Itty Bitty Hooves

Gangly Teen Years

I lived through my own teen years fighting the ‘curse of all teens’–acne, and then re-lived them with my son who had a severe case. Somehow my daughter avoided it for the most part. Maybe a spot or two here and there, but nothing to get worked up about. (I actually don’t even remember her ever having that–I know she’s not hormonless, she has three kids now. LOL) Of the three of us Bobby had it the worst. I know he’s glad it’s behind him. He still, even at 22 gets the occassional outbreak, minor compared to his teen years though. They didn’t have nearly as much available then as they do now. At least if my grandkids have the problems he had, or even mild problems like I had, they have natural acne treatment remedies that are healthier than the harsh and sparsly available treatments there were when Bobby was a teen. It’s funny. Having been surrounded by every type of animal concievable over the years, humans are the only animal that seems to have such problems. Most cruise through birth to adult without much more than a nod to gangly teen years. Lucky them.

Eureka–there be hay in the barn, Capitan!

I feel a little like Scotty in ‘Star Trek-The Voyage Home’ when the whales apeared on the ship, only for me, instead of whales and a ship, it’s hay and a barn.

I’m sure any of you with ‘hay-burners’ in the fields know exactly what I mean about that feeling when after a long winter of struggling to feed everyone on the hay you have stored up, without having to beg, borrow, or steal more hay until the first cutting, you finally get that first cutting in.

Whew. ‘There be hay in the barn, Capitan’.

There’s nothing quite like the smell of fresh hay in a barn either. It is a warm, fuzzy feeling smell. With the drastic droughts that have plagued most of the country in the past few years, getting your hands on enough hay to last all winter long is difficult at best–financially draining too. Hay prices have soared because of the demand vs supply. Thankfully I have a hay dealer who mostly grows to feed his own cattle, and sells the left-over (great quality) hay to local residents. We’re his primary customer and get as much as we can afford to reserve from him. Still, he only has so much. He doesn’t price gouge us though. Whew. And being that he lives right down the road a few miles, getting is easy enough.

He even hand delivered enough bales to get me through until the weekend without feeling like a miser every time I doled out feedings. This weekend Bob and my son Bobby will bring over the three loads of first cutting that I asked him for, and unload that into the barn too and for the time being it will be buldging at the rafters in the storage area. I usually only take 2 loads of first cutting hay becuase it’s typically courser than 2nd, 3rd, and 4th cutting hay. 2nd and 3rd are the best quality, by the time the 4rth roles around the fields are a little spent… but, the last few years getting a 4rth cutting at all has been diffult, and often just not possible making getting enough hay for the winter in the barn almost impossible. So this year, I’m getting as much of each available cutting as I can shove into the barn, left-over hay from each cutting will hopefully make up for the lack of 4rth cutting amounts, or complete lack of 4rth cutting altogether. I hope.

Curiosity Killed The Goat

I know that’s supposed to be cat… and no, no goats were killed today, or recently, but you’d think the way they can find things to get into trouble with that they’d all be dead. Not just here, everywhere. The goat kingdom would be extinct. I had my air-conditioning repaired yesterday. My big central air unit wouldn’t kick on the other day when we were experiencing that wonderful 90 degree heat. Isn’t that always when you find out it won’t work? So out came the repairman yesterday afternoon who promptly discovered a chewed wire… thank you guys. Those goats will find anything. They chewed a phone wire on the side of the house one time.Took me a week to figure out why that ONE phone in the house didn’t work. LOL They get thier heads stuck in fences–in the same places every time! I used to think they were just stupid. I mean wouldn’t you eventually figure out that spot was dangerous. I mean at least find a new spot to get stuck, but no, the same place every day (each goat had their own ‘favorite’ stuck places). Then I realized, they weren’t stupid, they just liked to see me run across a field and wrestle to get their heads out. I think they even enjoyed the strings of explatives that usually accompany such an activity.

I it clearly now. In the middle of the night, when I’m sound asleep, they have a secret meeting in the barn. It goes something like this:

Polly: Okay, listen up all you nannys, and you kids especially, pay attention! Tomorrow is going to be bright and sunny. Nice day to get the crazy lady running around in all the heat.

Alexandra: No no, tomorrow is going to storm, I can feel it in my bones.

Kids (in chorus): ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwww wet sky stuff.

Polly: Oh nevermind, the next day then. See you all tomorrow night.

When I wake up and see a dark sky, personally I prefer sunshine like everybody else, but a part of me is releived. I know no one is going to get into trouble or get themselves electrocuted, stuck, or otherwise entangled.

If curiosity really kills cats… it only serves to fuel a goat’s imagination.

How Hard Is It To Get a Good Night’s Sleep?

