Tears and Times to Remember

Well, the last couple of weeks have been hard ones. We lost two beloved pets in one week.

Our old dog Snowflake was 17 years old and going deaf and blind. My husband adopted him form a friend when Snowflake was about a year old. He was a great dog for sixteen years - having fun running, playing and being loved.

Recently, poor Snowflake was incontinent, vomiting a lot, and sleeping more than normal. There were so many times we would be in the yard and he would just walk aimlessly around, like he was lost. Probably mostly in part to being deaf and blind...He had done so well up until last year. It seems as if Snowflake aged overnight. My husband and I had started asking ourselves if it was "time," and we both agreed it was.

Snowflake

I dropped my oldest off at the bus stop Friday morning 2 weeks ago and pulled into the driveway. I was looking to my right at Sam coming out of the shed and didn't even see Snowflake. I just heard him yelp and felt the bump. The sick feeling in the pit of my stomach was unbearable. Shaking and feeling nauseous, I climbed out of the van terrified of what I was going to find. To my relief, he wasn't dead, nor was there blood. He just couldn't stand up. It looked like I had hit his back leg. Sobbing, I ran into the house and grabbed some towels. My other 2 children were thankfully still asleep, so they had no idea. I ran back outside and wrapped Snowflake in the towels to keep him still. It took me several tries to dial my husband's cell phone number - I was crying and shaking so hard I couldn't get the phone to work. It was horrible. My husband rushed home and took Snowflake to the vet. There were no choices this time; he had to be put to sleep. We knew it was time, but I sure didn't want him to go like that. The images of him struggling to get up are etched in my mind and the guilt of hitting him just won't go away. I am so thankful none of our kids were with me though. They took the news better than I expected. All three talked about how much they would miss him, but they knew he was really, really old. My husband buried Snowflake by the barn in a nice quiet, shady spot. His feisty, yet fun-loving personality will be greatly missed.

My parents still have the 3 puppies we rescued last October in South Carolina. These little guys also had a rough start to life. They went from this:

to this:

in no time at all. Boots, Max and Sally have grown and matured into fun, playful, loving dogs; although quite destructive...They have completely stolen all of our hearts.

My husband and I kind of kicked around the idea of adopting Max, the only boy of the 3. He loved to play fetch and got along really well with our kids. We still needed some time to think about it though, as Snowflake's loss was still so fresh in our minds.

Then six days after I hit Snowflake, my Dad called to break the news about Max. He had been struck and killed on the dirt road in front of their house. As expected, that news hit like a ton of bricks. Max was only a year old. He was the one who loved to play ball and always carried a toy around in his mouth.

Max

He was such a sweet, sweet pup.

Two losses in a week is really hard to stomach. I find myself spending more time loving on our dogs Daisy and Sam and our kitties K.C. and Stripes. Go hug you pets and your kids...becuase you just never know....

More Progress!

This past weekend was an amazing gift - the weather cooled off to the low 80's with low humidity, which is absolutely unheard of in these parts in late August. Normally, this time of year it is in the high 90's with very high humidity. It is so hot and humid, it can be hard to breathe and you have the potential to sweat to death. But not this weekend. This weekend was awesome and we had family in town willing to help put up fencing. Since I was helping drive a few metal posts in the ground, I didn't take any photos of the work party, but you can see from the photos that my husband worked incredibly hard on the wooden fence:

B put up 17 sections between Saturday and Sunday. Sunday he had no help - our extended family had gone back home while the kids and I went to my parents' house to bathe the horses and treat Filly's sweet itch.

The progress was great - with the help of my parents and B's Dad and brother on Saturday, we were able to put up all of the metal posts along the trees and ditch. To complete the fence, we lack 13 sections of the wooden fence and approximately 8 metal fence posts.

Hopefully the next projects will be bringing in some more dirt and sod to try to repair the damage done to the hill last year after the bad rains and finishing the pole barn...I'm so ready! :)

Progress

My husband is so tired of my nagging, he decided he would start the fence rather than shooting me. :) We still have a long way to go, but there is progress!

It is beautiful and will go well with our property.

Since it is a two-rail, we'll be stringing hot wire between the rails to keep little Tonto in. He currently lives behind a two-strand electric fence, so it won't be new to him.

Anyway, just wanted to give a quick update on the wonderfully sweet progress! My hubby is digging the post holes by hand, so he really deserves a big hug.

