Winter Riding Woes

This was what my riding arena looked like on Christmas day. The weekend before Christmas we it snowed for 3 days, with a total of 2 feet of beautiful, fluffy snow. Of course, the two days after the snow stopped it was bitter cold--single digits with wind chills well below 0. I wimped out and didn't ride. Then, Christmas Eve day it rained. And, this is what the rain did to all that beautiful snow. Sigh.

Even though he has his winter shoes on, I wasn't going to ride him on that ice. But, I DID get on! Finally. It had been almost 2 months since I got on and I was darn well going to ride on Christmas! All I did was walk around my property, picked our way over some downed limbs. We half passed up and down my driveway. We went a little way up the road, but I was worried about kids with their dirt bikes and ATVs. So, we didn't go too far. But, I got him marching forward with a nice swing through his back. He stretched his head and neck out nicely. When turned him back to the barn, he didn't want to go. He enjoyed our little outing. He's the only horse I've ever ridden that doesn't try to turn around to go home. OK, he does prefer hacking out to the ring work, but he enjoys the ring work, also.

It was so nice to get back on him, even though all we did was walk. I miss riding him. I hope I can get back into a routine of riding. Sunday the temps got near 60 and all that ice melted. Today, we're getting 6-8" of snow, so that will be perfect for riding. Tomorrow is supposed to be pretty cold, but maybe I can bundle up and get a ride in. It will be a good way to start the new year.

Storm Wrapup

The rest of the week was pretty uneventful. With the generator, I was as stressed as I had been. There was some extra work involved in doing the chores, but nothing that couldn't be handled. I continued trying to clear away the broken branches, but we got 2 feet of snow last weekend so there is still alot out there now buried under snow.

I got fairly good at cooking basic on the wood stove. One morning, I made bacon and eggs. with my cast iron skillet. I heated up soups for evening meals. The last morning without power I used up some shallots, gruyere cheese and eggs by making on omelet with my cast iron skillet. So, I really didn't do badly as far as that goes. I'm not sure how much gas for generator would have been used if I had used the cooktop or the oven for cooking. I preferred to make do and conserve.

Lessons learned--be prepared. I need to get an evacuation plan in order. I have 4 horses and just a two-horse trailer. What would I do if I had to evacuate?! Another one of those "it will never happen to me" things, that I now realize COULD happen. Just because I don't live in CA where wild fires and mud slides are common or in the southeast where there are much more devastating hurricanes, doesn't mean something dire couldn't happen here.

Also, I need to get a supply of sturdy rope. I was lucky that only a few top boards on the equine fencing were broken. If I had lost complete sections of fencing, the horses could have been wandering around the neighborhood. Actually, I'm pretty sure the boys would hang around--they know those dangerous dirt bikes are out there. But, the girls definately have the "oh, let's go visiting" personality. On Saturday morning there were 3 cows wandering around on the main road at the end of my street. No one knew where they came from. It sends shivers down my spine thinking that that could have been the horses.

I also need supplies for mending the electric fence. Not as important as the wooden fence, as that's mostly to keep certain equines from eating the boards, but still, that needs to be repaired and if I lose parts of the wooden fence, a few strands of the electric wire will help to safely contain the horses. I need the wire, the connectors, etc. I just have to figure out where to get all these things.

And, keep as much food on hand as I can for humans and animals. The grain storage is a problem here as I can only keep 2 weeks worth at a time. I am considering getting more bags and just piling them up, but I worry about the rodents getting in them if they're not in barrels. I used to have squirrels living in the barn, before I got the horses. Now that I have the horses here and I spend a fair amount of time in and out of the barn, I don't notice the squirrels that much. I did have a raccoon in there one summer--he killed the last of my chickens. :-( I just worry about attracting nuisance animals. I think I will devise a way to be able to store more horse grain and try not to ever get below 2 week's worth of grain. I never get that low on hay. I start to worry about getting more hay in when I get down to about a month's worth.

And, of course, first aid supplies. I was very fortunate that none of the horses were injured by falling limbs. I'm making sure I have a supply of sheet cotton, betadine, standing wraps, etc. The horses were all good about the sounds of all the chain saws, but I think I'm going to get some calming herbs. Especially since I suspect this spring there's going to be alot of brush pile burning and Jeeves does NOT like fires. I'm not sure how the girls will be about that. But, better to be prepared with some calming herbs rather than risk colic from anxiety.

Last--emergency contacts. Make sure people know who lives close by who can take care of the animals so that in case something happens to me, others can be called to step in. I've got a list of emergency contacts in the barn, which I will be updating. I'm going to tell my neighbors about this list, so that if they see that something has happened to me, they can contact someone to take care of the animals.

If anyone can think of anything else, please let me know.

Saved by the Generator

Dave got the generator hooked up and working by mid-afternoon on Sunday. The first thing we did was start scrubbing out the stock tanks and refilling them. Who knew that it would be so exciting to do such a mundane chore?! Unfortunately, the water stopped when Jeeves's tank was only about 1/2 filled. :-( Dave was still here, so I grabbed him and told him what had happened. He looked at things, scratched his head, looked at things, and decided to move the circuit breakers to a different slot in the panel. That seemed to work as the pump started working again and we had water. Dave left. Shortly after, the pump stopped working again. Eeek! I checked the circuit breakers in the barn and in the main panel in the basement. All looked alright. Lights were working. But, not the water pump. I jiggled things. I kicked the generator, I cursed. The pump wouldn't work.

This is when I had my little temper tantrum. I threw myself on the couch and pulled the afghan over my head and tried to escape from life. Unfortunately, life has to go on, the horses need water, and I had to figure out what was going on.

Long story, not so short, the generator is 5000 watts. Which sounds like a lot and should be enough to power the water pump, along with the fridge, etc. George and I checked the few things that were plugged in and they didn't add up to 5000 watts. That is, until we looked at the water heater. The electric water heater. That little monster uses 4500 watts! Aha! The light bulb started to dawn over my head. I have a mixer valve in my basement that mixes hot water with cold for the line going out to the frost free hydrant by the barn. Soooo, as we were filling up the stock tanks it worked fine until the water in the heater cooled off enough that the water heater had to turn on to heat up. Then, that would overload the generator. Dave and Jenn actually drove all the way back out here to look at the generator again. It turns out there is a circuit actually on the generator that had to be reset. Once we did that, restarted the generator, turned the mixing valve so that no hot water was going to the barn AND turned off the circuit breaker for the water heater, it worked fine!! I got all the stock tanks filled up and never had any problems again.

Because the generator sucks up gas, I turned it off over night. In the morning, the first thing I did was throw on some clothes, run outside, and tried to see if I could start the generator myself from a cold-start. The day before didn't really count since it was already warmed up when I started it. The generator is started with one of those pull cords, which I usually fail miserably at. It takes me forever to get the weed wackers started up. But, miraculously, the generator started right up!! I ran back into the house and used the toiled...and flushed!! Brushed my teeth with the lights on!! Oh, the simple pleasures in life. :-)

I then turned OFF the circuit breaker for the pump and turned ON the circuit breaker for the water heater. I let the generator run for a bit over an hour, then I reversed the circuit breakers--pump ON, heater OFF. Then, I took my first shower since Wednesday morning! Oh, the joy! Those cold water sponge baths just weren't doing it for me.

It was a pain having to play with the circuit breakers, but it worked. The biggest thing for me was the water for the horses--everything else was a bonus. After that, I only ran the generator for a few hours a day. Usually an hour or so in the morning, so that I had water for the horses meal, quick clean up and toilets and to cool off the fridge. Then again late afternoon for the same. I would turn the water heater on in the morning and, except for when I showered, it would give me enough hot water to make it through the day with frugal use. Everything in my freezer had already been tossed since it had gotten too warm before the generator got working. But, I put a couple of 1/2 bottles of water in the freezer to see how cool it stayed and running it like that, a couple of hours in the morning and a couple of hours in the late afternoon, kept the fridge and freezer cool enough. So, now I know for the next time, how to keep the food good. I could have run the generator longer, but I wanted to conserve the gas. It took too long to go out and get more gas--the nearest gas station that was operational was over an hour away. Normally, it only takes 20 minutes to get to that station but with the condition of the roads (trees down, hanging over the roads, roads closed, etc.) it took over an hour to get there. It also gets pretty expensive refilling that thing. I didn't use it enough to really figure out how long it would run on a tank (6 gallons) but I'm pretty sure it would go at least 8 hours with the kind of use I was doing. The more watts you use, the more gas it takes. I now have 2 5-gallon containers of gasoline out in the barn (not where the horses are stabled, it's more an equipment barn). So, I am prepared.

My friends have a whole house generator. They have 3 large propane tanks that they use to fuel the generator. I think they can go weeks without power on the tanks they have. There are diesel generators that probably use less gas and therefore would run longer on a tank of gas. I didn't have any choice, I just took what showed up. But, it is good enough for my needs. If I had a lot more horses, I might want to upgrade to a bigger generator. I don't mind some sacrifices. The neighbors across the street have a generator and even when we just lose power for a few hours, they start that thing right up. I swear they can't go an evening without TV. :-( Now, the neighbor down the street is a disabled woman. She's on an oxygen tank and has to have electricity, so she ran her generator all the time. But, for her, it's a matter of life and death, not a convenience.

So, do some research--figure out what you want to have powered if you ever have an extended power outage. Check to see how many amps those things use. That will help you figure out what size generator you need to get. But, definately do some planning ahead of time and be prepared. I'm 50 yo and have never experienced a power outage like this. I didn't think I ever would. Surprise, surprise. I hope I never do again. When we have horses, we need to be ready. I've learned my lesson, fortunately, without any stress to the horses. They didn't have a clue all this "drama" was going on. They were getting fed and had water and were turned out as normal during the whole power outage. That's all they cared about.

Continuing the Cleanup

Saturday dawned bright and clear and very cold. This was good because the refrigerator and freezer were starting to warm up. So, I packed the meats from my freezer into coolers and put those outside, hoping to save them. The fridge contents were, at first, a bit more problematic. I didn't want to put the milk, cheese, and fresh veggies outside as they would quickly freeze. Then, I remembered the closet that is off my mudroom. It's a walk in closet---actually used to be the closet for the master bedroom when the house was first built. Long before I bought the house, the wall for the bedroom had been torn down creating a large front-to-back livingroom. Last year, I remodeled and turned the back half, what used to be the master bedroom, into a new kitchen. At that time, I made egress to the closet through the mudroom. The closet has no heat, no windows and, as far as I can tell, not alot of insulation. It was perfect for keeping fridge items cool. :-) It became my walk-in refrigerator for the rest of the power outage. By the time the power came back on Thursday, everything was still good, including the milk.

I spent the day trying to clear more debris. The going was slow with only a hand saw, but I made some progress. I still worried about the water for the horses. Neighbors with a generator told me that I could get water from them, but I don't think they realized HOW much water I needed. Jeeves will easily drink 15-20 gallons/day. Lance about 10, and the girls will empty their 100 gallon stock tank in about 4 days. That's 50-55 gallons/day. A lot of buckets to fill up and truck back.

Terri showed up in the afternoon and helped with clearing branches and making sure the fence was secure. The roads were terrible--it took her over an hour to get here, normally it's 20 minutes. She took a couple of muck buckets home so that she could fill them with water and bring some water back the next day. That eased my mind a bit, but it was still a worry.

Later in the afternoon, my dear friend, George, showed up--with batteries and drinking water! :-) Not enough for the horses, but enough for me and the house critters.

