What did you do today?

[Nanno]

I'm not sure where to find leeches this time of year in Colorado, so I went to the ER where alas, they declined to prescribe leeches. I was hoping I'd at least walk away with a nice raw, green steak to slap over my eye, but they didn't prescribe that either.

I feel like I should watch Rocky tonight. Isn't there a scene during the big fight where his eye swells shut and they slice the lower lid open with a razor blade?

[Charlie Horse]

In times like these and the news of the current year, I miss Hi-Ho-Barron. A toast to him. I hope his goats are doing well.

[Nanno]

I miss Hi-Ho-Baron as well. Strange to think we went and visited him just four months before he died. He wasn't looking too hot and had a nasty cough. He had beautiful horses though, and it was a lot of fun to meet him and his goats. He also died just before Trump won the 2016 election. He'd have been so pleased! He loved hanging out here and in our chatroom, which alas, I almost never visit now that he's gone. I'm pretty sure he died while he was waiting in the PGC chatroom. He often sat around there until someone showed up. We should try to use it more often!

[IdahoNancy]

Nan I'm glad you are otherwise ok. Skiing and biking have been to blame for my broken bones. I had double black eye last year after a skin cancer surgery. It took about 2 weeks for the bruising to go away. Fortunately we were all hiding out at home anyway due to the virus. My poor husband was afraid what people would think if I ventured out in public.
Today I am sitting around doing nothing, got my 2nd Covid 19 vaccine yesterday. Feel a little under the weather today as expected with the 2nd injection. Got the goats out for a good walk yesterday knowing today I would not feel like it. Got permission from a new neighbor to cross their land. It increased our walk from an 800 foot climb on a 90 min walk to an 1100 foot climb in a 2 hour walk. I love climbing, it is low impact and has cardio exercise build in. We have no snow here where I live in North Idaho, so weird.

[Nanno]

I know a lot of folks are happy to escort 2020 to the door, but Phil has been saying that 2021 will saunter in, look back at 2020 and say, "Here, hold my beer!"

The first week of 2021 certainly proved exciting for me! In almost 42 years of life I've never once had to visit the emergency room, so this past Thursday night was a momentous occasion. 

What happened was this: 

See this lovely, sweet, innocent creature? 
   

His name is Pepperjack and he really is a very good horse. He turned two this past summer and I started riding him in October. He's been as sweet and kind and obedient as any horse could possibly be and has never offered to misbehave. I've been riding him bareback in the cold weather because he has a lovely, wide, warm back with nicely padded withers. His spine is nestled down in a divot with large, soft rolls on either side. He's the perfect bareback horse! 
   
   

It was around 3:30 the other day and since I don't feed until around 4:00 I thought I'd hop on for a quick jaunt. I have a long, sloped driveway and we were about 1/3 of the way down when Pepperjack started to trot. No big deal, but since he's such a youngster he definitely has difficulty slowing down or stopping when he picks up speed on a downhill slope. I pulled back in hopes of slowing him before he got rolling too fast. Well, just at that moment my other horse Dusty, who was very angry to see us leave, took off with a tremendous, snow-flinging buck on the other side of the fence. It spooked Pepperjack and he bolted down the driveway. There wasn't enough room to turn him in that narrow space between fences, and when I pulled on the reins, instead of gathering his weight onto his haunches, he just leaned on them for balance. Since I had no saddle and we were going downhill, every time I pulled on the reins I ended up pulling myself up toward Pepperjack's neck, which threw his weight even further forward. Gripping tighter with my legs also made him run faster. It was a no-win situation. I was very worried about the patches of ice we had to cross. I didn't move a muscle on the slick spots for fear of making him go down. 

We were rapidly approaching the end of the driveway and I wasn't sure what to do. If we went straight across the road we would hit the barbed wire fence. Our driveway has a bit of a left hook at the bottom so I figured our best bet would be to veer left and try to keep running up Clennin Road. If we could make the turn we'd have a level runway and even some slightly uphill road where we could recover our balance and hopefully stop. Also, Dusty wouldn't be able to keep encouraging us to race because the bottom of our pasture has a lot of brush, rocks, and trees that would force her to slow down. I thought it was a good plan so I looked and leaned left in preparation for a sharp turn at high speed. 

