Sunday, July 19, 2009

I'm in a weird mood

I'm feeling blue and melancholy tonight for no apparent reason. I feel like I"m bored, yet I have things to do...yet, I don't want to do them. I wasted a good riding weekend just sitting around. IT's not entirely true. I didn't waste it. I had Peter's family here today and that was great fun. They all came for lunch and Peter's brother's and wife's birthdays. I got to see my inlaws and I haven't seen them since Christmas. Maggie has gone back with her grandparents to Peter's brother's house, where she will spend the night hanging out with Peter's mom and getting to play with her almost 2 year old cousin tomorrow. Normally I really enjoy the alone time. Tonight I just feel odd. I had thought when they left to go to Nick's house (Peter's brother) I would go ride my horse, but I didn't. I was feeling comfortable in my chair and I played Sims 3, which is a complete waste of time, but was fun anyhow. Now I really wouldn't mind going out, but it's 8:20 and I have to work early tomorrow, so I won't go.

I was supposed to meet someone to camp tomorrow night and ride both tomorrow night and Tuesday morning, but she had to cancel. So, I was going to go ahead and go down tomorrow night and camp, but it seems strange to camp all alone with no one else around. I have enjoyed the rides I have gone on alone, but to go to a place and be completely alone just doesn't sound like fun. I think I have decided to sleep at home tomorrow night and get up at 4:30 and drive to Athens to ride. I may even put out a note to the NATRC list to see if anyone is free that wants to go. If I could find some other people to camp, then I'd go down, but going alone just doesn't feel right. I wish that Maggie could go with me, but she goes to her dad's on Tuesday and with her going to visit my mom in a few weeks, I don't want to take them away from each other.

I have been wanting to judge in STC/TTC and I'm finding out that people don't find me to be qualified right now. I have been trying to reinvent myself, but evidently I'm not quite there yet. Yesterday it really upset me, but now I've decided that I would just as soon ride and enjoy my horse for the rest of this year and see what a year of campaigning can do for me. I have already decided to ride open next year. Maggie wants to, but it may not be time for Dixie yet. We still have saddle issues to work out!

I did ride at the field last night with Maggie trying out my new Icelandic saddle. I don't think it's going to work on Liberty so well. IT's a Duett Bravo and it's billed as a trail saddle. It's too small for me, but I think it fit him OK. It also looks like it may work on Dixie, but Maggie wasn't sure she was crazy about the way it fit her. So, it will probably be up for sale. It's nice saddle and I got it for a good price, so I can probably resell it for the same money again.

Saturday, July 4, 2009

Hot Fourth of July

Well, OK, duh, it's hot and it's July which makes it summer...

Our fourth started with a bang and some sparks that were NOT fireworks related. In the middle of the night we noticed the house was really, really quiet. The power was off. The dog was barking in Maggie's room. I got up (and was able to see without glasses or contacts thanks to Lasik Surgery) and found the neighbors on the front lawn and 2 firetrucks in the street lights flashing. The teen age boy next door told me they heard a pop and had sparks in the backyard so they called the fire department. Sounds like a transformer blew. I have no idea what time it was, but it was really, really dark. So, I'm guess 4am or before. I didn't go to bed till midnight, so I was pretty bleary eyed. I came in the house, which was thankfully still cool. Peter couldn't sleep anymore so he was up and down after 5. I finally got up at 7:45, Maggie was awake then so we ended up all getting up and going to breakfast.

Now, I'm home, getting ready to cook a brisket...which seems to be a great summer sort of thing to do. I'm getting the fire ready right now. I like the char the brisket and then bring it in, wrap it in foil and cook it in a sauce.

Last night I rode with my friend Amy Crane. It was great fun. We left about 6pm and rode until dark. It was much cooler than riding in the day time. It was good to ride as it got cooler instead of it getting hotter. The horses did great, until the deer started popping up. It was really fun until they got jumpy. We did get out into the lake and that was so pleasant. The horses were great and wanted to go in deeper, even though there were boats and wakes. I was so pleased how sensible they were. We did a little trotting and cantering to work on Amy's confidence. Her last horse bucked her off at the canter so she's working on her confidence to canter again.