Virtual Brush Box

Images

 
Awareness of the outside world.
Tis a gift to be simple, ’tis a gift to be free
‘Tis a gift to come down where I ought to be
And when I am in the place just right
I will be in the valley of love and delight
~~~
 

 
Exercise in drawing straight lines. What did I learn? My lines aren’t awful. Not custom car-painting straight, but not horrid. Horizontal easier than vertical or diagonal. Left-to-right/downwards is easier than right-to-left/upwards.

Inspired by Artistcoveries: As Straight as Humanly Possible.

“or just do the 5K and post once a week.” Inktober: Rules & Prompts.

Pen: Pigma Micron, various sizes
Paper: Canson Mix Media, spiral bound, 98 lb
Digitization: cell phone camera
Post-production: resized, border, & watermark in GIMP
Retouching: none

Intober [Archives]

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine Walcott

Words

Awareness of the outside world. Book rx. Deadly Education, Naomi Novik (Del Rey 2020). Ghastly premise. She makes it work. This from someone who does not enjoy ghastly. Only downside, the story pulled me along so thoroughly that I finished it in one day. Back to having nothing to read. Sigh. The curse of a gripping book.
~~~
Last year, I had a perfect month with the New York Times crossword puzzle.

I extolled it from the rooftops. [Totally Off Topic Brag]

Of course I wanted to repeat the feat, prove I was still a special rabbit. Some months were good. Some months were bad. Last month was sooooo close.

Missed by one day.

Missed by one clue.

Missed by one letter.

48 down, clue: Like the latest, in the past.

Answer: Hep

My answer: Hip

The across was no help. 50 Across, clue: Georgia who played Georgette on 1970a TV. Ingel? Engel?

Agggggggggggg.

Puzzle commentary, Rex Parker Does the NYT Crossword Puzzle: Saturday, September 19, 2020.

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine Walcott

Training Journal

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

 
Awareness of the outside world. Pondering the “plantation” situation got me thinking on the subject of mascots. When I showed up at college, we didn’t have one. The Indian symbol had been eliminated almost 10 years earlier. There was still much hand wringing and gnashing of teeth. Decades later, we still don’t have an official mascot. Turns out we have an unofficial one. Keggy the Keg was proposed as a joke. “Creating a mascot that ‘wasn’t racist, biased or sexist, yet [was] entirely unacceptable.'[4]” Wiki. It has been a huge success. “Keggy Named Top College Mascot.” Dartblog. I don’t know whether to be appalled or proud.
~~~
From Falcon Hill Farm. Interesting use of floral decorations. New to me. [Small Hop]

Also note grass-covered poles. Very hunteresque. Another new one for me.

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine Walcott

Fit To Ride

 
Awareness of the outside world. “We’re happy to announce that October 1st, the day in which the first ever postcard was sent, will henceforth be known as World Postcard Day!” Postcrossing Blog: World Postcard Day — the day to celebrate postcards.

World Postcard Day

~~~
Note. Third walk; first post. Waiting on bling for 1 & 2. Slow week in other exercise. Decided to try three 5Ks in one week.

WCS Run for the Wild
Official – Saturday, September 26, 2020
Me – Friday, September 25, 2020
Heardmont Park
Time – 59:36
Pace – 19:14
No placing
Tracking App – Runkeeper

I begin.

Concrete paths or easy off-road trails.

Water jump!

There was a walking trail (source lost to time). I never found it.

Regardless, the paths were long & straight whichever way I went. I was able to motor along.

From the Bronz Zoo website. Run for the Wild – Run Day

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine Walcott

Training Journal

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

 
Awareness of the outside world. I have deliberately not followed the “plantation” brouhaha in eventing. I lack the bandwidth for horse-world drama at the moment. Respect your fellow humans. Change the name. Lose the mascot. Take down the statue. Move on.
~~~

We went somewhere!

Gasps of shock.

We took Rodney over to school at Falcon Hill Farm. Just like we used to do, back when we were normal people.

FHF was the last place we went before the world shut down. Literally. It was a Sunday in mid-March. Husband’s work was scheduled to close on Wednesday. As we were getting ready to leave FHF, he was notified that work was closing Monday, the next day. Everyone had one day to come in, get their lives arranged, and then go home. [Super Duper]

It was spooky.

It was six months ago.

The high point of this trip was cantering out of a line of tiny, tiny crossrails. (Ear pic recreated from the ground.)

After trotting over the first crossrail, Rodney picked up a calm, gentlemanly canter.

Horse: I think we should canter this.

Rider: Really?

Horse: Yeah. I’m good.

Rider: Okay, your call, dude. (ohcrapohcrapohcrap)

Horse: Dum-de-dum, dum-de-dum, DUM, dum-de-dum.

Cantered quietly in. Cantered quietly over. Cantered quietly away.

Good boy! Go find your header.

I think … possibly … Rodney wants me to be a diligent but high-level manager. He wants me up there doing rider things, while he’s down there doing horse things. If I ask for too much too soon, he feels rushed. He fears the worst and responds accordingly. If I leave him alone to give him space, he sees that as dereliction of my duties. He sees no reason to do his job if I’m not up there doing mine. Maybe?

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine Walcott

Training Journal

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

Awareness of the outside world. Whatever: What We Knew, What We Know, and Why It Matters. What he said. I would add that I get the sense Trump wants to win the reelection because it is a contest and he must be victorious in all contests. I haven’t see any sign that he actually wants the job on Wednesday the 4th.
~~~

Overall

Added a few laps of figure eight by cutting across the middle of the field, thereby adding a touch of fitness work from climbing directly up the hill. Start and stop are in different places due to an early end, see below.

Milestones
Volcano Canyon/Volcano Creek, noted on map.

Forest Hill, Mile 68. Image source & additional photos, The Tevis Cup: Foresthill.

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, September 23. Today 3.09 miles. Total 69 miles. Time 1 hour 14 min. Pace 24 minpermile/2.5 mph. Half-mile loop laps.

Good ride. Cool weather. Well-behaved horses. Although Rodney kept offering to turn around, if that would be more convenient, you know, if I wanted to go that way instead.

Saturday, September 26. Today 1.49 miles. Total 71 miles. Time 39 min. Pace 26 minpermile/2.3 mph. Two 1/2 mile laps, two figure-eight laps.

Mission terminated due to excessive commotion in cow field next door. Major mooing. Cows would not shut up. Rodney obsessed over missing the latest chapter in the ongoing bovine drama. Rider? What rider? A known issue. Milton less worried about cows; more worried about Rodney. [Saddletime, Secret]

Tried again later in the day. Neighbors had moved on to making miscellaneous loud noises. Milton hates construction noise. Sends him off the deep end. Another known issue. Rodney wondering about noise, but no comparison to his interest in cow conversation. Not particularly worried about Milton’s responses. [Missing Lesson]

We found out later that the neighbors were building a fence in the cow field. Morning noises were probably from a round-up. Afternoon noises were from a tractor pile-driving posts into the ground.

Sometimes it’s better to stop and go home.

“On June 19th to 24th 2016, the American Trail Running Association partnered with the Google Maps team to capture 360 degree panoramic “street-view” imagery of the entire Western States Trail using the Street View Trekker backpack.” The Tevis Cup: Foresthill.

Recent Posts
Mine
[Miles 62 – Mile 66]
[Virtual Extension]

Others
County Island: The Tevis Trail: Swingin Through Deadwood

Haiku Farm: In which our Summer is over, but Winter hasn’t started (quite) yet

[Tevis post archives]

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine Walcott

Training Journal

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

 
Awareness of the outside world. We are making an effort to support local restaurants by getting more take-out, particularly from restaurants that are making effort to be safety compliant.
~~~

A while back, I informed the universe that I was open to a third horse. [Tertium Quid]

I decided it would be fun if this magical new horse were to be a Saddlebred. [Finding A Horse To Match The Hat]

Among other places, this ASB unicorn and I would go to the jumper class at the St. Louis National Charity Horse Show. [Saddlebred Versatility, Jumpers]

None of this is new.

What is new is my flash of genius. Not related to horse shopping, alas. A class shopping f. of g.

Back in 2013, the hunter class at St. Louis was one jump in a work-off. I watched. [I Want It All]

Now, the jumping happens outdoors. The videoing happens indoors. I can’t watch.

Ding! Ding! Ding!

Stills.

Howie Schatzberg has years of show proofs from the jump classes. What have I learned? The hunter jumps are tiny. True, they are bigger than what I am jumping now, but tiny in the grand scheme of things. Several of the gate panels are resting on the ground. The jumper fences are bigger, but well within the scope of my three-foot Miracle Horse.

The advertised height is not the only determinant in the difficulty of a class. At St. Louis, the hunters are 2’6″ (if memory serves, I can’t locate the specs) and the jumpers are .9 (2′ 11″). The hunter jumps look as if they would need to stand on tiptoes to meet the listed height. The jumper fences were closer to height but still kind. Both courses had well-build jumps with enough filler to be inviting but not so much as to give the feeling that you are jumping across a hedge. No robust, square oxers. No spreads that you can stand in the middle of. Any horse who can get around Novice eventing should be able to get over these jumps.

I can’t tell the course from the stills. The hunter class could have bold, demanding lines. The jumper class could have daunting technical combinations. I doubt it.

On the downside, presentation photos indicate that the jumper winner gets a blue ribbon and blanket. The hunter winner gets the full St. Louis treatment with loot, trophy, and that multi-rosette championship neck ribbon unique to St. L. On the upside, all the hunter class ribbon winners get a victory pass.

At least I’d get a chance at participatinge in a victory gallop, er, victory trot if I did the working hunter classes as warm-up for the jumpers. We wouldn’t win. Even a miracle unicorn wouldn’t turn me into a hunter rider.

There is also a full division of non-jumping Hunter Country Pleasure classes, which are a whole ‘nuther kettle of Saddlebreds. In my fantasy trip to St. Louis, I might or might not take a swing at these depending on the schedule in relation to the jumping. Even more unlikely to win in an arena full of flat-focused equines.

Would I drive all the way to St. Louis for the chance at one jumper class? In a heartbeat.

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine Walcott