Malfunction Junction

How I once embarrassed myself and no one noticed

2009-12-21T20:04:00.001-06:00

How come it is that some days, I can have 13 things running through my brain and manage to handle them all but other days I can wake up and not even know what day it is? Today has been one of those days where I was pretty much on the ball.

I was up early to pick up the Amish to run one section of fence near the road. There was an complication, so no Amish--but I got to work early. I was on the ball writing a PLA, then a reply brief, and starting another one. I ran errands with Rita at lunch, bought some books at our going out of business book store, including the true crime story of a case I just finished helping with this summer. It is always interesting to read those and see how close they are to what I know about it--usually not very, for the record. After that, I edited some stuff, and thought some stuff, and fixed some stuff, and worked an extra hour. I even went to the gym for the first time since I got the plague--I did about 50 minutes of a spinning class and did not have a coughing fit, so I am mostly well. Hallelujah!

After all that, I watered, took care of Twister, who is doing pretty well but still on h ouse arrest, watered some more, fed some ponies, panicked about how fast we are going through round bales, watered some more and was home by 7:45. As far as I know, I did not screw up a single thing all day. That makes this a banner day.

One interesting thing happened this afternoon. I have a hot potato case right now that involves a whole bunch of agencies and other attorneys. There are co-defendants who have not yet gone to trial, while obviously, my portion of it is already on appeal. There have been rumblings from the Attorney General's office about taking stuff out of my record to help convict the co-defendant. I do not care about the co-defendant and I need this stuff, and I do not like being bullied, which is essentially what has been going on. To top it off, the Assistant AG on the matter is a tool I went to law school with and have had a run in with since I got out. It has been at least ten years or so, and I recall the run-in because he hollered at me on the phone so much that I stammered and acted like a freaking idiot who did not know what she was talking about and I was ashamed of myself for being cowed like that.

That has made this little game fun. I remember it well, but the intermediary thinks AG does not remember me. Hmph says me. The nerve of him. Here I am having been embarrassed all these years and he has no idea who I am. It will all come back to him though I bet and we will see who is embarrassed then.

In any event, he calls me today and played so nice, I did not know how to act. He wants something from me so it is good he is behaving, and of course, I will be a professional about it, but it was kind of funny for him to pander so much. He even asked why he was supposed to know me, and I told him we went to school together. He asked me if he was an asshole then too--and what do you think I said? Yep, I said he was. Then I cracked up.

Isn't it interesting how one event can mean so much to one person and the other party not even remember it? It was not even so much about his behavior, which was a little hot and inappropriate, but more about my reaction and how disgusted I was with myself. I will be damned if I act that way tomorrow, when he comes to see me and brings his investigator with him. I have to psyche myself up to act like a big girl and not the complete fraud I feel like.

I better go to bed early so I can be on the ball again tomorrow--stringing two good days together will be a feat.

Twist Update

2009-12-18T22:31:00.002-06:00

So far so good. He got nothing to eat until after work because it took me that long to procure some hay. Well to procure it, then have an asthma attack from wrestling it, and then to finally feed it to him.

When I got to the barn, he was out of his stall. This should surprise no one. That is just how Twist is. He had managed to knock a fan down and poop on it, knock over a trash can and poop on it, play with the shavings bag and poop on it--you get the picture. He was very perky, suffice it to say.

I gave him his shot, although I am not convinced he really needed it, and put his hay in his feeder and watched him eat for a while. He did good, and seemed to have no troubles at all. I only gave him about 7-10 pounds because I wanted him to pace himself. It has been five hours and he just got some more. Maybe that will make him go back in his stall and stay there. Silly boy

Let's hope these are good signs that hold out for a while

Twist's day goes to Hell

2009-12-17T22:14:00.002-06:00

The boys were glad to see me home early today--in the day time even. We had our office Christmas party today at the boss' house, and it was swell. Even sweller, we got out around 3 and did not have to go to the office any more. I came home to change clothes to go to the farm and took this pic of Twist looking like he has no forelock, and a little bit like a yak, he is so hairy. Look at his cute little ears. He was perfectly happy...trotting around in the front pasture
By 5 pm. he had a tube up his nose. He was one sick bugger. I thought he looked wonky, and I told myself that if he was still wonky when I got changed, I would check on him more closely. I got distracted by Slater looking wonky, and started to run him to the vet for a check. Halfway out of the drive, I remembered to check Twist, so I backed up and got out. Sure enough, he was still standing in the same position---kind of stretched out with his head hanging almost to the ground. He had greenish foam blowing out of his nose and he was hacking. I crawled through the hot wire--the only hot wire you can be pretty sure works around here (it does, in case you were wondering) and fetched him up.

He was pretty distressed, making weird noises with nose foam blowing all over. I got him to the barn and tried to get him to drink, took his Miracle Collar off-for all the good it does--and called the vet. I heard Kevin was out doing farm calls so he would be awhile, but would come out to tube him.

I got Twist settled in a stall--nasty stall that has not been used in a while, but at least has a working door. I went to do the farm stuff until Kevin called. When he arrived, he said that he could see the actual choke spot from a distance, and he was concerned he may have ruptured his esophagus. Well good Lord--I had no idea that was something that actually happened. I have been lucky to have never had a real choke before--just a little half-assed one that was fairly easily resolved.

Twist was a saint. He was really drooping, and I have never seen a horse take a tube that easily. There was a time period where we did not think we could get the blockage to move, but after a while, we made some progress. It is amazing how relieved you can be when you get stomach contents snorted on you, but I sure was.

You cannot see in the pics but Twist had rolled so much, and it is so muddy here, that he was covered in black mud. He had it on his forehead, and from his jaw to his tailbone. He thrashed so hard that he was soaked to the skin on his right side. The grinding of his teeth as he Kevin shot water into his tube made my skin crawl. But when I saw mineral oil drop out of his mouth, I knew we were clear. And I should hope so--we measure how much tube was actually all the way into this stomach---over seven feet.

Kevin warned me that even though the choke was totally cleared that sometimes, eating will cause him to spasm at the spot he choked, which can start the whole cycle all over again. He is pretty confident that he did not aspirate junk into his lungs to cause pneumonia, so I should not expect to find him dead in the morning....and how lucky I was to have seen the whole thing happen so we can pinpoint the time and get him treated within ninety minutes of the episode starting. He is to stay inside so he does not get into the round bale and he should eat only softer hay from a rack so that he has to eat up and not down for a bit. He is to have oil on his Strategy if I feed him grain at all, and he should have three days of Banamine because he is bound to be a little ouchy for a bit.

I collected all of his supplies from the farm and got him bedded down pretty and explained why there would be no dinner tonight. He can eat tomorrow, but I first have to get some nice hay in a small square bale as we do not have those, and the large squares I have are at the farm and not particularly soft. I can have that for him by lunch tomorrow.

When I last checked on him, he was asleep, curled up against the wall in the stall, snoring. I listened for a while, to make sure it was snores and not some more of his weird choking noises. It was very peaceful in there, with Sly standing nearby to keep an eye on him, and Fonzie poking his little head into the stall to see what was happening. I went in to check his gums and he stayed down resting while I did it, but woke up and talked to me a little. I bet he is worn out He wiggled around some as I loved on him, then rolled over and went back to sleep. Maybe all that resting in the deep bedding will clean up him so he does not look like a transient when I see him in the morning.

Cross your fingers that he has passed the hard part and will be back to normal right away.

My sole NCHA Futurity purchase- I was good!

2009-12-15T20:51:00.001-06:00

I am still not recovered from my annual December bout of the plague, which is why it has taken me so long to post. I have been home since Sunday evening, but too busy coughing and sleeping to post anything.

I bought only one thing, well one serious thing, that is. I bought a breeding to Playboy Boonsmal (Peptoboonsmal x Playboys Stormy). He has earnings of $157K. This choice is a little self- indulgent, as he is not the hottest thing in the business like Metallic Cat (who I would not kick out of the barn of course, but boy howdy $$$$)--but I have always liked him and wanted to breed to him. His previous owners did not seem to want to do business despite the fact that they owned some daughters of my mares that they bred to him.

However, he has new owners, and is standing at a new place that fought for my business. That gets my attention every time, so I finally pulled the trigger.

Right now, the only horses selling themselves are Dual Reys, High Brow Cats, Peptoboonsmals, and some of their assorted sons. You can hardly even tell them apart any more. I hate it that the industry is tightening up so much, but that is what it is doing. So this dude meets that requirement but still brings in some of the blood that has been good for the business for years in Freckles Playboy.

Isn't he handsome? I don't even know who I will breed him to, but I have a lot of options that will suit him. That will give me something to think about for the next few months.

This whole trip turned into a family affair--Mom, Barry, Mandy, Edward and Gabi were all there. Gabi was all duded up in a pink and purple plaid Cruel Girl shirt--who knew they made them so tiny? She was a trip. They have horses at her school and she loves them, but evidently she also loves a cow. She sat through the invitational yearling sale, with all that racket, and even paid attention some. When she went to the semi-finals, she immediately focused on the horse showing. She clapped when other people clapped and yelled GO randomly. If you asked her who should go, she would think real hard and then say "cows". She already has this half figured out.

I think the only thing she liked more was the trailers, which she calls "the big bus". Every time you turned around, she was asking to go insider the LQs of sale trailers. Barry is the same way. She did really good for all the distractions, and the noise and so many people around all the time. Now whether she will ever be tall enough to sit right so she could actually compete is anyone's guess. I should start looking for cutters who are under 5'0" to see if that is even an option.

Not fit for Man or Beast out there

2009-12-08T21:26:00.006-06:00

This is the nastiest kind of day there is--cold and pretty hard rain, and windy--just nasty. A good day to stay in bed--which I did, alternately sweating then shivering. I get sick-ish every year about this time, although this is a little bit early. I think the threat of going to Texas brings it on--last year I got the sickest, and that was the only time I went to Texas two times in ten days. I should make a theory on that one. Mostly, I think I have a sinus infection, but I must be working something else to be sweating and shivering. This will make for a very busy day at work tomorrow trying to wrap up the things I need done before I go to the Futurity. Thank goodness I am feeling better--either that or I have OD'ed on Benadryl

I left the house one time--to buy Benadryl. When I got back, I found this scene--Simba staring at Charlie through the glass. That poor short bus cat has no idea what he was done--he has announced himself to Simba. I do not believe this is a smart move. I will not say she is an unadulterated killer--my old Dalmatian Sahara would kill any cat she laid eyes on, and Simba is not that bad--but I have found evidence of Simba's work before. She will kill a possum too. Gross.

To protect those uninvited kittens in the garage, I have stopped ever using the garage's back door to the back yard, lest Simba think she needs to go in the garage for any reason. They are skittish and quick, but she is like a cheetah on the prowl, so I do not hold much hope for them if she finds out they are. Normally Simba and Slater are not in the front room where they can see out of the porch windows either, but since it is torn up awaiting the new hardwood to go down next week, I guess I was sloppy and let them in there. That is where she discovered Charlie looking in at her. I swear he was taunting her. That cat is a trip. He kind of reminds me of me.
See that nasty look on his face? That is like me. He is not hateful though, he is really sweet. He just looks like an asshole.

Crazy weather makes my babies tired. Well, at their age, they are mostly tired all of the time. There is a lot of resting going on around here. They sleep for some hours on the couch and when they think it is time to go to bed, they try to drag me down the hall to go to bed.
When Simba is asleep, she is so cute. She is mostly cute all the time, but I love the way she puts her hand over her face to block out the world. Her funny freckled ears crack me up too--they make her look like she is asking a question all the time.

The Baby Alligator, Slater, is not so much cute as he is formidable. He has a very serious look about him. I think that is because he is always wondering where he is. He is fortunately no where near as dumb as he looks, or he would never get out of the door. He is actually pretty smart--he is the one that can open the back door, or the pantry, or the fridge--whatever he wants, he can figure out how to get to it. He has never been the boss of this house though--he knows that is Simba and he takes forever to get in bed because she tells him that he cannot get in it. That confuses him, because I tell him he can and he is not sure who is running things around here.

Truth be told, neither am I

Poor Mascots

2009-12-07T19:10:00.002-06:00

This begs the question: What did the mascots do to deserve this?

Gym Freaks

2009-12-02T20:26:00.002-06:00

Since I spend so much time at the gym lately--for the last year or so--I have noticed that the freaks there fall in to several categories.

Most of them really irritate the piss out of me.

The main irritating category for me is the Beau Hunks. These are the men--mostly past their prime--who come to the gym all the time, and then spend most of it primping in the mirror. They quite often do not have any hair anywhere on their bodies--it is kind of creepy. They are shiny sometimes. They do a set on a machine. Then lay there a while, then get up and preen in front of the mirror like a peacock. Then they get back on the machine and rest a while before doing another set. They mostly piss me off because inevitably, they get on a machine that I am using with the Beast as part of our session. Since they do not use it and move on to another, they make us change our workout. Pisses me off. They are clearly more interested in looking at themselves than working out, yet they screw up my system.

Another category are the loud ones. These are related to the Beau Hunks, but instead of looking at themselves all the time, they are grunters and face makers. They try to lift too much weight, and end up bellowing and grunting and making horrid faces that make them look like they are in labor. Evidently they think this is required. After the grunting, they will pace around their machine, throwing it looks like "Who's your daddy now?" You cannot help but watch them, because you know one of these days they will separate something or do serious damage from all that carrying on and I do not want to miss that.

Sometimes these fools will wear a weight belt. The Beast and I call them "Belt Wearers". There is one at our gym who wears a belt with some knit shorts, and his tall socks pulled up, with a tank top. All he is missing is a damn headband. He looks like a roller skater and he has to be more than fifty. It is not a good look for him. He is also a route-interrupter like the BeauHunks. One day I staed on the leg press machine until I had lifted 100 pounds more than normal because he was circling it like a vulture and I would be damned if I would give my machine up to a Belt Wearer.

The next group are the Dirty Flirts. These are grunters and beau hunks that think any poor girl in the joint is fair game. For some reason, we have a good number of really hot chicks at our gym--serious athletes who treat their workouts like their job. Most of them have a passel of fools who follow them around like dogs with their tongues hanging out. It is kind of funny, but when they get in a big group, they crowd up the place. They talk to the girls like they are best friends, and offer to spot them. Someday they will realize how stupid they look- but only if someone writes it on the mirrors they are usually starting at.

The next batch is the Has-Beens. I feel bad talking about this bunch, because I am one and I know how it feels. But mother of God, Fat Boy, if you insist of sweating like that in public, the least you can do it wear a shirt that does not have a rip in it so your belly hair sticks out of it. Please Jesus, get a shirt. One with sleeves preferrably. Tank tops for men are rarely a good idea, and just because you wear a sleeveless "muscle shirt", your rolls dont transform into muscle any more than mine do. This is the dude who needs to look in the damn mirror.

The last group are the Over Dressers. These are usually fairly young guys--that is about right--the only ones that I would not mind showing up scantily clad are wearing three layers and a skull cap and a hoodie. What is that about? It is hot up in there, why do they wear so many clothes? It is like a pack of young Unabombers--and they travel in packs too. Surely they know that sweating it off does not really help--the first beer puts it back on, so why do they wear so many clothes? I will never understand this one.

Do all gyms have these groups? Or am I just the lucky one?

FInally grown up and random thoughts

2009-11-30T21:28:00.007-06:00

The other day, when I had horses all over hell and gone, I ended up with Hotrod and Target together in one place. Hotrod is the mother of Target, who was part of Sly's first real foal crop--the batch we kept all of to see how they would turn out. For the first time, I not only see how much he has grown up, but how much he looks like her.

Aint that something? So much alike.

In addition to this random thing I was thinking, I have thought up some other irritating things today.

First, why in the hell do I watch Million Dollar Listing? I cannot stand two of the three real estate agents. I would like to hit Josh square in his face and then mess up Chad's hair. They both piss me off. Madison is the only one I like and he cannot decide who he wants to sleep with.

Second--Madison quit again today--until February, or so her note says. I can hardly begrudge her that--she wants to do Scholar Bowl. She always gets sick of it when it gets cold--hell who doesnt? I sure do. Tonight I timed myself--7:16 til 7:52--everyone fed, every water trough filled, ten stalled horses had their stalls cleaned. I even moved a round bale with the tractor, and figured out a solution to a jacked up corral panel. Not so bad. I am a multitasking son of a gun. I can swing 45 minutes a day out of my life to take care of my own damn animals. I will miss Mad though and I always worry when she does this--was she afraid to tell me? Is that why she did not come over all weekend, even to see Barry? I hope not.

Third--this puts a damper on my weekend plans. I was either going to go to Chicago to see Barry or to OKC to the NRHA finals, to meet a friend. To do this, I was going to have to bail on dinner with Jodi and Jackie in the metro east--which is bad bad bad even though they knew that could happen when we made the plans. I am thinking Mad quitting on me could be a sign that I have no business pissing off money going all over when I am spending four days at the cutting futuiry in Fort Worth next weekend. Also, surely I will need a nap. Forth Worth is always a notoriously expensive weekend. It is very stressful to see these potentially imaginary signs every where I go...makes me wonder if they are really signs or I am nuts. No wonder I have migraines.

Fourth--I totally forgot to buy dog food again. I had to feed them hot dogs. Mark that as reason sixteen why I cannot have real kids--I would forget to get their food. I have been suitably punished though as I spent a good part of the evening thinking about twice baked potatoes and cannot find the stinking potatoes!

Fifth--I have not been to the gym in a week until tonight. I so needed it--I have felt like a slug--not sleeping well, not feeling right at all. When I am blah like that, I tend to eat eat eat in an effort to make myself sick, I think--so I will feel SOMETHING. I totally need a shrink. Anyway, I took a book and enjoyed reading it and not falling off the bike for almost an hour--and then I guess I left it there. Of course I did--I was really enjoying the book and would have liked to have finished it tonight. Crap.

Sixth--I have to get up at the crack of dawn to go to the Amish joint to see if they are coming to do fence. I so hope so, I need to get these horses out of the pens and back into the pastures. While there, I learned that they have had to eat that roided up rooster I liked so much. Evidently he was raising all kinds of hell when the girls went in to get eggs, so off with his head! I am oddly saddened by this.

Seventh--peeg has a new friend. And I even like himn--Charlie the cat. I hate an adult cat and I love this dude. It is like I am operating with a head injury all these weird things I am doing.

Eighth--and this is a big one even though the whole rest of my world already knows it--I have had to go to the three-hook bra. You know, .like big knockered women and grandmas wear. I am neither of these things, yet there they are--three hooks in a row. This is worse than when I realized that cute underwear needed to be a thing of the past for me.

That is enough rambling about not much for one nite--if I keep this up, I will be up too late and not get to early morning festivities I am planning.

Photo shoot outtakes--how fast it can go wrong

2009-11-28T18:35:00.005-06:00

Pretty Bubbles had her photo shoot today for her registration photos. These photo sessions are always hysterical. Babies can go from zero to sixty in a split second
See? A little mixed up.
Full on mad.
Woops. Over correction.
What happened? Now she looks all nice, like she did not just throw a tantrum. Babies are so squirelly.

This is the last one of the year. I think I am going to name her Demon Cat. Her Dad is Highlight Cat ( like you cant see the Cat in her from a million miles away, she has all the Cat factors) and her dam is Diablos Youn Gun by Yong Gun. Now I am off to see if that is available

Only in my world

2009-11-26T21:13:00.002-06:00

You will not believe this one--yesterday I got word that I had horse escape issues again. I spent all afternoon rounding up horses and putting them on lockdown so they could not get out again. I have horses on top of horses up in there--pens full of em.

As you may recall, a new fence is being built. The horses have realized their means of egress has been compromised and are making new escape paths. Bastards. This led me to mosey down the road to the house of my Amish people to ask when they will be back to finish that section so I do not live in fear every day.

Well it won't be right now. Why, you ask? WHY? Because my main fence builder is in Mexico.

Mexico.

Since when do Amish people go to Mexico? What are the doing? Hunting cheap drugs and hookers?

That seems unlikely.

Well that was a bust

2009-11-24T22:29:00.003-06:00

This surgery of dad's was a bit of a bust. The best part is that the neurologist is hot hot hot. And evidently we will be seeing more of him, so that is a plus. Yes, he went for heart surgery, but ended up with a hot neurologist. He is a medical nightmare--all of these heart and brain problems were discovered as they tried to do follow up on his bladder cancer--tests they cannot do with his heart in this condition. And the bladder cancer was only discovered because his stomach was tore up. And every bit of it is complicated by the fact that he has diabetes.

Every step he takes forward, they have to go back four steps to set the groundwork so he can withstand more treatment. In other words, we never get anywhere, because something else breaks practically on the way to the doc, every time.

The plan for this week was to do some stents in the arteries where he previously had a quadruple bypass. Unfortunately, despite the doc's best efforts, they could not get the job done. Evidently, the plaque buildup inside the arteries is so hard, the doc could not break through it.

The surgeon did manage to poke some holes in some areas of it, so there is a little more blood flow than there was. His plan is to try this again in three weeks or so, to try to poke some more holes in another spot, to try to increase blood flow. First, they have to wait for the contrast dye to get out of his kidneys, before they put more in there--his kidneys aren't great either, as you can imagine.

No one really seems that terribly worried about his heart. There is some new tool that they described as an ultrasound jackhammer that they think will work to break up the plaque, but the hospital does not own one. They intend to buy one, but do not know when that will happen. Fat lot of good that does us, huh?

The larger problem seems to be the blockage in an artery in his brain. I guess it is shocking that he has not had a stroke yet, and we are supposed to be watching for signs that the blockage is causing trouble.

It is amazing the difference in this hospital--which is really really nice- and where he normally goes. Everyone seems to know what the other docs are doing, and that is never the case at his regular place. I am sure a good part of the difference is attributable to Matt, a friend who runs dad's surgeon. He coordinates and follows up and spends time to hang out with us, which makes the time go faster.

The bottom line is that we are nowhere.

But on a good note, Barry will be home tomorrow nite!

Perfect fall afternoon

2009-11-22T21:12:00.007-06:00

Jenna and I went on a 3 mile jaunt today--she usually jogs it, but had to tone it down for me today. We did a short spurt of a jog but walked so fast the rest of it that I was breathing pretty good. Good enough, says me! It was really fun--totally unplanned, and satisfies my need to multi-task everything I do. Good call sister!

When we got home, Sam was playing in the leaves. The pic at the top may be the best one I have ever gotten of him. As cute as he is, I tend to get the most unflattering expressions on my camera--I have no idea why. He usually looks like Popeye with one eye shut--but this one is great.

He had a ball. It is hard to have a bad day when you get to watch someone have so much fun. Match that with the new dog, Pebbles, gaining so much weight, and it was swell.
She wont ever be cute, but growing hair and packing on a couple of pounds has made her far less hideous than she was two or three weeks ago when we found her. And she is straight up funny--we gave her a bath and she was very tricky--acted like she was perfectly content then tried to shoot out of the tub like a slippery otter--so hysterical. I think she found the perfect place to live.

In other random news, my dad is having heart surgery tomorrow. This is not an altogether rare occurrence for him, but I think it has been about 12 years since he had the last one, when he had a quadruply bypass. Now he is all clogged up again. Supposedly, they are just planning to put stents in there, but I have a feeling that might not be all that happens. I do not know when I will be back, so you all hold down the fort for me!

Daisy needs a name

2009-11-21T22:07:00.002-06:00

Part of the big project list today was weaning the last two foals, Daisy and Bubbles. Because of everything else that had to be done, only Daisy got her pictures done to submit her registration. But she needs her name first.

So that is where you all come in. Dad is Slydun Haida of course (Haidas Sugar Doc x Double Play Sandy) and her dam is Midnights Hasty Jane ("Snap"). Her sire is Midnight Haidaway by Haidas Little Pep. Her dam is SR Hasty Jane by Docs Hickory

Bring on the suggestions---I have a couple of weeks to get this in, but if I do not do it soon, I will forget about it and run late.

In addition to weaning these babies, I dewormed a bunch, moved a bunch around, and gave the last of the shots to Bijou. I Fixed a section of divider fence that the horses promptly tore back down- repeatedly. I gave PK1 shots to the very few pregnant mares, overflowed two water troughs, cleaned stalls, bought shavings, doctored Tango, and then pulled cockle burrs out of manes for almost two hours.

It feels good to have gotten so much done, even if I ache, and my fingers are torn up from cockleburrs. I slept fifteen hours last nite, and feel like I could do it again. I cant wait til tomorrow to play with the horses again. This 60 degree Novemeber weather cannot last forever

Two steps back

2009-11-18T20:24:00.002-06:00

I was so excited for tonight to give Tango her last shot and call her a healthy, cured of cellulitis, filly.

NOPE.

She is swelled up again tonight. It has been two or three days since there has been swelling, but I still should not be this upset. I know cellulitis is serious, and I know we have been at this for three weeks, and tried three different antibiotics...but surely we will get it taken care of eventually. But damn it, I am frustrated.

She is getting better about taking her shots like a nice girl, which is pretty impressive, since she gets two hits a nite. Who would get nice about that? She is handling it all right though.

I have to call the vet tomorrow to tell him to scratch my story of yesterday, telling him that I thought we had it beat. I need yet another antibiotic.

My concern is that the next option is likely Baytril--which has to be given IV. I cannot hit a vein reliably unless it is in some saint like Playmate or Twister (yeah, I realized I just called those two demons saints--that is how out of kilter I am). Unfortunatly the vet does not have facilities for me to just leave her there and let him do it either. I sure hope he has another suggestion, or I do not know what I will have to do to make this work. Whatever it is though, we will get through it.

I just feel like wallowing tonight, I guess.

Which is a shame, as I got cute new hair today, have had a couple good days of eating so I feel better, and am cooking up some steak for my dinner tonight. I even saved up carbs to I can make a twice baked potato--something I have never done before. This could be interesting.

If anyone has any great stories of how you cured cellulitis over nite, this would be a good time to share that wisdom!

Big changes up in here

2009-11-17T22:10:00.002-06:00

And this time I am not talking about my moodiness.

Barry may be moving to St Louis, from Chicago. That will put him an hour and a half from home instead of five hours! It won't be for long--three to six months--but I will take it. We are having so much fun looking for apartments online. He is comfortable enough in St Louis to live somewhere fun, like Soulard, or the Central West End... that will be totally different than anything he has ever done before.

He may be moved as early as the end of December. He is going to be the project manager on the new project there, and I think he is excited to show his company how things should be done. He has so much more experience than most people they have working for them.

And how nice that I can see him more often-- we can have dinner together, or if something goes berserk here, he can be here pretty quickly

YAY!

Things that irritate me

2009-11-16T21:18:00.002-06:00

As you know, that is pretty much everything. But TODAY the thing that pretty much irritates me the most is that I went to spinning and considered taking an aerobics class afterward. But since my doc had called in some Celebrex for my elbow to the WalMart pharmacy and I did not know how long they were open, I did the responsible thing and went to WalMart.

That is when it all went to hell. It is way too big of a project to go all the way out there, but to get there and find out that the doc had FAILED to call in my scrip really pissed me off. I almost never take a pain killer, but I tried this at his suggestion, to get the inflammation down and potentially save me from having tendon surgery, and it is really workin. Except not when they will not give it to me.

In an effort to see if it is worth it to drive out there, as opposed to having it called in to another closer pharmacy, I asked how much it was. $132 for 30 pills. WTF? Is that with my insurance, I ask? Yes, since your insurance does not cover it. Almost no insurance covers it. Are you freaking kidding me? Why have insurance if it does not cover what I need? I will be damned if I will pay $132 a month for this stuff on top of my five thyroid pills, etc. Oh hell no.

I guess they would rather pay for surgery.

It infuriates me that my doc does not get to decide what I take-- the insurance company does. What a load of crap.

And of course, I spent $50 on food and still forgot the low carb bread.

Then I went to Lowe's, where I spent an hour being talked out of the flooring I went to order. The dude convinced me to go with a solid hardwood rather than the engineered I wanted. He sent me home with a sample, and I think it will work just fine and it is way better than what I wanted to use. However, I do not really like the whole attitude of the worker telling me that what I wanted sucked---but I guess that is another battle I will not win.

I did not get home until 8:30. When I tried to carry in pig's food, I dropped it on the floor and the bag broke. You can imagine how pig liked that. I had to sweep up most of it and pack it in something else, but it still left too much for him. When I went out there just now, he was asleep and a cat was eating his food for him.

I better go to bed before I get irritated by something else

Good way to end the season

2009-11-15T19:23:00.017-06:00

Gyro got to go on the last ride of the season at Sam Dale State Park today--partly because she offered and partly because the big trailer is at the dealership for repairs, and it took most of the tack with it. She is not at all fussy about her equipment, so she was the easiest . It was nice-Madison has had her most of the year, so I have not gotten to ride her and I miss it for sure.

It was about 65 degrees and pretty sunny for most of the trip--look how green the grass still is. We do not see this weather in November in this area very often.
Linda brought Dirty for her ride. He seemed to wonder why he had to come.

We were not the only ones taking advantage of the weather--we ran into a lot of groups out there. Check out that teeny pony--Linda offered to buy him right out from under that poor child.

Gyro was embarrassed at her lack of concho--it has been missing for years. But it was one of the few headstalls in the old trailer, so she had no option.

This was another stranger horse we happened across. He was pitch black--I love black horses
The black horse had friends. This butt shot cracks me up.

This is Bella, the bitty mule, that belongs to some other people we know. She is darling
I love old barns. I wish the color in this shot was better, but nothing to be done about that now.
Gyro was beside herself to be released in a big patch of grass when we were done riding. She was a good girl, so she deserved a little snack. She was not quite herself today for some reason.

Because the coloring was off in the woods, I took some random artsy fartsy pics. That is so not my forte

It was a nice day. This park closes tomorrow for the season, so the rest of our winter riding will have to be elsewhere.

Scenes from the Hood

2009-11-14T20:32:00.002-06:00

It is not like everyone else's hood, that is for sure. But I like it.

It is a good balance to my weekday life of dealing with killers and perverts. Now if there were more than two days a week of this slower life, it would be perfect

Generations

2009-11-13T17:56:00.000-06:00

Playmate has been put in charge of the babies. I figure at 28, she probably has a few things she can teach them. Now that Grandpa, Nita and Lucky are gone, I wondered who would step up and take over.
Playmate is enjoying every minute of it. She leads them on adventures all over their pastures, and also babysits when they need to take naps. It is fun to watch.
Taking pics after the time change is killing me--there are very few opportunities during the week, and when I get the chance, I have to use such high ISO that the pics are grainy. That sucks.
But sometimes, a surprise cool shot comes out. I love this panning shot, but I promise I could not do this if I tried. I love the way the two sorrel Slybabies are positioned behind the roan filly, almost mirror images of each other.

I have to make more time to take pics of these babies before they grow up and it is too late

How I screwed up my day-this time

2009-11-12T21:12:00.004-06:00

I might as well admit that as screwy as the last 24 hours have been, they are not really out of the ordinary. And that is just sad.

Last nite, I managed to get myself lost in the dark on my own freaking property. I could hear hotwire popping, but I could not see it. Out in the pastures amongst fifty head of mostly mares is not the safest place in the world when you cannot see, but there I was all the same.

I lived through that and made it to this morning. First order of business was catching and doctoring Tango, who is battling a pain in the ass case of cellulitis. I have never had to treat such a thing, so it throws me off my game a bit. I am not used to having "firsts" around here anymore when it comes to animal health. Tango is turned out in the front pasture with about seven frenemies..so I have to catch her to give her the morning antibiotics. She is not a fan of this, after taking shots for more than a week by now.

So I chase and chase and catch her--after tromping through the pasture until I cornered her. This was one of the few days I was dressed like a human being instead of a clown, as Barry describes it. I had on new jeans, new fancy mules with a heel that make me feel all growed up and a shirt that takes an iron. Pretty impressive huh? Far cry from my standard workout clothes or jeans and tshirts. Not the best choice for pasture crawling

I caught Tango, tied her to the gate and went to get her shot. By the time I got back, someone had bit her, pushed her into the water trough and untied her--so I had to catch her ass again. Got that job done, and headed to town to go to work.
This shows how she has been swelling above the wrap.....cross your fingers it simmers down soon.

I called the vet on the way to work, and the insurance man, and the elevator to order dog food...basic morning stuff--amazing how much I can jam into a three mile trip.

The work day was kind of normal--I had a streak of clarity and actually got something done. Bout time too as I have been in a rut of stupidity.

Late afternoon, before it got dark, I ran home to deal with Tango again. The vet wanted me to unwrap her and change to gentacin shots. 20cc--and of course, I do not have a 20cc syringe handy. I was going to pick one up at the vet when I stopped by to get Simba's meds, but for some reason they were closed in the middle of the day. So no "don't pee the bed" meds for Simba and no 20cc syringe. That means means two shots for Tango. I knew she would love that. And she did--bent two needles, and I managed to stab myself in the thumb with it. Typical. I unwrapped her leg to let the swelling move around. Let's hope that turns out okay. Ignore the dried goo on her leg--that is old Underwoods dried on there. She hurt too bad to be agreeable to scrubbing it off. The pink at the top is the actual ouch...and that white is paper towel stuck to her leg. I had my hands full cleaning this up now that the wraps are off. Notice the difference in size at the joints.

Back to work I went for a few more hours, where I had some more visions.

This is where it gets stupid.

I left work close to 7 p.m. As I usually do, I used the secret clicker to open the truck doors. Then I get in and look in my purse for the real keys. Cannot find them, so I get out and get the secret keys and attempt to use them to drive away. That is when I learn that the real keys had been in the ignition the whole time. Smart. Off I drive to the gym. Go in, wear myself out, come back out---truck is locked. No big deal, I can use the secret key. Nope, they are in my purse too. In the truck.

Crap. I had to call the tow truck, who took their own sweet time showing up while I shivered a bit in the parking lot. On a good note, I think I am getting the frequent flier rate with the tow truck, as this was the cheapest one ever. There has to be some good news huh?

Finally, it is like 8:30 and I swing by the farm to see that things are done, and am so relieved to be home. I loved my pig, give him some piggle food, and get in the house just in time to realize I did not pick up the damn dog food.

Well that is just too bad, as I am not going back out now. I had the scraps of one bag and one can of dog food, so I told Simba and Slater to work it out amongst themselves. That is about 1/4 of what they normally eat, so I dug out a few packs of hot dogs and defrosted them. Not like I was going to eat them. I think they are content now--at least they are snoring on the couch, so they are not complaining about my failure to provide a suitable meal.

Finally, I have time to sit down and download some pics from the last week. I am kind of afraid to even get up, for fear of what I will screw up next.

Key West

2009-11-11T21:43:00.021-06:00

I don't think anyone acts right in Key West--and this is one of the few pic of us there, because most of them show us looking like fools. that, and I cannot reliably report what we were doing in each photo, because Honest to God, I do not remember. And I am pretty sure that is for the best.
On our second day there--when we intended to return to Key Largo, we thought we might should get some culture. At least that way, we would be more likely to have stories we could remember. To that end, we went to the Little White House. Truman spent a lot of time here, but so have a lot of presidents.

This house is just off of Duval Street, which is where most of the action is. It was all decorated up for Halloween, but its larger claim to fame is as the house where the original Chucky lived. I learned all about it on the Ghost walk I pirated, which scared Amy. THAT is not what should have scared her about this experience.
This is Ernest Hemingway's house--stop 2 on our get cultured tour. I really wanted to go here, but mostly just to say I did, and it turned out to be really interesting.
This is his bedroom. Only this cat hangs out there--perched up on the pillow. Evidently, he is the boss of the upstairs, and only allows one other specific cat to ever come up there. Now that is power. All of the 60 cats on the property are descended from his actual cats--and many of them are those six-toed freak cats. Evidently he got off on that sort of thing, so lots of these cats have more than their fair share of toes.
This is Hemingway's office, where he did most of his writing. Back in the day, there was a catwalk from the second floor of his house to this office, which is on the second floor of the guest house. That is gone now.
The grounds really are gorgeous, and it is cool how the cats mosey around and somehow manage to ignore all the people.
This is the Episcopal Church on the corner of Duval--it is haunted too, supposedly. I just thought it was pretty.
This is Amy, doing God knows what on the phone, God knows where. Actually, I think that might have been the front porch of the place we stayed. More on that later
I do not know where this is. But I can tell you from what I am wearing that this was taken on night two--the night we were not supposed to be still in Key West. We learned so much about Hemingway and his drinking holes that we had to go have a reenactment--and at each turn, we would learn that even though certain bars were supposed to have been the one, they were not really--that one next door was, or some such garbage, so then we had to go there. Somewhere along the way, we ran into 2 for 1 beers, and the rest of the day was shot clear to hell.

This did not help. This is a Big League Chew. Pretty, isn't it? We had it at the Lazy Gecko. It is cranberry juice and Three Olives bubble gum flavor vodka. I am not a real fan of cranberry juice or vodka for that matter, but now howdy was it good. We shared it, which was good because it was pretty sweet. This was also the scene of me angering a real jackaass of a gay man. I mean really angering him. No matter how much I tried, I could not fix it. That was interesting. He looked like Mr Clean and he was mad even though I did not even tell him that.
Some people.
This is a naked bar--at least on the third floor. And for real, there are signs that say "No Public Sexual Activity". Who ever would have thunk I would ever be in a place with a need for a sign like that? Not me. Certainly not at my age. I never saw any naked people though.
Sloppy Joe's is the most famous bar in Key West. It was a nice place, great music even in the middle of the day. There were all kinds of people in there, families, older people, groups of younger people, kids etc..that made it kind of fun to people watch. The cruise ships were in but it was about 70 degrees and windy as hell, so they did not have anything else to do. This is supposedly where Hemingway hung out--but it is not the location he hung out in. That was really around the corner, at Capt Tony's--also haunted. See how some girls can get a little liquored up in the daytime, just trying to have a legitimate cultural experience?
This was truly one of the best things about Key West. We stayed at Simonton Court, on Simonoton Street just off Duval. It aint cheap, but we got a good deal at the last minute, and even though I am very much not a bed and breakfast kind of girl, I loved it. Too bad we were so busy, we did not get to spend too much time in it.
This is the main house of Simonton Court. It has 4 or 6 rooms in it, I think, and they serve breakfast on the court in front of it. The whole place was a cigar factory back in the day--this Mansion, as they call it, was the owners house. There are a couple other houses they call cottages, and a townehouse, and an "inn" and a manor house, which is what we got.
I do not remember the last time I was "shown" to my room. This is the foot path from the front of the property to each of the other accomodations. There are also four pools---one is a black bottom pool, one that used to be the cistern for the factory, and two other little ones. Each place has their own pool
This was part of our room. The curtains hid the sliding doors that walked out directly to our pool.
This was our little pool. Too cold to get in it, which I bet does not happen very often.
All in all, Key West was awesome. I am not sure it is worth$3.8 million for a place to rehab like this one, but it was great. I cannot wait to take Barry there. I thought it would be just debauchery and hedonism, and there is that--like New Orleans sort of. But cleaner. There is so much more though. We never even sat foot on a beach, we were so busy.

Now hopefully that angry Mr Clean dude will not see me when we go back

Apparently it's a Clone-Free NCHA Futurity

2009-11-10T23:31:00.004-06:00

An article from the Quarter Horse News

Written by Mark Thompson

Phil Rapp, with Playboys Ruby Too (at left) and Whats On Tap, the 3-year-old clones of standout cutting mares Playboys Ruby and Tap O Lena.

The trainer of the last clone entered in the 2009 National Cutting Horse Association Futurity said on Nov. 9 that it’s unlikely the mare will compete at the Nov. 21-Dec. 13 event.

“Most likely, that mare will not show at the Futurity,” said Phil Rapp, Weatherford, Texas, cutting’s all-time leading money earner as a rider and one of the industry’s leading owners and breeders. Rapp was referring to Playboys Ruby Too, a clone of Playboys Ruby.

“She’s got some lameness issues that we’re dealing with and it’s most likely that she will not compete,” Rapp explained.

Asked if she might compete as a cutter next year, Rapp said, “That is to be determined, by the severity of the lameness and how she responds to the medication, the time off and how she comes back.”

Waco Bend Ranch, Graham, Texas, owns Playboys Ruby Too and Rapp considered this horse the stronger of two 3-year-old clones he was training for possible 2009 NCHA Futurity competition. The other clone is Whats On Tap, a clone of Tap O Lena, Phil and Mary Ann Rapp’s all-time top earning cutting horse with $502,145. The Rapps own Whats On Tap and Phil Rapp explained that this mare did not progress as a cutter and definitely will not compete in the limited-age cutting pen.

Tap O Lena (Doc O’Lena x Tapeppyoka Peppy x Doc’s Oak) is a 1990 mare. Playboys Ruby (Freckles Playboy x Lenachick x Doc O’Lena) is a 1987 mare and the second-leading all-time producer of cutting horse earners. She won $268,441 during her impressive cutting career and, according to Equi-Stat, has produced 12 offspring that have won $1,593,500, topped by Jack Ruby (DNA) ($257,121; Little Janey Lena ($234,855); Playin CDs ($233,931; and Ruby Tuesday DNA ($218,916).

Rapp had been pleased with the progress shown by Playboys Ruby Too. In fact, until recently, it appeared likely this mare would compete at the 2009 NCHA Futurity, possibly with Waco Bend Ranch manager Ray Baldwin as her rider. Although she was the stronger of the two clones, Playboys Ruby Too never ranked near the top of Rapp’s 2009 NCHA Futurity prospects list.

“She [Playboys Ruby Too] is a cutting horse,” Rapp said. “She cuts, but we need more than a cutting horse [to make it worthwhile for her to compete]. This mare is a twin to a fantastic mare that we had, so she needs to do better than turn both ways.”

Based on his experience with Playboys Ruby Too and Whats On Tap, Rapp expressed his doubts that clones of the older great cutting horses are likely to compete on the same level as the originals. His opinion is based on the “God-given differences" in individual horses and the reality that older horses cut to their success in a different competitive day.

“They are average,” he said, describing Playboys Ruby Too and Whats On Tap. “Anybody that asks me about cloning now, I’d say, ‘Please clone for reproduction, not performance.’ I just don't think the clone can be expected to match the original, as far as performance goes.

“Now, I might be proven wrong and I hope I am,” he added. “I know Boyd Rice is riding a clone [2-year-old clone of Jae Bar Fletch] and he just might win the [NCHA] Futurity. But from what I’ve seen so far with the clones I’ve ridden, they’re going to have to convince me that these clones are going to perform in the contemporary cutting pen.”

That being said, Rapp does believe cloning could serve as an important breeding tool. The genetics, he explained, are an irreplaceable commodity and cloning is a potentially valuable way to carry those gifts forward. He and Mary Ann are anticipating the spring 2010 arrival of an embryo transfer foal by Autumn Acre and out of Playboys Ruby Too. Once he starts riding that foal, Rapp said, he’ll be in a position to express an opinion as to whether or not cloning is a viable option for cutting horse breeders.

“When I see and train that foal, about four years from now I’ll have a better idea,” Rapp said. “Right now, it’s too early.”

Smart Little Lena Syndicate shareholders voted last year not to train any of the five now 3-year-old clones of the 1982-1983 Triple Crown-winning stallion not to compete as cutters. It has investigated the possibility of using them as breeders.

Of course, there are other clones in training and there are also other opinions.

A Doc’s Serendipity clone (Doc Bar x Biltoft’s Poco x Bar Mix) had been entered in the 2009 NCHA Futurity, too, but she was pulled because of a problem with her sight. Based on his experience with this clone, David Brown, Gainesville, Texas, said it is possible for a clone to compete well. Brown owned Doc’s Serendipity when the late 1974 mare finished as 1977 NCHA Futurity Open Reserve Champion.

Brown purchased his Doc’s Serendipity clone as a yearling at the 2007 NCHA Futurity Sale for $14,000. He described her as “a super horse and very talented.” Brown initiated the clone’s training and had Texas trainer Jaime Beamer work with her on cows as a 3-year-old, but then decided the mare would not be able to overcome an ocular problem.

“She’s got a spot on her eye about the size of your index fingernail,” Brown said. “She kept losing cows on that side and I stopped [training her]. I think she could have been a [NCHA Futurity] finalist horse without that, but I’d just hate to get her beat. There’s no sense putting her in a position that she can’t help.”

The Doc’s Serendipity clone has already produced a High Brow Cat foal. She’ll produce another one, by Metallic Cat, next year, Brown said. While optimistic she’ll perform well as a breeder, Brown said if not for the eye problem, she could have competed well, too. He disagrees with the theory that clones are not suited to compete.

“In this case, I don’t think that’s true,” Brown said. “This is a nice filly. I feel bad about it [not competing, because of her eye], but I still feel like I’m lucky to have her.”

He knows of two 2-year-old cloned cutting prospects that have shown strong early potential and might compete at the 2010 NCHA Futurity in Fort Worth, Brown said.

It is impossible to register a cloned horse at this point, but the NCHA went on record last year in stating that there is no reason a clone cannot compete at an NCHA show, including the NCHA Futurity. So far, no cloned horses have competed at an aged event cutting.

*************************

Well that is sort of sad. I was sure hoping to see one of them go--that is interesting about the Docs Serendipity clone being bothered by her eye problem. They called that eye issue when they sold her at the futurity a few years ago--and she brought very little. She was the first clone to sell at public auction so it was cool to see but perplexing that she brought so little.

As Rapp said in the article, I kind of thought this was how it would turn out as far as performance...things are different today and it is just impossible to say how those old time cutters would compete on fresh legs today. Not that they are not as good, certainly not--just that styles change, trends in judging change...heck, cutting horses do not even look like they did thirty years ago. I bet some clone comes along and is competitive, but it looks like they will not be sure things.

Then again, in ten years, maybe we will be looking back at this wondering why we ever doubted it.

What do you think of the cloning issue?

Haidas Little Pep dies

2009-11-06T22:33:00.007-06:00

This is from Glory Kurtz' artilon allaboutcutting.com about the death of the great Haidas Little Pep:

It was 1986 and the NCHA World Finals was being held in Houston. Bob and I watched as Greg Welch showed a then 6-year-old Haidas Little Pep in the final go-round. The result was history-in-the making. When the pair walked out of the herd, they had scored a 230 – the highest score ever earned by a cutting horse – winning the Open Finals.

The run gave Haidas Little Pep the Reserve title for the year with $90,542.41 in year-long earnings behind Jazzote, ridden by Sonny Rice and George Glover to $102,096. He was also named World Champion Stallion. For me, it made the hair stand up on the back of my neck as I realized I had just witnessed a “historical happening.”

But that was only one of the accolades earned by the 1980 legendary stallion sired by Peppy San Badger out of Doc’s Haida by Doc Bar. According to horse trainer Billy Pinion, Stanford, N.C., the 29-year-old stallion died on Monday, Oct. 26 in his 10-acre pasture where the stallion happily spent the past nine months of his life with a gelding as company.

Bred by Norman Bruce, Rutledge, Ga., Haidas Little Pep was syndicated in June 1983 after he won $264,397 as the Reserve Champion of the NCHA Open Futurity, owned by Helen Groves’ Silverbrook Farms and ridden by another legend – Buster Welch.

In 1984, the pair finished fifth at the 1984 Atlantic Coast Open 4-Year-Old Futurity, 15th in the NCHA Open Derby, and split 11th at the NCHA Open Super Stakes. Before his aged event career was over, he had racked up lifetime earnings of $425,174. At the time of his death, he was owned by John Walker, Pinson, Ala., who purchased him in December of 2000.

But after his cutting career, the stallion’s next calling began – as a sire. During his breeding career, Haidas Little Pep sired 1,389 AQHA foals, with 620 foals earning over $9.5 million – averaging $15,986 per money earner. His largest breeding year was 1988 when he had 113 foals registered with the AQHA. According to AQHA, his final crop of foals were born in 2007, although Pinion said he thought there was some frozen semen still available.

His highest money earner was Snack Box, a 1991 stallion out of Brudders Sunday Best by Docs Sugs Brudder, owned by Jerry Durant and ridden by Craig Morris to over $202,829 in earnings, including being the 1998 World Champion Stallion and placing third in the NCHA Top 10, earning $46,168.18.

There was also Haidas Jan, a 1994 mare out of Lemac Jan by Dan’s Sugar Bars, who earned over $171,808 with Greg Welch in the saddle, including the Reserve Championship of the NCHA Open Super Stakes Classic, earning $39,465. Sporty Little Pep, a 1988 gelding out of Warm Up Sport by Sport Model Nick, won over $168,547, owned and ridden by Kelly Welch, and Haidas Becky, a 1986 gelding out of Becky Lynx by Doc’s Lynx, collected $101,426, owned by Mrs. Buster Welch and ridden by Buster.

Haidas Dude, a 1989 gelding out of Miss Dry by Dry Doc was owned by Silverbrook Ranches and ridden by Rodney Schumann to over $158,271.53, and Little Moonpie, a 1989 mare out of Sujo’s Sunshine by Captain Joker, owned by Dan and Sallee Craine was ridden by Greg Welch to over $153,231.

Other high money earners included Our Little Haida, a 1987 mare out of Our Little Lena by Hesa Doc O’Lena, $138,049.03, who finished second in the 1994 NCHA Top 10 Non-Pro, earning $61,763; Smart Smokin Pep, a 1990 stallion out of Smart Smokin Lena by Smart Little Lena, who was third in the 2000 NCHA Top 10 Open, with $47,694 in earnings and was World Champion Stallion. Lintons San Badger, a 1990 stallion out of Ms Linton by Mr Linton earned $114,167 and Peps Southernthunder, a 1988 mare out of Fondacandybar by Ima Dandee, earned $113,427.34.

During 2009, there were 80 offspring of Haidas Little Pep still competing in the performance arena in various disciplines. He was buried at Pinion’s ranch.

******************************************************

Haidas Little Pep is one of my very favorite horses of all time. Number two probably, next to Smart Little Lena. I do not know why I was so drawn to him, but I was. he was not pretty, he was not particularly personable to be around, but man did I love that horse. I remember very clearly the first day I ever saw him, and all the ones after that. I hope I can find some of my old pics of him.

I bred to him four times. I only got two babies out of the deal, Hard Rock N Haida, that I sold to Carrie in Canada, and Haidadoc, who I still have. Those two could not have been more different, either--Hyde was very refined but somehow still looked like daddy, and HG, the mare, is like a freaking freight train. I love her though, as you have to be in awe of all that power, and she is so freakishly athletic, it is fun just to watch her operate. I also bred Playmate to him another time, but she slipped the foal, and bred Foxy to him, and she did the same dang thing. Leave it to my girls to drop the babies that were hard to come by in the first place. That is the nature of breeding though.

Haidas Little Pep is also the brother to Sly's sire, Haidas Sugar Doc. Their mother was Docs Haida, who is one of my favorite mares ever. Partly because Haidas Little Pep was so dominant, Sly's sire is often overlooked--not many families can have a World Champion with 200K in earnings be overlooked, but this is one of them. Since I like Docs Haida so much, I like being able to get to her in many different ways.

I have noticed over the years that when I am trying to choose new young, up and coming stallions, that almost inevitably there will be some more Haida in there. Even when I see a photo and do not know who the horse is, further research will quite often show me there is some Haida right near by. It is weird. Over the last year or two, I have stopped fighting it--it is obviously something I like, and it is consistent with my focus on strong mares.

So I am a little sad about Haidas Little Pep moving on. ..the end of an era, so to speak. It has been a hard year on those 1980 horses--first Grandpa and now Haida. Who, interestingly, showed against each other a but and traded wins in several events. Now they are both gone, but I guess it cannot be said that either ever wanted for anything.

RIP ol boy.

Interruption for Serious Legal Matter

2009-11-04T20:08:00.002-06:00

This came up again today, and when I was trying to think of something to post tonight and coming up blank, I decided that some of you might find this interesting. I bet a few of you know of these developments, but most do not.

I have several clients who are convicted of murder in the death of babies or infants, where the State claimed the child died of Shaken Baby Syndrome. That "diagnosis" was all the rage back in the day, and of course, those kinds of cases made the news pretty regularly. All kinds of education programs were put in place to educate people, who evidently do not know that shaking a baby can really hurt it.

What you probably do not know is this--recent research shows that Shaken Baby Syndrome is junk science.

There are three main symptoms that will suggest a baby has been shaken to death. Hemmorhages in the eyeballs, bruising on the brain and brain swelling have been enough to convict hundreds of people of murder. Quite often (in fact, in almost every case I have handled like this), no one can even pinpoint when the baby was injured (versus when they died), or testify that the defendant was ever seen doing something to the baby.

Now scientists know that brain bleeds are quite often present in babies when they are born. No apparent reason, they are just there. But since we hardly scan babies for brain bleeds at birth, we don't know who has them and who does not--but finding it in an autopsy is going to send someone to prison. Retinal hemmorhaging is also very common-- and can be caused by attempts to resuscitate a person. Or puking hard-- I have seen that myself.

A major issue in these cases is the common medical testimony that the child could not have sustained the injuries by a fall, like from a couch, or off the monkey bars, or just by tripping. Studies done on crash test dummies now show that is absolutely not true. A fall of just a few feet can cause exactly the big three injuries that have been the basis of SBS cases. A corollary to this is that tests also show that it is virtually impossible for the average adult to shake a child hard enough to cause the injuries claimed to result from shaking.

An interesting thing developing is that many of the things that alert a person that a baby is hurt (vomiting, lethargy, bruising, retinal hemmorhages) are also indicative of two other situations--a Vitamin C deficiency, and reactions to vaccines, With Vitamin C deficiency, ribs reak--and I cannot tell you how often broken ribs show up in these cases as proof the child was abused. Vitamin C deficiency does not present the same way in infants as it does adults, but it is simple enough to do a blood test for proof of it. But is this done before there is a rush to diagnose SBS? Nope. The vaccine reaction is similar in that vaccines cause a histamine reaction, in inverse proportion to the amount of Vitamin C in the body.

Ok, so what all this ranting about is this--how many people are in prison for shaking a baby to hurt it or shaking it to death, based on this junk science? A whole lot. Sure, some of them really did something to hurt the baby. But we sure cannot tell who they are, can we?

If that does not scare the hell out of you, you just are not paying attention

Work weekend---catch up time

2009-11-02T19:46:00.005-06:00

Barry came home for the weekend--first time in forever. The last tme he was here, in September, he was here for only 27 hours. Not a lot got done. he got home earlier than expected Friday nite and was worn out, so we got a scary movie on tv and laid in bed with the dogs and watched it. Good thing we took it easy as the rest of the weekend for a forced march of errands and little projects that needed handling.

Saturday:

I did a Halloween walk with my gym people, at 8:30. That is entirely too early in the morning.
Ran to vet to get some ace, in case we needed it to do some complicated horse repairs (did not need it but you know we would have if we had not had any on hand). Paid off outstanding balance at vet--- woo hoo--but that jinxes something into going wrong. Every time.

Then we went out to breakfast. There we shuffled around cars so I could get big stuff while he rushed to get something done and turned in to a shop by noon. Barry is not a good rusher but he was on it this time.

Picked up last of siding for sand pit shelter.

BS went to tire store to have Gator tires repaired. I finished using truck and tracked him down to trade again so I could go to bank (since truck does not fit in bank, remember?)

Went to bank to move money to cover all this paying off of things.

Learned that new mirror for truck is not going to be installed before Barry takes it to Chicago for a week as shop is closed.

Learned Gator tires shot so Got new tires on the Gator ($75 a freaking piece. It has 6 tires. oy vey) and installed new battery so it works now. Hot damn hallelujah

Rebuilt the fence between barns (at least part of it) to re-set fence charger box and made it work with brand new charger for 50 miles of fence. Jack with that, why don't you, horses?

Watched Illinois beat Michigan and the subsequent freezing over of hell.

Discovered Tango tore hell out of leg--or so it appeared--turns out not so bad, but always looks ugliest upon discovery. Learned we are low on SMZ/TMP antibiotic pills--knew that was going to happen, since vet was closed. I had enough tot get through til Monday though.

At half time, we finished the sand pit shelter, except for trim. Heard ridiculous news that Illinois was winning in second half, so rushed home.

Finished watching game, while folding laundry (you knew there would be laundry in here).

Cleaned kitchen.

Went to fundraiser Halloween thing in Headley's town. Obtained knowledge about purloined cat.

Sunday:
Vaccinated and dewormed all the weanlings. Had halter practice.

Birthday lunch with parents.

Got new tire on truck as one of the inside tires was felled by a rock. A rock, I say. This entailed 3 hours of WalMart time ...some of which was used shopping for boring things like ham and shaving gel.

Went to TSC for odds and ends, two of which they did not have, and a new rain jacket for Barry.

Went to hay man in his town and bought a trailer load of hay. Played with his baby animals.

Mada lasagna for dinner.

Monday morning:
Barry's birthday! He is a big boy now--38.

Raised top line on bull shed pen to keep Ammo in.

Did DNA on two horses

Moved horses to different pastures.

Bought 5 more rolls of fence and a shit fork. Realized I was in car and could not tote fence

Returned shit fork. Picked up fence, bought Barry new Carharrt jacket. Evidently he does not get it that Carharrts are supposed to be dirty and grungy, so he needed new.

Went out to lunch

Re-ran hotwire/checked hotwire on whole property.

Changed lightbulbs at top of barn--far bigger job than you would think, as the ceilings are so high. It takes a tractor so person can be lifted up in bucket. Barry knocked down birds nests, and cobwebs etc while he was up there.

Emptied big horse trailer of groceries, bedding, etc..washed the bedding to store for trailer return.

Closed the pool

BS Drove the trailer to dealership

I Worked on fence posts in hay field, in the dark, while he stopped by Springfield to see his family for birthday activities.

Doctored Tango, and discussed with baby Bam Bam that he is not making the decisions about what is fed around here. He was being beat out of the food in the baby pen, so when we moved babies to new pasture to get them out of mud, I kept him in to feed him up. He refuses to eat the good stuff I am giving him to pack on the weight. It is very sad. He wants his Strategy, he does not want alfalfa cubes or pellets or equine senior. Never had that happen before.

It is amazing how getting these little projects knocked out takes a huge weight off of me. None of them were huge, but I could not do them all. Now the big project for the week is gutting all the stalls, and pulling t-posts from one pasture so I can quit buying them by the hundred for new fence line, and mowing the yard here as it dries out. My Amish may come tomorrow nite to set some more railroad tie posts, and I hope to show them the next few things that they need to do after this is over. This lack of daylight after work is a problem though. I have five more stalls to gut, then more shavings to buy to tide me over until the sawdust man shows up with a truckload of sawdust.. I need to wean two more foals, but that will have to wait til next weekend.

In the midst of this all, I am getting back on the diet wagon more fully. It is crazy that I am working out this hard, but sliding on the food so not gaining any ground. That blows. So I am on it starting NOW.

Have a good week everyone--let's see how this four day work week goes for me as far as productivity--I am sure starting out feeling a hell of a lot better than I do normally. Maybe I should take off more Mondays!