Loooong week . . .

Mark has gone back to work - again.  He had to drive clear over to the port at Galveston IN the fog Tuesday night -- but at least he gets to drive that big Expo now.  Much safer.  As for me, I'm still trying to get used to getting up before dawn again in order to feed the horses - and dogs - and cats - before I get ready for work.  The first week after Mark is gone is always the hardest.  But the worst thing this week is that the poor horses are being eaten up by mosquitoes and flies and gnats.  For that matter, so am I when I go out there to feed them in the evening!   So I went out and cleaned out their stalls and cleaned things up in the barn as soon as I got home this afternoon - BEFORE those swarms hit the place.   I guess that will be the way to go for a while, anyway.  But it IS only a week until Daylight Savings Time, so it should be a lot easier after that.

As soon as I got out there this afternoon, though, poor Lizzie came into her stall and stood there next to me while I cleaned it up breathing really hard - almost panting.  Poor girl.  Maybe her hair is so thick that she feels too warm, I don't know.  I HOPE that's what it is.  I think I'll see if I can talk Janet into coming over and helping me shave her down instead of waiting for all her hair to fall out like it did last spring.  I'm going to give her a really thorough, intensive bath this weekend and try and get all that dirt off clear down to her skin, then lock her in her stall until she dries so she won't have a chance to roll in the dirt until AFTER she dries.  That should make it a lot easier to shave her down. 

I ordered Lizzie two "fly sheets" yesterday.  As soon as they get here, I'm going to start keeping one on her all the time.  That way, even if she insists on rolling in the dirt, she won't get muddy enough to feel like a wooden horse anymore -- I hope!  And I THINK her skin will be a lot more comfy. 

I HOPE that makes her feel better.  We'll give it a shot anyway. 

Hey - if it DOES work, I might just get Duke one, too.  He doesn't roll in the mud like Lizzie does, but his hair never gets thick enough that he's protected from bites, even in winter, so maybe that would help protect him.  That IS what they're for, after all.  (It's just Lizzie who's getting one to protect her from mud instead of bug bites!)

And this is not by any stretch the worst she gets -- it's just
the only picture of her "muddy" that I could find at the moment.
She may LOOK "wet" but in fact all that hair is dry and hard as a rock!

But I guess muddy horses aren't THAT big a deal.  I just heard on the news a minute ago that multiple tornadoes are predicted for Ohio tonight.  Please, please let Wendy be somewhere safe.  The news showed a picture of a huge brick church in Indiana that ended up just a flat pile of bricks after it was hit by one of the tornadoes there LAST night, so the fact that Wen lives on the first floor of a brick apartment building does NOT prevent me from worrying!