A Horse-Wrangling, Coop-Cleaning Weekend
It's a long holiday weekend in the states. Today is Memorial Day. There are no words sufficient to thank them for their sacrifice, or that of their families. If I could bequeath them anything at all, it would be peace.
***
***
Many people have the day off today. I should be outside working, but I'm forced to take a day off by default. De fault of my bum shoulder.
Over the weekend, we super-cleaned and disinfected the chicken coop with a power washer and bleach. We let the chickens roam that day, but the dumb birds kept coming back. We finally had to close the gates on them so the coop and yard could dry out.
That coop was immaculate when we were done. Somehow I threw out my shoulder and I can barely lift my arm today. So here I sit, critiquing a friend's book, waiting for the pain meds to kick in. This is my second dose and it still hasn't helped. I must've wrenched it good.
The weekend was exciting for another reason too. We went horse wrangling. Sort of. Greg and I had to go into town and we decided to take Tank with us as a treat for him. On our way back we saw this big guy turning every shade of red as he tried to keep up with a runaway horse.
We thought at first the horse had thrown him because the guy looked beat. But no. The crazy horse escaped his pen and had been keeping just out of reach of his owner.
Greg turned the truck around so we could pick him up and try to head the horse off before he got too close to the road, already crowded with holiday traffic. I jumped in the back with Tank and we stopped to give the guy a lift.
Boy, was he ever glad to see us. I've had to wrangle an assortment of runaways before. Believe me, even when you're in good shape, all that trotting tires you out fast. It took a while but the guy finally eased up on the horse. Thank goodness. I'm sure the poor animal was spooked enough with all the extra traffic.
Boy, was he ever glad to see us. I've had to wrangle an assortment of runaways before. Believe me, even when you're in good shape, all that trotting tires you out fast. It took a while but the guy finally eased up on the horse. Thank goodness. I'm sure the poor animal was spooked enough with all the extra traffic.
***
The winds have been especially fierce lately and lots of grass fires have started. The closest one was less than ten miles away. I always worry. I live in a forest. If those trees caught fire, I'd lose the house for sure. So far all the brush fires we've had in the area have been contained quickly.
We're hoping for rain this week. That'll help a lot.
***
We watched Limitless on Netflix over the weekend too. It was a pretty good movie, even if some of the plot points were tidied up too neatly. In the movie, the hero takes a pill that allows him to use 100% of his brain, making him instantly focused, motivated and aware of everything.
...if only.
***
So what's new at your end? Any movies you recommend? What's your plan for today? If you live in another part of the world, do you also have a holiday set aside to honor your fallen soldiers?
Comments
I am so sorry to hear about your shoulder. I hope you get relief straight away.
Maybe chocolate would help? :)
Too bad Tank isn't a horse herder. (Is there such a thing?)
Linda: Lots of people around here have cattle dogs (also good for horses). But Tank isn't one of them. He prefers a more supervisory position.
We got our veggie garden in!!! Note how excited I am by the 3 exclamation points. Doing some experimenting this year. I bought two cucumber plants by accident. Trying to grow peas and gr. beans too.
Should be interesting.
I'm off to put in a few more peppers into my garden. Apparently, I forgot to plant jalapenos. Oy.
My kids have been asking for chickens. The same kids who don't help take care of the dogs they wanted. Heh.
Clarissa: Just proves I'm not as young as I think I am. LOL.
Rula: Well, at least chickens don't require as much care as dogs. And you get eggs. :)
Bummer Maria, gotta say since 1999 have had shoulder pain a lot since having my roll-over wreck and it can be a real "show-stopper" when you only have 1 working arm. Luckily it is my left and I am right handed.
Runaway horses, been there done that and am glad it is not a part of my life anymore. Those beasts are great animals but they are too smart for their own good about getting loose and playing "keep away" when you are trying to catch them!
Crossing my digits and praying for rain your way, fires breaking out this weekend have been on my mind because of fireworks and right now it is so dry and windy it is spooky again.
Take care and rest your bum "wing".
The weather people say we might get some rain this week. I'm ready whenever Mother Nature is.
I'm sure the shoulder injury is temporary.
Glad the coop is clean. Those chickens just don't know how good they have it :-)
I'll bet that fella thought you and Greg were the best things since sliced bread. You could have gone about your business but you were about the business and simply being the wonderful peeps you are. Plus Tank probably had an extra marvelous time watching everything.
Now when he finally saw the horse... It was all woof-woof-woof.
I've never tried sheep poop in my garden. You'll have to give us an update on how you think it did.
I worked most of the weekend but had Monday off, so I got to relax by the pool all day.
One issue I'm having right now is that 'the girls' are picking on one fellow chicken. They did this once before. I've added 'entertainment' in the form of a few cans hanging from strings to distract them, but chickens seem to be 'quite catty creatures'. Sigh.
Hope your shoulder feels better.
I've had to catch a few runaway horses too. Glad you guys were able to help the poor man out!
Sorry about the shoulder. Hope you feel better soon! And I hope those fires stay away from the homestead. Take care my friend.
Did you get goats yet?
Instead, we played video games and did catch-up work, preparing for the mother in law's visit. Sheesh.
I hope your shoulder feels better soon and that it rains, too.
Nadja: Chickens definitely develop a pecking order and they can be cruel. I've heard some people put the bully chicken in a time-out box. I've taken the bully chicken and put them in someone else's pen. (I have three.)
But the thing that worked best for me is when I let them free range for a few hours. For some reason the bug picking is much more enjoyable than picking on each other. Good luck.
Marguerite: Heck! I was waiting for you to invite me to your house to see your goats. LOL! Actually, we have a line on a couple of prospects. It's been kind of busy so I had to put it off, but maybe I'll make some phone calls this week.
Barbara: Mother-in-law, eh? I think I'd rather catch horses.
Lately I spend most of my days herding toddlers but the weekend, thankfully, was quiet. :)
On Monday, I went for a long walk to the local ponds and reservoirs and watched the baby ducks follow their mamma around. It was peaceful.
Kathy: The coop is well ventilated so the smell isn't too bad. It's only that this time we dismantled and pulled out the long row of nest boxes that made it a bigger chore. I'm glad we did it though. It was spotless when we finished.
Mike: Well, I haven't hurt my left shoulder yet. I'm saving that for a special occasion. :)
Have you finished painting? I still want to see pictures.