It's been a while since the last post. I've been working on getting some professional certification, which is now done (yay!) and also, Spring has sprung and so have the weeds.

Yesterday was my birthday and I celebrated by taking Cowboy to a Trail Trials clinic at Skyline Park in Napa. Laura and Dexter were also there. Laura and I had a great time. The weather was gorgeous, the people were nice and the horses performed reasonably well. Not sure the horses enjoyed it as much. Dexter is always unhappy when he's out of his comfort zone, and Cowboy was feeling rather full of himself and the clinic did not move nearly fast enough to suit him. I've been trying to keep weight on him by feeding him corn oil and beet pulp and it is giving him a bit of an attitude. The clinic was also held in a very grassy area and I was not letting him graze with wild abandon, which made him quite angry at me. So I was dealing with a hot horse all day. But we still made it through all the obstacles reasonably well, although we did back through one at hyperspeed. He was even trying to rear several times, which is new behavior for him. Bucking is his favored form of expressing anger, so the rearing was a bit different. I believe we got that one straightened out in short order.

I'm still working on fitness and diet. Although I stated at the beginning of this post that, unlike my "Julie and Julia" inspiration, I would not be cooking my way through anybody's cookbook, I did buy the Cooking Light cookbook and I'm going to try as many recipes as possible to save myself from fast food and popcorn dinners. The other night I made Gruyere, arugula and prosciutto-stuffed chicken breasts with caramelized shallot sauce and it was delicious. Interestingly enough, I bought that cookbook based on reviews stating that the recipes usually used ingredients that most people have on hand. Don't know about you, but I rarely have gruyere, arugula, prosciutto or shallots on hand, although now I do. It was kind of fun working with a lot of new ingredients, but I think I'll look for some recipes that involve less shopping. The problem with cooking for one person is that most recipes, including the ones in this book, make from 4 to 8 servings, so you have to either cut them down, freeze the excess, or eat the same thing several days in a row. If you cut them down, it's often hard to find the ingredients in the small amounts needed so you wind up with excess (like now, I have a lot of leftover Gruyere, prosciutto and shallots). Not that extra Gruyere and prosciutto are a hardship! I'm sure I'll find a use for them. The next recipe on the list, once I've eaten my way through the chicken, is London Broil with Texas Toast and Red Onion Jam. Yum, yum!

I've been trying to get caught up on tasks that have been neglected and piling up. So with work slow now, I virtually locked myself in the house Friday, put my nose to the grindstone, and cleared paperwork, fixed software and hardware problems, made those phone calls I've been putting off, and forced myself to make decisions I've been avoiding. It was very productive, and since it was typhoon season outside, I didn't miss much by being locked in my tower. The sun came out in the afternoon so late in the day I got outside with the camera and captured by camera a flowering plum tree that is trying to prove that Spring is coming.

Yesterday, my friend Kathy called and talked me into taking a ride to the beach (it wasn't hard to do). The surf was pounding and the sky was cloudy, and it was just spectacular. Nice to get away. We're planning a retreat weekend soon to figure out our lives. And we got back in time for me to ride Cowboy for a bit over at Laura's, and then Ken cooked us chateaubriand so how does it get any better than that?

My tax software arrived so I spent the end of the evening installing it (really poor instructions) and working on a tax return. Then did more cleaning and catching up this morning until I just couldn't stand it any more and saddled up for a bit, then did a little garden cleanup. And now I'm watching the Olympic closing ceremonies (sniff). I've been staying up so late watching the Olympics the last 2 weeks that I'm too tired to exercise. How's that for twisted logic? I did re-arrange the living room a bit so that I can now work on the computer while sitting in a chair instead of perched on the edge of the sofa. My only high-speed internet access is by wireless card service connected with my cell phone service, and since I'm in a fringe cell area the only reliable spot is the south side of the house in the living room. So I set up a little internet station in one corner, but no room for a chair, so I used the sofa arm. Not comfortable, and then I noticed a distinct deformity developing on that sofa arm where I perch, so I moved an old typewriter cabinet into a different corner for all the computer and camera equipment, and that is working much better. Hopefully the sofa arm will heal itself over time.

