Horses and Kittens             Okay, what happened to Grandma Barb. I don't have the whole story on what happened, but what I know is this...       Grandma was riding her horse with a bunch of other people, and was (I believe) off her horse, standing on the ground for some reason. Another person's horse spooked (I think it's the horse she's bording, it's a very skittish creature) bolted, and slammed into her (which is unusual in itself, horses usually try to avoid running into things), and then she (I assume she fell and hit something) broke her neck.       I just thought of something. Grandpa Ed was talking a bit, and from that I learned that this happened here, so it couldn't have been on a trail (which, admittidly, I had assumed, but where else would a horse bolt?) because he was talking about coming home and seeing a bunch of ambilunces in the driveway.       Grandma's okay, nothing happened to her (aside from having a broken neck, but she can still move and everything), she's got to wear this really uncomfortable device called a 'halo'. Basicly, it's this round thing that is bolted into her head, and then attached to a stiff vest that goes over her body, and the total effect is that it makes it utterly impossible for her to move her neck in any way.       It'll come off around the end of August, a date that she is eagerly looking forward to, because then she'll be able to go back to her bycicling and then, after she gets the soft collar off, she'll go back to her horse back riding.       BTW, this is the second time she's had a very close call on in a horse accident. Last year... around the same time, I think, her horse flipped.       Flipping is not a usual thing for a horse to do, it's a very unusual thing, so unusual and rare, in fact, that when you mention it to other experienced horse riders, they look at you odd and say, "it did what?"       Apparienly what happened (I wasn't there either, although I was visiting at the time. I got to go with her to the hospital... what joy...) is the horse she was riding (don't believe it was her horse, but it could have been) was galloping (against her will) very fast (mmm... over a plowed field? It's been a while) when it tripped, and somersaulted forward. Frankly, I was very surprised, after hearing that bit, that the horse had managed to avoid breaking its neck. Grandma wound up pinned under the horse's side. Her friend galloped up, managed to get the horse to stand up without any of its flailing hooves smashing my grandma (I believe she wound up with her legs sticking out from behind its back, and her head around its stomach. Very dangerious place to be.) and pulled her out. Grandma wound up with a broken clavical. Could have been much, much worse.       So I'm here mainly to keep her company, help with the chores. I feed the horses. When it cools off, I'm going to have to clean out the horse pens. Bleck... That is going to be very unplesent... they haven't been cleaned since she got hurt. Kittens. Yes...       *bounce bounce bounce*       We're getting kittens tomorrow! We're getting kittens tomorrow! We're getting kittens tomorrow! Yay!       *bounce bounce bounce*       We're getting kittens tomorrow! We're getting kittens tomorrow! We're getting kittens tomorrow! Yay!       *bounce bounce bounce*       I like kittens! Kittens are so cute :) Heh... just about anyone who knows me knows how much I like cats, but I like kittens most of all. Grandma Barb has wanted to get a cat to replace her old cat, who vanished several years ago. MIA, presumed KIA. That's how I accquired my first kitten after Tabby, Grandma brought it home while I was visiting, and the kitten fell in love with me at first sight. It was while I was still wearing my big puffy blue coat, and it crawled up in my sleeve and curled up by my elbow so I couldn't bend my arm, and it purred... quite loudly. And the dogs didn't like it, so I brought it home.       She's getting a mother cat and her two kittens, they're rescued from somewhere, half feral, the mother is only a year old. Jessica (oh gosh, now things are going to be getting seriously confusing, she's actually my Dad's cousin about his age, so that makes her my second cousin or something like that, I think I'll just call her my cousin) was going to keep one kitten up in her loft/house thingie, and I was going to keep one kitten in my room, and the mother we were going to just let be an outside cat so it can eat the gophers. However, yesterday, my cousin stopped in a gas station as she was coming from over the hill and found a little white kitten with blue eyes, all covered in gas and grease, and brought it home. It's such a cute kitten! We took it up in her room and it ate catfood and looked around. It's pure white, with blue eyes, and doesn't seem to be deaf or blind like a lot of blue eyed cats. My cousin has named him Zorro, because (as she says) she's always imagined Zorro to be a ghost in th! e night. He's not feral, so she thinks that he was maybe dumped, although why anyone would want to dump a kitten is beyond me.       So, the net result of this is I get to keep two kittens in my room! I'm going to keep one, but at least this way my cousin has a kitten to keep already, so Grandma will be keeping a kitten as well, instead of just the mother cat.       I'm going up to Sacramento this weekend, and I'm thinking of taking the kitten with me. Not sure how that will work out so far. We'll see.             /back one/  |big list|  /on y va/