies, I tried spraying their cleaned-out hooves with WD-40. Miracle of miracles, it helps. The ice pops out rather than adhering to their soles like it's glued in. And it seems that spraying once or every other day works good. But Ber may need to go into boots or padded somethings, because he's walking like an old, old man. I now understand why he was so lame, for so long, this spring and summer--must have done some major solar bruising last winter when we moved up here. I'm prepared to give him the summer off to heal, once we move back to Humboldt. As far as the rest of winter preparation goes, Jetta stays in the garage, but even then, morning start ups are tough. Once she gets going, though, it's all good. The house is warm enough, though the static electricity is impressive. I see arcs and sparks! Now that the snow and ice has settled in, I feel pretty isolated out here, but not in a bad way. It's very quiet. OH, the copper pipes leading to my washing machine popped Wednesday night. I came home at 6 pm to a flood going across the washroom and down the stairs to the basement where all the electrical/furnace/etc are. Took me a while to find the water shut off. Since it was down in the basement, with the flood, I shut off the main breaker for the house before going down. I was so scared of getting electrocuted. I know it was probably a long shot, but better safe than sorry. Seen too many movies, I think. Anyway, got the water shut off, and cleaned up the water (swept it out the back door, turning the steps and deck into a sheet of ice, as the water froze almost as soon as it hit!) and mopped up with towels. The entry rug to the washroom is still sitting on the deck in an oddly contorted, frozen shape. Not sure if I'll get to use it again before May! Plumber came out, and he was a nice fellow. He was able to repair one pipe, but the other needed a new cap, and soldering just wasn't working- everything was too wet and the cap was too old. So he came back the next morning and finished. But he let me turn the electricity back on, so at least there was heat! I'm leaving keys with the people watching my horses while I'm gone, so they can check on the house. Ugh. Give me fog and rain any day. :) I better start my packing and such. See you next year!!!!

Phew!

View of house from out Corn Road

Well.

What do I say?
How about "I'm Finished!!!!!"
Gone is the mountain of work from this semester. How did that happen?

Coming up on a year since I embarked on this Boise Venture of Mine, and after three semesters' of work, I've finished my classes and am ready to begin the "Comprehensive Exam" and "Dissertation" portion of my work. It' s mind boggling.

For now, I'm finishing my last class meetings, and the presentations I need to do for each. On my list from now to the 17th is to get my house in order. The fallout from this intense semester is not pretty....on my living quarters or on my personal self. Need a hair cut, need to clean my boots and wash a pile of clothes, need to clean and vacuum... LOL. Want to start organizing and packing for my trip back home for Christmas. Make arrangements for horses' care, make sure bills are paid, get Jetta checked out for cold weather travel, etc.

Warm Puppy

Then, on the 18th, I drive home, weather and life permitting. Hey, how's that? I'm learning to be a bit more flexible with plans, you say? Who knew. I'm staying at my friend Kathy's house, as she and her husband are traveling a great deal this holiday season. I am grateful for their hospitality! Their house is conveniently located near Redwood Acres, so I can horse around to my heart's content. Can't wait to see how Top and Maisa have progressed. Going to hopefully do some vaulting with some kids, which will be so much fun. And I've heard there's a tack room that could use my manic "must do something physical" energy, perhaps...

One of my dissertation committee professors gave me an assignment for my two weeks at home: absolutely no "academic" work. No thinking about education, dissertations, research, reading, etc. I think I can do that... I already have a list of things to do, people to see, and experiences to have that would take a month, as usual. Though I'll be bringing my computer to upload pictures and, possibly, video, I don't plan on spending much time on the computer. There are walnut bags to sew, an orange cake to make, a tree to decorate, presents to wrap, time to spend with people and animals I miss, Christmas dinner to prepare, walks to go on, movies to watch, and chairs to sink into and just sit...and...be....still.

Snow Tracks

It snowed last night, leaving over an inch on the ground. This house sits right on a busy "commuter" road that gets a lot of traffic from 7-8 am, and then 5-6 pm. Must say folks are driving slowly and quietly this morning! Oh, except for that truck pulling a trailer that just blasted by...lol.

Watching neighbor horses playing in snow...

Horses have been scooping and rolling in the snow this morning. Berhwood is a wooly yak who seems born to live in the snow. Giovanna appreciates wearing her blanket, since she has a more modest hair covering than he. The de-icer is working, and they have plenty of hay, so life is good, horse wise! The bitter cold has been hard on Arcy, but she loved the snow this morning and frisked around a bit. Every day's a good day.

Wooly yak Snow Nose