Irregularities

I've posted about normalcy, habits, routine, and order.  We all need regularity, consistency, and limits in our lives.  This sense of order makes life more efficient, productive, and cuts down on stress.  We feel the most secure when our lives are predictable.  But, we should not be too rigid.  We should be willing to try something new.  Spontaneity, change in routine, and doing the irregular can be invigorating, exciting, and fun.

That being said, I am exasperated by the inconsistencies and irregularities that continue to plague me as I try to get the font and photos on my blog posts to look uniform and well placed.  And I don't understand why they look so different in the view format, than in the editing format.  However, life is too short, and I have better things to do than mess with this frustrating problem.  So... what you see is what you get.  All the irregularities are not my doing.  Hopefully the posts are at least legible. 

I woke up late Saturday and was very sore.  It was either too much dancing the night before, the higher heels than usual, or a combination of both.  The two extra beers hadn't helped any either.  So I felt less spunky and energetic, an irregularity I am not accustomed to.  Probably serves me right though.

I went to the barn for a few hours and enjoyed a nice ride, although the trails were still bad.  Amiga seems to enjoy our outings, especially since I let her graze for quite awhile each time.  While riding in the yard out front, all the livery horses came charging up to the pasture on the other side of the road.  I caught this (video) just after the 'stampede' had ended.



I came home, changed, walked the dog, and then went to the gym to do weights, and elliptical.  After that I met Patty at the CC to swim and hot tub.  We swam extra long, waiting for a large family (four ladies and probably ten kids) to vacate the hot tub.  Some still came and went while we soaked, so it wasn't as relaxing as hoped for.  Then later, they were using all the showers, causing us to have to wait again.


A fire after dinner provided the warmth and relaxation I needed while watching TV.
Monita enjoyed it also.


Sunday morning I watched an interesting sunrise while walking the dog.

Shirley did not feel up to going to Church, so I went on my own.  Then after an early lunch, Maggie and I walked seven holes of Stonehenge with Patty.  I took this selfie of the dog and I while we waited for Patty, who had gotten a little lost driving there from her house.

Maggie shows off her agility skills for Patty.

It was a beautiful day for a walk.  We even both got too warm and had to take off our jackets.

Maggie was ready to settle in for a nap when I got her home.  I went to the barn, while thinking a nap would have been kind of nice.

Another great ride on Amiga proved to make the barn trip worthwhile.  I was testing out this new saddle bag Helen had lent me.  It attaches to the front of the pommel, and I like its easy access while I am in the saddle.  I actually used it to hold a people shoe I had picked up off the trail while out of the saddle clearing a few branches off the trail.  You can see it in this (video) I took of the geldings when returning to the barn.

Once home, I picked up three 30 gal. tub loads of sticks (a few branch size) in the backyard and then after I fed the critters and walked the dog I went over to Brian's for a beer with him, Mary, Chuck and Andy.

I was up Monday at 4 am.  An hour later, when ready to start my second cup of tea, I had major intestinal cramping.  I ended up going back to bed for an hour and woke at 7:30 feeling somewhat improved.  Not sure what had caused my irregularities.  When I got to the gym, I rowed for 20 minutes and then did the Ballroom Aerobics class.  Patty is improving quickly and will be dancing circles around me before long.

It started raining just before noon.  I quick walked the dog and then saw two groups of golfers high-tail it back towards the club house.

After a cream of wheat lunch to sooth my gut, I sat here at my computer while it continued to rain.  I had this view for the rest of the day.  I did notice several golf groups actually play #17 and continue on up to #18.  Poor, silly golf addicts.

Joe got home from his poker weekend before 3:00.  He had lost in the two tournaments he played, but more than made up for it in two cash games.

I worked here at both computers all day.  I had discovered tons of Blog posts that didn't get saved into word documents so was doing that on my old computer (that has Microsoft Word and Windows 7) and then moved files to my new computer.  Maggie sits by my desk hoping for food, to go on a walk, or to play.  Usually she just gets her ears scratched.

I hadn't finished computer work, so before dawn's early light Tuesday, I was back at it, here on both of my computers.

Monita played nearby while I worked.  She stopped to look, after I took the first photo.

I finally got 'everything' copied onto my new computer, I think, and then was off to the barn.

Amiga stops to assess the creek crossing.

I headed down the trail on Amiga, and was surprised that they weren't a horrible mess after all the rain the day before.  The thaw and the wind must have done the trick.  

Once she steps in, Boz races past us.

I decided to try the Holly trail, which wasn't too bad except for the two hills.  These photos show the creek crossing at the bottom of the ravine.  and this (video) shows the Holly Trail from the top of the big hill, going to Stratford Cir. 

Amiga stops for a drink as we cross the water.

We had a nice ride in the Glade.  The footing on the gravel/dirt/grass roads was so nice.  We even did some cantering.





