Piles of Zen

I was having a cup a tea with my friend Laura when she asked me what my ultimate dream job would be?  I thought about it for a minute and I told her that I wanted to be a published writer.  I don't think that I really convinced either of us with that answer.  Deep down the dark truth of what that job would be started to bubble into the light.  I love scooping poop. That is, I love mucking out horse stalls. Give me a dirty, crappy barn and I'll have it scooped, raked, swept up and put back together in no time.  I turn on my news radio program, grab my pitch fork and scoop away my cares. 
There is nothing that I love more then walking down a swept aisle way of a barn past freshly bedded stalls, with dinner feed set up in the corner, water buckets sparkling full and clean enough for me to drink from. Soul cleansing at it's finest.  So what if the horse comes in and swirls their hay around, pee all over it and top it off with a giant dump?   It just means I have more work for the next day. 

BEFORE

I get in that dirty stall and I feel like I'm in a giant trashed Zen garden.  In a meditative daze, I get to restore it back into harmony and peace with nature.


AFTER

 No ringing phones, no panicked questions, no people needing me, no watching the clock tick backwards waiting for the end of the day.  All I have to do is work until it all looks perfect and the horses are all tucked back in their stalls happily eating and crapping. 

Om...
I've got wheelbarrows of it.

For now, I have a few meditative Zen gardens to clean at the ranch but not enough to pay the bills. 

So for now, I won't quite my day job. As for the day job...we have now installed a Zen garden by the phone incase we need some emergency enlightenment.

Serenity now!  SERENITY NOW!!!!!!!

Thanks for reading!  I'm looking for any ideas on how to get my blog out to more readers.  If you have any ideas please let me know by emailing me at Jacksonhillhorseygirl@gmail.com . 

Copyright (c) 2012 Jacksonhillhorseygirl.com

Save Your Nipples Part 2...Yes there's a part 2

It was like any other day at the veterinary office.  The phone rang, animals pooped all over the place, I scooped it up, I made appointments, helped customers...  It was just past lunch when our favorite eighty something dairy farmer, from the blog Save Your Nipples, stopped in for a visit.  He shuffled his way over to the front desk and began to tell us what he needed. As I was trying to sort through his thick Portuguese accent I looked up and noticed his glasses.  They were totally smeared over in cow poop!  "How did you drive here with your glasses like that?" I blurted over him. 
"What?"
"There totally covered in poop!" He seemed surprised at the information I was giving him.  "Give me those."  He obediently handed them over.  I took them in the back and scalded them under hot water until I was able to use a rag scrub off the rest of his job hazard. 
I dried the glasses off and handed them back to him.  He put them back on, looked at me and then gave me an astonished look.  "You look sharp today!"  There was so much surprise in his voice that it seemed less like a compliment and more like total amazement that I could actually look sharp.  Note to self:  try not to look like I work at a barn in the morning before I go to work even though  I do work at a barn in the morning before I go to work. 
Anyhow, I will admit, I was having one of my three good hair days I get a year.  Before I got too flattered or too insulted, he pointed his finger at me and slowly shook it as he said "I'm going to Brazil for a month.  I will bring you back a bikini to make your husband mad."
He said this in a manner that wasn't flirty or antagonising or dirty.  It was more like your husband better appreciate you sort of thing.  With that he turned and left.  I was left standing there speechless as I usually am after he comes in and makes a statement.  I just hope he does not bring me back a bikini but if he does you will know it if you see a blog entitled Save Your Nipples Part 3.

Thanks for reading and for all the great comments!  I appreciate the time & thought you put into writing them.  I save them all.  I'd like to encourage everyone to become a "Follower" to my blog ( I know, it sounds so cult like) Just look to the right of the blog and  just click on "Join this site".  If you would like to be added to my emailing list contact me at Jacksonhillhorseygirl@gmail.com .
Copyright (c) 2012

What Blows Between a Horse's Ears...

