Well, darn!

I fell off my horse again. Buggsy, this time. On Friday afternoon. Cindy and I have been having a great time riding on the 400 acres behind her house. It has good footing and we were moving along quite nicely when Buggs and I came to a bush where a decision had to be made: do we go right or left? I should have made the decision, because we were not in sync. Buggs went right and I went left.

I tried to grab mane, or his neck, but Buggsy is a pretty fast guy and left me. This is when I hurt myself. I did a face plant, but no damage done there. Meanwhile, Cindy, on Sophie, is in hot pursuit of Buggs, who came to a stop at the end of the fence. He sure looked handsome trotting off ...

I admit I did not feel very well, and I should know by now that if I feel like I am going to pass out, I am hurt. We took the horses back to the road, where Dan came to meet us. (This is one time when cellphones are great). I drove home and Dan rode Buggs back.


Last time I broke my wrist I was in considerable pain, so I thought this might just be a bad sprain, but it was not getting any better so we went to the emergency room this morning. Verdict: a non-displacement fracture, and my wrist in a splint. I am to see the ortho guy this week for a cast (hopefully), because this splint is a bit restrictive. Typing for one is a drag. Besides, there is my life to be lived: horses to ride, and gardening season will be upon us soon.

100%

The forecast said there was 100% chance of precipitation for today. 100%? Come now, I have not seen that here in AZ. I got up last night at midnight and the full moon was out; 100%?, yeah, right. But when we got up the wind was howling, the ground was soft and wet, and there was snow in the mountains. Another 0.3 inches of rain fell, and we will continue to have squalls all day long.


The hummingbird came to feed again this morning; I think we must be his dependable cold-weather food supply. There are a lot of quail in the yard, and the goldfinch feeder is continually occupado. The flower seedlings are undoubtedly shivering in the cold frame. It is above freezing though, and they need the light.

It will be a good day to hole up and spend time on the couch with some mags and books.

Winter chores

Much as I enjoy the riding and hiking, I enjoy putzing around the ranch too. It is wonderful not to have the pressure of having to get things done "right now", because you are working and there are only 24 hours in the day, or because the weather happens to be decent enough on a weekend that you'd better take advantage of it as you may not have another opportunity in the next month or so.


I have been spreading old manure on some of the empty garden beds already, and today I decided to clean out the brussels sprouts and broccoli that never produced this winter because I started them too late. Note to self: start seedlings in August. But even though they did not produce for us, they were nice plants and the hens had a hay day with them.

Dan was nice enough to continue to replace the irrigation valves in the garden. The sun is murder on plastic, and some of them broke off when they were turned on. So, this next generation is metal valves. We are learning ...


The weather is gorgeous today and I noticed the both the apple trees are thinking spring: they are leafing out. Let's hope that there is no more frost. The trees are so small though that I can easily throw some protection over them should that be necessary.