Virtual Brush Box

Awareness of my outside world. A week ago, we ate lunch out & attended a local sporting event. I spent last week under the weather. Tired. Achy. Immune system battling the onslaught of strangers. When I say I don’t get out much, I am not speaking metaphorically.

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Short Version

At the beginning of the week, Milton showed up with a low-grade injury somewhere high in the hindquarter. Fluid migrated down over the week. Swelling. Stiff steps. No heat or pain.

Why Milton doesn’t absorb the gunk instead of sending it down his leg, I have no idea. He’s done it before. [When Zoomies Go Wrong 2023]

Long Version

Day One, Monday.

Dragging toe of right hind at the walk. Did not ask to see him at trot. No heat or swelling anywhere in leg. No reaction to palpitation or modified flex test. It rained the day before. We suspected shenanigans.

Milton moved *extremely* awkwardly while turning around in the barn. I saw the walk first and had already decided the situation was not dire. Other Barn Minion saw the bad steps first. He was harder to talk down.

Since there were no markers of underlying problems and we had a reasonable explanation, we elected to watch and wait.

Bute & rest.

Day Two, Tuesday.

Better. Toe came off the ground during walk step.

Bute & rest.

Day Three, Wednesday.

Better. Maybe still quick to get the sound leg back on the ground. Might not see if one wasn’t looking.

No bute. Light exercise.

May be done with bute for now. Not amused. About a third of the bute applesauce mixture is coming back out. Since Mathilda, we mix up DIY oral doses. Don’t wanna mess with dinner.

Day Four, Thursday.

Woe is Milton.

Gravity had dragged the inflammation down as far as his stifle. Swollen gaskin. Stone cold and not painful, but hard to flex with that much swelling.

As before, we’ll get to watch the mass slide down his leg.

Put a cooler on to warm up his muscles. Tried not to laugh too much as his demonstration of pitifuless. Other Barn Minion claims the cooler is therapeutic. It does not count as the first blanket of the winter.

Bute. Light exercise.

Day Five, Friday.

Inflammatory gunk slid down to top of leg. Also, eye slightly swollen because why not. Eye fine by evening.

Bute. Light exercise.

Day Six, Saturday.

Hock is huge. Would be ghastly if we didn’t know exactly what it was and we hadn’t been watching the bulge slid down his leg.

No bute. Light exercise.

Day Seven, Sunday.

Lower leg a balloon, stone cold and only on outside. Reminder to self, since the leg has run out of room, the blob will harden over time before it dissipates.

No bute. Light exercise.

Future

I’d say full recovery is expected, but horses. Given a projection from current conditions, return to status quo ante is anticipated. Is that sufficiently hedging?

Onwards!
Katherine

Lettering of the outside world. “I’m best known in comics as a letterer …” Todd Klein, home page. [D is for Davis]

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AL, CA CT, DC, FL, MD ME, NC NH NJ NY, PA, VA VT, WY

Made a map of the places in my life. [I-Wish-I-Could-Draw Graphic Memoir, Places Segment]

On the map, states are indicated with circles and letters. At the time, I used a font provided by Inkscape. Redid the lettering.

Process Notes

The graphic memoir project has lost momentum for the moment, so I stopped with a sketch of the idea. Interest was low on grinding to turnout a finish product. There are adjustments I would make if I stayed with this design.

Considerations for the future if I decide to get back to this.

Consider changing the underlying grid. Instead of parallel curves, have them go pole to pole.

This would solve the problem of letters, such as L & T, not matching their counterpart and having to be stretched. Not sure where the white lines came from. Not visible in Inkscape. Showed up in Gnumeric. Tried to fix once. Letting it go … Letting it go …

Consider outlining the letters. Makes them more legible. Or do I want to stay with the abstract? Map context might be sufficient.

Onwards!
Katherine

Awareness of the outside world. Storm prep for the modern world. Copy out any phone numbers you might need if your power goes out and your phone runs down.

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Walk [December]
Bham AL USA
December 2025

Had a plan. Set aside yesterday to type up today’s post. Easy peasey. Instead, spent the day obsessively reloading weather maps to follow hurricane Isaias. Also hurricanes Rachel & Simon in the Pacific.

From a map earlier in the week, it looks as if Simon split off from Rachel. They can do that? Can’t find an explanation online. The sites are busy with warnings and forecasts, as one would expect.

Update. Another map indicates that I misread the first map.

AccuWeather: Isaias breaks 121-year record as the Atlantic’s latest first hurricane, Speck & Lada, Oct 8/9, 2026.

Wiki: List of storms named Isaias, 9 Oct 2026.

Hurricane names. NOAA: Tropical Cyclone Names

Reason for hurricane names. NOAA: Tropical Cyclone Naming History and Retired Names. [Storm Season]

Update. Storm gone. Rain over. We have power. Everyone is ears up.

Stay safe.

