Zoomies

Zoomies typically occur in young animals and we especially see it with our pets.  It is a way for them to release pent-up energy, celebrate moments of joy, and engage in their primal instincts, channeling their inner wild soul, and expressing excitement and delight. 

Young humans get the zoomies, and even older people do.  Sometimes when I'm feeling good, and just can't contain my excitement, I want to zoom around too... although the older I get, the less zoom I have.  I hate that I'm slowing down.  Ahhhh, to be young, agile, and energetic again.  To be able to fall and get right back up and keep on going with 'no harm done.'



 
Zoomies have nothing to do with impressing anybody.  It's being fully alive and in the moment — dancing as if no one is watching.  It's a way to blow off steam  and get the blood flowing.
Here is a 14 year old (video) that popped up on my Facebook memory, of Amiga and Zorro with the zoomies.  They were so cute.  And this (video) is one of adorable baby goats.

Saturday 5/25 - I was blocked in and couldn’t get to the ranch first thing, which was just as well, because we got a downpour.  Once Daniel was up and moved his car to the end of the line I could get out of the garage.  So I zoomed off at 8am to go take care of horses and chickens. 






We were waiting for things to dry up before going out to horse around, and also on the washer to finish so we could put laundry in the dryer. 





One way to entertain ourselves, was to work on a puzzle, with horses in the picture.  Ava worked at fitting random pieces together, but did not get the concept of turning them over. 

Finally, just before 11:00, we got out to the ranch.  We brought in Amiga and Zorro, who were thrilled to get their grazing muzzles off.  Then Courtney tacked up Zorro.  I brushed Amiga and put her leg wraps on in case we decided to go for a ride. 

Courtney did some ground work with Zorro and then rode him around.  He was a little more animated than she liked, but finally when he calmed down, and quit trying to bust a move to zoom around, Courtney deemed it safe for Ava. 


I was so pleased with Amiga, who stood quietly tied in the barn the whole time we were messing with Zorro.  At some point I did put her in her stall to give her a break and let her eat hay. 



Ava was so excited to finally get to ride.




Zorro was still not entirely tuned in to Courtney and his job at hand, but still did quite well in spite of that. 

And Ava was all smiles the whole time.  


When Courtney stopped Zorro, they would pet and talk to him, telling him what a good boy he was. 

They went around (in both directions) several times, (video) stopping and going, partly because Zorro needed to be reminded to slow down a few times.






Next, we decided to let Ava ride Zorro all by herself while Courtney led him around. 

Now the challenge was to keep him from trying to put his head down to eat.  



















Ava  had a wonderful time.  Just look at that smile. 

Once we were all done, she said "I am so happy!" 
Now how sweet and precious is that?

Dan, Vale, and Ava had to hit the road, meeting friends in Pigeon Forge.  Courtney and I had a late lunch and then went to Dorchester Pool to relax.  







The sun was hot enough to want to get in the pool, but the water was too cold for me.  However, Courtney was brave enough to get in. 

Courtney and I pulled out of the driveway at the same time, she headed back to Nashville and I to The Grove for the Wannabeatles concert. 








I sat with Donna and DJ and soon Micki arrived. 


She was dressed up all patriotic for the holiday weekend. 


And there were several others dressed in their hippy outfits. 

As for me, I just came as I was; in my ranch jeans and boots that I'd worn earlier in the day.  I did put on a clean shirt at least. 😏

It was a good show with many fun dance songs, and we even stayed out on the 'dance floor' doing our thang during the slower songs.

Sunday 5/26 - I was only woken up once by Tango and got up and walked him.  There were two more morning walks before I headed off to work.

Well, less than an hour after clocking in, I got a call (five minutes after opening) to not open today because we were under a tornado watch. 

Back home with no way to exercise; gym was closed and a walk was out of the question because it threatened to rain; I got this blog started, did household chores, and got this much done on the puzzle by day's end.  I guess if I had really been motivated, I could have done some exercises here in the house.



The storms had held off so I went out to the ranch early to feed and then take Amiga for a short little ride.  Well a big thunderstorm hit while I was in the middle of doing chores.  I grabbed a raincoat from the tack room, but had already gotten quite wet. 






Once the torrential downpour had subsided, I returned Amiga and Banner to the paddock, got the gator back up to the shop, and headed home.  From my wet office window, I took the first photo posted today, showing deer in the flooded creek.

Later, just after putting out corn for the evening, I got these shots of this buck growing this year's antler's. 

Monday 5/27 - Happy Memorial Day.  And thanks to all who gave their lives in the service of our country. 

 
Strong winds and then Tango getting up was enough to get me out of bed to walk him at 1:30am.  And just as I was climbing back into bed, the storm hit.  When I did get up 5:30, I felt sleep deprived.  Although I'd been in bed eight hours, my sleep had been interrupted several times.  The dogs acted rather tired also.

Here is a cute photo of two of 'my girls' I forgot to include earlier.

I don't know where the time went today, although plenty of it was spent here at my computer.  There were also several short dog walks, puzzle working and I laid outside reading a book.  The gym was closed and I was on 'holiday.'




I left for the ranch at 1:30.  The goose family is still around and the young gosling is getting bigger.

I brought Amiga in, did some mucking in the shed and paddock, and then got Amiga brushed to ride. 