At the end of the day, we took the dogs for a walk. People had done more clearing along the road, so we were able to go all the way to the end of the road. The damage was incredible, though. Trees down every where you look. The trails are totally impassable. Beautiful to look at with the ice glistening in the late day sunshine, but such destruction. As we were heading back, a truck came along--surprising since we were at the farthest end of the road, past any houses. Turns out the truck was one of the guys who helped build the run-in shed this summer. He had gone in to Boston to pick up a couple of generators: one for himself and one for a buddy. By the time he got back, his buddy had already found one, so he had an extra one. Did I want it? YES!! :-) The Universe came through for me, once again, and supplied me with what I needed.

On Sunday, Jenn (owner of the fillies) and her boyfriend came out and hooked up the generator for me. Since two of the horses here are hers, she has an interest in making sure they can get water. Dave also brought his chain saw and cut up a few of the bigger trees that had come down. George, Jenn, and I loaded the branches into the truck and took everything out to the growing brush pile at the back of my property. By the end of the day, I was exhausted--physically and emotionally. But, for the first time since Thursday evening, I wasn't worried about how I was going to manage. With the help of friends and neighbors, my animals and I were going to be just fine.

Cleaning Up the Mess

I only cried for about a minute. I just needed the emotional release and it was over as quickly and unexpectedly as it started. With a deep breath, I looked around to figure out how I could get my morning cup of tea. The woodstove was the likely method of heating up the water, but would it really get it boiling? Well, I would find out soon enough. I opened up the flu, added some more smaller logs to get the stove burning hot and put some water into a small pot. I didn't want to use my regular kettle as the handle has a rubbery covering on it and I was worried the heat from the wood stove would melt it. It wasn't long before the water reached a rolling boil--perfect for tea. :-) I was set! If I can have my morning cup of tea, I can face whatever the day brings.

I dug a ginger scone out of the freezer, wrapped that up in aluminum foil and placed it on top of the stove to heat it up. That didn't go as well as the tea--the bottom of the scone burned pretty quickly. Oops! It was still good enough to be a go-with for the cup of tea, though. Playing with cooking on the wood stove during this power outage, I figured out that to heat up scones or muffins, it was best to get a rack out of the oven, put that on top of the wood stove, then put the foil wrapped treat on the rack. That way it warmed up but didn't burn...as long as I remembered to turn it and keep an eye on it.

After the tea and scone, I went back outside. I noticed a few of the neighbors out in the street, so I walked back out there to see what was going on. The men were getting their chain saws out and started cutting up the trees and limbs that were blocking the street. I grabbed the cut up pieces and dragged them off to the side of the road. Some of the older kids came out and helped me with the debris removal while the men handled the chain saws. We had to be careful, as there were still limbs crashing down. But, it wasn't long before the road was cleared enough for a car to get through. There was still an obstacle course for the cars to weave around, but it was passable. I didn't even consider venturing out, though. If I went out and something happened to prevent me getting back, who would take care of all the animals?!

I spent the rest of that first day cleaning stalls, and starting to remove the debris from the paddocks. Mostly what I did was get as much off the fence as I could. I used a hand saw to cut up what I could and tried to clean up what I could. I also took the dogs for a walk as far as I dared to go up the street, trying to find a spot where I could get signal on my cell phone. No luck with that.

The most heartbreaking loss is my little Hawthorne tree. :-( I planted that little tree the first year after I moved here, 7 years ago. It's spring flowers aren't much, but the berries in winter are so beautiful. And, in January,when the berries completely ripen, the birds come and eat them in one day. It has such a pretty shape. In the pic, it looks like it's a weeping variety but that's just because of the weight of the ice. The branches are supposed to be arching upwards, not drooping down. I will get a new one in the spring. For now, I just pruned off the branches that have snapped and will leave the rest there for the berries to ripen for the birds.

The worst thing that first day was that after dark, there wasn't anything to do. I had no batteries for the radio. Candles did not provide enough light to read and I didn't want to drain the batteries by using the flashlight. I needed that flashlight to be able to go out to give the horses their bed check hay. No phone. The dogs and cats, while cute and good company are not very good at holding their end of a conversation. So, I took the opportunity to do some meditation and some yoga...in the dark. :-) I have gotten out of the habit of meditation and this was a good reminder for me. I have promised myself that I will make the time to meditate even if only for 5 minutes day. Just a few minutes sitting in the quiet, focusing on my breathing and nothing else. A good way to center myself and focus my energy for the day. Some good comes out of the disaster.

Out of the Darkness

I have just lived through one of my worst nightmares. I live out in the country and am on a well. When power goes out, I can't get water. I heat the house with the woodstove, so heat is not a concern, water is. Especially with 4 horses who consume roughly 50 gallons per day. I have always worried about how I would get water for the horses in an extended power outage.

Last Thursday, the 11th, we had an ice storm. There really wasn't any warning that it was going to be as bad as it was until the evening forecast. The forecast was for a wintry mix, but on the evening news I heard the meteoroligist say that the Boston area and south was going to get 5" of rain. As he said that, it occurred to me that if Boston was going to get 5" of rain, did that mean that my area was going to get FIVE INCHES of ICE?!?! EEEEK!! I knew that would be a disaster! But, at that point, it was already icing up outside, so it was too late to make a run to the store for things like batteries and canned soup. :-(

Sure enough, a little after 8:00 pm the power went out. I discovered that I only had 4 batteries in the house, 2 of which went into the flashlight so that I could maneuver around the house and out to the barn to check on the horses. My radio takes 6 batteries so I couldn't even listen to the radio. Sigh...

I didn't sleep at all last night. It sounded like a war zone outside. There would be a loud CRACK, then a crashing sound as a tree crashed to the ground. I am surrounded by woods, so I was hearing cracks close by and farther off in the woods. A few times the whole house shook. I'm very fortunate that there are no large trees near the house, but I worried about the horse stalls? Did something hit the shed? Were the horses ok? I kept getting up and trying to look out the window but it was too dark and the ice was coming down much too heavily to see anything. I could hear Jeeves outside, he preferred to be outside rather than in his stall and I can't really blame him, although I did worry about how wet he was getting. He had his winter blanket on, but still, he would be drenched.

Morning and daylight finally came. I was greatly relieved to see all 4 horses were fine. No cuts, no one was colicking due to stress. Lance was unnerved and jumpy as a cat, but that's normal for him. I had a couple of boards broken and one section of electric wire had broken, but I was very, very lucky that was all the damage I had. Alot of big limbs and sections of trees in the paddocks, or outside the paddock leaning against the fence. But, not much damage at all.

The worst of it was over, but every once in a while the top of a tree or a large limb would suddenly snap and come tumbling down. I made my way down my driveway to the street and couldn't believe what I saw. Tree limbs all over the road. Trees down. Limbs and trees balancing precariously on power lines. Power lines down. I had to pick my way slowly through all the debris just to get to my neighbor across the street. He had a tree through his living room window. Another one had hit his roof. The power lines had been ripped off the side of his house and siding had also been pulled off.

We couldn't believe what we were seeing. I was completely dismayed at what I was seeing. I knew it was going to be a while before the power was back on. The stock tanks were pretty full, so I knew the horses were good for water until Sunday probably even Monday morning. But, then what was I going to do? I made my way back to the house, sat down on the couch and burst into tears. I have never felt so alone and so isolated. And, I hope never to feel that way again.

To be continued...

Dutch's New Home

In July of 2007, I got an e-mail about a male Malinois in the RISPCA shelter. I went down there to check him out and found a scrawny but sweet dog. I pulled him from the shelter and brought him home. He was depressed, confused...can't blame him. You live with someone for 4 years and then get dumped in a shelter--I'ld be depressed and confused, too. However, his sweet nature became apparent pretty quickly. I fell in love with him, although the last thing I needed was a third dog. And, I would have kept him, but Riley, my 12 yo male, hated him. I had to keep a close eye on the two of them to make sure Riley didn't attack him. Plus, his energy clashed with Riley's energy and they fed into each other's hysteria. So, I kept him listed for adoption.

