Bill, Jill, and Ben!

Bill and I had been looking forward to his visit for weeks. It wasn't his fault that his family arrived the day of Kitsune's death. We were supposed to meet up on Sunday, but I spent the most of the day with Carrie trailering Eowyn and supporting her as she processed.

However, I reminded Carrie that Bill was in town and she sent me off to see them. I'd hoped to have them come by the farm, meet Loki, see the house (and introduce Ben to Kitsune...), but that was out of the question now. Carrie didn't want anyone coming by the house. 

So, I drove in to town.

I'd been trading texts with Bill to give him updates all day. I'd recommended they walk the Blue Ridge Tunnel and that turned out to be a big hit with Ben. They'd gone for a ride on Skyline Drive, got caught in a storm, and did other fun things to fill their time in the day. 

For dinner, we met up at the Dairy Market. Jill got ramen, but Bill wanted to try out a new place I hadn't seen before. 

I would've tried it, too, if they hadn't sold out of what I wanted! It felt like they were still figuring things out (The soda machine didn't work, they were out of items, etc). I parked with Ben while Bill tried to make sure his order got right.

Ben was happy to see Bill! He goes back and forth between being a Mommy's boy or a Daddy's dude.

Bill and I both grew up in homes where our dads were involved and it shows in our parenting styles (The stereotype of the uninvolved dad applied even less to Jerry as he single parented for a while!).

We ate and talked away. Bill started talking about how wonderful Charlottesville was and it'd be nice to move there. I thought he was joking until I noticed Jill's serious face! He went through a list of all the perks, but was also aware he'd need a lot of things to go right for it to be feasible. I didn't want to get his (or my) hopes up too high, but it would be awesome having Bill nearby (I just don't see it happening).

After dinner, we went on walk to digest and explore a little. There was a hoop game that Benny wanted to play.

Jill started off holding him up to play, but then jumped in and beat their score.

I don't know if that made Ben want to switch to the winning side or if it activated Jill's competitive gene, but Ben ended up with Bill next!

I'd been too busy talking to take many pictures, but I grabbed a few small videos here.

I pulled out what I thought the best screen captures were and sent them to Jill later.

They certainly looked like they were having fun!

We got ice cream from Moo Through afterward. I felt a little bad when Bill bought my cone after I hadn't been available all day, but appreciated it nonetheless. I'd warned them that the cones were big and Bill had significantly underestimated what two scoops for Ben would look like! Jill laughed, because she'd ordered nothing and ended up with all the ice cream she wanted from Bill and Ben!

We played outside for a little bit before driving over to a local park. Ben played and Jill ended up becoming a playground mom as a couple other kids started to interact with her at the end.

I would've loved to stayed and talked longer, but I was worried about Carrie. I didn't want to leave her alone too long when I knew she was feeling depressed. I said my goodbyes and headed home to end the night. 

I wish we'd had more time and I'd gotten to show off the farm, but I was glad to see Bill's family at all! They continued on the road to Tennessee the following morning. They were going to see the Great Smokey Mountains (and glamp a little bit!). 

The Return Trip...

Carrie texted me Saturday that we needed to "pick up Eowyn tomorrow." She didn't want to verbalize or text it, but Kitsune was dead. 

Over the weeks there were lots of tests and no answers. The spinal fluid sample got mixed up by FedEx and didn't show up to the testing site, but the vets said it wouldn't be worth the risk and cost to get another sample. 

The hospital posted to a national forum to see if anyone had any ideas or suggestions, but there were none. One researcher was looking into similar things and Carrie offered to give up Kitsune for adoption to them, but they replied back they just wanted a DNA sample. 

Kitsune's options were euthanasia or bring him home until he has an accident and euthanize him then. Carrie didn't feel like she could deal with that. "Does that make me a horrible person?" she cried. She'd known what the options were as the hospital stay dragged on and made the choice before I knew it. She requested an autopsy in the hopes that the veterinarians would find something to explain what happened. She'd hoped to find some closure.

It took a month, but the results came back inconclusive. There wasn't any closure for her there. "I don't know what to tell you," was followed by "You did nothing wrong. You fought for him." The vet on the phone figured it was some freak, one-in-a-million kind of occurrences. 

But that's in the future. Sunday morning, Carrie hooked up the trailer. 

Carrie called an audible en route and we went through Lynchburg rather than going over the mountain through Waynesboro to hop on I-81. It ended up being a much better route (with far less cursing at trucks and I-81).

We showed up on time for our pick up window, but it took a while for anyone to let us in. Carrie reached out to comfort and be comforted by Eowyn.

Sadly, I feel like this one pic says leagues.

