losing my grip ... if I'd ever had it

I need to get my passport application finished up.  --figure out whether the pay the expedite extortion fee, and also on the shipping.   Overnight shipping is extreme overkill for 12 weeks but I kind of wonder if I should do it anyway just to make sure the application actually gets to an 'expedite this desk'.     Stopped on the way to work to get gas and my wallet was not in my purse.  I thought maybe I left it at the office but it was not here so I sure hope its sitting somewhere at home.   I have my cash reserve and can get gas but I didn't really need it yet so I just aborted at the gas station.

Yesterday I thought that I had found that I had an error in processing for over a year after the reference frame model was updated and got a new name.   Today I found that it was OK after re-running a couple of days and finding the #'s were not changing.   Except that this means that my method to make sure I am consistent with the reference frame of the orbits and etc. is not super great and I may have to improve it.   I'm hoping just adding another reference station to my new processing and tightening my constraints just a bit will be enough to nudge things into place.  

I rode Sadie again today and rode Shade yesterday.   First time I have ridden 5 days in a row in I don't know how long, which is pretty pitiful given the goals I had in mind for the 2 mares this year.  I have got to stop getting sucked away from riding by worrying about things that are outside of my control.  The tuesday and today rides were both OK not great.   Oh well I should be reasonably pleased to have some consecutive OK rides on Sadie after our early summer start with saddle turning and crupper woes followed by the skin allergy and her possibly anxiety reaction to the Benedryl + my general freakout that she was never going to trust me again. 

I may have found a way to repel grasshoppers from chewing stuff up.  I am not thrilled because I had hoped that it was a method to kill them off and its kind of time intensive.   Consists of collecting grasshoppers and grinding them up in the blender with water.   Then strain into a spray bottle.   I had read decades ago in some Organic Gardening magazine that this method kills some pest or other (not locusts.)   Its supposed to release and concentrate some natural bacteria  like Thurgicide or whatever that kills the bugs.    I wish I could borrow some chickens or 'ginny' fowl for a couple of weeks but I sure don't want to set up to raise them.

Lazy wild birds and snakes need to step up their eating.   That is why I wanted to try the bug juice method, its safe for whatever might eat the sickened grasshoppers.   Mom had some natural bait, but when I was researching on the web trying to determine if the bug juice method had been proven/disproven for grasshoppers I found some article that said that the 'Nolo' bait only inhibits the grasshoppers from breeding.   Well when we are surrounded by the things just inhibiting breeding of the ones that wandered into the garden  wasn't going to make much of a dent and it sure did not. 

Mom has pneumonia.  I am not surprised, she had a nasty cough for a couple days before she saw the Dr.   I feel bad, but my chief internal reaction is "well, rather expected since she has been laying around so much"  I know she had sinus/jaw pain and a pulled hip muscle or something but I just feel like the human body doesn't do well spending too much time prone, and with her immune issues from the long term antibiotics use trying to kill jaw infection/pain before giving up and having implants removed ........   But, I can't talk to her about stuff like that,  I know she'd just take it as nagging and being totally unsympathetic to her plight from the bad orthodontist that set up for the whole mess to happen.