Virtual Brush Box

Photography

 

Awareness of the outside world. International Cheetah Day.
~~~
[Weekend Update]

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine Walcott

Fit To Ride

 
Awareness of the outside world. Waiting. Waiting for the outcome of The Great Thanksgiving Migration. Waiting for the changing of the guard. Waiting for the next crisis. Waiting for the next horror. Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.
~~~

Peachtree Road Race 10k
Official – November 26-29, 2020
My date – Friday 27, 2020
Bib number – 38033
Location – Beeswax Creek Park
Time – yes, there was one
Results, Overall – 14,156
Results, Gender – 7170 of 7307
Results, Gender/Age – 767 of 788
Trackers – race app, Map My Walk

Digital bib & finisher certificate.

Results

The Numbers

The race-specific tracking app sprung a leak. It had me at 14+ km when my estimate said 9 km. I switched to Map my Walk to finish. I finally went back to check the figures. The first app had me at 2 hrs 17 min. The second as 13 minutes. This put me within seconds of my guess at 2 hours 30 minutes that I had filed as my result.

That makes sense. I can walk a 5k in under an hour if I am on a paved road and paying attention. That would mean a sub-2 hour 10K. My average goes as high as 20 minutes per km if I am off-road, taking pictures, and/or stopping to take notes. That would put me well over 3 hours. Two & a half is a likely result of spending the first part of the walk distracted and the second half motoring on to get done.

Not sure why the app blew up. I thought it was GPS problem but another walker had the same problem with Android. The Apple app worked just fine, at least in our small data pool. I’ve done plenty of virtual races that worked with standard tracker apps. I wonder if they were doing something clever &/or cheaper by making their own.

The app talked to me, at least for a while, at various points as if I were running on the Altanta streets. I quite liked it. Some didn’t. But then, I tend to walk alone.

I wish they had used a regular race tracking app. I’d rather have useful numbers than chat. Not that I do anything with the numbers. Data is always interesting in its own right.

The Distance
Friends were doing the virtual 10K. So, I signed up for variety and to see how I felt about double the distance from my usual 5K.

Done. Probably won’t do again until I can walk actual streets. The trail was 2.8 miles, or 4.5 km. I got the idea the first time around. Didn’t need to see it again. I’m not concerned about my ability to walk the distance. I’d walk a marathon if they’d let me.

My knees handled the distance well. I am trying to walk more ergonomically, rather than stomping around on stiff legs like the Tin Man with rusted joints. Also, I was on dirt, which is more forgiving.

The Trail

“Alabama Power – with the help of numerous partners – is able to provide more than 45 public recreation sites on the 11 reservoirs it manages across the state.” Alabama Power Shorelines: Recreation

The area is mostly use for the boat ramp onto the lake. I saw a handful of other walkers in three hours. I was startled by the crowds in the two parking lots, at first. We rarely see cars in the second lot, much less see it full. Then I thought about it. As long as one doesn’t invite strangers onto one’s boat, and one is careful around the dock and ramp, being out on the water is about as socially distant as one can get. Even more so than on horseback.

The Information Signs
These did not post as legibly as I had hoped. Still, you get the idea – birds, fish, Power Company.

In Farewell, More Digital Loot

Finishing certificate with badges: Running City USA, Earned My Turkey, My First Peachtree

