gottawonder

Today I am grateful for:

Decent sleep.

Getting a few things done. Laundry. Dishes. Sweeping. Put some clothes away. Changed the cat litter.

Boring, ordinary, necessary things.

I did not get the estimate today for the cement block, so I called the company and the guy I was working with was busy. He did call back at the end of the day to ONCE AGAIN clarify where we lived. I gave him accurate directions the first time on the phone. Then he requested an email with pictures of the block, to affirm the dimensions, and our location.

So today, since he can't seem to figure out how to get to our place even with very accurate directions, I talked him through it while he was looking at a map. He seemed to be able to figure it out. Dear lord.

So I'm a bit frustrated. Giving us an estimate to remove a single block of concrete like this (which should be a very fast, very simple job for a company that specializes in this) should have taken him only a few minutes. It's literally mileage plus an hourly rate for someone to come out. Minutes.

It makes me wonder if they would be capable of even doing the job, if they can't manage to do the estimate.

Sigh.

After chores I headed to the barn to see River.

I didn't put a blanket on him last time, because it's been fairly warm. I expected to see him coated in mud, but he was pretty clean, which is nice.

He was very sluggish at first, and I could not motivate him on the ground to get going, so I got a bit mad and just got on him, and all of a sudden he found some energy.

We did reasonable work after that. Working on rhythm, being forward, lots of breaks for doing the right thing, yields.

R and L came out for the young woman's lesson. L still seemed tired after their week away. I imagine I would not have enjoyed the stress of the whole thing, even if the showing was fun. Sleep and food deprivation don't appeal to me.

It was nice to be social with everyone. The young woman was in a good mood and had some enthusiasm for her lesson this time, which is nice, and probably makes R's life easier.

I worked with Maverick, a fairly hefty Warmblood, and he has some hind end issues that seemed to be bothering him a bit today. Other than that he did well.

L worked with her pony, Pickles (she dropped the "Mr."). It still amazes me how calm and willing this pony is, after being deemed almost a lost cause by the rescue.

My Sweetie arrived pretty much as we were wrapping things up. He was having some animated conversations with R and L while I helped put horses away.

We headed home, I cooked for myself, and we chatted for a while before he headed to bed. He said he didn't feel like he climbed very well this week, but I guess it's good that he keeps going. For the social aspect if nothing else.

He did say our mechanic contacted him to let him know the car was ready, and that he found a damaged drive belt that he replaced. Not sure why he didn't contact ME about the car being ready, but you know how it is. My husband is a man, after all.

Today I am grateful for:

Decent sleep.

Getting a few things done. Washing the dishes, laundry, making the bed (I managed to pull the whole thing apart last night), animal care.

I didn't want to do much of anything today, since this is probably the first day in ages where my nervous system feels like it's letting down it's guard a bit. I've been really far more upset that I let myself know about the separation referendum and the midterm elections and while part of me knows "it ain't over" (it never is), for the moment things are...better enough that I don't immediately have to flee for Denmark?

In conversation with my husband today...would you BELIEVE that our neighbor Ken can all of a sudden try to come this weekend also to get the slab of cement? My husband talked to him since I am working with a concrete removal company to come get it, so now he's going to try. I guess the last two months of just letting it sit there was because we had no deadline (which I told my husband we needed to set).

Isn't it funny, how ALL OF A SUDDEN everyone can get off their asses and try to get those things out of the yard? Well, we'll see this weekend if pigs really can fly or not.

I did get a hold of our local mechanic, who said I could drive the car to his place tonight (and my husband would follow, and I could go back with him) and he could work on my car tomorrow. We need the winter tires put on, the car checked over as a general precaution, the oil changed, and all the wipers replaced.

I called my Brother T, who sounded genuinely happy to hear from me (which is nice). He's home because he's a bit sick; he feels like that every time he gets the flu shot. He said he'd spent most of the day sleeping, so it's good that I called to get him up and making supper.

We had a good talk, about all kinds of topics from our Brother M likely voting for separation (It's sad, but probably true. I'd rather not know if he did.). Vaccinations, Covid, the snow we got here, how far North we really are here (several hundred kms North of the family farm) and how their new house is (great, apparently). It was nice to chat with him.

I did some chores outside, walked a little bit in the horse pasture, and saw the happy orange farm cat sitting on our fence so I spent some time petting him. He's a sweetie.

It was fairly warm out. I didn't check, though I don't think it got to the predicted 8 C, because if it had we wouldn't still have snow.

When my Sweetie got home, we drove two vehicles over to Tim's, said hi to Tim and the gang, and headed home.

Tim has cancer, and is getting more treatment, but he doesn't look good even though he was smiling and joking around with the other guys. He didn't seem very mentally clear. He sure didn't seem like himself.

I hope he's really okay to do the work on my car; granted it's mostly the tires.

Without trying to sound like a Grim Reaper type person, I felt like he's dying now, and some part of him knows it. I'm glad that he's still doing what he loves; working on cars and sitting around with his brother and his buddies in his shop, and somebody's dog walking around so that everyone can pet it.

We came home and I told my Sweetie to go have a bath and I'd cook tonight (generally he cooks during the week because I don't get home from town/the barn until 8 pm or more, but if I don't have to go anywhere Thursday, I'm at home and can cook).

Then we watched an episode of "The Sopranos". Great writing on that show, and I wonder if we'll ever have shows like this anymore.

Today I am grateful for:

Decent sleep.

Doing a few small things like filling the cat water tower and moving laundry around. Minute things.

I did begin the process of finding a company that would remove the giant slab in our drive way. This company specializes in cutting and removing concrete, so think of who would remove a concrete driveway, or a sidewalk or something like that.

I gave them details of the size of the slab (roughly 6x6 feet, and about 8 inches thick) and someone said they would give us an estimate. They DO come out to our neck of the woods.

I have no doubt that it will be expensive, which sucks, but if my husband can't/doesn't want to get it out of the yard any other way, than what choice is there?

The good news is that someone who lives not far from us says they want the wooden deck, since my husband is very invested in having someone else use it instead of throw it away.

They don't live far, but my husband will have to get the deck onto our big trailer with the tractor (this person will help, whatever that means when you have to lift it with a tractor) and then we will have to take it to his place and get it off the trailer. For free.

I suppose this person may do us a good turn somewhere down the road, but whatever. If it makes my husband happy and gets it out of the yard, then good enough.

So I felt a weight lift from that. I've been in fight mode for about the last two days over those stupid decks. My husband was already making the "they might be there now until spring" noises, and I'm not having that if I can help it.

Friend D called, and we talked for awhile. She had a visit with someone from our class, and of course she found out about all the recent drama. We talked about it too (another recent source of being in fight mode).

She's doing okay, but living with a lot of pain. She's just sore all over, and she doesn't know why. She's trying to do things to reduce general inflammation and she's reasonably active, but so far nothing helps and she's having trouble sleeping. All of which sucks big time.

I'm glad she called. It's nice to be remembered.

After doing chores and such I headed to the barn. We have a lesson tonight.

R is home, so we had a lesson with her.

L came into the barn before the lesson started, and we talked about her experience in Kentucky. It sounded very chaotic, stressful, and on and on. I know they had fun too, and of course even if it is incredibly difficult to go somewhere like that and work with horses they don't know (Patrick brought his horses for them to use) and so on, it's a real experience in learning to perform under pressure and to do the best they can with no re-takes (when we do "tests" at the barn, there are retakes).

I think her description of the difficulties of working with Patrick's horses was also a useful experience, since his horses didn't have much show experience and were having issues with being separated from their friends and environmental distractions. R's horses are all pretty seasoned show horses now, and most of the time the students who went to Kentucky either work with their own horses at home, or R's horses at THEIR home, and they don't have the stress of traveling to a venue and all the noise and distractions and so on.

Showing "away" is a whole different ball of wax.

L also gave me another one of her wonderful art works. It's so well done! I very much appreciate it.

River's breathing was not good tonight, and in general he was kind of draggy. That seems odd, given that it is cool (though warmer today than it has been). His shoulder is still subtly off, so we gave all of those things consideration.

We worked on getting him forward (of course we did) in hand before asking for a stationary circle, and in ridden work focused on getting yields with an ever lighter cue.

There was another young rider from our barn there tonight watching our lesson, as she was doing this for "job shadowing" credits.

It was fine, but not a lot of energy.

I did spend more time in the barn after giving River a massage and doing some stretches. I talked with R about her experience in Kentucky.

It's interesting that from what she said, and what L said, that Patrick (who runs our Liberty organization) is not particularly organized and a bit "spontaneous" in a way that made it hard for everyone else to know what they were supposed to be doing.

So LOTS to take in for information from L and R.

I came home, and my Sweetie was making supper. I do appreciate him doing so, and I tell him so every night, as it makes my life better to come home from either town or the barn and there's a hot meal on the way. I do cook sometimes, but maybe only once or twice a week.

He seemed tired too. I know this pain thing is pretty much constant for him, I hope they can get to the bottom of it with the ultrasound. He's also getting really tired of his job. It feels repetitive and unrewarding for him, and he's tired of management making the same mistakes over and over again. He's probably pretty tired of his wife being angry at him too.

Well, I'm tired too. My nervous system is finally coming out of "fight" mode after the last few days of being angry for several reasons.

Today I am grateful for:

Good sleep.

Doing a few little things. Dishes. Laundry.

I tried calling our mechanic about changing the tires on my car, but got his answering machine. He didn't get back to me.

My Sister E actually called. I had given up on her. Several weeks ago, after a few attempts at calling her (and me saying "how about we try again, since you are busy" because I dislike trying to talk to her when she's trying to do a chore, out in public, or driving and narrating her drive instead of having a conversation), I finally gave up trying and left it up to her to call when she had time.

It was an okay call. She talked for a while about all the volunteer work she's doing. It sounds like she's really pushing herself to go out and do things in the community, which is good, but maybe is also a lot? Well, it's better than sitting at home staring at a television. She sounds busy and enjoying herself.

I ended up talking mostly about being angry that the deck and the giant slab of concrete are still sitting there, with no actual plan in place to get rid of them. REALLY NOT HAPPY AT ALL.

My husband keeps shifting things around with those things. If I press him about the wooden deck, instead of "okay, let's get rid of it" he says "I would like to see if X wants it". Two weeks later I ask, and it's "let's ask the woman at the dump if anyone wants it". That's how he's getting around it. He keeps thinking of someone else who might want it, so I have to give him another week or so to see if they get back to him.

As for the concrete, he just makes up one thing or another about that too. "Oh, Dan is getting a concrete saw from his work place to come cut it up this weekend" turns into "Dan can't make it", so that bought him a week while I thought Dan was coming. I ask him again, and he's like "Well, the blade for that saw costs around $300, so maybe we have to see if Ken is still coming for it". Ken is not coming for it, but that will be his excuse this week.

All he has to do is have another story that will get him to the weekend, and when the weekend comes, "oh no, that didn't work out after all".

I talked to him when I got back from riding in the evening, and I tried to be very nice about it, but that didn't last as he gave me the same runarounds. He just ends up saying (about the concrete) "you have no idea how hard it is going to be to get rid of that slab".

I have NO DOUBT AT ALL that the solution is going to be A) expensive and/or B) very difficult and labor intensive. I KNOW it's going to be awful. Yet, it's going to be awful next year too, right? And how about in two or three year's time? Cheaper or easier the longer you wait? I bet not.

Did he never have a plan to get rid of it besides Ken getting it? Doesn't that seem like a lot of responsibility to lay on our 75 year old neighbor? For HIM to come and remove this giant slab?

So it looks like my husband really just didn't have a plan beyond pulling that slab away from the house. He says "I didn't think it would be that thick, it's actually so much heavier than I thought it would be".

His solution really is "let's just say in our heads that one day our neighbor will come get it. Forever. We'll just think that. We won't even try anything else, and let's just keep walking around it and pretend it isn't there, because it's a pretty big problem that I don't want to even begin to deal with".

That's what's really going on.

Same with the deck. SOMEONE WANTS THIS DECK, so I will not deal with it.

I'm so tired of things like this happening. Over and over again.

Like how it took FOUR YEARS for him to finally get the cracked window repaired, and mostly I did the work and took it in myself.

How we spent a winter with piles and piles of garbage from tearing down the trailer just sitting in the yard, including a DIFFERENT pile of concrete that sat there for almost two years until I found someone to come haul it away because my husband didn't think a pile of concrete was an issue. I wonder if I could find that guy again.--

How is he like this? HOW IS HE LIKE THIS?!!!!!

Do I love him? Yes. Does he drive me right up a fricking wall? Also yes.

I went to get gas before going to the barn, and Asa, the owner and I talked about the election, and then about how probably no one actually loves the orange menace. Yes, we have those kinds of conversations. Then out of the blue, Asa says something along the lines of "you see the body language of the president and his wife, and it's obvious that she hates him. Not like you and your husband. When you are together, your body language is about love. Nothing but love."

Well, I didn't know what to say about that. I do love my husband, and we're pretty affectionate.

I also spent the last hour or so in a white hot fury about the deck and the concrete slab.

I went to the barn, and today being slightly above freezing, everything was muddy.

R was there, back from the trip to Kentucky with other members of the barn. We didn't talk much about it, as she looked exhausted and had to go inside for supper. I'm sure we'll talk about it more on other days.

River did well enough after some effort to get him more forward. I got to the barn a little late, so we had to be efficient in our work, which isn't the worst thing. Sometimes I drag things out too long.

Again, the focus was on rhythm and being forward. I did some trot circles over poles on the ground, and you could see SUCH a difference in him going to the right. He's tight or something on that side, and in trying to do a circle over the poles he was having trouble making a nice circle, and was trying to avoid the poles.

Yet, after really getting him out to the outside of the round arena and cantering a bit, and then back to a smaller trot circle, he was able to do a better trot and picked himself up over the poles.

I don't know if it's just not comfortable (no lameness that I can see) or if he's just uncoordinated in that direction.

Then I rode, and worked again on having rhythm and staying forward.

I spent some extra time giving River a massage in the barn after, and his right shoulder really got a reaction from him, so I worked on that for some time. He really must be tight there.

Then I came home.

My Sweetie fixed a thing on the screen door, I don't know what you'd call it. The hydraulic tube that pulls the door shut at the bottom.

He was making supper too, which is nice.

That's when I tried SO HARD to have a gentle discussion about the deck/concrete and he brushed me off with more BS, and I did get angry because I'm tired of nothing happening. I don't know if it helped at all.

We did move on from that to other things, with no resolution.

Today I am grateful for:

Good sleep.

I did animal care and made breakfast, and it dawns on me that the house is a little chilly. We already had an appointment with the furnace guy this week because the furnace has been cutting in and out in a weird way, but it seems that it is now not running at all.

So I text my husband, who didn't respond, and the heck with it. I called our furnace guy and said it had stopped working, and he would try to get out to our place tonight, but he's elbows deep in a pretty important job at the moment.

So, at least it was about 5 C outside, and sunny with no wind, so the house wasn't going to get too cold before he could get to us.

I put a small space heater in the room with the turtle and decided to go to town anyhow. The furnace guy said he'd be pretty late getting to our place.

I got to town and went to pottery. Pottery, the place of never ending drama.

I don't even get my boots off before someone from our class comes to ask me about The Email.

Apparently the same "leaders" as always emailed the same woman they've been harassing for weeks now, because apparently "there were complaints made by other potters" about the state we (this one woman in our class) have left it in.

Apparently it was "unusable" and they had to clean the studio before it could be used.

What a pile of horse shit. I was there last week, with the woman they are harassing, and I didn't throw or do anything last week (all I did was put a dry bowl on the cart to be fired). The other person was cleaning up the whole time we were chatting.

Yes, we were the last two people from our class to leave. We often are. Yet, it's also just as possible that some other potter came in, left some kind of mess, and left before the next class came in. We wouldn't know if that happened.

Is it possible that she may have left a streak of clay somewhere? Possible. Might she have forgotten to put something away? Possible. Maybe the sink wasn't perfectly wiped out to a mirror finish? Possible.

Yet, even though I wasn't walking behind her to check her levels of perfect cleanliness, I don't recall seeing anything glaringly dirty. Certainly nothing bad enough that the studio was "unusable".

This woman is of an age where she might be a bit forgetful. She might also just not be a perfect cleaner. YET, I've never seen her leave a big mess. Always something small, like a bit of clay on the floor where she was working, or one of her tools left out on a table.

She's not a rebel rule breaker, and she's not "trying to get away with something". She does her best.

Anyhow, I was just angry again, at the ongoing drama that is being stirred up by this S person and her flying monkey (the president of the craft center).

So our class of mostly the "older potters" (as in, we are all seasoned, and are not the brand new potters S has flooded our studio with who are there to be her little followers). We're the only ones who challenge S, and there are fewer of us all the time as we get disgusted and leave.

So, apparently now they are going to have a meeting with S and the president to try to stop this harassment. We all know how to clean up after ourselves, and we generally do a very good job. Do we sometimes leave a BIT of something behind? Yes, in the way that humans being will do sometimes.

It shouldn't make us feel like we're living in a police state where we're being asked to verify our cleaning with witnesses or pictures or to rat on each other.

It's unhinged.

So I did throw a vase, and showed another potter some of the things I do to make a vase. Then the clean up afterwards was nerve wracking, and I DID walk through and take about 20 pictures to prove that I had cleaned.

AAARRRGHHH!

Then I got groceries, which seemed pleasant after the pottery drama. All I had to do was pay increasingly ridiculous prices for very ordinary food items.

Such as the bag of pita bread that cost $3.99 around Covid, and now costs $7.50. I put back the Lindt chocolate that has also doubled in price, and chose a different brand to see if it's comparable in flavor.

I am grateful to be able to buy groceries, to be physically able to do so, and to have a car.

I once again felt compelled to be even kinder and more patient with everyone around me in the store to even out the petty, bloated blanc mange who says she is a pottery instructor.

I came home and my Sweetie said the guy came to look at our furnace, and replaced a computerized sensor, which costs $600. That doesn't include the service charges, which will probably be "emergency fees" because they came after hours and on the same day.

Sigh.

Well, at least our furnace is working.

We made supper, and watched an episode of "The Sopranos".

Today I am grateful for:

Good sleep, but not OVER sleep.

Some time with my Sweetie without needing to jump into action.

I'm trying to restrain myself from demanding that he do more with the weekend. I know he's had this odd pain in his side for some time now, and while I can't SEE that pain, I know it's bothering him.

He went to the doctor a while ago (I know I mentioned it) and he's got an appointment for an ultrasound in not quite two weeks (I know I mentioned that too), and hopefully it will shed some light on what's causing the pain.

I know it's affecting his sleep and general sense of well-being.

So, while we didn't get much done this weekend, I can understand his need to have some kind of easier days. His job certainly isn't easy on him.

He did address something; a sharp drop off from a walkway. It's a section of concrete sidewalk that leads away from the house out to the pottery shed. It has always just ended abruptly with a steep angle down to the grass.

I have tried to fill it in with clay to make a gentle slope, and it always gets pounded down to a steep angle in a year or so. It's the strangest thing.

So today he sort of tried to make a step with a piece of 4x4, but he almost made it MORE dangerous. He put the step about six inches out from the end of the concrete, so that FIRST there is the steep slope of dirt, then the step. So if you don't step out and away (no hand rail), your foot still hits the steep slope, and would sort of slide down until it hit the step.

Imagine if the steps leading to your house alternated between a steep angle and then a step.

Not good.

I was maybe a little harsh about that, but really. It was MORE dangerous.

So, we'll come back to it in a day or so and see if we can't remove the steep slope and make one step that goes all the way to the edge of the concrete.

The other thing: WE know it's tricky, but I'm worried about having someone here and walking out to the pottery shed and forgetting to tell them, and they fall.

Anyhow.

We went to see River together, which is nice.

River was pretty hungry, as they hadn't been fed for the evening yet. So he was happy to come in for his mash and I gave him some time to eat hay in the stall. Enough to at least take the edge off so he could focus.

We did more work using poles, lots of backing and side passes and things like that. Trotting over poles. All things to get him to pick up his feet and use his back end.

By then K came out to feed, and he came into the arena to chat for a while. R and L and everyone are hopefully back tomorrow.

Then I rode for a while and worked on rhythm and being forward, and a bit with the garrocha.

He put in a good effort.

It's been hovering around O C all day, and foggy. It's pretty, with the snow and all the trees covered in hoar frost, and then the fog. Not great for driving visibility, but pretty.

It was pretty last night, as there was a close to full moon on the fog when I was out doing chores.

I cooked for me and he cooked for himself as he was having pasta.

We watched an episode of "The Sopranos".

Today I am grateful for:

Good sleep. A little TOO much, as my Sweetie fed the cats and no one woke me up.

We planned to go to the dump, which we did. That got rid of more of the scrap material from the deck mostly, and I managed to remember to get the recycling in the truck too.

What's frustrating, is that in many instances, not just today, my husband NEVER ACTUALLY KNOWS WHEN SOMETHING CLOSES. He THINKS he knows, and doesn't bother to actually find out. At times we've headed to town, with only the most vague idea of when stores close. Does he plan out the day and find out? No, he just tells me what we're doing, then I go "hey, wait a minute", and I look everything up and find out when things close, and we end up doing that "by the hair of our teeth" thing all day long.

Today was no exception. The dump has had the same schedule for YEARS. I have it written on a sheet of paper on our fridge for F's sake, in big, black letters. Does he check it? No.

So today he does NOTHING all day before I wake up. He then says we need to get to the dump now (I thought he would go before I woke up; apparently not). I thought he was going to go to the dump before I got up so that we would do something fun together in the evening.

Nope. He did nothing all morning, and then in the afternoon when it's nearly closing time for the dump, he says we need to load the truck first. He thinks the dump is closed at 4:30 pm, but right there on the paper on the fridge it says 4 pm. He is surprised by this. It has not occurred to him to CHECK, in fact, he questions whether or not that is correct information. He also does that; thinks that what I have written on the fridge is incorrect or misleading. It is not.

Sigh.

So we load the truck and rush to the dump before it closes. This means we are NOT doing anything fun today. Nope. Just going to the dump today for our "date night".

Less and less he tries to do something for Saturday. Only if I plan something and work really hard to make it happen. He does very little for our date night.

So we went to the dump and got rid of some stuff. Then he talks to the woman at the dump to let her know about our wooden deck, because he is determined to give it to someone to be used, rather than cut it up and haul it away.

He is SORT OF right, I'd hate to just throw it away too....BUT, here we are in October with this giant deck just sitting on our lawn, and threatening to be there in the spring because "it can't be moved this winter". Then in the spring will he just throw it out, or still be determined for someone else to use it?

We also have the concrete slab sitting in front of the garage. The giant chunk he dragged away from the house because it had broken and tilted away from the rest of the concrete, and had to be removed to repair that slab by the house (which is now a uniform, level deck again).

That slab was supposed to go to a neighbor with cattle, as it can be used in front of a waterer or something similar. Yet, it's been two months, and our neighbor has been too busy or something to come get it.

I think my husband has overstated our neighbor's actual interest in getting it. I don't think our neighbor wants it very badly. I think he "kind of" wanted it, until the reality of how hard it's going to be to move it set in.

My husband also has said that Dan was going to get a concrete saw from his work place to come cut it up so we could move it, but that's not happening either.

We have a slab of concrete that likely weighs more than my car just sitting in the yard now. Right in front of the garage.

So that's how I'm feeling today. No fun date night. Still crap all over our yard, and winter is closing in, and my husband just says "yeah, but it's not going to be easy to get those things moved".

Not impossible, and he knows what it's going to take to move them, but hard enough that they can likely sit there until I am angry all the time and I make his life a burning hell.

So we visited our friends again on the way home from the dump, and their kitten still has the shits all the time. I'm like....I don't know...MAYBE TAKE HIM TO SEE THE VET!!!!!

The did get it some shots and so on, so why not find out why it has the shits so bad that they don't even want it in the house? It's living in their garage, and apparently crapping all over the floor in there, which must be very pleasant for everyone.

L says she has a mysterious pain in her abdomen now, and she's made another appointment to see the doctor, but of course that can't happen for a couple of weeks. She's pretty worried because she just finished having a fairly major surgery for diverticulitis that she's still recovering from.

Once again, we tried to have a nice visit with them, which resulted in us sitting around the table with some tea, which was nice, while the husband and wife both talked as loudly as they could over one another, her trying to talk to me and him trying to talk to my husband, instead of taking turns so we could hear them both. It was awful.

I felt like no one cared about what we were up to, they both just talked, and no one asked how I was doing or anything.

I'm not sure why we visit them. I like them as people, but they are horrible conversationalists. At some point, I just look at my husband and make like there was some reason we had to leave, and we go.

So it wasn't the kind of day where I felt like anything fun or nice particularly was on the menu.

When we got home my Sweetie spent some time in the garage. We MUST get the goat pen set up, and he cleared stuff (shuffled things around some more), and I hope we can get the pen set up tomorrow.

I spent some time walking with Roxy in the horse pasture. I was finally able to bring Dandy over to be with Wonder for a while, and gave everyone some time in the bigger pastures, which I know they appreciated.

Then I went over the goat/pony pasture just to sit at the end of it to be with the goats. The goats otherwise don't explore the larger pasture, they would just stay close to the gate to their corral. If I go with them, they will go out to the far end with me and gnaw on saplings.

So that was nice.

I came in, my Sweetie cooked, and we watched "Lesbian Vampire Hunters" and of course it was awful. That was our "Halloween movie". Neither one of us is big into horror or slasher movies (thankfully), but if it's campy and horrible we sometimes watch that sort of thing.

Today I am grateful for:

Good sleep.

Not doing too much today. Little things. Putting away clean dishes, filling the cat water tower, sweeping.

No dog poop all over when I got up, so that's a win.

Feeling kind of stuck. Like I'm often living the same week over and over again. Nothing against a nice, stable life, but feeling like I'm not growing either.

I need to do something about the pottery situation. To learn how to glaze. I looked into some studios in the city to see if they offer training, since it seems like the people I know who COULD help (there are people I know from the studio who make glazes, but totally ghosted me on the issue) aren't interested.

It would also be nice to do something a little out of our normal routine. I don't know what that would be yet.

I'm seeing updates of the people from our barn who went to Kentucky to compete in Liberty there, and it looks like they did well, and in most classes someone from our barn placed. That's pretty cool!

Then I went to see River. It was hovering around the 0 C mark, so all the accumulated snow was slushy but not quite going away either.

He was in a good mood today, and I felt like he gave a really good effort.

He is a different horse in the cooler months. His breathing is good, his energy is good, and he can just do so much more. It's frustrating for me that all the shows and clinics are in the summer, when he just can't do much, and it makes me feel awful to have to try to show him.

The freestyles that I work on all winter have to take into account that by the time we need to perform them, he won't be the same horse.

I keep hearing "he needs to be more forward". "MORE ENERGY"!!! Well, he really doesn't have anything more to give in the summer, and it's hard to get people to understand that.

Even R, who has worked with us for six years now...every summer it's like she forgets. Winter rolls around again, and she's like "you're making so much progress with him" and I have to remind her that he's ALWAYS better and more forward and athletic in the winter, and that by summer we'll be back to him being slow and exhausted.

No, the vets have no answer.

Anyhow, he did great today. We worked over poles to get him to pick up his feet and lift his body, which all helps with collection and general fitness.

We did lots of backing.

Then my Sweetie showed up, which was nice. He finished up at climbing early, because one of his buddies wanted to chat about girl trouble.

I rode for a while, working again on being forward with rhythm, and worked with the garrocha.

Then we headed home.

He ate in town with his friend, so I cooked for myself.

He wanted to head right to bed, but I was put out about that. He can't manage to even sit with me to watch a movie? I mean, it's Friday! He could fall asleep watching the movie if he had to.

So he did. We watched the first "Practical Magic", which I hadn't seen in a very long time. It was okay, kind of that "girl power" vibe that wasn't horrible, but not great either.

Today I am grateful for:

Good sleep.

I didn't do much besides animal care before heading to the "other" town, almost entirely to get the mail.

I stuck my head into the little thrift store beside the post office, but didn't buy anything.

I stuck my head into the vintage clothing store half a block from the post office, and didn't buy anything.

Then I drove to the thrift store that I frequent, and I did buy a few things. A nice sweater that I will pull the sequins off of (since it's already missing some), some books.

Yet, a great deal of the clothing in the larger thrift store especially just felt like crimes against humanity. At least half of what I saw was just so atrociously ugly. UGLY. Not "not my style" but if you had a panel of 100 people, they would likely unanimously agree that it was ugly. Can a clothing company not afford to hire 100 random people off the street before mass marketing an idea?

Of the stuff that was better, a lot of it looked pretty tired, and even some of the "okay" stuff was ruined for me by having stupid sayings or cutesy puppies or something printed on it. I guess not many people enjoy a plain shirt or hoodie? The should just get "Sweet Jesus, this shirt is ugly!" printed across it.

Why do companies make ugly clothing? Why? We've had a lot of experience now making clothes, and they don't have to be super expensive to be at least tasteful and perhaps flattering. I mean, how does no one in that company see that a weird, pukey colored orange polyester isn't going to make anyone happy? Or that an ugly shirt is not less ugly for putting little metal shiny things on it?

Well, there's my rant.

One thing, if people insist on demanding ugly clothes, why not just buy those ugly clothes at the thrift store? Why do we have to have new ugly clothes?

It's not about cost. Plain, attractive clothes don't have to be that expensive. It's like companies are PUNISHING people with these clothes.

So that ended up being most of my day today.

I came home and my Sweetie was just finishing up baking his banana bread. He must have really just gotten right to it when he got home, as I wasn't home particularly late.

We ate more borscht and watched an episode of "The Sopranos".

Today I am grateful for:

Good sleep.

Good lord, October has gone by quickly. I feel like that a lot, though. Every month I'm surprised at the end of it.

It snowed quite a lot yesterday and overnight. Everything is white, and not just a thin layer. A significant layer. Our back steps had drifted in a bit, and I had to clear them off.

I did dishes, some laundry, changed the cat litter, swept. All the little things that keep our place somewhat livable.

I had to change Wonder's blanket because she tore one of the straps free. I will have to sew it back on. Luckily we have several blankets for her.

Then I went to the barn to see River. We had a lesson today with K instead of R, since R is in Kentucky.

I hemmed and hawed about having a lesson with K, because he tends to work differently than R. He works a lot with beginners, and it sounds snarky but it isn't intended that way, he is less....competitive?

My husband said though, he might have a different perspective. You can always learn something.

So our lesson went well. I do like K very much, and he did have a different approach than R. We worked on some things over poles, not too different from some of the things I do on my own, and then we shifted to discussions and work relating to rhythm.

That part clicked with me, and I got some different perspectives on rhythm and it's importance, and how it ties in with the "FORWARD" that is driven into us. Forward is important, but I think we get lost in it being about going faster, it's more about rhythm.

A horse does everything differently if they are moving forward without hesitation or resistance, and if you can "put a horse there", you then can stop micromanaging his body and focus on the cues needed to turn, etc.

Also, if YOUR body is in rhythm with the horse, and YOU are moving correctly, be aware that YOU can cause your horse to fall out of rhythm by not moving with them, or changing your body when you are trying to turn or go over a pole etc.

I likened it to when you are walking with someone, you know what it's like when you aren't in sync. One person is starting and stopping and going all over the place or speeding up and slowing down or bumping into you. It's maddening. Then imagine what it's like when you are in sync with someone, walking rhythmically together, maintaining a small distance between you, keeping a steady pace. You can have a conversation when you do that. You feel connected.

I have had this come up in lessons before, and it IS kind of the core principle behind horsemanship and Liberty, but something hit differently today.

Hopefully it actually sticks and I don't forget about it again.

River did very well. He had good energy and breathing, and gave a very good effort in all of our work today.

It was fun working with K. I think he enjoyed himself too. I'm probably a different kind of rider for him, as he often works with younger folks.

The next rider and her Mom were in the barn when we finished, so I chatted with them for a while.

Then I drove home.

My Sweetie made more borscht from the garden beets again, and it is SO GOOD.

He was too tired to stay up and watch a show, so he headed to bed after we chatted for a while about our day.

Today I am grateful for:

Good sleep.

My back is a lot better, still some twinges if I sit for a while, but better.

Well, my hopes that the snow would hold off are over. It's snowing. Heavy, wet snow. We're supposed to get up to 15 cm.

It might melt, but probably not.

This kind of wet snow is hard on the animals, so the ponies got blankets until it stops (the goats are smart enough to stay in the shed).

Wonder already had a blanket on, and hers was wet but dry underneath, so she's okay.

I sorted through the blankets here at home to take some more things to the barn for River, like the neck coverings.

While at home I called the power company to update the information, since they seem to have a VERY wrong number attached to our account (they gave me the number, though they probably shouldn't have, since I was curious. It's not even a local number).

Then, I also contacted the service provider (our power has two tiers, our local power buying collective, and the company that provides the power) because it would be them who sent the guys to work on our pole yesterday.

They guys with all the stuff about the ex-wife/ex-girlfriend crap.

It did bother me yesterday, but it kept bothering me today. It was a stupid thing for them to say, was kind of meant to jab at me (He didn't come across as joking, but you know if I said anything he would fall back on "har har, it's a joke"), and I kept thinking that if he said something like that to a woman who maybe really did have problems with her husband cheating or having trouble with his ex, that comment might really hurt someone.

So I called customer service, and if nothing else I felt genuinely heard by the guy who picked up. I was telling him what happened, and when I got to the part about the service guy saying "it must be the ex-wife" he genuinely shifted to "oh no, that's not funny. It's awful".

So if nothing else, my feelings were validated and I feel like something will definitely be said to this guy, and hopefully he won't use that awful comment on anyone else.

Then I went to get fuel, and the roads were not great. I don't have my winter tires on yet, and it's also wet and slushy, and the gravel roads turn to mud.

Then I went to the barn. The heavy clouds and snow made it feel like it was already dark by the time I got there.

River had a light sheet on, and it was soaked through. He didn't seem overly cold, but it's good that I brought a change for him.

I spent some time attaching the necks to the blankets and organizing a bit while he ate his mash.

He did well with our work. Again, his breathing and energy are much better in the winter. It's such a shame that summer is so hard for him, and he gets so tired and out of breath. No one knows exactly what goes on with that. I've had him checked by vets a few times. He's never been the same after he got a respiratory infection at the other barn, just before I brought him to R's place. It was part of my decision to leave that barn, as I didn't like how the owner handled that situation (no where to isolate the horses that were ill, no support from her in giving medication which would have meant driving there twice a day for weeks, so I brought him home).

We did more work with going over poles, backing around a square, and trying to have good energy with those things.

I rode for a while, working again on staying forward, which was fairly easy for him today.

Again, he was likely pretty happy to warm up, and to loosen up his body with work. He got to go back outside with a heavier, dry blanket.

R is leaving in the morning for Kentucky, and I guess I'll try having a lesson with K tomorrow.

I came home and my Sweetie made supper and we watched an episode of "The Sopranos". It's a little nuts that we're still on Season One.

Today I am grateful for:

Good sleep.

While not perfect, my back is feeling better today.

After getting up and eating etc, I was getting ready to go outside to do chores, when Roxy started barking at someone at the door. I wasn't expecting anyone.

It was two guys from our electricity provider, there to work on the breakers on our central pole outside.

That's when things got weird. They said they had been trying to call us to book an appointment, but "we kept reaching the ex-wife's phone number". Whoever this was said she no longer lived here, moved about ten years ago, so this guy somehow jumped to the conclusion that it was an ex?

Silence. Then laughter. There is no ex-wife, I said. "Well, then the ex-girlfriend, whatever".

"No, not whatever. There is no ex ANYTHING of my husband's who would have had her phone number on our service contract. We've lived here for about 20 years and both of our names have been on it the whole time".

So, what I think has happened, is just that they got a wrong number, and the person that they reached was asked if they could come work on the pole, gave the land description, and whoever it was just said "I haven't lived in that area for at least ten years" and hung up.

There are all kinds of people who have lived near us and moved away in the last ten years, though none from OUR property description. The way the guy described it, the way he talked was "You know, North of (nearest town)". That could describe about a hundred properties.

Well, I don't know why he chose to go straight to "that had to be his ex-wife or ex-girlfriend". It's like he just wanted to stir up some shit for no good reason.

Well, I didn't get angry, I just laughed. Then I called my husband so he could talk to this guy himself, and ask him to explain how he thought there was an ex-wife involved.

After all that, the guy just said we needed to contact the company and make sure it was the right contact number. All of that, and no one could just say "we likely made a mistake".

Sigh.

Well, I left them working on the pole when I headed to town for groceries, wondering if their competency would mean something else would be messed up when I got back.

I picked up Jones food and Roxy food at the vet clinic.

Then I headed to pottery, though it was already too late to throw anything. I did put a dry bowl on the cart to be bisqued.

I had a conversation with A, the potter that I visited her acreage earlier this summer. We still haven't worked out a good day for her to visit our place and to see River, but we'll keep trying.

She was upset because she had gotten a snarky email from the same people who rub me the wrong way all the time (the president and the REAL president/dictator S). The president of our craft center texted her and asked her what kind of clay she used to make a piece she put on the cart to be fired. It's a legit question, but sounded kinda snarky. The REAL snarky part, was the second paragraph "reminded" this person about cleaning up her area, specifically the clay drying slab.

A general email was sent out about that clay drying slab, and it had been myself who forgot to clean it off, and I said so. I guess the email to this person A had taken place before my response, but why would they single her out for that kind of email? Very snarky.

We're both pretty tired of the atmosphere of those two policing the studio within an inch of its life for petty infractions. We're human, okay? The amount of danger to anyone from forgetting to clean something is nil. They just love the power.

Moving on.

Then I went to get groceries, and that went fairly smoothly. I'm grateful to be able to get groceries, that my back was feeling better, and having a car to get around in.

I got home and my Sweetie was outside with Roxy. He helped me get everything in and we put it all away. He made me supper, but didn't feel like eating anything (sigh).

We watched an episode of "The Sopranos".

Today I am grateful for:

Some sleep. Not as much as I would have liked, but some sleep.

Time at home with my Sweetie before leaping into the day.

When we did leap, I did the usual changing/washing sheets, making of dense salads, and animal care.

My Sweetie went outside to try to mow the rest of the pasture, which we do in part to keep down the saplings, which grow back every year.

The grass didn't mow that well. It is still green at the bottom, and a bit wet from the recent snow, so it didn't snap off neatly like it did last year when it was so dry. Really, it's kind of mashed and mulched rather than mown, but it shorter and the saplings are cut.

So that was HIS day.

I did go see River, and it was brisk and cold, and a bit windy, so I chose to work in the indoor arena.

He had good energy and focus, and we did some different things that were kind of...intense backing exercises using a square made of poles.

I repeated the exercises mounted, as well as worked a bit on collection.

Throughout he maintained good focus and attention.

I did see K while he was doing chores. R and L are packing as they will be leaving for Kentucky Horse park with some others very soon.

I came home and my Sweetie had supper ready, and we ate and watched an episode of "Sopranos".

Today I am grateful for:

Good sleep.

Time with my Sweetie at home.

He spent some time cleanin' the ol' garage. A never-ending task that doesn't last long.

I did dishes, washed dog diapers, filled the cat water tower, took the tops off of the beets I pulled a few days ago, and tried to put at least a few things in their proper location (and directed my husband's attention to specific things that belonged in the garage that have been just sitting in the house for ages).

We did chores, then took the truck to the nearby gas station to fill the jerry cans.

We came home, and by then it was around 5 pm, and my husband was going to go to the horse pasture to mow some more, and I'm like..."if we're going to see a movie like we talked about, we have to leave by 6 pm, but it's already 5, don't you want to clean up and eat first?".

So yeah, we went inside and cleaned up and ate first, and we got to town in reasonable time for the show.

We saw "Wildwood", which was quite incredible. It took 16 years to make, it's all stop motion animation, and it's absolutely amazing.

There were a few things with the story that bugged me, but the art of the process is worth seeing on the big screen.

Even more fascinating are the videos on YouTube about the process.

Very beautiful film.

At home we watched some of those videos and chatted before my Sweetie headed to bed.

Today I am grateful for:

Good sleep.

Dear lord, there's snow again. Sigh. It will likely still melt in a day or so, but sigh.

I didn't do a lot of anything besides animal care before heading to the barn.

It was windy and only a hair above freezing, and not too pleasant.

I tried talking to my husband about addressing the huge slab of concrete that is supposed to be picked up by a neighbor, who has not done so in the last two months that it has been sitting there. We need to break it up and haul it away ourselves, I think.

We need to haul away the old deck that is too large for anyone to take as one piece. It needs to be cut up and hauled away.

We are running out of time. If we don't do these things NOW, it will snow, and my husband will shrug and say "we can't do it now", and that garbage will sit there until next summer, when I will have to resume yelling at him.

Dammit.

River was pretty cold and unhappy when I brought him into the barn. He was very pleased to warm up, get something to eat, and dry out.

He was actually being EXTRA GOOD in the arena, and affectionate. I think he was super happy to be warm again. Maybe these humans aren't all bad after all.

He had good breathing (as he does when it's cold and wet) and good energy.

Since our blankets finally got back from being cleaned (R took them to this person in MAY, and that person had an injury that somehow got in the way of washing them, I guess. I'm skeptical that that's why it took so long.) I put a light blanket on him, mainly to keep him dry.

R and L came out as I was wrapping things up to set up a Halloween themed obstacle course for the young woman's lesson, and it will be left up for awhile.

It's more or less the same obstacles she's used other years, so we're familiar with them. Still, it's fun, and it's something to do with H, since there's only so much you can do with her lessons.

It was still fun and social, and I chatted with R and L throughout, and we enjoyed H's costume (Woody from Toy Story) very much.

R and L won't be here for Halloween, they will be attending a Liberty event in Kentucky with some others in the barn. No one is taking horses, they are using horses provided by Patrick Sullivan, who created our Liberty organization (ELO).

I came home, and my Sweetie made supper. He was pretty gimped up from a fall at rock climbing.

He did not want to watch a show, and went to bed after we ate and chatted.

Today I am grateful for:

Good sleep.

No turds on the floor today!

My back is still bad when I get up, though it improved after some stretches. Not perfect, just better.

Enough that I could go do some house stuff. I did dishes, some laundry, and went outside with the pails of carrots to wash them outside by filling the pails and sloshing the carrots around and changing the water a few times.

They came out pretty clean.

When my husband got home we laid the carrots out on kitchen towels to dry before putting them in the salad fridge (which now contains a lot of carrots. Maybe the salad fridge wasn't such a frivolous purchase after all).

I did also toss all the yucky tomatoes I had "ripening" (rotting) in the mud room. I had them laid out on sheets of cardboard, and they rapidly ripened, then went bad almost instantly. I didn't eat many of them.

Sigh.

What can you do. I'm not too worried about making sauce or canning or anything. I don't eat more than a few tomatoes a week.

Shrug.

We took them out with the normal vegetable waste buildup out to the compost pile.

Then we went for a walk at the park down the road. It was a nice evening for it. Cool but not too cold yet.

We saw two different cats in the now empty camping areas (a walking path goes all around them) at different times. They ran away from us into the bush. I don't know if they are feral cats who live there, or ones that come from a farm to hunt and have a warm barn to go to...? A cat likely wouldn't live too long in the park over winter.

I've never even seen a cat there before, never mind two.

These Thursday walks have been really nice. We end up talking a lot on these walks, and I think it's nice for my husband to do something after work besides eat and go to bed.

We probably will run out of daylight soon, though. The sun sets pretty early as it is.

Then we came home, ate, and watched an episode of "Sopranos".

Today I am grateful for:

Good sleep.

Sigh, waking to Roxy apparently pooping all over the place out the side of her diaper.

My back started off a bit sore, but improved quite a bit once I got moving around, thankfully.

I emptied the bathroom trash can, and took it outside to be washed at a later time.

I did outdoor chores, and what a lovely day!

Roxy and I walked around the horse pasture.

Then I went to the garden and pulled the rest of the carrots and beets. The carrots are VERY nice looking this year. Not too many twisted ones, and none have the tops chewed by varmints. Some years we lose a lot of carrots by having the tops chewed by something. Same with the beets, which we did not have this year.

I managed to fill a five gallon pail right to the top with today's carrots, and we've already brought that amount in a couple of times. That is a LOT of carrots for a few rows.

Then I headed to the barn.

I had to find River back in the bush of their pasture today.

We had a lesson today, which oddly turned into us doing things that were recorded to be edited and used as a "profile" video that will be on our client page.

It kind of took over my lesson, doing things just to get footage, and I felt a little odd that I paid for that, when it's their initiative.

Sigh.

River did have a bit more pep today, and his shoulder was good. I'm grateful for that.

As much as I talk about the mechanics of working with River, it means a lot to me that our relationship has improved so much over the years. If I go out to the pasture now to catch him, he often comes over to me with a happy expression on his face. I don't even have to put a halter on him usually, he just comes with me. He leaves the food and his friends to walk with me to the gate.

He's more willing to try to do things that are confusing, and to work through the problem instead of shutting down, and I am better at trying to do the same.

He is overall much less worried about things, and more relaxed, and I am too.

Whether or not we win much, those things are important to me.