I thought that my kitty Patches should get to share the blog with the big boys, so here is the Princess taking her morning sunbath.
Fill flash used.

As a response to concerns about the propriety of the picture of Cowboy rolling in the "Spring is Coming" post, I have modified the picture to make it more family-friendly. Check out that post for the revised version.
Tried to get pictures of Dexter running the other night but I had to chase him to get this shot. In spite of galloping like a maniac earlier in the day when I was trying to catch him, when I got the camera he turned into a cuddler and I had to terrify him to get him into action again.

But he got curious about the camera....briefly...

Whatcha got there? Is it really safe? Okay, now I'm so very bored.

The boys finally got their feet trimmed on Sunday. Cowboy's feet are growing out very nicely and he loves the barefoot life. Since the weather has been so bad, we haven't gotten out riding so I haven't had to deal with the boots. But we have signed up for a Trail Trials clinic on March 6 in Napa and will probably have to boot him up for that. Or not. I may just take my chances. We'll see how rocky it is.

I'm still riveted to the Olympics and it has been quite a show. What really impresses me is the way the athletes can take the most spectacular falls with no ill effects. I stare at the wreck in horror, waiting for the medics to clear the inevitable carnage, and then the athlete gets up and walks away, shaking his/her head in disgust at the failure to medal. One of the more useful horse clinics I attended had a session on falling off your horse, doing a tuck-and-roll maneuver instead of the brace-and-break-your-arm maneuver favored by so many of us weekend cowboys. It would probably be a good idea to start practicing that tuck-and-roll thing.

I'd like to say the Olympics have continued to inspire me to work out but alas, no, it has not. And I'm back to being sore and achey. Why is it so hard to squeeze in exercise time when I can find time to, say, update this blog?

On that note---good night!

A busy week but not much worth posting on this site. Just work and everyday stuff. We had a few nice days and I did get to ride.

Wednesday was Horsey Dental day. Everybody got their teeth floated. They get pretty well sedated for this--after all, would YOU want to use power equipment inside their mouths while they were fully conscious? So for a while we had four stoned horses with nice smiles.

Cowboy has decided he's a jumper. I thought that after tearing down the hot wire during his last fence-jumping attempt, he might have reconsidered the wisdom of jumping electric fencing. But once again, I thought I had him trapped in Dexter's paddock, and he headed for the fence full tilt. Seems he did indeed reconsider this action and decided that the solution is to simply jump higher. Which he did. He is such an athlete. He even thumbed his nose at me as he leaped cleanly over the wire. Amazing, considering he doesn't have a thumb.

I got an order to bake a birthday cake for one of my mother's friends, so I've been spending lots of time in the kitchen the last couple days. I tried the cover cake from The Cake Bible and it came out nicely, but with a lot of leftover filling and fondant and decorations. So I baked another 6" cake tonight to use that up. Now I just need to find someone to eat it. The shoer is coming tomorrow with his girlfriend, wonder if they like chocolate? Wonder if he'll give me a discount? Anyway, both cakes turned out well and I played with the camera to capture them. Much better without flash--the flash flattens out the image. Both of these were without flash, the first in natural light and the second under the kitchen lights. The cakes are wrapped in homemade chocolate fondant that rises above the top of the cake and then the edge is loosely crimped. It's chocolate overload for sure.

It's late and the shoer is coming first thing in the morning so I'm signing out.

There is light at the end of the tunnel and I think it is.....SUNSHINE! We had a nice day today, and for the first time in months I was outside without a jacket. And I got to really ride my horse. We got a good hour's workout in the arena, with some conditioning walking and trotting, and some actual work on refinement. Cowboy did spectacularly well, transitioning gaits smoothly and straight, feeling relaxed and loose. What a treat! Next week we are hoping to hit the trail for the first time in over a month.

