Creepin' crud

This week's excitement, other than 428 4H activities in three nights, with two kids and two dogs, is that the horses have some kind of skin issue that is itchy and leaving bald patches on their bellies and legs.

Reno started this thing last fall. I didn't know if it was fly bites or what, but I was inconsistent with the Fung-Away spray since I didn't know for sure that it was "fung" or not. Eventually with winter, it seemed to go away and I thought we were over it.

I kept noticing Princess biting her sides and I kept thinking, "oh no! She's getting some sort of spring colic or something! Eeeek!!" Although I am very diligent about time spent out on spring grass. Then when I turned her out the other day I thought I noticed something weird on the side of her large zeppelin-like barrel and sure enough, it was a bald patch with some red dots!! Great!! And upon closer inspection, there were several more on the other side and on her hind leg.

Of course, not to be outdone, Reno had already got his belly up and running, including the patch right in the elbow of his front leg, on his hind gaskin from last summer and he rubbed his butt so hard on the webbing stall door thing that he bent the two eye-bolts beyond recognition. I did mention to Handyman that they had seemed somewhat small for a horse application. He replied that he had not planned on 1200 lbs. of buttocks to be pressing on them for some duration. I replied that he obviously was new to horses. They have been upgraded.

Sooooooo, before the heat wave broke last night, I bathed two horses with betadine shampoo twice this week. The Fung-Away is almost gone and I am emptying last summer's tube of Vitamiacin. There seems to be some improvement. Princess's spots already look like hair is starting to come back. I wish I had some clippers to trim "gorilla boy" who started shedding in February and is still not finished.

I'm also trying to dig out the stalls and get all the bedding replaced next week. I'm guessing that it might be bug-related. The bedding is fairly old and what with those chickens/feathered rats in there all the time, who knows what they're bringing...(in all seriousness, I don't think my fowl have anything foul.)

On another note, Handyman was seriously bitten by "the Love Machine", our cat Jake. We were in the ER last Friday night for an hour and a half, watching Jay Leno and getting IV antibiotics. PTL--no infection! The doctor told us they usually get infected and it can be VERY serious business very quickly. I am VERY thankful.

#3 is going for surgery one week from Monday...to have her bladder issue fixed, once and for all. The other two have been through this too, so we know the routine. Just praying that all goes smoothly. When #1 had her surgery, our terrific pediatric urologist who operated on her found 2 ureters on one of her kidneys. One had been hidden in all her xrays--he was surprised! Just another documentation of her "special-ness".

Handyman got a call to shoot Barak Obama this week in a 3-camera interview. Unfortunately, he was already booked on an auto auction. He was bummed because he wanted to see how "Barry" handles himself out of the spotlight/when the cameras are off. Later that day Handyman talked to his friend who was crewing-up the job and found out that BO's campaign was saying they couldn't pay the regular rates for the guys; "They didn't have enough money." Hmmmmmmm...how does that work? This is the champion of the working man, right? Thank goodness for the auto auction.

I wrote down 6 things for dinners this week and made sure I had the ingredients for them all. I didn't assign them or anything, just kept the list in the kitchen and that made things a lot easier. However, I fell off the wagon with my laundry baskets. They're everywhere and they're overflowing and I hate it. So, it shouldn't be too hard to get back on that. I also cleaned the bathroom downstairs rather than waiting for #1 to do it. Rather than being angry with her every time I walked into it, I decided that really, it's my house and I'll have to clean it all when she's gone, so I might as well take 15 minutes of my time to make me AND Handyman happy, than grouse around for a week and then clean it anyway. She'll have her own bathroom someday, and I'll bet she figures it out pretty quickly. Either way, this makes me happier.

Haven't planted the garden yet, and thank goodness--it's going to be 47 on Monday. This state hates me...but it has been sunny. My climbing rose is making progress and my parents brought 4,295 suckers off their lilac bushes. We managed to plant 10 or 11 of them. It'll be great if they all take. My rhubarb looks great and the crabapple and cherry trees are starting to bloom. If the dogwoods get frozen out this year, AGAIN, I'm putting the house up for sale.

Oh, one last thing...I found a hen with an apparent broken leg in the barn. I assume a horse stepped on her. Handyman and #1 played orthopedists and splinted her up with popsicle sticks and duct tape. It'll be two weeks tomorrow and she has been rehabbing under the patient, protective wing of Sir John Middleton, the toeless rooster, who LOVES her. They snuggle together at night and he stands over her during the day. I don't know what he'll do when she returns to the flock. It's precious.