I rode back to WW along the power lines and finally let Amiga graze for a little while once back to the bean field.  We had been out for 90 minutes,  but the clouds and wind had picked up and I was getting cold. 

Seen left, a view of the Holly Trail as it comes out of the woods onto Stratford Cir.  We left the log down across the trail to keep 4-wheelers out.

Below, a look at the boys as we rode back to the barn.  Zorro was so hard to see, I circled him in yellow. 😊

I warmed back up when I went to the gym and did weights, eliptical, Stretch class, and took a hot shower.  I shopped at Food City, and got home to eat a 7:00 dinner (from the salad bar at the grocery) with Joe.  Then we watched an interesting movie, Molly's Game.

Stevie eating grass, helps keep the cats out of my house plants.

Wednesday it was colder.  I did Ballroom Aerobics and then the rowing machine.

I had a quick early lunch and then went to town to shop, first hitting French's Boot Store.  I spent a lot of time deciding on and buying this pair of boots.




I had tried on a bunch of boots, but kept coming back to these because they were so comfortable.  Even though they weren't the exact style I was looking for, and were rather expensive, I really liked them.  I hoped Joe would have a good poker night which would justify my frivolousness.

After unloading and putting away groceries and other purchases, I did some household chores, took care of the cats and dog and then met Brian at Legend's Fireside Lounge for a beer.  There was another fellow there and we all had a fun time chatting.

Joe arrived home early, having had good cards but bad luck, he lost/spent/contributed nearly three times what I had paid for the boots.

Showing Amiga my new home-made hel-hat.

It was a frosty Thursday morning with temperatures in the upper 20s.  The sun came out strong and bright and warmed things up.  After computer and tea time, I finally got around to making a hel-hat.  It is headgear that combines an ASTM-approved helmet with the functionality and authenticity of a cowboy hat.  I had bought the three dollar cowboy hat at Wal-Mart and used my old helmet.  I put the scarf around it to cover up the 'joint' between the two. 

When I went to the barn to ride, the mares were way in the back of the field.  As I approached them I could not see Amiga.  And then I noticed her down by the back fence.

At first, the worst came to mind, that she might be lame or had coliced.  She lifted her head as I walked closer.  When I got up to her, she did not stand up, so my worries continued.

I slipped the halter around her head, coaxed her to her feet and walked her a few steps.  She was stiff, but seemed fine.  So I got on and rode her back to the barn, bit-less and bridle-less as usual.

She has on her halter and lead rope but steers well with just leg cues.   

There were no signs of lameness and she had gut noises while I groomed her, so I knew Amiga was okay in that area too, no irregularities.

We were soon on the Holly trail, where we actually met up with a hiker and three lose dogs which caused Amiga to spook and spin.  After chatting a minute, we went our separate ways.  Amiga, Chester, Boz, and I proceed down the trail and into the Glade where we met up with Jan. 

We had a great 90 minute ride together, enjoying conversation, our horses, and nature.

I had forgotten to have Jan take a photo of me on Amiga with my new hat, so tried some selfies on the way back to WW.

I also let Amiga graze for awhile. 

Since I was going to be too late to go workout before Stretch class, I decided to do a little more trail obstacle work like I had the other day when I took this (video).  It was cooling off and all the horses were already in the barn, so I relieved Amiga of her mounted horse duties and put her in her stall.

I ended up being too late for Stretch class, so took a long, hot shower, cooked dinner, and watched a movie with Joe.

Even though the house needed cleaning, Friday's plan was to go to the gym and then ride with Jan and Deana.  I was having some digestive irregularities again, but wasn't going to let that slow me down.

Once Deana and I were saddled up, we rode to the bean field to let our horses graze while waiting for Jan, who was riding over from Terry's.

Jan took these two photos of Amiga and I to show me in my new hel-hat, since my selfie's hadn't been too good.



There was plenty of chatting and then we rode back to WW.

We rode in the lawn out front and then into the empty field where the livery horses are kept March - December.









Many of the mares in the neighboring field came up to check us out.

The sky was pretty, the sun warm, but we found it quite windy and a bit cold out on this ridge.  We still had a good time riding.

 

As we were finishing up, some Wyndham guests dropped by to see the barn, enjoyed visiting the horses, and got a kick out of Zorro. 

Amiga says hi to Zorro also.

Just as I was leaving for home, Deana became very 'ill' with horrible abdominal pain.  We ended up having her Dad come take her to the emergency room.  I was quite worried.

Once home and cleaned up, I picked up Ana (seen across from me) and then Patty and we went to R-Place to meet several others for dinner and dancing.  It was an enjoyable evening, although Jeff Allen wasn't as good as last time we heard him.

Later in the evening, I heard that Deana was going to be okay.  She had a ruptured ovarian cyst... dang female irregularities.