Thursday – July 23, 2020 – Galloping Through

Stone was tired after a long night of grazing, and Tom Morris was, too, from a night of catting around. Also, it was another hot one.

There were many finches visiting today, and I got an “in flight” picture. Those shots are just dumb luck for me.

I did some work before it got hot, and Harry took a picture.

Later, Rebecca arrived bearing flowers and eggs and sunflower seedlings and a big box of peaches from Victoria, which we shared with Jane and Marianne. Rebecca and I worked in the heat, but it was fun. She worked much harder than I did. Jane stopped over and found a couple of tomato hornworms that I had missed.

Meanwhile, Harry sculpted away in the studio, and did his exercises in the basement. He has worked his way back to full strength, and is now improving upon that.

Now, Jane pointed out to me something on Facebook (which I do not use, for a number of reasons). It seems some horse people are anti maskers, and even question the idea that an asymptomatic case of Covid-19 should even be counted. Wow. Horses get a disease called Equine Infectious Anemia, which is contagious (carried by mosquitoes) and can be deadly. Before the Coggins Test, many horses died of EIA. The problem was, some horses were asymptomatic, but could pass the disease to others. So, to take a horse anywhere, now it must have a negative Coggins Test within a year (six months in some states). Federal law dictates that a positive horse must be euthanized or confined. Those asymptomatic horses are definitely cases of Equine Infectious Anemia. Tragic ones. And thanks to the Coggins Test, a disease that killed thousands of horses annually has been brought under control. I find it interesting that any horse person would not see the Covid-19 pandemic has similarities to a disease we have all dealt with for years. And that there are steps that can contain the damage and eventually lead to that elusive “herd immunity”. Oh, dear, I am ranting here.

So it’s time for a look at the dogs. We haven’t seen them on the blog for a while.

Marianne arrived, regular as clockwork, to do the barn work with a smile, no matter the heat or the drudgery.

From Montana, Nancy sent a picture from her friend Keith packing through hollyhocks. Nancy and Steve rode through them last week. She says she has never seen them before, but they must grow after a burn, like fireweed. Glorious!

This evening, we remembered to look in the night sky for Neowise. The sky was clear, and we saw it through binoculars. What a treat!

And finally, what everyone has been waiting for – Montana mule baby pictures of Rainy. She is growing up, living in a different pasture with Gracie. She is definitely turning gray, like Gracie, but still a happy and confident little mule.