Circle of Life & All That Jazz

It ain't so much that I have a lack of things to contemplate… Rubbing my various bruises since my “home bone density test”: I fell down my own staircase Thursday night when I got up about 4 AM to use the bathroom (a nightly occurrence for me! ain’t as if the geography of my own house should be unfamiliar to me?!.) but I didn’t walk quite far enough - in my half-asleep state, I turned down the staircase instead of walking 3 feet farther to the bathroom door. Talk about your rude awakenings!

This was the exact mistake my dear former FIL made about 28 yrs ago, when he was visiting with my SIL & her (at the time) 4-yr old… We jolted awake to her piercing screams, as Linda feared Dad had broken his neck! Thankfully he had not - just his wrist! but I never made a mistake in the future of letting an elderly guest sleep upstairs. When Peran’s folks visited, for instance, we vacated our master bedroom downstairs, regardless of his mom’s protests - no ifs, ands, or buts!

I count myself lucky to have broken nothing but my pride - for the first couple of days I was hobbling around, glad I didn’t have an upcoming riding event.

I am posting what my office manager’s husband related about their recent hunting experiences on our property. I am as proud as I can be, even though I’ve done nothing but provide the venue. I had no idea we had such a thriving deer population in the bottom land - I’ll get some pictures posted in the usual circuitous way. Justin asked me about a lease agreement & I told him the agreement was that Kristy keeps working for me until I’m ready to retire 😉

(Gunner is their 11-yr old; Justin set up their deer blind & put up a feeder only 2 wks ago, & he bagged his first doe Thurs night)

“Well my boy finally got his first harvest waited to post until the whole process was complete. Gunner is my ride or die. My hunting buddy always by my side not just in the stand but he puts his blood sweat and tears in the offseason and during season. I have made him learn patience when it comes to hunting for the last two years. He has had to pass on deer over and over and sometimes it hurt me telling him not that one. But this year I told him if we have a mature doe and a buck walk out this year he will get to take the shot. On Thursday after school we sat in the stand wind and rain, lighting and he had 2 mature does walk out. lol he was about to pull the trigger when the feeder goes off and there goes the does lol. Saw his heart break but after 5 minutes they came back and he got to take his first rifle shot. Proud dad moment to see your son harvest an animal honor that animal for its life. All while it’s lighting all around us. Then brind her home due to the weather and field dress, skin her, then process her. Raising a future man, father, provider. I am over the moon proud of you Gunner Smith. Congratulations on your first one, many more to come now. Time to get that buck now.”

Last night Justin harvested a beautiful 8-pt buck:

“Today my wife wanted to go hunting so we went and sat in the blind. Well she let me take a shot on this 8 point instead of her taking it. Always putting others before herself, she truly embodies selflessness, now it’s time to get you on one babe. Thank you baby for letting me get this beauty 16 1/2 inside spread. 2025 has been an incredible year for us.”

Salt Lake City?!?

 I’ve been recording my “horseback miles” in a 1900 mi Pony Express Challenge,  retracing the route of the original Pony Express Trail. Twoie’s success has put me (figuratively) over Emigrant Pass & into the heart of Salt Lake City. I’ve never been to Salt Lake City but I would like to visit someday - my folks spent about 6 months there as newlyweds (aka long before I came onto the scene!) since my father had a job opportunity there… One of my trail riding buddies & I actually signed up for it couple of years ago - you have 5 yrs to get this mileage done, but with all Carla‘s turmoil in getting her new house built, she has not recorded any mileage for many months now.

I actually feel “purty good” this morning, Twoie is much easier on ye olde carcass than Baraquinator! Has me sitting around & thinking how sometimes you can do a lot of things wrong but it still comes out right.

A.) I was in such a hurry loading up, I did not grab the boys’ bucket of pelleted feed so I had to feed them beet pulp & oats - fortunately I had a full bale of alfalfa hay. 

B.) I likewise failed to transfer the tub of my favorite Corona ointment, which I use to lubricate under the girth & saddle pad - luckily no evidence of chafing, rubs or pressure points.

C.) Both geldings got a little stocked up, standing around in a pen after all their hard work - so in the future I will have to be diligent about poulticing & wrapping legs “once again”. (Used to do it all the time, but was not necessary when I was only going shorter distances - I’ve gotten soft!)

Then I came across this great post in my FB feed this morning. (For some reason my iPad won’t do its normal copy & paste feature, but it’s about fear of failure) 

And as I finally got around to downloading & transferring some photos (!!!) - which is quite the process with my aging electronics! - I forgot the most glaring mistake of them all: I failed to grab my trusty helmet! So I rode bareheaded & "bulletproof" as we say ;-) Shock & awe around horse camp since Val is always one of those people who preach helmet safety. "Do as I say, not as I do!"

