Guess the total! UPDATE

I found my vet receipt at the bottom of my purse today--it was $45 per horse for sedation and $80 for floating, or as he noted it "dress teeth". Transylvanian Horseman commented that his horses got their teeth rasped in Romania without sedation. I remember vets doing that when I was young, with big old metal files like I see laying in Handyman's tool box!

My vet used a Porter Cable electric drill with two foot stainless steel extension with a 2" (or smaller) sanding disk on the end. No rasps around here gang! I'm paying the big adult dollars for the full-meal deal! :)


Okay--vet came here (trip charge) to give annual vaccinations. I was glad to get them done with the mosquito increase that must be happening during this monsoon season. So he decided that they should both have their teeth floated. I wanted him to look at Reno's, since he is old and they didn't look at them last year. But Princess is only 8! Wondered some about that.

Sorry no pics--they didn't call before they arrived and we were running out to meet them. Not sure you'd have wanted to see it while eating your breakfast anyway.

After looking at Reno's dermatological issues, he decided he'd give him some iodide intravenously ($$!) and a shot of cortisone to try to kill off the itching for awhile and maybe work on whatever fungus it is from the inside out.

So, out came the tubing, the syringes, the electric drill with the 2' extension, the hoist, the mouth speculum (?) and whatnot. He was glad I had electricity. I was glad I had 350' of extension cord. He doped Reno up to the point the old boy was staggering and had to spread his back legs about 5' apart! At one point during the show, #1 noticed that he was standing on the front of his fetlock joint. The vet quickly ran over and corrected that, then flipped down his nose-bridging flashlight and went back at it.

The girls especially liked the giant stainless steel syringe that squirted water all the way to the back of the horse's mouth and drained back out full of hay gunk. The vet said they were "rinsing and spitting". I heard the assistant say that Reno was swallowing most of the water!

Anyway, we all got plenty of looks at the tongues that look like giant sea slugs and the sharp edges that had to go. Sure enough, even though Princess is relatively young, she had never been done and did need it. He said that young horses should be done regularly as their teeth are softer and more easily maintained.

We got Reno out of the run-in stall and propped him up against the wall in the single stall while we did Princess. Poor old guy, I was worried that he was just going to drop over. It was kind of disconcerting. But he recovered well. I stayed out filling water tanks and kept an eye on him. Within about an hour, he was noticing me walking behind him and finally pricked his ears up at the carrot-snapping sound.

I was glad to hear the vet say that he looked good and could actually cut back a little on all his foods. Yea! Food is love here at Netherfield. Belly up to the bar! There's more! This is America! (That's what I tell my kids when the whine about someone eating the last of something...this is America--there's always more!)

Soooooooo, the grand total...it is distressing to stand with your checkbook while the vet sits in his truck figuring and figuring and figuring. I figured he needed a calculator--can't believe he doesn't have a little laptop for all this. FINALLY, he gives me the damages--YIKES! More than a car payment and it's a good car!

Don't tell Handyman, but $577 in all. $80 per float (don't remember if that included the sedation or not.) I think he did give me a cut on the trip charge--$50 instead of $75. I hammered him with questions the whole time. Figure if I have to pay him to come, it's my time to find out everything I can.

His call on Princess' color?? He said something like "buckskin dun/palomino". I don't think that's a real color. He asked if she had Rocky Mountain Horse in her and I tried not to be insulted. Then he finished by saying, well, it's a good thing you don't have to register her. ;) #1 says Buckdunamino is a perfectly good color.

What color do you call this??

Okay, this picture would qualify her for mud-brown, dred-lock Rastafarian, but she has another look...




I have had questions about the exact color of my Haffy-cross pony. While to the amateur she may appear a "palomino", there are multiple flaws in her ability to qualify for such. She has the cutest little white patches under her jaws and on her belly-button, which would completely disqualify for palomino. Even if we avoided noting those altogether, she has a tremendous amount of black in her mane and tail, to the point of looking like my mom's frosted hair from 1973.

Then there is the hysterical smattering of single white hairs throughout her entire golden coat. Then there's the funkiest little brown patch the size of my hand on her hind leg! And then there's the good-sized white snowflake on her only brown/gold leg...I asked my farrier what he would call it and after many facial gyrations, the best he could come up with was "almost a chocolate roan". I think there's way too much gold for that.

