On Zombies and Drama

This is a big deal that I had not yet mentioned here. My best friend Diana moved over to our barn! She boarded for the last 2 years at the barn/"equine rescue" where I used to keep one of my previous horses. The barn manager there is a true nut case (see "My Equestrian Journey" for the story on what happened to me there...), and karma has paid her back by leaving her with an empty 20-stall facility. Diana and another lady that boarded there gave their notice at the same time-they were the last tenants remaining. It was a stressful, nerve-wracking move, where Diana had to lie about where she was going so the barn manager would let her leave in peace-she has been known for fits of insanity when boarders leave, especially if they are leaving for another barn on the same street.
Bali, a Percheron/Quarter Horse cross, is finally getting the turnout she was lacking at the other property, and I get to see my best friend every day again.

Bali, with room to run for the first time in almost 2 years.

On another front, it's that time of year again when the crazies start coming out of the woodwork. I swear it's the heat that affects people's brains. One of our previously good boarders was just evicted for stirring up trouble between us-she had the barn literally split down the middle, her side vs Judy's side. I've never seen such a thing in my life. Of course, those of us on Team Judy were snubbed by those on Team Elisabeth. When we were all in the barn at the same time, you could have cut the air with a knife-it was that tense. Our barn is too small for that kind of massive drama. When Elisabeth started deliberately mixing up the way she was setting up her feed and then accussing us of not feeding her mare her grain when we assumed she'd already fed it (Diana, Judy and myself all take turns with the late evening feeding), and started going to the other tennants and telling them outright lies, then proceeded to threaten the barn owner that she was going to call the police on Judy for "animal cruelty" for not feeding her mare her grain, well, it was the last straw. (The grain had been missed 3 times in a month because it had not been set up and we had assumed Elisabeth had fed her mare. Each time, however, the mare had gotten her hay. She was not being starved, and the grain had neither been missed on purpose nor forgotten. If we couldn't find it to feed it, and Elisabeth had been in the barn, we had assumed that she had fed it herself.) This was the last straw: she got the boot from Judy. I've been wanting to write about it, because originally one of the reasons I created this blog was to ridicule the drama that seems to accompany barn life as a necessity in this part of the state-it was going to be my source of venting. This was just too depressing for me to write about, though. This last stint resulted in me losing my 2 best friends at the barn-Dianne and Mark, who were the main members of Team Elisabeth, simply because I was on Team Judy.

The tension in the barn has since dissipated. I don't find myself avoiding the barn as much at times when Team Elisabeth is there. I had almost begged at work to go back to working weekends just so I could avoid the weekend crowd at the barn, and I'm glad I didn't, as it would have ruined the only guaranteed time I have off with Charles. I still wish I'd kept Lily at the Parkland barn, however, and that I'd been successful in convincing Judy to not take over this barn at all. The heartache, the stress, the added expense of boarding at this barn, was not worth the return at all.

I have zero tolerance for drama, and it is one of the main reasons why Charles and I continue to try to leave South FL. 6 years living here is 6 years too many. Neither in Tampa nor in all my years in Puerto Rico did I see so much drama, and it is not just at the barn-it is everywhere. At my previous barn, drama caused me to lose my horse. At work there is a constant war amongst the doctors that has trickled its way down the line to affect even the morale amongst us technicians, and at my previous job one of my co-workers decided she hated me (I still don't understand why, as I really liked the girl and went out of my way to help her) and started spreading false rumors about me to the entire hospital. The bath salts incident has not helped in creating any motivation to stay, either.  One of the girls at work used to live in the apartments right next to where the incident happened. It is the result of a new synthetic drug that is taking the U.S. by storm. Walking Dead, anyone?

I just don't understand why people here seem incapable of just helping each other out and being happy. Everyone has to keep tabs on everything; nothing is ever for free, not even a friend's help sometimes. It's all about what's best for "me" and fuck everybody else; everyone is in a constant hurry on their journey to the next instant; and everyone is always angry. It upsets me when I realize I'm starting to turn into one of these people myself as a defense mechanism. It is easier to live amongst the anger and the rush when you are one of them than it is to exist as a peaceful being. Being peaceful and happy makes you stand out like a beacon, like a light in the darkness, and for some reason creates the need in others to attempt to destroy you and your happiness. I guess the "zombie" attacks are just a reflection of what the world here is turning into. You just get burned over and over and over. Our lease on our apartment ends the first week of November, and Charles and I are already searching as hard as we can for a travel nursing job for him that will take us somewhere else. I wouldn't mind staying in Florida, I'd just like to live in a different part of the state, further north or even on the west coast.