I'm currently reading a book called "Animals in Translation." It's written by a woman who is autistic and claims it gives her insight into how animals see things since her mind also processes her world in pictures rather than words. I'm having a little difficulty wrapping my head around why this is different from the rest of us but I'm only about 40 pages in and may understand better as I read further.
A friend of mine is writing her memoir and I'm reading it as she progresses. Magazine Man (who hasn't posted in a long, long time - working on a book?) tells the most marvelous, detailed stories about growing up. My (younger) brother and (older) sister were reminiscing on my last trip to California about events that happened while we were kids. Even though I was there, I cannot remember these incidents at all. I remember very few specifics and some years are gone completely from my memory. This isn't a new occurrence, I've always been this way, but I've just started to really notice it compared to other people. I know I was so glad to wear a uniform to work because I wouldn't have to remember if I'd worn the same outfit earlier in the week. I rarely can tell you how old I am but have to subtract the year I was born from the current date (although I'm becoming more aware as I age - 60 this year!) Writing about my past? fuggidaboutit!
I'm a little curious why this should be and have come up with a hypothesis. I had quite an adversarial relationship with my mother. Something she did her whole life was refer to where she grew up as "home." Home wasn't where she lived now, but everything in her past was good and wonderful. Anyway, I think I grew tired of glorifying the past and something in my brain switched to only registering the here and now.
Keeping this blog has been fun for me because I'll go back and read about something I did and it's like reliving it all over again. I may be adding more mundane stuff for my own benefit, which is the only reason I blog anyway.
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Partly Sunny -9° RealFeel® -1°
It's warming up! It's supposed to be in the high teens tomorrow, which is perfect for me. Believe it or not, it actually starts melting when the temperature gets in the 20's, which later turns to ice and is a freaking nightmare.
The indoor arena where I ride is heated. Friday night there was steam rising from the dirt and the black barn cat was sitting eerily in the middle. Would have been a perfect Halloween photo, not that I had a camera along.
The barn owners like to give warm mash when it's really cold so I went in early on Friday to feed it to the horses. It's so neat to hear the horses talk to me when they see me with the bucket. Some of the younger ones get impatient and act out, one actually took a kick at me, but I had been forewarned so stayed out of his way. I just spoke soothingly to him until he settled down enough that I felt safe to go into his stall and retrieve the feed dish. Another mare reached over her door and kept nudging me to hurry up as I was filling hers.
I share a locker with one of the other students and we've had a bit of a conundrum since we both have saddles and there's only one built-in rack. She found a small wooden one on ebay but never got around to assembling it. She brought it to me Friday and my husband put it together yesterday morning and I took it to the barn in the afternoon. It looks like it will work perfectly. I want to find something to raise it off the floor a little as the concrete will get wet once the snow starts melting.
My realtor sent me a new listing this morning. It's a cabin on almost ten acres of land. The only "negative" I see looking at the pictures is that it's not a ranch style. There are quite a few steps leading to the front door. I need to see if the back door has ground level entry. That might work since there is a detached garage. I just hate the thought of walking up slippery steps when my arms are full of groceries, etc.
The indoor arena where I ride is heated. Friday night there was steam rising from the dirt and the black barn cat was sitting eerily in the middle. Would have been a perfect Halloween photo, not that I had a camera along.
The barn owners like to give warm mash when it's really cold so I went in early on Friday to feed it to the horses. It's so neat to hear the horses talk to me when they see me with the bucket. Some of the younger ones get impatient and act out, one actually took a kick at me, but I had been forewarned so stayed out of his way. I just spoke soothingly to him until he settled down enough that I felt safe to go into his stall and retrieve the feed dish. Another mare reached over her door and kept nudging me to hurry up as I was filling hers.
I share a locker with one of the other students and we've had a bit of a conundrum since we both have saddles and there's only one built-in rack. She found a small wooden one on ebay but never got around to assembling it. She brought it to me Friday and my husband put it together yesterday morning and I took it to the barn in the afternoon. It looks like it will work perfectly. I want to find something to raise it off the floor a little as the concrete will get wet once the snow starts melting.
