Puppies!

Photo copyright Aji, 2015; all rights reserved.

Okay, not really. 

I walked outside two days ago to find that all four horses had come in from the pasture on their own. Cree was in the far pen munching hay, and the three hellions were pulling a lion-and-lamb routine together on the near side. They stayed that way like a bunch of tired puppies for maybe a half-hour. That's not only a record — they've never, ever done this before.

See, this is what they don't want anyone to know: They're secretly really bonded, but they want everybody to think they hate each other. Half-ton brats children.

For those unfamiliar (yeah, I know, I know), that's Miskwaki in the foreground, Shade in the middle, and Ice on the far side. They all bully each other mercilessly, but obviously, it's for show. And they all watch over and take care of Cree, the herd matriarch.

Speaking of Cree, she really needs some otherworldly help right now, because there isn't enough that we can do fast enough to fix her problem. [Storm could use some, too, but we dosed her again today, and I think she might be on the mend already. Cree's a much tougher case.]

The best Valentine's Day gift I could get would be to come outside tomorrow and find that Cree's walking normally (and that her condition stabilizes accordingly, of course). So whatever ya got, please send whatever you can spare her way. Thanks, everybody.

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Aji, 2015; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.

BEARing Gifts

Photo copyright Aji, 2015; all rights reserved.

Today at The NDN Silver Blog, it's a continuation of the weekend series we began last week — this time, with a bit of a Valentine's Day twist. It's Bear who puts in an appearance again today, in two separate incarnations, each with its own distinct personality.

The post itself is here. Wings's main page is here.

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Aji, 2015; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.

Not for the Faint of Heart

Cree (paint horse) with her daughter, Shade (bay)
Photo copyright Wings, 2015; all rights reserved.

This life.

It ain't.

You can't be afraid of dealing with sick or injured creatures. You can't be wigged out by blood or other body fluids. You can't be too weak to lift and carry your share of the load, in very literal terms. And you have to do it all every day, even when your brain feels like it's about to jackhammer its way out of your skull.

Yes, that was my day today. For both of us, actually. And it was nothing new.

One of the chickens isn't doing well. Stormy, the one who helped Wings mock Dead-Crow Dude so effectively. She's been lethargic, and is now showing signs of inflammatory response. The usual treatment is antibiotics in the drinking water, but we don't want the other chickens, all of whom are incredibly healthy, ingesting them unnecessarily. So I spent part of the morning taking apart a capsule, mixing it into a solution inside a stoppered bottle, and then administering it. It took both of us, of course: me to hold her in my arms and keep her head still, and Wings to open her beak and syringe a few drops into it. 

She took it like a champ. We'll see how she is tomorrow.

Cree's another matter.

Her laminitis turned into full-fledged founder years ago, of course, and since then, it's been a management effort. A long, protracted, difficult one, with more valleys than peaks lately. Complicating matters is that she has since developed first insulin resistance, and now full-fledged Cushing's disease.

So, now that Spring is here two months early, of course she's feeling the effects already. Spring is a nightmare for horses with founder, Cushing's, insulin resistance, and colic. The drastic fluctuations in temperature combined with too much dampness sends their symptoms skyrocketing; for those with compromised hooves, as is the case with foundered horses, the wetness breeds thrush and abscesses and all sorts of complications.

For just over a week now, we've been working on the predictable abscesses in her forehooves. This is not a new phenomenon, nor an unexpected one, but it's one greatly complicated by the climatic changes and weather issues. Last week, one began bleeding. Substantially. This is a good thing; what it means is that the infection locked up in her hoof is being cleansed and washed out, and it also means that her circulation is suddenly greatly improved, something essential for horses like her. 

But it requires close management, and we've been at it off and on ever since. Today, we turned our attention to her rear hooves: Wings trimmed them substantially and reshaped them as needed; then we treated them for thrush. From there, on to the forehooves again, which will need more work tomorrow. It's hard enough to do three hours' worth of work on a horse with both of us helping — it's murder on aging hands, knees, and backs, and he bore the brunt of it. But it's harder yet when you have an industrial-strength migraine, like I have since awakening this morning — you perforce spend a lot of your time bent deeply forward, and that's about the worst possible stance in the throes of this kind of headache.