Milk was leaking all over Eowyn's legs. I assume they let her see that her foal had passed on, so that she would be able to process and move on. I didn't dare ask Carrie. She was holding it mostly together, and I didn't want to say or do anything that might upset her internal balance.

A tech gave Eowyn some hay and she went to munching heavily while we waited for a vet. Carrie requested something to help Eowyn ease into trailering, but the vet had gone home after a rough night.

We waited for a little bit, but not overlong. Eowyn got her dose and was brought out to be loaded.

We took the back way home again and aside from Google trying to show us a "better" way with a hairpin turn and one-way bridge, we made it home without issue.

Eowyn unloaded and got to rolling in the dirt (I guess she hadn't seen any for a while in the hospital stall).

She seemed ok as far as I could tell. Aside from the dripping milk as her body readjusted to Kit's loss, she had an appetite and didn't act depressed (not that I know much about what a depressed horse looks like). This picture is from a little later in the week. She stayed out in the rain grazing (Eowyn's appetite has never been anything but "healthy").

Carrie asked to go out to lunch after we got home and Eowyn settled. She felt the need to be elsewhere to process, so we went into town and sat down at Amicci's. We both ended up ordering types of cheesesteaks.

And so ends Kitsune's time on our farm. He was a brief flash of light, but he will linger in memory for a long, long time. Prayers for Carrie are appreciated as she processes the loss and the lack of knowing how or why any of it happened. 

Shane Goes South (A little early!)

I'm a believer in reading between the lines. Don't just listen to a person's words, but look at the intents, feelings, and everything else that goes into what they're saying.

Today, I had a minor argument with Carrie over how I arrange the food bowls when I do chores. At first, I thought she wasn't understanding what I was saying. Shane tried to butt in a little and I had to push him out, but it was clear he understood me. I didn't think I was that off, so I pulled out some game counters. I had an awesome diagram when I realized Carrie wasn't really complaining about my setup. Yes, she thought it'd be more efficient to lay things her way, but what was really going on was she was frazzled, tired, and frustrated. She seemed upset that she had been upset after the fact.

All of which pointed to "It'd be good to let Shane go see his Grandparents!" I had planned to drive down Tuesday next week and stay with Shane in SC. Megan's family would be there and it would be cousin central! I wanted to hold off, so that Shane could go to goalie practice and I could go, too. I didn't want to be gone from the farm too long when I felt I was helping Carrie keep it all together.

However, Carrie was at her limits and Nana and Pop said they'd love to take Shane early when I asked. Taking Shane on Saturday would save me from making the full trip, put Shane in a family wonderland, and give Carrie one less thing to worry about because she knows how wonderful it is for Shane in SC with my side of the family.

So off we went. We listened to some Ramona Quimby and Shane played some Switch as we made our way south (I believe this was when he started making a giant dog that you could fly in the mouth of and exit through the rear. There was a digestive system you had to skip through with lava as stomach acid....Shane leaves out little detail in his descriptions or designs!).

I still have long hair, but I put on a hat to give Nana a moment of fleeting hope.

As usual, Nana and Pop were excited to see us! Pop's still waiting on a kidney from the deceased donor's list. If they had gotten a call en route, they would have had to turn around and I'd have driven the whole route. Pop had said something like "We've been on the list for over a month and only had one false call, so the odds are it's fine" (Sometimes the topics upset Carrie, but my family has always been frank and willing to talk about worst case scenarios. I was raised it's better to face things, be prepared, and know that God's hand is in it somewhere so just have faith and move forward already!)

As usual, Nana and Pop were generous enough to buy lunch for everyone. I'm 40 years old and my parents still buy my food when I visit (or just meet them somewhere!). 

I drove back knowing Shane was in for the time of his life. Nana and Pop had to take Patti to the airport when they returned (She was visiting Dot), so Shane got to meet her in person. Sunday, Megan and her boys would fly in and need to be picked up. It was going to be kids, kids, and more kids all week!

Carrie did her own therapeutic side trip while I was away. Ellie had recommended she contact Margaret. Margaret, was a long term breeder that Ellie knew who specialized in Fjords. Carrie called Margaret earlier in the week and Margaret offered for her to visit her farm to talk and play with some babies. Margaret's farm was on route to a tack shop Carrie wanted to unload some saddles for sale at in Warrenton, so she made a trip of it. She said it went well!

On the road back, Carrie sent a critical text. "We need to pick up Eowyn tomorrow." She wouldn't say it, but I could read between the lines: Kitsune wasn't coming home.

Animal Pics

There are a lot of animals around here. Rabbits dart out of the bushes half the time I go outside. I saw this fellow one day. Loki hadn't noticed, so I tossed a toy nearby.