Talking with L (R's daughter who is...19 now I think? She's very sheltered. VERY SHELTERED.) is funny. I think she's just getting to a point where she's realized that people have whole histories that aren't necessarily what you see on the surface. I think she is under the impression that I have a wild past (everyone seems to think this of me, and I'm not sure why), and that I am full of surprises.

I guess she was surprised that I could make a hula hoop, and that I knew how to use it. That's a pretty vanilla thing to know/do.

I told her a bit about how I myself wasn't that "wild", but that I was often surrounded by people who were in recovery (and probably lots of active users) while we lived in Wyoming. That was a very rough town, full of young guys with money from the oil industry, and I didn't enjoy that aspect of living there. EVERYONE had some kind of drug problem, with the exception of maybe a few people we knew through the college.

She seemed to think that was a pretty wild experience, and I suppose it was. Yet, I think it was only obvious to me because so many people were in recovery, so they were pretty honest about their history of use. Since EVERYONE had a similar history, no one seemed to think it was very shocking.

In reality, she's probably been around people with problems, but they probably just weren't going to say anything about that to her.

She's going to university in January, and I think getting out into the world and away from the shelter of living in a utopian horse farm and working for her parent's friends might be quite a shock.

I mean, if she thinks I'M "interesting"....!

I came home and my Sweetie heated up the borscht for us again...Mmmmmm!

We watched another episode of "Sopranos". It really is a good series. I haven't watched it all, and I hear the ending is really amazing (no spoilers).

Today I am grateful for:

Good sleep.

My back was really bugging me today, but I still did some household tidying and displayed the Breyer horses I got by making some room on a cabinet.

I did things like put away clean dishes and refilling the cat water tower and sweeping. By then my back had loosened a bit.

I did outdoor chores, and walked around the pasture with Roxy. It feels very "wild" in the horse pasture since no one is grazing it down (that was dear Hollywood's job, the horse in my icon).

It's about the right time now for my husband to mow the pasture with our rough mower, and it will be nice to be able to walk there more easily.

I will note that by fall, the stars are very bright again. In the summer, you don't see much of the stars because it doesn't really get dark enough. Right now, the sky is dark when I do chores, and we live in a pretty dark area (except for our neighbor's glaring light, which we have spoken to him about, but he hasn't done anything about it. Arrr). It's one of the perks of the shorter days.

Then I went to see River. My back wasn't too bad by then. His shoulder seemed a lot better, which is a relief.

I didn't push it, and worked him moderately. He had a nice, forward walk after we warmed up a bit, and his trot seemed fine.

R says that L used the bigger hoop with Pickles, and it is big enough for him to pass through without ducking.

My Sweetie showed up just to say hello on his way home, and we chatted with R for a while about her new to her saddle.

River was very soft in his back up and yields, which is nice. It was very pretty for riding outside, near twilight and the moon out.

I often see the little neighbor girl, who does take lessons (their yard is right beside the barn property). She plays by herself a lot, and comes up to the fence to see the horses. I wave to her when I'm riding.

Then I went home. My Sweetie made borscht with our garden beets, and it was WONDERFUL.

We watched an episode of "Sopranos".

Last night I watched part of "Arrival", and will hopefully finish it tonight. It is an excellent movie. One of my favorites.

Edit: I saw the orange and white cat outside today. He was sitting on our rail fence, very happily absorbing sun.

I pet him for a while, and he is SO affectionate. He does belong to someone as he is neutered, fat, and content with life. It's fun to see him from time to time.

Today I am grateful for:

Good sleep.

Getting up with no need to rush before the vets got here.

It wasn't for an emergency, just a scheduled appointment. Though I don't know if that's what's going on, I wanted to have Wonder checked for Cushings, as it is common in older horses.

Wonder is pretty old now, and she's thin. I'm feeding her more than I used to (when she kept weight on easily), but the vet suggested feeding her a bit more, and maybe some high fat, low sugar feed.

That's the conundrum, is that she is thin, but I can't just feed her anything to put on weight, she has issues with sugar, so you have to be aware of what you're feeding her.

The vet did kind of give me the "she's just old" talk too.

Her teeth are fine, she's eating lots, she's just a little thin.

The vet and her assistant seemed nice. Once again, they're both new vets. I rarely see the same vet twice, and I wonder where they go, and why they don't stay on.

After that I headed to town.

I did get to pottery, with no drama today thank heavens. I didn't do a lot, but trimmed a bowl I made last week and spent some time carving a design into it. That was nice.

Then I went to get groceries, and had a funny interaction.

I was trying to get past a young fellow, and said in my chipper voice "just sneaking by!". He later came up to me, and I'm guessing he's a bit socially awkward, but trying to be better about interacting with people.

He said "I like to mess with people a bit when they say 'just sneaking by' by saying 'I heard you'".

Then he stood there smiling. So I said "I always think I'm just not being very sneaky if I announce that I'm being sneaky".

He replied "Wow, I hadn't thought of that". I replied "Well, I guess you caught me".

The conversation could not sustain itself after that. We both smiled. He went on his way. I wish him well and I hope there's someone out there taking care of him.

I am grateful to be able to get groceries. To have the means, the physical ability, and a car, etc.

I came home, and once again there was the most glorious sunset that lit up the sky, and only for a few minutes when the angle of the sun was just right.

My Sweetie was finishing up baking his banana bread, so I sort of made a very lazy supper, but it worked.

We watched an episode of "Sopranos".

Today I am grateful for:

Good sleep.

Some time with my Sweetie before leaping into action.

Then we leapt into action.

My Sweetie did the dishes. I started quinoa, then started (later finished) the dense salad for lunches. I washed dog diapers. We folded and put away clothes.

I changed the cat litter and then swept the floors.

My Sweetie found the length of PEX tubing to make a larger hoop for L at the barn.

He also put the screen door back on the North entrance, where it has long been absent.

He pulled more carrots, and you know, I think they grew quite a lot more in the last month or so. They're very sweet, since we had some frosts.

He washed them and put them in the "salad fridge", which has quite a lot of carrots in it right now.

He also pulled some beets.

After chores and such (more picking up things that were displaced for pouring concrete being returned to their places), I headed to the barn.

River was sore today, it seems to be his right shoulder. So we took it easy and didn't do much. Some walking, some massage, some stretching.

L had wanted to do some video today for stuff she posts for the barn page, so it was a little disappointing.

I gave her the larger hoop, and she thinks THIS will be big enough for Pickles to jump through, and I hope it works out.

I tried to hula with it, and actually managed to do it for a while!

Then I came home, and my Sweetie had supper ready (garden veggies!).

We watched an episode of "Sopranos".

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