I finally got to sleep last night without tossing and turning over a problem I’d been having. I love my new computer. I love Vista, and I love office 2007—BUT, so many older programs don’t work on it anymore. Microsoft says Vista ’should be’ compatible with any program that ran on XP or 2003… well should be is probably the operating word. I have some programs that ’sort of run okay’ on it, like my old Paint Shop Pro 7. You can’t even get Paint Shop Pro anymore so I am stuck having to force this one to work. Most of the features do work, but I found one serious, and aggravating one that doesn’t. It won’t change print page sizes. So if I create a book cover over 8×11, or smaller than 8×11 (which is all of them) just the top covers are 6 x 9, if I do a full cover spread it’s 12 x 9 plus the spin width (varies). I USED to be able to. Well I searched for days and days to find a program, either free or purchased mind you, I wasn’t just being cheap. NONE of them worked (I do admit to only doing the trial versions of ones to buy. I mean why buy something you’re not sure is going to work?)

FINALLY last night I found one that will play nicely with Vista! It worked. I was able to sleep well for the first time in days.

New Pictures

I got out today and took a few new shots. Out of about 20 only 4 really worked. Isn’t that always the way it goes when trying to take pictures of animals? And of course, there are always WAY better shots to be had when you DON’T have your camera with you. Like this shot, my favorite type of shot, the ‘out in the field grazing’ shot. It is okay, but this morning I had a way better photo op, but of course, didn’t have my camera in hand.

Then I got a few ‘close ups’. I can’t get too close or they’ll crowd the fence/gate even more than they did here, so getting ‘close’ shots means cropping the part I want out to make it closer, which makes them a bit pixilated.


Still, it’s always fun trying to get that perfect shot

Maybe next time.

Peace Of Mind

I’ve spent so much money this past month my wallet is getting worn out. A new computer. Three new programs (not cheapies either) for that new computer. The deductible on the repairs to the damage on my truck that I didn’t even cause… Now I have to pay up on my life insurance. I’m looking around now for a good cheap life insurance. Mine is getting a little hard to pay for. There are some really interesting ads on TV about the different companies that offer cheap insurance. My husband has a Globe policy on his mother that will cover the final expenses since she didn’t have any insurance, and on a fixed income wasn’t really able to pay for any either. He did that several years ago. It sure does add peace of mind to the equation when you are faced with the ‘what ifs’ of an elderly parent’s illness as we are now.

I Still Don’t Know

I have had this Word Press blog hosted on my url for about 2 years now. I like it alot, but there are still things about it I don’t know. I may never know, and will probably never be able to understand.

I still don’t know where to find, or how to find, the RSS feed link, so I miss out on a few things due to not being able to link it to certain networking sites.

I stll have no idea how to add a widget.

I know it’s fine to always be learning, and discovering new things. You stop learning when you die… but it’s aggravating to not be able to even figure it out, when you’re trying to learn.

Escaping in a Book

I’m a writer. I write books, amongst other things. I’ve been a reader far longer than I’ve been a writer though. For as long as I can remember books have been a vital part of my life. They kept me company as an only child when friends had gone home, and I was alone in my room. World’s opened up inside my little apartment bedroom. Places and people I might never see, or meet, became vivid in my mind. I could experience pain, joy, sorry, happiness, love… every emotion known to man as I submersed myself in the pages of a beloved book.

I still do that. I will always do that, even when I can no longer pick up a pen, or tap on the keyboard I will always treasure my time in the world’s of other authors. I hope that remains alive for young adults as they grow in today’s high-speed world of internet and video games, movies and a million channels of television. I pray that the joys of escaping into the pages of a wonderful book do not become lost forever to the images on screens. I have nothing at all against any of the other medias. I love movies, and do watch TV, although not a lot. I don’t play video games, but my son does, and it’s wonderful, but, none of those create the same experience of a good book.

“I’ll wait for the movie to come out,” is a funny, yet well-worn expression. Taking the time to read the story is pushed off to wait for Hollywood’s version. The movies are great, but the books are better. When you read the book, you get to join in with the author in creating the world you’re exploring through the words. Have you ever read a book, and then saw the movie, and thought to yourself, hum, that’s not how I imagined that? It’s becasue even though the writer creates a world, and often a very complete version of it, totally ’seeable’ in your mind, there are always variables that you yourself create. You lose that in watching the movie. In a movie you are stuck with the ‘vision’ of the director of the words on a page. It can be good, or bad, but even when good, it’s still just that one vision.

That’s what I love about books. Even when you read a treasured story several times, you can find new things in the world to explore, and new ways of seeing it. It’s not trapped on film to a definate image.

More Horrific footage

I can’t stop. I’ve been watching these You Tube videos all morning again. Here are some more showing the June 7th tornado and it’s damage path.

Something so powerful is hard to take your eyes off of.

Back In The Fast Lane

Thank God I have my high-speed back. For a week up until yesterday afternoon, the storms and tornado took out several of the radio towers controlling the internet company I use and I had no server, or at times, only dial up again to fall back on to get online. I’ve only had high-speed internet for a few weeks, but let me tell you, you get spoiled FAST. Going back to dial up was a slap in the face. I can’t imagine how I lived with only dial up as a server for years like I did. At the time, you just tolerated it becasue you hadn’t experienced the difference, now, it’s intolerable! I can’t tell you how happy I am to be back in the fast lane.