Would you like to hear yesterday's wild adventure? Good. Anyway, it was 70 minutes of Savannah and I horse-wrastling. You read that right, 70 minutes of trying to get the bit in Snip's mouth. It actually got funny after a while :) Snip wasn't scared, he wasn't excited, he wasn't panicked, he just was not going to take the bit. Bah! Well, if you know anything about training animals, you know that you cannot let them have their own way--it will make things worse in the future. So, we stuck at it. We finally got it in after I crawled up the fence and sat on the corner post (by the way, we had him in the chute in the pens). Savannah held his head up and over the fence and I got jiggy with my fingers in his mouth and finally got the bit shoved in. After all that I only rode for about 40 minutes. At someone's suggestion, I left the bit in over night. I took it out this evening when I got done riding. Believe me, he was happy to get that iron out of his mouth!

Today I got my camera! It's a Panasonic HMC40 that I bought from a young man off CF.org. It is just a tad smaller than I expected, but I am quite pleased with it. I spent a good part of the day reading the book that came with it (I am no where near done with it) and messing with various buttons and settings. Now I have no excuse not to start contacting the people I'd like to interview...

        Racheal

 
I'm a hopeless romantic...or so I've been told. Anyway, be that as I may, you would probably expect that I like romances. Not really. (Okay, I'm pretty fond of Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty.) But when it comes to the majority of 'romances'...nah.

I much prefer action, adventure, and hair-breath escapes! I don't mind a side-line romance. Actually, I like that. But I do not like stories where the point is nothing but the romance. A good deal of 'young adult' fiction (at least the kind for girls) is sappy romances. (And that comment comes pretty much from just looking at the covers and reading the back of the books.)

This comes to mind because I started to read the first book out of the "Annual's of Lystra" series by Robin Hardy this morning. Maybe it gets better, but where I quit (I think it was chapter 3 or 4), I already knew that the main character Nicole, was going to end up married to Commander Ares. It was way too sappy and non-realistic and I really don't think it was worth the time.

Also, another thing about romances. It can't be healthy for young girls to be reading stuff that has sexual tension/innuendo's in it. Okay, so that really exists in the real world, but how is it edifing? (I am glad my sister pounds that word at times.) While this particular book could have been worse, some of it could have not been in there in the first place and it would have: 1) been more edifing, and 2) not been missed--it was unnecessary. Remember, I was only four chapters (at most) into the book...

I think that my 'hopelessly romantic' nature displays itself in the fact that I do like 'happily ever after' stories. I like stories that have happy ending (I hate depressing stories), and of course, I do like it when the fella gets the girl. But I just don't like that to be the point of the story and the only source of tension.

This reminds me of a romance that I do like. It's a movie called, of all things, "Love Affair". I have actually seen two versions of this, a Black and White (30's vintage, I believe) and a color version (50's) with Deborah Kerr and Cary Grant (I love Cary Grant!) Depending on which version you watch, both characters are involved with someone else to one extent or another and they meet on shipboard. They fall in love (alright, so that was an unnecessary statement). They decide to ditch the other people and meet at the Empire State Building to get married at a set date. On the way, the girl gets hit by a car and is crippled. Well, dude up in the tower has no idea what has happened and feels betrayed (naturally). Anyway, the story follows both of them as they make major changes in their lives (still in love, though he doesn't know it--of course, I always thought it stupid of her not to tell him--after all if he really loved her it wouldn't matter whether she was cripple or not.) I like this movie because even though it is a romance, both of them have some serious character growth. Particularly him...he starts out as a playboy and ends up an honorable man.

Romance...there are so many different aspects. Suffice to say, I don't like romance with sexual tension. I do like solid romance were it is real love--and love is an action, not just a 'feeling'.

Now that I have probably confused you sufficently, I'll say adieu for this evening...

        Racheal

 
Ooo...a mystery! I love a good mystery, so when Grandma informed us that she had seen a red pick up truck pull into the neighbor's driveway--and then pull out and back in--our suspicions were aroused. Afterall, most of the houses on this streach of road have been burgularized over  the last few years and we had suspicions of a red pick-up after Grandma's antiques were stolen several years ago. (No need to go into that.) So Mom, who had come out with me for the morning therapy, ran into the house and grabbed her phone and wallet and hopped into the car. She told me to come to, so I jumped in and we zipped out of the driveway and down to Uncle L.'s (a couple hundred feet). We were staked out ready to grab the license plate number if that truck pulled out. Mom called Daddy to call the Uncle to see if they could get ahold of the homeowners. Of course, Uncle L said he had no contact info. So Daddy called the Livestock sherriff  (they kind of know each other). He then told Daddy to have Mom call him, so that happened. He said he'd be there shortly and he was. Once he arrived we went home. I hung around outside till he left. As he was leaving he called Mom--it was just the cleaning lady. I sure hope she wasn't too terrified. (Or miffed...we were just being safe.)
Anyhow, it was kind of fun to sit there and wait and see. After all, if it had been a bad guy, we would have helped catch him!

