Prednisone and productivity

I was told I "might like" Prednisone, and also that it might give me a surge of energy initially. Day one I felt a little fuzzy around the edges, more so yesterday, but last night I went into overdrive and knocked out my entire list of writing tasks in one big burst of work. Stayed up late, slept in this morning, and had a fantastic dream that our contractor accidentally knocked down the back yard fence, but put in a new one for us, built a new barn with gorgeous apartment upstairs, and wiped out my development woes by installing the ocean in our back forty so I never had to worry about it again. He did say that it would add a little to our cost, but when I opened the invoice the total final charge was $4200. I think for a new fence, barn, and the ocean, that is pretty reasonable!

We'll see how day three goes!

Tale of a plastic carrot bag

A couple of weeks ago either Keil Bay or Cody snuck into the barn aisle while the pony was getting a bath and emptied one plastic bag of baby carrots, ate them, trampled the empty bag, and then apparently did the same with the other bag of baby carrots. But that bag has never been found.

There was a mild panic with thoughts of impending colic, twisted bowel, vet school hospital surgery, and a big fat bill at the end. And the awful bubble of thought: what if the worst happened?

There was nothing coming out of noses so we ruled out the option that the bag was lodged in the esophagus. We searched high and low for the bag. We monitored manure and urine. We watched them eat and drink. All was normal.

A call to our vet calmed us down. She said the shape of the bag was unlikely to cause issues. If it went through the esophagus it likely went through the stomach, she said. And if it gets to the gut it will come out the other end.

She told me: do not obsess or lose sleep. As long as they look normal, treat them normally. You may never find the bag so don't stress trying to look for it every day. Just assume all is well until you see otherwise. You probably won't see otherwise!

So here we are. Two happy horses, no sign of the bag. I'm assuming all is well!

Poison ivy and prednisone

In a moment of sheer insanity I took my hand clippers last weekend and attacked a patch of poison ivy that was growing at the corner of our house. The ivy was growing at eye level and while I was careful not to touch it, I was whacking away at it with the clippers and suspect I released the oils which then wafted onto my face. Thankfully I wear glasses! But both sides of my face, my neck, several areas along my arms, and and an area on my abdomen are all raspy and itchy now. As the bumps got closer and closer to my left eye I caved in and made an appointment with my doctor.

She recommended Prednisone for 10 days and I gratefully accepted. I was up in the wee hours of the night scratching and trying not to scratch, and with the heat and regular barn chores in my day figured it was best to kick back at this now and not try to suffer through it.

About 3 hours after the first dose I am not nearly as itchy and feeling a little woozy. I'll take it. Thanks to dear daughter and sweet husband for doing the chores for me while this passes.

PSA:

I read an article that describes a much safer way of dealing with poison ivy without using chemicals. You can find it HERE.

Ducks and horses

The ducks from down the lane have been visiting us twice daily for a week or so now, and this morning I watched a drama unfold as they encountered the horses in the front field. There was galloping, and mock-spooking, circling and alerting, and the ducks made their way from the bottom of the front field up the hill, around the house to the garage area, down the driveway, back through the front field, and then finally back to the driveway where they took to the neighborhood lane to head home. If you look closely above you can see them. The horses had a grand work-out and I had a grand time watching the show.

Literary Mama, what they're looking for

I was thrilled late last week to get an email from the online journal Literary Mama telling me they had included my essay published last December in a blog post they recently wrote illustrating what they're looking for in submissions. They were a pleasure to work with and I was proud to have my essay published; now I'm proud to be included with the selected group of work they chose to highlight what they want and what got published. I invite you to follow this link and then follow their links to essays, stories, poems, and more that have to do in some way with motherhood.

Good reading here!