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine Walcott

Riding Journal

 
Awareness of the outside world. “Jane, you ignorant slut.” It’s a horrible line. I’d be appalled by it today. I’m all for language change in the service of inclusion. Yet, this line still amuses me. Partly, in the skit Jane Curtin was capable of feeding Dan Akroyd his own eyeballs; partly, nostalgia for back when SNL was funny. Yes, get off my lawn and take your post-modern comedy with you. The Hollywood Reporter: Jane Curtin on ‘SNL’ Sexism and That Infamous “Ignorant Slut” Line, by Marisa Guthrie 2019.
~~~

Holiday adventures! (Outdoors and in semi-quasi-indoor covered rings by ourselves, masked when not on horses, yards and yards from other people other than a few fleeting instances.)
 

 
Thursday & Friday. Stepping Stone Farm. Trotting in the big ring! Cantering in the small ring!

This has become a happy working space for both horses. Rodney will even stand tied to the trailer while Milton works in the round pen. As long as they are in line of sight. If Milton so much as walks behind the trailer, Rodney goes Up Periscope and wants to know where he is.

Saturday. Full Circle Horse Park. Walked hither! Walked thither! Covered ring! Cross-country course! Jumping ring! Sandbox! Milton trotted in the covered! Milton trotted around a jumpless course!

Jumpless course equals standards set up along a course with no poles between the standards. Milton had a grand time. We can’t decide if he maybe likes the idea of jumping with a different rider, or if he thought it was cones, which we know he likes. Rodney was getting spun up, so I dismounted temporarily to see if that would break the cycle. While I was off, we trotted in-hand around the jumpless course.

Rodney! Looked! At! Everything! Horse being lunged! Dog being walked! This over here! That over there! He’d lead for a while and then stop for Milton to catch up and take point. Compared to last week, he less twisted; I was more patient. Milton looked but with knobs on 8 instead of 11. [The Trip]

Sunday. Horses said enough was enough and drummed up a gentle, all-day rain. Just enough water to keep us from riding, with just an touch of cold in case we got a wild hair about riding in the rain. Napping and snacking was the order of the day for all concerned.

Two years ago, we took the horses out one by one. [Weekend Voyages Milton, Weekend Voyages Rodney]

Last year, we rode together at home. [Team Ride]

This year, rode together out in the wide world.

Callooh! Callay! My beamish boys!

Ahem.

An epic struggle to achieve normal. On one hand, taking horses on a road trip to walk around another farm is about the least challenging adventure we could propose. On the other hand, much time, effort, and horsemanship has gone into getting here. I’m proud of us. Yay progress!
 
In other news,

Milton say, let’s hear it for muddy rings! I say, you have to admire the artistry.

Rodney say, let’s hear it for hay!

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine Walcott

Riding Journal

 
Awareness of the outside world. World Aids Day, CDC: HIV in the US: At A Glance.
~~~

Overall
Second horse in the clubhouse!

Milestones
Finish line. Mile 100.

Daily Log
We are were 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.

Thursday, November 26, 2020. Milton. Today tracked 0.46 miles, then turned off, logged 0.37 to finish. Total 100 miles! Four times around the parking lot at Stepping Stone Farm.

Recent Posts
Milton [miles 96 to 99]

[Tevis post archives]

AECW: Western States Trail Museum is a (Virtual) Reality

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine Walcott

Thoughts

 
Over on Whatever, John Scalzi considers personal boundaries in the future, “So: far fewer hugs in general, and in particular with people I don’t know well. While we’re at it, I’ll be fine with a lot fewer handshakes as well.” Whatever: The End of Casual Hugging(?)

Below, I have reposted my discussion of greeting etiquette that first ran in May of 2013 on Rodney’s Off Topic, a second, parallel blog that I had for a while because reasons.

This is one of the few from over there that did not get cross-posted or reposted here. Eventually, I gave it up and threw everything in the same pot. [New Project, Yay or Nay?]

Was I prescient? Or a case of be careful what you ask for?

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine Walcott
~~~
Reposted from [Rodney’s Off Topic: The Spirit In Me Greets The Spirit In You]

I wish I could make Añjali Mudrā my default social greeting. You may not know the term but you know the gesture: hands in front of the chest, fingers pointing upwards, palms together, slight nod with head and upper body. It can be performed silently or with the verbal greeting, “Namaste”:

The gesture Namaste represents the belief that there is a Divine spark within each of us that is located in the heart chakra.[8] The gesture is an acknowledgment of the soul in one by the soul in another. Wiki

The namaste ritual is respectful, non-invasive, self-protective, and centering. Other greetings, not so much.

Handshake
First of all, who shakes hands? Two men meeting in a business setting? Yes. Two women meeting in a social setting? Probably not. Men and women meeting in a quasi-business setting? Who knows? Toss in Southern men and a Yankee woman and the interaction becomes a poli-variable social equation beyond my ability to resolve.

Lets say I’m in a mixed group in an undefined setting. While the alpha males are exchanging testosterone, I spend far too many seconds thinking Should I? Shouldn’t I? If I offer to shake hands, am a being cordial? Or pushy? If I don’t, am I being considerate? Or caving in to the patriarchy? Then the moment has passed and instead of making a decision one way or the other, I have stood about looking gormless.

A handshake has the advantage of being one-handed. Hand to heart would be a non-invasive substitute for this. But then I’d look as if I was center stage at the Coliseum;

“Ave, Imperator, morituri te salutant” [More Wiki]

Air Kisses
The gesture is so unutterably French that unless one is in France or in a French-influenced location, air kisses come off as studied, pretentious even. If you are in France, do you use the the provincial two kisses or the Parisian trois fois? Or is it the other way around? In college, we had our own version, but we were all single then. Moving on.

Americans lack the innate style to handle this gesture. We are an enthusiastic, earnest, ambitious people but suave – collectively – we ain’t. A fashion-forward Frenchwoman could pull this off even in reddest America, but then the French can pull off a whole host of behaviors that Americans should never attempt. Bless our hearts.

Air kisses can be done without contact but not without an invasion of personal space.

Hugs
Hugs should be saved as a special gesture. For instance, recognizing someone as a close friend or family member. Or to display an excess of emotion, e.g. I’ll hug everyone in sight after a horse show. In each case, a hug elevates the recipient above the normal recognition of simply sharing the same time-space coordinates.

I’ve been known to drop a spontaneous hug into a professional situation when our lives are diverging. For example, the last time I left Lexington, KY, and knew it would be a long time before I was back in a press tent.

Hugging risks entanglement. Leaning in to hug puts me off balance. If the other person moves away, I fall over. If the other person is of the energy-sucking variety, I can be pulled into the drama. A neutral gesture means I stay centered within my own space. While this contains an element of selfishness, I am of no use to you if I am flat on my butt. A firefighter who does not protect his or her safety is in no position to rescue anyone else.

In the case of the one armed bro-hug, I lack the requisite chromosome to understand the nuances. To me it says, “I love you, man – but without all that messy yin.” Also, it strikes me more as a hug of the moment than a permanent social expression.

In Sum
The palm-to-palm gesture says:
I see you.
I acknowledge your existence.
However,
I will not disrupt your personal space.
I do not require that you perform any action in return.

How peaceful.
Namaste
—
Jean Abernethy’s website

*”Dan”: If you’re out there and ever see this, up to what have you been? I’d love to credit your brilliant work, but don’t want to use your name without permission.

Images

 
Awareness of the outside world. Charitable giving or PR moves? You decide, Novo Nordisk: Grants and Corporate Giving , Chevy Cares.
~~~
Rybelsus – Trotting Riders