It took a long time, but the right home finally came along. A young couple who had lost their last Mal to cancer a little over a year ago applied to adopt him. They have no children, which is a good thing with him. I think he would be OK with kids, but he gets excited and would knock them over. Plus, he gets excited and barks and might scare friends of the kids. So, he needed to go to a home with no children. They don't mind that he's middle-aged and they weren't concerned about all his medical issues. While he was with me he was diagnosed with hypo-thyroid and allergies to all sorts of things. Easily managed, but alot of people didn't want to deal with it. Which is fine. It has to be the right home for the right dog. I brought him down to to meet them and they loved him. Last Thursday, Rebecca came and picked him up and took him home.

Apparently, he's settling in well. I miss him terribly, but it's much better for him to be in a home where he can be King. And not have to worry about Riley attacking him. He can play with his toys inside the house, something that I couldn't allow here because Riley will try to hoard the toys and would attack Dutch if he tried to play with any. :-( Things are alot quieter here, which I do appreciate. I am enjoying the calm. Lyca misses playing with him. But, I do miss that handsome face that was always there whenever I turned around.

This is the hardest part of working with animal rescue. Letting them go. But, if you don't let them go, you can't help the next one that comes along. It will take me a while to recover from Dutch--he was a special one. I will take in another foster...eventually. Hopefully, a female that Riley will tolerate better. :-) For now, Lyca and Riley are getting extra hugs and lots of treats.

Cold Morning Fright

Yesterday morning was the coldest day of the year so far. It was a very brisk 8F when I bundled up to head out for my morning walk with the dogs. Brrrr! I'm glad I had dug up my fleece lined jeans from LL Bean. Those things are great, but I could have also used some thermals under them.

After walking the dogs, I fed the horses. Lance was there, whinnying to me as I walked from the barn to the boy's stalls with their grain. I dumped his grain, then went in to Jeeves's stall and dumped the grain in his bucket....then I froze. Jeeves didn't move. He didn't come over mug me for any carrots or mints that I might have in my pants. He didn't come over to eat his grain. He just stood there up against the center partition. Then, he swung his head around and nipped at his flank. Eeeek!

I will admit to a brief, self-indulgent thought about how much I wanted to go in to the warm house and sit down by the wood stove with my morning cup of tea instead of deal with a sick horse. But, one look into Jeeves's worried eyes and all selfish thoughts quickly left my mind. He pawed a bit, then swung his head around to nip at his flank again. There was plenty of manure in the stall and he had eaten most of the hay that I had given him the night before. Knowing that there was not an immediate emergency, I went ahead and fed the girls, then brought hay back to soak for Lance to eat while I took care of Jeeves. By the time I came back in to Jeeves's stall with his halter and lead, he was over by his feed tub. I offered him a piece of carrot, which he half-heartedly nibbled.

On went the halter and I led him up to the frozen arena to hand walk him. Did I mention how cold it was yesterday morning? Did I mention there was a stiff breeze and the wind chill was well below 0F? I pulled my hat down lower over my forehead, pulled the gator up higher over my cheeks, leaving just enough room for my now teary eyes. Soon, I had little icicles on my eye lashes to match the little icicles on Jeeves's whiskers. :-) The sun was just poking up over the horizon and there were enough clouds to make for a beautiful, bright orange sun rise. At least it was beautiful, despite the cold.

By the time we made one lap around the arena, Jeeves was gently nudging my shoulder. Another couple of laps and he was nipping at my coat sleeve. I changed directions (hey, have to be symetrical, even when handwalking!) and after a couple of laps he was bouncing around at the end of the lead, calling to Lance, who was quite put out about NOT being put out. The girls started screaming in their paddock because the boys weren't out and they couldn't flirt with them over the fence. I'm glad it was a weekday so my neighbors were awake and heading out to work.

So, with Jeeves obviously feeling better, I brought him back to his stall where he started eating a flake of hay I brought him. I decided to leave him in (with access to his in/out paddock) until I saw that he passed manure, just to be safe. Then, I went in the house, stripped off all my layers, fed the dogs and cats and curled up next to the wood stove with my very delicious cup of tea. It tasted so good, especially knowing that Jeeves was feeling better and being able to look out the window and see him munching his hay in front of his stall. He passed manure about an hour later, at which point I put the boys out with more hay and he's been perfectly fine since then.

