Sunday, January 4, 2009

Various updates...

First off, the neighbor's dad seems to be doing better. He's off the ventilator and breathing on his own, but is still on oxygen. He may be suckin' on an air-hose for the rest of his life, but at least he'll be alive, right?! The lab results from his lung biopsy are still not back, although his lungs are clear and there's no sign of pneumonia. He's still in the hospital, but his spirits are good, and the family is visiting him every day. Hopefully he can go home soon.

So, instead of Disney, we went to the farm for about 4 days. The goats had babies! One was born Christmas Day, so he's named Christmas Spirit (Spirit is what we call him). The other two were born the day we got to the farm. Number two is a girl, named Bella. The third birth was a nightmare. I'm telling you...if we weren't there, this momma and baby would've died. I heard her bellowing around the side of the barn, and she didn't sound right...is sounded like pain. So, we hustled her into the barn and got a light on her (it was really dark out)...baby was WAY too big for momma to deliver on her own, as well as momma too young to have been bred...so she's got this little pelvis and big honkin' baby. So, to save you from the gross details, it took three of us, but we got the baby out and both he and momma are doing fine. Momma wouldn't talk to us for a day or two, but she eventually "got over it". The baby boy is snow-white and has a tuft of white hair smack in the middle of his head...so George named him Snowball. We call him Lucky. Other than that, the time spent out there was productive...we got equipment moved, sheds cleaned out and rearranged, leaves burned and some fence work done. The indoor horse stall was set up, and now all we need to do is cut the door in the side of the barn so they can get into it from their paddock outside. We always have fun down there, and we haven't been there in a while, so it was a good four days. Tyler LOVED the baby goats, and he also got to brush and play a little with his goat, Leo.

My horse trailer is gone!!! :) I am so happy!! There's a girl who lives about half an hour from me who called the other day, very interested in the trailer. She came by the house today to take a look at it, and fell in love. It's exactly what she's looking for. So, we drove it to her place, to make sure her big honkin' horse will fit into it...he did. She has a trailer that she's trying to sell, too, for the same price as mine. In fact, her ad was the one directly below mine in the local classified paper. Her trailer is basically what I'm looking for. So, we traded! We swapped titles, did a bill of sale for each trailer for one dollar, swapped out the license plates, and now there's a nice trailer in my driveway that I get to "play" with and put all my goodies in. I'm so happy it worked out! Ranger will be so happy to see it, I'm sure...

Marc continues to have pain in his feet at night. This is really getting annoying. He also dang near blacks-out every time he stands up; that's because his heart rate is so low that the blood can't zip up to his head that fast when he stands. But, just to be on the safe side, he's seeing a cardiologist on Tuesday. Tonight, however, he discovered that there's a large section of the outside of his left thigh that has no feeling. He had me poke him with the pointy end of a tweezer while he closed his eyes. He definitely can't feel anything, cuz I was pokin him pretty hard. :) The saga continues. My theory all along is that he has a nerve pinched either in his neck (which he cracks all the time) or in his lower back/pelvic area. I hope it can get figured out soon; he's starting to stress out about it more and more...me, too.

Tyler participated in the fun-show at the barn this past Saturday. He rode Ranger in the leadline class. Basically, you plunk a kid on top of a horse, and you walk next to the horse leading it around. Tyler was the only one in the class, but was SO excited when he got a blue ribbon! He said he got it because he has such good posture when he rides. :) It was really cute. He does have awesome posture, though. He's really been showing a lot more interest lately in riding (be still, my heart!). He knows how to hold the reins, make Ranger go, turn and stop. I walk next to Ranger while Tyler does all these things. What Tyler doesn't know, though, is that Ranger will follow me anywhere, whether I have him on a lead rope or not. So, Ranger follows me around while Tyler is "steering"...that way, Tyler gets the idea of what to do up in the saddle, but his confidence is boosted because Ranger is "obeying" him. There's nothing worse than a frustrated kid on top of a horse who won't do what the kid is asking it to do. Gradually, I'll let Tyler have more control...as in, I'll stand in one spot and Tyler will make Ranger do the stuff. Ranger WILL listen to Tyler, but he'll stay close to me since he knows he's packing the boy up there. He's the perfect horse for Tyler to learn on...

One of my best friends, Leah, is having weight-loss surgery on Tuesday. It's been a long-time coming for this, and she's both nervous and excited. It's being done via laparascope, so her recovery time will be quite short. Getting the weight off is essential to her health, since her blood pressure has been affected, and she also has diabetes (controlled by diet). She has good eating habits...healthy eating habits...but has tried for so long to lose the weight to no avail. She's been to the gym, she's made lifestyle and diet changes, nothing has worked for her. So, please keep her in your thoughts and prayers. I'll update you on her progress. We have a mutual friend who had the same surgery last summer, and has lost 70 pounds so far. Her energy is up, she's more motivated, and can play with her two busy boys now. We're all looking forward to the same results for Leah!

Marc heads back to work tomorrow (the 5th), and Tyler goes back to school on Tuesday the 6th. I'll be at the barn every day this week except Monday...I can't wait!

On a great job note...the new manager hired for the barn sucks. She's not motivated, not interested, seems to have no initiative, and generally seems to do just the bare minimum required. The barn owner, Anna, whom I love to death, is so stressed out and upset by it. We had a nice talk after the show on Saturday, and she told me that she's giving the new manager one more chance to do better, and if she fails, she's gone. So, we discussed ME working out there five days a week...feeding the horses breakfast and turning them out for the day, doing all of the regular stuff I do now, and riding horses for her. I would totally LOVE that! So, I'll keep you posted on that...cross your fingers!

New Year's Eve was spent at a restaurant getting crappy service, and therefore the waitress got no tip. Then I find out they charged my debit card twice. Ugh. We're not eating there anymore. We got home after 8, and we both felt like crap. Thank God we have two bathrooms, you know? Tyler was fine, and he crashed at about 9. We watched a movie, and then watched the ball go down in Times Square. We hit the hay at about one; nothing special about NYE for us!

Christmas was great...Tyler was SO excited. He got lots of wonderful gifts, and has played with everything. He got a lot of games, which we were really happy about, since we had virtually none. We've decided to institute game night every week...probably Friday nights. Tyler really liked the idea. He got a few games for his computer, so Marc is busy cleaning all the extra crap off his hard-drive so the games will run without problems. Then, Marc has to install the internet for him...that was our "big" gift to Tyler this year...he's been asking for it for months. He likes Playhouse Disney and Noggin. So, when that's all installed, we'll load the games and he'll be all set. We're loading the games after the internet because some of the games have things you can connect to on the internet, and our techno-geek child will want to test that function out. :)

Well, off to watch a movie. Dances With Wolves is on; although it's one of my favorites, it's a long sucker...four hours. I'll be lucky to get through most of it before I have the DVR take over for me.

I hope everyone's holidays were great, and that you're looking forward to 2009. I'll be happy if the gas stays cheap and the economy gets better!! I like paying $1.39 for a gallon of gas, but not $4 for a gallon of milk............

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

WOW...I need to call you this weekend! Lots happening/happened!Maybe Sat!