Virtual Brush Box

Riding Journal

 
Awareness of the outside world. As a kid in the ’70s during first wave feminism, I always thought it was unfair that I could choose to wear pants but a boy could not choose to wear a dress.
~~~

Horze Moulin Crystal Handle Dressage Whip from Riding Warehouse.

The gentleman who ordered this whip did not read the description carefully enough. He was looking for a long whip that would reach Milton’s tush without the rider letting go of the reins. Check. He also wanted a gentle popper that emphasized noise over force. Check. He did not look to the other end sufficiently.

I have nothing against men bearing crystals. Billy Porter could totally pull this off. My husband is so not a sparkle person. Even less than I am.

Am I wrong to be this amused?

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine

Words

Eventually he would be known as Tiktaalik roseae, a ‘fishapod’. We will call him Albert.

In a shallow lake in what would become Canada, Albert swam back and forth in the shallows, giving the fisheye to the scattering of bugs just out of reach on the shore.

If you took the time to hang around with the old fish, they talked about days when the fish had to swim deeper and faster to catch food. To Albert it was so much gillwash. His grandfather was always going on about how much better things were in their day: the fish were faster, the food was more abundant, the young fish were more respectful. Albert could repeat the lecture verbatim. Particularly the part about being more respectful.

Fish ate smaller fish that swam in the warm shallows. Occasionally, they would feast on bugs that had been caught in the plants as the land moved down twice a day. The land moved back up, the plants receded, the fish waited. It had been that way all of Albert’s life.

Except that Albert was hungry. Prey fish had been scarce lately. Low land wasn’t due for a few more hours. He wanted to eat now. Even when the land got low enough, he wasn’t sure it would get down far enough to bring this particular small bundle of plants within reach. It was that lovely dark greenish-purple stuff that housed such tasty, meaty bugs. If it did come within reach, any food would be gone in a flash when the whole school found it.

Sure, he had nosed as a younger fish. Everyone did. Friends would dare you to stick your nose up into that curious non-wetness. Albert’s best friend had held stuck his entire head into it for 14 tail-strokes before he collapsed. Albert hadn’t done it in years.

Now he wondered if he could combine nosing with a small fin push and reach plants before they came down. He swam and pondered, pondered and swam.

Suddenly, he revved his tail for several beats, took a big gillful of water and lunged up the land. It was farther than he thought. One fin push. He tried not to panic at the empty feeling in his gills. He drew in, but no comfortable surge of water washed through. A second fin push. He was into the non-wetness with everything but his tail fins. He grabbed a bug and faded back into the water.

Albert swam away with a proud fin-waggle. He’d never heard of a fish doing what he had just done.

Two fin prints glittered in the sand. They would leave no mark after the next high tide. The planet would never be the same.
~~~
Reposted from [Off Topic:GMiFE] 2015.

Horsekeeping

Lucky enough to have a horse

 
Awareness of the outside world. Am aware of the date. Torn between holding my breath and can’t believe we are having this conversation.
~~~

 
Our new hose nozzle is built backwards. You turn it on by flipping the handle forward. This is wrong. Also, you can that a handle?

Firefighting nozzles release water when you pull back on the handle. This is so that your instinctive reaction, i.e. to pull back, will add water to a situation rather than suddenly deprive you of water just when you might be needing it most.

This is good and proper and the way all nozzles should behave. Even mini-me versions used in pastures. [New Toy]

I had not realized how indoctrinated to this I had become. It feels awkward every time I use the new one. I may need to buy a correct nozzle.

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine

Riding Journal

If you’re riding a horse, you’ve already won

 
Awareness of the outside world. World Wildlife Day 2021, Forests and Livelihoods: Sustaining People and Planet.
~~~

 
Rodney gets tense in the sandbox.

We will head over to Full Circle Horse Park to stand and look and walk and trot until Rodney no longer gets tense in the sandbox.

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine

Horsekeeping

Lucky enough to have a horse

 
Awareness of the outside world. Drive-Safely.net: The Top 5 Defensive Driving Tips. Caveat. I have not explored the site extensively. What I have read seems reasonable.
~~~

Lende shipping boots from Carousel Tack Shoppe.

I’m old enough to remember back when shipping boots were verboten. One must use bandages and wraps. Shipping boots aren’t safe/will fall off/will cause the decline of western civilization as we know it. Then Lende came out with their deluxe version. Suddenly, shipping boots were okay.

I’m old school enough that I remained dubious over the years. I faithful rolled and wrapped and rerolled my double-length shipping wraps. Even after Milton came down from Canada in his padded shipping boots, I wasn’t convinced. Milton shipped places first, so we used his boots. When Rodney shipped by himself, I used my wraps. Eventually, I tried the strap-on boots for Rodney. Not so bad. Then we started shipping them together. Two horses meant boots for one, wraps for the other.

Hmmm.

Major difference in effort.

The boots seemed to do everything that my wraps did.

I caved.

Gotta admit, eight boots on and off goes much faster than a set of wraps.

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine