Thursday, June 23, 2011

Odd Story

A few weeks ago a girl asked to be my FB (Facebook) friend.. Her first name was Faye and it seemed familiar, but in all honesty, I had no idea who she was. After confirming her friendship, I saw she was from Snohomish, a year older than me but her current pictures did not really ring any bells. I didnt think much of it til 2 days ago!

I am on FB and I get an instant Message from Faye, she says to me:
"Hi Piper, I just want to tell you that you were one of those friends that were never forgotten. I feel fortunate to have had the child hood experiences I was able to have thanks to you and your family. I just want you to know how much those memories mean to me. Thank You!!!!!"

Now I'm thinkin "OH SHIT" WhoTF is this girl! All I know is the name Faye rings a very tiny bell, but thats the extent of my rememberance of her.. So I apologize to her and tell her my gradeschool memories are quite faded, asked if we were in girl scouts together? I did meet some girls way back then and couldnt tell you now who they were. I told her my memory from that far back has escaped me. She then says:

"It is ok but I must say I am suprised and a litte hurt but I will get over it!! I stayed with you a lot when we were young kids and you taught me to ride but it is ok. I got to run errands and all!! Ya know how it is I am sure!!"

So now I'm feelin like a jackass.. I really hadnt intended on hurting her feelings, I just honestly dont remember her. She's musta been talkin gradeschool years and if we had remained friends through Jr High or HS I would definately have remembered her more clearly. So I called my mom, I was actually a bit upset that I made such an impact, but she didnt ring any bells with mom. I talked to dad later that day and he couldnt remember her either, says his memory is usually pretty good but she didnt ring any bells for him. We are talking almost 30 years ago! Damn I'm gettin old.

Well I decided to send her a private message and typed out a sincere apology to her, asking her to please refresh my memory, that it was not personal, I just am not good at remembering friends in my gradeschool years. Well she done UN-FRIENDED me and not only did she un-friend me, she BLOCKED ME!! If I type in her name, I cant find her on FB, yet I had Shana try and she found her just fine.. apparently I really pissed her off and/or offended her quite badly and it frustrates me that I have no way to email her and apologize, she just didnt give me a chance as she blocked me within 10 minutes of her last message to me through instant messaging. GRRR

So tonight as I was getting ready to type out this post, I pulled my Jr High yearbooks and found her (we didnt have gradeschool books back then!).. When I was in 7th grade, she was in my class, Faye Ellis. Now that I hear her first and last name, it definately rings them bells of mine, but I still have ZERO memories of her other than her name. I just feel so badly. The following year, looks like she was held back as I progressed to 8th and her picture was again posted in 7th. I'm guessing we must have been friends in gradeschool, doesnt seem like we would have been Jr High frineds since I dont remember her... But who the hell knows at this point, all I know is she didnt sign my 7th grade book. I'm fairly positive she does not read my blog, but incase so.. Faye, I am very sorry! I dont know what else to say, I am happy we were able to provide great memories for you, I wish I could remember them as well. I have lost a lot of my younger childhood memories as the years go on... Piper

Nothing New

Life seems busy, but I'm not sure much is getting accomplished. Well I know not much is getting done lately around our farm. Everything is green and beautiful, if you can call a driveway full of weeds beautiful! I'm trying to get a handle on it all, but sometimes feel like I'm getting swallowed up. The goal for this year was to get organized, I think we need to start with organizing our thoughts so we can eventually get to organizing the garage, shop and shed.

Taking pictures of the horses has been about the extent of their interaction with us since Memorial Weekend. I did get out for a ride a week ago with a friend around the neighborhood... sad. Derek's been workin OT again, he had a couple week break from it all but things have picked up again. I try to do what I can around the place, I did manage to get the house deep cleaned a couple weeks ago, the bedroom has been un-cluttered for 2 or 3 weeks now.. This may be a first! A bedroom I'm not ashamed to be shown on a whim, cant say the same about the kitchen all the time, which is funny cuz the kitchen is the first thing you see when you walk in the door! lol

I've not "worked" Dexter a lot lately, he's been limping on a front leg, I'm honestly not sure if its his shoulder or his hoof.. He limps at random, it just comes and goes.. one second he's walkin fine and then he limps real bad, then back to fine again.. Not really too concerned about taking him to the vet. I'm still cleaning his no-naughty-bit region almost daily, it seems to be draining well and doing good, swelling is now almost non-existant. Yesterday as I was washing it with a rag, I think he actually enjoyed it! He stretched his neck out and quivered his nose... I still cant approach him in the pasture, thats one of my next goals but that is still all about trust from him. He has come a very long ways, just needs LOTS of desensitizing! LOTS!!

Yesterday Derek & I celebrated our 15yr wedding anniversary, 20 years together!! I cant believe its been that long.. holey moley. :) We didnt make a big deal of it, just went to dinner. He had to be up at 3am this morning for more OT at work, so last night was dinner then bed for him.. alone bedtime while I wound down watchin some TV. I sat there thinking about it being our anniversary and how we literally spent maybe 1.25 hours together the entire day... But I'm okay with it, thats what being in a relationship is about, its not about me or him, just about us still being strong enough to accept the reality of life and continuing to love and live!

Cooper is doing great! We havent had an update in a couple weeks, but last we heard, there were no problems or issues. A friend from the Hunt Club we belong to, she is going down to Parkdale this weekend (where Coopey is at) and she promised to take some pics of him, so we are very excited to see him!! When thinking about him being gone, I would say "sure I miss him", I'm in a groove with the morning routine at home and how hassle free it is not having him being his rambunctious self, but then I watched a segment on Dogs 101 from the Animal Planet channel, it was about Boykins.. As I sat there alone at home on a Saturday watching, I started to cry! WTH.. I then realized just how much I missed our dog!! :( I was overcome with loneliness of not being able to hug him and see his face and pet him, I just cant wait to get him home. I really didnt expect to feel so sad about him being gone, but I guess I'm a bit more attached to the little bugger than I realized.

Friday, June 10, 2011

Who knew...

Who knew that the trauma of naughty-bits-b-gone was gonna bring Dexter and I closer! I certainly didnt. Over the past 6 days, he really has jumped leaps and bounds with accepting me and standing still when I approach him for haltering, he even walks towards me when I open his stall door.. I am just amazed by this kid!

Yesterday afternoon he was not feeling well though, very lethargic, his body was really warm to the touch, and he hadnt finished his breakfast. He let me take his temperature (something he wouldnt let the vet do prior to his surgery), it was 104! I phoned Dr Hannah to find out the dosage to put him on antibiotics; this AM his temp was back down to normal and his appetite was normal as well.

I figured this procedure would have been a set back, but maybe because he hasnt felt 100%, he just doesnt care as much to fight me. I can scrub his nether-region daily, although he doesnt like it, he doesnt try to kick me either. I can hose it, sitting right next to him in a chair and he'll stand there perfectly still.. Thats after only 2 times ever being approached with a hose! I have turned him loose in the yard to eat grass and can approach him to catch him. We've gone for walks down the road and although the cars make him nervous, he respects me and listens and when we dont go for walks, I lunge him in circles and he's picked up "WHOA" already and learning to walk and trot just from the click of my mouth and will change directions with just the pointing of a finger and learning to stop with non-verbal signals as well. He's not perfect yet, but he is awesome!

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Naughty-Bits B-Gone

A few weeks ago I heard about a castration clinic that was going to be held about 15 minutes from my house on 6/4/11, for a cost of $50.. I had already had Dexter scheduled for this procedure with my regular vet in July, but figured why not send in an application and try to get him in to this clinic instead.. save myself about $250! Well a couple weeks went by and I was sure I didnt get in as it was 5 days before the clinic and I had not heard back yet.

But what do ya know.. 4 days before the clinic I get the email that I was accepted! It sounded like they had a lot of applications come through and I'm not 100% sure what their criteria was, but apparently we qualified! Derek & I hauled him in Saturday morning to the clinic arena, he was NOT happy about the pre-shots he was given and he had to be given extra sedatives because he was fiestier than she had hoped. Once he got the last "knock-out" drugs in him though, he went down immediately and we were able to watch the entire surgery.. It was interesting and Derek even watched the whole thing. His bits were unimpressive (little) and one side was "sucked up" a little ways, so she had to work a little harder to ensure she got it all; 15 minutes later, he was done.

I was told to bute him if need be and clean it every 1-2 days, as well as two 20 minutes workouts every day to help with swelling and keeping it open to drain and healing properly from the inside out. Poor guy, he was hurtin pretty bad Saturday night, really didnt want to move much. Sunday he was doing much better, he got some excersize, showed a little stiffness in his hind end. I was able to actually hose his back legs on Sunday, something I had never done before, but they needed to be cleaned up. He danced around me some, but took to it very quickly with little fight; I was really happy with him. I am not supposed to hose his naughty bit region though but his legs did get cleaned.

Monday we took him down the road for the first time, for his 20 minute walk and he was great. Derek led Edgar incase Dexter needed the moral support of how he should behave! He did fairly well, I would stop him and make him face the cars as they passed by and he had minimal spooking. What really spooked him the most was the kid on the bicycle who rode quietly by! :) I also worked him on not walking past me so as to avoid him trying to run me over or push through me if he spooked.. I would walk 10 or more steps, then stop and expected him to stop with me. He again, picked that up so quickly!

There was an older guy at the clinic with a 2yr old colt that was to be gelded after Dexter. The guy was talking with me, trying to give me advice on how to deal with Dexter when I got home etc.. I didnt ask for the advice, but I wasnt going to be rude, I tried to tell him I had been through this a few times in the past but he still was insistent on letting me know that when I got home and over the next few days, Dexter would be unwilling to want to move for his twice daily excersize sessions.. He told me what he has done and I should do, is tie Dexter to the bumper of my truck and drive! That will get him moving!!! And this guy was 100% serious.. I just nodded and smiled, internally thinking WTF! Old School Old Man! Just an FYI, Dexter actually is more than willing to excersize, this morning I couldnt keep him at a walk, he was trotting and loping circles around me.. :)

When I got home last night from our walk around the neighborhood, I knew I needed to attempt to clean him up and scrub the surgery area. Tied him in his stall, put the wet rag up to his belly and just ran my hand back to his non-naughty bit region and he took it like a man! Never once did he attempt to kick, he actually spread his legs open when I was scrubbing behind his tail where he had dried blood. I was able to get both sides, cleaned the "wound" area really well and put a fly repellant ointment on it. I was smiling ear to ear, just so very proud of him!! 3 days ago you couldnt touch that region without him kicking out (even under sedation) and now I am able to clean an open wound. Wow! Progress!!