Archive for April 2024
Shedding Underway
’Tis the season of flying tufts of horse hair. It gets a little complicated when their heavy shedding coincides with their days confined to the massively muddy paddocks. The tufts don’t fly as much when they are caked in layers of mud.
Cyndie spent a little time yesterday brushing all four horses for as much as the mares would allow. Each horse has a different level of acceptance for being brushed.
I watched Cyndie try to win over Light with offers of treat bites with varying degrees of success. It got me laughing to see Cyndie trying to multitask brushing Light’s hindquarters with one hand while fending off Light’s face with her other hand. Light kept turning back to beg for another treat.
It is no small thing to fend off an insistent Light where treats are involved.
I leaned over Light’s back and snapped a close-up of the layers of hair.
We both knew that freshly brushed horses rarely stay clean for very long. By the time we returned to the barn to feed them in the afternoon, Cyndie reported they had all taken a roll in the mud.
Thus begins the cycle that will repeat multiple times in the days and weeks ahead.
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No Shadow
We were in the wrong place to view the eclipse yesterday. I made the assumption that 74% coverage would still dim the light through the cloud canopy blocking our sightline but we didn’t perceive any effects at the expected hour.
Before we went outside, Cyndie and I scanned the television channels to see the reports from Texas. They provided some wonderful images of the totality.
This is what it looked like for us:
We didn’t need our fancy viewing glasses.
I guess that means spring will come early this year.
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Moon Shadow
Today is the day of the solar eclipse! May those of you in the path of totality find clear skies for optimal viewing!
We are located in a region of approximately 74% coverage so the plasma of the solar winds won’t be as visible as they are from vantage points under the total shadow. We’ll take what we can get, but the odds aren’t looking good for us due to cloud cover.
I hope to loiter around outside and observe how the daylight beneath the clouds changes and whether the horses show any visible signs of awareness about the unusual phenomenon as it plays out.
No matter what transpires today, remember the advice on the cover of The Guide: “DON’T PANIC.”
It’s not like a hyperspace bypass is being created or anything.
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Confusing Days
Don’t be confused. Today is Sunday. The solar eclipse will happen tomorrow. The championship game of the Women’s NCAA Basketball Tournament tips off today.
I don’t know why I’ve been so disoriented this morning, but I mixed these up at least twice before finally realizing where I was in time and space. Maybe it started yesterday. Cyndie and I huffed and puffed to drag the tangles of vines we’d collected up to a temporary staging area.
Before I attempt to craft an entryway arbor out of them, I will need to spread them out to see the individual twists and turns.
When I went in for lunch, Cyndie stayed outside to putter on other projects weighing on her mind. I got a text from her that she came upon a pile of vines we had missed.
Absentmindedness? I thought we had gotten them all.
It’s the kind of thing that leaves me thinking, “What else have I forgotten?”
My past is getting mixed up with the present recently because we have decided to “declutter” the remaining 100 record albums from our life-long combined collection. Long ago, I sold a majority of our library in the transition from vinyl to digital music, but I couldn’t part with the works of our most adored artists and a few one-of-a-kind records that would never be re-released.
After 45-50 years of holding most of these albums, we are ready to send them back into the world. Since our collection wouldn’t bring an impressive amount of money from buyers, Cyndie sought (and found!) an interested party who would appreciate them in a spirit commensurate with how we feel.
I’m not agreeing to this step cold turkey. For one particularly rare Eric Clapton album, I checked online for the availability of every song and then created a personal playlist in the exact order for my digital library. Attaching the artwork to the file gave me the comfort of a memory that will serve as a special link between albums of my youth and the digital library I’ve switched to as I age.
We’ve successfully saved our children from any guilt they might feel if they had to throw these away after Cyndie and I die.
Now, what else am I forgetting?
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Country City
Out here in the rural countryside, Cyndie and I spent yesterday morning wrangling unwanted vines in an area of our woods that has received little attention during our ownership. We rewarded ourselves for that effort with a trip to the big city for dinner with friends and live music at a new venue.
I have a new project in the early stages to make some changes to the landscape around the house. One of the important fixes will be the routing of a downspout at the corner of the garage leading to our front door.
The plastic conduit didn’t work. I’ve decided to change to an overhead route for the downspout and will try constructing an arbor out of vines to support it. We’ve been cutting down so many large, woody vines this year that I would like to make use of the wealth of interesting wood.
Pulling the vines out of all the branches they were clinging to was an exhausting effort. I’d like to use as many of the small runners coming off the main trunks as possible to tie things together for an arbor. I didn’t want to just cut them off, which would have been much easier.
In the afternoon, we drove to Minneapolis for dinner at the home of our friends, Pam & John. We started on their front porch in the warm sunlight…
When the sun moved on and the porch became more shadowed we headed inside for a scrumptious early meal. After dinner, we drove to the new Zhora Darling restaurant at the site of the former North East hallmark Red Stag Supper Club. Pam and John’s son, Sam, plays drums in FénixDion. Last night they performed in a pared-down trio version of their membership.
