There are days, even weeks, when I really take on a mare
like disposition. Which is to say, I go through a gamut of mood swings,
emotions, and attitudes. But the negative one's are usually short-lived
and I try to find and do things that get me out of a funk.
Mares and geldings have differences in personalities that might be comparable to women versus men.
And
as much as I try to muffle or filter my negative emotions; anger and
frustration are two that tend to boil over and come out. I am usually able to
keep a lid on it, until I can't, and then all heck breaks loose as I
boil over.
I hard boiled eggs once home and pulled one out early so it was sort of poached. Having that with cheese and milk made for a good third breakfast of protein. And I even opted for a third cup of tea. These cool, fall mornings do that to me. 😇
I was very disappointed in the weather forecast, which now showed a very high percentage chance of rain off and on throughout the day. 😡 Joe had planned a soirée (the last two years he'd cancelled because of rain) but this year it was gonna happen, rain or shine. 
The tree guys finally had a load of chips and came by to off load it, since I had asked them for more. Yippee, more work to do. 😵 And our project supervisor was ready to keep an eye on things. 😆
Finally, I made it to the gym and had a really intense workout, experiencing the muscle burn on several machines. I always enjoy the feeling, when leaving the gym, of being both pumped up and spent. 😌
It had rained pretty hard while I was at the gym. The guys cut their golf game short and headed to their homes to dry off.
Joe decided we should start the party earlier so I had a little over an hour to prep food for it. 😲 It was still drizzling a little bit off and on, so we'd have to move the party inside, which I was feeling bad about. 😞 This photo, taken after we ate, shows the dreary sky.
Patty was hired to grill hamburgers and hot dogs and Karen to 'tend bar.' Both ladies did a great job and were wonderful help. Mary and Jack were also very gracious and generous in sharing the ranch house. 😘
Thankfully the rain had stopped so we were able to do the outside activities. After an early, tasty dinner, Joe took this crew on a hay-rack ride. I was skeptical 😬 but went along to tend gates, and ended up really enjoying the experience.
Joe drove us around each paddock and field, showing our guests the property.
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Our horses had been curious about us when we drove through the lower paddock. Well Mary and Jack's horses were equally interested when we went through their paddock. A few of them even got a bit of hay from the bales we were sitting on. Silly horses. 😂 
The bonfire was started and several games of corn hole were played. 
Folks hung around the fire talking.
Tito was loved on by many. I had left Maggie at home because she does not like rain. 
Around 7:30 a cold wind picked up and the dampness in the air warned of rain that might be coming. So the party ended early, but it had started early and most of us were ready to call it a night.
Joe headed to Nashville where he had a hotel reservation with his three Illinois buddies. I packed up most of the left-overs and went home to feed the cats and dog a late dinner and go to bed. 😴
I try to give Monita the mare glare when she’s distracting and interrupting my work, which she does in so many different ways. She sits on my keyboard, rubs her chin on my screen, attacks my mouse hand, knocks things off my desk top, etc. And she just gives me the glare back in more intensity, or tries to bite me! 😠
Joe sent this photo of he and his buds at the Titan's game. I was glad the weather cooperated and it looked like they were enjoying themselves.
I left to work at the pool at 1:15. It was a very quite shift and everyone was gone by 2:30, so I closed at 4pm. 😁
I had to go to the ranch to pick up the left-over salad Mary had made. She and Jack were out of town (horse camping) for the next several days, so the salad needed to be eaten up. No problem, I was all over it. 😋
I had been driving on empty with 0 miles left to go. I know my car is good for several more, but Patty (who was doing chores) convinced me to put the remainder (probably ¾ gal) of mower gas in my car. When I did, the gas gauge no longer said empty and that I had 63 miles to go. I love my fuel saving little Prius. 😍
Thankfully, Amiga was fine, so I decided to ride as planned. I put her in the round pen to graze while I mucked the paddock, and here she is, seen wishing she could be with the boys.
I moved Cowboy and Zorro to the front pasture and shut the gate to the back pasture thinking that would better protect the broken post. I only had time for about a 30 minute ride. Amiga was a little moody, but soon settled in and did well with my leg cues. I rode around the ranch (video) and was so glad 😌 she didn't feel 'off' at all.
I put in a 10:15 - 1:45 shift at the pool, and then headed straight back to the ranch to help Joe. He had gotten home from Nashville at noon and started work on replacing the broken fence post. He temporarily attached the electro-braid to a t-post he had put in. (This section was no longer attached to the hot wire.) Then (using the tractor) he pulled out the end of the gate post that was encased in concrete. The hole was dug out and ready to go when I got there.
We got the post (mostly) all lined up and I added the quick-crete and then water.
We really needed a second bag of concrete mix, and what was in the hole needed to set up. So we would finish tomorrow. 
To keep the horses from stepping in the hole overnight, I put buckets in it and added white rope fencing around it. We also decided to leave the gate to the front pasture open so they wouldn't be milling around up at the gates overnight, wanting out on pasture.
I had planned to go to the gym after work, but it was too late to put in a full workout, so since I was in work clothes, I hauled ten wheelbarrows of mulch down to one of the beds in back. I think these mushrooms are rather nasty 😝 looking, although kind of cool.
While I was working, a doe and two 'kids' came by for their late afternoon snack, 😘 so I took a break and got them some corn.
I finished up with hauling wood chips a little after 6pm and then did my usual evening chores and activities.
Tuesday 9/19 - Rose finding that ray of sunshine on a 53° chilly morning. I went to work at the pool at 10:15. Joe texted me, wondering when I had left the dog out on the deck this morning. I had gone out to pet Rose, and Maggie went with me, and she was happy laying there with Rose. So I left her and was gonna get her later, but totally forgot. Joe discovered Maggie out there at noon. 🤯 Oops.
With no customers until almost noon, I scrubbed all the tile around the whole pool edge. Well, I aggravated my elbows. So I did stretching and massage on them while sitting in the sun 'working' my pool job.
I only had a few customers during my whole shift. And then I got word that we are closing the pool Sunday, so this was my last day of work. Yippee! 😎 I was supposed to work three more days next week.
I went to the ranch to finish filling the fence post hole and get Joe's help with moving some dirt. We ended up hauling three bucket loads to remove high ground from the back pasture along the paddock fence.
The soil was added along the front of the dam as fill. I have been trying to improve drainage in the paddock. 
Joe had hooked all the fencing to the new gate post and added another bag of Quikrete concrete mix in the hole. It was still lower than ground level, so I finished filling it in with dirt.
I came across this black snake while coming around the back side of the barn. It startled me 😧 at first. Patty arrived while I was finishing up work.
We decided to feed the horses before riding, since it was after 4pm. Then we saddled up Amiga and Zorro and soon hit the trail. 
Patty led the way on Zorro much of the time.
What a good looking pair.
I occasionally led with Amiga, but she preferred to follow Zorro. In this (video) we were checking out a rather over-grown cul-de-sac.
Once back, we noticed Brooke's car up at the house, so rode up to say hello and see how Banner and Mesa were getting along. All was well.
Both our horses were getting a little antsy, 🐴 so we concluded our ride. Amiga had felt great until about the last third of the ride. Then she was 'giving' a little on one of her legs/hooves. I did more leg and hoof care before turning her back out with the boys.
It was already getting dark out when I got home.
Wednesday 9/20 - With the shorter days, more of my morning computer time has been in the dark. I have also had the space heater on several mornings. Monita is such a 'butter ball' she sometimes kind of rolls off the bean bag chair under my desk.
I was waiting to hear from Pattersons as to when our refrigerator would be coming, so I could plan my day. I was hoping to get to the gym at some point. But, by the time they called to say it would be early afternoon, it was too late for me to have enough time for a decent morning workout at the gym. 😒 A little later, I got ready and went to our Saddle Sister luncheon at Dorchester.
Patty had given me a ride to lunch, which was just a small group of five of us, who enjoyed catching up with one another. And she had me home by 1:00, a few minutes before the delivery guys came.
