It't Ain't Fair!

     Life isn't fair...we say this about life in general and in regards to certain circumstances that occur in our lives.  I especially feel this way at times, I think, because I am so competitive and always comparing myself to others.  There is only going to be one winner of a contest, there is always going to be a faster check out line, one teacher's schedule is going to be better than another's,  the stop light is only going to be in favor of one direction of traffic, not everyone is going to get the best parking space, someone else' meal at a restaurant is always going to look tastier, etc. etc.  The grass almost always appears greener on the other side.

No one said life would be fair.  In fact God tells us not to compare ourselves to (or covet) thy neighbor (or their stuff). 

     Not only is life unfair, it is tough, but God promises to get us through it if we look to Him for direction. 

     Photo to the right "chicken party on the deck".  They do this every morning and again in the afternoon.  Flopsie and Hurcules see me with the camera and come to check it out because they think it is food.  Notice the reflection of the corn in the kitchen door. It is ready to pick.  Actually Becks started harvesting corn several days ago.

     At the moment, life is good.  I feel like I have been enjoying the best of everything.  It makes me feel a little guilty.  At times like this it might be easy to forget to pray, but remembering to thank God for all my blessings is a priority for me.  I also make a point to remember to continue to pray for those who's lives are not as fair, who are less fortunate or are struggling.  What particularly leads me to the topic of fairness in this Blog post, is the current circumstance with Zorro.  He came up lame Aug 29th after a wonderful 2 hr trail ride the day before.  The soreness had not gotten
                                                                                   much better after

10 days of rest, (locked in his stall almost 24/7.... no running and grazing out at pasture)  Here Courtney is "holding him captive" but giving him the chance to graze.  I managed to find time to get him out for 30 to 45 min each day this past week.  A veterinarian from the U of I Vet School in Champagne looked at Zorro Wednesday while he was at Marj's checking on two of her horses.  He did some little tests on Zorro there and said he needs to do more exams at the Vet. School. 

     On Thursday evening, instead of a riding lesson, Joe took Courtney and Zorro to Champagne, to the U of I Large Animal Vet Hospital for an extensive lameness exam. 
Zorro was to be tested all
day Friday, but there were two emergency cases that came in mid day, so Zorro was put on hold.  As of now, they will finish his exam today and he can come home tonight.  I will be taking Courtney to pick him up.  Right now we wonder, what is the problem and what will happen next?  Here is a photo of Zorro as a baby.  What a cutie.  We really want him to be okay.  

     My heart really aches for poor Courtney.  She was really looking forward to riding Zorro in a Larry Whitesell clinic this coming weekend (starting Friday actually)  And now, not only is there that big disappointment, but she is also soo worried about what Zorro is going through and what is actually wrong with him.  I hope and pray it is not too serious, and that Zorro won't be out of commission for 4 months as the vet warned possible.  Not only is it a pain keeping him stalled 24/7, but Amiga misses him hanging out in the pasture with her and I miss having Courtney and Zorro to ride with. Sigh....no one ever said this horse business was going to be easy.  But it just seems so unfair that it is Courtney's horse that is lame and not some other horse....like Amiga. 

     Amiga really misses Zorro.  They have been together since the night they were both born over 4 years ago (except for the nine weeks while Amiga was still up in MI, before I bought her).  But she had "family" up there.  Now she doesn't even have Chuck to hang out with.  In this photo they can be seen together when they were youngsters.  With Zorro gone the last 4 days, I have found that Amiga is really bonding to me more.  She always comes right to me when I go out to see her (which I have been doing more than usual).  The other day I was putting out Fly Predator and jogging around the paddock, and she trotted along behind me every where I went.

      Britney continues her job search and has started volunteer work at the Regional Office of Education in Adult Literary and ESL.  Here at home she has kept busy with apple (and some pear) cooking.  Not only has she picked a lot of apples and pears, but she has also tried some different recipes. She has made dried slices of both by heating them for several hours at 170.  They are actually a pretty tasty snack this way.




She made a big batch of apple sauce (some of which has been frozen.)