It made for a very fulfilling day and contrasted wonderfully with the long stretches of days when I have [happily] done little outside the house. Sometimes it feels like I’ve been waiting the last few weeks, oh, even months to dig into an outdoor project and then go frolic around in Minneapolis.
We did make it home in time to turn on the latter portion of the NCAA Women’s basketball game between Iowa and UConn. I’m okay with Caitlin Clark and her teammates getting to play one more game. I’ll be watching.
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Bigger Boy
A week ago we took Asher to the groomer for a good cleaning and nail trim. The morning of his appointment, we noticed he hadn’t finished eating all the food in his bowl. That wasn’t the first time he’d done that, so we weren’t overly concerned. However, he continued to show a lack of interest in his food. As we monitored that and experimented with some ways to figure out the reason for his apparent change in appetite, we also noticed he was developing some bumps on his skin.
The skin issue showed up after the grooming appointment, so we suspected he may be experiencing a reaction to a product they used. With the two issues happening simultaneously, there was a possibility there was more to it than we could deduce on our own.
Time for a visit to the veterinarian.
The first thing Cyndie learned was a confirmation of two similar opinions we have heard from visitors recently. Asher has gotten bigger! Measuring in at 18 pounds more than when we took him in almost a year ago, Asher now weighs 88 pounds.
The medical diagnosis was a skin infection or allergic reaction and the possibility he simply had a stomach virus or ingested something that upset his system. He hasn’t been throwing up and is drinking water and continuing to produce normal poops.
Given the number of times I have seen him gobble up very questionable finds on our walks through our woods, it is not the least bit surprising that he would develop a digestive disruption.
It sounds like he was a real lover and won over everyone at the clinic. Cyndie gave him a massage last night with an anti-bacterial potion to calm his lesions and we will continue to tailor his meals toward guiding his gut back to normal. The vet said that dogs may associate the smell of their food with the time they didn’t feel well and lose interest in their regular food even after their tummies return to normal.
If we don’t win him over to devouring his food like he used to, we’ll transition to a different brand. I wouldn’t mind if he lost some of the weight he has gained. It’s getting harder for me to wrestle him given his increased size combined with him figuring out all my moves. He’s not as dumb as he sometimes pretends to be.
Eighty-eight pounds. No wonder it hurts when he tries to pretend he is a lap dog.
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Stepping Between
When making my way through the swampiest areas of the paddocks, the trick I employ is to choose my steps between the potholes of hoof divots. Where the horse hooves have pushed up gashes of earth, I push the mess back down. When I allow myself to be distracted by the scoopful of manure I’m carrying, a misstep into a water-filled divot delivers an immediate signal from the wetness in my sock up to my brain, reminding me that these boots leak.
We weren’t expecting to wake up to another fresh blanket of snow yesterday morning. It was mostly harmless because there wasn’t that much and it didn’t require any shoveling. By the end of the day, it had all melted, leaving behind just enough moisture to keep things messy for another day or two.
Sunshine is coming. That should brighten everyone’s moods. Maybe kick the grass blades into gear. That would make the horses happy, I suspect. They do an impressive job of finding every spot within the confines of the board-fenced paddocks where new grass is sprouting.
It’s too bad they can’t figure out a way to walk around that doesn’t obliterate the turf that they would love to eat.
In my meanderings around the paddock, I marveled over the difference between places where it appears they must step gently and the surface packs down versus the damage they churn up when stepping with urgency.
At feeding times lately, Mix has been getting worked up in anticipation and for some reason takes it out by harassing Light and Mia. Yesterday she kept chasing them into muddy areas I’m sure they would otherwise choose to avoid. That kicks up an unnecessary mess.
Swings came over and gave Mix a piece of her mind, as if to get her to leave the other two alone. That works as long as Swings stays around. When she moves back to her feeding spot on the other side, Mix ramps her antagonism back up again.
Light and Mia seem to take it in stride, albeit with muddier hooves. As soon as buckets of feed get distributed, everybody calms down and tends to their meal.
That’s when I make my rounds, doing my best to step between all their many divots.
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Everyday Thinking
Knowing better doesn’t always prevent me from suffering moments of feeling overwhelmed by the mixture of world events I can’t control and my agendas and responsibilities I can control that need attention. I know that if I just stop thinking about the combination of issues and “to-do” list items I could settle my mind with a deep breath and a pleasant thought, but that does nothing toward making progress on issues I need to address.
Not a day goes by free of reports about the narcissistic grifter whose name I resist typing or saying. Do you know how many days have passed since the Republican party adopted him as their shining light? It is very hard to endure while striving to maintain a healthy outlook about the sanctity of truth and justice in the world over such a long duration of daily pounding.
Is it any wonder why I enjoy losing myself in the athletic competitions of spectator sports?
