I don't think this happens to other people

The weather was fantastic yesterday.  I didn't get a chance to go for a walk because my job has amped up recently, but I did stop by the farm in the evening to see Pluto.  He's doing well.  I didn't have my wound spray with me (it's too hot to leave stuff in the car during the day) so he still has Swat on his bug bites, but at least they're finally healing.  Bonnie let me use some of her silver solution on them.  Worked like a charm.

When I walked him back to his field, he startled and pulled away from me.  We were already inside the field so no big, right?  But he still had on his halter.  And 10 foot lead rope.  He galloped like an idiot down to the other end of the field to stand with Mystery.  That way they could both stare at Sergio getting dinner ready.

I heaved a deep sigh and started trudging across the field to catch him again.  Pluto saw me and hauled ass back my way, screeching to a halt about an inch from me.  He turned his head so I could unbuckle his halter, and then immediately after I pulled it off he wheeled and galloped back down the field.

I hollered after him "I guess you forgot something, eh?"

At least he remembered he needed to get his halter off.

And he didn't manage to kill himself by tripping over the lead rope.  That was nice.  At this point he has a fair amount of experience with dangling leads.

In unrelated news, I'm going to put up an ad at the feed store and the tack shop.  I'm looking for a dressage rider to half lease Pluto so he can get ridden over a walk.  He misses trotting and cantering.

In which Pluto is unhelpful

I tried an experiment this morning.  Pluto has been taking his antibiotic/apple juice /karo syrup  solution by syringe quite nicely, so I had hope that he would eat food soaked in it.  But it was not to be.  I mixed the solution with some pellets, and doused the mass in still more karo syrup.  Not only did he not eat it, he never even tasted it.  He just sniffed it and then gave me a look.  And that was that.

I gave in the inevitable and prepared another syringe on the spot.  He gracefully submitted to me haltering him and putting the medication in his mouth.  He just wasn't going to do it on his own.

I worried about how I would get his medicine into him on the last day of the course of medication.  I have found a solution, fortunately.  I asked one of the other horse owners if she would do it.  She's in college right now, and on winter break so she has the time to drive out to the farm.  She agreed.  That takes a load off of my mind.  I will still medicate him morning and evening for the next several days, which is an annoyance.  Not so much the medicating as the driving.  I went through a tank of gas last week because of driving back and forth to the farm.  Normally a tank of gas lasts me two or three weeks.  But beside the expense, I miss the time given up to commuting between the farm and home and work.  I most keenly feel the loss of two hours a day from my free time.

Although I have been medicating him religiously on schedule, I haven't been able to check to see if it's helping.  I plan to bring him out of the field tomorrow and try to convince him to let me look.  He is at times oddly shy about his wiener.

In which I spend my day not relaxing

Woof.  Long, busy day.  But I got a ton accomplished.

I didn't fall asleep until 1 this morning, which is fairly common on nights when JD is away.  Then I zonked zombie-style until nearly 9, when the dog started insisting that she really did have to go out.  I grumbled but got up.

I washed and folded and stowed laundry.  I trimmed a new polycryo (i.e. lightweight) groundsheet.  I set up the tent and added some seam sealer to a couple of problem areas near the peak.  I added silicone caulk to my cook pot and ran a test.  No matter what, the handle is too hot to touch immediately after the flame burns out.  But, very quickly after that, I can touch the handle with the caulk on it, but not the bare pot.  So I guess that's good.  I still need my wool mitten to handle it when the flame is on.  (I think this is a downside to the alcohol stove design, at least when it comes to the miniscule size of pot I use.)

The ugliest cookpot caulking job your are ever likely to see.  Also, the prettiest.

I have my backpack mostly packed and a list of missing items to check off as I stash them.  I put more food in.  I may take it back out and figure out a maildrop, or plan on purchasing more food at White House Landing than I plan on right now.  But at the moment, if I haven't forgotten something really heavy, it's looking like my pack will be in the 32 pound area.  And that's doable.  Especially given the terrain the first few miles south of Katahdin.

I have boxes made up to go to Monson, Caratunk, and Stratton.  I don't really need the Stratton box, but I had purchased so much food that it didn't really make sense not to use it.  I've picked things up a few at a time, here and there, and I didn't realize just how much I had.  I still have a lot left over!  DeLee and I will have to go camping some more when I get home.  :)

Oh and I wormed Pluto and also determined that he doesn't care for watermelon.  At least not the first time.  I may try it again someday.  Sometimes he changes his mind on food items after a few tries.

Aliens have invaded the pasture

Pluto and Mystery are still on high alert.  I wasn't really expecting it two days in a row.

I buzzed by the farm this evening to put the last dose of antibiotic cream on Pluto's owies (now pretty much healed) and to see if he were in a conciliatory mood.  I think he may be headed that direction, but he is Way Too Busy to bother with me right now.  He didn't argue with me walking up to him and fooling with his various parts, but he was not about to play pasture games tonight.  He had to keep an eye out for Stuff.

It's one of those situations in which it would be REALLY NICE if the horses could speak English.  I am not the only one wondering what is going on.  Bonnie wrote me email today about her experience out there.  Both horses were standing by the same spot on the fenceline, staring down the farm road.  I'm not sure if they are watching for something in that direction or wishing they could get away from whatever is in the woods by the railroad.  Either way, they are totally focused on something that the humans do not perceive.

Probably aliens.  Pluto and Mystery are the only two creatures in the world aware of the danger.  (None of the other horses seem to be joining in, btw.  Including those standing twenty feet away.)

Bonnie said when she came out to the farm, Pluto literally nudged Mystery to get him to move toward her.  Normally Pluto would be way out in front, begging for the treats and the attention.  Not today.  He's on alien watch.

As horse behavior situations go, this is not one I am equipped to deal with.  If it were just Pluto, I would write it off under the "He's weird, deal with it" column.  But when sane, normal Mystery starts buying into his psychosis, something strange is going on.

Three hypotheses exist so far.  1) Fallen tree limb is scratching the runin roof and making weird noises.  2) Some kind of small animal is living in the strip of trees between the field and the railroad, and making weird noises.  3) The horses were reacting to a broken chunk of electric fence, which was making popping sounds as it ground out.

The problem with all of these hypotheses is that the horses aren't staring that way.  They're staring down at the other end of the farm, 180 degrees away.  I guess investigating the other end of the farm is the next step.  But not with Pluto in tow, because that way lies broken reins.