Virtual Brush Box

Awareness of the outside world. Pi Day. Mental Floss: How to Memorize Pi if You’re a Word Person, Okrent, 2015.

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tl,dr: Stopped by new hunter/jumper barn. Promising. Lessons start in April.

Actually, it’s an old barn under new management. Completely new. New barn owners, new barn manager, new trainer, new horses.

We have been watching the changeover as we drive by, as one does. For sale sign goes up. For sale sign comes down. No horses in the field. Horses in the field. We have been meaning to stop by.

Last week, I drove past a roadside advertisement for the barn. Lessons. Birthday Parties. Same name. Was it new or not? Time to check it out, because …

One. Whoever is there, they are looking for business.

Two. Any horse who can used for birthday parties is probably a horse I can ride right now.

Result. Nice chat. They said all the right things. Responded to all my questions with the answers I wanted to hear. Asked a few questions of their own.

Overall, they are planning to run the barn with a slightly different philosophy than the prevailing paradigm in our area. More relaxed. Sounds good to me. As with any new idea, is it an unexploited niche just waiting to be filled? Or is there a reason no one else does it that way? Time will tell.

Check back in April to schedule a lesson.

As always, more details, or not, once I find out what level of publicity they prefer.

Onwards!
Katherine

Awareness of the outside world. Meanwhile, in the real deserts. Earth.Org: 7 Most Endangered Species in the Desert. Lai 2022. Multiple causes, from habitat fragmentation to the pet trade. Earth.Org is a environmental news website. About Us.

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.Horse shows that offer awards from the Thoroughbred Incentive Program in 2024.

Please note that Alabama has NO, NONE, ZERO horse shows that give out T.I.P. awards. This is a commentary on the horse industry in the state. Other places I’ve lived? MD – 130, PA – 198. NC – 51. The other states with zero T.I.P. awards are bunch of western states (Idaho, Montana, Nevada, South Dakota, Minnesota) and possibly Rhode Island.

Yes, I need to try harder. As one commenter said, to cast a wider net. However, I would like the record to reflect that my environment is not making it easy. [The Next Step, comment by Betsy in WI]

Popped up on my feed from Facebook: The Jockey Club Thoroughbred Incentive Program. Last year’s version had one show in Alabama according to Eventing Nation: Competing an OTTB This Year? Check Out the 2023 T.I.P Calendar. Can’t locate a link to the original for either year on The Jockey Club T.I.P. site.

Milton has been signed up for the program. [Providing Milton With Incentive]

I’m still salty about the need for a Thoroughbred Incentive Program. [Get Off My Lawn, And Take Your Warmblood With You]

In other news, the program offers awards for western classes. Western folks, do you see many Thoroughbreds at your shows? TJCTIP: Categories and Divisions

Onwards!
Katherine

Awareness of the outside world. USA Today: Behind the scenes at the Oscars: What really happens on Hollywood’s biggest night, Alexander, March 7, 2024, updated March 9, 2024. Speaking of movies, The Hollywood Reporter: “The Industry Is Not Back”: Bad News From Hollywood Crews, Kilkenny, March 6, 2024.

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Hitched Milton for the first time since schooling for the show back in December. All walking. Working on building up stamina. He can walk for a mile in the morning. Now time for him to do the same with cart. [Winter Schedule]

Day 1. Mildly concerned at the start. Relaxed during hitch. Oh, I remember this. I can do this.

Day 2. Old pro.

Good boy!

Rodney remains a legend in his own mind.

Onwards!
Katherine

Awareness of the outside world. Horse & Hound: ‘Why not?’: rider is the first to compete at top level dressage without spurs, Murray, 28 February, 2024. Rider not saying spurs are inherently evil, just that high level dressage is possible without them.

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Lunch may not prove to be sustainable.

Problem one. A third meal in the middle of the day means I have to be home to serve it.

Problem two, the larger one at the moment. In order to eat in peace, Rodney needs to be put up and then let out once he is done. Therefore, the time between turnout from breakfast to serving lunch, or the time from lunch turnout to serving dinner hay, is only a few hours.

