I'm laughing...sure, it's hysterical

but I'm laughing all the same. What else are you gonna do?

What's up, you ask?

Well, the attic of my house, for one. And Friday night, after a great dinner and lovely walk with my husband and Hazel, right before leaving for the barn, another thing was up there too.

 Photo credit: www.raccoonatticguide.com

Yep. A raccoon had  made it's way into the attic and was frantically trying to chew it's way back out. Since we only have one car the barn was out of the question and we spent the next couple hours literally driving ALL over the city looking for a live trap in the size we needed. As I drove, I started just giggling my head off. My husband was not so amused since he's the one who would be crawling around the attic. When I wouldn't stop he asked me if I was ok. Oh, yeah. Just peachy! Three minutes before the last option closed, we found our trap. Of course, she was gone by the time we returned home but we set the trap up there.

Of course, any time you go into the attic, little bits of fiberglass insulation end up on the floor. So, I went to the basement to get the vacuum cleaner.

Guess what I found down there?

You're thinking raccoon, aren't you??  Thankfully, no. The hot water tank was leaking out the bottom and there was a nice stream from the tank to the drain. All I can say is I am very happy the drain is only about 4 feet away!

We now have a new water tank. I asked to have a smaller 40 gallon one put in instead of the 60 gallon we had. There is just no need for such a large tank with two people.Turns out our tank was really old and was so heavy they are pretty sure it was full of sediment. Joy. So overall this is a good thing, at least until we can replace it with a gas hot water on-demand system.

As for the coon, it seems the poor thing crawled in a vent that isn't in use and then had a heck of a time getting out. It scratched and chewed and made itself bleed a little in the process trying to scratch/chew metal. The good news is it got out and there is no evidence that she had been in there very long. This makes me very happy because I was ready to turn the attic upside down searching for babies.

Instead, we get to remedy the situation that left that vent open in the first place. When we moved in, the kitchen fan was set to just filter and recirculate the air. We knew we would want to have it vent to the outdoors and we got everything we needed but have been putting it off. So now that's getting done. We will, of course, put some wire mesh around the opening outside too. Oh, and if we almost started a fire when the stove knob was accidentally turned on during installation, setting alight the drop cloth on top, with us racing around the house trying to figure out where the smell is coming from...well, I would just keep that part to myself. It would just be too crazy to believe anyway.

Some weekends (or winters!) were just not meant to be relaxing.

BC Snapper Two Ways with Roasted Potatoes, Rutabaga, and Corn

Tonight I stopped at the fish market on the way home. I am lucky that one of the best in the city is pretty much on the way home. Tonight I chose a lovely BC snapper. I had no idea what to do with it, so I just started throwing things together while some potatoes and baby rutabaga roasted with garlic and onions.

Snapper
Dressed simply with a light sprinkle of chipotle powder, kosher salt and pepper. Put aside for the time being. I don't salt it until right before putting cooking.

The "two ways" really comes in the form of two different sauces I served on the side. Prepare the sauces when you put the potatoes and rutabaga in the oven, this way there is time for the flavors to mingle and marry.

Olive Sauce

Olives - I recommend kalamata but you can vary. I had a mix of varieties (large black, kalamata, green cocktail) in a Mediterranean type brine and used some of each. I used about 1/2 cup.
Garlic - one small clove
Basil - use fresh if you have it, I didn't and used good quality dried
Lemon - zest and juice of 1/2 lemon
Ground pepper
Blurb of olive oil

I have a hand held immersion blender that has a mini food processor/mill attachment so I gave it a whir in that.

Like this

Lemon Mayonnaise

Lemon - zest and juice of half a lemon
1/2 Cup real mayonnaise
pinch of paprika
ground pepper

Start the snapper and corn at the same time when the potatoes are pretty much ready.

Snapper
Heat a pan to medium high. Add a splash of olive oil, salt fish and add to pan once hot. Keep an eye on your temperature. Once the edges turn opaque flip fillets and cook for another minute or two. Don't overcook!

Chipotle Corn

This works well with defrosted frozen corn. I am fortunate that my frozen corn comes from an extended family farm.

Sliced onion - add to hot pan with splash of olive oil
Corn - about 2 cups - add once onion has softened and just started to get some colour. Keep stirring as the sugars in the corn will start to carmelize. This is good but you don't want it to burn! Sprinkle some chipotle powder, salt and pepper. Once corn is warmed through and has some colour it's ready to serve.

And Voila! I admit the overall dish could have used something green but it's the day before our produce delivery so pickings were slim today.

Collections

Some people collect stamps or coins. I have a friend who has collected unique bar coasters from all over the world. Me? I think I should begin a collection of hospital bands!

I had a throat infection that was just getting worse by the hour. When I went back to my doctor first thing yesterday morning, I was sent straight to the hospital emergency dept. My tonsil had abscessed and needed to be drained. I won't go into gory details except to say it was the most painful few days of my life. And the cure was worse.

So in the last 8 months, I've been in the hospital more than the last 20 years or so put together! 

Next time, I might just ask for the 

purple band. Kidding, kidding.

Speaking of abscesses, Brumby is doing well. His owner was out of town for 4 days or so, so I was doing his soakings. On Friday the 20th I went up after work again and I knew as soon as I lead him out of the stall that it must be draining. Sure enough, I easily found the sticky, stinky, gooey ooze at the coronet band. Everything looked good though and he was clearly relieved! So I did three more days of Epsom salt hot soaks and just one night of poultice. He improved as he should - nice and fast. I turned him out for a couple hours on Sunday so he could stretch his legs. After that, he was good as new. We are expecting to return him to light work this week.

