Virtual Brush Box

Fit To Ride

Awareness of the outside world. Monday was MLK Day of Service. I didn’t. In my defense, bad weather was predicted for that weekend. But mostly I dropped the ball. Vow to do better next year.
~~~

The start.

MLK Day 5K Drum Run – Birmingham
Birmingham AL, USA
Saturday, January 15, 2022
IRL

Time – 52:59.0 (official), 52:34 (my time)
Pace – 5.8 kph, or 3.6 mph
Place – 232 (official) out of 268 (my estimate)
Gender/Age Group – 10 out of 15

As before. Walk. Drums. Awesome. [Strolling To A Soundtrack]

The most masked activity I have been to yet, despite being outside. Spotted my first N95 in the wild. Some folks walked with masks. As with previous IRL walk, I wore mine in the – very loose- crowds at the start and finish. During the walk itself, I removed them and then made sure I stayed at least 10 feet from another person. I do have N95s to wear. I’m saving the fancy masks for indoor situations that I can’t avoid. My reading of the charts says cloth + surgical works well enough for outside. [Magic City 5K 2021]

The finish.

Previous Posts

2020 IRL [Strolling To A Soundtrack, Walk Report, MLK Day Drum Run 2020]

2021 Virtual [Percussion in the Pasture, Virtual MLK Day 5K Drum Run, Walk Report]

As of today, soundtrack still available from last year, “Listen to and Download the 2021 MLK Day 5K Drum Run – Birmingham Soundtrack/Score below. Featuring Freestyle Percussion All-Stars, Sahi On Ko Djony, Exposure Community Development Corporation and Ramsay High School Drumline.” Drum Run Bham

Props to Red Diamond for the free après-walk hot chocolate.

Onwards!
Katherine

Horsekeeping

Awareness of the outside world. Free tests, COVIDtests.gov. Free masks coming to your local pharmacy, NPR: The Biden administration will give out 400 million free N95 masks. Treisman, January 19, 2022.
~~~

At our lesson, Moseley recommended putting Milton on GutX for hind gut ulcers. [Rodney & Milton’s Excellent Instruction]

We were dubious. The main ingredient seemed to indicate a joint supplement. Oh well, if you are going to work with someone, you need to give their advice a try.

Milton has been on it over a month. Has shifted to the maintenance dosage. His coat is smoother and he has lost his beer gut. Although not the change in attitude that he had with magnesium. [Milton’s Meals]

Try it on Rodney? Why not. He’s been on every other stomach-related fairy powder.

Rodney has been on it for over a week. Still on the introductory double dose.

Possibility. A mild tummy disturbance was causing him to be stressed. Making him feel better would give him a sunnier disposition about work. Result. No notable change in work, although he is quite chipper otherwise.

Possibility. Hind gut disturbance was affecting his nutritional uptake. Fixing this would improve his weight gain. Result. Definite increased padding on horse.

Is it the GutX?

Is it increased feed?

Is it more time to eat hay?

Is it increased alfalfa?

As an owl once said, “The world may never know.”

~~~

Photography note. The gray border is the label color from the manufacturer’s website. Bottle is shiny. Took photo into barn aisle for shade. This caused the phone camera to render the grey label with a blue tone. Weird.

Onwards!
Katherine

Riding

Awareness of the outside world. At-home Covid tests ordered. Also virtual membership to Boskone.
~~~

Another upside to Rodney’s relaxed winter work schedule is a little more leeway.

Milton has shown a slight predisposition to working better when he’s alone in the ring. So, now, we are not madly trying to fit two separate riding sessions into the few moments of winter that aren’t cold, rainy, muddy, or all of the above.

Only have time for one horse? That’s probably just as well.

The other upside to the current management plan is Rodney’s weight gain. [Rodney Has A Moment]

To be clear, Rodney is not hearing voices just because of the extra food.

It’s the extra food … [Rodney’s Goldilocks Vacation]

&

… the cold weather. [My Horse Is A Mood Ring]

We could probably marshal enough concentration to get light work done with one factor. With both, eh well. Some days I ride. Some days I don’t. Some days I ride and get off halfway through.

Spring is coming.

