Wednesday, November 12
Nov. 13th, 2025 01:30 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gottawonderToday I am grateful for:
Better sleep, not as disturbed by dreams, though I did wake up with one in my head.
I tried washing the stinky dog mattress, because she's been wetting it. The weird material of the foam mat turned into something very strange upon contact with water, and tore when I tried to move it around in the bath tub.
Very strange, and I guess if I can't wash it, it's finished.
Then I decided to wash the turtle filter material (the turtle has a large, exterior canister style filtration system) and I was very surprised at how clogged it was. I could be wrong, but I thought I cleaned it not that long ago, and with only one turtle it generally doesn't have to be done that often.
I guess I've underestimated how much I was feeding the turtle that wasn't being eaten.
Well, anyhow now the oily coating on the water is gone, and I feel a little badly that I didn't go straight to the filter being the issue sooner.
I spoke with Trainwreck, and she didn't mention the apartment she was looking at. Since it's past the end of October, I guess that means she's not moving.
It would be very difficult for her, to be truthful, to move apartments quickly, since she would need her sons to do most of the work.
She seemed happy enough today though, talking about her pottery class. I'm really glad she's doing something like that, and that it seems to have opened up some options for her that previously she rejected.
She is now in a small city where no one knows what she was like before, and if she wants, she can be someone altogether different.
In our small town where we grew up, she was never going to get that chance.
I also talked briefly with Sister E, who has been pretty busy with appointments and such. She's doing her best to stay active and engaged, and has lots to do every week.
She's often sad/upset that her husband of...forty years or more I guess...just wants to sit at home and watch television.
He does have diabetes, which probably means he's exhausted easily. He also recently had a car accident that didn't hurt him, thankfully, but likely has left him feeling vulnerable about driving anywhere. He never was the kind of person to exercise deliberately, nor to "eat well" or do somewhat silly things like pickleball or a paint night, events that get you out of the house and meeting people and trying new things.
So he sits at home and watches television. He does walk the dog, but the dog is close to the end of her life, and I doubt that they'll get another one when she goes.
I said to my sister, that maybe it's just going to be her that is the active, healthy one while he might become "old" sooner. Sucks for her to feel like she's watching him slip away.
I went outside and was able to find time to let everyone out into their bigger pastures today. That gets harder to do when the days get dark so early.
Then I went to see River for our lesson.
We worked more on mirroring steps, which seems to have some benefit in getting him to be more forward in the walk and trot on the ground.
We did a LOT of mirroring, and trying to keep the same steps from a walk into a trot together.
Then we did some canter circles at Liberty, and it took some doing to get him up to the canter. I need to get more precise with my cues, the process of cuing, and also keeping the spatial boundary in place.
So much of Liberty is about the precision of the cues, and being absolute in following up if the horse doesn't respond to the cue.
We rode, and focused on making circles with less obvious leg and hand movements, and keeping rhythm.
I spent some time upstairs with the kittens, and they are already more cat-like in their interest in the toys and "hunting" than in cuddling, though most cats go right back to just wanting to cuddle after a couple of years.
Then I came home. My Sweetie put some work into the insulation of the pottery studio.
He's trying to do some work after he gets home, so that Friday he can go climbing. I'm fine with that, as long as the work happens.
We ate, he cooked some tasty food using the BBQ jackfruit stuff that tastes like pulled pork, and we chatted.
Better sleep, not as disturbed by dreams, though I did wake up with one in my head.
I tried washing the stinky dog mattress, because she's been wetting it. The weird material of the foam mat turned into something very strange upon contact with water, and tore when I tried to move it around in the bath tub.
Very strange, and I guess if I can't wash it, it's finished.
Then I decided to wash the turtle filter material (the turtle has a large, exterior canister style filtration system) and I was very surprised at how clogged it was. I could be wrong, but I thought I cleaned it not that long ago, and with only one turtle it generally doesn't have to be done that often.
I guess I've underestimated how much I was feeding the turtle that wasn't being eaten.
Well, anyhow now the oily coating on the water is gone, and I feel a little badly that I didn't go straight to the filter being the issue sooner.
I spoke with Trainwreck, and she didn't mention the apartment she was looking at. Since it's past the end of October, I guess that means she's not moving.
It would be very difficult for her, to be truthful, to move apartments quickly, since she would need her sons to do most of the work.
She seemed happy enough today though, talking about her pottery class. I'm really glad she's doing something like that, and that it seems to have opened up some options for her that previously she rejected.
She is now in a small city where no one knows what she was like before, and if she wants, she can be someone altogether different.
In our small town where we grew up, she was never going to get that chance.
I also talked briefly with Sister E, who has been pretty busy with appointments and such. She's doing her best to stay active and engaged, and has lots to do every week.
She's often sad/upset that her husband of...forty years or more I guess...just wants to sit at home and watch television.
He does have diabetes, which probably means he's exhausted easily. He also recently had a car accident that didn't hurt him, thankfully, but likely has left him feeling vulnerable about driving anywhere. He never was the kind of person to exercise deliberately, nor to "eat well" or do somewhat silly things like pickleball or a paint night, events that get you out of the house and meeting people and trying new things.
So he sits at home and watches television. He does walk the dog, but the dog is close to the end of her life, and I doubt that they'll get another one when she goes.
I said to my sister, that maybe it's just going to be her that is the active, healthy one while he might become "old" sooner. Sucks for her to feel like she's watching him slip away.
I went outside and was able to find time to let everyone out into their bigger pastures today. That gets harder to do when the days get dark so early.
Then I went to see River for our lesson.
We worked more on mirroring steps, which seems to have some benefit in getting him to be more forward in the walk and trot on the ground.
We did a LOT of mirroring, and trying to keep the same steps from a walk into a trot together.
Then we did some canter circles at Liberty, and it took some doing to get him up to the canter. I need to get more precise with my cues, the process of cuing, and also keeping the spatial boundary in place.
So much of Liberty is about the precision of the cues, and being absolute in following up if the horse doesn't respond to the cue.
We rode, and focused on making circles with less obvious leg and hand movements, and keeping rhythm.
I spent some time upstairs with the kittens, and they are already more cat-like in their interest in the toys and "hunting" than in cuddling, though most cats go right back to just wanting to cuddle after a couple of years.
Then I came home. My Sweetie put some work into the insulation of the pottery studio.
He's trying to do some work after he gets home, so that Friday he can go climbing. I'm fine with that, as long as the work happens.
We ate, he cooked some tasty food using the BBQ jackfruit stuff that tastes like pulled pork, and we chatted.
no subject
Date: 2025-11-13 08:18 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-11-13 09:46 pm (UTC)I wouldn't say that most "meat" tastes just like meat, but it often still manages to satisfy the need for umami flavor.
I personally am not that hung up on trying to find things that taste like meat, I sort of take them for what they are, as something altogether their own thing.
For example, when I eat a veggie burger, I'm not necessarily trying for something that tastes like meat, I'm happy to eat something that tastes like a patty of spiced lentils.
That it sort of fills the space that meat used to fill is what I'm looking for, so that I could eat ground "meat" in a chili, and have it add texture and some heartiness.
You could TRY it, and see if it's something you like for it's own sake.
We use the President's Choice brand.
no subject
Date: 2025-11-14 01:04 am (UTC)Mungo, however, prefers the chicken every single time.