Virtual Brush Box

Images

 
Awareness of the outside world. “Samaritans and Jews despised each other, but the Samaritan helps the injured man.” Wiki: Parable of the Good Samaritan. The message here is not simply to help people. The message is to help the people that you would not cross the street to spit on if they were on fire. Yeah, those people. Listeners back in the day would have gotten the point immediately.
~~~
 

A selection from recent arrivals.

Horses

Buildings

Minsk, Belarus
Annunciation Cathedral, Kazan

Landscapes

Deception Pass Bridge
Lavra, Ukraine

Stamps
Shot in a wad to reduce the amount of cropping & smudging required to obliterate personal messages.

~~~
Process note. Who doesn’t love diving down a research rabbit hole? Sadly, while the number of possible rabbit holes on the Internet outnumber the grains of sand on the beaches of the world, time and energy do not. Comprehensively documenting each postcard & stamp had rendered my Postcrossing posts burdensome. Once again, I let my enthusiasm blow a project out of proportion. Echos of the bike photo deliberation. Do I want to pursue the obsessively detailed research? Yes. Is it a good use of time? No. Perfect is the enemy of good. [Life Lesson]

New theory. Here! Look! Pretty pictures! Interesting stamps! Onwards!

Previous Postcrossing post [Pretty Picture, A Postcrossing Parade, Plus One] July 2020
Postcrossing posts [Archive]

A rabbit hole for your amusement, here.

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine Walcott

Blogging About Blogging

 
Awareness of the outside world. Women in Aviation International: Girls in Aviation Day.
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Didn’t I say I was going to take weekends off? [State Of The Blog: Weekends Completely Off]

You are not wrong.

I said that.

I meant it.

I discovered …

1) The idea of breaking my streak bothered me even more than I thought it would.

2) I should have looked at a calendar. Don’t make major decisions at the tail end of my least favorite month. September is here! Kermit Dance!!

3) What’s wrong with filler?

New plan is to post things that amuse me. I hope some of them will amuse you as well.

Saturdays will be all about text. Words. Books. Thoughts. Blogs. Lists. State of the Blog, once a month – that’s enough meta-level navel-gazing. Fiction, if any strolls by. Essays. Neologisms. Writing Career.

Sundays will be all about visuals. Logos. Graphics. Postcards. Stamps. Cachets. Inktober. Jewelry. Signs. Art. Video Games. Maps. Fabric Design. LEGO builds. Witenry. Figure running/GPS art. Letters. Coloring. Comics. Cartoons.

That’s a false distinction because text is visual, unless it’s braille or audio, but you know what I mean. Information with an emphasis on content vs information with an emphasis on presentation.

Keep weekends simple. Me overcomplicate? Never! What, never? Well, hardly ever.

State of the Blog [Archives]

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine Walcott

Horsekeeping

Lucky enough to have a horse.

 
Awareness of the outside world. Protests. Pandemic. Politics. Is there any part of public life that isn’t poisonous right now?
~~~
Question for those of you who keep horses at home. Do you have a standard barn routine? Or are you constantly making adjustments?

We are tweaking things all. the. time. What to feed. How much to feed. When to feed. Turn in. Turn out.

Sometimes, the cause is human. Ride in the early morning to beat the heat. Rearrange the schedule for the rest of the day.

Sometimes, the cause is equine. The older horse gets hurt and suddenly we have to juggle split turnout.

Sometimes, the cause is environmental. Previous Horse & Mathilda used to drop their hay consumption by half when the spring grass showed up. One load would carry us through summer. The current two maintain a more consistent level of hay consumption throughout the year.

Sometimes the cause is supplier-driven. Even if we buy the same hay from the same place, they may have a new load from a new place. Hence, new hay.

The latest batch of hay has caused a complete rearrangement of the morning.

Note, this is not the hay change that we are blaming for the recent excitement. That was the alfalfa appetizer. This is the coastal main course. But it may also contribute to Rodney feeling better. But I get ahead of myself.

For a long while this year, the grass was green and the hay was meh. Didn’t matter when or how we fed. Everybody had as much as they wanted. There were always leftovers for nibbles.

The new load is yum. Milton vacuums up his serving and then pushes Rodney away from the second pile. Milton is an easy keeper; Rodney is not. Steps had to be taken.

We have fed grain separately for a long time. Now, Rodney gets left in the stall for several hours with a full breakfast: grain, two kinds of hay, & water. He eats in peace. Has time for a nap. Enjoys his me-time away from Milton.

His attitude has improved immeasurably, even after a few days. Feeling peckish makes most of us cranky. In addition, his delicate digestive system probably benefits from having more to process.

So, that’s the arrangement. For the moment.

You?

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine Walcott

Fit To Ride & Photography & Thoughts

 
Awareness of the outside world. I was almost sociable. Gasp. Clutch pearls. Had plans yesterday to walk with a friend. My first social event since March. Person had unavoidable, last-minute work commitment. Non-bubble encounters have been mostly brief ones with store, doc, or husband’s co-workers. Weird.
~~~
 

A photo of this medal was supposed to accompany the trip post back in July. [Virtual New Zealand, A Screenshot Slideshow, Biking Virtually, New Zealand]

I want you to envision a bucolic yet athletic image of my bicycle resting against a tree, medal draped artfully over the handlebars. You know what’s hard? Getting a big thing, such as a bicycle, in focus at the same time as a small thing, such as a medal.

No problem. I’ll reshoot and use the photo as a second post. Found a lovely spot.

I want you to imagine a bicycle resting against a scenic, rustic, wooden fence. In the distance, a shaded pathway leads through a patch of woods. Close at hand, the medal is draped artfully over the handlebars.

Yeah, because it makes sense to add a third element to the focus equation when I couldn’t handle the first two.

Don’t invite unnecessary complications. Do what is needful and move on. That seems to be my life lesson lately. The upcoming Saturday & Sunday posts have a similar message.

Does my standard hay bale background work? Yes. Do I need a more elaborate photo? No. Do I want that beautiful, technically perfect image that could double as a bike advertisement? Of course. Could I achieve a decent approximation if I devoted the time & effort? Yes … well, maybe. Is chasing that image the best use of my life energy at this moment? No. Good to go. Onwards.

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine Walcott

Training Journal

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

 
Awareness of the outside world. How am I doing? Well, earlier this week, there was a nocturnal feline/canine territory dispute, which incited the dog to speak sharply, which startled me, which caused me to wake up screaming. Twice. Yeah, I’m coping real well.
~~~
 

The ride is virtual. The extension is real.

“Due to the ongoing impacts of regional fires, poor air quality, and unsafe conditions, the Tevis Virtual Ride has been extended until December 31, 2020.

This event has always been intended to be a FUNdraiser for the Western States Trail Foundation – with emphasis on FUN, and we want to ensure all participants have an adequate chance to complete their goals in a fair manner.

Entries are still open for those who would like to participate.”

The Tevis Cup: Virtual Western States Trail

My first impression was that the extension is overly long. End of November would have made more sense? Nope. A) The fires, smoke, and dislocations are not over & B) from what I’ve read, it can take a horse weeks to come back into work after exposure to bad air. December it is. Thank you, Tevis folks.

The purist part of me wants to finish by the original deadline of early November. We are fortunate not to have these horrible conditions as extenuating circumstances. The practical part of me says, if we need the extra time, take the extra time. Be pleased that the time is available.

On the other end of the scale, an option is to complete the ride in 24 hours. Not in one day as in the IRL race, but riding over many days with cumulative time of 24 hours. Maybe for us in some future year if they continue with a virtual option (crosses fingers). Note, with checks and vet holds the actual saddle time of the IRL 100 miles is less than 22 hours. Eeek.

Speaking of options, many folks are doing a fantastic job of creating mock trails. The Virtual Tevis Facebook group has photos of “Cougar” Rocks, painted butt numbers, and creative finish lines. One virtual competitor had their vet hold up a Fit to Continue sign. Clever. We haven’t done any of this. Just getting around is job one this year. Maybe next year.

Virtual Tevis [Archives]

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine Walcott

Training Journal

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

 
Awareness of the outside world. Male cupcakes! The Tour de France has always had well-dressed, good-looking women as prize presenters. This year they had well-dressed, good-looking men on the podium as well. My preference would be not to use human beings as decor. While we await those enlightened times, as least we get equal scenery.
~~~
 

Overall
Back on the trail in the pasture. This week’s miles were all at a walk. Surface calm with underlying jumpiness. Taking the time to let everyone get resettled. We got excited and pushed too hard? They object to work interrupting their daily schedule? 100 miles in 100 days is harder than we anticipated?

Why trotting quietly in one’s own bedroom is too hard, I have no idea. I wish it were not the case. If wishes were horses … they’d do a better job that these two yo-yos … wait … overly bitter .. read the subtitle, read the subtitle … moving on …

Some of the excitement may have come from feeding the same type of hay bought from a different source when our usual two feed stores ran out. Yes, they are that sensitive. Sigh.

One consequence of longer rides. Peeing under saddle.

Milestones
 

Kaput Spring. Noted on map.

El Dorado Creek. Noted on map.

Michigan Bluff. Noted on map.

The Tevis Cup: Chicken Hawk. Mile 64

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.

Mile 63

Mile 63, side view, Foresthill Elementary School.

Saturday, September 19. Today 2.03 miles. Total 63.8 miles. Time 53:44 min. Pace 26 minpermile/2.3 mph. Old style, 1/3 mile laps. Update. Rodney one warm up lap in hand, not counted here.

Mile 66

Saturday, September 20. Today 3.01 miles. Total 66.8 miles. Time 1 hr 15 min. Pace 25 minpermile/2.4 mph. New style, 1/2 laps. More time on flat ground. [The Overlap] Update. Rodney one warm up lap in hand, not counted here.

Recent Posts
Mine
[The Reset, Virtual Trail Report, Tevis Sippy Cup, Holding at Mile 61, September 2020]
[Virtual Media, Or Lack Thereof]

Others
County Island: The Tevis Trail: Whoa! We’re halfway there!

[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. RIP RBG. Let’s honor her memory with actions that would make her proud.
~~~
 

I used our break from Virtual Tevis-ing to reestablish Rodney’s stand. [Holding at Mile 61]

I will grant that Rodney needs time to get used to his new feet after shoeing. He has made that clear. However, if he can gallop around the pasture, he can stand in the middle of the ring under tack. No matter how much he waves his footsie at me or walks toward the ring like he’s Cinderella with a glass slipper. [Follow The Rules]

1st day – Fail. Twitch. Fuss. Move. I had the fleeting thought that he might lose it and wouldn’t that be embarrassing to fall off during a stand exercise.

Shod, day off.

2nd day – Better, particularly once the rest of the village showed up to keep him company.

3rd day – Nailed it. Absolutely perfect. Statue. Solo.

4th day – Almost nailed it. Attitude 100%. A slight rotation to the left as he shifted his weight.

Despite standing well on day four, beforehand, he was anxious in the barn during grooming; afterward, he left as soon as he was at liberty. Both indications that there was still tension in his world.

Will excellence in standing translate to serenity in riding? No clue. Hope so. Seemed like a good idea to go back to a baseline.

Watching Sally blow in.

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine Walcott