Gift Guide, Fiction

Words

Awareness of the outside world. More send ups of holiday movies. Hat tips to K & M for these. [Cue Cheesy Music]

~~~

A few things on my Christmas wish list.

Background Check. A decent backdrop for holiday Zoom calls. Not a generic, cute, seasonal scene. I suspect I could figure that one out. I want a filter that shows my house, except cleaned, decluttered, and displaying that artwork I’ve been meaning to get framed. You know, my house as it looks in my head, not as it looks in reality.

The Gift of Song. The ability to sing. For one month. So I can sing Christmas carols. Even one song. I’d love to belt out Adeste Fideles without causing the cat to leave the room.

It’s A Parallel Life. A look at where I would be if my life had gone in a different direction. If I had take this job. If I had gone to that college. If I had chosen to gee instead of haw. Would I be more happy? Less happy? Differently happy?

What would you ask for?

~~~

Text from above in case they disappear from Twitter.

Crystal Lowery Comedian @Crystalllowery I watched a Hallmark movie backwards. A woman in an ugly Christmas sweater dumped her loser, small town boyfriend to pursue a law career in NYC where she lived happily ever after in pencil skirts and amazing shoes. Dec 2 2021

Rohita Kadambi @RohitaKadambi Every big city heroine in a Hallmark Christmas Movie needs to ask where that small town guy was on January 6, 2021. Nov 30 2021

~~~ fin~~~

Following The Signs, Walk Report, UAB Hospital Concourse

Fit To Ride

Awareness of the outside world. Shout out to the woman in the parking garage. Four people were already on the elevator. Although there was plenty of space, there was not enough socially-distant space. She indicated she would wait for the next elevator. From the back corner, I give her a thumbs up. She returned my gesture with a brief nod. It was a small moment, taking longer to tell than to occur. It made me feel that we are all in this together. We need more of that.
~~~

The Walk

UAB Medicine Walking Trail
UAB Medicine Buildings and Concourse Walkways
30 November 2021
~1 mile. GPS was still on kilometers from a virtual 5K over the weekend.
~22 minutes

Went in for my annual mammogram. (Have you had yours – as appropriate? Did you know they stop at age 75? But I digress.) Afterwards, I did my daily mile in a loop around the UAB Hospital buildings, using corridors and over-the-street walkways.

Searching on “UAB Medicine Buildings and Concourse Walkways” leads to a PDF of the map. Wasn’t sure how to link to a PDF.

The Signs

The hospital has put up motivational signs to encourage walking. I started taking pictures of the signs to send to my online walking group. I ended up with so many that I decided a post was more appropriate than clogging up the group message queue. And that is why you got a walk report on a one-mile walk. (Usually, I do posts on 5Ks.)

Update. Listed with monthly walks. [The Next Step, State of the Fitness, November]

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine

Apres Lesson, In Which We Do Very Little

Horsekeeping

Awareness of the outside world. Teen Vogue: The Fantastical Hobbyhorse Universe in Finland Is Captured in “The Gallop”, Antón, December 3, 2021. The Guardian: Hobbyhorsing: what girls everywhere can learn from the Finnish craze, Barton, 30 Apr 2019. Note date in second link. This is not a new thing.
~~~

On Wednesday, we had a proto-jumping lesson. [In Which We Almost Have a Jumping Lesson]

We will work! We will practice all the things! We will … stand around and do nothing. Almost nothing.

On Thursday, Rodney bonked himself on the leg, probably during a frolic.

Right front, inside, between bone and tendon, just above the fetlock.

The insult was tiny. A scrape. A slight swelling. Maybe a bit of heat if I concentrated. Had it been on his butt, I would not have given it a second look.

However. Leg. Delicate, fragile, horse leg.

Cue time off. Hosing. Constant, obsessive feeling of the the injured leg. Coupled with constant, obsessive feeling of the opposite leg for comparison.

He never took an off step and did not behave as if anything hurt.

We did a few hand walks. When he stood for too long, he would puff up. Slightly.

Over the weekend, we did one short mounted walk/stand in order to keep Milton company. I figure he walks all day anyway, he can hoist my carcass around for a few minutes and play couch. Particularly after he was seen cantering up for breakfast.

All that momentum from the lesson and we went … nowhere.

Pffft.

Maybe I should get a hobby horse.

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine

In Which We Almost Have a Jumping Lesson

Riding

Awareness of the outside world. Ancient Alabama, part five, AL.com: Alabama’s spectacular Little River Canyon was formed by ancient sea mud, Pillion, 17 Nov 2021, updated 19 Nov 2021.
~~~

Brought Rodney over to Hunter Barn for last week’s lesson.

