Gutted

My good friend Sara, with more experience in these things than any one person should have, emailed me, "Good dogs . . . lots and lots of great days and one really bad one." I keep repeating this to myself. Yes, lots and lots of great days....

"On the sixth day of the new year...

...my true love gave to me – a place to park my car in the garage!" (sung to the tune of "The Twelve Days of Christmas," obviously; apparently it's a recurring theme this year). After weeks (months?) of stinking up the house with paint fumes and banishing my car to the cold and rain (resulting in a sluggish battery), Rick declared the Ranger (that Brian wrecked) painted, cleaned up one side of the garage, and backed my car in last night.

🎉🎉🎉

Now watch me walk outside to get in my car out of habit and think someone stole it! Don't laugh; that's about how well my brain is working lately. Yesterday I got a reminder call from my dentist about a 2:00 appointment today. Oops; I'd scheduled a haircut in another town at the same time. I called to cancel the haircut, hung up the phone, and realized I'd need to cancel the dental appointment as well, because there was no way it would be finished in time to pick up Brian from school at 2:20. 🙄

This morning while I was doing chores (after scheduling my annual exam and mammogram for next month but before rescheduling haircut and dental appts), someone from the county courthouse left a message regarding the jury duty orientation I was supposed to show up for at 8:00 this morning. Oops again. I have to show up tomorrow morning at 8:00 or else. If there's enough time after that I'll go to work for a few hours; I usually work Mondays and Thursdays but my farrier is coming Thursday morning (couldn't reschedule that) and I need to be here for Stella. With jury duty thrown into the works, who KNOWS when I'll be able to get that haircut and have my teeth checked!

This afternoon Brian and I had to navigate the U.S. Dept. of Education's Federal Student Aid website so Brian can finish registering for college. 😳 There's going to have to be a whole lotta growing up before the first day of classes this fall for college not to be a short and very expensive life lesson. Meanwhile, the last half of Brian's senior year will fly by, I'm sure. Pretty soon we'll be looking at all this drama in the rearview mirror....

I'm so thankful to have Stella as a pleasant distraction and a source of future plans. There's no timetable, no deadline, no rush with her; just a budding relationship and enjoyable activity. I'm droning on and on about her in my horse blog. 😁

That's it for this rainy night at . . .

Happy New Year!

It started off with a subtle sunrise.

I posted those three photos on Instagram this morning and wrote: "Good morning, new year! I hope the lack of over-the-top drama in this sunrise is a good omen for 2020. #sunrise #newyear #ivehadenoughofdrama" Yeah, right. 😏

After a late family breakfast I headed to the barn to take advantage of the dry conditions for my one firm New Year's Day tradition – getting on the back of a horse. I've been turning Stella loose in the arena while exercising Lance the last couple days, so I did that again today. Stella got frisky, so Lance did, too. After "riding the whirlwind" for a bit, I decided getting off and lunging him might be wise, and started moving him around me at the end of the reins – too close when he decided to turn his butt towards me! Either I let go or he pulled away, and then to my shock and horror he took off after Stella with teeth barred and ears pinned! I ran, too, trying to cut him off or distract him from killing my filly, and eventually he got winded enough to stop, and then came to me when I recalled him. Stella was winded, too, but otherwise fine; my reins were destroyed but I have a back-up set. Now I need to come up with a back-up plan, because I don't want a repeat of that heart-stopped drama! So, no photos from my New Year's Day ride, but I did snap one of Stella (before all you-know-what broke loose) surrounded by pale winter sunlight:

Other snaps from today:

First green egg in over a month!

Pin-head

Fully feathered

Chuckie got hurt by something after Christmas and was feeling puny;

it's good to see him feeling better!

LOVE!

A note for all my Blogger blogpals: after a long time without problems, all of a sudden I can't comment anymore. It doesn't matter if I choose "Google Account," "Name/URL," or "Anonymous" from the drop-down menu; when I hit "Publish," my comment disappears into the ether! Please know that I'm reading and trying to comment; if anyone can tell me how to fix this, let me know in the comments (or if you're having problems, too, email me using the link at right).

Happy 2020 from . . .

Youth and old age

Dwelling with both creates a weird tension in life. There's new resident Stella and the teen-who-thinks-he's-a-man on the one end of the spectrum, full of potential with years (hopefully) stretching out ahead of them. Then there's Jackson who is fading day by day as we support him as best we can, knowing that one day soon we'll be saying a heartbreaking good-bye. Rick and I are somewhere in between, closer in status to Jackson than the others if truth be told. I certainly don't feel that way, though, especially as I look forward to working with Stella to partner in her potential!

Facing the year 2020 is surreal. Y2K wasn't that long ago – for that matter, neither were the 80s! Until I think of how much water has flowed under this bridge of mine.... It's a good thing I don't think about my "legacy;" the ripples I leave behind in the pond of life will be little ones that peter out and are soon forgotten. If I wasn't looking forward to a better land, I'd be depressed! Instead, I think often of C.S. Lewis' The Last Battle. Scenes from that book are so very prescient of the time in which we are living, and a time yet to come. I need to read it again; scary and then exciting stuff.

Off to bed with me, as it's much too late. I may just have to go to bed early on New Year's Eve!

That's it for now from . . .