Virtual Brush Box

Awareness of the outside world. Slate: Three Judges Just Dared SCOTUS to Say What It Really Thinks About Black Voting Rights, Romero & Stern, May 26, 2026.

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Stepping Stone Farm was away at a show all last week. No ASB lessons to report. Still not showing. [Leaning Into Lessons]

Is the show hiatus permanent? Temporary? No idea.

Anyway.

Tiny steps on the horse search.

First seller. A horse sales business that routinely announces they have X number of horses available. We filled out the form, including contacts for recommendations from farrier, vet, second grade teacher, etc.

Crickets.

They are far away, which makes us more of a PIA client, especially for a one-off sale. I can only assume they can find the buyers they need. They are in a more horsey area of the country, so that is possible.

Yes, I am being deliberately vague.

Second seller. Nice chat by phone. Sent one short video of the horse in the distance. Did not respond further. I have not doubt that I could ask a lot of – possibly too many – questions. It’s what I do by inclination and by profession. In this case, we were asking for such things as the size of the horse.

More crickets.

I don’t know how people buy horses these days.

Onwards!
Katherine

Awareness of the outside world. Starkey: How a coastline 100 million years ago influences modern election results in Alabama, 2021.

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Goldy
Rosewood Stables
20 May 2026

One of those posts where I will record the lesson in detail so that I can refer back.

Hot day. Also, the sand footing reflects up, making the ring even hotter. Let’s use the covered for shade. Since the kids were busy with end of school activities, I ended up with a solo lesson. Let’s have a biomechanics day. [Dissecting My Position, Lesson Notes]

Walk, good. Trot, good. Seated canter, good. Need to work on two-point.

Coach Deana told me I needed to keep my wrists straight. Better contact and a better upper body position.

Coach Deana: Use your core.
Me: Don’t have one.
Coach Deana: Not true. Otherwise you couldn’t do this, (Waves hand to indicate riding in general.)
Me: huh.

If she had said, ‘You are good at riding’, my response would have been along the lines of, ‘Yeah, yeah, sure, fine’. Instead, she gave me an incontrovertible fact.

My leg position is good. So I asked if the problems started at my waist, or at my upper back, i.e. shoulder & head.

Coach Greg said it starts with my hips. He made the observation that I rode with a stiff/fixed/rigid lower back. Yes. That is exactly what I was doing. I attain The Correct Position and then attempt to hold myself there.

Coach Greg? Yes. In addition to be a supportive partner, husband has become an excellent groundperson. He has an understanding of priopreception in general and of me in specific. He will often say things in a way that makes sense to me.

I put these into practice. Trot in two-point. Trot-canter transitions in two-point. Canter circles in two-point. A few jumps: mildly larger crossrail & a small vertical.

Rode around telling self …

… I’m better at this than I give myself credit for.

… Lower back position is about being in the right general area, not in one specific location.

Combined these two to excellent result. Coaches pleased. Much complimentary noise. Rider pleased. Position felt solid. Goldy pleased. Cantered & hopped with elan.

Yay!

Next step. Remember what I did & redo it. Having done it this time, I know it is possible.

Onwards!
Katherine

Awareness of the outside world. I was this many years old when I learned (or forgot & relearned) the difference. Memorial Day, died in service. Armed Forces Day, active and former. Veteran’s Day, all veterans, with emphasis on living veterans. History.Com: How is Armed Forces Day different from Veterans Day and Memorial Day? & Hisotry.com: Veterans Day

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{Backstory. Each morning, people & horses go on a unmounted team walk in the pasture.}

Day 1. Experimented with taking horses out without halters. They are at liberty anyway, so why not.

Rodney: Am I walking? Am I grazing? What is happening? What am I even?

Milton: This is weird. But. What we do is walk. So. I walk.

Day 2. Halter on Rodney, who clearly likes external rules, compared to Milton who has internal rules, see above. Milton remained au naturel due to bug bites on his head in the halter area.

Rodney: It’s all good! Let’s walk!

Milton: I notice Rodney has a halter. I don’t have a halter. I’m not saying I *want* a halter. But. I notice.

Day 3. Halter for Rodney. Loose grooming slip for Milton.

Harmony restored.

Onwards!
Katherine

Awareness of the outside world. In honor of Memorial Day, the uncle I never met, Pilot 2nd Lt. Thomas Tuttle Killed in Jet Airplane Crash (1958). My father says Tommy would have absolutely been in the astronaut corps had he lived.

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Milton is perturbed.

First, some background. The living area of the run-in shed/barn is open at the back, has the stall on the right, has the pass-thru portion in front and is fenced the rest of the way around. Milton eats in corner formed by the stall and the pass thru.

You can kinda get the idea from this photo. His eating area is to his left. Repost. [Bug Season II]

Also, Milton has a water bucket next to his hay bucket. He’s been doing this since he discover the idea during his vet stay. He loves it. He dunks with abandon.

He still makes a mess. Repost. [Photos from the Vet Clinic, Nothing Gory I Promise]

Therefore. we must occasionally move his buckets to a temporary spot so that the ground underneath can dry out.

This is what has caused Milton to be perturbed.

Not the food.

He found that immediately.

That is not the problem.

He is currently eating in the other corner of the run-in, surrounded by wall & fence. It cannot be reached from the pass-thru. One has to go in & around.

That is not the problem. Well, it’s a problem for the people because you have to go into the shark tank instead of staying outside and dumping hay and feed over the board.

Still not a problem for the horse.

The problem is that in this configuration it is logistically impossible to guard one’s feed bucket AND stand in front of the pass-thru demanding one’s dinner.

Onwards!
Katherine

Cardboard art of the outside world. THE ARTS BOARD FOR CARDBOARD: conTemporary sculpture: James Grashow & My Modern Met: Gallery Walls Are Transformed Into Exquisitely Ornate Art Made of Cardboard, Sara Barnes, June 22, 2023.

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“Everlasting Ember”
Alabama School of Fine Arts
Sculpting the Wild

Magic City Art Connection
Sloss Furnaces
April 24-26, 2026

“CHALLENGE. Utilize a primary recycled material (i.e., cardboard, cans, bottles, plastics, etc.) to construct the majority of a large-scale animal sculpture.” MCAC: Sculpting the Wild

ASFA: Visual Arts 9th-Graders Take First Place at MCAC, Ellis, Apr 30 2026

Onwards!
Katherine

Fiction of the outside world. “As a science fiction writer I really fucking resent tech bros for ruining the phrase ‘artificial intelligence.’ 80 years of it being all about cool androids and interesting computers destroyed by five years of ‘Spicy autocorrect making everything shittier for money.’ NEVER FORGIVE.” Bluesky, @scalzi.com, 22 May 2026. Preach! “The premise for that post was less tech bro AI and more the AI from Cat Pictures Please.” [I Wrote This Post]

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The writer’s group at a local library put on a flash fiction live reading. I read Why Cities Have Tall Buildings.

From my notes.

Nerves. Low bar. Friendly group. Slightly nervous, probably from knowing that the evening will be videoed and immortalized on YouTube. (Note, the event was filmed but I have not seen a link yet. Will post when it arrives.)

Nerve range. Slightly more than a 5K. Nowhere near a horse show or work.

Husband looked up outfit suggestions for being on video: plain, not white, long sleeves.

Cover message to organizer, “I can go first, if you have trouble finding volunteers. Not in a screaming hurry to do so, but have gotten used to it in other venues.” (The ‘other venues’ would be saddle seat shows. Since jumping, dressage, etc. are solo performances, I am more used to going into the ring alone than people who show in group classes. I line up to go in first. People are happy to let me. Except for Nationals, then it’s a shark tank with added chum. But I digress.)

I was second out of 11. Very glad to be over & done early.

They had a microphone, which I don’t think I’ve ever used before. I’m generally loud enough without. Particularly as I had been practicing projecting to the cheap seats.

Wore a mask while not reading. This was where I got sick for two weeks, although in a different room. The reading venue was not as packed in. [The Twiddling of the Thumbs]

Agita was from performing. I had confidence in what I had written.

Whew!

Practice helped. Practicing in front of a live audience (of one) also helped. Live audience suggested looking up, slowing down. I did these things. Tried to be slow in general, distinctly tapped the brakes midway through.

Chatting during intermission. I am definitely out of practice. Compliments.

Relief after was bigger than concern before.

Left once it was done. No further socializing. Bedtime.

Onwards!
Katherine

Awareness of the outside world. CNN: Incredible images from the Sony World Photography Awards 2026 unveiled, Guy, Apr 16, 2026. WPO: Sony World Photography Awards 2026: Overall winners announced, Siemaszko-Chambers, 1 month ago. Hat tip to M.

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Photo by Greg Walcott
Shelby County Alabama
July 2025

I’ve always liked the vibe in this photo. Not our field.

Onwards!
Katherine