What? Summer Already?

Remember my post from six days ago that had pictures of all that white stuff and I was starting to believe that spring was never going to reach these parts?  Well, I guess Mother Nature decided to skip right past spring and go straight into summer.  The weather forecast says it was 65 degrees, but to me and the dogs and the horses it felt more like 80.

I walked the dogs at the park and they only made one lap before they were panting and ready to pass out.  Then I walked several dogs at the animal shelter, and they too were panting and begging me to take them back to their cool kennels.  They lapped up a lot of water.  Then I lunged the horses and I couldn't get them to trot very long before they were breathing hard and slowing to a walk.  I myself was dehydrated, dripping in sweat and ready to pass out after just an hour in the round pen.  So, it's time to get all of us back into shape.

Yesterday I spent four hours photographing a track meet for my son's team and tomorrow I'm doing another photo shoot at the animal shelter.  Both are volunteer jobs for my own practice, of course.  They got in a lot of new dogs and a load of puppies.  I tried to take a Doxie for a walk, but he was afraid to leave the shelter.  His legs were so short that I figured a walk around the building was enough.

I also got to spend a lot of time with a very loving Akita with the tightest curl in its tail I've ever seen.  I taught her to heel and sit, or perhaps reminded her.  No one ever really knows the previous training these dogs have had.  Then I tried walking a very excited Pit Bull.  It took me a while just to get the chain over the dog's head because she was spinning in circles.  Then she grabbed the leash in her mouth and pulled, which made it difficult to walk her, so I tried a trade off:  A treat in exchange for the leash.  It worked.

Despite all the trouble I had getting her out the door, she was a dream to walk out on the trails.  I worked with her on sit, since she already heeled well, but someone had taught her to sit facing you on the command instead of beside you.  It reminded me of that old argument over whether a horse should turn to face you or stop facing the direction it was moving on the whoa command.  If I'm not too exhausted I plan to also give the horses baths tomorrow.  It should get up into the 70's, which will feel like the 90's after all this snow we've had.

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

I wrote this post earlier today, and I have my Sunday Stills post queued up, but these will be my last posts for a while.  I received a phone call from the police that my mother passed away.  I'm her closest relative, despite being 400 miles away, so I need to spend the next few weeks making funeral arrangements and settling her estate.

She was sharper in mind than I am and she loved her independence, so she lived alone.  We wrote to each other every week, but I didn't receive a letter last week.  The mail carrier notified that police that her mail was piling up and they broke into her home and found her.  It's heartbreaking, but I'm sure she is happy to end her life peacefully.  They think she died in her sleep.  I know she told me she never wanted to go into a nursing home, so it's a good thing she was able to pass away in the home she loved and has lived in for 50 years.

I'll leave you with some of my favorite photos from the track meet.

I just wanted to point out the lady crouched down behind the runner here. The athlete was deaf, so he had her tap him on the back when the gun went off.

This next one is my son...

The Bears are Coming Out of Their Caves

And by that I mean my annoying neighbors.  Just the other day I was saying on another blog that I didn't know if it was because of our yucky weather or what, but I had been fortunate because I hadn't heard a peep out of my nosy neighbors in weeks.  I knew I was jinxing myself by saying that.

The day after Lostine's colic episode, I walked outside to clean the paddock and found Gabbrielle on her side moaning.  I told her to get up, but she tried to roll over instead.  She was going to get cast against the fence, so I clapped my hands and she just laid still.  I had to go get a halter and lead rope to get her up to remove her blanket and assess her condition.

It's more than mere coincidence when two horses colic within a day of one another.  There is one theory that drastic changes in weather bring on colic, and we went from snow last week to 60 degree days this week.  I haven't changed anything in their feeding routine, however with so many bears coming out of hibernation, who knows how many of them have been feeding my horses?  No, I still haven't ordered signs.  They were too expensive.  I'll have to find a piece of plywood and paint my message on it, I guess.  Either that or stand guard at my fence all day with a baseball bat.

Anyway, as soon as I came outside and found Gabbrielle on the ground, my nosy neighbor next door came out, opened his garage, pulled all of his tools out onto his driveway, and began sawing, drilling and hammering.  This is the neighbor on the opposite side of me from the compulsive remodeler who is paying someone to build another deck off her guest house next to my bathroom window, so I had construction noises in stereo.  (I think every time someone wants to use that new deck I'll have to come up with a case of bad gas.)

His nosy wife quickly followed him outside with dog in tow.  I could tell that she was trying to make a break for my barn, so that she could "hide" behind it while watching this drama unfold.  I glared at her, and she quickly spun in the opposite direction and pretended as if she was getting in her truck to drive off.  I looked away while I haltered Gabbrielle, and when I looked back, the woman was not in the truck.  I turned around, and found her not behind my barn, but at the corner of our properties, as close as she could get to my property without stepping on it.

She was staring at me, and when I caught her, she quickly looked down at her dog and pretended to be minding her own business.  I have never known anyone filled with so much pretense.  I think my neighbor would tip the scales in the Dishonesty Department right along with BG and WF in Mikael's stories.  This neighbor of mine is beyond deceitful.  She's sneaky and evil.  I can see that going to church every Sunday hasn't taught her anything.

I got Gabbrielle up, removed her blanket, and began walking her.  She staggered around like a toddler just learning to walk.  I groomed her while the woman next door looked on.  My private yard is her personal movie theater.  I'm just an actress put here for her entertainment.  I gave her another dirty look, and she took her dog into the house, only to come right back out again.  I looked at her, and she spun around as if she was going to get in her truck again.  She walked right up to the driver's side door and stood there looking through the window, only I knew she was really watching me in the reflection.  I know all of her stalking strategies by now.  The horses did something to distract me, and when I looked again, she was back at her post where our properties meet trying to maintain some sort of camouflage behind a bush.  I don't know what the heck she was doing other than being nosy and watching me, but I was about to start flinging monkey poo at her.

There's this scene in the movie MEAN GIRLS where Lindsey Lohan's character is thinking that teenagers milling about around a fountain in a shopping mall is reminiscent of wild animals around a water hole in Africa.  In her mind, all these teenagers start acting like wild animals, humping each other, big cats clawing at each other, and monkeys screaming at each other.  It is hilarious.  That scene came to my mind and I really had to restrain myself from breaking into a monkey character while this lady was spying on me.

All the horses were so desperate to get rid of their itchy shedding fur that they were crowding me, trying to get me to brush them instead of Gabbrielle.  I had to keep chasing them off, which I'm sure was great entertainment for the pathetic couple next door.  Each horse did eventually get its turn with the curry comb and by the time I was done, the paddock was littered with clumps of winter fuzz.  Gabbrielle perked up a lot after being walked and groomed, and she ate her next meal with a normal appetite, so we were fortunate again to avoid another serious complication.

I never cleaned the paddock because there were too many eyes on me.  Of course, as soon as I went in the house, the man put all his tools away and drove off while the woman retreated to her cave where she probably resorted to watching TV to pass the time since she couldn't watch me anymore.