I have to say it was very satisfying to care for him. Not only does it feel good to see an animal improve under your care but it was nice just spending time with him like that.  It was also kinda cool that when Brumby's owner left, he was extremely lame and when she returned he was back to about 95%. Yay!

February has been like abscess awareness month around here! Ewww.

This blog has been like a tale of my misfortunes lately and they are not exactly the most interesting posts! Hopefully I will be back to normal soon and can use my brain for something other than coping with pain!

Lost Fork, Lost Rides. A Rather Random Post.

I'm at work, about to have lunch. A few minutes ago I went out to the kitchen to reheat my lovely eggplant lasagna. I washed my fork and spoon (I forgot to wash them yesterday, oops!) and set them on a piece of paper towel on the counter. Then I went to the ladies room while my lunch finished heating. I came back 2 minutes later and my fork was gone. The spoon was put in a drawer. So weird. And I really liked that fork! I imagine some over-worked, absent-minded person grabbed it without thinking and kindly put my spoon "away" for me, lol.

Here's our latest foster dog, 'Browser'. 

The picture isn't very good, I'll try for better ones soon.

His cuteness shines through anyway, I think!

And that's about as interesting as things get around here. Just when Brumby seemed to be recovering from his bruised sole, he was more lame than ever on Sunday. I rode lightly on Friday night and he seemed ok, though not quite normal. It was hard to tell if he was just stiff from all the time off plus the cold or if his foot/feet were still sore but he was sound. I recommended bringing him back to work slowly to avoid aggravating things and setting him back further. His owner rode him in a lesson on Saturday and told me he was fine, a little off to the right, but that I should work him as usual this week.

So I went up for my lesson on Sunday morning.  The ground is icy so you can't judge the walk from the pasture to the barn - it always looks funny as he carefully takes each step (he's barefoot all around). I got him ready and brought him out to the arena to warm up before my coach arrived. Got to the arena and...dead lame. He was an awful, hobbling and tripping, mess. At the walk, with no rider. I felt so bad for the poor guy, if I could have carried him back to the barn I would have!

Needless to say, I left him inside and called his owner. I hope he doesn't have something more serious going on. Here we are, Feb 16th and this month I've been on him once for 20 minutes. I'm already questioning how long it's fair to pay for a horse I can't ride. I'm reasonable (I think) and I believe as a leaser you have to expect that sometimes things like this will happen.  I'm just not sure how long is reasonable.  My coach was kind enough to let me ride her horse last week. Actually she's been wanting me to ride him for awhile, so it was a good opportunity.  Still...

Oh, and my final thought for the day? I hate WordPerfect. I really do. Makes me see red.

New Car Smell

I now have a shiny new car! I am a fairly practical person but I admit to getting a little thrill out of the (comparitive) fanciness of this car!  And the new car smell? Yuck, especially since we rust-proofed the undercarriage. Can't wait for that to go away! I'm sure it will be replaced by dog and horse smells soon enough :-/

I am also VERY paranoid about getting hit. It's been like that since the accident anyway and now it's worse with the new car. Hopefully this will go away soon. And hopefully I'll have something real to blog about soon...Brumby has been off with a sole bruise for awhile but he lunged sound on Tuesday so I'll try a ride on Friday. I have questions a-plenty brewing, I think.

We DON"T Need, or want, Rollkur!

Billie over at camera-obscura has posted the logo and text, and invited us to do the same in solidarity with Dr. Heuschmann and his message at the meeting on Feb. 9th. Please consider adding your voice to this important debate, and adding logo and text to your blog as well.

The FEI is holding a closed-door round table meeting on Feb. 9th to discuss the training method known as rollkur, or hyperflexion, which involves pulling and holding the horse's muzzle to his chest. This practice is known to have many negative effects on the horse, both physically and psychologically. Gerd Heuschmann, the lone voice for the horse at this meeting, has my support and appreciation as he presents his case "for the good of the horse" along with petitions and letters saying NO TO ROLLKUR.

Please take a moment today and again tomorrow to think positively about the outcome of this meeting. It will make a difference.

Rollkur is but one example, in one discipline, of abuses perpetrated against horses in the name of "training" and "competition". All principled horsepeople need to speak out when and how they can against the abuses that exist in their own disciplines.

Time for Fun - Canter Leg Yields!

Thanks everyone for all your comments on my post about the accident. It helped to have a medium for getting that frustration out. I am starting to let go of the anger and fear that came from being at the receiving end of such carelessness.  I was lucky; it doesn't look like I will have any lasting issues and no one else was in the car.  I know others have been through worse.

I was more than ready to get back in the saddle! It had been 7 full days since my last ride, yikes!  We introduced something new - leg yield at the canter.  I have never done them before and neither has Brumby.  I was surprised at how well it went! He really only messed up when I didn't have myself coordinated properly, naturally.

What an amazing feeling! Wow. It has been awhile since I've felt as though we were really communicating well. For most of the leg yields it felt pretty effortless and was just a whole lot of fun. We didn't always hit the centre line before the turn but I was not too concerned with that, being our first effort.

Definitely one of those smile plastered on your face days. Hmm, maybe I do prefer dressage to jumping...not that I've done much jumping lately anyway!

Be well.