The kids have been helping, too - so this is turning into a great family project!
I'll keep you posted as I am able to.
Thanks for visiting!

New Additions to the Fam

If you have been reading this blog for a while, you know that I am an undeniable animal person. Horses are kind of my fav, but I can't help but love all animals. And animals in need are particularly special. My dear Molly kitty, who was a stray, has been missing for a year now. We've discussed getting a new kitty, but I just couldn't say yes...until....

My daughter's preschool class had an end of the school year party at a local park the end of May. After climbing all the way up the steps of the slide, my daughter yells down to me, "Hey Mommy! There's a kitty up here!" Another Mom climbs up to check it out and discovers a very sweet, very pregnant kitty.

Since she was covered in fleas and ticks and begged for food during lunch, it seemed as if she were a stray. I knew I couldn't take her home with our impending beach trip, so another Mom took pity on the kitty and took her home to foster her until the kittens were old enough to be weaned.

"Hey Mommy, I think this kitty swallowed a beach ball!!!"

My husband and I discussed the prospect of adopting the momma kitty off and on for the six weeks she was residing in the foster home. I wasn't sure if we (I) were ready for another kitty after the heartbreak of losing Molly.

We went to visit the momma kitty and kittens last Sunday....and of course fell in love.

A and B loving on the momma kitty.

Her foster family called her "Daisy," but we already have a dog named Daisy... A wants to name her "Rainbow..." who could say no to that face?

We'll have to give some thought to a new name for the Momma kitty, but the boys have settled on the kitten's name. D wanted to name her Hershey and B wanted to name her Stripes, so we had to combine them: "Hershey Stripes."

It's nice having kitties in the house again - and they seem pretty happy to have a home.

I Really Am Still Here!

Boy, life just gets so busy sometimes that the things I enjoy doing get put on the back burner - such as this blog! Well, let's see, the last update was in March, I believe. Since then, we finished one wall on the barn, so a little progress there.

Inside of barn - future feed room and tack rooms

Outside of barn. The overhang will house my husband's dad's antique car.

Baseball season started and we were completely immersed in baseball from the end of March through the end of May.

The boys both played extremely well and D (below) even made the Rookie All Star Team!

My beloved Maggie turned 31 years old on May 8th and still seems to be going strong. This photo doesn't do her justice - it was from early spring before she shed out. She is slick and shiny this summer.

The first two weeks of June we escaped with my family to the beach (Tybee Island) for a glorious and much needed vacation. You would think after 2 weeks at the beach you would be ready to return home, but we weren't! I think we could have easily stayed 2 more!!

Tybee Beach cottage - this cottage is 102 years old!

My 92 year old grandmother joined us for a few days, and she is a truly remarkable woman. Sharp as a tack and lovely as ever. We are so, so blessed to have her.

Grandma and our family

At the top of the Tybee Lighthouse

D and his boogie board

Whoops!!!

SHARK!!!

A just reached into the surf and pulled out this baby shark - just kidding...my Dad was fishing and caught it. It was A's job to release it.

A few of the shark's teeth we found on the beach

The day before leaving for the beach, my parents found a kitten in their burn pit. The momma kitty must have been in the process of moving the kittens when my parents and the dogs happened upon the kitten. Since the kitten was feral, she had no plans of leaving the protection of the wood pile, so my Dad meowed like a cat until the kitten came out and my Mom grabbed her before the dogs got to her. She was so little; maybe 5 weeks old at the most, so my parents brought her to the beach.

Meet Tybee:

After returning from the beach, we celebrated D's 13th birthday. It is so hard to believe he is already a teenager! Still as sweet as ever at this point, but not sure what will happen as the hormones start raging...He will begin junior high as a 7th grader this year. Keep us in your prayers, please. :)

The Rookie All Star Tournament began the 3rd week of June, so for two weeks straight, D was playing baseball 3 - 4 nights a week!! Their team ended up in a very hard-earned second place, making us so proud!

And here we are, already well into July...hotter than a firecracker and humid as all-get-out! Filly has started rubbing her tail again, as well as her ears. We have fenced in a large paddock with no trees that she can rub on. Hopefully if we keep her doused in fly spray and treated with Swat, she won't completely mutilate herself like 2 summers ago. There has been no time to ride, so the only horse-related things we have done this summer are bathe and brush them. I've decided to offer Filly for sale, but I'm going to be very picky placing her. She has to go to the right situation or she'll just have to continue to be a pasture ornament. Selling one of my horses is like selling my children...and it is rare that I ever feel like selling my kids. :)

Anyway, we are still here, doing well; just as busy as ever. Still hoping we can get the barn finished one day before the kids are grown... :)

Sigh...microsteps

Still nothing going on here as far as the barn. It is getting closer to spring, and I begin to get antsy about getting the barn done and the fencing up. It is so hard to be patient. We poured concrete the end of September in 2007 and put up some of the studs along what are to be the feedroom and tackroom that same year.

