The Real Day Off

I actually messed up my vacation request and we came home a day earlier than I thought. This actually gave me a day off at home. A chance to have a perfect day off all to myself. Time to create MY perfect day.

Husband had to leave town for work. I took our son to day care. I hauled ass to Rachel's to have a lesson on Sahil. When I got there, she had forgotten that she had another commitment and told me I was on my own. I got Sahil and saddled him up. After some round pen work to make sure he was ready to listen, we went to the arena. It took me about ten minutes to get him to stand still so I could get on but he finally did. We had a very nice ride doing mostly walking, circles, serpentines and leg yields but we had a few stretches of trotting. I was doing it by myself without a coach. Sahil and I were getting to know each other's body movements and earning trust. I left feeling pretty happy.

After stopping to get some vegie plants, I went home to tackle mowing the pasture. It was dusty and I had to go really slow to dodge the stumps. All was going well until I realized I had run over a bird. It was an immature bird and I am hoping that it was already dead having fallen from a nest in the tree I was mowing under. I am worried sick that it was not a crow but a roadrunner. I have a roadrunner or two who take care of critters in the pasture. I abandoned mowing under that tree. I have always been afraid of mowing over baby bunnies not baby birds.

After the pasture, I had a quick lunch. Then I mowed the yard with the push mower. There is a certain satisfaction of having a fresh mowed yard. Feeling pretty dusty, sweaty and gross, I decided to plant my vegies and then clean up. I hoped to ride with my neighbor before I had to go get my son but that was not to be.

I picked up my son, and hurried home. I went down to my neighbor's house to pick up my grumpy old horse they were watching while we were on vacation. She offered to watch the kiddo while I rode home. Don't hurry, was my order from her. I took the long way home, put Bailey up, got a beer and walked back to her house. We sat on her front porch, played Red Light, Green Light with my son and enjoyed the evening.

When I left, I could not help but think was a great day it had been. Two horse rides, hanging with friends, puttering in the yard and getting clean after getting very dirty. After my son went to bed, I made popcorn for dinner. Perfection.

My Big Sur Marathon vacation

What a difference a few days of vacation make.

Husband was running the Big Sur Marathon so we all decided to go and make a family vacation out of it. My in-laws went along with husband's best friend, her training partner, and her mother. Quite the crowd.

I must say it was great. The weather was perfect. We spent time on the beach. It was the kind of weather where you can wear long pants or shorts, long sleeves or short and feel comfortable either way. My son loved California. The beaches, aquarium, Fisherman's Wharf and the fact that he had his own double bed at the hotel. We wore him out, so much in fact that two nights in a row, he fell asleep at dinner with his head on daddy's lap. We could have stayed longer and still found plenty to do.

oh yeah, the marathon...my husband ran a 3 hour 48 min, the friends ran a bit over 5 hours and I walked the 5K at just over a 15 minute mile pace. It was great. I am looking forward to going back someday.

Joyful rider

Last night I hurried over to Rachel's after work so I could get a quick riding lesson in before we went away this weekend. Sahil is feeling better and ready to work.

Usually he screams to me when he hears my car on the dirt road. He was pouting yesterday because he didn't get to go into the pasture with the other horses. Rachel kept him in the barn so it would not take me 30 minutes to tromp all over her 36 acres to find him. He refused to acknowledge me.

Once I got him out of his stall, he seemed to perk up a bit, nuzzling my arm. He softened up during his brushing then we took him to the arena to see if he needed to get some yah-yahs out before I rode him. It was very windy and that can make even the steadiest of horses jumpy. I led him in the arena and took off his lead rope. He followed me as I walked to the center of the arena, he head low and relaxed. He didn't really want to run away. I picked up the whip and urged him to go in a circle around me. This would have been the perfect time for him to run away, there was nothing retraining him. He trotted a beautiful circle around me and came in for a pat when I asked him to.

Rachel laughed and declared that it was time to ride because Sahil was ready to work and had no interest in being silly. He just wanted to spend time with his momma.

I saddled him up and got on. Rachel attached a lunge line to us so she could have some control if things got crazy. Her goal was to have us trot together. Frankly, that made me nervous because of the wind and past experience I have had with not so balanced horses. But, I trust her and was getting to trust Sahil so I did what she asked. We trotted fine. In fact we did so well that she took the line off and we did it together on our own. I was thrilled, joyful and confident that Sahil and I will be wonderful partners in the future.

Next month Rachel says we will be trail riding. I believe her. Sahil is ready for the next adventure with momma.

Check out Rachel's website at www.joyfulhorse.com.

The Lawnmower

You would think with 2 horses, that we would never have to cut the lawn. Well horses need fences and part of the yard is not fenced, a good part of the yard, in fact.

I love cutting the grass on the riding mower. It is zen-like as you plot your course for straight cuts maximizing the 42 in blades so you do not have to make as many passes. Yet you cannot fall into a trace or you will hit a mesquite stump, cringe in panic, praying you don't bend the blades. I have a tendency to mow around wildflowers so I have funny patches here and there. I do not need my lawn to look like a golf course.