My realtor sent me a new listing this morning. It's a cabin on almost ten acres of land. The only "negative" I see looking at the pictures is that it's not a ranch style. There are quite a few steps leading to the front door. I need to see if the back door has ground level entry. That might work since there is a detached garage. I just hate the thought of walking up slippery steps when my arms are full of groceries, etc.
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Random Thoughts
I can't believe this picture is already over a month old. Anyway, Bart is teething and I've got the pictures to prove it.
The real estate market is really slow at the moment. I keep seeing the same homes for sale. There is no way we're ever going to be able to get a decent house and land in our price range as long as we stay in Alaska. So I started looking at Montana again just for grins. Not a whole lot there either.
I guess the college kid who mucks stalls at the barn is going to take a couple of weeks off as I saw a sign-up sheet yesterday. I would help if it were only a half dozen stalls or so, but there are too many for me to want to tackle.
It's been below zero for over a week now. I'm keeping my bird feeders filled but my heated bird bath/water dish has died. I've got a replacement on order. This year for the first time ever I'm getting pine grosbeaks. The adult males are beautiful and the closest thing to a cardinal in coloration that we're going to get in Alaska. Last year the redpolls did not make an appearance but recently I've seen both them and pine siskins. The Stellar jays are back after about a six week absence. I wonder where they go? My faithful chickadees and nuthatches both seem to enjoy the peanut butter feeder. Last year it was ignored. A woodpecker visits now and then. The magpies are not encouraged but still make an unwelcome appearance. I wish they'd stick to the dumpsters along with the ravens and not scare off my little guys.
The truck registration is due this month and we thought it was exempt from emissions testing because it's a newer vehicle. Turns out the cutoff is six years so since it's an '06, we had to hustle and get that done this week. The emissions program is being phased out, but of course not before our vehicles are due.
My husband turns 62 this year and I'm weighing the pros and cons of his starting to collect social security. I'm dreading 65 and Medicare since so many doctors refuse to accept it. One man told us that his doctor of over 20 years dropped him when he turned 65. My friend is positive her mother died sooner than she needed to because Medicare wouldn't pay for certain treatments and the law wouldn't allow for them to pay out of pocket. That sucks.
Friday, January 13, 2012
The Gifts That Keep On Giving (Aggravation)
PEA wrote an entry today about her frustration with customer service which reminded me of my own little ongoing saga. I spent quite a bit of time on the telephone with Amazon two weeks ago in an attempt to return duplicate Christmas gifts. It took quite a bit of explanation to get the concept across to the representative but it seemed like we finally came to an understanding. Unfortunately, she kept e-mailing me return information for the same item, not four different items.
I admit that part of the confusion was that although they were all from the same customer, they had been purchased on three separate occasions so there was some research required. It took several follow-up e-mails after we'd terminated our phone conversation before I finally had the necessary information. Even then they had one of the items to be returned wrong, but I figured since that order number was the same that I could substitute the actual DVD I was returning by crossing out the misinformation and writing in the correct item. I was told that I could not mail said items via USPS but had to use UPS. She assured me that UPS would pick up the returns and provide mailing labels - all I had to do was package them for shipping. Of course there had to be three separate packages, one for each order number. So said packages sat by our front door until this past Monday when I recontacted Amazon to ask what the heck was going on. I also specifically requested an address where I could mail, via USPS, my packages.
Amazon apologized and provided me with UPS mailing labels and tracking numbers (argh!) I noted that they also showed the original purchaser as the return addressee, not me, so who knows where the credit will go? However, lo and behold, Amazon's address was the same where I had returned a DVD that I had purchased. I had actually mailed it the same day I contacted Amazon regarding the others and have already received credit to my account. (So they can be efficient)
Anyway, I re-boxed all four items into one package, used my Click-N-Ship USPS account and had my mailman pick up the package Wednesday. Now I just have to wait and see who, if anyone, gets the credit.
I hope this makes sense. Writing it all out makes it sound more complicated than it actually is/was.
