CHIT CHAT in VOLTVILLE
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I can live with it. Dunno bout the rodent.
So we are good......?
Just like my wife Rave. She puts snacks for every critter that will come in the yard...
Good for her!
What can I say Semi? The critters keep me company without invading my privacy.
Wow, you miss a day around here and it takes ya two days to catch up! I'm totally at a loss as to what Laura did with her avatar.
As for the adopting of wildlife, I can stand the squirrels, but the rats have got to go! They have set up residence in our floorboards and scurry around our house at night. Caught five so far, and there are still more, but these seem a little too smart to fall for our traps. Our Lab got ahold of one of them - I had to put it out of its misery.
We are thinking about getting ourselves a cat to chase off the rats, but it has to be a cat that can deal with a boisterous Lab.
I checked out the web site for the local animal shelter, and I was blown away by the amount they are asking for dogs these days. I'm sure it has a lot to do with the economy, but I can't help but wonder what effect it is having on the adoption rate.
My cartos that have been cleaned and recycled a number of times seem to finally be running out of steam. Looks like I'll be shopping during the Memorial Day sale. The wife is going to kill me, of course. Wish me luck!
As for the adopting of wildlife, I can stand the squirrels, but the rats have got to go! They have set up residence in our floorboards and scurry around our house at night. Caught five so far, and there are still more, but these seem a little too smart to fall for our traps. Our Lab got ahold of one of them - I had to put it out of its misery. We are thinking about getting ourselves a cat to chase off the rats, but it has to be a cat that can deal with a boisterous Lab.
I checked out the web site for the local animal shelter, and I was blown away by the amount they are asking for dogs these days. I'm sure it has a lot to do with the economy, but I can't help but wonder what effect it is having on the adoption rate.My cartos that have been cleaned and recycled a number of times seem to finally be running out of steam. Looks like I'll be shopping during the Memorial Day sale. The wife is going to kill me, of course. Wish me luck!
Where the heck is our SandySu ?! I miss her (and Penny).
I'm here, but I've had some crazy work hours and not much in the way of vaping to talk about. I work for Cornell Catering, which is the catering company Cornell Univ. runs. Talk about physical work! For every event, we load a truck with the stuff we'll need to take to the location, go to that building -- and Cornell Univ. is large and complex -- unload the truck, schlep all the stuff to the room where we set up, set out the food if it's a buffet, set up a back-of-house, where we scrape dirty plates, etc., and when the event is over, we disassemble everything and load it back into the truck, go back to our base of operations, put it all away in a storage area called the "closet," wash the dishes upstairs in a big dish machine, take them back downstairs and put them away, and then home. This morning, I had to report to work at 5:45 am. I hate having to get up before dawn, especially when just days ago, I worked evening events till 1:30 am. (One was a "rave" and of course that brought to mind our own Rave, here, though it was basically a dance with about 1000 college students getting drunk; by contrast, this morning was a sedate buffet breakfast for about 40 older folks, probably professors.) It's fun, interesting work, though, and it sure keeps me in shape. I'm getting to know the Cornell campus and the different buildings pretty well, though there are still many I haven't been to yet.
I got this job about a year ago when my freelancing started to fall off. I don't know why the freelancing is dying away, but I'm sure it's connected to the failing economy.
As for Penny, I haven't ridden her in several days because of work and then sleeping, trying to readjust my body clock every few days. That and the difficulty finding a legal parking place are the 2 things I like least about the job. I may just tell them I can't do early mornings unless it's an emergency and they really need me. However, this is a busy time, so I think I may get less catering gigs as summer comes on. Maybe I should just do it and rest up when things slow down a bit.
The hoof trimmer came to do Penny's feet last weekend (I was at the barn for an 8 am appointment after working late the night before, and then a 10 am riding lesson), and he is very pleased at how they are looking. Even my inexperienced eyes can see a big difference. She's still lame, though. The vet came to give the horses spring shots, and she watched Penny trot and thought it looked like a damaged collateral ligament in the clubfoot. This is just a guess, but it's probably right, since I'm not going to pay huge amounts for expensive diagnostics that may not make a better guess. Been there, done that several years ago. It was grueling for both Penny and me and the answer was so inconclusive as to be useless. Very disappointing and expensive. I've resigned myself to the idea that Penny will never be totally sound now at 22 years of age, walking on a clubfoot all that time. Vets and farriers have said they are surprised she was sound for so long. Still, my trimmer has hopes of future soundness, though even he is saying now he'd like it to improve rather than former statements that she would get sound again. I think he may be unrealistically optimistic, though I'd love for him to be right and me to be wrong.
Next comes the equine dentist. (I have to laugh when I say or write this, because I keep thinking of a horse dressed in a white coat bending over a person in a dentist's chair.) Actually, it's a guy who floats horses' teeth. Penny has this done once a year. Her teeth are problem free, but it's nice to keep up with them so sharp points don't develop and hurt the inside of her mouth. So that'll be fairly routine, I think.
That's my news. I guess now you can see why I haven't posted much.
Yes indeed, I can see. But you're still kinda like family, and I was a bit worried about you. As it is, you just sound incredibly busy. I do hope that things ease up for you a bit.
Wow - I read all of this about Penny and think about folks that think to themselves: "We should get horses. It'd be nice to have 'em around. How much trouble can they be to care for?". Big reality check here!
