Unfolding the future

We went over to our new house and did our first mowing. And we quickly came to the conclusion that we are going to need a riding lawn mower. LOL

We managed to clear out Lily's paddock, as well as the paddock for horse number 2. Which will remain a mystery because I love to have suspense on my blog.

From the end of a driveway, a dream can look so simple.

It's funny, I've been thinking of how this journey has unfolded. Unfolded is such an apt metaphor. Like a piece of paper that has been folded over again and again, you have no idea what the paper will look like once it's unfolded. All that is left of its original shape are little creases throughout, showing the inverse of the journey itself.

When you weed eat wildflowers you will get a face full of petals.

I have to remind myself to stay firmly in the present, to embrace the gifts I have and not drift into contemplation of what is next. To walk the line between planning and dreaming, living and imagining.

Along the road in front of our new place.  Here they can grow as big as they want.

Granted there's an element of dreaming that brought me here (and I do believe in dancing with the one that brung ya), but for a while I just want to sink my hands into the dirt, wiggle my toes in the creek, marvel at the intricacies of the wildflowers, listen to the cicadas call out for love in their loudest, most earnest thrums.


And I wouldn't mind having my own spatulas and more than a single box of clothes.

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I appreciate all the suggestions on Lily. We actually had a nerve block way back when and since it was so helpful in her treatment (not), I really don't see a point in another one. Basically the pain is in her shoulder. They can xray it (again) or block it (again) and they will tell me to take the same course of action. Shots, supplements, physical therapy. Basically it's what we are doing.

My focus is on adjusting her angles and getting her in a shoe that might help her out, I've seen it work on other horses with shoulder issues. She's on MSM, and I'm hopeful the combo along with regular chiro work will help. My main concern is that she's comfortable enough to still get around comfortably. I feel like I'm on the right track, already she seems slightly better. If all she can do is walk the trails and she can remain healthy doing it, then we are all good. If not, then I'll do right by her.

I've had that water trough for two years. Now I have a place for it.

But it makes me realize that having our own place, where a wonderful horse can have a nice retirement, is a priority. I can see it's a priority that is in process of unfolding into reality.

We have a home

We have found a home. Oddly enough, we aren't moving out of our community because rents in the DFW area have gone crazy the last two months.

This is what happens when people can't get loans for a home. Everyone turns to renting. At least that's my theory. I was getting alerts every day about houses where the status was either getting updated because they had rented in less than 24 hours or their price was going up by hundreds of dollars a month, pricing them right out of our budget.

So we decided that unless there's a big promotion or something, our budget is better served by staying put, sort of.

I called a friend from around here who's home was empty. She was not sure she wanted to rent it, but made a sudden turn around. It's got 6 acres, room for Lily and a companion.



Tall ceilings like our home, open living room too.

 We also have a lovely creek in the backyard...

Right now, it's got water... Come on rain!

The place needs a serious mowing since plants are about as high as my hip. We've got a friend with a tractor and we're hoping to borrow it to do some shredding.

The rent is affordable, she has no issue with our crazy number of animals.

It's a dream, at least for a year. Now I just need to get hubby home.

All in due time.

It's interesting, this place is very much in line with my dream and when I think of the gyrations it took to get here I'm amazed. Other issues have arisen (I may be up for a new job, or not, our work department is losing cohesion, Hubby loves his job and wishes he could find a  way to stay).

But at least we have a place to land for a while.

We move in mid June.

Crib Notes - The Perils of Chlorine

It's been a while since I posted from my Crib Notes column regularly. Just in case you've missed them, here's one!

 

Chlorine Makes An Early Entrance    

 

Chlorine is back.

It just took one day of temperatures over 85 for it to tangle its chemical fingers back into my life. It does this every warm spring, try to slip in before summer, before I have my game plan in place.

When I was a kid we were friends, chlorine and I. We hung out all Summer,  and slowly chlorine destroyed the elastic of my swimsuit and ate through my towel. It was worth it. I was young, elastic was over-rated , and thin, holey towels were the official flag of a successful Summer.

Now it’s different. And it’s not about the towels or the elastic. It’s not about the concern about what chlorine is doing to our skin since its job is kill more things in the water than I want to think about.

It’s about the hair.

I always counted myself lucky to have dark hair that was safe from the green tinge you foisted upon my fair-headed friends. I had no idea a worse danger lurked.

Curly hair.

Keep in mind I spent many a night during my pregnancy wishing that our second little bundle of joy would be born with her dad’s curls and not my straight hair. Sure enough, sense of humor soundly intact, the good Lord gifted Mireya with a riot of curls. Curls so springy they attract attention anywhere she goes.

It took just a few years for me to realize that this was how I was going to be taught the value of patience. Still it seemed worth it – until the first chlorine attack.

Add a little chlorine and terrible, terrible things happen to Mireya’s hair. Curly hair, which is already an adventure around here, turns vicious when joined with chlorine. It mats up instantaneously, becoming utterly un-comb-able.  No amount of conditioner can slick it into submission once chlorine has its death grip on each of the 5 million twisting hair shafts.  In no time Mireya looks like she should be singing lead in a Reggae band, dread locks scattered all over her head. Let me tell you, “dread” is the right word.

This time we’ve got our game plan. It involves  everything from buying a swim cap to slicking her down with half a bottle of conditioner before she’s allowed to get within five feet of chlorine. Still I know that when suddenly someone just jumps in the pool and we’ll be back to the tub, spending our evening coming out mats that inspire thoughts of buzz hair cuts.

Still, at least we’re prepared. I bought a case of conditioner and, as a back up, I’m teaching Mireya all the words to Bob Marley’s “Stir It Up.”

Just in case.

I Need Your Vacation Input - Off Topic

Enough is enough, ya know? We've decided that we need a vacation this August. I've got enough miles on Southwest airlines to score a free ticket for each one of us, but the only question is where? What's a good place to go on vacation in August? Here is my criteria:

Cooler than Texas in August. (Sorry Phoenix!)
Lots of natural spaces.
Relatively reasonably priced for a vacation in terms of lodging. (I'm thinking this leaves out San Francisco and Lake Tahoe)
Somewhere Southwest flies (which is actually just about everywhere.)

Any ideas?

Lily continues to limp

It's been pretty hectic at work and home. We remain in limbo in terms of our home plans, and are taking a month off to embrace limbo-ness. Frankly I'm sick of having the rug pulled out from under us repeatedly and am going to shift to chilling out and blooming where I'm currently planted. In 30 to 60 days, we'll have to reach some sort of decision. By then the super hot rental market will cool and we can make a more realistic choice.

Lily is also in limbo. When L came checked her she recommended we get her re-shod so her heels in the front wouldn't be so compressed. I switched farriers to one that works more in that way. Ruben speaks only Spanish, but I speak Spanish, and remarkably Lily was as good as gold with him.

Ruben is one of those Hispanic men who ends up shoeing many high dollar horses after something goes wrong. He comes recommended by a vet that specializes in lameness issues. Lily, who can be a pain to trim in the back, acted like she considered him to be an expert and therefore worthy of her best behavior.

Weird how horses do that.

Unfortunately Ruben didn't feel shoeing was going to help her, but he's going to come back out with an orthoepaedic shoe that helps a mare he has with a bad shoulder. He feels the issue is in her shoulder, mostly because of the way she responds to being shod. She doesn't jolt in pain at any point and mostly tries to stand in a way to take pressure off her shoulder.

So we shall see. She's sound at the walk for short times and we've ridden out to find good grass patches. We're working on little things, like stopping with thought, turning with a look, not fussing when a weird noise crops up.

It's fun in it's way, but I long to do much more.

But in the meantime, we embrace limbo. I sprayed her with a bengay like product. I brush her out and teach her a few tricks. I let her lean into me and give her alfalfa because she loves it and is losing weight.

I tell her she's the best horse ever. She tries to trot for me when  I ask, then stumbles. Then limps. I apologize, but she knows I have to check, and we walk back slowly, letting the kinks work out.

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It's funny, the last time she had her teeth done she had to be put in the stocks. I wasn't there, and for some reason she worries more. When L first came this last time, Lily started to worry, wouldn't let her come near her with the rasp. I took the rasp from L and carefully lay it against her shoulder, her neck, her face.

Lily relaxed and I handed the rasp back to L. Lily let her do her work with minimal fuss.

It felt good to be able to help her through, but wish her sense of security was better. Perhaps this is just what pain does to a good horse. Creates insecurity.

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Lily gets bute at the end of our little sessions, but I hesitate to give her a daily dose or anything like that. But after work, even as little work as we are doing, I want her to be able to relax.

I wish I knew what to do.