What do you think?

Since our state is now gloriously 4" over for rain this month, I can't not show you the old man's effort at a mud spa makeover:



I love how even his eyelashes are coated...the funniest part, that I could not capture digitally was that the entire opposite side of him was sleek and shiny-clean. I think they both had fun on this day.

Which Doreman Burns cowgirl are you?

Joan at Mud Ranch introduced me to some beautiful western art, and I'm copying her for some of my mid-western friends...

Which Doreman Burns cowgirl are you? I was torn between a couple, but--for today--chose Red Ryder.




What d'ya think?? It's the real me, actually...you can probably see the teeny tiny math books and piles of laundry, waaaaaaaaay in the back.

The Perils of Dog Agility

Yesterday morning when I returned from haying the horses, I found Tucker, the two-time reserve champion 4H agility dog, standing in the middle of the dining room table, licking the placemats! I was completely shocked and trying not to laugh my head off!



Continuing today's humor theme, you absolutely must go see Grocery Store Wars on You Tube. #1 is now considering a chicken version of Star Wars, using my old rooster as "Obi Wan No-Toesy" and her banty rooster as "Cluck Strutwalker" and the only black hen we have as "Dark Mater", (since she hatched Cluck). She wants to use Reno's behind as the Death Star...not sure how that works exactly, but something to do with toxic gas fumes...

Tagged...

Well, my friend Joan the fabulous photographer!, over at Mud Ranch's Real Dirt tagged me and I was pleasantly surprised! It also means that I can tag someone else and I actually love trivia, even if it's about someone else! So here goes, if you don’t want to know my ABC’s, stop reading now:

A. Attached or Single- Absolutely eternally attached--at the hip (together for almost 20--married for 16+)!

B. Best friend- Handyman--the coolest hubby ever. For sure.

C. Cake or Pie- Pie, pie, pie--especially my mom's homemade lemon meringue or her super special apple with caramel topping. Or my MIL's pecan, or my rhubarb, or my grandma's banana cream, or

D. Day of Choice- Sunday.

E. Essential item- Daytimer.

F. Flavor of Ice Cream- Ben & Jerry's Chubby Hubby--I don't know if they even make it anymore. Also lemon sorbet or raspberry sherbet.

G. Gummy bears or Worms- Sour worms.

H. Hometown- Don't really claim one, although I've lived near Indy the longest.

I. Indulgences- My horses.

J. January or July- Ick--hard choice--July, if I have to, but really September.

K. Kids- Three's company!

L. Last movie I saw in a theatre- Can’t remember…oh, yeah, Bourne Ultimatum. Very good. I sure miss goin'. Handyman is in the movie business and we love to go, just hate spending the money.

M. This one was missing so let’s make one up…Magic Kingdom or Sea
World- Magic Kingdom, i love the complete cleanliness, sweet atmosphere. I always want to believe that the world is a good and safe place...that doesn't smell of large fish ;)

N. Number of siblings- Nada, zip, zilch

O. Oranges or Apples- Oranges, really good navel oranges

P. Phobias or Fears- High winds, blackish green skies

Q. Quote- I LOVE quotations and could put down a million of them: Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.--von Geothe

R. Reasons to smile- My girls, horses, corgis and an old lame rooster named John

S. Season- Spring, Summer and Fall

T. Tag-(only if you want to) Friday Night Fites.

U. Unknown fact about me- I'd like to take one of those travel trips where you learn to cook in Tuscany or something.

V. Vegetarian or Oppressor of Animals- Carnivore with a little guilt...I love those wittle swimps!

W. Worst Habit- Keeping old magazines and leaving the dishes until morning.

X. X-Rays or Ultrasounds- Painless medical procedures? I'm all for 'em. I appreciate them both, but I like my pediatric urologist the best!

Y. Your favorite food- Anything mexican

Z. Zodiac- Christian

Here she is...

Thank heavens the young woman who was with #2, during the meeting with Julianne, did actually send the pictures she took!!! Here's #2, meeting the celebrity of her choice.

She said Julianne was as nice as she could be, but was "taken away" by her handlers. More things to do, I'm sure. Her rendition of the Star Spangled Banner was impressive, although like everyone these days, all over the map from the original. Still, it was hard to believe that such a voice comes out of such a tiny girl. Must be those tight jeans...