The Snow Continues

Anyone for a picnic lunch on my deck? That's over a foot of snow on the table. I'm getting quite handy with the snow blower now and thinking that I'm doing a pretty good job. I keep looking at the neighbors' driveways and they leave a little too.

Today was a cold, but sunny day and you can see here the horses soaking up the sunshine. It's been a challenge keeping those doors shoveled so that I can get the horses out in the morning. Each of the four here have their own door and paddock.

Alpacas in Snow and Damned Truck

Remember that snow game we used to play? We would stomp a big pie in the fresh, new snow and play tag. Was it Fox & Geese? I think that's what these 'pacas are playing. They get really excited when I let them out in the morning.

Here's the real reason that I'm posting today. The truck had a recall - windshield wipers, or something. I had to rid it of snow because it gets driven about once a month. If the neighbors were watching, I'll bet they were holding their breath. A snow brush didn't move this snow at all so I got out a rake. Heh, heh, prongy side up and very carefully, I pulled the snow off.\

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Anyway, here's the deal. The truck was a year old when Smitty died and he had put life insurance on it. I'm really tired of making the payments and have been contacting the insurance company since the end of August. They are trying to be sure that he had no preexisting conditions before purchasing truck/insurance. Which I understand. But first of all, I had to sign a waiver releasing medical records to RiteAid and the Clinic uptown. To speed things up I contacted both these places myself and asked them to send on the records.

Well, RiteAid's records showed that he had scripts from two other doctors - a cardiologist (routine tests) and a surgeon (knee replacement). I learned this by calling the ins. co. When I contacted these two doctor offices, they hadn't had a request. I faxed a medical release (glad we have a trust) to the offices and asked them to fax Smitty's records on to the ins. co. Finally, on Monday the insurance company says they have all the requested papers, they will evaluate the claim, and I might know by Friday.

Now what if I had been a distressed, grieving widow who didn't want to make waves - would this get settled? Would they have contacted the docotors' offices? How many years would this take?

This is a pretty boring post, but makes me feel better to vent. (That's why I put the cute alpaca pictures first ☺)

Changes:

Number 24 . I ran the snowblower today. Rob, when you showed me how to work it, you didn't tell me I was going to be covered with snow and that I probably shouldn't wear my glasses.

First Snow Storm - December 1, 2008

We got about 6 inches of the really heavy, sticky snow that turned my morning trip to the barn into a true winter wonderland.

Beautiful! yes, but look what I needed to move before I could clean. I left a show shovel outside last night thinking that I would need it, but it's buried somewhere in that drift by the barn door. Thankfully, I had that other one inside. I moved Cord and Ivan out so that I could clean their stalls. That's Cord peeking over the fence.

The alpacas were just too funny when I let them out. The young ones had never seen snow like this and were jumping and running and body slamming each other. Each of them had to drop into the white stuff and take a roll. The 4 alpacas in the left picture are (left to right), Orion (Slammie), white Pollux (Luxie), naughty gray Gunny, and our handsome dark fawn, herd sire, Polaris (Lars). On the right are crias with little Junior in his purple coat. He's up to 20 pounds now, but not growing like he should. Vet Russ will be here tomorrow and I will have him examine and do a blood draw. Maybe we will get some answers.

As I was finishing up my chores about 10 o'clock, I heard a snow blower. Dean, my across the street neighbor, blew out my house driveway and this path from my house to the barn. Aren't I the luckiest woman in the world? Actually my son, Rob, was here for T'Day and showed me how to run the snow blower, but I'm really glad that Dean did it for me.

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As Dean was finishing up, Ben, the young man who farms my property, arrived, got the tractor out, and cleaned out the barn driveway. I'm in great shape!

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Changes

23. I realize that I can't do EVERYTHING by myself and am so grateful and thankful that I have folks to help me out.

Changes 21 and 22 & "Twilight"

In my last post I forgot to add some of my daily changes since Smitty's death, so will add them tonight.