I admit that part of the confusion was that although they were all from the same customer, they had been purchased on three separate occasions so there was some research required. It took several follow-up e-mails after we'd terminated our phone conversation before I finally had the necessary information. Even then they had one of the items to be returned wrong, but I figured since that order number was the same that I could substitute the actual DVD I was returning by crossing out the misinformation and writing in the correct item. I was told that I could not mail said items via USPS but had to use UPS. She assured me that UPS would pick up the returns and provide mailing labels - all I had to do was package them for shipping. Of course there had to be three separate packages, one for each order number. So said packages sat by our front door until this past Monday when I recontacted Amazon to ask what the heck was going on. I also specifically requested an address where I could mail, via USPS, my packages.
Amazon apologized and provided me with UPS mailing labels and tracking numbers (argh!) I noted that they also showed the original purchaser as the return addressee, not me, so who knows where the credit will go? However, lo and behold, Amazon's address was the same where I had returned a DVD that I had purchased. I had actually mailed it the same day I contacted Amazon regarding the others and have already received credit to my account. (So they can be efficient)
Anyway, I re-boxed all four items into one package, used my Click-N-Ship USPS account and had my mailman pick up the package Wednesday. Now I just have to wait and see who, if anyone, gets the credit.
I hope this makes sense. Writing it all out makes it sound more complicated than it actually is/was.
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Insert Bad Word Here (with exclamation points!!!!)
...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM 9 PM THIS EVENING TO 9 PM AKST THURSDAY...
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN ANCHORAGE HAS ISSUED A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR SNOW...WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM 9 PM THIS EVENING TO 9 PM AKST THURSDAY.
* SNOW...9 TO 18 INCHES IS EXPECTED TO ACCUMULATE BETWEEN THIS EVENING AND THURSDAY EVENING.
* TIMING...SNOW WILL BEGIN THIS EVENING AND INTENSIFY THROUGH THURSDAY MORNING THE GRADUALLY TAPER OFF THURSDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING.
* IMPACTS...TRAVEL MAY BE DIFFICULT. VISIBILITIES MAY BE LIMITED IN HEAVY SNOWFALL.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR SNOW MEANS THAT PERIODS OF SNOW WILL CAUSE PRIMARILY TRAVEL DIFFICULTIES. BE PREPARED FOR SNOW COVERED ROADS AND LIMITED VISIBILITIES...AND USE CAUTION WHILE DRIVING.
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN ANCHORAGE HAS ISSUED A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR SNOW...WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM 9 PM THIS EVENING TO 9 PM AKST THURSDAY.
* SNOW...9 TO 18 INCHES IS EXPECTED TO ACCUMULATE BETWEEN THIS EVENING AND THURSDAY EVENING.
* TIMING...SNOW WILL BEGIN THIS EVENING AND INTENSIFY THROUGH THURSDAY MORNING THE GRADUALLY TAPER OFF THURSDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING.
* IMPACTS...TRAVEL MAY BE DIFFICULT. VISIBILITIES MAY BE LIMITED IN HEAVY SNOWFALL.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR SNOW MEANS THAT PERIODS OF SNOW WILL CAUSE PRIMARILY TRAVEL DIFFICULTIES. BE PREPARED FOR SNOW COVERED ROADS AND LIMITED VISIBILITIES...AND USE CAUTION WHILE DRIVING.
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
My First Lesson Horse Is Available
Wonderful older horse (approx. 25 yr). We have had him for 15 months. Due to busy schedules he is not getting as much attention as we would like to see him have. Jake was a lesson horse at Huffman Horse Center for some time and when that business closed we took him.
He doesn't move fast and has some arthritis, but would be perfect as a companion for another horse and some light riding. He is approximately 15 hands.
Ideally, we would like a situation where our daughter could visit him and contribute food from time-to-time. We are looking to re-home, not sell. We want to find him a home where he will be well-cared for, has more activity and perhaps another horse or two to be around.
Thank you.
The seller didn't include a picture but I had one in my files:
I only rode him a few times and as I recall he suffered from laminitis. I hope he finds a forever home.
He doesn't move fast and has some arthritis, but would be perfect as a companion for another horse and some light riding. He is approximately 15 hands.
Ideally, we would like a situation where our daughter could visit him and contribute food from time-to-time. We are looking to re-home, not sell. We want to find him a home where he will be well-cared for, has more activity and perhaps another horse or two to be around.
Thank you.
The seller didn't include a picture but I had one in my files:
I only rode him a few times and as I recall he suffered from laminitis. I hope he finds a forever home.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