The rest of the day has been rather normal. In a few minutes I am going to go out and see if I can get Grandpa to come outside and walk some. He's getting weak becuase he isn't doing anything. We have to get him stronger before he goes on this chemo pill...if that makes him feel bad, it will be even harder to get his strength up. (And like Mom says, I'm the only one he will really listen too...that's a great responsiblity sometimes.)

        Racheal

 
Actually, that would be pretty painful...
 
I've been busy with my nose poked in front of the computers today. I read, then type. Read, then type. Rear back in my chair and think...type some more. Rub my chin, scratch my head, and type some more. Grab a book and filp to the Index--a quick look up on something in particular. Have a thought flash through my mind--I'll catch that on the next go around because I already forgot what it was...type...type...type...

Hmmm...I think the next step my be to print off my six pages and subject a sister or two to a painful half hour or so of listening to me reading my narration. More scribbles on paper will certainly be called for. I'm having fun! Can you tell?

I'm about ready to leave the computer for the day though...I get burned out looking a screen for hours on end. I borrowed "Warrior's of Honor" from church so I could watch it and try to learn from it. (I've seen it a couple of times already, so I figured I could hang on to watching/listening to the way it was put together better than if I was watching something I had never seen before.) Maybe I'll do that tomorrow...or not.

Anyway, I think I'll head out of here in thirty minutes or so to go ride Snip. Maybe the sore hip can take a lope today. A trot was fine yesterday although I will admit we mostly just walked. (And, as usual when he has a string of days off, Snip was somewhat non-cooperative.)

        Racheal

 
That's right! I finished Rebel Storehouse! I truely enjoyed it. You can read a review here...I won't promise that it's very good. Ah ha! So you guessed it. I have started a Review Page. I have always been really, really bad at writing reviews, so please bear with me as I try to learn how to do better.

Anyway, I learned stuff from the book and I plan on putting some of that new knowlegde to work in my documentary. The appendix is most likely going to get condensed into a nice quote. (It itself is a historical document so there are no legal problems or snafu's with it.)

I am planning on riding Snip today...at just a walk. My hip is still sore, but I think a ride will be good for it. Besides, Snip has had four days off :) (I keep intending on getting a picture of him...but I forget to take the camera with me.)

        Racheal

 
The more I learn...the more I understand how much I don't really know!!

Besides that, I have this nagging question, "How much background do I need to put in my story?" I mean, to tell the story of the Cow Cavalry well, does the audience really need to know the economic situation of the State prior to 1863? I think I need to at least talk about the beef part of the 1861-1863 Florida-Confederate union (oh ho! Summerlin will come in quite useful!!) [And I just made some forward progress with my thinking here as my fingers mashed out that last sentence! Huzzah! I love it when that happens :) ]

As for the Cow Cavalry themseleves, I have a fairly good (though not complete) grasp on them and what they did. I just am curious as to how much 'other stuff' is necessary to tell the story well. For me, as the filmmaker, I think that I should have this down pretty pat. I suppose that if I have answers to all my questions that that will show itself through the narration...right?

Back to the research mines, Racheal! (Okay, okay...I'm going.)

Maybe I ought to go write some more actually. Often that prompts a train of thought that goes something like this: "Well now, when was that? How exactly did that work? Is there enough info here? I suppose that this would get answered in the interviews."

Speaking of interviews...here's another question, 'should I already have all the answers to these questions?' Afterall, it is a historical documentary, not one of those 'as-it-happens' docs. (Which I forget the real name of...)

And for a closing thought, "Ahgg!! It still sounds like an essay!!"

        Racheal

P.S. By the way, if you can answer my questions, please do! (Of course, I realize that without really being inside my head and hearing me rant about this and reading what I have already written, you probably can't help!)

P.S.S. I also kind of what to finish Rebel Storehouse before I go on...that way I will get the book finished. (2 chapters left! I read the one about the Cow Cavalry this morning...)