It's time like this that I both hate and love having him in my backyard. I hate being the only one to find a sick horse, to be the sole person responsible for figuring out what to do. But, I am also glad that I am able to care for him myself, much easier than if he were somewhere else. I've been at barns where the owners will get a call to come down and take care of their own horse. Unless the horse is in a crisis mode, no one will do anything until the owner gets there. So a mildly colicy horse will be left in a stall where he might get worse. A little handwalking immediately, as I did yesterday with Jeeves, might resolve the situation without the need for any further intervention.

This little incident was also a reminder to me to check my emergency supplies. I wasn't sure if I had Milk of Magnesia handy. I do have one syringe of banamine, which I would not give unless my vet told me to. I do need to get some banamine paste, just to have on hand.

I was nervous about going to be last night. But, their stalls are not far from my bedroom window. Despite the cold, I always at least crack my window at night, so I hoped I would hear something if he took ill. But, I awoke this morning, threw on my fleece lined jeans and trotted right out there to see that he was standing outside in the snow flurries, looking peaceful and relaxed. Phew. It was still bitterly cold this morning, but it was a much better start to the day.

Still Alive...

Here I am. I'm still among the living. Here's a pic of Jeeves looking rather moose-like with his winter coat coming in.

Today is the first time in several weeks that I feel human. Work was crazy. I was putting in 70 hour weeks, which, on top of basic animal care, doesn't leave time for much of anything else...including sleep. I was supposed to be on vacation Thanksgiving week, but had to work. It was even looking like I was going to have to work on Thanksgiving day, but fortunately, we got a break with the project and not only did I get to take the Thanksgiving weekend, but I got to take my vacation last week.

However, just as I was starting to recover from being overworked for so long, I came down with a nasty head cold. Ack! So, instead of catching up with a lot of my chores around here and getting back on my poor neglected horse, I spent far too much time on the couch. Today, I still have a stuffy nose and some sniffles, but I'm feeling relatively human again. And, of course, today I'm back at work. But, I should be able to work a more normal schedule of 50 or so hours/week instead of the intense schedule I did through November. And, no, I am not paid hourly, I am salaried, so I earn the same no matter how much time I put in,

I hate to complain, since I am grateful to have a job when so many have lost so much. But, I do hate it when I have to put so much extra time in to it. While I don't hate my job, I wouldn't say I love it. I work to support my animals, as I'm sure many of you can relate to. I don't mind working hard, but I also want to spend time doing the things I love to do in life--ride, play/train with my dogs, garden, and sometimes just relax on the couch. A few months ago, someone I know on one of the online forums I frequent obnoxiously called me an "underachiever" because I'm not in the top 15% of wage earners in the country. That did make me think for a bit. I know that if I had applied myself a bit more throughout my life, I could easily be making much more money. But, would I be happier? Not a chance. My happiness and my sense of success comes from so much more than just how much money I make and how well I do my job. A wonderful ride on my horse gives me so much more satisfaction and elation than the completion of a project at work. The soft nickering of my horse as I trudge through the snow with his bed check hay brings me so much more contentment than a happy customer at work does.

The backside of this is that, while I do earn a good living, I spend most of it maintaining this little farmette for the critters. I have a small pool of savings. I've been scared to look at my 401k balance since the market took the dive in September, so I don't know what I have left in there. If I lose my job, in this economy and at my age in this high-paced, youth oriented industry it would likely take me quite some time to find another job. I could lose all that I have worked so hard for. But, if that happens, I will deal with it. I will still have the satisfaction of knowing that I did achieve my dream and lived it for a few years. How many people never even get that? How many people don't even dare to dream?

So for now, I turn my attention back to my job. But, I hope to catch up with the horsey blogs that I've been neglecting as well as get back on Jeeves as soon as the mercury rises above the 20 degree mark. Maybe tomorrow will warm up enough.