Never doubt a Mule

July 6th 2009.

I saw Sunshine limping horribly in the pasture. It appeared as if she'd broken her leg, it wobbled horribly and she couldn't put weight on it.

We eventually found out that she had torn a collateral ligament in her left knee. The tumble she'd taken in the pasture had caused nerve damage and her left shoulder atrophied.

The vet said 6 months of stall rest, with daily exercise of hand walking.

Sunshine spent 6 weeks laying in the stall, just getting up to eat and do her business [photo above].

My heart was glum. The vet's prognosis was not good, but he asked us to give her a chance.

So it is with tears in my eyes and a song in my heart that I report Miss Sunshine and I went for a ride today. It has been nearly 10 months since her injury.

She handled the ride in the woods like a pro. At first she was hesitant to leave her wailing pasture mates behind and enter the narrow path. [Let us not forget the winds that were whipping and the sound of thunder far off in the distance!]

We took an easy ride down to the creek and stopped.

I dismounted and let her nibble grass.

While I wept tears of joy and buried my face in her neck.
My little red molly mule had come back when the odds were against her.

I remounted and we rode quietly towards home, the thunder booming in the sky and the winds whipping the tree tops on the ridge above us.

The Hawthorne Tree

I wandered around the meadow the other day fairly confident that I would find this identifying the tree business fairly easy.

What a surprise to find that I really didn't know what I was 'seeing'. I assumed that most of the trees were some sort of wild apple tree.
Then I came across this small thorny tree that was budding reddish leaves.

To tell you the truth, I hadn't noticed it before. I only glanced at the trees and in my mind...they were simply

trees.

According to different legends, the Hawthorne Tree is where Faeries meet in the Spring.

It is also known as the May Tree.

How fun.
Perhaps I'll go out when it blossoms and see if I can spot some woodland Faeries.

I had no idea when I started this project how interesting trees could be.

Faerie Land

I thought I'd take a walk with Morris and start our journey of 'finding' interesting trees yesterday during a light rainfall.

I'm so easily distracted. I walk the path and look everywhere, yet have a hard time seeing the trees as individuals.
This project may end up much harder than I thought.

I was easily able to identify an elm tree. A no brain-er though...

Of course there are the 'scrub' apple trees that grow wild in the meadow also...
[but I have as yet found the proper name for them]

Then I got totally distracted by the 'find' of another False Morel:
I spent a long time looking not only at the ground, but peering at the trees. The simple ones I could recall.
Maple
Elm
Oak

...and there I stopped.
I knew I was going to have to get a tree guide book. Plus I was going to have to learn to 'look up' at the trees.

However I did find a nice photographic treat. A faerie land picture of Mayflowers. I imagined wood elves and faeries dancing around the May Poles and it made me smile.
[ask me what kind of trees are in the back-round...and I'll shrug...I didn't really look at them, as the Mayflowers had captured my imagination...and not the trees themselves...see? this is going to be harder than I thought!]

Love is in the air!

Badger has always had a sweet spot for Cheyanne my elderly [26-ish] year old mare. The gray mule is named Mica, she was put in the meadow to keep Chey company when I take Badger out for rides.

What a bunch of silliness they all had at first!!!

I need a project

Last year I worked on the identifying things in the forest like wildflowers and interesting plants.
It has really helped me learn to 'see' things differently.

While walking or riding through the woods I can look down and identify a budding plant.

*Oh look! There is a group of Bellworts coming up!*

Maybe that is not exciting to you, but to me, it is! I feel like I understand the role of the plants just a bit better.

I realized though, while I now can identify most plants on the ground, I cannot identify every tree I go by.
I can tell you the simple ones like Birch, Maple, Oak, and Elm. But I don't know how to ID others like smooth Hickory, Beech, and a variety of others.
I want to be able to identify them by the bark and shape of the tree [in winter] and by the leaves in the summer [and fall].

So I'll embark on this new photographic journey this year. Having a project like this helps me learn.
Badger and Morris will be assisting as usual in this new project.

Chore Dancing

Warning.
Don't dance and do chores at the same time.

But I couldn't help it.
Sunday while driving back from town errands I heard some songs by April Smith and the Great Picture Show on Prairie Home Companion.
It was by accident you know.

I loved the music so well that I did something I don't normally do. I bought the album and downloaded it from Amazon.com ~~ Songs for a Sinking Ship.

I then put the album on my MP3 player.

When I went out to water the large tank for the mules, I stuck the MP3 player in my pocket and put the ear buds on.
I pushed play and before I knew it, my feet started doing some sort of happy shuffle in the dew wet grass.
The mules and horses stared at me.
I didn't care... I was doing this funky little dance thing, off in my own little world... to the song: Colors.

One word of caution.
Don't dance where your husband can see you.

Rich came outside and started down towards me...he was saying something, ... so I pulled my ear buds [sheepishly]
and said:

*What?*
He said: *Are you okay? You looked like you had something wrong with you!*

Note to self. My dancing = spastic looking movements to hubby.

*I'm okay, really I am.*

I held up the ear buds and pointed to my pocket.
He shook his head and murmured something about 'lurching zombies' which I think was in reference to my attempt to dance in chore boots while holding a garden hose.

So what?
I put the ear buds back on and turned up the volume. I danced and jigged while listening to April Smith's voice and her band.

I also know with great certainty that IF LURCHING ZOMBIES ever attack my farm, my mules and horses will have already have been desensitized to them.

Listen and you will have dancing feet too.

Sunshine~the Miracle Mule

Here is Sunshine.
She had torn her collateral ligament and injured her shoulder July 5th last year. The DX and prognosis was very grim.

She spent 6 months in 'stall rest'. The first 3 months were painful for her [no pain meds as the vet wanted her to limit her movements]. She laid in the stall off and on for 6 weeks.

Today she walks, bucks, runs, and plays like nothing has ever happened.

We have gotten the okay to do mild exercise on flat ground under light rider and saddle.

She is truly a miracle mule.