Tuesday February 13, 2007

Still having a very hard time with February. We do a couple hours a day on Dave's job search, but its largely a waiting game and I am not good at waiting. We do the feeding every day, and today we got our taxes together.

The two foster dogs went to other foster homes this weekend. Decided with the job uncertainty that we had enough on our plate.

Just waiting to see what will come and trying to plug through the last of winter.

Saturday February 10, 2007

Farrier came in morning and we spent about 4 hours getting all the horses trimmed. I groomed all the adult horses as we did that. After the trimming we went down the hill to pick up some clients who wanted to see our stallions. We showed them around, had a nice time. Took them back down the hill and visited Bug's kids for a bit.

Monday February 12, 2007

Went to feed today and horses were out. Found a place where they had broken a wooden fence. Fixed it and got them back in easily. No big deal.

Wednesday February 7, 2007

This has been a hard week. And today was a very hard day. With Dave being laid off, we suspect that he will have to move back to Chicago for a while to find a job. That is hard enough, but mostly I just don't like not knowing.

In terms of looking on the bright side, though... I was telling Dave how overwhelmed I was about all the spring work that has to be done at the ranch soon - trenching, fencing, cleaning up a winter's worth of poop. This will be the first spring we can't afford to hire someone. Then he pointed out that in three days he will be unemployed and can work full time on the ranch until we find him a job. That was actually a huge relief to me.

Took Rajah to the vet today because he has been in so much pain lately. Looks like he had a broken toe at some point and it healed wrong. Plus he has arthritis. This week he stays behind when I ride horses and sits in the truck when I feed. He just hurts all the time and seems so unhappy. I don't know what to do for him. I sit with him every night and tell him I love him and that he is my loyal companion and has never failed me and he is the best dog anyone ever had. But that's all I seem to be able to do.

Monday February 5, 2007

Global Warming. That's what everyone says this is. It was 50 degrees today. I took Cami out for a short ride, just getting her going again. All is well here. Am falling more in love with Ace, the one year old dog we are fostering. He is really gentle and kind and he longs for a person more than any dog I've met.

Sunday February 4, 2007

Today it was 40 degrees with clouds. We fed and took care of the animals. Then we played with the two rescued dogs (one pictured on the left here). We got some pictures to send to prospective adopters and loved on them a bit. They are both really sweet.

Rajah is not doing well these days. He shakes and is in pain a lot. Wants to be with me when I feed but is not always up to running along. We have made a bed for him in the back seat of the truck and we take him along that way. We're doing what we can for him.

Thursday February 1, 2007

Snowed a lot today - beautiful snow pouring down from the sky. We got about half a foot, maybe more. Beautiful. I went out and worked a bit and enjoyed it. Dave and I took our sleds to the top of the driveway and tried to race each other down, but the snow was too deep and fluffy to get going very fast, so he ended up just pulling me around for the fun of it.

Fed animals today. It only got up to about 15 degrees and is around zero now, so it is certainly cold. Had to do ice and feed. I fed horses on my own, then Dave helped me (after work) feed the other critters.

Yesterday we took on two dogs from a local rescue who desperately needed foster homes until they could be adopted out. We are putting them in our dog pen (six foot mesh fencing) and not bringing them in the house. It is hard. One of them is old and has always been only outside (Thor - a great Pyrenees) but the other is a really lovable, playful one year old. Beautiful boxer type dog. He sits all day and stares at our window, trying to catch a glimpse of us. He needs a person badly and it broke my heart for him to watch me leave his pen after playing with him this evening, take my dogs and go inside. I could feel him cry out that he didn't understand why nobody loved him enough to make him an indoor dog. Ugh.

I'm trying not to let him break my heart. We drug a very heavy dog house that has sat in the barn for a few years over to his pen with a sled. He has shelter, though he doesn't seem to need or want it. He has lots of room to run but no other young puppy like animals to play with him.

Oh, and the biggest news of all - Dave found out yesterday that his employers are terminating all contractors. As of Feb. 9 he has no job.

All I can say is we will see what comes. It would break my heart to loose this ranch.