hqueen's collection of Far From the Usual stuff.

[hqueen13]

Heh, one of the common remedies is beer, for the horse! Not sure I will go for that... I think that habit could get expensive pretty quick! I have also heard of the rubbing alcohol, but I haven't tried that yet, I need to check with my body worker and see if that would affect his skin in the same way it does people - its really drying. Its not a healthy thing to rub it all over. In an emergency, I could see that, but I'm not sure I would want to do it on a routine basis. Still doing more research to figure out what works and what the options are. Ordered about $250.00 worth of more supplements, darn it something better work! I am not big on supplements either, but whatever works I guess... Acupuncture is also supposed to be good for them to help stimulate more sweating, and we do have a holistic vet in the area that I think I am going to call. She can also run bloodwork (not sure for what?!) as well, so we'll see...

SSDreamin - I was firing several AR type rifles and a shotgun. I put 10 rounds through the pump shotgun, which is a LOT for me. I'm a small person (my avatar is me in my winter layers, LOL), and the guns rest RIGHT on my collar bone. I should post a picture of the bruises the first day. They are ALMOST completely gone, and it has only been 4 days down! I love all my goops! Yay! Silly thing is that now that I'm healed I keep thinking I want to do it again!!! If only I didn't have to take off of work to go shoot with E. It is too much fun and I want to get better!!

 

[hqueen13]

I managed to get him fully trace clipped yesterday, and it is a high clip. There is still a LOT of real estate I have to finish, but that will wait until tomorrow!
H texted me in the afternoon and said he was drooling SO bad from the clover slobber that she put a bucket in front of his stall. Of course, he keeps moving his head, so the bucket had some in it and the floor was DRENCHED too.

I think I did a pretty good job for never really having clipped anything before... LOL. So far as I can tell it is even, thankfully you can't see both sides of the horse at once!

(I think he's standing a bit down hill, even though it doesn't look like it. It is much more level when he was in the barn!)
And this is the aftermath:

A disgusting combination of slobber and hair fuzzed all over the floor. I tossed a bunch of sawdust on it to try to help absorb, and even then I had trouble cleaning it up! Good grief!!

I have decided that the trick of using Show Sheen on the horse rather than worrying about lubrication on the blades is AMAZING. Thanks a TON to my riding instructor for that tip! She commented that she buys the stuff by the gallon and that is the only reason why! Liquid silicone sprayed onto the hair makes the hair slippery and keeps from clogging up the blades. I am only using a little set of clippers, borrowed from PH, nobody had full body clippers. When KN said that was how she did all the horses in FL, little clippers and Show Sheen doing a bit each day, I figured it would work. The clippers have not even gotten warm! I have also been listening closely to the buzz to make sure they are staying cool, and they've been dandy!

I am losing hope that the mister that attaches to the hose that I ordered will arrive tomorrow since I haven't gotten the shipping confirmation on it yet. I pray it is here soon so I can get it installed and help cool him down even more. That barn gets really stuffy, the tiny windows just don't help the air move enough.

I have to stop this afternoon and pick up the next batch of used jars that I got off of Craigslist. I am SO glad I finally posted a wanted ad on there. Both of the ladies that have contacted me have done so because of it. Its a little more than 11 dozen of varying sizes for $70.00, which is fair enough. Picked up some lids yesterday at walmart while we were there, that way I have new lids. Now I just have to figure out where to store all of these things!

We just got slammed with the $1600.00 bill leftover from his surgery NINE months ago. Very frustrating that it takes the insurance company that long to figure this crap out. Either you're covered or you're not. The other half was joking that he'd call them up and tell them he'd pay them 9 months from now since it took them so long to figure this out... Wish we could! This is not good timing for extra bills. He does have his flex account, so he can burn up what is left, then I suggested that he try to get the payments as low as possible when he calls them, and stretch it out so that when his flex account rolls over in Jan we can just pay off the balance on that tax free. We'll see what they say.

Oh, and I saw the first power bills come in the mail to the center Not a good day for bills yesterday!

As a result we're trying to get some of this stuff wrapped up and sorted out to sell used things. I need to get on top of also trying to figure out how to sell some of these lotion bars and home made things. Any and all suggestions are welcome. Suggestions are great, but the thing I need most is to buckle down and start making some products so that I have something to sell! Not that those things are going to make us much money, but anything is better than nothing... I just feel like the money stuff is piling up... planning a wedding (funded by us), getting my dental work done, bills, etc, etc, etc..... Not fun at all!

 

[the funny farm6]

i hear ya on the bills. we got our a/c electric bill today, went from @ $100.00 to $300.00

i hope your horse feels better soon! my donkey is SOOOO bothered by flys during the summer, they bite his legs till he has blood running down his legs. and he hates flyspray, so it is a big battle all summer to catch him and spray him. and even then it only lasts an hour or so. so i smear vasaline on his legs.

 

[hqueen13]

WHOA! That is a big jump! I had to put a piece of mail in the office today, and saw the opened mail from the power company lying on the desk, it was the notification that they transferred the power to the equestrian center starting the 18th of July. So we'll have to see what the first month looks like. I just pray it isn't much!! Having the little window units running due to the half power issues is probably saving us money over running the full a/c unit. Wonder when true zone heating and cooling will become a bigger reality.

Yikes, poor little guy! I wonder if the fly spray might be burning him if his skin is raw? Thankfully Storm has gotten to the point where he really behaves for most things. Yesterday I clipped him with the rope thrown over his neck and completely untied. I never had to pick up the rope to correct him, either. It just takes patience and a LOT of gentle persistence to teach horses (and donkeys! ) those sorts of things.

 

[the funny farm6]

yes i am sure it burns, which is why i swich to the vasaline. but my fly spray is apple cider vinager, water, and dawn dish soap. but it still has to be uncomfortable. and he HATES to be sprayed!

we have 2 window a/c. one is in my bedroom and is a small 110 a/c it cools my bedroom and the bathroom. the other is a huge 220 unit- the biggest you can buy, and it was here when we bought the house 6 years ago. not sure how old it is. we should probably replace it with a energy effeceiant model but we just dont have the extra money right now. but the big one does the rest of the house. the kids are sleeping on the couch now and keeping their bedroom doors shut.and i turned it back down- i looked at it the other day and they had it on full bore!

 

[hqueen13]

Well, I finished clipping him today, and there didn't seem to be any more flies on him than before. We'll see how it goes. I can always make up a spray with my essential oil recipes (I really should do that anyway...) if he needs it. I've been really lazy this year and haven't made any. None of it seems to do a sufficient job anyway.

 

[Denim Deb]

Biting insects are horrible this year!

 

[hqueen13]

They are, Deb. Was at my boss's farm today feeding his guys, and there was some of those nasty BOMBER flies, you know the HUGE ones... DISGUSTING! I must have seen half a dozen just moving the horses in and out of the pasture, which is all of 20 feet from the barn (open the gate, let horses walk in, shut stalls wait for them to eat, open stalls, shoo them back into pasture). It has been bad!!

 

[hqueen13]

Whew, after the insanity of yesterday and then the annoying energy of tonight, it has been a rough few days. I am looking forward to relaxing this weekend and spending some fun time with friends!!

Here's Storm's new hair cut:

Can't really tell much in the photo, but I thought it was a cool shot of him anyway. The colors came out kinda cool.

Hilarious comment one of the part timers was bringing him in after I started to partially clip him, and came to the barn manager and said "Storm's changing colors!" She didn't touch him to realize that he'd been clipped

Got the mister in the mail, and was all excited to have the time to get it set up by myself tonight. Started getting it out and following the directions like a smart person, and went to connect the nozzles and found that half of them are cracked. I put one on anyway thinking they were maybe supposed to be that way... yeahno. Squirts water out every which a way. None of the walmarts have any in stock that are close to me, so I'm not sure how long it is going to take to get that turned around. I REALLY wanted to have this hooked up ASAP, but oh well. Best laid plans and all. The GOOD news is that H texted me today to let me know that he was SWEATING today! Silly thing, but it is a REALLY good sign that he isn't so far gone that he can't sweat anymore at all.

Tomorrow morning I'm going to get out early and work Storm to try to help stay fit and work off some of the energy of being in the stall all week. He is handling it REALLY well, not pacing or anything, but I still want to make sure that he's getting some work so he doesn't go stir crazy. I just hope he isn't pent up because I am not prepared to deal with that! Then we have to run errands, swing by the gun shop, and get home to do some cleaning before E comes over for dinner. Sunday we're going to a steel plate shoot which should be a blast to shoot something other than paper. We'll see how I do with that...

Sitting here watching whatever the heck is on because DirecTV has messed up. Thankfully he called back and has renegotiated and now we're going to get a new upgraded HD DVR and they're coming out to reset the dish tomorrow afternoon, and all we have to pay for is the $20.00 to get the new DVR. As opposed to the first person the other half talked to that basically told him we'd have to buy a new $200.00 receiver and that was all she could do. GLAD we are getting that fixed the crappy part is we're missing the Olympics

I hope this goofy energy is DONE because I do not want my weekend to be like this!!

 

[hqueen13]

Managed to get our directv straightened out. The guy was only more than an hour late. We ended up eating dinner after E got here while he was still working. He did come up with a creative solution for us to put the dish at the back of our yard, which should be clear of obstructions in the line of sight for quite some time! All we need to do is take the tractor and trench it a little bit to bury it and we'll be good to go. HD is soooo much clearer than regular TV, lol We got a satisfactory deal, so I am ok with this. And now I can watch the olympics!!

Went to the steel plate shoot today, and had a BLAST. Determined that I still struggle with the handgun, I flinch before it goes bang which means I don't hit targets. :-/ E helped me a little bit, but there really wasn't time/place for training, which I am cool with. I know what I REALLY have to work on. However, the 22LR is a whole nother animal....I TORE it up. I think my best time was under 5 seconds with targets and 5 shots. My next best run was a 9 second set of 5 shots that included a mag change. I LOVE shooting that little gun. It has been christened the Pip Squeak and it is SO appropriate! I know what I've got to work on, now it is just a matter of trigger time and focus to do it.