Problem was, Pepperjack didn't get the memo. For one thing, he was on his right lead so he wasn't really prepared for a sharp left turn. For another thing, there was a ditch of water at the bottom of our driveway which I think fixated his attention. Instead of turning, he kind of jolted in a straight line. It was too late for him to stop at the water, but it sure made him look and since by that time I was fully committed to a left-hand turn, I had no hope of staying with him. I flew off to the left and if I'd just let go I think it would have been an easy fall. I hit feet-first and rolled over, but unfortunately the accident didn't end there. I was clutching my reins so tightly that I forgot to unclench my fists when I fell. Pepperjack kept running and I got dragged right underneath his flying hooves. My head and back got pummeled all over and unfortunately I got dragged primarily on my face like you see in the cartoons. 

Pepperjack came to a screeching halt at the barbed wire fence about the same time that I remembered to let go of the reins. I was laying in the ditch on the opposite side of the road from where I'd fallen and I nervously took inventory. I felt pretty banged up--especially my head (thank goodness I was wearing my helmet!)--but I was alive, I was conscious, and nothing seemed to be broken. In fact, once I got up I was surprised to discover that I wasn't seriously hurt at all except possibly my face. I was bleeding rather profusely from my left eye. When I forced it open I could still see but my vision was blurry (probably from all the blood I assured myself). I caught Pepperjack, who was standing next to me looking even more shaken up than I was. I believe both of us were thinking, "What the heck just happened?" I led him back to our driveway, scooped up a handful of snow, and plastered it over my bleeding face. The snow turned red almost instantly and I had to get a fresh scoop. In fact, I had to get several fresh scoops before the bleeding subsided. 

I didn't want this experience to be the one we ended with, and since I wasn't seriously injured I hopped back on Pepperjack and we walked up the road a ways. He was a little rattled, but going on about our original business as though nothing interesting had just happened seemed to calm him down pretty quickly. I knew I needed to get home though. My left eye was rapidly swelling shut and there was still blood dripping from the corner. I rode back to the bottom of our driveway then got off so as to avoid another mad rush if Dusty tried to race again. Besides, I needed more snow. My face was numb by the time I got back to the house and the bleeding had slowed to a trickle. I put Pepperjack away and got the goats into their pens. I knew Phil would be off work about this time and we could head into Pueblo as soon as everyone was fed. 

I took off my helmet and it was cracked across the back. I guess I'll be needing a new one! It's always sobering when you look at your broken helmet and realize that could have been your skull. I've had that experience more than once and I almost never throw a leg over a horse without a helmet any more. When I finally looked at myself in a mirror I was both worried and relieved. The blood was coming from a deep split at the outside corner of my eye, but the eye itself looked ok. My vision was still blurry on that side but the eye appeared undamaged. I suspected I might have broken my eye socket (a suspicion that later proved true), and I was also concerned that I might have swelling and/or bleeding in my brain. I grabbed a bag of frozen corn and a cold, wet washcloth. I went upstairs to get Phil who was still in a meeting with one of his coworkers. He looked at me and when I took the bag of corn off my face he turned white as a sheet, stammered something unintelligible to his coworker, and switched off the computer. He wanted to call an ambulance but that was out of the question. It looked nasty, and yes we needed to get it checked out, but there was no huge rush. I had both ridden and walked away from this accident and I was still alive half an hour later. We did chores and headed off to the hospital where they did a CT scan and confirmed that there was nothing seriously amiss. The doctor stitched the split next to my eye and prescribed antibiotics to prevent a sinus infection from the broken eye socket. 

When they asked me, on a scale of 1-10, what my pain level was, I was pleasantly surprised to be able to honestly reply that it was only a 2 or 3. It really wasn't too painful--nothing compared to the pain when I tripped over a rock on Thanksgiving Day and landed thigh-first on a tree root. That was more like an 8, and I still have a large, hard, numb knot on my thigh from that accident. Nevertheless, a nurse started dispensing pills into a little cup and she said, "I'm going to give you some drugs for the pain." When I asked what drugs, she replied, "Tylenol and hydrocodone." 

Hydrocodone!! Seriously?!? I had just told her that my pain level was 2 or 3--not 12!! I declined the medication. Tylenol does nothing for me and I don't care to find out what hydrocodone does. Besides, who wants to pay hospital prices for pain meds? I had Aspirin and Ibuprofen at home and I could wait that long. 

So I have a beautiful shiner that will provide a nice conversation piece for the next week or two.    
   

However, in order to avoid grossing people out, I have adopted a pirate patch for those times when I venture out in public. Yaaarrrr!!  
   

Last night it seemed appropriate to watch this movie: 
   

I'm really glad that 1.) I did not break my nose, 2.) I do not do this for a living, and 3.) No one had to slit my eyelid open with a razor blade!

[Saph]

Wow, Nan, what a story!  Glad you are OK...and good for you for "toughing it out" until you could get medical attention!
As a child, I was in love with horses & wanted one when I grew up.  Although I occasionally ride friend's horses, I have no longer desire to own them.  Goats are much less likely to cause serious injury!

[Nanno]

I had a very nice ride on Pepperjack this afternoon--our longest ride yet actually! I rode him down to the post office and back, which is about six miles round-trip. He's been that direction a few times before when I ponied him off my other horse, but we haven't gone that way since last spring, and I've never ridden him that way so it all felt very new to him. Pepperjack was more rattled than usual but that's not surprising given the excitement of our last ride, and the fact that I've almost always ridden with a friend, and the fact that he really hasn't been out more than a handful of times since Thanksgiving. I haven't ridden him along the road much and never toward town where things are busy (well, busiER--this is Rye after all). He did very well with all the cars and trucks, barking dogs, blowing plastic bags, manhole covers, cows, a mule, prancing horses, deer, and even some wild turkeys! He stopped and looked a lot on the way out, and he spooked at a few things but he's clearly not a runaway, or a bucker, balker, or hothead.

We had several opportunities to practice trotting downhill and transitioning to a walk or stop on a slope. With stirrups it's so much easier to help the horse rock back and balance himself on those forehand-heavy transitions! When we got back to my driveway, Dusty was racing around, snorting, and kicking up snow in all directions. Pepperjack got high-headed and a little prancy so it was the perfect time to initiate an intentional spook. I reached back, picked up the empty saddlebag, and slapped it down hard on his butt. He bolted immediately, but this time I was ready for him. I had stirrups to brace against and we were going uphill, so Pepperjack was set up to succeed at slowing down this time. And he did slow down. He didn't respond to the reins as quickly as I'd have liked, but when I said "Woah!" he stopped almost immediately. I tried the exercise again but the next time I slapped the saddlebag he just trotted a few steps, and when I kept slapping it he stopped on his own accord and looked back at me with an accusing glare that said, "Well now you're just messing with me!"
Every horse I ride has to get used to being messed with. 

[Nanno]

The weather finally warmed up today! Well, it actually warmed up earlier this week, but again it was too muddy to do anything. And then we had a surprise snowstorm Thursday night and woke up to 4 inches of heavy, WET snow. Friday was warm and gorgeous, but it was too muddy to do anything. But today the roads were dry enough we were able to take Finn and Sputnik and their carts and head down to the golf course for a little drive! I think it's been about a year since we've driven them. All the parades were canceled in 2020 and it was such a busy summer with saddle club and everything that we just never got around to driving goats. I was afraid we might have a little trouble getting them to work, but they were awesome!! Sputnik trotted right off with a word. I barely had to use the reins at all. He was completely in tune with my verbal commands. Phil and Finn had the easy job of following behind me and Sputnik. 