Since Rodney and I haven’t done much consistently, we started with the basics. Halt. Walk. Trot. Poles.

Instructor did an excellent job creating a challenging lesson with such unexciting material. Halt square. Stay straight. March at the walk. Slow my posting at the trot.

Even at the walk, Instructor insisted that I stay on task. Hunter Barn horses work while they are in the ring. They can chill when strolling around outside the ring. When in the ring, they work. I am much more likely to say, ‘Hey that was a good five minutes of work, why don’t we relax for five minutes, or maybe ten.’

We need to work on fitness & keeping Rodney working from behind. No jumps yet, but getting closer.

Milton gets a gold star for staying home. He doesn’t have the freedom of the field yet, but he behaved himself in the stall. 🌟 [Rodney’s Semi-Permanent Gold Star]

Previous Hunter Barn post [School Horse Goes Round and Round]

In other news, I have sent in my membership to Alabama Hunter Jumper Association. If history is any indication, that means I will go nowhere near a hunter show next year. [Ambushed By My Mailbox]

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine

Noseband Negotiations

Riding

Awareness of the outside world. As with aid organizations yesterday, food banks prefer cash. “Rather than paying retail prices … This means that when you donate a dollar, you’re able to put more meals on the tables of families than if you donated food you’d purchased at the store.” Feeding America: Donating food to a food bank? Consider cash instead of canned goods., Thoelke, November 12, 2021.
~~~

After our adventures with the hackamore noseband, we played Goldilocks. [A Negative Result Still Counts As Data]

Too loose. Since he didn’t like the thick noseband on the hackamore, I tried riding without any noseband at all. Rodney thought it was weird. I swear the vibe I got was, ‘Ooooh, look at me. I’m running naked in the rain.’ It was all too hippy-dippy for either of us.

Too tight. Back to our regular noseband. I would have said I ride with a loose noseband. However, when I watched him chew the bit, I saw that his jaw came in contact with the lower strap. Not tight, but touching. Rodney does not react well to constriction, even the suggestion of constriction, particularly around his face.

Just right. I loosened the nosestrap another hole and lengthen the overhead strap so that the nosepiece sits farther down his nose. I discovered that “two fingers” is loose to the point of floppy. He seems to like it.

Could such a tiny change make a difference? On any other horse, I would say no. Rodney has always had his knobs on 11.

Eurodressage: On the Ignorance of Noseband Tightness and Vague FEI Noseband Rules, Rottermann, 2018. Good photos of the different ways you can position fingers under a noseband. I am using the measure of two stacked fingers.

The Horse: Noseband Tightness Study: The Two-Finger Rule Is Just About Right, Lesté-Lasserre, 2019. The physics of the horse’s nose anatomy.

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine

Rain, Rain, Go Thataway

Horsekeeping

Awareness of the outside world. Speaking of weather, heart goes out the Midwest & South, not that this does anybody any good. Cash does. “After seeing destroyed homes and people who have lost everything, we may be tempted to donate clothing, food, bottled water or other supplies. Aid organizations say donations like that often create logistical nightmares and more expense. A financial donation can be spent on what is needed most at that particular moment.” Weather.com: How to Help Victims of Deadly Tornado Outbreak.
~~~

Pause to center.

~~~

Over time, the floor of the run-in shed has been stomped into a bowl. Rain leaks in the upper doorway and never leaves. Ultimately, the area needs to be refloored with a metric sh*t ton of gravel. Until then, we installed a door sill.

Heading in.

Heading out.

We chose to make the step obvious so the horses would see it and step over it, rather than a narrow lip that might catch their feet. Sloped on the outside to direct rain away (crosses fingers).

Much spinning and hopping when they first saw it. Now they walk right over it.

So far, so dry.

Barn owners, do you find yourselves working as amateur hydrologists when dealing with rain and run-off?

~~~

Admin note. I scheduled the door sill post before the recent weather. I couldn’t figure out if the two sections together are timely or tone deaf. When folks have lost everything, muddy footing is a minor inconvenience. However, a minor problem is still a problem to be solved & horses standing in mud can lead to health issues. End navel gazing.

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine