Sunday, May 1

[gottawonder]

Today I am grateful for:

Okay weather. It might rain, but at least it is above freezing.

I cleaned out the water pail in the pony/goat pen. It gets algae in it.

I went to see River, and it was very pleasant to have both of the barn doors open and a nice breeze moving through.

I love seeing the two barn kitties. They have a nice bed in the tack room, and often they are all curled up together grooming each other. That's what they were doing today.

I spent some time just grooming River and checking to see if he had any tight spots, and massaging and scratching. Always nice to build some buddy points.

He did really well on all our work, but was on the sleepy/lazy side of the spectrum. So that does mean he's not really giving a lot when I ask for something, and only moving over a step or two when I ask for a yield on his front quarters, etc. He woke up a bit towards the end, but I need to find a way to wake him up at the beginning to make better use of our time.

He did do really well in our riding, when I rode using just the neck rope.

I spent a while just chatting with R and another rider. It was fun.

Some of the stories led back to all the "fun" drinking stories from their late teens/early 20's, and I always think it's strange to laugh about being drunk for three days at a horse show, throwing up all the time from drinking, having so much to drink that you can barely make it across the yard to the house, etc.

I get having a drink or two, getting a little giggly, and calling it a night, but I never understood getting so drunk you pass out.

I never bothered to get that drunk, and never wanted to, because I really didn't want to throw up or pass out, and have God Knows What happen to you because you got drunk at a party, or even among friends.

What is the appeal?

I wonder if there is some link between VERY competitive people and drinking hard like this.

I came home and had a nap. No alcohol required.

I learned that the region around Tuscon, Arizona, has been continuously inhabited for a very long time. There were people farming/hunting in that region as far back as 10-12,000 years ago. Some of the first irrigation ditches known in 1200 BCE (same as BC, but means Before Common Era).

President Lincoln created the Arizona Territory in 1863, and Tucson was named capitol from 1867 to 1877 (now the Capital is Phoenix).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Tucson,_Arizona

Comments

[sherlockishere]

Oh, I'm SO with you about the drinking. That said, I'll admit that I used alcohol badly when I was in high school. But I grew up in the midst of the 70s drug culture, so I thought I was being "good" by avoiding drugs completely. My experimentation with drinking, fortunately, didn't land me in any real trouble, although it easily could have.

I didn't know about my dad's drug use or the extent of my parent's drinking until I went to college. Then my dad was killed by a drunk driver, and it had a profound effect on me. I just stopped drinking more than a one or two beers. By that age, I'd realized that no woman is ever attractive when she's drunk. That gave me the ability to refuse drinks from guys at parties.

Fortunately, I just don't seem wired to enjoy alcohol at all anyway. It doesn't make me feel "good" in the slightest, and the point at which I get giggly is also the same point where I get nauseated. It's a powerful incentive not to drink!

[gottawonder]

I enjoy a glass of wine sometimes, but that's enough for me.

I grew up around people who drank too much, and I saw it as being part of...I don't know, a whole syndrome of not taking care of yourself. It usually went along with smoking, and making other bad decisions (like having multiple kids with different fathers). It never seemed to me like "just having a good time", it was setting yourself up for something stupid or horrible and life-changing to happen to you.

Maybe for some people it really is nothing but a good excuse to be silly in a way that they can't manage if they are sober. A lot of people like to pretend that everything they do when they're drinking is "not them doing it".

I've always been afraid of either doing something stupid if I drink, getting hurt, or just ending up being surrounded by alcoholics. I've seen that too, where if you drink a lot, then you end up just being around other people who drink a lot, and it limits your potential.

A friend of mine from high school (who was the sweetest person) ended up being surrounded by losers who liked to drink and smoke pot, because she kind of went that direction after high school. It limited who she was going to meet and marry, and who she associated with in a small town. If you hang out with one or two losers, no one else wants to know you in a town that size.

Of course, none of that seems to have happened to the two women at the riding barn.

[ratunderpaper]

I've never understood heavy drinking or purposeful drunkenness. I understand even less the fond memories some people have of excessive drinking in their youth.

I like wine tasting and learning about different types and styles of winemaking, and I do like a frilly cocktail at a party. But that's a wholly different thing.

[lantairvlea]

Prescott was the first capitol when it was made a territory. It's funny it started in the North central, dropped way South, and ended up South central.

I never got the appeal of drinking at all.

[gottawonder]

That's interesting. No mention was made of Prescott in the article I read. It is funny that they would change the capital so often. Something to do with the railroad?

[lantairvlea]

I'm not sure why it migrated twice, but I suspect it had something to do with transportation, communication, and where the majority of the people ended up settling.