A Rich Full Day
You know, the kind you know going in are a mistake. This is going to be one of those tied-to-the-chair, don’t-fall-in-the-soup-you’ll-burn-yourself evenings.
Fridays are always bad because I have both piano lesson and home tower practise, but I get away with it (usually) because it’s only one day a week, they’re both here so I don’t have to go anywhere, and they’re bracketed with days on either side that are cough cough empty of superfluous* commitments.
So I fell out of bed this morning what counts with me as early to take hellhounds for a sprint before belting over to Jenny’s yard early also, because I had this barking idea that if I had my off-schedule Connie morning early I could run the rest of the day as if normal, as if I hadn’t expended two or three hours on illicit equine activities.**
This turned out to mean however that I was early enough to invite myself along when Jenny took Miles on his last hack before school starts tomorrow. Jenny, being slightly between horses***, has been riding Connie, but Liz may have managed to crack a rib† and so for the moment Caprice is Jenny’s little handful of fun. Well. It was worth going along for the floor show. Caprice is, um, capricious, and Liz has a slight case of Doting Owner and may indulge him just the tiniest bit. Jenny brooks no nonsense, and Caprice was trying his level best to provide nonsense in a wide variety of flavours and colours. Golly. Jenny won. Jenny even managed to convince him to lead.
Meanwhile my cunning plan was that if Connie misbehaved again in company, Jenny could tell me what to do. First time we cantered, and I was trying to keep Connie at Caprice’s heels–although not too near Caprice’s heels, Caprice being a kicker–Jenny said blandly, just drop your hands and let her go; she won’t go far. So I did and . . . wheeeeeeeeeee. But that was a short field. Next time Jenny had sent Miles on little short-legged Bartholomew ahead, Bartholomew being the only reliable horse among the three of us, so that they could have a gallop if they wanted to without worrying about what the rest of us were getting up to. Jenny and I started off trotting but as soon as Connie saw Bartholomew canter I had the Madwoman of Chaillot on my hands again and I thought, oh, fine, the hell with it anyway, and once again let her go and we powered up that hill like a cheetah in view of supper. Well, probably not like a cheetah: Connie has a good gallop to her, but I don’t think she’s actually down for the Grand National next year. That was a rather longer field. So when we got to the last field, which goes on forever, Jenny said–still bland, which was a good trick after the Interesting Time she’d been having with Caprice for the last hour–we can try to do it a little more under control this time. We did, but I think Connie was just tired. But it was still pretty funny having a lesson in control while galloping hell-for-leather with your instructor galloping beside you saying things like, Keep your arms still and just flex your fingers and wrists a little. . . . Which I’m afraid she says to me kind of a lot in the schooling ring. This is what the Magic Strap is for. (See yesterday’s entry.) Caprice was knackered enough by then to be glad to steady down as soon as he could tuck in behind someone else. Connie, by the way, has pretty well lost her grass belly, and almost looks like a lean mean galloping machine, except for the pretty face and large innocent eye.†† I like to think that the extra two rides a week she gets from me have something to do with this. Dead-out galloping therefore being a part of the fitness plan.
By the time I went bell ringing this evening I had No Brain Left which explains why I was having trouble counting to four when we were ringing minimus, there being only four of us to begin with: I kept wanting to throw in fives and perhaps even sixes–just as, when ringing seven or eight at my home tower where we have eight bells when we have the ringers to ring them, I keep wanting to stop at six. Sigh. Being a creature of habit needs careful modulation in many fields of endeavour. Last week at pretty much the last minute there had been the sound of a surprising number of feet on the stairs which turned out to be two of our highly recidivist ringers, who are always going to come to practise but never do, not coming to ring but to bring two French friends of theirs who’ve never seen/heard change ringing close to (pretty much only the British, and a few arms of the ex-Empire, ring full-circle, change-ringing bells). Yeep. On your marks, get set . . . don’t make a fool of yourself. In fact we rang a pretty good touch of Grandsire, even with people staring at us. It was rather exhilarating really–showing off effectively.
