Ordinary Time

A record of my confinement Day 15 My captors have begun to give me decent food again since my hunger strike. There was no way I was going to eat that saw dust they tried to call food. It was far better to just lay down and die then contemplate an existence not eating real food. I'm feeling stronger with the better diet. My feet still hurt, but I need to escape this place where they have trapped me. Last night I decided I needed to escape. I moved a floor mat and started digging my escape tunnel. It was the only option open to me. Unfortunately one of my captors discovered my plan and filled in and covered my work.  This afternoon I decided to try a different escape route. There is a smaller door my captors go in and out of. If I can get to that, I might be able to escape. The barricade blocking the room with the small door was insufficient. They underestimate my desire to leave this place. It was fairly simple to knock their flimsy barricade down and walk across it.  The small...

  Vienna did a bit better today. She is still very uncomfortable and very unhappy, but she ate a bit more than she had. Most importantly, she was on her feet today and no vet visit was needed. She still has a very long way to go before she is out of the woods, I'm afraid. I'm exhausted. As you might imagine, sleep was not very restful last night. I'm hoping I sleep better tonight, but I'll be honest and say I'm still very worried for my brave, brave pony. 

We came very close to losing Vienna today. She was down when we went out to the barn this morning and we couldn't get her up. The vet couldn't get her up. She wasn't even trying to stand. She was down for at least nine hours, which that alone for a horse is deadly. Finally, late in the afternoon, she was able to find some inner reserves and try to stand and we were able to help her.  We are not even close to being out of the woods with her yet. Walking to the barn fills me with anxiety because I don't know what we'll find. An hour ago, when we last checked, she was still up.  Because I spent all but one hour of the day in the barn and was emotionally and physically spent, W. came to our rescue tonight with food and made dinner with G. and L.'s help. We have good kids. (And yes, they'll always be my kids even if they are grown up.)  I have no idea what the future holds for this pony. I do know I'm not ready to say goodbye to her yet. 

And you'll hear a tale, A tale of a fateful trip. This will be earworm number two this week, but only if you are of a certain age and watched copious amounts of television.  That started from a tropic port Aboard a tiny ship. The pony seems to be doing the very tiniest bit better today, so that combined with having spent far more hours than I would like trying to get the dry lot clean from over ten days of a hard freeze, had left me a little slap happy, I think. (And just fyi, multiple hours and four plus wheelbarrows is not enough to even clean the thawed layer on the top of the ice. We're not even thinking about what's under the bottom layer of ice right now. It's all a little disheartening and very tiring.)  The mate was a mighty sailor man,  The skipper brave and sure. Five passengers that sailed that day On a three hour tour. (A three hour tour.) But anyway, back to frivolous. For some reason that I cannot remember, our dinner conversation centered around the TV sh...

I'm not sure this is going to be very long this week as much of my time and energy has been taken up with Vienna.  Number of vet calls for Vienna this past week - 2 Number of times we've found Vienna down in her stall and couldn't/wouldn't get up -2. One of these times I needed an emergency vet visit because I was the only adult home. The other was last night and it took J. and I am hour getting her back up.  It is impossible to lift a 650+ pound pony to her feet if she is on a hunger strike about her new food. I made the call that we needed to change Vienna's food much more slowly to avoid her deciding she was just going to lay down and die. This has helped... a bit. Number of days I skipped doing school because I was in the barn with Vienna - 2 I might have suggested that we need to get a mini so that Vienna would have a companion as she gets well. Because that makes financial sense. Not.  Don't worry, no mini will be acquired.  I'm not sure there is reall...

I didn't accomplish a lot today. I've either been out in the barn worrying about Vienna or inside the house worrying about Vienna. When I was not worrying, I was scrolling on my phone. You know, because it was a distraction from the worrying. Sometimes when I'm scrolling, I'll look to see what people have viewed on the blog. And to prolong the scrolling, I'll click on it and reread it. Sometimes I have written about something I don't remember, so that's a nice bonus. Which is why I found myself reading the post,  Learning is Messy  . It wasn't terribly old, but I realized that there had been a comment asking a question that I had never replied to.  So to save you all from endless navel gazing about how worried I am about Vienna, I thought I'd answer the question... even if it is nearly five years late. The question was essentially: Did I have any recommendations for ways to come to terms with the mess that living with children can entail, particularl...