P.S.S.2  I noticed the other day, that I have both a 'cattle' and a 'cow' category. Rather redundit, right?
 
Boy, talk about getting into scrapes! I've done it again...I had another horse related accident!! Snip and I were going at a run when it happened. As I pulled him to the left, out of one of those interesting ditches in the back pasture, the ol' boy stepped in a hole. No biggie...normally. Usually when he steps in an armadillo hole (or whatever) he recovers from his stumble and keeps going. Hump. That didn't work this time. I was a goner before I realized that he wasn't stumbling back onto his feet. Next thing I know, he'd rolled over on top of me (I might have rolled too. I can't be sure. Let's see, I was still facing south--the direction we were headed, and his nose was pointing north...so I have no idea exactly what happened.)

Anyhow, here I am with my head between my poor horse's hind legs. I think I yelled "Ow!" or something like that when my head hit the ground. My beautiful hat got smushed (could have been worse). Anyhow, I was afraid he was going to try rolling and getting onto his feet with my face in a prime place to get kicked. Thankfully, he didn't--the reason for which I found out in a minute. After getting my hat off my head, I managed to get that head from between Snips legs. I sort of sat up (the best you can with a horse partially lying on you) and removed my left boot (I forget why--must have been caught on something). Then I looked over at Snip's head. Poor baby was terrified. He was stuck on the ground and couldn't get up because my right boot (and therefore my foot!) had the left rein wrapped around it quite tightly. It took a minute or two to get my foot worked out of the boot. Once I did, he got up fairly quickly and his eyes went back to normal. (During the time he was down you could see the whites of his eyes.) I can't remember if I got to my feet before or after he did. Anyway, I picked up my hat and straightened it out, recovered my bandana (how on earth did that come off from underneath my hat?), and my dog fennel switch (which by the way, didn't get any more use today). By this point, I had noticed that my left hip and calf were quite sore. But I got back on Snip and headed for the house (I got there faster than if I'd tried walking--I tell you, I'm moving slower than an old man!) That caused a fairly sharp pain in the hip, and I immediately started praying that I hadn't broke my hip.

Once I got to the house, I dismounted (I got off on the wrong side, I figured that it would hurt less) and tied Snip up and limped to the car to retrieve my cell phone and call Mom. As the phone rang I began my trek to the house. Believe it or not, going up the ramp into the house hurt worse than the stairs! Once in the house, I iced the hip. Mama and Daddy came down and after checking on me, Daddy went to put Snip up.

When we first tumbled, I was worried that Snip had hurt himself, but he seemed fine. His walk looked/felt normal, so I won't worry about him. Mama brought me home. We are all figuring that I did nothing but strain things. I mean, I can put my entire weight on that leg (even though it hurts some). I can bend...sitting down doesn't really hurt unless I shift just so-so, and it feels like muscle. (I have had a fairly severe sprained ankle before, so I know what bruised muscle feels like.)

I am going to be purple in the morning...I just know it :) And stiff! Whooy...stiff muscles can be one of the most painful things in the world. And they can linger for DAYS.

With that cheery proposition, I think I'll bid thee all "Good-even' "!  *Cheerful Smile" (But ya know, I actually did it this time--I got back on!)

        Racheal

P.S. I have an interesting grass-rash pattern on my left arm...yes, I was wearing sleeveless again!
 
That's a lyric out of a Johnny Cash song. I forget which one, but it's one I've heard several times over the last week driving Granddaddy's pick-up from here, there, and yonder.

It's very true. Life goes on. One can't sit and mope and do nothing without driving themselves insane. At least, I couldn't. Not that I'm feeling mopy right now. In fact, I'm actually in a pretty good mood. However, despite that I have this continual knowledge in the back of my mind that the next trip to the doctor may bring bad news for Grandpa...and us. He had a liver biopsy Monday. At this point we don't know the result. Tomorrow he gets a PET scan. (By the by, don't ask me to tell you the difference twixt a CAT scan, a PET scan, and an MRI. I haven't the slightest idea.)

Why is it, I wonder, that I seem to feel more 'domestic' when wearing a skirt? I don't know, but it's true. When I wear a skirt I have a tendency to feel more, well womanly and like doing things like laundry, dishes, cooking, etc. My cooking is woefully neglected. I did make lunch today though. Mustard greens (which tasted like they got over done--oh well, I'll eat 'em and enjoy 'em anyway!), yellow squash, fresh tomatoes, and the left over venision stuff Savannah made a day or two ago.

