Flashy, Dodger, Cori’s Birthday, news about my dad

Mama told me Sunday that Flashy had gotten hurt somehow. She had a tear right at the top of the hoof and was limping badly when she saw her Sunday evening. She called Wes who came and took her to the vet yesterday. It turned out to be less damage than he had first expected but the vet said that the wound was at least three days old. Mama was amazed because we had been tending to her on Friday evening and Saturday morning and did not see anything out of the ordinary.


Wes was not the least upset. He explained that horses are like all other animals; they get hurt. Flashy, he told Mama, has a real bad tendency to eat on the other side of the fence and has gotten tangled up in a fence in the past. It will probably happen again. The vet was able to patch her up without it costing too much so Wes had them run a pregnancy test – and she is pregnant. She will foal in the spring. For now, Wes is going to keep her close.

Grandpa and I worked a little on the forms for the apartment last night. He had worked most of the day for a local realtor so he was as worn out as I was but we did get the forms leveled. We also checked if they were square. To check for square you measure diagonally across the form. As it turned out, we are off by less than a quarter of an inch. That should help when the walls go up. Both of us were pretty relieved that the measurements came out so well. We are still on the schedule for Thursday for the pour.

My guineas went walk about again. I can’t blame them. The dog will not leave them alone. Dodger we are able to call away when he looks like he wants to chase them, but the two big dogs will not interrupt their train of thought regardless of what we do to stop them. The birds will probably be back after a couple of days but I do not know what I can do to help them. I am concerned about how to keep them through the winter.

Victoria was up at 5 a.m. this morning; somewhat because of her cough, but mostly because Dodger was restless and hurting. He has an ear infection that we cannot seem to get rid of. We assume it itches him constantly, which would be a bother to any of us. Victoria put the prescribed medicine in the ear and finally let him outside. I hope she and Mama got back to sleep.

Today is Cori’s birthday. Happy Birthday, Cori!

I think Mama got the card in the mail but it requires far more planning here than it has anywhere else we have lived – since the last time we lived on a farm. We will eventually get the hang of it but for now it is a “learn as we go” routine – especially for Mama. Add to that Mama’s desire to placate Grandma’s constant neediness and you can understand her distraction. Don’t get me wrong, Grandma is a big help to us. She is also a big consumer of emotional energy.

We are routinely getting ten eggs per day. With seventy eggs per week on average we have been giving the excess to the Bible Institute located in Bowie. Right now there are three families and two single ladies in training there along with the regular staff of three or four families. It is our little mission’s project to share our abundance with them. I am not sure how far into the winter the hens will continue to lay, but we will continue the practice while we can.

I called my dad last night to see how he was doing. He is undergoing chemotherapy for prostate cancer so he and Mom are driving to College Station (about a three hour round trip) five days per week for the next four weeks. Mom said the treatments take only a few minutes per visit but they get little else done each day when you figure in travel time and waiting room time. She sounded worn out. They talked about coming over for a couple nights after the treatments are done so we can show them the farm. I asked Grandpa about taking his truck to drive them around the property. He agreed, of course. Then he told me he had never taken Grandma around to see the farm either. She has no idea what we are talking about when we talk about the big pond or the lower pasture.

We can easily take care of that – and we should.