Pick Your Battles

     Pick your battles, know your enemy, choose your weapons, form allies ....all came to mind this week.  Battles or fights are not always our choice.  When our "foes" attack us, we need to at least defend ourselves or hold our ground.  It is also very helpful to know our enemy, so that we will not be taken by surprise and we should choose weapons that facilitate victory.
     "In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable."  Dwight D. Eisenhower

    These photos are of each side of a coin Dan recently received to remind him daily of what a good job he has been doing.  I am so thankful for his dedication and hard work, and his willingness to risk his life as he aids the battle to defend our freedom.

     I had a week long battle with whatever is making me sick, and the war is not over.  I felt so rotten last Saturday morning that Joe let me sleep in and he got up to do the morning chores.  It was so nice  to sleep an extra 2 hours.  I rolled out of bed just after 7 am feeling miserable, and discovered that Joe had had some "horse" problems.  Zorro was acting up and slipped
                                              out of his halter and ran off in the front

pasture joining Roni.  Joe couldn't even get close to him to try to catch him, so left him out with Roni.  In this photo, Zorro is on the outside of the grazing pen.  Oh... another problem that we discovered two weeks ago, there is a big hole out here in the front pasture.  We had Andy look at it.  It seems there is tile below the hole, but probably cracked and the dirt has washed into it.  Andy said time will tell, after rain and water pressure, as to whether this tile will need to be replaced or not.  Ugh!  The hole is about as deep and wide as the bucket over it.


     When I looked out at the three on this gloomy morning, they all seemed quite content.  Later I went out to get these photos.  Buck Tooth Betty was out following me around as usual.












     All were relaxed and peaceful.  No one was running or being crazy and Roni and Zorro were getting along great.  Hum... wonder if they would all be better off together as a happy, peaceful herd of three.  Yea right.  Dream on. 

     I stayed in, on the front porch with blankets, tea, cat and heater.  I ached all over and my head was so congested my ears were ringing.  Wow...something was really bringing me down.  I ventured out mid morning to help bring the horses in for breakfast.  We then put them back out front, this time Zorro confined to the grazing pen with Amiga.  I worked off and on on last weeks blog post and grading papers.  But I also just sat zoned out much of the time.  I did go out for almost an hour after lunch to finish my weeding because the forecast was for rain all day Sunday.  Every time I bent over to pull weeds I got dizzy
                                                    and my stomach contents rose into my
esophagus. Thankfully there wasn't that much to do, so I did get finished.  The war on weeds will never end.
This photo to the left was taken a few weeks ago of the before weeding view.


     To the right is a shot Joe took last week of the during weeding view.
     And below is the final product, although it looks like the grass needs a good dose of weed control or at least mowing to knock down the weeds.

    Joe borrowed Becks harrow to stir up the dirt in the water way and then plant seed.  He also did the round pen to rid it of it's crab grass and weeds.

The cows had to come out and investigate before the seed was even put down.  I don't know what it is about dirt, but they enjoy messing in it.

     While taking a picture of my rock garden I caught the young hens sunning under the kitchen window.  It wasn't long before the young rooster came over.  He is now "King of the Roost" since Brooster is at Carol's.

 









     It was a quiet Saturday evening watching a 9/11 special Joe had taped.  We sat reflecting on that horrendous day, of a fight none of us had picked.

     I got almost 12 hours of sleep getting out of bed at 9:30 am Sunday.  The two cold pills I had taken must have zapped me.  Sleep and meds... two weapons of choice.  I had a splitting headache, a tender gut and the sniffles, but was actually feeling a bit better.   Once again Joe took care of the morning chores.  He had to get up for work for his usual Sunday morning Implementations.  I enjoyed IMing with Britney, a common activity for us many evenings and Sunday mornings.  She has moved into a new
                                               apartment in Antigua, and is thrilled to be
"setting up house" in a place of her own.  This is an older picture from a rainy college cross country meet, but makes me think of her in Guatemala during the rainy season.  She has been doing battle out of necessity as well.  In her recent blog post she said, "I have heard it said many times that by becoming a missionary, I would be entering the front lines of spiritual warfare. There is a battle going on that we are often unaware of, and I am choosing to place myself right in the thick of it. The reality of spiritual warfare has been made clearer to me recently as I have experienced it first hand."  You can read her whole story at Home is Where the Heart Is 
She quoted a verse from Ephesians 6.  I love the whole section 6:10-18 about putting on the full armor of God... (belt of truth, breastplate of righteousness, gospel of peace, shield of faith, helmet of salvation, and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God.)  It is so powerful and helpful.

     It was a wet, cold, rainy Sunday, so Joe and I were content to stay inside.  We had set up the grazing pen enabling Amiga and Zorro to get 
in and out of the barn so I didn't worry       

about them being out in the rain.  We also didn't have to hike half way across a field to turn them out or bring them in.  I worked at my computer and on school work out on the front porch again and Joe watched football to his heart's content.  With the rain hitting the porch windows, and hearing the commentators on TV through the open porch door, it really felt like fall.  I like fall... the colors, crisp air, and thought of Thanksgiving.  But it also warns me of the winter coming, and... like squirrels frantically gathering nuts, I feel an urgency to get out and work on winterizing the barn and other buildings.

     I had improved even more by Monday morning, but deteriorated as the day progressed.  It didn't help that the web server was down for over three hours so I couldn't organize and plan for the week as usual.  And then I
                                                      had some unruly students 6th hour.
  "No battle plan survives contact with the enemy,"  Colin Powell.  It was nice to get home, sit on the front porch and read my Bible... and then take a cat nap. The ducks and young chickens chose to nap on the deck which they haven't done for awhile. 











By the time Growth Group rolled around, my sniffles were now a cough.  My immune system continued the battle.  The sun set shining on the east fields created patches of yellow on the corn and beans as the rain clouds moved towards Carol's in Indiana.

     Tuesday was a bit of a relapse in terms of my cold, but the tender area in my abdomen was much less noticeable.  I considered this a step towards victory over this ailment.  The school day went better, but while at the grocery, my cold meds. must have worn off.  My nose was running and my cough resurfaced, and the sneezing, ear ringing and  headache were persistent.  "Sometimes by losing a battle you find a new way to win the war,"  Donald Trump.  I still managed to have fun shopping for some extra stuff to send Dan and after a 3:00 lunch, more meds., and a short nap,  I had a better outlook on life.  So good, in fact, that after an early dinner, I
                                                     decided to go riding with Lisa and one
of her boys.  A flock of wild turkeys (Hercules relatives) made for the woods when I arrived at the camp ground.  Roni was high energy out on the trail, but controllable.  It was almost dark by the time we got back to our trailers.  The light inside our trailer sure came in handy. 

     A beautiful sunrise Wed. morning and I was armed with new strength to face the day.  School took its toll on me and while driving home, I was dreaming of hot soup for lunch and a nice nap.  But when I came down the drive, I saw Babe lying in the pasture with the two cow boys standing over her looking at her.  I thought it was quite strange.  Putting lunch and nap on hold, I changed and went out to investigate.  This photo is what I saw. 

Babe would not move or respond.  Her legs were stiff and her eyes sunken.  But she was warm and breathing shallowly.  I knew it was bloat and an emergency, but had no idea what to do.  After 4 phone calls, with a dying cell battery, I got a vet who was not available until 5:30 but told me to go out and try to get her on her feet and walk her around to get her to burp.  Through tears and praying I headed back out.  When I got to her, her head was up, her legs bent under her, her belly much less distended, and she was chewing her cud.  I thanked God for the answered prayer, bent to pet her and she soon got up and started eating.  I decided to get her walking just to be sure all was okay.  After herding her around for 10 min. I went back in to call the vet.  What a relief!

     With the surge of adrenalin still lingering (our body's weapon for battle), I decided it was time for my continued war on the bagworms started mid June.  This week I have been picking bags off some of our pine trees. (About 75 trees by my count)  Recently I noticed these => things coming out of the bags.  In early August I had Joe spray the worst tree which is in the paddock.  But I wasn't sure if it did any good. 

I decided I needed to arm myself with knowledge. The link above is most helpful.  These photos are of the tree in the paddock which kind of shows how bad the infestation is. 









     Apparently adults emerge from the pupal stage in early fall. Males are black, clear-winged moths while the females appear to be no more than
                                                    grubs, seen here by my wedding

band.  The males fly to the females.  The several hundred fertilized eggs remain inside her old pupal case within the bag until the following May when they hatch.
The tiny
larvae crawl out from the end of the bag and feed on the tree all summer or can move to neighboring trees.  They will eventually kill the tree.  This 2 gal. bucket probably contains over 500 bags, 3 days worth of work.  Notice it is by the firepit. My next weapon of choice. :-)

     Norman continues to escape regularly, so the battle to keep him contained seems never ending. This is more a battle between Joe and him... but I am a causality of war, having to run around and chase or coax Norman back into his designated pasture.  Thursday he was out in the front

pasture once again, but I just put Amiga and Zorro in their grazing pen out there with him.  Two hours later I was juggling moving all three horses in to feed, getting Babe in off the alfalfa, and Norman back into the paddock.  Frankie was running around almost as much as I was... but in my way. 

