Caught Up (I think)

I was not able to keep up reading all the blogs I subscribe to for over two weeks. I have spent my spare time the past four days scrolling down and reading what I've missed. I think I'm current on everyone's posts.

I've had visitors which is why I wasn't being my usual slothful self. My brother came for 10 days and before that I had a friend drive in from Anchorage. She hadn't seen our house yet so I felt compelled to clean it top to bottom. I just wish it would stay clean longer than a couple of days. Yesterday I had dog hair bunnies up to my ankles - I've since vacuumed.

I've only managed to ride once a week most of August. The horse has shows to attend and one Tuesday there was a clinic being held at the barn that was using the only dry arena. All the others were too wet to be useable. I did get a session with a new-to-me clinician that was pretty fabulous. For some reason everything clicked and I was actually riding the horse as opposed to just sitting on it. Another way of putting it is that I was able to "make" the horse do what I wanted instead of "asking" it. It's taken me three years to build up enough confidence to do this. My regular trainer asked if I'd been abducted by aliens as I was so improved on Tuesday.

The final hunter/jumper show of the year is this weekend. I doubt that I'll attend as it is held at the fairgrounds. This will also be the last weekend of the state fair and I just don't feel like having to pay both parking and fair admission to get onto the grounds. On the plus side perhaps I can start getting in two lessons a week again.

It doesn't look like I'll be able to visit family in California this year. I've got enough mileage for a ticket but no fun money. Just for my own edification we've fenced the back yard, installed a new water pump and filter system, will have the rain gutters installed properly, fix leaks on the shop roof and pave graveled portions of the driveway. We also may have a roof built over the back porch.

Next year I'd like to have the gazebo screened in. It's always something. My brother said he may put my parents' home on the market next year which would give all of us some extra income. Other than that I may have to get a job.

Product Review

When we moved into this house all the walls were freshly painted and any nail holes had been filled in. I thought it would be a good idea to use Command wall hangers that don't leave any marks. I followed the instructions, cleaning the wall with alcohol, allowing the hanger sufficient time to adhere properly, etc. So far I've replaced the glass in two pictures that have crashed to the floor, have a chipped decorative plate and a wall clock that is miraculously still running after falling to the floor. Needless to say I have made sure all my other wall hangings are mounted with nails.

Forgot to mention in my last post that I rode with Sue Kolstad again. Here is a woman who has excelled at horsemanship, is a judge and I'm sure has all kinds of other credentials. She is totally approachable and fun to work with. She's coming back in October and I will gladly sign up for another clinic.

Time Really Does Fly

I was going to write an entry about the last horse show right after attending it and obviously didn't. I discovered Wasilla has a different weather system than Anchorage. It was beautiful at home and I debated whether I should take a jacket or not. Decided on a windbreaker and headed out. Ran into torrential rain on the highway, hard enough that I needed to use the constant on windshield wipers instead of intermittent. Still raining, although not quite as hard, when I reached the horse show grounds. Soon I was soaked to the skin even though I had an umbrella as it's hard to handle horses with one in your hand. Later in the day the sun came out and I even got sunburned. Wasilla had stayed sunny all day. Anyway, the horse show was fun despite the weather and my trainer and her student left with a handful of blue and red ribbons. I just got a cold. I don't care what science says about germs; I believe it was due to getting drenched.

I'm so, so happy to report that we finally have decent water pressure. The company thought we wanted a 1,000 gallon holding tank so it was on order. We decided 500 gallons would be sufficient and they had those in stock. Decent water pressure is one of those things you take for granted until you don't have it. What a difference.

Haven't been able to ride this past week as the horse was "off" on Tuesday. There is another dressage show this weekend so trainer wasn't available Friday. I think I'll be able to ride this coming Tuesday but there's a hunter jumper show next week so the horse will probably be entered there. Oh well, saves me a few bucks. I've managed to avoid going to the dressage show but may drive into Anchorage tomorrow.

Moose have completely decimated my broccoli and cauliflower and last night ate most of my decorative cabbages. It also has stomped on several of my perennials. I guess I should be grateful it hasn't eaten them but gosh darn it.

I ended up buying a couple more perennials and some annuals which I planted yesterday. Have spent most of the week weeding and actually got landscape cloth and mulch surrounding one of the lilacs I planted a while back. Looks so much nicer than being surrounded by weeds. I located a peony that the previous owner had planted. It is practically hidden by shrubs so I'm going to relocate it this fall. I know peonies hate being moved but it's never going to bloom where it's at. I'm wondering how I'm supposed to keep straw on the plants that need mulching for over-wintering with the high winds we get.

I have picked two big bowls full of strawberries and now the raspberries are ripening. I can't believe I'm sick of strawberries but I've reached my limit.

No Riding for Me

The horse I ride is being spiffed up for a horse show tomorrow so he's off limits to me today. I probably could go help out but there's enough work here on the old homestead to keep me busy. Last Friday my trainer was unavailable but she told me to go ride him anyway, which I did. I carried my whip to let him know I was serious and not to try any guff with me. It worked, even though I never summoned up enough courage to go faster than a walk.

I finally got around to arranging our cold storage area so that we can walk in without tripping over stuff. Hopefully I left enough room to store the lawn chairs this fall. Fortunately, once it gets cold we don't need access in there again till spring so it can be a bit more cluttered.

I have five large hanging baskets. I can water them using a long wand but deadheading and fertilizing with a watering can requires a ladder. I bought what I thought was a nifty pulley system to raise and lower them. Of course the darn things don't work. They either extend their full length and won't raise back up or, my personal favorite, won't extend at all. I wasted a lot of time fooling around with them yesterday. Oh well, growing season is only about six more weeks.

I finally got all my perennials in the ground and have resolved not to buy any more until next year. They need a while to get established and the aforementioned six weeks may not be long enough to make them strong enough to suffer an Alaskan winter.

I think I've mentioned how we have practically no water pressure. A guy came out a couple of months ago and gave us an estimate for some kind of system involving a holding tank and a bigger pump. I got the funds together to pay for this but he seems to have disappeared off the face of the earth. We've left four or five messages with no response. I really, really want to get this problem resolved. I'm going to call the company again today. "Hey, I want to throw tons of money your way. Doesn't that deserve some sort of acknowledgment?"

Horse 1, Me 1

I think I mentioned that I got dumped in the dirt a few weeks ago when the horse shied. Well, he did it again Tuesday but this time I stayed on! Admittedly, it was a much smaller spook, but still...

So, I am now seeing a chiropractor. My left leg has been giving me a lot of grief and it is sometimes damn near impossible for me to mount the horse (I hate it when that happens) Turns out my left leg is longer than my right leg. I have a small lift to put in my right shoe and we'll see if that helps. I had a CD with an MRI of my spine taken seven years ago which I took to my last visit. He asked me if anyone had ever mentioned that I have curvature of the spine. I recall a school nurse had mentioned it when I was 14, but that was a long (LONG) time ago. So I'm going for adjustments a couple of times a week. I hope it makes a significant difference eventually (so far, not so much)

Still gardening. I had some plants for ground cover that I bought back in May. Our original use for them has altered so yesterday I finally put them in the ground around some perennials. Poor little plugs were so root bound that it will be a miracle if they survive. I only have three perennials left to plant so I may stop by the nursery after my chiro visit today.

Sue Kolstad is coming back to Alaska later this month so I'll probably take at least one clinic with her. After all, she needs a little comic relief amongst all those serious dressage riders. Unfortunately, I still haven't mastered posting without stirrups as she mandated. My trainer insists I'll be able to do it eventually. Uh huh.

Sticks and Stones

Just weighing in on the Paula Deen kerfuffle. I think the Food Network is over-reacting by firing her for a racial slur admittedly used years ago. Paula's about my age and I'm sorry, young'uns, but language such as this used to be somewhat common.

Polite? Never. Derogatory? Depended on the situation. Hurtful? I'm not Black but it is a term they use on each other. Does who says it really make a difference?

I think the crowd should not be allowed to sing Dixie at the Kentucky Derby. After all, it references returning to a time and place when slavery was accepted:

"The song originated in the blackface minstrel shows of the 1850s and quickly grew famous across the United States. Its lyrics, written in a comic, exaggerated version of African American Vernacular English, tell the story of a freed black slave pining for the plantation of his birth. During the American Civil War, "Dixie" was adopted as a de facto anthem of the Confederacy. New versions appeared at this time that more explicitly tied the song to the events of the Civil War. Since the advent of the North American Civil Rights Movement, many have identified the lyrics of the song with the iconography and ideology of the Old South. Today, "Dixie" is sometimes considered offensive, and its critics link the act of singing it to sympathy for the concept of slavery in the American South. Its supporters, on the other hand, view it as a legitimate aspect of Southern culture and heritage and the campaigns against it as political correctness. The song was a favorite of President Abraham Lincoln- he had it played at some of his political rallies and at the announcement of General Robert E. Lee's surrender."

Time Flies

I've been staying very busy in a mundane way. We have just over an acre of land and a lot of it has been divided into garden beds that need maintenance. It took me two afternoons just to prune the dead branches off the rose bushes next to the driveway. I've planted quite a few perennials and annuals so watering takes about 90 minutes. I single-handedly pruned the branches off and dug up the roots of a dead Canadian hemlock. I planted a lilac in its place and another lilac in a different bed. I've only got about 1/3 of the dead canes cut from the raspberries and I'm afraid the grass has won the battle in the strawberry patch. Lots of blossoms, however, so I think we'll get berries. I'm not a vegetable gardener but our next door neighbors gave us broccoli, cauliflower and potatoes so I felt obligated to plant them. I also scattered some carrot seeds and zinnia seeds that came with a pair of Playtex gloves. One of my hollyhocks is blooming, even though it's only about six inches tall and my sweet peas seem to be doing well.

The mosquitos are fierce and congregate by the back door where the dogs go in and out and sneak into the house when the door is opened. I went to eight different stores in town on Thursday trying to find one of those electric bug zappers. A nice sales lady told me she had one that worked great in Colorado but our long daylight hours make it kind of ineffectual in Alaska. She suggested getting a model that also has some kind of odor attractant so I went home and ordered one from Amazon. It should arrive Tuesday. Die suckers, die!

My riding lessons have been going well. "My" horse was entered in a three day jumping show last weekend so I rode Thursday morning instead of Friday afternoon. I know darn well he is leery of the far side of the arena so I avoid riding there. For some reason I was feeling confident so I started long reining him over there. He spooked right and I fell off left. The base of my spine is still a little tender.

He had Tuesday off since he'd been jumped quite a bit plus participated in a clinic on Monday. I was headed to the barn Friday when out of nowhere a mallard hen and her tiny ducklings appeared in front of me on the road. I slammed on my brakes (fortunately no one was behind me) and they proceeded to start to cross. Then a big truck traveling the opposite direction threw them in a tizzy and they scattered every which way. I just sat there until I saw them off to the side of the road. I didn't see any roadkill on my way home so hopefully either they made it to the other side or gave up trying.

Heard Joan Baez singing, The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down the other day and it has been running through my head ever since. Move on Virgil; I'm tired of hearing your name.