And my seeds have sprouted. Spring is in the air. After the worst winter I can think of. Not so much the weather, although that has been gray and gloomy. But I can't ever remember losing so many people before. My dad, Willie, Jessica's dad, and I have read so many other obituaries with familiar names. The randomness is staggering--there have been loved ones we considered terminally ill who are soldiering on, but we have lost so many others unexpectedly. With that, and the financial woes everyone is experiencing, and bad weather, and then coming down with a bad cold that just magnified all the other negativity, I was at my wit's end. But there is nothing like warmth and sunshine and the feel of Spring to bump up the optimism level. My gene pool may be Scandinavian but I'm a California girl at heart and I like heat and light.

Now that the worst of the cold is over, I've resumed the fitness program and have actually worked out 3 times in a row at the Intermediate level. The start of the Olympics have given that a boost. I'm a sucker for the Olympics. I love the pageantry, the competition, the pursuit of excellence, and I fall for each and every sappy story that is televised. And watching all those tight booties really gives the exercise motivation a boost. My back feels good and the shin and hip pain that have been keeping me awake at night have all but disappeared.

I'm holding out on horse photos until I get some sort of case for the camera. After taking photos the other night, I found tons of sand on the camera when I came inside. It took a LOT of brushwork to get it clean, and I'd like to protect that investment. I am, however, going through the manual a little each night and getting familiar with the controls. I feel like a country bumpkin, being amazed at features that others probably take for granted. You can actually adjust the ISO! Madness! or, GENIUS! Since things are starting to bloom, I played a bit with Flower Photography. One nice feature of the D5000 was a monitor that could be positioned several ways, so you could see what you were photographing without looking through the viewfinder. Mine does not have that feature so the picture of the Christmas Rose (hellebore) was taken with my chin buried in the mud. Good for my agility and probably for the skin on my chin as well, but nevertheless awkward. and if anybody can give me a hint on to how to arrange photos on this site, please let me know!!!!!!

Home Sick

I've been home with a cold for 2 days. It's played havoc with my work schedule, although I've had work to do at home. The fitness program is so far in the hole I don't know if it's retrievable. And I'm waiting for word from a new farrier about when, if ever, he is going to show up. Supposedly tomorrow or over the weekend, but it would be a lot easier to re-schedule those missed client appointments if I had some idea!

Colds make me grumpy (okay, what doesn't, you don't have to say it!)

I haven't played much with the new camera because of bad weather, hairy muddy horses, etc. Finally figured out that I'm still in 35mm mode, where messing around means wasting film, and you don't know the results until the film is developed. But I can play with this camera, see the results immediately, and then hit the wastebasket button and get rid of the evidence if it's a failure. Yes, I knew this, but it hadn't really sunk in. So I took the camera with me this evening when it was time for the horses to come in from pasture, being pretty certain that I could get some action shots while they were avoiding capture. I put it on "Automatic" mode and, just like the point'n'shoot, it wanted to use flash. That's the first pic of Dexter, where Dex is lit up but the background isn't. Interestingly, the picture also seems to have some weird lines drawn in. I'll have to research that one. Might be shadow from the flash. Then I set it on Aperture priority mode and opened up the aperture all the way, and that's the next shot, which is also a fun panning shot.

So I'm having fun with it although I have a lot to learn. It does most of what my film SLR does but the controls are quite a bit different so I have to get much more familiar with them.
This is just a pic of Dex from the other night that I cropped to highlight his blue eye.

Speaking of horse pics, while I was slumped in front of daytime TV yesterday watching RFDTV, I saw an interview on The Horse Show with an animal photographer named Tim Flach (I think) who has a book out called Equus with some of the most spectacular horse photos I've ever seen. Try googling it to see some of his work. Something to aspire to. He was describing the story behind some of his shots, which involved going to Iceland to shoot (photographically) the Icelandic horses in their native habitat, and photographing an Arab, in Arabia that belonged to the Shah (or Sheik, or whatever the correct term is), who took time out of his schedule to attend the shoot in the morning before heading off to rule the country. Sounded a lot more exciting than what I do, but you gotta start somewhere! I'll go hobnob with leaders of state and their equines later. I did bump into Joe Montana, literally, at a fundraiser once so it' not like I've never hobnobbed before.

As I've been feeling overwhelmed by a million fragmented items on my "to-do" list (which I can't even find most of the time), it occurred to me that kayaking or canoeing are like a metaphor for life--you have to paddle faster than the current if you want to stay in control of where you're going. Lately it feels like the current is winning (metaphorically speaking, although a couple weeks ago during the torrential rains it felt more literal). So I'm trying to keep up with the "must-do" tasks each day and also get a couple of the stragglers on the list as well. Today I managed to cut up some branches that I had trimmed from an apple tree a while back and get them in the yard waste bin, and also took down the Christmas lights. If you don't think that's a big deal, you don't spend much time around here! Baby steps.

Spring is coming!

It's amazing what a little sunshine and riding will do to your attitude! On Saturday the sun came out for at least part of the day and Laura and I got to have cocktail hour on horseback for the first time in weeks. On Sunday, the roses got pruned, and then we actually put saddles on the horses and worked on Trail Trial obstacles, preparing for a clinic on March 6. The boys turned in a stellar performance, even allowing us to carry a bag of aluminum cans around and drag them through the arena. After we thoroughly tortured them, Ken saved them by bringing us beer. He was assisted by his brother Jim; the two of them were preparing for Superbowl, so the beer came earlier than usual so as not to interfere with kickoff. Jim also brought lots and lots of pizza for dinner, which worked out well for me as I was invited to join them.

When I went home, I performed an annual winter ritual in anticipation of Spring--I started tomato seeds (and pepper and eggplant and cucumber). Although the gophers always win the garden battle, I still feel a compulsion to plant LOTS of seeds and then peddle the extras to friends and neighbors. My friends at Swallowtail Garden Seeds (www.swallowtailgardenseeds.com) like to egg me on with their website, loaded with

luscious descriptions and voluptuous photos. Tonight I followed up with a tray of melon seeds. Offer up a prayer to the Gopher Gods for success this year.

My friend and hairstylist Yo, who knows I am lusting after a digital SLR camera, sent me a Craigslist posting for a Nikon D60. I contacted the person and made an offer which was rather

indignantly refused.

But it got me in the shopping mood, and today I went in to Shutterbug, just to look and get info of course, and came home with a new D40, which has been discontinued and was on closeout. I did get lots of information and found that unless I go much higher-end than I planned, none of my old Nikon lenses will work with the new cameras anyway, so this camera was an economical way to get into digital SLR and leave me some $ room

to just buy new lenses as I feel the need. So, that explains the addition of photos to this post--normally I woldn't bother taking

pics of a couple muddy horses on a drizzly day but got to try out the new toy! The horses weren't particularly cooperative--I wanted to try some action shots and usually they

play hard to catch and give me lots of opportunity. But tonight they were in a most congenial mood and didn't want to run away, even when I jumped up and down and tried to shoo them into a run. They were a bit taken about by this behavior. I believe they were discussing the situation: "I say, Dexter, she seems to have completely taken

leave

of her senses this time." "Quite right, Cowboy, I suggest we don't make any sudden moves." Cowboy did roll for me, one of his favorite activities. Cowboy is a champion roller, and can make it all the way over every time, sometimes 5 or 6 times in succession.

Anyway, I did get to play with the camera a bit and so far, so good.

Looks like we are in for more rain this week. And I woke up with a cold this morning, and I have a full work schedule. So it looks like another poor week for the program which seems to have largely been abandoned. Cowboy did get a bit of bodywork yesterday, and he seems to be in fine shape. His feet look great in barefoot mode. and he did very well under saddle yesterday. He's moving freely and picking up his gaits effortlessly. Maybe we're making more progress than we think!