Virtual Brush Box

Fit To Ride

Awareness of the outside world. Official Fundraising Partner Special Olympics Massachusetts.
~~~

B.A.A. 5K
Shelby Iron Works Park
April 18, 2021
Distance – 5K
Time – 1:19:55 h:m:s

The Walk
The park is a large field. No perimeter path. I wandered hither and thither until the GPS said I was done.

First 3K was a snap. That seems to have been my distance at that point. Over 3 km was more work than it used to be. OTOH, my hip didn’t hurt, so rest helped there.

Made good time, given the lack of path, the number of pictures taken & and the day after a show. [Back In The Ring]. (Photos not posted due to being exceedingly average.)

5:01 km at car door. Good planning or what?! No extra steps here.

The Park

I could not come up with anything thematic, so I went some place new.

The park is a 12-acre plot of land with scattered buildings and assorted, large, metal oddments. Given the role of industry in our society, industrial history ought to get more love than it does.

Confederate monument on site. Yes, museum. Yes, part of history. Shelby Iron Works began in 1842. The iron industry makes iron for things that need iron, such as warships and cannons (Wiki). Doesn’t come up as much as one might think around here. Birmingham is more about post-bellum iron. Sloss Furnaces was built in 1882. Still, this tainted the entire site for me, particularly given the florid language – which I will not quote – and the fact that it was erected in 2013.

Le sigh. The life of a bright blue dot in a deep red state.

The Links
Facebook: Shelby Iron Works Park
Shelby County Historical Society: Shelby Iron Works Park
Shelby County Historical Society: Shelby iron works now, photos
Wiki: Shelby Iron Company

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine

Riding Journal

Awareness of the outside world. Palestine vs. Israel, Police Reform on the anniversary of George Floyd’s death, the Republican Party imploding/taking over, San Jose and elsewhere. It’s been a week, hasn’t it. I haven’t said much here. My personal pendulum has swung back to not seeing the point of contributing to the cacophony. “I’m outraged. Good for me. Has anyone’s life been improved by this? No. Has the situation moved forward in the slightest? No.” [Speaking Out 2016] I will heave myself back to the active side shortly. [Poll 2020].
~~~

This is not a jump.
It’s a piece of cake. To be
Trotted quietly.

~~~
Syllable Counter

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine

Farm Life

Awareness of the outside world. I believe the science. However, I am considering making masks my new normal. Covid is not the only thing out there. I kinda like the idea of not breathing in what you are gacking out. Johns Hopkins: Flu Cases Decline Dramatically This Season, Shapiro, 03/01/2021.
~~~

We shall try, once again, to grow something. Pictured, day 1. 50% store-bought dirt, 50% pasture compost. Old feed tubs converted to plant beds.

Tomatoes because 1) they are easy? 2) While I abhor red sauce in all its forms, I will eat a garden tomato. Old German in the left bin; Beefmaster in the right.

Let the agricultural experiment begin!

Down The Rabbit Hole
Neither type is specifically listed in the database of the World Tomato Society. I tell you, there is an association for everything. The rest of the links were sales pages.

Process note. “The hexadecimal color code #ce2939 is a shade of pink-red. In the RGB color model … This color has an approximate wavelength of 618.62 nm. Encycolorpedia: Pantone / PMS 18-1660 TCX / Tomato / #ce2939 Hex Color Code. The other choice the Internet came up with was more tomato the soup than tomato the fruitable.

Survey saaays. While biologically a fruit, tomatoes are treated as vegetables because we don’t eat them for dessert. “Tomatoes are fruits that are considered vegetables by nutritionists.” Britannica: Is a Tomato a Fruit or a Vegetable? Petruzzello, no date.

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine

Horsekeeping

Awareness of the outside world. In honor of Towel Day, advice from the master. BBC Radio 4: 42 Douglas Adams quotes to live by.

