Virtual Brush Box

Words

Awareness of the outside world. Recent reads. *Fortune and Glory* by Janet Evanovich, Stephanie Plum #27 (Atria 2020); *Masquerade in Lodi* by Lois McMaster Bujold, Penric & Desdemona #9 (Kindle(?) 2020); *A Blessing of Unicorns: * by Elizabeth Bear, narrated by Zehra Jane Naqvi, Sub-Inspector Ferron #2, (Audible 2020). Clearly, I am in the mood for light. Also series, for some reason. Although, I found Ferron #2 before reading #1. That’s two ebooks/novellas and one audio book. I do read in codex. The last one I finished isn’t one I care to broadcast. A great premise that devolved into dragons. That’s trips the cliche meter almost as hard as vampires. But I digress.
Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine Walcott
~~~
I am not the magic police.

I am not Peter Grant, the debonair magician’s apprentice. I don’t study Latin. I don’t swan about London with sexy river gods. I can’t will a fireball into existence. I wish.

Magic is common. We all do it. A salesperson who can sell ice in the Antarctic? That’s Charm. A brilliant carpenter or a person good with animals? That’s Touch. We all manipulate the universe around us to some extent. It is not a special, exotic realm open only to the chosen few.

Occasionally, a person becomes conscious of that which is subconscious. They realize that they have direct access to the levers of the universe.

That’s when we go in to have a chat. We explain that those fascinatingly attractive levers are long and delicately balanced. Too much force on one end will cause said lever to swing around and whack one on the back of the head.

We have a Power Point. It’s not pretty.

That’s generally enough to scare people straight. We keep an eye on them anyway.

Occasionally a person finds a way to have the teeter-totter of the universe hit the back of someone else’s head.

That’s when I go in. Or someone like me.

I have no magic. None. Nada. I can’t do a spell consciously or subconsciously. Unlike squibs in the Potterverse, lack of magic is not a source of shame. You see, the flip side is that magic has no effect on me. None. Nada. Hit me with high-wattage Charm; I will just stand there and blink at you.

This makes me valuable when someone is misusing magic. There’s no point to sending a squad after an Evil Villain only to have them cave the first time E.V. smiles at them.

So I go in. I’m immune.

The sort of person who is willing to push the consequences of their actions onto others is also the sort of person who gets disconcerted when their big party trick suddenly stops working.

This gives me time to persuade them of the error of their ways, whether they want to be persuaded or not.

Of course, I’m human. I bleed. A person wishing me harm could simply shoot me. That’s why I wear a bulletproof vest to these little chats.

Okay, maybe I am the magic police.
~~~fin~~~

Photography

 
Awareness of the outside world. Did you know there was a Bureau of Outdoor Recreation? According to Wiki, BOR -> Heritage Conservation and Recreation Service -> National Park Service. Put that way, it makes sense.

~~~
Taken during my weekly 5k walk, this one at Joe Tucker Park, Helena, Alabama. No bling. Have gotten into the habit of walking a 5k each week, whether or not a race is available. Finding a plethora of civic recreation spaces in my area.

According to the Helena Museum, Joe Tucker was a local councilman.

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine Walcott

Fit To Ride

 
Awareness of the outside world. The county-by-county election map is fascinating. Most states, red or blue, are blue dots in a sea of red.
~~~

Virtual New Balance 5th Avenue Mile
Official – September 4 to 13, 2020
Me – September 13, 2020
My location – pasture
Time & pace – 17:15 min
Placing – leisurely, see box
Tracking App – Strava
No physical swag
Free entry

Race Results

Digital finisher’s bib.

Last weekend was the TSC New York City Marathon. The desire to walk the associated 5K through Manhattan was what started my 5k idea. [Proof of Concept]

Alas this year, no IRL New York for anyone. Double alas, they had a Virtual Abbott Dash to the Finish Line 5K, but they had it without me. Back when I was looking at races/walks for the second half of the year, all I found was a NYC 5k that was tied up with two other races. This mile on Fifth Avenue was the closest I could get.

The virtual Fifth Avenue mile was fun, as I have walked up and down most of that street over the years.

