Farm injuries, laundry issues, Chase, Maggie

Mama and Victoria arranged for a farrier to come to the farm to trim the hooves of the horses. Rain has never had her hooves trimmed and they were in bad shape when we got her. We were waiting until the foal was born to do the work so the timing seemed right. However, with the move to the mobile home there have been other things to coordinate – like the move of the internet service to the new location; which happened to coincide with the farrier visit.

Grandpa, who believes the horses should not be penned up unless someone is fooling with them, let the horses out while he was making his rounds, not knowing what Mama and Victoria had been setting up for their care. Well, it turned out to be a challenge to get Rain to return to her stall after she had been grazing for a while. In her displeasure she kicked Victoria hitting her on the right elbow. Victoria said it was pretty painful but did not seem to be urgent. We will know more today.

Toi, who was thoroughly confused in the commotion, ran through a fence in her desperation to get away from whatever unpleasant thing seemed to be going on. I am not sure if she injured herself any, but I do know it upset the morning. I think each animal was cared for properly and finally allowed to get back to pasture. Victoria’s double injury will heal but I am not sure she has any more romantic notions about owning a horse.

We have been disappointed by promises of help that never came through, conflicting instructions from those who wanted to appear knowledgeable but did not really want to get involved and memories of horses past that do not seem to transfer to our current herd. Victoria has not really invested herself in the exercise and it is frustrating to see her tepid interest when we did much of this for her; frankly, I am not sure what she is interested in. In her defense, she has been bitten once and kicked once by Rain, so that may have dulled her enthusiasm.

I think, after the move, everyone is so worn out that individual enthusiasm is at an all time low. Maybe getting the air conditioning installed today will lift their spirits.

Mama and I are without a washer and drier so she had to go to the laundromat yesterday. One of the washers she used appears to have been used to launder some pretty soiled clothing, but Mama’s good white blouses seem to have cleaned most of the residue from the grease stained unit. One blouse is completely ruined; the other two may be salvageable. I am never sure why that does not happen in the load of jeans rather than in the load of good clothes.

She was so frustrated she had to go to Wienerschnitzel and buy an ice cream cone to drown her sorrows. Fortunately, the kind woman manning the laundromat took the grease stained items and washed them over in a series of cleaning agents to try to restore them to service. It was a brave effort but sadly short of the mark.

Chase sent us some graduation photos. They are pretty good. It looks like they had a great time taking them. Mama and I were impressed by how much some of the kids in the school there have grown. It is one of those “I knew you when” moments – especially for Mama. I always expect them to grow up, but for some reason it shocks every woman I have ever known.

Maggie called early yesterday. She was on her way to get her husband; nervous, excited, both chiding and laughing at herself.

It would have been fun to watch that reunion.