Virtual Brush Box

Awareness of the outside world. The AEC starts today in Lexington. I do not plan to be in a good mood about this.

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tldr: Activity. No progress.

Barn Visit

Had a long, lovely, in-person chat with a barn owner/breeder. Nice horses. Alas, nothing even remotely suitable. At least not for many, many years.

Yelling Into The Abyss

Sent emails to two out-of-state barns.

Big name trainer. This one was a cold-call longshot. No response. Not hugely surprised.

Trainer we know on the acquaintance level. Confirmation then nothing.

Message Log

As before, my useful, all-purpose husband sent the contact messages. His record at this is better than mine.

We are interested in what you might have available/know about for sport horses and ponies.  My wife and I currently have two thoroughbreds in the backyard, one that is getting a bit long in the tooth, and starting to look for a new horse/pony.  Currently, she rides and I drive.  She would like to get back to jumping and some lower level eventing.  I’d like to be able to do 2-3 driving derbies/year and maybe a lower level CDE if possible.  

Not looking for anything specific. Mostly looking for a good match.

Exactly.

Why a pony or a cob? Aren’t I too big? Not by weight.

Best time I ever had on XC as on a 13.2 pony.

Also, as he added in another email:

(We are) Old enough now to not care about the horse/rider picture, but rather looking for something to have fun with.  

Exactly.

Horse Hunt Posts
Posted in 2022. No change.
[Status Of The Horse Hunt, Needle Pegged at Overwhelm]
[Horse Shopping, What I Am Looking For]
[Wondering If What I Want Is Really What I Want]

Onwards!
Katherine

Awareness of the outside world. Brr, My Antarctica blog! Outstanding vicarious travel. I read the whole thing over the weekend. First post, Brr: Hello.

Addition. Jacksonville, Denver, Oklahoma, Boston … I am not ignoring the news. I have nothing to contribute other than baffled outrage.

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Last week was Gotcha Day for both horses. Wednesday the 23 for Milton. Friday the 25th for Rodney. Sometimes marked as a joint day on the 24th.

Rodney
Arrived as an 11 year old in 2010. Now 24 years old in 2023.

Milton
Arrived as a 6 year old in 2014. Now 15 years old in 2023.

I’ve already done the grumpy bit. [Gotcha Day, 10 Years and a Serious Lack of Shiny Rainbow Glitter Sparkles]

Can’t say much has changed.

OTOH.

I can safely say that the horses are happy to be here.

Rodney is delighted to spend his life being decorative.

Milton would be happier with a job, but we haven’t found one that suits his particular array of talents.

Onwards!
Katherine

Art of the outside world. Radical Cartography: The Midwest. Hat tip to L.

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[Fractal Alphabet]

Onwards!
Katherine

Stories

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Solstice. Summer starts.
Sunny skies. Sweaty showing.
School starts. September.

Shiny!

Awareness of the outside world. Space.com: See 1st photos of the moon’s south pole by India’s Chandrayaan-3 lunar lander, Pultarova, 23 Aug 2023.

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It’s Hot Out There
Central Alabama
Heat advisory
August 2023

What I Learned

How do you photograph heat? You can’t. You have to work indirectly.

Effects. Boiling water. Panting dog. Person wiping sweat from brow. Wilting plants.

Measurement. Mercury bar on a thermometer. Numbers on a digital thermometer. Colors on a weather map.

Associations. Desert sand. Beach. Palm tree.

Do I always know the subject? No. Some days I know what I’m looking for and I get it. Some days I spray and pray. Some days I am convinced the best way to look at the subject will be X, but the answer turns out to be Y. Often Y is a shot on which I took on a flyer. In this case, I have multiple images of a solo plant in a vertical orientation. Seemed the logical choice. Hence the meta pic. Once downloaded, the clear winner was many plants in a horizontal orientation, of which I have one exposure. Is still an exposure in digital photography?

Do I know what I’m doing? Meh. I was on f/5.6 due to light restrictions. No idea why a sunny day should have limited light. Possibly my nice, but moderate lens does not hold up to zooming. I had a similar issue photographing Coach Kate’s Derby. Given that I didn’t have much choice, I had the vague feeling that limited depth of field would not be bad in this case. [Tennessee Travels, Photography]

Success? Yes. Went somewhere. Found a suitable photo subject at home when I didn’t feel up to going anywhere. Did something. Check.

Technical Details

Stats. f/5.6.0, 1/125 sec., 48.0 mm, ISO 400. Manual.

Post production. Resize, border, and watermark.

Last Week [Coosa River at Gorman Park]

Onwards!
Katherine

Awareness of the outside world. CSU: Birch sugar is the same thing as xylitol and it’s toxic to dogs. 2021.

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The dogs have established several routines concerning their water.

Plentiful

Jasmine doesn’t get around much. Therefore, she has one water dish near where she spends the day. Another near her night sleeping spot. And a third on the patio. Perhaps also a fourth dish closer to the front door if she is out for a sniff of air but doesn’t feel the need to go the entire 15 feet to the dog pen.

None of these are more than half full because …

Clean

Rose can drink without making a mess. Jas leaves behind both dirt and dog drool. Le ick. Waiter, fresh water, please!

Jas can have water that looks okay but if you change it, she’ll have a slurp.

Clean water? Fresh water? Cooler? Aerated from the faucet?

Who knows. She’s of an age that we want to encourage her to drink. So, we dump the water and bring new.

Personal

During the day, Rose prefers to drink at the night water spot. No idea why. She will bypass a fresh dish in the living room to trot the length of the hall to have a drink.

Jas has never been audibly grumpy about sharing, but there may be canine subtext that we don’t perceive.

Plus, Rose getting a bit of exercise up and down the hall is not the worst outcome

Outro

Yes, we are dog minions. Your point?

Dog posts [Archives]

Onwards!
Katherine