When it Rains it Pours

As if to make bad matters worse it decided to rain last night. First time since last spring, or at least first time at my house although I have heard of rain in other parts of state and Albuquerque. We needed it despertately ---but----it could have waited until BlackJack and I were feeling better.
Nothing like feeling yucky, having an injured horse that has to have a new, clean bandage about twice a day, and now a muddy, sloppy, pen for him to be in. So of course the cooler weather made him feel better and when I let him out to walk around the field for a few minutes, he decided he had to run around the field about 10 times. I ended up giving him some hay to get him to stop. With my luck he will have made it worse.

BlackJack's Knee

Well, while I am feeling terrible my black horse decides to ram his knee between the gate to his pen and the big fence post that holds up the gate. He got his knee back out but it wasn't in the greatest shape. And I didn't like having to call the vet at 8:00 am when I decovered what he had done. I heard a noise when I was in the hay shed getting their morning hay, and it looked so fresh that I am sure that is when he did it. He has a ugly gash on the knee and scrapes on all four legs. Not sure how he did the other scrapes. Vet came, cleaned and bandaged the bad one. Wouldn't do stiches because it was in a joint. But did give him injection of antibiotics and several packages of more antibiotics to add to his grain over next week. We can only hope that he gets better with no complications.

Ill Health

Please forgive me for not writing for a while. Have been down with some sort of bug and feel like crap. Not good for creative writing. Very good for writers block. On all kinds of yucky medicine. And have no interest in doing anything.

AUTUMN

Hip, hip, huray. Shout for joy, have a party, and be kind to everyone. It's the first day of autumn, or as some call it FALL. It is the best time of the year. The days will get shorter, which means not so much of that blazing hot sun. Cooler days are such a relief if you live in the desert. We can hope for a few days of rain, as well. We sure need it. The pumkins are turning yellow, and the gourds are putting on their mixed colors of yellow, orange, brown. I noticed this morning that the tree leaves are getting the first bit of color to their leaves. That is the only bad part of fall, the trees loosing all their leaves. The birds are beginning to migrate. There was a pair of gold finches eating seeds off the wild sunflowers. The dogs, cats, and horses, are shedding out their summer coats to put on the long warm coats of winter. Star pony is loosing her spots as she does each fall. She will be just a sorrel pony for the cold months, and next spring her appoloosa spots will come back. We are trying to get in a huge supply of hay for the ponies, and wood for the wood stove we use for heating in the winter.

Okay, everyone. Another one is on it's way. Don't panic, but do take steps to protect yourself, your family, and your pets.

Please Help

Please, please, please don't forget to help all the pets that are now as homeless as the people that survived Katrina. They, also, need our help. You can contact your local humane society, plus many newpapers, TV stations, and radios have listings of places that are excepting donations for the dogs, cats, birds, reptiles, horses, cows, goats, and all other animals that need our help.
Give what you can even if it is only a few pennies. If you can take an extra pet into your home, even if only tempory, it will help. Or adopt a local animal from your humane society or animal controll to make room for one of the Katrina victims.

Remember that pets give a lot more love to us than we ever have the right to expect from them.

The heat is finally dissipating a little bit here on the desert. It is getting cool enough at night that I can turn off the air conditioner and still be able to sleep. But still need the darn thing in the day time. Be glad when it freezes and kills all the flys and bugs. Don't think it will for a while. Remember it freezing once in September but it is usually toward the end of October. I have two pumkins that have turned orange, and one that is still very green. Have lots of zucchini squarsh, and cucumbers this year. Didn't get any last year, but had tons of tomatoes. This year only a very few tomatoes.
Anyone got a really good recipe for zucchini bread or zucchini casserole?

Computer waits

What should be on the tomestone of every dead computer.

"Hurry up and wait."

If I had a penny for every minute of time I have wasted waiting on a computer change to another site ----- well I wouldn't be rich, but it sure would be a good start.

The Sandia Mountains in the evening. But in the mornings the sun always peaks up over them to let me know a new day has arrived.

Night Night

It's 11:00 pm and I know I won't go to sleep even if I did lay down. So here I sit in the old, green metal, two seat glider that I bought used 25 years ago. I swing gently back and forth, back and forth, while I watch lightning play along the top of the Sandia Mountains. It's not the violent, zig zags of lightning but the softer kind that simply lights up the sky. The Sandia Mountains are a major landmark here in New Mexico. They are the southern most tip of the Rocky Mountains sitting just to the east of Albuquerque. If you know much Spanish you may wonder why a range of mountains are called 'the watermelons'. A very long time ago some Spanish conquistador thought that they looked like a watermelon when the evening sun shown on them turning them a pink color. And they still get the pink color in the evening to this day. In fact they were pink tonight as where the clouds over Albuquerque. The lighning flashes again, highlighting the TV, radio, and communication towers that abound on one little peak of the mountains at the tip top of the range. Here in my yard I am at approximately 6500 feet in altitude. The towers are at about 10,500 feet in altitude if I remember right. That is way up there in the clouds. The Sandia's range from desert at the base of them, to alpine flora at the top. Much of their landscape is straight up and straight down. There is a ski resort on one part and the Sandia Peak Tram is another part. The Tram is a small cable car that takes you 2.7 miles up the side of the mountain on a cable that you are sure will brake before you reach the top. For more information and to see photos go to www.sandiapeak.com

The lightning has quite. I hear the soft hoof falls of two of my horses as they come to the fence to see why I am sitting in the swing in the yard. One of them blows it's breath out in a little snort. I get up, pet them for a minute and decide it is finally night night time. I hope.

End of my Rope

When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on.

by Franklin D. Roosevelt

I feel as if I am at the end of my rope lately. Nothing seems to be going right. I have writers block. Big time. As you can see by this blog I haven't been doing much lately. The best thing that I can manage is to put in something written by someone else. Maybe it is the mess that the United States is in. It is depressing to everyone. And maybe I can just blame it on the hot weather here in New Mexico. Or I can blame it on the full moon that was a couple of weeks ago.

Naaaaaa

Maybe it would be best to just blame it on my self, tie a knot in my rope and hang on, while I make my self get with it and do what needs to be done.

Time

Most of us have heard this one before. But it is so true after the fury of Katrina, as well as everything else that is going on in the world.

There is a time for everything, a season for every activity under heaven. A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant and a time to harvest. A time to kill and a time to heal. A time to tear down and a time to rebuild. A time to cry and a time to laugh. A time to grieve and a time to dance. A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones. A time to embrace and a time to turn away. A time to search and a time to lose. A time to keep and a time to throw away. A time to tear and a time to mend. A time to be quiet and a time to speak up. A time to love and a time to hate. A time for war and a time for peace.

Animal Sayings

I am getting a lot of emails and comments that include some very cute sayings, or jokes, or poems. This is one I like.

We work like a horse.We eat like a pig.We like to play chicken.You can get someone's goat.We can be as slippery as a snake.We get dog tired.We can be as quiet as a mouse.We can be as quick as a cat.Some of us are as strong as an ox.People try to buffalo others.Some are as ugly as a toad.We can be as gentle as a lamb.Sometimes we are as happy as a lark.Some of us drink like a fish.We can be as proud as a peacock.A few of us are as hairy as a gorilla.You can get a frog in your throat.We can be a lone wolf.But I'm having a whale of a time

Going Home

Headed home for the Tumbleweed Crossing. Sandia Mountains in the back. Albuquerque, NM sits at the base of them.

Why we have Children

This was sent to me by a friend. Don't know where it came from to start with but it was to good to pass up.

> To those of us who have children in our lives,> whether they are our own> grandchildren,> nieces,> nephews,> or students...> here is something to make you chuckle.> > Whenever your children are out of control,> you can take comfort from the thought that> even God's omnipotence did not extend> to His own children.> > After creating heaven and earth,> God created Adam and Eve.> > And the first thing he said was> "DON'T!"> > "Don't what?"> Adam replied. > > "Don't eat the forbidden fruit."> God said.> > "Forbidden fruit?> We have forbidden fruit?> Hey Eve..we have forbidden fruit!"> > "No Way!"> > "Why?"> > "Do NOT eat the fruit! "> said God.> > "Why?"> > "Because I am your Father and I said so! "> God replied,> wondering why He hadn't stopped> creation after making the elephants.> > A few minutes later,> God saw His children having an apple break> and He was ticked!> > > "Didn't I tell you not to eat the fruit? "> God asked.> > "Uh huh,"> Adam replied.> > "Then why did you? "> said the Father.> > > "I don't know,"> said Eve. > > "She started it! "> Adam said.> > "Did not! " > > "Did too! "> > "DID NOT! "> > Having had it with the two of them,> God's punishment was that Adam and Eve> should have children of their own.> > Thus the pattern was set and it has never changed.> > > > BUT THERE IS REASSURANCE IN THE STORY!> >
If you have persistently and lovingly tried to give> children wisdom and> they haven't taken it,> don't be hard on yourself.> > If God had trouble raising children,> what makes you think it would be> a piece of cake for you?> > THINGS TO THINK ABOUT!> >
1. You spend the first two years of their life teaching them to walk and talk. Then you spend the next sixteen telling them to sit down and shut up.
2. Grandchildren are God's reward for not killing your own children.
3. Mothers of teens now know why some animals eat their young.
4. Children seldom misquote you. In fact, they usually repeat word for word what you shouldn't have said.
5. The main purpose of holding children's parties is to remind yourself that there are children more awful than your own.
6. We childproofed our homes, but they are still getting in.
ADVICE FOR THE DAY:> > Be nice to your kids ...> for one day they will choose your nursing home.> >
AND FINALLY:> > IF YOU HAVE A LOT OF TENSION> AND YOU GET A HEADACHE,> DO WHAT IT SAYS> ON THE ASPIRIN BOTTLE:> >
"TAKE TWO ASPIRIN"> AND "KEEP AWAY FROM CHILDREN"!!!!!> > Quick,> send this on to ten people> within the next five minutes. > > Nothing will happen if you don't,> but if you do,> ten people will be laughing> >

Again

Again I have been either to busy or to tired to think about writing. My son, Dustin, called last night to tell me he was coming up from Los Cruces, NM this evening to pick up a horse for his boss and take it back tomarrow. One of those big, fancy, paint saddlebred stallions that his boss has. Well I guess seeing Dustin for a few minutes is better than not at all. That is how our life seems to go anymore. Thank goodness for cell phones and email.
Sometimes I wonder how we used to be able to do things without these modern conviences. And to think that by the time my son has children and they are grown cell phones, computers, and such will be outdated.