     Finally, I was able to take Roni for a ride.  He did so well. He is much better at shouldering in, now that his neck feels better.  I got him to go at a slow gait 3/4 of the way around our big side pasture.  I decided not to continue towards or past the barn, so had him walk that.  Choose your battles...no sense in setting him up for failure when he was doing so well.  Then we headed over to Becks where he also did a great job.  I am so happy with the wonderful progress he is making. 

      Every morning I bring the horses in off pasture and feed them and the cows just before heading to school.  Today was to be an exception, when I went to get Roni, he was lying down, and slow to get up.  Then when he was pawing in his stall and wouldn't eat, I knew this was probably colic.  I
                                         shouldn't have rewarded him last night with
almost two hours out on the side pasture that is full of alfalfa.  I knew I should walk him, but he also wanted to roll.  I took him out to the round pen and had him walk some and let him roll.  (I had seen Amiga lie down to roll with a belly ache over a year ago that caused her to fart, poop and then feel much better)  Leaving Roni in the round pen, I came back in to change for school and pack my book bag, all the while praying for God's wisdom and to help Roni.  Just then the phone rang.  It was Lisa returning a call from last night.  (Thank you God) I explained Roni's condition.  Lisa directed me to where she has Banamine in her horse trailer.  It is what her vet gives for colic.  But she also said not to let him roll.  I rushed out, put Roni in the stall and dashed to Lisa's and back with the medicine, crying and praying once again.  When I had gotten home, Roni had pooped (Thank you God) a
nasty puddle of, well, poop. I gave him
the Banamine and then had to hope for the best and head for school (30 min late).  On my way home from school, it dawned on me that Roni might have eaten the cow feed with baking soda I had left out for Babe Thursday.  Oh nuts.  I was glad to see a normal poop and Roni when I arrived.  I put him in the paddock where there is no alfalfa.  It has been a battle trying to be sure the horses and cattle maintain a healthy digestive tract... in addition to trying to keep the equine from hurting themselves and going lame. 

     Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petitions, with thanksgiving, make your request known to God.  Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.  Philippians 4: 6-7

     Another war I'll mention, is with an unknown foe and has been on going since early spring.  Something is digging large tunnels in our yard.  It rarely leaves a hole, but when it does, it looks to be rat size.  We have tried mole
                                         poison, guillotine traps you push into the
burrow, underground smoke bombs, and a thing that makes noise.  I continually walk (stomp actually) along the burrows and press them back in.  But nothing slows this thing down.  The dog has dug holes in search of it, but only made the yard more of an eye sore and a bigger mess.







The chickens also like to dig around   in the fresh dirt and take dust baths adding to the problem.

The grass is being killed and it just looks bad.   Most of the damage is out by the chicken coop, but there is a maze of burrows in the yard under the dinning room window and a short tunnel in the front yard by the drive.  I have lost every battle and given up on this war, but try to minimize the causalities and keep the intruder contained.  "Battle is an orgy of disorder."   George S. Patton
Probably during a real military combat battle this is true.  I can't even imagine the horror.  Dan is always in my prayers. 

    Joe moved up to heavy weaponry for his battle to keep Norman in.  Early in the week he had mowed all the fence line to prevent the tall weeds from shorting out the fence.  Mid week he went around and re-stretched all the
fence to make it tighter to keep
Norman in.  Today he hooked up the fence to our electric fence charger, which is much more powerful than the solar charger.  We are hoping the bigger zap from more electrical power will do the trick.  In this photo you can also see Carol's hay that we have stored on both sides of the corn crib and covered with tarp.
   
     Late afternoon I took Roni to Marj's. (She is still in Tennessee at a Larry Whitesell riding clinic) It was threatening to rain and seemed like a good idea to ride in the arena for a change in pace and scenery.  Doug was doing chores but no body else was around.  I worked Roni in the outdoor arena while Doug rotated horses in and out of the barn.  Then we moved indoors.  Roni never ceases to amaze me at how well he is progressing.  I try never to battle against him but to keep his training relaxed and peaceful.  The battle is more for one of understanding.  Me trying to figure him out and ask him correctly while he is trying to figure out what I want and give me the right answer.

      Every morning I wake up and watch the sun rise, I thank God for my breath of life.  I do not know what battles lie ahead for the day, but take comfort in knowing I have God to get me through each one of them.
     No matter what our battle, or who our foe, we should keep in mind Psalm 46:2.  "God is our refuge and our strength, an ever-present help in distress."
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