A Flyover Blog

Horse Day at the Fair

I love horses. You know that. Well, the Ozark Empire Fair is going on and the very first day they brought the big draft horses in to show. It's just across town and now that horses are my work, I had no reason to feel guilty for going. Mitch grabbed the camera and off we went. He snapped some good pics. Thought I'd share a few.

My friend, Cait London loves draft horses as much as I do, so she left her computer and ran to the fairgrounds, too. She's got more pics posted on her blog. Check 'em out!

They were getting ready to show when we got there.

Mane-braiding time!

Take a look at those feet!

This sweet Percheron was eating peanut butter crackers as fast as she could poke them through the bars!

This is me meeting some Clydesdales. My, they're huge!

Before we left, we checked out the 4-H exhibit hall. I found this miniature horse...

... and one very cute Mini Donkey! I hope you enjoyed the tour.

I Love This Town!

Barack Obama came to Springfield last night. Said he was making a tour through rural Missouri. I guess he considers a town of 380,000 "rural."  He spoke this morning at a town hall meeting. No, I didn't go. I've been working round the clock on iHorseClub™.  (You probably noticed I haven't had a whole lot of time to post here either!) Besides, I'm not too enthralled with either presidential candidate this year. I feel like I'm choosing between Tuvok from Star Trek: Voyager, and Saul Tigh from Battlestar Galactica. Yeah, I'm a sci-fi fan.

Back to my story. So, I was mildly unamused by the whole Springfield-is-rural thing... and then I woke up this morning and found Barack's coverage interrupted by this:

A semi truck loaded with live turkeys overturned on the interstate and a massive turkey rescue and round-up was underway.  In Springfield, turkey rescue trumps presidential candidate visit any day.

Maybe Obama's camp is right; we are rural.

I'm okay with that!

Congrats, Deborah!

 

Got an exciting bit of news in my email last week. One of my writer friends, Deborah Vogts, signed a three book contract with Zondervan for her Seasons of the Tallgrass series. The first book will be released in May of next year. If you're not acquainted with Deb, remember her name; she'll be making a mark in the Christian fiction market, that's for sure. Congratulations, Deborah - Can't wait to read your book!

Time

"We all have our time machines, don't we? Those that carry us back, are memories; those that carry us forward are dreams."

-Uber Morlock (played by Jeremy Irons) The Time Machine

Red Friday - July 25

Please remember to keep our service men and women in your thoughts and prayers today. Oh, and wear something red!

Photo by Grochowski.

Lights Please

Friday, July 25, is Patient Safety Awareness Day. Okay, if you think this has absolutely NO bearing on you, you're wrong. Every time you enter a hospital you are playing Russian roulette. You could acquire a deadly infection; at least 5 million patients a year contract one of these Super Bugs while in the hospital. 5 Million. 

Or your could be the victim of a surgical error. While that's less likely to occur, it still happens. You could be the victim of a medication error. The most notable incidence of late was with Dennis Quaid's newborn twins.

If you pay attention, you will see medical error stories popping up at an alarming rate all over the web. Medical errors kill 100,000 Americans every single year. That is absolutely horrifying. And it's unacceptable. This is the US of A people, not a third world country. That figure does not include all those patients who survive medical mistakes, many of whom suffer permanent injuries.

I am one of those patients.

I never paid much attention to all those medical mistake stories. I thought they happened in large impersonal inner city hospitals and over-crowded ERs. I never dreamed that I could enter a well-respected local hospital for a relatively simple same day proceedure and leave later that evening with permanent nerve damage. But that's exactly what happened to me.

My injury was completely avoidable, but I suffer the consequences of it every single day. This situation will not change until patients - that's consumers in hospital-speak - demand better care.

So, tomorrow, Americans are asked to turn on their headlights, light a candle or pause for a moment of silence to mark Patient Safety Awareness Day. 

For more information, please visit my new friend Trisha Torrey at Every Patient's Advocate.

 

My Week So Far

This picture has absolutely nothing to do with this post; I just liked it. I thought you should know. It has been a very long week already... and it's only Thursday. Our little iHorseClub team have been working away on adding content to the new website. Kids are finding us every day from all over the world, so we're very encouraged. Building a website for kids is a lot different than throwing one out there for adults - there are all sorts of child safety and protection laws that help protect kids, but make reaching them tough, too. My gorgous niece, Whitney has joined the team as our resident artist. She's designing some very cool things for the website; she does awesome work!

We've had lots of family happenings the past few days, too. At the moment, we're on baby watch with Cousins Addie and Jason, who live across town. They are expecting their first. She's had a rocky go of it and was put on total bedrest last Friday. We're expecting an early arrival - possibly this weekend - so I'll keep you posted. Prayers for mom and baby would be appreciated.

Mitch and I absolutely love Springfield. We're close to everything and there's never a dull moment. On a personal note, I would like to say I've enjoyed the past few days, but I have been in a lot of pain that does not respond to drugs. Period. The only way to combat it is to take muscle relaxers and wear several heat patches along the damaged nerves for hours at a time, which I've been doing. Not very comfortable in the midst of summer, let me tell you. I'm not sure what to do. I have been patient with this injury for months, but I'm exhausted. I'm out of patience. It has been 1 year and 4 months since I was injured in the hospital. I am still waiting for them to respond. So far, nothing.

Sorry I'm not so sunny at the moment. It's been a bad day.

Warmth

"...warmth is the vital element for the growing plant and for the soul of the child."

-Carl Jung

Red Friday - July 18

It's Red Friday again. Put on your red today!

Photo by Senior Airman Dominique Simmons.

How's Your Week Going?

Is it Thursday already? Okay, I missed another Thursday Thirteen (I'm still making the rounds from last week's) I have a stack of email clogging my In Box, and comments from friends that just keep piling up. I hate being behind on my correspondence, but it seems like I live there a lot lately. I haven't even had time to visit my favorite blogs. No, I haven't forgotten you! Seems every waking minute this summer has been spent writing for the new site, iHorseClub. I put a (tiny) badge in my sidebar today so everyone will know where I'm hiding out. :)

For a soft launch, we've sure been busy! New members are joining every day, and the kids do love to comment! I'm introducing characters and rapidly working on a storyline. Meanwhile, my friend and partner, Patty - well, Patty does everything else. The woman is a genius. She's always explaining technical stuff to me; I'm sure I've given her more than one headache... and quite a few laughs.

I hope you'll drop by when you get a minute. We've created iHorseClub primarily for kids, so if you have a young horse lover in the house, send him or her our way. And if you'd like to help us spread the word, you can grab a button here. (Yes, most of them are smaller than the one I posted.)

I've gone to the lake a couple of times with Mitch and got some good pics of him kayaking. I'll post a few of those when I get a minute. Scheduled this weekend is Cousin Addie's baby shower, relatives from out-of-town, and nephew Michael's bday, so it's gonna be another busy one. I hope YOUR summer is going well!