Following the good news at the vet’s, I planned of course to ride as soon as the horses had had their day or two off to recover from all those shots and the dental work.\u00a0 Next day, Tuesday, I had a trip to the dentist’s and didn’t feel like riding.\u00a0 Besides, they were both obviously not feeling particularly well.\u00a0 Tigger looked worse, moving very stiffly and wincing as he lowered his neck to his hay.\u00a0\u00a0 Typical Tigger, he didn’t want to be fussed over, though.\u00a0 The second day, Rags was clearly feeling pretty good but Tigger was still moving stiffly and lacking his usual energy.\u00a0 Meanwhile we’d had nasty storms, including a tornado, that missed most of the town, but made a mess out of my contractor’s place–not the house, but the barn and other outbuildings.\u00a0 So he didn’t call Wednesday to look at the rotty floor; he had his own problems.\u00a0 We got hardly any rain, but we did get maybe 15 minutes of sizable hail making dents in the ground.\u00a0 This does not help a sore horse feel better, being pummeled by ice rocks (and no, he doesn’t stay in during hailstorms; a metal barn is LOUD in hail.\u00a0 And the weather, rather than “breaking” and giving us a break, stayed cloudy, humid, and very warm…and also very windy (trees thrashing around.)\u00a0 The contractor came later in the week, and told us how he’d have to approach the problem, which meant moving a lot of things, including the old china cabinet, somewhere else (the living room is now rather densely populated.)\u00a0 We started working on that even before he got there, but then there was more.<\/p>\n
So I didn’t get another ride until today, which broke clear and cool and lovely…except the contractor had said (once we finally made contact) that he’d be by again on Monday or Tuesday. \u00a0 So I needed to be home, at least until\u00a0 9:30 or 10, because if he’s not here by then he’s not coming.\u00a0 In the meantime I’d arranged to drive into the city for a couple of errands later this week, and would need to be “in” on Tuesday (same contractor) and Thursday (plumbing contractor at other house.)\u00a0 If anything else showed up (it has, already: the city inspection of the new solar additions to the house roof, on Wednesday), it would be difficult to get one of the errands done in time: signing a book for a friend who dropped it off at another friend’s house on Sunday and planned to pick it up at their house on Friday.\u00a0 So I took the chance to go in today.\u00a0\u00a0 Errand #2 should’ve been easy peasy on the way home, stopping by a big-box store to pick up a standard item, but…I missed my exit.\u00a0 The friend babysitting the book to be signed had given me a huge piece of cake for R-, full of berries I can’t have that much of (or the cake either)\u00a0 and I needed to keep the cake cool…so trying to find my way back from the street I *maybe* could’ve gotten to the store in question was going to be longer than I wanted.<\/p>\n
Got home before school let out, tired as usual from the drive int0, drive around in, and drive home from the city.\u00a0 Since I’d spilled a drink in the car, I changed out of those jeans and started a wash of the other jeans and the pair I was wearing, shirts, underclothes, etc., then changed into my riding tights.\u00a0 Fed the critters at 4-4:30, rode at 6:30, a medium ride up to the dry woods, across the front of same, with Rags insisting Tigger was calling and he had to go back.\u00a0 I’m an older and more experienced insister, so we went on down Center Walk to the creek woods, where we turned onto that trail to the north, and eventually crossed the dry creek and continued a short way to the start of the Gully Trail, where I stopped him, and when he stopped willingly (and had quit trying to turn back…crossing the creek seems to turn off the compulsion, or maybe he can’t hear the siren song of the red horse) I kept him there a minute or two, then gave him a cookie, and we started back.<\/p>\n
We had only a 10th of an inch in the gauge last week, but it was apparently enough to make the bluebonnets surge so they could put out seed for next year…late in the day as it was, the heady fragrance was still just discernable (it peaks with the heat and sun).\u00a0 The West Grass south of Center Walk (and in places on it, and north of it) was a broad swathe of blue and white.\u00a0\u00a0 It really does remind you of blue-and-white small-check gingham.\u00a0 Up until sometime in my college years, there was a mill in New Braunfels (I think) that made checked and striped gingham cloth, dotted Swiss, lovely (heavier weight than gingham) tablecloths, etc.\u00a0 We visited it once; the noise HURT.\u00a0 100% cotton grown mostly in Texas, both where I grew up and in Central Texas, along the Brazos River drainage.\u00a0 Anyway, the effect of a field of bluebonnets with their white tips is a deep blue with white spots, so it a breeze it almost sparkles.\u00a0 Riding through bluebonnets is sheer joy.\u00a0 The beauty, the fragrance, the view from slightly above, on the horse, lets you see a little farther than usual, where patches of the blue & white show in the distance.<\/p>\n