Number 21. I don't get nearly as much knitting done as I used to. When ever we went anywhere in the car or truck, I would take along some knitting. Now that I have to do my own driving (I hate driving), I don't even think to grab some on the way out. I do have one friend, Kathy, who drives and knits at red lights.

Number 22. For some reason I now pay bills as they come in. I used to save them up until our Social Security and Retirement came in. I think that I'm afraid of not having enough money and wanting to be on top of finances.

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I had a wonderfully fun evening with Beth and my daughter, Terre. We went to the matinee to see Twilight from the book by Stephenie Meyer, and then out to dinner. I am currently reading the third book, Eclipse, in her series which is basically a vampire love saga. I think the film was very well done, close to the book and all that. The scenery was beautiful and I kept wondering if it was really filmed in the state of Washington. My old and dear friend Mac lives near Seattle and I thought of him throughout the film.

Another Use for Alpaca Fiber

It always wows me when I see the artistry and creativity that abounds in some folks. Kim bought some white Bellagio alpaca roving and sent me some pictures of what she does with roving. Pretty amazing, aren't they. If you want to see more of her things, you can take a look at her blog: http://www.weefolkart.com/
Kim lives in Brighton, Michigan which is about 1 1/2 hours from here. Maybe some day we will meet face to face.

Morning in the Barn or Ridding the World of Sh**

Hey, this might not be a pretty picture but it demands lots of minutes in my day. Yep, it's the manure spreader. I remember when we bought it new as a Christmas present to ourselves. The chain in the old one would break and someone would have to climb in to fix it. My city folk friends, the chain runs along the floor......
So what I do is push the wheel barrow up the wooden ramp. I'm not steady enough anymore to actually walk up it, so I walk along side, push it up, and tip the whole thing over. Shorter folks like Beth don't have arms long enough to do it. (But it's rather fun to watch them try)
I had this interesting comparison/metaphor this morning. I sort of dump all my sh**y feelings and thoughts into that spreader. Maybe we could do away with therapy if we could all dump poop everyday.
I'm sure you are asking yourself how many loads do I dump daily. Let's see, 4 horses @ 1 load each, and 16 alpacas for 2 more = 6 trips up the ramp every morning.
But you will see why it's all worth it in the next two pictures:

Here are two of the four horses greeting me. Each one has a distinctive morning nicker. I tell myself that it's because they are glad to see me, but know they want their morning hay.
On the left is Abbey, a now 30 year old Appendix Quarter Horse (that means that she has Thoroughbred in her). We bought her as a 2 year old for my middle daughter, Nikki. They did it all - Jumping, Dressage, Western, Trail (well, sort of, Abbey was a little flighty). She gives me the best nicker. Beyond Abbey is Ivan, my big guy. He is a Percheron/Thoroughbred cross and we specialized in Dressage and a little Jumping.

And down at the end of the aisle are the boys. The girls' pens are in the indoor arena just behind the gray guy, Gunny. The handsome Gold fellow is Polaris (Lars), our herd sire. The rest are "fiber boys" Gelded and fiber producers.

CHANGES

20. I depend so much on my two dogs for company. They are at the groomer's right now. Their last appointment was on the day of Smitty's funeral, so they have been here constantly since then. It was awful walking back in to an empty house this morning. Well, Riley Cat was here, but, frankly, he's not much company. How awful it must be for folks who have nothing live waiting for them at home.

Autumn Sunrise and Herd Blend Yarn

I wonder why Autumn sunrises are so intense? I took this at 7:30 this morning off my deck just before I headed to the barn to do chores. Wish I had sound because 3 of the 4 horses were whinneying and telling me to get my butte out there. It was raining a little but they don't seem to mind.

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Remember I mentioned last week that I picked up some roving at Zeilinger's in Frankenmuth, Michigan? Some black and some white? This is the white. It's incredible! I used some white from the blankets of a few of my alpacas and purchased some from Katie, who is our shearer's daughter. It's all weighed, wrapped, and ready to go.

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I have spun up a couple of skeins. It's very easy to spin and is coming out soft and beautiful. This particular skein is a slubby single plied with a normal single.