Virtual Brush Box

Daily Walk

New Places

Riverchase Galleria. Embracing the stereotype of being an old fart in America, I went for a walk in the mall on a rainy day. I can see why it is (was?) popular, particularly if you live somewhere with inhospitable weather. I haven’t been to this mall since the LEGO store closed in January of 2020. I was so busy looking about that I forgot to take a walk photo. The other walk photos fell flat, so Strava maps this month.

Oak Grove Park. Click over & scroll down for photos. Not pictured is a cute, free-standing stage for summer plays? concerts? Internet is not forthcoming.

The Y. Now that we have rejoined, I can walk there on rainy days. On this track, 14 laps = 1 mile. Used Strava because there is no way I can count to 14. I lose my place when I do three laps in the pasture. When I do four laps at a park, I walk two laps in one directions, reverse, walk two the other way. I still occasionally wonder if I’m on lap 3 or 4. Once, I did an extra lap to be sure. So 14 laps in one direction is a no-hoper. Map is complete spaghetti b/c inside. The next time, I walked until I was between 20-25 minutes and called it a mile.

Brook Highland Plaza. Strip mall during errands. Bham Wiki: Brook Highland Plaza

Repeats. Pasture. Westover [Picture This]. Orr Park [Slow Flight Around The Park]. Local park.

Monthly 5K

Oak Meadow Park. As with last month, I couldn’t think of anywhere new or clever to go. When I started running out of month, I picked a simple track and walked for an hour. Photos.

Other

A sprinkling of biking and gym visits.

Last month [Perfect Attendance Record]

Onwards!
Katherine

Explanation. We have a horse on stall rest following colic surgery. This has taken over the blog. Mostly. [Begin, Phase IV]

Fourth month post surgery
Week 4 of four weeks pasture rest

We suspect Milton might be a little much to live with these days.

Last Monday was a rainy, overcast day. Rodney decided that he needed some alone time.

Breakfast. Rodney goes in stall to eat.

After breakfast.

Me: Wanna go out?
Rodney: No, not really. It’s raining out there and I have hay in here.

Later.

Me: Wanna go out? How about I give you a carrot?
Rodney: How about I stand in the open doorway and stretch my neck reallllllllly long?

Still later.

Me: Wanna go out?
Rodney: (napping)
Me: (refills water, heads back to house)
Rodney: (never moves)

And yet still later.

Me: Wanna go out?
Rodney: (standing with nose over hay spot, giving me the look) As soon as you care to stop this charade and give me hay, that would be good.
Me: Okay, if you want to stay in until dinner, I guess that’ll work.

Shortly before dinner.

I go up to get the feed buckets. Rodney is standing at the stall door.

Rodney: I’m ready to go out.
Me: Really? Now?
R: Yup. Places to go. Things to see.

I let him out. Wasn’t like they wouldn’t come thundering back for eats.

What do I do with my day? I am doorminder for a horse.

Updated 4 April. I had forgotten one.

Onwards!
Katherine

Explanation. We have a horse on stall rest following colic surgery. This has taken over the blog. Mostly. [Begin, Phase IV]

Took the horses for a walk last weekend.

Wasn’t expecting much. Which is good. We didn’t get much.

This wasn’t going back to work.

This wasn’t even the first day of class, handing out the syllabus & putting covers on books.

This was driving past the building saying here’s were your classes will be.

The horses are unfit.

I mean, we knew this. Three months of utter idleness will do that. We watching muscles melt off and top lines sag.

It’s one thing for a horse to lose form along the back and hindquarters. A nice rounded, muscled topline is hard to maintain. Rodney has lost topline along his neck. He looks like a ewe-necked three-year-old. I didn’t think Thoroughbreds could fall that far out of condition.

And all he did was stand and watch.

Milton has same level of activity – or inactivity – plus a massive physical insult to his system.

We know it’s going to be a long, slow road.

Halters on. Let’s go.

Last Sunday we took them for a short handwalk. Along one side of the pasture, to the corner at back, twice.

Everyone behaved. Feet on the ground. No running off. So, gold star there.

In every other way, more of a work in progress.

Milton went charging off. Second pass, less charging. Maybe he settled. More likely he ran out of steam.

Rodney also went charging off. Got upset when we got behind making the turnaround. His was more mental than physical. Forgetting his manners. Getting anxious.

Later, I went up to the barn to check. Milton got all up in my grill, ‘That was a lot of work. I deserve cookies.’

He was not wrong.

About the effort, at least.

He also got the cookies.

Onwards!
Katherine

Explanation. We have a horse on stall rest following colic surgery. This has taken over the blog. Mostly. [Begin, Phase IV]

Fourth month post surgery
Week 4 of four weeks pasture rest

The house is exhausted.

We had a small, overnight storm during the weekend. In the morning, the horses were as tired as if they had endured a full night of high-volume Sturm und Drang.

I’ve notice the same with me. I feel fine. Well-rested. Well-fed. Perfectly normal. Then I am subject to the slightest mental or physical effort. Suddenly I’m on mile 21 of the Boston Marathon, I’ve climbed Heartbreak Hill, and I am staggering toward the finish.

No one has any reserves.

This is not surprising.

Being worn out is reasonable response to the global stress of the last few years and the personal stress of the last few months. [How Wednesday Became Thursday, see three nopes.]

I have to keep remembering to grant myself grace.

“Chronic exposure to fear and anxiety (which are forms of pain), have a real, measurable traumatic effect on the brain, dealing neurological damage which is worse because it repeats every day.” Ex Urbe: Self-Care & Healthy Work Habits for the Pandemic

Onwards!
Katherine

Explanation. We have a horse on stall rest following colic surgery. This has taken over the blog. Mostly. [Begin, Phase IV]

Fourth month post surgery
Two weeks at clinic DONE
Four weeks of at-home stall rest DONE
Four weeks of paddock rest DONE
Starting week 4 of four weeks pasture rest

Still not a lot to say about horses eating grass, which is still excellent. [Stall Rest Chronicles 21 March, The New Is No News]

Onwards!
Katherine

Let’s take stroll down memory lane, courtesy of The Backyard Horse Blog: Let’s Play Horse Bingo. I reiterate their request. If this is yours, please claim for credit. Internet search not helpful. Too many versions of Horse Bingo out there.

The results please …..

… drum roll ….

… two bingos. Close to a clean sweep, if I include maybes.

Yes = Been there. Done that. Probably have the blog post to prove it.

Embarrassing apparel? Check

[C is for Cookie, C is for Costume Class, Halloween 2022]

No stirrups? Check. [Lessons from No Stirrup November], mainly for the links to other stories, such as the time I lost my stirrup at Nationals. [When the Stirrup Swings] (pause to shudder)

Selfie? Check.

[On the 11th Day of Christmas: Eleven Years a-Passin’]

And now, the rest of the squares.

? = maybe, some more probable than others.

Some I assume yes but can’t remember a specific incident, such as Choked on fly spray or Got horse droppings on boots.

Some are more debatable.

Fights with my horse? Yes. Hangs head. Do the incidents qualify as arguments? Not sure. Either the horse was yelling or I was. Not a lot of back & forth verbal sparring.

Travel across the across country with your horse? No. How about down & over? NC to AL was a long overnight drive. Worth at least half a box. And then there was psychically following Milton down from Canada and physically following him from Kentucky.

Secrets? I have no confidence in my ability not to get excited and blurt out my thoughts. So I try not to get involved in giving or receiving secrets. OTOH, I’m sure I have said things to my horse(s) that I have not said to anyone else.

Cancel plans? Never make the plans in the first place. As in, I can’t do that, I have a horse show/am going to the barn.

Moonlight? This is the weakest maybe. As a kid, I went to summer camp in Wyoming one year. I swear we went on a moonlit ride, but I could be conflating any of the various long daytime rides with a nighttime hike. My memory apparently likes to romanticize my adventures. [Pondering The Past, Wondering If It Ever Even Happened]

The only definite no is Ridden on the beach.

What is your Bingo?

Onwards!
Katherine

A weak entry. I plan to do better next year.

Hersheyland: Twizzlers

Links

Click over for a book made from phyllo dough. TYWKIWDBI: “Booklava”, citing Edible Geography: Publishing Food #3.

“The Sheridan Libraries Edible Book Festival began in 2014 and is now a highly-anticipated Johns Hopkins tradition. It is one of many such festivals that take place around the world on or around April 1 to celebrate books, art, food, and culture.” John Hopkins: Edible Book Festival

Also Illinois Library, Shore Lake Arts, Salt Lake Community College, Loganberry Books, and that’s just the first few hits.

Wiki: Edible Book Festival

Atlas Obscura: Edible Book Festivals Are for Pun and Food Lovers, Ewbank 2019

Book Riot: 20 Fantastic Edible Books From The World’s Biggest Edible Book Festival, Smalter 2017

Three Thoughts

How did I not know about this?

Finally, a decent use for April 1. [A Fool But Not an April Fool] “Do I dislike the day because I am a credulous sap who is easily gulled? Absolutely. That does not mean I am wrong.” [Silence], “I will spend today hoping I don’t make too much of an idiot of myself.” [River]

Props to B for starting me down edible book rabbit hole.

Coda – Just because it’s edible doesn’t mean you want to

Did I eat the artwork? No, I did not. I intended to. I planned to put the edible in book. However, I have recently discovered a disinclination to consume additives in the current bread-making processes. (Remember when bread used to mold? How long has it been since you’ve seen a commercial loaf go green? But I digress.) While I was arranging the letters, I ate the trimmings. Turns out Twizzlers has enriched wheat flour as the second ingredient. Who knew? It was sufficient to disagree with me. Fairly quickly. I didn’t eat that many trimmings.

I have heard that edible sculptures for contests, commercials, etc. have to be technically edible. They don’t necessarily have to be tasty.

Onwards!
Katherine