I need to figure out how to recover quicker

I cant really be so draggy every week after I do a weekend endurance ride. I am so not a true endurance rider. Oh well they let me play with them and I sure have fun. I did attack some goatsheads this morning. It was not so theraputic as I hoped. I kind of enjoy attacking weeds sometimes but when its a patch of out of control burrs, not so much.

OK went to fill my water bottle just now -maybe I need better hydration to improve energy. Life mystery -how come in an office with more men than women I have to replace the 5 gal. water jug so often and see other gals replacing it more often than one of the guys?

lessons learned at Fort Meade

1) When you fill your pickup while its on a good slope the fuel tank is not really full. -twas ok I didn't run out of fuel on the road, just was shocked when my low fuel light came on right before Lusk where I had planned on putting in just 7-8 gallons to make sure I was in good shape to get to Cheyenne. I put in 19 gals to have plenty of cushion in case my truck was really slurping fuel but realized later it was probably just the slant effect at work.

2) When you take a shower with your trailer at a slant away from the drain you have to bail and sponge out the shower floor and cold showers are a last resort. I coudn't get the water heater to start --I think because of the slope, fridge was not chilling either although it showed as on until I turned it off to try over since it was not chilling anything (ok that should be 3 -pack a cooler rather than thinking the fridge will work) I have to get a repair done on the heater now because I tore the wiring when I pulled up out of the ditch. Fun with sloping ground. Oh well good practice for my hilly lot in WY. I think I'll see if a skid plate can be added to protect that bit of wiring.

3) Grey Moun likes to travel. He blew me off after the July 4 ride and I thought he was wanting to stay more retired but he was pumped when I went trail riding with my sister.

4) always put a lead on the foal when taking them through a tricky spot and its not good if they decide to go elsewhere (N's filly became Cayenne in my mind this weekend -adds serious spice to things) No harm, no foul but she didn't want to hop up the 10 inch step that led to the roomy tunnel under the interstate --instead she ran up to the edge of the interstate and then I hustled over to the other side of the tunnel with Grey and Shade to encourage her to come down there and she obliged before N put a lead on her to make sure she didn't try that again. This might be a lesson for me if I pony Sadie on trails later --make sure she can't just pull the lead out of my hand and dash to trouble.


5) I no longer like 'fru fru' beers, at least not the bottled ones. I think they do not age well, I will stick to more thirst quenching Busch lite for hot weather and mead or something if I don't want an icy beverage for future trips.

6) I already knew this but Shade rocks. She had a lot more next day energy this time. I had been going to leave her at the trailer on sunday because at Shamrock she was tired and didn't even want to go for a stretch your legs 1 mile bit with Grey before his poker ride but she wanted to come on sunday so I ponyed her and she had plenty of energy and enjoyed herself. I loff how well she and Grey do to pony each other. It was such a pain when I used to try to pony Cindy/Grey cuz Cindy would just try to take advantage to get into a run.

Rainy night

Yuck its raining and I just gave the horses their hay. I did put 4 flakes inside but had 2 outside because it was a lull when I fed. Oh well mom fed them earlier this evening. The geldings were going for the outside hay to start. They are cold tolerant, not like my desert Arabians. So everybody should have had a few bites at least.

I had to detour on my way home tonight. A set of branches was across the road. A guy in a p/u was stopped in front of me and suggested I needed to go around. Friend or son pulled up behind me and said it was flooded in town. I had already had to thread my way between some downed branches a few miles earlier too. My internet is down because its raining again, so I’m drafting on word, think I’ll just go to bed. Ole is clinging like crazy –its not thundering much at all he is just being a total wuss. I’ll see if Mia wants in, She likes to stay outside and guard except during the heat of a summer day but sometimes she comes in to avoid rain too.

Did a heat training ride

I really hope that weather saturday is just good riding weather, not chilly and wet but not hot. But today I rode Shade 12+ miles in the middle of the day. This was lack of planning and then ambition to trailer somewhere a bit cooler rather than planning to train for heat but its still good to do some heat training. I started day with a headache, took alleve right away and sudafed after I fed the horses and it was closer to 12 hrs since my bedtime dose. Around noon I took ibuprofen and it clouded up and got a bit of a breeze so I caught Shade and saddled up instead of waiting on the stupid head. Once I was upright and moving the headache went way down.

I really wanted to get somewhat of a training ride to prep for the endurance ride. It was still pretty hot at times. Ole tagged along to start but was lagging pretty good after a couple miles. Shade and I did about 1.5 miles that he skipped. I decided I would take him home making just 7+ miles and then either take a break and ride Shade later or just offer her a drink and bit of food, and grab myself a quick bite (had my water pack on so I didn't need a drink) and go. Shade didn't want to be led over to the trailer so we went with plan B. She was pretty draggy the first 2.5 miles of this 'second loop' but perked up when the clouds came back + we were on the homeward bound part of the loop. Trotted up the gradual incline about .5 miles and then we cantered up the .25 mile bit that was more of a hill and trotted the gradual downhill till I asked her to walk the last .35 miles home.

Ugh, so stuffy and sleepy

I wish I was not so obsessed with the goatsheads. OK really I wish mom and dad were a little more obsessed with them and it wasn't just on me to do anything about them on THEIR place which will probably go to medicare rather than me. But I really should shake off the zombie feeling and at least call the neighbors about the camper trailer. In a minute, I'm still sipping tea and trying to energize after the arena working -which was not hard --MOM could sit on the tractor and do that, she is just a prima dona about some things; and then hand pulling goatsheads in a couple pens where I'd like to leave more of the benign weeds for general erosion control etc.

riding update

Shade got a week off after her 50 mile ride at Shamrock. Sunday I rode 8 miles and tuesday I rode her 5 miles. Saturday I alternated being lazy in the house with weed control efforts most of the day but grabbed Grey for an evening ride of 3 miles. Today I rode RazzMo 3 miles. C was out to ride sunday but we were getting ready to haul hay so I just unlocked the tack door and then did some prep stuff and she came looking for me asking about longeing him because he was unwilling to canter for her and she didn't want to push in the saddle. She was doing ok. Its a square arena and Razz probably was longed in a R/P when he was trained 4 years ago but otherwise he was 'longed' once 21 months ago when dad worked to get him to accept the scabbord.

I had a pretty good ride on Razz. He was a lot more willing and obedient than last year so the weekly arena rides are doing him a lot of good. I hope that getting a road ride 1x/week between times will help him be a bit less lazy for C in the arena. I also need to hop on a horse and ride with her again soon, that gives Razz some energy w/o him getting wound up. I need to ride CJ soon to see how he is after his adjustment, which is already 3 weeks past. Dang times flies when one wastes too much of it on the internet.

Its Probably just wishful thinking ......

But I find myself wondering in Sotomayor may prove to be a bit of a Souter except hitting the Ds. If she had early ambitions of getting to the supreme court she would have known that she most likely wasn't going to get there as a conservative after the treatment that Clarence Thomas and later, Miguel Estrada received. The D's get downright vicious when a minority dares to be conservative and then could be in line to get a powerful political or judicial position.

But I dont believe she is very 2nd amendment friendly; and the summary dismissal of the Ricci case -those are pretty concerning. But at least the conservatives seem to be doing a good job in the confirmation hearings of making the case of how judges should decide cases. I just hope none of the conservatives on the bench gets struck down before there is a conservative prez and a senate that will approve his nomination. The judges on both sides of the spectrum tend to pick their times to retire when they feel its safe that the new appointee will be of their bent.

I hate when I plan to download the camera but ....

Find that while I grabbed the camera, I left the card reader doo hickey at home or work. Oh well, pictures are probably nothing much anyway. I really hate when the camera is giving me low battery warnings but it 'takes' a few pictures, except that they are NOT readable images when I go to download.

Heck I think I'll just vent multiple pet peeves. I hate that the flies are already pretty thick, a month ahead of our usual population pattern. Its from having so much rain. I HATE goatsheads. I have made a good dent in them in some areas but being obsessed with them I'm now trying to keep them minimized in areas that I abandoned in past years when I could barely keep up with farmyard where I walk all the time. And I KNOW that should I ever move they will just take over again. The sneaky things seem to manage to grow a few plants and each will set ONE burr even when they are really crowded and cant become monsters. Then in a dry year where the other plants are set back they take over again.

I Hate that mom is so sick and in so much jaw pain she is reduced to spending huge chunks of the day sleeping or curled in a fetal position. Where is a 'greedy' trial lawyer to sue that damned specialist who talked her into the dental implants that caused all this and then blew her off as someone just looking for pain prescriptions when the problems started. Of course even now the dumb doctors cant agree on the cause, or get ducks in a row and get the hurting implants OUT in a reasonable time. And I hate that mom will not pursue other avenues for relief. I think I'd be demanding some kind of special long lasting novacaine, even though I hate that numb mouth feeling, seeing an acupuncturist, trying homeopathy ...... if I had to take pain pills that often and didn't have a surgery scheduled in just a few days.

I hate that I am so lousy at scheduling condition dates with other people in specific and getting ph calls made in general. I hate that my politicians seem hellbent on imploding all the unique, mostly good, features of my country. I hate that I cant even vent about that just anywhere because almost half the population thinks the politicians are doing good things with these 1200 page bills et al.

Wonderful weekend and thank god for 4WD and

trailer brake control boxes with a manual function -more on that later.

Wonderful ride, some years its hot at this ride but the weather was really pleasant most of the day. Drove over 11 miles of very rutted gravel/dirt road to get there this year, so the people who drove in on thursday and rode on friday had some fun driving. I paired up with a gal on a grey horse, we were the tail end but riding a nice moderate pace --except the last few miles of the 2nd loop she noticed her horse felt funky intermediately. Vet noticed at the check and told her if he didn't get any worse she'd complete, and checked things out, finding no tendon tenderness but a sore bit on his RF heel bulb.

So we walked the last 11 mile loop. She led her guy about 1/2 the ride. I got off for a few downhills and once just to stretch my legs but I'm not that much of a hike. Started raining about our last 15 minutes on trail, I pulled my rump rug open for Shade and put on my rain jacket. Its not a super-dooper one and had soaked through by the time we vetted and I got Shade back to the trailer, unsaddled her and got the rain sheets on her and Grey. So I switched to a dry shirt, jacket and my oilskin to walk back for awards. Shade was standing hunched looking sorry; but I told her I'd got her blanketed and hay available and I was taking care of myself for half an hour or so.

Supper was yummy ribs, pasta salad, chocolate cupcakes... I chose a chair for my completion. The rain was pretty much done and Shade was munching contentedly when I walked back to the trailer. I was dragging tired, gave them plenty of hay, turned up my thermometer to kick the furnace on and warmed up from getting damp and chilled. Ah bliss, The road gets slick when wet but dries quickly so I was really happy I had planned to do the poker ride and leave mid afternoon.

Sunday I rode Grey in the 11 mile poker ride. $25 to PAWS rescue and $5 for the pot to enter it. It was his test ride to see if he is sound after his tendon injury 21 months ago. We rode a pretty moderate pace but there was enough hills and rocky to give his leg a test. I won the poker hand! Funny - I looked at the cards after I pulled them out of the paper sack --KQ279 --hand them to the RM and comment just like if I were playing for serious I drew a handful of nothing, not even a pair and she glances and says -thats not nothing you have a flush. I hadn't even registered they were all hearts. I bought some rythym beads since I had unexpected $ burning a hole in my pocket, and will donate the rest to Lost Fantasy rescue (Sarah). Well I put them on Shade to try them out right away and noticed there is a little cross on the necklace too so I told Shade I'd leave it on her to watch over her on the drive.

In camp the slick mud had dried up and the road is good but I'm looking at building clouds and keep reminding myself to PACK up and GO before it rains again. This is only my 4th trip with the Big Long Gooseneck -aka BAT so I don't want to experience slick mud roads. Ah packing the gooseneck is so easy -- open propane valve when I get there and close it to prep to go. I locked in my hubs and put the blue beast in 4WD to be prepared. First few miles I was going, wow great road, all the ruts from friday are gone and this is nice. Was getting a spit of rain on the windshield and thinking good thing I left now. THEN we hit the spot that still kind of wet.

GULP, trailer got to weaving and I'm just going ooh ooh ooh. Well my or Shades guardian angel got things stopped, pickup is still on the road, trailer is ok, we were going really slow so the horses didn't get flung around. AND my angel whispered in my ear --squeeze the brake controller to brake just the trailer and bring it in line next time. So I stayed in LOW gear the rest of the way, and kept my hand near the controller most of rest of way to the highway. I did have to nip a few more trailer veers in the bud and used the box to brake only the trailer down the slick hills. Whew I was glad to see the highway when we got there.

Ugh, we didn't get to be lazy at the LazyHC sunday

After giving all the horses I would have been most inclined to ride the day off after their spa treatments, I rode Shade sunday, getting a late morning start. Had not connected to make any meet and trail ride plans so just rode from home. I'm such a good little greenie when I'm not hauling for hours to an endurance event. I was noticing I was getting quite a helmet hair feeling and wondering if I would break down and shower when I returned instead of waiting till after finishing my high tie project and etc.

And then the hay grower that puts up certified hay called. If we wanted to make sure we got certified hay from her and not pay an extra $2 surcharge we needed to run over and pick up hay out of the field. Mom and dad actually asked was I coming when I plopped on the couch to check email and forums whilst waiting for mom to actually be ready. Well I guess its nice I got them trained to not just take for granted I will drop everything for their projects --BUT I need certified hay on some of my endurance trips and mom was certainly in no shape to lift bales onto the truck after being sick for months and dad is pretty old and fat --beside which loading off a field is best with a driver, stacker and person to lift hay onto the pickup or trailer for the stacker. Since we were only getting 25 bales we didn't mess with a trailer. Sheesh the first rows of bales we fetched had some bales that were pushing 70 lbs. I felt weak and puny hefting them onto the tailgate.

I cannibalized my high tie from my old trailer that I'm keeping for day trips for my bar iron piece and finished up my project, plus took the tractor out and disked some goatsheads in the mini's area and the arena where I had missed a couple spots, then mom wanted to move hay stops so I drove the tractor over there and helped dad with handing him the chain and unchaining so I had a full day before I got to take my longed for shower -- you bet I used the baking soda in the shampoo trick to cut thru the scalp crud. I learned that a couple years ago from a forum. Heh, all that time spent on the internet has had some real benefits.