Someone Pinch Me

Holy cow, the last week has been ... odd.

But in a totally good way.

I went back to work on Monday and was told by the big boss that once I got settled in he needed to talk to me.  Now, we've had some "re-arranging" of the campus, so I was a bit worried.  He laughed and told me it wasn't a bad thing.  And it wasn't.  It wasn't excellent, like a promotion or a big fat raise, but it wasn't bad.

We're finally going to be able to start being in charge of our own advertising, instead of being told how to do it, and my boss wanted me to do a videotaped interview about our upcoming Family 9Health Fair.  I was up for it.  And then he told me it would be the next day.  Wow.  That was fast.  Good thing I'm passionate about the 9HealthFair.  On Tuesday, I met the interviewer and the camera man and we pulled off the interview in one take.  We had five minutes allotted for time and our one-take interview was 5:02.  'Bout as good as you can get.

The next day (Wednesday), I got a Facebook message from someone I'd met at a blogger roundtable, asking if I would be interested in doing a presentation on guns at the upcoming Great Outdoors Show.  No brainer.  Of course I was interested.  I contacted her and we set up a time for me to do a radio interview on Thursday to run on Friday.

The interview was fun and was conducted by a D.J. who is also a shooter, which put me at ease right away.  I think we spent more time talking "off the record" than we did on.  I also found out today that I'll be taking the stage on Saturday right before RJ and Jay Paul from The Swamp People.  How crazy is that?

I'll have a ton of people in the audience for my talk, but I know they'll be saving their seats for RJ and Jay Paul.  It's all good, though, because they're gonna have to hear what I have to say about shooting.  So it's really a win-win for me.

On top of it all, I got a phone call from Estes' Other Mother and the mares are already at CSU.  The baby horse planting will happen tomorrow.

And ON TOP OF THAT, I'm still working on my book and hope to have it out by the middle of August.  Whew. 

AAAAANNNNNDDDDDD...my non-Parrothead husband bought me tickets to go see Jimmy Buffett in October.  I can't tell you how much that means to me.  It's a hell of a culture shock for a non-Parrothead to attend a Buffett concert.

When did I step into the Twilight Zone?

Working Vacations

I tend to schedule vacation time so that I can go "work" at other "jobs".  Our staycation in May was pretty rare; it's not often I schedule time off of work with nothing planned other than having fun.

Last week, I took the week off so I could work a private health fair that earned me enough money to pay for my new baby. It was a few really early mornings, and I don't like mornings.  I think it's uncivilized to be up and moving before the sun bothers to make an appearance.  However, I enjoy working with the crew I had and I'll enjoy my new baby even more, so it was worth it.

As I was going through my emails last week, I came across a two-fer coupon for a Michael Jackson tribute show, HIStory II.  Jay and I had talked about going, but took one look at the prices and decided not to.  Buuuuutttt, with the two-fer, the price wasn't so bad.

So we went.

And had a great time.


I love to do stuff like this; if I ever won the powerball (in addition to everything else I'd want to do with the money), I would totally buy season tickets - the 2013-2014 line up for the Lincoln Center is amazing.

Now, I'm packing up to head down to Julie Goodnight's place - it's time to shoot the Colorado Episodes of her TV show, Horse Master with Julie Goodnight.  Heidi, her producer, always works us hard, but I learn so much and have a ton of fun that it's absolutely worth it.  If you're a horse owner and you haven't watched it, you should give it a go.

I can tell you honestly that nothing on the show is faked; I've been working with the show for about five years.  Each episode is filmed in a 24-hour period.  Julie watches the horse and rider/handler, gives some teaching (like in a clinic), the horse and rider go work on the new skills, and come back the next day for the "after" footage.  The change in the horses and riders/handlers is astounding.

Not A Perfect Day

Yesterday, I lost the equine love of my life.

Despite that, and the ensuing heartbreak, I have a lot to be thankful for.  First, Mom immediately identified the colic and started treatment.  One of the wranglers from the livery was able to give Estes some IV banamine to ease her pain until the vet arrived.

