Our mornings usually start at around 5 AM, when Mistletoe begins to whine. Time to go out, and then come in for BREAKFAST! Duties tend to sort out over time, and Harry has the duty of morning dogs. Two of us are too many cooks, so to speak, so I lounge in bed while he does all the dog turnout and feeding. He also makes me a cup of coffee. When the dogs return from their post breakfast turnout, Harry leaves a cup of coffee on my nightstand, and it’s time for “second sleep”. I check the news, drink my coffee, then fall back asleep for a little while.
This morning, my phone rang at 7:13 AM, while we were enjoying a very late second sleep. It was Burny Baxter, one of the two veterinarians who live in our subdivision. He wondered if our horses had escaped. I admitted that I had not yet been to the barn, even as I looked out the window to see the barn looking peaceful. He recognized at the same time that the three loose horses were not ours. One of them was a pinto, which was why Burny called us. I said we would grab grain and halters and assist, and fifteen minutes later we were out on the hunt. A call from another neighbor alerted us to the direction the horses had taken, and we found Burny leading one horse, followed by the other two.
Harry and I took the horses so that Burny could go to work, and we brought them to our house and put them in the paddock while we went in search of the owner. We even called the sheriff, to see if anyone had reported missing horses.
After searching hither and yon, and meeting some nice people in the area, Marianne called me. She suggested the horses were probably our neighbors’, since they matched the description. Sure enough. We felt pretty stupid, though in our defense, the horses live at the back of their property, so we have never seen them. Anyway, all’s well that ends well, though Monday got off to a very slow and very cold start. And I did NOT take pictures!
After a long morning in the barn, peace and happiness
Barn work was late, but pleasant, as the day had warmed from a 12 degree low. At lunch, I took a few bird pictures.
A blue jay 
A cardinal 
A downy woodpecker 
A black capped chickadee 
A goldfinch (and downy woodpecker) 
A cardinal in flight
The dogs were very attentive, since the day had obviously been unusual.
Roscoe continues to try to ignore Arthur, the interloper .
Mid afternoon, Cedar reluctantly got into the car, and off we went to Marilyn for another blood test. This showed that her thyroid function is normal, so the mystery continues. Next comes an all day test to see how she metabolizes cortisol, later this week. The new protocol of Cedar sleeping in the mud room has kept urine off the carpet, and no mistakes in the mud room so far. She is very happy to get back to the bedroom during the day and we let her out frequently because she is still drinking huge amounts of water and peeing prolifically whenever she gets to the lawn.
At Marilyn’s we saw a friend, waving to her in the parking lot. Later she called me – her old cat had to be put to sleep today. Oliver was 26 years old. That is a very old age for a cat, and he was with Maryann since he was a kitten. Oliver’s was a good, long life, but still a sad loss.
And speaking of cats, I returned from Marilyn’s with special food for Jane’s Bobby, and fluids to be injected subcutaneously. Jane and I did that unpleasant chore (more unpleasant for Bobby than for us, I dare say!) and will have to repeat the procedure tomorrow and Wednesday evenings. Tomorrow he will start on insulin, too.
The horses are competing for the grooming award. Bart took the lead yesterday, but Oisin and Stone made quite a bid today. I think Stone might be the leader. He’s pretty filthy! Gray horses tend to excel at grime.
Tom Morris claimed the hidey hole bed this evening.
Many of my intended projects were put on hold today. January is not affording me as much time as I had hoped, but adventures are always welcome.
Sunset at Jane’s house
Be safe, be well. Peace.
Drama! Grant would love chasing around after horses. There is a stable just up the road but the owners are a little “strange” so sadly we have to by-pass! Great pictures.
Many horse people are “strange”, which makes me worry about myself sometimes! I loved your picture of the horses on snowy field. And I love that your weather app says “not a good day for fishing”. That’s hilarious! My weather app doesn’t make such comments. I wish it would.
Aren’t those extra sleeps delicious? Good on Harry for his thoughtful touch of coffee with his voluntary duties. Nice work in catching the strange neighbor horses!
When somebody calls here and asks if two loose horses could be mine, they always are. I love the line from Jonathan Raban’s “Bad Land:” “They lived and breathes fencing.”