Horses & Other Interests
Holidays of the outside world. Amateur At Large: Thursday’s Threads: Peeps Edition 2025. Also discusses holidays at barns. Needless to say, our horses don’t see much difference.
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From an online presentation by Paul Jackson as part of The Paper Year by Helen Hiebert.
Onwards!
Katherine
Elsewhere on the Internet. XKCD: Creation. Be sure to check out each of the entries on the menu below the comic. Looks to be a regular feature.
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What is the current count? This is post #5124.
WordPress and I got out of alignment back in December.
Awareness of the outside world. Post #5000. Or possibly yesterday. WordPress & I disagree.
I decided I was not going to let it bother me. I was going to let it go.
Of course I couldn’t.
I lasted until March.
I find counting days to be a complicated process. If I ask the computer, does the number include the start day? Does it include the end day? So I used brute force.
The numbers agreed for post #4000, 7 March 2023. [Blog Milestone]
I made a spreadsheet that started with that date on row 1, column 1, and entered 4000 in row 1 column 2. Then I put in the formula {above cell +1} for both columns. Then I checked the numbers generated against my post indexes. (Of course I have spreadsheets detailing my posts for each year. Did you have any doubt?) Turns out I had hard entered a number back in October.
Update. Numbers reconciled. This was post #5001.
Also, today’s post is #2871 in a streak since returning from my last haitus, 26 May 2018. [Back to Blogging]
This one wobbled a bit for a while. WP said I had double posted on a particular day and then skipped the next day, even though the posts in question had consecutive dates. Well, *I* knew it was a streak. Then I did in fact double post on 30 January 2026. This post was counted on the reposted day. I figured the two cancelled each other out. An incorrect double post and an uncounted double post. [Notebook at The Craft Room]
Somewhere in there the wobble straightened out & the numbers match. Not that it matters in the grand scheme of things, but I like to keep track of the streak. [Weekends NOT off]
The numbering spreadsheet currently has over a thousand rows of entries. I see no reason to stop. Inelegant, but comprehensible.
Archives [State of the Blog]
Follow Up To April Fools
Two that are fun. Two that agree with my disdain for the day. [Flavorful Folio]
Screenshot from puzzle page. Squaredle had a one-word puzzle that spelled out F-O-O-L. Then you were invited to proceed to the regular daily puzzle.
Screenshots from Instagram. For Red Cat Coffee House, the “cat” of the month is a dog named Pumpkin to go with the monthly special of pumpkin spice coffee.
Screenshot from Instagram. Encyclopaedia Britannica, “With all that’s going on, the last thing you need is the encyclopedia trying to fool you so we just hope you have a nice day.” The caption cited the Taco Bell prank of 1996. The Constitutional: Remembering Taco Bell’s April Fool’s Joke – The Taco Liberty Bell Purchase, 2021.
Screenshot from Bluesky. LAconV, “We are not posting anything for April Fools’ Day. There’s enough misinformation out there right now without some quirky science fiction convention account adding to the mess.”
Half credit to the NYPL for claiming on Instagram that the lions out front would be replaced by beavers. They immediately called it out as April Fools, and ended with “Patience and Fortitude Forever”. I thought it was cute, but things of that nature can misfire, see above re Taco Bell.
Alt Text
I have been including alt text with photos since December 2024. [Alt Text]
WordPress has recently changed their photo loading interface. As a result, some of my alt text has disappeared. Or perhaps those were instances where I forgot? Either way, apologies.
Note, I do not put alt text on pro photos, in keeping with my policy of not messing with those. Ditto recurring guest star photos. I let those individuals make their own choices. [Watermarks Theory]
In Other News
Screenshot of two overlapped program windows.
On the editing screen, left, I spelled the company name with initial cap and the rest lower case. Spell check highlighted it. So far, so normal. I keep having to check that WP is two caps and Bluesky is one. What is new, weird, and unsettling is that the preview screen, right, had WP spelled in the company approved manner, capital W, capital P. The program made the correction for me. I don’t think I like that.
Onwards!
Katherine
Awareness of the outside world. Godspeed Artemis II. “Usually, when an astronaut belongs to a space agency other than NASA, that agency also creates a personal patch for its crewmember.” Canada.ca: Jeremy Hansen’s patch for the Artemis II mission. Also, NASA: Artemis II, Live Mission > Artemis II Crew Patch.
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Daily 1 Mile Walks
Check. No media. [Fitness Photography]
Monthly 5K
Double Oak Park
Easy Rider & Even Flow (partial) Loops
Shelby County, Alabama USA
A very (very) easy beginner hike. Still, more terrain than I am used to. Up hill and down. Uneven footing. Loose footing. I had to pay attention rather than strolling and letting my mind wander. OTOH, more interesting scenery than flat grass and a playground.
Map & number from Strava.
Swim
Swimming occurred. We’ll leave it at that.
At the beginning of the month, time and energy went toward getting ready for the show. [The Ride, AHJA Kick Off Show 2026]
For most of the rest of the month, I was under the weather. Recovering from being out among people took me closer to two weeks than one. [The Twiddling of the Thumbs]
Next Month
Several simple things I hope to put into practice. My walking game remains strong. The rest is a work in progress.
Onwards!
Katherine
Horses of the outside world. Horse Nation: #TBT: Potoooooooo: The Legitimate Story of a Racehorse, Kovatch, 2014. Hat tip to Author Jason Pargin via Bluesky.
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Once again, no lesson(s) last week. [The Twiddling of the Thumbs]
This time it was clashing schedules. Horse was available, I was not. I was available, the ride was not. Neat trick with two complete separate barns.
Yes, I did decide to return to saddle seat lessons. Writing the post helped clarify my thoughts. [The Pondering of the Plans]
First reason. I should do something. That is something.
Second reason. Now that I know the difference, maybe that will help? Riding two different styles isn’t an impossible ask? People do it all the time. Shouldn’t be an insurmountable problem, right?
Time will tell.
On that topic, A commentor (waves hi) asked if I was going back to saddle seat because it is known. Valid question. No. I default to saddle seat because it is possible. Before coach Deana, I had no luck finding hunter/jumper lessons, either with school horses or with my own horse. No one was mean, just remarkably not interested in my business. [Pondering, first comment]
Canter Considerations, Encore
My illustrious groom, an observant fellow, thinks my learning curve with hunter/jumper had nothing to do with saddle seat. It was to do with the fact that I have not been cantering & jumping for a while (stern side eye to the home team). He pointed out that as soon as I got used to the horse, I did fine. It was the time gap, not the other riding. I would have been the same had I never sat on a cutback saddle. I dunno. It’s a theory.
Another possible contributing factor. Goldy is a Warmblood. Thoroughbreds move differently than Warmbloods. I missed the Warmblood takeover. Therefore, I am not used to the Warmblood way of going. [Get Off My Lawn, And Take Your Warmblood With You]
Or, elements of all of the above.
Onwards!
Katherine
Awareness of the outside world. Happy March 32nd! “By the way, April Fools is cancelled tomorrow. Keep your jokes to yourself because this whole year has been one already. We tired. Tomorrow is March 32nd.” Chris J. Suggs @chrisjsuggs. As far as I can discover, this was originally posted on the old Twitter. It is reposted various elsewheres. While I try to cite items that are available in open spaces, this was too on point to pass up. Note, this was posted in 2020, as far as I can tell. Yet, it is still relevant for 2026.
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Edible book made a tortilla cover, muenster cheese slice pages, and muenster cheese trimming lettering. The blue box is a platform to keep the light brown-colored book from disappearing into the hay.
As I have said before, this is the only point I have ever seen to April Fool’s. I remain steadfast in my dislike of this day. Archive [Why I Hate April Fool’s 2012 – 2025]
Previous Edible Books
[Putting the Edible in Book for 2025]
[Edible Book] 2023
Devour a good book today!
Onwards!
Katherine
Awareness of the outside world. Trans Day of Visibility. Particularly in light of the IOC setting the calendar back 100 years.
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Rodney has now decided he does our morning pasture walks at liberty, thank you very much. A few weeks ago we had one of those warm evening/cold nights that often result in morning shenanigans. [Predicting Mission Success]
Other barn minion brought out a leadrope to use on the walk back for the first few laps. Just to be sure. When approached, Rodney blew right past. Nope. Not me. Don’t do leadropes anymore.
Milton continues to hum along. Most of the time. Yesterday, he marched past the turnaround on the first lap. I had done my monthly 5K yesterday and was moving slowly. Did he ignore the cookie stop because I was not in front, the way I usually am? Did he think there were hay scraps to be had back at the barn? Dunno. I called his name. He stopped. Bravo.
Onwards!
Katherine
Awareness of the outside world. Billboard: Bruce Springsteen Lends ‘Born in the U.S.A.’ to ACLU For Birthright Citizenship Video Ahead of Supreme Court Case, Kaufman 3/23/2026.
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Tractor Supply Company has opened another store near to me. There are now three Tractor Supply stores within 10 miles of my house. That seems excessive.
I’m sure there is a VP of Customer Alignment who has an algorithm that optimizes store location per population density per expected retail engagement per cost. Or words to that effect. Some calculation told them this was a good idea.
I don’t get it. If I buy horse treats from here, I won’t buy them from there. They don’t get any more money from us with another store.
(Given the rate the Cookie Meister doles out cookies, we want small and low calorie. We used to buy larger, fancy treats for trailering, but Milton didn’t care and Rodney didn’t always eat them. But I digress.)
I went to the new store. Looks like every other Tractor Supply.
Onwards!
Katherine
Virtual Brush Box 