Well, the refrigerator swap was not easy... 😩 the delivery guy did a little swearing even. Neither the old, or the new fridge would fit through the front door or the pocket door between dining and laundry. The guys ended up taking the front door off but still struggled to get around the tight corner in the entry. This is the old fridge on its way out.
To keep busy and out of the way, I hauled mulch to the backyard. But I was still 'around' to check in on the progress anytime I came for another load. Seen here, the new fridge is still on the truck.
Ta-da, the new refrigerator, with ice maker and filtered cold water that works. 😁 
The wall had gotten nicked by the front door and the metal floor register cover bent, and a rock broken loose from the front step outside. 😡 But the job was finished and I was ready to be done with the whole ordeal. I decided not to file a claim for the damage, I was just glad to have the refrigerator swap complete.
With 90 minutes left before the dinner hour, I continued hauling mulch down back, and finally finished one of the beds.
This buck and doe came by, but it wasn't time to put corn out yet, so they foraged on the oasis.
A little later I noticed the buck taking a rest a little farther up-stream, behind Allen's. 
After dinner, I took Maggie for a 40 minute walk, first going to the church columbarium to check out the work they had been doing all day. So far they have just been 'tearing up' what was there. 😕 
Their plan is to put in a concrete slab. I will hold judgement until it is all done, but hope they dress it up with plantings. 
I was supposed to wait five to six hours before filling the new refrigerator. So after I was cleaned up and in my pj's, I wiped down everything and then started unloading the two large coolers. All the frozen stuff had fit into the little garage freezer, so it could wait a day, when I had renewed energy.
Thursday 9/21 - It was a peaceful morning 😊 doing chores out at the ranch. I had to put on a jacket at first because of the cool air.
Joe came out a little later to help me with ditch digging. I
had him dump each load (definitely ten or more) along the dam in front of
the fencing, to kind of widen the area along the top of the dam. 
He had to be careful not to back the tractor into the pond, or hit the fence with the bucket, while trying to 'square up' the tractor to put the dirt along the fence. 
Our project supervisor kept tabs on us and checked the work periodically. In this photo, we have the side of the ditch in the paddock finished. 
In this second photo the ditch side in the back pasture is done. But there is still a lot of loose dirt in the middle of the ditch that needed scooping up. 😣 
I raked flat the piles of dirt that had been dumped along the dam. Then I hauled two wheelbarrow loads of dirt out from the ditch. My elbows were starting to rebel, so I quit before I finished. Some of the dirt I used to fill in holes between the barn and wash rack.
It was now time to have some fun. 😃
I fetched Amiga from the front pasture and groomed her in preparation to ride. I decided to go bareback because she has a girth sore that just isn't getting any better. Also, she had a full grass belly and seemed very compliant. We had a nice ride, Amiga felt great (no lameness) and was very cooperative. At one point, we came across this mailbox (video) that had just recently been put in. I rode past this spot a week ago and it wasn't here. Strange.
When I left the ranch, my gas gauge was on empty and then as I was driving down Chestnut Hill, my driving range hit 0 miles. 😮 So I hit Food City and then Waggles on my way (actually out of the way) home.
It was 3:10 late when I got to the gym and I wasn't feeling it while on the elliptical. But then I got a 'second wind' and had a good leg and ab workout on the weight machines.
It was after 5:30 when I got home. After the usual feeding and chore routine, I decided to take Maggie for a short walk and see the progress across the street at the columbarium. They had been jack hammering earlier. The pile of sandstone is what was produced. A big dump truck full of trunks and roots had also driven off but this pile of debris was still left.
Joe and I watched a good documentary 'Undefeated' after dinner.
From noon to 4:00, Joe, Patty, Karen and I partook in the Treasure Hunt Road Rally. We worked some challenging puzzles and had troubles figuring out some destinations, 😬 but finished ahead of the majority of teams. After a meal (seen above) and awards, I went to the ranch to do chores and then ended the day and week here at my computer.
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