Happy Birthday!

Some one turns 17 today!

Ouchy!

I swear -stick a needle in my eye-swear, that Axe is a horse of generally good health and fitness. However, I've spent more on vet calls for injuries & lameness issues this past year, than on probably the past 5 years combined. I tend to not write about her when things are going well, and babble on & on when things are not. The latest seems to be an abscess in her right rear hoof. I rode her on Wednesday and thought she seemed a little gimpy on that leg. When I was done, I checked her entire leg for any heat or sensitivity & found none, so I attributed it being stiff because of not riding enough over the past month, and her being in her stall a lot more due to weather on Monday & Tuesday.

I didn't ride Thursday, but went on Friday. I noticed she had her weight off that toe as I polo' ed her legs, and I had to step her forward & back several times so she'd bear weight so I could wrap that limb. I checked that hoof, and she did have a concave/convex (?) ball of mud, which I picked out and she seemed happier to put her foot down. She still seemed gimpy, though, and reluctant to canter, so I made an easy trot/walk ride out of it for her, & we did a lot of circles. Back in the barn, she kept her toe pointed, but no heat anywhere. Jodi turned her out in the paddock Saturday morning as usual, and I got a call from Kathy in the afternoon that Axe was refusing to move in the paddock, and wouldn't come in, and that she appeared to not be putting ANY weight on that leg. I ran down , and the poor thing didn't want to move. It took literally 20 minutes to walk the 50 feet from the paddock to her stall. I could make her walk 1-3 steps at a time, then she'd have to rest. She did, however, stuff her face with grass every time we stopped, it being greener on the other side and all. So I knew the pain wasn't excruciating enough to take away her willingness to eat. I ended up calling the vet. The drive -up fee for an emergency is $175. YIKES! The vet also couldn't find any heat or sensitivity in her leg, so concentrated on her hoof. Axe was sensitive with the testers, and the Dr. pulled the shoe which caused horribly excruciating pain. She did a block, like a Novocain on her foot and sure enough she walked fine on it, and even put full weight on it to rest her other legs. The block can also mask a fracture of the bone in her hoof, but the conservative diagnoses is an abscess. The farrier and the vet are scheduled for Monday anyway (more spring shots), so either or both can do a follow-up exam. I have to soak it twice a day & poultice it. I went up to take her blankets this afternoon, and she had pulled off all the wrapping, and it looked like some pus or gooey stuff was on the pad, so hopefully, it's already come to a head and burst.

It's not the care at this barn, I'm positive any of Axe's injuries would have happened at any barn. I think it's just a run of bad luck. I wish some good luck would come along, though, in the form of money so I could pay off this bad luck stuff!

*SIGH*

Garden Grew:

See that green leafy stuff at the right? That's page 4. And in my impatience to begin page 4, I started the leaf in the wrong place.

Here:

See where the arrow touches the red ellipse? That point has to be where the arrowhead points- 3 stitches to the right of the squirrel's ear.

It all has to come out.

Sucks to be me.

At least LOST (even in repeat form) is on tonight.

It's Growing...

Garden Grew:

Still on page 3; this one's taking a bit longer than the other two pages, I don't know why.

Can't remember what's on TV tonight (nor my pronouns).

Cute Overload

Have you all seen the new Blackbird Design monthly stockings series? Cute or what??!! It really makes up for that last chart from the last series (aka "Shrek Glove"- kudos to the person who came up with that  name- it's perfect!)

I started one of the March ones, it being March and all:

Close-up of the stitched stuff:

Tonight I'll be working on Garden Grew; no progress since last post (we all snacked & gabbed last Thursday night!).

Oh- PS- I'd REALLY like my one hour back, thank you very much.

Food Post!

Haven't done one of these in a while. I don't have any stitching photos worth sharing, although I did start a March stocking from the new BBD series.

Anyway, I felt like pizza:

Took a one lb. package of supermarket pizza dough and split it in half (makes 2 pizzas with thin-ish crust). For one pizza: I sautéed a finely chopped onion and clove of garlic in olive oil until onion was soft & translucent- starting to get a bit brown on the edges. I partially cooked about 1-1/2 cups frozen broccoli florets in the microwave, drained them, and added to the onions, and continued sauteing a few more minutes. In a medium bowl, mix about 1-1/2 cups ricotta with 1/2 cup shredded parmesan, salt, pepper and a tablespoon of minced fresh parsley, and 1/2  teaspoon each of oregano & basil.

Form pizza crusts in two separate pizza pans. Top one crust with ricotta mixture, spreading to the edges. Top with onion/broccoli mixture, evenly distributing over crust. Top with an even layer of shredded mozzarella cheese, about 1-1/2 cups. Bake in preheated 400 degree oven for 15-18 minutes, until bottom of crust is golden, and cheese is lightly golden.

My other pizza is just a plain cheese:

Tomato sauce, mozzarella, parmesan and some cheddar. I undercooked this one- the bottom was pale- because I knew I'd be eating it another day & thus re-heating it.

Look at this slice of bread I had the other day:

Huge whole in the middle, and it was about the 5th slice from the end. Made for a messy peanut butter sandwich.

Axe is good. Wasn't the weather today just awesome??? I could be perfectly happy with today's weather EVERY day for the rest of my life, even if the leaves didn't change.

Yes, I AM a slacker...

However, I have been stitching, just not bothering to even turn on the computer some nights.

Here's Garden Grew:

I'm about halfway thru page 3- that motif on the lower right is the center of the sampler, and I'm working on the top "row" of the pages. There are 4 rows of five pages (see previous post)

I finished Blue Moon:

"Blue Moon" by Bent Creek Crescent Colors substitutions on white 28 ct. Jobelan

Had another snow day on Monday. We got about 6-8" of that white crap. It's been frigid ever since- 20's for highs, single numbers at night.

Bob was in the hospital again last week. The actress Geena Davis, who grew up in Wareham, her father was his roommate at the end of the week. She was there Saturday night when I went to visit. She's very tall (over 6 feet), very slender. She was wearing jeans & a sweater. Bob said she was there most of the time with her father, which meant a lot of people were constantly in the room to "see" the celebrity. I said hello, and left her alone. I would have loved an autograph, but the situation didn't lend itself very un-awkwardly. I'm more impressed that she tried out for the Olympic archery team and almost made it, than with her acting career, although she could "President"  Hillary under the table, even if it was just acting.

Bob's doctors have finally determined that his pneumonia keeps recurring because he's inhaling minute particles of food & water as he eats. That flap in his esophagus (I can't remember what it's called) and his throat muscles aren't working correctly. He's been given tips on how to eat and what not to eat. He says there isn't anything corrective that can be done- it's permanent damage that he'll have to learn to live with. So as disappointing as the diagnosis is, at least he finally has a diagnosis.

Axe has been good. She had the first set of spring shots on Monday. Did someone say "spring"?

LOST is on tonight.

TTFN