My Most Recent Reality Check

I've mentioned previously how everything seems to come together at once.  For me it was buying a new block of hay, getting the horses' vaccinations and dental work, and getting a visit from the farrier.  Thanks to that and a few other unexpected expenses our bank account dropped by nearly $2,000 in a hurry.  I didn't mention one other thing that was scheduled at the same time:  The horses were due for a worming.  I knew I couldn't worm them on the same weekend of their vaccinations, so I waited.  However, by the next weekend they were still ill from the side effects of the vaccinations, so I waited another week.  I finally gave them their wormer paste on Sunday, a little later in their worming schedule than I would have preferred.

In my last post I showed a picture of my mares lying down in the warm sun on Monday.  It used to be that if I saw a horse down, I automatically assumed it was colicking.  However, I've learned in recent months that horses sometimes lie down just to take a nap.  So, when I saw the girls lying down, I assumed they were just soaking up the sun and enjoying the change in weather.

However, I forgot that drastic changes in weather often bring colic in horses.  I went out in the mid-afternoon to clean stalls and groom the horses and immediately knew something was up.  Lostine was still lying down and Bombay and Gabbrielle looked as if they were in mourning.  I opened the gate and Lostine cried.  Have you ever heard a horse cry?  It's not like when a horse is screams or groans.  This was a pitiful cry for help.

I ran over to her and saw that her belly was bloated and she was in respiratory distress.  Her heart rate was elevated.  When she tried to stand, she put one front hoof right on my tennis shoe.  I was like, "Geez, why couldn't I have worn steel toed boots?"  But I let her brace against my foot to stand up, because she was struggling and needed all the support she could get. 

I administered pain medication and Probios, then walked her for about 45 minutes around the paddock and the neighborhood.  I knew that getting her out of her comfort zone would help her forget about her pain, and it worked.  She perked up and started paying more attention to what was going on in the neighborhood.  For once I was glad that a construction worker next door was banging around, because it served as a good distraction.  If she totally ignored him and laid down, I would have known that her condition was dire, but she stayed up and alert.  She wasn't interested in grazing even though I walked her on the lawn and in the pasture.

I then groomed her thoroughly, which helps relax her.  Then I released her to observe her behavior.  No more lying down.  No more pawing.  She actually started taking nips at Bombay and Gabbrielle who were crowding around her to see if she was okay.  She wandered over to the manure pile and had some diarrhea, which is better than nothing.  You have to celebrate your small victories.  She felt better after that and her appetite returned, so I put together a bran mash that included Sand Clear and Calm and Cool that should help her digestive tract and help her relax.

This is a terrible thing to say, but I made the decision to keep the horses outside during the night, because if Lostine did die, I didn't want her to die inside her stall.  We would have to take down a wall to get her body out.  I continued to monitor her, so that I could provide her with more pain killers and call a vet if necessary, but she just got better and better.  This morning she was bossing the other horses around, pooping normal poops, and eating like the pig she is. 

I was lucky, but the experience does leave me questioning whether I can afford to keep all my horses anymore.  Between Lostine's colics, Bombay's suicide attempts, and Gabbrielle's accident-prone personality, I really can't afford to keep paying vet bills.  I can keep all three as long as my only expenses are hay, annual vet appointments for routine health maintenance, and farrier visits.  Anything beyond that could drive us into bankruptcy.

I'm trying to hold out, believing that there is a job coming my way and everything will be okay, but at the same time I have to look at reality and know that right now I have little chance of getting a well paying job unless we move out of the area.  My husband would rather he take a second job than for me to just take some minimum wage job that I'm way overqualified to do with 7 years of higher education.  Being a man with his skills, he can get paid considerably more than I can.  However, I'd hate for him to overwork himself just so that we can maintain our old lifestyle and I can keep on doing my horse hobby.  Of course, we all know that our horses are more than just a hobby.  They are family. 

However, if I can find homes for my horses where I know they will be loved and well cared for, I'll surrender them with a contract that if the new owner wants to sell them, he or she contact me first and give me the chance to get them back.  I've been laid off from jobs many times before and have considered finding new homes for my horses under the circumstances, but it always worked out in the end and I was able to keep them.  I hope this time isn't any different. 

We've Got Sunshine

The bulbs are blooming...

The horses are lounging...

Sorry for the poor photo. I had to sneak up on them before they saw me and stood up. The lawn is starting to turn green and we are fertilizing...

But along with the sunshine comes the dreaded, torturous noises of unwanted construction in the neighborhood...

My obsessive neighbor next door, whose house always has to be perfect, has claimed every day that we've had sunshine this winter and spring for her construction projects. I'd swear that she watches the weather forecasts diligently and starts calling in the troops as soon as it looks like the wind and snow are going to die down. Right now I'm sitting here listening to the sounds of some kind of grinder or cutter and a lot of pounding.

This lady's house is perfect. It's the nicest house in the neighborhood. I honestly don't know why she feels it always needs repairs, or why she has to repaint it the same color every five years, or why she has replace her roof every six years, or why she has to pump her septic tank every year, or why she has to replace her deck every three years, but I'd like to be able to enjoy the sunshine myself by sitting out on the patio and reading a book without the accompaniment of banging and sawing.

I remember one time I was out in my horse paddock hand-painting the fence, and this same neighbor came roaring out of her back door yelling, "What the hell are you doing now???"   I calmly turned around and looked at her, held up my paint brush, and she said, "Oh," then walked back into her house.  I wasn't even making any noise with my project, and she flipped her lid.  I had to wonder what she meant by what I was doing "now."  It's not like I've got noisy construction projects going on all the time.  At worst, I lunge and ride my horses in my paddock, which can kick up dust.  The rest of my family is rarely home to be doing anything outside.  So, I don't know what kind of bug she had up her butt that day.

I think I'll wait until her precious guests show up for their annual peeping, and I'll replace my ugly rotted wood fence myself by hand, so that the project will take all spring and summer, and so that they will get to listen to my hammering at all hours of the day. The earlier I start in the morning, the better.  Us construction workers have to beat the heat.

Oh great, now the construction worker is slamming his truck doors and my dogs are barking inside the house because they think someone is in our driveway. Seriously, we've complained to this lady about the amount of construction projects she has going on each year, but she doesn't adjust her schedule to the reality that houses only need to be painted once every 10 or 15 years, roofs only need to be replaced every 20 or 30 years depending on the quality and warranty, septic tanks only need to be pumped every 5 years, and decks only need to be replaced every 20 years if you seal them properly. Her other obsessions include professional carpet cleanings and blinds cleaning every month. She's obviously got more money than she knows what to do with. Oh well, at least she's single-handedly keeping the construction workers and cleaning businesses employed.