Darkness did not get me up in the night last night. (With these two it is possibly worth mentioning that Chaos didn’t either.) Yaay. On the other hand he didn’t produce his first collectable crap till late this afternoon and has not yet deigned to repeat this performance, so I haven’t taken the samples back to the vet yet which means we won’t have the results by the end of the week after all. Right at the moment I’m happy just not having to hose down my little garden courtyard again–and to not get woken up tonight either, please. Hey, tomorrow morning I don’t have to get up for anything in particular–just life, hellhounds, work, blog, etc.
* * *
* Nothing I do is superfluous! Not even sweeping the floor! –Well. Possibly especially not even sweeping the floor.
I haven’t told you about my latest piece of revolutionary household equipment. Flush with the success of the Cat and Dog Hoover, I bought a Heated Tower Airer–you know, like a plug-in towel rack for warm towels^, only bigger and for laundry.^^ It is brilliant. I’ve kept telling myself I don’t need one–I have a perfectly good overhead airer that you pull up and down on a rope in the bathroom^^^ and any dense, sullenly wet objects can go over the rail in front of the Aga. Do you have any idea how long it takes to get through a lot of hellhound bedding by this system?? No, of course you don’t, because any sane person living in the real world would have done something about it long since. The Tower Airer can handle bedding as fast as the washing machine (grunt, clank) can turn it out. The only drawback to the new system is the amount of fluff that extrapolates itself–no blanket was ever that furry when it left the shop new–from the parent article and goes whizzing about the atmosphere, the airer being a room farther away from the washing machine than the Aga is.
I live in a permanent cloud of suspended hellhound exuviation particles.
^ Which were invented here, of course. They were one more British excuse for not heating their houses.
^^ Because the British traditionally haven’t believed in electric dryers either, although unfortunately that idea that has gained ground in recent decades. I have some sympathy for the desire for central heating+, but we’re running out of fossil fuels, right? And we should be worrying about global warming and carbon footprints etc. Right. So in the last twenty years the British have discovered electric dryers and SUVs. Good going guys.++
+ Although I like to tell the story of how we had central heating at the old house and took it out.
++ I live here. I pay taxes here. I also love it here.# I get to complain.
# Except for the SUVs.
^^^ The curiously high ceilings in this cottage also mean not having to walk through facefuls of wet laundry.
** HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. That’s so lame.
*** But she’s going to start looking for a new horse to ‘bring on’ soon, starting with her favourite dealer, and . . . she’s invited me to come along. Am I chuffed or what.
† When she was out riding with me last time. I had no idea I was so dangerous.
†† Me gallop like a maniac? Me? No, no, never, I’m much too sweet and modest and obedient.
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Ahhhh … the sun on your face and the wind in your hair…… :)
Well done! (Shame about the bells but you did *get there* for practice. That counts!)
Pardon me I wear a HELMET. YOU had better wear a helmet when you’re riding too.
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“Pardon me I wear a HELMET. ”
So the wind in your face and the sweat in your hair? ;)
Yes, exactly. And the wind in the BITS of your hair not trapped by the helmet and instead getting in your eyes and mouth etc. . . . Helmets are VERY romantic. Not.
“And the wind in the BITS of your hair not trapped by the helmet and instead getting in your eyes and mouth etc. ”
well think of it this way: if you were wearing lip-gloss, you would have the bits of hair stick in the lip-gloss, smear said gloss over half your face and half your teeth, as well as leaving wodges in your hair itself.
Lip gloss. Ewwwwwww.
Yes I wear a helmet! LOL The wind still tugs at the bits sticking out! :p
Yes, because the hair-guy thinks hair is better layered so you can have short bits at the front which won’t tie back/be trapped by the helmet. BUT if one has time, one can do little stringy braids of the front bits which will ahir grip back quite reliably, for an entire day of grooming, tacking and untacking, donning and removing helmets etc. After a while the sweat tends to glue ebverything in place, too. I know we’ve mentioned this before, but all the movies and book covers with girls galloping horses around the scenery with loose, waist-length hair…..utterly insane. There’s a reason traditional riding clothes are very uptight rather than loose and floaty.
but all the movies and book covers with girls galloping horses around the scenery with loose, waist-length hair…..utterly insane. There’s a reason traditional riding clothes are very uptight rather than loose and floaty.
********** I am SO with you here. I am reminded of the Japanese cover of Blue Sword in which Tsornin is standing IN a cloud of Harry’s hair. Because the artist can’t draw horses, I think, particularly their feet.
“Darkness did not get me up in the night last night. (With these two it is possibly worth mentioning that Chaos didn’t either.) Yaay. ”
Hurrah! Hurray! Huzzah! Three cheers!
“and they’re bracketed with days on either side that are cough cough empty of superfluous* commitments.”
Are you mad? Do you think we’ve been absent these past few months? Who do you think has been reading this blog? You NEVER are empty of commitments. Pull the other one.
” I had this barking idea that if I had my off-schedule Connie morning early I could run the rest of the day as if normal, as if I hadn’t expended two or three hours on illicit equine activities.”
Oh, you are mad. Or you think you are an energy-renewing time lord. Get real. Twenty-four hours equals one day. Every hour not sleeping counts against your energy total. Sometimes (I speak as a long-term, although recovering, insomniac) even hours spent “sleeping” can tire you out. Just say it: I will try anything to get on that horse. I am a horseaholic. We understand. This is, afterall, your audience. We are bookaholics, craft-aholics, chocoholics, cakeaholics and time-consume-oholics ourselves. But nobody has as many excuses as you!
Bless you!
time-consume-oholics
************ That’s about right. :) And, so okay about the commitments, but some of them are, you know REGULAR and some of them just leap out of corners with warning. :)
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I had to look up what a “heated tower airer” was. That looks wonderful! Why have I never heard of this? Why don’t we have these here in (my part of) the U.S.? Oh, right.
Well, you should do. But maybe they’re like electric kettles, which took FOREVER to be available in the US while everyone has had them for decades here.
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***** almost looks like a lean mean galloping machine, except for the pretty face and large innocent eye
Surely lean mean galloping machines can also be pretty with large innocent eyes? I’m sure I saw athletes matching that description in the Olympics.
****** Do you have any idea how long it takes to get through a lot of hellhound bedding by this system??
Yes!!!
****** any sane person
I’m NOT sane (mad laughter!)
****** The only drawback to the new system is the amount of fluff that extrapolates itself–no blanket was ever that furry when it left the shop new
I know!! (wails)
****** Darkness did not get me up in the night last night. (With these two it is possibly worth mentioning that Chaos didn’t either.) Yaay.
Yaaay!! Hope you all have a quiet night tonight :)
What do YOU use for dog bedding? I realise I compound the problem by using a lot of already-disintegrating blankets and coverlets and things. You don’t want to give hellhounds anything NICE. Comfy, yes. Nice, no.
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I use vetbed stuff – like a sort of fake sheepskin which goes in the washing machine; it was developed for bedridden people to prevent bedsores, and then vets started using it for their post op patients. It doesn’t rip, but hardened criminals can (and DO) chew it -eyes the single culprit who becomes very shifty :)
Yes. Chaos is a nightmare bedding chewer, and he prefers NEW, EXPENSIVE stuff. Which is why they’re mostly on old blankets. He’s not chewing ***as much***. Maybe it’s time to try again. . . .
Vet bed is verrry expensive at pet shops, but cheaper at dog shows and direct from suppliers – do you want me to give you a contact?
Oh! Yes, please! :)
I made beds with japara as the outer shell and then stuffed in bits of alpaca fleece. The japara handles the *scratching* better than, say, calico.
Belle hasn’t got a sheepskin yet because of her destructive tendencies. She is now two and *may* be getting past this stage. The old dog has a REAL sheepskin on her bed for her arthritis.
