Wednesday eew

[altivo]

John, our friend and farrier came this morning to trim the horse feet. Tess and Archie each had an abcess on one hoof, a problem we haven't seen in a long, long time. I'm inclined to think it has been aggravated by the wet weather and mud, but he says the mud is good for them. Anyway, at least everyone behaved themselves.

Heating and cooling expert came to inspect our heat pump system, and said it was fine. I dunno what that cost, as Gary took care of it.

We've been getting worried about hay for the winter, but finally got a call from our hay supplier who says he can get us the 500 or so bales we need. No price was mentioned, but I expect it's gonna be expensive.

A good thing: I scheduled several vacation days, including next week off. I need to finish up that book manuscript. Also booked the Friday of MFF off, and the day we hang our gallery show. For once there were no conflicts.

The evening was a heavy one, probably because it wasn't raining. Door traffic was up by 50% from this day last week, and up by 300% during the last hour before closing.

Now I think it's time for sleep. Yawn...

Comments

[goldenstallion.livejournal.com]

Dear Rider.

I am worried about getting deadlines met. Such as... your book cover, MFF wearing my Steedsuit (work on that every day still making the hooves I could do a partial if need be) and inflatable lion and tiger models for the inflatable lover guys and so forth. Busy busy busy.

We have hay and Bear's friends from his job have been coming by to take metal to the recycling company in Kalamazoo and they love our horseys. Stormy Pony was not so sure about the little kids but was good although Selene showed much concern about her pony friend surrounded by little kids. Heh, and I mean she was very concerned. Oh yea, Thunder is getting de-balled soon as I can affort that and they all need the farrier trims.

Doing ok, overall.

Imperator

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Mmm. Probably just as well to wait on Thunder now until the weather gets cooler and the flies are gone. Makes the post-op care so much less worrisome.

If you do need to beg off on the cover, let us know as far ahead as possible so Alex can get someone else to do it. I really believe you can do that though, and you already have the right idea. Remember that it's essentially a kids' book and doesn't require Da Vinci perfection. A toon-like style will be fine if that's easier.

As for the suit, I take it the body part is still stalling you? Just possibly I could come again to try to help...

[cabcat.livejournal.com]

I always thought horses were incredibly hardy creatures, but I realise they need just as much care as we do perhaps more.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

The really hardy member of the equine family is the donkey. However, many horses do quite well with little fuss. The need for hoof trimming comes from the way we keep domestic horses on soft surfaces like grass all the time, so they don't wear their hooves down naturally. Because they are not on rocky surfaces as they would often be in the wild, their soles are thinner and softer as well. Consequently, they can step on a sharp stone and have it wedge into the sole in such a way that it causes problems like these abcesses. We try to check and clean their feet regularly to avoid that, but under muddy conditions it can be hard to spot the problem early.

The trimming itself is not a big deal. John finishes the job on all four feet in ten or fifteen minutes if the horse cooperates and there isn't a special problem to be dealt with. It's not much more than the equivalent of trimming your own fingernails and toenails, or clipping a dog's or a cat's nails.

Closing Time...

[gabrielhorse.livejournal.com]

Yeah, in the past several years I've been chatting online from library computers, I try very hard not to be the last guy everyone's waiting on to get out of there :P I can remeber on a few occasions when I was showing up to use the computers somewhere and there was maybe 15 minutes left *smirks* There was this one librarian in Cocoa who couldn't stand me- everytime she saw me sign in, it became her personal duty to watch me like a hawk and try to force me off ASAP. Not a nice lady, I can tell you.

Re: Closing Time...

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Well, you do have to understand that by that point, we've often been here and on our feet for nine or ten hours. Almost the only thing we can think about is shutting down and going home to dinner or whatever.

If the computers are available until the very last minute, then several times a week you have someone begging and pleading for "just another minute, just another minute" which, if you give in, drags into 20 minutes or more. I solved that a couple of years ago, though, by making the machines close down automatically at ten or fifteen minutes before closing. They give a warning five minutes before shutting down, and if the user hangs on until the bitter end they still will be shut out when the moment comes. Some people are very nasty about it, but it means we have time to clean up things, turn the lights off, and lock the doors right at closing time instead of still being here twenty minutes later.

