Busy Baker bex

Our weather is nasty today, so DH said I didn't have to feed Daisy. Yesterday he put a big bale of hay down into the woods down in the end of the pasture. They have plenty of shelter down there and with the wind and rain, he doubts she'd want to come up and eat anyway.

I'm very relieved not to have to feed because I slept horribly again last night. It's all the pain that keeps waking me up and all the painkillers that certainly aren't helping either. They help with the pain, but they make my system work weird. I was up for a little while, right after DH left for work, but then I slept again. I got up a little after nine. I'm amazed the girls let me sleep that long. I think Shawnee is growing up enough that she starting to be able to hold it longer.

I've had yeast in the refrigerator all week waiting for me to have the energy to bake. I just put three loaves of bread in the oven. I figure that if I was going to go through all that work I might as well do it properly and make plenty. I used the yeast is normally the right amount for four loves. Our bread form is very large so that got a little bit more than half the dough. The rest are split in half and made into two smaller loaves that I just put flat on the pan. DH prefers bread baked in the form, but his parents prefer the bread baked on the pan. His mother says that she thinks the stuff on the pan holds longer. My theory is that that's because the entire loaf gets coated with egg as opposed to only the top like when you do it in a loaf pan.

DH really enjoys having homemade bread on the weekends. His parents usually buy bread from the bakery, but it's very expensive. Last time I gave them a loaf they praised it very highly so I think that she liked mine better than the bakery bread. I like being able to help them and is great to have something to be proud of.

I probably won't get blogged as much over the weekend. I hope everyone has a great weekend, wherever they are.

Painkillers, Painkillers, and More Painkillers

I accidentally overdid it again yesterday. First there is feeding Daisy, which is painful and exhausting. Then we had to go to the store after DH got home from work. At the store, we ran into someone we haven't seen for several years. She is the wife of, soon-to-be ex-wife of, one of DH's old riding buddies. It turns out that the guy had a six-year-old kid on the side and spend more time with the new kid than the four he had already. So we had to stand around and talk to her for a while. To make things worse, the guy used to DH as a cover story every time he was with the girlfriend and the kid. So we gave her our phone number and were hoping to hear from her again soon. I never liked the guy, but I think she's a really nice woman.

Shawnee has been smelling like dog for a while and last night it was just too much. DH would have done it but he has so many other things he had to do and he was tired and stressed out so I gave Shawnee bath. Even though I consider my shower bench while I give her a bath, the bending down to her level is agony for my hip. I tried to finish making dinner, but I could barely stand up afterwards. DH ended up doing the last of the dinner preparation, setting the table and clearing up.

Even though I had taken several painkillers before bedtime, I had a horrible time sleeping because of the pain. I kept waking up every time I moved and needed to move a lot because I couldn't stand staying in one position. Around midnight I had to get up and take another painkiller. DH brought me another one at five o'clock in the morning. I was up around eight with the dogs but went back to bed. When I finally got up at 10 I had to take another painkiller.

Now I have said Daisy, again, but I'm struggling to keep from taking another painkiller already. I need to do the dishes and dinner prep today. My left foot is half dead.

Did I mention that my current painkillers are kind of pretty? The one side is a pale green color that matches well to the paint in the kitchen the other side is white. They're a little bit annoying though, because they have a powdery finish not a easy-to-swallow one. I like the yellow ones better, but I haven't had those for a while. The drugstore just substitutes what ever is cheaper. They are the same medication.

I hope I get through today.

My Horse Loves Me

I went out to feed Daisy again this morning. We had really hard frost overnight so the water had been turned off, but I turned it on an hour or so before I left. The temperatures and the sun here had gone into the 20s and the water cup was in the sun as well, but it was still frozen. DH had filled trough of water in their house early in the morning so I didn't worry about that and just started feeding Daisy.

Because he was upset I sat down on the ground yesterday, DH made sure I had a chair ready for today. Unfortunately the wind was in a different direction, so I couldn't get out of it, but least I was off the cold ground. Daisy ate well but not as well as yesterday. I am just glad she will eat for me all.

Right after she decided she was done eating, I heard the water cup thaw up. Quintas was busy drinking and Tracy was fighting for permission to do that too. I let Daisy out to the rest of the horses. Ria immediately came over to me and asked for attention.

While all the rest of the horses were fighting over the water cup, my horse just wanted to talk to me. So I really enjoyed standing there scratching her and hugging her and just being with my horse. When I went to shut off the access to their house, she followed right behind me. As I stood at her again, she checked out my crutches thoroughly with her lips. I think she has aspirations of becoming a service horse.

