A mild winter has blessed us with a bumper crop of mice this year.  Joe began live-trapping this fall, and we’ve probably caught a couple of dozen since then.  There are traps set up in the cellar and the laundry room, and then we transport them to the woods.  There’s not much snow cover for them to tunnel into, but there’s plenty of leaf litter for hiding.

relocation into the wild

About 5 weeks after Timmy’s accident, his wound is healing very nicely.  The stitches have been taken out, and the scar looks a lot less scary.

Please excuse the ugly gloves!  Fashion goes out the window at the barn.

IMG_0673, a photo by flippybits on Flickr.

The stitches do look better than a gaping wound, but still pretty ugly all in all.

Got to the barn a little later than I planned and was going to turn Timmy out and then ride.  Pretty normal for a Saturday.  But as he was trotting away, there was a huge gash in his left haunch!  Nasty hanging skin flap and everything.  It didn’t really seem to bother him too badly, though it must have been pretty painful.

The vet came out later and stitched him up after tranquing him, numbing the skin (to make it easy to stitch),  and cleaning the wound.

Poor pony is on 10 days’ stall rest and a course of antibiotics.  I’m curious to see the stitches tomorrow morning.

I think we may have a new visitor today.

I’ve been meaning to be a better blogger, and maybe this is the push I need!

Had a lovely Thanksgiving dinner at M’s.   She hosted a bunch of strays from Griffiths, and we had a super time — it was relaxing to hang out and chat.  The food was excellent, and apart from the turkey and cranberry sauce, not super traditional.

But Dash got pissed that we left him and the other dogs at home, I guess, because he destroyed 3 sets of really nice dpns and bit two holes in a sweater that I’m working on.  The stuff was tucked away in a knitting bag, but he found it and had at it.  The damage could have been worse, so it’s not really tragic aside from the $60 worth of knitting needles.  And I’ll have to figure out a way to patch the hole — one was easily fixed with a (gasp!) square knot.

looks innocent enough

ouch.

Show at the barn this weekend, but I’ll be functioning as support staff.  Less stressful!

The weather has turned humid, so Timmy’s cough bothered him a little bit.  Should be better tomorrow.

IMG_0410

Originally uploaded by flippybits

This is from the other day, with Ray W. and M. It’s getting to be the end of blackberry season, so the bushes were a little over picked.

Life is too short to be mean.  I resolve to be happy and consider myself thrilled to be alive.

I hope to ride tomorrow.  Too hot today!