Onwards!
Katherine

Awareness of the outside world. Scam Alert. Got a postcard announcing a Medicare appointment. (Our age has brought us to the attention of the beast that is the Medicare industry.) No identifiers, neither government nor business. Hmm. Search on the phone number lead right to, FCC: A Phone Scam That Starts with a Postcard. Be suspicious of your mail.

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Water & Leaves
Unnamed Corporate Park
Birmingham AL, USA
September 2026

Taken during walk. [Footpaths]

Onwards!
Katherine

Animals of the outside world. Reuters: New cat species identified in Bolivia, first in over a century, Serafinko, September 17/18, 2026.

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Between The Ears, cart version
Stepping Stone Farm
1 October 2026

Same horses as last time. Driver swap. [We Go For A Drive]

Lesson One, Greg & Boogie

Greg, aka husband, aka Other Barn Minion. My main takeaway was that we really need to find him a driving horse. He is such a good driver.

Lesson Two, Katherine & Rocky

Had some absolutely stellar moments. Unfortunately, they were when Coach James clapped or called from center ring. Otherwise, we plotzed around. My motivation requests went unheeded. I was being ignored. Rocky did not take me seriously.

I am familiar with this attitude. Sam used to try it out. I’d give him the side eye. We’d carry on. Not quite sure how to give the side eye from the cart. Will need to work on that. [The Good]

In Other News

Coach Courtney has also noticed that I am not showing although she has a barnful of academy horses. [Afterthoughts II]

Her suggestion was that I drive one of the horses as a way of easing into riding that horse. I realized that the two activities exist as separate categories in my head. Driving does not influence riding. Having driven Rocky many times, including a successful show, did not change how I felt when I went to ride him. [Rocky On!]

Onwards!
Katherine

Horses of the outside world. My First Nest Egg: The 20 Most Expensive Sports for Kids, Shoen, January 11, 2026. Riding and ice hockey are first & second. Okay, I can see that. I did not expect fencing to be third. Sidenote, using the site for their infographic, not endorsing the business one way or the other. It is getting harder and harder to find neutral, non-commercial sources.

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Goldy
Rosewood Stables
30 September 2026

Noting the Newsflash

WB jumps are not TB jumps. Majority of my jumps have been with Thoroughbreds. Warmbloods are power trucks. I’m used to speedy sportscars.

Coach Deana’s response? I’m overthinking it. Well, yes. It’s how I make sense of the world.

Steadying My Shoulders

Made a point of lifting my shoulders. I remembered that Goldy is picky about that. [Goldy Touch shoulders, Goldy Dust head]

Managed to do so at the trot, which went well. Not as stellar at the canter, particularly the transitions, which went poorly, which is unusual for me. [Winter Blues On Repeat, canter transitions]

During the canter transition, I probably looked down (head) & hunched (shoulder) both bad habits of mine, both unlikely to get Goldy to see things my way.

In front of one line, I deliberately rotated my shoulders up and back. Just a few inches, a few degrees. Zing!

Finishing with a Flourish

Last line of the lesson went really well. Pace, rhythm, flow, all those lovely things. Still small, but verticals instead of crossrails. I was 100% sitting there waiting for horse to do the work, but I was acting as worthy co-pilot. I think of it as sporty grandma mode.

Practicing the Partnership

My groom thinks I could be taking more of leadership role, while still respecting Goldy’s experience. Goldy would be happy not to have to do all the thinking. This would probably also apply to Rocky. [Rocky On!]

I’ll work on it.

Noting the Nerves

Adding an update from last week. I had a small flare of nerves while tacking up. Then I forgot about it. Probably because I hadn’t been on horse in a while. During my lesson, I claimed I hadn’t been on a horse in a month. In truth it was 18 days. It felt like a month. [A Heart of Goldy]

Onwards!
Katherine

Awareness of the outside world. Explainers. CIDRAP: Suspected plague incident leaves 1 dead, 200 under quarantine in Siberia, Soucheray, 5 Oct 2026. CNN: What is pneumonic plague and how dangerous is it? Christensen,  5 Oct 2026. I did not watch the video.

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{Backstory. Each morning, people & horses go on team walk: one-mile, unmounted, & off-lead. Route is back and forth five times along one side of the pasture.}

Rodney has selected a new, mysterious option on our walks.

He will walk to within 15 yards of the far-end turn-around spot and stop to graze. He’s close enough to see Milton getting the lap treat. I call him over but he just looks at me. Then they both turn around and head back to the other end. Rodney always collects his treat at that end.

If I am in the appropriate position in the parade, I can catch hold of his halter lead him to the corner without argument.

Other times, he walks right up.

On a recent walk, he stopped twice, was led twice, and finished on his own once.

Weird.

He’s not put off by Milton. He will wade right in when he decides to come up.

If you want to stop, then stop. Understandable. Why do 90% of the work and then stop?

Milton would never do this. Milton would never give up a chance at a cookie. Milton is what one calls food-motivated.

Onwards!
Katherine