Last year after our Craftsman rider mower had been sitting out for a year, dead in the driveway, husband decided to do much research and buy us the perfect mower. He is pretty hard on them but he also has the strength and mechanical ability to fix the minor problems he causes. We ended up with a Cub Cadet zero turn radius mower. Now I am not crazy about this mower because we seem to have had tons of issues with it.

However, I was thinking that maybe we both had gotten the hang of it because we had not had any major problems since getting it back from repair in January. Then after much mowing and not enough cleaning the deck, I blew a belt. It was the belt that made the blades turn so I could still drive it back to the garage. I thought I had figured out the right belt to get and after trips to several stores decided to order it online. That didn't quite work out so I ordered it locally and waited for the call.

Husband picked up the belt three days later. Oops I had ordered the wrong belt. He was not happy (quite the understatement). He had to spend Saturday tracking down the right belt, which he found. He told me he needed me to help to get the belt on. I got very nervous. We do not work well together. On our honeymoon we took a Sunfish sailboat out and capsized every time because we just cannot seem to trust each other. To be fair, he took the boat out solo and did fine.

So we took on the mower together. I let him tell me what to do. I ignored him when he got snippy with me. I tried to be patient, helpful and quiet. Once I understood how the mower was put together, I was much more help. Eventually we got the belt on. No one's feelings or ego got hurt. We accomplished a project together. Honestly I did shed a tear or two because I was so happy we did this. I am not sure why but I felt this was a huge step in our relationship.

I may just learn to love the lawnmower if it does in fact symbolize growth in our relationship.

Poorer and not much wiser

Sahil is my 4 year old Egyptian Arabian. He is a small but sturdy bay with white socks on three feet. When he was a baby he had pneumonia and was man handled to get the medicine down. Needless to say he HATES the going to the vet.

Last Thursday Sahil choked on some food eating too fast. Sometimes when this happens the food dissolves and passes without trouble. After some observation it was clear to my trainer, Rachel, that he was in trouble. She and a friend got him to the vet and called me. It was serious and I needed to get there immediately. By the time I got there he was sedated but doing okay. I missed the scariest moments with the tube down his throat, thank goodness. We kept him there three days to make sure he could get the medication needed so he would not have another bout of pneumonia. He was unhappy at the vet's, shaking every time the doctor came near. He was lonely without his horse friends talk to.

We picked him up on Saturday and he was happy to be leaving. As Rachel got him in the trailer, I went to pay the bill. So much for being debt free. Funny thing is I am not realy stressing about it too much. I paid off my credit cards in full last month after years of debt. I know I can do it again. My horse is better and I know I would have been heart broken if he had died. I think maybe I would have sworn off horses all together for awhile. I have my old grumpy horse but rarely get a chance to ride him. He is more of a pasture ornament.

Sahil and I have a long partnership ahead of us. I am looking forward to a long life with him.

Socially on my own

Today I had an event to attend, Austin Settings. I had a "date" who had other things pop up so she had to opt out, leaving me to attend on my own. Austin Setting is a cool event put together by the sorority that I was a member of in college. I have been wanting to get involved and meet people in the alumni organization but the events just don't seem to work with my schedule. Finally this one did.

Armed with my camera, my shield I like to call it, I checked in. I quickly met a very kind co-chair and began snapping pics of beautifully decorated tables. The flowers were to die for. I found the table I was assigned to and put down my purse to mark my spot. I wondered who I might meet. The room was full of beautiful women wearing expensive clothes and jewelry. Women who look like grooming is their number one priority in life. They have time to get their nails done, shop for clothes that fit and workout regularly. I was getting nervous and jealous.

Four women approached and sat down at the table. We introduced ourselves and I knew that everything was going to be all right. They were very warm and friendly, normal looking women. I wonder that if they had been sitting at another table, I would have assumed they were part of the upper crust set. They were after all wearing lipstick, except the one with lovely long dreds. Then I realized that I was just looking at a few beautiful women and not seeing the majority. The majority were working women who took time out of their schedules, like me to attend this fund-raising event. My fear and insecurity completely got the better of me. I ended up having a nice time. I may never see these four women again, but today, they welcomed me into their tight-knit group. That is what I love about Austin.

Been awhile

I am finally coming out of the dark place my mind had been since my last post. Work is unbearable and the home life has been tough. I was having a very hard time thinking positively and that is not my nature. Crying on the way to work is not normal. I am calming down and trying remember what is important. I am not Supermom or Superwoman and I just do the best I can.

I found out the other day that Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are sharing the same zip code as me. Of course it is a huge area but they are renting a ranch somewhere nearby while Brad is filming a movie. I keep thinking what I would say to one of them if I had the opportunity. Would I be cool and ignore them? Would I be my Texas friendly self and ask if they are enjoying themselves? Most probably I would be a blithering idiot taken by their star status. I can't help but admit I am slightly obsessed by the thought of perhaps seeing them.

Onward to gardening.....I love springtime in Texas. My roses are blooming and the wildflowers are lovely. My favorites are the larkspur that we have groing along the path to our front door. They are taller than my son and the dogs love to leap through them as if they were jumping through a wave of purple and blue water. I wonder if they feel the delicate foliage on their faces. I love to run my hands over it, tickling my palms.