Lyme

Now I know why I feel so tired and why my shoulders and arms are painful and why my vision is a bit blurred without an alcoholic reason. I thought the symptoms mentioned above were due to me getting on just a bit and that they were the usual creaking noises that go with the... uhm... maturing process. But this morning I noticed a big red circle around an area where I've been bitten by a tick a couple of weeks ago. A visit to the doctor brought out the artist in the man. He grabbed his pen and drew around the big red circle. There is now a big red circle with a blue outline all over my left hip. He took a step back and admired his artwork. 'You have to touch the line up if it fades', he said. 'In two weeks the redness should be gone.' Then he prescribed boxes full of antibiotics, to be taken twice a day for the next two weeks. So I have Lyme disease. Oh yippee. On the upside; it turns out that I'm not thát old.

Oh dear, Evie has a drinking problem

We decided to wean Evie off her mom completely this weekend. For the last month or so we have tried to prepare them both for their 'separation' by giving Evie her own stable to eat in a couple of times a day, letting her stay longer in her own space every time, and by allowing her to be with Naloma during their time in the meadow and at night so she could still drink Naloma's milk. Evie feels completely at ease in her own stable now, so the only thing that concerned us about Operation Weaning was that Naloma's udders have to dry up. Without getting inflamed or sore. Which means we have to give her plenty of exercise so she will 'walk off' her milk. Both Evie and Naloma stayed very calm and weren't upset at all by being apart from each other for such a long time, but Saturday morning Naloma's udders nearly exploded. So much milk to give and no foal to suckle. We now have to keep them apart for the coming weeks, not sure for how long exactly, could be 4 to 8 weeks, to prevent Evie from trying to drink and starting up the whole milk production factory again. This is also an excellent opportunity to let Evie getting used to being alone outside or in her own stable, without the other horses being in the neighbourhood. A case of excercising them apart from each other and letting them run around in our paddock/manege on their own.

(Hubs is getting his exercise too now. He's wearing his riding gear by the way, hence the tight trousers. Isn't Evie getting BIG?)

Naloma's udders seem to dry up nicely now. There is no longer a danger of explosion. They feel soft and a lot smaller already. This morning we brought Willem to our paddock so he could run around a bit and roll in the sand and whatever else makes a horse happy and we put Evie in the paddock too. She and 'uncle' Willem like each other, but this was the first time without Naloma being around. They chased each other a couple of rounds, all in good fun, and then Willem stopped to nibble on some leaves. At that point Evie had gotten all thirsty and saw something dangling. She positioned herself next to Willem, her behind pointing towards his front end, and tried if the 'bar was open'. You should have seen Willem's face. Astonished. Bewildered. Perplexed. Blank. Evie was a bit dumbfounded too, I have to say. Luckily Willem is a friendly guy and when he had recovered from the initial shock, he explained to Evie that his dangly bits have a different purpose than her mother's, by gently pushing her aside with his hind leg. Life is a learning process. Even for a horse.

Camera Critters, Petpride: Sleeping beauties

Don't fight with the pillow, but lay down your head And kick every worriment out of the bed. ~Edmund Vance Cooke

Click on the photo to enlarge it and/or click on the links for more Camera Critters or Petpride posts.

Screaming Mimi had a bad hair day...

...and gave me the Neno's Award. I hadn't seen this one before. It is a very sweet award with, of course, some rules and regulations attached. But nice ones. Please visit Screaming Mimi or her dog Oskar if you have the time. Their blogs are both funny, sometimes serious, sometimes seriously funny. Neno's Award - Rules & Regulations: 1.As a dedication for those who love blogging and love to encourage friendships through blogging. Well, I dó love blogging and I have met a lot of friends all over the world through blogging. If we should however meet each other in the flesh, so to speak, there is always the possibility that we wouldn't even like each other. Small chance, but possible. Best keep at a safe blogging distance. 2.To seek the reasons why we all love blogging. Ah! I believe that for some bloggers it is their way of staying, or becoming, sane. For some, blogging is a way to meet people all over the world who have similar interests. For some, it is a way to publish their creative productions. For me it is a way of having sort of a conversation with other people, since I normally spend most of my days solely with animals and I hate the telephone. Actually, I find myself talking to the animals a lot. Perhaps for me blogging is a way of staying or becoming sane too. 3.Put the award in one post as soon as you receive it. Done! 4.Don't forget to mention the person who gives you the award. How could I! 5.Answer the award's question by writing the reason why you love blogging. See points 1 and 2 I think. Of course all those very nice people in Blogworld could be serial killers in real life. Who's to say? I might be. You just don't know. I can assure you I'm not. But I would say that, wouldn't I? No really, I'm not. And I don't lie. Except to my piano tuning guy. Who now isn't my piano tuning guy anymore. 6.Tag and distribute the award to as many people as you like. Oh. Okay. I usually pass awards on to only one person, not always the same, but today I will break my own rule: This award is for Mel at Our Journey Continues, for being my BBFF and for being a great writer. And I would also like to give this award to Mara at Weighty Matters. She loves blogging and she is a lovely blogger (ánd she's Dutch). Currently she would like to swap Christmas Ornaments with you. I will not mention our quest against Christmas coming earlier each year, dear Suldog. Oops. I just did. 7.Don't forget to notify the award receivers and put their links in your post. I'll do my best not to forget.

