Bringing Home The Bling

Fit To Ride

 
Awareness of the outside world. Medals4Mettle. An idea for what to do with athletic detritus, for those incomprehensible souls who are able to part with prizes. The website says marathon, half marathon, or triathlon. I still have a horse show blue ribbon from 1972. My medals are here to stay. Therefore, I will never have to find out if they would turn their nose up at my measly 5k medals.
~~~

Medal, shirt, & cinchsack from the La Jolla Shores Virtual 5K. I did the walk and post in April [Strolling Along, Walk Report].

Yes, I will show off every shiny medal I get this year. What else I got to brag on? Not horse show ribbons, that’s for sure.

The goodies arrived a while back. They had to get in line for an open Exercise Thursday spot.

Since this is the second post on my walk, I ought to compensate with trenchant observations on the nature of exercise. Nope. About all you are getting today is Look! Loot!

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine Walcott

Wildlife Management

Horsekeeping

Lucky enough to have a horse.

 
Awareness of the outside world. No one lives unconnected. Weather is shared. Water is brought in, used, and released. Poison travels up the food chain.
~~~
Warning, nature in the raw.

To avoid spooking ophidiophobes, photo [HERE].

Snakes: 3
Cats: 0

Incident 0: “When we first moved onto this property, I went to check the barn. A slight motion out of the corner of one eye resolved into a humongous rat on a rafter above the aisle. Panning back revealed an equally impressive snake looped back & forth over the other end of the rafter. I shut off the light, backed out of the barn, & left them to resolve their differences. Never saw either one of them again.” [Crush! Kill! Destroy!]

Flash forward. Barn is home to a family of rats. I feared for tack and electrical cords. Too environmentally conscious to use poison. Too soft to use live traps and deal with the sequelae. Looked into rat aversion therapy. Internet suggested hot pepper and Irish Spring soap. Bought soap; have not tried. So far, leaving it alone and letting nature take its course seems to be working.

Incident 1: Snake falls out of rafters with rat in jaws. Lands on unoccupied chair. Chair moved out of barn. When I got to the barn, large snake was wrapped around the chair back, attempting to load the rat butt first. I watched. I know snake jaws can crazy expand, but this was a lot of rat. No luck. Swapped around to try nose first. Geometry more in snake’s favor. I kept checking. Eventually snake fell off chair. Slithered off with snake snack. Never found out if it was successful in consuming said snack.

Annoyed that I lacked camera to document this. [Dead Phone]

Incident 2: I found a dead rat in the middle of the aisle. Head weirdly crushed. I later reasoned that this is what happens when a snake kills you and tries to eat your face. Was sorry that snakes were having so much trouble with their food.

Incident 3: Another snake fell out of the rafters. This time with rat wrapped in its coils. Since the rats use the ridge of the roof as a highway, the snakes use the ridge of the roof as rat fast food drive-through.

By the time I got to barn with phone, snake had dispatched rat and was attempting to eat. Had the same problems with as previous snake. Smaller rat, but smaller snake. Took photo.

Unlike the prior snake, my presence &/or the click of the camera caused alarm. It started to slither away. I left. It did not return. I scared it off or it gave up on the mega meal. Sorry dude, or dudette. I gave rat a sky burial into the woods.

Yay snakes.

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine Walcott

Follow The Rules

Horsekeeping

Lucky enough to have a horse.

 

Previous Horse had rules. No. Previous Horse had Rules, with a capital-R.

For example, he had a specific show arrival protocol. He got off the trailer. He had a hay snack. He had a nap. I could shorten these to a bare minimum on occasion. Woe betide me if I skipped a step. That included trying to save time by grooming during nap time. In Traditional Chinese Medicine terms, Previous Horse was metal. Very, very metal.

Another rule was that he got the day off for shoeing. One time I tried to do an end run around that by riding before he got shod. History does not record exactly what he did in retaliation – this was over 20 years ago (really?!?) – but I never tried it again.

House rules develop momentum of their own. Rodney and Milton inherited this one. Made sense to me. New shoes meant new angles to their feet. Give them a chance to get use to the changes. I had no science behind this, simply squishy anthropomorphism. I’ve seen horses go from the blacksmith to a ride without turning a hair. It could be done.

Last week. Didn’t ride on Tuesday. Tired after second dental adventure [Hard Times Horse]. Blacksmith coming early Wednesday. Hmm. By Wednesday evening Rodney would have had a day off & most of that day to get used to his new kicks. Maybe I could fit in a short hack.

Ha.

Usually, Rodney licks and chews while getting shod. This time, he started waving his feet in the air as soon as the blacksmith was finished nailing. It was as if he had heard my plans.

