record-breaking continuous heat (and how we're coping)

According to our local weather channel we have now broken the record for the most continuous days with heat over 95 degrees. It's interesting that the first thing I thought of when I read that was the winter we came close to breaking the record for the most nights in a row below freezing. Clearly the message is this: it's hard to have extreme weather in either direction that seems to go on and on and on. The cumulative effects are the hard part.

Thankfully most of these very hot days on November Hill have been accompanied by a breeze. Some days the breeze is cool, others it is simply warm air blowing, but it does help, and if I wet the horses down, scrape them off, and let them stand in the breeze they seem to feel so much better. The same holds true for humans. Even Rafer Johnson has stepped into the spray a few times at this point, and we all know donkeys don't generally like baths!

I've been making sure the water in their troughs and buckets is clean and fresh, I offer hosings at least once a day but sometimes twice, and I've been feeding wet hay to get more moisture into them. Late afternoon a favorite thing is to serve their daily ration of Chaffehay sopping wet. They love that and it's so easy to do.

If any of the horses seem really hot I hose down their fly masks with cold well water, squeeze out the excess, and put the fly masks on them. The fans in the barn and/or the breeze on the hill helps to cool them down. I got this idea years ago when I discovered that a cold wet cloth on my head and under my hat in the summer makes a huge difference in my own comfort level in high heat. I don't do it every day but save it for extreme days when I know I have to be out longer than is comfortable for me. They seem to like it too.

Anotther issue we've had this summer is Cody's sheath swelling. Keil Bay had this a couple of years ago and I determined the swelling came initially from a tick bite and then "dropped" to the lowest point, which was the sheath. Add in hot weather, less movement, and it can get worse. 

I developed a protocol for Cody which has worked really well. We instituted cold hosing and 5 minutes of easy walking in the shade 3x/day. I also alternated the homeopathic remedies Rhus Tox and Silicea, at first one in the AM and the other in the PM for 5 days, then notched back to alternating them in the mornings for another 3 days. The swelling became much better after I started the remedies and he's a lot more comfortable. 

When I choose homeopathic remedies for horses I use my Miranda Castro homeopathy book as well as George MacLeod's book The Treatment of Horses By Homeopathy. It's a terrific resource and makes it easy to narrow down the remedies that might be useful. In classical homeopathy it's very important to choose the right remedy for the individual person or animal. Sometimes if I narrow down to a couple of remedies I'll alternate both to get a quick response. In this case I think the two worked well but it's generally best to get the one best remedy to get the very best results.

It looks like we'll get a break in this high heat on the weekend. One day's high is predicted to be 79-80 degrees and I feel like that's going to feel like heaven after these very hot, stifling days! Last night on the weather radar something went wrong and it said the low was going to be 32 degrees. I have never wished for freezing temps more! That would have been like nature turning on the AC for all of us. 

I hope everyone is weathering your own versions of summertime blues! 

college orientation: a slight rant

Just got home from attending a college orientation. Without going into personal detail, let me just say this: it sucked.

When did college orientation turn into such canned, fun and games on social media programming? When did it become okay to actively circumvent engaged parents and family? Where are the academics in academia?

How about this:

Model genuine sensitivity and diversity awareness. Ditch the canned check-boxing of "issues" and pushing students to overshare. Just treat the students with respect and model sensitivity. There's a fair amount of research that this works best.

Talk to parents about remaining engaged and supportive as their young people launch into the larger world. I can't believe what was said about pushing kids out and forcing them to solve their own problems. 18-year olds all the way up to 22-year olds need our guidance. They need our support. Administration: how about looking up the rate of suicides among college students? Look at sexual violence on campuses. Look at success among students whose families remain involved. If you ask me, it's the university administrators who need to get kicked out of the house. 

Where did academics go in all this? University level study is not about scavenger hunts and posting "selfies" on Facebook. Bring back time with professors and useful how-to information about campus resources and library resources and research. Forget social media. 

For that matter, just forget the cutesy names for everything. Drop the marketing 101 stuff someone learned in some stupid workshop and took seriously. Substance, not silly names.

Skip the canned team-building exercises that involve making strangers touch each other. If you're serious about diversity awareness and sensitivity, you know that this kind of stuff needs to be prefaced with some talk about the fact that it's optional and that it's perfectly okay to opt out. Better yet: just don't do it. You risk triggering the 1 out of 3-4 who have been sexually abused. What about students with small personal space bubbles? Having students write and paint and create and not having to share every personal thought with one another is equally powerful. And no one gets put on the spot. 

If you're in the business of teaching college students you need to not only be serious, but have actual knowledge and expertise in managing their behaviors and issues.

