Sept. 17, 2003

Hello farmers, we must all be very busy these days. I was gone for the weekend and have been catching up ever since. So far my garden hasn't frozen, we have been close a few nights tho. There are a lot of ripe tomatoes I need to pick, and the green beans are still producing. Yesterday I dug a few potatoes for dinner, but I tend to leave them in the ground until pretty late because they keep better there than in the basement. The corn still has undeveloped ears that may or may not mature in the next week or so to make it to the table instead of becomming horse feed.
Today my endurance horses got new shoes, this will last until the season is over and then they will get to rest during the winter with bare feet.
I posted some greenhouse pictures on the greenhouse forum. I love to go in there and just stand around feeling the warmth since it is cool and windy here today. The sun is out so the greenhouse is nice and warm, the ventelation system is hooked up and it is warm enough for it to come on. The guys are working on installing the propane furnace today.
A couple of weeks ago my neighbor came over early on a Sunday morning and said he needed help with a horse who had gotten hurt. I went and looked, helped him clean up the wound which was under the jaw near the neck, and we gave the horse 30cc of penacillin for the infection that had a good head start. Ranch horses are often out in pastures where you only see the horses from a distance for days at a time so he was not sure when it happened or how. He called the vet and then took the horse in the next day since the horse seemed to feel pretty good, eating, alert, etc. The vet did just what we had done and started him on a long acting penacillin so he wouldn't need daily shots, but also noticed something we had missed, fang marks from a rattlesnake. The horse is recovering and all the rotted flesh has gone and the wound is healing from the inside. The neighbor had a sheep die about the time the horse got bit and now thinks maybe that was the cause since it didn't seem to be a dog or coyote kill.
Everyone have a great day. Remember to say some prayers for those folks in the path of Isabel. Count your blessings.