And then she baked some really yummy apple/oatmeal cookies.



Joe has been perfecting a way to store all the extras down in the storm cellar.







      Our neighbor Alan finally planted our pasture as promised.  He came and disked it on Tuesday and then planted it on Wednesday because it was too windy Tue.  We bought a pasture mix of... Timothy, Alfalfa, Rye grass, and Kentucky Blue Grass.  That should be good for horses and cows to graze on and to make hay.

      Joe has spent several hours getting the electric fence re-strung and tightened. You can see how loose it is hanging in the third picture with Courtney and Zorro.  Friday afternoon I was planning to go to U of I with Courtney, but those plans changed.  So Joe, Britney and I all went to work on the field one last time before the expected rains.  Britney (and I part of the time) have picked up a bucket load of glass, a wheel barrow of rocks and brick, and gotten sticks and other debris off the field before our new grasses start to grow.  Joe helped me plant a weeping willow I bought with
                                                      Britney in mind....it's her favorite tree.
They grow fast and it will make great shade on the back pasture for the "grazers".  You can see in this picture that the pasture is mostly replanted now....with very little grass left. 


Here is a photo of the River Birch I planted in the spring.  I have been watering it faithfully all summer.  It has actually grown quite a bit.  We did get rain for several hours over night Friday, a perfect gentle pitter patter, but are not sure if it is enough to get the seeds going.

     I helped Joe all day Saturday with siding our picnic shelter.  We went into town Sat. morning and bought a bunch of supplies.  The horse trailer worked well for the lumber.  Silly Flopsie decided to make a nest in the left over hay from Zorro's road trip, behind the 2X4's.

     Joe and I worked together pretty well.... he was the muscle and I did most of the directing.  However, he corrected me a few times on some errors in planning and I did help with some lifting.  We wanted to use as much of each sheet of plywood as possible.  I held boards while he sawed, measured, and attached them.  I also removed old nails from the existing frame we were working with. 

     At one point I was cracking up at Joe who had hit himself in the head with the end of the extension cord when he jerked it out of the way.  I was laughing so hard I couldn't stop myself.  I used to do this to sister Carol if she hurt herself when we were growing up.  I gave Joe a hug though. It wasn't 30 min later when I took a blow to the head.  (Like Dan running into the bridge girder) I stood up under the tractor front end loader and nailed
                                                                                    myself  in the  
head.  I had to stop to contain the bleeding and put ice on it to stop the swelling.  I had a good laugh at myself this time.  After I got it all cleaned up it didn't look too bad....at least I didn't need stitches.  But, believe it or not, by day's end I did the same thing.... only hitting it more gently the second time.  We had the tractor there to pull the building to make it square.  But underneath the tractor loader were wood scraps I was looking through, and old nails I was picking up. 

   Here you can see that we replaced part of the deck rail we had removed to make a door way to the shelter from the deck.

     Sunday after church while I was waiting for Joe to get home from work, and doing this Blog (instead of school work), I caught different visitors checking out the new picnic shelter.  Sissy seemed to like it.

     Below Hercules and some of the girls are looking around.  Anytime there is change around the barn yard, the chickens are sticking their little heads (noses) into it.  Nothing new goes un-noticed.


Above, The baby chicks were a little more nervous about looking around....but look how big they are getting.

     Joe ended up working at State Farm from 6am till 7pm. Sunday, so we didn't get any more work done on the shelter.  And for some reason, I didn't get enough school work done either.  I did have a great ride on Amiga in this beautiful fall weather.

     Dan spent Friday through Sunday in Decatur for his army drill weekend.  He said it was boring because they did paper work all weekend. March 15th he will be going to Ft. McCoy, WI for two weeks of RTC training.  Then April 23rd he goes to Ft. Bliss Texas for at least five weeks of training.  And then in late May he is being deployed to Afghanistan.  The paper work included such things as what to do with his body if he is killed, who gets what of his belongings. etc.  Thinking about that puts a damper on my out look on life.  But for now, in spite of life not always being fair, and even though I am super busy,  I am very happy, thankful, and fulfilled.  God is good.