Virtual Brush Box

Riding Journal

Awareness of the outside world. “The true horror is the fact that we’ve known about all of this for generations.” Informative, horrifying, lengthy Facebook post about Residential Schools by Jessica O’Neill, “a Canadian and a historian.” Extensive source list at end. Assist to friend who shared on FB.
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… pause to regroup …

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Doctor Whooves & Major Milton are signed up to once again challenge themselves over hill and dale with the 2021 Tevis Cup – Virtual Western States Trail – 100 Miles in 100 Days, Sat July 24 – Mon November 1, 2021. I jest, but that’s a lot of miles for two pasture puffs.

Women’s Classic Endurance Riding Tights from Rackers.

I have thoughts about this year’s race.

For You

Last year, I got quite excited. I tracked our data. I reported it. All of it.

I have to admit, even I find those data-heavy posts from last year to be hard slogging.

This year, I am still excited. I will still keep track of all our data. I will attempt to make the reporting of said data more palatable.

Granted, this blog is a journal but a journal offered for public consumption. There is an implied commitment in return for your investment of time. I will endeavor to entertain.

For Me/Us

+ As with any long term project, we plan to build up an early lead, as we can. Need to leave time for bad weather & bad footing, our annual routine vet appointment, mysterious foot ailments, and all the other reasons our two find to take time off.

+ Last year we ended on a walking note. We would like to mix in more trotting, and possibly cantering.

+ Do 10% of the miles off site. We managed a bit over three off-site miles last year by wandering around at two barns where we school. This year, maybe an actual trail ride on an actual trail property. A dog can dream.

+ Jod pants with pocket for phone in order to track miles, shown above. While I am planning not to obsess down to the hundredths the way I did last year, we still need a general idea of how far we go each ride.

I was unsure about carrying a phone on my leg. Then I left my phone at the barn. Walked backed to barn. Looked around barn. Started to get annoyed. Realized the phone had been in the leg pocket the entire time. That’ll work.

Outro
For all instances of “planning”, insert “hoping.” This is horses we’re talking about.

[VT Archives]

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine

Horsekeeping

Awareness of the outside world. So Alabama; so the nation. “Kay Ivey didn’t ignore education as part of her campaign. We did.” AL.com: What Kay Ivey’s trans bashing really revealed, Whitmire, Jul 02, 2021.
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Horse treats are all about operator attributes. While horses have opinions, see below, most horses will eat most treats. Therefore, the difference is how the treats handle.

Peppermints

Plus. Portable & durable.

Plus or Minus, depending. Human food.

Minus. Unwrapping gets more difficult with time. Older mints decompose into sticky, melty, messes.

Best usage. Travel. Long-duration pockets.

Life hack. Store peppermints in air-tight containers to keep them fresh.

Big Bag O’Treats

Whatever is small & cheap at the feed store.

Plus. More bang for the buck.

Minus. Crumble in your pocket. Turn to dust in at the bottom of the bag.

Best usage. At home.

Fancy Treats

[Blogger Gift Exchange]

Plus. Yummy. One assumes. They certainly look tasty.

Minus. Big. Fragile. Expensive.

Usage. Tried to use as rewards for loading. Alas, the second bag did mot prove as successful. Rodney gets distracted and doesn’t eat. Milton is more about quantity than taste.

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Props to the friend who instigated this conversation. BTW, I use the vague “friend” instead of naming specific people a) for privacy reasons. I make the bet that people who are not named and get upset about being overlooked will be less upset than people are named and don’t want to be & b) b/c I often lack the lead time to ask which they want.

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine

Images

Awareness of the outside world. National Archives: Did You Know… Independence Day Should Actually Be July 2? 2005.
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The Photo
Back in the mid-90s, I volunteered briefly with the local Red Cross. There had been a tornado to the north. Could I go up and take pictures? Why, yes I could.

I remember feeling bad about having such a good(?) time.

Photographically, it was fantastic. Dramatic incident at every turn. It was hard to take a bad picture. We were outside, on clear and sunny day. Technical issues were non-existent. The area was still closed to the public. No encountering people dealing with life-changing grief. It was easy to get caught up in the the photography and forget the cost.

This was pre-digital, so the originals are around somewhere. They may have been shot as slides that the RC developed. Raise your hand if you remember having to develop film. If they were slides, I would have printed up a handful that I liked. Mental archives pull up a photo of a Red Cross volunteer serving rescue workers.

At banquet shortly after, a general slideshow featured many of the photos I had taken that day. I remember being quite pleased/flattered.

The Calendar
Around that time, we decided our Christmas present to family members would be a calendar using our own photos. We scanned every photo, designed every box, and placed every number. It was a beast.

Calendar-creating programs came out shortly after, so I got the feeling that the recipients never appreciated the effort that went into making the *!@# things and the whole project sunk without a trace.

And now it lives on as a blog post 25 years later.

The Rabbit Hole
Good Flag, Bad Flag, 16-page booklet complied by Ted Kay, available as free download from NAVA.org. A quick and well-illustrated overview of five principles of flag design with examples of good and bad.

A Flag Worth Dying For: The Power and Politics of National Symbols, by Tim Marshall, 2017. Full disclosure. I read and was quite taken with the first book, see below. I have started but not finished the flag book. Given the title, one can reasonably expect a certain level of confrontation in the text. This was more negativity than I was up for at that moment. All his books are/will be in my TBR pile, including a probable rereading of book 1.

