Eowyn's Ramblings

I've been pretty quiet about Echo recently for a lot of reasons. Time to write is one, afraid to hope too much is one, and not seeing her as much as I would like is one.

Anyway, late summer her hocks were a bit ouchy so we wanted to get them injected. A MAJOR complication was the snowpocalpse of last February. The farm is in that dreaded "North and West of the city" area that tends to get more weather than we do here and we got quite a bit of weather. That snow (LOTS of it) caused damage to the roof. Fortunately, Peter was able to climb on the roof regularly to shovel the worst of the snow off but it still damaged the support structure. So, a new roof (including supports) was needed and was installed over the summer.

What does this have to do with hock injections? Well, horses tend to be a bit disconcerted when the roof disappears and people and equipment fly over head doing STRANGE stuff. Hammering doesn't really bother Echo, air powered nail guns overhead is a bit different (though the contractors were impressed with how well the horses at the farm took the chaos). Anyway, if she had jumped at just the wrong time, it would have been a bad thing so the injection was put off. After she was injected, time had to pass until the reaction to the injection had calmed down enough to put shoes on her hind feet (you do NOT want to flex the hocks when they hurt, horses object violently to pain). Then it was time to start getting her fit again after the time off (and after the floor was put back in the arena).

So, Dede is lunging her a few times a week and I am trying to work with her 2 times a week. So far her movement is very good sometimes wandering into fabulous. She has cantered on the line with me without being stupid (and sometimes with being stupid), she is starting to relax and realize that it won't hurt. Given that she has been in pain when being worked since 2004ish it will take time for her to get over that. As her relaxation and lack of fear grows her movement improves (worrying makes her tense and look uneven).

All in all, she is doing very well and I am very happy about it.

My Aunt Betsy passed away this morning. We got the phone call on our way to Ren Fest. Betsy has been very ill for some time (she was on dialysis for around 10 years). She had a litany of physical challenges which were getting worse and spent most of the time this summer going in and out of the hospital and rehab.

In many ways she was the closest of my aunts and uncles. When I was a very young child my mother was ill and I spent the summer at Betsy's house. She claimed I was the easiest child to take care of, get me up, feed me, put me on the horse, take me down, feed me, put me down for a nap, wake me up, put me on the horse, take me down, feed me, put me to bed. I remember one of her friends wondering where she had been hiding her daughter all these years. We always had a connection, partially through the horses and partially through our looks. I looked more like her than I look like my mother. As I got older, I looked more like her and in 1985 Mom & I went to Florida to visit and there exists a picture of me with Betsy and her horse and it is hard to tell who is who in the picture (well, aside from the horse). As more time went by, it became more strange for me to look so much like her because when I would see her it was like looking through a time-warp mirror at myself if I made some really bad choices in my life.

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For those of you who saw me today and saw the post last night, thank you for not bringing it up. I got through the day (most people on site didn't realize there was anything wrong) and held it together until after Pub Sing. Remember to love those around you, take care of the planet and your loved ones (and listen to the doctors when they tell you stuff). Also, if you see me on the streets this weekend, please don't bring this up, backstage is OK.

May the peace of the oceans sing her to her final rest and may she truly rest in peace.

Goodbye Aunt Betsy, I'm glad your passage was peaceful, may you be reunited with your brothers and your pets in whatever afterlife there may be.

Rest in peace.

We have a Japanese Maple in our front yard and the recent big snow did some damange. Javasaurus took a couple of pictures and they are behind the cut. I am seeking advice from LJ. It is really cold so there shouldn't be too much sap (or bugs) and we hope that will help.

One of the larger branches has been ripped off the trunk (still attached by the proverbial string but I'm not expecting it to survive the storm coming today). There is another branch that is damaged but not torn off.

So, what can we do to help the tree survive the insult? We know that the one branch is toast (unsure about the second branch but after today's snow it may be gone as well) but worry about the scar and how to protect the tree. It is a lovely tree and we would love to keep it healthy and happy.

Ideas? Suggestions? Questions? This is public so feel free to point others to it who might have experience in this area.

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