Coming soon from November Hill Press!

 My newest book! 


I love the cover - the King of Zen himself in what I call the Tree of Life Bay photo, taken by dear husband who has done so many gorgeous portraits of Keil. 


What you don't see are that his hooves send down roots to the center of the earth, grounding me, and his energy soars right up to the sky and takes mine with it.


Which is what this book is all about!

a little sprucing up in the barn

Now that I'm out at the barn in the earlier hours of the day, before the heat really sets in, I've had renewed energy to do some cleaning chores beyond the basic daily routine.

This week I'm wiping down the wire stall dividers one a day. I may be crazy, but in the earlier morning hours, mug of coffee in hand, it is easier for me to look at these chores and get excited about doing them. I have a cobalt blue bucket that I use for this kind of thing. I squirt in some Dr. Bronner's peppermint soap, spray in some water, get a clean rag and my stepladder, and away I go. It's been good to stop before I get too tired to enjoy the result - no webs, no dust, tidy and clean. Even when the spiders re-build overnight, they'll never catch up to where they were because in 6 days I'll be back around to that one to clean it off again!

Today I did my one wipe-down and was so enthused I went on to do a little tack room cleaning. I took off all the saddle covers and while they were in the washing machine, I wiped down saddles, replaced the changeable gullet in the Wintec dressage saddle with Cody's XW, put the sheepskin cover on to give it a slightly cushier ride, and dusted down the wall behind the saddle racks.

I wiped down the whip rack and dusted the whips.

I washed the lids of a couple of bins so they would be white again.

Daughter picked up a saddle pad on the rack to tack up Cody and a mouse ran out! This gave me the energy to get all the saddle pads in for washing and to re-organize things a bit so we won't be providing easy housing for rodents. (reminder to Dickens E. Wickens: you might be carrying the lounging cowboy thing too far! get in the barn and help us out!)

By the time I'd done all this, Keil Bay was ready for breakfast. After he ate, I brought him into the barn aisle for grooming and put his clean Summer Whinnies back on. Easy as pie with a plastic bag on the hoof so the socks slide right on. And Keil Bay knows exactly what to do - he holds his hooves up and pushes slightly away from the socks to help me get them on quick and easy.

I have to say, watching him walk out of the barn with those four white socks made my morning. Daughter has given him a new name.

Mr. Fancy Pants.

:)

two new hanoverians on november hill!

Sorry - I could not resist that title!

The two new Hanoverians are Keil Bay and Salina but wearing their bright white summer whinnies really does make it look like we have new horses out there. Four white stockings each adds some flash and of course the real purpose for the whinnies is that they are super at keeping flies off the legs.

I went into full scale battle this weekend, hanging more sticky strips, putting out a trap with attractant, and also gratefully getting the latest batch of fly predators in the mail. This is when I wish I could hire a huge crew of frogs to come in and feast for a long weekend, effectively wiping out the entire adult fly population on November Hill. I would pay them well!


We had a huge rain yesterday afternoon and things cooled down quite a bit. This was writing weekend, so I've been editing like crazy and enjoying the company of D. It was an all-writing, no-marketing weekend and just what we both needed right now. Sitting on the front porch while the rain pelted down was like a tonic - and this morning we had gray skies and a nice cool breeze which extended the effects of the rain and cooling trend.



I was thinking tonight that I might get my version of the geldings' "sport cut."  I'm feeling like short hair, at least for a season, might be a good thing. More on that if I actually go through with it!


I was going to say that I hope all are staying cool - but all are not yet dealing with the heat ... so ... hope all are happy, healthy, and enjoying May.

another week on November Hill

Last weekend we finished the last of the April birthday celebrations - April is our biggest birthday month here, and we have ages ranging from pre-teen to forty-something as a result! Lots of good food and green grass has been consumed.

I started this week with an early morning chiro and massage appointment - a rarity as I almost never schedule anything in the mornings that requires me to leave the farm. It's just too hard to get out of the driveway before afternoon. But this was all the massage therapist had so I took it, and once I got in the car and set out, I enjoyed being out in the world and on my way to something useful and nice all at the same time.

I've been struggling with changing my daily routine around, and this early appointment helped kick-start that process a bit.

On Tuesday Moomintroll (fanciful polydactyl feline) went to the vet and we discovered he is suffering from hyperthyroidism. We're relieved to know what's going on (ravenous appetite, weight loss) and will be starting treatment soon.

Yesterday, Wednesday, I did my last day of barn chores in the mid-day time slot. At two p.m. I was in the bottom of the front field, it was 90 degrees out, and I had a moment where I wondered if I could even make it up the hill to walk through the barn aisle and into the house.

Today I started the summer season routine: get up an hour earlier, get dressed, and have coffee in the barn. I did barn chores with the herd around me in the still shady barnyard. By the time the heat set in they had eaten, were munching hay in clean stalls they picked for themselves, with fans on, clean water in their buckets, and doors open so they could find the cool spots as the day progressed.

I've been hanging water bags in the barn openings this week, an experiment to see if they help with barn flies, which we seem to have more of than usual. I have double+ the amount of fly predators coming every three weeks and although we don't have the black clouds of flies I've seen in some barns by any means, we have more than our usual share.

I'm not sure yet if the bags are helping - of course I muddied the water by hanging sticky strips up too! But I did get lots of assistance as I perched precariously on the stepladder with string and bag and the need to hold on to something and only two hands. The handsome and helpful Cody came and stood by me so I could feel his neck against my hip. He helpfully nudged each bag to make sure it was secure after I hung it. And he gave his seal of approval to all so that no one seemed the least bit concerned by bags of water hanging every foot or so along the back shelter.

I was in by noon today, feeling quite chipper and eager to get the a.m. riding piece in place so I can start the day with one of my favorite things. 


Which brings me to this question: has anyone used the Cool Medic vests? I'm thinking about getting one and would love to know if they stay cool - as opposed to feeling warm and soggy after the first few minutes. If you know, please share!

how not to ride: Matthias Rath on Totilas