Sigh, I am so out of shape for riding

Or much of anything I guess but it was riding just 15 miles today and the vet check and post ride care of Lady that wiped me out. I've got to get serious about riding if I want to finish the mountain mettle 50 on Shade in 7 weeks. Feels like the tree pollen probably got me a little bit today but mainly I'm just out of shape. Lady did really well. I wanted to take her to this fun ride which has a vet student doing the fun riders so there would not be time pressure if Lady went "AACK VET" and needed extra time but I mentioned her bugaboo to the vets, they took a little extra time to show her there were no needles anywhere and Lady was fine. We took 3.5 hours to ride the 15 miles. We did a fair amount of walking but not a ton so I think I have confirmation that the corto is not that fast of a gait compared to a good ground eating trot (as opposed to show horse jogging) We only cantered a small amount. Hopefully I bounce back enough tomorrow to get some saddle time on my bay mares if the weather is as good as today ---felt cold and damp at times but never rained on us and also had periods of calm with nice sun.

Aaaah, Vitamin H +Shades Adequan dose

Gave Shade her adequan shot today and then had a nice little ride. I will have to cowboy up a bit if I want to see how Lady reacts to group events, cold front moves in friday night, weekend highs only in the 40's. If its dry I think I will suck it up, maybe I need to get around people who are riding seriously to boost my motivation. But if its wet I'll probably curl up in the nice warm house like a cat.

Weekend highlight

I rode Sadie on Sunday. She is a good horse. I have been giving her a treat after I'm mounted to encourage patience while I get situated and also using a mounting block so I can get up there easily. Yesterday she was wriggling around as she looked back for the treat and got the 2 step plastic block under herself. I didn't succeed in getting her moved without hitting hit and she tipped it over with her hind leg. Startled herself and she jumped a bit but she stopped for me quickly, ate another cookie and we rode in the arena. She was leery of the block and wouldn't go very close but otherwise was unconcerned and we had a nice ride. Trotted two laps without breaking gait each direction and worked on going into the corners when walking. I think Sadie is ready to canter under saddle but the neighbors had company in their yard next to our little arena + with the tipped over block I figured I should not get greedy.

Off to ride shortly

If Lady will let me catch her after 2 weeks off. I do dislike a horse that doesn't stay broke. Well at least she doesn't lose any rideability once she lets herself be caught. I'm still missing the horse board(s) that never really existed. I'd say, Oh well, fate is probably trying to help me become a bit more productive, but sadly I burn more time and energy casting about for what I crave than if I could just get my fill. Oh well, the clouds aren't burning off so I better not sit in house too long or it'll start actually raining or something.

It snowed today

Melted instantly and quit around noon, I did get out and ride Shade. It felt nice when the wind stilled and the sun was out, but I did not grab Lady afterwards or anything. I have got to pick some definite goals for this summer or I'll get no property stuff done nor get to more than a handful of rides. Work seems to be more active lately. Thats a good thing but I want to set up options rather than plan on working at a job funded by the feral government forever.

rambling thoughts.

Heh, talk about being conflicted. I started typing something about how I need to take a 'going Galt' attitude wrt to politics etc and I just cant. Nope I have to nurture my instincts to chime in with statements that I hope will make a few people THINK and even be a little more active that way and just not trouble myself about the ones who won't think. Its not my job/duty whatever to force people to smarten up, nor do I have the charisma/audience etc to influence very many people -- but I do have some duty to challenge them to think about whether their assumptions are false and will lead to eventual ruin.

darn I am so lazy today

Perhaps I'm falling into "doom is inevitable" mode. And just like I was asking myself in 08-09 -why do *I* care so deeply? I don't have kids or grandkids etc that will be living under a theocracy or dictator if the stupid liberals push the nation into collapse and I have had a pretty good go. I have friends whose kids and grandkids may suffer and I feel badly for everyone who has fought the good fight if it turns out to be in vain. Well I guess that is it. Even if over half the country is being willfully stupid there are a lot of good people who will get burned just as badly as the marxist embracing idiots when the American experiment collapses. Well I am going to get dressed and seize some vitamin H.

I finally have a hunters safety card

I never took hunters safety in my childhood, didn't have any interest in hunting directly although I've always loved eating game. Well going up elk hunting the last 2 years with dad and sis convinced me I wanted my own tag. A) so I'm not just tagging along since I suck at glassing B) so I at least have the possibility of hunting a bit more actively --dad is up there to hang out with the hunting gang and if he gets a good shot that is just a bonus and C) last year they saw bull elk and only had cow licenses so it might be good to have a tag for either cow or bull when we are together.

Unexpected bonus: Going through the class gave me a deeper knowledge of safe gun handling. It wasn't foreign concepts because dad has always followed all the safe practices but taking the class versus just observing how things are done will be great for remembering to do all the proper steps every time.

The downside is I only rode Sadie a bit in the little arena area saturday so I am a bit deprived for my vitamin H.

break from politics

I'm confused, and suspect the MarxSpewMedia is working to confuse and dispirit conservatives after getting tipped about angst on the blogs over the CR deal with most cuts being applied actually to 2012 spending or some darned thing on top of being fewer cuts than promised before the election.

So in personal news, work is about same. I have done nothing towards seeing if there is any demand for a code doctor/exterminator. I wish I could do computer graphics, I would maybe play around with Tees/ bumper stickers on Dazzle or whatever. I caught CJ this morning and moved him to a smallish pen next to AJ. He has thrushy feet and the parents were having problems catching him to put bleach on his feet. Sooooo nice of them to mention this so I would know to clean out feet when I mess with Sadie and Lady, IF they had bothered to mention it before they needed me to catch CJ and move him for them.

I rode Shade tuesday morning. Fun was had and I also pushed a bit and got some conditioning done as well. Yesterday and today were predicted to rain/snow so I planned on no riding. Well it was fairly nice early wed morning, cool breeze by the time the horses finished hay so I wouldn't have wanted to climb on Sadie but older horse would have been fine. I drove my pickup to work because I have not hauled the horses out and if I get in I will be taking a hunters safety course this weekend and if I don't get in the weather sounded iffy so like last weekend I would probably stay home so I can work all my mares rather than hauling out to ride just Shade.

Might be taking hunters safety this weekend, didn't email instructor till noon today so I might not get in. Forcing myself to do it, I want to be able to at least purchase a deer license 'over the counter' if I go up with dad again and I suppose I will even if sis doesn't come down since she thinks he needs some chaperoning and I somewhat agree. If its just 2 of us I will probably push for him to tow just his camper with hay and water in pickup bed and I'll bring the horses with my rig. I am not 100% comfortable with him having the gooseneck horse trailer and his camper behind that especially as he ages.

*update* will be taking hunters safety this weekend. I hope at least one evening is nice. Oh well, my lovely schedule allows morning rides if I just get myself moving.

Don Quixote

Here I go again, more tilting at windmills: what the GOP should do wrt to debt ceiling

1. Raise it just enough for 2-3 more months at current burn rate --to give time to craft a serious strategy

2. Have another public input opportunity for folks to ask what they want the GOP to ask for in return

3. write several bills with conservative desire legislation and attach increased debt ceiling to each. Let Reid and Obama pick which one to agree to.
a) Obamacare repeal
b) Ryan's budget plan
c) national voter ID law. Make states end same day registration/voting and require either a mailed to precinct address voter verification card or a PICTURE ID which includes an address within the precinct. We DONT have to make it easy for the marxists to cheat.
d) appropriations bills will be broken up by department instead of being one giant goody bag.
e) raise SS age and start with those born in 1948. Stop kowtowing to effing ARRP
f) make child SSI payments vouchers not cash
g) make EITC payments health savings vouchers not cash
h) corporate tax break for using E-verify (I'd like surcharge for not but it can come to same thing)
i) allow states to implement a parental E-verify for brick and mortar schooling and only have to provide home schooling packets for parents that don't comply.
j) allow states to make it illegal to go to an emergency room for routine medical care.

About ready to 'Go Galt'

Maybe it will be just a temporary round of depression/extra cynicism but it feels like its impossible to overcome the tide of all the "gimme mine" people. Today it doesn't feel like it is worth it to try to push for "extreme" Eye roll - changes to the budget and entitlement system. Why should conservatives invest so much emotional and political energy just to save the socialist system we fundamentally disagree with from collapse? Let the effing Marxists and facists (in the true sense of big businesses wanting government protections from new competitors/small businesses) have free rein and collapse the dam thing sooner rather than later. We *might* still have enough intelligent people now to set up a new REPUBLIC but the longer we prop up this crappy system the more time they have to erase memories and history of how things worked when the government existed to enforce rule of law that applied equally to the person starting up a business from home as to the wealthy scion with money for bribes and personal guards.

Arghhh, Who/Where is our Reagan?

I have heard people say that Reagan was trailing in polls at this stage and the party was pushing to find someone more moderate so its too early to be sweating things. But unless Herman Cain starts getting serious national attention or perhaps if Palin steps into the race the GOP seems to have retreads of BLAH candidates from 2008. In 76 the GOP picked the moderate safe guy Ford and the country got Jimmy Carter and stagflation, the 'base' pushed Reagan in 80.

