So much for blogging every day. I'd like to say I've been working steadily but it just isn't so. There has been some work, some business development, a bit of cooking, and lots and lots of grass....

Spring has sprung and with the wet winter and warm weather, we are awash in a bumper crop of grass. Keeping it managed has turned into a full-time job, what with mowing, weed-whacking, and managing the horses' grazing time, including putting up permanent and temporary fencing to grant them access to the grass. And since I'm mildly allergic to the stuff, the more mowing and weed-whacking I do, the more my eyes swell up and I just want to sleep.

Here are the boys enjoying some of the green stuff.

We did get to ride last weekend and the weather was spectacular. We even headed up to the top of Ridge Trail, which we've been avoiding figuring it would be too wet. It was a bit debris-strewn due to the winter storms but very ride-able. Cowboy was delighted to be doing something new and plowed forward enthusiastically. Dexter was a little less delighted but was (sort of) a trooper. He was happy to turn back though. As we were riding down the main trail (I can never remember the name of this trail, really more of a fire road), suddenly both horses squirted forward. Turns out a guy riding a bike and carrying (get this) a SURFBOARD on his back was heading down the hill toward us. Not just a surfboard, but a surfboard covered in a shimmery silver cover. Looked like a big flat shark on his back. Laura and I were both actually a little spooked ourselves. Fortunately, the bike rider was cooperative and pulled over to the side and remained motionless while we managed to coax the horse past him back up the hill, and then we were able to follow him as he resumed his ride. Following a guy with a surfboard on his back is much less threatening than having him come up on your backside!

Tomorrow we will be judging obstacles at a Trail Trial at Lake Sonoma. Getting the judging requirement out of the way so we can be in the running for competition points in future trials. We need to be at Lake Sonoma at 7:45 a.m.--not exactly something I'm looking forward to, but Laura and Rhoda plan to park me in the back seat of the car with a blankie and let me sleep on the road. With that and enough coffee on board, I might make it through.

Cowboy and I are working our way toward submitting our Parelli Level 3 auditions. I've checked off all the Level 3 tasks on the self-assessment, as well as most of the Level 4 tasks, and now we need to work on the video to turn in. Cowboy is doing great--he is such a super student and nearly always in a good mood and willing to learn. Yesterday we worked on-line in the arena. I got him jumping halfway over barrels--front feet only, then stopping while straddling the barrel, and then side-stepping toward me. He was so excited about learning this that I couldn't keep him from jumping barrels, even when what I really wanted was for him to do figure-8s around the barrels. He would go around one, head the other direction to the second barrel--and jump it. We got to do a bit of work on our communication skills to work that out. (He really doesn't look very excited about it in this photo, does he?)

I'm continuing to cook my way through Cooking Light. Still having issues with trying to cut down the recipes so I don't have weeks worth of leftovers, and not all of the recipes freeze well or even lend themselves to leftovers. Chicken Marsala was very good on night one, but was dried out by night 2. Miso Soup was okay and a good use of the leftover Miso from making Tofu Steaks with Red Wine-Mushroom Sauce and Mashed Grilled Potatoes. That was good, even as leftovers. I had made that because I had leftover Tofu from making the Chocolate Custard (also a winner), so bought the Miso for the Tofu Steak recipe, then had leftover miso, so made the Miso Soup, which called for more tofu....I may have to make the chocolate custard again to use up the leftover tofu, although I guess I could make more Miso Soup. It's not very filling, though. The Beef Stew was quite good, also good as leftovers, and last night I made Barbecue Meatloaf which was excellent. I think I can even freeze the leftovers. Next up is Black Bean Casserole, partly to use up the fat-free sour cream that the tofu steaks called for. Ingredient management is challenging, and there is a real market niche for somebody who wants to design a cookbook with recipes for singles or couples. Recipes need to make 1-4 servings, and use up any open containers of perishable ingredients quickly, maybe referencing other recipes that use the same ingredients rather than having the reader waste time scouring the cookbook for those recipes. And the recipes should make good leftovers. There's my 2 cents worth. I suppose I could have my Julia Child moment and come up with this myself, but I don't think that's where my talents lie. Hey, I'm just the idea person.

So I'm getting to play with the horse a bit and am cooking light but my personal fitness program has been sidelined. And now I have the sore hip and back to prove it. My plan is to pick just a handful of the exercises I was doing that I can get done in 10-15 minutes a day instead of the 30-40 minutes the full program takes. Something is better than nothing!

Did an interview for the Horse Journal on Saturday with the nice folks at Black Sterling Friesians. What beautiful horses! And they had a 1-day-old foal when I got there. They don't breed their horses, it belonged to a boarder, but it was so cute! Check out their website at www.blacksterlingfriesians.com to see some gorgeous equines.

Okay, I need to go do some errands and mow some grass now. Bye.