I also took care of Grandma's laundry, did the dishes, and took Granddaddy lunch. It really doesn't seem like a lot, but I kept busy. (I also read the WORLD magazine that came this morning too...that killed some time.)

I will be ready to head over pretty soon to work Snip. Monday he didn't want to move again. I knew it wasn't his feet because Daddy had trimmed them Saturday and he ran for me that day. I think he was just feeling lazy. I was getting really frustrated. I hopped off and tied his reins to the saddle horn and stomped off the 10 or so feet to the fence row. (He really is a good horse. When I tie his reins to the saddle he stands right where I leave him--most of the time :) ) Once over at the fence I selected a sturdy looking dog fennel stalk and jerked it out of the ground. I removed the remaining feathery folliage and some of the roots. After getting back on Snip, I swatted his rump with that stick and--boom!--did he take off. I smiled evily, "I think I'm going to keep this!" I did and used it yesterday when he started acting lazy. I'm still working on spinning, but I stopped using a suggested method--it messed him up.

I hope to get back into daily blogging...I may or may not so please bear with me :)

        Racheal

 
...are sometimes extremely sudden, unexpected, and unhappy.

Monday Grandpa went to the doctor. Tuesday morning the telephone rang. Doctor's orders: take him to the ER; his hemoglobin (red-blood cell) levels are way down. [That explains why he'd been dizzy.] So Mama, Daddy, and Grandma took him to the hospital--that was the start of a very unusual week.

Before I chronicle the week, I will tell you what is wrong with Grandpa. He has cancer. In his liver and colon. They were supposed to do a CAT scan on his lungs to make sure he didn't have any cancer there. We haven't heard the result of that yet. Today they are doing a colon biopsy. We still don't know whether he comes home or not...that really hasn't been discussed. Those who have spent the last 3 days at the hospital have had a lot of emotional stress, as have those of us at home, but I imagine that it's worse actually sitting around in the waiting room and ICU than it is at home--where we have been busy with life.

Tuesday, Savannah was sick so I cooked lunch and dinner--nothing exciting about either meal. Ran food over to Granddaddy, took myself to my therapy appointment, and read. I was going to go ride Snip, but I didn't feel like it after getting the news about Grandpa. I was also going to feed Granddaddy's cows...but Daddy had the keys for the pick-up in his pocket so I couldn't. Katherine and I visited with Aunt Laurie and Uncle Dave for a while (they were down here on vacation) and got home in time for me to wash the dishes at lightening speed (heh...I don't think I can actually move that fast). After everyone had bathed we piled ourselves in front of the TV for NCIS and NCIS: Los Angeles. The first one was quite interesting and kind of strange. I am rather fond of Gibbs :)

Wedensday: What came first? I think I read some more. (Mom got me a book called Rebel Storehouse about Florida during the War. It is a good book--even though I haven't got to the Cow Cavalry yet.) Savannah made lunch (she was better) and we both took it over to Granddaddy for lunch. After that we came home and we ate lunch and headed off for therapy. On the way home we stopped at the store for a few groceries. I turned around and immediately headed off to ride Snip. He behaved better than had on Monday. [Monday he acted really, really wierd. He was behaving normally until we got to the back pasture. I know it wasn't the cows because they have never bothered him before. He stopped and would not move. I'd kick and kick and kick and more likely than not, he either stepped sideways or half bucked. Once he would finally move, if I kicked him again (to get him out of a walk), he stopped. This went on for quite a while before I decided to take him into a different pasture. This other pasture also borders the same ditch, so if there was something in the ditch that was bothering him, it would explain why he acted the same way in this other pasture. Finally I got him into a lope and took him out of that pasture into the front pasture. Once there he behaved himself fairly well (if you subtract the "Hey, it's quittin' time! I want my food!"). Anyway, it was really weird. He had never behaved like that before.] Anyway, Wedensday he gave me one more serious buck and once I got resettled in my seat I backed him up and backed him up and backed up. He behaved much better after that. (Backing is not his favorite thing in the world.)
From there I went to Granddaddy's and fed the cows (Daddy left me the keys :) ). Savannah brought over his supper and I left after a bit.