Camera Critters, Petpride: Mistake

Snoes (pronounced appropriately somewhat like Snooze) misinterpreted the word Bird Feeding Table. She's waiting for a bird to come and feed her.

Easy mistake to make.

Camera Critters

Petpride

Every cat needs a hobby

Ours have taken up Origami

picture taken from Oriland It may take a while before they master the ancient art of paper folding...

Good try though!

Ever been shagged by a Kakapo?

Yesterday evening, the wonderful Stephen Fry took us to meet the almost extinct New Zealand Kakapo in his BBC 2 show 'Last chance to see'. A Kakapo is huge parrot that can't fly, is nocturnal, makes a wonderful deep 'booming' sound as a mating call and has lots of other curious characteristics. Read all about the wonderful Kakapo here. You may have never heard of the Kakapo, I hadn't before yesterday's program, but you will love it as soon as you see it. The Kakapo loved co-presenter and conservationist Mark Carwardine as soon as he saw him actually....

Thanksgiving comes first! (with a little addendum)

(add.: Since Suldog is on a quest, he wrote a post called 'Thanksgiving comes first', and since I really like Suldog, and since I have the same feelings about a similar matter, I have decided to sort of join his quest, but since we don't celebrate Thanksgiving in the Netherlands, my little quest concerns good old Sinterklaas. It's the principle that matters.) So in this case I would really like to call this post: Sinterklaas comes first! (photo from www.schoolplaten.com) In the Netherlands we have a tradition called 'Sinterklaasfeest' (Feast of Saint Nicholas). Every year, around December 5th, Sint Nicolaas/Sinterklaas visits our country. He arrives a couple of weeks earlier by steamboat, all the way from Spain. And on the evening of December 5th, he rides his white horse across the rooftops, accompanied by lots of 'zwarte Pieten' (black Peters, his assistents), and brings all the children presents and candy. Actually Sint Nicolaas is quite similar to Santa Claus. Even their names are similar. Coincidence? I think not! Sint Nicolaas was a bishop from Myra in Turkey. He gave all that he owned to the poor. The story goes that he filled the shoes of penniless maidens with money so they would have dowries and could get married. Hence the tradition to put your shoe in front of the chimney (or in front of the central heating should your house be chimneyless; necessity knows no law), filled with a carrot for Sint Nicolaas' horse and in the morning you will find some chocolate coins or other yummyness in your shoe while the carrot has magically disappeared (back into the fridge, but don't tell the children. They firmly believe the horse ate it.). If you want to know the full Sinterklaas-story, read this by The Holland Ring. Sinterklaasfeest is a very traditional feast in the Netherlands as well as in Belgium. Small children really believe in Sinterklaas. Older children like me, celebrate this feast in a different way. We buy small presents for each other, create a 'surprise' (camouflage packaging in which we hide the present) and write a poem in which we make fun, in a very lighthearted way, of the recipient of the gift. Everything is allowed to be mentioned in this poem: embarrassing moments, love interests, weird habits. No secret is safe around December 5th. The recipient of the poem has to read it out loud to all friends and family members who are there, before opening the 'surprise' that contains his/her gift. The real giver is supposed to remain anonymous because all presents technically come from Sinterklaas, and recipients say out loud "Thank you, Sinterklaas!", even if they no longer believe in him. The point I want to make is this: this wonderful traditional feast is getting completely overshadowed by another wonderful traditional feast: Christmas, AND by the desire of shopkeepers to make as much money as possible. As early as September, almost 4 (four!!) months before Christmas, shops are filled with Christmas decorations. First Sinterklaas, thén Christmas. And no Sinterklaas related candy like chocolate coins, pepernoten and marzipan in the shops when the guy isn't even in the country yet please. Pepernoten in August! I kid you not. It doesn't make sense at all! Stop buying Sinterklaas-related goods in August, September and October! November is early enough to stuff yourself with marzipan (addressing myself now). And the same, but slightly different, goes for Thanksgiving!