Virtual Brush Box

Blogging About Blogging

Awareness of the outside world. “Sadly, it appears that the organization that started the initiative, Riders4Helmets, is gone. Their website is abandoned and their Facebook page hasn’t been updated in a year. So kudos to the helmet manufacturers and tack stores who are carrying on this important tradition.” EQUINE Ink: Take Advantage of Helmet Awareness Weekend Sales.
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Proposal

I would like to develop a running feature, preferably contributed by other folks. Problem is, I don’t know what.

Horse stories? Sure. Amusing. On topic. However, most people I know who a) have horses AND b) want to write about them, already have their own blog.

Interview people about their horse stories? That feels like work. Literally. This is what I do for money.

Favorite book? Favorite horse book? There are already so many places on the Internet to get book opinions.

Inviting authors to talk about their books? Did that for a while. Don’t have a big enough platform to be worth their effort.

Local stories? Off topic, but has possibilities. If this was the before times, I could offer people lunch in return for an hour of their time.

Recipes? I don’t cook but I live with someone who does and I like to eat. Wildly off topic? Sure. Why not. Horse show food? Too narrow to be ongoing.

I need a wrinkle that hasn’t been done before. If it involved something unique to me that I could offer in trade, that would be great.

It needs to be something easy for the other person. Scalzi can get long, introspective posts for his Big Idea series because he can offer a lot of eyeballs. There’s a sentence one doesn’t want to see taken literally.

So, yeah, I haven’t really gotten past the stage of ‘This would be cool.’ Shall ponder.

The previous invitations, see below, have been soliciting one-offs. The idea here is to build up a series that becomes a feature.

Origin Story

So, what brought this on? This blog by Don Koboldt:

Each week, we discuss elements of sci-fi or fantasy with an expert in a relevant topic area. We debunk the myths, correct the misconceptions, and offer advice on getting the details right.

Science in Sci-Fi, Fact in Fantasy.

Even if you never plan to write a word, you can enjoy the short takes on a variety of topics, everything from rocket ships to pottery. Click the blog tab for the most recent entry.

I found the blog through the compilation book, Putting the Science in Fiction, edited by Dan Koboldt (Writers Digest 2018). The upcoming companion volume, Putting the Fact in Fantasy, edited by Koboldt (Penguin 2022), is at the tippy top of my To-Be-Bought-I-Don’t-Care-How-Many-Unread-Books-I-Already-Have list. Book info, DK.com: Putting the Science in Fiction, page & DK.com: Putting the Fact in Fantasy Sold to Penguin Random House, post October 2020.

Of course, I’ve love a feature that grew into a book. Back in the real world, I’d be happy with inviting other voices into my echo chamber and with being diverted by other people’s stories.

Any ideas?

Previous Invitations

[State of the Blog, Open Mike Invitation]
[Guest Post Invitation & Rules]
[Letter Art: Invitation]
[My Best Class: Blog Hop Invitation]
[Living Digitally: RibbonFest Invitation] canceled

Four of the invites are still open. Canceled the ribbon one, not from lack of interest. Love me some presentation pics. However, such photos are often of the person and horse by another person. I didn’t want to wade into the thickets of photo copyright, particularly if professional photographers get involved.

[STOB archives]
[Wear a Helmet archives]
Last month’s logo [Blog Logo, Bell Serifs]

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine

Fit To Ride

Awareness of the outside world. The news industry is full of divination. If this happens, that horrible thing will happen. If this does not happen, that other horrible thing will happen. Well, maybe. We can’t actually tell the future. How much of this story is reporting and how much is prediction? Is the prediction based on educated guesswork or wild hysteria? Worth keeping in mind if one is the type to get spun up reading/watching the news.
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The Summit

Walk Reports, New Places

Alabaster Promenade, shopping plaza. Across the road from Colonial Promenade. Took photos; too blah to use. [Places and Parks, August Walks I]
3 September 2021
1.05 miles
22 minutes

