Saturday, August 6

Today I am grateful for:

I managed to get up a little earlier than usual, because I need to get to town and run errands.

Decent weather. Still a bit cool.

I picked up food for Jones at the vet (urinary food).

I went to the paint store to get paint for the mud room, and I came across some wall paper that has a raised print, and kind of looks like those old embossed tin ceilings houses had. I am not sure if I am going to use it as wall paper in the bathroom (since I painted over very uneven walls, and the paper would hide imperfections), or on the ceiling of the bathroom (which is also cracked/peeling). That room will not be the bathroom forever, but it would get me through the next year or two if I could spruce it up.

Then I tried to find a shoe repair place, but it is closed for vacation or something. The storefront is inside the depressing little mall that I don't usually have much reason to shop in, but I did look around.

There was a very sad (tidy and bright and clean, but not much stock on the shelves) book store. I am assuming that she must do some business ordering books, because it sure doesn't look like she keeps a lot of stock on hand. She might even be going out of business at some point, and that makes me sad. There is no other new book store in town. She is quite elderly, and we had a nice conversation. I did find a couple of books.

I also came across a clothing store that actually seems to be thriving. I found a t-shirt and a casual sweater that both fill "layering" goals in helping me to wear existing clothes.

There is still a store there (that has been there forever) that sells ...well.. kind of horrible cheap/tacky clothes, and I have no idea how they are still in business when there is a Wal-mart in town.

Then I went and found a fly mask that hopefully fits River. It was pretty much the only one that was "horse" sized. The others were meant for small horses (cob-sized). River has a big head, so I hope it works.

Then I got groceries.

I came home and let everyone out for a while, and then I mowed until it was nearly dark.

I picked some more raspberries, and I noticed (thankfully before disturbing it) that there is a hornet's nest in that part of the garden underneath some rhubarb leaves.

My Sweetie is now driving back. We talked (hands-free for him) for a while.

It sounds like the wedding was pretty tedious, even though it was nice to see family. Apparently it was all outside, which was okay in the early part of the day, then it just got cold.

The ceremony wasn't too long, but then there was way too much time where the wedding party was taking pictures. There was a meal, but then part way through the wedding party left for MORE pictures. There were also speeches made by everyone in the wedding party, brothers and sisters, and on and on. Hours of speeches. There was also going to be dancing, but it was already dark, and lots of people needed to leave. That's when my husband started back. It was pretty cold, and a lot of people weren't expecting that and were wearing light clothes. He did spend something like seven hours at the wedding, and that was BEFORE the dancing even got started. Way too long.

Today I learned that "laser" is an acronym for "Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation"

Sunday, August 7

Today I am grateful for:

A nice day. Very hot.

I made it to the mounted archery demo at the riding barn. It was in the morning, which is pretty tough for me.

It was pretty interesting, and a fun thing to watch. The woman who teaches it is pretty good, and her horse is lovely.

My Sweetie met me at the barn, and caught most of the demo. He just got back from his trip to see his family.

He decided to head home after the demo, as I still wanted to work with River.

River's eye is MUCH better. The fly mask I bought for him does fit. We will keep using the ointment.

River did well on the Liberty/groundwork, and I rode him again bareback with just the neck rope because it was so hot I didn't want to bother with the saddle. He halted and backed well off of the neck rope, and our circles are improving.

I came home and tried to nap, but my Sweetie was pretty much just getting up from his nap (he rested for a short while, then he had to drive to his job. Sigh. He works tomorrow and wanted to get a full night's sleep).

My day just felt weird, getting up that early. I have to still do chores at the same times, and everything feels out of sequence.

Before my Sweetie left, we trimmed just one hoof on one of the goats that was growing funny, my Sweetie exposed the hornets in the garden (which I later sprayed), and he helped me figure out how to get music from the computer onto the phone so I can play music on my bluetooth speakers.

I did get the music to work, so now I can try that at the barn.

He approved of the paint and wall paper I bought yesterday.

Then he left for work.

I let everyone out for a while, turned the water on for the garden, and pulled grass and weeds away from a side of the house I would like to mulch. The weeds and grass have gotten really bad all around the house because it was just bare dirt after the basement construction, and it needed to settle for two years (apparently) before I could mulch it. I wonder if we still could have covered it with something to stop the weeds.

I learned that the leotard is named for Jules Leotard, a French gymnast who popularized the one-piece garment he wore during his performances and training.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J...