                                            Route of the old Pony Express Trail through SLC

The Fog Rolls In

 … as I sit here with my cooling cup of coffee, wondering what’s it all about, Alfie? I was too tired to continue the forced march to pack up and go home last night after hauling to West Texas Wednesday night, picking up Moonie Thursday, returning home, packing the big trailer Friday to haul to Killeen to fulfill my obligation to sponsor my niece in yesterday’s endurance ride…

We finished with 1.5 minutes to spare because we missed a turn, coming in on the final approach as we passed John the photographer - we trotted an extra half-mile, but as we emerged onto the road, I knew we had gone too far! But all’s well that ends well - the boys look great & Catie finished up full of vim & vigor…

Unfortunately Christina & Catie loaded up to return home before the awards meeting, where everybody clapped & cheered for me - now that was a good feeling! After all, it’s been almost 4 yrs since I’ve successfully completed a 25-mi event. Hopefully it’s the first of an understandably short but successful endurance career for Twoie (he’s 20, so if he can work for another 4 or 5 yrs, he’ll have earned his oats!)

Funny thing is, I related to Catie the story of Lucy & my “4-minute finish” when we did a 50-miler here probably 8 yrs ago - completing w/4 minutes to spare, earning that Madonna song a permanent place of honor on my playlist!

I had contemplated hauling from here up to Decatur - where my trail riders are today - but I’ve got a lot of laundry** to do & hopefully Z & V will come out so I can mount her up on Silas for a short introductory ride! More fun times!

** Darling Tina Fea wet the bed - thank goodness she’s a smol dog!!!

Deep’ish Thoughts

 I needed a chuckle before I stagger out to finish loading the big horse trailer to go commit my acts of irresponsibility this weekend (I’ll be sponsoring Catie aboard Baraq in the 25 with me - shouldn’t be any problem make our time limit! 😳 Instead, I’ll be begging her to slow down…)

IRRESPONSIBLE OLD HORSE RIDERS

Two years ago, my other half, Jan, took a tumble off her 17hh grey Irish draught mare, Cara and broke her left wrist, a rib and a bone in her right hand. Britain’s beleaguered National Health System rose to the challenge magnificently and repaired her after numerous scans, x-rays, a bunch of analgesics, bone manipulation and a two-hour long operation to put a titanium rod into her left wrist. Total cost zero. Actually, £10, for the car parking charge at Pembury Hospital in East Sussex, as we were there for about 30 hours in all.

But despite the wonderful care, kindness and skill involved there was a slight under current of unspoken wonder, surprise, and maybe just the slightest unstated criticism that someone over 60 was still riding and getting up to shenanigans like this. There was a sense that Jan was old enough to know better than to be horse riding at her age. The hospital would be better used looking after the truly sick and dying, not a bunch of old fools doing self inflicted wounds to themselves. The staff in A&E and the bone clinic mentioned that in the past 24 hours there had been three other horse-riding accidents they had attended to.

I can understand this feeling all too well. What the hell do we think we are up to? Are we irresponsible, stupid, crazy? I would have to plead guilty to all those things as I am a decade older than Jan and should be even more aware of my ‘irresponsible’ behaviour.

I hate to think what this accident would have cost us without the free healthcare in the UK. Maybe, I thought, sitting by Jan through that long night the time has come to bid farewell to riding?

But once home again, there was no talk of giving up. A smaller horse, yes, perhaps, but that was the sum of our forward planning.

Our grown-up children also think we are pushing our luck and making nuisances of ourselves with the medical fraternity. Our oft stated concern with our son’s motorbike riding elicits a ream of statistics which show conclusively that many more people are crippled or killed in horse riding accidents than in motorcycle crashes. We hang our heads a bit but carry on regardless, like junkies just out of rehab.

Are we mad? Is there something wrong with us? Yes, to both these charges. The problem is we’ve been mainlining this horse drug for six and seven decades respectively and in some ways, it Is one of our main reasons for living, our single greatest pleasure. We’ve fought off cancer and heart disease, so we are not unaware that this time on earth is a fragile thing, and it is drawing to a close. This makes us even more wedded to this so-called irresponsible behaviour called horse riding.

There seems to be an ever-greater unwillingness in the West to live a bit dangerously. But it is this very thing that adds salt and savour to what otherwise would be a very bland life. We are wedded to the adventure that awaits us in the woods, out in the landscape beyond people, even beyond help in some cases. We are not unaware of the risks and carry tracking devices in our phones. But it would be hard to land a paramedic helicopter where we disappear to in the forests.

It would appear that for better or worse we are indeed irresponsible old codgers. And all the better for being just that. The poem says: “When I am old I shall wear purple.” Stuff that, I hate purple. But riding a long striding horse into the sunset or sunrise for that matter, that is my drug of choice and I’m buggered if I’m giving it up to keep the medics happy. See you in A&E.

“Change or Die”

 I’ve been steadily working my way through Diamond Dallas Page’s latest production: a reality-themed miniseries titled “Change or Die”. I don’t recall where on my social media feeds that news of this popped up?