Huckabee and Trump are leading early GOP polls now?! ARGHHHHH! I would force myself to vote for the smarmy preacher or the conceited self promoter and hope either could get elected and would work with a GOP senate and House (please lord) majority and listen to military top people etc on foreign affairs etc but I don't like them a bit. Trump is threatening to run independent party if he runs for GOP nomination and loses that race. Not cool dude, not cool at all.

Maybe Palin will throw in and get elected. She is probably the closest thing to Reagan with some R's fearing her as being too hard core, and many like myself liking her but fearing that the media has smeared her too thoroughly -- I just don't remember any details of Reagan's 75-80 history to know what the media had done to him and if it compares at all with Palin. Reagan was elected governor of California twice. I think McCain hamstrung Palin's career nominating her to be VP when she was just a 2 year governor and thus turning the MarxSpewMedia's attention to destroying her. Personally with the best selling books, PAC, speaking engagements etc she is most certainly not destroyed --but could she win in 2012? I just dont trust that she can sell herself well enough to overcome the false impression of her that the media created in 08.

Christie? Says he won't run, and I am not sure I like him on a lot of issues but he sure puts a great verbal smackdown on socialists. Col. Alan West? Only just elected to congress. I like the dynamic patriotism but there is no political history to judge. Romney, probably should have been the GOP candidate in 08 but I am not wild about his history. He is not pointing to the MA health care law and saying "look I was sucked into a bad choice" from what I hear. Pawlenty? If he rejects carbon taxing as a cure to AGW now I'm cool with his earlier support. I was fooled too. He doesn't have to reject climate change, just convince me he will not cripple the U.S. economy with a carbon trading gesture that only breeds fraud and is meaningless in the face of China's mushrooming carbon/pollution output.

Mitch Daniels? I thought his response to the IN fleebaggers was weak. Can he get some fire in his belly to defend the founding principles of our great nation? Gingritch -yuck. Haley Barbour? Aside from the baggage of being an old fat white politician from the deep south he stated we should act as though AGW were real and totally shot himself in the foot IMO. Rubio? He has the ambition I think, I just don't know him really and he seems more interested in trying to become VP and hope for a long term Republican presidential sentiment from the public.

What should GOP demand for raising debt ceiling?

IMO the answer "Don't raise the ceiling at all" is a false choice. Boehner and the GOP house leadership are not going to tell all the seniors and everyone on unemployment etc etc. "Too bad so sad, but we can't increase our debt to meet your payments" If they did that the D's would will win back the house, keep the senate, and we will for sure be stuck with 4 more years of BHO.

I'd like to see them get an agreement that 2012 appropriations will be multiple bills. Don't let Reid and Barry hold military pay hostage to have extra leverage for forcing funding of NPR, and the EPA.

I guess I'll email my congressman with this thought. I read somewhere after the 2010 elections that Boehner wants to reform the appropriations process in a similar manner. Demand appropriations for each Dept. (Defense, Interior, Commerce, .......) I sure HOPE people on the street will think thats a basic request and if Reid and Barry refuse it then they are the ones putting grandma's SS at risk.

She trots she trots! LOL

Of course Sadie trots, has since she was several hours old, but yesterday she was putting her ears back and stopping in just a few strides every time I coaxed her into starting to trot after I had climbed on. The lightbulb went on that the Wintec dressage saddle must be uncomfortable for her. So today I put my ancient OF on her when we had unexpected nice sunshine without wind --after we actually got some rain/snow mix overnight that will water the grass a little bit too -woot. So the sun had melted the 1/2 inch of snow by 11 and I grabbed Sadie to try out the OF. It works, she trotted multiple times for me and maintained in gait for a full lap twice, and backed 3 steps for me. Back in Dec I thought the reluctance to trot and back with me on board was just having to adjust to balancing with a rider on board. Maybe that was part of it but I think 'training' progress will accelerate now. Some happiness to offset the pain that figuring out the estimated income tax form to send in by Apr 15. I'm not positive the royalty income is enough that I have to do it to avoid IRS penalties but it'll be easier to send 4 checks than one big one anyway.