Politics of Place series by Tim Marshall (S&S publisher page, Twitter)

Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Explain Everything About the World 2015

A Flag Worth Dying For: The Power and Politics of National Symbols 2017.

The Age of Walls: How Barriers Between Nations Are Changing Our World 2018

The Power of Geography: Ten Maps That Reveal the Future of Our World 2021

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine

Words

Dear (CLASSIFIED):

You will be infiltrating the (CLASSIFIED) compound as a stable hand. Therefore, we have equipped you with grooming tools that can also be used for defense/offense. All tools are employable for their original purpose. This should help you get them past security. If you can’t talk a box of brushes past a bunch of security guards, you aren’t the spy we think you are.

The technical capacities are fingerprint locked. This way, should another stable hand inadvertently pick up a brush, they won’t stab themselves. Still, please keep track of all items, both for your safety and our bottom line. Will expect an accounting for all equipment during your post-mission debriefing.

Also, remember that you will need a few moments to engage the mechanisms. Please plan your mayhem accordingly.

Assist to our operative D&T for suggesting the hoofpick as a weapon. [Ultimate]

Audio Curry Combs. Place one comb over each ear. This will create a long-distance receiver that should enable you to pick up sounds up to half a mile away.

Doom Dandy Brush. The long bristles camouflage the blade of a jackknife. It can be used alone or combined with the handle of the brush to form a short sword.

Compact Computer Finishing Brush. Wooden back of the large brush flips open to reveal wireless screen and keyboard.

Flying Hoofpick of Death. Handle is counter weighted. Tossing the hoofpick at speed end-over-end will create a single-bladed ninja throwing star.

Jet Box. The bottom of the box contains a small jet propulsion unit. Turn the box upside down. Engage jet. Hang by the handle. This will carry you a short distance. While it is not strong enough for sustained flight, the jet will get you across a wide gap or control a descent from height, such as the upper floors or roof of a building.

Pitchfork Dart Gun. Tines can be launched one at a time or all at once in a burst.

Broom Shield. Bristles will spread out in a circle to form an electro-ion barrier that will deflect fists, knives, and small-caliber bullets.

Signed,
Your friends from the end of the alphabet

Fit To Ride

Awareness of the outside world. Tri-State Running Company was the presenting sponsor of the virtual 5K. From their website, they appear to be the sort of fixture of the local running community that is interesting in actually getting people running, as well as selling shoes. Shop local. Shop local that cares.
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Spring Virtual Flying Pig 5K
Irondale Furnace Trail
June 14, 2021
Distance – 5K
Time – 1:15:16
Placing, overall – 611/630
Placing, gender – 423/436
App – Runkeeper

The Walk

Was able to knock out the distance without having done much walking recently. I’ve suspected that I have a 5K walk in my back pocket. Good to know.

Last year [The Strolling Pigventure]

The Park

Since it was summer, I chose a trail with shade.

Bham Wiki: Cahaba Iron Works

Trail in ritzy section of Bham. Houses to the right have scenic view from the hillside. Houses to the left have large back lawns running down to the creek. None of them cheap, I suspect.

The Pigs

[Flying Pigs]

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine

Riding Journal

Awareness of the outside world. Got pulled out of my comfort zone with a vengeance. Calendar exploded. Have had activities that require in-personal socialization every day this week. Two today. Some good; some less good. That’s a lot for me even in the before times. Now, exhausting. How is everyone else doing?
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For visual interest, unrelated scenery from yesterday’s walk. Odenville City Park.

… and now back to our regularly scheduled programming …

Things we don’t do at home and then expect our horses to cope with at shows.

+ Waiting around forever

+ Warming up and then standing by the ingate before performing

+ Riding multiple times in a day

Which is by way of saying we did two-a-days last week. Not for any sound theoretical reason. We backed into it.

Ride in the am to avoid the worst of the bugs. Mostly laps & trot sets. [Summer Hours]

Quick session of ring work in the evening to take advantage of dry grass, i.e. non-dewy, non-skid footing.

We’ll see if it continues.

While we are on the subject, other things we do at shows but don’t practice at home.

+ Braids for horse

+ Fancy show clothes for rider

+ Eating for **** out of a cooler

No wonder we are all exhausted after a show.

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine

Horsekeeping

Awareness of the outside world. ‘Tis the season. Maybe I’ll finally remember the difference. Metaphor appears to have originated with a man named Gary Lezak. TVSpy: Kansas City Meteorologist Uses Tacos to Explain Tornado Alerts, Eck, Apr. 28, 2021. Assist to Premium Internet Curation and the friend who reposted from there.

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A baker’s dozen of used curry combs, in various stages of worn. These are all the old curry combs that turned up during the le grande clean out. [Out With The Old]

They are heading off to become school horse brushes. They will get left out, stomped on, lost, and turned into mulch.

Some are still stained. They were soaked twice in soap, once in bleach. The last step may have killed the rubber on a few.

Some are worn. Better than nothing?

Some aren’t even all that worn. They are being rehomed because I am selective about my grooming supplies.

A) I like a small, palm-sized, rubber curry with the traditional concentric circles of teeth. You can see three old ones in the top right of the photo. I go thru them because …

B) I like new. With pointy teeth. That can actually dig up hair and dirt and scruff when you apply sufficient elbow grease.

What’s in your grooming box?

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine