Thursday evening: Long day. Good day. Swam. Ran errands. Found interesting book to read. Double sessions with both horses. Dog & I went on our walk. Stick a fork in me, I’m done. Photos will be posted first(ish) thing Friday morning.
Back soon.
Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott
This time last year, I talked about leaving my desktop computer dark on Saturday and Sunday [State of the Blog, Weekends Off]. That meant no work, no blog, no Facebook.
How did I manage?
By and large, I have stayed with it. Plus, given our level of weekend activities lately, I often don’t have a choice. Work isn’t so pressing that I need to burn the weekend oil. I blog a few days ahead anyway, so I simply make sure that I have hit the schedule button through Monday before I go to bed on Friday. And Facebook? Ah, Facebook. The feed we love to hate [Taming the Facebook Monster].
Before and during our trip to Kentucky last month [Show Report], I took a two-week politics and Facebook break – in my feed, often the same thing.
It was marvelous.
No crises. No one hurting at me through my screen. I ignored the world in order to tend my own small corner of it. Not everyone has this liberty. I was glad that I could.
On the other hand, avoidance is not the answer. Head-in-sand is not a viable method of getting through life. Plus, some readers (waves hi!) use the Facebook prompt as notification of a new post. I want happy readers.
I’m back to reading the news, as much as I can stand. For Facebook, I still over-read Monday through Friday. On weekends, I turn my system on long enough to post the Facebook and Twitter prompts, then shut it down. Yes, Facebook can be set up to post automatically. I found the program consistently choose the wrong photo to accompany the post, including photos I had deleted. I could put Facebook on my phone, but that is a rabbit hole from which I would never emerge.
BTW, when I got back from my news break, I was amazed to find folks screaming madly about exactly the same issues.
So, I’m trying moderation. We’ll see how it goes.
~~~
Previous SotB posts [list]
Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott
June Instagram from @rodneyssaga.
Alas, due to a scoring error, the champion tricolor was only visiting [Show Report].
June 2017
Previous May 2017
Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott
… that I am done with my computer work for the evening.
… that I should have finished my post before the storm blew in.
… that it’s a good thing I have a wireless iPad.
But seriously folks, tropical storm Cindy is headed our way. We’ve been having rain for daaaaays. Fortunately, we had enough break in the rain that I could pick up feed (yay!) and Greg’s driving apron from the dry cleaners (the apron, not the feed) this morning. As soon as I got home, boom. Given the rate that trees drop onto power lines around here, I’m staying off my desktop, which is where my images are, where my drafts are, and where I upload from. But enough about me.
To those suffering bad weather &/or flash floods, stay safe.
BTW, horses fine. Pasture a soupy mess. Barn not as bad as it could be. Cross fingers.
Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott
Nearing two thousand.
No fame; no money; no trolls.
My subway car art.
~~~
Previous SotB posts [list]
Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott
The Short Version
Had a meltdown. Decided to stomp away from riding and blogging.
Had a great lesson. Decided not to.
I meant it at the time.
The Rest of the Story
Descent into Despair
My first lesson after Mid-South was terrible. The bridle was set up in a way that makes me uncomfortable. Because I was concerned that it would go wrong, it did go wrong. I managed to upset an absolute beginner horse. Seriously, people who have never ridden a horse ride Bingo. At one point, I was so bent out of shape I was shaking.
That was one meltdown too many.
I was done.
Since I would not be riding, I would not be blogging [Breaking Radio Silence, 2nd para]. I drafted the post, scheduled for today. That gave me a week. If I still felt the same way, off I went. Maybe not forever, but for now.
Wallowing in the Deep End
Since I was upset, I treated myself with care and respect and sensitivity. HA. Things I said to myself in a 24-hour period.
I thought I found an answer at Mid-South. Apparently not. Turns out there are two horses* in the world I can ride, and one of them is dead.
Rodney is 18. I’m kidding myself.
Milton bucks whenever he is asked to canter.
The only ASB I can ride is Sam. I upset the rest, including Bingo. Bingo!?!
Forty years is enough time to hit one’s head against a wall.
I recalled every meltdown and bad show I’d had this year. In drafting the departure post, I looked up previous rants and realized nothing had changed [Que Pasa?].
(*Caesar, aka Previous Horse, & Sam.)
Wallowing in the Shallow End
Greg did not believe. Part of me admitted that he was probably right. I knew I was being over-dramatic, but it felt real to me.
Strangely, I was going to miss the blog more than the horses.
Somewhere in there, I realized that, at the very least, I would continue to sit on Rodney. We’d never go anywhere, nor amount to anything, but he was here and we could at least go stand in the ring.
Riding Out of the Miasma
After a fun-filled day of this, Mr. E. Came for our third lesson [Dressage 1, 2]. It went great, on an absolute scale not just grading on a curve for Rodney.
Well, okay then.
I guess I’ll stay with Rodney.
… and Milton.
We’ll figure out something with the Saddlebreds.
Looking Back, Looking Forward
I seem to flirt with quitting every so often, either riding or blogging or both [2012 Where Do We Go From Here?, 2013 Hiatus/I’m Baaaaaack, 2014 Sine Die … Or Not, 2015 Whither Now?. Not to be confused with non-quiting meltdowns, 2016 A Look Inside My Head/Headspace Update].
Although I have elected to plod forward, all of this remains bubbling below the surface. It will probably continue until I achieve whatever my psyche considers a success [Nerves Update].
Onwards. For the moment.
Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott
May Instagram from @rodneyssaga.
Was working on the walk post [Proper Walk Protocol]. The first was single file. This one was supposed to look more side-by-side.
May 2017
Previous [April 2017]
Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott
Designed by Catherine Strachan
