May your day be filled with candied almonds!
Bought from Designed 2B Sweet.
Discovered on Staying Centered: Horse Clothes for Baby.
Newest Toy
We have joined the 21st century. We went to the Verizon store, closed our eyes, signed, and emerged with two smart phones. My first project will be to live tweet my next horse show, the National Academy Championship Horse Show, November 1-3, 2013, Murfressboro, TN. Website, Facebook.
I will be one of eight competitors from Stepping Stone Farm: three WTC, three WT, one leadline, one driving. The entire show is Academy.
If you wish to follow along:
I have expanded the tweet display on my sidebar –>
OR
@RodneysSaga (https://twitter.com/RodneysSaga)
OR
Google search: Twitter Rodney’s Saga
For those of you who might be interested in my every move but are not on Twitter (Hi Moms!), I don’t believe you need an account to access a page. You just won’t be able to send tweets.
My inaugural phone Twitter pic for those who do not wish to click over:
I may tweet a few times and get bored with it. I may tweet my fool head off. I may tweet extensively on Wednesday and Thursday when we are getting ready and then drop off the face of the earth once competition starts on Friday. We shall see.
The blog will continue as normal. I will have daily posts queued up through the middle of next week. National Academy related posts will start Friday. I leave Wednesday. (Don’t bother breaking into our house, Mathilda’s Lead Minion will be here doing the honors.) I always check, one way or another, that the day’s posts came up. Other than that, I dunno how much reading/commenting I will do during the show. See above. I’ll be back once the show is over and I have recuperated.
For the information junkies among us, horseshowtime.com has schedules, class counts, and all manner of other data. My classes:
Friday AM – 14 Academy WT Pleasure–Adult
Friday PM – 21 Academy WT Equitation–Adult
These two are definite. The rest of my weekend depends on how the first class in each division goes.
Saturday AM – 39 Academy WT Equitation–Adult Championship
Saturday PM – 53 Academy WT Pleasure–Adult Championship
Sunday 54 Academy WT Pleasure National Finals–Adult (first class, yikes! But yeah!) & 62 Academy WT Equitation National Finals–Adult
Go Team Stepping Stone!
Gratuitous Cat Picture: Stairs
I thought this deserved more than a thumbnail at the end of a post.
Had intended start my new Sunday project today, Didn’t happen. Aiming at two Sundays from now. Stay tuned.
Update: This is standard cat feeding protocol at Stepping Stone Farm, where I take saddleseat lessons. The only unusual thing about this day is that it was cold. Therefore, all 8 barn cats showed up.
I asked about preferred steps. Answer, “It does appear that there is a hierarchy amongst the cats.”
Lastest Addition
I went to the feed store for hay and grain.
I came home with hay and grain and a cat.
Foto Friday: Spotted in GIMP
Learning photo manipulations. Apparently none of the cool kids use the photo right out of the camera any more.
Base photo:
Quickmask tutorial:
Clearing the background:
Select by color only worked so far. All of the other colors – water, railing, buildings – have corresponding bits of color on the main figure. Who knew.
Adjusting the color:
(This is for the Blithe Traveler, who says she likes pictures that make her blink.)
Threshold:
Dunno what it means but it looks neat.
Text:
Result:
I can make simple changes, but get lost when the tutorial assumes a step. Random button pushing yields interesting but non-significant results. Not really seeing the point. Guess I’ll remain uncool a while longer.
Magic Feet
Rodney and I did our mounting block exercise [Where]. Since the ground crew was absent, I did nothing tricksy. After a while, I got bored with sitting and did some flexion exercises from the ground. Look right, look left, give to the bit. Lather, rinse, repeat.
After any work session, I can tell Rodney’s mood by how fast he departs once I finish brushing him. On this day, he tried to leave before he was dismissed. He ground ties reliably enough (He’s within an enclosed space if I’m wrong) that I had dropped the rope and turned to get something from the grooming box. By the time I turned back, he had started to move away. He drifted out of my reach before I could grab the rope. However, I reacted fast enough to stomp on the end of the leadrope thereby forcing him to halt.
For all that Rodney is sweet and gorgeous, he is not the brightest bulb in the chandelier. I could see the thought balloon, ‘Huh! How did she do that?’ He now thinks I have a magic gravitational power that stops him in his tracks.
It’s all in the timing.
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Why Attend
Having lived in New York, DC, and Pennsylvania, I’ve spent many hours watching the fall indoor circuit live. Back then, it was the only way to see the shows. Last week, I spent many hours watch Penn National streaming live on the USEF Network. I could watch the show in my recliner. I could watch the show in my pjs. I could take the show with me to the kitchen. I could chose from live stream, video recaps of winning rounds, or videos of entire classes. All for free with no travel. Given all that, would I ever attend any of the shows again? In a heartbeat.
The camera work was excellent and the video quality clear. Yet, I still missed so much. Moving down to the rail to get the up-close and personal view of a round. Moving up to rafters to watch the course as a whole. Peeking down the chute to see who is waiting to go, Hearing the footfalls, the snorts, the occasional “Whoa. Whoa” into the second half of a double. The smell of pine shavings, manure, and grease that says Indoors.
Then there are the ancillary benefits of actually being there. I love to see warm-up if I can wangle a pass. Or to wander around the barns and spot an AGA Championship cooler casually stuffed over a blanket bar. People watching and people chatting are equally entertaining. I can turn to my seatmates and begin talking, knowing that we already have enough in common. I’m not a shopasaurus generally, but there used to be a jewelery vendor at the Rolex trade fair who recognized me from year to year.
There is a herd mentality bonus of being present in Madison Square Garden when Leslie Burr (Lenehan/Howard) won rider of the year with a busted shoulder. It would have looked just as impressive on screen, but I’m glad I was there to see it. The same attitude keeps football arenas and baseball stadiums filled when the view is far better at home.
USEF Network: WIHS this week & the $250,000 Grand Prix from the National* on Saturday the 2nd. There goes my data plan. (*Yes, I still think of it as New York, even though it as been years since.)
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Gratuitous Cat Picture
Virtual Brush Box 