Wednesday, March 27
Mar. 28th, 2024 01:18 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gottawonderToday I am grateful for:
My husband made his flight, and was home with his family safely by the afternoon.
Very nice weather today, though we are supposed to get wet snow overnight/tomorrow.
I had a phone conversation with Sister E, whose foot is still killing her, but I'm a little frustrated that it doesn't sound like she's being very consistent with doing the exercise for it. I also told her how when I had something similar, I did a lot of work to loosen my hips, since a lot of pain lower in the legs can come from tight hips. She also says they're really tight, so it wouldn't hurt either way.
She used to do yoga, and enjoyed it, so I kind of got a little firm about finding another class so she can be consistent. She isn't always the best at putting her own needs ahead of those of others, which is kind, but then causes her to be in pain sometimes. She needs to keep up on maintaining her own health, especially at her age.
Then I spoke with Sister S, and you know, I often feel like I shouldn't bother calling her. I did end up talking at first in a positive tone about being happy that we found a handy man to help us with the house, it got a little more negative as we talked, and I know it's a bad habit of mine. Yet, she also sounded just tired of hearing this from me, even though I talked to her last about a month ago, so it's not like I'm really calling her all the time just to complain.
I'm not sure that I ever get off the phone with her feeling like she wanted to hear from me, or that she wasn't annoyed to hear about whatever I needed to vent about, but at the same time, I don't know that we ever talk about the good things I've got going on either. If I started to talk about River, she probably wouldn't care because she isn't into horses. If I talked about painting or pottery, I doubt she'd care about that. She doesn't seem that interested if I talk about going to the art gallery or for a nice walk, or anything like that because it isn't "news". I really don't know what she WOULD care about if it was about my life.
Often we talk about other people in our family, and somehow she cares about them. She likes things that count as "events", like my brother and his wife having some issues, or my sister N's trip to Jamaica being cancelled, or someone else getting a new battery for their pacemaker. Not ideas, like what it's like to do Liberty or make pottery.
I know I'm not supposed to expect other people to fill my needs, and I guess I should stop expecting Sister S to care. She's at a point in her life where she is having a hard time physically, but you know, I'm not sure she cared before either.
Odd: there was a dead spruce grouse just lying on the ground near the cars (death not car related unless he flew into it, which is not impossible. Sage grouse are not that smart.), in perfect looking condition. Not torn up or anything.
I'm thinking of donating it to a taxidermist or something, since it is so perfect. It's wrapped and in the freezer for now.
I went to see River, we had a lesson today. Since it was warm, he was pretty much muddy anywhere that wasn't covered by his blanket. It's very noticeable because he's "white" (technically grey).
We had a good lesson that wasn't ALL woo. We read over the scores and comments from the video competition recently, and some good revelations about the scoring and what's important to this association, which is different from the ILHA.
It also gave us some ideas of what to improve, which is kind of the point of comments.
So, we worked on trot impulsion again while lunging, with the goal being that River hold the pace without constant nagging.
Then we did ridden work, looking at the NEXT test, and how to improve the small trot circles required for that.
Overall he did really well, didn't bat an eyelash while R's dog barked it's head off at people who pulled into the yard (the sound inside the tent-like arena gets amplified), and did put in a good effort today.
Thank god for River and riding lessons. It's usually the "good thing" in my day, even on the days where things aren't perfect, I enjoy the process, and just being with him.
I got home, and it was a little sad not to have my husband at home. I've really gotten used to him being home a lot this winter. I'm going to miss this if/when he takes another "away" job.
We caught up on the phone, and it sounds like he's helping his Dad with setting up a new laptop.
Sweden has extensive shoreline to the Baltic sea, lots of rivers, lots of lakes. Almost everyone there lives near a major body of water. Which makes sense because this was the home of the vikings, well known as a sea faring race long before most other civilizations were exploring the oceans.
"Germanic peoples have inhabited Sweden since prehistoric times, emerging into history as the Geats (Swedish: Götar) and Swedes (Svear) and constituting the sea peoples known as the Norsemen. A unified Swedish state emerged during the late 10th century. In 1397, Sweden joined Norway and Denmark to form the Scandinavian Kalmar Union,[18] which Sweden left in 1523. When Sweden became involved in the Thirty Years' War on the Protestant side, an expansion of its territories began, forming the Swedish Empire, which remained one of the great powers of Europe until the early 18th century. During this era Sweden controlled much of the Baltic Sea."
Today it is a very nice country in terms of safety, human rights, and general pleasantness.
It is a constitutional monarchy, meaning there is still a king (Carl XVI Gustaf), but also a parliament and a prime minister (Ulf Kristersson, leader of the Moderate Party).
Though Sweden was officially neutral in WWI, they did aid Germany in certain ways. Like putting mines in the Oresund Channel so that it couldn't be used by the Allies to access the Baltic Sea, allowing Germany to use some Swedish facilities, to use their cipher system to transmit messages, and allowed Swedish volunteers to fight with Germany (mainly because Russia is no friend of Sweden's).
In WWII it was similar, maintaining neutrality on paper. There was still German influence. Sweden helped Finland (fighting Russia, which indirectly helps Germany) in passive ways like sending volunteers and materials. However Sweden ended up supporting Norwegian resistance against Germany, as well as taking in large numbers of Jewish refugees.
It is forested (though most of their elm trees got wiped out by Dutch Elm Disease), with lots of agriculture in the South. Not quite as boggy as Finland, but still lots of rivers and lakes, over 260,000 islands, and low lying areas. It is also a post-glacial landscape that is rebounding. There ARE mountains that partly form the border with Norway.
It has a temperate climate affected also by ocean currents, though about 15% of it is above the arctic circle.
Ikea was started in Sweden, though it is now a global enterprise. It is home to Volvo cars, and H&M clothing.
"In terms of structure, the Swedish economy is characterised by a large, knowledge-intensive and export-oriented manufacturing sector; an increasing, but comparatively small, business service sector; and by international standards, a large public service sector. Large organisations, both in manufacturing and services, dominate the Swedish economy.[190] High and medium-high technology manufacturing accounts for 9.9% of GDP.[191]"
"Sweden is considered a "global leader" in decarbonisation.[204] Politicians have made announcements about oil phase-out in Sweden, decrease of nuclear power, and multibillion-dollar investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency.[207][208] The country has for many years pursued a strategy of indirect taxation as an instrument of environmental policy, including energy taxes in general and carbon dioxide taxes in particular.[207] Sweden was the first nation to implement carbon pricing, and its carbon prices remain the highest in the world as of 2020. This model has been shown to be particularly effective at decarbonizing the nation's economy.[204]"
They are also notable world leaders in waste management with a lot of recycling that actually produces salable materials. So much so that they import materials from other countries.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweden
https://youtu.be/pJuq8D1NGJQ?si=vFtwxYYrk2S1QcAy
My husband made his flight, and was home with his family safely by the afternoon.
Very nice weather today, though we are supposed to get wet snow overnight/tomorrow.
I had a phone conversation with Sister E, whose foot is still killing her, but I'm a little frustrated that it doesn't sound like she's being very consistent with doing the exercise for it. I also told her how when I had something similar, I did a lot of work to loosen my hips, since a lot of pain lower in the legs can come from tight hips. She also says they're really tight, so it wouldn't hurt either way.
She used to do yoga, and enjoyed it, so I kind of got a little firm about finding another class so she can be consistent. She isn't always the best at putting her own needs ahead of those of others, which is kind, but then causes her to be in pain sometimes. She needs to keep up on maintaining her own health, especially at her age.
Then I spoke with Sister S, and you know, I often feel like I shouldn't bother calling her. I did end up talking at first in a positive tone about being happy that we found a handy man to help us with the house, it got a little more negative as we talked, and I know it's a bad habit of mine. Yet, she also sounded just tired of hearing this from me, even though I talked to her last about a month ago, so it's not like I'm really calling her all the time just to complain.
I'm not sure that I ever get off the phone with her feeling like she wanted to hear from me, or that she wasn't annoyed to hear about whatever I needed to vent about, but at the same time, I don't know that we ever talk about the good things I've got going on either. If I started to talk about River, she probably wouldn't care because she isn't into horses. If I talked about painting or pottery, I doubt she'd care about that. She doesn't seem that interested if I talk about going to the art gallery or for a nice walk, or anything like that because it isn't "news". I really don't know what she WOULD care about if it was about my life.
Often we talk about other people in our family, and somehow she cares about them. She likes things that count as "events", like my brother and his wife having some issues, or my sister N's trip to Jamaica being cancelled, or someone else getting a new battery for their pacemaker. Not ideas, like what it's like to do Liberty or make pottery.
I know I'm not supposed to expect other people to fill my needs, and I guess I should stop expecting Sister S to care. She's at a point in her life where she is having a hard time physically, but you know, I'm not sure she cared before either.
Odd: there was a dead spruce grouse just lying on the ground near the cars (death not car related unless he flew into it, which is not impossible. Sage grouse are not that smart.), in perfect looking condition. Not torn up or anything.