Belle hasn’t got a sheepskin yet because of her destructive tendencies
***** Always glad to hear of OTHER people’s demented dogs. :)
Japara sounds useful – what exactly is it??
***** Always glad to hear of OTHER people’s demented dogs. :)
Glad to help out… :)
btw did the alpacas arrive in the mail?
YES. I think two days ago. Haven’t tried to watch yet though. Not to worry, you’ll get a garbled incoherent email when that happens. :)
Japara is a cotton fabric. Quite sturdy and waxed. (?more or less?) Traditionally used in wet weather gear. I got mine from the material shop but it wasn’t waxed like the japara coats you can buy.
Just heard something on the radio:
The riding school in Vienna has allowed TWO WOMEN to enter!!!!! The first two ever.
(of course they have to make it through the trial month and then the four year program before they can ride in the shows, but it’s a start.)
Thought you might like to know.
Rebecca WinkleBeam
HOT DAMN. Excellent! :)
This vetbed stuff sounds like what I need to upholster my furniture with. I have cats, not dogs, and they have shredded my upholstery (I refuse to declaw). I’d been thinking of stainless steel furniture or cushions covered with Kevlar, but maybe I’ll go with the sheepskin-looking stuff–that should certainly get me into a home decor magaizine, no? *grin*
Dog bedding/sheepskin stuff – I get mine from these people and it lasts thousands of washes… literally :)
http://www.beddingbox.com/index.php?cPath=33
BRILLIANT. THANK YOU. This is SO much cheaper than in a pet shop!!!!! Or catalogue!!!!
Hey, they do cat stuff as well! Thanks, Southdowner. :)
Remember your user name please. . . .
****** BRILLIANT. THANK YOU. This is SO much cheaper than in a pet shop!!!!! Or catalogue!!!!
Glad the vet bed link worked for you – I can’t believe the mark up which pet shops put on vet bed, so I’m happy to spread the word for other owners. Do you use turtle mats to suck the moisture off hellhound feet in weather like todays? I think we’d be swimming if we didn’t – well, 44 feet plus 4 human…
I certainly use turtle mats and they are certainly a LOT better than nothing, but I don’t find they’re anywhere near as good as their advertising.
OK, so why did this PC make me anonymous when I tried to thank Southdowner for the dog (and cat) bedding link. Perhaps it’s trying to tell me that it would like a fleece too…
It’s WordPress that needs to feel loved, I think. But as needy creatures often do it MAKES IT VERY HARD FOR ITSELF.
****** But she’s going to start looking for a new horse to ‘bring on’ soon, starting with her favourite dealer, and . . . she’s invited me to come along. Am I chuffed or what.
Hurray! We get to go (vicariously)! You have a ready made post there – please! please!
Go poo! That’s good news. I’m still keeping my ferrets crossed, though. Leanne is feeling a little better today, too; she rearranged her toys, which is always a good sign.
Sounds like it was a busy but fun day. I hope you get more, but with more brain by the end, too. :)
Only fellow animal people understand how IMPORTANT poo is. :) I could stand to be a little *less* poo obsessed, I admit. . . .
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No, minders of small humans know poo, too. In all it’s varied colors and consistencies. : P
****** That’s good news. I’m still keeping my ferrets crossed, though
Hahaha! I read this and never noticed – Which ferrets cross best with which? or can you plait them indiscriminately lol
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Hahaha! I read this and never noticed – Which ferrets cross best with which? or can you plait them indiscriminately lol
As long as you don’t cross the girls, everything is fine. The girls will not even eat food out of the same bowl. They cannot sleep in the same hammock (lately, but they’ve been fine before this), and em-dashes help anyone who sticks them in a bag together. It sounds like people are *dying* when you cross the girls. *shudder*
How very curious. What’s changed? They’re fixed, right? So it shouldn’t be sexual maturity.
How very curious. What’s changed? They’re fixed, right? So it shouldn’t be sexual maturity.
Yes, everyone’s fixed here. It’s just…how to say this politely? Miss Suzi is naturally disagreeable. She doesn’t like anyone except Austin and me, and in that order. She will put up with the other boys, and she will terrorize any human who isn’t me if they come in here (she’s mostly show, but do wear socks if you ever come to visit — she is always on sock patrol), but she does NOT like Leanne.
Aside from the disagreeableness that is Miss Suzi, my only theory is that Leanne was the third ferret, and she *stole* Austin’s affection. Suzi loves Austin, and he loved her best…until we got Leanne, who was tiny and cute and required lots of attention because she wasn’t finished being weaned. So it might be because Leanne is the third ferret, and the beginning of a deluge of ferrets around here.
Or it might just be that they’re both girls, and even spayed female cats tend to be a bit fussy around each other.
The boys are much too laid back to really care there are other males around. They are all BFFs. (Best Friends Forever.)
I don’t know about the ferret world, but you get people in the dog world who say you ABSOLUTELY cannot keep bitches together and you ABSOLUTELY can’t keep dogs together. Ahem. The whippets were all girls and I now have two boys. Asleep on top of each other as usual.
The whippets were all girls and I now have two boys. Asleep on top of each other as usual.
*nod* When both girls are feeling good, they will curl up in a hammock together. (I’m not sure how this ends up happening. I suspect one starts out trapped under a boy and becomes invisible to the other girl who wants to snuggle with a nice warm boy…And then the boy leaves. It’s very mysterious.)
It seems like it mostly has to do with individual animals’ personalities. Like people. :)
Like people
******** Yes. The thing that non-animal humans never understand, poor things. :)
And after this day, shouldn’t be in bed earlier than this? We’ll tell on you to Peter, we will.
And I’ll BAN YOU. Watch yourself. :)
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“And I’ll BAN YOU. Watch yourself. :)”
I cower and hide and remember the days before I started reading your blog. I read books then I think. I had free time. (did I? – actually no) Oh well, there are fates worse than death. and there are other fates ;)
By the by, have you worn the bees?
YES. :)
. . . Isn’t it funny the way you never DO have time but when you look back you think now you SHOULD HAVE THEN?
“. . . Isn’t it funny the way you never DO have time but when you look back you think now you SHOULD HAVE THEN?”
Definitely!
It’s like a particularly sick game of what ifs, only it’s what whens. What you should have done back when, because back then you wasted time, you had TIME TO SPARE.
This of course is another delusion of time-consume-aholics. Even back then you filled your quota of 24 hours. Snork. Sometimes even 36 hours.
Yes. All of the above. :)
Sounds like quite a day. I must say that I didn’t expect you to still be answering comments this late [you had been posting earlier and earlier, these past few weeks, or so it seemed. Didn't last long though, I suppose. I really oughtn't be surprised.] and while I am GLAD that you still have enough energy to be awake and replying to all of us, I do think that you ought to seize the opportunity to sleep while both Chaos and Darkness seem quiet…-ish.
Of course, I am going to be totally hypocritical [and selfish, to boot] and sit here hoping you DO answer, but still.
Hugs all round.
–Julia
Ha! (there. I answered. :))
****** . . . Isn’t it funny the way you never DO have time but when you look back you think now you SHOULD HAVE THEN?
There’s nearly (I added that “nearly” for you ;p) always extra time which you don’t realise – talk to any mother about how she never had any spare time pre parenthood, and those pre days are now halcyon days of (relative ) leisure… And friends who have retired usually do no more than they fitted in around work – it just expands to fit the whole day :)
:)
Thank you.
Goodnight!
–Julia
Gallop. Ugh. Jealous. Every time I watch a *period* BBC flick I am overcome with a desire to find a horse and gallop hell bent for election through a lush green field. Now I realize that there is another reason for them being green: envy.
P.S. I would love to see some pictures of Connie, sans hay belly.
I am overcome with a desire to find a horse and gallop hell bent for election through a lush green field.
******** Golf courses always have this effect on me. :)
I’ll work on new photos.
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“Because the British traditionally haven’t believed in electric dryers either, although unfortunately that idea that has gained ground in recent decades. ”
Yes, not sure why. Lack of space in kitchens/utility rooms? Too expensive to buy and run? A belief that the sun will soon be out again* so what’s wrong with drying things outside anyway? Usually having a handy airing cupboard? Whatever one’s choice (and mine’s a mixture of 3 and 4 above), the fewer of the power-guzzling things the better!
* Apparently this summer and last have been so poor because of a two-year La Nina. ‘She’ is now fading and I only hope we don’t get her awful brother back!
With the slightly delicate caveat in my and the hellhounds’ case that we do NOT like hot weather. I would much rather complain about having worn shorts about once this summer than about not being able to get up off the floor. (It’s a little COOLER down there, except when hellhounds LIE on you.)
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***** than about not being able to get up off the floor. (It’s a little COOLER down there, except when hellhounds LIE on you.)
Lying on the floor is an opportunity too good to miss! They can treat you as the fellow puppy-who hasn’t-grown-up that they know you are :)
Yes. Um. Rumbled. :)
May I request a blog entry on the story of how you had central heating and took it out? (And why?) If you’ve posted it before and I missed it, I apologize … I grew up in a house in Wisconsin that didn’t have central heating until several years after we moved in, and would be fascinated to hear why you would do such a thing! :-)
Sorry this is so random but I am interested in learning how to compose or arrange my own music. Was there a book that helped you out? Can you reccomend anything? I play the piano and sightread pretty well but can’t compose at all , no matter how hard I try. I think I want to go into music once I start college but have no idea where to start. I hope you can help!!!!!!!!!!
I really have to get the name of the composing book written down in a PERMANENT location because I get asked this with some regularity (not just on the blog). I’ll try to remember to ask Oisin again tomorrow (piano lesson). But you’d be much better off doing it with a teacher, someone who can let you scamper off in your own direction but will provide support and explanations when you wander into wilderness. :) I’m not sure what you mean when you say ‘can’t compose at all no matter how hard I try’. I suspect you of trying too hard. Remember that while my musical gift is VERY SLIGHT, what I *am* extremely well accustomed to is leaping into the unknown–it’s how any writer writes stories. If you’re *not* used to it . . . it may be the leaping you’re having trouble with, not the composing.
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In case you haven’t already asked Oisin, I have the title for you – saved in the email after I ordered it! :-)
Composing Music: A New Approach [Plastic Comb] by William Russo; Jeffrey Ainis
I’ve been using it a bit with one of my students, but she needs a bit more notation recognition as well. We are working on finding the natural rhythms in text right now (she’s taking poems by Roy Blount, Jr., and after reading them through a few times, scoring the rhythm only. Her latest assignment was to now add pitches to the rhythm of her latest endeavor, but only very limited choices of pitch. We’ll see what she comes up with!)
Yay for cookies! I’m off to bake some loaves of bread (and maybe some cookies!), as a compliment to the chillier than usual day!
Smiles,
Jeanne Marie
THANK YOU. Because I forgot. :( (Well, I had other things on my mind . . . :))
I need to find a good teacher, too. I have the melody composing down pat, but my poor old left hand is left out in the cold…
Sweet(: You get to go on a horse hunting expedition… Sounds like a good time. Just *stay*away* from the pretties yourself! ;p Or, maybe you can influence her to get one that *you* like…
(Robin flies on the wings of words)
*The riding school in Vienna has allowed TWO WOMEN to enter!!!!! The first two ever*
I bet I know why, too – remember in April there was this news about them being in dire financial difficulties (theres a video clip on the BBC site) because all the riders get paid 250K a year? They wanted to negotiate the riders to take a 10% pay-cut? Well, if you double the talent pool from which you can recruit – including some pent-up demand from horse-obsessed women who would do this for room and board (apart from my total lack of dressage skills and a family to support, I’d send them a postcard myself) – guess what’s going to happen to the rider’s bargaining position.
Good for us, mind you, and good for the riding school and probably good for the horses too.