One basic method of dealing with the unrelenting growth of my personal “to-do” list when it starts to weigh on me oppressively is to simply take action on things that just need ‘a trigger pulled’ so to speak. Get them off the list. Just do it.
I’ve asked for quotes from local landscape companies to upgrade the settled soil around the foundation of our house. Out of 4 companies contacted, I received 2 proposals. There were a lot of differences between the two. I left them hanging for a couple of weeks because I couldn’t decide how I wanted to proceed. I told the outfit that recently phoned looking for a decision that I would let them know this week.
Yesterday, I called and turned both companies down. Think of the money we’ll save! A much more rudimentary version of the upgrade might still happen, but I will be providing all the labor and materials.
Cyndie and I made it to our polling station before noon and voted in our local spring election. Knocked those decisions off my list.
I logged into my Medicare account and finally filled out an application for one of the gazillion options lobbying for my attention. Wish that would curtail the inundation of spam texts, emails, and unhelpful snail mail coming my way. There are an amazing number of medical insurance corporations aware of the fact my birth happened almost 65 years ago.
When I notice there are pending decisions beginning to pile up in my already thoroughly cluttered mind, one fix that helps me is to take immediate action on things that I have been putting off. When I know deep down that additional research won’t add anything substantive to a decision I’m already leaning toward, taking action to instantly alleviate the pressure of that task is good therapy.
Then I can sit down to watch the next great moment in sports with a much freer sensibility.
“Oh! They are going to pull the goalie!?”
What were they thinking?
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Nervous Wreck
Last night I watched the last two “elite eight” games of the women’s NCAA tournament and found myself feeling more nervous about the situations of the games than the athletes who were involved.
When it comes to critical game situations, I am a wreck. Continuing to play effectively when you have 4 fouls is impressive. Having the clarity of mind to make a key pass in a split-second of opportunity is brilliant. Demonstrating the confidence and steadiness to hit a closely guarded 3-point shot reveals more nerve than seems possible from my experience.
Conversely, when I am working in the paddocks around four beasts who each weigh over a thousand pounds, I’m probably cooler than I should be. The other day, Light kicked out in my general direction so quickly without warning, I think it warped the laws of physics.
Suddenly I was no longer so calm and collected.
The horses have been moodier than normal the last few days. Maybe they are picking up on my tournament-watching energy of late. I think their nerves might be getting a little frayed, too.
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Easter Brunch
Yesterday’s Easter brunch deserves additional press. Did I mention Cyndie made EVERYTHING with one exception of purchased meats? That is why I was smelling tempting aromas for several days. Read the list below, presented in no specific order, and try to imagine fitting a little taste of each offering on your plate or in your stomach during one brief brunch event:
- Caramel Rolls
- Cinnamon Buns
- Puppy Tails (baked cinnamon twists)
- Pear Almond Crescents w/ apricot glaze and almond drizzle
- 4-Cheese Scalloped Potatoes
- Tulip Deviled Eggs
- Caramelized Pecan Spring Mix Salad
- Three Pea Salad
- Roasted Heirloom Rainbow Carrots w/ orange marmalade and maple syrup
- Fruit Salad w/ [Patty’s] honey-lime dressing
- Egg Bake w/ roasted red peppers, spinach, asparagus, caramelized onions, mushrooms, orange & yellow peppers, and lots of cheese
- Holy Kolachy sandwich buns (Gramma Betty Buns)
- HoneyBaked Ham and Turkey* (purchased)
- Raisin Sauce
- Coconut Bunny Butt Cupcakes
- Dark Chocolate Cherry Almond Bark
- 4 kinds of Truffles: Grand Marnier, Cognac, Vanilla, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
- Mint Meringue Cookies
- Lemon Curd Meringue nests
- Butter Cream Cookies
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Honorable mention goes to Elysa for her contribution of an “Imposter Dessert” that looked like Deviled Eggs but was in fact a sweet treat of sweet milk gelatin filled with cream cheese frosting.
Like mother, like daughter, Cyndie had taken a crack at her own twist on deviled eggs. Neither of them knew what the other was up to. Cyndie decided to prepare her eggs like some she saw in an image online.
It was the last thing she did before heading to bed Saturday night. I asked her how they turned out and she hesitatingly offered “a solid medium.”
They tasted great! Although, I understand her opinion. It’s similar to the way fast food burgers look in commercials compared to what you actually receive in the wrapper. Cyndie is healthy enough to laugh along with me when her outcomes might not meet what she intended after seeing images in recipes. Her tulips look like they may have been dropped during shipment from the florist.
I ate leftovers for dinner last night while watching March Madness basketball.
I got up from my spot on the couch and went downstairs to make the sandwich. When I returned, a certain canine had taken my place.
I didn’t have the heart to kick him out so I sat on the side.
Do you think I can get Cyndie to take a day off from cooking or baking something new today?
Me either.
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Relative Something 