Where have I been???

Week before last it was hot, humid and miserable (dog days are here) outside so I pretty much stayed inside....ugh! Flies are still horrible for the boys, even going out to take the dogs to the bathroom is bad, the B52's dive bomb you. I swear I can see no earthly reason for them to be alive, bastards!!!

Now on to last week, still miserable outside and Friday I mowed for almost 2 hours then picked beans to can. I also pulled the bean plants and picked off what was left of the beans so that took a lot longer. My back was killing me when I got finished, came in the house and fell on the floor trying to get the muscles to relax. Then had to cook supper so I was beat, decided to work on the beans on Saturday.

Spent all morning snapping and cleaning the beans then the rest of the day canning. All that work for 18 quarts of beans....I am starting to think that buying them in the store is sounding better and better! That evening a friend of hubby's came and mowed the hay. Husband was going to be had another inner ear infection or something that was making his balance so that he could hardly walk let along get on the tractor.

Sunday I picked tomatoes to can, not too many to pick, for some reason the tomatoes aren't doing so good this year. Only had one canner full so it didn't take too long.

Monday husband decides he is going to tedd the hay, still dizzy but sometimes husbands are very stubborn and do things they shouldn't. He had to stop several times because of the dizziness but did get it finished. We did stuff outside all day; when I was finished cleaning the barn and feeding I started for the house, got all the dogs gathered up to go in. I headed for the shower and noticed that Petey was acting funny and had something on his face. I wiped it off, got in the shower and didn't think any more about it. When I got out I noticed he had something on his face again. On closer inspection it was a brownish liquid that seemed to be leaking out of a spot where his whiskers are and he had what looked like a scrape by his nostril. Hum, his face is swollen too and it kept swelling....either a bee sting or what I thought more likely a snake bite.

Called the vet she said it was probably a bee sting to give Benadryl and the swelling should start to go down in about an hour. Nope, still swelling......

Poor Petey he was really hurting but never made a sound. By this time it's almost 9 p.m. I called the vet again and she said to bring him in first thing in the morning. Now I can see what looks like at least one fang mark on his nose, more Benadryl and a Prednisone too.

Early on Tuesday morning off we go to the vet. Petey had to stay so they could give him IV's of fluid and some antibiotics. He did NOT want to go with them when they tried to get him to the back room, he was saying, no, no, I wanna go home!!!  On the way home, I forgot to mention this, we stopped at a stable to feed, water and turn out two horses, a pony and two donkeys. Me and another gal were helping care for them for a week. The owners of the horses were on vacation and the stable manager had to go out of town on an emergency. Me and my neighbor were taking turns going over there doing the chores.

We get back home rake the hay and wait for an hour or so check it and decide to bale the first field. Husband is feeling a little better so out to the field we go. As he bales I am picking up bales and stacking them for pick up, I go get the truck and trailer to start picking up the hay bales. We only got 33 bales but when it's hot and humid it feels like a hundred. After many breaks and lots of water we got it in the barn. By this time it's 2:30 he has a doctors appointment at 4:00 so we can't get the second field baled. Head for the house and get cleaned up to leave. Just before we are ready to leave our mailman, who is a friend, stops by and says he will come back in about an hour and bale the field if we want! Oh, yes please! We figure we will be back home about 5:30, we have to pick up Petey from the vet afterward.

Things are going pretty good, the doctor says that all he can do is keep taking the medicine for dizziness and it should be gone soon? We hope....but that's another story. Pick up Petey, boy, is he glad to see us and can't wait to get in the car!!! His face is still swollen but now we have antibiotics, Benadryl and Prednisone to take for a week.

Heading home, fast....when we get here neighbors are here helping the mailman, all hay is baled and loaded onto truck and trailer. We change our clothes and help get it into the barn!  Thank goodness for good friends!! Hay is done for this year, I am SO glad....even if it does grow really good and we could get a third cutting......NO WAY!!!

Petey is doing great, the swelling is gone but you can see where the bite makes are. He is back to his old self and liking to take his meds because he gets extra canned dog food to take his pills. Hope he remembers where he got bit and doesn't go there again. We have lived here for 13 years and have never seen a copperhead so where he found this one???? There are water snakes, black snakes, milk snakes, garter snakes, black racers and many more I imagine but have never seen a copperhead. After reading info on the net about copperheads and poisonous snakes in Ohio I found that there are also two kinds of rattle snakes here too!!! YIKES! Timber rattlers and a smaller one that I can't think of the name at the moment, oh, great more bittey things to look out for! :-(

Petey three days ago with some fluid in his neck and chest. All gone now!

Petey jumping for a potato chip, he caught it and it's in the corner of his mouth, yep he is feeling so much better.

I am hoping that in the weeks that follow, I don't have to do that much work again!!! Took me three days to recover but I'll make it. I am looking forward to fall and some riding, lots of riding in new territories, new to me anyway. Why is the word territories in bold, well that's another story to be told in a few days, stay tuned!!! :-)

Petey the Pug??? and a ride

Saw this picture in a dog/cat catalog and it sure looks like Petey! It said the pup was a Puggle, I am wondering if Petey has some pug in him. Love the jammies on the dog, how funny!!!

Had an MRI done on my shoulder, from when I got thrown off Gilly back in July and they found a small tear in a tendon. I had kept doing thing, helping with baling hay, carrying heavy buckets of horse poo all kinds of things to help get over the soreness. Guess I should have been a little more careful with it. Monday I went to an orthopedic doctor, hoping that he wouldn't tell me I needed surgery or had to wear a brace. I am happy to report that no surgery and no brace! He gave me some anti-inflammatory cream, it seems to be helping and I also need to take it a little easy on the arm then do some exercises for it. In the paper work I filled out for the doctor, since I hadn't been there before, there was a form about osteoporosis. I had to laugh, not that osteoporosis is something to laugh at, my grandmother had it but.....for the number of times I have been thrown off and fallen on by Gilly, I would say that my bones are pretty darned tough!!!!

Monday I also got to ride a beautiful dressage horse, we just walked, I was cooling her off for my friend Sheri. Hess is really something to ride, hardly takes anything to get her to go forward, unlike Gilly who needs a LOT of pushing to make him go! LOL Since I'm not that good of rider I just thought that walking was a pretty good thing....I don't know all the right commands to move Hess and didn't want to be suddenly cantering when I wasn't ready.

Hess is a Trakehner/Arabian cross and such a sweetie, really, really nice horse. I have wanted to ride her for a long time just to see what it's like to ride such a well trained horse. Since Gilly is about the only horse I have ridden in 5 years, to me it feels really different. Maybe I need to ride more horses just for the experience.

Riding in the big Cover-All arena was really nice too! Wow, wish I have just an arena to ride in, this would really be a dream come true to have a building like this to ride in!


Hess, is about the same height as Gilly but not as big built, and not as wide. Gilly gives the illusion of being taller than he is. His big legs, feet and big rump makes him look like he is over 16 hands but he is really only 15.3.

Below is a picture of Hess and Sheri at their last show in Lexington, Virginia. She is a beautiful mover that's for sure. Hess is for sale and I will attach the link to her ad on EquineNow.
http://www.equinenow.com/horse-ad-197991
I have to say I have never ridden a $38,000.00 horse, that's why I was a little nervous! I sure didn't want to mess her up! :-)

As soon as the ground is a little more dry Mike is going to till up round pen again; the grass took it over since I wasn't able to ride for over a month. Hopefully next week Gilly and I will be back to school and starting Dennis Reis' course. Can't wait!!!!!

More of Petey

Petey is just not too sure about what to do with that cat. He has never lived where there was a cat, cat could care less about him. She probably thinks it's a Gonzo look alike....just another dumb dog to put up with! Buster is off to do something else.

Yes, I've been absent for a while, canning, mowing hay, baling hay, back to hooking (will post what I'm hooking on at another post) and mostly being lazy! LOL Still waiting for the nasty flies to leave, maybe in another week. Next weekend is fair so that is usually the time they start to die off, not soon enough for me!!

Checking out the yard to find new smells and new places to pee! These guys spend a lot of time marking and remarking spots, dogs are funny!

Not sure what kind of pose this is? Petey leaping through the air, he does that some times, funny boy! He has settled right in with the rest of the dogs and they all play and romp in the yard and in the house.

Today while Petey and Gonzo were out for a morning pee, Petey found something really, really stinky and rolled in it...P U....he had to get a bath and his collar washed, uck! I hope he doesn't remember where he got the stink or I will have to bath him again.

Petey has decided that it IS a good thing to chase Kitty, what fun! (sorry the picture is overexposed, I was in the shade) Kitty will run for a little while then turn and chase them, too funny. Buster's tail is in the bottom right hand corner, looks like a bottle brush, he was getting into the chase too!

What better way to end the day of cat chasing than to go to sleep with your new buddy in dad's recliner? Of course dad wasn't home from work yet so the boys could sleep for several hours in the comfy chair! Awww, a dogs life!!!

Petey, new member of the family

Here is Petey, on the left with the other members of our family, the inside dogs. Buster is guarding the food, have to watch the new comer, he may eat it all you know! Gonzo and Laverne are sacked out too much excitement. This was taken shortly after I brought Petey home to meet them.

Now everyone is asleep....well Buster, who you can't see in this pictures is still guarding the food.

What kind of dog is Petey, you are probably wondering??? Not sure, he is a little smaller than Gonzo, has a monkey face so he probably has some boxer or Boston Terrier, has a big overbite like Laverne
Petey likes to crawl on the floor when he gets excited and wants to go outside. I have tried to catch him in action with video but he will stop and look at me and won't start again. Until I am not running the camera!

Petey isn't too interested in basted Meaty Bones, he just looked at it then me as if to say, "You want me to eat this tasteless thing???"

All the dogs have accepted Petey and here is Laverne snuggled up to him sleeping on the couch. Now I have to fight for a place to sit......four dogs in the house! They are sitting on my end of the couch and Gonzo is on the other end.

No matter how many times I fold up this blanket it will never stay that way. They like to move it around and crawl under it and the one on the back of the couch too. That is for them to sit on so they can look out the window but Laverne and Gonzo have other ideas. It's always wadded up in a ball and one of them is under it. So far Petey hasn't had the urge to cover up.

He seems to think that Mike's chair is a good place to nap; this is where he spends most of his napping time.

Petey is eight years old and we got him when a long time friend passed away last year. Petey was given to our friend by one of his daughters for a companion dog. After our friend passed away Petey went to live with another family but that didn't work out and now he is here on the farm with us. I think our friend would like that, Petey has a lot of friends to play with and really likes it here. We are glad he is here with us, just one more member of the family. Maybe we should call this farm "Dog Trot Farm"!

Below is our friend and Petey, taken last August, just a few months before he passed away suddenly. We miss him and will take good care of his beloved pet.