There was a time during the housing boom in which you couldn't get a construction worker to do anything around your house, because they were all busy erecting new homes. I guess you've got to take advantage of their availability while you can.  But you know, our wood fence in our back yard needed to be replaced 15 years ago because it was the original fence that came with the house in 1976, but we didn't do it, because we knew it would annoy this neighbor.  Now look who is annoying us?  I really do think it's time that we replace that fence.  It's rotted and warped and leaning on the chain-link fence behind it.  It'll also send a message to her guests to keep their eyes out of our yard.

Wood fences around here are required to have slats for the air to escape, because of our high winds, so I think I will build one of those fences that has panels on the front and back, so that you have to peek sideways to see through the slats. I'll also make the fence taller with sharp points so people can't place their hands on the top and hoist themselves up to look into our yard.  Now I've just got to convince myself that it is worth it to spend the money.  If I wait until I have a job, I won't have the time for this project.  Unfortunately, I've also got to wait for my tennis elbow to heal.  In the meantime, I'll just keep working on my next novel and shoveling manure.

Sunday Stills: The Color Blue

My fabric stash...

The blue is actually getting depleted because I use that color more than any other. I always have to keep various shades of blue thread on hand...

Still working on my Storm at Sea blocks for that king-sized bed quilt...

One thing about having a powerful camera is that all the dog hair shows up in pictures...

I think someone sat on this old soccer ball and popped it...

My Tom's Blue Suede Shoes...

Dirty dishes waiting to be washed...

Can anyone guess what this next one is?

Available on Smashwords

For those of you who were interested in downloading my suspense novel, THE NEXT DOOR, but didn't want to read it on the Kindle or Kindle for the PC, I reformatted it for Smashwords.  Katharine Swan at Pony Tales Blog told me about this site.  Smashwords converts the book into a variety of formats, so that readers can view it through more methods and devices.

• HTML for online reading in your browser, just like this blog
• JavaScript, also for online reading
• Mobi for the Kindle or Kindle for the PC
• ePub for a wide variety of devices, such as the Barnes & Noble Nook, iPad and iPhone
• PDF for Adobe Acrobat Reader
• LRF for Sony eReader
• Palm Doc PBD for Palm devices

I chose not to format my poetry book HOMESPUN & WOVEN for this site, because I would have had to remove all the indents, and I feel that indents are an integral part of formatting poetry to get breaks and pauses in just the right locations.  It's tough getting poetry that relies on visual form to behave itself on any ebook device since the line breaks change as the reader adjusts the font size.

Apparently, Smashwords is a very popular site for authors, because at the time I uploaded my book, there were about 1,600 books ahead of mine waiting to be processed.  So, if you have been looking for books on a certain subject and not having any luck, you might want to search Smashwords.  They have a huge collection.  I am waiting to see if my book will be approved to be in their Premium Catalog that gets sent out to other sites.  Right now you can download my book to your PC or laptop in any of those formats, and then you would have to transfer it onto any reading device you have if you don't plan to read it on your computer.  However, once it gets into the Premium Catalog, you should be able to download directly to other reading devices such as the Nook, Sony eReader and the iPad.

I know a few of you have been talking about publishing beyond your blogs.  I recommend that you look into publishing on Smashwords.

Midge's Crate Cave

With this being the worst winter in the history of my life, I've been at my wits end with the dynamiting of snow to trigger avalanches on the mountain. Every time I think we are done, another storm comes along, dumps more snow, and the dynamiting begins again. No one has been worse for the wear than my Corgi Midge. The booming turns her into a neurotic nervous wreck.

When she's scared she quivers all over and runs around the house panting in search of electrical outlets. Then she proceeds to rip all the electrical cords out of the walls, putting herself at risk of electrocution, our electrical appliances at risk of being damaged, and the house at risk of being burned down by a wayward spark. We usually shut her into a bathroom, but she claws at the door and barks when she feels she's all alone. The other day she dug a hole in the bathroom carpet in her attempt to get out.

Blogger friends have told me to get a crate for her and cover it with a blanket. I knew that would probably solve the problem, but with me being out of work I'm trying to limit all expenditures to food, college costs for the kids, and medical necessities. I've been looking for work, because my photography business isn't making any money at all, and my book sales are only bringing in about $10 a week. When you read stories about authors who make six-digit incomes a year on ebooks alone, those are authors who have already written 15 or 20 books, and made it to a bestseller list.  If I could write a new 60,000 to 100,000 word novel every week, I'd be in good shape, but that's just not possible, and I'd be doing readers a disservice to rush it. 

Anyway, it suddenly occurred to me that one of the reasons why I hesitate to apply for some jobs is because I don't know what to do with Midge. Scrappy can stay indoors all day and behave himself. He just sleeps all day and probably asks to go out to relieve himself once in the morning and twice at night. Midge is such a nervous dog that she has to go outside dozens of times a day, and I can't leave her unsupervised in the house when there is booming on the mountain.

Horses seem like such easy creatures to care for compared to some dogs, because if horses are healthy you can schedule their care around your job. With the dogs, I don't want to be like the annoying neighbors across the road who leave their pack of dogs outside barking all day while they are at work. My previous job wasn't a problem because I worked from home, but telecommuting jobs are few and far between in today's market. I'm going to have to resign myself to driving to and from an office every day.

So, since Midge's mental health problems are preventing me from getting a job, I decided to splurge and buy a crate. I've learned not to consult the cashiers at the feed store regarding what's in stock, because they always just look at a computer where the stock is rarely updated. I can't tell you how many sales they've lost to me over the years because they told me they didn't have something in stock that they did. I've learned to talk to the warehouse manager first. So, I was able to find the crate I needed hidden in the back room, saving me a trip into the city.

We set it up and put a blanket inside it, and before I could even hang a blanket over the outside of it, Scrappy claimed it as his kingdom. I should have known that with him being a rescue, he'd feel at home in small cages. Unfortunately, I had to kick him out to make room for Midge. She's learning to relax in her new crate cave and she can't do damage to the house or hurt herself anymore.

I'm trying to train her to voluntarily go into it when she's scared, and I'll have to rig up some method to keep water in there in such a way that she can't knock over the bowl. The animal shelter has stainless steel bowls that attach to the side of the kennel with brackets, but the dogs still step in the bowls and knock them out of the brackets. It would be cool if I could teach the dogs to drink out of a bottle like guinea pigs do, but they'd have to do a lot of licking to get enough water for their big bodies.  THWEEP!

Still Waiting

I haven't had much to write about, because I'm still waiting for spring.

I can't do much of anything except read, write and needlecrafts -- all indoor activities.

My tennis elbow has been giving me grief. The bubble in my elbow band popped, so I had to drive around to different pharmacies earlier in the week to search for a new one. I have to wear this thing and keep pressure on the arm nerve for months before the pain will go away. Things like quilting and embroidery hurt all the way up in my shoulder and my fingers burn.  I'm begging the horses to crap less so that I can shovel less.

My husband went with me on my search for a new elbow band, and I talked him into making a quick stop around the corner to help me search for a geocache I couldn't find.  He couldn't find it either.  That was before all this snow fell.  Spring tried to come, but snow dumped on the bulbs.

