FAREWELL

    I know it seems I keep coming and going, but I really have not forgotten how to blog.  It has been a very busy summer and now we are beginning school.  I do my best to keep my priorities in order, and sometimes that means very little time on the computer.  That includes reading any of my favorite blogs.  Hopefully we will be on more of a solid schedule now and I can fill you in on all the things that I have been doing.

   We had a very rough week.  On Wednesday night our beloved horse, Sunny, became ill.  We called the equine vet and he seem to think it sounded like colic until he came out to see him.  Then he began to doubt it was colic. Sunny could not stand up and in fact fell over twice.  The vet gave him a shot for pain and a steroid shot hoping that would get him back up.  We had to leave him in the field for the night ( that was disturbing).  We got up during the night to check on him and he was basically in the same spot still unable to get up.  The next morning we came out and he was not where we left him.  He had moved to the front of the pasture.  We thought "great, he is doing better", but we were wrong.  He could not get up.  He had beat himself up thrashing around.  The vet stopped by around 8:00 am and said he felt that Sunny had had a stroke, and that he was in worse condition.  He said we could watch him and he could give him more drugs but that was probably prolonging the inevitable.  We decided that we would not make him suffer .  I thought it ironic that Sunny loved  to be in the rain and as the vet administered the shot it began to rain.  I think that was God's way of comforting us.  He was 26 years old and thought he was a dog.  He was the most gentle horse anyone could ask for.  We never had to worry about the kids around him.  For that matter he even was careful to not step on the goat babies that would stay under him.  The goats act like they are lost and we are feeling a little lost too.  I know this may seem sappy to be so sad over a horse or any pet but we all loved him and he was a part of our homestead.

   On a more positive note, my garden is still going strong and I am canning again tomorrow afternoon. What a blessing!  Hope everyone has a wonderful Sunday.

~Angie~