It's really a shame that the weather is really just way too cold today. I think she would really enjoyed if I took her out for a ride. She was definitely quite unhappy that I left the fence without her.

I am really really sore and tired from the excursion now so I need to rest.

A Very Busy Couple of Days

I know, I'm very behind in my blog again. I plan to write an update Saturday morning, but then some mail came that annoyed me. I suddenly didn't feel like it. Sunday we were out all day and yesterday I don't think I ever woke up. Today I feel much more awake and even like a human being.

DH had the girls out for a walk before I got up Saturday morning. Once I was up and functional and had my breakfast, he went out and got Ria for me. I groomed her and he saddled her up. Then he got the girls and we went for a walk together.

We headed for the beach and the weather was gorgeous. It was a little chilly but not very windy and the sun was nice and warm. I decided to try to get Ria into the water, something she's not usually very glad for. It took a good bit of encouragement, but finally got out in the water. The waves were small, but she was startled every time they broke on her legs. We ended up going out a little bit deeper and rode back and forth a while. By the time we came back up on the beach she actually seemed to be enjoying it in the water.

DH ran around a bit with the girls on the beach and Molly loves digging on the beach. We proceeded to the small stream that is on the south end of where we normally walk. Since things have been going so well with Ria, DH suggested I try crossing with her. It took a good bit of encouragement, but she did it. I praised her profusely and scratched her on the neck. Then we had to go back across and that went even easier.

The hard part was when we had to come back over the dunes to come home. They are very steep in that area. I was really glad I was riding in a saddle. At one point, we tried going to the edge of an extremely steep section where some of it was broken down. Unfortunately the edge broke under her foot so she really had to struggle to get up. At that I grabbed on to the cantle so that I wouldn't slide off because she was very vertical.

It was a really nice ride an especially nice to be out together.

After we got home I needed to rest some before we headed out for a western clinic in the afternoon. Unfortunately the good mood turned bad when I got a letter from the government saying that there are more problems giving me a disability because of the stupid idiots they sent out that decided that my problems are psychological. Even though the rheumatologist says that my pain levels are normal for my condition, they still believe there's a possibility of treatment because of that stupid doctor they sent out said so. I have no idea what's going to happen now, but it's very frustrating.

I crawled into bed with a book for a while and just tried to hide from the world. But I got it time to go, so I had to decide whether I was going with or sending DH on his own so I decide to get up. It's a good thing I did because my mood was much better by the time we got home. We were only there for a little while, but we saw someone we know ride. DH also got a chance to talk to the woman who had trained Daisy and Ria. We'll be sending Quintas down to her in July if all goes well and we can find the money.

We got home, we heated up the pork roast that we had made it in the morning and DH got potatoes ready to go with it. We went to bed early, exhausted.

Sunday was another hectic day. We went to my in-laws to help clean out some junk that they wanted to get rid of. We were also having a midday meal with them. I went out to keep DH company while he did the loading. As usual, I felt useless standing around watching so I ended up helping. With my usual stubbornness I did far too much. But I know that if I hadn't helped, we would have been there most of the day. Would also say the eat and things like that. I was in agony by the time we got home.

We had some odd trouble with the car as we left their place. It didn't want to turn to the left like the power steering was broken. We stopped at a grocery store to get some supplies and when we started the car afterwards it was fine again. DH stayed home yesterday but wasn't able to figure out what was wrong.

Yesterday, I never really woke up. I was in bed until 10 but I'd been trying to get up for several hours before that. I felt like my head was filled with cotton or fog or something that my consciousness was trying to claw its way through to the surface. Even though I was up and moving I felt like that most of the day. I did succeeded in making Bexican burritos for dinner. We're having the leftovers tonight.

After dinner, DH helped me finish a leather tooling pattern that I'd been designing for a while. It looks really great now, but I can't give you any details because it's surprise for one of my blog readers. I hope he'll be able to help me get the leather cut tonight so I can start working on it this week.

A little while ago, I was out with horses. Daisy has been doing well with only one meal a day, so we decided that I needed to go over and feed her every morning. DH prepared food last night when he fed, so everything was ready for me. The weather is extremely cold---we had frost overnight. I put on long underwear, my quilted overalls, and my heavy carharrt jacket. It's a good thing I did, because it started snowing while I was over there. Confident the Daisy would help me out if I needed it, I was able to sit down on the ground leaning against the horse shed while she ate. It was actually very nice to be out enjoying the weather. The other horses were dancing around up along the fence in jealousy. The threatening weather also brought out a lot of birds. Amazingly, Daisy ate most of the food that I had for her. She usually doesn't eat very well for me.

Now I am just resting and enjoying the company of the girls. Shawnee is napping on my legs, keeping my feet warm.