She Brings Joy

 

(She = daughter who took the photo and Clem who posed so nicely)

Good thoughts for the Big Bay

 Two days ago Keil Bay suddenly had an issue with his hind end being noticeably weak, particular on the left side, and it got better, worse, and better again by today’s vet appointment. He’s had a full neurological exam, much bloodwork, and the vet suspects it might be EPM. We have a good treatment plan in place until test results are in, and a tentative plan depending on his lab results. 

Meanwhile we’re starting acupuncture and increased vitamin E as supportive therapies that will help no matter what the diagnosis.

Keil is 31, and he’s been the healthiest animal on the farm from the day he came home with me. He’s also my dream horse and while I know I have to be ready for anything, it’s so hard to imagine him sick or incapacitated. Last night I cried until my eyes were swollen, imagining the worst, and today I feel much more hopeful that this is not as terrible as I thought last night, but we would love whatever good energy anyone wants to send his way. 

Today, I sat and watched him after the vet left and who would ever think this handsome guy is 31? He’s the King. :)

November Hill farm journal, 110

 We had a warm up, rain, and now we’re cool again. The front field was limed and reseeded last Thursday, got a nice soaking rain the evening of the work, had a week of sun and warmer temps to help sprouting, and last night got a second nice rainfall. We should get a good result thanks to the timing of the work with the rain and the good fortune of the following week’s weather.

Yesterday I finally got out to treat fire ant mounds with orange oil and water. It’s not a difficult chore, but requires many returns to the water hydrant for refills. I’d opened the grass paddock to the herd while I was working so they could enjoy the grass until the rain came later in the evening.

Little Man apparently stepped in a fire ant mound I hadn’t gotten to yet (a few had popped up since I treated the grass paddock last week) and went into a bucking, galloping fit. He wouldn’t stop for several minutes for me to help, and kept going up to Keil Bay as if he wanted Keil to help him! - but when he settled down I used fly spray on him and didn’t see any ants. He quickly resumed grazing.

It’s absolutely looking like fall is here now, and we had geese flying over a couple of days ago, honking and making their way south. 

I have my new bed planted and forgot to get a photo, but it’s going to be great - will be beautiful, native, and forage for many pollinators and birds - and will also serve as a rain garden on a slope where we need some help with run-off. I’m going to move four of the blueberry bushes I misplaced in Poplar Folly. They’re not getting enough sunlight and some critter keeps eating their leaves. I’ll make a row to the side of the pollinator bed and that will all work to help with water run-off as well as make that area a pretty corner to look out on. I’m sure the birds will go wild over the blueberries once the bushes start bearing fruit.

I checked the fig tree yesterday. It’s loaded but they’re not yet ripe. We’ll see if they can ripen given the temps are cool again. We’re onto a week of sunny days, so maybe they can. What I found ripening nicely yesterday were these persimmons, on the path down to Poplar Folly, and a surprise to me. I didn’t even realize the tree there was a persimmon, as I’ve never found fruit before, but it too is loaded this fall, and the persimmons on the ground are sweet and perfect. I left what was there for the wildlife, but this weekend I may take some for myself. 

This week is busy with home inspection and other new house things, the in-person ones we’re assisting with since we’re here and my son and daughter-in-law are not. One nice surprise is that we knew the house was on 2 acres of land but didn’t put it together until yesterday that the house sits on one of the two acres, and across the gravel lane leading to their driveway is the second acre. It was like discovering they had a whole new piece of property! I’m going to go explore it for them tomorrow and take photos. 

Also a good surprise: they learned their baby is a boy, and they’ve chosen his name, so we are starting to think of “him” instead of “the baby” and it’s exciting to be thinking about getting to know him when he’s born. I had to break the news to Little Man that the pony girl I had promised him is now going to be a pony boy, but he’s fine with that. :)

One of the (many) good things about having my son local is his serious cooking and baking. He sent these photos from his kitchen last week and I realized this is what we have to look forward to!

My daughter shared a beautiful photo she took (her photos are gorgeous and this is a fine example) of Clementine sharing some time with my daughter-in-law over Labor Day:

Clementine brings so much joy and comfort to us all. This week while shopping online for groceries, this popped up in a search and while it wasn’t even what I was looking for, how could I resist getting it?

I bought it for the box but after last night’s debacle with the mad Trumpkin ranting and raving like a petulant child, I am actually drinking it. 

Please VOTE HIM OUT so we can get back on track as a nation.

Happy Happy News!

 I’m beyond happy to report that my son and daughter-in-law are expecting in April and they have found and had an offer accepted on a home that is not only beautiful, it is 19 minutes from November Hill! How lucky are we that they will be so close to us!

The real estate market in our larger area of the state is booming, and the first house they found and made an offer on had something like 57 showings in 2 days, a plethora of offers, and while theirs ended up in the final 3, they did not get the house.

When I saw this new listing come on the market Friday morning, I sent messages to our fam-chat, scheduled a showing with their real estate agent (an amazing agent who is also a veterinarian and a horse person) and with a team effort, an offer was made that night. Which was a good thing, because by Saturday morning there were 10 showings scheduled for that day, and people begging the listing agent not to accept any offers until they had the chance to put theirs in as well. Thankfully, the sellers stood by their word and canceled all the showings!

I had no idea that this is apparently the norm for buying a home here right now. You have to flock to the newly-listed property, put in an above-the-asking-price offer, write personal letters to the owners, and even then may find yourself in a sea of similar offers hoping they pick yours. It’s high drama and I’m glad we’re done with it!

The papers were signed yesterday, checks delivered, and this fellow witnessed me and the agent celebrating the victory in the driveway of the new home:

Congratulations to D and C! We’re so excited to share in this new part of your journey!

My essay about my grandma, Threads, is up at Minerva Rising’s The Keeping Room

 You can read it HERE.