Virtual Brush Box

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 ~~~

Fit To Ride

Awareness of the outside world. The Home Depot Foundation.
~~~

While my brilliant handyman arranged for repair supplies. I had time to do my daily mile around the Home Depot parking lot. [Pottering Around The Pasture, State Of The Fitness, December]

Sunday morning, so traffic was light. As with the airport, I was aware that no one would be expecting a pedestrian. I stuck to the edge of the lot and practiced defensive walking. [Flying Low, Walk Report, DragonCon Virtual 5K]

Due to the size of the lot, two laps was sufficient. Then, at the end, several times around the truck to hit the magic number.

Although I’ve been to the building many times over the years, I never looked around, as one doesn’t. During the walk, I was struck by the land manipulation.

In one corner, a hill had been truncated.

In another corner, the corresponding valley had been filled in.

If the land is not sufficiently flat, it must be made so. Kind of amazing when you see it at foot level.

Onwards!
Katherine

Riding

Awareness of the outside world. Ancient Alabama, part 10. AL.com: Alabama Black Belt among world’s top sites to find ancient sea monsters, Pillion, 9 Dec 2021. BTW, “Named for its dark, rich soils.” Encyclopedia of Alabama: Black Belt Region in Alabama. This was my understanding. More below.
~~~

Milton attended a group lesson at Stepping Stone Farm. The idea was that being in a ring with other horses trotting would encourage Milton to do the same without excessive heaving and swearing on the part of his rider.

Milton trotted. Everyone stayed on. Yay.

OTOH, Milton had several occasions wherein he felt the need to express himself. As with the driving demo, it was all quite understandable. One can’t help but wishing that he didn’t feel the need to be quite so expressive. [Milton Does Demo Duty]

Being straffed by a bird. One of the peacocks took off and launched straight at horse and rider. Cleared their heads by a few feet. I only saw the end of this with the bird flying off. Actually, Milton gets lots of points here. He stood stock still. Past spooking and clear out to the other side. Many applications of horse cookies were required to get him back in gear. Good boy.

Loud noise. Well, yes, it was a loud noise.

A horse coming up on his six. Either Milton is competitive and does not like being passed. Or he remembers that horses what get passed in races get strongly encourage to stir their stumps. Or he just doesn’t like other horses in this space. Hop. Hop. Hop.

Another horse having a moment. Our two are like this at home. If one of them is in trouble, the other thinks he will be next.

Thank you to Coach Courtney for allowing a TB invasion of an ASB group lesson. She wisely put Milton in with the unflappable horses. The horse who had the hissy was a) unrelated to Milton & b ) a sass factory being remediated by an advanced rider. The schoolies took care of their riders. The horse who passed Milton completely refused to be drawn into Milton’s drama. The riders learned that sometimes you might need to avoid another horse in the show ring.

Once again no media. Too busy chewing my metaphorical nails and maintaining a non-metaphorical death grip on the arm of Assistant Coach James.

Update. Because I was unclear to at least one reader. Husband Greg rode Milton in lesson. I watched.

Onwards!
Katherine

~~~

Awareness of the outside world, continued. “The Alabama Black Belt as a region of insurgent African American aspirations makes a strong claim to take over the meaning of the term from its older and other senses.” Southern Spaces: The Black Belt, Tullos, 2004. The article quotes Booker T. Washington in the same vein and says Richard Wright applied the term to residential areas in Chicago. ~~~

Riding, Or Not, Again

Awareness of the outside world. Ancient Alabama, part nine. AL.com: Vast network of Alabama caves reveals hidden fossils, endangered ecosystem, Pillion, 7 Dec 2021.
~~~

Taking a break from Hunter Barn for a few months. Sit out the cold months and start again in the spring.

Riding my horse. It is too awkward to get Rodney over there for my midweek lesson slot. The plan (ha!) is to continue at Falcon Hill Farm. [Holiday Adventures, Rodney at FHF]

Riding their horses. School Horse & his barnmates are exactly what I was looking for in a lesson horse. If the rider has a moment, if the rider shrieks and grabs mane over a tiny crossrail, they just carry on.

And yet.

After seven lessons on three horses, the very thought of another lesson still makes my stomach hurt. Maybe this is something I should listen to? Maybe I’m simply tired of being stressed out?

For the winter, I’m not doing things that give me anxiety. We’ll see where that leads. I should say, not doing optional things that give me anxiety. The universe is all too capable of providing unavoidable sources of anxiety.

I realize this is exactly opposite to what I said a month ago, “If I didn’t do things I dread, I’d never do anything at all.” That’s why I’m limiting the time frame to winter. [Lack of Lessons Lately]

Perhaps Rodney and I will make so much progress, I will not need school horse lessons in the spring.

A dog can dream.

~~~

Note. I wrote this, including the “ha!” before Rodney announced that he too was taking a break. [Rodney’s Goldilocks Vacation].

Onwards!
Katherine

Horsekeeping

Awareness of the outside world. Covid-19 Hospital Capacity Circuit Breaker Dashboard. Hat tip to YLE: State of Affairs: Jan 10.
~~~

“Life is what happens when you’re trying to get stuff done.” Peppy Bunting (my grandmother)

Drive to three different feed/pet food stores.

Stock up.

All critters now have requisite eats and appropriate materials to poop/pee on.

Home.

Put up indoor cats.

Unload.

Make sure dog doesn’t get out.

Take advantage of door being propped open to move heavy things out of house.

Done.

A necessary day, but not one for the ages.

Onwards!
Katherine

Riding, Or Not

Awareness of the outside world. In Canada, “The province is back in a modified lockdown … our gathering limit is five people indoors and ten outside, and restaurants, gyms and other businesses like that are closed again, and all others have capacity limits back in place, again.” Yarn Harlot: Second verse, same as the first, blog post, January 5, 2022. I believe this is Ontario. Meanwhile, in Birmingham, “How can I best ensure my safety and that of others in the Alabama Theatre? … #2. Practice good respiratory etiquette by coughing and sneezing into your elbow.” Alabama Theatre: Plan Your Visit. Current as of January 8, 2022.
~~~

First, Rodney was too fat.

Then, Rodney was too thin.

Now, we are putting him up and feeding as much hay as he will eat.

Still not enough.

We have reluctantly raised his grain.

The calories and the cold weather are putting too much joie in his vivre. You expect much when the calories are bubbling out their ears. [My Horse Is A Mood Ring]

I drum my heels and wait for Rodney to be just right.

Onwards!
Katherine