Photo from 2018 trip, 57th & 5th. [Armchair Travel Opportunity]

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine Walcott

For The Record

 
Awareness of the outside world. Hurricane Zeta relief. Not everyone had it as easy as we did. The American Red Cross of Alabama and Mississippi: Ways to Donate. New Orleans & Louisiana, NOLA Ready.
~~~
Hurricane Zeta had spun down to a Tropical Storm by the time it blew past us early Thursday morning, October 29, 2020. We had no power from the wee smalls on Thursday until the following Sunday afternoon.

What was it like to live without power for almost four days? Mostly a cross between an adventure & an inconvenience.

Pluses & Non-minuses
Local. Our part of the county was hit hard by outages. The nearest town was completely dark for several days. North of us had power the entire time, or got it back quickly. Plenty of places to get food or recharge our devices.

Local. Our nextdoor neighbors lost power for an hour. They are linked to the power line on the cross street. We heard the the power company was prioritizing polling places. Our polling station is on the cross street. May or may not be why neighbor had power.

Weather. No need for heat or AC. Since it was slightly chilly, we could exercise without ending up a sweaty mess. A shower would have been lovely, but you could at least stand to be in the same room with yourself.

Internet. We had. Reading. Surfing. Crossword Puzzles. Checking power outage page. Connection to the world. Charged by driving about or by visiting places with power.

Flashlights. I am the uptight sort that has emergency supplies on hand as a matter of course. This includes a rechargeable flashlight with enough power to illuminate barn chores. Charged as above.

Food. Charcuterie. Fruit. Bread. I’m good. Splurged on horse show cookies for morale. [Cookies]

Grill for hot meals. Although it took us longer to think of this than I care to admit.

Cooler with ice to keep cold things cold. Restocked daily. Not all that different from life in a horse trailer. [Primitive Camping]

Lights. Magnetic, battery-operated units from horse trailer.

Chores. A time out of time. No electricity for laundry. No hot water for dishes. Enough to deal with that randomized guilt background noise was on mute. Sweet.

News. The news was easier to take as text on my phone than the sound, light, and motion of television, even if the content was identical. I had not realized how much the delivery method affected the impact.

Duration. Once they started predicting Monday evening for return to power, we knew we were in for it. Our location seems to fall to the bottom of any triage list.

Daytime. We had reasonable daylight the entire time. By the time DST brought on early darkness, we had power.

Overall. Really we don’t do that much. If we can fuss with the horses and go for a bike ride, we good. A rainy day messes with our plans more than a power outage, or a global pandemic for that matter. We did our thing during the day. When it got dark, we went to bed.

First thing we did when the lights came on? Stopped running about trying to get all the chores done before dark.

I don’t think the horses noticed. Overhead light? Flashlight? Whatever. Where’s my dinner?

Minuses & Weirdnesses
Lights. The big one. Being in the dark. Remembering to take a light with you when you went into another room. Reaching for the light switch. Over and over.

Appliances. Fridge. Sneaked cold soda on days one and two. Day three, onwards, left it shut. Tossed anything spoilable.

Appliances. Cooking. Since I do not understand the mysteries of producing food, I can only assume this was a problem.

Cell phone. Battery ran down faster from accessing a more distant tower. I did not know this was a thing. Makes sense. Usage rate back to normal. As a side effect, phone is now unencumbered by many passive uses of battery life.

Hot coffee. A daily quest. Since I like my caffeine cold, I’m easy, see cooler. House coffee drinker switched to iced coffee. Not perfect but better than convenience store hot coffee.

Hot water. I use hot showers to get clean, to get warm, and/or as as heat therapy. Missed me some showers.

Hot food. Hot chocolate on Saturday morning was my first hot food in two days. Blissful to ingest heat, independent of caloric requirements.

Surprise. In the lead up, all the weather folks were predicting minor tree damage, no expected problems. The suddenly they were saying, ‘Holy hurricane, Batman!’ and we had trees down everywhere. I don’t know that we would have done anything differently. Maybe replaced the batteries in one of the temporary lights, if there had been any batteries left in the state.

Duration. Would have been nice to know that we where in for the long haul. You behave differently if you expect power later in the day versus days from now.

Conversations with self. I’ll sit down to watch … no, I won’t. I’ll turn on the … no, I won’t. I’ll do … no, I won’t. Over and over.

Desktop. Shut down. Had to blog from phone. I’ve whined about covered that already. [Card]

Conversations with self, the aftermath. Walk into room. Reach for switch. Remind yourself it’s a no go. Then remind yourself that the power is back on and you can turn on a light. Wait? What? Over and over.

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine Walcott

Riding Journal

 
Awareness of the outside world. Election day in the U.S. Update. I voted. I chose to vote on the day to boost the immediate, inarguable results. I predicted that my small, white, rural polling station would not be the scene of crowds or disturbances. I was correct. Short line that moved fast. More crowded than usual, but I voted with hubby on his way to work rather than going later in the day. 10 minutes soup to nuts. And now we wait. Thank you to all poll workers.
~~~

Overall
Milton has a slightly puffy left hind fetlock. It is either a tweak that will be over in 24 hours or a 3-week saga. Time will tell. Rodney and I are pressing on to meet the original deadline. Milton will catch up under the extension, if needed.