I'm thinking of donating it to a taxidermist or something, since it is so perfect. It's wrapped and in the freezer for now.
I went to see River, we had a lesson today. Since it was warm, he was pretty much muddy anywhere that wasn't covered by his blanket. It's very noticeable because he's "white" (technically grey).
We had a good lesson that wasn't ALL woo. We read over the scores and comments from the video competition recently, and some good revelations about the scoring and what's important to this association, which is different from the ILHA.
It also gave us some ideas of what to improve, which is kind of the point of comments.
So, we worked on trot impulsion again while lunging, with the goal being that River hold the pace without constant nagging.
Then we did ridden work, looking at the NEXT test, and how to improve the small trot circles required for that.
Overall he did really well, didn't bat an eyelash while R's dog barked it's head off at people who pulled into the yard (the sound inside the tent-like arena gets amplified), and did put in a good effort today.
Thank god for River and riding lessons. It's usually the "good thing" in my day, even on the days where things aren't perfect, I enjoy the process, and just being with him.
I got home, and it was a little sad not to have my husband at home. I've really gotten used to him being home a lot this winter. I'm going to miss this if/when he takes another "away" job.
We caught up on the phone, and it sounds like he's helping his Dad with setting up a new laptop.
Sweden has extensive shoreline to the Baltic sea, lots of rivers, lots of lakes. Almost everyone there lives near a major body of water. Which makes sense because this was the home of the vikings, well known as a sea faring race long before most other civilizations were exploring the oceans.
"Germanic peoples have inhabited Sweden since prehistoric times, emerging into history as the Geats (Swedish: Götar) and Swedes (Svear) and constituting the sea peoples known as the Norsemen. A unified Swedish state emerged during the late 10th century. In 1397, Sweden joined Norway and Denmark to form the Scandinavian Kalmar Union,[18] which Sweden left in 1523. When Sweden became involved in the Thirty Years' War on the Protestant side, an expansion of its territories began, forming the Swedish Empire, which remained one of the great powers of Europe until the early 18th century. During this era Sweden controlled much of the Baltic Sea."
Today it is a very nice country in terms of safety, human rights, and general pleasantness.
It is a constitutional monarchy, meaning there is still a king (Carl XVI Gustaf), but also a parliament and a prime minister (Ulf Kristersson, leader of the Moderate Party).
Though Sweden was officially neutral in WWI, they did aid Germany in certain ways. Like putting mines in the Oresund Channel so that it couldn't be used by the Allies to access the Baltic Sea, allowing Germany to use some Swedish facilities, to use their cipher system to transmit messages, and allowed Swedish volunteers to fight with Germany (mainly because Russia is no friend of Sweden's).
In WWII it was similar, maintaining neutrality on paper. There was still German influence. Sweden helped Finland (fighting Russia, which indirectly helps Germany) in passive ways like sending volunteers and materials. However Sweden ended up supporting Norwegian resistance against Germany, as well as taking in large numbers of Jewish refugees.
It is forested (though most of their elm trees got wiped out by Dutch Elm Disease), with lots of agriculture in the South. Not quite as boggy as Finland, but still lots of rivers and lakes, over 260,000 islands, and low lying areas. It is also a post-glacial landscape that is rebounding. There ARE mountains that partly form the border with Norway.
It has a temperate climate affected also by ocean currents, though about 15% of it is above the arctic circle.
Ikea was started in Sweden, though it is now a global enterprise. It is home to Volvo cars, and H&M clothing.
"In terms of structure, the Swedish economy is characterised by a large, knowledge-intensive and export-oriented manufacturing sector; an increasing, but comparatively small, business service sector; and by international standards, a large public service sector. Large organisations, both in manufacturing and services, dominate the Swedish economy.[190] High and medium-high technology manufacturing accounts for 9.9% of GDP.[191]"
"Sweden is considered a "global leader" in decarbonisation.[204] Politicians have made announcements about oil phase-out in Sweden, decrease of nuclear power, and multibillion-dollar investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency.[207][208] The country has for many years pursued a strategy of indirect taxation as an instrument of environmental policy, including energy taxes in general and carbon dioxide taxes in particular.[207] Sweden was the first nation to implement carbon pricing, and its carbon prices remain the highest in the world as of 2020. This model has been shown to be particularly effective at decarbonizing the nation's economy.[204]"
They are also notable world leaders in waste management with a lot of recycling that actually produces salable materials. So much so that they import materials from other countries.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweden
https://youtu.be/pJuq8D1NGJQ?si=vFtwxYYrk2S1QcAy