Video capture from iSpot: RYBELSUS Wake Up, November 13, 2020.

Animation shows two pleasure riders trotting past, wearing helmets! Okay, there’s some tack confusion. They are dressed with long English boots but riding in Western saddles. Not sure what the bridle counts as. The sitting trot matches the tack but not the attire. Anyway, posting would be harder to animate. Then, horses and riders jump on a carousel. Not sure what the message is there.

The point is, riding as a mainstream activity! Helmets!

Fierce Pharma: Novo Nordisk debuts animated Rybelsus ad after COVID-19 nixed film shoot by Sharon Klahr Coey.

Chevy – Horse Spooks at Truck

Video capture from YouTube: Chevy Just Better, November 13, 2020.

A man is putting a bale of hay into his truck. BTW, he’s using hay hooks. Does anyone actually use those things instead of just grabbing the baling twine, particularly for loading a few bales into your personal truck? But I digress. In the background, a horse is being led past as mobile scenery. As the horse comes behind the truck, the horse takes a few skitter steps indicating incipient meltdown. The scene cuts away. Probably not the message they were intending to convey.

I am not alone in stalking commercials. A blogger was happy to see his favorite car at the end of this commercial. “Chevrolet doesn’t do as many broad product commercials as you would think, and frankly, most TV advertising dollars are now dedicated to trucks and crossovers. So we’ll take any TV time we can get.” CorvetteBlogger.com: [VIDEO] 2020 Corvette Featured in New Chevrolet Commercial, ‘Just Better’, by Keith Cornett.

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine Walcott

Blogging About Blogging

Awareness of the outside world. Discerning wider trends via responses to the blog?
~~~
Monthly State of the Blog [archives].

Not-meh. The blog itself is humming along. I continue to be obsessed with it and unobsessed everything else. [Blogging In A Time Of Crisis]

Meh. Meta-level commentary. Usually, I use the post on the last Saturday of the month to reflect on the blog itself. At the moment, I have no deep thoughts. The blog is doing what it does. I’m doing what I do. Not sure where the blog is going. Not sure where I want it to go. Maybe keeping me – and you – entertained is enough.

I have noticed that the comment level is down recently, both in number and length. There are one or two entries in the comment thread, which I deeply appreciate, but crowded it is not. Even the regular commenters (waves hi!) are mostly stopping by to say hi. The hits are the same, even growing slightly, so y’all are out there. Nobody’s saying very much.

I am equally reticent. Well, reticent for me. I have not been commenting on other blogs. I have not been commenting on my own blog. I am … decides not to go back for an exact count… many days behind on responding to comments.

I wonder if we’ve all collectively decided to hunker down and keep trudging. Sparkling intellectual repartee can wait until we have bandwidth for it.

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine Walcott