Weekend report

I'll tell you what -- I'm going to go back to work and rest tomorrow! 

Let's see -- we got up at 4 AM Saturday morning and drove up to Kentwood to pick up Arthur.  Whew!  We got over to Jan and Mike's by 8 AM, but it was already incredibly hot.  In fact, it was so hot that Jan didn't want to ride.  So we unloaded Arthur and he spent the morning in one of their paddocks while we hung out INSIDE where it was cool.

They've got their master bedroom renovation almost finished and it is just beautiful.  I didn't take any pictures this time but once it's all the way finished I WILL be taking some because it is just GORGEOUS.  Very Moroccan.  You HAVE to see it.  I did get pictures of the door that's going to be installed as a sliding door to the master bath.  I've never seen anything like it.  It really fits that Moroccan style.

Here's that unique door - it was being stained while we were there Saturday.

Close-up of the bottom half

Close-up of the top half - hard to get since it was leaning against that porch post!

Anyway, we finally headed home about 2 o'clock.  Darned good thing our horse trailer is white and can be opened so air blows through while you're moving because it was 100 degrees at that point.  Poor Arthur!  Once we got home we put him in that large front paddock and he's been kept locked in there away from the other horses so far.  Zoilo suggested he stay locked away from Duke and Lizzie until he gets used to the idea that I am in charge.  He protested mightily at first, kicking at the wire fence and hollering big time.  So the first thing this morning Buddy hauled another of those heavy steel panels up, and that combined with a very large extra gate we had sitting out there, has made the fence between his paddock and the rest of the place secure now.  It's VERY heavy duty.  So he has stopped throwing fits and seems to be relaxing and looking pretty content -- although he does call out when he sees Lizzie move out of the adjacent paddock to the pasture.  But he IS home again anyway, and he will be staying there in that paddock until I have a chance to ride him at least a few times. 

As for Duke and Lizzie, well . . . we put up 90% shadecloth panels over both the west-facing stall doors so both their stalls are MUCH cooler  now.  And they seemed to figure that out right away - they were in there most of the time during the hottest part of the day.  That's really good.  Glad they figured that out so soon. 

Today Lisa gave Duke a good bath, too - that was the first he's had in a couple MONTHS (poor guy!) - and he definitely seems much more comfortable.  (And he DIDN'T roll in the dirt afterward either.  Good GOOD boy!) 

Of course he also started getting Aloe Vera in his food this morning, as well.  Yesterday when Jan and I went shopping I picked up a couple gallons of Aloe Vera juice since she's been giving it to all their horses for the last couple weeks and it seems to have had a positive effect on all of them!  So I bought some to see if it might stop Duke from kicking himself in the tummy all the time (I thought he might have some sort of ulcer or digestive problem causing him to do that, and that the Aloe Vera might help). 

And I've read that horses with Cushings almost invariably get ulcers so I wanted to try it for Lizzie as well.  Since it's been so hot, it's been very hard to get her to eat, and consequently to take her medicine.  Last night she had refused to eat at all - just turned her head away when I brought her feed bucket in.  So she was the first to try the Aloe Vera.  I put a few ounces of it in there and then took the bucket back to her.  Once she got a whiff of it, she perked up immediately and started scarfing it down!  And as I moved over to hang it on her rack she never took her head out of the bucket!  She LOVES the stuff. 

Then this morning I put some in everyone's food.  I doubt that Arthur actually needs it, but still . . . might as well see whether it has any effect on him.  But whether it does or not, he sure loves the taste of the stuff -- as does Duke.  So we'll see how things have gone after a week or two.

Okay.  So back to the weekend.  Once we got home with Arthur Saturday afternoon, we came inside and took an hour nap and then about 5 Deanna got here.  As I think I said earlier, she was going to preach here in Baton Rouge today.  So once she got here yesterday evening, we all went over to Roberto's for dinner, then we spent the rest of the evening catching up since we hadn't actually been in contact (except on Facebook) for a couple years!  And she is doing SO well.  I'm was so happy to hear that her life has become so much of what she has wanted it to be.

So then this morning, Mark and I got dressed in decent clothes (something we seldom do these days!) and went over to the Unitarian Church to hear De preach.  Mark looked great - he's lost SO much weight lately.  HAD to take a picture or two!

De's sermon was terrific.  She is such a liberal intellectual!  What more could we want!

Then not long after we got home, Buddy and Lisa came by to help us with everything - INCLUDING dinner!  I'm telling you, Buddy is definitely spoiling us rotten!  He is an absolutely superb chef!  When I first met them I never would have imagined that that would be the case.  He always seemed like a real cowboy to me!  Who knew!! 
  

And while they were here, Lisa gave Duke a good bath. I sure appreciated that.  He not only LOOKS really good again, he actually seems to feel a lot better now.  Not sure if it was the bath or the Aloe Vera, but hey -- who cares.  I'm just so glad to see him happier.  And I haven't seen him kick at his tummy today either.  Hope that stays true! 

Still haven't gotten the shadecloth fixed to hang up on the back porch yet though.  Haven't got a hole punch that will work on that heavy shadecloth and we need one in order to install all those grommets.  So . . . putting it off AGAIN.  (Poor roasting kitties.)

So at some point I'm going to have to go find a working hole punch, as well as go buy the paint and handle hardware for those sliding shutters.  I do have a little while to get the paint, though, since David isn't going to install them until the first day Mark gets home next time.  I think I'm going to paint them a deep blue/teal color and buy some black paint to mix in with that color to use in the grooves he's going to put in so they will look like they're made of boards.  I do have a sample of the color I like, so I'm sure wherever I decide to buy the stuff they'll be able to mix the color I want.  The hard part is going to be finding that hole punch - one that will actually work on that shadecloth.  The darned things work on anything stiff, but that soft stuff is very hard to punch. 

Oh well -- for now, I'm just going to go down and feed the dogs and then collapse into bed.  It was a lovely, lovely weekend, but not NEARLY as restful as they generally are!  Not even CLOSE!