The Sorely Trying Day is a children's book that I love by Lillian and Russell Hoban. (Russell Hoban also wrote the Frances books.) It details how a day goes terribly wrong for a family and what they do to make it better. It's charming. It has also become a short hand around here for days that just continue to fall apart.  Mine began with the barn chores taking significantly longer than usual because everything is thawing. It's good that it's thawing and I'm thrilled to get to start putting things back to rights, but it takes a long time and is a lot of physical labor.  School actually was fine, but we got interrupted by a phone call from the vet. They finally got Vienna's labs back. It took so long because the lab couldn't believe the number for Vienna's insulin the first time around. It is literally off the charts. It explains a lot of what we're seeing with her, but that doesn't make it good. I spent a good part of the afternoon chasing down sp...

We were finishing up school this morning when a child happened to mention that they hadn't made any art for an entire month. I said that was too bad, but it had been particularly cold in the craft shed. I was told it was just too cold in general, that there were art supplies in the house, and that summer couldn't come soon enough.  For some reason, this made me think of the Robert W. Service poem, The Cremation of Sam McGee. So I started reciting it. (Full disclosure, I only know the first stanza from memory.) Because doesn't everyone randomly recite poetry to their children? (You should try it. Especially if you are looking to elicit heavy sighing and some eye rolling. Since you're going to get these either way, you might as well have fun with it.) I received some blank looks when I mentioned Sam McGee, so asked if anyone remembered the poem. Not one single person said they did. You do know what that means, don't you? Yes, I called everyone back to the table, ran u...

I'm so glad there are some of you out there that enjoy these posts! Thank you for letting me know.  One of the projects I finished this week was weaving the band on my inkle loom. Here it is. One of my goals for this project was to learn how long a band my teeny tiny inkle loom could weave. It's more than I thought for something so small. This band ended up at about four feet.  Now I just need to sew it on the bag I made a couple years ago for handles. Having this done meant that I could start another project trying a different weaving technique. Here is the loom all warped. Do you notice something different? This time, instead of using string heddles, I am trying card weaving, which is why you see the warp threaded through cards. Essentially, when using cards like this, it becomes a prototype of a four shaft loom.  Each card has four holes. Notice holes A and B are at the top meaning those warp threads will show above the weft thread that goes through the shed (opening) ...

The weather is supposed to turn tomorrow. It can't happen soon enough because I am tired. Just physically tired. I know I'm not the only one. Anyone with outside animals is just done in because the super cold weather is physically grueling. I now have not only hay on my back porch, but shavings as well because there is no way to drive up to the barn.  And as much as I want it to warm up, I'm also dreading it because it is going to takes days to get things cleaned back up. There has been very little mucking because every single pile of poop is frozen. Everything will need to get carried to the barn. Just thinking about it all makes me tired.  And then there is emotional fatigue. I have made the decision to not be silent whenever I see a "friend" write something that is hurtful to my family. But this is hard, not because it's hard to speak up, but because of being reminded of just how... unpleasant... other Christians can be.  I'm going to bed early tonight....

I used to sit down every year and see what the previous year's too posts were. That fell by the wayside after a while. But I was helping A. finish getting moved out of her apartment for much of the day and then J. and I went out to dinner with friends, so I'm not feeling up to much writing tonight. It seems a good time to resurrect and old practice. Well, except these will not be in order of most views because that would require effort, and energy for effort is what I don't have.  Without further ado, the top seven posts from last year in no particular order. New Diagnosis, New Medicines, New Hope Old and In the Way We're Okay Everyone Kenzie on the Beach What a Day, What a Day... A Parent's Worst Nightmare And in completely not surprising news, I realized that Fiber Monday posts are routinely the lowest viewed posts of the year. For those who do enjoy them, it's a good thing I write for myself and not for SEO stats. I like having a record of what I've done....

It's still cold. Just not quite as horribly cold as last weekend.  My house looks like Farm and Fleet threw up in it. The muck boots are inside because they freeze so much outside that you can't get them on. Water buckets, either empty or with thawing ice are littered through the kitchen and utility room. Boots and hats and gloves and scarves are draped over everything to dry between uses. And coats are draped on every doorknob because why go to the bother of hanging them up when you will just be putting it on again in an hour or two. Oh, and my back porch is filled with hay because there was too much snow for my hay guy to drive to the barn.  I'm paying the children who are saving for a PS5 to carry the hay up to the barn. I think this is money well spent. No change in Vienna yet, but it can take a while to get the swelling down.  A. is in the middle of changing living situations and decided she didn't want to keep her couch so offered it to us. Here is the final switc...

The vet was out first thing this morning and Vienna does indeed have laminitis. She is on stall rest for a month to protect her feet and on painkillers and anti-inflammatories. We are still waiting for the results of some of her blood tests to see if she has insulin issues or the beginnings of Cushing's. I will be relieved to see the happy, perky pony again.  I did ask if there was anything I could have done to prevent this. Essentially I have already been doing all the right things, but sometimes this happens, especially with ponies. I was given official veterinary permission to stop blaming myself. (Because there is a not so small part of me that assumes everything is my fault.) So that was a relief.  I just want to say how thankful I am for the horse professionals we have found... our vet, farrier, hay supplier... who help us take care of these four legged family members.  But does anyone else familiar with horses wonder how on earth the species has managed to survive ...

Vienna is having a hard winter. She has become so footsore over the past week I became really concerned. Long story short, I have both vet and farrier coming out tomorrow morning to see what we can do to help her. Winter laminitis is the best guess at the moment.  It is so hard to watch my funny happy pony be sore uncomfortable and droopy.  (This is from November, we have much more snow at the moment.)

I've actually done quite a bit this week, but not very many pictures to show for it. A lot of time was spent finishing up odds and ends on various projects and getting them put away. This feels good even if it is difficult to photograph.  In that organizing, I decided to do something with my completely unorganized box of Mill ends. Mill ends are the fibers which are leftover from the fiber prep and spinning processes in woolen mills. They are perfectly good fibers, there's just an odd assignment of bits and pieces. They bag them up and sell them at a deep discount for the types of fibers involved. This is where I come in because I like nothing better than a good deal. I also think they are perfect for using with my drum carder to bake batts to spin.  I organizing the mills ends (by color), I decided that I really needed to make some batts with some of it. So I did. I had seen an inspiration photo of dark green pines trees, pine cones, and snow in one of my fiber groups and dec...

I think a good portion of the country has unpleasantly cold temperatures right now. If you're not spending what feels like every waking moment carrying water around, then the next logical item on the to-do list must be curl up under a blanket with a good book and a cup of tea.  In that case, I have a couple of book recommendations for you that are perfect for cold weather, blanket huddling, tea drinking weather. (In full disclosure, I am in the middle of both of these books myself, but I am enjoying them so much I am going to assume they continue equally as engaging. If by chance one of them goes astray before the end, I'll update you.) The first is The Domestic Revolution: How the Introduction of Coal into Victorian Homes Changed Everything by Ruth Goodman. Now I realize that the title may sound vaguely interesting at best but holds the promise of being dull as toast. But actually, it is very engaging and extremely fascinating. If you've ever wondered how people in ages pa...

