Do you know any veterans?

If you are a vet, or know a vet:  On Monday, November 15, vets eat free at Golden Corral.  It's on the honor system, no need of proof.  Interested?  Click here.

poem

THE DAY AFTER ELECTION DAY
© copyright November 3, 2004
Donna Wood

Let us all enjoy this day
Taking out some time to pray
For troops who've been away so long.
(Who knows if it's right or wrong?)

Let us every one rejoice
That we each can vote our choice
To tell the world what we believe;
Life's too short to mourn and grieve.

I believe a Higher Power
Guides us all from hour to hour.
You need not agree with me:
I've been wrong before, you see.

Terrorists could strike today,
Blowing some of us away.
Once you're dead, it's all the same:
You won't worry who's to blame.

Take my hand, and let's agree:
Me for you, and you for me,
Sharing all our hopes and dreams.
Life is never what it seems.

 

 

 

 

 

$65 invested

I hesitated to take this picture because Blue had been rolling in the mud.  Under normal circumstances I'd have had him groomed, and his feet cleaned, for the farrier.  But with my recent surgery, what you see is what you get.  I had originally intended to have his shoes removed and just have his feet trimmed for the winter:  that would have been cheaper, and let's face it, I won't be riding as much in cold weather.  And I don't know when the doctor will permit me to ride.  However, I like the idea of my horse being ready, if and when I want to ride.  For those of you who haven't had the pleasure of owning a horse, let me tell you, they're a money-hole:  Just stand back and throw money at them, and you'll never see it again!  Blue needs shoes about every six weeks.  This farrier is cheaper than my last one... he charges $65 for a reset, which means he takes off the shoes already on the horse, trims the feet, and puts the old shoes back on.  These particular shoes have had a lot of wear, but he said they're good for at least one more reset.  So, they will have lasted about nine months when we retire them.

Blue is exceptionally well-behaved for this procedure, especially considering that this young fellow takes an hour or more to do his job; but I must say, since I started using his services, the shoes stay on much longer and better.  No loose shoes between shoeings.  It looks to me like the job of a farrier would be terribly hard on a person's back!  I'm thankful for this man, because it's really hard to find someone to come to your house and do this, if you only have one horse.

On the right side of this picture is Mandy's pen, where I put her for the night or any time we're gone.  Cliff made her a snug house out of hay bales, which she seems to appreciate.  However, when her roof was only hay bales, she decided that was a good place to poop:  So poor Cliff put a sloped metal roof over the hay.  The things that man goes through for my animals!  He reminds me often that he isn't doing it for the animals, he's doing it for me.   

I do miss working

Remember the old saying, "An idle mind is the Devil's workshop"?  Now that I've been at home recuperating for so long, I understand it fully; here's a poem I wrote yesterday along these lines:

MISSING MY JOB
© copyright November 1, 2004
Donna Wood

Wnen I worked, I got away from all upsetting news;
I was not caught up in gloomy TV newsroom views.
I was much too tired at night to harbor fears and dreadings,
And did not have time to spend obsessing on beheadings.

Now it seems I doubt the very fiber of our nation
(I can't think that any politician's our salvation).
My workplace was a haven from the grim and unexpected:
Little did I understand how well I was protected.

When I worked, I didn't even know when it was raining.
I could laugh at other people's moaning and complaining.
When I worked, I found the time to have a little fun:
Someone please just wake me up when this election's done.

 

Free things

Cliff used to work for a fellow named Tom who had several enterprises going at once:  one of these was a small-town grocery store.  The ladies who showed up to buy only the weekly specials, often with coupons in hand, he called "bargain biddies".  Sometimes that term applies to me, because I LOVE a "freebie".

Don, a man in our town, and an acquantance of Cliff's from his present job, recently bought two four-wheelers: a big one for himself and a small one for his little boy; and also a killer dirt bike (motorcycle)... all brand new.  He has no garage space for these items.  He and his son came out to ride in our pasture and hill-climb in our "canyons", and he mentioned his lack of storage space; Cliff told him he'd be glad to let him park his goodies in our shop.  Don was so happy about this arrangement that he told Cliff to ride them any time he wanted; in fact, he said, he'd love to have the dirt bike "broke in".  So, Christmas came early for Cliff and the next-door twins, and didn't cost us a dime.

Another freebie I'm happy about:  long-time followers of my journal might remember the cornfield-fire my horse and I came across in September.  There's a series of thirteen pictures taken on my exciting ride that day HERE.  Well, the cornstalks burned, leaving lovely ears of field corn lying in the field to waste.  I found out who owns that field and asked permission to pick it up; I'm sure there's enough there to feed our two pigs until they're ready to butcher.  We'd only have to buy protein to go with it, so they'd grow properly.  At first the farmer said he intended to pick it up himself.  But I guess with all the rain we've had, he decided he'd have no time to do it, and now he's granted us permission to take it.  Cliff and the twins will be down there to get it as soon as the mud dries just a little.  Oh yes, I LOVE a freebie! 

What does your name say about you?

I got this link from Celeste's journal, who found it in Lahoma's journal:  Click HERE to see what your name says about you.  Here's mine:

"Your first name of Donna has made you happiest when you are expressing in some creative, artistic way, and not conforming to strict routine. In a large group of comparative strangers, you are quiet and rather shy, unable to express yourself, not really wanting to become involved in conversation. On the other hand, among friends with whom you feel at ease, you are expressive, witty, and quite charming. These contrasting natures make it difficult for people to understand you and can lead to friction in your personal life. You are deep, philosophical, and refined, but your extremely sensitive nature causes you to become depressed and self-pitying over any real or imagined slight. If you are not careful, people take advantage of your generous nature. You find the beauties of nature, fine music, art, and literature--all the deeper things of life--inspiring. The reserved, sensitive side of your nature brings aloneness and friction into your life, although you crave affection and understanding. You must guard against emotional excesses, which could result in depletion of energy, creating a desire for quick-energy foods. You could suffer through skin irritations, blood conditions, back trouble, and later, through arthritis. Heart, lung, or bronchial weaknesses could also result."

 

"Happy, mischievous, worried, silly, surprised, flirtatious, ecstatic, angry, frustrated, loopy, embarrassed, hopeful, anxious, sad, quiet, chillin'."  Those are the moods AOL lets us choose from.  That's why, so often, you'll see my mood as "quiet" or "chillin'" when, lately, "depressed" or "bored" would be more accurate.  I'm not really sure how much I'm supposed to do since my orthroscopic surgery, so I don't do much.  The sheet of instructions they sent home with me after surgery says, "Activity should be confined to walking only until your first visit with the doctor after surgery."  OK, so how much walking?  The day after surgery I was feeling so well that I was up and around doing things when a nurse from the surgery center called and said I was to keep my knee and leg elevated a lot (not mentioned on my sheet of instructions).  I think she meant just that day, but I'm not sure.  So, to be safe, I still do it.  In a week I'll see the doctor and receive more specific instructions.  Until then, I guess I'll use extra caution.  I do plan, however, to go out and groom my horse for a few minutes today.  I miss him!

My daughter's girls spent Saturday night as usual, and we all went to Church yesterday morning.  I was a total grouch, so Cliff was pretty much in charge of the kids.  Seventeen-year-old Amber also came for the weekend; she starts her first job next Saturday as a bagger at a grocery store, so her weekend visits will probably cease.

Here are Natalie and Monica, ready to go trick-or-treating.  It was starting to sprinkle when I took this around 4 PM, and my daughter had to be at work at 5 AM this morning; so she was not in the jolliest mood to take them out in the rain begging for goodies.

     

As it began to sprinkle, Cliff's sister Charlene and her husband, Pat, came by on their new Harley.  They'd been riding around the countryside all day, but the clouds chased them back home sooner than planned.  So they rode the bike home from here, ordered carry-out pizza, returned in their car, and spent the evening with us.  That was good for what ailed me.

I'll be so glad when the election is over, but I fear it won't really be over for weeks or months, since the presidential race is so close.  At least after Tuesday my mailbox won't be cluttered with junk from politicians, and I won't be getting recorded messages on my phone advising me about my election-day choices.  I'm especially tired of watching people on the message boards and chat rooms I frequent get all hateful and nasty over politics.  Good grief, people, grow up!