Bill called me at work and my coworkers were wonderful; I had another instructor cover my class, so I was free to head up the hill as soon as I got my class started on their project.

The vet beat me to the lodge by about 45 minutes, so by the time I got there, Estes was gorked out of her mind and in no pain.  Mom had stood with Estes' head in her hands for three hours by the time I got there.  I loved on Estes and allowed her to graze (even though the vet wasn't super excited about it) for five minutes or so.  My mindset was that if this was her last day on earth (which we didn't know at the time), I was NOT going to deprive her of a few mouthfuls of grass, especially if she wanted it.

I was cautiously optimistic that she was looking better, though I knew it was probably due to the drug cocktail flowing through her system.  I went to bed hoping that she'd be feeling better when it was time to give her her 3:00 am dose of banamine.  She was resting quietly and didn't seem to be in any distress in the wee hours of the morning, so I loved on her and gave her the meds.

At 6:30 am, Compass called and said I needed to get over, that Estes was down.  I'm thankful that Compass was up that early and thought to look over at our pen.  By 7:00, her pain was gone.  If Compass hadn't been up working with her horses, Estes might have continued to lay in her shed in pain until I got up at 8:00.

Things just kind of fell into place.  I had the means and ability to end her suffering and I was surrounded by people who cared.  Mom and Bill were amazing.  I was alone when I put Estes down, but they were there within seconds, sobbing right along side me.  I know it hurt them as much as it hurt me to lose her.

I don't know what I would have done without them.  While I managed to find the strength to do what needed to be done, I did not have the strength to cover her with a tarp.  I couldn't do it.  So Mom and Bill did.  Estes had bled on her halter and I was going to just throw it out, but they took it off of her and Bill washed the blood out for me, all without saying a word.

They helped me figure out what to do with a 900# carcass, which wasn't easy.  I don't own any property, so I couldn't bury her - I had to figure out what to do.  Mom put in a call to their neighbor who owns heavy equipment and had to leave a message.  He does a lot of construction projects around the area, so they were prepared to go hunt him down to see if he could load Estes onto the truck.  Rarely does he ever check his voice mail, so it was a surprise when he called back.  Bill told him what we needed and he was at the lodge within five minutes.

Bill oversaw the details that I couldn't handle.  I stayed in the lodge while their neighbor put her on the back of the truck and then Mom and Bill re-tarped her and strapped her down.

I was going to follow the truck down to the rendering plant, but Bill suggested that maybe he follow me.  It's the little things that I wouldn't have thought of.  I'm glad that I wasn't behind the truck, watching my tarped baby ride along.

At the rendering plant, Bill stayed with me while I paid for her disposal and then I climbed back in the truck so I didn't have to watch them unload her.  I did, however, watch them once they got her off of the truck - I couldn't NOT watch them take her away, but they did it gently and, I feel, with dignity.  She still managed to look regal.

Not only am I super thankful that Mom and Bill were with me every step of the way, I'm unbelievably grateful that there are people who do the jobs that the rest of us couldn't imagine doing.

Jay and the kids were shell-shocked, I think.  Really, so was I.  Yesterday I was numb.  Today, the numbness is gone, replaced by a deep sense of loss - almost that something has been ripped away from my soul.

My online friends rallied and brought me comfort throughout the day.  Mrs Mom wrote a beautiful piece about Estes that I would not have been able to compose. 

Ashinator posted this on Facebook, which still makes me cry:

this morning, the world lost one firecracker of a horse and holy cow- her and my mom were quite the pair. my whole heart is going to miss Estes, but knowing she's safe and at peace across the rainbow bridge makes it all just a little bit better.

And Rachel spent a great deal of the night texting with me since I couldn't sleep.  She also sent me this amazing picture of me and Estes:

Despite it being a horrible day, it could have been much worse if things hadn't fallen into place the way they did.

Today, this is my theme song.  It's called "Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On" by Jimmy Buffett.  I suspect it will be my theme song for the next bit as I adjust to not having her in my life.

Dang it!

