Happy Memorial Day!

Well, it's Memorial Day and we got out on the trail today. Seems like this should be the beginning of summer, but it's cold and windy and seems more like winter. I've had 4 days off from work, at least in theory, but it sure doesn't seem like enough.

The kitty is settling in, but I took her for her initial vet checkup on Saturday and it seems like I have breached her trust in a big way. She is pretty healthy but she has been scratching her ears, so they cleaned her ears and prescribed ear drops. That seems harmless enough, but between the trip in the kitty carrier, the ear cleaning, and the ear drops, she went over the edge and went into hiding.  This is Monday night and I have had to do a lot of coaxing and kissing up to her, and she is finally out of hiding and back to her vocal self again. What a drama queen!

Speaking of which.....

We took Dexter and Cowboy today. Cowboy's feet are healing and I put front boots on him. But it was windy, and he has been overfed and he went into full drama queen mode. Getting him by the Morgan Horse farm at Pt Reyes was a challenge and had me on foot for a bit. I did get back on him but we put Dexter in front. Usually Cowboy leads the way and Dexter follows, but today Dexter had to pony up and become lead horse, which he did admirably albeit very slowly.  Dexter is in no hurry to go anywhere. Turned out this was good for Cowboy as he was forced to slow down and think a bit.  We did well until the very end portion of the trip, when Cowboy was once again in the lead as Dexter was setting an excruciatingly slow pace, and we got to the Morgan Horse farm and, heaven forbid, some of the Morgans were getting their feet trimmed. Apparently more than Cowboy could bear and we had a major meltdown at a very narrow portion of the trail. He finally backed into a nettle patch and I wound up getting off and leading him as I was not up for a jackrabbit retreat.

As a side note, I have been looking into an alternate career as a trophy wife. It certainly seem easier than working for a living. I actually found an online test to see what your potential is, and sadly, I scored 22%. It seems that 97% of all those who have taken the test scored higher than me. I guess that is not surprising, all things considered, but it is still discouraging. I think the only thing I have going for me is that I wear sunglasses with plastic rims.  Working against me:
-staying in shape
-not wearing makeup to run to the corner store
-a complete lack of interest in cooking and entertaining
-and, most convincingly, a total lack of interest and ability to produce trophy children.

That last one is really the kicker, because it doesn't matter what you have surgically lifted or cosmetically spackled, it's pretty hard to argue with that biological clock.

Still, it does seem like there must be some middle ground out there somewhere.  There must be a tycoon out there somewhere who does not have the urge to spawn. So I'm looking into ways to just look better without actually needing to reproduce. Enter Doctor Oz, who did a show the other night on ways to fight aging. Amazingly, one of the options for combatting undereye bags and dark circles is, believe it or not, Preparation H. After all, it does shrink tissues. Many years ago, almost 40 years ago in fact, a coworker of mine confessed that her mother used Preparation H to combat wrinkles. It was the source of much hilarity at the time, but now it seems that her mother knew her stuff.

Since undereye circles and bags are one of my biggest challenges, I am rising to that challenge to conduct a controlled test. I purchased 2 products: an undereye roller  under the CVS pharmacy label, and also their version of Preparation H. I do tend to go with store brands whenever possible because they are usually cheaper. Although the undereye roller has already literally dropped the ball, and I'm wondering if the Garnier version might be more tightly put together. But I did apply both products this morning, one to each eye, and they both appear to be somewhat effective. I was rooting for the Preparation H camp as it's cheaper and so ludicrous that who could resist it? But on the Preparation H eye, although the bags and circles did decrease, it also caused my mascara to run. So I am sad to report that the undereye roller may be more effective, although Preparation H may be effective as an eye makeup remover. I will keep you posted, and please let me know if you know of a potential trophy husband who does not want to reproduce, likes women with a little meat on their bones, and is in favor of the earthy look.

And if you doubt the power of Doctor Oz, when I went looking for Preparation H (which I am happy to report that I have never needed to purchase before), the shelves were practically bare. Lots of empty shelf space devoted to Preparation H. I felt privileged to obtain the final tube. I hope Doctor Oz gets a commission for this. Or maybe there is just a massive outbreak of hemorrhoids.

Everybody stay safe on the trails, and keep up the efforts to look Marvelous!

There's a New Princess in Town

The empty house finally got a little too empty, so today I adopted a cat from Forgotten Felines. I've been checking her out online at their website, and she has been fostered at Animal Hospital of Cotati, so today I went to check her out. She's listed on the website as "Hyacinth" but has been re-named by her fosters as "Princess Chatty Cathy" because she likes to talk. And talk. And talk. So this should be interesting. Not sure if that name will stick, but I haven't come up with a new one yet.

She is settling in nicely, although she did not take over the house quite as quickly as Patches did. But she arrived home about 3 this afternoon, and now, 8 hours later, she has been released from the quiet back bedroom and has toured the rest of the house and is pretty comfortable at this point. We'll see how the first night goes!

Tomorrow we'll (not the cat) head to Pt Reyes. Cowboy got his hooves trimmed a few days ago and it seems he got a little over-trimmed, because he is sore-footed. So he gets the day off and I'll ride Dexter and Laura will take Lady.

Perfect Day for a Ride

Cowboy enjoying lunch amid the forget-me-knots

After several weeks of bad weather, holidays and a sick kitty, we finally got the chance to go for a ride yesterday. And what a great day it was! Summer-like weather, blooming hillsides, happy horses--a great lift after a few really bad weeks. The boys have been out on a lot of grass and Cowboy, who is always energetic, was beside himself about the chance for an outing. We started out with a hackamore but within 40 feet of the trailhead he earned a bit after yanking the reins out of my hands grabbing for grass. Much more cooperative, if chagrined, with the bit on! We went up Horse Trail (Pt Reyes), which was awash with blue forget-me-nots and little irises. Got a great view of the point from Sky Trail, although taking the picture was a little challenging with Cowboy being antsy and looking for grass. Finally pointed the camera in the general direction and snapped the shutter.

We tried a new trail, Woodward Valley, that is usually our turning-around spot on Sky Trail. Nice trail! We didn't go far on it as we were running out of time (that's the problem with being the slowest riders on the trail), and turned back before we got to what we hear is a steep drop down to Coast Trail. Then back to the trailer. Cowboy was a happy guy the whole trip and was really making tracks on the way back to the parking lot. No signs of soreness. I've been reading Sally Swift's "Centered Riding 2" and it has really helped me stop bracing in the stirrups, and I think Cowboy's back is much better for it.

Dexter's enjoying lunch, too

We got home safely (the most dangerous part of our rides is the trip to and from the trail) and congratulated ourselves on another successful ride. We know someone whose idea of a successful ride is one where nobody gets hurt, so we've jokingly adopted that as our criteria for success as well. When we unloaded the horses, I was checking out the height of the step down from the trailer, which seemed a bit high, and pulled myself into the trailer at the same time, not noticing that the butt bar was still up. I took it full on the nose, breaking my sunglasses and seeing a lot of stars in the process. So much for success, although technically we were done with the ride at that point, so success or failure is up for debate. Luckily, I seem to have escaped with a red mark on my nose and a mild case of whiplash--no black eye, concussion or broken nose.

Thanks for all the kind expressions of sympathy over the loss of Patches. I've moved from grief to relief that her suffering is over to forgetfulness--I keep looking for the cat when I get the feeling she's missing. Today Laura gave me a clay cast of her pawprint and a bit of her fur (she had been taken to the vet hospital for cremation) so a bit of her will always be here.

That's it for now--enjoy the nice weather this week!