He wasn’t sore. The best way to describe it was touchy. He was fine in the field, trotting and cantering hither and yon. As soon as I put a saddle on, he placed his feet with care, working the nomination for Best Dramatic Rendering of Evil Stepmother in red-hot, iron shoes.

Remember, he was trotting and cantering while at liberty.

It took three days of getting 50% better each day. Even after we had reestablished all three gears, he threw in a few questionable steps as we walked back to the barn afterwards.

I hath learned my lesson.

Follow. The. Rules.

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine Walcott

Mood On Monday, Putting The Outside World In Time Out

Thoughts

Intro. My continuing efforts to document the moment. [Whither?]

Awareness of the outside world. Not everyone is able to stay home. I can, so I do. Although, the outside world is making that decision easier every time we go out. But I get ahead of myself.
~~~
Let’s say you are a person who believes there is a global pandemic afoot. Let’s say you need cat litter. Let’s say you go to the cat litter store.

Preventative Measures
Sign on the door.

Social distance markers on the floor.

Acrylic barrier for cashier.

What Virus?
Once again, you are the only customer wearing a mask.

Cashier is not wearing a mask. Not interested? Not mandated by corporate HQ? Not provided by corporate HQ?

As you check out, the customer behind you blows past the social distance marker, drops stuff on the counter, and stands right up in your space.

Color Me Baffled
Do they think the pandemic is not happening? Do they think the pandemic is not happening to them?

It’s enough to make one pull up the drawbridge and fill the moat with alligators.

What’s it like in your area? Are you in agreement with the attitudes around you? Are you out of step?

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine Walcott

A Herd of Postcrossing Horses

Celebrating Art In Small Packages

 
Awareness of the outside world. Tons of it. Literally. See last postcard.
~~~

Back Copy
Siena – Tuscany – Italy
Palio della Contrade nel secolo XVIII
The Palio in the 18th century

Other Info
Painting by by Giuseppe Zocchi

The Atlantic: ‘Instagram’ for 18th-Century Tourists, In the 1700s, highly realistic landscape paintings called vedute gave European visitors proof of their trips to exotic destinations. Kimberly Chrisman-Campbell, May 25, 2017.

Back Copy
Blank

Back Copy
Blank

Other Info
The square forehead says Tennessee Walker to me. Thoughts?

Back Copy
Before the railroad arrived in 1908, passengers came to
Steamboat from Wolcott via the stage. It is pictured here
in front of the A&G Wither store. (Ellis collection.)

Other Info
From here. Arcadia Publishing: Postcards of America, Steamboat Springs. David H. Ellis and Catherine H. Ellis. 2009. Also a book by the same folks, Arcadia Publishing: Images of America, Steamboat Springs. Ellis & Ellis. 2009.

Does not look like a comfortable way to travel. “A two-day, 74-mile journey over two passes with an overnight stop in Yampa.” and ” ‘We tipped over three times that day.’ ” History Colorado: Stagecoach 1890-1908.

Back Copy
Blank

Other Info
Unless there is another one, this is the Stone Mountain Park: Confederate Memorial Carving, Stone Mountain, Georgia, USA.

Even outside of the subject, I’ve always felt this was defacing a harmless piece of rock. Yes, I feel the same about Mt. Rushmore. Meaning no disrespect to the person who was kind enough to send the postcard. I asked for horse, they sent me horse.

Of interest, “The carving is actually much larger than it appears from Stone Mountain Park’s attractions. Workers could easily stand on a horse’s ear or inside a horse’s mouth to escape a sudden rain shower.” CMC

As for the subject, Smithsonian Magazine: What Will Happen to Stone Mountain, America’s Largest Confederate Memorial?. Lorraine Boissoneault, August 22, 2017. Note the year. The current questions are not new ones. The carving was started in 1914 as a Civil War monument; it was restarted in 1955 as a monument to segregation.

Which leads, in a very small way, to the problem of history. This was the card I was sent. Should I ignore it and pretend it didn’t happen? Should I include it and use that as an occasion for a rant? The rant, BTW, would boil down to ‘WTF?’. I voted for posting, with commentary. Although I will admit to burying it in the back of class in the group photo.

Stamps

Norway. The Philatelic Database: Stamps of Norway: Birds II (2015), by William Cochrane, May 28, 2018. “The Norwegian Church Abroad, also known as Sjomannskirken or the Norwegian Seamen’s Church … ” Linn’s Stamp News: Food on stamps: pork and apples, waffles, gift desserts, Feb 7, 2014.

Netherlands. Virtual Stamp Club: Typically Dutch: Carrots (Netherlands 2020), Virtual Stamp Club: Typically Dutch: Sprinkles (Netherlands 2020).

USA. USPS: U.S. Postal Service Issues New Postcard Stamps, March 28, 2019. #CoralReefsStamps.

USA. Linn’s Stamp News: U.S. Seashells stamps: When and where they will be issued, Jan 7, 2017, by Michael Baadke.

The fifth card arrived from the Netherlands with an pile of handwritten numbers and letters on the upper right corner in lieu of postage. First time I’ve seen that. Something like this? Linn’s Stamp News: Germany’s plans for codes to pay postage, track mail, March 2020.

Previous Posts
Restart [If We Can’t Travel, At Least Our Postcards Can]
[Postcard archives]
Postcrossing

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine Walcott

Fiction Prompt Prompting

Words … or lack thereof

 
Awareness of the outside world. Today is about Tulsa. Racial injustice. Public health risks. Politics. Wishing as much harmony as possible to everyone involved.
~~~

A great setting for fiction, right?

It is/was the proposed location of the The Lowline, an indoor, underground park. Last time I was in NYC, I made a point to visit the station, eventhough there is nothing of the Lowline there [When].

It could be the setting for an urban western.

It could be the setting for ghost story of long-time commuters who haunt the tracks after they die.

It could be the setting for a post-apocalyptic fable, although that one is almost too easy. It fairly screams End of Days.

It could be the setting for a gritty, noir urban fantasy. Although, anything set here would almost have to be gritty & noir.

It could be the setting of a near future when the Lowline park has been built. Turn the above expectations on their head and make it a place of light.

It could be the setting for …

I got nothin’.

My fiction career, such as it is, has stalled. Partly my fault. I got rid of something that was working.

Despite going nowhere, our bills have stayed the same. I panicked and canceled my 750 subscription [A Place To Write, Answering My Own Question]. This was a ridiculous reaction. Why should our expenses go down? The hay bill doesn’t change because we are both WFH. As for the subscription, it was $5 a month. I can spend that on snacks at a pit stop.

Still, I purged several recurring, monthly expenses that had accumulated. Rational or not, that’s the line I’ve drawn at the moment. Besides, I don’t need a website to type 750 words. I am perfectly capable of opening a file and typing.

I am; I don’t.

That’s one avenue derailed.

I would have fun writing a book. Clearly, I enjoy producing text. I groove on refining what I want to say and wrestling with my understanding of the language for the right wording. Except, I can’t think of what to write.

This is not usual.

“I am assuming that if you want to write a novel, you have one or more things that you want to write about. If you really just want to write any old novel, no idea what, then I don’t think I can help you.” Patricia Wrede: Getting Started

Despite my brave words on this same subject in an earlier post, I grow doubtful.[What To Write].

I’d love to blame the pandemic. Many creatives are saying they can’t produce/are producing at a slower rate due to the world being on fire. In truth, I wasn’t much of a fiction machine before the flames.

I’m not whining. Okay, I’m not *just* whining. I am also asking for your help. I seem to do better with other people’s ideas [Ring, Bridge, Sixteen]. What’s up with that?

Anyway.

What does this atmosphere suggest to you? Who visits here? Why? What could happen here? What could NOT happen here?

If you give me the boost that leads to fame and fortune, I promise not to forget you. I will name you in my Hugo acceptance speech and send you a mint-in-box action figure when the movie comes out.

Essex Street Station.

NYC Subway.

Spooky, gritty, underground venue.

Go.

The Lowline

The Highline

The Guardian: The upside down: inside Manhattan’s Lowline subterranean park, by Jake Nevins, April 6, 2019.

Spectrum News: Low on Cash, the Lowline Park is on Hold, by Michael Scotto, Feb. 22, 2020.

The Subway Nut: Essex Street. Welcome to SubwayNut.com, a website that is dedicated to rail based transit systems and trains in the United States and Canada, and whose goal is to have a photo essay of every station on every system. The Subway Nut: Home

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine Walcott

Doctor Whooves Is Going Places

Photography

 

Awareness of the Outside World. Am I being socially sensitive or jumping on the cultural bandwagon?

Either way.

Happy Juneteeth!
~~~

An eleventh-hour purchase from the now defunct USPS custom stamp program. “Sadly, the U.S. Postal Service has ended its customized postage program and we are no longer able to offer PhotoStamps.” PhotoStamps.

Trimmed from the original [Doctor Whooves] so that I wasn’t sending equine adult content through the mail [Taste Vs. Authenticity]. Please note that the number is Rodney green. I may save these for mailing show entries. Think big!

Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine Walcott