T.R.O.T.

Joyce and I trailered up to Laguna this morning. It was a beautiful day until the wind picked up, then it got cold. Still we had a good ride. Doc was great on the way out, but for some reason acted up a little when we turned around. Joyce's horse, Cassie, is not a leader, so Doc got that duty today. Cassie acted out a little, too, when she was in the lead. She stopped dead on the trail and refused to go forward. When Joyce got after her, she lifted up in front a little. Not good. All in all, though, we had a good ride and arrived back at the trailer all in one piece. Yea.

Cats

Since we got Flash, the cats have vacated the breezeway. We lost Jacuzzi and I've been looking for the others. Today I saw all three outside cats: Peaches, Smokey and Bob-b. Maybe they'll start coming into the breezeway again. It's a lot safer there at night.

Movie Tuesday

Today we saw Mirror, Mirror, the story of Snow White, somewhat altered. Julia Roberts was the Wicked Queen. It was cute.

Jacuzzi

I called the vet today...Jacuzzi didn't make it. It's so sad. All of our animals (except Flash) are getting old. We have three outdoor cats left: Bob-B, Peaches and Smokey. I saw Peaches this morning and Bob-B in the garage on Wednesday. I haven't seen Smokey in a while.

The cats have more or less vacated the breezeway since Flash moved in. The breezeway afforded them protection at night. That's probably why Jacuzzi got nailed.

She was a very pretty calico cat and the mother of several kittens.

I see stars

I looked up at the night sky as I was leaving Mom's house last night and almost straight up were the two planets in the news lately: Venus, the bright one, and Jupiter, both in line. I took a picture with my iPhone.

Update on Jacuzzi

The good news is we can stop suspecting Flash for what happened to Jacuzzi. The vet just called and said it was not a dog, it was either a hawk or an owl that attacked Jazuzzi. She was probably too heavy for the bird to lift.

The bad news is we won't know until Monday if she will survive. The vet said he might have to remove a leg if the damage can't be repaired, but I told him she wouldn't survive here with three legs. So Jacuzzi may have to be put to sleep.

Terrible Day

This was an almost completely horrible day. It started to go wrong when Roomba, my vacuum robot, went into the craft room. I heard a crash and investigated with Flash on my heels. Roomba had bumped into a set of drawers on rollers that is a little unstable. The tray of seed beads I was stringing was on top and flipped onto the carpet when Roomba knocked into the drawers.

The seed beads went everywhere and the strung ones wrapped around Roomba's rollers.

This happened when I had 10 minutes before I had to go to the barn for my regular Trail Ride On Thursday. I managed to get it all untangled and cleaned up before grabbing my bag and heading down to the barn. Before I got there, Joanne showed up with Flash wanting me to look at a tick she and Shannon found. I didn't have time but thought he would be okay until I got home.

I went on to the barn and was getting ready when Gary and Homero arrived.  They told me there wasn't any gas in the truck! Gary said Homero would go get gas, but I thought he meant go to the gas station. I thus had a mini melt-down and said just forget it. I was going to be late and I would just cancel the whole thing. I went back to the house and called Joyce to cancel. Then I looked for the tick on Flash so I could pull it out but couldn't find it so I put Advantix on him instead. Then I looked outside and Homero was putting gas in the truck from a gas can we keep on the ranch. I grabbed my bag and went down to the barn. Homero brought out Doc, I loaded him in the trailer, then called Joyce to say I could come after all. 

The good news is it was a wonderful day in Cuyamaca and we had a great time.

But there was more bad news to come. When I got back, I went to the back yard to let Flash in. When I opened the door, the first thing I saw was Flash sitting at the gate and Jacuzzi, the cat, lying down in the middle of the cement patio. It was strange because she usually runs to get away from the dog. I went closer and saw she had urinated all over and was lying in it. I went back in the house and got the cat carrier. I touched her and she didn't move or try to bite me, so I gently picked her up and put her in the carrier. She was very calm and didn't make a sound. VERY unlike her.

I called the vet then took her to the car and off we went. I left her there and came home.

Later, the vet called and said it looked like she had been mauled by a dog...or a coyote. I don't think it was Flash because he came up to sniff at her when I was there; she hissed and he backed away. I think it was more likely a coyote and she got away and made it to the back yard. 

This has been a very stressful day.