Merry Christmas!

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I hope everyone has had as good a Christmas as I've had. I bought myself a laptop, and received an 8 GB high speed USB 2.0 drive for added memory, a numeric keypad for calculating, and an external CD/DVD burner. With all that, my laptop can do anything but print, and when I'm home, with our wireless network, I can print too. Since I spend days away from home, I can now keep up with email, etc.

Husband Mike is getting an international phone so he can use it overseas. The grown children received gift cards for their big present, and small, fun things to fill in the gaps. Grandson has made out like a bandit, what with being the only grandson for us, and having other cousins, as well as uncles and aunts to buy him stuff. We bought him some jeans, a warm jacket, Transformer PJs, a set of sheets and a comforter for his bed.

We had Christmas Dinner on Christmas Eve, so that Michael and Amy could spend Christmas Day with her family. It was nice to sit down, all together for a meal in a home instead of a restaurant.

Here are pictures of Michelle's new horse. She has been at the farm since May, when her previous owner died. We were going to sell her for owed board, but Michelle really likes her, so she asked for her for Christmas. I put a red bow on her, since she was a gift. She is a 12 year old 1/2 Arab.

Hi Ho, Hi Ho...

When I'm done here, I'm off to work for 3 days, sleeping in my horse trailer, and returning Sunday evening. Today and tomorrow the expected high temp is 79-80. Sunday's expected high is 47. Burrrrrr!!!! Going from summer to winter in 24 hours is hard on you.

Mike made it home. He is at the Dr right not, having his bleeding checked out. He also has, according to his blood and urine tests, a bladder infection. Before all this happened, I set us both up with a consult with a gastoenterologist as a first step to having a colonoscopy for both of us. I had one at 40 due to a family history of colon cancer, and my baseline at 40 was fine. Mike has never had one. I'm hoping the bleeding was due to a hemorrhoid, as he doesn't eat enough fiber, and said he was slightly constipated at the time.

We have 2 new animals here at Little Moon Farm. Both were free. We have acquired another old, crippled, mare. The two will be company for each other. Picnic is a 25 year old Thoroughbred with a contracted tendon in her right front leg. This makes her hoof grow funny, and she can't be ridden, though she can move around fine. The other new animal is a second inside cat. We now have 2 inside cats, Jezebel, and no name. Both are spayed and declawed. No name came from a vet tech school that gets shelter cats, spays/neuters, and declaws them as well as giving them all their shots. At the end of the semester, they find homes for them. No name is about 5 years old they think, very sweet and loving, and the spitting image of Kenney's old cat Shamen.

My test results were unremarkable. I'm almost 55 years old, and inspite of my brush with cancer, I still take no prescription meds. I still have the colonoscopy to look forward to...

Husband Mike...

...is coming home a few days early due to blood in his stool. He has a drs appointment for Friday morning. He said that it tappered off and stopped, but he doesn't want to wait till he is back in the USA to make an appointment, cause next week is Christmas. Fun and Games (NOT!)

Life changes...

Well, I've been thinking about switching to part time at work, so that I could concentrate on getting the town house ready to sell, and get the work done at the farm quicker. Well...we were informed on Thursday afternoon that, due to the downturn in the economy, the shopping center where I work is changing our contract to just Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, a total of 28 hours if I work all 3 days. I'll have lots of time now. The downside is when I go to an SCA event, I'll get no work that week. As soon as we get the house on the market, I'll look for a part time job, during the day, during the week, to make up for the money I'll be losing out on.

I was part of the show at a very small ren fair in Ingleside, near Corpus Christi over the weekend. I had a great time jousting twice a day, for the last 2 days. In addition to the fun, I was paid for my fuel, and we got to introduce Birdie to some of the SCA games and jousting. He is going to be great!!!

news, etc.

I'm writing this on my new laptop computer, at work. I bought it for myself from WalMart, for $400.00. I can now check and and answer email while I'm sleeping away from the farm.

Nothing new on the law suit, or from my physical. Test results of course are pending.

Grandson has "Topped Out" of his kindergarten computer lab reading program, and will be starting on a first grade one next time. He is very proud of himself. He has more to be proud of than he knows. Only one student finished before him, and 2 others finished the same day as him, but these students weren't in "In School Suspension" for 6 weeks, and kept out of the computer lab during that time.

It's snowing at the farm!!!!

Click on a picture to see the snow flurries. They were taken with my phone, so the resolution isn't the best.


Twinkle Toes playing in the flurries.


The cranky old mare, Princess Buttercup. She has a new blanket to keep her warm.



A close-up of the snow on her ear. Sorry about my glove in the corner




Nippers and Miss A.


Snow in a flowerpot.


This is Birdie.


This plywood has a small spot of snow on it.


Grandson's pony, Nippers.


Miss A...


Rosie

Today it has been snowing all over town. I took some pictures of the snow falling on the horses, and some of the objects around the farm. There won't be much chance of it accumulating, but it is very rare for us to have snow flurries.

Wed. 12/10...

I have a Dr's appointment in the morning. If I learn anything I'll post later.

No news...

No news on the law suit yet.

Husband Mike is back in Spain until the 19 or 20th. He will be home for most of the month of January, and we are hoping to finish emptying the house and start on the repairs. We paid for the new fence at the house in town, but they did a bad job on it and we aren't happy.

I'm working long hours. I'm feeling good, except for heartburn from the naproxen sodium I'm taking for my back pain. I have an appointment next week with my primary care physician, for my annual poke and prod. MCACC recommended I have a pap smear, and a colonoscopy, as well as standard blood work, urine test, etc. I'm going to ask him if just taking over-the counter antacids will keep me from developing an ulcer, or having other problems.

Grandson has grown several inches this past year, and he can now trot his pony without fear. As a matter of fact, he wants to trot all the time, and we have to ask him to please give Nippers a break, and let him walk. His legs are now long enough to reach past the saddle blanket/saddle flaps, so when he uses his legs to ask his pony to move, Nippers can feel it.