For the next few days we're going to be in sub-zero or single digit temperatures. It's not my favorite, but with the right clothes it's actually not horrible. But the past couple of days highlight for me how completely turned around my life is now compared to before we moved.  Before winter was spent pretty much sitting around, trying to avoid going outside as much as possible. It was very sedentary. Warmer temperatures were when I got outside and moved and was more active.  Now? Winter involved just a lot of physical exertion especially when it's very snowy or very cold or, such as right now, both. Every outdoor job just takes more effort in the cold and snow. For the past two days I've spent time shoveling out the barn door so I can open it, shoveling a path for the wheelbarrow to the muck pile, pushing the wheelbarrow through the rather insufficient shoveled path to the muck pile, hauling by buckets of water from the house, blanketing nutty horses, and carrying a...

At least I think it's Friday. There was some confusion at dinner over what day it actually was. Two days in the same week where life has been cancelled due to snow will do that.  And yes, we have snow. K. got some pictures earlier. J. made scones for breakfast since his school was closed again. K., in keeping with the dinosaur theme, decided to buy dinosaur cookie cutters, so J. used them to cut out the scones.  When I went out to the barn this morning, everyone had calmed down and Major was looking a bit contrite. They got their grain and I opened up the dry lot and then Major's Dutch door. He went and touched noses with Emmy and then left her alone. They managed to eat their hay in peace.  Well, mostly in peace. Every so often Emmy felt the need to scream for a moment and hop her back legs up and down. You know, just in case Major was getting any ideas about coming near her... which he wasn't.  On our previous snow day all the back three days ago on Tuesday, J. and...

Let's begin by going back to last spring for a bit. I was cleaning up the barn and finally getting the horses' winter coats stored. When I picked up Emmy's, I realized that I didn't want to suffer through another winter dealing with a coat that was definitely past it's prime. I also knew myself well enough to know that when next winter came, I would just go ahead and use it because it was there. Having done this for several winters in a row already, I wanted to force myself to do something it. So I got rid of it, thinking I would keep an eye on summer sales and buy her a new one then.  Evidently, having made this decision, I put it completely out of my head. So out of my head that the pitching of Emmy's coat never happened.  Tomorrow we are due for a significant winter storm followed by sub-zero temperatures. I needed to get the horses blanketed before the storm so they would stay dry so they could stay warm in the falling temperatures. In my head, everyone was ...

There is nothing so satisfying as getting a gift for a child on a whim and that child absolutely loving it. You saw K.'s very successful gift yesterday. (Today he discovered it is difficult to scrape car windows and bake cookies while wearing a dinosaur costume.) And today I'll show you Y.'.  She loves Pokemon and has enjoyed knitting and such, so when I came across a crochet Pokemon kit, it seemed like it might be a good fit. I think I was correct. Here is Evie that she finished this evening.  It is excellent work and I am very impressed. 

Today was a sort of snow day. There was a lot of snow. J.'s school was closed, but he worked from home. We had a light day planned school wise anyway, so were done fairly quickly. This left time for playing.  Because a very snowy day is the perfect time to go outside and have a snowball fight with your resident friendly dinosaur. After the snowball fight, the next logical thing was to ask the dinosaur to jump on the trampoline. Of course, when the dinosaur is done jumping, he has to figure out how to get off. The only creatures who didn't find the dinosaur's winter antics amusing were the horses. There was a lot of staring followed by a lot of running around followed by more staring. But even for them, the dinosaur probably did provide some amusement on an otherwise very dull day. 

(Warning, this is long, even for me.) For several months, my yarn storage consisted of a pile on the floor of my studio closet. I had been looking for something specific, but because my yarn far exceeded the storage available, the only way to find what I was looking for was to dump it all on the ground. And there it sat. And sat and sat and sat. And I ignored it because I didn't want to just shove it all back in the cubbies without sorting it a bit first.  We'll, there's nothing like a new year to prod one into doing a little organizing, us there? So yesterday I took a deep breath and tacked the yarn problem. I got rid of nearly a full kitchen garbage bag's worth of yarn. There was just so much I was never going to use for one reason or another, that it made no sense to keep it.  And by getting rid of it, I mean I handed it to Y. saying she could have any of it she wanted. She was thrilled and happily carted it all up to her room. Everyone was happy.  This also meant it...