Virtual Brush Box

Not So New Resolution

Let’s harness the power of opensource humiliation:

Say what you want about accepting one’s own body, this is just sloth. Therefore, I am joining the mass of Americans in vowing to use this year to Get In Shape – or at least lose this sucker.

Exercise Plan: Move daily.

Step one – Walk. The shepherd [Dog Walks] has taken the place of the mare [My Two] as my excuse for taking walks around the field. Swim. This has the added advantage of getting me out among the three-dimensional people. Stretch.

Definition of mission success: Close to daily for walks and stretching. Solid on 3x week for swimming.

Step two – Stir in cardio and strength work. Consider finding a sport, an exercise class, a non-couch/computer activity. Sit-ups.

Step always – realize that this is not wasted time. This is an opportunity to live in my body and not just in my head.

Diet Plan: Eat three meals. Don’t eat junk.

Advantages – I have an excellent, in-house chef who is willing to make my breakfast before he goes to work, leave a sandwich for my lunch, and make restaurant-quality dinners when he gets home. Yes, I’m lucky. Insanely so. I tell him that regularly.

I only drink on special occasions or indulge in the occasional half glass of something, usually a beer/wine cooler in the summer. There be lots of calories in booze.

I don’t gorge on chips or dessert. If I snack, I tend to reach for crackers, olives, raisins, nuts. Mostly I don’t snack.

Except …

Disadvantages – My weaknesses are Coca-Cola and chocolate bars, including M&Ms. What I lack in range of vices, I make up for in quantity. This’ll be trouble.

Psychological Tactics: The above picture is going on the fridge.

Caveat: Only a few days ago, I promised that my posts would be at least tangentially equine [Mark II]. This is. I should diet for my health. I should get fit out of respect for myself as a whole person. However, I’m doing it to ride better.

How much does riding motivate your diet &/or exercise?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There are days when it’s just too difficult to get out of the chair.

End of the Month Commentary – By the Numbers

Part of me is reluctant to cop to my small numbers, but what is a blog if it isn’t disemboweling yourself publicly?

Rodney’s Saga from December 22, 2011 to December 21, 2012:

366 posts.
9,478 views.
1,120 comments.
92 followers.
69 countries.

Best month: November at 1,151.

Most visits on a single day: 138 views on 4/12/12 [Help Me]. The number of unique visitors for that day is substantially lower, but we have reached the limit of my honesty.

Average per day: 26 in 2012. (19 per day for the few days of 2011.)

Top post: After Home Page, Rodney’s naming contest, above, was second with 212 hits. The memorial to Amy Tryon was 3rd with 188. About & Story So Far were over 100. Everything else was double or single digits.

Country range: US (6717), Canada (438), Austria (343), UK (150), Czech Republic (96), Sweden (32), Australia (26), France (20), India (17), Switzerland (16), Philippines (14), New Zealand (13), Germany (13), Croatia (12). The other 45 countries had single-digit views. I never know if a country with a single hit represents a person – which would be great – or a web-crawling robot. If you are visiting from a country not named here, consider dropping a comment so we can celebrate my international reach. (Statistics as of 2/25/12 because WordPress says so.)

Readers: Some new (Hi there!). Most readers are folks I’ve know for a while, in some cases for quite a long while. I know of another blogger who gets the opposite response. Dunno what that says about either one of us.

Favorite: My favorite post is the breakout one. The one that leads to a book deal and the coining of new literary term, as with Smartwood’s Hint Fiction. Mine hasn’t happened yet.

Of the ones already written, no single post comes to mind. I often go back and find a post about which I had completely forgotten, as hair whorls below. As a great adventurer once said, “You know, sometimes I amaze even myself.” (Of course he shot first. That was the whole point. What good is redemption unless one requires redeeming? But I digress.)

Least Favorite – tie: The above mentioned post on Amy Tryon and a similar remembrance for my friend Etta. I would erase the entire year of posts letter by letter to not have written either one.

Site Stat Oddment: The third leading search term was trichoglyphs (hair whorls), I suppose from the signalment post.

Bloggers: what is your favorite statistic about your blog?

List of posts on blogging.

Horses in Boston

Classic Cab, Cambridge MA
Mane Image, Wakefield MA
Day of the Dead/Dia de los Muertos, Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology

Whiskeytangofoxtrot4 did a more thorough job with a post from Italy.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Yesterday, debandtoby asked about a better picture, so here is his puppy mug shot. No name yet.

Spotted in Boston

Ready for boarding. — Spotted ready for boarding.

Spotted learning about his ancestors. — Spotted learning about equine ancestors.

Spotted on my temporary childhood home. We lived there while my father did a photography project at Harvard. Apple meet tree. — Spotted on the street of a temporary childhood home. We lived there while my father did a photography project at Harvard. Apple meet tree.

Created in the spirit of Wee Traveling Horse (also here on Facebook) and Flat Stanley, as seen on Third Watch.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Reason for the trip. Mother-in-law needed a ride to pick up her new dog.

Since I was at the breeder anyway, I picked up one for us.

Photos by John Tait.

Foto Friday: Goodbye & Hello

Where Do We Go From Here?

Ponder, ponder, ponder.

As usual, RideXC, restated the issue with wit and precision:

And then what? You get on a slow boat to Argentina sans cel phone? You disappear in a puff of logic? Sounds so disturbingly final.

In the post in question [Vox], I said that tomorrow, December 21, would be my last post. After a wodge of monthly posts, I had promised myself to blog daily for a year. I was looking forward to that final post. In the comments, she pointed out the unnecessarily absolutist nature of my plans.

My approach made sense at first. The idea was to buy a new horse, ride, train, and return to Eventing after 20 years away. I would use that structure to commit Deep Thoughts on horses, the new face of Eventing, the fate of civilization, etc. Once the training process stalled, I never recovered from that perspective. I still thought of blog as a training journal, which meant the posts had to be detailed and comprehensive. Doable if overblown for monthly posts, overwhelming for daily.

Seeing the world in black & white? Making a task needlessly difficult? Taking life too seriously? That doesn’t sound like me at all. At which point – if you know me – you are snorting into your coffee.

So.

I will stay with a daily, equine blog. However, I am dropping most of the self-imposed requirements, making it a small part of what I do rather than the all-consuming time-sink it can so easily become.

GOING
Daily Photos
Daily Gratuitous Kitten Pics
Weekly Foto Fridays
Monthly End of the Month Posts on writing & blogging.

KEEPING
Daily Posts: Shorter, lighter, faster. The new goal is to create a stream of diverting commentary & anecdotes rather than a documentary accounting. Surely I can arrange my life to say something, even if it’s ‘Hi There’ each day. I reserve the right to write longer posts if & when I feel the need to pontificate. I vow not to flagellate myself if I miss a day. To that end, I will be taking Christmas week off to prove to myself that the world will not end without my post. Unless, of course, the Mayans where right. In which case, iz not my faultz. Photos to be supplied as available & appropriate.

Equine Focus: A stream of interesting, amusing tidbits from horse world. As a side benefit, this may help me rediscover why I like horses and why I like writing about horses. I wouldn’t forget about Rodney & Mathilda, but I will look around a little more. The blog will stay equine to retain a vestige of coherence.

Kitten/Cat/Dog Pictures: As they happen. I am not going to stop being a crazy cat lady. Even if we drop back below the arbitrary six-cat CCL limit, my secret identity has been revealed. However, I will try to enjoy the antics & not think, ‘Oh, I need a picture of that for the blog.’

Foto Friday: If I have an artistic &/or experimental photo that doesn’t fit anywhere else, I will put it here. I *might* try a bit harder to keep up with with this since I can use all the photo practice I can get. Only less with the crazy-making.

End-of-the-Month Meta-Reflections: If I feel like it. I will probably feel like it. Writers hate writing. It smells like work, gives you finger cramps, & it turns your mind into pudding. OTOH, writers love to talk about writing. The monthly rule has been a restriction rather than a goal.

Ancillary Pages: Finish Rodney’s Alphabet, Fellow Travelers, etc. Eventually. As on-going projects. When I get to them. Are you listening, brain?

Regular readers may have noticed that I have been moving toward this since mid-November. The weight of the then-last few weeks was about to sink me, so I revamped. Conversely, readers may not notice any change. My completely remodeled approach may arrive at exactly the same point. However, difference inside my head is vast.

BTW, extra geek points to anyone who hears music when reading the title of this post.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Gratuitous Kitten Pics

This week, ~7 1/2 months — This week, age ~7 1/2 months.

Thoughts During Morning Chores

Why stalls?

How did my life get arranged that I am cleaning up after two horses, ~~one~~ two dogs, and four cats? (The other dog and the three adult cats are still on the low-maintenance plan.) How did horses go from in front of the cart to getting a ride in the back? Why is so much of my day spent relocating poop from here to there?

This is not modern question. When horses pulled carts and trams and carriages in the city, they had to live close to where they were needed. Can you imagine the manure pile in the middle of Manhattan? Cars were seen as an improvement from the unsightly, smelly mess of the then-current transportation system.

Manure moving most likely dates back to the beginning of domestication. As soon as we put animals in a particular place for our convenience, we had to deal with the fallout. So to speak. It’s no different from people, I guess. As soon as you concentrate a bunch of digestive systems in a given space, you have sewage.

And on a separate note, may I add how hard it is to type cHORES instead of cHORSE? After all these years of eq writing, my fingers are on autopilot.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Gratuitous Kitten Pic