Downtown Homewood. Running an errand, walked the long way around to get virtual Mississippi River mileage total back to even number. No photo due to rain. Light enough to walk in; too wet for pics. I dry; phone doesn’t. [Biking and Walking Virtually, Mississippi River, Part One, Minnesota]
16 September 2021
.63 miles
15 minutes

TheSummit, shopping plaza. Bookstore at one end, ice pop shop at the other. What’s not to love? Started at one end the first day. Went back & started from the other end the second day, with company.
19 September 2021
1.19 miles
29 minutes
20 September 2021
1.04 miles
29 minutes

Full Circle Horse Park, one mile toward Virtual Tevis [The Flag Question, XC Schooling]
Jemison Park, virtual 1K [Replicating The Setting, Virtual New Balance 5th Avenue Mile 2021]
Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport, virtual 5K [post pending]
18th Street Tunnel, virtual 5K [post pending]

The rest were parks that I have been to before or laps around the pasture. GPS images from Map My Walk & Strava.

Other Activities

Dance. 2 of 6 at The Dance Foundation. Fall season started. Signed up for twice a week, then managed to miss most of them. The first week I was suffering from overwhelm. Not anything in particular. Just *gestures vaguely in every direction*. Week two, I felt off. Almost completely sure it was my tum being disgruntled. Almost. So I stayed home one of the days. Week three, blacksmith has moved shoeing to Tuesdays. Rodney’s ridiculous feet mean missing Tuesday class every other week. [Shoeing Schedule]

Biking. None.

Stretching. Also none.

Cardio. Say what?

Motion Days

Span – 28 days, from the previous summary Aug 27 to yesterday 23 Sept, inclusive. [Places and Parks, August Walks II]

Total – 24 days. 23 days walking and 2 dance classes, Homewood was dance & walk on the same day. That’s why the numbers don’t math.

Yay for movement. Boo for variety. I only give myself partial credit for the walking. It is an exercise that comes easily to me, so it’s not a struggle for me to get out. Other activities, more of a struggle.

What are you doing for exercise these days?

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine

Riding

Awareness of the outside world. “According to the World Federation of the Deaf, there are more than 70 million deaf people worldwide. More than 80% of them live in developing countries. Collectively, they use more than 300 different sign languages.” UN: International Day of Sign Languages 23 September.
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[A Dog Can Dream]

So why are we having so much trouble finding an instructor? I think it is structural. [Instructor Woes]

Supply Side

Dressage. Several folks come to the area on a regular basis. Ship-in is possible at some locations. (We got spoken to on this issue.) OTOH, I really don’t need an expert in piaffe when I’m trotting around Intro C. Waste of my time & theirs.

Eventing. Ditto. I don’t need cross-country expert if I can’t get around a handful of logs in a field. I don’t need an expert in solid fences when I’m jumping crossrails. Which leads to …

Hunter/Jumper. My impression is that it is heavily weighted towards kids with trainers. Also, small but well-funded.

When I first came down here, the adult classes had trouble filling. Adults would come to a show and be unable to ride when their classes were canceled. The association finally put the adults in the kid classes. At least you got to ride.

Most folks keep their horse at an instructor’s barn & work under that person’s program. The trainer/instructor supervises the horse’s care and trains the horse. You take lessons with this person and/or any assistant trainers at that barn.

There appears to be enough money floating around that everyone has the amount of business they want. Therefore, they have little interest in messing with a non-standard income stream, i.e. us.

Demand Side

I can say without a doubt that it is not me. (Not I?) This from someone with a massively overdeveloped sense of responsibility. How I be so sure?

The last time around, we wondered if my oversharing was causing the problem. Well, it certainly wasn’t helping. We let the agnate side of household handle the contact. (Agnate is the antonym of distaff. I had no idea.) He did all the texting and all the talking. I remained quietly in the background. Yes, I can do this. For brief periods.

We still got the raspberry.

Prior Lesson Misadventures
[Milton’s Missing Lesson]
[Looking For Lessons, The Big Nope]

I could quote chapter and verse on how many and what kind of instructors we have tried and how far we gotten with each, anything from ditching phone calls to lessons that didn’t work, see above. I don’t see a need to do that in print. It would a) spread negative energy and b) start to border on personal/libel issues. Should we meet IRL, I would be happy to dish over your brown beverage of choice. Until then, let’s just say that it has been a growth experience.

Yes, I should try again. I will. After I stomp around feeling pissy for a while.

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine

Not Riding

Awareness of the outside world. NPR: What We Know (And Don’t Know) About ‘Missing White Women Syndrome’, Demby, 2017. “News outlets might be deciding that missing white women are worth more in terms of eyeballs and ad revenue.” Article closes with thought that it may play into the perception of women as victims.
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Space for a breath.

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I forget how much time & energy I have when not riding.

Last week, we had an weather-enforced break in the riding schedule. I got caught up on house things. Will wonders never cease. [Waiting For Nicholas To Pass By]

Riding soaks up more time than I realize. I’ve said this before, probably more than once. It surprises me each time. When you are in the middle of an activity, you don’t recognize how much effort is being expended.

The travel industry has concept of shoulder seasons. The days between the high season and the off season. Trying to make the boring bits sound inviting.

I extend this to the concept of shoulder time. The time between when you are doing the thing and when you are not doing the thing. The transitions.

Let’s say a store/restaurant/friend’s house is 45 minutes away by car. That’s driving time. It doesn’t count the time it takes you to get up off the couch, find your keys, start the car, and then, at the other end, park, shut off the car, gather your bumf, and head to the front door. The time from couch to cashier/menu/friend’s couch could be well over an hour.

That’s if you are ready to go. Add more time for prying yourself out of your daytime pajamas, taking a shower, deciding on &/or finding clean clothes, and so on. A 45-drive is suddenly a two-hour project.

That’s shoulder time.

Or at least, that is shoulder time for the drive. The drive itself could be considered shoulder time for the shopping trip/dinner out/visit with friend. But I’m losing my grip on this metaphor.

The point is, it takes a while to go from sitting on the couch to sitting on the horse. Even more so than driving. Cars don’t require special clothes and equipment. Cars don’t need to be caught and groomed and feed cookies. Maybe you need to commute to the barn. Once you get home, there is showering and unwinding and eating of people cookies to get your strength back.

There is also the expenditure of mental energy. Just because I’m back home and showered doesn’t mean I am rested and ready to take on the other parts of my life.

Riding for 45 minutes does not mean that I have 23 hours and 15 minutes of the rest of the day that I can expect to use productively. I forget this.

On the upside, we have been riding enough lately that I have less anxiety about taking time off. Downtime is less guilt-ridden if one has been busy.

On the down side, when I have free time, I have time for the existential questions. What am I doing with my life? What is the purpose of … anything? What … ? These questions always exist. When I’m fiddling with horses, I don’t think about them.

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine

Riding

Awareness of the outside world. The Sacramento Bee: New aerial video shows rugged terrain, Auburn landmarks, planes attacking Bridge Fire, Caraccio, September 09, 2021. This is the area of the IRL Tevis.
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Hurricane/Tropical Storm/Tropical Depression Nicholas never got closer to us than Louisiana, but it made its feelings known. A week of light, constant rain. Just enough to keep the day damp and the ground squishy. If we had better footing or tougher horses, we could have ridden. We don’t, so we didn’t.

Turtle Power!

Where are we virtually?

Milestones. Milton. None for this week. His next milestone is the finish line.

Milestone. Rodney.

Map. Did not update this week. See below.

Data Dump

Tuesday, September 14 – 2.25 miles, 57 minutes
Sunday, September 19 – 1.08 mile, 30 minutes. Otherwise known as A Mile In The Mud. Horses handled themselves well. Mud protocol is paying off. [Working The Walk]
Monday, September 20 – 1.11 miles, 31 minutes

Did not update numbers. Too much work for too little gain. Add 3 rides and 4 miles to last week’s numbers. Rodney went from 81 total miles to 86 total miles in four miles b/c I round down for distance. Actual numbers, 81.79 miles as of last week + 4.44 miles this week = 86.23 miles total for Rodney.

My Links
Last week [Milton Leads Into The Home Stretch, Virtual Tevis, 95 and 81 Miles, 52 Days]
[VT Archives]

Official Links
Tevis Cup: Virtual Tevis 2021
RunSignUp: 2021 Tevis Cup – Virtual Western States Trail – 100 Miles in 100 Days
RunSignUp: VT results

No boots were sucked off in the staging of the mud photo. But it was a close thing. Puddle chosen for maximum dramatic effect. Horses do not walk through this.

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine

Riding

Awareness of the outside world. Reads that Norm McDonald died at the age of 61. Thinks, ‘That’s old.’ Counts on fingers. Realizes that’s self in three years. Huh.
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Struck out with another possible instructor. Schedules and shipping-in did not mesh. The horse world is not set up for AOTs anymore, at least down here.

Update. AOTs – Amateur-owner trainers. People in charge of their own horses.

We are looking to set up a group lesson for both horses, both riders. We figure we are all in about the same place, although for different reasons. Milton and Milton’s rider are green. Rodney and Rodney’s rider need to reestablish their game.

We are not looking for a unicorn, or even a zebra. We don’t need FEI instruction. Given the levels we are aiming for, both riders have enough experience and way too much theory stuffed into their heads. We need eyes on the ground and someone who is not our spouse to tell us to sit up. An understanding of the inner workings of the local h/j rules would be a plus.

You wouldn’t think it would be this hard to find someone to take our money. Yet, here we are.

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine

Images

Awareness of the outside world. The plan was to use math to make art. Ended up being a deep dive down the rabbit hole. So much cool stuff out there.
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Process Notes. Programmed font, the idea being having shapes to work with rather learning thru drawing all those fiddly curves. Inkscape/GIMP.

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Remember Spirograph?

Digital Spirograph. Inspiral Web by Nathan Friend. Is also an app, pictured above.

Physical Spirograph. Smithsonian, National Museum of American History: Toy, Spirograph

NMAH: The Spirograph and kinematic models: Making math touchable (and pretty), Shell-Gellasch, 2014

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Images. American Mathematical Society: Mathematical Imagery. A list of galleries, including, AMS: 2021 Mathematical Art Exhibition.

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Book.  Crocheting Adventures with Hyperbolic Planes: Tactile Mathematics, Art and Craft for all to Explore, by Daina Taimina (2nd CRCPress, 2018). Taiminia’s blog. Hyperbolic Crochet – some fiber for thoughts about art, math, crochet, and all the various threads in our lives.

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Book. The Guardian: Why the history of maths is also the history of art. Review of Mathematics and Art,: A Cultural History by Lyn Gamwell, (Princeton 2015). Publisher’s page

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Search tip. math art -> kid stuff, mathematical art -> adult stuff, although not “adult” stuff. The mind reels, although it’s probably been done, everything has. (I did Google it. Mostly tutor/teacher nonsense. Has anyone noticed a lack of imagination in adult material? Especially hentai where one is only limited by what one can draw. Same tropes, offered in cartoon form. But I digress. Honest, I don’t stalk p*rn. It’s hard to read any amount of web comics without coming across hentai. But I continue to digress.)

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Hex Colors. Because I’m going to want to remember what I did up there.

FF0000, 00FF00, 0000FF
000000, 888888, FFFFFF
00FFFF, FF00FF, FFFF00

“The first two represent red, the middle two represent green, and the last two represent blue.” Seth Flowers: RGB for Beginners. Also graphics that explain shades of black & shades of red.

I found several Hex color sliders without looking too hard. This one shows the component colors on the sides. cknuckels.com: RGB Color Slider Tool

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine