Week ending already ...

Okay.  Where did I leave off?  Tuesday, I think.  On Tuesday Mark worked his butt off finishing up the changes in the barn to make it possible for me to care for the horses WITHOUT having to bend over and stress my back again while he's gone.  Then he headed out at 6:30.  And it has worked out wonderfully!! . . .  He installed automatic waterers, plus pipe bars that I can hang their feed buckets on so I don't have to bend over and pick them back up.  And he added a pipe "hook" where  I can hang those giant buckets we got them for that Chaffhaye stuff they will be eating come rainy season.    

He even arranged everything to match each horse.  In Ladybug's stall the automatic waterer is on one wall with a bucket containing all the salt she loves so much, while her feed bucket hangs on the opposite wall by the door so she can't dump food into her water bowl (and she would if they were next to each other - she always did at Al's).

Bug with her one "cocked" ear is checking to see if any cookies are arriving!  There's her feed bucket just inside her door -- NOT near her waterer.

In Lizzie's stall, the waterer and the rack for the feed bucket are on the same wall since she does NOT try to rinse out her mouth each time she takes a bite of food like Bug does!  She does, however, drop food on the floor, then Duke comes around later and tries to pick it up.  So there are mats underneath everyone's bowls to keep Duke from eating gravel!  Duke is so bad about what he eats.  Yesterday I saw him standing by one of the live oaks out in the pasture and when I walked up closer I saw that he was eating the acorns! The boy is HOPELESS! 

Lizzie's stall

Then on Wednesday, we had another rain.  I brought everyone inside, so I needed to give them all hay -- which required bending over -- which was NOT good.  (I'm going to ask Buddy if he will move some bales from the porch over into the barn so I can open bales at chest height until Mark gets home.  That'll be MUCH better.)  Anyway, I'm glad I was scheduled for therapy again today.  I sure needed it.

Okay.  Thursday.  What else today?  Started the day with an MRI at 7:45 AM.  Mark asked me if it bothered me to go into that tube thing.  Nope.  I guess I'm not claustrophobic -- didn't bother me in the least.  Don't get me wrong.  I wouldn't want to go spelunking or anything.  But it's  NOT like the MRI machine would collapse on you or anything.  

Okay.  MRI in the morning.  Then all the paralegals at TPBP  had lunch at Juban's for paralegal week -- which was actually last week, but hey . . . it was SO good.  (Had the leftovers for dinner tonight, too.  Yum.)

After work I had to run by a nearby vet's office and pick up some Science Diet for Boo and Rocky, then race home in time to meet a welder at the house to get an estimate for re-doing  those interior stall doors.  You can see what they look like  now in that picture of Bug above.  Full height steel mesh.  What we plan to do is cut them in half so they are only half as high.  That way we will be able to open them from EITHER side.  Now if you happen to go into a stall from outside, there is no way to get on through into the barn, only back outside.  It could be a real problem with a less-than-gentle horse to end up trapped inside a stall with no way out.

The welder said that after he cuts the door in half, he will cut a slit in a piece of pipe and weld that onto the top edge so that if a horse rears and comes down on the gate they won't be hurt.  He's also going to put new hinges on them and prime and paint them -- something they really need.  They were used on a dog yard for a decade, so they've begun to rust even though they were primed when we got them.  

Once the welder left, I fed the horses, then jumped in the truck and headed for physical therapy at 6 PM.  Whew!  Got home, ate, fed the dogs and turned the horses back out, and now I'm heading for bed so I can get up early and drop Joey off at HIS therapy, then put in some extra time at work to make up for leaving early today and still leave in time to get home early tomorrow since Zoilo is coming to trim everyone's hooves.  After that, I'm going to run down to Tractor Supply and pick up 5 new mats while they're still on sale, then  tomorrow Buddy is going to smooth out the dirt outside each stall door, shovel some of the gravel inside the stalls out over the dirt, then put mats on top.  That way even when it starts to rain continuously, the horses SHOULD still be able to head into their stalls without sinking into the mud up to their knees!  

And of course once Buddy gets the mats out of my truck tomorrow, I have to go BACK to therapy again.  

You know, I think once Mark comes home I'm going to try and change the therapy schedule and see if I can go in BEFORE work on Tuesday and Thursday and go early on Saturday morning, as well.  I feel like I never really have time to rest anymore since I have to be over there at 6 PM weekdays and 10 AM on Saturdays.  

Anyway, one thing at a time.  

What now? 


NOW it's time for bed . . .

(Joey obviously thinks so too.)