There’s Always Indy
It’s been a bit of a rough ride since my last post here. I’ve been ill myself with one of the nastiest sore throats I’ve had in many moons - and I still don’t have it licked completely. If it doesn’t go away this week, I may be forced to – gasp! – go to the doctor. Boy, I MUST be feeling lousy. :o(
More significantly, however, has been the status of Mike’s 89-year-old Dad. He’s been battling prostate cancer for over 15 years – before I even MET Mike – and I’m afraid he’s finally beginning to loose the fight. I know we should be grateful we’ve had him as long as we have and that he’s felt reasonably well throughout. Still, this is very hard. Perhaps this is one reason Fate led us to move to Indiana – not only so I could have my horses at home with me, but also so Mike – the oldest child - could be near his Dad when he’s needed most. This would be so much worse if we were 10000 miles away.
But, there’s always Indy. Just when Mike and I are feeling the worst, Mr. Goofus-Doofus manages to do SOMETHING to make the sun shine in our world again. :o) It’s almost (almost?) like he knows when we are especially needing a lift and digs into his bag of tricks to find something. And believe me, that’s one BIG bag!
Background for latest: Both Indy and Ami are never locked into their stalls – even when Ami’s on restricted grazing, she still has access to her paddock – AND they both are SO tidy when they ARE inside. They almost NEVER poop in the stalls. They do pee, but at least neither of them put EVERY tinkle inside!
So, Mike and I tend to separate the manure from the shavings that are just wet. Not only does this make for fewer trips out with the spreader, those shavings can be useful for improving mucky spots at the gates, giving the guys an absorbent place to pee outside in the winter, filling in divots that SOMEONE makes when he’s doing his Ripping and Running… Lots of things.
The other day Mike had taken a bucketful of shavings down the large paddock to fill in some of the aforementioned divots. He came back laughing and said, “And the latest IndyAntic is…” It seems that, as Mike was going along with the muck bucket and cart, Indy grabbed the bucket by its rope handles, lifted it out of the cart and started swinging it around. He’s done this before of course, but with EMPTY buckets. This one was FULL of shavings, which were now going everywhere as he swung it about. Then he started chasing Ami – who does NOT think this is humorous. Up the paddock they came, Ami trotting with Indy and his bucket close behind, shavings flying EVERYWHERE. Mike said that when the bucket was empty, Indy put it down, and both he and Ami went flying out into the open field. Mike was cracking up the whole time he was trying to describe this scene to me LOL!
I have only two comments: 1 – DANG, I wish I’d seen this for myself! 2 – Thank you Indy. We needed that. :o)
suzym on 10.28.03 @ 10:56 AM CST [link] [3 Comments]