Asking students to share their sexual orientations and gender/pronoun preferences as a rote exercise? Too much information. Invite sharing. Don't require it. 

Instead of talking about campus safety, how about actually facilitating it? Puttting orientation students in the most remote dorm with no staffing during optional evening social activities on the other side of campus? Ridiculous.

Get rid of stalkerish staff people. I am not kidding. Especially when they're directors of things. 

Back to regularly scheduled blog posts on Tuesday, I swear. 

my new list of "things to do"

Somehow the list didn't show up, so here it is:

1. Do one thing at a time.

2. Do it slowly and deliberately.

3. Do it completely.

4. Do less.

5. Put space between things.

6. Develop rituals.

7. Designate time for certain things.

8. Devote time to sitting.

9. Smile and serve others.

10. Make cleaning and cooking become meditation.

11. Think about what is necessary.

12. Live simply.

This came from Sara Walpert Foster's blog and I wanted to share it here because I love it so much. She found it someplace else so I'm not sure who to credit for the list and the artwork. Thank you! to the person who made this image! Go check out Sara's blog to read more. I only read the one post so far but am looking forward to digging in over there.

I'm so overwhelmed with things to do right now. Most of them are good things, or there to be done for good reasons, so I'm not complaining. But the sheer number makes me seize up when I think about the list, which is broken down into smaller lists in an effort to reduce my stress.

I've been telling myself that I really only have to do one thing. The next thing. And I can do it slowly, carefully, completely. I can immerse myself in that one thing. I can let all the rest go.

It works.

Today I had a long list of errands in town, on this, the hottest day of this year thus far. My daughter and I went together and did them, and we lingered. We meandered. We did not rush or fret. By the time I got to the Habitat Restore I was feeling the rhythm of the one next thing. Inside I found a big Ziploc bag full of Michael Lloyd flatware. It's not exactly like the wedding flatware (my husband and I just celebrated our 21st wedding anniversary) but it's in the same family and I loved it. There wasn't a price on the bag so I took it to the register and the volunteer said "Is $2.00 too much?" With today's 20% off that came to $1.72 for about 40 pieces. I think going slowly might just have its own magic.

We made a list this morning of barn chores and we took turns doing a few every hour or so. Amazing how much easier the day was when all I had to do was go out and do the next thing and maybe the next and then come in for a glass of water and some cool air. The barn was a mess by the end of the day. Keeping the herd hydrated and comfortable was the priority. Going slowly made it so much easier. 

Notice that one thing on the list above.

Do less.

That's my new mantra until this heat breaks. 

summer barn routine

With temps this weekend going into the mid-90s and then up to 97 by mid-week, I'm into the full-bore summer barn routine. 

I'm  always pretty meticulous about the water tubs and troughs but I notch that up during summer heat. I don't want any of them having any excuse not to drink! Keil Bay notches this up from his end too - he uses the troughs to self-cool by sticking a hoof in and splashing wildly. His herd gathers around him, soaking up the cool water while he splashes.

The millipedes this time of year also make daily water trough cleaning a must. 

I try to get the waters done first and then move on to making sure the barn is closed up on the sunny side, that stalls and aisles and back covered area are tidy, and then it's on to tick checks.

We're finding fewer ticks at this point than we did in May, and even at the worst this has been a pretty light year in that regard, thankfully.

Every few days I put tea tree gel in horses' armpits and groin areas and along the mid-line of their bellies. Then I massage it in, hose them off, and all the itchy parts are soothed. It seems they get less ticks and less gnats when I do this, so while it takes extra time, it's worth it.

They all get a quick brushing and fly spray, and this week the fly masks came out of their bin. 

They come in and hang out in the barn with hay and fans usually from 10-11 a.m. until 7 p.m. - that's when the biting flies go to bed. And with this herd of easy keepers, it keeps them off the grass during the peak sugar time!

I try to do de-webbing inside the barn a little bit each day. I mix a bucket of Dr. Bronner's peppermint soap and water and go around the stalls with a micro-fiber mop head that fits the telescoping light bulb changer. The metal stall guards and ledges I do with a cloth by hand. It smells heavenly. 

By the time I get back inside, it's time for a shower and lunch! And it looks like we'll be entering 2-shower days with this heat wave. On days when it goes above 90 I go out in the afternoon and offer cold hosing. For horses, pony, and ME. :)

mini retreat

At a friend's lovely apartment for a weekend writing retreat where we are working on book three in the Little Shoppe of Colors series. We spent this morning on the beach and the combination of surf and sand makes me feel like I just had a massage. Good friend, good food, good writing, good location. 

Can't wait to get this book out there. It's going to be good.