Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Manes and Tales

So its been warmer, much warmer, so one wants to stay out as long as one can. But what to do when you are in a flooded state, the round pen still has a sheet of ice on it, and you personally sink to your knees in the muck and mire?

Well – the barn is still dry, mostly anyways. So you decide to start tackling manes and tails. Of course everyone thinks you are nuts because all of sudden you care about their personal hygiene?

But as you work your way through the barn, everyone stops eating and watches you groom somebody else, with such disdain and jealousy……to the point that we try squirming our way into the way of you and the pony being groomed.

Everyone has their own stall you see, but everyone can see everyone and most ponies are paired off in teams of two.

Tonight I was determined to get to Opal’s mane and tail, she has the most damage this year it seems to her mane. So I pull out the hanging bucket of supplies. Tie her to the end of the stall and start the long process of picking out all the mud caked in to her coat, her mane and her tail.

Now she is paired off with Tulip, who normally could care less if I am working in the barn, until I start messing with her partner. Tulip watched with extreme interest. Often trying to move Opal out of the way so she could see what I was doing. She careened her neck, stretched it 3 feet longer than it really is, stuck her nose into the liquid I was putting on her mane and tail and had the biggest eyes I have ever seen watching me apply Listerine and baby oil.

Several times she thought if she just backed up to the wall between her and I, I would take the hint and scratch her butt. But each time she was a tad disappointed as I was seriously into getting Opal’s tail unraveled from the mud that she had carefully placed there today whilst rolling in the fresh mud patches.

I have never seen a pony quite so taken with the grooming process before. It was as if she was living vicariously through Opal.

Mind you, she was just brushed last night, but I didn’t add oil to her tail.

So where did that leave me….I couldn’t leave her without doing her mane and tail, after all, she did so kindly presented her butt to me without hesitation. So I transferred the products to her stall, got her halter and proceeded to start grooming her. Of course I started with the curry comb and then the wire brush and then the dandy brush. By the time I was coming around third base and heading home, she had had quite enough of being brushed – she wanted her tail done! She promptly side stepped into position and lifted her tail for me.

‘Silly girl’, I told her. ‘There is a process and you have to be patient for me to finish brushing you.’ So I pushed her back into place and proceeded to finishing the brushing part. She watched me carefully, waiting for me to finish with the brushing – PLLLLEASE ALREADY!

So I finally started on her tail. She lifted it up again and I started adding the Listerine and baby oil and started rubbing it into her tail bone. OH MY – you would have thought I had struck gold. For 20 minutes I massaged the mix into her tail and she blissfully stretched her upper lip out higher and higher. I could just hear the ‘AHHHHH’ coming slowly out of her breath.

To Tulip’s disappointment, I finished her tail and started working on her mane. Ah yes folks, we have grown about 6 inches of mane over the winter. So I explained to her we needed another 4-5 inches by Congress, so please don’t tick anyone off that might want to chew your mane off this year—and I looked sternly at Opal as I said it!

Tulip didn’t appreciate her mane being done as much as her tail, so she fussed some, but we got it done.

So what was the point of this blog??? None really, just that it was a great evening out in the barn, making ponies blissfully happy (and myself, i secretly enjoy doing it!)

Monday, March 9, 2009

Coughed up a lung yet?

That's the way its been for 9 days now. I ran into the flu bug about 2 weeks ago. When I didn't get sick in the first 5 days I thought I was good to go. But oh no - it took 2 weeks to incubate and then whammo - I spent 5 days in bed. Barely making it through chores each day and since.

Let me tell you a well run farm can come to screeching hault in a quick hurry if the primary person (and only person) is sick in bed. And when you come back in after 50 minutes of chores, drenched in sweat, that's sick.

So now I am only dealing with a few after effects. I still get played out, and I am coughing like I want to donate a lung to someone. That's the hardest part - this is the type of coughing that makes every muscle in your body participate whether it wants to or not, including your bladder. Yeppers, depends city!

I hear this flu is sweeping the country. I wouldn't wish on the worst person I know, well maybe as punishment to people who break the law, but anyways - its bad.

So what has happened in two weeks. We know I spent a week flat on my back, barely able to keep up with chores. Today I finally got all but 2 stalls cleaned. Let me tell you - after 8 days without them getting cleaned, that's a lot of poo poo! But I am happy. The mommies are in clean stalls again. I got the barn switched around despite everyone's protests on Saturday.

The first mare up is Sugar and she is all but ready. I am waiting for her milk to drop into her nipples and then it will be hourly watching her. I have the foaling stall ready, camera is up and I have been getting up a couple times a night to check, just to make sure she is okay. She's in great spirits, loves that she gets mommy attention, so the foaling stall is the bomb right now.

The next up is Laptop - she started bagging 10 days ago, so we have about 4-5 weeks left before she foals, which puts her two weeks out from her due date. But that's okay. Sugar and foal will be ready to go their own pen then.

And then Silhouette will come right in around Laptop. Bringing up the rear is Carnation, who isn't due until mid May.

All mares look great. And all stallions think so too! Let me tell you, 4 boys in the barn, gets a little noisy at times. But Smokie was moved over to the east wall, into Sugar's old stall and he likes it. Its right next to the door where the women go in and out. Let me tell you - he often is tied up for an hour or so because I am moving mares around. So he is learning patience.

The girls are doing great. Lady is huge! I need to get pics, because she is not the sweet little filly from last June anymore, she is as impressive as Carnation is.

Cookie politely reminds me not to forget her. I fuss with Lady more because she needs it. But Cookie butts her way into the middle to get her scratches too.

The kids (2-4 year old fillies), are all about getting my attention and seeing if I will come play, its warmer you know. But since I have been sick, I have only been able to pat noses for a few seconds.

Everyone is telling me they are bored to tears. I wish I hadn't gotten sick, there has been some great training days missed. And the clock is ticking down.

So the farm is on a low hum right now. The next two days (which I didn't tell Tulip about yet) will most likely be days the kids have to stay in. And that is a bugger because I will again be behind in stall cleaning, but hey - life keeps going on.

So on the personal front - still looking for work. Let me tell you, appreciate what you have right now. The funniest thing I heard was "Well, we don't need someone with your years of experience." Right - did I just hear you say, you don't need someone with my level and years of experience - that's a first.

So the circle of finance works like this - You have a job, you need someone to fill it. Your company has changed its policy on payment from net 30 to net 60 or net 90 now. You send out the request to people who know people. They contact people who do the work. Great you think - a job finally. Then you find out that you getting paid is now net 90 or net 120. Why you ask? Well because the people who contacted you can't get financing to carry you from any lender. Okay - so can you work for 4 months without getting paid, before we can pay you, because we aren't going to get paid for 90 days.

Right. So the job goes unfulfilled. The work remains. The company fumbles because much needed work isn't getting done.

Anyone got a couple million to float a bunch of people for 4 months? I could put 20-30 people to work for 4 months, easy.