We avoid the issue of having to personally tell people when their time is up by using another automated process. Every user has an ID number and password. When they start using a computer, the time is logged and tracked. Each user has a daily allotment of 60 minutes. It is tracked across all internet and word processing machines and when their time is up, they are automatically logged off. Same routine, warnings start at five minutes before the end. Once time is up, they can't log in again until the next day. It may seem harsh, but it's the fair way to allocate a limited resource. We have ways of making exceptions in special cases, but try not to do that much if we can avoid it.

Re: Closing Time...

[gabrielhorse.livejournal.com]

no, I understand... that's why I try to get in adn get out before dark if possible- I do notice how those people get tired as the day drags along... I was the same way when I worked at a major grocery store chain in the evenings... there's always one person who wants to get two cart loads of stuff 10 minutes before closing... *shakes head* if I never have to be a cashier again, I'll be not the least disappointed.

Re: Closing Time...

[altivo.livejournal.com]

I never worked in groceries. My brothers and sister all did, though. I've often thought it must be really bad to work in one of those big city grocery stores that are open 24 hours. Generally it must get really dead between midnight and 6 or 7 am, and every customer who does come in would make you nervous about whether they were there to buy stuff or to rob you. Definitely not my pile of hay.

I did work in animal clinics, though. Inevitably, if you get an emergency, it will happen right as you open the door and everything is not ready yet, or else right at closing so you have to stick around for an hour or more to deal with it. Not much choice in that situation. ;p One whole summer I worked for a vet who liked cats and didn't really much care for dogs. He was NOT nice to the dogs at all. He didn't make calls, so he wouldn't help anyone with large animal problems, and was quite brusque about it on the phone, just telling them to call someone else. That didn't do a lot to convince me I should stay in vet school, alas.

Re: Closing Time...

[gabrielhorse.livejournal.com]

I've never done the all night thing, either... Walmart has my application, but no one's callin' :P


I did have somebody try to put one over on me once- actually she did and came back... to actually try to say I'd overcharged her when she'd actually managed to steal something extra! I said, "Ma'am, I already know(now) that you took somethign out of here you didn't pay for, now you're going to haggle with me over the price?"

Re: Closing Time...

[altivo.livejournal.com]

I never used to have any problem with cashiers in the old days when they entered the prices manually for everything. Somehow they seemed much more knowledgeable. Now that it's all just scanning barcodes, I have to catch and correct errors nearly every time I go to the store. Things like scanning the same item twice, or entering the wrong code for the produce.

It's a long time complaint of mine now that grocery cashiers don't know what the produce items are. Evidently they all only eat frozen convenience food or fast food, because they can't tell cabbage from lettuce or sweet potatoes from Idahos. I can understand not recognizing something exotic, like star fruit or persimmons, where they only show up for a few days each year. But not knowing what an eggplant or a cantaloupe is? Where do they find these people? Mars, I guess.

Re: Closing Time...

[gabrielhorse.livejournal.com]

As much as I hate to admit it, even I'm starting to have trouble with cashiers... they just don't train people to handle money or know produce anymore...I once had a lady scan an onion like 8 times before she just gave up and said she couldn't do it- I was like WTF?? It's an onion- if you can't get the code to work, find out what the price of the damn thing is- they're almost right behind you, fer crissakes!

I know star fruit! Bring it on!!

Re: Closing Time...

[altivo.livejournal.com]

*snickers*

And I'm sure you know that chickens aren't manufactured and bagged in some factory owned by Cargill or extruded in the form of McNuggets at the headquarters of McDonald's. But honestly, I begin to believe that most Americans really believe that stuff and have no idea whatsoever where food actually comes from or how to prepare it from raw ingredients. ;p

Re: Closing Time...

[gabrielhorse.livejournal.com]

*gasp* You mean fish doesn't naturally grow in square shapes? Yeah, I expect to one day- probably when I'm roughly your age- to overhear someone boldly state that Mcnuggets are farmed and grow on trees XD