Anyhow, it's great to hear from you!
Wow - I read all of this about Penny and think about folks that think to themselves: "We should get horses. It'd be nice to have 'em around. How much trouble can they be to care for?". Big reality check here!
Anyhow, it's great to hear from you!
Yes indeed, I can see. But you're still kinda like family, and I was a bit worried about you. As it is, you just sound incredibly busy. I do hope that things ease up for you a bit.
Wow - I read all of this about Penny and think about folks that think to themselves: "We should get horses. It'd be nice to have 'em around. How much trouble can they be to care for?". Big reality check here!
Anyhow, it's great to hear from you!
Yes, horses are a lot more complicated than people realize. Not only do they require care and attention and correct training, but many people say things like, "Riding really isn't exercise. The horse does all the work." I challenge that person to ride a horse for an hour and then get off without aching muscles. Another goody is, "Why are you taking riding lessons? You already know how to ride, don't you?" These people don't realize what a precise art riding correctly can be. Think of any other skill, let's say playing a musical instrument. You can always improve your technique. The learning never stops. Taking lessons is a good way to get an outside opinion on your technique, though sometimes practice itself is good -- as long as you are sure you aren't practicing bad habits, which is why an experienced instructor correcting those bad habits can help them not become ingrained. I have ingrained bad habits that need correction, and it's hard to change body habits that have already formed.
As for Penny's health, she has Cushing's, a disease older horses often get, and to control that, she gets a drug called pergolide. Penny is a fussy eater, and because insulin resistance often goes hand in hand with Cushing's, I have her on a low-cal diet. The small amount of horse feed she gets doesn't taste as sweet as what some other horses get, and she knows it and isn't much interested in eating it, which is necessary so the pergolide pill goes down with dinner. So I've been playing a game of making her food more tasty without adding starches and sugars. Not easy! For a while, dousing the feed with mint tea worked. About once a week, I'd make a jug of Bigelow's Mint Medly and leave it at the barn. Lately she has gotten tired of that as a flavoring, plus she is no longer interested in her low-cal horse treats, bought at extra expense, made with organic, food-grade ingredients, etc. So to get her to eat her dinner, a minimal amount of low-cal horse feed (Triple Crown Lite, 8% NSC), we're adding a very small amount of soaked beet pulp with molasses. The molasses is a no-no, but what can we do? And for treats, I decided on carrots. At least when she gets tired of them, I can eat them, and so far, she is really very interested in them. They are also higher in NSC (nonstructural carbohydrates) than is recommended, but she seems to be doing OK on the couple of carrots she gets when I visit her. We also have to watch out how much spring grass the horses eat. They can founder (a very serious hoof condition) from eating too much grass when it's very rich and sweet in the spring. I heard that the grass is higher in sugar this year than usual, probably from the warm winter. I want to get the hay tested, too, once the barn owner gets her new batch in, since then I can see how high in sugar and starch that is, though if it's too high, what can I do? It's what Penny is going to have to eat. I told her to ask her husband to cut the hay before dawn, when sugars are lowest in grass, hoping that'll make it acceptable. The barn owner has a fat Arabian who is insulin resistant, so she may be more interested in doing this than most barn owners.
Properly caring for a horse is a complex study, though some hardy horses do fine with lots of benign neglect. Still, they all need their hooves trimmed, their teeth floated, inoculations against some very serious diseases, etc.
Also, when you all were talking about feeding wild animals, it made me cringe, since here, raccoons are a serious rabies threat; opossums are dangerous near horses because they can give them EPM, a serious neurological disease; and groundhogs build big holes in fields that a horse can put a foot in and break a leg. So those 3 are not my friends, much less rats and mice that can get into grain improperly stored in a barn or spilled by horses at feeding time. It's interesting how one person's cute animal can be another person's pest.
I uploaded one too 400kVA generator startup DOOSAN V8 engine - YouTube Irrelevant but.... I like them both
Hi guys I will be going to the beach for the weekend so I will have limited access to the forum..I know you guys will help out where ever you can 
Wow, they have beaches in Ohio?Hi guys I will be going to the beach for the weekend so I will have limited access to the forum..I know you guys will help out where ever you can
Have fun! Don't forget the sunscreen!Thanks for fixing that one other thing I brought up too. Looks good! Sorry I gave you such a hard time, and I would've been happy even if you hadn't (just not as).
Good morning!
1 more day of work then 4 day weekend!
Then 4 days by myself at work - I don't think the other girl I work with should get a vacation LOL!
Anywho - have a great day!
1 more day of work then 4 day weekend!
Then 4 days by myself at work - I don't think the other girl I work with should get a vacation
LOL!Anywho - have a great day!
Hi guys I will be going to the beach for the weekend so I will have limited access to the forum..I know you guys will help out where ever you can
Oh boy! The inmates are runnin the asylum again.
Good morning!
1 more day of work then 4 day weekend!
Then 4 days by myself at work - I don't think the other girl I work with should get a vacation
Anywho - have a great day!
Good morning Lauralie. Hope you enjoy your long weekend. I remember those. Now everyday is a weekend lol. I think I liked it better the other way though. I enjoyed both my work and my breaks. Doing nothing is hard. Can't stop and take a break.
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