After the big snow

Noble says "there must be grass under here somewhere...

Sailor takes time out from digging in the snow.

New family member

Christmas was hectic as usual here, with us hosting JD's family on Christmas Eve, and my family on Christmas Day. My mom (on a little hiatus from the nursing home) spent Christmas night at our house. It was great having her here, and considering what she has been through in the past year, it was nothing short of miraculous. But, taking care of a nursing home patient is a tall order, and it was very high maintenance to care for someone who needs help dressing, bathing, etc. The joy she felt made it all worthwhile, though.

After she went back to Bennington, VT (where nursing home is), our life got permanently turned upside down on Sunday, Dec. 27 when we adopted a 3 yr-old Golden Retriever. We got him from my brother-in-law, who apparently didn't want him anymore. The pup is a gregarious individual named Buddy, who has had no obedience training whatsoever, and very little life experience outside his house. He really has turned our house upside down - the cats have been living upstairs and have not come down. I moved all their necessitities to our upstairs bathroom. Buddy stands at the bottom of the stairs (which now has a gate across it) and gets all excited just to watch them. Lacey, our mom cat, sits on a ledge next to the stairs and hisses at him to try and get her point across. But Buddy never gets the message.

Tomorrow morning he goes to the vet for shots and a checkup. I am also scheduling an appointment for neutering, because he is still intact. I'm hoping that will take his hyper-ness down a few notches. Then we'll start some obedience training. So far I have managed to teach him sit, but he needs a lot more than that. I've also ordered a crate so he won't destroy the house when we're not at home. He's already bonded to us and gets separation anxiety when we leave him, so the crate will be a necessity. He's a good dog, and very smart, so I think it will all be worth it.

My sick kitty

After a couple of weeks of trying to convince myself that there was nothing really wrong with my cat Freya, I finally decided to call the vet today. She had a serious fever of 105.1 about 3 weeks ago, that required a 3-day hospitalization. After a week of antibiotics and anti-inflammatory meds, she was doing much better. But she never really got her mojo back. Typically, she's ready to go out first thing in the morning and start her day. But she has been very quiet in the morning, sometimes not even getting up to eat for more than an hour after we awake. When she did go out, she came back after about an hour and collapsed. So today we went back to the vet, who examined her carefully.

Good news was she has no fever, and all vital signs were good. But her breathing had a little "squeak" in it, and the vet believes that she has asthma. She had a serious respiratory illness during the summer that caused a nasty cough, and it's possible it damaged her airway. Having a serious fever probably knocked the stuffing out of her, leaving her weakened. So she got a steroid shot to help relieve the inflammation. I hope it works. She is functional, but just not herself. I've had lots of cats, but this is the first time I've had to deal with asthma. I hope we can get her by this, because she is a cat that just loves life and likes to live pedal to the metal. We'll know in a couple of days if the shot worked.

Gorgeous sunset

Here's what the sunset looked like from my front yard on Wednesday, Nov. 11. It seems like the sky is on fire.

Today I did a groundwork training session with my Appy mare, Sailor. She did really well - and so did I! This is our third session within the last week, and I push her a little farther each time. It's been a while since I trained her all by myself, so it's a confidence builder for me too. She is so bright, she remembers mostly everything. But she is not a confident horse, so I have to work on inspiring her to have confidence in me. If I can conquer that, I believe I will be able to ride her again. She is a horse who wants a strong leader, and I have to prove to her that I am that person. When she believes in her leader, she is a wonderful horse to ride.

Catching up

Well, it's been a long time since I last posted on this blog. Life has been eventful, although not in a great way. On October 16, I was notified at work that my position was being eliminated, and therefore they did not need me anymore. Of course nothing could be further from the truth - there was still plenty of work that needed to be done (with a full slate of events). The real situation was that the guy who was brought in to be "Community Connection Coordinator" (a made-up title to create a job for this loser) was threatened by the fact that I knew he was a fraud whose M.O. was to do NO work. To cover up for his lack of doing anything that resembled work, when the s**t hit the fan, he would throw the blame on me. Needless to say, I would not stand for this, and immediately notified the general manager that this guy was lying and what the real truth was. The bad news for me, was that while the rest of the staff knew this guy was bogus, the G.M. thinks he walks on water. So I became a liability to the Mr. Work Avoider, and a major threat to him. In addition, he has worked there before, and I had already been told that he will want an assistant - a much younger, cute assistant - preferrably under 25 years old. So I certainly didn't fit the bill. I was forced out, given severance pay, and sent on my way without even being able to say goodbye to any of my coworkers. It was a shameful and disgusting way to treat someone who gave 110% every day for three years. I won't be going to the Northshire Bookstore again for any time in the future.

In other not-great news, I didn't win the election for the Town Council seat. I worked my tail off campaigning, going door to door to 1,000s of homes. Unfortunately, being a Democrat in a Republican town was a huge disadvantage, combined with the fact that I have only lived here for 4 years. In a small town, I was viewed suspiciously. The really irritating thing is that of the 2 guys who got elected, one did absolutely no campaigning, and his entire platform was that he has lived in the town all his life. I don't know him, but I've been told that he is a slacker who can't hold a job and is very lazy. Oh well. On the plus side, I made a lot of new friends and had a wonderful group of supporters who worked very hard for me. So all in all, it was a great experience.

A few days before the election I was asked to stand in for our county Democratic chair at an informal meet and greet with NY Senator Kirsten Gillibrand. It was a thrill to meet her, and get my photo taken with her. She's a real fireball, and a nice person. Here we are at a restaurant in Queensbury, NY.

Busy Busy

Even though I'm on vacation, life has accelerated for me as my campaign for Town Council kicks into high gear. Last night I had to forgo my riding lesson to attend an interview with the local Labor Council. It was a grueling interview in front of about 8 union presidents. I thought I was going to a social "meet and greet" so was unprepared for this. The other candidates ahead of me made formal presentations, and I was totally unprepared. What a nightmare. I was grilled about my beliefs about unions and organizing. When it was over, I thought I would never get endorsed. But I got called by the Council president today, who said I was unanimously endorsed. So I must have done something right.

Tomorrow I go door to door on my street to say hi and let the neighbors know I'm running. I wave to my horses in my travels, and hope to ride again soon.

Two healthy cats at once

After a week of giving Freya (the cat) two different medications (a feat I somehow accomplished) she recovered from her illness. She did have a "set back" day in the middle of the med course, but regrouped and ended up recovering nicely. So for a change, I have two healthy cats at once. Let's hope it lasts.

The horses are doing well. Tomorrow night my instructor is coming, and we may saddle Sailor to see what she thinks of riding after being off for a year. Her groundwork manners are much improved, so maybe it will translate to being better behaved with a rider in the saddle.

My campaign for Town Council is moving into high gear. I have my brochure, and signs are ordered. This weekend we should start going door to door, the key to getting elected. I'll be working with our town supervisor, who won 2 years ago just by getting out and meeting people. I'm going to be very busy, but somehow I'll get through, as always. Here's the link to my campaign blog.