Only here

What a bizarre day. I realize I say that a lot, but some days, it is even more apparent that my many lives collide into each other in some very unique ways.

Today, for example, I had the luxury of working a shorter day than usual, because my prison visits on Thursday and Friday took so long, that I had some flex time coming. It had to be used today since it was the last day of the month--even though it did not really work out for me like it should have. I slept in, ran some errands before going in, and got to work around 10:30 a.m. Once there, things went at warp speed, and my training session got cancelled. I hate me a jacked up schedule. I was eligible to leave before 4:00, when I went to dad's house to help him get the belt on his lawn mower so that he could mow and I could borrow it.


That was a spectacle in itself. Of course, there was a larger problem that required me to lay on the concrete and dad to yell at me that I was doing it wrong, even though he was not down there and could not see even if he had been. We even had to stand it up on end to see what is wrong with it. That turned out to be things we could not fix tonight.

Then I had to rush home, shower, dress up and go to a reception for the clerk of our court, who is retiring. I even wore a DRESS! That was a far cry from the workout clothes I wore to work for no good reason. I even wore heels for pete's sake.

The reception was very nice, with a lot of dignitaries there, including some Supreme Court justices, but once again, not my favorite one, which makes me worry about him some.

Just after this, the wheels started coming off the bus. I stopped by the farm to confirm Madison had fed. She had not been able to yet, as she had been babysitting. I helped, bobbling around in my heels and trying not to jack up my dress--which is just hard to do when you are carrying buckets with 25 pounds of feed in them. That is when I got to take these pics--some of my kids who are in the wrong pastures were reminding me of this by posing for me. This is Boogie, whose cut leg is healing up nicely. And look at that grass. There is almost never grass in this particular pasture, but here is some proof that there is. It still amazes me.

This is baby Voodoo, who come hell or high water, is going to be ridden one nite this week. Which I guess leaves tomorrow or Thursday. Too bad he was not in the sun light, as he is so pretty when you can see his real color.

This is Squeaklet. She seemed to think this missing board area was designed for posing, as she was the first one to go stand there and show me how shiny she is.

I did what I could there, got Madison rolling on the rest of it, and debated bringing home a new bag of Strategy to feed the boys. I decided not to, even though I was pretty sure that they were out of feed. No big deal, they have hay and pasture to graze, so I decided to just stop in and see how they were, since I did not recall seeing the boys wandering last nite.

Good thing I did. I saw that they had a full water trough, which is good. There was more feed in their bin than there should have been, which was odd. No big deal though, obviously, they had been cared for while I was gone, as their water trough was full.

Then I happened on Twister, in a stall. We never use these stalls. Half the doors need new runners, etc, we just don't use them. We just use the barn as run in shelter for the boys. But all the same, there was Twister in the stall, looking forlorn. No water, no hay (of course not, I do not have any square bales at the house, so there could not be), nothing. I got him out and saw that he did not look good. He had clearly lost weight and was gaunt.

I moved him through, turned him into the pasture and went to watch him. Instead of eating the Strategy I had already poured out there, he grazed. He passed the water trough. It was odd. I watched a while longer, then came to the house. Keep in mind, I am still in my dress up gear, and have now tromped through yet another filthy barn.

I got to the house, and tried to convince Tequila to eat. No go. Not even with yogurt on her dog food, and she would not even finish her hot dog. Ugh--another bad deal brewing there.

I watched Twist from the porch for a while. He rolled once, but that did not concern me--any horse would after getting out of the barn, no matter how long they had been there. Sly chased him around a bit, and Fonzie followed Twist around, and he grazed some more. Then he rolled again.

Uh oh.

Graze some more. Get chased some more. He was walking sound, so he was not foundering actively enough to see anything. Still, I found it odd.

I worked on Quila to eat some more. Then I went out to see about Twister's deal. I looked in the barn--not there. He must have been hiding in the trees, as he moseyed out after a minute or two. He went to get some more water, and I watched him closely to see how much he took in. He was already filling out some, but definitely he had lost weight. He ignored the pig who by now had joined us at the horse feeding area, which is much further from the house than I thought he ever went. Only I have to deal with a potentially sick horse with a hell-raising pig underfoot, while I worry about the dog on a hunger strike, while simultaneously convincing Sly that really, I can do without his help on this particular mission, and do not need him to sniff my hair the whole time.

Back to the house I went, called mom to confirm when she last eyeballed him, and confirmed that he had been fine and wandering around the pasture when she last saw him. We speculated that perhaps he went walkabout somehow, and a neighbor put him up--but surely someone would have left a note, or called me--or for God's sake, given him water. My neighbors are farmers, they would know better. And why would Sly still be standing around if a stampede had occurred? I really do not think that would happened, as I would have seen some other evidence of it. Perhaps, Twist and Sly argued and Twist hopped the short wall into that stall--but then why would he not get himself out when he got hungry and thirsty? I just really do not know what to make of this.

I started to worry, so I decided to give him some banamine, just in case. By this time, it was after 9 and getting pretty dark. But even though there was banamine in the little bathroom--do not ask me why--there were no syringes or needles. Off to the farm I went AGAIN.

There I find that Haidagirl has evidently been arrested for something, as she is now in a stall. I am sure Madison put her there-I wondered why, but she looked fine, and there was no note, so I left her there to worry about tomorrow. After all, I already had a gelding to handle, a pig on the run, and a skinny dog to address. Tub o lard HG could wait. My triage system was already in overdrive.

Also there, I saw that somehow, BOTH babies had put themselves in with Grandpa in the run-in shed, and at least one mother was distraught about it. I detoured to open that gate to reunite everyone, thereby letting the mamas loot G'pa's high dollar dinner, but as I may have mentioned, I was out of interest in any more predicaments.

I got the syringes, needles, etc and decided that my black market dipyrone would be the best call for a potential colic, and headed back here. Upon my arrival at the driveway to the house barn, I was assaulted by that nasty bastard dog from next door. He NEVER shuts up, plus looks a little mangy and has a history of biting. I told him I had needles and multiple bottles of drugs that I was not afraid to use, and threatened to kick his ass and headed out to find Twist in the pasture.

By then, it was almost completely dark. That is when I got tickled about how absurd this whole thing was. I was hiding the halter, I had a syringe in my teeth, but at least I had dressed out of my lawyer/reception suit and had on flat sandals instead of heels.

Twist gave me a second of considering whether he should be involved with me--but forgot about it when he decided to get another drink. I gave him a shot just as Sly bit him on the ass, and I gave up and came in, thinking I have done all I can do tonight, and praying that this is all unnecessary.

In one day, I have done the job of home-maker, lawyer, social/professional function-goer, lawnmower mechanic, pool cleaner and medicater, horse caretaker, vet stand in, and briber of dogs. All this with only two changes of clothes.

Tell me women can't do it all. We don't have any choice; we have to.

And on that note, I am going to bed so I can get up with the sun to confirm that Twist is okay, and to start over again with another day of doing it all.