I was quite pleased with how Amiga felt today, so instead of keeping her at a walk the whole time, I let her gait a little bit to see how that would go.  She felt very even and smooth (video).  Yippee!



I came home after the ride, showered, fed critters, walked dogs and got dressed for Mirror Lake Blast.

I met Micki and Linda Sue there and we proceeded to cut up the dance floor as much as possible.  It is a little like having the zoomies during the real fast songs.  However, as often is the case, the band played too many slow songs for our liking. 
I couldn't keep my scarf on so tied it into a headband.  Micki took this photo to show me how it looked.

I got home at 8:30 and was glad to see Joe was home from Chicago.  I could sure use help with dog care.

Tuesday 5/28 - No zoomies with this crew at the moment.  In fact, like me, the older the pets get, the more they have slowed down.

I put in five hours of work at the pool, two at the gym, and hour to run errands, and after dinner, took Maggie on an hour walk. 









Dan and Vale had come to pick up Tango while I was at work, so that charge was lift from me.  Joe was at a poker game and I gave myself the remainder of the evening (90 minutes) to relax (computerize).

Wednesday 5/29 - I had a 9am mammogram here in the Glade and then went straight to town to do my Walmart shopping and grab some chicken feed at Tractor Supply.  Then I went to the hospital for my pre-colonoscopy appointment.  I broke into a sweat when she started reading through the prep procedure, just thinking about what I’d be going through in two more weeks. 😓

I had a late lunch on the deck, in the sun with my book.  I went out to the ranch early to do feeding chores and then go for a ride.  Patty was there, busy mowing and trimming brush back along the drive.  I took this (video) of the horses coming in for dinner.

After Amiga ate, I took her out for a ride.  Even though we haven't had rain in several days, this puddle (one of Robbie's nemesis) was still quite full.

I took Amiga down Castle Circle to check on the pine tree that was cut down and fell across the road.  It has slid down even farther on the tree it is hung up on and I was unable to ride Amiga under it.  Since I was bareback, I didn't want to get off to walk her under it.

Amiga wasn’t as solid today as she was two days ago, but she still felt much better than she has in a long time.  I kept the ride slow and short. 
 

I finished up feeding chores, throwing out eight piles (one flake in each) of hay for the horses.  As I left, they were each happily munching on their own pile.

Joe had grilled hamburgers, so dinner was better than usual.  Then we watched the last (three hour) episode of Survivor.  I was sorry Charlie hadn't won but satisfied Kenzie did.

Thursday 5/30 - No photos today, so here is a cute (video) of a hamster with zoomies. 

I did kind of zoom around today, from one activity to another.  I worked at the pool, went to the gym, showered there and then went with Patty to dinner where we met three others, and then we all went to the Community Band concert and 'cheered' for Shirley. 

Friday 5/31 - Wow, it's already the end of the week, the end of May, and hopefully the end of all the spring rains. 

Stevie giving me the 'cat eye' cause I yelled at her to get off my lunch box.  I left for the ranch about 9:30. 

When I got there, Bonnie had already raked the cut grass out of the round pen.  Once her trainer Pete arrived, they got started on her lesson with Cowboy.  I watched from the sidelines.

Bonnie was so happy to finally be back in the saddle again.  This is a photo Susan had of Bonnie, from an earlier lesson. 

 










And then they let me try Cowboy to see how the Tennessee Walker gait felt. 

I was a little nervous about being watched, and critiqued to a certain extent, because I know I have gotten sloppy and developed some bad riding habits.  But I had a fun time and picked up a few tips.  Like Zorro, Cowboy is a very different ride than Amiga, because he is so much bigger and his stride so much longer.  Plus neither of them gait like Amiga.

Bonnie got back on to finish her lesson, but unfortunately, it ended poorly.  Cowboy had a big spook, causing Bonnie to fall off and hit the ground hard.  Susan took Bonnie to the ER in Crossville, because she was hurt pretty badly.

Joe came down to the barn and was waiting on me, so we could do some chores together, and Wanda was loving on him.  I missed a good photo though.

I dismissed Joe because he did not want to wait around for me.  Jan had dropped by and we had a good chat.  It had gotten late so once Jan left, I ate my sack lunch.  I was feeling awful for Bonnie, disappointed Joe had gone, and frustrated it was already 1:30.  So I dropped everything (since I couldn't get several things done without Joe) and took Amiga for a ride.

Amiga had felt pretty good going out, so we did the Stradford Circle loop, where a small tree was down and easy to get around. Going down Marmaduke to the distant end of our trail, I rode it up to Jem's gate.  By now, Amiga was acting a little sore as I rode her on our woodland trail home (video). 

I did not want to put Amiga's grazing muzzle back on, so I put her in her stall with some hay.  Then I went up to the house and planted another azalea by the light pole.  I also watered/fertilized all the newer shrubs and potted flowers.



Look at the pears on this little tree. 

Well, the day had not gone as planned and I did not get near as much done as I felt I needed to do.  Sometimes I wish I’d get the Zoomies, because I have so much to do in so little time.  If I could just pick up the pace, maybe I could accomplish more.

Already feeling agitated, aggravated, and frustrated...
When I discovered Joe had eaten part of the leftover hamburger I had set aside for dinner, and then later called from his poker game to see if it was alright with me to have an overnighter who was in a pinch and needed a place for two horses and themselves... I was really NOT happy.  I said they could at least get a hotel.