LET’S START WITH THE FABULOUS READ…
OK, I never promoted anything that doesn’t have to do with horses.
So, I guess if I was to tie Quinn Cummings with horses, I’d say that her darling child wore cowboy boots for the first 5 years of her extraordinary life. And, if I had my way, I would have shipped my favorite Icy filly to her … it would have been a precious gift for all – if it had worked out. I adore her family. I wanted my Charlotte to live with them.
But the story for today is different…
QUINN CUMMINGS
The name ‘Quinn Cumming’ may rattle around your memory as the precocious child in the long ago love story, THE GOODBYE GIRL. She also played in a popular sitcom FAMILY. Quinn spent her youth in the roles of smartypants kid.
Then she grew up and fell in love with one of my dearest friends.
Out of their devotion begot a child. That child had feet. And Auntie Dawnie needed to cover them with tiny cowboy boots. To my utter delight, the child loooooved cowboy boots. Ahhhhh… Nothing sweeter than a tiny girl wearing totally broken in Cowboy boots! So perfectly hip in a casual toddler way…
Anyway, the grown-up woman Quinn transformed all of her youthful precociousness into ‘gifted adult humor writer’. Her first book, Notes From The Underwire: Adventures from My Awkward and Lovely Life is one of those novels you keep and reread when you need a good laugh. My brilliant step-daughter takes it on every vacation.
TODAY…
I’m writing about Quinn today because she undertook an enormous task a few years back – homeschooling her child… that child being the amalgam of her brainiac self and my very good friend who himself is the guy you invite to every dinner party because his conversation is equally delightful as it is thought provoking.
That child is who Quinn is homeschooling.
And the reason I’m writing about this is because Quinn is really, really a funny lady. I know how much you all appreciate a good chuckle… especially when it relates to your own life – so that’s why I bring up her new book. Her travails are laid bare via the humility and humor that only comes from a million AHA! moments.
So, for all of you who homeschool – or just if you like to laugh – please check out Quinn’s new book, THE YEAR OF LEARNING DANGEROUSLY. Look for the book to be reviewed in TIME MAGAZINE next week. And, dream of dreams, she just made the WALL STREET JOURNAL today!
Oh and she isn’t so big that she wouldn’t care if any one of you liked her FB page. She is still climbing and growing and every single nod means so much. Really. She’s just a girl… just like us.
Laughter is such a gift…
Click to go to Amazon.
BODHI’S LYMPH NODE THING WAS REALLY AN ABSCESS.
Just before I left for out little vacation, Bodhi developed a lump under his chin.
I called the vet.
He and I both thought it was either an abscess or a lymph node. Probably a lymph node. Nothing to worry about.
And, the vet was right, mostly.
It was nothing to worry about.
Except, it wasn’t a lymph node, it was an abscess.
Blech.
GEE, HE SEEMS HOT...
Yesterday, I was taking off Bodhi’s fly mask and he seemed really hot to me…
Hmmmm.
He looked OK.
I vaguely wondered if he was getting ready to release his lymphabcess. But then I thought that he was probably just … well… hot.
Actually, I’m glad I didn’t get out my thermometer because I probably would have called the vet after hours – for nothing.
Anyway, when I went out to feed this morning, the ‘lump’ looked lumpier
Yesch.
His lymph node under his throat was actually an abscess which burst tonight…
WHEN I GOT HOME FROM WORK… IT WAS, UH, TRANSFORMED.
YUK. Tonight, it burst. Eechhk.
Clearly, he felt better. He didn’t feel hot and he appeared a bit relieved. But I took one look and curled my lip.
Yuk.
Alright, what do I have around here to deal with this?
I wanted something to draw out the root of the abscess.
And, then I remembered, lucky me, in my office I had product shipped to me from Equilite (The company who bought Sore No More). They sent to me, unsolicited, a box of a few items for me to try if the opportunity arose.
Well, it ‘arose’ alright!
I ran inside and grabbed the Sore No More Sauce. It is an iodine based herbal treatment that you can mix with sugar to create a poultice to use as a drawing agent.
I did that.
The only problem was that the burst knot was under his chin. Kinda hard to keep anything up there since gravity wants to pull it off.
I did my best.
I put my thick, sugary Sore No More Sugary Iodine poultice up there… and it fell off. Again. Off. Again… Offfffff.
Aaargh.
So I flung open the box and grabbed the tub of SORE NO MORE COOLING CLAY POULTICE. The literature said it was for edema, swelling, heat, inflammation and infection. I knew it was for hooves more than throats… but… why not? It was supposed to be a cool hoof and leg pack – and draw out abscesses. So, why not?
I stuck my fingers into the tub (felt really good…!) and slathered that stuff on his clean wound. (I had cleaned it with the iodine Sauce previously.)
It stuck!!!! No drips!
There. Yes!
Thank Horsegods that Equilite had sent a box, unsolicited, for me to try their products. In there were two poultice products!!!
IT’S ON THERE.
So, I am going to bed knowing that he has the poultice protecting his burst abscess.
I’ll be curious how it looks in the morning… I’ll let you know.
But, if this poultice felt as good to him as it did to my fingers when I applied it… it is a good thing!
I accidentally schmeared a bunch of the poultice onto my arm and it didn’t dry tight at all. In fact, I didn’t know I had it on until Hubby saw it at the dinner table.
Hubby: “Were you painting today?”
Me: No. (looking down at what he was looking at…) Oh, that! That’s just Bodhi’s abscess poultice.
Hubby: “Nice.”
Truly, it looks and feels like grey lotion on my arm. That’s good.
Usually poultices contract my skin into a cracked sahara-looking prune of its former self.
So, I liked that already.
Anyway, I’m sleeping soundly knowing that Bodhi is wearing his poultice.
I’ll let you know how it performs!
There. It is on. Nothing would stick up there with gravity trying to pull it off. But, the Sore No More Cooling Clay is up there! I feel much better. Now I can sleep. I’ll let you know how it works!
HORSE AND MAN is a blog in growth… if you like this, please pass it around!
Last Day to help our July Bucket Fund mare, Spirit – click image to read her story!
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