I haven't actually fallen off the face of the Earth..

I've just been busy. I know I'm way too busy when I haven't even got the energy to turn on my computer when I get home..which is why I haven't been posting as diligently as usual. It's been a very stressful and tiring couple of months for all of us out at the farm, and every single one of us is pretty frazzled. Frazzled, but hanging in there. Sue and I take turns having little melt downs, and the other one props her up while it happens, then we (as my old mom used to say)"buck up" and go on with the task at hand. We were all tired even before Phaedra had Buddy, and after she died we had him to raise, and we've never had to look after an orphan foal before, with all that that entails. It's been a month of broken sleep, worry and sadness, but there's been lots of good stuff too. Buddy is thriving, and we've got a good system for feeding him set up, so he can nurse from the Calfeteria bucket whenever he wants to, so now we can fill the bucket at around 11 p.m. and leave him with his milk, foal-lac pellets and hay, and not worry about him overnight. We still feel so badly for him, not having his mother, but remind ourselves that he doesn't know what he is missing, and this is just the way life is for him. We're really hoping that once we get Kismet and her boy (nicknamed Teddy)into the paddock next to Buddy that she might get used to him enough to let him join them in the big paddock at some point. Failing that, we're going to see if his grandmother Jubilee might foster him. She was such a good mother, and she loves the babies..when we put Teddy and Kismet in the arena Jubilee was just about beside herself trying to see him.

Kismet is doing much better now that Teddy is here. He was such a big foal that it's taken a lot out of her. Her arthritis in her hocks flared up, and she's been very uncomfortable, trying to lie down a lot to take the weight off her hocks. We put her on regular doses of 'Bute, an anti-inflammatory, and today she's almost back to normal. We've been worried since she came home that we would find her lying down and not able to get up; last night I was there alone while Jack and Sue went out, and she was so close to the wall of the stall I was afraid she'd get herself stuck. I managed to pull her around enough so she could get up..thank heavens. So we're happy to see her feeling better now.

The weather hasn't helped, it's been such a cool and rainy few months. We haven't even opened up the field; the grass is so long and it's been too wet for horses to go out on it. We don't want anyone getting colic from eating all that rich wet grass. This time last year Midnight and Kyra had been in the field for over a month!

I got home last night really late, around ten o'clock. I was tired, but not ready for bed, so I started cooking..always therapeutic for me. I made a dish I just invented: a mashed potato pie crust (an idea I got from a cookbook). I took mashed potato and chopped onions and pressed it into a pie shell, making a thin crust, then baked it for 45 minutes until it was crispy. Then I filled it with a mixture of mashed potato, cheese, broccoli, onion and eggs and milk, and baked it for about 20 minutes. It was brilliant. Really tasty, and real comfort food. We had it for dinner tonight, and Sue promptly asked me to do it again this week. Next time I'm going to add in some mashed squash.

I have to work in ICU tomorrow, doing 3 day shifts this week. It's getting late so I'm off to bed. How sad is it that I'm actually glad I'm going to work? It's a break from everything else, kind of lets me recharge.

Speaking of recharging, I have pictures of Teddy, but my camera batteries died, so I'll have to show them to you later.

Oh, crap. It was my brother's birthday yesterday. Totally forgot about it. Better send him an email before I go to bed. I'm a bad sister. LOL.