Sunday, November 13

[gottawonder]

Today I am grateful for:

Lovely weather today. Above zero for a while.

No contractors over the weekend, so I am enjoying having some privacy when I get up.

I went to see River, and that was fun. The Sunday rider was there (she was also at the paint night yesterday).

A once in a blue moon occurrence: we were actually there at roughly the same time so we rode together.

I worked on our Liberty even with her horse there, and River stayed right with me.

We rode bareback with a neck rope, and worked on doing pole picking using the pylons to hold the poles. I am thinking of working that into my freestyle video (I am meh about doing one, as nothing River and I are doing seem to compare to what another child is doing: trick riding).

River listened well, even with another horse there.

We listened to music today, too. I thought it made things more fun.

I came home and didn't do much. I had a nice nap after supper.

Today I learned that Australia has a fence to keep dingos out of the Southeastern region which is 5,614 kilometres long.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dingo_Fence

It also has a fence meant to keep rabbits out of a Western area that is 2,023 miles (3,256 km) long.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbit-proof_fence

Following the introduction of myxomatosis to control rabbits in the 1950s, the importance of the rabbit-proof fence diminished.

Comments

[sherlockishere]

It just blows my mind, the degree of cold you cope with. How do you keep your hands warm when you're feeding the animals and working outside? And how do you keep your face from freezing when you ride?

[gottawonder]

It's not bad if you keep moving, but truly, it is all about the layers.

Anything from zero to about -10c really isn't that bad. You wear normal lined gloves and you're fine. Your face doesn't really get cold. You wear a toque.

From -10C to -20C you wear more layers, and often I have liners inside my already lined gloves. You wrap a scarf around your face if there's wind. Weirdly enough you get used to it, and it isn't too bad if there isn't any wind. You take breaks to warm up your hands inside your jacket.

Things get pretty serious at -30C. You limit your time outside, I don't ride, and pretty much only go out to do chores if I have a choice. You accept that your hands will get cold (and plan to be back in the house quickly), you wear a belaclava or wrap up with a scarf, I have heavy lined coveralls so my legs stay warm. You don't take chances and you don't mess around. By this time you are wearing so many layers and so much clothing that it can be exhausting to walk.

I should post a picture of me all suited up to do chores. It looks like an Arctic expedition.

Our houses are all heavily insulated with much better windows than you likely have down there. There are a lot of building codes involving insulation and the doors have to be properly insulated, etc.

Our cars have to have heaters and winter tires. Most people travel with stuff in their car in case they get stuck like extra clothes, or one of those thin reflective blankets. I usually have a shovel.

There are still lots of people that are "city folk" who just get in their car and go straight into a warm building who forget that they can get stuck, and wear lighter shoes and clothes. They are fools.

[sherlockishere]

I had to look up "toque!" Of course, one problem in understanding this is that I keep forgetting that the temps are measured in C, not F. But still--- It sounds dreadfully cold! And it sounds like a ton of work to get ready for it.

We don't really get ready for winter here. I wish that we could, because when we have a weather event, we have no way of dealing with it. There are maybe 2-3 snow plows in this million-person city, and we have so little salt that they run out of it with every winter storm. Last year we lost power for about 2 weeks, just because they don't have the supplies to deal with snow.

I'm lucky in that my little Mini Cooper is equipped iwth 4 wheel drive. I'm careful to keep kitty litter around, and when there's snow or ice, I know to keep it in my car. But it's extremely dangerous to drive here if there's any ice at all, because of the doinks who gun their engines and drive way too fast in it. There are wrecks every few yards when we have snow. I try to stay home and just avoid all the crazy drivers. Me, I'm pretty good at driving in snow or ice, just because I take it very slowly.

[gottawonder]

I generally avoid driving in the first few days after a major snow fall too. For the same reason: too many people just forget to be cautious.

[sherlockishere]

And the United States? We have a Trumpian fence on our southern border, meant to keep anyone who's Hispanic out. And that just infuriates me.

[gottawonder]

It is upsetting. Especially since everyone is such hypocrites, and everyone needs undocumented workers to keep their businesses afloat.

[sherlockishere]

Here's the Good News, though. The Republicans were supposed to win back the Senate and completely take the House. They did neither.

Moreover, the other party typically wins big when there is a president from the other party at mid-term elections. Only 3 times in history has the party without the presidency done this badly at midterms.

So there's a lot of buzz right now about how the population is getting really tired of Trump and the Trumpian lunatic candidates. Personally, I actually think this is probably correct. More people are just getting tired of all the endless posturing in Washington, the claims that are just lies, the endless extreme criticism of people with different backgrounds and opinions.

I hope this will be enough to keep Republicans out of the White House. But I do worry about Biden and his ability to be electable in 2 years. I wish we could come up with a better candidate.....

[gottawonder]

I have been following the recent elections. I can't even fathom anyone even CONSIDERING Dr. Oz for public office. I mean, really?

I hope that Trump is blocked out of all power too. I sincerely hope this is a turning point where people start turning away from that kind of "leadership".

I wonder too, if Biden is still a good candidate for re-election. He is pretty darn old.

[sherlockishere]

I agree about Biden. He's done his best, but he really is older, and we need someone new in this party. I was hoping Kamala Harris would step up for the 2nd term, but she seems to have sunk in popularity within the party. I'm not sure why. The problem is that there's just not a clear front-runner among the Democrats.

I miss Obama.

[ratunderpaper]

We're below zero now, so out come all the parkas, mitts and toques! The sous chef thinks it's not really cold enough for a parka yet, so he layers a sweater with a hoodie and a jean jacket over that.

I have been wearing my knee length parka for some time, but won't bring out the long one until it gets really cold and snowy.

Time to hill the roses and weatherstrip the three doors - it's a temporary one that will shred by spring, but it's easy to install NOW. I've had no luck with the proper kind and it's too late in the year to fuss with it.

[gottawonder]

It's cute that the sous chef wears that many layers, but "it's not cold enough for a parka".

Does he do the sweater and shorts thing in the spring?

[ratunderpaper]

It takes him a while to adjust to the change in seasons. The parka will have its day when we get below -5 or so and will probably stay in use until spring. He doesn't run out in a t-shirt and flip-flops during the January thaw, as some guys do.