The wrestling world holds a space near & dear to my heart since watching “Saturday night rasslin” was a activity with my beloved Granddad. I eagerly jumped on the bandwagon with DDP when he started promoting his yoga programs about 15 years ago - bought his DVD’s, then subscribed to his app for quite a while until I let it lapse in 2017. In “Change or Die”, DDP brought together a small group for intensive rehab: a former boxer, another wrestler “wrestling” w/alcoholism & chronic injuries, a plus-sized model who’d outgrown her “specs”, a grandmother & a super-morbidly obese young man. I had a visceral reaction to Taylor Sowers (the young man) since he reminded me so much of my cousin Susie, whom we lost to complications from gastric bypass surgery when she was 26. 

Full of enthusiasm, I have reactivated my DDP app but I’m already behind on the workouts. I realize Rome wasn’t built in a day etc. etc. & there are those who are so much worse off than I am, but again, my shortness of breath & low energy levels are discouraging. Dr Abbi reports that surgery went well on Moonie’s RF foot so current plans remain for me to go pick him up next week to bring him home. Tony still awaits test results to determine whether he has cardiomyopathy.

Halfway There

 “…whoa-oh, living on a prayer!”

The soaring vocals of Bon Jovi filled my head yesterday morning after completing my phone call with Dr Abbi - Moonie came through his first surgery with flying colors, Dr Abbi is confident she did him a lot of good, even though he had “the worst impar ligament she’s ever seen”. That’s my boy, the overachiever! Heh heh - easy to make jokes now, but I have been seriously concerned - we’re not out of the woods yet. Current game plan is to do his right foot next Monday or Tuesday, keep him hospitalized for another 7-10 days, then he should be comfortable enough to travel home (which is a 6-hr trailer ride) That would land on Thurs 11/13, which is the day I planned on packing & loading for Twoie & I’s next attempt at a 25-mi ride 11/15. I may make it easier on myself by driving to Sweetwater Wednesday night & staying in a hotel to break up the trip somewhat. I shudder to think what Moonie’s “bail” is going to be, so what’s an extra hundred bucks for a hotel?!?

In other news, the immediate saga of Tamara is ended. She signed herself out of her skilled nursing facility last Monday (AMA), persuading an aide to drive her home, who also helped her get the power turned back on at her house. But at some point Tuesday night, she fell in her back hallway - the neighbors noticed the lights were on & fearing a break-in, they called the police. The police broke in to find her; she was taken to the hospital where she expired Sunday. Her daughter was understandably distraught, since she had not jumped up to run down here - she thought she had a little more time. I tried to console her by telephone - her first responsibility is to her own family & 4 young children after all! I called her ex-husband Monday afternoon who, being the good guy that he is, immediately volunteered to help however he could with securing her property until Alex is able to come down. Ron will also break the news to his 19-year-old grandson whom Tamara babysat a lot when he was younger… Alex told me Tamara will be cremated & that’s that, with no plans for a memorial service which seems to be the going thing, just as for Grandma Phu?

At least we saved her animals, and poor Tamara herself did not die like a stray dog in her hoarder’s house. Corey is happy as a clam amongst his new dog pack - I told Peran I’m building a sled dog team 😉

“Relentless”

 “Way back when”, very early on in my blogging exploits, a cyber-friend described me as “relentless”, a description I found flattering at the time! Here lately I have been listening to podcasts during drive time, which seems to be a better use of my precious irreplaceable hours left on this earth than just listening to pop music. A favorite show is “The Rest is History”, 2 British dudes dissecting various topics - & here lately they’ve been going through the life & career of Admiral Horatio Nelson, he of the Battle of Trafalgar fame. Peran has an old framed poster celebrating Nelson which I suppose he bought on sale or something as part of a framed set, since I’ve never heard P mention any historical topics whatsoever! I can’t even get him to watch Ken Burns documentaries…

At any rate, I did a quick search to see if I have mentioned the latest drama (which I have not) - when I searched for cardiomyopathy, I pulled up my entry in the aftermath of dear Ken’s funeral 2 yrs ago: https://endurovetssparkjourney.blogspot.com/search?q=Cardiomyopathy+

Poor Tony has struggled w/heat intolerance & distressing spells of a racing heartbeat - he went to the cardiologist this week & must return next week for an echocardiogram to confirm a possible diagnosis of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy! Again, Val is dismayed at the fragmented nature of our so-called healthcare system which more & more seems to be a system of seeing specialists who throw various medications at your symptoms instead of looking at the whole picture. Tony quit riding with me as a teenager when he was diagnosed with epilepsy - needless to say, he won’t be riding with me for a while until we get this sorted out… I continue to be troubled by my own weakness with shortness of breath, but I think it’s obviously something I’ll just have to live with - my last scans showed evidence of COPD: between Covid & 2 rounds of radiation therapy, that damage has caught up to me.

Step-SIL Lisa-in-CO sent me a thick packet of photos which must’ve been Phu’s - I will try to post a few later. I look forward to passing the duplicates along to Z. Long-awaited thunderstorms rolled in last night, but if we have some dry time this weekend, tentative plans are to get Victoria mounted up on Silas.

Moonie’s MRI provided bad news about his poor crippled front feet (navicular disease), but more tentative plans are to proceed with surgery “one foot at a time” on Monday. How I miss My Pretty Pony!