We had to bring our sprinkler in from the pasture since we obviously won't need it for a while.  Lake Tahoe is currently three feet above its natural rim and there's still a lot of snow that needs to melt this year.

My patio chair won't be available for use for a while.

I'm looking for a path out of this rut...

...but everywhere I look is a dead end.  I was collecting donations for a one-way plane ticket to somewhere warmer, but my dancing monkey froze to death and my money hat blew away in the hurricane force winds. 

Rise and Shine

My farrier phoned last night to inform me that my horses are due for their next trim.  (Of course they are.  They got their vaccinations and dental work last week and a block of hay the week before, so why would I get this week off from horse-related expenses?)  They were due last week, but with these endless rain and snow storms, he postponed coming out.  I don't have an indoor barn; just a little awning over a shed row barn.  Today the sun was supposed to come out for a little while, so we scheduled the trim for the morning.

I had to feed the horses at the break of dawn to assure that they would be done with their breakfast by the time he arrived.  I tossed a flake of hay into each outdoor trough, and then opened Bombay's stall door.  He walked out and then galloped all the way across the paddock to his assigned trough.  I love to watch him run.  He has such a big butt and really gets those hind legs deep under him when he goes.

Then I opened Lostine's stall door, and she made a beeline at a fast trot to her trough, but teleported sideways to avoid a patch of ice.  Then I opened Gabbrielle's stall to find her lying on her side with just her head up and ears perked forward.

"Are you still sleeping?" I asked.  "Do you want breakfast?"

She laid her head back down and sighed.  Nope.  She'd rather sleep.  I decided not to disturb her.  She'd wake up when she was ready.  I think the problem is this time change.  She probably got into the habit of sleeping around sunrise, because I previously didn't come out that early to feed the horses.  I walked around adjusting horse blankets and then heard a ruckus coming from Gabbrielle's stall.  Lostine spooked.  I looked up to see Gabbrielle staggering out of her stall all the way to her feed trough like a drunk.  Her eyes were still half-closed.  I considered sharing a cup of coffee with her to wake her up, but I liked her this way more than I would like to have a horse with the jitters.

Sunday Stills: Canine Companions

These are some of the pictures from my photo shoot at the local animal shelter a few weeks ago. Many of these dogs have already been adopted.

See more Sunday Stills participants here.

I Need an Outhouse

Or at least a bathroom off a mud room. 

We've got a monster storm moving in.  I thought we were done with the snow and would be graced with just rain, but the temperatures are dropping again.  The wind is howling and blowing our neighbor's tumbleweeds from last summer all over our property again.  Apparently, he missed a few when he was burning.

The weather forecast said it would start snowing around 4:00 PM, so I looked at the clock and realized that I had one and a half hours to prepare for several days of snow.  I ran outside in my leaky rain boots, emptied all the water troughs, scrubbed them out, and refilled them with clean water.  I'm assuming that the electricity will go out and we won't be able to pump water.  I then emptied and coiled the hose, and then carried it indoors where it would be warm.

I picked up all the tools with wooden handles and brought them out of the elements, I re-secured the hay tarp for the umpteenth time, and I moved the horse trailer back into its parking space, so that I could have the only vehicle with snow tires free for emergency use.  I always have to assume the worst and treat storms like this as if they will be natural disasters.  We've stocked up on food, water, and firewood.

I was outside for the full one and a half hours, and in desperate need of an outhouse.  I was too busy to remove my rain boots and pants, which were both covered in mud, in order to enter the house and traverse the clean carpet to the bathroom.  I think the thought of having to put those cold, muddy pants and boots back on was what deterred me the most.  So, I just held my bladder until I was completely done with all my outdoor chores. 

My muddy pants are in the laundry right now along with everything else in the house that is dirty, assuming we won't have electricity and water in the near future.  I think it would be wise for architects of ranch houses to always include a mud room and bathroom right off an outside door, because we horse people spend a lot of time in the mud.

I had quite a scare this morning with Gabbrielle.  I put hay in all the outdoor troughs, opened up all the stall doors to let the horses out, but Gabbrielle didn't come out.  She way lying on the floor of her stall and not making any attempt to get up.  I grabbed a halter and helped her up, and then she immediately went into that colic stance of stretching her legs out in front of and behind her.  She kept shaking her head as if her head were in pain from hitting it on something.  I led her to her breakfast to see if she would eat, and she did, but she behaved as if she were disoriented.  I tried to give her a kiss on her muzzle, and she backed off with a horrified expression as if she didn't know who I was and what I was trying to do.

Logic told me that this could be colic, a head injury, another side-effect to that 6-way vaccination, or she simply wasn't awake yet and that stretch was just a morning stretch.  I kept an eye on her throughout the day, and she behaved normal after that, so fortunately it was just a matter of me feeding her before her mind and body were ready to wake up.

What the...?

I know I've already posted twice today, but this is way too funny.  So, I get my first serious call for my photography business way after normal business hours.  Okay, maybe it was my second serious call.  The first one was a lady who left a message, but never called back.  This time it was what sounded like a tobacco-chewin' cowboy.  He read my ad in an equine news brochure and wants to know what kind of photography I do.

Pet portraits, human portraits, pet shows, horse shows, yada, yada, yada.

He wants to know if I have a studio.

"Yes, I have a studio, but I can also bring my equipment to other locations, indoors and out."

He wants to know how much I charge.  I ask him if he wants a portrait session or if he wants me to work a show.  He's not sure.  Maybe a portrait.  I give him a quote for a 2-hour portrait session and he doesn't flinch.  Next thing I know, he asks if I do nude pictures.

This image of a naked cowboy reclining in my studio flashes through my head.  "Ummmm, no.  No nudes."

"I don't blame you," he says.

Huh?

"But you do horses?" he asks.

Now I'm wondering what exactly he means by that.  I'm also wondering what the connection is between horses and nudity.  I say, "Yes, I take photographs of horses."

"I'll keep your number and call you next time my horse is in a show," he says.

Hmmmmm.  I wonder if I should hold my breath?

Getting Better...

My afternoon attempt a geocaching went a little better.  I always look at the satellite view of the geocache location on a map before setting out to find it.  I knew this one was in the northwest corner of a park along a fence line.  So, I parked and started following the fence line into the park, only to realize that I was headed in the wrong direction.  I turned around and ran right smack into some guy sitting in his truck who was just listening to the radio and watching me wandering around aimlessly.  I walked past his truck and it turned out there was another little park behind the big park, and that's where the geocache was located.

The next one required me to hike up a one-way street where I use to work.  The building is abandoned now and probably ready to be demolished, but just walking past it brought back fond memories of a job I really loved.  This geocache was supposedly on yet another Nevada historic marker, which usually means it is a magnet, but I couldn't find it.  I looked in a planter and a broken wall nearby, but no luck.  This was another location were my butt was sticking out into traffic, so I moved on to a more tranquil location.

The next geocache was in a park with a duck pond that I didn't know existed.  That's more like it.  That's the type of geocache I like to look for.  I found it in a tree.  There was another one nearby that instructed me to sit down and enjoy the view.  The GPS coordinates were at a bench, and I know from a hint that you are looking at the location of the cache once you are sitting down.  All I had in front of me were a tree and a duck pond.  I dug around the tree, but found nothing.  I didn't think they'd put it in the pond, so I looked directly across the pond and saw a sign on the other side.  I walked over there, but didn't find anything on or around the sign.  I gave up.

The next geocache had mentioned that I should bring my dog.  I wondered why.  It turned out that I had to follow some trails behind a school right after school let out.  The whole time I was thinking that I hoped no teacher saw me and thought I was a pervert.  If I were a man, this would have been a hard geocache to get.  I realized that if I had a dog, people would assume I was just out walking my dog.

I had to climb through bushes, which looked highly suspicious with all these kids walking home from school around me.  I found the geocache, but the log was both wet and full.  No room for my name.  On the way back, I ran into the school's V.P., who was patrolling the perimeter for weirdos like me and kids who are smoking or doing drugs.  Note to geocachers:  Don't plant near schools.

By the time I hiked back from that one, my legs couldn't carry me any further.  Between geocaching in the morning, walking a couple of freight trains... er, dogs at the animal shelter, and geocaching all afternoon, I was pooped and ready for a beer.  Cheers!

I Still Suck at Geocaching

We got a few hours of sunshine this morning in between storms, and I really wanted to get out.  I couldn't do much with the dogs and horses because of all the mud, so I chose to go geocaching.  I don't mind getting my own boots muddy, but I don't want to take the dogs somewhere and have them leave muddy paw prints all over inside my car.  I was trying to avoid the lunch hour, because I've had problems with people parking next to geocaches to eat their lunches.

I knew exactly where the first geocache was, but was waiting for an opening to get it.  Each time I drove past it in previous weeks, some construction worker was just sitting in his truck right next to it.  This time he was there again, but parked far enough away that I decided to go for it.  Of course, as soon as I did, two trucks parked right in the street near me and the drivers got out to adjust their straps.  I grabbed the cache anyway and took it to the trunk of my car, so that they'd think I was just adjusting my vehicle contents too.

The next cache was off to the side of someone's private driveway, which was clearly marked with a NO TRESPASSING sign.  You know how I hate it when people trespass on my property, so I didn't want to be a hypocrite and park in their driveway to find a geocache.  I pretended like I was turning around, jumped out and dug around in all these chopped down Cottonwoods really fast, but there was so much bark and so many rocks and so much garbage that the geocache could have been anywhere.  I moved on.

The third geocache was hidden on the back of a sign that led to a bunch of businesses on a busy road.  All these people kept pulling into the driveway and stopping to look at me while I climbed through rocks and bushes.  I wasted more time trying to act casual and act like I belonged there, waiting for these nosy drivers to move on, but I did eventually get a chance to grab the film canister and sign the log, which was wet because the lid was broken.  That seems to be the theme of geocaching this winter:  Wet logs.

The fourth geocache really ticked me off.  Somebody hid it right in front of a pharmacy drive-thru.  These drivers who were waiting for their prescriptions had nothing to do other than to sit in their cars and watch me, wondering why I was so fascinated with a fire hydrant.  I suspect they thought I was going to pee on it.  I couldn't find the geocache and was too uncomfortable to hang around longer while drivers watched me, so I left.

The fifth geocache was the strangest.  The GPS coordinates led me to an empty lot.  There was nothing but dirt and an occasional rock.  I looked under all the rocks, but found nothing.  If I stood at the exact coordinates, there was a hard mound of dirt under my feet, but I would have needed a shovel to dig there, so I gave up.

The sixth geocache appeared to be hidden in a drainage pipe that was closed off with bars and clearly marked as being unlawful to trespass.  It was right next to one of the busiest intersections in town, so there was no way I could sneak down there to look around unless I came out at night with a flashlight, and if I did that I'm sure the police would stop me and question me.  It took me several minutes of waiting on each side of the street before I could even cross.

At this point I realized that I was getting angry.  Finding the geocaches wasn't fun.  It was frustrating, and I had my fill of drivers studying me to try to figure out what I was doing. There were several more I wanted to look for, but they were in parks around town, and it was the lunch hour, which meant that a bunch of people would just be sitting in their cars eating and watching me, so I went home and ate my own lunch.

Soon, if the wind dies down, I will try again.  I'm thinking I may have to track down a geocacher in my area and ask him or her to teach me some tricks of the trade, because other people seem to have no problem finding these treasures.  I probably only find about 25% of the ones I look for.

I'm also thinking that I might start hiding some myself in nice places where people can go and not just look for a geocache, but enjoy the location.  I certainly don't like digging around in dirty things like sewers and dog poop while vehicles blast past just inches away from my rear-end going 55 MPH.  I don't like going places where I call attention to myself.  Geocaches should be hidden in locations where it is normal for people to loiter and pass the time, like parks and hiking trails.  I always worry that I'm going to cause a car accident because of all the drivers who gawk at me while I search alongside highways and busy roads.  Then there are those geocachers who hide them in residential neighborhoods, and my presence there gets all the dogs barking.  Next thing I know, window blinds are parting all around me.  I also worry that I might get stopped by the police for my suspicious behavior when I geocache.  It should be an enjoyable activity -- not uncomfortable.

I read about one guy who planted a geocache in his own back yard.  He then sits on his patio in the evenings and watches people look for it.  How creepy is that?  It makes you wonder who's the hunter and who is the hunted.

Gray Days

Sorry for the lack of horse posts and pictures.  It's supposed to rain for the next two weeks, so there's not much I can do with the horses in all this mud.  Can you believe that my brand new rain boots sprung a leak right between the sole and the side already?  Now every time I walk outside in them, I have to jump over puddles to avoid getting my socks wet.

I can't keep the horses locked in their stalls for two weeks, and since their blankets are already shredded, I'm turning them out together in the paddock with their turnout blankets on.  That way they can choose to stand under the awning or in their stalls when it rains, and run around outside when it doesn't.  If they rip each other's blankets, so be it.

I've been putting off getting my hair done until I get a job, because I'm trying to save money every way I can.  However, when my son helped take my portrait for my author photo for Amazon's Author Central, I was a bit put off by how much gray was showing up.  My hair stylist had told me in the past that she would help me advertise my photography business, so I figured that if I could get her to just pass out one of my business cards that leads to a job, it would pay for my haircut and color weave. 

I also knew that she has a Kindle and loves to read, so I could give her my sales pitch for my books.  Ironically, when I arrived for my appointment I found out that her salon has been struggling to stay in business.  She said she's been losing at least two clients a week.  These are mostly people who lost their jobs, then lost their homes, and had to move out of the area because there just isn't any work.