It wasn't until we got near the end of the loop that I had a touch of trouble. I decided to steer Sputnik down a side road and he wasn't too keen on taking a detour when the truck was in sight. We got a little way down the road and a very vicious-sounding dog started barking and snarling and running up and down its fenceline right next to us. That decided Sputnik. He turned around and tried to make off for the truck. I couldn't convince him to get back underway so I had to get out of the cart and lead him. Phil and Finn passed us up and showed us how it was done. On the way back I steered Sputnik into a puddle on the side of the road and he didn't want to do that either, so once again I had to get out and lead him. Finn was a good boy and walked through the water the first time Phil asked. At the next puddle Sputnik walked through like I asked. 

When we got near where the truck was parked, I decided to drive around the back side of the golf clubhouse and once again Sputnik wasn't interested in taking the scenic route. Phil and Finn had to lead the way while I got out and led Sputnik to get him started on the correct path. He was naughty enough that I took him on one more detour while Phil and Finn went back to the truck. Sputnik wasn't a happy camper and at some point he backed us up into a cedar tree, but I gave him a few sharp whacks on the backside and that straightened him out. We made it all the way to the end of that road without any more balking or trying to turn back, so I got out, gave him some cookies, and led him back to the truck. 

While I was giving Sputnik his extra homework, Finn and Phil were giving a ride to one of the old golfers who had shown a keen interest in us when we'd started out. He had plied us with a lot of questions and watched our entire hitching up and driving off procedure. He had followed us down the road for a quite a ways in his golf cart. He was intrigued enough that he waited for us to come back around the loop. He looked like he could really use a ride, so Phil offered him one and he had a great time! Also on our loop, a man brought his young grandson out to see the goats and carts. He told us he'd just moved there about six months ago and that he'd heard rumors about some people who sometimes drove goats around the golf course road. He'd been watching for us and was very excited to bring his grandson out to see. I let the kid feed Sputnik some cookies and Phil took him for a short ride in Finn's cart. It made their day. And it made my day to know our goats have reached "legend" status. You know your goats are famous when people see them for the first time and already know who they are! 

[Nanno]

It's the start of spring and it seemed like a good day to change the banner and look forward to warmer weather. We keep having more snow, and since we ran out of firewood a few days ago I'm getting a little nervous. Our propane tank is almost empty due to a gas leak in the water heater line that went undetected long enough to deplete our tank. Unfortunately we don't own our tank and the company that did own it got bought out by AmeriGas recently, and AmeriGas won't come out for at least 2 weeks, so I'm a little concerned we might run out entirely. I cut some scrub oak the other day but somehow managed to overheat my chainsaw in the process. The engine is fine but the plastic housing melted on the inside--a problem I did not discover until I tried to remove it to replace my dull chain. I managed to pry it off with a screwdriver but of course it wouldn't go back together so now I'm down a chainsaw and faced with as much as a month left of winter weather and almost no firewood. It's been a looong winter! I did not expect to start burning wood as early as October and still be burning every day in March. I've burned five trees since January. I'm a little bit ready for spring!

On the plus side, all this cold, wet wether has given us a bumper crop of grass! Little green spears are coming up everywhere! I sowed some seed around our yard before the last storm and I bought some more to fill in the rest of the bare patches left by last year's drought. Hopefully it will be a green summer!

[Nanno]

Oh, and I forgot to mention something funny that happened yesterday. Governor Polis declared March 20th to be "Meat Out Day," meaning a meatless holiday for Coloradans. Well, I live in a ranching community and that declaration did not sit well with the locals, let me tell you! Some of the local ranchers got together and donated enough beef to hold a huge "Meat In Day" barbeque free of charge to the community. They took donations for the local FFA and I'm guessing they raised thousands. They couldn't hold it in any of the local parks because of Pueblo County COVID restrictions, so they had it in the hardware store shopping center parking lot. The place was PACKED. We had to park way up on a side road and walk over. They served almost 1000 burgers in a couple of hours before they ran out of beef. Apparently a lot of other communities did the same thing, so I guess Governor Polis is a good meat salesman.