Today, as we were getting ready to go out on our trail ride Washoe let his Wonder Idiot side take control and was being a jerk for Digger.

I was at the mounting block, with my back turned to them when I heard a dull thump.  Thumps are never a good thing, but it wasn't the whump that comes from someone hitting the ground, so I didn't think much of it until I turned around and saw this:

Washoe, in full Idiot mode, was giving Digger a hard time and as Digger was trying to get him under control, Washoe the Wonder Idiot hit Ripley with his shoulder.  It wasn't a hard hit, but 900# against a lightweight car like Ripley... well, it's not a surprise that Ripley was the one who sustained the damage.

The first words out of my mouth were, "Jay's going to kill me."

Ripley might be my car, but she's Jay's baby.  As you know, he's done some really cool things with her and he can spot a scratch at twenty paces.  There was no way on Earth that he wasn't going to notice this big ol' honkin' dent.

After dinner, I was still stressed out about the dent, so I made Monster go out to see if he could pop the dent out.  Monster took one look at it and said, "Jay's going to be so pissed."  Pretty much verbatim what Ashinator said.

After explaining the seriousness of the situation to the rest of the family who has not lived with Jay, popping out the dent became a family affair.

Bill

Monster

Deejo

Luckily, Bill had some specialized "pound out the dent" tools and we were able to get most of the dent out.  Of course we weren't able to get all of it out, but it is much less noticeable than it was before.

Jay's not a happy camper that his baby has her third dent (I thought this was only her second dent, but apparently there's a miniscule one on the door crease).  He muttered something about Washoe going to the glue factory (I was going to take Washoe to the Purina factory, myself).

If I'm lucky, I'll not have to sleep on the couch tonight.

Hacked Again

This hasn't happened in a while, but one of my old blogs has been hacked.  I deleted HUNTED LYON over a year ago, but apparently someone has commandeered it and is posting some random shat.

I assure you, it is not me.  I deleted that blog long ago, so if it's still in your feed, please go ahead and delete it from your feed.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

(BTW, it pisses me off that I feel the need to apologize for something someone else has done.)

Make That Four

Fires, that is.

The Royal Gorge Fire forced the evacuation of prisoners from the Colorado Territorial Correctional Facility; the prisoners were moved to other prisons. (I was wondering what they'd do with them - it takes a long time to plan and move prisoners.)  The suspension bridge is rumored to have been spared, though three structures have been lost to the fire.

The Black Forest Fire, near Colorado Springs has destroyed a multitude of homes and forces thousands to evacuate. 

The Big Meadow Fire is the one closest to us, and was started by lightning on Monday.  Usually, naturally-caused fires in remote areas are allowed to burn, but they're doing what they can to knock it down.

The Klikus Fire is the smallest of the four at 50 acres, but it also has forced several evacuations.

I have lots of friends, real-life and blog, who live in those areas and pray that they are safe.

If you feel moved to help the firefighters and people who have been displaced from there home, visit Help Colorado Now to make a donation.  I try not to solicit donations too often on the blog, but after three years of fires, I'm beginning to feel helpless.  Even the cost of one coffee will help.  Thanks.

Update: Once Upon An Equine was evacuated from her home about six hours ago :(

I Swear I'm Developing PTSD

We've got three, count 'em, THREE big fires burning right now.  All of them started today.  The late snow we got last month only delayed the onset of fire season by a couple of weeks.  Once Upon an Equine is uncomfortably close to the fire, let's hope the winds stay in her favor.

I tell you, I think we need to change our tourism tactic.  Let's come up with a new motto.  Something like, "Come to Colorado and watch it burn!".  Catchy, no?

And to think that just this week, I was marveling at our lovely weather and the fact that the farmers had already started their first cuts a couple of weeks early.  I was so happy to see that the hay prices were coming down and it looked like things were looking up due to our late snows.

But the snows might have been too little, too late.  At least for some parts of the state.

If you could, send up a prayer for the families who are impacted by the fires and prayers to keep our fire crews safe.

Thanks.