Some Of It Was Great Fun, Some Of It Sucked

My weekend.  The two sucky parts: 1) I lost a very promising rabbit after trying everything I could to save her.   Tears shed.  Probably seems pretty silly to some of you, but when I get attached, I get very attached and if I ever get to the point where a rabbit's death doesn't kick in the gut, then it's time for me to get out of raising rabbits.  2) Just 5 days after paying my horse board through mid-October, I find out from another boarder that the barn manager has decided to give up the barn.  The barn manager didn't have the courtesy to tell me, and still hasn't.  I have no reason to doubt the information, and am not really totally surprised.  There have been issues at the barn, quality of care issues.  I'm not highly demanding, I just expect people to follow through on what's been said.  Barn manager showed me decent quality hay, but that only lasted for the 15 or so bales I saw.  I expected CC's stall to be clean and not reek of urine.  Cleaning her stall is not my job.  I'm paying for full board, after all, a sum greater than my car payment.  In spite of that, I have been cleaning stalls and not just my own. I'm happy to help out when needed, but when I can't be there, the job should still be done.  I also expected CC to maintain weight and condition.  Those are not unreasonable expectations.  After my motorcycle weekend which kept me away from the barn, I found out those expectations were not being met at all, so of course discussed it with the barn manager.  She agreed to get better hay, and clean stalls more thoroughly.  I paid the board a few days early so she could get some better hay.  She bought 12 bales.  That's it.  It's already gone.  I'm disgusted and pissed.  All day Saturday, I alternated taking care of the rabbit with searching a gazillion barn possibilities.   First thing Sunday morning, I looked at a barn about 10 miles away.  Holy cow!  I love the place, if first impressions are any good.  I do know that the place must be well maintained on a daily basis because I talked with the owner Saturday evening and saw the place at 9 am Sunday.  As clean and sweet smelling as the place was, no way she did that in a hurry.  The horses already living there all look terrific.  Big bonus: there are lots of trails easily accessible from this barn, as well as a town maintained public riding arena about a 5 minute ride away.  I must be an eternal optimist because the place excites me.  Now I just have to work out the finances with the current place because I shouldn't have to forfeit half a month's board because she decided to not live up to her responsibilities.

The fun parts of the weekend started on Friday with a friend and I taking a fibery field trip to one of my  favorite places: Still River Mill where the folks are always working hard, but still cheerful and helpful.  They've been extra busy this year expanding t he mill.  New equipment, new building structures, wonderful plans, same high quality fiber processing.  And yes, of course I dropped off fiber.  I've got 3 lots of cormo/angora to be blended and spun, 2 of them lace weight, one worsted weight, for me to dye.  The lace weight will be mostly for sale, but I might keep the worsted weight for a sweater for me.  Not sure yet.  The other fiber I left is black alpaca to be blended with black which in reality is pewter grey angora for roving.   Most of that will be for sale, too, I think. 

Sunday, after I looked at the barn, it was fair time.  One of the spinning guilds I belong to meets at several of the country fairs, so we have fiber departments and spinning bees.  At Sunday's fair, a friend proudly showed me the sweater she made from yarn she spun of fiber from me, some of the Shrimply Delicious.  Heh - I'm a proud "grandma,"  so of course I also took a close up of the sweater.   After we all got to wander the fair and treat ourselves to our favorite fair foods (mine is Italian sausage, followed by a hot fudge sundae), we settled in with our spinning wheels for our spinning bee.  Twist of Fate Spinnery very generously donates the fiber for the spinning bee.  Very nice folks at this fiber mill, also, with the same high quality mill equipment.  They specialize in natural color fibers.  How lucky am I to be so close to two fiber mills?  Very lucky indeed.  Oh, yeah, back to the bee.  This year, our task was to spin for consistency.  As a spinner, I prefer this task to spinning for length, kind of a quality vs quantity thing.  There are some very talented spinners in the group, so I was quite surprised and flattered to end up with the trophy and blue ribbon.   Don't worry.  I won't let it go to my head.  I still got to be my own pack horse (or is mule more appropriate?)
 

Comments

[margene]

Tears were appropriately shed, poor you, poor bunny. Good for you in finding the right place for your horse, too. It's good you were able to find some balance in your weekend.

[Anne]

It doesn't seem silly at all - of course you are attached to them. Sorry to hear about your loss.... and of course, your barn woes. I know you don't have the space in CT to keep her at home with you, but this new barn seems like a good option. I hope it is as wonderful as it seems!!

[Jessica]

I'm so sorry about the bun. *hugs* You have every right to be pissed about that barn. That's just completely unacceptable especially considering what board must go for these days. I hope you can get CC out of there soon and get your money back!

Glad the weekend had some fiber balance though. Congrats on the ribbon!!

[vanessa]

it's not silly. we all know how hard it is to lose a pet.
good luck with the new barn.

[Kelly]

I'm so sorry to hear about your bunny.

I'm glad the weekend wasn't all bad and congrats on the trophy!

[Christine]

The poor bunny! And poor you. I'm so sorry. Animals sure do sneak into our hearts.

As for the barn, I would hope you have a contract and make sure there's nothing sneaky in there saying you can't get your money back. Good luck with that craziness!

[Karen]

Sorry about the bunny and the barn woes!

Congratulations on the trophy! Very cool! And you are looking great!

[sheepboy]

Nice trophy! Sounds like a good/shitty weekend all in one. By the way you don't have to feed or clean up behind a dirt bike and you can store it in the back yard! HEHEHE
Baaaaaa

[Manise]

Sorry about the angst and loss. Hugs to you. The new barn sounds wonderful.

Is that a photo of you on the Fryeburg Fair website plucking a bunny in your lap? http://www.fryeburgfair.com Scroll down- lower left.

[Robbyn]

Oh geez Chris, it isn't silly at all. Hell, I cry every time one of the gerbils departs to go on the great adventure - it wouldn't feel right otherwise!

Yay you for the trophy and ribbons. How excellent is that! Of course, some of us never had any doubt...

[Cathy]

What a roller coaster weekend! Sorry about the bunny and the barn but YEA!! for the ribbon and trophy. I love the photos of you.

[Shalet]

Bunnies are worthy of tears too. Probably more so than some people. ;-)