She relayed all the horror stories she's heard of people in various levels of financial distress, including being unable to pay hospital bills, not having medical insurance and whatnot.  She always has a way of putting things in perspective, which makes me realize that I'm very fortunate, despite losing my job.  She gave me a good tip that I'll follow through on.  I'm willing to take an administrative assistant position for 1/3rd of the salary I used to make, but I don't have all the software skills needed.  She directed me to a non-profit organization that will train me on all that software for free, and help me find that type of job.

Though I had gone to the salon in part to promote my photography business and books, I ended up taking pity on her and buying a beauty product that she invented herself, in addition to giving her a huge tip.  I'm sure none of it will keep her in business, but I wanted her to know that I do care.  Hopefully I can exist a few more months without the gray creeping back into my hair, and hopefully she'll still be in business when it does.

Droopy Horses

It has been three days since the horses got their immunizations and teeth floats, and they are all quite droopy.  They have been standing around with their heads hanging low, eating less and less while drinking more and more.  They are usually visibly sore for a day or two after, but I've never seen it this bad.

When I first owned horses, we had 3-way vaccinations that were for common diseases in our area.  As more people moved here and brought their horses, the 3-way vaccinations quickly became 4-way and then 5-way as new diseases were introduced.  The past couple of years we had 5-way vaccinations plus the West Nile Virus vaccine.  Now they are bundling that all together into a 6-way vaccination.  I have to wonder if it is all too much for a horse's immune system.  Perhaps we should be breaking it down to one 3-way in the spring and a different 3-way in the fall.

I've been spending a lot of time just hugging my horses and apologizing to them for putting them through that clinic.  It really kicked their butts. 

We had a couple of signs of spring recently.  Unfortunately, it has nothing to do with flowers.  We had a fly in the house.  It drove Scrappy dog crazy.  Now our next door neighbor is having construction work done on her guest house, which means she's preparing for those guests who only come when the snow melts.  By the way, my potted privacy trees did thaw out, so most of their limbs survived winter and can protect me from eyes that wander toward my bathroom window now.

Trump Encourages Bullying

I'm really disappointed in this season of the TV show The Apprentice. Currently, Donald Trump has pitted male celebrities against female celebrities to work together in two teams to raise more money for charity than the other team.

On the male team called "Backbone", Survivor's Richard Hatch rudely shoved The Partridge Family's David Cassidy aside and generally gave him a hard time. Hatch picked on Cassidy for being weak. Granted, Cassidy did piss off a lot of his teammates by leaving them to work while he took repeated smoke breaks, something I've had to suffer through with various coworkers over the years, and I think that was the best reason to fire him. However, Trump fired Cassidy because he didn't defend himself well enough against Hatch.

The next week was a repeat of the previous week, only with the women's team "A.S.A.P". Star Jones influenced everyone to choose Lise Rinna as Project Manager specifically so that they could screw up the task and blame it all on Lisa. It appeared that they were more interested in getting rid of Rinna than raising money for her charity.  Having been set up for failure, and then kicked when I was down plenty of times by self-serving, manipulative coworkers through the years, my heart went out to Rinna. I actually thought she did a fantastic job of holding her ground despite mean girls like Star Jones and Dionne Warwick doing everything in their power to make Rinna look bad.

I won't even get into how rude they were to Marlee Matlin, dismissing all of her ideas, which I think would have won them the task had they been utilized.

Despite having class and grace in the face of sabotage, Rinna was let go on the grounds that she didn't have enough fire to fight back and defend herself. Just what is this message that Donald Trump is sending to his viewers?

It looks to me like he supports and encourages bullying, rewarding those who play dirty for their dishonesty and cruelty, while firing those who behave in a kind, civilized manner. With all the effort put into teaching American kids about bullying in the aftermath of both suicides and mass murders triggered by such abuse, one would think that Donald Trump and these celebrities would behave in a more socially responsible manner. TV land may be their playground to make money, but there is some moral responsibility that goes along with the privilege of airing such a social experiment to millions of viewers.

This is the Story...

...in which NuzMuz loses her temper at the wind.

I walked outside at 6:15 PM, fully expecting the horses to be eager for their dinner, but I couldn't get any of them to go into their stalls.

All three horses just stood in the corner of the paddock with their manes and tails whipping in the wind looking off into the distance.

I placed what was left of a slice of hay into each stall after the wind had blown most of it away, but still they would not go in.

I tried herding them, but still they would not go in.

I grabbed a halter and lead rope, caught each one, led then and locked them into their stalls. But then I couldn't easily get their blankets on because they kept looking out their windows and pressing their bodies against the stall walls.

So, I had to pull each of them to the center of their stalls to lay their blankets over their backs, but this made them agitated, because they couldn't see out their windows.

This behavior was very unusual. My guess was that they were entranced by a herd of deer. So, I searched the horizon, but saw none. The wind was obviously carrying the scent of something. I looked over at the haystack, and the wind had ripped the tarp loose so that half the stack was uncovered.

I reattached all the tie downs and weighed down the corners with rocks. By the time I put the halter away and returned to the haystack, the wind had ripped the tarp loose again. I repeated my previous actions but piled on more rocks and found better locations to anchor the tie downs.

I looked around for deer again, but still saw nothing. I began to wonder if perhaps the horses just weren't hungry feeling the effects of their vaccinations. Then I considered the earthquake in Japan, knowing that after an earthquake that size, other tectonic plates will have to shift as well. Maybe the horses were sensing something.

(By the way, I did feel an earthquake here in Nevada around the time of that earthquake in Japan. I don't know if it was the same one or something more local.)

All I knew was that the horses were acting weird and the wind was pissing me off. I turned around, and sure enough, the tarp had ripped loose again and the hay was uncovered. By the looks of the black clouds coming over the mountain, it was going to rain or snow soon.

(The size and condition of my tarp and the size and shape of my haystack limit my options of weighing the dang thing down. In other words, the tarp is so huge that it touches the ground, so I can't hang tires from it. Whatever I lay on it either isn't heavy enough to keep the tarp down in these winds, or so heavy that the tarp just rips. I tried folding the tarp in half, but the wind just rips it open. The tarp looks like a gigantic tiger paw took a swipe at it. I've tried everything you can think of, and no, I can't afford to build a shelter. I'm not even willing to purchase another smaller tarp at this point in time, because I'm so disappointed in how cheaply made all tarps are. This ripped one that's on my haystack now cost me $200 and I just bought it six months ago.)

I just want the wind to go away. I want this winter to go away. It's supposed to rain or snow Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday according to today's forecast. I want to actually be able to feed my horses this hay without it going moldy.

I think next winter I'll buy several tons of hay and make arrangements for the farmer to store it for me, and then I'll just pick up a few bales every couple of weeks to save me the hassle of dealing with tarps and moldy hay.

But I'll have to find a different hay farmer, because I've already found several moldy bales in the block that was just delivered, and this guy does store his hay in a shelter. He always blames his "workers", saying that they don't understand how to cut, bale and slice correctly. (The slices vary from paper thin to a foot thick in addition to being moldy and containing dead birds, snakes and rodents!) I have to bite my lip to keep from telling him to either hire workers who speak English or go back to school and learn their language. Ultimately, he's responsible, because he's the manager of the farm.

