CHORE DAY

Mike is still in Virginia and will be for at least another week. The first week was HELL on him. His dad and sister had got things started, but nothing was rolling yet. So things were frustrating and then there was the differences in reality. Mike has called me completely exhausted every night. I get angry because I disagree with the path and the progress. Being Mike's sounding board is frustrating for me, too. But it's not my mom, and I'm not there, so my opinion is of little value.

Mike is the type of guy who shows up, assesses the situation, then takes charges and heads down a path. As of Thursday, everyone was on the same path and in agreement, funeral arrangements have been made, extended family notified, the baby brother on his way, and they are all prepared to say final good-byes.

Because of the stress and emotional crap he's going through, I'm not feeding Mike any information from home. Things are "bad", but there have been a few little bobbles that normally I would have talked to him about. I just don't feel he needs the extra worry.

Against my judgement, people from work are feeding him updates. I know he needs to stay "in the loop", but come on people! Ok, enough about that.

Gotta love El Nino! Aside from 10 days of COLD (got down to 2 degrees), this winter has been wet, but not unpleasant. This weekend highs are supposed to be 45-50 degrees, and over-night lows are around 35 degrees.

Did I mention that it's been wet? Normal year-to-date precipitation is .71". Current year-to-date is 1.85". So you know what that means.... I have mud. Not the ankle deep sucking slop that they have on the west side of the state, but mud just the same. Which means that the horses feet aren't drying out.

So today, after the babies finish their breakfast, I'll turn the horses out on pasture, then I'm going to break out the tractor and drag the muck to the other end of the runs. I'm also going to get a load of sand so I can put it in the stalls and just in front of the barn. Ahhh...manual labor! I can use the scoop on the tractor, but I still have to shovel it out of the truck bed into the scoop.

The last time I did this, I asked my friend Candice (who works at her dad's quarry) just how much the sand weighs. She estimated between 4400 and 4600 pounds. Oh goody...the prospect of moving 2 tons of sand by shovel. Gotta love it! The daughter is here so maybe she'll help...

Mike had asked her to watch out for me, as if I'm some wilting violet, and she took it to heart. She checks on her cat during the day while I'm at work, but the rest of the time, she's here at the house keeping me company.

I received a book called "Where the Blind Horse Sings" by Kathy Stevens, the founder of Catskill Animal Sanctuary. I read it last night. If you haven't read it, I totally recommend getting it and reading it. The book echos so many other thousands of stories across America from the wonderful rescue work that people do. I heard it echo stories from right here outside my backdoor.

I received the book in the mail from my friend Michelle at Katies Coast to Coast. She'd read it and thought of me. Michelle leves several hours from me and if I'm lucky, I get to see her a couple times a year. We sometimes e-mail, but mostly don't, and have only talked on the phone once. I love Michelle! She is one of my most favorite people in the whole world. She is beautiful and loving and caring and one of the nicest people you may never meet. She has some really cool stuff, so when you get the chance, visit her website and see perhaps there is something that she has that you just can't live without. Tell her that I sent you! I don't get any kick backs, but I want her to know that I'm thinking about her.

Alright kiddos... I'm off to get some fuel for the tractor, then start my chores. Blessings to you and your furbabies (I love that term!)

Oh... I came across pictures of Kaci (Kaci's Friend), my very first unassisted rescue and rehome. I sent an e-mail to his new human, Kim and requested some pictures. I got these this morning in my e-mail. He's a wild man, isn't he?