Thursday (yesterday) I spent the morning reading. Savannah had gone down to see Grandpa that morning and Grandma had been left at home, still being asleep at 10 'clock. She needed to sleep so Mom decided that they'd come home at lunch time and then take Grandma down after lunch. I wasn't feeling to perky so Katherine made Granddaddy's omelette. Being the only one home with a drivers licence, I took it over and watched him eat and then washed the dishes. He was watching 'Cannon' (a old TV show) and so I did too. Cannon was using a Snubbie ;)
From there I went home, ate lunch and then headed off for my final physical therapy appointment. I had a chuckle at a teenage redneck's expense while there. Maybe the poor fella didn't know I was laughing at his predicament... John (the head therapist) said I looked like Wendy (of the fast food chain) because I had my hair in pigtail braids. I don't even like Wendy's! He's funny though. I wore my spurs in since I was headed for the place I keep my horse afterwards (I did go home first to pick up the truck), and we got to talking about how the left spur slips down if it isn't cinched up almost too tight. (My left foot is just that much smaller.) And he actually got down and messed with them while I was riding the arm bike. I think he's done some riding over the course of his life. He also told me to continue wearing the brace while I ride. I'll take it off eventually...I was hoping that I could quit using it when I rode.

After riding Snip I went to Granddad's. Those goofy cows started running before they even saw the truck. They heard it coming and took off to meet it  up by the barn. Granddaddy was sitting outside waiting on me to show up. As I loaded the feed, he began his slow transit across the yard. I had one black cow that was eating straight out of the bag as I dumped the feed out. I couldn't get rid of her! Anyway, that was kind of funny. Leaving the pasture, 'Bad Child' (so named for her ornery fence breaking last year) came running up behind the truck. I hollered, "Git out of here, Bad Child. I don't have anymore!" She bucked up and went back to the crush. Goofy cow.

I told Granddaddy, "Somebody will be over in a minute with some supper." (I honestly believed this.) I got home and found out everyone thought I was going to feed him! He did have left over omelette, but I figured they fix him something else. So Mom cut up half a tomato and gave me his chocolate stuff (a sneaky means of getting coconut oil into him) and sent me back over. I warmed up his omelette, some rice and chicken that was there and fed him that along with the tomato. He ate everything but the omelette. Then I gave him some chocolate (he loves chocolate) and came home. Whew. Yesterday afternoon certainly was something of a whirlwind. At least for me.

I wanted to go down and see Grandpa this morning, but I also wanted to be home this afternoon (horse and cows), and on top of that I needed to wash my hair. So obviously, I didn't go. Maybe tomorrow...

        Racheal

 
Hum, where did I leave off? I can't remember. Saturday we kept busy as bees--all of us.
Mama, Daddy, and Savannah shampooed Granddaddy's horrendously filthly carpet. Katherine and I (and Savannah before she left at lunch time) cleaned our house. I did laundry, some of the vaccuming, dishes, and just plain ol' staightening. Katherine dust mopped, finished the vaccuming and ironed a stack of clothes. I ran off at some point to go ride Snip. (I prefer when he doesn't have more than two days off in a row and I didn't ride him Friday.)

When I got there, Snip was running around, tail in the air, and his ears pricked forwards. I said, "Hey boy, are you excited to see me?" Nope, not in the least. The neighbors were riding their ATV's across the pasture and that was what he was all excited about. Once I got in the pens with him, I noticed that something didn't look quite right. When I got a little closer I realized that he'd broke his bossel! (Rope halter) I changed that to his green web halter and then poked the bit in his mouth. (By the way, he isn't fighting near as much as he was on this issue.) Saddle pad and saddle next--yippee! Let's go. He did really well; not perfect, but better :) At one point, I was resting him and I was watching his ears. He has this bad habit of pinning his ears (putting them back) and I had recently read something in a horse magazine someone gave me about that. (Pinning of the ears is a negative thing.) Knowing that bumping my hat startles him, I got to wondering if the scratchy noise that the ribbon makes was the cause of his pinned ears. As soon as I got ahold of them and kept them from rubbing, his ears went back to normal position! I expiremented with this and everytime I lifted the ribbon off the hat brim, his ears would go forward and everytime I let them fall back on to the hat, he'd pin his ears! Oh well. He'll just have to get over it. I am not taking the ribbon out of my hat--it blows off often enough even with the ribbon!

I also gave him a bath...or as close as it gets with nothing but a hose. He doesn't appricate it. The first thing he did once I let him go was lay down and roll in the sand. My nice clean horse turned into a filthy muddy horse in a matter of seconds. Oh well. I suppose I ought not even bother trying to keep him clean. It rained this morning so he got something of a bath :)

        Racheal