A Marital Moment

Turner Classic Movie's star of the month for March has been Jean Harlow so we've enjoyed watching her movies on Tuesday evenings. I think it was in The Girl from Missouri where she fell in love with a rich man who thought she was a gold digger. At one point she was telling him that she would be willing to take elocution, tennis and riding lessons to better herself and make her more acceptable to his friends. I pointed out to my husband that I should be able to fit into high society since I take riding lessons. Look up utter disbelief in the dictionary - you'll find his face.

V. P.’s Aide Apologizes to Journalist Locked in a Closet

March 28, 2011

An aide to Vice President Joe Biden has apologised to a reporter who was locked in a closet for hours after he was invited to cover a Florida political fundraiser because they did not want him talking with the guests.

Spokeswoman Elizabeth Alexander said the decision to hold local reporter Scott Powers there was a ‘mistake’.

And she claimed an inexperienced staffer had put Powers in the closet instead of a ‘hotel room’ as was their normal practice.

The Orlando Sentinel reporter was ushered into the closet inside wealthy property developer Alan Ginsburg’s Winter Park mansion, after being told that Joe Biden and Senator Bill Nelson had not yet arrived.

He was told he could only come out when the politicians were ready to give their speeches.

After 90 minutes he was allowed out to hear Biden and Nelson speak for 35 minutes, before being taken back to the closet for the remainder of the event.

The incident is especially embarrassing for the administration because it comes at a time when the White House has been condemning the treatment of journalists trying to report in Libya.

Just ten days ago, President Obama’s spokesman Jay Carney told reporters: ‘journalists should be protected and allowed to do their work.’

Who Knew?

Carol at Dressage Training Journal and her commenters were discussing when a horse blows and snorts that it is a good thing. Here I thought my mare was venting her frustration at having big old me on her back and a tight girth so she couldn't breath. Apparently she is liking what we're doing, thus the title to this post.

Stupid saddle slipped back quite a ways yesterday and I didn't feel like getting off and fixing it so now have beaten up lower extremities as a result. The trainer gave me a new girth for her, it's more elastic than the old one, so I was extra cautious when tightening it. The saddle didn't slip sideways when mounting but I noticed there was more sweat than usual underneath the girth after class. Her old one was sheepskin so probably was better at absorption.

Whippersnapper has missed two weeks in a row so I'm thinking she may have changed her lesson days. We had another young woman join us last night. Lots of trotting and going over poles. We were supposed to try to canter over the last two poles, um, not very successfully on my part. I think I'm going to ask if we can work on cantering more during my private lessons. Mare is funny in that she thinks she needs a lot of elevation to clear poles lying on the ground. Her front goes up much higher than necessary when we trot over them. My goal is to "stay with her" when she does that and not fall forward.

There is going to be a barn show in April. I think I'll just observe from the sidelines. I don't feel ready to put myself out there for others to observe, no matter how supportive.

Stink Eye

One of the parakeets was asleep when I opened the blinds by their cage this morning. He didn't bother to untuck his head but opened one eye and glared at me. It was hysterical.

Had a good lesson on Monday with nothing new to report, i.e., mare still shedding. She looked adorable after I brushed out her forelock - it was sooo fluffy. Watched a show on RFD TV last night where a man was plowing with a Shire horse. OMG - its legs looked like they were covered with Hawaiian grass skirts. I'd hate to try to keep those clean.

Went to a podiatrist on Tuesday. I noticed a while back that the middle toe on my right foot was crooked. The doctor thinks I must have broken it at some point. Who breaks their toe without realizing it? Me, apparently. I'm not going to have surgery for purely cosmetic reasons so will have to learn to love my latest deformity.

Started reading Cross by James Patterson while waiting for the doctor. It's a real page turner and I've almost finished it already. That's pretty fast for me as I usually only read a few pages at bedtime before falling asleep.

Today would have been my sister-in-law's 58th birthday. I hope she's at peace.

I think this may be significant (not horse related)

From an e-mail I received:

Always important to watch what is going on behind the scenes, and, usually, scarcely covered in the newspapers.

Little by little the subtle changes come until one day we will wake up and be the United Socialist States of America. 2012 is just around the corner so get and stay engaged as if our nation depended on it because it does!!!!!

U.S. Department of Justice ditches red, white, and blue stars and stripes.

Well, how interesting! It seems the U.S. Department of Justice has changed its web site. Gone are the colorful red, white, and blue U.S. Flag decorations on the page.

Replaced by stark black and white.

And at the top of the page, is a rather interesting quote:
"The common law is the will of mankind, issuing from the life of the people."

Catchy, huh? Just one tiny little (too small to be relevant obviously) point --the quote is from C. Wilfred Jenks, who in the 1930's was a leading proponent of the "international law" movement, which had as its goal to impose a global common law and which backed 'global workers' rights.'

Call it Marxism, call it Progressivism, call it Socialism -- under any of those names, it definitely makes the DOJ look corrupt in their new website with Marxist accessories to match.

See for yourself

How very interesting that 'they' couldn't find a nice quote from one of our Founders. People, we have lost our Republic. This is an example of the slow, methodical misuse of power our current government is doing as they lead us to socialism, and destroying our republic as we have known it.

Knut, Dead at Age Four

I don't know a lot of celebrity names but immediately recognized Knut's. RIP little buddy.

Clarification

I misrepresented the yelling in my last post. The instructor is not yelling at me in an angry fashion - just has her voice raised so I can hear her from the other side of the arena. I was trying to go for sort of a tongue-in-cheek essay but I obviously didn't succeed. I'm pretty sure I need hearing aids. I did have my hearing tested several years ago and the man said I was borderline. I'm probably beyond that now. I do have a hard time hearing if there are several sources of noise happening simultaneously. That has always been a problem for me, however. I hated when I'd be on the phone and people would be carrying on a different conversation standing in front of my desk. I think it may be related to my inability to multi-task.

Me during a lesson:

At a couple of points in our lesson last night we looked like the Keystone cops. None of us could seem to coordinate our positions so we'd all be bunched up together or we'd all decide to cross the arena at the same time to get away from each other. We finally got ourselves pulled together and had a really fun lesson. We decided where the poles on the ground were going to be laid and then each developed our own pattern for going over them at walk, trot and/or canter. I even managed to canter for a couple of beats at the end.

I prepared bran mash for all of the horses after class. The smallest pony was in an outside pen so I put the bucket in front of my feet when I turned to re-latch the gate upon entering. The next thing I know I have a pony head between my legs helping himself to the mash. I am Miss Popularity on mashing days. Everybody is shedding and I've been used twice as a scratching post for horse heads.

The moon was just rising over the mountains when I was driving home. It was beautiful. The icy road conditions not so much.