Hello September

As the memes say, it may be September but I'm still processing March. Ok so the memes are way funnier but you get my point. The days are getting shorter and even though the kids are back to school, it's a struggle to get chores done in the daylight. I struggled to get chores done in the daylight all summer but that was because of our crazy schedule. Fingers crossed that September will be an easy month. As it is, with everyone going back to school and daycare, we all caught head/chest colds. So of course everyone is on high alert for covid. I hope this won't be the new norm for long. But it IS the season for vet bills. Two Mondays ago, we took Jim, Rain, and Dude to the vet for floats. Jim needed his teeth done and had a tooth pulled. Lets hope the weight will start going back on. He's much thinner than I want him to be at this point going into fall. Dude also needed a float. Luckily Rain didn't really need one but we did a quick hand float to make sure everything is on the up and up. He had problems in the past and had wavy teeth and I wanted to make sure that that issue wasn't still happening. I'd wanted to take Zeke but there was no room. But I might have a chance to take Zeke in when I take Chaos in. So Chaos has been off and on lame much to my disappointed. I'd hung the moon on him with all my hopes and aspirations but with there being something wrong (and sadly the more I think about it), he's had this issue for years. But we are going to take him in and see what's going on. I have to call this week and see when we can get in. It's a bit easier now to make appointments now that the kids are in school and I don't have to jump through so many hoops to make sure everyone is where they need to be. We had the farrier visit yesterday and were able to get a number of horses trimmed. I had a few more but I was played out. King's feet are still not the greatest so we are keeping a close eye on him. His feet have been bothering him all summer. Dude's hips are bothering him as well. We don't normally grain horses when they are out to pasture 24x7 but we will return to graining Dude so we can start him back on Buteless to help ease the pain. We will be keeping a constant close eye on him. It won't be his weight or anything else that gets him. It'll be those damn hips that have been a curse for so many years. We also trimmed up Jim, Zeke, and Chaos. We'll need to relook at everyone in October but we'll need to do Lightening, Diavlo, and the ponies at that time. I'd pulled Maverick and Lightening out so that we could tackle their feet but Maverick was too naughty and that got Lightening all riled up so we skipped those two. My biggest goal with farrier day is to keep everyone safe. I'm not interested in getting anyone hurt. Safety is my number one concern in all that we do at the Sanctuary. So we tabled working on them and hopefully even with the days getting shorter, I can maybe start working Lightening and Maverick so that when farrier day rolls around again in October, we can actually work on them. My lack of time is such a frustration. The roosters are also doing well. They have adjusted their crowing to the daylight and the one seems to crow before the sun is up. They like to hang out by the house. We also have a flock of wild turkeys that have taken up residence. Luckily the horses are no longer spooked by them. 10+ years ago we had a flock of turkeys wander through and it put Maverick into a tizzy. Now everyone is used to them. They perch up in the old tree I loved so much but which died last year. We need to figure out how to get that tree down before it takes out a fence. Not much has happened in August Sanctuary wise. Life has been crazy bouncing from one birthday celebration to the next making sure my kids are happy. We also had our annual trip to the Black Hills that we've been going on for 35+ years and NO ONE is allowed to touch that trip. And yes, it was during the Motorcycle Rally but we avoided it like the plague it was (don't get me wrong, I'm all for it but not this year). We are continuing to deal with family health problems so that's an added stress that weighs heavily on my mind every second of the day. We also had camping and school starting so it was a crazy month. August is always a hard month for me with all the activities and then summer activities cause a lot of burnout. I'd really like to start focusing on the Sanctuary but time doesn't permit. We are now on the first day of September so I'll be in a panic. Now it's time to focus on winter preparations. I'm going to do my best to post more on social media in September. It doesn't mean I'm not super busy and feeling overwhelmed but I want to keep everyone in the loop a bit more. Now that we are going back to a semblance of normal schedule (At least with the kids going to school and daycare), I can maybe ramble a bit more. I'm sure there will be many more posts voicing my worries and stresses and sadly you'll get the brunt of those. If there's something you want to see, please let me know and I'll do my best. Right now it's about keeping my head above water. Hello September! Please be kind.