Chickens.......and a gory picture or two

Meet Cinnamon

The newest addition to Laura’s farm is a flock of 5 chickens.  The orange one (Cinnamon) is very personable and will run up to be pet.  I have had to extract her from the truck on two occasions, so I have learned to shut the doors promptly.  I am keeping a sharp eye out for possible water rats because I don’t want a repeat of last year (the trap made the trip back to FL just in case). There has also been a sighting (not by me) of a quite large alligator in the canal back of Laura’s property. 

Three of the five

Earlier this week, one of the “twins” became quite ill and that led to Google searches that implicated mites and chicken lice (not contagious to people).  Apparently, mites can suck up to 6% of a chicken’s blood rendering them anemic and listless.  So, last Friday found Laura holding each of the girls while I dosed them with topical ivermectin.  On Saturday, I went to check on them.  Throwing caution to the winds I put on a pair of shorts confident that I would not see anyone I knew.  These legs have not seen sun in several decades.  Without thinking, I knelt down on the astroturf in their enclosure.  Big mistake.  A couple hours later one shin started itching.  At the time, it looked like a massive mosquito bite, a little swelling, no redness, and something I could ignore.  Now, most mornings I shower with my eyes half-closed, and I throw on my socks and breeches without any fanfare.  However, Tuesday, I happened to glance down because the itching was not resolving.  See pics.  So, it was a trip to urgent care and a physician assistant who declared them to be spider bites, issued warnings about staph infections, and prescribed Augmentin; the pill is easily an inch long.  These are some nasty spiders down here. Yes, it is all healing and I am a compliant patient.

Tuesday was also a day to go shopping.  My goal was to find some outfits that I could wear and look more polished/chic/stylish while scribing or going out to dinner. I headed straight for the Palm Beach Gardens Mall - 160 stores on two levels, all sorts of small cafes for lunch, big stores, little stores, you name it.  A far cry from the Coral Ridge

Mall.  There are very few really good clothing stores in Iowa City. So, the opportunity to go through racks and racks of clothes, not to mention the shoe salon at Nordstrom's was positively intoxicating. I made it through two stores and then had to leave because (1) mission accomplished and (2) things were threatening to get out of hand (pic right).  I will definitely be going back, but not in the immediate future; the credit card needs to cool off.

Lessons are going well with Barry and Galatea, Laura is riding Galatea once a week and the picture is soft and fluid. I have caught some smiles while she is in the tack, so I think the mare has redeemed herself in Laura's eyes. This next week Galatea will be getting some preventative maintenance/injection on her sacroiliac joint, which palpated tender at the vet visit. After that we will be doubling down on our work in preparation for showing second level.

Everyone at the barn this season is really nice and pretty down-to-earth. And these are some pretty accomplished women. One was the lead corporate lawyer for Boeing and handled the merger of Boeing and McDonnell Douglas in 1997 - a 13.3 B dollar deal and the 10th largest merger in American history. No drama what so ever.  There are several women younger than I who are currently working to overcome their fears after being on horses that tripped, bolted, spun, or engaged in other naughtiness that landed the rider hard on the ground including one concussion. It has really made me appreciate Bill's concern about a rider losing confidence.  Not that I didn’t appreciate the message when I heard it, but seeing these women struggle to continue to do something they enjoy so much when the fear can make them almost immobile in the saddle really brought it home. Once gone, it is very hard to get back.