I wish I had said this yesterday

One of the co-workers was doing the democrat projection and said that conservatives want to impose some kind of 'christian sharia' law. I need a rolling eyes icon. I should have come back with "Come on, its todays 'liberals' who want government to impose more adherence to a higher moral authority -- but liberals also view the government AS THAT MORAL AUTHORITY"

Oh well maybe I'll get a chance to use my late found insight/thought later.

of averaging kernels and data

I should find a serious geek blog and get some peer feedback on whether this is an evil data massage (perhaps torturing) technique or not. I am not opposed to averaging kernels themselves. Fact of life is that its not possible to have point measurement instruments all around the globe and up into the atmosphere. Quite a lot of useful data is gleaned by applying various mathematical and statistical data methods to get from ie an increased bending or delay of a radio signal as it goes through the atmosphere to amount of water vapor or CO, CO2, O2 etc etc. There is nothing wrong with applying lots of math and some assumptions to get some information about water vapor etc.

What bugs me is that I learned in the course of doing some work outside my core area that involved averaging kernels that it seems to have become common to apply the averaging kernel which was needed for the SV radio measurement and yields a smoothed profile through the atmosphere *sometimes so smoothed its really only valid as a column total measurement* to OTHER measurements of the substance of interest. Especially if the other method had its own averaging kernel it seems wonky to be applying the averaging kernel for the new instrument being tested to the old data source instead of its own kernel.

I think the clarity that "well this SV technique only gives a very smoothed or column average information about the temperature, water vapor content etc" has too much chance of being lost when smearing out higher resolution data before comparing the two for accuracy. Well only for presenting RMS errors along the profile. First the researcher needs to present those high RMS errors and then they can show that even though the smoothed output fails to catch local maxima and minima the smoothed/column average information is correct --just don't use it for any application where knowing the maxima and its height is important.

LOL, I wonder if I'll read this post 5 years on and wonder what the heck I was writing about. Very inside baseball I think.

thankfully real writers on the MarxSpewMedia case

Americas Marxist Meda, pajamas media link

Very interesting to learn that the marxists started this as long ago as that. I imagine they went into deep cover in the McCarthy era, then attacked him a few decades later. Marxists sure do love to re-write history. I wonder if the marxist label is really correct. I must learn more world history but I believe a similar philosophy has brought down various great society/empires ie Roman empire, ancient Persia .... long before Karl Marx was ever born.

Would reading Carnegie help?

Its is so frustrating when I cannot convince anyone of danger ahead ie. in 2008 when a little web research convinced me that the nation was about to elect the sleziest Chicago politician in history. Last night I had a thought and I don't think its just overnight nonsense like overnight solutions to numerical computation issues often are.

I am convinced that a big segment (or perhaps just the cool segment that others follow) of the media has been spoon-fed marxist ideology by their journalism professors (that should be an oxy-moron right there.) They may be unaware that their thinking is straight out of the communist manifesto but they believe that socialism is the answer to the worlds problems and that they are serving a high moral purpose by spinning, filtering --and even at times *cough* Tina Fey *cough* making up the news that they report. But I cannot seem to persuade anyone that they need to start viewing the media as propagandists rather then sources of information. So frustrating.

In fact my frustration boiled over last night riding Shade. She was being a dink, and when she spooked at nothing and I came off I lost my temper, smacked her with the reins a bit (not a good way to react to being able to hold a rein and keep her with me) then I ran her a mile in the deep sand of the dry irrigation ditch. Oh well at least my temper evaporates within several minutes. She was blowing HARD, but it will probably come out as mostly building up heart/lung fitness. Horses are so sweet, she didn't hold any grudge or act skeered of me when we got home and I untacked and curried the dried sweat off of her. Probably a good thing I didn't ride Lady, although she would have been way less likely to push buttons in first place.

Earlier in the day when it was hot I worked with Sadie. Finally got back on her, woot. I was channeling my inner horse trainer then and being nice and calm. Sadie heled too --she didn't push any buttons either, cantered for me when I longed her even though it was hot --which was my choice so she would be quiet when I climbed aboard. Longed her at trot and canter, ground drove with walk trot and back up 4-5 steps and then climbed on and walked her around the arena both directions and called it good. Hopefully this continues and maybe I can find someone to come out and ride out with me in a month or three when Sadie is ready. I'm losing hope that mom will ever get over feeling sick and be that person but I can probably find someone who would do it as a favor.

Happy April Fools day --or not

I am not in the mood to celebrate the fools that think having the government write more regulations to be filled out by producers and raise taxes on those 'evil rich' producers so they can fund NPR, a bunch of garbage and ooh I love this one --"EIC" tax credits otherwise known as "Our bribe to you for working for low pay in 'service' type jobs so we can continue to keep the 'standard of living' artificially high for the paper pushers of the middle class. It is really important that the paper shufflers for the DOW, DOE, EPA, etc etc etc be able to dine out more often and otherwise live higher off the hog than they objectively should so they will feel extra fulfilled in their roles as friction against the engines of human achievement" BARF.