Loki saw the rabbit when it darted off as he approached! There was a short chase, but the bunnies are faster (and more determined to get away!) than Loki.

Which the cats watch with interest. They feel like they'd be much more effective than the dog at catching anything!

Their attention is more focused on the birds than rabbits, though.

And they enjoy finding and catching new things to sleep on.

But all of our cats are good with our bunnies. There's been no predatory aggression. Just curiousity.

Of which Loki is into, as well (He'll go anywhere there are butts to sniff!).

Loki makes it hard to get pictures sometimes. The moment he notices me he runs over blocking shots!

I'm able to get some around him.

And he may show up unexpectedly in others!

I was lying on the floor to get a good angle and I switched to selfie mode when Loki crawled up next to me grunting and growling for attention.

Tsuki was stalking Bunsen and I thought it'd make for some great action shots.

 Bunsen has a great twitch reflex! He moved faster than the camera could see.

Thankfully, he's not overly worried about her and she's not overly bent on rabbit for supper. We have peaceful interactions between species here.

Hopkins doesn't like to be picked up and has ceased to be Carrie's favorite bunny. For one, he'll dive off the couch when she pulls him out and he's not easy to catch! Bunsen stays on the couch and doesn't mind being handled as much, so he's become the new couch rabbit of choice.

And he's little and elicits giggles. We need more of those around here!

Shane pretended to sleep for this photo. He's been reading a book called The Inquisitor's Tales. He could've read it to Bunsen!

Outside the house, we have the horses. The itchy, itchy horses.

The bugs have been bad this year and all the horses appreciate a good scratching.

Loki doesn't appreciate his people going anywhere, though. He may recognize what suitcases stand for. Shane will head off on a road trip in the morning (post tomorrow!).

After Shane left Saturday, Carrie pulled out Bunsen again for some bunny therapy.

I'm happy for whatever helps her feel better as we go through the Kitsune saga. There have been mix ups with FedEX delivering spinal fluid for testing and lots more questions than answers.

And that takes care of a bunch of my animal photos. I have some I held back of all the hair Loki's been shedding for when I post about his grooming appointment next week.

One Cat Down! We're back to "only" four

Today was a low day for Carrie. She was down and exhausted.

Shane and I drove out to meet Grandma and Grandpa without her. Our mission was to return Bucket. I was feeling awesome about how I'd timed everything until we got stuck behind a combine on 250 just outside of Richmond. There were too many cars stuck in line ahead of us, so there was never anyway we could pass!

Shane and I ended up showing up a little late. We passed over Bucket and Grandma handed us an ice cream maker to take home. 

We didn't stay and chat as long as I expected. I dropped by the library on the way home to renew some books and keep us out a little longer, but we couldn't stay long due to Bucket.

I can't remember if Carrie was still asleep when we made it home or not. 

I do know that Carrie and I wrapped up Obi-Wan eventually. She was incensed at the saddle the prop department chose. "That's a __________!" (Carrie's a real equine tack nerd! She thought it was lazy to plop an unaltered, modern English dressage saddle onto the back of a camel as a prop!).

The elephant in the room is still Kistune. There hasn't been any good updates on what's happening. The vets don't know and there's no progress. I've been doing my best to keep Shane and Carrie active (or at least taken care of!). Not the way that we hoped to start the summer, but I'm doing my best to make the best of it. There's never a good time for a tragedy, but this would have been much harder on Carrie if it had happened while I was working and couldn't be home with her.

Summer Movies

I love how movie theaters do summer movie camps. Unfortunately, they hadn't played any good movies for Shane yet this summer!

However, this week Detective Pikachu was at the Regal Stonefield Cinema. That sung to Shane! We arrived 15 minutes late, which I thought was perfect. Sadly, the commercial kept going for at least another 5 minutes!

We'd already seen the movie, so it was an easy win. Carrie stayed home to rest and had a quiet house while we stayed out a couple hours for only $4 in tickets (which means we spent a lot more in gas.!).

The escalators were off, so Shane had a bit of fun on our way out.

I'm always looking to make trips into town efficient, so we stopped by Wegman's on the way back. I wanted to find a few easy things to show Carrie we loved her. She's currently in love with Pazazz apples, but from the empty pallet it seemed she wasn't alone.

We eventually found some bulk bags (which was what I wanted anyway!). Per Shane's request, I picked up some cheap mac and cheese to make for dinner.

And that was the main excitement for the day! The Alamo and Regal have different summer movies, but unfortunately none of them have appealed to Shane save Detective Pikachu. It wasn't my favorite, but thankfully it wasn't bad either. There are a few lines (and miming) I appreciate ("Well, I'm pretty