Why I Hate Goodbyes

Rest in peace, Johnny (Hesa Dandy Investment). You were the best horse I ever had -- and probably will ever own. You had the biggest heart, the biggest personality. I hope we did you right in the 11 years you spent with us. My heart is hurting and I miss you.

Waiting Game

The hopefulness from Friday's post is long gone. This weekend is going to be one long waiting game.

Johnny crashed last evening. He was doing so well. We were talking about keeping Monday's vet appointment to follow up on blood work and make sure the levels were back up to where they should be.

Then he stopped eating, got very lethargic and was having a hard time moving around. Another very long drive to Pea Ridge for a Friday night vet visit. Everything seemed to go downhill from there. Johnny was staggering around. His blood panel came back much worse than Wednesday, with two items very high and two others very low. And then he started displaying a few neurological signs of liver failure.

I confess: I spent some time online last night scaring myself by researching a few things.
I confess: There were many tears shed. I had to say goodbye to Johnny at the vet's, not knowing if he would make it through the night.
I confess: I truly thought he would be gone this morning.

The vet is stumped as to what is causing his symptoms. We're keeping him comfortable, he's on a dose of steroids. But I really don't know how long those will help him.
And so the waiting game goes on. Only, it's not a game.

Yellow

Yellow is a nice color. Just not when it's the color of your horse's eye whites and gums.
We've finally had a break in the heat wave and Wednesday's forecast was for temperatures in the 80s, so I decided to tag along on a group ride out in Flag Springs. When I went to get my gelding from the pasture, he didn't seem at all excited or even happy to see me. Weird. This horse would crawl in your pocket if he was small enough (he's 16 hands but thinks he's a pup). Checking him out, he was lethargic and I thought his eyes looked funny. With a closer look, the whites were actually a deep yellow. His gums were yellow, too.
Jaundice. Not good. So instead of going on a relaxing trail ride on a beautiful day, we loaded Johnny up and headed to the vet's 45 minutes away. Of course, worst-case scenarios were going through my head.
The vet was great & very thorough. Other than the jaundice and depressed attitude, everything else checked out fine: heart, lungs, gut. The blood panel showed that two elements related to the liver were quite elevated. The vet settled on one of two scenarios: Johnny either ingested a toxin (ie, a weed in the pasture) or he had a stone blocking the bile duct. While both are serious, the latter would be more expensive and complicated to treat. We went ahead & treated Johnny as if he'd eaten something toxic: banamine for the inflammation, antibiotics, and a nasty batch of charcoal tubed into his stomach. The charcoal worked its way through his system and ((hopefully)) absorbed the toxins. Several hundred dollars and hours later, we were on our way home.

Today--almost 48 hours later--he seems to be doing better and perking up. He's happy to see me, is getting spoiled rotten with oats, treats and a hay buffet. I have everything crossed that he will recover.

Friday Photos

I've been taking a ton of photos lately with the new Nikon. The spring weather has been perfect for experimenting. Today I spent at least an hour going through photos, organizing and deleting, cropping and resizing.


Here are a few of my favorites:



Have a great weekend!

The Birthday Fairy

I was visited by the "Birthday Fairy" yesterday. She wasn't too much of a bitch. (The inspiration is thanks to a certain person who sent me the funny card.)


It was a good day. I don't feel as old as my age, thankfully. I got a few treasured birthday hugs, lots of emails, my Facebook page was swamped with greetings, and I got to spend time with some of my favorite people! I even got a home-cooked meal, courtesy of Stephanie, with about a dozen college kids who made me feel, well, old.


A free birthday frappucino at Starbucks. Caramel, if you must know. If you have a Starbucks gift card, (thanks, Joni!) you can get a free drink of your choice at Starbucks! They don't check or anything -- at least at the one we went to -- so I wonder if this could be something I could try more than once a year? Just kidding.


Stephanie treated me to a dee-lish cupcake at Rick's Bakery in Fayetteville today. I couldn't decide between a wedding cake cupcake, a kamikaze brownie or a carrot cake cupcake. The cream-cheese frosting on the latter won out.
Sorry for the "quality" -- my camera phone isn't quite up to par when compared to other photos.

Plus, I got to spend some time playing with the camera in a pasture of horses. This shot's my favorite:


The birthday celebration will continue through part of the weekend. I'm off to see the Wizard on Saturday with Liam & Joyce.

Hopefully, this will be the last of the winter photos for a while!

I got lucky and shot this one through the patio window. (I guess my windows are cleaner than I thought.) The birds seem to appreciate the birdseed I've been putting in the feeder. They go through it a little bit too fast!

Johnny likes to ham it up for the camera:

And (hopefully!) the dogwoods will be starting to bloom in a few weeks. They're my favorite. But not today with the snow: Thankfully, the snow melted today! The creek is up (of course -- and I barely have enough milk for my morning coffee), but at least the sun is shining again.

New Etsy Product

I've been working on a "secret" craft project this winter. Friends have raised their eyebrows at the amount of beads and craft wire I have been buying at Michael's and Hobby Lobby, trying to figure out just what I am doing.

These horseshoes were Christmas gifts to a lucky few people and now hang (hopefully!) by their doors, bringing them good luck. No one horseshoe is alike, and all of the horseshoes are recycled. (Aka used!) Some are dented, some are rusty, and some are bent. Each has its own character and is ready to hang on your wall or above your door & bring you good luck.

I'll be listing these in my Etsy shop soon -- unless they are sold before then. Prices vary & depend on the materials used. I can also do customized colors if you have a color scheme in mind.

Happy Chinese New Year!