Back to the Future

 (Alternative title: “A New Hope” - like it or not, Star Wars has saturated every inch of our pop culture, even this die-hard Trekkie ain’t immune!)

I had confused my dear friend Bobbie by referring to Tony as my “padawan” (Jedi-in-training), but I ‘splained it all to her yesterday when I brought Tony along to our mini-trail ride. He was initially apprehensive when I told him we were meeting my friends because he "didn’t want to ride fast", but he relaxed when I told him not to worry, it’s just a slow trail ride. But it was the best possible re-introduction to work for TwoFace: a 2 hr amble, no significant obstacles, no crowds, zero excitement! I wasn’t satisfied with any of the headstalls I’d rigged up for him, so I wound up just clipping reins to his halter - he did great. I’ll put him in a sidepull for our next ride… “If it’s good enough for Quigley, Sahara, Baraq, and Moonie” - your control as a rider does not come merely from pulling on the mouth & head; it also flows from your seat & legs. “Let the Force flow through you” - I don’t feel so bad, quoting Sir Alec Guinness!

I had high hopes of riding again today, but the cold front is coming. Better not press my luck; got a little more storm prep to do: I bought small space heaters to put under the sinks at the clinic; have to stock up on a little bit of feed. Gotta take my mom’s little bit of laundry back to rehab and see if I can lift her spirits - yesterday she was pretty withdrawn & depressed. Hard for me to tell how much of this is physical and how much is psychological? The future is unclear.

I need a short-term goal to fixate on - for now it will be Twoie‘s reconditioning. He reminds me so much of dear Quigley, without all of the knotheadedness, thankfully! And of course Mr Silas was an angel for Tony. Too many horses, too little time!!!

                                                                Twoie led off most of the way

Me & Twoie, Tony & Silas, Amber & Aspen (it's refreshing to find a palomino not named Goldie or Sunny!)

Flowers for Val-gernon II

 (Usually, once an appropriate title** floats into my foggy lil’ head, I am off & typing - but this holiday scramble has me all messed up!)

My poor mom fell on the eve of Christmas Eve (Monday evening the 23rd) -  one of the aides called me to let me know, but she said mom seemed fine so I did not drop everything & run over there. However, on Tuesday when the home healthcare nurse came to check on her, it was obvious she had done damage to her left arm - so back to the ER! I am thankful that whoever examined her initially must’ve heard something so they did a chest X-ray & diagnosed not only a broken left wrist but lobar pneumonia.

This translated into five days in the hospital, back on IV antibiotics. I then arranged for mom to be moved to the rehab unit back at The Villages. This caused some confusion when the young lady came to do mom’s mental evaluation: she asked for her address, and Mom began reciting “515 E Ann Arbor Ave”which of course is where she used to live in her cottage. (Obviously she refuses to accept the fact that her new residence is at Arabella)

The orthopedic doctor will not be casting her arm until January 9th - I have half a mind to do it myself, but I guess I will play by the rules. Of course she is completely helpless now, with her weak right arm with the frozen shoulder & damaged wrist from last spring’s injury. Thankfully her appetite has come back with vigor once we got her pneumonia treated. I am getting over there to be sure she gets at least one solid meal per day. 

Also thankful that her little dog Abbie has settled in just fine with my rowdy crew - buddying up to the little ‘uns (Izzy  & Tina Fea)while ignoring my thundering horde of big dogs. I have no idea if mom will be able to return to Arabella or not after this standard 30-day rehab period.

I am coughing up a lung myself with what I presuppose is allergic bronchitis/sinus crud but I’m just trying to survive the holidays. It is a symptom of my low mental state that I didn’t miss being in horse camp last weekend when we had severe thunderstorms - nothing to prove!

** strange that I published this 11 months ago: https://endurovetssparkjourney.blogspot.com/2024/02/flowers-for-val-gernon.html

Photo dump:

                                      The closest thing to a Christmas postcard I'll send out

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Twelve Days of Christmas

 (I should have posted this last week)

But it’s my son who is now in the midst of his own “12 days of Xmas”: starting last Wednesday, he will work for 12 days straight, yes, including Christmas Day. Welcome to adulthood, son! He is planning to go in a little earlier on Christmas Day itself so he can hopefully slide out by noontime…

Meanwhile, I feel like a slacker for having the weekend off & riding two days in a row. The guilt level is moderate since I’ve still got a few things to acquire as far as Christmas gifts & I feel as if I’m neglecting  my mother even though there doesn’t seem to be much I can do for her at this point…. Yesterday’s offering was two varieties of Happy Meals since I wasn’t sure if she would prefer a cheeseburger or chicken nuggets - turned out she ate four chicken nuggets. (Her appetite is flagging as she spends most of her days in bed)

I rode Mr. Silas on Saturday & grabbed Baraquinator for Sunday since I misapprehended the time - my friend Sam is rarely early for anything so when he said 11 AM I took him at his word. I was dismayed when he texted me at 10:30 to say he was there! (I’m 25 minutes away from the AT&T trailhead) Then I raced home to meet my former padawan Tony who wants to get back into the riding scene - always great to see him and I’m sure I can get him saddled up safely. Ho ho ho!!!

I didn't carry my phone since I wore sweatpants in our chilly weather, so all I have is a screenshot from Sharon's video clip, getting ready to cross the historic wooden bridge in downtown Waxahachie...

Seasonal Affect

 I am struggling to get in the holiday spirit, you guys… Got extra nursing care lined up for my mom - so far, so good (fingers crossed, voodoo charms rattled, etc. etc.)

My one concession to home decoration was setting out my ol’ Lenox nativity set, these white porcelain pieces which I’ve collected over these past 32 yrs (H1 got me my first piece, which of course was the donkey, when we moved into this house). I actually haven’t added anything probably for 15 years - they discontinued the set & my last piece was the ox which I found on eBay. 

My cousin & his wife are going to try to capture their semi-feral dog and bring her to me to be spayed - of course she’s come into heat and formed an alliance with another stray so we want to prevent more unwanted puppies. I’ll post a link to Dee’s blog, but the truth she doesn’t reveal is that under any other circumstances, Joe would have shot this intruder for harassing his livestock - Sara is very lucky that Dee & Jim had come back home. 

https://cookingwithdee.com/2024/11/20/house-proud/

My little lap intruder is doing well: eating three times a day with normal bowel movements; I just can’t get her to gain any weight! It is what it is - I keep asking myself WWJHD: What Would James Herriot Do? While I would love radiographs to evaluate her liver/gallbladder, I probably won’t have that capability for another month. Oncor has installed our new power pole and transformer but the new electrical line has to be pulled and everything hooked up before I can reinstall my Xray machine… I am so tired of apologizing to clients - having to send them elsewhere for radiographs.

Black Friday

  - certainly is not a fun shopping day for Yours Truly! Despite the fact that it's a beautiful-blue-skies, mild-winter-in-North-Texas kinda day, my mood itself is quite black. Time for "The Rest of the Story":

8 days ago (Thurs 11/21), my mom slipped down to her bathroom floor & couldn't get herself up. The facility has strict guidelines; they will not lift a resident off the floor, they have to get themselves up (I guess I partially understand that from a liability standpoint, but c'mon! Grandma's on the cold hard tile, and all you'll do is bring her a pillow to cushion her head until the paramedics arrive?!?) - so an ambulance was summoned, Mom was taken to the ER, and we spent a tedious afternoon & evening getting radiographs, CT, & bloodwork. Fortunately, nothing was broken, Mom was ultimately diagnosed w/a UTI, given IV antibiotics & a breathing treatment (they kept asking if she was on oxygen which she has not been up until this point)

I spent the next 3 days trying to line up extra care for her (good luck with THAT over a weekend!) and, last but not least, tracking down her prescription which had vanished into the stratosphere! I finally retrieved it from the Walgreen's in South Dallas where it had been inexplicably phoned in for God knows whatever reason? Undoubtedly that caused a setback, but on Saturday Mom was feeling well enough that I got her showered & dressed & took her to my cousin's for our Early Thanksgiving family reunion & feast. I took but a single photo:

Yesterday, for The Day Itself, I prepared more cornbread dressing, sweet potatoes, deviled eggs, & Z's favorite spicy Chex mix to convene at Victoria's grandmother's for another celebration. Unfortunately, poor Andy remains in skilled nursing/rehab section of the VA; I didn't know if they would try to "spring him" which quite honestly might seem like cruel & unusual punishment?  I keep trying to put myself in Andy's position: would I want to be faced with bounteous plenty with a feeding tube? I know the delay in getting my mom back on her antibiotics caused a setback (only time will tell if this deficit can be overcome?), so I did not even try to get her out yesterday...

I'm going to write a note to Cousin Vanessa since there never seems to be a good time to call. I feel woefully unprepared to offer her much of anything as my own life seems to have spiraled out of control. I'm so far behind I don't even know where to begin? Taxes are always the first logical/inevitable step - I was actually on my way to talk to my CPA Thursday before last when I was interrupted by mom's ER trip. Death & taxes, those two constants! Tina Fea has gone on another hunger strike as well. Little dog, you're breaking my heart in another sort of way.

At least I still seem to have the intellectual capacity to defeat Mijo at chess - but lemme tell ya, it was a long, brutal, messy battle!

No Fairytales

 We are a pretty up-close-&-personal, in-your-business type of family… I’ve made lighthearted commentary for years that I don’t have siblings, I have cousins! (Of course that was proven in error 4 years ago with the discovery of my half-sister, but that’s still a deep dark secret to most of the family - even though I am not ashamed about an apparent torrid romance my dad had prior to marrying my mom**, I still need to keep this fact from drifting across my mom‘s consciousness even as she grows increasingly detached)

** during our sole weekend meet-up, Linda & I determined that she was conceived during a brief “hall pass” break when my grandfather had taken my mom out of the country on vacation. I guess you could consider that unfaithfulness, put that’s my thorny ethical dilemma for another day. “She is dead now; dead & buried” - a poor paraphrase

Anyway I’m still in shock from learning that my cousin’s husband of almost 25 years has left her: 4 almost-grown kids, a huge historic home in Waxahachie, and an empty résumé. (Vanessa has devoted herself to being a SAHM) I’m terrified for her - not that I’m trying to hold the tragedy sweepstakes; while I think it was more traumatic to be abandoned with a newborn, at least I had a career & an income source I could lean into. I need to reach out to her to be sure she is protecting herself: of course Texas does not have any requirements for spousal support or alimony; we have to hope that Robbie plays fair. I wonder who his side piece is - I’ve seen it proven over & over again: men don’t leave unless there is somebody else.

Primum Non Nocere

 “First, Do No Harm”

I may have one of those hard decisions facing me today, if poor little Tina Fea made it through the night. I left her hospitalized at the clinic after throwing a few “Hail Mary” treatments at her, but I’m not gonna let her suffer. It’s remarkable how quickly one can get attached. It is my working theory that her former owners dumped her out of an inability to face these choices.

I think my all-time record is six euthanasias in one day, and there are many times when seems like it’s the topic of discussion several times a day. Folks think it’s the hardest part of my job but it is not - what’s hard are convenience euthanasias, behavioral cases or those of economic necessity… “Most” of the time it is a mercy, as I’m relieving suffering.

But this morning I’m dragging my feet - also hope my guy is well underway in fixing what he didn’t get hooked up correctly with repairs to my septic system! Just when I think I’m getting ahead, there goes almost $9000 for that, not to mention another $3000 in prep work for the new power pole/upgrades so I can get the X-ray machine reinstalled at long long last. I’ll have lots of excuses when I skulk around to talk to my CPA.

Dr. W is scheduled to pick up the surgery trailer December 5th; I think I can hang on by my fingernails until then.