[T-Shirts for the Barn]
~~~

Rodney’s left front foot four weeks after shoeing. Stomp. Stomp. Stomp.

His right front shoe and both of Milton’s shoes are about what one would expect after that length of time, i.e. slightly raised clenches, due in a few weeks.

Time to switch over to the summer shoeing schedule.

At least being turned out in booties is having appears to be having the effect of keeping his shoes on. Usually by this time in the year he has pulled at least one shoe. [Booties Bonanza]

On a related note, every time I intended to type SHOE above, my fingers came out with SHOW. Including just there. Digital parapraxis.

Second related note. While I am perfectly capable of taking random pictures of my horse’s foot for a blog post, these were taken to update my blacksmith.

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine

Horsekeeping

Awareness of the outside world. Corporate sponsorship/PR efforts include organizations and individual riders. Absorbine: Ride with the Best.
~~~

This is what happens to your Bigeloil^® bottles when you don’t clean out the dark recesses of your tack area often enough.

Note expiration date. Also note, the bottle was old enough to have still have the old formulation.

It got tossed. Anything expired got tossed. Anything rotted got tossed. So many, many things got tossed.

When Previous Horse passed away in 2009, I just stopped. I didn’t store things away in a tidy fashion. I simply stopped using them. When I got back in gear, it was easier to move forward. We finally cleaned up.

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine

Images

Dentzel Carousel Coloring Book: About the Cat

Down The Rabbit Hole

[Spirit Of Mississippi, Toomsuba, MS]
Meridian MS chose carousel horses for their version of Cows On Parade, Around Town Carousels Abound. Probably because of the town attraction, “Both the carousel and the carousel House are National Historic Landmarks.” Visit Meridian: Dentzel Carousel.

🎠
Emojipedia: Carousel Horse

LEGO sets. Brothers Brick: Grand Carousel, Brothers Brick: Carousel, with designer commentary.

The Battery Conservancy: Seaglass Carousel

National Carousel Association

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine

Words

Fiction Bit The First
Character One: Like the song says, life is a carousel, old chum.

Character Two: Cabaret.

Character One: What?

Character Two: ‘Life is a cabaret, old chum.’ That’s what the song says, The word is cabaret.

Character One: That doesn’t make any sense. Life is much more likely to go up and down and around in circles than to break into a song and dance routine.

Character Two: (shrug)

Fiction Bit The Second
I carve carousel animals.

When I tell people what I do, I’m generally met with dead silence. People understand the words but have trouble parsing how a grown human can make a living that way. Then I get one of two responses.

Disbelief. People do that? How? What? Followed by embarrassment at being shocked. Sometimes the disbelief is followed by more disbelief. The latter usually comes from family members who think I should be doing other things with my life.

Or.

Enthusiasm. Wow! That’s awesome! … wait for it …. “When I was a kid …” I’ve heard every variation of the childhood carousel story. I can usually identify which carousel they are talking about. I don’t mind, if people didn’t like carousels, I wouldn’t have a job.

Kate said neither. She glanced down at my hands.

“Power tools or hand?”

It was my turn to be startled into silence.

“Um. Both. As needed.”

She nodded.

Other People’s Fiction
From the bookshelf. Carousel Tides by Sharon Lee. Baen 2010. First in the Carousel Tides series. Read as an ebook. Magic is among us. Carousel animals are special. The tropes are familiar enough to qualify as a comfort read; different enough to be interesting. Name above in honor of the CT protagonist.

Down The Rabbit Hole

And the seasons they go round and round
And the painted ponies go up and down

The Circle Game

Joni Mitchel: Song Lyrics, The Circle Game. With background story.
~~~

I like to catch brass rings on the merry go round
The one that goes up and down
…
While my sweety in the rear says I ride like Paul Revere,
On the merry, merry go round.

Merry Go Round

YMCA CAMP LOOWIT CAMPFIRE SONGS: Campfire Song Index, MERRY GO ROUND

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine