01/01/2011

We had a record low of 4 degrees at 7 am. Don't know what the low had been earlier. Cold enough that the cold water to they washing machine in the garage was froze for a bit until I could thaw it by turning the dryer on for an hour.
Then about noon we went out and did a lot of cussing to get super big chunks of ice out of the horses water buckets so we could give them some fresh water. Buckets are 25 gallon each with most of a bucket of water frozen solid. We have 5 gallon heated buckets for when it is cold and even they froze over about an inch last night. Coldest I can ever remember it being here, and I think news said it was a record low for New Years day.
Only supposed to get down to about 14 tonight. That will be 10 degrees higher than last night.

Tumbleweeds?

On the national news this morning the newsperson was talking about 40 mph winds blowing tumbleweeds across the freeways in Los Angeles, CA. Why is it that if it happens in New York, Florida, or LA it makes the news but weather most other places never does. We have winds like that with tumbleweeds blowing across the roads frequently but no one mentions it on a national news. We are having a blizzard in the 4 Corners area of New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, and Colorada and it is right now hitting Albquerque and Rio Rancho but national news could care less.
The wind is blowing the snow sideways, and that wind has a heck of a bite to it even though it is still about 28 degrees. We got all the horses fed, and since it's trash day the trash is out before it hit, but I caught a glemse of one of the neighbors trash blowing down the street cause they can't put the lid down on their trash can. So I guess the rest of us will have to pick it up and put it in our trash cans for next week when we can get out to get it.
For now I am staying in the house. Finally convinced the dogs they really didn't want to stay out in that stuff. Had to dry them off when they came in. They fuss over who is going to get dried first. Both of them really like it when I take an old towel and rub it over them. They will carry their towel around on their back for a while afterward. Ziva wasn't sure about it when i first did it to her but soon she was loving it.
I hope the horses are staying in their shelters.

!!! MERRY CHRISTMAS !!!

• Wishing Everyone All
• over the World a
• Merry Christmas
• and
• Peace to All

We Pay Fireman to What?

Today while in the store I got to see what the fireman of our community are really like. I got in line behind a group of fireman. (mind you each time I go to the store regardless of what time of day it is the fire truck, rescue squad, or several cop cars are sitting outside the door) I stood there and stood there waiting and waiting while four fireman took there good ole' time buying their one or two snacks with credit cards that would not work in the machine, making the cashier have to punch in the numbers while they laughed and gossiped. (do these men not carry a couple of dollars in cash on them?) After about 15 minutes of this one of them turned to me and said he was sorry to take so long and grinned. I couldn't help but say I was about to pass out from having to stand so long in an overheated store,(walking through a store and standing in line waiting seems to make my back, legs, knees, and feet hurt worse than about anything I have to do) and that my frozen foods were melting. This caused them to laugh and snicker. They didn't care at all that they were holding up a handicapped woman using a cane besides frustrating the cashier worse and worse. They were acting like a group of disrespectful teenagers.
These firefighters want my respect for what they do but won't give me any. Do they really think that I can expect them to help me if my house should catch on fire or if I have a serious medical problem or accident.
Do we really pay men to act this way while they are on duty in a public place?
WHY?????

After the Snow

We got about 8 inches of snow from that storm. It sure was needed. The ground is still wet and muddy. For once I would rather put up with the mud for a while instead of that awful blowing sand we usually have. It is wet enough I won't have to water anything for a while except the critters. It is cool enough in the day time I can actually get out and do something like playing with the horses for a while instead of trying to pass out from the heat. And yet it hasn't been freezing at night since we had the snow. A bit unusual. But I'm not complaining about it. The days have been a bit cloudy instead of our normal bright sun which can be a little depressing but is so rare here that I can take it for a while.

SNOW!

We may not have snow for Christmas but we have snow now a week before Christmas. Started as rain early, early this morning changed to snow about noon and have about an inch in some places now. Hard to keep a 7 month old pup cooped up when she wants to get out and play in that white stuff that she has never seen before. She seems to really like it and has learned to let me dry her off when she comes in. Had to let her out to play as I couldn't seem to play her down here in the house. She won't learn to play fetch with a ball for some reason.
So good to see the rain and snow as there was a forest fire down by Reserve and some grass fires somewhere else. I was so very very dry and had fire warning everywhere.

Just One Clerk?

I sent off 4 small packages of Christmas presents today. And I swear I'll never do it again. It isn't the having to buy the present it's the having to wrap it, then find a box the right size to mail it in. And worst off all is the trip to the Post Office. I can't understand why the PO is always wanting to raise the rates they charge for mailing packages and letters. I just spent $45 to mail those 4 small packages. Thats about $11 each. That does include the minimum $50 insurance. I found out last year if you don't have insurance on a package the PO laughs at you and says 'tough luck' if the package doesn't make it where it was going. It was my fault for not putting insurance on it, not theirs for making sure it got there even though I payed them to do so. Not only do I have to pay them and buy the insurance to make sure they get it to it's destination I had to stand in line for an hour while 1, I said one, clerk worked the line. I felt sorry for the guy but why can't the post office hire a few more people to wait on all their customers that want to mail all those packages that won't all get where they are going. Just one clerk! All of us in line kept saying the same thing Just one clerk! Where does all that money go that we pay to have those packages and letters delivered.

Face Forward and Fall

I fell again today. Got up about 6:30 and put dogs out. Tuffee didn't want to come in which is usually. But I don't think she should be out when it is only 25 degrees because she is used to being in the house at night. But she has always been bad about not coming in when I want her to, only when she wants to. I stepped out onto the concrete slab that is our front porch and when I did my knee did it's thing, what ever that might be. Doctors can't tell me what causes my knee to feel like it is trying to dislocate but doens't quite go all the way to be a full dislocation. I call it locking up as that is what it does. My knee joint slips just enough that I can't unbend my knee so down I go. I have been doing this for years but no one other than my hubby has ever seen be do it so most doctors don't even beleive me. I did have a full dislocation about 25 years ago and then again about 15 years ago. Now it trys to do the locking up several times a week. Most of the time it happens when I am sitting down or even laying down but sometimes when I am walking and then I fall. And it is usally faceforward. This time I scrapped and brused my knees, palms of my hands and my chin. Is anyone else having this problem? I would sure like to know.

again

Have been trying to download photos on here again and nothing will do it. Sorry, I wish I could. Some are being downloaded on my facebook site if anyone is interested.

Black Friday

I can't beleive that anyone would go to the trouble to get up at horrid hours in the middle of the night to go to a store just so they might save a few dollars on something that they thing someone else might want for Christmas. Why can't everyone go back to the old way of giving things for Christmas. Give from the heart not from the pocket book. Give because you want to not because it is expected. and only give to those that are close to you. Not to each and every person you think you might have known at some time.

Surprise

I had a nice surprise today. Went out to feed the horses this afternoon and someone was standing at my gate. It was an friend who used to live on our street and moved a couple of years ago. I was a wonderful surprise to talk to her and catch up on all the gossup even if we do email.

How's Star Doing?

How is Star Doing? some have asked. Well all I can say is she is about the same. She knows her own pen find and it is large enough (about a quarter of an acre that is mostly a rectangle with a weird little triangle at one end) that she has plenty of space to move around in. She has a good sized shelter that is open on one end so she can go in and out when she wants. I keep her feed container (half a 50 gallon plastic barrel) in there and only feed her in there so she will always know where her feed is. I keep her water container (also half a 50 gallon plastic barrel) full of fresh water and it the same spot all the time. She can visit with Nita, our other mare and Sunny, my old gelding through the fence between her pen and theirs. I would love to be able to let them together but she and the other two don't seem to want to get along well together. She and Nita will do find for a day or so and then get in an argument and the kicking and biting will start. The last time I tried it Star got kicked right above her right front knee. I don't think she could see or sense the kick coming and so couldn't try to get away. It was swollen for days but seems ok now. I won't take the chance on that again and don't let them together. Even Nita knows to stay away from Sunny. At about 22 he is the boss and gets everything his way. If Nita bugs him to much he lights into her with bits and kicks. Yes, I know all of them need more exercise but Sunny can't be ridden due to age (a bad back and hoof), and now Star can't. Plus I never was able to afford a professional to train Nita and I know I am not able to do it myself.
I do some round pen work with Sunny and Nita and with Star I am working with her to understand more voice commands as well as lead better and trying to teach her to lunge better on a lunge line.
It all takes time and for a person that is also handicapped there are many days where nothing but feeding and watering gets done.
That is except the love. We always give them lots of love.

New Link About Blind Horses

Today a friend sent me a link to someone else who has a blind horse. Like my mare, Star, her horse is an Appaloosa, too. She is able to explain to those of us that are Scientifically Blind how this problem occurs in the Appaloosa horse. Here is the link to her blog which I will also add to my links list. http://http://barndoortagz.blogspot.com/2010/11/walk-on-wild-side.html

Cold Weather

Getting ready for the cold weather that the weather man is predicting. It was at 38 this morning when we went to feed the horses and has been about 60 all afternoon. But the TV weatherman is saying that Thanksgiving will be super cold. A high of 40 degrees and a low that night of 20 degrees. I keep telling the horses they need to grow more hair for the winter and they are but it doens't seem as long as it needs to be for that kind of cold. They do have the three sided shelters to help keep the wind of of them and rain or snow. That is if we should ever be so lucky as to get some rain or snow. We did repair Star's shelter the other day as it had some holes in it where she or one of the other horses and kicked the sides sometime last spring.

Blog Problems

I keep trying and trying to put photos on my blogs but do to the fact that BlogSpot has 'improved' the way they do things, and I only have dial-up I can't get photos to load to my blogs. So from now on my blogs won't have photos.

Store Temps

What is with the stores that won't use an air conditioner in the summer so customers can shop without feeling as if they are going to pass out, and that don't use some kind of heat in the winter so the customers don't freeze. Don't they know we might buy more if we were more comfortable while shopping.

Fall Harvest

Fall Harvest? well sort of. We don't harvest anything here but we go out and buy lots of hay from the hay farmers harvest to try to tide us over the winter. If you don't buy and store lots of hay now you find you are paying higher prices for it when you run out and need it later this winter, before the farmers can start harvesting again in the spring.
For once I would like to have enough that we don't have to pay high winter prices.
We are also harvesting fire wood. We have to do that ourselves, but it means several trips to the mountains. We pay $20 for a permet to cut dead wood on the National Forest and haul it home to use for heating rather than the overly expensive propane for the furnace. It means lots of work but is a lot of saved money in the long run. The last load we went to get we took our new pup, Ziva. It was quite an experence for her.

Me & Dustin

While Dustin was here a few weeks ago I got Lee to take a photo of the two of us.

Living with a Blind Horse

Remember the horse that I had photos of a few weeks ago showing how Appaloosas change colors as they get older. Well that same horse, our Appaloosa, mustang cross horse Star has gone blind. The vets we had look at her weren't really sure why. Maybe she has a problem called uveitis or moon blindness, or maybe it is a genetic problem that seems to be common in Appaloosas. Even appys get moon blindness more that other breeds do. What ever the reason we now have a blind horse. She and I are both having to learn to live with this problem. She still has about 25 percent of her sight and that is just enough to cause her to spook at a lot of things she almost sees that otherwise she would ignore.
Thankfully I have always talked to my horses all the time when I am moving around them. That is the most important part of being safe around a blind horse as it is with all horses. If you talk to them then they know where you are. Star is learning to use her ears and nose more. She quickly learned the sound of the crackly paper that is around her favorite treat - peppermint candies. She is getting a lot more peppermints now as I work with her to earn her trust better and to keep her from being so unhappy.
Star is already showing signs of boredom with her new life. I wish I had more time to spend with her and I would if I could handle being on my feet out in our desert heat. And now I can't let Star be in the same area as our other horses. Some horses will except a blind horse and help them but they are more likely to bully the blind horse as they know there is something not quite right and in the wild a blind animal wouldn't survive very long. Of course all of our other horses are bullies to start with.
What really let me know that there was a problem was when Star ran into the fence and got tangled up. She fell, cutting her right foreleg just above the knee and breaking off a fence post. We were lucky that was all that happened. Just as the cut on her leg was getting well I tried to put her with my other mare, Nita, and Nita kicked her. Star couldn't see the kick coming and it landed right on the knee where the cut was. Her leg has been swollen some ever since then. We are using a water hose to run cool water over it everyday as well as some pain killers for Star as she is limping but it is taking time. But having to run water on her leg is a good part of her new training to help her learn to live with her blindness.
This isn't what I would call fun but I love her and will do what I have to for her.

Hold, Please

• Linda has left an excellent suggestion about how to get rid of unwanted callers. I will certainly give it a try. She says to ask them to hold, put down the phone and wait about 5 minutes or so. Usually by then they will have hung up. And we can hope they take your name off their list as they don't want that happening again.
• Thanks, Linda, and welcome to the Tumbleweed Crossing.

Unwanted Calls

Opinion time again. Is there any way to stop solicitation phone calls???

• The do-not-call list doesn't work. Those calling asking for money for a so-called charity or church don't have to go by the do-not-call list. Neither do those calling to do a so-called servery - which is usually a political ploy by a politician running for office in the next election.
• Yesterday I had 3 calls. One from a company asking me why I didn't renew my subscription to one of the magazines I have cancelled. Mine you it is the 3rd time in a week that they have called. She kept on and kept on about didn't I want to renew it even though I cussed her out and told her to shutup. Another was from Dish Satellite TV wanting me to get it even though I have a contract with Direct TV. I had been thinking about switching but after such a rude salesman that couldn't understand 'contract', I won't. The last was the political survey call that always comes right at supper time. And it is a recording so you can't even ask someone not to call you back.
• Isn't it time the politicians understand we don't want to be called for any reason and put a stop to these kind of calls.
• I would vote for the politician that did this. (As long as he didn't call me.)

Come! Zivy!

See more about Ziva or Zivy as we sometimes call her at

http://thepuppytale.blogspot.com/

Sunrise

Sunrise over the Sandia Mountains this morning. And some morning glories.

Ziva & Wiley

Our new puppy, Ziva, playing with our black cat, Wiley. Check out more about Ziva at my blog, http://thepuppytale.blogspot.com/

Hay Delivery

Gourd blossom

Purple and blue morning glories have climbed up the post on the porch.

These are the first white morning glories I have had in a long time. Notice the row of rain drops in the lower right corner.

These are wild purple asters.

This is a wild hollyhock that is growing by my

These are wild hollyhocks that are growing my my mailbox.

Cats on a Tree

Here are Wiley and Jade posing on their indoor cat tree. They like to sit on it and look out the window

A couple of weeks ago we went to the mountains to start cutting wood for winter heating. We took Tuffee with us and she loved it. While there we found several clumps of very tiny bluebell flowers. So small I had to lay on the ground to get a decent photo. But that was before we had the new puppy.  So today I sent the menfolks of to get more wood and the dogs and I stayed home.

Flowers in the garden right now.

Control

Tuffee is determained to keep control of that darned water hose. As you might have guessed we frequently have tooth holes in the hose.

Watering

This is Tuffee helping me water the horses.

New Puppy

We have a new puppy. She is a German Shepherd mix about 4 months old. We named her Ziva or Zivy. I have a new blog to tell all about Ziva at http://thepuppytale.blogspot.com/ as well as some of Ziva's tale at this blog. It was a new experence for us to adopt a pup at the Albuquerque Animal Welfare Center and well worth it to get such a nice pup. Go to my new blog to learn more about Ziva.

Summer Spots

When I first got Star as a yearling about 11 years ago she didn't have any spots except the star between her eyes. Each year when she gets her summer coat she has more and more of the tiny appaloosa spots on her face, neck, chest, and belly but very few of the spots on her back and butt where an appy normally has them. In the winter time in her heavy coat she doesn't have the little spots and looks like a normal sorrel horse. To get the photos I had to tie her to a post in her pen that is on the east side of our small place and has a good view of the Sandia Mountains. Albuquerque and Rio Rancho are between us and the mountains but can't be seen, thank goodness, for the hill between us and them.

More Spots

Stardust

Rainbow

We had this rainbow before the big rain storm last week.

Attach of the Birds

Everyonce in a while we have a big flock of blackbirds come in to water.

The Devils Claw Seed Pod

This is a green seed pod from the devils caw flower. You can see the 'claw' as it clings to part of the stem and the other end has the dried flower on it. Later it will turn a dryed brown color and have little seed in it. These big seed pods work great in dryed flower arrangements.

Devils Claw Wild Flower

Each summer I get a couple of these Devils Claw Wild Flowers. They are more common in other areas of the Southwest states than here, so I try to keep some of the seeds to replant. This is the leaves and blossom on one.

Succulent Blossom

One of my houseplants, a succulent has been blooming some this summer. Here are some of the buds and an open blossom.

Rose of Sharon