If I were tossing two of hay piles & walking off, I’d still have to be here, but I’d have more time between. This would mitigate the issue but not remove it completely. Not that I have anywhere to go that takes me away from the house for the entire day, but I can tell this is going to get old eventually.

For example. Last month’s 5K made me late for lunch, even though the swamp is reasonably local. [Leaping Around The Swamp]

For example, I can’t hang when I go over to Stepping Stone Farm. By the time my lesson is over, I have to head home.

If it was life-sustaining, I’d figure it out, as I did for Mathilda. This is more precautionary.

For now? Fine.

For a year? Probably

For the next five, ten years? Every day? Not fine.

Possible new plan. Lunch as a winter event. Taper down & stop as they have grass. Pick up again when the eats go away. Things are easier to take if one gets a break. Plus, winter is more a stay-at-home season.

The Most Recent Incarnation of Lunch

[Stall Rest Chronicles 22 March, Lunch Is Served] March 2023

[Lunch Is Served. Again.] November 2023

[The Logistics of Lunch] December 2023

Onwards!
Katherine

Awareness of the outside world. “The Navajo Nation, which also stretches into Utah and New Mexico, will reset clocks for one hour later despite being situated between two territories that remain on standard time: the rest of Arizona and the neighboring Hopi reservation.” AP: The US is springing forward to daylight saving. For Navajo and Hopi tribes, it’s a time of confusion, TANG, March 9, 2024. Hat tip to M.

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Single loop alphabet. Each letter & number formed from a continuous line. Unrelated alphabet included for visual interest.

NO

36 Days of Type is not being held this year. Combination of 10 years of effort and changes to Instagram formatting. “Making it almost impossible to manage a new edition as we used to.” Instagram @36 Days of Type 7 March 2024.

NO

I’m was not planning on participating. Because …

YES

I came up with an idea I like so much that I want to work with each letter rather than crank thru the entire thing in a month. But first, I need to finish the fractal project. Expect new letters later in 2024.

Previous

‘

[36 Days of Type, H to N]
[36 Days Of Type, Project Intro] 2022, full alphabet at end

[36 Days Of Type 2023] full alphabet

While I like many of the letters from the first year, the alphabet as a whole has no unity. I opted for consistency the second year.

Onwards!
Katherine

Words of the outside world. Allusionist 188. Lipread, January 28, 2024. “Visemes can often be humorous, as in the phrase ‘elephant juice’, which when lip-read appears identical to ‘I love you’.” Wiki: Viseme

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Kenning. “A metaphorical compound word or phrase (such as swan-road for ocean) used especially in Old English and Old Norse poetry” Miriam-Webster: Kenning

Blog. “A website that contains online personal reflections, comments, and often hyperlinks, videos, and photographs provided by the writer.” Miriam-Webster: Blog

Kennings to describe a blog:

Public Ponderings

Digital Diary

Passé Platform

Online Ontogenisis

Afterword

Once again, I expected to be able to generate more. I keep thinking of kennings as word usage and forgetting about the metaphorical poetry aspect.

Kennings do not have to alliterate. That was a tangent I went off on my own.

Speaking of poetry, I use labels to warn folks when a post wanders off-topic, e.g. photography, fiction, graphic design. For Saturdays, I usually have fiction or non-fiction. I couldn’t decide which this should be. Hence the poetry label. [State of the Subtitles]

[Honorable Mention! Kennings Contest by Artifact Puzzles, Non-Fiction] Where I heard about kennings and description of what they are.

Onwards!
Katherine

Awareness of the outside world. The Mainichi: ‘Sunset panda’ seen in perfect form from Japan museum for 1st time in 7 yrs, Irie, March 2, 2024. Hat tip G.

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The first flower I spotted this year is a dandelion near a roadside drainage ditch. Happy (almost) spring!

Technical Details

Phone camera.

Onwards!
Katherine