Of course, the major downside to Rodney’s relaxed winter work schedule is living with me when I’m not riding.

Onwards!
Katherine

Riding

Awareness of the outside world. Because nothing is simple these days. “Tonga is concerned about the risk of aid deliveries spreading Covid to the island which is free of the virus … (Tonga’s deputy head of mission in Australia, Curtis Tu’ihalangingie) urged the public to wait until a disaster relief fund was announced.” The Guardian: Australian minister says Tonga suffered ‘significant damage’ following volcano eruption, Reuters Mon 17 Jan 2022.
~~~

pause

~~~

Rodney had his marbles roll off the table while he was at a standstill.

That’s new.

This was after walking two laps of the pasture in-hand to warm up, after walking under saddle, and after asking him to statue, which he’s good at when he’s composed.

He wasn’t composed.

Standing. Suddenly. Sproing!

Sigh.

It’s going to be a long winter. [Rodney’s Goldilocks Vacation]

On the upside, he is slowly putting on weight. Filling out over his ribs, not just putting fat pads on his shoulders. [Nah, I’m Good]

Onwards!
Katherine

Riding

Awareness of the outside world. The Betty White Challenge. Celebrate her 100th Birthday by donating to a local animal shelter.

Betty the White pic.twitter.com/EYDvkbUJWi

— Matt Taylor (@Ascension_Matt) January 1, 2022

~~~

Every ride is a special occasion.

I say this before every ride.

Standing on the mounting block, last thing I do before putting foot in stirrup.

Sometimes said quietly to myself.

Sometimes said out loud to bystanders.

There is aways a detail that makes the upcoming ride special.

Haven’t ridden for a while.

Haven’t ridden this horse for a while.

Going on a team trail walk.

There is always something.

Every ride is a special occasion.

Photo is the cover of what was my ASB lesson journal and is now my trailering log.

Onwards!
Katherine

Words

This story fragment owes a debt to Year Zero by Reid, to Mall World by Somtow, and to a short story, whose name I have forgotten, about a record store owner & alien traders. Note, I have no idea what happens next. This is as far as I got. Unsatisfying. I agree. At least it’s something. [Thoughts On Fiction]

~~~

First contact.

It wasn’t what we thought it would be.

It wasn’t E.T.

It wasn’t The War of the Worlds.

It was nothing.

If a huge ship hovering over the North Pole could be said to be nothing.

It appeared. The world went nuts.

It did nothing.

We radioed it. We used x-rayed. We send drones.

It did nothing.

We tried to land a SWAT team on it.

It moved to the South Pole. And did nothing.

Being human, we eventually shot at it.

It did nothing.

Then the orders came.

Orders for books, for DVD movie sets, for a DVD player.

Orders for traditional handcrafts from every continent.

Orders for paintings, sculptures, jewelry.

Money appeared in accounts as with any other online order.

Delivery info was to warehouses in major ports.

The piles sat there. Then they disappeared. Then the ship disappeared.

Physicists struggled to rewrite their rules.

Mystics pondered the existence of alien gods.

Monotheistic orders struggled to rewrite their rules.

People panicked.

People rioted.

And then we gave up worrying.

Aliens exist. They came. They left. Other than that, we know nothing.

There is only so much hair-tearing you can do with so little data.

They come back every few months. Order stuff. A few people get rich. Everyone wants to read the book the aliens bought.

The things they order are never the same. A lot of people spend a lot of time trying to draw a line between the items. Academics publish papers. Start-ups gamble on piles of “alien-approved” inventory. Sometimes it is. Sometimes it isn’t.

Most of us have stopped trying to predict what appeals to the aliens. Ancient. Modern. Made of yarn. Made of metal. Mass-produced. One-off Etsy shops. A range of comic rubber ducks. Yeah, that one caught us all by surprise.

We go about our lives. We produce what we have always produced. Maybe we hit the jackpot. Maybe we don’t.

Of course, this favors people who make stuff. Service industries are out of luck.

It’s almost always crafted or manufactured items. Sometimes raw materials, usually not.

They never take anything that is alive.

Except once.

This is my story.

~~~ curtain ~~~