So, yeah, we're both wiped out, and tomorrow, we'll have to be back at it. Oh, and in case anyone's wondering, all of this is in addition to all of our usual chores and tasks, including care and feeding and muck duty. Wings even got in some studio time today, before a major mechanical failure bolloxed up his work schedule.

So any of y'all with spiritual traditions, both animals could use whatever you got, but especially Cree. The coming weeks and months are going to be her worst period of the year, and strong hearts notwithstanding, we all need all the help for her that we can get.



All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2015; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.

#TBT: Love In the Time of Colonialism

Photo copyright Aji, 2015; all rights reserved.

Now posted at The NDN Silver Blog, it's a #ThrowbackThursday for Valentine's Day, revisiting one of my favorite pieces by one of our other artists. There's some cultural awareness thrown in there, too, of course. Oh, and just FTR, that "Time of Colonialism?" Ongoing.

The post is here. Wings's main page is here.




All content, including photos and text, are copyright Aji, 2015; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.

Droughts and Dollars

Photo copyright Aji, 2015; all rights reserved.

Despite the snow in the mountains this morning, we're still in the middle of a winter drought here. And I don't mean a dry spell; I mean a years-long, not-seen-in-500-years kind of drought.

It's not just the weather.

Not that long ago, we were able to make a decent, if exceedingly modest, living. We made at least one sale virtually every day — sometimes nothing more than a $20 keychain or a $5 bar of Pueblo soap, but still a sale. And those were balanced out by the occasional really good day, where nearly everyone who came in bought something, and some of them spent hundreds of dollars. And in the off-season, like now, when the Pueblo is closed, we'd still get calls from people in town for the skiing.

Well, there's no ski traffic this year. The snow levels are abysmal, and the tourist traffic is worse yet. It used to be that every day, all day long, huge jitneys went blasting past on the highway, ferrying busloads of people up to the Ski Valley, to say nothing of the little local buses that made the rounds multiple times a day. Now, we don't even get the local vans; I have not seen one single solitary jitney all season. A record, and not a good one.

The Pueblo is closed now, and will be for two full months. There will be no tourism centered around it. Everything in town is dead. Three days before Valentine's Day, the denizens of this arts colony are normally lined up out the post office doors, shipping orders. Not this year. Even Wal-Mart is less swamped, and of all the businesses in town (save the McDonald's franchise), it's the only one with any kind of steady trade.

I don't know what to do anymore. We had our worst holiday season ever, but that's kind of like talking about climate change: Increasingly, every year is worse than the last, and the margin for both profit and error narrows until there's no light left on either side. Survival? Not at this rate.

When I have to start planning to sell off my old jewelry (not Wings's or any he's made for me over the years; my own), just to get whatever we can for the silver in it . . . yeah, I'm dispirited. I'm tired. 

I swore a few days ago I wasn't going to ask for site shares anymore. Tired of that, too, to be honest. But I guess I have no choice, because there are bills that have to be paid, electricity and propane and food and all the other things that can be so easily taken for granted. And fundraisers and donations are not an option. No. None. This is not negotiable. All we want are honest sales, value for exchange. [Cue bitter laughter] with Valentine's Day coming up, this used to be one of our best weeks of the year. Not anymore.

That's the other thing about this so-called society we live in: Unless you have money or power, you're left no space for pride.





All content, including photos and text, are copyright Aji, 2015; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.

In Storm Valley, Where Water Is Love

Photo copyright Wings, 2015; all rights reserved.

Now posted at The NDN Silver Blog, it's a follow-up to last week's Wednesday feature. It's also an expression of love, rendered in multiple motifs and manifestations.

The post itself is here. Wings's main page is here.

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2015; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.

Water Birds.

Photo copyright Aji, 2015; all rights reserved.

Sixteen years.

This is the symbol.



All content, including photos and text, are copyright Aji, 2015; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.