Keeping My Cool

     I knew by 8:00 in the morning that it was going to be a doozy of a day. There was horse in intensive care that needed intravenous  fluids throughout the day.  A sheep was in for a castration surgery and the rest of the day was jammed packed with other appointments.  The day swirled by in a flurry of ringing phones, scooping up poop, answering questions, scooping up poop, switching IV fluid bags, scooping up poop, cleaning up after each appointment, scooping up poop, lab work, scooping up poop, billing, scooping up poop,  placing orders while eating cookies our manager treated us to to keep our morale and sugar levels up and scooping up poop. 
     I love days like these...minus the fact that animals are sick...The day flew by and I was actually wishing that there were a few more hours in it to get everything finished. As the day steamed by I began to loose my steam. Despite the doctor's and staff's continuous care and efforts, the horse's prognosis was grim.  
     I disconnected the horse from its last IV for the night and tucked him into his stall.  As I was shutting the stall door the phone rang out again.  I picked up the barn phone and it was one of our clients that we are all pretty friendly with.  She had to talk to me.  She said she was thinking about me all day and had to tell me about a dream that she had with me in it.  In the dream, I was running across a field and some psycho barb wire monster caught me and proceeded to strangle me to death.  She described, in Stephen King detail, how I was ready to buy the farm and spend eternity six feet under until she came to my rescue and saved me.  I was in the twilight zone when the doctor walked in and said get off the phone and hold the sheep while he cleaned it up.  I told her I had to go and thanks for saving me in her f**"d up disturbing dream. 


Another reason to hate barbed wire...It can come alive and try to  kill you in your client's subconscious.

    I got the sheep out of the stall and into the exam area.  For a little guy he had a lot of spunk.  I had to hold his front end to prevent him from running straight out from under us and the doctor sort of had to straddle over him in order to keep him in place as he cleaned up the surgery area in his back end.  Restraining sheep is my favorite task at work...actually I do not call it restraining, I prefer to call it sheep hugging.  But when I hugged this woolly little teddy bear head sheep I didn't have my normal happy fuzzy feeling.  I was still was creeped out by my attempted dream murder phone call.  I tried to shake it off but when I looked up all I saw was my boss's rear end inches from my face.  My nerves were starting to go.  I wasn't sure how much longer I could keep my cool.  I just tucked my head into the little sheep and waited for it to be over. I thought about focusing my mind and that yoga bumper sticker word, that I roll my eyes at every time I see it, popped into my head, Namaste.   So in my head I repeated "Namaste...Namaste...Namaste"... Now I was starting to get irritable thinking about all the people that have that bumper stickers at the organic market that run me over with their stumpy little basket carts.  What was I thinking?  Namaste? Really Margaret?  I  decided to focus on cuddling the little sheep in my arms and to reassure him that his crappy day was almost over.   Then, finally it was...for the both of us.    His rear end was clean and the doctor's rear end was out of my face.  We both survived another day. 

Thanks for reading!  Please send this on to your friends and publishers.  If you would like to leave a message or be added to my mailing list please email Jacksonhillhorseygirl@aol.com.

Copyright (c) 2013 Jacksonhillhorseygirl.com August 21, 2013

Above The Clouds

     The stars were out as the edges of the ridge opposite us leaned against the green light the morning was growing into.  It had been weeks of waking up with the fog stealing time away from the sunrises.  I was awake.  I left the house and ran through the barn feeding, cleaning and turning out until I had left myself a half hour to ride out on Autumn.  
      Lilly and Shep, the ranch dogs, led the way down the trail as Autumn chased them from behind.  The sun rose over the mountains and it's rays thatched themselves through the trees as we rode past.

 



   Our shadows joined us after weeks of being held captive in the fog.

     The clip clop of her hooves left minutes of our ride floating away in the dust.  I halted Autumn at the over look.  I let myself feel the sunrise, golden and fair, warm my skin.  Autumn caught the copper light in her eyes. The rhythm of her breathing floated gently through me, light as a butterfly on a breeze.  The dogs laid down beside us already dozing.  Town was buried in the fog below, unaware that a girl with her horse and two sleepy dogs sat above their clouds, warm and wonderful.     


Thanks for reading! Please send this on to your friends if you like. You can be added to my mailing list or can send any comments to Jacksonhillhorseygirl@aol.com.

Copyright (c) 2013 Jacksonhillhorseygirl.com August 14, 3013