There was one summer we had a few years back in which we had several weeks of triple-digit temperatures. The heat was so intense that our air conditioner couldn't keep up and we couldn't sleep. I had to keep washing the bed linens because they were soaked with sweat. I swore I would not live another summer in Nevada after that, but here I am, and now I am swearing I'm not going to spend another winter in Nevada after this one. However, I'm sure other seasons will come, and I'll forget all about my misery. That's why we keep blogs. They help us remember.

Sunday Stills: The Letter P

Pizza...

...from our favorite Pizza restaurant, ordered in celebration our our son's excellent Progress report.

House Plant...

My Purse, which gets compliments everywhere it goes.

One of the magazines I'm reading at the moment, Poets and Writers...

A book I just finished: Photographing and "Videoing" Horses Explained...

Seymour Sunday Stills.

The Full Equine Vet Clinic Experience

Everyone who's been reading my blog lately knows how I've been fretting over trailering my three horses to the vet equine clinic at the Fairgrounds. I'm not afraid of my horses. I'm afraid of disaster striking us and having to lose more money while I'm unemployed. I didn't want any accidents, and you know that accidents are bound to happen when to trailer two of the spookiest horses on earth to a strange place with tons of activity.

Our first appointment was at 11:15 AM, so I walked outside at 10:15 AM to give myself plenty of time to get the leg wraps on and lunge each horse before asking them to go into the trailer. I stepped outside to see a bunch of vehicles in my neighbor's lot, and sure enough, as soon as I caught a horse, everyone piled out of the house next door and started playing ball. The ball hit my fence a few times making a bang and a rattle while I was under my horse's legs.

I had fed all three of them Calm and Cool and it seemed to have an effect. They stood quietly despite the commotion going on next door with a kid running around yelling, a ball flying through the air, lots of voices conversing, engines starting up and trucks driving off.

Both Gabbrielle and Bombay went right into the trailer. I had trotted Bombay around with his leg wraps on to make sure they wouldn't slip and open up any place of bare skin where he could kick and cut himself. When we reached the Fairgrounds, his legs were intact, but he did scratch his face. So, he still panics in the trailer, but I didn't have to pay for stitches. I think I need to invent a face mask for horses though. A helmet alone won't do it for Bombay.

We stood in line and were surrounded by draft horses. I had to go register at the table, so my husband had to handle both horses by himself. A Sheriff's Posse member spotted my husband having trouble and held Gabbrielle until I got back. The horses weren't behaving badly. They were just excited and dancing around, causing their lead ropes to get tangled.

Then a bunch of donkeys and mules showed up. One donkey kept braying so loud that the horses were running to try to get away from it. It was quite an intimidating sound. The Sheriff's Posse lady told me to turn Gabbrielle around so that she's facing the donkey. I did, and right then two people walked their horses directly behind Gabbrielle, bumped her in the butt, startling her, and she spun back the other way. My arm was beginning to hurt trying to keep control of Gabbrielle, and I thought, "At least we are next in line."

Right then one of the vets got an emergency call and had to race off, so now we were down to three vets. I was like, "Shoot! All these well-behaved, sleepy draft horses, and the vet has to leave right when it is the spooky Arabs' turns."

When we got served, Bombay did really well, except that he refused to open his mouth for the teeth float, so the vet gave him a second sedative. My husband and I warned him that the last time we brought Bombay to one of these clinics we had to practically carry him out, because they over-sedated him with four shots.

Gabbrielle took her 6-way vaccination just fine, but when they tried to give her a sedative, she pulled back and reared up multiple times. Gabbrielle was running backwards with three of us trying to stop her. The vet said, "That's why your horses need four sedatives!"

Despite our differences on the subject, he did respect our request not to over-sedate and found that he was able to easily float Gabbrielle's teeth with just one shot.

We kept running into my boss from my volunteer job, because she had a horse for sale at the clinic. I got all excited to find out that she owns horses and asked her where she rides, because I was hoping to finally have a riding partner, but it turns out that she lives in a rural community that's pretty far away from where I live. Her yard backs right up to BLM land, so she can just ride off into the sunset. She said she moved there specifically for that reason. She doesn't want to have to trailer a horse somewhere to ride.

There were people on ATVs and motorcycles riding around the horses, which is my pet peeve because not all horses live on farms where they've been exposed to such metal beasts that make strange gurgling noises, but quite truthfully, there was so much going on that the horses didn't pay any attention to those vehicles.

They had a used tack sale and were raffling off a bunch of prizes. We put one ticket in a drawing for an equine first aid kit, and a more expensive ticket in a bag for a ton of hay.

As we were leaving, the donkey was still braying, and my husband said he feels sorry for the poor guy who has to live next door to that. We came back for a 1:30 PM appointment with Lostine and got the same vet. My husband asked him if he had the pleasure of treating that braying donkey. The vet said, "No, but I know that donkey. He lives two doors down from me."

We burst out laughing. My husband and the vet got talking about our son participating in pole vaulting for the high school varsity team, and the vet said he'll keep an eye out for our son's name in the sports section of the paper.

When the vet finished with Lostine and started treating some other horses, it suddenly hit me that I only saw him give Lostine the sedative. I ran back and asked if he ever gave her the 6-way vaccination. He said his assistant gave it to her. His assistant turned around and said, "I wasn't even here while you were treating her horse."

It was true. I played the role of the vet's assistant while she was out to lunch, and I know I didn't give Lostine her shot. So, he gave it to her really quick and said, "Good catch!"

We got home right when our son got home from his first track meet of the season and found out that he won first place! So, it was a good day all around. Sorry no pictures. Our hands were kind of full.

Kindle for the PC and Mac

For those of you who don't have the Kindle device, you can download a free Kindle for the PC application and read my books on your computer. This application is compatible with Windows 7, XP and Vista.

You can also download Kindle for the Mac if you have a Mac OS X 10.5 and above. That application is free as well.

If you have an Amazon account, you can log in and start using the application. Otherwise, you can create an Amazon account.

I just wanted to get this information out while I'm researching other avenues of publishing. Thanks for your interest in my books.

For full descriptions of the books, please refer to my previous post.

Gabbrielle Update

Just a quick update on Gabbrielle's condition: The swelling on her one hind leg went down after she suffered some kind of accident on the day that the horses next door were cut loose and caused a stampede. However, this morning I brought her out of her stall and found that she skinned her hock and had other cuts in the same general area, so she had some other kind of accident during the night in the high winds.

She also has been sleeping in mud puddles, so I gave her a sponge bath this morning with warm water carried in a bucket from the house. I cleaned and treated her wounds. She and the other horses will be seeing a vet tomorrow for their annual vaccinations and teeth floats.

I've been working on getting Bombay and Gabbrielle comfortable in the trailer throughout the week whenever it wasn't too windy or raining or snowing, but it's all been a bit in vain, because all goes well until something ridiculous happens in the neighborhood, and then they just become nervous wrecks all over again. I never got them to the point where I could actually drive off with them locked up in the trailer, because they freaked out as soon as I locked them up.