After I’d untacked Rags and given him his reward, I left him in the barn lot.\u00a0 Caught and haltered Tigger and tried to do a little with him.\u00a0 Laci told me to spend an hour with him every day, mostly not work, but including some simple stuff.\u00a0\u00a0 I thought he might like to go into the north lot (where Rags starts his rides, walking over poles) but he got more and more wound up.\u00a0 I quit with the pole work after four poles; he was staring, head up, tail up, beginning to enlarge in the mysterious way hot horses do…they can suddenly seem to be half a foot to a foot taller, standing on tippy-toe hooves, and signaling “I can jump out of my skin any moment now.”\u00a0\u00a0 So we went back into the south lot.\u00a0 Was it missing Rags?\u00a0 But if Rags is loose while I’m working with Tigger he comes up behind Tig and warts him the same way Tigger warts Rags if he’s loose in the same area while I’m leading Rags.\u00a0\u00a0 Sniffing at his back end, threatening to nip, etc.)\u00a0 I got two “walk on\/whoa” things working and quit there.\u00a0 Took the halter off and went over and sat down on a mounting block.\u00a0 (I was TIRED.)\u00a0 After awhile, Tig came over to me and sniffed my knees, then my helmet and I chatted with him.\u00a0 Then he walked off. Then my back started hurting, so I got up, opened the west gate and let them be together.\u00a0 Finally I went inside, drank some water, and eventually regained the energy to make myself some supper (R- had that huge piece of cake with lots of berries that my friend had sent him.)<\/p>\n
I’ll try to spend time with the horses, and get in several more rides this week, God willin’ and the crick don’t rise.\u00a0 Saturday there’s the memorial service for Willie Siros, known to just about everybody in Texas SF fandom and many people from around the country as well.\u00a0 If I knew where to get a “Hawaiian” shirt I’d get it and wear it to the memorial, (Willie was known for his Hawaiian shirts) but I don’t, so I’ll go somewhat casual instead.\u00a0 It’s the wrong season for hibiscus or I’d stick a flower behind my ear.\u00a0 I need to get some more “outside” chairs (NOT Adirondack style…I used to love them but 77 year old hips and knees insist that it’s like lying in a ditch with your back on one sloping side and your legs on the other…not easy to get out of) so I can sit in the horse lot with less pain.\u00a0 Or maybe one of those folding cot things where you can prop up your shoulders.\u00a0 The horse lot is woefully lacking in trees you could hang a hammock between.<\/p>\n
It’s almost 10 now; if the contractor comes by at 8am I’ll need to be up, dressed, ready for anything.\u00a0 So bed is in my immediate future.\u00a0 Tired and stiff.\u00a0 And happy, but still tired and stiff.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Following the good news at the vet’s, I planned of course to ride as soon as the horses had had their day or two off to recover from all those shots and the dental work.\u00a0 Next day, Tuesday, I had a trip to the dentist’s and didn’t feel like riding.\u00a0 Besides, they were both obviously Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50,48,16],"tags":[52,49,17],"class_list":["post-1258","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-80-acres","category-horses","category-life-beyond-writing","tag-80acres","tag-horses","tag-life-beyond-writing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/elizabethmoon.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1258"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/elizabethmoon.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/elizabethmoon.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/elizabethmoon.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/elizabethmoon.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1258"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/elizabethmoon.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1258\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1260,"href":"http:\/\/elizabethmoon.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1258\/revisions\/1260"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/elizabethmoon.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/elizabethmoon.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/elizabethmoon.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}