The hill is still heavily damaged from the torrential downpour we had after grading the hill and putting down all of the topsoil. One area up near the barn has a good stand of bermuda grass, but we need grass all over the hill. Hubby said he would see about bringing in more topsoil and seeding again. This time we will possibly sod some areas and put netting over the rest of it to prevent washing as much as possible.



The area that washed the worst might become a shallow drainage ditch which we could line with sod. You guys provided some great suggestions to combat future erosion problems, now we just need to figure out the right approach.

Most of the hill is still bare. Because this is fill dirt, nothing will grow in it. Topsoil is a must and is not cheap.

Another photo of the errosion:

Here's the pole barn...it is amazing how quickly things become delapidated when they just sit. How I wish I was good with a hammer and pouring concrete.

For now it is the waiting game. It is hard when you and your spouse don't have the same dreams and ambitions or ideas about things. I need to be better about helping my hubby fulfill his dreams and ambitions and quit nagging him about mine.

Maybe one day it will all come together. I just wish it was before the kids were grown so they could have the same privilege I had growing up with horses. Now I wish I could outgrow the "horse thing" and put it behind me. I've tried, even selling my very beloved horse Hamlet right after my husband and I married. My parents have been kind enough to buy Tonto and Filly so the kids and I could enjoy them as often as we are able, but they are getting to the point that they won't be able to care for them much longer. It's frustrating.

On another note, Sam is still doing great. He has an appointment to be "fixed" on March 19th...don't tell him though!

Sam and Daisy have matching coats! I guess my husband and oldest son really are surrounded by red heads!

And here's old Snowflake...as soon as it is warm enough, I'm taking this poor guy to be groomed. This fellow is about 15 or 16 years old now and his age is beginning to catch up with him.

Enough of the pitiparty! Hope all of you are doing well and thanks for checking in.

Old Photos

My Dad has been going through some old photos recently. You see, many wonderful years ago, he started a small horse magazine called Horsing Around Alabama. I had the privilege of riding to different farms with him for photo shoots of Alabama horse people. It was so amazing who we got to meet!

Here are some treasured photos from two different articles published in the magazine. These first photos are of Susan Wainwright and her beloved horse Winston Himself. Susan is an avid eventer, trainer and teacher who lives only miles from where I grew up. If I remember correctly, she competed in the Pan Am Games at least once, if not several times. She is a very accomplished rider and has been very successful at the higher levels.

She is pictured here sporting a safety vest. Susan is a huge advocate of the safety vest, as she was wearing one when one of her beloved horses had a heart attack while jumping cross-country and fell on her. Susan's life was spared because she was wearing a safety vest. It wasn't long after this article was published that I was fitted with my own vest for cross country. (It was pink and green!)

Susan is posing with Winston Himself, who sadly went to Heaven last weekend. He was 38 years old! Susan competed Advanced on Winston, I believe - but I know for a fact she loved him more than words can express. He has been a part of her life for most of his 38 years.

The photos below are of the amazing artist, Nan Cunningham. I grew up riding with her daughter, so I had the privilege of getting to see Nan's art first hand, as well as get to know her as a friend. She is a lovely, lovely person. My Dad asked her to be a featured artist in the magazine, so she came to our house and created pastels of Buck for publication. The pastel she is creating in the photo hangs in my parents' house.

The dog in this photo is Spot. Spot was a stray that adopted us before we moved to Pike Road. (We love our strays!)

Nan did a second pastel, the one I talked about in my post: http://pikeroadgirl.blogspot.com/2008/08/in-memory-of-buck-1973-august-25-2001_27.html.

Please check out Nan's website: http://www.nancunningham.com/. She is an incredible artist!!!!

My Dad is a wonderful photographer with such an eye. (He passed that gift on to my oldest brother, who also takes extraordinary photos.) My Dad has documented so many precious moments in my life and in the lives of my children. Thank you Dad, you are so appreciated!!!!