This past weekend I was a sad sack.  Friday was wrapped in warm blue skies with light breezes that harmonized with the song birds.  Work was three days out of sight with no major domestic duties to tie up my time.  My morning had nothing for me to do except for going for a ride on the beach with Cindy and her horse Syria.   I sulked around the ranch as I fed the horses and got Autumn settled in her stall for breakfast. There was not  a single second that morning that I was I excited to go to the beach.  Excuses swirled through my head to get out of going.  I just wanted to go home, pull the blankets over my head and sleep until the weekend was over. I took out my phone to cancel the ride when the little voice inside me intercepted the call.  Are you kidding me?  Suck it up, get your saddle, shove your horse in the trailer and get your butt on the beach!
Okay! Alright! Fine, I'll go! 
Before I knew it,  Autumn and I were strolling beside the Pacific ocean as it unfurled itself at our feet.  I eventually climbed onto Autumn.  She carried me in my oblivion as she splashed happily in the surf and shuffled after the seagulls.  Finally, we reached our turn around point where Autumn normally kicks it into warp speed to get back to the trailer.  But today she stopped and stood still.   I lifted up my eyes and this is what I saw...

The wind of heaven is that which blows between a horse's ears.
 ~Arabian Proverb

...And right away, I was glad I went...

... I was grateful for my great friend Autumn, who had carried me out of my darkness and into her light...I was grateful to Cindy for always giving me a lift into a better day!

Thanks for reading! If you would like to be added to my mailing list please email me at Jacksonhillhorseygirl@gmail.com.

Copyright (c) 2012 Jacksonhillhorseygirl.com

The Social Neigh-Work

Before the invention of the telegraph, if you wanted an urgent message delivered from New York to California you would have to do something we're not accustomed to doing these days.  You would have to wait for it to be delivered.  It would take an upwards of ten or more days for it to arrive.  A cavalry of horses were stationed across the country at relay stations.  These horses be traded off after carrying your letter, at full speed, for 10-15 miles until they reached the next relay station.  Your letter would be passed off to the next horse and rider that would gallop another 10-15 miles to the next relay station and so on and so forth and etc.  That letter would have ridden a few hundred horses just to make it to the hand of it's desired reader.  Luckily for horses and the impatient, all it takes is the push of a button or a click of a mouse to send a message faster then a blinking eye.  We have email, texting, calling, instant messaging, Twitter, Facebook...and who knows? Maybe something else was just created while I was writing this...to keep us all connected.  But, it's not just for us humans anymore.  One of our fellow blog readers turned me on to a new networking tool, not one for me but for my horse Autumn.


Horsebook.com



Facebook.com now has an app. called Horsebook.com.  Just type it in the search box and hee-haw!  You'll be corralled into the latest horsey gossip coming straight from the horses mouth!  Good-bye pony express. Hello point and click! 
The horses on the chat speak in the first person.  They will tell each other that they had a good meal of oats that day or the veterinarian came out to give them vaccinations.  They wish each other happy birthday.  They tell each other they love their owners and their boyfriend or girlfriend horses.  

They even have their own profiles. They tell you what their favorite treat, food, trick, place to visit and things to do are.  The horses have photo albums, videos and their own profile picture.  They have a list and count of all their friends.  Instead of "poking" their friends to let them know that they are thinking about them, they can "brush" them. 

I started Autumn her own page but I have to work on talking for her in the first person.  I feel a little awkward so I write everything in a  pretty abstract narrative like "Had a good ride today" or "It's hailing in the pasture".  It's the best I can do.  I've got to keep on working on it.  I don't want to embarrass Autumn.   Autumn's  Horsebook page has been up a day and I think that she already has more friends then I do on Facebook.  She certainly has gotten "brushed" more then I've ever gotten "poked" on her chat page.  That's okay, I have known for a while that she is a lot cooler then me.  I can handle it. 

If your horse would like to be Autumn's "friend" on Horsebook or you would like to be added to my mailing list, please email me at Jacksonhillhorseygirl@gmail.com . Thanks for reading!

Copyright (c) 2012 Jacksonhillhorseygirl.com