So, now I'm taking the tack of giving them calming feed in hopes that by the time their appointment arrives they will be herbally relaxed enough to not injure themselves in the trailer. In the past, I would have just ignored their pawing and kicking and drove off, but now that I know they can kick their own legs bloody with leg protection on, I'm more cautious. I guess the bright side is that if they do injure themselves in the trailer, we'll be headed to the vet clinic anyway, and they can get treated there. Wish us luck and low vet bill.

The High Wind Fiasco

This winter the horses have been especially hard on their turnout blankets. All of three of them broke one of their leg straps. Gabbrielle has also been really bad about rubbing on the fence and tearing the border fabric that closes the seams along the edge. So, in these high winds, her blanket collects air like a kite, and with only one leg strap and a couple of belly straps holding the blanket on, I keep looking outside to see her with this blanket blown up over her neck and head. She likes to keep her butt to the wind.

When I walk into the paddock to get her untangled, she happily trots up to me with this blanket dragging at her side. I am so glad that I did all that desensitization work with her regarding having foreign objects around her legs.

These leg straps lose their elasticity and the buckles never stay where you slide them, so they get stretched to the nth degree. After a while I start tying knots in them to shorten them. I know you can order replacement parts, but I think all three of these blankets will be ready for the garbage man if they can just last through this final series of storms.

Guess what? The time is changing this weekend, so if we get some decent weather we have more light in the evenings to spend with our horses. Yippee!

Also, please take a second to fill in my survey on the sidebar. You can choose more than one. Thanks.

My Books are Officially on the Kindle

Currently, my two books are available electronically through the Kindle. I'm still working on getting them formatted for other eBook publishers.

THE NEXT DOOR is a thriller/suspense novel that is about 62,000 words in length. It is purely a work of fiction, though I'm sure you'll see some similarities between this blog and the book. I own three Arabian horses and so does the main character. Here's the summary:

Home-based web designer and weekend equestrian Ivy Landor has lived peacefully on her mini-ranch with her husband Wade and teenaged daughter Crystal for the duration of Crystal's 16 years and beyond. However, as Ivy watches her small rural community grow with an influx of strangers, she feels uneasy with the changes they bring.

The new neighbors next door start out to be a mild annoyance, but soon Ivy finds herself embroiled in a struggle to regain her peace, quiet, privacy, and safety. Her ability to work with her horses is limited by her neighbors' thoughtless actions after Ivy suffers injuries from a couple of accidents which she considers might have been intentional.

When Ivy starts paying closer attention to these neighbors, she realizes that their trespasses exceed mere rudeness. The entire family is stalking her and her daughter. Ivy must find out why before this discomfort escalates to terror. Using her technical skills as well as some stealth, she investigates these odd people and is shocked by what she finds.

(Yes, Mikey, your husband's name was included in the book, but I'm not trying to steal him away.  Wade is just a great name.)

Available in the Amazon Kindle store for only $2.99: THE NEXT DOOR

If you own a Kindle and do read it, please give me your feedback. If you like it, I could use some reviews on the Kindle Store site. A lot of people won't read books unless they have 4 or 5 stars from other readers. Also, I left the ending open for a sequel, so I'd like to know if you would be interested in reading a sequel to this novel. Thank you!

I can't forget to thank my readers for their input on my barn photo series. You guys helped pick out the cover of this book!

HOMESPUN AND WOVEN is a collection of poems I put together when I was pregnant with my first child up through when she turned six-years-old. I actually do have some chapbooks of the 1996 version that I can mail to you for $5.00 if you want to read it, and don't have a Kindle. Here's the summary:

First published in 1996 as a chapbook, Gayle Sliva's HOMESPUN AND WOVEN is a collection of poems crafted from the universally known spaces of marriage, pregnancy and motherhood. These poems span the range of emotions that come to those who work with young children. Quotations from the Queen incorporates sometimes impossible, yet wise quotes from a preschooler, such as "Shadows just tell you where night is."

Electric with lines like, “She's been my extension cord for one full year now, reaching outlets I'd rather not let out,” this collection of poems is honest and pure, simple as a spring day in some cases, and complex as a memory from the poet of her own near-drowning and comparing it to her child choking on food, the very fuel that keeps one alive.

Though some serious subjects are explored, the book is not without humor, such as with Spaghetti Under Duressed -- the words “under duressed” being a play on both “under duress” and “undressed”. Mundane moments such as doing laundry and cutting hair contain love and warmth. The final poem, Letter to my Daughter, is a freeze frame of the cruelty that can be imparted by kindergartners and thoughts of what the future may bring.

Available in the Amazon Kindle Store for only 99 cents: HOMESPUN AND WOVEN

I know a lot of you don't like poetry, but I promise you these poems are a very easy read. No deciphering needed. If you look at the sample, all you get if the first half of the first poem. They cut it off before the ending.

The quickest way to locate these two books with your Kindle is to type "Gayle Sliva" into the search box.  Again, if you enjoy reading either book, I could use a few stars in my favor. Thanks again!

Two Down for the Count

The other day someone tried to indirectly criticize me by pointing out that she only blankets her horses in this rainy, muddy weather if they've been body clipped. Sunday was borderline with cold, but not freezing temperatures. I removed the horses' blankets and look what happened:

They felt cold and laid down for some warmth. Either that or they just felt incredibly relaxed since the next door neighbors had left for church.

For a minute there I was worried that the horses might have eaten something bad, because it is unusual for two to lay down at the same time, and I've certainly never seen Bombay flat out on his side, but then Lostine went behind my back while I was busy filming, and she broke out the gate to get into the haystack. By the time I was done chasing her back into the paddock, both Bombay and Gabbrielle were up and alert.

The sound you hear in this video when I crouch down is not me taking a dump.  It was Lostine.  I'd swear that mare evacuates something at least once every five minutes.


Now I'm off to go clean up the paddock in peace and to enjoy my few short hours of privacy.

Update:  You know how I'm always getting irritated with people who stare at me?  Well, this morning I had another annoying stare-a-thon with my neighbor.  He seemed fascinated with the way I coil a hose.  Then my family went to go see "The Adjustment Bureau".  We don't go to movies often, but I was going stir crazy being stuck at home during yet another rainy day.  (Great movie, by the way.)  After the movie, I went to the bathroom.  When I exited the bathroom, it seemed that everyone in the lobby was staring at me.  I strode right up to my husband and son, and the people around me parted like the Red Sea to let me pass, still staring at me.  We then went to Wal-Mart to do our grocery shopping.  While in the checkout line I noticed that both lines of people were all focused on me.  I looked at them a little harder and realized that they were all staring at my crotch.  I looked down, and sure enough, my fly was wide open.

Can somebody please make jeans with zippers that stay up?  I've tried using safety pins to hold them up, but they just break.  Does anyone else have some tip they can share on how to keep my barn door closed?