Before your feet stumble...Jeremiah 13:16

We hope you all are having as glorious of a Spring as we are! Well, ok, it's not quite Spring yet...one more day! The daffodils are blooming, the birds are singing, and the hawks are gone! They finally gave up, probably because there are so many more birds and squirrels to prey upon now. Sunday morning M let the chickens back out into the orchard. Oh, they were certainly excited. We enjoyed watching them roll around in the dirt giving themselves dust baths.

Yesterday afternoon we took the washer and dryer we've been trying to get rid of to an appliance repairman here in town. He'll either fix them or recycle the parts. Whatever, at least they are off the porch and out of the barn.

While we were out and about we went to the feed store to get some chicken feed. While there we picked up some old pallets they were giving away. We've arranged them in the orchard to make some air raid shelters for the chickens. We couldn't fit them all into the back of the truck so The Man will pick up the rest of them today.

We had just started unloading the pallets at the orchard when I noticed the horse coming around to the barn for a drink. She mostly stays on the other end of the property near the neighbor horses, but she'll make a few trips over the hill each day for her hay and water. As she got near the chicken coop she started sliding and stumbling around. She made it to the water trough by walking sideways. That's not normal! I ran to the house for the cell phone and phone book while The Man got her halter and lead rope on her. Fortunately the vet was almost done for the day so he came right out to see her.

Diagnosis: Old age. The vet said she looks a lot closer to 30 than 24. We were told when we got her a few years ago that she was "about" 22. Her kind is supposed to have a lifespan of 30-35, so, well, it looks like we're nearing the end. By the time a horse like her goes through 4-5 owners, the "age" can go down quite a bit, especially if each owner shaves off a year or two at each transfer, either accidentally or otherwise.

The vet said she was otherwise ok. We need to start giving her "old horse" food, and we probably will make sure we're on nice, even ground if the kids are going to ride her, but she's ok...just old!

The man took off Sacagawea's splint last night. All seems well. We'll put the splint back on her when she goes out to play for the next few weeks just for some extra protection, but she seems to be healed completely. She giggled because her arm was so light without the splint. She immediately started doing windmills with her arm.

I was glad to get it off of her. The sling was almost impossible to keep clean, especially since she's been feeling so great. I had last washed it on Friday afternoon (it had to be clean for church). That's just a lot of good dirt from outside and there are even a few specks of Play-Doh on the bottom.
I made that out of white (my mistake!) duck cloth the morning after she got the splint. It was what was handy, being that I was pretty sick that day. It served its purpose, so I'll wash it and put it away.

We're getting ready to leave the house to go up to the city. J is starting orthodontic treatment today. Phase 1: Head gear! Our dentist referred us to the orthodontist for M over a year ago. We are still in a wait-and-see mode for his teeth, but the orthodontist suggested we go ahead and start on J.

We were back at the dentist last week. He suggested we go ahead and get S started also with the ortho...and Sacagawea seems to have a crossbite...