Incredible weather, so why am I on the computer?

I spent the last two and a half hours clipping the horse. She looks like the little neighbor whose brother locked them both in the bathroom and took the clippers to her. (True story.) Here's the deal. It was a long cold winter. She had a long thick coat. That thick coat is shedding out, so she rubs on the fences. I am supposed to bathe her before clipping. Nice idea, but if I bathe her, there is no way to get all the way down to the skin, and she would need to remain contained until dry or she would immediately go out and roll, thereby defeating the bath. Some the first couple of passes don't look too bad. It is all down hill from there. By the end of this session I am forcing the clippers thru the hair an inch at a time. I have changed blades five times, and clippers twice. Her legs are untouched. Clipper tracks form a little map for a toddler to run his matchbox cars upon. The horse is feeling pretty good and no longer wants to stand still. She wants to run around, which she does as soon as I put her away. Her beautiful red color is a mousy brown. Next up? A bath and fresh blade to finish the job. This little horse has the cutest head. Every year it is like opening a very special present when I clip her head. I know why my sister fell in love with her.

I came in to take a shower and start laundry. You see I am allergic to animals. Animal allergies tend to be skin/hair based. I have two corgwyn of hair that I raked up. Much is still on my body and even though I doubled my allergy meds my arms are beginning to welt and my sinuses can only "squeak" when I try to breath thru my nose.

After the shower it is email time. My younger brother, who is developmentally delayed, had skin cancer surgery the first week of the month that involved grafting. We have all tried for years to get him to wear sunscreen and he refuses. While he is DD, he is living on his own, drives and holds a job. His DD shows with odd little quirks that make me completely insane. He is able to take me back to age ten faster than any person I have ever met. And it isn't the nice kid at age 10. Anyway, it seems that he won't go out of his apartment because he doesn't want anyone seeing his bandage. He thinks they will stare or ask him what happened. I made the mistake of trying to explain how that shouldn't bug him, or that he could use any comments that occur as a way to educate them about the need for sunscreen. Not happening. I suggested a hat; that way he is covering the owie and shading his face from more sun rays. Nope. At this point I have to say that my older brother and his wife are due for sainthood. They oversee everything. They caught the lesion and took him in. They take care of his bills. They deal with his weird idiosyncrasies. I am in awe. I am good for a couple of hours, but that is it. So, I am going over on Thursday. I am taking him out in public. I will wear shorts so that he can see that it is no big deal when folks look, and so that it takes the attention away from him. This new prosthesis is about as bold and dramatic looking as they come. I will take him to the grocery store. He didn't tell my brother that he wasn't going out. He told me. We have learned to forward all communication to the big brother, so that he gets ALL the picture. So this is where I say "Please God, grant me patience."

Also on the computer is a note from a friend who just moved to Missouri. I am sad and will miss her. It was nice to know she made it safely and is ready to embark on her new life. I mentioned that I needed a treadmill as my walking was just not happening as I had hoped, and she has been a big supporter of me doing the 3 Day. It seems that her nice (fold up) treadmill didn't fit in the moving truck and I should call her friends and get it out of their shed. It has all the bells and whistles and I am excited. I can get a few miles in as my wake up at 5:30am. Perhaps I can get the dogs on it at some point as well; that could be fun! So, I have the bike in here on the trainer still and now will also have the treadmill. Time to unload some more stuff so that there is room. I am really, really loving downsizing the clutter. It is so freeing. It also helps paying for the bike trainer and dog show entry fees.

Then I find I also have proofs to go through from a photo shoot last weekend. They are really good. I have to pick fifteen for a calendar. I have three pages of proofs to go through. Daughter dearest suggests printing them out so that I can compare. Great idea! I click "print" and out comes a page with little blank boxes all over it. Of course I cannot copy the pictures. The photographer is a professional and she doesn't want anyone just printing out their proofs and not paying. Duh!! So I have a piece of paper with numbers all over it and check marks and notations by those numbers. I send the link to a few friends and family to help with the decision process. As their suggestions come in I tally them up. The fifteen with the highest votes become the calendar. I will get a disk with all the proofs and can then make my copies from it. She wants to do a bit of photo shop work first.

See what happens when I neglect my technology? It suddenly piles up and my one hour quickly becomes three. Oh well. In those three hours my sinuses have begun to clear a tiny bit and the shower and antihistamines have taken care of the hives. However, I have received ten emails in the last thirty minutes, and it is hard to leave them for later.

But I must walk away from all this. If I don't I will likely still be here at 6pm. I really need to water my bales of straw. It is never ending no matter which part of my world I choose to deal with. I become a lot like Kate: "Which ball should I choose?"

G2