Milestones

Lower Quarry, Mile 94. Image source & additional photos, The Tevis Cup: Lower Quarry.

Daily Log
We are doing our rides in 1/3 or 1/2-mile laps around our pasture. Link to standings, Doctor Whooves, Major Milton, All. Daily screenshots from VTevis results page.

Wednesday, October 27, 2020. No ride. Had weather and time. Decided discretion was better part of valor. Tropical Storm Zeta was pushing up from the coast. Horses do not like pressure changes, at least ours don’t.

Thursday, October 28, 2020. Today 2.09 miles. Total 92.64 miles. Time 53 min. Pace, walking. No more streetviews. Map has us at the finish line.

Stars! So many variables they have objected to in the past. Cow conversation. Tractor in cow pasture. Wind – seriously, we thought about calling it a day wind. Zeta was long gone but had a few tail swishes left, I guess. Muddy footing. Dusk setting in. They sauntered on.

Saturday, October 31, 2020. Milton today 0.06 miles; total 92.07 miles. Rodney today .0.06 tracked + 0.5 estimated, total 93.2.

Gorgeous day. Crispy, sunny. Everyone rested, warm, relaxed. The start of what looked to be a lovely, long-mileage ride … and Milton was lame. Not badly. Just enough for injured reserve. Ring work with Rodney for ~30 minutes. Figured half a mile was fair.

Rodney was not pleased to have landed back in the ring. I be a trail horse now. It only took 92 miles.

Sunday, November 1, 2020. Rodney today 0.5 estimated. Total 93.7 miles. Stepping Stone Farm for liberty work & ring work. 1/2 hour ridden = 1/2 mile. Probably.

Monday, November 2, 2020. Rodney today 1 warm up lap in hand, not counted, three laps tracked at 0.98 miles. The GPS was grumpy today. Total 94.68.

Recent Posts
Mine
[Miles 86-90]

Others
County Island: The Tevis Trail: And Darkness Falls

[Tevis post archives]

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine Walcott

Sunday afternoon, we have power! Yay!! Kermit Dance!!! OTOH, while the house has power, I don’t. Long weekend. Lacking the oomph to finish the planned post. Here’s one from the vault.
~~~

Adventures in Saddle Seat

Enjoy the Drive

 

[Foto Friday: SSF Fun Show Photos]

For a while I drove a horse named Big. He was an excellent horse for a beginner driver. Knew everything. Done everything. Had opinions.

Big: We have walked long enough, time to trot.

Me: Guess we aren’t waiting for the announcer today. Second place it is.

Big: I’m not ready to come back to a regular trot. I’m going to rock this extended trot a while longer.

Me: Okay then, you let me know.

[Show Photos, Georgia Fall Classic 2015]

A while back, Big and I were in a class with another Stepping Stone Farm entry. I had been told to line up in front of the assistant trainer as my header.

Class ends. We turn in. I aim for assistant trainer.

Big: I line up on Courtney.

Me: No, today you line up over there.

Big: I don’t know how you horse show, but *I* line up on Courtney.

I’ve told this story often. Ha. Ha. Silly horse.

[Show Photos by Shiflet]

Flash forward.

Driving class. Two SSF entries. I am driving a horse who does not have Big’s auto-pilot. I am focused, yeah, let’s go with that, focused.

Time to line up. I turn in.

Driver Me: I line up on Courtney.

Voice of Reason: There is someone in your way.

Driver Me: I line up on Courtney.

Voice of Reason: How about that person over there.

Driver Me: I line up on Courtney.

Voice of Reason: You know, the *owner* of the horse you are driving?

Driver Me: I line up on Courtney.

The headers swapped places. It was easier than redirecting me.

Sam & Big
[Show Report, Georgia Fall Classic 2015]

Another example of Big having an opinion, Been There, Done That: Hello?.

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine Walcott

Because what this house needs right now is LESS light. Not.

Here’s what our power company had to say, as of Saturday afternoon:

Your Power is: OFF

Estimated Repair Time:11:45PM CST on 11/02/2020

That’s tomorrow night. Five days total. Chart above is three days in. Power company update is actually an improvement. Before, they were saying our power was on and noted a restoration date from power interuption a few weeks ago. At least the problem is on their radar now.

BSF, we’re fine. Jonesing for hot water, but fine. Cooler with ice for cold. Enough open stores for hot coffee and food.

I’m not sure the horses have noticed.

Stay safe. Stay sane.

Katherine Walcott